Book Blogger Hop

Friday's Book Blogger Hop is hosted by Jen at Crazy for Books.

This week's question:

"Since today is April Fool's Day in the USA, what is the best prank you have ever played on someone OR that someone has played on you?"

This sounds rather pathetic, but I can't even think of a prank I've played. Maybe I need to work a bit harder on coming up with some good jokes. My husband has played a trick on me a few different times - and I always fall for it. He puts a rubber band around the spray nozzle on our kitchen sink. When I have turned the faucet on instead of getting water out of the faucet, I get sprayed in the face. I usually have to chuckle a bit over this joke and how gullible I am.

Throwback Thursday

Even though I have a list - that is fairly long - of books I want to post about for Throwback Thursday, I have been happy to continue remembering more books that I read while growing up and adding to my list.

The Elizabeth Gail series by Hilda Stahl is a series of books that I read and looked forward to getting all of. Living in rural Iowa, there was a general store just two miles from our house. In addition to having food it also had car, lawn mower and tractor parts, clothing, toys, and a wide range of other items. Located in the store was a carousel of Christian books. I know they didn't have new shipments often, but I looked forward to seeing if a new Elizabeth Gail book was available. Another store in a neighboring town also had Elizabeth Gail books from time to time. Despite not having access to something like Amazon, I ended up with the entire series.

Elizabeth Gail Dobbs was a foster kid who had been sent to live with Chuck and Vera Johnson and their kind Christian family. Although Elizabeth first resisted caring for these people, the Johnsons didn't give up on Elizabeth. Instead they showed her every kindness, taught her about Jesus, and eventually adopted her. Each of the eighteen original books featured some form of mystery that Elizabeth was involved in. All were devoured by me, and I tried hard to limit my reading to just a chapter or two at a time, trying to maximize my reading pleasure.

I still have all of these books, and just recently mentioned them to my oldest daughter. Although mysteries seem to scare her right now, I am hoping that she will soon discover the pleasure of this series for herself. Even though many years have passed, I can still recall characters' names and various plots. While this series is not a well known one, it certainly made an impact on me.

The World Is Bigger Now

Euna Lee was thrust into the spotlight in 2009 when she and fellow journalist Laura Ling were captured by the North Koreans and held captive. I remember watching this story unfold on TV and rejoiced in watching their tearful reunion with their families months later.

Lee has written about her experience in The World Is Bigger Now, chronicling what led her and Ling to take this trip - the need to share the story of North Koreans who had defected- and what happened that led to their capture by the North Koreans and her months in detainment.

While I have seen the version that was on the television news, I enjoyed reading Lee's firsthand account of these events. Knowing that the resolution is a happy one for both Lee and Ling made the story easier to read as well. Lee is very honest in her writing, sharing her faith in God and her own struggles and doubts about her faith after she was captured. The North Koreans were adept in their questioning, and Lee also reveals that despite the knowledge of this, she became angry at Ling, who her captors insisted was telling them more, and was incriminating Lee. Although Lee knew that her captors were trying to drive a wedge between her and Ling, months of questioning certainly played with her mind and emotions. Throughout this book Lee shares her desperation to return to her husband, Michael and young daughter, Hana, fearing that she is missing Hana's childhood. And, Lee is also careful about sharing that despite what happened to her, many of the North Koreans she came in contact with were not bad people. Her captivity allowed her a chance to see things from a different perspective and realize that much of what we believe about a different country is the result of what is seen on the news, not what we have seen or experienced firsthand.

This memoir was instantly easy to read, drawing me in from the first page. Lee was easy to identify with, and I felt as though the two of us could sit and talk and become friends. Although not classified a religious book, this is an inspirational story that certainly addresses issues of faith and belief in God.

Waiting on Wednesday

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

This week's pick: Beautiful Days by Anna Godbersen (the sequel to Bright Young Things

Due out: September 20, 2011.

Book Description from Goodreads:

In this must-have sequel to Bright Young Things, Cordelia and Letty are small-town girls no longer. Letty is ready at last to chase her Broadway dreams. Cordelia thought she lost her true love, but a chance meeting will change her fortune—and her future. The unflappable flapper Astrid Donal has promised herself to Charlie Grey, Cordelia’s half-brother, but isn’t sure their love is true enough to survive. And a bitter rivalry will ensnare them all in a dangerous feud played out in the speakeasies of Manhattan and on the great lawns of Long Island. As these bright young things live out their beautiful days in the summer of 1929, they find romance and heartbreak, adventure and intrigue, new friends and unexpected rivals. Fans of The Luxe series, A Great and Terrible Beauty, Martin Scorsese’s hit HBO series Boardwalk Empire, and, of course, The Great Gatsby, will delight in the Jazz Age setting, a time when girls were enjoying newfound freedom and excitement could be found behind any door in Manhattan.

Okay For Now - More Than Okay

As soon as I saw that Gary D. Schmidt had a companion novel to The Wednesday Wars being published, I was dying to get my hands on a copy. The Wednesday Wars is a book that I started once, and stupidly put down because I had other things to read. It took me a while to start it again and loved it. It was amazing! Every review I read about Okay for Now also was gushing. Now it is my turn to gush.

Just yesterday I received OKay for Now in the mail. It was so good that I finished it off this morning. While this novel features a character from The Wednesday Wars, it is not a sequel and could be read without having read The Wednesday Wars.

