The Disapparation of James by Anne Ursu

Review in 20 Words or Less:

5 year old James mysteriously disappears at the circus, story of how family copes with the loss, really good book.

More on the Book:

There is not much more to say.  Five year old James disappears while chosen to go on stage at the circus.  He doesn't reappear at the end of the act.  The book focuses on the family's loss of their child’s strange and unexplainable vanishing act and their personal struggle during the days that follow without James.  It sounds like a very depressing book, but I found it interesting, and I read the entire book in one sitting.  The author does a great job of creating the setting, the flashbacks and flash-forward’s.  I really enjoyed it, and I am not one of those people who like to cry during a book (well sometimes during a good love story...)  I  was really surprised to see that not more people read this book on Amazon and rated it.  I wholeheartedly recommend this book.

Rating:

5 out of 5 Circus Clowns

Somewhere in Time by Richard Matheson

Review in 20 Words or Less:

Man falls for movie star from the past, travels back in time to win her love. All in his head?

More about the Book:

Richard Collier is a man with a fatal brain tumor who is diagnosed with a few months to live.  He decides to leave his home and see some of the world before he dies.  He happens upon the old Grand Hotel, and decides to stay the night.  While touring the hotel, he finds himself drawn to a picture of a movie star, Elise McKenna, from the late 1890s.  Through a series a coincidences (or maybe not), Richard decides he is destined to travel back to 1886 to be with Elise.

I honestly expected more from this book. After all, the author also has written I am Legend, and What Dreams May Come.   I found this book extremely hard to get into and it took me 3 weeks to read it!  (I usually read a book in a day or two.)  I found the method of time travel a stretch (I know.... isn't all time travel a stretch?) and I just couldn't get into the characters.  It was difficult to try to understand Richard's obsession with Elise, if anything, it just seemed kind of creepy.  However, I did enjoy the thought pervoking ending that kept me guessing....

Rating:

2.8 out of 5 Movie Stars