A Perfect Match by Jodi Picoult
Like many of Picoult's books, this one is a bona fide page turner. But also like some of her other books, it left me feeling sort of empty. I've thought a lot about why this is and I think it's because her characters are so one dimensional. The plot is gripping and moves along rapidly, with some interesting usual twists and turns (some of them completely implausible), but the ending is way too tidy (and also implausible).
The central character, Nina, is a beautiful and brilliant lawyer who prosecutes child molesters. Knowing from experience how difficult it is to get a conviction in these cases, and the pain it inflicts on the victim, when her own child is molested, she goes to extreme lengths (murder of the priest she suspects) to protect him. She calculates that she can convince a jury she was temporarily insane and get an acquittal. When she discovers that the scientific evidence she thought proved the priest's guilt, in fact, proves him innocent (it's complicated), she desperately tries to make amends. All the while, Picoult wants us to believe that an intelligent woman who is deeply committed to her child would risk depriving that child of his mother (trauma on top of trauma). Moreover, although Nina is not a particularly likable character, all the characters around her seem to think she is close to perfect.

The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion
This is a really beautiful book. Joan Didion lost her husband and soul mate, the writer John Gregory Dunne, to a sudden heart attack at the same time that their daughter, Quintana, was fighting for her life in a New York hospital. Didion writes eloquently about her grief and confusion, but more than that this book is a love story. Throughout most of their 40 year marriage, she and Dunne lived and worked symbiotically, and to have him suddenly snatched away was almost like losing a part of her herself. Not only that, they lived fascinating lives, traveling all over the world and living the good life. In her work as a journalist (and novelist), Didion met and wrote about famous people in the arts as well as politics. She and her husband doted on Quintana, so the story of Quintana's strange illness and Didion's devotion to her is equally compelling. Quintana died shortly after this book was published, making it even more poignant. For all the sadness and tragedy upon which this book is built, I found it to be remarkably uplifting and inspiring.