Reading from Wednesday, December 17

Today I read from 378 - 402. Liz remeets Gwilanna, and they talk about getting her out of her Raven body. Arthur says they might have to wait a long while, and upon flying up to get a better view, Gwilanna sees that people are "migrating" toward the Pennykettle's house. The same thing is happening in the Arctic. The three bears reach a resting spot, and Ingavar asks Avrel to tell him a story. He is shown the story of how the ice was created, but his revelation is interrupted as a similar migration happens. There is a pulsing green line across the spot where they are standing. They are directly above the fire star, and all other polar bears are coming to witness it. Back at the monastery, Lucy is in the room of obsidian, and the monks tell her that she must create a dragon out of the obsidian for them - the Ix.

Reading from Monday, December 15

Today I read from page 356 - 377. Lucy wakes up in a courtyard and sees a black demon; her worst nightmare. When she wakes up she yet again sees Brother Bernard, but his eyes are no longer black and he is normal again. He explains that the Ix are here and are commingling with the humans in an effort to see how much power they can gain. As he explains the Ix's plans, Tam comes in and knocks him out and takes Lucy away. They get sidetracked and go into a church. All the color has drained from the walls and Lucy is taken over by the Ix and is shown a horrible vision. Some church men take her away to the room of obsidian saying "she is perfect".

Reading from Sunday, December 14

In the past few days I read from page 280 - 355. Lucy convinced Tam to take her to David's old house, but she is devastated when there is nothing there. The house numbers skip right over it. Along with that disappointment, Zanna is there too, waiting for her. She is about to take Lucy away from there and back home, but then Lucy sees a squirrel and chases after it, only to open a time rift that sends her somewhere. She opens her eyes to see a friend of hers from the church, but his eyes are pure black. Meanwhile, Tam and Zanna are trying to open up the rift. They call Arthur, who tells them how, and when they open it up Tam pushes ahead of Zanna and goes inside instead. She has no choice but to go back home. Up in the Arctic, the band of four sees a wooly mammoth and Kailar goes berserk. The Ix got into his mind and made him see his worst nightmare in place of the mammoth. This is where Avrel learns what will come of the earth. Ingavar also sends the sibyl back to the Pennykettle household to watch over his daughter, Alexa. Upon seeing the sibyl, Alexa recognizes her from her dream as her aunt Gwyneth.

Reading from Monday, December 8

Today I read from page 255 - 279. The bird returns and Avrel gets a history lesson about dragons. The Fain are a race that came to be with humans, and became one with them, but things went wrong. Humans retained a sense for greed on departure, and the Fain retained the human quality of aggression. A new breed of the Fain was born - they call themselves the Ix. The Ix now plan to create a dragon out of "Dark Fire" to destroy all dragons created from "The Fire Eternal". Basically, the Ix are planning an all out supernatural war the Ingavar has to stop.

Reading from Sunday, December 7

Today I read from page 151 - 254. Groyne decides to hide Gudrun under the cabinet, but the cat sees him and alerts Tam's girlfriend. She thinks that Tam is hiding it to give to her, and so she places Gudrun back on the table and Groyne into her bag to take back to the store. Zanna learns that Lucy has sold their family out to Tam, and Zanna "marks him" with Oomara. (I'm not exactly what Oomara is.) Meanwhile in the Arctic, Ingavar has tricked the Sea God Sedna. He gave her some fingers for she had none, and the only way she can figure out which ones are good and which ones shall destroy her is by seeing which 5 hit the bottom a slight second first. With her out of the way, the eye of Gawain in his possession, and a sibyl turned raven, Ingavar reveals that he is David Rain - Zanna's lost husband. Now the sibyl must lead them to the fire eternal.

Reading from Thursday, December 4

Today I read from page 77 - 150. In the north, the bear Kailar is needed to find a Raven trapped in ice, free his head and legs, and have him walk back to Ingavar's site. On the other hand, Ingavar and Avrel are interacting with the sea goddess Sedna in an effort to retrieve the eye of a dragon named Gawain. Back at the Pennykettle household, Groyne is elected to visit Tam's house and impersonate the dragon he bought named Gudrun. Groyne's special ability is shape-shifting, so this task is not as hard as it might seem. 

