A Discovery of Witches

A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Loved it!  It's a bit wacky and kind of a mishmash of Twilight (vampires) and Gabaldon Outlander series (time travel) and the addition of witchcraft ... but I couldn't put it down.  Which was tough, because it's a pretty serious book!  It is also clearly a book number one of who knows how many, and I wish that I had started reading it after the next one had already come out!  But alas, I did not, and I can't snap my fingers and bring it forth, nor can I suck your blood.  Because I am not a witch or a vampire!

I don't know why, but these vampire tales suck me right in (he he).  I can't for the life of me fathom why a cold, heartless, bloodsucking paleface is appealing, but Matthew does cartwheels over Edward (Twilight series) in terms of personality.  While Edward is stuck repeating high school for all eternity, Matthew has been around since the beginning of time and has been friends with the best of them.  The first book leaves us with Diana and Matthew timewalking back in time to get away from all of the daemons, witches and vampires that are after them.  But before that, they fell in love, and who doesn't love a good love story?  They still haven't had sex yet (vampires are clearly not fueled by testosterone, which might be why they are so appealing to us warmbloods.  They just want to cuddle!) but they have certainly gotten close!

Can't wait for the next one.  No, seriously, I can't wait.



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Water Witches

Water Witches by Chris Bohjalian

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I enjoyed the story and the premise and found it to be a very enjoyable read.  However, his use of short paragraphs that jump from one what would be a chapter in a normal book, to another small paragraph I found a bit annoying.

The clouds outside are an indication of rain, and yet, it hasn't rained in days.  If only it would rain.

He drove his car into the driveway....alas, I can't even give an example because my brain doesn't work that way!  Which is why it was hard for me to have to kind of kick myself ... ooops, we are no longer at the wedding, we are now three months later, even if we are on the middle of the same page as the wedding!





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To Be Sung Underwater

This book enticed me by the name and it ended up being a fairly good read though defintely heartwrenching with the ending. It's about a summer romance between a back country Nebraska guy and a young 18 year old girl and though they have a summer of love and would comtemplate marriage once she goes off to college two separate lives occurred. Of course 20 years down the road she realizes she isn't happy in her marriage and she can't stop thinking about the Nebraska guy, Will, and calls him up to see how he is doing. She finds out that he has spent most of his life being a complete alcoholic, not a mean one, but is now slowly dying with liver disease and all the associated things that come from nonstop drinking. she ends up going out to visit him and they have a lovely time before a very surprising event occurs! I did enjoy the book but it is a very hard ending to take in and I had just watched a movie with a very similar gut-wrenching ending so I think that sort of skewed my perception. I would still suggest it though!

All Over the Map

This was a nice fun read. the book is mainly about the female main character who's career as a writer allows her to travel to multiple places around the world and write about different topics that interest or amuse her. We enter the story right around her 40th birthday where she has recently just gotten divorced and is trying to figure out where her life should go now that she is husbandless, no children, and not even a house to call her own. WE travel to multiple spots around the world with her and though the writing and description of the places she visits and food she eats is very fun to read her character herself seemed to drag. I understand how experiences such as divorce and getting older are unsettling but alot of the book was her focusing on just that and it seemed sort of whiny. Overall she ends up buying a cute little home in Mexico and becoming one of those amazing independent woman which is a great ending!

Good read, the experiences and good parts of the book far outweigh the slow progress of the evolving woman! I would def suggest it!

A Discovery of Witches

This was an INCREDIBLE read!!! I absolutely devoured it as fast as I possibly could! The storyline includes vampires, witches, deamons, etc but is set in a lovely England setting where the two main characters are widely recognized historians and lots of old books and libraries. The romance that ensues between the main character Diana who is a witch and a vampire, Matthew, is thrilling and exciting! They have many obstacles to pass and of course the crazy other world things is a huge part of it but all of the characters were so fun to read about and empathize with not too mention that you are on the seat of your pants the whole time waiting to see what is going to happen. I can't wait for the sequel due out in Summer 2012!!!! READ THIS NOW!

