Leaving Gee's Bend

Leaving Gee's Bend by Irene Latham is a wonderful feel-good novel that I enjoyed reading last night. It was also an incredibly quick read, moving swiftly through a very short time span.

Ludelphia Bennett's mother is almost ready to have a baby when the book begins, but is plagued by a persistent cough and is not feeling well. When she goes into labor unexpectedly it is Ludelphia and her friend, Etta Mae, who help and deliver a baby girl -a sister for Ludelphia that she names Rose. However, Ludelphia's mother appears to be getting sicker and no one in Gee's Bend has a remedy that will help her. Desperate, Ludelphia sets out for Camden, a town forty miles away, to try and find a doctor who will help her and come back to care for her mother. What she gets is more than she bargained for. She is taken in by Mrs. Cobb, whose husband is overseer of the sharecropping community of Gee's Bend, and who is out to prove that Etta Mae is a witch because Mrs. Cobb's niece, Sarah, who was under Etta's care died. Mrs. Cobb is planning on calling in on all the debts the sharecroppers owe her, giving Ludelphia one more thing to try and overcome. While in Camden Ludelphia gets a taste of the big world - taking her first car ride, drinking Coca Cola, and seeing fancy houses, yet she is quick to realize how wonderful the world of Gee's Bend is, and how much she wants to go back.

This book has an ending I was happy with - giving me a nice, warm, fuzzy feeling....maybe painting a more rosy picture than reality in Gee's Bend (my only criticism of this book), but leaving me with a smile on my face.

After visiting Latham's website, I am excited to find that she has another book already in the works that I will be looking for when it is published.

It's Friday! Time forthe Book Blogger Hop hosted by Jen at Crazy For Books.

I've found some great blogs already. Last week I hopped on over and have been enjoying the following blogs:

A Blog About Nothing

Tell Me A Story

Ramblings of a Librarian Assistant

Library Cat's Book List: Reading In Nine Lives

Holocaust Resources

Mommy's Reading

I wonder which blogs I will discover today!

Wendy Mass

Today was our annual 5th grade author visit at the local public library. I am so glad that these past few years my principal has allowed me to attend this event, too. After all, isn't promoting literacy a part of my job? And what is more inspiring than seeing a real live author?

This year, Wendy Mass, author of Eleven Birthdays, Every Soul a Star, a Mango-Shaped Space, among several other books, was the visiting author. I always love to hear how authors got their start...maybe it's because I secretly (or not so secretly) would love to write a book myself and am always fascinated by the different ways authors are able to achieve success at this. I also enjoy having my picture taken with the author as well....a celebrity! In this picture is Wendy Mass in the middle. I am on the left, and my student teacher is on the right. Mass did a great job of answering students' questions about her books as well as sharing her path to becoming a published author. Inspiring.

I actually own several of Mass' books, and meeting her has made me want to move them to the top of my TBR pile.

Visit Wendy Mass' website.

Legacy of a False Promise

Margaret Fuchs Singer grew up in the 1940s and 50s, learning at the age of thirteen that her parents had once been Communists. The 1950s were marked by the McCarthy hearings and a time in our country's history when there was a great deal of publicity about the threat of communism and "reds." When Singer's father was called to testify and was publicly announced as a Communist, her life and childhood changed.

Researching her parents involvement in the Communist party and discovering for herself how things unfolded in the 1950s became Singer's quest as an adult. It was important for her to find out what her parents went through and to make her peace with the decisions her parents made.

Writing their story was cathartic for Singer, a part of the process of accepting her past.

Singer's story begins when she finds out her parents were a part of the Communist party. She includes photographs, newspaper headings, and transcripts from different articles within the first portion of the book. The second section gives more background - both of her parents' upbringings and where they came from, of course, affect the decisions they made in their adult life. The stress that her parents were under during Singer's early adolescence affected her ability to develop relationships with other people. Finding out that her father testified and named names of other Communists was one part of her history that was hard for Singer to accept. Yet, she was able to find some comfort in the fact that her father was an exceedingly honest man, a quality that was visible in many other aspects of his life.

I have always been fascinated by the McCarthy era, yet have not read many books set during that time period. Singer's story is interesting because it comes from the perspective of someone who was directly involved in this event in history. While Communism created a huge panic in the 1950s, the time that has elapsed since then has given us the benefit of seeing how our country has progressed. Singer's book shows us how intelligent, articulate Americans may have chosen to be a part of the Communist movement for a time.

Review copy received from Fass Publishing

Visit Singer's website

Waiting on Wednesday

Waiting on Wednesday is hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine.

For the last two summers I have enjoyed Julie Kramer's mystery series which includes Missing Mark and Stalking Susan. This summer Kramer's third book Silencing Sam is out on June 22, 2010. I'll be looking forward to reading it, too.