Reading from Monday, December 1

Today I read from pages 56 - 76. I learned of some bears living in the arctic. A legendary bear named Ingavar who can shape-shift took another bear Avrel under his wing as his Teller. I'm not sure exactly what that is, and Ingavar proved his greatness by bringing forth the sea goddess from her domain in the depths. Also, back at Lucy's house, the dragons, who are specially made by Liz with a special spirit so that they can live and perform special tasks when necessary, hear about Lucy's special dragon, Gwendolen, sneaking into Zanna's room to read her yearly letter to David. They now must figure out who Tam is, what Lucy has told him, and why she told him.

Reading from Saturday, November 29

Today I started "The Fire Eternal" by Chris d'Lacey and read pages 1 - 55. Lucy still can't deal with the death of her close friend David Rain. He had been living as a exchange student with her and her mother, Liz. Apparently, David was struck through the heart with an icicle. After a couple of years, Lucy just can't deal with it, and decides to tell a reporter the story and let it out to the world. I'm not yet sure what the story is though.

Reading from Friday, November 28

Today I read from page 198 - 306. Rick and his team finish up the season and head to the superbowl against the Bergamo Lions. Meanwhile, Livvy - Rick's new girlfriend - explores Italy even though her visa has run out, but she refuses to return to her divorcing parents and the horrible lifestyle she has back home. Back to football, the final game is tough, and the Panthers aren't sure if they will make it, but in the last couple of minutes Rick throws a 76 yard pass to Fabrizio in the end zone to finish the game with the Panther's in the lead. This concludes Playing for Pizza.

Reading from Thursday, November 27

Happy Thanksgiving!! Today I read from page 131 - 197. Rick meets the girl from the opera that he adored so much, and they get along well, but after a few days she is distraught for an unknown reason and flees back to her hometown of Florence. On the team, Sly, an american, leaves for home because he just can't put up with "it" anymore, and Trey, another american, gets a compound fracture and is out for the season. Now Rick is the only American left, but an Italian - Fabrizzio - steps up and, for a fee of 800 euros a month, rejoins the team after leaving it. They have lost the previous 2 games, but they win the next one with Fabrizzio 62 to 12. Things are looking better for Rick.

Reading from Sunday, November 23 and Monday, November 24

Today I read from page 113 - 130. The Parma Panthers have their first game against the Naples Bandits. They won 48 - 28, and Rick is starting to feel good again.

Reading from Friday, November 21 and Saturday, November 22

Today I read from page 87 - 112. Rick is forced to undergo the conditioning exercises along with the rest of the team, and he is angry. In the NFL, he never had to do any. He plans on talking to Coach Russo about it, but thinks otherwise. If he gets out of the drills, he'll look like a spoiled american footballer. He still can't decide. On a happier note, he comes to terms with driving a stick shift so he can now drive around wherever he wants.

Reading from Thursday, November 20

Today I read pages 23 - 86. To sum it all up, Rick gets a taste for Italian food and meets the some of the boys from the team. They get along very well, especially him and the two other players from the U.S.

Reading from Wednesday, November 19

Today I read from pages 13 - 22. Rick's agent Arnie sets him up with a team in Parma, Italy as the quarterback because the coach is an old schoolmate of his and wants an NFL player, no matter who he is. Meanwhile, Rick is preparing and leaving Cleveland without anyone knowing he is doing so.

Reading from Tuesday, November 18

I didn't get to read much today, only from page 1 - 12. Rick Dockery just lost the AFC title game for the Cleveland Browns. They were up 17 to 0, and he lost. He threw three bad passes resulting in 3 touchdown against them. Along with that, he got brutally sandwiched and is now in the hospital not remembering a thing - a good thing some say. Rick has been to 8 teams in 6 years, and is, according to a journalist, the worst athlete in the history of athlete-dom. He has nowhere else to go, so he sits in his hospital bed waiting for the pill to make him sleep, and he cries.

