More Twisted, by Jeffery Deaver (2006)
It is difficult to complain about surprise plot twists without making the review a spoiler, but I am going to attempt it. For those of you who don't want to read anything that would even hint at what the twists are, I will say this: Twisted was better. Anyone willing to risk knowing a little too much, continue on to the next paragraph.
Here is my primary complaint: These stories are built around Big Plot Twists and surprises, but sometimes the twist doesn't make sense. In one story, an exact time of day plays a role--but there wouldn't have been any way to predict that time of day, or for anyone to know what it was in advance. In other stories, there's a huge build-up to the twist, an increasing tension of "But WHY??"--and then the reason is weak. Instead of finishing each story with amazed eyes and pounding heart, I often finished it thinking it had been a waste of the tension.
A nitpick: one story calls a character both "Gordon Wallace" and "Wallace Gordon." How did no one catch that before publication?
I guess I could have stuck to my original extra-careful review: Twisted was better. More Twisted is fine, but flawed. I still recommend it for Jeffery Deaver fans like me, but I think you should be warned that it will not be as satisfying as usual.
I Feel Bad About My Neck: And Other Thoughts On Being A Woman, by Nora Ephron (2006)
I liked the parts where she complained about aging or talked about the various ways to shore it up: hair color, skin care, clothing, surgery, etc. I lost interest when she started complaining about how many tens of thousands of dollars per month her apartment cost to rent. I loved her "What I Wish I'd Known" list and the last chapter. I loved the title and the author photo (she's hiding her neck) and the whole concept for the book. I think the main problem was that she didn't have enough material for her concept, and so had to branch out into other, non-related materials. The other materials were fine, but they had nothing to do with thoughts on being a woman.
Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic, by Alison Bechdel (2006)
I was so certain I'd like this book, I put it on my Christmas list based on a pair of excerpt illustrations I saw in a review. And I was right: I loved it.
Normally, I don't like graphic novels. I think of myself as liking them, but then I don't. What I like are very specific graphic novels: this one, and probably there are a few select others I haven't yet found because I can't stand to dig through the heaps and heaps of ones I don't like. Fun Home reminded me of Lynda Barry's work, which I love beyond reason but with good reason. They're both "comic strips," I guess, but they also aren't. It's a particular fusion of text and pictures that...well, I can't explain it. It's just different, and if you like Fun Home and/or Lynda Barry, and you know the kind of thing I mean, and you know where I can find more, I wish you would email me and tell me.