Wednesday, February 22, 2012

Defending Jacob by William Landay

Andy Barber has been an assistant district attorney in his suburban Massachusetts county for more than twenty years. He is respected in his community, tenacious in the courtroom, and happy at home with his wife, Laurie, and son, Jacob. But when a shocking crime shatters their New England town, Andy is blindsided by what happens next: His fourteen-year-old son is charged with the murder of a fellow student. Every parental instinct Andy has rallies to protect his boy. Jacob insists that he is innocent, and Andy believes him. Andy must. He’s his father. But as damning facts and shocking revelations surface, as a marriage threatens to crumble and the trial intensifies, as the crisis reveals how little a father knows about his son, Andy will face a trial of his own—between loyalty and justice, between truth and allegation, between a past he’s tried to bury and a future he cannot conceive.

Holy crap! This book was awesome. Two big huge monstrous twists at the end that had me yelling out loud. Must read.

5 stars

Thursday, February 16, 2012

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer






Nine-year-old Oskar Schell has embarked on an urgent, secret mission that will take him through the five boroughs of New York. His goal is to find the lock that matches a mysterious key that belonged to his father, who died in the World Trade Center on the morning of September 11. This seemingly impossible task will bring Oskar into contact with survivors of all sorts on an exhilarating, affecting, often hilarious, and ultimately healing journey.

I'm not a big fan of books that try to use real life tragedies to make their fiction outstanding. With that being said, this is one of the best books I have read in a long time. Oskar broke me heart, the people he met were interesting and it brought me to tears, which is no small feat; I'm not a crier. Absolutely amazing.

5 stars