Reading from Monday, November 17

Today I read pages 567 - 754. The word of the Volturi's attack has spread, and many covens and nomads have gathered at the Cullens house to prepare. Bella learns that her power is called a "shield". Through practice, she learns to spread it over other people, but only very close people. While they wait, Bella pursues an address Alice secretly gave her. It leads her to a forger who makes fake IDs for Jacob and Renesmee in case they have to flee the attackers. In time, the army of 20 or so allied vampires wait in the clearing to intercept the Volturi. When they appear from behind the trees, Bella's anger flares and with it her strength. She is now able to control her power acutely, spreading it to mold over her allies and protect them. Jane, who inflicts mental pain, and Alec, who spreads a mental numbness through your body, are annoyed by the fact that their powers do not work against the shield. After a long, tense talk, they make peace with the Volturi and convince them of Renesmee's human-ness. Alice and Jasper return then to show another half human half vampire who is 150 years old. It shows the Volturi that, in the future, Renesmee will not be trouble. They make peace for now, and Edward, Bella, Renesmee, the other Cullens, and all their allied vampires can live in peace for the time being. This concludes Breaking Dawn and the Twilight Saga.

Reading from Sunday, November 16

Today I started Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer. I read pages 1 - 566. After tentatively agreeing marry Edward in return for immortality, Alice sets everything up. Everyone is called, everything is ready, and so they are married. For their honeymoon, the go to Isle Esme - an ocean getaway. Things turn sour when Bella and Edward get intimate with each other, but then it gets worse. Near the end of their stay, Bella becomes pregnant. Now new plans must be made. They get back and Rosalie takes Bella under her wing and protects her when Carlisle and Edward want an abortion. Things are going downhill for Bella, but then they realize that if the baby is half-vampire, it must want blood instead of food. They feed her a cup of donated human blood, and things become better remarkably quickly. In about a week, she gives birth, and dies in the process. Almost dies, Edward injects his venom into Bella's heart and bites all around her body to infect her with his vampire venom, and after about 2 days, Bella's heart stops beating. She has become a vampire. Strangely, she is not like a normal newborn, she can control her instincts enough to meet her half-human daughter in 2 days. Her daughter, Renesme, has the special ability to project pictures into someone's mind by touching them. Life proceeds as normal for vampires and werewolves, but then they are horrorstruck. While hunting with Jacob and Renesme, Bella sees Irina, the vampire who plotted against them, and Irina sees the child, the taboo. Having a child vampire was outlawed because of the threats it posed, and Irina takes this information to the Volturi. Alice sees this in her mind's eye, and she and Jasper leave the Cullen coven. Now all they can do is wait for the Volturi to come, and hope that they will pause for just a second to be reasoned with.

Reading from Saturday, November 15

Today I finished Eclipse by reading pages 314 - 629. The main part of this half of the book is the war. With some unexpected revelations, Bella discerns that James' mate, Victoria, is the one behind the young vampires coming to attack, and the only reason Alice can't foresee this is because, as of now, Victoria has no intentions of harming Bella. Time passes, Bella graduates, Alice throws a party, and then it is time. Bella and Edward go to camp out in the woods in hopes of evading the attack while the others tag team with the 10 werewolves to fend off the 18 or so young vampires. Unfortunately, this plan backfires. Without warning, Victoria and her right hand man show up to finish Bella off, but they are ready. Edward and a werewolf, Seth, are there for just this reason. After a gruesome fight, Edward and Seth win, and they set off to find the others. Jacob has been seriously hurt during the battle, basically shattering every bone in one side of his body, and Bella is extremely worried, but, thanks to his abnormally fast rate of healing, he is going to be fine very fast. After all this, Edward revokes the necessity to marry him before he turns Bella into a vampire, but she refuses this offer. She wants to make things right, so she sets off to tell her father. This concludes Eclipse.

Reading from Friday, November 14

Today I read from page 303 - 313. Alice tells the family and Bella of her visions. There have been many deaths from young vampires in Seattle, and Alice has seen them coming to fight them. Bella is shaken, but Alice still wishes to go along with the graduation party, and there is nothing Bella can do to stop her.

