Books

It is said that Anna (Annastasia) Cayne was born in a thunderstorm. A slightly spooky and complicated high school girl with a penchant for riddles, shortwave radios, Houdini tricks, and ghost stories, Anna spends much of her time writing obituaries for every living person in town. She is unlike anyone the narrator has ever been with, and they make an unlikely, though happy, pair.

A week before Valentine's Day, Anna disappears, leaving behind only a dress placed nearly near a hole in the frozen river, and a string of unanswered questions.

Desperate to find her, or at least to comprehend what happened and why, the narrator begins to reconstruct the past five months. And soon the fragments of curious events, intimate conversations, suspicious secrets, and peculiar letters (and the anonymous messages that continue to arrive) coalesce into haunting and surprising revelations that may implicate friends, relatives -- or even Anna herself.

A mesmerizing labyrinth of art, magic, and cryptic codes that sparks the imagination and teases the intellect, As Simple as Snow is a mind bending mystery, as well as a poignant and wise look at young love, loss, and family.

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An eccentric girl comes into the life of our narrator. She, through her mysterious means, turns his life upside down. How could this girl, so different from the rest, have such an impact? How could she burn an impression so deep into his soul?

Galloway had the narrator mesmerized by Anna, but he was not the only one. I, too, was fascinated by this character.

I am very impressed with the story and the writing. The situation is one which has me torn on my opinion of the author. I am torn between the idea that I would not want to read another book by him and that I cannot wait for him to write many more so I may read them all. The only reason I would not read his other writing is I would be afraid it would not be as original; not as good. It is an odd feeling, one I am not used to, to finish a book and be left with this strange appreciation for the author because of the work he completed. The book was not the best I have read, but Gregory Galloway took me in directions that are usually left untraveled in my literary adventures and for that I thank him.

Of course I have a few complaints with the book, more loose ends than anything; a few points with which I would like closure. Other than those, I really enjoyed this book. It is not often that I read something other than a mystery. Sure there was mystery wrapped up in this piece of fiction, but there was also much more.

...There's a whole world all around more interesting, wonderful, terrifying, mysterious, amazing than any novel ever written. Pay attention. Take a chance. Dare life. (p.19)

Buy As Simple as Snow $16.29

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Rabbit Redux by John Updike

The assumptions and obsessions that control our daily lives are explored in tantalizing detail by master novelist John Updike in this wise, witty, and sexy story. Harry Angstrom—known to all as Rabbit, one of America's most famous literary characters—finds his dreary life shattered by the infidelity of his wife, Janice. How he resolves or further complicates his problems makes for a novel of the first order.

Buy Rabbit Redux $10.50

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Writer Carl Granville -- down on his luck personally and professionally -- is approached one day by a hotshot publisher who says she'll pay him a startling amount of money to turn a top-secret diary into a novel. Gift from God or devlish trap? ... The conspiracy he gets tangled in plays on some seriously topical fears.

A starving author is asked to ghost write a political memoir and disguise it as fiction. He is given no details. He is, however, given a sizeable sum of money. Too good to be true? Well yeah, no one would read this book if there was an absense of conflict. What this young author does not anticipate though, is helping facilitate the most dangerous political scandal in the history of the United States.

I bought this book near when it was released in paperback nearly 6 years ago. It was not until I finally got enough of a recommendation from a friend that I got around to reading it. Surprisingly, it is not too often that anyone recommends books to me, though I wish they would (not that I don't have a big enough "to read" pile as it is).

Towards the end things get a little out of hand. Events seem a little too far-fetched in the interest of keeping some characters alive and making other characters less alive. It was a work of fiction, so I guess things like that are allowed, just not too often.

Gideon was a good book. It was a recommendation that I pass on. Protagonist Carl Granville is very likeable. Sometimes main characters are tough to follow; that was not the case in this book.

Buy Gideon $6.29

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