Finished My Page-Turner: The Year of Fog

My loyal Roxiticus Desperate Housewives readers know that, now that my daughers are old enough to read on their own and leave me alone on the beach or the deck or the couch with my latest page-turner, I've been accustomed to churning through a book every few days, a week max. However, it has taken me almost a month to finish "The Year of Fog" by Michelle Richmond. While it came "highly recommended [for fans of] authors like Jodi Picoult," "The Year of Fog" turned out not to be a shameful page-turner after all.

When I finished the book, I realized that I can't do much of a review here without being a spoiler, but I'll give you the blurb from the back cover and let you decide if you want to know more:
Here is the truth, this is what I know: I was walking on the beach with Emma. It was cold and very foggy. She let go of my hand. I stopped to photograph a baby seal, then glanced up toward the Great Highway. When I looked back, Emma was gone.

From this moment unfolds the spellbinding story of Abby Mason -- photographer, fiancee, soon-to-be-stepmother -- and the consquences of her greatest error. A riveting drama of how life can change in an instant, of a family torn apart by the search for the truth behind a child's disappearance, and of one woman's unwavering faith in the power of love.




I guess I'm like one of those rubberneckers at a train wreck. Whether it is Russell Banks telling the story of a schoolbus accident in "The Sweet Hereafter" or Michelle Richmond's "The Year of Fog," I have to keep turning the pages. About halfway through, I became impatient with the author's insights and wondered if they would ever find the missing Emma. I won't tell you whether they did or didn't find her, but now that I've finished the book, I'll tell you that I highly recommend "The Year of Fog." Maybe I'll post my "spoiler" thoughts over on my Roxiticus Book Blog and let you comment once you've read it, too.

Another Shameful Page-Turner: The Liar's Diary

It's been a long time since I read a respectable book...I peeked at someone else's copy of Anna Karenina while the girls were playing munchkin tennis at Fox Chase the other day, but for me it has been page turner after page turner for the last couple of months. Good thing I'm married to Rex, who just laughs at my current taste in reading, and not part of the online dating world. Rachel Donadio wrote an essay in the New York Times Book Review this past weekend ("It's Not You, It's Your Books," March 30, 2008) that suggested we judge our lovers by their book covers, or that "literary taste has been a good shorthand for gauging compatibility." At a minimum, Donadio points out that anyone who cares about books has been in a situation where a "misguided literary reference makes it chillingly clear that a romance is going nowhere fast." Or just the opposite: I can remember back in my horrible single days in the '90s thinking He was The One because He had Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged on his coffee table. He wasn't -- see "Boy Who Broke My Heart" haiku a few posts ago.

Despite reading Donadio's essay, I finished "The Pact" by Jodi Picoult (John Grisham in a skirt) over the weekend. Then, quicker than you can say online payday loan, I picked up "The Liar's Diary" by Patry Francis, just out in paperback, at Mendham Books. I've read the first two chapters, and it already feels like "What Was She Thinking? Notes on a Scandal" by Zoe Heller, which actually qualifies as a cut or two above a page-turner. I bought the "Notes on a Scandal" DVD (Judi Dench, Cate Blanchett), but haven't finished it. That's one of the benefits of a good book over a movie...my girls always interrupt when Rex and I try to watch a grown-up movie and I wasn't up for explaining why is that boy on top of his teacher, mommy?

Anyway, on "Liar's Diary": Ali Mather, a stunning new music teacher, arrives at the local high school, shaking up the contented suburban life and provoking much gossip. Jeanne, the school secretary, admires her from afar and finds a way to develop a friendship based on their mutual vulnerabilities. I can see where it's going, but I just can't put it down! One of the reviews on the book jacket promises "a twisting ride full of dangerous curves and jaw-dropping surprises," so maybe Patry Francis will prove me wrong. Of course, my loyal Roxiticus Desperate Housewives readers know what drew me to the book: the diary. Just like the slowest runners wear the fanciest jogging outfits, I'm sucked in to every leather-bound Italian paper diary on the market as if it will make me a better writer, or at least more prolific. Well, Ali Mather has a diary that holds her darkest secrets....

I'm off to turn a few pages before bedtime....I'll keep you posted!

Spring Cleaning: Bloginization

In an effort to better organize Roxiticus Desperate Housewives, I am launching several new blogs:

• Roxiticus Desperate Housewives Directories: will include directories of the Best of Mendham, NJ; Best of Bernardsville, NJ; Best of Chester, NJ; Best of Far Hills, NJ; Best of Peapack-Gladstone, NJ; Best of Morris County, NJ; and Best of Somerset County, NJ. Given the other content here at the original Roxiticus Desperate Housewives, I thought it best to create a place for readers who come looking for "toddler ballet class" who might not want to be exposed to Eliot Spitzer scandals and nipple piercing posts....although there's not much here that you won't find on CNN or MSNBC!
• Bay Head New Jersey: Bay Head seems so far away with blustery winds here in the Roxiticus Valley on the eve of Spring and about two months to go before we open our beach house, but over the next 6-8 weeks, I will post all of the good stuff the Roxiticus Desperate Housewives do for fun in Bay Head, NJ. And maybe some photos, too. A long, long time ago (15 years maybe?) I saw this movie....I think it was called Smoke....and every day this guy comes out of his shop and takes a picture of the same scene. Of course, every day the photo is just a little bit different. Ever since then, I've wanted to do that, take the "same" picture every day. I started to do it one summer, but of course, unlike the guy in the movie, I'm never really in the same place 365 days in a row.
• Makin' the Bacon: Since I've spent a lot of time surfing other people's blogs to get idea for Roxiticus Desperate Housewives, I have started to learn a bunch of tricks for making money by blogging. My new blog, Makin' the Bacon Online, will be devoted to helping others to earn money online.
• Laguna Beach Blog: While Rex and I, and later the kids, have been visiting Laguna Beach forever, we can hardly claim that Laguna Beach, California is part of the Roxiticus Valley and I thought it was time to give Laguna Beach a space and a blog of its own. I'm hoping to find the time to work on a thorough Best of Directory for Laguna Beach and Orange County, CA: shopping, restaurants, kid stuff....all the things we like to do when we visit every year.
  
• The Daily Soup takes its name from something they do in my daughter's first grade class. In first grade, it is actually The Daily Scoop, but my faulty hearing caused me to hear it as The Daily Soup. I'm going to use this Rated G blog for daily posts such as Vocabulary Word of the Day, Thought for the Day, Book of the Day, Song of the Day, Quote of the Day, etc.
• Roxiticus Book Blog: Since the Roxiticus Desperate Housewives and our kids love to read, I thought it was time to give Books We Love a space and a blog of its own. I'll do my best to divide it into books for kids and books for grown-ups, with reviews and comments by moms and kids.
  
  

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