Outlander by Diana Gabaldon

Claire is transported to 1743 from post world War two. She begins to build a life and encounters a great number of the eras difficulties. The book kept my attention but didn't have me scrambling to find more reading time. Although a fun escape, I am not running to check out the next installment.

11/22/63 by Stephen King

How refreshing. After reading Under the Dome I was down on King but this novel was exceptional. A true beast and, perhaps, the 40 years of rolling around in his head crafted the piece beautifully. The novel follows a modern day high school teacher whom travels back in time to save Kennedy. Along the way he passes the preceding five years living in a very different, far simpler time. He falls in love with the era, the life and the people. i flew through the 900 plus pages and wished there was more. More King please!

"Hold Tight" by Harlan Coben

Light and frothy. This is a fine airplane read. You can skip fifty pages without missing too much. I had a difficult time caring about the characters but I did enjoy trying to figure out the "who" who done it. The story follows a doctor trying to find his teenage son and all the related trouble. Simultaneously, a man is killing women trying to protect his brother in law. Obviously, all the story are intertwined in the end. What kind of murder mystery could exist without the coincidental events. Fluffy. Good for fluffy reading situations. Beach read

"The Nasty Bits" by Anthony Bourdain

This was my first time reading a book written by Anthony Bourdain. For years I have been a fan of his television programs and was very excited to read his style of humor on paper. This is a book of short stories of all varieties. We get to see his experiences in Brazil, Vietnam, Singapore, as well as meet a fictional character trying to save a failing restaurant. All in all, though it took nearly a year to finish it, I found the book enjoyable. That said, not as enjoyable as the live programming I've come to appreciate.

"I Declare" by Joel Osteen

This was part two of a Christmas gift. I found the daily declarations as inspirational as his "You Can, You Will", which I read simultaneously. The specific statements the reader is guided to announce to the world are exciting, optimistic and self-fulfilling. As someone who seeks meditative releases in my life this book provided a short but concentrated thesis to start the morning and that simple concept to focus on through the day. Exactly what I was looking for. One can easily see the benefits of the declarations permeate their daily habits and manifest in the course of the 31 days. Reading these declarations will be a commonplace meditation for me from here on out.

"Gumption" by Nick Offerman

My friend who lent me this book warned me it was a somewhat verbose tribute to several of the author's heroes. That is quite accurate. Whereas I hoped to gain insights into American icons I felt more of a voyeur in the author's love affairs with the respective accomplishments of each subject. The author may very well have been striving for precisely that. Having read a number of presidential biographies and historically accurate takes on important moments in our nation's past (i.e. "team of rivals") I desired more flesh and less fellatio. Nick Offerman is someone I truly admire. I will still pick up another tome by him, I was just unfulfilled by this one.

"You Can, You Will" by Joel Osteen

This book was inspirational. I don't know how much credit I can give it for laying out a pathway to success but the sheer encouragement and motivational benefits of it make it a worthwhile read. It is firmly seated in a Christian theology so for those of a non judeo-Christian religion it may not be as resonant. Not only will I read this book again, I would give it as a gift.

"Under The Dome" by Stephen King

If one were to ask me, I would say Stephen King is my favorite author. After finishing "Under the Dome" I am not wavering in that opinion. However, it seemed to me that parts of the book were written by assistants or ghostwriters or some other person to help fill in the plot instead of by the master himself. This is a thoroughly compelling, broad and exhaustive book. "Under the Dome" shows us a small Maine town after a mysterious invisible barrier appears cutting them off from the rest of the world. Although brilliantly started, as the book trod onward I found that some of the characters to be unbelievably evil and insane and this prevented me from truly appreciating this book as much as I have his others. Still a huge fan of the Tommyknockers, the Gunslinger books, It, and many others, I didn't feel this book was up to the level I've come to expect from Stephen King. I speculate that perhaps, because of the breadth of this book, some of the characters and plot lines were not as fully fleshed out as I've come to expect from Stephen King. Maybe this would have been better served as a trilogy of smaller and more thoroughly reviewed novels. I will still look forward to reading more Stephen King but I will be less excited based singularly on the size of the book.