When she Woke

When She Woke by Hillary Jordan

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


This was a pure good read with a slight hint of The Hunger Games. I gobbled it up. The premise is some undetermined date in the future when women are penalized when having abortions by being injected with a virus that turns their skin red. They become "Reds," which means to the world that they killed a baby. This is a serious crime in a time when the U.S. population has been greatly reduced by the "scourge," a sexually transmitted disease that renders females fertile (if it doesn't kill them).

The father of the aborted fetus is a handsome and charismatic preacher who actually has a backbone, eventually.

READ IT!!!

HALLIE: I started and finished this book all in one day! It completely sucks you in and the main character is such a great heroine! Standing up for her aborted fetus's father because it would ruin his life to give his name, gaining extra punishment years for that fact and then discovering that a man's love isn't really all it's cracked up to be. The book goes from incredibly strong and heartwrenching scenes one after another that just makes you think how is this girl EVER going to make it?!? but make it she does and I would hope that a sequel would be written! def read it.



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Gone To Green

Gone to Green by Judy Christie

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


This was another cheap book that I didn't really research before shelling out the ninety nine cents.  It was perfectly fine, it was just another Christian-based theme that came out of nowhere!  (I mean, if you intentionally seek out christian fiction, that is one thing.  But the constant praying to God, asking God for all the answers, having him speak to you ... it's just not what I am looking for.  So I read it, because it did have a plot line outside of the God line, but I wouldn't read any more.) 



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In the Garden of Beasts

 In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler's Berlin by Erik Larson

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I liked it ... but I have always been very interested in the holocaust and the events leading up to it, so this was a different perspective and where at first I thought it was going to have more of a story element to it; once I knew for sure that it would not, I was able to read it for what it is.  Which is a piecing together of various bits of research and history and journals and interviews.

A lot of it is astonishing in that during such a crucial time in history a college professor with no experience whatsoever was sent to Berlin as ambassador to the United States.  But then again, that didn't really surprise me.  None of it did. 

One of my greatest questions about the holocaust was why would the Jewish people all stand around in great masses of thousands of people with only a handful of soldiers training guns on them and not revolt?  What I hadn't realized was that the discrimination against them had been so absolute for their entire lives that almost somewhere in the back of their heads they must have come to believe that they were as inferior as the German aryan race said they were. 

I was also not surprised that our American government was well apprised of what Hitler was doing, but once again, it was all about money:  Our Great American Banks had lent money to Germany and they wanted it back.  And they weren't going to piss anyone off, not even a mass murderer, if there was even the smallest teeniest chance that that money would make its way back into their fat cat pockets.  It would make me sick if it had surprised me.  But it didn't.

Do we learn from history?  I think not.



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11/22/63

11/22/63 by Stephen King

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


What did I think?  I think I lost a weekend and there is no way to go back in time to get it because I don't know where the rabbit hole is!  But would I?  Would I change having read this book?  No way!

I was a huge Stephen King fan in high school and gobbled up all of his books.  Until ... they went from cool weird to over-the-top weird.  Suddenly coke machines were your worst enemy and there seemed to be a less emotional element mixed with the macabre (think Pet Cematary) and it was just a bunch of words filling up pages talking about near nonsense.  I stopped following King.  Plain and simple.  But over the years I have meandered up his path from time to time ... and found The Dome was along those lines of his original work.  But this?  This was FANTABULOUS!  Right from the get-go the premise draws you in.  Who wouldn't want to know what the world would be like if John F. Kennedy hadn't been shot?  But this is Stephen King, and he's not taking you to bed for good without a boatload of foreplay.  I was snagged from page one, and I too was greatly concerned about what happens to the future if you mess up the past! 

I guess it couldn't end any other way ... and I was a little confused as to the events that supposedly would take place if Kennedy hadn't died ... but I don't want to say anymore.  You must read this book and you must understand you will have no other desire to do anything else until it is finished!!