Reading from Thursday, November 13

Today I started Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer and read pages 1 - 302. All in all, it is a fairly slow first half. We learn a lot more about the processes of werewolves and vampires including their rivalry. We also learn more of the truce that the Cullens made so that they could live in peace in the same area as the werewolves. We also hear Jasper's vampire story. It started in Mexico with the vampire wars going on. 3 girl vampires decided to take him and change him so that they could use him to help take over territory. After all the fighting was over, he decided he couldn't live through mroe killing, so he met the Cullens and joined their "vegetarianism".

Reading from Wednesday, November 12

Today I read from page 191 - 563. After a while of Jacob induced happiness, Bella is struck dumb again. Jacob has completely lost the will to even talk with her, let alone be together. She goes back into her zombie-like state, but then, after forcing her to guess what is wrong, she learns that he is a werewolf - sworn enemy of vampires. During this time, Laurent returned with the intent to kill Bella, but Jacob and his 4 other wolves are there to stop and kill him. Unfortunately, Victoria is still after her, so most of Jacob's time is occupied with the hunt for her. During this alone time, Bella decides to go cliff diving. Somehow, Alice is there, sees her fall, and assumes she committed suicide. She alerts Rosalie, who in turn tells Edward. Distraught, Edward decides to go to Italy, seeking death through the vampire ruled city of Volturi. They refuse his blatant death wish, so he finds a way to upset them enough to kill him. Bella and Alice hear of this through Alice's ability and rush off to Italy to stop him. Bella is just able to stop him before he steps into the sunlight in front of a huge crowd to show off his sparkling skin. After a meet in their royal chambers, the Volturi let them go - Bella, Edward, and Alice. After returning home, Charlie is livid, but Bella manages to live through it because Edward and the Cullens have moved back. Unfortunately, Bella and Jacob can no longer be friends because she is spending to much time with the "bloodsuckers" a.k.a. vampires. Bella also makes the decision to become a vampire, and she wishes Edward to do the honors, but he will not do it until she has graduated from High School, so now she waits. This concludes New Moon.

Reading from Monday, November 10 and Tuesday, November 11

In the past two days I started the sequel to Twilight by reading from page 1 - 190. At the beginning, Bella celebrates her 18th birthday by going over to the Cullens for a party, which doesn't turn out well. She gets a paper cut, Jasper goes berserk, Edward saves her by pushing her out of the way into some crystal plates, which shatter, and she ends up in a pool of her own blood. the only one able to withstand the temptation is Dr. Carlisle Cullen, from his work at the hospital. He sews her up and gets her home safely. She is fine after the fact, but Edward and Jasper are very shaken up. This ultimately leads to the Cullen family needing to move away, leaving Bella in a shock. She walks around as a zombie for months, but then something awakens her, and she comes back into living. She realizes that Jacob Black, a boy from La Push, is the kind of friend she'd always wanted. They rebuild two motorcycles together, Bella watching as Jacob works, and try them out. The first two times Bella gets hurt, but she wants to continue because, as soon as she gets on the bike, she hears Edward's voice in her head, telling her that what she is about to do is stupid, reckless, and childish.

Reading for Sunday, November 9

Today I read from page 197 - 498. Life goes on as normal for a girl in love with a vampire. They exchange their personalities while going 100+ mph on the road to school every morning. (Edward has very good reflexes.) She meets his family, and they are all to happy to meet her. She learns that this family of vampires doesn't feast on humans. They survive on animals only. One day Alice, Edward's sister, foresees a thunderstorm because of her special power of futuresight. Jasper, Edward's brother, can change the feelings of those around him, and Edward can sense what people are thinking, although not Bella for some reason. They are all ecstatic because it gives them an excuse to play baseball. This is only possible in a storm because, since they are so abnormally strong, the sound of the ball hitting the bat is amazingly loud. While they play, another group of vampires comes upon them, as Alice also foresaw. They will abide by they law of not hunting in the town, but as the wind changes, one of the group of three catches a whiff of Bella's human scent. They scare him off, but Edward has seen his mind and knows that this man is a tracker. He chooses his prey carefully and will stop at nothing to get it. They do evasive action to get Bella out of town. They take her to Pheonix to keep in touch with her mom. She calls home to check on her mom, but only gets a message. Apparently this tracker is better than they thought, and has traced them to Pheonix, so they try to get on a plane to get out of town. At this time, however, Bella escapes and heads to the ballet hall where they have agreed to meet. She thought he had her mom hostage, and that is why she went alone, but he had bluffed in order to achieve her. He goes in for the attack and Bella faints. When she wakes up the Cullens have found her, and plan to help. She turns out find, and they all head back to Forks to resume the life they have been given.

