GONE GIRL by Gillian Flynn

                                                     
                                                                    FIVE STARS

                                                                         


WARNING: Be prepared to pull an all-nighter when you start this book.

I suppose this would come under the heading of psychological thriller, but I didn't know it when
I began to read. It took a couple of weird twists and I found myself in a clusterf**k that had me
biting my nails and talking out loud to myself.  "OH, NO!" "I DIDN'T SEE THAT COMING!"

The story involves a young couple who have been married for five years. They seemed like a golden
pair and have everything going for them. On their fifth anniversary, he came home to find the tea kettle dry and ready to catch fire on the stove, the iron was hot on the ironing board, the ottoman in the living room was upside down and his wife was missing.

That's all I can tell without a spoiler.

I heard that Ms Flynn was on The View on Thursday. I hate that I missed it. And the buzz is that
Reese Witherspoon has purchased the movie rights.

Read this book; you won't be sorry!

                                                                   

THE FOREVER MARRIAGE by Ann Bauer

                                                                   


 Several weeks ago I read THE FOREVER MARRIAGE by Ann Bauer, shown here with her daughter when they were in Ames earlier in the summer.

This is a powerful book and should be a must read for anyone whose marriage seems to have gone stale, or never had quite the zip one expected.

I  had trouble deciding what to tell without giving away spoilers, so I cut and pasted a few sentences from Ann's blog. She can tell you in her own words:

                                   
The Forever Marriage is about the union of two mismatched people: a quiet, thoughtful, self-effacing man and a brash, sexually-charged woman who wants more—no matter how much she has. They stumble into a lifetime commitment, and then parenthood, despite constant awkwardness and muddled communication. Their intimacy is marred from the beginning. Neither is satisfied. But for 20 years, they keep bumbling along.
It is not until the husband has died that the wife in my story can find and love and feel one with the man that he was.

Ann's style has been compared to that of Anne Tyler, Sue Miller and Elizabeth Berg.

It's not too late for another good book for the summer. Choose a day in which there are no obligations. You won't be able to put it down. An easy five stars!