Doug Swieteck and his family have just moved to a new town. It's hard to make friends and Doug is trying his best to grow up with a family life that isn't very happy. His father is abusive emotionally and verbally, his oldest brother, Lucas, is off fighting in Vietnam, and things seem stacked against Doug at school, too. In ways Doug's character reminds me a bit of Holling Hoodhood from The Wednesday Wars. However, instead of feeling as though Schmidt's characters are too similar, I instead feel as though Schmidt has been able to show how universal Doug and Holling's feelings are in their teenage years - the feelings of being alone and not fitting in. Luckily Doug finds a few good adults that help guide him and genuinely care for him. There is his science teacher who offers encouragement, his English teacher who spends extra time teaching Doug how to read, Mr. Spicer who hires Doug to make deliveries on Saturdays, his father's boss who spends time talking with Doug, and Mr. Powell, the librarian who recognizes Doug's interest in birds and spends time helping Doug learn to draw them.

There were many times I wanted to cry for Doug and all he had to overcome in his home life and at school. But then, I was encouraged by the people who did reach out and help Doug, who took the time to make him feel like he was worth something and did belong. In this book, just as in The Wednesday Wars, Schmidt is able to create believable male characters who are trying to navigate through a difficult time in their lives.

I could gush about this book for days. I could tell you about Lucas' return from Vietnam. I could tell you about Doug's friendship with Lil, Mr. Spicer's daughter. I could tell you that I chuckled many, many times. What I will tell you is that OKay For Now is every bit as good as The Wednesday Wars. It is amazing!

Strings Attached - In More Ways Than One

Strings Attached is Judy Blundell's follow up novel to her book What I Saw and How I Lied, a National Book Award finalist. Last year I finally got around to reading it and loved it. When I saw that Blundell had a new book coming out I was eager to read it. And, even more exciting, Amazon sent me the book review as part of their Amazon Vine program. So, Strings Attached, Blundell's book is being reviewed with some strings attached. The Vine program works by sending out books for review to those who have already reviewed a large number of items on Amazon's website. When reviewers have reviewed the items they have been sent, they will receive more items to review.

Strings Attached by Blundell is the first book I am reviewing for Amazon Vine. Nothing will be different about my review than any other, except the fact that I am reviewing this book in a more timely manner, something I hope to keep up.

Kit and her triplet brother, Jamie, and sister, Muddie are being raised by their father in the late 1940s. In 1950 Kit sets off to make it big as a dancer, leaving her Providence, Rhode Island home for New York. She and her boyfriend, Billy, have broken up and Billy and Jamie have enlisted to go to fight the Korean war. Billy's father, Nate, an attorney with mob connections approaches Kit and pays for her apartment and clothing in exchange for her help from time to time. Snippets of Kit's life prior to 1950 and Nate's connection to her family are revealed in chapters taking place in earlier years. Just as in What I Saw..., Blundell has several secrets that are revealed, creating a few twists in the story I didn't see coming.

Blundell was able to re-create life in 1950, New York for an aspiring dancer. Kit had dreams of making it big on her own, and her life in New York seems exciting and a bit glamourous. Including Hank and his family, who became Kit's neighbor in the apartment she lived in, created a couple affected by the Red Scare - two teachers who were fired from their jobs because of the fear that they were Communists. Even the train accident at novel's end is based on an actual train crash that occurred.

Blundell's writing style is easy to read. While this book didn't grab me as quickly as her first, I did enjoy it once I got into it. Kit and her family are all unique characters and as secrets were revealed I enjoyed Blundell's ability to create some twists and turns that I never anticipated.

In My Mailbox and Sunday Salon

My mailbox has been getting a workout lately! I have such an abundance of books to read now, that I better get moving.

Here's the rundown:

My Korean Deli by Ben Ryder Howe (Henry Holt)

Mothers and Daughters by Rae Meadows (Henry Holt)

The School of Night by Louis Bayard (Henry Holt)

Red on Red by Edward Conlon (Shelf Awareness)

My Dear I Wanted to Tell You by Louisa Young (Amazon Vine)

Until Tuesday by Luis Carlos Montalvan (Shelf Awareness)

The Girls's Guide to Homelessness by Brianna Karp (Shelf Awareness)

Secret Daughter by Shilpi Somaya Gowda (Shelf Awareness)

Strings Attached by Judy Blundell (Amazon Vine)

Revolution: The Year I Fell In Love and Went to Join the War by Deb Olin Unferth (Henry Holt)

Chime by Franny Billingsley (Shelf Awareness)

Oh, where do I start? I am midway through Judy Blundell's book, and am also working on one on my Kindle.

Once again the weekend has gone too quickly and it is back to the real world tomorrow. I will be giving ITBS tests to fourth graders in the mornings for the next four days. Later this week it looks like we will be getting some spring-like weather. I am soooo ready!

Between Shades of Gray

Every time I read historical fiction novels I am sad that my history classes included a great deal of memorizing dates and names and places, but didn't include much else. Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys is a novel that brought to life Stalin's plan to exile Lithuanians, Latvians and Estionians during World War II, a little known event in history.

In 1941,Lina and her family are forced to move quickly and without warning - much like Jews were moved to concentration camps during World War II. They eventually find out that their father has been placed in prison and Lina, her mother Elena, and brother Jonas are kept together, but moved with thousands of other Lithuanians to a place where they are forced to work in beet fields. This story reminded me a great deal of the tortures that Jews went through during World War II. Yet, while I have heard a great deal about the Holocaust, the fate that befell this population was unknown to me until now. Lina spends twelve long years fighting to just survive. She is always hungry, sickness is a problem and many, many people died (It is said that twenty million people died under Stalin's reign of terror). At one point Lina and her family are moved to a camp close to the Artic Circle where conditions are even worse than before, if that's possible.