From Julie Kramer's website:

In this town, gossip kills... When a widely despised gossip columnist is found shot to death, TV reporter Riley Spartz must secretly investigate a case in which she becomes the prime suspect. Amid murder, our heroine discovers news and gossip have more in common than she ever imagined. Trouble begins when Riley publicly clashes with newspaper gossip writer Sam Pierce, throwing a drink in his face, after he implies in his 'Piercing Eyes' column that she cheated on her dead husband. When clues to the rumormonger's homicide lead to her, Riley is charged with the crime. The police seem unwilling to look any further for perpetrators though numerous local news makers have reason for revenge - even motive for murder. Meanwhile, competition between journalists increases with newsrooms facing financial meltdowns. While Riley struggles to interest her boss in a story about rural wind farm bombings and dead bats, a new Channel 3 reporter spikes the station ratings with exclusive stories about the headless homicide of an unknown woman whose decapitated body is found in a city park. Riley must fight to stay out of jail, ahead in the ratings, and even alive in a killer showdown not fit for television audiences.

You can also read an excerpt of Silencing Sam on Kramer's website.

Teaser Tuesday

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:
Grab your current read
Open to a random page
Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

"It was exactly as she'd suspected ever since the night Uncle Vinnie (who wasn't really her uncle) had pulled her out of Uncle Eddie's kitchen and informed her that boarding school would be a lot like prison (which, ironically, was exactly where Vinnie had been before showing up on Uncle Eddie's front stoop that very night.
"Kat had listened to him with a clarity that suited Uncle Eddie's great-niece. She didn't let it scare her. She just analyzed all the angles and came to the conclusion that Uncle Vinnie was exactly right, and she essentially had two options: Colgan now or jail later (93)."

Heisty Society by Ally Carter

OK. So I cheated and added a few more sentences....this one is a bit more suspenseful and less chick-lit-ish than I thought.

For Keeps

I have been hearing a lot about Natasha Friend's For Keeps and am lucky enough to have scored it on a recent library visit. Last night I read almost the entire book in one sitting, finishing it up before I left for school this morning.

Josie is sixteen, her mother Kate is just thirty three, having had Josie while still in high school. Josie doesn't know her dad - she's never met him, and her mother has told her the story of their break-up and how Josie's father, Paul, moved away to Arizona, the two never talking again. Mother and daughter are best friends, having grown up together, and life is good. When Kate starts dating, Josie has to get used to the idea of sharing her mom. And when Paul's parents (Josie's grandparents) move back to town and Paul pays a visit himself, Josie is introduced to the father she has never known and finds out a little bit more about why her dad was not a part of her life.

Several reviews I read likened this book to the hit show Gilmore Girls. I think I would have come up with some of those same comparisons myself, yet I sort of wish I wouldn't have had that idea already in my head when I started reading. I really liked this one- I liked the characters, the story, the writing. This isn't a book that will make my list of best books of the year, but I will recommend it to people looking for some good YA reading. Definitely worth it.

Visit Natasha Friend's website.

Get Lucky

A few days ago I saw Natasha's review of Get Lucky by Katherine Center posted on her blog. I didn't even let myself read it because I already had a copy of Get Lucky sitting on my library stack just waiting to be read, and I knew that reading a review of it might give away more than I wanted to know.

So, instead of reading the books that I really should read - the ones at the top of my pile because they are due very soon - I took a break and read Get Lucky. Reading Center's latest book, is like revisiting a good friend. I love her writing and the stories she develops. I am always confused as to how to label her books - they feel sort of chick-lit-ish, but yet, they usually have a little deeper message than a chick lit book does.

Get Lucky is the story of two sisters, Sarah and Mackie. Sarah is single in New York City, loving her life. Mackie is married, living in their hometown of Houston, unable to stay pregnant. When Sarah loses her job and moves in with Mackie and her husband, Clive, she volunteers to be a surrogate for her sister. There is much more to this story as Sarah is forced to come to terms with the loss of her mother when she was just a child, the high school boyfriend she broke up with, and who is now back in town and very appealing, and the change she and her sister face in their relationship because of Sarah's role as a surrogate.

This is another great book by Center - I hope she is already at work on her next novel because I am already looking forward to it.

Visit Katherine Center's website.

War Games

A few years ago I was on a total self-imposed vacation from reading World War II books. It's not that I didn't care about the war or the Holocaust, but I felt like there were so many books being published that focused on that, that I just didn't want to read anymore for a while. Well, I am totally over the phase of not wanting to read books about World War II (and have been for quite a while), which has allowed me the opportunity to read a lot of great World War II books with a variety of intriguing and unique settings that are very different from the Holocaust books I grew up with.

War Games by Audrey Couloumbis and Akila Couloumbis is a book that is based on the childhood of Akila Couloumbis. He was born in New York, but he and his family moved back to their homeland of Greece during the Depression. After saving their money the family hoped to return to the US, but with the war going on, they were worried about travelling in a boat that might be sunk. When German soldiers invaded Greece because of their need to take control of the Gulf of Suez, the Couloumbis family had to be especially careful - knowing how to speak English put them at a greater risk of being harmed.

While War Games is a novel, it is based on Akila's childhood. Petros, the main character of this novel is based on Akila. While the war may seem like a game at first, full of adventure, it becomes more obvious how very serious and deadly the Germans' presence is. A German commander moves in with Petros' family and they are forced to keep their English skills a secret while providing the enemy food and shelter. Reading about the way that Petros and his family managed to hide their valuables - possessions and people- is such an interesting story.

