Finished: The Hypnotist's Love Story (Moriarty) Another page-turner by this Australian writer...though not quite as page-turnery as the last one. :-) Still, a good read for doing my walking on the treadmill! So, basically the story is about thirty-something hypnotherapist, Ellen, who lives in her grandparents' old house by the sea, and runs her hypnotherapy business from the house. She's got a variety of patients she helps through hypnotherapy...one young woman who is trying to quit smoking before her wedding, one young woman with inexplicable leg pain, one young man terrified to speak in front of people, etc. etc. When Ellen finally meets (through a dating service) a man she's falling for, Patrick, also thirty-something, surveyor, widowed, and father of 8-year old Jack, she can't believe how quickly they begin to fall in love. There's just one catch....Patrick has a stalker...his ex-girlfriend, Saskia, who lived with Patrick and Jack from the time Jack was two to five. Jack's mother Colleen had died when Jack was just a baby and so Saskia was like a mother to Jack. When Patrick had broken up with Saskia one day rather abruptly, Saskia never got over the loss of Patrick OR Jack. So, for the last three years she's been stalking Patrick...writing him, texting him, following him on dates, showing up at his house, showing up at Jack's soccer games, etc. She's completely obsessed because she's still so in love with what they had as a family. The page-turning part is when you realize that Saskia is actually one of Ellen's patients and you have to try and figure out which one! The Saskia stumbling block, plus the fact that Patrick doesn't truly seem to be over the beloved Colleen's death, provide for some tensions in Ellen and Patrick's relationship. Even when Patrick proposes, the moment is ruined by Saskia who shows up! Anyway, Ellen actually feels empathy for Saskia. Ellen becomes pregnant and Patrick becomes more and more worried about Saskia's behavior. It all culminates one night when Saskia sneaks into their house and stands over Patrick and Ellen's bed as they sleep. Patrick wakes up startled and as Saskia begins to run out of the room, she runs smack dab into little Jack who has heard the commotion and they tumble down the stairs. :-( Jack suffers only a broken arm, but Saskia suffers a broken ankle and pelvis. Patrick finally takes out a restraining order and he and Ellen finally discuss his deep feelings for all things Colleen and Saskia. Patrick genuinely loves Ellen, it turns out, so they end up being ok. Their baby, Grace, is born and the family of four begins a happy and mostly sane life. Saskia finds out during her hospital stay that she actually has not alienated all her friends. She's got a couple who come to see her every day and she finally begins to see her own self-worth. Her court mandated therapy sessions follow and she finally works out her complicated feelings towards Patrick and Jack. Finally, after a year's time, she is also moving on with her life and tentatively happy in her new and old friends, and mostly in her own self-awareness. A good book! I will probably read more of Moriarty's books. :-)

