The Lincoln Lawyer by Michael Connelly
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I have never read anything by Michael Connelly before but my brother sent me a few books that he'd read and recommended that I give him a try. I chose "The Lincoln Lawyer" and was immediately hooked. It was very good. Not a lot of gore but enough detail to keep the bad characters bad and the suspense pulling at you. The Lincoln Lawyer has the good cops and bad cops (literally) and a main man who you can't help but like despite his personal charachter flaws. I was not able to figure out the answer to the nagging question that was key in the story and was really was surprised in the last 10 pages or so by the swift turn of events.


Connelly has an obvious knack for spinning a tale that is believable while keeping you turning the pages with curiosity about the answer that is just around the corner - then the next corner - then the next...

I look forward to the next book I read by Michael Connelly.

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The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Under normal circumstances I would have never chosen a book with this title but, as luck would have it, circumstances were not normal and I picked it up and gave it a second look. I figured that the price was sure right and all of the profits going for a great cause so ... why not.

I was very pleasantly surprised. I'd told a friend just after I started reading it that it was a hoot. But the story got much deeper. Although it is written with a big dose of humor and I did find myself chuckling I also cried and groaned as I read a very moving tale, all written as letters to, or from, Juliet by friends and perfect strangers.

A succesful author, in a bit of a slump, gets some extarordinary inspiration from a chance correspondence with Dawsey, who was requesting information on a book that had once belonged to Juliet and had her name and address inscribed in it. The letters begin to unfold the story of a community on Guernsey, an Island in the English Channel, during the German Occupation of WWII.

The Guernsey Literary an Potato Peel Pie Society is chalk full of quirky charachters (Islanders are always quirky - that's why they don't live on the main land in the first place) that are 100% believable. A fun read with enough depth to make you want to "think on it" for a day before starting something else!

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The Glass Castle

Janette, or Mountain Goat, as she is lovingly called by her father, begins her story at the beginning of her memory. As a small child her view of life is one of adventure – and that it is. Always moving because FBI operatives or the Gestapo were hot on their trail (which turned out to be bill collectors or the some branch of law enforcement) and living in very interesting places (sometimes abandoned buildings) was something that was normal. She grew up adapting to spontaneous travels to new towns, learning from her father about the land and the stars, and learning on her own new ways to find food, comfort and shelter in very unconventional ways. Both of her parents were intelligent but obviously common sense was not something either was endowed with. Her mother was, when she chose to work, a teacher – but more naturally a free spirit who obviously suffered from depression. And who wouldn’t be a little depressed with four young children and a very intelligent, alcoholic husband, who could never keep a job. As Jeanette gets older the family’s situation continues to deteriorate. As a teenager, the goal of escaping the dysfunction and poverty, that she could plainly see was not necessary, became a priority. Her story becomes one of personal strength and perseverance, dreams turned into reality. The ambition and fortitude with which she and her siblings develop and execute their plan to improve their life is incredible. You will enjoy some humorously told stories of childhood and some pathetic tales of kids being senselessly denied basic needs.
The Glass Castle, a memoir by Jeanette Walls, will prick your conscious but you will no doubt applaud Janette and her brother and sister for breaking the mold of dysfunction and creating a new way of life.

Great Day for a Thrift Day!

I was ecstatic when I saw these at a thrift store today. Not only do I love vintage books (well, vintage everything really) but it was a complete set with amazing color. I LOVE the two tone people at the bottom, and turns out there are actually some good stories inside. Double yes! And Christopher was pretty happy when he found a vintage leather chair and ottoman. So everyone was happy on the last day of summer break.

Jane Eyre

I remember loving this story when I read it in high school, but admit that when I picked it up to read again I remembered little. After finishing it now, I am pretty set in the idea that even though I still do love the story, I believe you can probably cut 100 pages of Mr Rochester's rants and Jane Eyre's subtle observations out and still have a very lovely tale. With that being said, I am super excited for the new movie and hope that it lives up to expectations. Thank you Goodreads for pushing the Jane Eyre Challenge on me - I am glad I read it again!

Sisters of the Quilt

Sisters of the Quilt

by Cindy Woodsmall

Sisters of the Quilt is a trilogy which includes “When the Heart Cries”, When the Morning Comes” and “When the Soul Mends”. Three very well written stories of a Hannah Lapp , a young woman brought up in the Old Order Amish community of Owl’s Perch, Pennsylvania. Maneuvering the confusion and trials of the teen age years can be difficult for any young girl but Hannah has the added pressure of her strict religious upbringing clashing with the less stern secular society that she is being drawn to. The boundaries drawn by her church and family are stretched to the breaking point by forbidden love, an unforgivable crime and the yearning of a young heart to know something of the despised “Englisher” world that lay just a short distance away. On one of the happiest days of her life, a brutal attack forces Hannah to search deeply in her heart for understanding, forgiveness and the strength to find her way in a new and terrifying world. Facing the consequences of someone else’s actions, Hannah struggles to follow the rules and beliefs that she was raised with while facing a situation that will never be understood by those she loves. As she confronts the toughest trial of her young life, she learns to trust her own feelings. She discovers how to be honest with herself and in doing so she learns that to withhold her deepest feelings from others, as she has been taught, can often lead to deep, sometimes devastating and irreparable misunderstandings. Hannah grows in this knowledge and finds the balance of respect for herself and for those that she loves so dearly and the ability to share her inner most thoughts.

Cindy Woodsmall’s compelling study of the Amish lifestyle will lead you to admire the commitment and devotion that these communities must practice in order to live in a world that is often uncaring and insensitive to those who hold very strongly to their religious convictions.

