Trust No One by Harlen Coben: an intruging novel about a man who loses his wife only to find out that she might not really be gone after all.

Eight years ago, Dr. David Beck lost his wife Elizabeth when she was kidnapped from the cabin that they had gone to every year since they were teenagers. Ever since he’s been essentially just walking through his life in a daze, missing her every day and not moving on. Suddenly, out of the blue, he gets an e-mail containing references and phrases that only his wife would know. Who could send something like that? Could Elizabeth still be alive? If so, where has she been and why has she been hiding?

I enjoyed this book quite a lot. The characters were interesting (from his best friend - a lesbian fashion model who’s his sister’s domestic partner - to one of his patient’s drug dealing fater), the mystery puzzling, and the book was just generally well written, as you would expect from an Edgar winning author. I look forward to reading more of his books in the future.

Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez: considered one of the finest books of all time, this novel tells the story of an unrequited love that has lasted for half a century.

I’m not sure what it was, but for some reason, I just could not get into this book. The prose was gorgeous, the descriptions wonderful, but I just could not get past page twenty. I suspect that a lot of stuff that’s going on in my life is to blame, but since this is a BookCrossing book that needs to move on to others, I’m going to surrender and pass it on. I hope to try it again at a later date and see if I can’t finally get into it.

The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov: considered a modern classic by many, Bulgakov’s book is anti-Stalin, dealing with the Devil coming to spread havoc in 1930s Russia.

Since this book is so highly regarded, I really looked forward to reading it. Unfortuantely, I couldn’t get past the first couple of chapters. I read some reviews suggesting that a few of the translations out there are almost unreadable, so I’m just going to assume I got a bad one. Maybe I’ll give it a try again some time in the future.