Lina's story is based on Sepetys' own family's own experiences during this time. Sepetys' father was the son of a Lithuanian military official. While he and his family were able to escape to Germany, like Lina's cousin Joana, the rest of the family spent years being mistreated and tortured. Sepetys also traveled to Lithuania and interviewed others about this period in time. Her vested interest in depicting this story accurately and the research she has put in to it, have created an amazing story.

Bookreporter.com is featuring Between Shades of Gray as their Bets On Pick. Visit their website as well to learn more about the author and watch an author interview.

This book may very well end up as one of my favorites of 2011. The story and writing are amazing and Between Shades of Gray sheds light on a portion in history that little is known about.

Book Blogger Hop

Friday's Book Blogger Hop is hosted by Jen at Crazy For Books.

This week's question:

"If you could physically put yourself into a book or series…which one would it be and why?"

I love this question! There are probably several series that I would enjoy being in, but the one that instantly comes to mind is Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum series. I would love to meet Lula and the Ranger and Morelli. I'm not sure I would be able to stop laughing the entire time I was with them. Hopefully the real-life versions would meet my imagination's expectations!

Happy Hopping this Friday!

The Paris Wife

The Paris Wife by Paula McLain has received a lot of buzz. It has been on my radar for several months, with my interest piqued. Yet, I remained cautiously optimistic that I would enjoy this title because I have not read any of Ernest Hemingway's work and know absolutely nothing about him.

The Paris Wife is the story of Elizabeth Hadley Henderson, who became Hemingway's first wife during the early years as he tried to get published. McLain credits several sources for her research, but The Paris Wife is a work of fiction. For me, who knows nothing about Hemingway this was a great story about someone famous. Unless I do some research on my own about Hemingway and his four wives, this story will ultimately act as the authority on Hadley and Ernest and their time in Paris.

Told from Hadley's perspective, this book chronicles the love story between Ernest and Hadley from meeting each other, to their marriage, move to Paris, birth of their son, their friendships with other writers including Ezra Pound and Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald, and Ernest's affair with Hadley's good friend, Pauline, and eventual divorce, I enjoyed each page of this novel. Paris in the 1920s was an exciting place to be and the crowd that Hemingway and Hadley were a part of was truly history in the making.

I can imagine that readers with prior knowledge about Hemingway will enjoy this book even more than I did, although even without prior knowledge, I loved The Paris Wife.

Perhaps in my near future I will be able to include some of Hemingway's work in my reading. Certainly The Paris Wife has intrigued me enough that I am anxious to learn more about this literary legend and his personal life. Book clubs will love this title, as it gives much to talk about and is a fantastic piece of historical fiction literature.

Throwback Thursday

Last week I talked about Summer Pony, the first chapter book I remember being read aloud to me. While I remember little about that book, I do remember a lot about another of the first chapter books I had read to me. When I was growing up, I had the unique experience of having my mother as a kindergarten teacher. While I am sure the other students knew that she was my mom, I always made sure that I never called her mom while I was at school. During that kindergarten year our class tried to read a chapter book. We started it, and after a few sessions of having us listen while she read, my mom realized that not everyone was really ready for this type of reading experience yet. The two of us continued reading at home. A Bear Called Paddington by Michael Bond was the first chapter book I remember my mom reading to me. I loved that it was set in London. I loved that Paddington came from Peru. Darkest Peru. Eventually I read many of the other Paddington stories. Early on I became aware of the British spellings of words like favourite or colour (I am still stunned when adults don't realize that those spellings aren't wrong, they are just the British version). I enjoyed hearing about all of the scrapes that Paddington managed to get himself into.

I have read that same first Paddington book to my daughters. My oldest daughter remembers it, yet my middle and youngest daughters don't seem to recall much about this character. I still own that same book which now looks ratty and well loved. I'm not sure what it is exactly about Paddington, but he holds a special place in my heart. Because not all of my daughters remember this story, I know already that I will be re-reading it to them at some point. I just can't resist sharing how Paddington came to live with the Browns of Windsor Gardens and nearly drowned in their bathtub.

Waiting on Wednesday

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

This week's picks:

Save Me by Lisa Scottoline due out April 5, 2011

Product Description taken from Amazon:

From the New York Times bestselling author of Think Twice and Look Again comes an emotionally powerful novel about a split-second choice, agonizing consequences, and the need for justice.
Rose McKenna volunteers as a lunch mom in her daughter Melly’s school in order to keep an eye on Amanda, a mean girl who’s been bullying her daughter. Her fears come true when the bullying begins, sending Melly to the bathroom in tears. Just as Rose is about to follow after her daughter, a massive explosion goes off in the kitchen, sending the room into chaos. Rose finds herself faced with the horrifying decision of whether or not to run to the bathroom to rescue her daughter or usher Amanda to safety. She believes she has accomplished both, only to discover that Amanda, for an unknown reason, ran back into the school once out of Rose's sight. In an instance, Rose goes from hero to villain as the small community blames Amanda’s injuries on her. In the days that follow, Rose's life starts to fall to pieces, Amanda’s mother decides to sue, her marriage is put to the test, and worse, when her daughter returns to school, the bullying only intensifies. Rose must take matters into her own hands and get down to the truth of what really happened that fateful day in order to save herself, her marriage and her family.
In the way that Look Again had readers questioning everything they thought they knew about family, Save Me will have readers wondering just how far they would go to save the ones they love. Lisa Scottoline is writing about real issues that resonate with real women, and the results are emotional, heartbreaking and honest.

