A Passage to India by E.M. Forster

I have mixed feelings about this particular book.  It's a bit sad and depressing, but it is also interesting and is well-written.

A Passage to India tells the story of Dr. Aziz, an Indian gentleman who wonders whether it is possible to be friends with an Englishman, Adela, a young English schoolteacher, and Mrs. Moore, and older English lady who befriends Dr. Aziz.  A group of people including these three go on a day trip to some caves.  Adela is accosted and accuses Dr. Aziz of the crime.  The trial and its surroundings are full of racism and prejudices, which is pretty sad.

This book makes me wonder how accurate Forster is about British India and how much he actually knows about the Indian mind.  I know he did spend actual time in the India he is writing about, but he obviously was never an actual Indian to know how their minds work.  He frequently gets inside Dr. Aziz's thoughts and he attributes most of his thoughts and attitudes to his race.

It is worth the time, but it is a bit of a challenging read and takes quite a bit of it.  Definitely not a beach read!

Appointment in Samarra by John O'Hara

This is a depressing book, and I didn't love it the whole time I was reading it.  Then, at the very end, there is a telling of the story that inspired the title and just that one clever quote made the book all right. 

This is the story of Julian English and how he destroys his life in three days.  He makes repeated bad choices (most of which seem like old habits).  He drinks heavily, cheats on his wife, and contemplates suicide.  He acts in impulsive ways.  It is pretty hard to read about his incredibly stupid behavior.  The final quote and title are references to fate or destiny and how English's end was inevitable.

This book is worth the time, but it isn't light-hearted or uplifting.

Henderson the Rain King by Saul Bellow

This book is a little bizarre, but strangely satisfying.

Henderson is a large, well-to-do middle-aged man who feels unfulfilled with his life.  He decides to go to Africa.  In Africa he sets out on his own with only a native guide.  He tries to help local tribes, but is too bumbling in his efforts to actually help.  His actions tend to be rather comic, although he also engages in philosophical wonderings and discussions during the course of the book, which is one of the reasons I find the book bizarre.  Another is because at the end (spoiler alert!) there is no indication of whether he actually found what he was looking for or if he still has the inner voice saying, "I want, I want, I want."  The book does end hopefully, though, as he decides to return home.

This book can be a little long; I found the philosophical passages especially hard to get through and even skipped part of a particularly long one!  It is definitely worth the time, though, and is interesting and very well written.

Heartwishes by Jude Deveraux

I was disappointed in this book by Deveraux.  They are usually a bit better.  The plot line wasn't just predictable, which is common for books with a romance in them.  It was also unexciting and lacking in interest.  Deveraux usually does a better job.

This is another Edilean novel.  It tells the story of a history PhD candidate who gets a job in Edilean doing research to write the Frasier family history.  She finds information regarding a legend about a "heartwishes" stone that grants the wishes of Fraiser family members.  Of course, she also finds romance and love.  Deveraux can usually make her supernatural aspects feel realistic in the story, but in this book the mystery isn't believable and the solving of it is anticlimactic.

There are a couple inappropriate scenes involving descriptions of physical intimacy that are easily skipped over.

This book isn't worth the time.  Try a different book by Deveraux if you're looking for a romantic mystery with a supernatural aspect.

A Christmas Garland by Anne Perry

This is one of Perry's Christmas mysteries.  They are much shorter than her usual books and aren't part of her book series.  They do usually deal with a fringe character from one of her two Victorian mystery series and an incident in their lives.

A Christmas Garland tells about Victor Narraway, a very young lieutenant in the British army in India after the gory rebellion and violent reprisals.  A medical orderly is accused of helping a prisoner escape by slaughtering a guard.  The prisoner had knowledge of a patrol and it's movements, and the patrol was ambushed and almost all the men killed.  The well-liked orderly is accused because he is the only soldier in the area whose movements aren't accounted for.  Narraway is assigned the impossible task of defending him and making sense of his crime.

There is discussion of very gruesome actions that occurred during the war, including the brutal slaying of women and children.

This is a great read.  Perry's books are always high quality.  It is quick and easy as well.  It is definitely worth the time.

The October List by Jeffery Deaver

I was very skeptical before I started this book, since it is billed as "a novel in reverse."  I really like Deaver, but I'm not usually a big fan of messing with the time line in stories.  It took a bit to really capture my interest, but it definitely did!

The book starts (ends) with a woman waiting to hear from her kidnap negotiators about her daughter, but when the door opens, the kidnapper comes in.  It goes backward from there.  One of the plot twists was very obvious to me right away, so I was worried that I would have no surprises and that made me enjoy the book less.  Luckily, Deaver had a couple more surprises in store, so I was still happily taken aback by a couple of last minute plot twists.

Spoiler Alert!  One of the big drawbacks of this story for me is that there are no good guys.  Maybe the police partners who play a very fringe role in the story, but mostly everyone is a bad guy doing bad things for their own gain.  It's nice to have someone to root for, and this book misses that.

There is swearing in this book, especially a large use of the f-word.  I don't remember Deaver using it so often before, but I found it very overdone in this particular book.

Since it is shorter than his usual, this book is worth the time.  I don't know if it would be if it was longer, though.  It is limited because of its structure, but the structure also makes it interesting if only for the novelty of it!

Wild Texas Rose by Jodi Thomas

Thomas writes romance novels, so this has the weaknesses- predictable plot, cheesy dialogue, descriptions of physical intimacy (although not beyond necking and petting), and the strengths- guaranteed happy ending, easy reading, lightly entertaining that are generally inherent in that genre.  Thomas usually overcomes the weaknesses better than she does in this particular novel.  It's really not very good.

Wild Texas Rose is on the surface the story of Rose MacMurray, part of the MacMurray clan that appears in many of Thomas's books.  Since she has already developed Rose's character and story so much in past books, though, this book is largely actually about three other romances that happen simultaneously.  Interesting things in the story are the inclusion of a Confederate soldier who volunteered as a Union soldier on the frontier after being taken captive and the discussion and desire of many Confederate members to continue the Confederacy in South America.

This book has inappropriate descriptions of physical interaction, but my policy is always just to skip it.  The dialogue tends to be dumb and non-essential and if you've read one, you've read them all.  This book does fall short of describing the actual sexual act and sticks to heavy kissing and petting.  (I think.  I skimmed just for this review, but I really do skip reading it!)

If you're looking for a fluffy romance of the historical variety, try one of Thomas's many other historical romances set in Texas.  This one is an easy read, but it still isn't worth the time.