Finished: World Without End (Follett) Finally I read the 1000-plus page sequel to Pillars of the Earth and it was a really great book! :-) I couldn't possible write a recap of the book that spans 34 years in the lives of its many characters, but I can just list a few memorable things. Of course, the town of Kingsbridge with the cathedral built 200 years earlier by Tom Builder and his stepson, Jack, is a character all its own. The town is still thriving and the cathedral still busy with its active monastery that we so lovingly remember being run by Prior Phillip in Pillars. Now, in 1327, though, we still have just as many unsavory characters constantly manipulating circumstances for their own greed and making the lives of the more upstanding citizens an uphill battle! Another major character in the book...the bubonic plague which struck Europe in the 1300's. It is prevalent throughout the book and drives much of the story and reveals the true moral character of many of the people. The unsavory and, for the most part, despicable characters include: Joby of Wigleigh, the poor peasant man who sells his own teenage daughter for a cow, knowing she's going to be used by the horrible new owner as a prostitute for the outlaws running rampant in the forest; Prior Godwyn, the Prior at Kingsbridge Cathedral who is so out for his own glorification and advancement that he nearly has his own cousin hanged for witchcraft because she threatens his advancement...and who is so cowardly that when the plague strikes the town and all the nuns rally around to help the sick, Godwyn packs up all the monks AND all their treasures and charters and runs away to another town; Sub-prior Philemon, a thief since childhood, and a devious-minded man who comes up with most of the ideas that Godwyn implements; Ralph, a heartless young boy who purposely shoots an arrow through the heart of his friend's dog, who grows up to be an equally heartless Lord and then Earl who rapes, murders, and takes what he wants all his life until he's finally killed by his own son, who thankfully doesn't know he's Ralph's own son, while defending his mother who Ralph is about to force himself on yet again; Elfric, the builder who apprentices Merthin, the young boy with a knack for wood carving and design, who refuses to marry Elfric's daughter when he comes of age, infuriating Elfric and causing Elfric to keep Merthin out of the builder's guild for nearly the rest of his life; and Petranilla, Godwyn's mother who plants the seeds of ambition in Godwyn's head and is always there with cold-blooded advice about how Godwyn should get the better of his enemies no matter the cost. Whew! That's so many bad guys. There are even more, but too many to list. Now, on to the good guys and heroes and heroines: First there is Merthin...or I should say...first, there are Merthin and Caris. They meet as 11 year-olds and love each other for the rest of their lives! Merthin is the red-headed, one year older brother of the vicious Ralph. Merthin is not as good looking or charming as Ralph, but he is sensible and well-liked. He's devastated when he is sent to be a building apprentice while Ralph is sent to learn to be a knight...yet Merthin ends up being the great designer of the new bridge after it collapses, as well as a new tower for the cathedral, and several homes and buildings in Kingsbridge. He eventually becomes the alderman of the town in his later years and is highly loved and respected by all! He's also the direct descendant of the red-headed Jack Builder from Pillars. :-) Caris, though she loves Merthin all her life, doesn't believe that women must lead a conventional life of marrying and having children and being supported by men. She wants to be independent and make her own way, but at the same time she loves Merthin. She's very conflicted. She takes charge when the bridge collapses and is a natural organizer. She's also interested in learning the art of healing and becomes instrumental in handling the plague by implementing linen masks and the washing of hands. She has an uphill battle always, though, and on the morning that she is to marry Merthin (she finally said yes!), she is accused by the jealous Prior Godwyn (her own cousin!!) of heresy and about to be sentenced as a witch! The only saving grace is the Mother Prioress Cecilia who takes Caris in as a nun. The bishop agrees to this sentence saying she can never leave the church, though, or she will be hanged as her original sentence declares. Poor Caris and Merthin. :-( Anyway, Caris accepts her fate and won't even say goodbye to Merthin. Broken-hearted Merthin goes to study the architecture in Florence and comes back 10 years later. It is after that that the plague hits. As a matter of fact, it has already hit in Florence and killed Merthin's wife and in laws. Only Merthin, who miraculously survives the plague, and his young daughter, Lolla, are unaffected. ok, I'm starting to recap, lol. Let's see...other good people: Sir Thomas Langley is a knight at the beginning of the book that the 11 year old Merthin witnesses with a secret parchment. The knight shows him where he buries the parchment and tells Merthin if he tells anyone about it, they will both die. He also tells Merthin to dig it up from the secret spot and give it to a priest if he ever dies. Then, Thomas goes to seek sanctuary as a monk at Kingsbridge; Wulfric, the poor peasant boy who, at 16, looses his mother, father and older brother in the bridge collapse. He also happens to stand up to the nasty Ralph when Ralph gropes his then fiancee. Ralph never forgets it and makes Wulfric's life a living hell for the rest of his life...stripping him of his father's lands, blackmailing Wulfric's wife into having sex, nearly hanging Wulfric's son, etc.; Gwenda, Wulfric's wife and the poor peasant girl who was sold by her father for the cow. Gwenda is one tough lady and kills one outlaw to escape that fate and drowns the man that bought her when the bridge collapses! She's in love with Wulfric all her life and patiently helps him with his crops for years while he's in love with another woman until Wulfric realizes that he loves Gwenda after all. Of course, Gwenda is the one who Ralph forces to have sex and the one whose firstborn son is really Ralph's and not Wulfric's. Other characters that were good people: Caris' father, Edmund Wooler, the Prioress, Mother Cecilia, Madge and Mark Webber, the poor weaving family who Caris shows how to make the expensive red dye that becomes known as Kingsbridge Scarlett. They become wealthy off of the endeavor, but then Mark and their four children all perish from the plague. :-( Madge remains resilient, though, and years later remarries, has one more child, and becomes an important member of the town guild. There's so much more I could say, but it was over a thousand pages, lol. I will just say that through all the political, religious, and plague hardships, the town does prevail and thrive again. And, after years of unselfish service, Caris is eventually released from her vows and gets to marry Merthin and open her own hospital for the town. And, Merthin finally builds a new tower for the cathedral that is taller than any other tower in Europe! As for the bad guys....Ralph is finally run through with his own kind of violence, a sword and a dagger, by Gwenda's son protecting his mother. Godwyn succumbs to the plague after all...even though he ran from it...apparently one of the monks already had it and it wiped them all out. Gwenda finally stood up to Joby with a burning piece of wood and marred his face and subdued his maliciousness. Petranilla and Elfric both perished from the plague. And, Phillemon was finally outwitted, denied the advancement he so deviously sought after Godwyn died, and sent to a position far, far away. Oh...and the secret in the parchment? It's all about the murder of King Edward II by his wife, Queen Isabella so that her son Edward III can become king. If found, it would change everything! :-) I've had this book for so many years and just now got around to reading it. Pillars was a favorite of mine, and I don't know that this one quite lived up to that, but I did enjoy reading it. And...I hear Follett's writing another Kingsbridge book to be published in 2017! :-)