Also:

How To Get a Job by Me the Boss by Sally Lloyd-Jones, due out May 10, 2011

Product Description from Amazon:

The know-it-all narrator from the New York Times Bestselling How to Be a Baby is back with the third book in the series. This time, she knows all about how to get a job, and she walks readers through the whole process: from deciding what you want to be all the way to acing the interview (tip: don't bring your pet gerbils). This book is sure to be a hit with kids who love to play pretend and dream about what they're going to be when they grow up.

And...

A Million Miles from Boston by Karen Day, Due out April 5, 2011

Product Description taken from Amazon:

School's out! That means Lucy is off to her favorite place: Pierson Point, Maine, where she spends summers with her family. And as she tries to forget her worries about starting middle school and about Dad's new girlfriend, Lucy can't get there soon enough. Pierson Point is where she feels most like herself, and where memories of her mother, who died when Lucy was six, are strong and sacred.But this summer, nothing is the same. Ian, a boy from home in Boston, comes to Pierson Point with his family. Ian is loud, popular, and mean. He and Lucy can't stand each other. To top it off, Dad wants his girlfriend to become a bigger part of Lucy's life.Karen Day's engaging novel shows that people aren't always what they seem, and that friendship can be found in the most unusual places.

I love seeing all the new books coming out this spring. There are soooo many to choose from. I'm not a picky reader- I love picture books, elementary and YA books and adult books.

Georgia Bottoms

Mark Childress' novel Georgia Bottoms was such a fun read. I was expecting to enjoy this novel, but didn't know how much I would laugh to myself while reading it. My memories of the only other book I have read by Childress, One Mississippi, led me to believe this book was going to be more serious. Instead, this book is laugh-out-loud funny, as Georgia Bottoms finds herself in one predicament after another.

If you only knew the facts about Georgia Bottoms you wouldn't like her. She makes her money entertaining gentlemen each night of the week. She also buys quilts made by poor African American women and sells them at a profit to herself. She gave up her mixed-race son, never seeing him until he showed up at her home at the age of twenty. While she attends church, she doesn't believe any of what she is hearing. There are few redeemable qualities that Georgia Bottoms has, and yet, I really did like her. Georgia is funny. She finds nothing wrong with her lifestyle. Instead, she feels as though she has helped preserve the marriages of the men she entertains each night. She is helping the group of women quilters by buying their quilts. And her confused mother and convict brother are also a lot to put up with.

Only when Georgia finally feels as though she has found the man of her dreams does she realize that the joke is on her.

Childress' novel is full of Southern charm and humor. I wasn't sure how Childress was going to leave this novel, and was delighted with the ending he created for Georgia. While it seems nothing good could come out of her lifestyle, Georgia always has something up her sleeve. Anyone looking for a nice, fun, funny read should try this title.

White Sands, Red Menace

This morning I finished White Sands, Red Menace by Ellen Klages, and feel as though I should apologize for not reading it when it first was published. I waited and waited for the sequel to The Green Glass Sea, but once it came out, I did this weird thing I sometimes do. I save books - knowing I was going to love it already, so I saved it for some future time when I really wanted to read it and wouldn't mind that there wasn't a great book waiting in my TBR stack anymore.

As I predicted, I did love White Sands, Red Menace. I loved getting reacquainted with Dewey and Suze and life in late 1940s America. In The Green Glass Sea, I loved that the two girls found each other to be friends and lived in a remarkable time and location in history. Dewey's father and Suze's parents were part of the making of the first atomic bomb. Now, in this sequel, they have moved to Alomogordo, NM. Dewey has been taken in by the Gordons after her father's death, and is surprised by the arrival of her mother, who left when Dewey was just an infant. Suze's parents are undergoing their own marital crisis as Philip begins work sending rockets into space, a part of the race to send the first man into space, and Terry sends out fliers about the devastation radiation can cause. Terry feels as though her career is on hold as she watches her husband's begin to take off. Suze and Dewey also experience some growing pains in their relationship as Suze struggles to share her parents' time with Dewey. Both girls make some of their own friends. Suze makes her first Hispanic friend, learning Spanish, and enjoying the big, happy family Ynez is a part of. Dewey, for her part, finds a boy she enjoys spending time with and finally feels as though she has left the nickname "Screwy Dewey" behind her.

Klages sequel was all I could have hoped for. As soon as I closed the last page today, I quickly checked Ellen Klages' website, hoping there would be information about a third book about these favorite characters and this time period.

Double Down Dog

Poser: My Life in Twenty Three Yoga Poses by Claire Dederer is a memoir, but with the twist of also being about yoga, which the author practices as a means of stress relief.

I enjoyed this book a lot, even though my experiences with yoga are limited to a video I have done at home in my living room. My children and my mother have all taken yoga and enjoyed it, and I think I would enjoy it, if only we lived in a location where a class was available without having to drive 30 minutes each way for a class each week. Instead of relieving stress, I feel like an additional stop each week would only add more to my already over-scheduled life.