I loved that War Games is based on a true life story, and I loved gaining yet another perspective to World War II, and the way this war affected Greece, showing how World War II affected the entire world.

Book Blogger Hop

It's Friday and once again Crazy For Books is hosting the Book Blogger Hop.

Last week was the first week I participated and I came across a bunch of great new book blogs that I have started following.

Stop over and check out who else is doing the hop.

Whiter Than Snow

I am so glad that I have had the pleasure of reading Sandra Dallas' books. With each new book of hers that I enjoy, my love of her writing and the stories she creates, grows. Whiter Than Snow is the latest book by Dallas, bringing to life the mining town of Swandyke, Colorado.

Swandyke, Colorado, is hit by an avalanche of snow one day, just as school is dismissing and nine children are already headed down the mountain, going home for the day. Only four children survive, and what Dallas creates is the backstory of these families and the various sorrows and sins that each family has experienced. Each family has several things in common: the love for their children, that each has already experienced some type of pain or sorrow in some way, and that each has committed a wrong of their own that has not been rectified.

I loved every single character Dallas created, hoping for each one that their child was one that would be spared. I grieved with some and rejoiced with others, yet all the while feeling that Dallas chose a resolution that was just right for each character. In my experiences with Dallas' writings I have come to almost expect that there will be a twist at the end, and yet Whiter Than Snow surprised me in that there really was not a surprise ending, but instead a resolution that finished the story, making me wish that I could visit Swandyke again.

Waiting on Wednesday

Waiting on Wednesday is hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine.

This week's pick is The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake by Aimee Bender due out June 1, 2010

Product Description from Amazon:

The wondrous Aimee Bender conjures the lush and moving story of a girl whose magical gift is really a devastating curse. On the eve of her ninth birthday, unassuming Rose Edelstein, a girl at the periphery of schoolyard games and her distracted parents’ attention, bites into her mother’s homemade lemon-chocolate cake and discovers she has a magical gift: she can taste her mother’s emotions in the cake. She discovers this gift to her horror, for her mother—her cheerful, good-with-crafts, can-do mother—tastes of despair and desperation. Suddenly, and for the rest of her life, food becomes a peril and a threat to Rose. The curse her gift has bestowed is the secret knowledge all families keep hidden—her mother’s life outside the home, her father’s detachment, her brother’s clash with the world. Yet as Rose grows up she learns to harness her gift and becomes aware that there are secrets even her taste buds cannot discern. The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake is a luminous tale about the enormous difficulty of loving someone fully when you know too much about them. It is heartbreaking and funny, wise and sad, and confirms Aimee Bender’s place as “a writer who makes you grateful for the very existence of language” (San Francisco Chronicle).

Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry

Mildred Taylor's Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry is one of those books that I think can be read and re-read many times, each time appreciating the wonderful writing and the heartbreaking story of the Logans. My fifth grade book club picked this title as our latest book to discuss. I will admit that at first I was a little skeptical about this since other book clubs I have had would never have managed to make it through such a meaty read. And yet, this group of readers- 6 girls and one boy- have managed to read this book and have some good discussions about racism and the South, some of Taylor's writing techniques, and a variety of other topics relating to the book. I read this book long ago, and reading it as an adult with the actual goal of leading a discussion about it caused me to be a very careful reader this time around. I know that this time around there were discoveries I made in this story that I never even noticed as a child. Because my students read this with some adult direction I am hoping that they got something out of this book and will remember the Logans for a long time. Today after I finished Roll of Thunder, I picked up Taylor's other books depicting life with the Logans; I can hardly wait for another visit with Cassie and her siblings.

The Swimming Pool

For once I have received an ARC and have actually read the book ahead of when the book comes out. I have heard so much about The Swimming Pool by Holly LeCraw that I decided to ignore the enormous stacks of library books and read this book I have been hearing so much about.

The Swimming Pool is exactly the type of book I enjoy - women's fiction with character development and wonderful writing. I am not sure how to write this review without giving too much away, and this is a book you should read for yourself.

I will tell you that this book switches between the present time and a summer several years (maybe seven or eight?) in the past. Marcella, her husband Anthony, and their daughter Toni spent their summers at Mashantum as did another family: Cecil, Betsy, and their children Jed and Callie. Jed was a high schooler at this time, and is now in his mid twenties. During this summer at Mashantum much has changed. Jed and Callie are there taking care of Callie's children, while Callie becomes more detached from her life. Her husband Billy comes up on weekends. Toni is hired as a nanny for the children. Marcella and Anthony are no longer married, divorcing long ago. And yet, all of these lives converge again, joined by certain events.

This book is definitely interesting and full of characters that are multi-faceted. A lot of times I can sort of relate to the female protagonist, but Marcella isn't really someone I "get" and while I didn't dislike her, I wasn't necessarily rooting for her, either, because I really didn't agree with the decisions she made. (If you have read this and would like to discuss, let me know!).

For anyone out there looking for a good book, this one is worthy of the buzz it's been getting.

Visit Holly LeCraw's website.

