Jennifer Lane Books Blog

My book club chose a wonderful read for June: The Rosie Project . Here's my review: The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion My rating: 5 of 5 stars A Man with Asperger's Delightful Journey to Love Books like these make me appreciate my book club even more because I probably wouldn't have tried it without my friend Colby picking it this month. Don Tillman is a 39-year-old genetics professor in Australia who knows he is socially inept but doesn't know he has a raging case of Autism Spectrum Disorder. He would like to date but his difficulties with emotions and subtleties of interactions have made that difficult. Being the scientist he is, he decides to write a questionnaire for potential partners he dubs "The Wife Project". He believes his data driven approach will weed out unsuitable candidates. He's friends with a married psychologist couple, Gene and Claudia, and they try to help him sort out these puzzling social interactions. Sadly, Gene and C...

Happy Thanksgiving, Americans! Any vegetarians out there? I saw this fake ad for organic, free-range tofurkey on Conan and busted a gut laughing: I'm thankful to all my readers. The fact that people actually use their precious time to read my words means so much to me. Last weekend I hosted my third book signing in Columbus, at my favorite wine shop. Thank you to friends for stopping by to support me! It was great hanging out with friends from: * Book Club * My current psychologist job * My former psychologist job * Swimming  The Blocked cover cookies aka shirtless man cookies were a big hit. Thank you to Eric and Poodle for the flowers! Hope you have a happy Thanksgiving. Outside the US, happy almost Friday. :-)

The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt My rating: 4 of 5 stars The Development of a Criminal...The Development of a Good Man? What a fascinating psychological study! This epic story begins when Theo Decker is 13 years old and ends when he's twice that age. Wow, does the author torture him in this story. What does not kill us, makes us stronger? I'm not so sure that's true in this case. Tragic events weaken Theo and it's unclear if he will ever regain his strength. Theo lives with his mother in New York City after his alcoholic father abandoned them. His beautiful, fun mother has to take him to a late morning disciplinary meeting at school, so they stop in an art museum on the way. Then a terrorist's bomb explodes. The blast rips Theo's life apart when it kills his mother. In the ensuing surreal melee, a dying man insists Theo take "The Goldfinch": a famous painting. The painting haunts Theo for the rest of the story just like the story has haunted me....