While I did enjoy this book a lot, I also could tell that I would have understood it more if only I had a little more background about yoga myself. Yet, it was so easy to identify with Dederer:

"I judged Lisa and any other mother who came within my range. The next door neighbor put their kids to bed too early; the people down the street put their kids to bed too late. The friend who lived near Green Lake was overly fussy about organic baby food; the friend who lived on Queen Anne Hill was not fussy enough. Friend A dressed her baby in designer clothes, which was ridiculous. Friend B let her kids go around looking like slobs. I felt there must be a happy medium to parenting, and I felt that I was the very barometer of that happy medium. Anything that someone else did that I did not do was, to me, excessive and probably crazy. My strongly held opinions about parenting were like an elaborate carapace for my insecurities (99)."

What mother doesn't understand Dederer's feelings about parenting? So, despite the fact that this memoir is written around the central theme of yoga, I was able to appreciate far more the focus on parenting, on Dederer's struggles in her marriage, on coming to terms with her parents split in her childhood, and other issues facing women today.

Poser: My Life in Twenty-Three Yoga Poses is another solid addition to the memoir genre I seem happily stuck in this March.

Namaste.

Home is Beyond the Mountains

Celia Barker Lottridge's novel, Home is Beyond the Mountains, tells the story of Samira and her family who must leave their village in 1918 because of the war that is happening around them. While on their journey to safety Samira and her mother are separated from the rest of her family, and by the time they reach a home for refugees, only Samira is still alive. She is excited to find her older brother Benjamin who has made it there as well, but who must tell her that their father is no longer living, either. The two children spend several years in an orphanage with many other children who have been affected by the Turks attacking their people. At the orphanage they are taken care of by Susan Shedd, an amazing woman who has the goal of helping these children return to their villages in what will be a long and arduous journey.

While this book is a novel, it felt like a true story to me. Much of it is based on facts, and Lottridge's own aunt, Susan Shedd, is a central character in this novel. Much of this story is based on recollections Lottridge collected from her aunt about this period in time and her role in history.

As the orphans make their way home, organized in small units that work as a family, they are forced to determine where "home" really is and what constitutes a family.

This was an amazing book, full of suspense as I waited and hoped for these children to find happiness and family when they returned home. The struggles Samira and Benjamin went through nearly a hundred years ago are still challenges faced by many countries at war with displaced families and children.

Although I did not know anything about the Turkish invasion of Persia, Lottridge was able to write about this time period in such a way that previous knowledge was not a necessity.

This is a hopeful story, highly recommended for YA readers or history lovers.

Book Blogger Hop

Friday's Book Blogger Hop is hosted by Jen at Crazy for Books.

This week's question:

"Do you read only one book at a time, or do you have several going at once?"

I always have a few books going at any one time. There is always a book on my treadmill that I read only when I run. I also have a book on my Airdyne bike that I read when I bike. Then there is the library book that I am working on (these are usually a day or two of reading). And, sometimes I might have another book in progress as well. I also read a chapter book to my children each night, making yet another book I am reading. I also usually have something started on my Kindle. Unfortunately my other reading seems to take priority over that on the Kindle, so those books have been slower going for me.

This week during spring break I have been trying to get some extra reading in, but I'm not sure I have really accomplished that. I have yet to start a new book on the bike, but I do have four books in progress right now, and am still hoping to finish one off tonight.

I also hope that I will find some time to hop along to other book blogs this weekend before sitting down and thinking about school again!

Throwback Thursday: Summer Pony

At some point - and perhaps more than once- I have been asked to write a reading biography about myself. I always liked this assignment, looking back at books that were important to me while growing up. While there are many, many books that I don't have any lasting memory of reading, there are others that I read and re-read, books that I think of even today as an adult. Now that I have children of my own, there are so many books that I want my daughters to experience. My experiences with books and reading and my parents and teachers helped shape the reader I have become. I finally started compiling a list of the titles that I remember well, those that have stuck with me through the years.

My plan right now is to write a post each Thursday about one of these books. As an adult I have talked about some of these books with friends and am always excited to find a title that we can both reminisce about.

Summer Pony by Jean Slaughter Doty was the first chapter book read to me. By now I remember little more than that it was about a girl and the pony she had for the summer. What I do remember is having my dad read a chapter of this book to me each evening after supper. He would sit in our red bean bag smoking his after-supper-cigarette (ugh! but it was the 70s), and I would stand next to the bean bag while he read. So much for cuddling up with a good book. However, I appreciate that my dad took the time to read to me. It seems like that often falls to the mother. I will admit that I love reading to my girls at bedtime and my husband has more of a "guest reader" status. While my dad didn't sit around reading books, he did read each night before bed, and by reading to me he was able to convey that reading was an important activity, and something that was done for pleasure.

Summer Pony came out in 1976, and while Amazon only has used copies available, I am surprised to see the same cover I remember so well on the Amazon page. One of the public libraries I frequent also still has this title available, so despite the fact that it was published over thirty years ago, there is something within it's pages that has stood the test of time.

I wonder what book my children remember as their first chapter book? I have read so many more books to them than my parents ever read to me, that some times we have even re-read books that I read to them when they were much to little to remember these stories.

What was your first chapter book experience? Who reads to your children?