Devotion

Right now I am in the middle of a few very good books - The Swimming Pool by Holly LeCraw, Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred Taylor (which is a re-read and for my book club at school), While I'm Falling by Laura Moriarty, and Dirty Little Secrets by CJ Omolulu. Today I spent most of my time cleaning and organizing (which still isn't done) and making a yummy black bean and sausage soup that my husband loved so much he had to take a sample over to our neighbors' just so they could try it. I have hardly been able to sit down and read like I want to, and here it is, Sunday evening and time for bed so I can begin another very busy week tomorrow morning.

Yesterday I read Devotion by Dani Shapiro, and I have been debating actually writing a review of this memoir. Not because I didn't like this book, but because I found a great many ways I could relate to Shapiro, and I just don't know how my review can even do her book justice. And maybe because it really spoke to me, I am slightly biased (although it has been well reviewed many other places). Shapiro's memoir focuses on her search for some form of belief system that is more than she currently has. While she grew up an Orthodox Jew, Shapiro has fallen away from her belief, and instead is questioning and searching for some greater presence - some answer to events in her own life, and a place to find peace. And while this isn't the part that I could relate to, I can relate to the constant anxiety she felt after her son was stricken by a rare seizure disorder and her fear of "the other shoe dropping." As the mother who has also faced losing her child, I too feel that fear on a daily basis, and can understand many of the ways Shapiro's life has unfolded because of that one event. From her experimenting with various religious practices to practicing yoga, Shapiro searches for some answers, all the while realizing that worry or not, life will go on, events will happen, and the worry won't factor in to how things unfold. There are no easy fixes to ones worries or beliefs, but Shapiro is able to help others feel some sense of validation, articulating the feelings familiar to many.

Arcadia Falls

I have loved Carol Goodman's work since her first book The Lake of Dead Languages came out several years ago. Goodman has kept up the pace, publishing a new novel each year since. And every time I hear there is another book by Goodman coming out, I anxiously await its release.

Arcadia Falls is Goodman's latest book, and I feel this one is a return to her earlier work, with a setting familiar to Goodman's readers.

Meg Rosenthal is a new widowed woman with a teenage daughter, Sally. She is moving to Arcadia Falls where she is lucky enough to have been hired to teach a class on fairy tales that two women who lived together in Arcadia Falls were known for. While teaching there, Meg also plans to do some more research on these two women who are somewhat shrouded in mystery. As Goodman's novels are prone to do, suspense builds as a student's body is discovered after she falls from a ridge in the woods to her death. Rosenthal finds a journal written by one of the women who wrote the fairy tales. And, the death of this woman is now somehow connected to the student's death.

For some, this novel may have been too closely following many elements of her previous work, yet I loved it and never wanted to put it down. The ending to Arcadia Falls throws a little twist in as well, so just when I thought things were resolved, there was a little bit more to come.

I am always amazed by how many people have not read Goodman's books- they are perfect for book clubs and women's fiction readers, and those who love suspense.

Another Bedtime Picture Book Extravanganza

I am still enjoying all the new picture books that I received this past week. Last night I was able to read a few more picture books to the girls that were new, along with a few others that we enjoy already.

My Garden by Kevin Henkes is a cute addition to Henkes' collection of children's books. I love, love, love his mouse books, and nothing can really measure up to Lily.....but.....My Garden is awfully cute. The illustrations are much like his A Good Day illustrations with the bright pastels. Also just right for preschool age children - an important feature in my house.

Spoon by Amy Krouse Rosenthal is a cute book discussing the importance of individuality. I loved spoon's lament that things weren't fair - that the fork, knife, and chopsticks had things better than she did. And then the other utensils' viewpoints that spoon had things good. This one is one of my new favorites.

A Small Brown Dog with a Wet Pink Nose by Stephanie Stuve-Bodeen and Linzie Hunter is another very cute picture book about a girl who wants a pet dog, but has to settle for having an imaginary one. When her imaginary dog becomes lost Amelia begins to search for him and ends up at the local animal shelter. The illustrations are busy, yet not confusing or too much like some books, giving kids a lot to look at and enjoy. Knowing how much my own girls want a dog, this title is a bit risky for me to read as it gives some creative ideas for actually acquiring a pet.

Book Blogger Hop

Crazy for Books is hosting a weekly meme, Friday's Book Blogger Hop where bloggers can discover new-to-them blogs about books. This is my first Friday, so I am excited to visit some different book blogs later today.

The Power of Half

A few days ago I finished the book The Power of Half: One Family's Decision To Stop Taking and Start Giving Back by Kevin Salwen and his daughter, Hannah Salwen.

This book is a non-fiction account of how their family has tried/is trying to make a difference in the world. The Salwen family is one who is very affluent -perhaps the most noticeable sign of their weath is their two milion dollar home. However, one day Hannah, a teenager, noticed a homeless man outside of the car window, while also noticing someone driving a Lexus just one lane over. The difference in each person's means was very obvious. And Hannah wanted to do something to change things. After careful consideration and much discussion the Salwen family decided to downsize their home and move to one worth only half as much as their present home, donating the rest to a charity where they would actively participate in the change they wanted to be a part of.