Finished: Under the Net (Murdoch). This was one of those books that has to settle with me a bit, but I think it will be one that I am glad I read. It has a few little gems like this running through it's protagonist's head: The quenching of thirst is so exquisite a pleasure that it is a scandal that no amount of ingenuity can prolong it. It is really not about anything much but struggling, British writer, Jake Donoghue...his loves, his adventures, his misadventures, and basically his growing up. He pretty much lives rent free off his friends while putting off his own writing, while he earns what little money he does translating other author's works from French to English. He has a best friend, Finn, and another friend, Dave, who he interacts with mostly. The current woman in his life throws him out of her flat in the first pages of the story...but that's ok with him because they weren't even in a relationship, though she would have liked it. In his comings and goings he comes across a bookie, Sammy...and a left-wing politician, Lefty...a wise shop owner, Mrs. Tinckham...and an awesome former animal actor, an Alsatian dog (basically a German Shepherd) named Mars. He "rescues" Mars from Sammy the bookie..more like kidnaps him...but he gets him into a better situation and ends up keeping the dog in the end, so that's a nice part of the story. Jake also runs into the former love of his life, Anna, who he would like to start back up with again, but she is evasive and tells him to go to her sister, the beautiful actress, Sadie, for a place to live. Sadie always loved Jake, but Jake always loved Anna. Now, Sadie is being pursued by one of Jake's old friends, Hugo. But, Jake has lost touch with Hugo and never realized that Anna had actually fallen in love with Hugo while Hugo was in love with Sadie. It's all a bit convoluted, but mostly...it's all about Jake's introspection. We hear all of Jake's thoughts and motivations in this short book and it's rather interesting. :-)

Jake's dreamy reminiscence of Paris was one passage I really liked:

     Arriving in Paris always causes me pain, even when I have been away for only a short while. It is a city which I never fail to approach with expectation and leave with disappointment. There is a question which only I can ask and which only Paris can answer; but this question is something which I have never yet been able to formulate.

This was my second Iris Murdoch book and I may be interested in putting another one on the list! 

