It's taken me entirely too long to finish up this last book and I have no plausible excuses except that I'm incredibly lazy. :-) That being said, on to the review!!
The Meaning of Night: A Confession was every bit the Victorian mystery that it proclaimed itself to be on the book cover. Chock full of suspense, romance, intrigue, and heartbreak! The only complaint that I can give is that it was a slooooow workup to the main "meat" of the story. For a book that's 695 pages long, it didn't get really interesting until around the 300 page mark. The first few pages started out with a BANG and then there was a lot of background information. A LOT. If you're looking for an epic length story that will provide you with enough detail to build your own model of Victorian England, then this book is most definitely for you.
The next book was highly recommended to me by the bestie. I'm sure you've seen the film version of it with Natalie Portman. It is of course Where the Heart Is by Billie Letts. If I remember correctly, it's about a young girl that gets knocked up and then has her baby in the town's Wal-Mart. That's all I remember. However, if Krystle is recommending it AND it was in Oprah's Book Club I'm sure I can't go wrong. :-)
Happy reading, everyone!!
PS I promise to be less lazy!
PSS Or at least I promise to try not to be so lazy. :-)