There are many things in this book I liked - the fact that the Salwens truly do want to make a change, and by reading this, it makes people examine their own lives and the legacy they would like to leave. To be remembered only for the possessions accumulated seems to be a worthless existence. While the Salwens knew great wealth, even the middle class in America are far wealthier than much of the world, making it possible for everyone to give in some way for the betterment of humanity. This book reads like a story, although there are helpful hints interspersed throughout and Hannah's portion of the book provides different ideas about volunteering and getting families involved.

However, I'm a tough audience, and I have a hard time getting over the fact that anyone would spend two million dollars on a home and that downsizing by half means that they still have a home worth one million dollars....While the Salwens are helping others with their generosity, a one million dollar home still seems extravagant and perhaps a bit out of touch with the reailty I live. I would be much more impressed with a family who is middle class living on $30,000 a year and donating the rest to charity or founding an organization within their community where they could actively make a difference. It is interesting that the Salwens who have a great deal of money have received a great deal of attention for their act of charity and have written a book about this, therefore gaining more attention and money, while others can be charitable without looking for any kudos for themselves.

So, would I recommend this book? I know I focused less on the writing/story and more on my feelings about the Salwen's experience, but I do think this book will at least get people thinking about their own life and a way they can contribute. And the Salwens experience is still interesting and a way to remind us of the many people who try to make a difference each and every day.

Visit The Power of Half website.

Waiting on Wednesday

Waiting on Wednesday is hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine.

This week's pick is How To Be An American Housewife by Margaret Dilloway, due out August 5, 2010.

From Readinggroupguides.com:

A lively and surprising novel about a Japanese woman with a closely guarded secret, the American daughter who strives to live up to her mother’s standards, and the rejuvenating power of forgiveness How to Be an American Housewife is a novel about mothers and daughters, and the pull of tradition. It tells the story of Shoko, a Japanese woman who married an American GI, and aspired to be a proper American housewife; and her grown daughter, Sue, a divorced mother whose life as an American housewife hasn’t been what she’d expected. When illness prevents Shoko from traveling to Japan to be reunited with her brother, she asks Sue to go in her place. The trip reveals family secrets that change their lives in dramatic and unforeseen ways. Offering an entertaining glimpse into American and Japanese family lives and their potent aspirations, this is a warm and engaging novel full of unexpected insight.

Teaser Tuesday

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:
Grab your current read
Open to a random page
Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

"There was something Marcella had to figure out. She did not know what it was, but she could find it only in Mashantum. She had not been there in seven years, since the divorce. Since the last summer with Cecil (203)."

The Swimming Pool by Holly LeCraw

This cover makes me wish for summer! I have been hearing a lot about this one lately, so I am excited to be getting into it.

Picture Book Extravaganza

Today I was so excited to find four boxes of brand new books waiting for me in our mailroom at school! It's just like Christmas when new books arrive- especially ones that I didn't have to pay for personally and will enjoy looking through and finding ways to incorporate them into my lessons at school.

Tonight I took a few home to read before bedtime and enjoy with my girls, and ended up reading some stories more than once - always a sign of enjoyment!

Night Lights by Susan Gal - short and sweet, each page illustrates a different type of light. Just right for my 3 year old, but even my eight year old enjoyed the illustrations and the idea of finding so many different types of light.

Too Purpley by Jean Reidy - I am sure this one got the nod because of Pinkalicious and Purplicious- but to me it reminded me of the old favorite Old Hat New Hat by the Berenstains from my childhood. Cute illustrations - my kids enjoyed seeing what the girl was wearing in each picture and how that related to the text.

Bedtime for Mommy by Amy Krouse Rosenthal - In this story a young girl puts her mother to bed. Mom uses the same excuses as many kids before they settle down. I also liked the use of speech bubbles - this provides a great example of this type of writing.

My Mother Is So Smart by Tomie De Paola is a sweet picture book that De Paola dedicated to his mother, Flossie, sharing the many ways his mother is smart. This is also a cute look back at Tomie's childhood, and for my children who have read and loved the entire 26 Fairmount Avenue series and the picture books also chronicling real events in De Paola's life, this was another fun look at a favorite author/illustrator.

These books will all be going back tomorrow so I can bring another handful home for bedtime story time.

Forget Me Not

Forget Me Not by Vicki Hinze is suspenseful, fast-moving read. I have been seeing this one around a lot lately and am lucky enough to have received a copy from Waterbrook/Multnomah Press as part of this book's blog tour.


At the book's beginning a mysterious woman is attacked. When she awakens she no longer remembers who she is or where she is from, yet amazingly, retains her faith in God. As she tries to determine her identity, she becomes aware of how much she looks like Susan Brandt, a wife and mother who was murdered. As Karen (as she decides to call herself) meets Susan's grieving husband, she can't help but be attracted to him, yet because of his wife's death he has lost his faith in God. And, to make matters more confusing, someone is out to murder Karen.


This book has a lot going on between the plot to kill Karen and the romance between Karen and Benjamin Brandt. I will admit to being confused a time or two as I tried to piece together how different people were connected and the motives for wanting to Karen dead. All in all, though, this book is quite fast-paced with a lot of intrigue, and well worth the time.

