April Books

The Secret Garden - Author: Frances Hodgson Burnett

Someone at work received this for free at Union Station and passed it along to me.  I think I read it in high school but sometimes the classics are good to read again.  I remember the vague story but the details seemed different to me this time as I read it.  It was ok, but not as deep and dark as I thought it would be.

The Secret Life of Damian Spinelli - Author: Carolyn Hennesy

For any of you General Hospital fans out there you may recognize the name Damian Spinelli.  He is a character on the show.  In the past few months Damian and Diane Miller (another character) have been collaborating on a book.  This is that book.  It was actually published.  It's a compilation of detective stories.  It's quite cheesy and will not win any awards but it was a fun read.  Especially since I know the characters it was amusing for me.

Sweet Valley Confidential - 10 years later - Author:  Francine Pascal

I just can't get enough of the Wakefield twins.  I loved this series when I was younger and couldn't resist buying the newest book.  Again, no Pulitzer prizes here.  It was written with many "flashbacks" which made me wonder if she was just copying excerpts from her old books and inserting them into the new one, but I don't think so as some of the things that happened I don't think were in her original plan for the series.  Another nice light read that I finished in a 2 days.

Left Neglected - Author:  Lisa Genova

My boss recommended this book.  I had read a previous book by this author a couple of years ago titled 'Still Alice'.  That book was about a woman who has Alzheimer's and how she deteriorates.  I really liked it.  This one is about a woman who is on the go all the time.  An HR Executive at a Fortune  500 company, mother of 3, wife.  She is used to juggling all kinds of balls and multi-tasking like crazy.  She gets into a car accident and acquires this condition known as Left Neglected.  It's where she doesn't recognize anything on the left of her.  When she does her make-up, she only does the left side of her face, when she eats, it's only things on the left side of her plate.  She has to train herself to recognize and use her left side.  The story is about her rehabilitation and learning to live with her condition.  At first, she just wants to get back to her old ways.  I can relate to this because when I'm not feeling well, I think that I should be able to recover very quickly and get back to my old life right away without taking the time to fully recover or in the case of the woman in the book, learn to live with the new limitations.  I preferred Still Alice, but this was still an interesting read.