Wednesday, August 29, 2012

Waiting on Wednesday

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

This week's selection: Garden of Stones by Sophie Littlefield
Due out: December 18, 2012

Product Description taken from Amazon:
In the dark days of war, a mother makes the ultimate sacrifice

Lucy Takeda is just fourteen years old, living in Los Angeles, when the bombs rain down on Pearl Harbor. Within weeks, she and her mother, Miyako, are ripped from their home, rounded up-along with thousands of other innocent Japanese-Americans-and taken to the Manzanar prison camp.
Buffeted by blistering heat and choking dust, Lucy and Miyako must endure the harsh living conditions of the camp. Corruption and abuse creep into every corner of Manzanar, eventually ensnaring beautiful, vulnerable Miyako. Ruined and unwilling to surrender her daughter to the same fate, Miyako soon breaks. Her final act of desperation will stay with Lucy forever...and spur her to sins of her own.
Bestselling author Sophie Littlefield weaves a powerful tale of stolen innocence and survival that echoes through generations, reverberating between mothers and daughters. It is a moving chronicle of injustice, triumph and the unspeakable acts we commit in the name of love.

Tuesday, August 28, 2012

The Girl Is Trouble

Rarely do I get to read two books in a series in quick succession.  I lucked out with Kathryn Miller Haines young adult mystery series set during World War II.  I loved her first book, The Girl is Murder, and was excited to discover that a second book had been published as well.
The Girl is Trouble picks up right where the first book left off.  Iris's father has let her start helping him with his private investigation business.  They are still dealing with the death of Iris' mother, only now, when Iris decides she wants to know a bit more about what caused her mother to take her own life, she is finding things don't add up.  Iris isn't sure how much her father knows, but she is determined to find the truth and why her mother chose to leave her family.
In addition, there is a group of Jewish students at high school who have been targeted by someone expressing anti-Jewish sentiments. Although Iris is Jewish, she and her father are non-practicing.The treatment of Jews in the United States certainly brings to light just a small taste of what is happening to Jews in Europe.  Because Pearl, Iris' best friend, is affected by this, Iris also becomes involved in the mystery of who is targeting this population.
Haines successfully weaves together these storylines.  With this second installment in the series, I feel like I am getting to know Iris a little better, and am appreciating the World War II setting that Haines has created.

Sunday, August 26, 2012

Where We Belong

Emily Giffin's road to publishing her first novel (at least from her account on her website) seems almost too good to be true. Several novels later Giffin still shows real talent for writing women's fiction and consistently publishes books that I enjoy reading.
Where We Belong was a quick read - the story of thirty-six year old Marian, a successful television writer/producer who has kept a secret for half of her life.  When she was just eighteen she had a baby that she gave up for adoption unbeknownst to everyone beside her mother.  Even the baby's father never knew that she was pregnant. When Kirby, her daughter, finds her mother and shows up at Marian's apartment, Marian must re-examine her past decisions and the one relationship that she ended despite the happiness it brought her.
While I didn't necessarily like the way Marian dealt with her pregnancy, I appreciated Giffin's ability to be able to tell Marian's side of the story as well. Her recall of her romance that produced Kirby made her more likeable and real. Both Kirby and Marian alternate narrating their stories, making this a great crossover novels that will appeal to teens as well as adults.
I have a soft spot for "happily ever after" romances, and while Giffin's novel ends with some ambiguity, there is hope enough at book's end for me to believe that happily ever after really does happen.

Wednesday, August 22, 2012

Waiting on Wednesday

Waiting on Wednesday is hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine.
This week's pick: I Will Not Leave You Comfortless by Jeremy Jackson
Due out: September 18, 2012

Product Description taken from Amazon:
Spanning one year of the author's life, I Will Not Leave You Comfortless is the intimate memoir of a young boy coming to consciousness in small-town Missouri. 1984 is the year that greets ten-year-old Jeremy with first loves, first losses, and a break from the innocence of boyhood that will never be fully repaired. For Jeremy, the seeming security of family is at once and forever shaken by the life-altering events of that pivotal year. Through tenderhearted, steadfast prose — redolent of the glories of outdoor life on the family farm — Jackson recalls the deeply sensual wonders of his rural Midwestern childhood — bicycle rides in September sunlight; the horizon vanishing behind tall grasses. Reanimating stories both heart wrenching and humorous, tragic and triumphant, Jackson weaves past, present, and future into the rich Missouri landscape.