To purchase this book, click here.

The Mighty Queens of Freeville

Last year when I bought The Mighty Queens of Freeville by Amy Dicksinson, I am not sure I even knew who Amy Dickinson was. Perhaps I knew her as Dear Abby's replacement, but I know I didn't know more than that, and had never read her column. When I picked this book up to read this year as part of my Read From Your Shelves challenge, I had to remind myself exactly who Amy Dickinson is.

Turns out that while Amy Dickinson is quite successful, she is also very much the girl next door. Amy grew up in Freeville, New York, a town of just four hundred and fifty people, many of them her relatives. Coming from a small, rural town myself, I can truly relate to Amy's childhood, spent on a dairy farm where she, her two sisters and her brother helped each day with the milking. Amy's father left her family when Amy was just twelve, and from then on her mother managed to care for and raise four children while going back to school to secure better employment. When Amy finds herself in a similar predicament- heading for divorce with a small daughter in a foreign country- she finds some reassurance by looking at her mother's example. Amy's daughter, Emily, and Amy eventually realize that their family is a family of women and that these women have helped shape who they are, Emily dubbing them the Mighty Queens of Freeville.

Each chapter in this memoir-ish book share a portion of Amy's life, sometimes serious, sometimes humorous, letting us have a glimpse into the private life of a successful advice columnist who has a very ordinary background. Even today Dickinson lives in two worlds - Chicago, and Freeville, never forgetting her roots and the people who have supported her and made her who she is.

The Mighty Queens of Freeville is an entertaining, heartwarming book. A book about friendship, family and the importance of women in a family.

Visit The Mighty Queens of Freeville website.

Imperfect Endings

I didn't sign up for this weekend's read-a-thon, not knowing whether I could anticipate having much time to spend curled up with a stack of good books. However, aside from house cleaning that (if done right) could take all weekend and church, I really don't have much on my agenda. I also have several books that are very close to being finished, and a huge stack of ones I would love to start, so a read-a-thon would be a lot of fun. Since I didn't sign up, though, I am just going to post reviews as I finish the books that I am reading.

Last night I finished up Imperfect Endings by Zoe Fitzgerald. This memoir chronicles Fitzgerald's mother's wish to end her life after suffering with Parkinson's for twenty four years along with a host of other health problems. While Zoe's mother wants her three daughters to be there for her exit, Zoe finds it difficult to come to terms with her mother's wish to die. Zoe tries to find a balance between helping her mother, yet retaining her desire for her mother to continue to live. During this time period in her life, Fitzgerald admits to the strain it puts on her emotionally so that she often seems absent to her husband and children. And while her mother's behavior may seem selfish, she is at the point in her life where she has turned her attention inward, focusing on herself.

I'm not sure I agree with Fitzgerald's mother's stance on ending her own life, or Fitzgerald's stance, either, for that matter. Yet, that is what attracts me to memoirs - the different ways people think and behave.

Fat Cat

April's off to a pretty good start as far as my reading goes. I have been trying to get through as many library books as possible because right now it seems like there are a lot of things coming out that I want to read. However, I will admit that as soon as I get one thing read, I find two more things to add to my list.

Yesterday I finished Fat Cat by Robin Brande and loved it. For whatever reason I am drawn to young adult books that center on body image issues - as a teen I would have appreciated having a few titles like this to choose from, but cannot thing of a single one that I was able to read when I was growing up. Catherine, or Cat, is heavy-set and very smart. She is in an especially challenging science course where the curriculum consists of a year long research project. Cat decides to perform a little research, using herself as the subject. Her project's focus is looking at hominins and the way they lived, and how man has managed to corrupt their bodies with the processed foods that are available. In addition to processed foods, Cat also decides to give up modern-day conveniences like the telephone, computer, television, and car. Cat who has felt self-conscious about her body for several years begins to see the results of her experiment as her healthier lifestyle begins to help her lose weight and feel better about herself. The one thing that Cat still has to make peace with is her friend Matt's betrayal when they were thirteen years old.

There are so many reason I liked this book. I liked Cat's experiment because there have been numerous times I have thought and wondered what it would be like to give up all the "junk" in my diet. I liked watching Cat feel better about herself and see success through her experiment and I liked that there were never any actual body measurements given. We knew Cat was losing weight but by not giving her weight there is no comparison to make, allowing readers to focus on Cat's healthier way of living rather than the numbers on the scale. I also enjoyed the way Cat's feelings toward Matt and what happened in their past unfolded. Their relationship left me smiling.

Yes, there are other books out there on body image issues for young adults, and sometimes I think that there couldn't possibly be another story needed about that same issue, yet Fat Cat is a great read and a worthy addition to this genre of literature.

Visit Robin Brande's website.

Twenty Boy Summer

Twenty Boy Summer is another book that I have read a ton of reviews on and finally have got around to reading (why is it I am always so far behind?!). For the most part the reviews I have read have been positive, but I have read a few that weren't exactly glowing. I am probably somewhere in between those two positions. Every time I read a YA book I always have to realize I am reading this book as an adult, which is not the same perspective as a young adult. Then I have to ask myself if the reason I don't love the book is because I am not really in the audience this book was intended for, or whether there was some other reason this book isn't working for me.

