House Rules by Jodie Picoult.✔✔✔✔

I must have been ready for a page-turner, because I just swallowed this book up, thinking all the while about both Darren Bates of KL and David's client, Leslie from London, who knew all the important dates in our family's life, including Betty, Helen and Malcolm's, and recited them off to me when I first met him. Some years ago I read "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time", about an autistic boy who sets out to solve a murder, and it was probably better-written, but this one was more entertaining. Picoult definitely has a formula to her books, but the formula works, and she writes well, with extremely detailed research.

I copied and pasted the following description and review, simply because I was lazy....

"They tell me I'm lucky to have a son who's so verbal, who is blisteringly intelligent, who can take apart the broken microwave and have it working again an hour later. They think there is no greater hell than having a son who is locked in his own world, unaware that there's a wider one to explore. But try having a son who is locked in his own world, and still wants to make a connection. A son who tries to be like everyone else, but truly doesn't know how. "

Jacob Hunt is a teenage boy with Asperger's syndrome. He's hopeless at reading social cues or expressing himself well to others, and like many kids with AS, Jacob has a special focus on one subject -- in his case, forensic analysis. He's always showing up at crime scenes, thanks to the police scanner he keeps in his room, and telling the cops what they need to do...and he's usually right. But then his town is rocked by a terrible murder and, for a change, the police come to Jacob with questions. All of the hallmark behaviors of Asperger's -- not looking someone in the eye, stimulatory tics and twitches, flat affect -- can look a lot like guilt to law enforcement personnel. Suddenly, Jacob and his family, who only want to fit in, feel the spotlight shining directly on them. For his mother, Emma, it's a brutal reminder of the intolerance and misunderstanding that always threaten her family. For his brother, Theo, it's another indication of why nothing is normal because of Jacob. And over this small family the soul-searing question looms: Did Jacob commit murder?Emotionally powerful from beginning to end, House Rules looks at what it means to be different in our society, how autism affects a family, and how our legal system works well for people who communicate a certain way -- and fails those who don't.

Elizabeth by Randy Taraborelli.✔✔✔

As a young teenager, I was a star-struck movie actress fan, and Elizabeth Taylor was one of my favorites, probably because of the movie Giant, which I absolutely adored. Any meagre allowance I ever received as a kid was saved so I could buy Photoplay magazine or Modern Screen; I read these avidly and with awe at the life styles of the rich and famous.

I remember when ET divorced Michael Wilding and married Mike Todd, then the devastation she endured when Mike Todd was killed in a plane crash. This was all big news back then, with many, many photos and stories to tease the appetite. I followed her antics with Richard Burton less closely because I was at university by then, and busy with my own antics, but I do remember wondering why she had ever married Eddie Fisher, and also thinking that Richard Burton, a very strong individual, was more suited to her. Her succeeding marriages were of less interest, because by then I was mature enough to wonder why she kept marrying these men! She was the one with all the money, after all. ( In 1994 her NET worth was $650 million)

So reading this unauthorized bio was sort of a nostalgic journey for me because much of the material was well-known to me. I did not know much about her childhood, other than the fact that her mother, Sara, was the original "stage mother", a role she played right up to her death at age 99. I did wonder why Elizabeth had these numerous, debilitating illnesses and accidents - the author lists them at one point, and it's absolutely incredible how just about everything that came her way came with a high degree of intensity - brain tumor, broken hip(2x),alcoholism, drug dependency, weight issues, acute pneumonia,hip replacements, etc. Burton maintained that she thrived on her illnesses, yet she did recover from all of them, and she shows no sign of giving in to herself. The author suggests that her illnesses were a way for her to take control of her life - especially as a young actress under contract, an illness was her only way of getting out of doing movies she didn't want to make. But how can you plan such things? Myself, I think she was just a high-maintenance person: everything was done to extremes.

The author is very kind to her - he doesn't sugar-coat too much but he does make excuses for her a lot of the time.It was well-written and an interesting diversion for me, plus a trip into my own past!