Reading from Saturday, November 8

Today I read pages 1 - 196 in the book Twilight by Stephenie Meyer. It begins with a girl named Bella who is leaving her mother and stepfather in Pheonix to go and live with her father in the remote town of Forks, Washington, where it is almost always raining. Her first day of school is very strange to her because almost all of the guys at the school are attracted to her. No one ever even noticed her in Pheonix. At lunch time, she sees a group of 5 seemingly perfect humans sitting by themselves, and asks her best friend. She is told that they are the Cullens, a quiet family whose father, Carlisle, is a doctor at the local hospital. Sheh is completely smitten by one of them - Edward she is told later. The first day he acts very strange around her, almost pained, and she is greatly confused. He proceeds to not come to school for another week. Time progresses, and they eventually become friends in a strange way. She is absolutely smitten by him, and he by her although no one knows it. After a bit of folklore and searching the internet, she learns what he really is. When she finally asks him, her fears of confirmed. She is completely and totally in love with a vampire.

Other Reading from Friday, November 7

In addition to finishing "Presumed Innocent", I started and finished a book called "Eggs" by Jerry Spinelli. This is the story of a boy named David whose mother dies from slipping on a wet floor with no wet floor sign. Because of this, he carries around a little purple turtle as a memento of her and never breaks any rules. He even makes up his own rules to not break. Also, the day before she died she promised him that they would go see the sunrise together the next morning, so now he refuses to see the sun rise. At the time of his mother's death, he moved to live with his grandmother, who he resents greatly. His dad works in Connecticut --  a long way from where he now lives. He meets a girl named Primrose, whose mother is a "crackpot" palm reader. They form an unexpected and shaky friendship. Primrose is so annoyed by her mother that she sleeps in a car with no wheels in the driveway, which gets egged daily, just to escape her. Primrose shows David to a man named Refrigerator John, who has a bad leg but a hospitable attitude. To get money, Primrose searches peoples' trashes and sells things at the flea market.  They go on numerous adventures, including one to Philadelphia to discover the mystery of the "waving man". He just sits on the corner and waves at people passing by all day long. On the way, they encounter a dam where Primrose leads him to in order to watch the sunrise. At first he refuses, but then allows himself to see it, using Primrose as his motherly figure. They are found by the police soon after this moment, and they are brought back home where David's grandmother, David's father, Primrose's mother, and Refrigerator John are awaiting their safe arrival. Upon this moment David's father pledges to spend more time with him, and David also realizes that his grandmother wants the best for him. Everything seems right with the world, so they plan a party.

Reading from Friday, November 7

Today I read from pages 344 - 421. The lead on the B file is very promising, and it leads to a man named Leon Wells, who tells them the truth. That, in order to get out of a lawsuit, he bribed Carolyn and Larren Lyttle. Although this is very interesting, it is completely irrelevant because it is unnecessary to bring up in court. To end the state's testimonies, Rusty's psychologist, Dr. Miles Robinson, comes in. Not many questions are asked before he is taken out of the box, due to doctor-patient confidentiality issues. After this, Judge Larren Lyttle dismisses the case on the grounds of insufficient incriminatory evidence. In the end, we learn that Rusty's own wife was jealous about what was going on between Rusty and Carolyn, so she killed Carolyn. Rusty's fingerprints that were found at the scene were only for effect, not to incriminate him. Rusty figured this out on his own because the glass that was placed at the scene would make Carolyn's set 13, and Rusty's own set 11. He finally learns that the glass was in the possession of Lipranzer the whole time. It was hidden in his desk, but not for means of concealment. He had placed it there during the case, and no one cared to ask him about it. Rusty and his wife, Barbara, decide to take a break because Barbara got a job in Detroit, over 400 miles from their house. Nat is going to live with Barbara, and Rusty goes to visit regularly. He becomes the P.A. when Della Guardia loses the election. He still does not have a comfortable situation in his hometown, but it will make do, and he doesn't want to start over. This concludes Presumed Innocent by Scott Turow.

