Books #69 and #70 of 2010

Book #69 of 2010 was a teen novel "Shiver" by Maggie Stiefvater.

Grace, 17, loves the peace and tranquility of the woods behind her home. It is here during the cold winter months that she gets to see her wolf—the one with the yellow eyes. Grace is sure that he saved her from an attack by other wolves when she was nine. Over the ensuing years he has returned each season, watching her with those haunting eyes as if longing for something to happen. When a teen is killed by wolves, a hunting party decides to retaliate. Grace races through the woods and discovers a wounded boy shivering on her back porch. One look at his yellow eyes and she knows that this is her wolf in human form. Fate has finally brought Sam and Grace together, and as their love grows and intensifies, so does the reality of what awaits them. It is only a matter of time before the winter cold changes him back into a wolf, and this time he might stay that way forever.

If you like the teen angst of Twilight, you will probably like this book. I have read that Stiefvater wrote this book before Twilight was a twinkle in Meyer's eye so you could say she started the supernatural trend. "Shiver" is certainly not an earth shattering read but it was entertainment.

Book #70 of 2010 was "Mudbound" by Hillary Jordan.

It is 1946 in the Mississippi Delta, where Memphis-bred Laura McAllan is struggling to adjust to farm life, rear her daughters with a modicum of manners and gentility, and be the wife her land-loving husband, Henry, wants her to be. It is an uphill battle every day. Things started badly when Henry's trusting nature resulted in the family being done out of a nice house in town, thus relegating them to a shack on their property. In addition, Henry's father, Pappy, a sour, mean-spirited devil of a man, moves in with them.

The real heart of the story, however, is the friendship between Jamie, Henry's too-charming brother, and Ronsel Jackson, son of sharecroppers who live on the McAllan farm. They have both returned from the war changed men: Jamie has developed a deep love for alcohol and has recurring nightmares; Ronsel, after fighting valiantly for his country and being seen as a man by the world outside the South, is now back to being just another black "boy."

Told in alternating chapters by Laura, Henry, Jamie, Ronsel, and his parents, Florence and Hap, the story unfolds with a chilling inevitability.

This is one of the best books I have read in a long time. I knew from the first paragraph that I'd be drawn in. Jordan has a gift for writing and I look forward to her future novels.

Up next is "The Girl who Played with Fire" by Stieg Larsson.

Books #66, #67 and #68 of 2010

I finished three books since I last blogged and not one of them was the one I said I was going to read.

First, #66 was the non-fiction book "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks" by Rebecca Skloot.

From a single, abbreviated life grew a seemingly immortal line of cells that made some of the most crucial innovations in modern science possible. And from that same life, and those cells, Rebecca Skloot has fashioned in The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks a fascinating and moving story of medicine and family, of how life is sustained in laboratories and in memory. Henrietta Lacks was a mother of five in Baltimore, a poor African American migrant from the tobacco farms of Virginia, who died from a cruelly aggressive cancer at the age of 30 in 1951. A sample of her cancerous tissue, taken without her knowledge or consent, as was the custom then, turned out to provide one of the holy grails of mid-century biology: human cells that could survive--even thrive--in the lab. Known as HeLa cells, their stunning potency gave scientists a building block for countless breakthroughs, beginning with the cure for polio. Meanwhile, Henrietta's family continued to live in poverty and frequently poor health, and their discovery decades later of her unknowing contribution--and her cells' strange survival--left them full of pride, anger, and suspicion. For a decade, Skloot doggedly but compassionately gathered the threads of these stories, slowly gaining the trust of the family while helping them learn the truth about Henrietta, and with their aid she tells a rich and haunting story that asks the questions, Who owns our bodies? And who carries our memories?

I picked this book up on a whim at the library and I am so glad I did. I was -- and still am -- amazed by this story. I think you can enjoy this book even if scientific books about genetics and medicine isn't your usual genre. There is plenty of science in this book but it was never too far above my head The narrative of Lacks' life (and her descendants) is a worthy read on its own. I really can't properly express my feelings about this book. If you like non-fiction, go read it.