Prayers and Lies

Way back when Oprah's book club was going strong, I would delight in her picks by debut authors which placed the spotlight on new and fresh talent. I still miss Oprah's book club, even though she does give a fantastic list of new books coming out each month in her magazine. I also have become skilled in picking out books that are very possible Oprah picks. Prayers and Lies by Sherri Wood Emmons is just that book. The book spans several decades as it traces the path of a family from a poor West Virginia town. Bethany is the youngest of four girls in her family and the narrator of this story. Her two oldest sister, Melinda and Nancy, have each other to hang out with. Bethany is left to share a bedroom with her older sister, Tracy, who is an angry and unpredictable. While Bethany's family lives in Indianapolis, they spend their summers in West Virginia in the town where their father grew up with an aunt. Bethany loves this place more than anyone else in her family. Her cousin Reana Mae lives there, and the two love playing together, forming a bond that is more like that of sisters - something Bethany does not feel she has with her own siblings.

When the girls are still young their differences are not as obvious to them. But as they grow up a bit, it is easy to see how different their lives will end up. Reana's mother is abusive, an alcoholic. Her father is often gone, and rumor has it he is living with a girlfriend elsewhere. His younger brother Caleb moves in to help out with things, but he and Reana begin a relationship that is inappropriate and harmful in many ways. While Bethany's life isn't perfect, her day to day existence is much more the norm for an eleven year old girl.

As time passes, Reana Mae and Bethany once again draw closer together when Reana moves in with Bethany's family. Although time passes, the two remain as close as sisters. Family secrets are revealed and the West Virginia roots that both girls have continue to be a part of their lives.

I enjoyed reading the questions that Sherri Wood Emmons answers at book's end. Emmons addresses questions about two characters - Tracy and Caleb. Neither character is likeable, and yet despite their problems it is hard not to feel a bit sorry for them and what led them to become the people they were. Early on it was easy to see that Tracy had some problems. For me, I had a harder time even allowing myself to believe that Caleb would have a relationship with his eleven year old niece. While I didn't like Caleb, I wondered at his own childhood and what happened in his past that would cause him to behave like he did.

I especially loved Bethany and her mother, Helen. Bethany was able to see the good in her West Virginia roots and her mother also felt a connection and loyalty to her family.

In some ways this book reminded me of Tawni O'Dell's Back Roads, an Oprah pick from long ago set in a western Pennsylvania mining town.

Prayers and Lies was a book that I devoured, beginning it yesterday morning and finishing it before bed. This would be a great book club choice and will appeal to readers who enjoy women's fiction.

Waiting on Wednesday

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

This Week's pick: Silver Girl by Elin Hildebrand

Publication Date: June 21, 2011

Product Description from Amazon:

Meredith Martin Delinn just lost everything: her friends, her homes, her social standing - because her husband Freddy cheated rich investors out of billions of dollars.Desperate and facing homelessness, Meredith receives a call from her old best friend, Constance Flute. Connie's had recent worries of her own, and the two depart for a summer on Nantucket in an attempt to heal. But the island can't offer complete escape, and they're plagued by new and old troubles alike. When Connie's brother Toby - Meredith's high school boyfriend - arrives, Meredith must reconcile the differences between the life she is leading and the life she could have had. Set against the backdrop of a Nantucket summer, Elin Hilderbrand delivers a suspenseful story of the power of friendship, the pull of love, and the beauty of forgiveness.

I'm on spring break this week, so beach reading feels like it is just around the corner. This one looks like a great summer book. What are you waiting for this week?

The Foremost Good Fortune

When I first started blogging for the Des Moines Register several years ago, I had the bright idea that just as we celebrate March Madness in college basketball, I could blog during the month of March solely on memoirs, calling my month of reading Memoir Madness. Well, I never really got around to organizing my reading well enough then. I still haven't, but as I am looking over the books I have read this month, there does seem to be a memoir theme what I am choosing to read.

The Foremost Good Fortune by Susan Conley is Conley's account of the two years she and her family spent in Beijing, China. Conley is just a few years older than I am, and as I was reading I felt as though I would like to invite her over for a cup of coffee. She writes about mothering her sons, about trying to find friendships in a strange and foreign country, about feeling lonely, and finally, about her battle with breast cancer. I didn't know this was going to be a book about cancer- and it truly is not only about that- but I could relate to Conley's feelings about her cancer diagnosis and how it affected her. Not as a cancer survivor myself, but as the mother of a child who had cancer. At first Conley writes more matter of factly about her diagnosis and treatment. Yet, there are various references to her ability to come to grips with what has happened to her that suggest that there is much more to battling breast cancer than just the logistics of treatment. While I will probably never visit China, I am always interested in other cultures, and found all of Conley's accounts about life in Beijing very interesting as well.

The back flap of The Foremost Good Fortune states that Conley is working on a novel, which I am looking forward to reading already.

Spring Break, Day 2

Really, people. There will be book reviews. I have finished several books now in the past few days. I have also semi-organized garage sale items for the spring sales and begun some much needed cleaning out. The weather is lovely and I am enjoying having a window open - even if it is only for short amounts of time.

The henna tattoos were a hit yesterday, so once my oldest daughters got off the bus from school, we decided to go back to the mall and let them get one, too. Today my youngest daughter had preschool, which is only for a few hours in the morning. It was long enough for me to get a run in and talk to two friends on the phone. This afternoon my older daughters are bringing friends home on the bus. Later we have gymnastics. My break is not thrilling at all, but so far, I am enjoying having a little extra time. And this is totally getting me ready for summer.

I should clean out our screened in porch, but instead, I might just go sit out there and read and listen to a few of the birds who have made their way back to us already.