Reading from Thursday, November 6

Three more people testify in the my reading of page 306 - 343. Maurice Dickerman, a fingerprint expert, Ms. Maybell Beatrice, a civilian, and Dr. Tatsuo Kumagai, the autopsy doctor, are these people. All three lean toward the defense, Rusty's side. So much so that when the trial is over, Kumagai resigns. Lipranzer has also gotten a lead on the B file that Carolyn was working on, and after this trial day he and Rusty are going to check up on it.

Reading from Tuesday, November 4 to Wednesday, November 5

In the past two days I have read from page 272 - 305. Rusty's friend from the force -- Dan Lipranzer, testifies, and, accoriding to Rusty, it is the most damaging testimony to the defense, including Horgan. That night, Rusty and Lipranzer meet to discuss the missing file from Carolyn. Lip is reluctant to proceed, but Rusty pushes because he needs some dirt on Tommy Molto.

Reading from Monday, November 3

Today I read from page 258 - 271. Raymond Horgan, Rusty's old boss, is now testifying. Della Guardia, the prosecutor, brings to the attention of the jurors the fact that Rusty did not inform Horgan of his personal relationship with Carolyn, the woman whose murder he is currently investigating. During cross-examination, Sandy - Rusty's lawyer - brings to the attention the missing file that Horgan removed from Carolyn's office. No one else knew about this file, and Sandy brings up the topic of confidence in his workers. Sandy says that, if Horgan can place his confidence and rely on an ambitious young woman, how can he testify against a man who has worked for him for a dozen years without that same confidence in him. This hits hard with the jury and seems to give a point to the defense.

Reading from Sunday, November 2

Today I read from pages 204 - 257. Rusty still wants to investigate the missing file that Carolyn was looking at, especially now that he knows Tommy Molto was involved with it, and the only man he can get to help him is an old friend named Lipranzer. He is testifying against Rusty, not of his own free will, and he doesn't want to dig until his testimony is over with, for fear of what the consequences may be. Before the trial starts, Rusty and his lawyer realize that the glass from Carolyn's house -- the one with his fingerprints, the only thing that ties him to the scene -- has not yet been produced. Della Guardia realizes that they have lost the glass, and the evidence is falling apart. A particularly unruly testifier completely destroys an attempt of Della Guardia's to tilt the balance his way, and right now the verdict is looking good.

Reading from Thursday, October 30 through Saturday, November 1

Today I read from page 137 - 203. The battle between Nico Della Guardia and Raymond Horgan is done, with Horgan on the losing end, and with him stands Rusty. Normally, Horgan would have some time left in office before Dell Guardia would take over, but he decides to step down right away. After learning of this, Rusty is also told that he is the prime suspect for the murder of Carolyn Pholmeus. He finds this particularly absurd, and leaves the office raving. He hires a lawyer, and legal matters go on as normal. He is confused as to what to do with his son, but Nat seems to mature quickly, which helps ease Rusty's mind. This also brings Barbara closer to Rusty, to try and protect him, which is the one good aspect of it all.

Reading from Wednesday, October 29

Today I read from page 125 - 136. Election day is upon them, and the assumption is that Raymond shall lose. Things are coming to an end, but a lead has been found about Carolyn's missing file. In chapter 17 Rusty elaborates on the abrupt end he had with Carolyn.