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Dead and Berried

Dead and Berried by Karen MacInerney

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


Well, it was very poorly written in that there were so many mistakes (things repeated for example) and every single action of making a brownie was printed verbatim, etc. I thought I would go nuts.  Unfortunately I pretty much have to finish a book when I start it.  This was one of the cheapo books from Amazon and I thought it might be okay.  No.  There was never any common sense applied -- there was a murderer after this girl and she thought nothing of putting herself in harms way over and over.  Why would you want to read about someone that stupid?  In addition, her cheating fiancee returns to woo her back, but he never pays any attention to her -- and yet, she still considers his offer of marriage.  Huh?  I should really give this one star -- but here is the thing -- despite its really awful everything, it was readable, and I finished it wondering what was going to happen!  Ya gotta give the author credit for that.  (But take a hint, edit your books before you publish them!)



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Don't say a Word

Don't Say A Word by Barbara Freethy

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I enjoyed this book, but I found it a little predictable (despite the attempts to make it unpredictable) and I think the characters were a little undeveloped -- though I am not sure what I mean by that.  Maybe that they didn't seem real?

It definitely kept me reading though -- and that in itself is what it's all about in the end!



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The Book Thief

I really enjoyed reading this book! It aims to be a young adult book so the writing is easy to understand and you can fly through it but be careful because it is a long book and took some time to get through. The storyline is very sweet adn endearing. It is different in that it is told n the point of view of "Death" who is watching how WWII unfolds in a small German town. A young girl is sent there to a foster family and it goes on to show how a German family dealt with the rules and lifestyle Hitler required. I loved loved loved it!

Here Today, Gone to Maui

This was not a good read.... basically a guy goes missing and it ends up that he did die but they thought he faked his own death because he was pretending to be someone else, and the two girlfriends (they did not initially know about each other) are just bad representations of females. The main character who then ends up falling for the real guy who her boyfriend was pretending to be but overall it's just a boring sappy far too predictable story. I do not suggest it.

The Rose Garden

The Rose Garden by Susanna Kearsley

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


I just LOVED this book, a total guilty pleasure.  Pure enjoyment -- it sucked me in right from the start and I had to force myself to go to bed at 2:00 a.m. but I picked it right back up as soon as I could.  I have no idea why I am such a sucker for these time travel romances (with very little romance I might add) but I love 'em!  I was a little confused at the end trying to figure out how the character who had traveled back from the future fit in -- I have a hard time grasping the concept as soooo many generations are skipped.  But I didn't worry about it too much!



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The Best of Me

The Best of Me by Nicholas Sparks

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Ahh, this was classic Nicholas Sparks.  Totally enjoyable, predictably sappy and easy to see where it was going to end.  But sometimes that is exactly the book you need to read -- especially on a blowsy Saturday morning after a really good party!



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The Most Dangerous Thing

The Most Dangerous Thing by Laura Lippman

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I enjoyed this book, though I kept waiting for things to happen that didn't!  I expected certain characters to get together, and they did not.  I thought something else had happened in the past, that did not!  So it certainly wasn't predictable. 



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Winter Sea

The Winter Sea by Susanna Kearsley

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


A book earns five stars from me if it completely sucks me in and I can't stop reading -- and then I feel morose and as though the world has ended when I turn the last page.

This one absolutely did those things.  At first I was a little irritated that there were two stories in the book -- but then I became anxious to find out what was going to happen in both sagas.  As a writer myself, I completely understand that the characters in a book you are writing are real ... but this took it to another level.  VERY fun premise.



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The Arrivals

The Arrivals by Meg Mitchell Moore

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This was a very enjoyable read.  Ginny and William are suddenly overrun by their three children, who all run into major crisis situations at the same time and run home.  Lillian has her three year old daughter and three month old son with her, and has to give up her old room to her brother Stephen, whose wife goes into premature labor while on a quick visit and ends up bedridden for the next few months.  And then Rachel decides instead of dealing with the fact she can no longer afford her Manhattan apartment since her boyfriend moved out, and that she might just not love her job, runs home too and camps out in her old bedroom with her 3-year-old niece.  I love Ginny's point of view -- where she feels a bit overwhelmed with it all, what she really loves is that they NEED her, and have expressed that by running home. Though that of course makes her wonder, did she mess everyone up?  It is a very sweet book.