Spring Break, Day 1

The first official day of spring break. Little Sister and I went to the mall and had our hands henna-ed. Isn't it beautiful? Big Sister and Middle Sister are going to be so jealous when they get home from school. I am sure we will be going back during the week so they can get a henna tattoo, too.

Other than that, the weather is beautiful. It is warming up and seems a bit like spring. I finished West of Here by Jonathan Evison and am moving o to another book today.

Mailbox Monday

Usually my mailbox is not stuffed full of new books. The past week and a half I have been very excited by the loot I have received.

Titles include: Planet Earth by Dr. Mike Goldsmith and Nicki Palin

Iron House by John Hart (due out 7/12/11)

Night Road by Kristin Hannah (due out 3/29/11)

Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys (due out March 2011)

The Source of All Things by Tracy Ross (due out March 2011)

Where She Went by Gayle Forman (due out 4/5/11)

I am so looking forward to cracking these books open - some of them right away, and a few closer to their publication dates.

The Janus Stone

I don't read a ton of mysteries, but I am usually a sucker for a good mystery series. When I saw The Janus Stone: A Ruth Galloway Mystery by Elly Griffiths I instantly added it to my list. Especially since it was the first in what is going to be a series. Even though I did read a little snippet about the book, I must have missed the part about it being set in Great Britain. While I generally enjoy realistic fiction books set in Great Britain, mysteries with a British setting are not something I would normally pick out. However, I decided to try and get past that and forged ahead.

Ruth Galloway's specialty is bones. When bones are discovered at a construction site she is called upon to investigate. And then more bones are found. Not only is Ruth involved, but so is Nelson, a married detective that is the father of Ruth's unborn baby after one night together while working on a different case. Not only is there the mystery about the bones, but there is also a very important plot surrounding Ruth and her future.

The mystery itself was interesting, although not horribly fast paced. Griffiths did something I think is incredibly smart by focusing a great deal on Ruth and her life. Since the character of Ruth is one that will be in each book in the series, having readers learn more about her and begin to form some sort of attachment to her will help readers want to come back for the second installment.

I have a friend who does not like books set in Great Britain. I would not recommend this book to her. It is full of British spellings, and the characters are....well.....quite British. I'm glad I read this one and when the second installment comes out, I will look into it as well, and this time will be ready for Ruth and the next crime that comes her way.

The Autobiography of an Execution

David Dow has spent his life representing over one hundred death row inmates in the state of Texas. His book is a collection of his thoughts about various cases and his own life and career. The Autobiography of an Execution was also awarded the Barnes and Nobles' Discover New Books Non-Fiction award just a few short weeks ago. At that point, I was already reading this book on the treadmill, already aware of how well written and engrossing this book is.

Dow has spent his career in law, helping death row inmates. His wife Katya and their son Lincoln help keep Dow from becoming unable to think only about his clients. While one case winds down, or one client is put to death, another case crops up with a client in need of Dow's attention. Dow admits to thinking about different careers, yet always returns to his current job, knowing it is necessary for him to feel as though he is making a difference. The time that his job demands is great and he often feels as though he is letting his son down. Yet, he also has a great need to continue his work. Through Dow's book it becomes obvious that there are many things about death row that I had not known, and many ways in which our system is unfair. While it is Dow's job to defend these criminals, it seems that truly getting them out of prison is a rarity. Dow might be able to delay their execution. Proving their innocence is almost impossible. While there are inmates who have committed the crime they are there for, there are others Dow believes are likely innocent. Yet, based on various technicalities and laws, it is nearly impossible to give these men a chance at proving their innocence. Dow does not argue for or against the death penalty. As a defense attorney for those on death row, it is possible that he is against corporal punishment. And yet, Dow acknowledges the true evil in some of the prisoners he has come in contact with. Within The Autobiography of an Execution, Dow shares information about some men has has represented who have touched him. It is easy to see how this job could easily become all consuming.

Certainly this book is written from a unique perpective. I ended up finishing this one, taking it with me from my treadmill after a run one day. While I enjoyed reading this one while running, I enjoyed it even more when I could sit and read it in larger chunks. With just short runs I was finding it difficult to remember various prisoners' names and keep their stories straight. By reading this for a longer span of time, I felt as though I was better able to know these people Dow chose to write about and what brought them to prison and into his life.

Friday Five

The Friday Five is hosted by Kate at Kate's Library.

This week's five posts making me line-up:

1. Suey at It's All About Books has a great post about reading relationships. I can totally relate to her comment about not telling others about her love of reading. It seems that reading isn't really considered cool in junior high and high school, and I don't remember ever talking with friends about books I was reading. Now as an adult - who doesn't care about being cool- I have lots of friendships where books are discussed.

2. Both Janssen from Everyday Reading and Lisa at Books, Lists, Life have sparked my interest in Pinterest. Since I have spring break this week, I am hoping to have enough time to play around with this.

3. Stacked's review of Miles From Ordinary by Carol Lynch Williams looks like another title I'll be adding to my list. I love reading about new books on blogs!

4. Janssen from Everyday Reading was nice enough to share another blogger's recipe for sweet potato foil tacos. They look delish, and this week I am making sure I have all the ingredients to give them a try.

5. A blog my friend, Kristin, introduced me to is another great resource for good books. Check out Lesa's Book Critiques.

Book Blogger Hop

Friday's Book Blogger Hop is hosted by Jen at Crazy for Books.

This week's question:

"If I gave you £50 (or $80) and sent you into a bookshop right now, what would be in your basket when you finally staggered to the till?"

