Great Read: Jodi Picoult's Novels

I really enjoy reading. And, while I don't always make time to do it, since stumbling upon Jodi Picoult's My Sister's Keeper (before there was a movie), I've made it a point to read more. Actually, I'm not even sure that I've made it a point. Reading has sought me out. I just can't help but read more of her books because they just draw you in. I never want to put them down.

Picoult does a wonderful job of taking serious, often controversial subjects, and weaving a story the lets you truly see and feel things from every characters perspective. Even if you don't agree with a character's decisions/actions, somehow she let's you inside their minds and hearts to be able to empathize with the character and have some understanding. When you do agree, you feel their pain, happiness, struggle even deeper. The books are about families, communities, friends, hot button issues, love, pain, forgiveness and how all of those things intertwine together.

House Rules is the last book I've finished completely and may be the best one yet. I've read 10 her her 17 novels and am in the middle of my 11th, Second Glance (all read in one year). My goal is to finish them all by then end of 2010. Second Glance was a little slower to get going for me, but now that I'm about halfway into it, I'm really enjoying it.

Another thing that I like about Jodi Picoult is that she seems like a very humble, grateful and real person. It's refreshing to see someone with so much success without the huge ego that sometimes comes with it.

Go to www.jodipicoult.com right now and read more about Jodi and her great novels. We may not be talking about classic literature here, but we are talking about masterful storytelling that will keep you engaged every step of the way and leave you yearning for another great story.

Here's what some other people have said about her writing (from www.jodipicoult.com)

“Picoult is a skilled wordsmith, and she beautifully creates situations that not only provoke the mind but touch the flawed souls in all of us.”

— Boston Globe

“Turning the pages, all you’ll care about is what happens next. That’s the mark of pretty much every Jodi Picoult book, and it’s the reason she keeps topping best-seller lists.”

—San Antonio Express News

“Ms. Picoult has carved her own niche with her novels – one part romance, one part courtroom thriller, two parts social commentary.”

—Dallas Morning News

“Beginning with her first book… Picoult has refused to sweat the small stuff. She's concerned with love and truth, the blurry boundary lines implied by both. She forces the reader to look, however uncomfortable the experience might be, at complacent people who discover, much too late, the sad disparity between what they thought they knew and what they know now.”

— Orlando Sentinel Tribune