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The Winters in Bloom

The Winters in Bloom by Lisa Tucker

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This was an enjoyable read, with believable characters.



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Code Talker

Code Talker by Chester Nez

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I had read earlier versions of this story as it is written by my sister-in-law, and the beginning of the book seemed to have a lot of the flavor of that first version, though that was written as a novel as opposed to a memoir. I think it took me quite a few chapters to start to get the feel of the newer version -- though I don't know why that would make a difference! It is definitely a well-polished book with almost excruciating attention to detail. I say excruciating not to be critical, but I don't particularly like a lot of description, and this book definitely pays a lot of attention to surroundings and sounds, etc. The story itself is very interesting and I became much more engaged after the battles and the back and forth to Chester's childhood. It is, I can be certain, a meticulously documented story, and it was an interesting contrast to another book I recently read about an American soldier who was captured by the Japanese on the Pacific islands. It was very nice to read that Chester believed (from what he witnessed) that the Americans treated the Japanese prisoners very well. (The Japanese did not, or at least from this one particular soldier's experience.)

The use of the Navajo language as a code in war almost seems too easy for the U.S. government to ever employ. I would imagine it was fought over and poo poohed by many high ranking officials and was therefore kept a huge secret much longer than it ever would have been if it was THEIR idea. The fact that the original coding system (shackle) took almost four hours to decode whereas the Navajo code took minutes, would definitely change the outcome of a war. How could it not? I think it is a great tragedy that these Navajo solders were not recognized much, much earlier for their amazing contributions. (I don't believe it was because they wanted to keep it in the vault in case they wanted to use it again. I think it was one of those things that could only be employed once ... because as was implied in the book, there were other Navajos recognizing their language and making innocent comments.)

Anyway, it is an amazing tribute to Chester Nez and his fellow code talkers.

HALLIE: Chester Nez's story is beautiful and sad and has all the components that a good story should have. It was amazing to hear about how they lived and breathed this code in order to completely change the whole outcome of the war. I personally enjoyed Chester's own life story. This was a great read and even though it was somewhat drawn out in parts I most certainly enjoyed it.

Alison Wonderland

Alison Wonderland by Helen  Smith

My rating: 1 of 5 stars


Stupid.  Hard to follow, had not point or purpose, still not sure where the baby came from and why and I was just glad it wasn't any longer than it was.  I only read it because it was a book club book, but it was AWFUL.



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Sing You Home

Sing You Home by Jodi Picoult

My rating: 2 of 5 stars


Here is what I think.  I should NEVER read another Jodi Picoult book again in my life!  But it is my love of her first books that keep luring me back; hoping that she has changed her formula just a little bit.  I happened to "read" this one as an audiobook, and she has taken up songwriting on top of her regular writing.  Oh MY GAWD ... the singing was like listening to fingernails on a blackboard.  Same melody, different words with a woman singing who didn't actually have a fabulous voice.  Painful.  At least if you read it you can just scan the lyrics and not have to endure the music.  The story itself was not that engaging either.  For one thing, it was hard to imagine a straight woman going through years of infertility that ended up with a stillbirth and shortly after that her husband leaving her, only to fall completely in love with a woman, despite never having even the slightest thought of being a lesbian, and then whammo, marrying that woman after five months.  Just silliness.



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Love In the Asylum

 Love in the Asylum: A Novel by Lisa Carey

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I really enjoyed this book ... even though the characters were so messed up.  But they were real and there were so many perspectives to draw from.  I was bummed when it ended because I wanted to see the characters evolve from the troubled individuals that they were.  There is a hint that they may have, but no promise.