Finished: Hiding in the Spotlight (Dawson) Book Club Book # 9...a pretty good book. The material, a true story, was tragic and fascinating, and better than the actual writing in the book, if that makes sense. Two young Jewish sisters, Zhanna and Frina, piano prodigies in Ukraine in 1942, are marched towards their deaths, along with their mother, father and grandparents. They are to be mercilessly shot down by the Nazis and shoved into the man-made ditch known as Drobitsky Yar. Their father pulls out his only worthy possession, a pocket watch, and bribes an officer to let his oldest daughter, Zhanna, run from the march. He knows that Zhanna will survive the run into the forrest, and he tells her as he wraps his big coat around her, to live no matter what. Heartbroken, teenage Zhanna runs, her only possession...her copy of Chopin's piano sheet music Fantasie Impromptu, which she had mastered as a young girl. Through the obvious trials and tribulations of trying to avoid the Nazis, find shelter and food, and through the extreme kindness of strangers who would have been killed for helping her, Zhanna makes her way back to her hometown, where miraculously her sister turns up alive as well. Frina, though, will never speak of the march or tell her exactly how she too escaped. Again, with the kindness of strangers, the girls are told the only way for them to hope to survive is to pretend to be non-Jewish Russian refugees, change their names and get official papers with those names. To do so, they must go to an orphanage and tell their made-up story, that their father was a Russian soldier killed in the war and their mother a war victim as well. They manage to change their names, which they use for years...and they manage to play whatever piano is available until one day they are heard by German officers who insist they play for them at various concerts! Eventually they are made part of a troupe that is used to entertain the German soldiers who are now occupying their city. Sadly, though, when the war is finally over, the girls are still not free. The Germans force the entire troupe to retreat with them to Berlin where they are kept in pretty deplorable conditions. It's not until the treaty of Yalta is signed that the girls are discovered in a camp by an American solider, Larry Dawson, who is mesmerized by their talent. The girls already know that they cannot go back to Russia, much as Zhanna longs to, because Stalin is executing all returning Russian who were taken prisoner by the Germans. He irrationally blames them for being captured, even turning a blind eye to his own son who was captured in the war. Isn't that awful? Anyway...Larry makes it his mission to get the girls to America. It means he and his wife will have to adopt them. His wife is at home with their two very young boys. Larry makes the arrangements and gets his brother David, a talented musician who seventeen years earlier entered Julliard at the age of 13, involved as well. Larry is convinced that he can get the girls an audition to Julliard when he gets home and the rest will be history. And, well...that's kind of how it goes! Oh, and Zhanna, who is 19 by the time she meets David and auditions for Julliard, ends up falling in love with David and they get married and have two sons...one of them the author, Greg Dawson. Both Zhanna and David end up teaching music on the college level and playing in various orchestras. Frina has the near same story, though the focus of this book was on the author's mother, Zhanna. Frina also becomes an accomplished performer and marries and has children. It's a happy ending to a very traumatic life for these two young survivors of the horrific Jewish extinction of World War II.

Finished: Big Little Lies (Moriarty). A page-turner about a bunch of mums (including the "blonde bobs", as the go-getter, bob hair-cutted pta moms are called, lol) at an Australian school whose children are about to begin kindergarten. When the daughter of the top dog mum at the school, Renata, reluctantly points out the son of the new-to-the area mum, Jane, as the child who bullied her on orientation day, then sides are quickly drawn with one group of moms on one side and the larger, richer, go-gettier group of moms on the other. As the "outsiders", Madeline, Celeste and Jane form a close friendship, but each has their own troubles. Celeste, the beautiful, rich mother of twins boys who everyone envies, is secretly in a physically abusive relationship with her husband, Perry. Madeline is happy in her second marriage, but having trouble with her 14 year old daughter who she raised as a single mom when her husband up and left them, unable to handle the responsibilities of being a new dad. Said first husband is now in the picture with his new, younger wife and their kindergarten daughter is about to start school with all the rest of them, and now he's a hands on dad. Jane, a single mom, has never told Ziggy who her father is because he was a product of a one-night stand gone bad...not a rape, but a sexual experience that turned rough. The other group of go-getter moms become laser focused on getting Ziggy kicked out of the school because Renata's daughter, Amabelle (yes, with an "m" not an "n") singled him out. Amabelle is a sweet little girl who is too frightened of the real bully to tell the truth, and Ziggy actually befriends Amabelle and, though he is relentlessly persecuted by this group of adults, he doesn't tell his own mother who the real bully is. We do find out in the end, but it almost becomes secondary as the violence of Celeste's marriage comes to a head at the school parent trivia night and someone ends up dead. The whole book flashes back to let us in a piece at a time on who is murdered and whodunnit. It's a nice little page-turner, perfect for my treadmill walking. :-) Oh, and as a nice bonus at the end, Renata actually, very humbly, apologizes to both Jane and Ziggy when she finds out who the real bully was.