My young adult self would have really enjoyed this book. Three friends, Frankie, Matt, and Anna enjoy hanging out together, and when Matt and Anna start to have feelings for one another the two decide to keep it a secret, not yet sure how Frankie (who happens to be Matt's sister) will feel about their romance. Before the two can let Frankie in on the shift in their relationship, the three are in a car accident in which Matt is killed.

Now a year later Frankie and Anna are heading to California with Frankie's parents for a vacation. While there Frankie has convinced Anna to work toward their "Twenty Boy Summer" goal - getting twenty different guys interested in them. Things don't go exactly as planned - the two do find a few guys to hang out with, but Anna becomes smitten with Sam, not really interested in finding more guys. And, when Frankie finds Anna's journal and reads it she feels betrayed by her best friend's relationship with her brother.

First of all, this book's title leads you to believe this will be a great fluffy read, yet there is not a lot of focus on the "twenty boy summer," making me wish they had picked a different title for this one. There is also a little predictability in this book, and some things I don't feel were adequately explored - like Frankie's comment about her parents no longer caring about her because she wasn't the child that died, yet never addressing this, or seeing Frankie or her parents really grieve for their son/brother, but this is a good YA read with a lot of appeal for teen girls.

Visit Sarah Ockler's website.

Waiting on Wednesday

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine.

This week's pick is The Scent of Rain and Lightning by Nancy Pickard due out on May 4, 2010

From Publisher's Weekly:

Starred Review. With exquisite sensitivity, Edgar-finalist Pickard (The Virgin of Small Plains) probes a smoldering cold case involving the Linders, a cattle ranching family that's ruled the small, tight-knit community of Rose, Kans., for generations. One stormy night in 1986, someone shoots Hugh-Jay Linder dead, and Laurie, his discontented young wife, disappears. The authorities arrest Billy Crosby, a disgruntled ex-employee of High Rock Ranch with a drunk-driving record, in whose abandoned truck Laurie's bloodied sundress is found. In 2009, Billy's lawyer son, Collin, who's certain of his dad's innocence, secures Billy's release from prison and a new trial. Father and son return to Rose, where 25-year-old Jody Linder, the victims' daughter, works as a teacher. Collin's pursuit of justice will force Jody and other members of her family, including her three uncles and her grandparents, to finally confront what really happened on that long ago fatal night and deal with the consequences.

The Confederate General Rides North

Everyone (well, everyone who reads this blog) already knows about my love affair with memoirs because not only do I read a lot of them, but I also am fairly vociferous about this. I also love debut novels. I absolutely love finding a new author that is not well known, who has spent years on their writing and who has edited and re-edited their work so that each word is as close to perfect as it can get. Sure, I like John Grisham and Nicholas Sparks, but I loved their early work - work that took them a while to get published and that they really spent time looking over. Now there work comes out right on schedule, and because of that I feel like something is lost in their art...it just isn't as good as it once was.

Every time I find a debut novel I know I am taking a chance because they don't have a reputation yet, but often I am happily surprised by the writing I encounter.

Last fall I looked at the book The Confederate General Rides North by Amanda Gable a few times. It managed to make IndieBound's monthly Indie Next List and I considered ordering it for myself but just never got around to it. I am so glad I happened upon it at the library because this book is just the kind of debut novel I enjoy and gives me the incentive to keep reading first novels.

Katherine is just eleven when she and her mother set off on a summer journey to go North and visit various Civil War battlegrounds and landmarks while her mother collects antiques for an antique store she is planning on opening. Katherine narrates this story, and much of the book is backstory as Katherine explains her mother's erratic behavior throughout her life, her inability to focus and complete projects, and examples of how Katherine and her father make allowances for her mother. As the summer progresses Katherine discovers that the trip she and her mother are on is not only a fly-by-night plan, but has also been undertaken without anyone else in the family knowing where they are. To keep the peace, Katherine agrees to keep her whereabouts a secret that only she and her mother will know, but as her mother's behavior becomes even more unstable, Katherine needs to decide what to do to help herself.

Set during the Vietnam war, this book does explore life in the 1960s, yet there is a great deal of Civil War history that Gable includes since Katherine is a Civil War buff and is thrilled to be able to see such famous landmarks, even though the trip is less than ideal.

I'm not sure this one counts for the War Through the Generations: Vietnam challenge that I signed up for, especially since there was so much Civil War history included, but I absolutely loved this coming of age novel. This is another example of a book that just hasn't had a lot of press and has flown under the radar, but that I think is worthy of a wide readership and will be recommending to those who love historical fiction, womens fiction, and are looking for a good book club book.

Teaser Tuesday

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:
Grab your current read
Open to a random page
Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

"Miss Gordon doesn't raise her voice. Instead, she responds thoughtfully: "You've always been able to say whatever came to your mind, Claire. All of you. But Melody has been forced to be silent. She probably has mountains of stuff to say (143)."

Out of My Mind by Sharon Draper

I have been waiting to read this one, narrated by eleven year old Melody, a girl with cerebral palsy. Look for my review later this week.