With storytelling informed by profound sense of place and an emotional memory remarkably sound, Jackson stands poised to join the ranks of renowned memoirists the likes of Tobias Wolff. Readers young and old will be charmed and transformed by his unforgettable coming-of-age tale.

Tuesday, August 21, 2012

How I Came to Sparkle Again

Kaya McLaren's novel How I Came to Sparkle Again has the perfect setting of Sparkle, Colorado, a ski town.  In this small town, three people are drawn together, each facing some heartache and the desire to go on.
Jill is at the center of this novel. After finding her husband in bed with another woman, she quickly leaves  and goes back to the one place that feels like home - Sparkle, Colorado.  Reeling from her husband's infidelity and the death of her premature baby, Jill is trying to make a fresh start. 
Her best friend, Lisa, quickly opens her home to Jill and the two support each other.  Lisa has struggled with relationships for a long time, often choosing physical pleasure over a lasting commitment.
As Jill struggles to begin life anew, she is hired to babysit ten year old Cassie whose mother died just recently.  Cassie's father needs someone to be home when he is at work, so this situation works well for Jill - except for the fact that Cassie is not receptive to Jill at all at first.
I wasn't sure if I would enjoy this novel when I first started reading - the plotline of the wife who has been cheated on has been done before, but I loved the setting and I loved the characters.  I loved the romance that McLaren includes and I could feel myself racing ahead to see how things end up for Lisa and Jill especially.
This will be a perfect winter read, due out in October just in time for cozy reading in front of a fire.

Monday, August 20, 2012

So Far Away

I loved Meg Mitchell Moore's book The Arrivals when it was published last year.  Loved it.  I was excited  to see another novel by this author coming out this past spring.  So Far Away, Moore's latest book, consumed my weekend (at least the part of it that wasn't taken up with cleaning and painting and organizing).
Kathleen Lynch is a librarian, an archivist, to be more precise.  Widowed and estranged from her daughter she has little to occupy her time aside from work and her dog, Lucy.  When 13 year old Natalie Gallagher shows up needing Kathleen's help with a school project, the two begin a relationship that could benefit them both.
Natalie is being bullied by her ex-best friend an another girl- both who use cyberbullying as their method to inflict pain.  Her parents are separated, and while her dad seems excited by his new girlfriend and oblivious to Natalie's pain, her mother is medicating herself and sinking deeper into depression.
The one bright spot is Natalie's project. She has come across an old notebook in her basement and becomes engrossed with the story Bridget O'Connell tells of her life many decades ago.  Kathleen is also engrossed by this diary, and although the two work separately on it, are bound together by Bridget's story.
Although Kathleen makes a few missteps, her intentions in wanting to help Natalie are honest, and both learn and grow from their relationship.
While I'm not one to enjoy a story within a story, Bridget's narrative was surprisingly interesting and something I didn't mind having within a book about Kathleen and Natalie.  Moore has a knack for making her characters seem real and believable, and I found myself enjoying reading both stories.

First Day of School

It's the first day of school for my girls.  This year they are all in elementary school - 5th, 3rd and Kindergarten.  I have been back at school since August 1, so they have already been practicing getting up early to accommodate my schedule.The kindergartener was the most excited, but I think they are all ready to get back and see their friends.
I can't wait to hear what they have to say about their day!

