Me Before You

Me Before You by JoJo Moyes, 369 pages

Will Traynor is a 30-something yuppie brimming with life. He works hard, buying and selling companies (usually for a six-digit profit); he plays hard, climbing Kilimanjaro and scuba diving when he goes on vacation. Or at least he does in the prologue. By the time chapter 1 has started, Will has been in a horrible accident and is now a quadriplegic confined to a wheelchair and only able to move the fingers of one hand, which is how our narrator, small-town stuck-in-a-rut girl Louisa "Lou" Clark, finds him when Will's mom hires her to be his companion.

Based on that description, I wouldn't blame you if you assumed that this would be a heartbreaking read. And to a degree, you'd be right. However, it's also heartwarming and hilarious. Will and Lou share an acerbic sense of humor, and it shines through as they get to know each other. This is easily the funniest book you'll ever read about quadriplegia. I warn you though... you'll cry too. Probably a lot. But it's worth it and it's fantastic.

The Murder Room

The Murder Room, PD James, 415 pages

      I can't believe I have never read PD James before now. Perhaps I wasn't ready, but wow can she write a suspenseful mystery! In the last year or so, I have become enamored of British mysteries. This may have something to do with enjoying Masterpiece Mystery on PBS as well as other BBC mysteries that are floating around Netflix.  I just find the writing to be a little better, the narratives more twisted, and the characters more engaging.
       The Murder Room is number 12 in a series of novels centered around Adam Dalgleish; a poet, a detective, and a very private man.  James masterfully takes her time in setting up the crime, and it took at least a hundred pages before anything major happens. I was most surprised by her eloquent use of language; most of her characters are well spoken, and her description of their habits and of the landscape around them made the book worth reading regardless of the mystery. The story may not be as modern or gritty as people may be used to when reading mystery, and I don't feel that it takes anything away from it. Sometimes its refreshing to read a book where cursing, sex, and graphic violence aren't what keeps the reader turning pages.