My Father's Secret War

Lucinda Franks, the author of this memoir, is a Pulitzer Prize winning author for her national reporting. The fact that she is an award winning writer was evident as I was reading My Father's Secret War. The writing is superb - always engaging, including snippets of Franks life that allowed me to feel as though I knew her and her family. Franks' relationship with her father was not close during her childhood and early adulthood. In addition, the relationship between her parents also seemed rather cold and lacking of any affection. Finally, as her father begins to lose his memory, Franks starts to uncover her father's past.

Synopsis: Prior to his daughter's birth, Tom Franks had served in the military during World War II. The stories he told about his time overseas satisfied most who asked questions, yet Lucinda kept digging for more about her dad's service, trying to understand his role in the war. The many skills he possessed seemed to indicate that perhaps Franks had participated in the war as a spy. Yet, as Lucinda asked her father about this, he often changed the subject or told her he could not remember. It was true that Tom Franks was losing his memory and he began to drift away from his family. As Franks' husband, Bob Morgenthau, began developing the Holocaust Museum in New York City, Tom Franks contributes his own oral retelling of events he was a part of, including the liberation of a concentration camp, further driving Lucinda's desire to know more of her father.

Lucinda makes some interesting discoveries about her parents' marriage and her father's role in the war. By knowing what events her father witnessed and experienced Franks is able to understand her dad a bit more and the distance he always kept between him and his loved ones.

Why I Liked This Book: First of all, since this a memoir, what's not to like? Second of all, this is clearly written by someone who is not just an average writer. Franks did a great deal of research about World War II and managed to include factual information and historical information along with biographical information about both her father's past, and the present for her father and her own family. Franks is also brutally honest about herself and those she loves, not shying away from the truth even though it may be less than flattering at times. Her willingness to be so honest helps give credibility to her writing and the story she tells.

Visit Lucinda Franks' website.

Other Reviews:

Ann Finkelstein

Blog Critics

Malini's View

Boys Without Names

Boys Without Names is a young adult novel dealing with the tough topic of child labor. Most of the teenagers I know are probably unaware that the carefree lives they lead are not necessarily par for the course around the world. Sheth's novel explores this topic by introducing us to Gopal, an Indian boy, who moves with his family from the country where they are no longer able to make a living, to Mumbai, where they plan to move in with Gopal's uncle. On their journey they are separated from Baba, their father, who had gone ahead to find their uncle's home, but was not yet there when the rest of the family arrived. While worrying about Baba, Gopal is also concerned about how their uncle will have enough money to support another family and starts looking for work. He is excited to be offered a job at a factory making frames, and quickly tells his mother of his plan. However, nothing goes as planned, and Gopal is drugged by the young man who entices him with the promise of work, and taken to provide slave labor in a frame making factory. There are several other boys there who must also work in horrible conditions and suffer beatings and poor treatment. All the boys are reticent to share anything of themselves and Gopal gives each a name of sorts since they do not share their own.

This book was hard to read at times, so depressing and distressing was the treatment of Gopal and the other boys. I appreciated Sheth's story and its importance, but Boys Without Names is not an easy book. There is a lot to think about and much to discuss, and this is a selection for a more mature reader.

Visit Kashmira Sheth's website.

Wench

Today I have enjoyed my Good Friday without the normal school day schedule. I have gone absolutely nowhere and managed to get the girls' spring clothing out. I wish this job were completed, but we have made a good start - the only depressing thing about this project is how much time it consumes and how little there is to show for it. However, if I can go back to work on Monday and say I have this one project done, I will be happy. I have also managed to finisha middle grade novel that I will review at some point, and Wench by Dolen Perkins-Valdez, which I have heard a lot about.

Wench tells the story of Lizzie, a slave, who is the mistress to her master. When the story begins Lizzie and Drayle, her master, are vacationing in Ohio at a resort where other white men bring their slave mistresses. Each year Lizzie meets up with Reenie, Mawu, and Sweet other women in the same situation as Lizzie who share a few weeks together. As slaves, they all experience some of the same things, yet each has her own perspective on the life they are forced to lead. While all four women are factors in this story, it is mostly Lizzie whose life story unfolds, moving from a summer when the four women are at the resort together, to the backstory of how Lizzie and Drayle's relationship unfolded, and then back to the subsequent summers they spent at the resort.

This story was interesting to me, showing a relationship between Lizzie and Drayle that despite the fact that the two had very prescribed relationships because of the time and circumstances they lived in, also had more than just a master/slave relationship, and did care for each other. Mawu encourages Lizzie to run away toward freedom, yet Lizzie's feelings for Drayle made her situation more difficult. (Mawu's own relationship with her master was not nearly as pleasant or peaceful as Lizzie's).

Wench was well written, offering a different perspective on the slave/master relationship and providing a look at the practice of owners taking their slave mistresses with them on vacation. The Tawawa resort near Xenia, Ohio, did exist, and the masters who brought their mistresses there offended the abolitionists who frequented the place, until it closed after just four years of use.

This book will appeal to those who love historical fiction, women's fiction, or those looking for a great book club discussion.

Visit Dolen Perkins-Valdez's website.