Jodi Picoult Book Club

It all started here...



My sister bought this in the airport on her way to Mexico for her honeymoon and then it came to me. The sister connection was kind of curious. And the book was wonderful - no exceptio to all of Picoult's books in that it deals with sensitive family issues and complicated relationships.

Then I found www.paperbackswap.com. This site rocks for the avid reader who is tired of spending $14 a crack on a book no one else may ever read. And until recently, I felt I had no one else to read my boks - they just stood there unloved on my book shelf. I found this on the swap site...



I already gave my thoughts on the book in a previous post but I can't say enough how much I was sucked in by this book. A formerly non-reading friend had enjoyed my copy of Light on Snow by Anite Schreve so I though, crap shoot or not - I would pass this book on as well. I feel that I need to be somewhat discriminating when passing on any book to a non-reader. If you are want to catch a non-reader in a literature snare, then you don't want to scare them off with something just "meh". Well it turned out to be a good pick. Suddenly non-reading friend was e-mailing her guesses on what was going to happen next with just short of a disclaimer "don't tell me" as the subject line. Then The Pact went to another reader in our office and then, oh yes I'm getting excited, to another "non-reader" who as of this morning, read 1/2 of the book over the weekend. Getting people back into reading is absolutely intoxicating. I mean, if they won't knit that is.

Then I read...


I didn't enjoy this book quite as much but it was still worth finishing. She developed some nuances about the eskimo culture that were interesting but I prefer to stick to the story. I don't think I liked the main character, Trixie, I didn't have as much empathy for he as I had other characters in past reads. I felt Trixie was too young to be experiencing some things her character went through.

Then...

another page turner. I was on the edge of my seat and kept awake at night - worrying about these characters. Again, more volatile relationships, sexual abuse and a trial. The mother in this book, Nina Frost, was unlikable in many ways but as mother reading this, you can see yourself making some of her bad choices. You can imagine blindly doing things to protect your child at any cost despite obvious consequencs.

And then...

The common theme of complicated family relationships continues. Picoult educates the reader on cultural aspects of the Hopi indians, which I didn't appreciate as much as someone else might. But the book again included a trial, which I find kind of fascinating. I discovered as I was reading the last 20 pages that I did enjoy the book.

Most recently...


I am currently reading this book as I have been almost entirely confined to laying on may back since Monday - I am nearly done - another page turner. This story is based around a school shooting, probably comparable to Columbine. Picoult gives the reader the perspectives of the shooter, victims and their families. Again more complicated raltionships as the mother of the shooter is a midwife who befriended and delivered the baby of a judge-to-be who later has a intergal part in the shooting case, and the child she delivered was spared by the shooter for reasons I am still not sure of entirely. Hopefully the last 50 pages of the novel with put evertyhing into a neat package for me - but what are the chances?

My converted non-reader friend and I both agree that the endings leave so many questions - we want sequels:) Fortunately some of the characters are revived in diferent books, so I am somewhat inspired to keep reading to I can peice together what happens next. I have two more Picoult books on my pile of "to read" so I may have to get better quickly so I can venture out t the bookstore - but then there is always Amazon...

Today I a going to try to prop myself up for some knitting - so there should be knitting content in my future:)