The Borrower: A Novel by Rebecca Makkai

As a future librarian, this book was cute cute cute! I gobbled it up in three days (including one plane ride to Minnesota). It is about a Missouri librarian named Lucy and her kidnapping/being kidnapped by a ten-year-old boy named Ian. His overbearing mother limits what books he can check out to the point that he acts out in frustration. This leads Lucy to help him smuggle some contraband books home (while checking them out to him on her account). One Sunday, she goes to work and finds that Ian had spent the night there and hopes to run away. Their adventure begins with Ian directing Lucy to drive him home, but as his directions progress, Lucy realizes that they are not going to his house. Instead, they keep driving and run into many situations along the way, including Lucy finding out the truth about her father's past and Ian panhandling for money. The book turned into a great way to pass the time and a way to live out a librarian "fantasy"...although not all librarians have it. :)

The Mercy Room by Gilles Rozier

The Mercy Room is about an unnamed and ungendered character during World War II in France. The main character's name is never said or revealed in any way, nor is their gender (but there are enough clues to make the character a woman, as they marry a man named Jude). What is the "mercy room" is initially a small room in a cellar meant for the character's storing of books. They go there to read and enjoy the quiet. While at work, the character meets and ends up smuggling in a Jew named Herman. The reader knows of the character's infatuation with Herman and is a main motivating reason why the character protects him. Herman stays in the mercy room, and the two together make him a mattress from repurposed materials. During this time of the character protecting, feeding, and educating (and learning from) Herman, he falls in love with her. After two years of hiding in the cellar, Herman becomes quite restless (also because of the body they must bury in the mercy room) so the character must help him escape out of the mercy room without being suspected of being a Jew. I'm not a big fan of history, particularly anything militaryish, but it was an interesting read to find out where the love story would end.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson

Oh. My. Gosh. This book was initially so slow...I almost quit after the first chapter because I couldn't figure out what the heck was going on! And then I read the second chapter and absolutely loved the character of Lisbeth. The book is a little rough going (speaking as an American) because the author is Swedish and it's set in Sweden, so is full of Swedish names and places. Characters are not referred to by the same name through the whole book--one character even had three different names! That slowed me down a little bit, but the book definitely sucked me in. It's very carefully crafted.

It's about Mikael, a journalist who works for Millennium magazine (thus why it's called the Millennium trilogy), and his story on Hans-Erik Wennerstrom. It ends up that all of the information he had gotten for the story was fake and he ends up being framed and sentenced to a three month term in jail. In the meantime, Henrik Varner has Lisbeth Salander research Mikael because he is wanting the forty year old mystery of Harriet Varner's (his niece) death solved. He ends up hiring Mikael and he stumbles into old family secrets while trying to discover Harriet's murderer. Eventually, he and Lisbeth team up together and solve it, and it is an incredible read.

Right now I am waiting for The Girl Who Played with Fire to be returned at the library so I can continue the series!

The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho

This book reminds me an awful lot of Who Moved My Cheese? by Dr. Spencer Johnson. The Alchemist is about a shepherd, Santiago, and his mission to fulfill his Personal Legend. He first learns of his Personal Legend through dreams about the Pyramids. He meets a gypsy woman, an old king, a crystal shop owner, his love, and the alchemist. Each help him on his journey to fulfill his Personal Legend. Bear in mind, though, Santiago is not sure what his Personal Legend is; all he knows is that he must achieve it. Coelho interweaves Biblical references and speaks about God and also New Age/Wiccan beliefs of sand, wind, sun, etc. Nevertheless, the one thing that the author wants the reader to take away at the end of this book is that it should not just be the treasure found (fulfilling your Personal Legend), but the journey to accomplish it is where you learn about yourself and the people that help you on your way.

Things I Wish I'd Known Before We Got Married by Gary Chapman

Gary Chapman has done it again. The author of The Five Love Languages provides insight on how to start a marriage a little less rocky than his. He refers to his previous work, and even gives synoposes of them. Each chapter ends with questions to discussion with your significant other, and they would certainly open the door to great dialogue and hopefully a meeting of the minds. His Bible/God/Christianity references are minimal (aside from a chapter on church and spirituality), in case anyone is concerned about that. Also included is an appendix for the serious dating couple and a list of questions devoted strictly to them. It is obvious that this book can be utilized at any stage of a marriage, but is especially meant to enable pre-marital chats about things that are too often glossed over or just "assumed," like who cleans the toilet and other chores. The money management chapter is extensive, and rightfully so, since a majority of couples' arguments are over money. This book goes over many aspects in a very straightforward manner, and has questions I will certainly discuss with my S.O.