Reading from Tuesday, October 28

Today I read from page 119 - 124. Rusty goes to one of his son Nat's tee ball games, which he loses, and, after that, they join Barbara -- Rusty's wife -- at a "local pancake house". She is still mad at him for taking up Carolyn's case, mainly because they were intimate. Rusty thinks about how they came together in the first place, and how that initial love could have taken such a wrong turn.

Reading from Monday, October 27

Today I read pages 109 - 118. Rust visits a different district, hoping to find something about the strange file or Carolyn's murder. Instead he leaves with nothing but the idea of finding a new job because he is almost certain Raymond will not win this election.

Reading from Friday, October 24 through Sunday, October 26

In the past three days, I have read from page 45 - 108. Rusty is still waiting for Raymond's final run for office. They're still in it, but things aren't looking good. He also figures out that Carolyn, the deceased, had a file that was unknown to him. It was about a sinful act committed by someone in Raymond's reign. Rusty also travels to see Carolyn's son, who tells him nothing of use. They get an accurate report from the pathologist, whose nickname is Painless, and aren't helped much by it, and the case is moving along at a very slow pace. Rusty also describes some of his secret times with Carolyn at night.

Reading from Wednesday, October 22 and Thursday, October 23

I didn't have much of a chance to read in the past two days, so I only read from page 39-45. Rusty and his wife talk about how Rusty is taking the case of Carolyn's murder. His wife becomes very angry, and after a long fight, he leaves the room and recedes to his son Nat's room to hide "beneath the protecting arms of spider man".

Reading from Tuesday, October 21

Today I read from pages 33-38. Not much is happening really. Rusty talks about Carolyn's overall dominance of his life. How he would always notice her, and she would oftentimes be staring at him. He then proceeds to talk about his son and the love they share for the spider-man comics. He mentions his wife's PhD program for mathematics, and how it surprised him, and how that surprise was taken by her as disapproval, which it was definitely not.

P.S. I am going to start posting my free reading 3-4 days a week instead of all seven because I don't have much time to read daily, but if combine days at a time, my entries will cover more ground and (hopefully) more interesting.

Reading from Monday, October 20

Today I read a surprisingly short amount, from pages 29-32. Rusty goes to see a psychiatrist, and he talks to him about his love for Carolyn, for he had a little crush on her. Someone named Raymond asked Rusty to be his partner in a case about a banker whose brother is a mobster and whose wife was being arrested on the charges of abusing her son. There was evidence that the mother had used a vice on the child's head and used a cigarette to burn a hole on his behind. The case was passed to Carolyn, and Rusty told himself he should take it too, so he did.

Reading from Sunday, October 19

Today I started a new book called "Presumed Innocent" by Scott Turow. I read from page 7-28. I find that it's really hard to go right into a new book after being immersed in a different one. The characters are just so different. Anyway, the main character, Rusty Sabich, is the Chief Deputy of the PD. A woman named Carolyn Pholhemus has just died, and the book starts with her funeral. He is in the car with a man running for local office against one of Rusty's old friends. It basically describes her funeral, and near the end Rusty talks about the pictures of her death, for he is investigating her murder.

Reading from Saturday, October 18

Today I finished The Client and read from pages 472-566. Barry "The Blade" Muldanno, seeks out his uncle for help recovering the body, and finally gets him to send 3 men over to the hiding place to dig him (Senator Boyette) out. This conflicts with Reggie's and Mark's plan because, as they are coming to see if the body really is there, the 3 boys are digging it out, and as Mark approaches the garage, he hears the sound of a chisel and realizes what is happening. He causes a commotion with the neighbors involving a rock and a window and gets the mafia men to leave. After many hours of hiding in the woods, he and Reggie look for the body, and it is right where Mark thought it would be...under the boat in Jerome's garage. Armed with knowledge, they set up a deal with the FBI to put Mark and his family into the witness protection program, and they are sent away to wherever they want on the government's private jet. The story is over, Mark and his family are safe, and the trial for the murder of the senator can go on swimmingly. The only downside is that Reggie and Mark are separated during the program, and they will never meet again.