Thursday, August 16, 2012

Laura Lamont's Life in Pictures

Elsa Emerson was born in Door County, Wisconsin, the third daughter in a family of performers. Her father owned and operated the local theater company and from an early age, Elsa enjoyed being in front of an audience. After a tragedy at home, she decides to marry quickly and she and her husband move to Hollywood where they embark on acting careers.  Motherhood sidelines Elsa temporarily, but when she divorces her husband, attaches herself to Irving Green, the manager of a production company (and soon to be second husband), and changes her name to Laura Lamont, it is like she has reinvented herself.  Laura is soon a movie star and she enjoys her fame and the lifestyle it offers.
Straub's novel encompasses nearly all of Laura Lamont's life - from her childhood in Wisconsin, her years as a rising star, her most productive years in film, and her eventual decline as she ages and is no longer sought after.  Straub's arc of Lamont's life is a typical one in Hollywood, and I enjoyed the story she created.  Although I originally thought this book was one similar to The Paris Wife or Loving Frank - which are both fictionalized accounts of a person close to someone famous- Laura Lamont is entirely a work of fiction. That did not detract from my enjoyment at all, and I found myself trying to sneek in some reading in any free moment. 

Wednesday, August 15, 2012

In The Shadow of the Banyan

When Carol Fitzgerald announced in her Bookreporter newsletter that In the Shadow of the Banyan was her favorite book of the year, I knew that the hype surrounding the book must be warranted.  This is a book I have been seeing around quite a bit.
In the Shadow of the Banyan by Vaddey Ratner is easily one of my favorite reads of the year.  Ratner's story is fiction, yet much of it is autobiographical- the story of her childhood under the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia. 
Raami is slightly older than Ratner was when the Khmer Rouge came to power.  Her family is wealthy and educated, her father a prince.  However, they are forced to flee Phnom Phen and the city life they were accustomed to. Quickly they move to their country home along with their uncle and his family.  At first they think they will be safe there, but it it becomes obvious that the Khmer Rouge doesn't intend to leave any family alone. Their goal is to separate families from each other which causes worry and fear.  Raami continues to move from place to place as the Khmer Rouge relocates her.  She endures more than any child should have to endure.
I was absolutely fascinated by this story. Despite the sadness of Raami's life, I was hopeful as well, knowing that Ratner eventually came to the United States and lives here today with her husband and daughter.  Even more than the story, I was amazed by Ratner's writing.

In one conversation with her father Ratner writes:
"'Do you know why I told you stories, Raami?" he asked.  We'd left the others, their panic and fears, and hid ourselves in the solitude of the meditation pavilion.
I shook my head. I knew nothing, understood nothing.
"'When I thought you couldn't walk, I wanted to make sure you could fly." His voice was calm, soothing, as if it were just another evening, another conversation.  "I told you stories to give you wings, Raami, so that you would never be trapped by anything- your name, your title, the limits of your body, this world's suffering. (134).

The feeling I had while reading this book is similar to one I had while reading The Kite Runner by Hosseini many years ago.  I can't help but think that In the Shadow of the Banyan will be bestseller, and a book that everyone who reads it will want to discuss.

Waiting on Wednesday

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

This week's pick: Happier at Home by Gretchen Rubin
Due out September 4, 2012

Synopsis taken from Random House's Website:


In the spirit of her blockbuster #1 New York Times bestseller The Happiness Project, Gretchen Rubin embarks on a new project to make home a happier place.
One Sunday afternoon, as she unloaded the dishwasher, Gretchen Rubin felt hit by a wave of homesickness. Homesick—why? She was standing right in her own kitchen. She felt homesick, she realized, with love for home itself. “Of all the elements of a happy life,” she thought, “my home is the most important.” In a flash, she decided to undertake a new happiness project, and this time, to focus on home.
And what did she want from her home? A place that calmed her, and energized her. A place that, by making her feel safe, would free her to take risks. Also, while Rubin wanted to be happier at home, she wanted to appreciate how much happiness was there already.
So, starting in September (the new January), Rubin dedicated a school year—September through May—to making her home a place of greater simplicity, comfort, and love.
In The Happiness Project, she worked out general theories of happiness. Here she goes deeper on factors that matter for home, such as possessions, marriage, time, and parenthood. How can she control the cubicle in her pocket? How might she spotlight her family’s treasured possessions? And it really was time to replace that dud toaster.
Each month, Rubin tackles a different theme as she experiments with concrete, manageable resolutions—and this time, she coaxes her family to try some resolutions, as well.
With her signature blend of memoir, science, philosophy, and experimentation, Rubin’s passion for her subject jumps off the page, and reading just a few chapters of this book will inspire readers to find more happiness in their own lives.