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This Organic Life

This Organic Life: Confessions of a Suburban Homesteader by Joan Dye Gussow

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I started her other book first....which follows this story, and I was intrigued enough by that one to read this one before I finished that one.  They are written in the same flavor, both of them enjoyable to me because eating local and gardening are becoming more and more important to me as time goes on.  This one has recipes for the produce she reaps from her garden and I was sure to bookmark those.  She also spurned me on to freeze fresh veggies from the garden because I can't tell you how many times I have thrown away fresh produce from my garden or CSA.  Today I froze two meals worth of fresh green beans that I couldn't  have possibly made myself eat!  Baby steps.  When she talks about what it feels like to walk into a grocery store I could totally relate...it is the exact same for me....being surrounded by bad food is suffocating.  And wrong.  I also ordered several books that she mentioned on gardening.



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Heat Wave

This was a great book about a woman whose husband dies and she is left with two little girls and a life that is completely unknown. She hasn't been working, she's living out on Nantucket in her husbands family house with her in-laws nearby. Overall the whole situation is just one of complete loss and she has to find her way out of it all. Luckily she does and she finds a great guy as well! I couldn't put this book down and truly loved each and everyone of the characters. Also thrown in there is some great female friendship and just living life for what makes you happy. I would definitely reccommed this!

Home Again

Home Again by Kristin Hannah

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


Quite predictable and you never really got to know the characters all that much.  The entire story was based on a teenaged love affair that happened over a few months but basically ruined the characters lives.  I mean, come on.  We all had our teenaged love affairs.  Sure, this one ended up in a pregnancy and then later a 15 year old daughter, or however old she was.  Anyway, it just never clicked for me.  I kept waiting to care about ANY of the characters, but it never happened.



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Escape

Escape by Barbara Delinsky

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I liked it but there were some irritants.  I had no problem with her stalking the coyotes -- but I have coyotes in my backyard and they don't just hang around when you approach.   They run.  Fast.  So that was just an eye roller for me, everytime she went to connect with herself by staring into the golden eyes of the coyote.  Yeah, not gonna happen.

The second was it was based in a fictional town in N.H. and the characters were given the backwoods accent that would have been completely easy to leave out.  Because there really aren't all that many people in New Hampshire who speak that way.  I know, because I live in a non-fictional town in the backwoods of N.H. and we use our R's.

And thirdly, there is constant reference to when she had been in this place 10 years ago.  Like, that the town would not forgive her for leaving.  Or that she would be recognized, etc.  She was in the town for a summer 10 years prior.  Anyone who lives in N.H. knows that summer is exactly six weeks.  I find it highly unlikely that she would have made this huge, lasting impression on a town in that amount of time.  And there was constant reference to her sleeping in the garden shed.  Why?  The inn had not been owned by her friend's family, so why would they be in the shed?  It was like Delinsky needed to create these connections that were not necessary and in my mind detracted from the story.

Which, as I said, I liked.  Just not a five-star novel.  And I feel I am being a bit generous giving it four!!!!



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The Last Time I was Me

The Last Time I Was Me by Cathy Lamb

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I stayed up most of last night reading this book; so that certainly says it drew me in.  I did get a little annoyed with her smart mouth.  I mean, it was so incredibly inappropriate that it was beyond even being humorous.  I did like it, though it was a bit hard to believe that if she had been an accomplice in a murder, that it wouldn't just be so easy to sweep under the rug.



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Best Staged Plans

Best Staged Plans by Claire Cook

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


This was cute. A good quick read.

HALLIE: This was a fun quick read. I think I was interested more in the staging process and how she found everything for the hotel rather than the story but overall it kept me engaged and reading. A good story about women coming out on the top per the usual!

Amaryllis in Blueberry

Amaryllis in Blueberry by Christina Meldrum

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


My niece recommended this book to me while we were vacationing and I didn't immediately click with it.  When you are sitting on the beach, you really just want a mindless read.  But as soon as I got home, I started reading it again, and was quickly drawn in.  The story is very similar to Barbara Kingsolver's The Poisonwood Bible, and at first that sort of turned me off.  But as I was drawn into it more and more, I started to see it for the book it was.  It has many layers that are peeled back slowly, with the last revelation showing up on the last page.



