Dracula by Bram Stoker

This was one creepy book! I could not read it while I was home alone in the evening. Then I realized that Boomer is really no match against a vampire anyway.

I found myself curious about vampires about a year ago, so I thought I would go to some primary source material to understand more about them. They are scary.

One of Boomer's friends unexpectedly came over one evening so I was sitting at the kitchen table with him while we waited for Boomer to come home. I told him that I was reading Dracula so we started talking about vampires. He said, "Remember, vampires can't come into your home unless you invite them in." And then I started wondering if Boomer's friend was actually a vampire and I had just invited him into my house, and then I started really hoping that Boomer would come home soon...and then remembered that Boomer could not protect me against a vampire anyway.

So if you want more information about vampires, I recommend Dracula. But be prepared to be creeped out.

Books, books, books.

Here are the latest books I've read with a short review.

A Sudden Light by Garth Stein
Written by the same author as The Art of Racing in the Rain (which I really liked), A Sudden Light is a dark coming-of-age story complete with ghosts and family secrets. A neat setting (outside of Seattle) and some interesting characters. I did like The Art of Racing in the Rain better though.

Everything is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer
My therapist recommended this book to me which was weird. Now I have an idea of what my therapist reads. Double weird. This book is about a man looking for the woman who saved his grandfather from the Nazis. The narrator is an English learner who seems like he uses a thesaurus to find the right words to use. The words are close, but not exactly the right words. Original in some ways, but to be honest, sometimes I just didn't get what was going on. But I pay my therapist too much to ask him what the heck this book was about. Hahaha.

The Paying Guests by Sarah Waters
It's 1922, after the war, and 26-year-old Frances and her mother are forced to take in some boarders when their finances are tight. I was deeply engrossed in this book. The only slight disappointment was the end. I thought that someone else needed to die (!).

Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty

Big Little Lies is about three mothers with kids at the same school. One mom seems perfect, another is trying to deal with her teenage daughter and ex-husband, and the last is a single mom looking to start anew. At the beginning of the story, we find out that there's been a death, but it takes the unfolding of the stories to figure out who it is that died and how. Throughout, there is the theme of the little and big lies that we tell ourselves and others about who we are and how we're doing.

I LOVED The Husband's Secret by Moriarty and was afraid that she would get stuck in the same formula. But no, this book was different from The Husband's Secret. Different, but not quite as good. Still, I read it in a couple of days and really liked it. It's definitely a runner-up to The Husband's Secret.

What I Know For Sure by Oprah Winfrey

Have you ever read O magazine?? At the back is a montly column written by Oprah titled "What I Know For Sure." In her column, she writes about life lessons about all sorts of topics. This is a collection of all of those columns.

This is a book to read slowly. It's full of life wisdom and encouragement to enjoy life and to become who you are meant to be.

If you are needing some positive energy in your life right now as the darkness of autumn falls upon us, I encourage you to check it out.