Sunday, August 12, 2012

Bloom

A few weeks ago I was happy I brought my KindleFire along on our day trip to Adventureland. We were driving home in the dark and sadly, I could no longer see the print in the book I was reading.  The Kindle Fire is slightly different from my previous kindle because it has backlighting like a computer screen, making it possible for me to read in a dark car.  I have so many titles lined up waiting to be read that it is difficult to know where to start, but I happily delved into Bloom by Kelle Hampton. 
The structure of this book reminds me of Dinner: A Love Story, a book I recently read on my Kindle Fire as well.  Beautiful photographs are included within this memoir as Kelle shares giving birth to and raising a daughter with Downs Syndrome.  Once I began reading I couldn't stop and I found myself poring over the photos within the book.  Kelle's daughters Lainey and Nella are both beautiful.  While Kelle was at first overwhelmed by having a child with special needs, she falls in love with her while trying to reconcile her dreams for her children with the reality she is faced with.  The sister relationship she wishes for Lainey and Nella will be different than what she had hoped for. Yet as time passes, she can see the bond that Lainey and Nella share is still strong.  Kelle's older sister comes to lend a hand as do a slew of girlfriends.  And, although no one wishes for challenges or hardships in life, Kelle's sister's advice is something I have thought about a great deal even after I finished Bloom. Although not everyone faces extreme challenges, those that do have the opportunity to grow so much and appreciate so much more - these people are the lucky ones. 
Although I've been finished reading Bloom for a few weeks now, I loved reading about this family, and am happy that I can still do so on Kelle's blog
Bloom is an honest, yet upbeat look at Kelle's life as a mom of a child with Down's Syndrome. I appreciated her honesty-sharing her true thoughts and feelings - such as after finding out Nella had DS, wishing she hadn't "wasted" a great name on this baby, yet still loving her and feeling guilty for even having such a thought. Other mothers will definitely relate.  And hopefully they will see that although there is no magic formula for raising a special child, it is impossible not to love them.

Thursday, August 9, 2012

The Meryl Streep Movie Club

Meryl Streep is an actress that has been around as long as I can remember, yet I have never really thought about how many different movies she has been in - and the list is long. In Mia March's women's fiction novel, The Meryl Streep Movie Club, Lolly, the matriarch in the family runs and operates a bed and breakfast in a small Maine tourist town.  Each Friday evening she picks a movie starring Meryl Streep, as a few guests, Lolly and her daughter and nieces join to watch and discuss the various selections.
Everyone has come together because Lolly has been diagnosd with pancreatic cancer.  Despite the fact that the family has never really discussed feelings or been close, they are now coming together and realizing how much they mean to each other.  And although Lolly's health crisis is by far the most serious and with the most devastating consequences, each of the three women Lolly raised are going through their own personal crises.  And, as they discuss the movies they watch each Friday all of the women learn more about each other, and discover a real love and respect for each other.
Not only did I love this book, I also want to watch some of the movies these ladies watched.

Wednesday, August 8, 2012

Waiting on Wednesday

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

This week's pick: The Fall of Alice K by Jim Heynen
Due out August 28, 2012

Product Description taken from Amazon:
Seventeen-year-old Alice Marie Krayenbraak is beautiful, witty, a star student, and a gifted athlete. On the surface, she has it all. But in Alice’s hometown of Dutch Center, Iowa, nothing is as it seems. Behind the façade of order and tidiness, the family farm is failing. Alice’s mother is behaving strangely amid apocalyptic fears of Y2K. And her parents have announced their plans to send her special-needs sister Aldah away. On top of it all, the uniformly Dutch Calvinist town has been rattled by an influx of foreign farm workers.