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Breaking Point

Breaking Point by Pamela Clare
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I desperately needed a beach read and this popped up in recommendations. I didn't realize it was a series, but then found out that didn't really matter. It was a perfect beach read and fairly well written. Not sure I would pick up on the series because of it; but it fit the bill!


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HALLIE: I raced through this book! definitely a great beach/smut read! Funniest thing was I met found out one of my friends brother is a US Marshall!!!

The Last Anniversary

The Last Anniversary by Liane Moriarty


My rating: 4 of 5 stars


What I really think is that it is impossible to top What Alice Forgot. I am not really sure that this one delivers a satisfactory conclusion, for when it ended I was like, really? We get to guess what happens to Sophie's love life? I could have done that and not read the book at all!!! I enjoyed it, but it might be a stretch at four stars.




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Three Wishes

Three Wishes by Liane Moriarty


My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This was cute, a good beach read about triplets and their grown up lives with all the messiness that entails with the underlying message that life goes on, whether or not you want it to.




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Night Road

Night Road by Kristin Hannah


My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This book certainly was timely for me as I am the mother of teenagers and believe (falsely I suppose) that I have given them all the tools to handle drinking and driving responsibly. It was the type of book that sticks in your head as a warning, but it also was a good story with real characters and a believable plot line. I would recommend it.




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State of Wonder

State of Wonder by Ann Patchett

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This was a good book -- but not the type that you can't put down.  I found it enjoyable, but more like an old friend that you can instantly catch up with.  It took me a few days to read this and it was easy to fall right back into it.  I liked the subject matter but I was kind of bummed about the end.



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To Be Sung Underwater

To Be Sung Underwater by Tom McNeal

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


I think I liked it!  I pretty much read it cover to cover because I had to know how it turned out.  I felt a little disappointed at the ending -- but then again, only because it wasn't happily ever after, but realistic.  But it was thoroughly enjoyable (despite some words I had to look up, and I have a decent vocabulary!) and I would highly recommend it.   I read about it yesterday in Oprah magazine, started reading the sample, moved on to the book, put it down to live life, but then returned and read it pretty much all night long!  It was cool because the full moon was reflected in my iPad as I lay in bed!!!  Then I finished it up this morning.



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the perks of being a wallflower

I pretty much raced through this book... a story written in letters of a young boy very shy, self conscious, awkward young boy coming through his teenage years. It is written surprisingly well and as you sympathize with this poor kid over the hard parts you also get to feel those pure moments of joy felt when something went right and that was your whole world! It was a decent read but not something I was really in the mood for so the reading may not have been thorough.

Seeing Me Naked

Seeing Me Naked by Liza Palmer

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


After coming off two really good reads in a row, this book was like the rebound boyfriend -- it never really had a chance!  It was definitely entertaining, and I definitely enjoyed it.  But it wasn't "all that and more."   Elisabeth Page has sort of just been living her life through work as a pastry chef at a chi chi French L.A. restaurant.  Her family is comprised of a famous author father and a possibly even more famous author brother, and they show their love for each other by trying to cut each other down.  She comes from a privileged background and she sleeps with and is in love with a childhood friend who has commitment issues and is a bit of a jerk due to the fact that his mommy never loved him enough.  Yeah, I know.  Elisabeth falls in love with the guy from the wrong side of the tracks and has to come to terms with showing her feelings to him.  It was okay.



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What Alice Forgot

What Alice Forgot by Liane Moriarty

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


I loved this book -- it really made me think about my own marriage and life.  How would I look at my current self if I was ten years younger?  How many petty things in my own life would look petty from the outside looking in?



I literally couldn't put it down and finished it in one day.  I didn't love how there were three different dialogs going on --  Alice's story and then letters from her sister to her psychiatrist and another letter writer in the form of her quaisi-grandmother.  Not too sure those were necessary.  But as I said, best book ever!



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Unbroken

This was a book club book and I don't know why I bother to read book club books, since pretty much no one else does, but I always figure the point and purpose of a book club is to read books that you wouldn't choose yourself.  And I most definitely wouldn't have chosen this one!