I would recomend this to all readers, including young adult.

The Help

The Help, by Kathryn Stockett , is a carefully crafted, humorously told account of the struggle in the hearts and minds of women of different races, trying to bridge the gap placed between them for generations before they were born. The Help, referring to the black women who were the paid to serve their white employers, attempts to capture the weight of the struggle and the strength of the love that grew between them and the white children that they basically raised. White children who would eventually become just like their parents, looking down, from the lofty heights of cultured society, on the black people that lived just over the tracks or across town. Well to do women, hiring “help”, to clean up their homes and the messes that they made of their children, while staying an arms distance out of the ugliness that happens behind the beautiful entrance of every perfectly kept , smiling family’s home.

The 1960’s was a tumultuous time in our country’s history, no more deeply felt than in the south where the age old struggle simmering between love and hate, white and black heated up to a full boil during the height of the civil rights movement. Stockett’s tale stirs the reader’s heart and conjures a gripping sense of loss, not for what is to come – but what has passed between countless babies and maids for centuries. The longing for the love that binds and that is needlessly stripped away by misunderstanding and ignorant beliefs passed shamelessly from one generation to the next.

The erratic mood of the nation gives an unlikely handful of women, separated by color but bound by ties of moral conviction, the opportunity tell the amazing stories of their stations in life. Taking the opportunity to rid themselves of the poison of bitterness that had tainted their hopes and dreams, a few black women, with the help of young, aspiring white journalist, Miss Skeeter, courageously join forces to make known the conflicting emotions that is carried by the women – The Help. Believable and emotional – mixed with a good dose of humor – The Help made me wanted to stand up and cheer when I read the last page. I hope that you will feel the same sense of victory, for the hearts of all women and pause to consider our equality with all people when you read this encouraging story full of heart ache, love, and the victorious hope of the courageous human spirit.

1000 White Women

I was invited to join a book club, and the book they were reading actually sounded interesting. Amazing right? My problem is that so many times book club books are filled with sex, violence, and downright depressing things. I care not to fill my free time reading about all of the horrors of this world and tend to stick towards the more pleasant things in life.

1000 White Women by Jim Fergus was what I was to read. I looked at the cover, read the back, was irritated at how small the print was (I am an extremely slow reader), but decided to give it a go. It is a historical fiction novel about the Cheyenne Indians taking 1000 white brides to help assimilate their culture into the white world in the 1860's. The idea was since in their culture the children grow up in the tribe of their mother, this would be a natural and more fluid transition and blend of the two people. The story follows one of the women that goes out west to marry one of the "savages" and her experiences along the way.

Some things in the story were a little far fetched, but hey, it's fiction. Overall it was a beautiful view into a world unlike our own and the story really allowed me to think about how things in this world have change tremendously - some for the better, some for the worse. What remains the same are human emotions and our connections to the things that are individually most important to us.

Favorite book of 2010

I love books. I love to read. I come by it naturally. My mother has been a member of Doubleday Book Club since 1957 so books have been a part of my life for as long as I can remember. I kept track of the books I read in 2010 and was surprised that I had read 17 (I don’t read much in the summer because I can’t read and garden at the same time). I will admit that some of my literary choices were quick reads, not to be compared with the likes of War and Peace or The Grapes Of Wrath - which might take me a couple of months to finish – but most were lighter and easier on my heart!
Of all the books I read last year my favorite was The Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford. In his debut novel, Ford takes his reader on a journey through the turmoil, chaos and confusion in the life of a young Chinese boy growing up in Seattle during the 1940’s. While young Henry Lee struggles with the desire to honor his parents and the yearning for a forbidden relationship the bombing of Pearl Harbor suddenly and severely limits his choices. This very poignant story explores the innocence of children who held captive by the constraints of their parents’ biases and the strength of their desire to attain something just beyond their reach.
I was first drawn into the story because I grew up in the Seattle area and was a little nostalgic. I fell in love with it because the story itself was simply - pure. The feelings and thoughts of the characters were full of insecurity, fear, questions, love and longing but most of all hope. The omission of sex, bad language and violence was a refreshing change, making Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet one of my new favorites! This is a book I would recommend to anyone, including younger readers.

The Red Tent

Mom gave this to me to read about 5 years ago, raving about how wonderful it was. I set it on the shelf with every intention of reading it, sometimes picking it up and looking, even starting it once or twice. However, it remained unread on my book shelf for years. Recently I was looking for something new to read. If you know me at all, I care to read more young adult-fantasy-feel-good stories. I really don't like to read about the seriousness of life. (We have to deal with that in real life enough as it is - why spend time reading about it?) But I picked up this one, finally, feeling ready to read it, and what a beautiful and compelling story.

If you haven't heard of The Red Tent, it is the (long and assumed) story of Dinah, Jacob, son of Issac's only daughter. She is mentioned in Genesis only briefly in chapter 34. It is the story of her violation by a prince and her brothers' vengeance on the prince and city. Although the story that unfolds follows Jacob throughout most of his life, it is a story of womanhood. Mothers, daughters, midwifes, and concubines. The Red Tent shows the beauty of women and how they deal with the sorrows and joys of life. It is a must read for every woman. I think I may have to give it another go when I have kids, I am sure it will mean something different from a mother's perspective. If you do choose to take this one on, read it along with the story of Jacob. It will help keep fact from fiction as well as giving a more vivid light to some of the more mundane chores of daily lives of his people.

It is beautiful and enchanting and definitely had me in tears. I think I need to go read some Roald Dahl now.