Reading from Friday, October 17

Today I read from pages 347-471. It starts out with the juvenile court scene with Judge Roosevelt eating lunch in front of everyone. He allows Mr. Fink to testify, but after, Fink requests that Mark testify and his honor starts fuming. In the end, his honor agrees, but Mark takes the Fifth amendment even though it is N/A here because he is not being implicated in the murder. After this episode, Mark is yet again sent away for contempt. In the detention center, Mark feigns being in shock. He pulls it off easily because he was delivered a subpoena and is taken to the hospital where he escapes quite easily and contacts Reggie. She picks him up in Clint's car and they hit the road. It takes a while, but the FBI finally realize he's gone, and when they do, Reggie and Mark have already decided to head towards New Orleans, Jerome Clifford's house, and the body of Senator Boyd Boyette. 

Reading from Thursday, October 16

Today I read from page 288-346. It begins with two agents from the Memphis PD coming with a summons for Mark to be taken into custody, and then a private hearing about the events of Jerome's death. Dianne almost prevents him from leaving, but is knocked to the ground by one of the agents. The rest of the time Mark is being taken to the Detention facility, he pokes fun at the two agents calling them "meathead" many a time. Reggie, Mark's lawyer, is notified of the hearing exactly 56 minutes before it is planned to commence. Near the start, Mr. Thomas Fink, the petitioner, gets on the bad side of the judge by asking routine questions and forgetting to place his witness under oath. After his first witness, Mr. Fink himself asks to testify, and his honor thinks about it while enjoying his lunch. About half-way through eating, he tells Mr. Fink to stay seated, but that he may talk.

Reading from Wednesday, October 15

Today I read from page 270-289. Two major things happened. First, Dianne learns via the police that her house has been destroyed, and when Mark gets back to the hospital with Reggie after a comfortable night at her house with great food, she tells him. He stews over it for hours, and finally comes to the conclusion that it was arson. The other major thing was that some FBI agents, including the Deputy Director, and two U.S. attorneys go to the judge of the local Juvenile Court to file a petition to get young Mark Sway into custody and then into a hearing. After serious persuasion, the honorable colored judge Harry Roosevelt finally agrees. Stay tuned for the next installment!

P.S. I will away for the until late Sunday, so I will not get a chance to post my reading until then or Monday. Sorry!

My Free Reading

This blog will be about the books that I read casually in my free time. Right now I am in the middle of a book called The Client by John Grisham. I am on page 270, so a lot has happened so far. The main character, Mark, is an 11 year old boy who has smoked one or two cigarettes a day since he was nine, but one day his brother, Ricky, who is 9 years old catches him in the act. So now Mark must show Ricky how to do it unless he wants to get told on to their single mother, Dianne. During the process, a nice car pulls up near them and they see a man try to commit suicide. Mark stops him by taking the hose off the gas pipe, but after two or three times the man catches him. He brings inside the car for a little chat. He makes him touch tons of stuff including the whiskey and the pistol, and tells him that he is a lawyer for a person named Barry "The Blade" Muldanno, who just committed the murder of a U.S. senator. He knows where the most wanted body in the country is, and he just has to tell someone, so he tells Mark. After all this, Mark gets out of the car and is about to make a speedy getaway when the lawyer, Jerome Clifford, comes out of the car and shoots himself. This scares the two boys and makes them run towards home. Mark is a bit shaken by the experience, but Ricky goes into full-on shock. He has to be hospitalized for 3 days. All the while, the FBI thinks that Mark knows something, and they're determined to get it, but the mob is determined to keep him from telling. Mark retains a lawyer named Reggie Love who has been practicing law for all of 4 years for the fee of $1. She helps him squeeze out of a situation with the FBI, but if it goes to juvenile court, she might be unable to do anything. Meanwhile, Ricky has come out of his coma-like state and is trying to resume normal life, but must stay in the hospital for a while. They don't yet know it, but someone has just blown their house in the trailer park to smithereens, so they have nothing to go back to. Unless they wish to seek out Dianne's husband, who used to beat them daily, the kids and all, so that won't ever happen. Now I want to know what will happen to the law situation and Ricky's health. Tune in tomorrow for the next post!