It was pretty deadly, even though it was very informative.  But it felt like a long newspaper article (long as in over 400 pages!) about Louis Zamperini who was a fast runner! LOL  He went to the Olympics when he was 15 and was a sure bet for the Gold four years later.  Except there was a war.  A big war!@  And he ended up in a plane in charge of launching bombs.  But then he is in a tub of a jet and it crashes into the Pacific, and for 42 days he and two others are just floating in this life raft.  I can tell you pretty much everything about this ... but really all you care is that he made it.  Right?  Well, he does, right into Japanese territory where he is thrown into a POW camp and dreams about the good life of starvation and sun stroke on the raft!  For two years he is held prisoner and tortured.  Let me tell you, it was torturous to read!

If you are interested in little tidbits of WWII that you might not have learned in class, then this is the book for you!

Silver Girl

This is a pure pure beach read. Except that I read it in my bed with the rain pouring in buckets outside. In other words, a PERFECT day to read an entire book! Which is what I did, cover to cover. The premise is basically a couple (like Bernie Madoff and his wife) and the husband is arrested for running a ponzi scheme and has bilked hundreds of people of millions of dollars and his wife Meredith is sort of left in the ruins. Everyone hates her because they can't imagine she didn't know about it (and she says she didn't!) and she is also under investigation herself by the Feds. But the story is how did she get to that point (of living with a perfect stranger who not only was a crook, but also had a six-year affair with their interior decorator) and not have a clue? When is not noticing anything okay?

Good read, I would highly recommend it!

HALLIE: This book definitely kept me reading but I was very irritated with the main character for prob 80% of the book. I think it was the other characters who kept me around becuase really I don't feel bad for you that you had no concept of money and then get screwed cause your husbands an ass. But rather than speak all negative about that I was happy with how the book ended and it did amuse me!

Learning to Swim

This was an interesting book about a woman who is on a ferry goign to visit her boyfriend and out of the corner of her eye sees something being tossed off of a passing ferry in the opposite direction. Without giving it much thought she believes it was a child and she dives into the water. After managing to swim the child ashore in freezing temps and keeping it alive she realizes that no commotion has been made about this missing kid and that there is the potential that someone purposely tried to drown a little boy. Fast forward and she has met with the father and found out that his wife and kid disappeared 6 months ago and due to ransom demands he couldn't go to the police, blah blah blah.
The good part about the story is that the kid ends up happy but the surprise outcome of the book was expected and overall the story line is just one that's been done many many times I feel. I did enjoy the read though.

Blue Nude

This was an interesting book about an artist model (Merav), one who poses for artists in classes and stuff, (what do you call them) and an artist teacher. The model comes into his class one day and immediately they both feel this instant connection that both intrigues and frightens them as the model is Jewish and grew up never being allowed to forget about the horrors of the "camps" and the teacher is clearly the perfect specimen of an Aryan German (Danzig). There's some more that happens but ultimately the story is about an artist finding his muse again after years of frustration and zero results. Both th e teacher and model end the story happy but it's that kind of bittersweet end. Quick read but I enjoyed it. I also LOVED the names of the characters.

Does the Noise in my Head Bother You?

I absolutely devoured this book too (as I did the Hunger Games series.)  I was actually laughing out loud in many places ... and while it is not written in a linear manner and apparently the critics hated it (everytime I tell someone I am reading it they retort that it got horrible reviews)   I loved it.  The constant references to Sunapee are fun and you never know who you are going to relate to.  For me, it was quite a surprise that I could actually relate to a rock 'n roll star.  Not the drugs, sex or even the rock 'n roll -- but he has that quirky brain that I do that thinks in rhymes and makes up words and believes there is more to this world than meets the eye.  But the similarities end there, of course.  He has had a wild life, but in the end, he just wants what everyone else does.  Love and peace. 

I think we all felt as though we saw a new Steven Tyler on American Idol -- I just think that is the real him.  The rock star is not all who he is.  I would highly recommend reading it.

Mockingjay

LISA: And then it ends and it totally bums you out!!! Sooooooooo good!