OK For Now by Gary D Schmidt

Chalk by Bill Thomson

My Forever Dress by Harriet Ziefert

Day of Honey by Annia Ciezadlo

Dreams of Joy by Lisa See

Some of these titles haven't been released yet, but I already know that I want a copy for myself. I have hundred of things in my cart, or "saved for later" on Amazon. There are always too many books I would really love to own and not enough money for them all.

Eli the Good

If only I could read all the books I want to as quickly as I would like. Then, Eli the Good by Silas House would have been read last year for the Vietnam War Challenge. As it is, no matter my timing for this book, I am so glad I did read it. Although it is set in 1976, America's bicentennial year, this book really has a great deal to do with Vietnam.

Eli is ten during this summer. His sister, Josie, is sixteen, causing her mother constant aggravation by misbehaving - especially when she sneaks out of their home wearing a pair of jeans with an Amerian flag on the rear of them. Their father is plagued by flashbacks of his time in the war, and Eli struggles to understand what is going on. His best friend Edie is also going through her own tough times as her family falls apart. When Eli's aunt Nell moves in, he is happy to have this beloved relative near him. And despite the fact that Nell and her brother (Eli's dad) are in opposition when it comes to matters of war, the two siblings seem to live in harmony during this summer.

There are so many references to this time period - to the music of Bob Dylan, bell bottoms, war protesters, the Beatles, Jimmy Carter- that it truly feels like the 1970s and this decade comes to life.

While I have read several books about the Vietnam War, this is perhaps the first I have read for youth that deals with how the war affected the soldiers and their families - even years after the men return. Eli's innocence about this makes it stand out even more. He is just getting to an age where he is starting to notice that the nation's attitude toward the Vietnam veterans is different than it's attitude toward veterans of earlier wars. There is a very telling scene in this book during the Bicentennial parade where all the veterans march, each grouped by the war they served in. There is no representation for the Vietnam veterans. While Stanton (Eli's dad) still suffers from what he saw and took part in during the war, the way he is treated upon his return does not help matters. Eli so wants to know why his father is so changed, and decides to read the letters his father sent his mother while he was off serving his country. Although wrong, by reading them Eli can see how much his parents love each other, and the horrors his father is strill trying to forget.

The summer of 1976 is a time of growing up for Eli. House has written this book as though Eli is narrating it as an adult, looking back at this pivotal time in his life. It is good to know that although 1976 was a rough time for their family, Eli and the rest of the characters in this book remain true to who they are and have continued on with their lives.

Waiting on Wednesday

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

This week's pick: If You Were Here by Jen Lancaster

Due out: May 3, 2011

Product Description from Amazon:

Told in the uproariously entertaining voice readers have come to expect from Jen Lancaster, If You Were Here follows Amish-zombie-teen- romance author Mia and her husband Mac (and their pets) through the alternately frustrating, exciting, terrifying-but always funny-process of buying and renovating their first home in the Chicago suburbs that John hughes's movies made famous. Along their harrowing renovation journey, Mia and Mac get caught up in various wars with the homeowners' association, meet some less-than-friendly neighbors, and are joined by a hilarious cast of supporting characters, including a celebutard ex- landlady. As they struggle to adapt to their new surroundings- with Mac taking on the renovations himself- Mia and Mac will discover if their marriage is strong enough to survive months of DIY renovations.

I have laughed through Lancaster's memoirs, and am anxious to see her first work of fiction.

What book are you anxiously waiting to read?

The Memory Palace

Mira Bartok's memoir The Memory Palace seems to follow along nicely with Susan Henderson's Up From the Blue - at least in terms of incapable mothering. Bartok's memoir has been compared to Jeanette Walls' The Glass Castle,but even though I sometimes feel there are already plenty of books out there about dysfunctional families, another one pops up that changes my mind. the Memory Palace is one of those books.

Unfortunately I had to return The Memory Palace to the library because this is a book that I actually had flagged several passages in to share (a rare event!). Bartok's writing is beautiful, and she is able to write about her reunion with her dying mother after a seventeen year absence. From that starting point, Bartok travels back in time to her childhood as she and her sister Natalia visit a storage facility that contains their mother's possessions. They are reunited with familiar bits of their childhood, and also introduced to a wide assortment of their mother's treasures. Included in the storage unit are notebooks their mother kept, that her daughters can now read. While the notebooks show their mother's mind to be scattered, it also shows wide ranging interests and intelligence, a curiosity about many things. Before mental illness consumed their mother, she was a musical prodigy with a bright future. Yet, with schizophrenia's onset, this talented musician was left unable to live in the real world. Although both Bartok and her sister survived their childhood, they also knew that in order to move on they would need to cut their ties with their mother. Her incessant phone calls and ability to track them down made their own lives nearly impossible. Both women even went as far as to change their names so their mother couldn't find them. While this may sound heartless, both women viewed it as necessary. Now they have returned to be with their mother at the end of her life.

Bartok's father, who she didn't know after early childhood, was an accomplished author, and her sister is also a writer. Bartok has a way with words herself. I appreciated her recollections of events in her life, and also her ability to realize that memories continue to form and change; we are all building a memory palace of our own lives. Also amazing to me is the fact that Bartok suffered a brain injury in an automobile accident. This has made writing difficult for her. The monumental task this book was for her is hard for me to believe as each word is perfect. I wonder how long Bartok slaved over each phrase, each sentence.

Reading The Memory Palace reaffirms my love of memoirs. Bartok's book is wonderful.