It’s the fall of senior year, and Alice now finds herself at odds with both family and cultural norms when she befriends and soon falls in love with Nickson Vang, the son of Hmong immigrants. Caught in a period of personal and community transformation, Alice and Nickson must navigate their way through vastly different traditions while fighting to create new ones of their own. Funny and provocative, amusing and unsettling, The Fall of ’99 marks a watershed moment in the publishing career of author, Jim Heynen.

Sunday, August 5, 2012

Back to School

I went back to work on Wednesday this week. August 1 is incredibly early for teachers and students to go back to school, but I work in a building that has been deemed Persisently Low Achieving by our government because of test scores.  The extra days they have added to our contract is supposed to help student achievement.
I have read Jonathan Kozol's books before, and enjoyed all of them, but now that I teach in a culturally diverse school with a free and reduced lunch rate in the 95% range, the students that Kozol writes about are ones that I could know in my present situation.
Fire in the Ashes is Kozol's latest book. It is easily a stand-alone title, although Kozol's book is a follow-up to other titles he has written and children he wrote about earlier in their lives.  While I don't recognize the children from reading of them previously, there is enough of their back story given that it will not matter whether you have read other books by Kozol.
One part of this book that I earmarked and have reflected on a few times since is what Kozol has to say about success. Some of the children he followed and has written about have achieved a great deal in terms of academics an employment. But as Kozol writes, "But "success" is an arbitrary term at best, takes a wide variety of forms, some of which do not glow so visibly." He goes on to discuss all the ways in which Angelo was at a disadvantage compared to the other children he writes of and finishes with, "He isn' slick. He isn't glib. He isn't cruel. He isn't mean. He's a kind and loving human being, which is not the case with many of the more sophisticated people that I know who have been to college or have multiple degrees. To me, those qualities of elemental goodness in his soul matter more than anything."
I have thought about this a lot, have re-read this portion of the book to myself and to others and while I want academic success for my students and my own children, I also want them to be good people and to be happy.  Considering everything Angelo went through, he is successful.  And it wasn't ever tested or rewarded at school.
Tomorrow it is the first day of school for my students.  I am excited to see them and love them and watch them learn and grow this year.

Thursday, August 2, 2012

Blast From the Past

August 2002 had some great books! I was excited to revisit these titles as I looked through my old reading journal.  I can't believe it's been ten years since I read Claire Cook's first book or Donald Harstad's first book, Eleven Days. Cook continues to publish a book every year, but I am still waiting for Harstad's series to continue.  I have had the pleasure of hearing him speak on two separate occasions and have been entertained both times.  The fact that I look through my reading journal and see so many Alice titles popping up over the months shows just how many books there are in this series, but it doesn't show how much I love these books.  Fannie Flagg is another favorite author and Standing Under the Rainbow is one of my very favorite titles by her.  Bread Alone by Judith Ryan Hendricks is a novel that I have thought of every once in a while. It is a book I liked when I read it but had no idea that even a decade later I would still think about it. I can only hope that August 2012 has such a wealth of great reading in store.

Wednesday, August 1, 2012

Waiting on Wednesday

Waiting on Wednesday is hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine.
This week's pick: How Lucky You Are by Kristyn Kusek Lewis
Due out September 4, 2012

Product Information taken from Amazon:
In the tradition of Emily Giffin and Marisa de los Santos, HOW LUCKY YOU ARE is an engaging and moving novel about three women struggling to keep their longstanding friendship alive. Waverly, who's always been the group's anchor, runs a cozy bakery but worries each month about her mounting debt. Kate is married to a man who's on track to be the next governor of Virginia, but the larger questions brewing in their future are unsettling her. Stay-at-home mom Amy has a perfect life on paper, but as the horrific secret she's keeping from her friends threatens to reveal itself, she panics.

As life's pressures build all around them, Waverly knows she has some big decisions to make. In doing so, she will discover that the lines between loyalty and betrayal can become blurred, happy endings aren't always clear-cut, and sometimes you have to risk everything to gain the life you deserve