HALLIE: So sad when it ends but it pretty much ended as I had decided it would. It's rather depressing how it's left but then again how can it really end up any other way. Once tragedy and horror has occurred to you, it's there and you have to learn how to live it.

Catching Fire

LISA: Book two of the Hunger Game series. You will fly through it!

HALLIE: Again another fantastic book! A little frustrating as you feel as hopeless as the main character at times but overall great! I ended this and started the third one immediately! my favorite thing about this trilogy is the books pick up directly where they left off!

Hunger Games

LISA: Well, I devoured this. It was a book club book and at first I wasn't all that excited to read it. But as soon as I started, I was hooked. There are three books and I read one right after the other. A really incredibly believable premise and one you won't be able to put down. I guarantee it! Don't start if you have a life!

HALLIE: This book was FANTASTIC!!! Seriously Mom is right above, once you start it is impossible to put down! Luckily i was on a 8 hour bus trip so I was able to just completely sink into it. Consuming, heart-wrenching, thrilling, invigorating this book has everything someone could want in a story. I found myself crying/laughing/sobbing all at the same time!!! It is also incredible to actually think of the ideas that this book puts out about a civilization way in the future that is completely controlled and powerless to stop what is happening... or is it?

This Life Is In Your Hands

I am not sure how I felt about this book.  It was written by Melissa Coleman and purportedly she is writing about her life as a homesteader from birth to about 7 years of age, maybe a little older.  So let's face it, her memories of that time have to be pretty sketchy and probably not all that coherent.  And she loses her sister as well, and one would have to believe that was pretty traumatic.

It is ultimately the story of her parents, Sue and Eliot Coleman, who meet at a now defunct college in Franconia, N.H. and decide that they want to live "the good life."  Scott and Helen Nearing had written several books of that title, and they were located on the coast of Maine.  Many "hippies" during the 70's would write letters to the Nearings and ask if they could apprentice for them.  In return for their hard work they were able to learn organic farming techniques as well as preserving food for the brutal Maine winters.  The apprentices, for the most part, lived in tents.  But if the Nearings really liked you, they sold you a chunk of land for $33 an acre and you could homestead on it.  Eliot Coleman is actually still at that farm today, but with a third wife.  All the couples of the 70s broke up -- apparently poverty and hard work are not all that romantic.  Yeah.  I guess not.  Melissa's mother was also depressed and had to spend every minute doing something -- milking goats, preparing food, canning food or working in the garden.  So obviously she wasn't all that happy!  And her father had some thyroid disease that made his body create adrenaline so he could never stop.  Freaky people!

Would I recommend it?  No, not really.  Not a huge page turner.

Two Kisses for Maddy

I came across Matt Logelin a couple of years ago via another blog I follow -- and there was absolutely NO reason that I would have followed him other than his words were strangely compelling.  He had lost his wife a day after his daughter Maddy was born, and he had started a blog prior to that to keep family and friends updated on their progress.  His wife Liz was on strict bedrest and then eventually in the hospital the last two weeks before giving birth, so he would put on updates on the blog.  And then when his wife died and he was left with a tiny infant on his own, he continued to blog and came up with a huge following.  It was not unusual for him to get three to 400 or more responses to a blog post.  All these women came out of the woodwork to offer him advice, support and in many cases, just an ear.  In a few short years he had a book deal and he wrote this book.  I knew the story, but decided to get the book anyway -- and it was a tear jerker for sure.  I am serious, I could only read a chapter at a time before I would just be a mess, sobbing.  I think it hit a lot of people like that, as I read in the blog.

I would strongly recommend it -- it is just a human story, as human as it gets, really.

Skipping a Beat

This was a book club book and it didn't get very good reviews from everyone who read it -- and I didn't actually end up reading it until a day or so before book club. Everyone kept saying that they cried through it, and I had just finished another book that had really made me sob, so I wasn't in a hurry for a repeat sadfest. But this wasn't really sad at all -- just odd. I mean, it wasn't terrible, really, just seemed to lack in compassion. I would say it is okay, if you are in need of a decent book, then go for it. But there are definitely better ones!