Book #67 was "The Department of Lost and Found" by Allison Winn Scotch.

Natalie Miller, a driven 30-year-old senior aideto a woman senator from New York, is having a rough time: just days after she's diagnosed with breast cancer, her cheating live-in boyfriend ditches her. She's feeling gloomy, then, when she begins chemo. (Her hunky and sweet gynecologist, Zach, is a mitigating factor.) Though the election is six weeks away, Natalie is ordered to stay home, where she writes in her diary (excerpts appear throughout) and becomes addicted to The Price Is Right while an ambitious junior aide takes over her job. Natalie battles through rounds of chemo and a mastectomy until, out of the blue, an old love, up-and-coming rocker Jake, comes back to take care of her. He seems intent on making things work, but Natalie's long-simmering (and seemingly requited) attraction to Zach only intensifies. Meanwhile, Natalie's journalist friend Sally lands her first big story: an exposé of Natalie's boss. Her loyalties on the line and her cancer on the wane, Natalie makes some tough choices about the post-cancer person she wants to be.

Despite the heavy topic, this was still a quick, enjoyable read. Scotch lost a friend to breast cancer and says that she gave her story a happy ending in contrast.

Book #68 was "When Did I Get Like This" by Amy Wilson.

"When Did I Get Like This?" is the hilarious story of one mother's struggle to shrug off the ridiculous standards of modern parenting, and remember how to enjoy her children.

Super fast read - one woman's take on motherhood and all that's involved with it.

Up next is "Shiver" by Maggie Stiefvater which is a young adult novel involving werewolves (because if its not vampires, its werewolves).

Blueberries and Book #65 of 2010

We decided the kids around here need to start earning their keep so sent them to a blueberry farm.

Happy hired help!

Jacob decided to go on strike before he even started.

A thank you to the nice people at Blueberry Trails in Conklin, Michigan. The blueberries are YUMMY!

Now on to books ... Book #65 of 2010 was "The Almond Picker" by Simonetta Agnello Hornby.

A family saga, Sicilian style. The tale opens with the death of the woman Mennulara, whose name in Sicilian dialect means the almond picker. And so she was in her youth, trying to support an impoverished and sickly family. Before her death, Mennu, who had been in service to the matriarch of the Alfallipe family since she was 13, leaves cryptic instructions for the squabbling and disagreeable family. Hornby tells her story by spiraling back through Mennu's hard life. In the process, she emerges as a kind of secular saint, not only caring for her own family and the Alfallipes but also learning to read, overseeing the household accounts, managing investments, studying local archaeology and music, and even having secret ties to the Mafia and to the family.

I am not sure how to describe this story - it is not fast paced or full of action but rather a study of one person's impact on an entire family and town. Nonetheless, I did enjoy it.

Up next is "City of Bells" by Elizabeth Goudge.

Book #64 of 2010

Book #64 of 2010 was "After You" by Julie Buxbaum.

When American ex-pat Lucy Stafford is killed by a mugger, her lifelong best friend Ellie Lerner drops everything to fly to London. Ellie stays on after Lucy's funeral to care for her friend's eight-year-old daughter, Sophie, who witnessed her mom's violent death and has since retreated into silence. Ellie also worries about Lucy's husband, Greg, who confesses that he can barely even look at his daughter; her own divorced parents' on-again, off-again relationship; and her long-suffering husband, waiting for her in the Boston suburbs. Ellie finds London as much a refuge as a place of mourning; she's been unable to move past the birth of a stillborn child and feels the need to borrow Sophie. As she uncovers more of Lucy's life, Ellie finds her own spinning out of control, and soon she's forced to reassess even her deeply held certainties.

Up next is a book I started several weeks ago but didn't finish ... "The Almond Picker" by Simonetta Agnello Hornby.

Book #63 of 2010 ...

Book #63 of 2010 was ... "The One That I Want" by Allison Winn Scotch.