Finished: A Dance With Dragons (Martin) Well, now I've reread the last of the Game of Thrones books and I must wait, what...another year for the next? At least now as I watch the TV show I will know more clearly how they are splintering off from the books. As this book ends we leave Jon Snow betrayed and stabbed four times by his fellow Night Watchmen; Daenerys and her dragon, Drogon, surrounded by Kahl Jhaqo and his dothraki; Sir Barristan Selmy serving as the hand of the queen in Meereen and about to be faced with war with the Yunkai'i; Hizdahr zo Loraq, Dany's husband, imprisoned by Sir Selmy for possible treason; Daario Naharis, Dany's lover, imprisoned by the Yunkai'i; young Prince Quentyn of Dorne dead from his burns from the other two dragons, who he was trying to free and ride; Cersei seemingly contrite and awaiting her fornication trial after being shaved and taking her walk of shame through King's Landing; young King Tommen sitting on the iron throne; Margery, his queen, also awaiting a fornication and treason trial; Tyrion across the sea, being made a Second Son, along with Sir Jorah Mormont, and hoping to turn the Second Son's loyalties in favor of Daenerys; Roose Bolton's army encamped at Winterfell and claiming it as Bolton's; Stannis' army seemingly frozen and squashed by Bolton, according to Ramsay Bolton's message to Jon Snow; Jaime Lannister off with Brienne who, unbeknownst to him, has agreed to slay him for Lady Stoneheart; Asha Greyjoy's captivity called into question when Stannis overtakes those holding her captive; Asha's brother, Theon, and Jeyne (fake Arya, recently wed to and tortured by Ramsay Bolton) both saved and delivered literally at the feet of Asha after escaping the Bolton's captivity at Winterfell; Arya becoming a "no one" and an assassin with the black and white; Prince Doran Martell, the brother of Oberin the Viper, sending one of the Viper's daughters, Nym, to accompany the scarred Myrcella home to King's Landing and sit on the king's counsel; the introduction of Sir Robert Strong, a new knight seemingly built from the dead body of the Mountain by Qyburn, ala Frankenstein; Bran finally with the one-eyed crow, who is really a guy who has grown into a tree and expects Bran to be his successor; Victarian (Asha's uncle) making his way toward Daenerys by ship to claim her as his queen and take her home?; the believed dead son of Rhaegar Targaryen, young Prince Aegon, hidden and raised for years by his father's best friend Jon Connington, arrived in Westeros and taking Storm's End by storm; and Varys, ever loyal to the Targaryens, ending the lives of Qyburn and Kevan Lannister so that he might cause chaos in King's Landing and make the way smoother for the arrival of the rightful heir to the throne, Prince Aegon. Whew...well that's alot! Keep writing George R. R. Martin and don't you DARE kill Jon Snow!

Finished: A Feast For Crows (Martin) My first re-read of my three-plus year reading project. Watching Game of Thrones on television, I decided I need to go back and re-read the last two books of the series to see for myself how the tv series is differing from the books. :-) It is very interesting to see how the stories are going to change just based on watching the first two shows of this season! Now I've got to tackle A Dance With Dragons all over again and then wait, like everyone else, for GRRM to finish the next book!!

Finished: The One and Only (Giffin) A book about a fictitious college football team in a fictitious college town in the very real state of Texas....Texas college football...that about sums it up. :-) Oh, and there were also some relationships between the football coach, the ex-football stars, the socialite coach's daughter, and her best friend, the girl who loved and knew football inside and out; their relationships to each other, and the hold that little Texas college town had on them all. At first I was picturing College Station, Texas as I read...but then the fictional team actually played the Aggies, so I couldn't picture that anymore. Besides...the stadium they described didn't compare atall to Kyle Field at A&M. I intended to listen to this book on my phone while I walked all week, but I couldn't turn it off, so ended up listening to it in the house as well. There was something very poignant about listening to the lilting Texas accent of the narrator who read this book. A lot of great memories came flooding back! :-)

Finished: Love's Labour's Lost (Shakespeare) Eh, not my favorite of Shakespeare's, and I love Shakespeare! He just spent so much time one-upping himself and double-entendre'ing with practically every phrase that the play, with its humorous premise, could have flowed effortlessly, but instead was very confusing to me at times...but maybe I'm just too dense, lol. King Ferdinand of Navarre has proclaimed in his kingdom that all men shall remain celibate for a year in order to further themselves with intellectual studies. His three lords, Berowne, Longaville and Dumaine all lament this decree but sign the oath with their king. Meanwhile, the Princess of France arrives as a spokesperson for her father to handle business with the king. With her are her three ladies, Rosaline, Maria and Katharine. King Ferdinand tells the princess that she must encamp outside the walls of his palace due to his recent decree....yet he unwittingly falls head over heals with the princess. And, each of his three lords falls head over heals in love with one of the maids. Secret, lovelorn sonnets are written by the men, and then the three lords AND the king all find out about each other's longings. I couldn't really understand how the king got around his decree, except that the king and the three lords dressed up as Muscovites and went to woo the princess and the ladies. The princess and the ladies, however, saw through their disguises. As they were all making merriment about their feelings, the princess got a message that her own father had just died. The princess hurriedly packs up to leave, while the king proclaims his love and begs her to stay. The princess tells the king that if he will truly stay celibate for a one year mourning period, that she will hold his love in her heart and marry him then. The three ladies all tell the three lords the same thing, and they all agree, though begrudgingly. Of course, as in most of the comedies of Shakespeare, there are some characters meant to infuse slap-stickish humor into the story, and this one is no exception. Costard, Moth and Don Armado just seemed more out of place in this one. Anyway....I think this was my first true disappointment in the Shakespeare works. I'll keep reading him though. :-)

Finished: Antony and Cleopatra (Shakespeare) Triple-turn'd whore! Out of all the lovely passages that Shakespeare poured into the work, I think that simple line by Antony explains the play pretty succinctly, hee hee. Seriously, though, what did Antony think was going to happen when he fell for the Egyptian ruler who had already had a son by Julius Caesar (by this time deceased)? Antony was so smitten with Cleopatra that he let his heart literally rule his head, causing him to basically hand over his third of the conquered Roman world to the other two members of the ruling triumvirate, Octavius Caesar and Lepidus. Rather perturbed with Antony for running off to play in Egypt while they defended their hold on the world, Octavius and Lepidus call Antony back to Rome to help them in the battle that Sextus Pompey has just declared on them. To appease Octavius and further cement their bond, Antony marries Octavius' sister....wait for it...Octavia. When the triumvirate rides off to meet with Sextus Pompey, they actually come to terms and avoid a battle. However, the minute that Antony heads back to Egypt and Cleopatra, Octavius and Lepidus go back on their word and have a war with Sextus Pompey. Furious, Antony doesn't want anything to do with the war...but he does expect the spoils to be divided into the rightful thirds. Octavius agrees to this, but refuses to release Lepidus, who he had imprisoned during the battle. This prompts Octavius and Antony to finally go to war with each other. Antony, whose prowess is fighting on land, stupidly agrees to a sea battle when Octavius tweaks his pride and implies he is afraid of a sea battle. When Cleopatra promises her ships to back him, Antony heads off to his sea battle with more confidence. When Cleopatra commands her ships to turn tail and run as the battle proves too difficult, Antony hits the lowest point of his life for the great, renowned warrior...he turns tail and follows Cleopatra home, leaving his own ships to fend for themselves. Frankly, I don't think Antony ever recovers from this shame, and Shakespeare's way of describing Antony at this point is heart wrenching. (Not that I felt sorry for him.) Antony eventually pulls up his boot straps and vows to fight Octavius again, this time on land...but when it starts to become clear that he's going to lose the battle, he begins to feel that Cleopatra has betrayed him (triple-turn'd whore!) and is casting her from his life when she gets word of this and has her maidens go and tell Antony that she has killed herself. She hopes this will bring Antony around to her where she can say...just kidding...and they will fall into each other's arms. Instead, the despondent Antony, after failing to get his loyal servant to run him through with a sword, runs himself through. When he gets word that Cleopatra isn't really dead, he has himself taken to her where she moans and laments as Antony dies. Knowing that Octavius will take Egypt from her and drag her through the streets of Rome as a triumph of his war (even though he swears he won't), Cleopatra gets her hands on the poisonous asps and kills herself. Dang it, says Octavius, because he HAD fully intended to drag her through the streets. Instead, he orders Antony and Cleopatra buried side by side in magnificent tombs. Then, apparently in real life he DID drag their young children in chains through the streets of Rome and according to some history books, gave them to his sister Octavia to raise. Also, Octavius went on to become the first Emporer of the Roman Empire aka Augustus. As usual, a fascinating piece of work by Wm. Shakespeare. :-) Glad I finally read this one!