Tilly Farmer is thirty-two years old and has the perfect life she always dreamed of: married to her high school sweetheart, working as a guidance counselor in her hometown, trying for a baby. Perfect.

In fact, on the surface you might never know how tough things used to be. At seventeen, Tilly lost her mother to cancer, her father drowned his grief in alcohol, and she played parent to her two younger sisters more often than being a kid herself. Still Tilly never let tragedy overtake her belief that hard work and good cheer could solve any problem. Of course she’s also spent a lifetime plastering a smile on her face and putting everyone else’s problems ahead of her own.

But that relentless happiness has served her well—her sisters are grown and content, her dad is ten years sober, and she’s helping her students achieve all their dreams while she and her husband, Tyler, start a family. A perfect life indeed.

Then one sweltering afternoon at the local fair, everything changes. Tilly wanders into the fortune teller’s tent and is greeted by an old childhood friend, now a psychic, who offers her more than just a reading. “I’m giving you the gift of clarity,” her friend says. “It’s what I always thought you needed.” And soon enough, Tilly starts seeing things: her father relapsing, staggering out of a bar with his car keys in hand; Tyler uprooting their happy, stable life, a packed U-Haul in their driveway; and even more disturbing, these visions start coming true. Suddenly Tilly’s perfect life, so meticulously mapped out, seems to be crumbling around her. And she’s not sure what’s more frightening: that she’s begun to see the future or what the future holds . . .

As Tilly furiously races to keep up with—and hopefully change—her destiny, she faces the question: Which is the life she wants? The one she’s carefully nursed for decades, or the one she never considered possible?

Up next is "After You" by Julie Buxbaum.

To make up for a lack of a review, here is a picture of the kids on their first day of camp. Note Jacob's enthusiasm for the event.

Lots of books, vacation and an ear infection

We just got back from 10 days of vacation in our new (to us) camper. We went from Grand Rapids to Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario to North Bay, Ontario to Alfred-Plantagenet, Ontario to our friend's house in Woolwich, ME (then back home through Buffalo, NY after a visit to the in-laws).

Some highlights:

1.) Getting to Canadian border in the U.P. and thinking we didn't have the kid's birth certificates.

2.) Paying $1 for five minutes of showering.

3.) Being the only people not speaking French at a campground. Parlez vous Francais? Non.

4.) Getting an ear infection (me) and having to go to an urgent care clinic in New York.

5.) Seeing a moose pooping warning sign. Still not sure if that was for real.

So the books I read (or listened to) were:

#58 "Ten Minutes From Home" by Beth Greenfield.

#59 "Girl From Foreign" by Sadia Shepard

#60 "The Good Life" by Jay Mcinerney.

#61 "Middlesex" by Jeffrey Eugenides

#62 "Didn't I Feed You Yesterday" by Laura

I really liked "Girl From Foreign" and "Middlesex". I hated "The Good Life" but finished it because I was desperate for something to listen to on the drive.

And now I am reading "The One That I Want" by Allison Winn Scotch.

Now that I updated you, I am going to return to my Vicodin haze.

Book #57 of 2010

Book #57 of 2010 was ... "Eye Contact" by Cammie McGovern.

("Eye Contact") centers on a nine-year-old autistic boy, Adam, who witnesses the murder of a classmate. Disturbed by what he saw, Adam retreats into himself, frustrating the police and worrying his mother, Cara, who has watched Adam's development with a nervous eye since he was diagnosed with autism. Cara is fearful of the effect the murder will have on her son, but she's also surprised to find the investigation dredging up her own past: the officer assigned to the case is the younger brother of her former best friend, whom she hasn't spoken to in almost a decade. And another old friend, who might just be Adam's father, has come back into her life.

McGovern does a good job of presenting an authentic autistic character in her book which makes sense given that her own son is autistic. However, it does not make up for the fact that the rest of the story is confusing with various characters and plot lines that never really seem to make sense.

Up next is "Ten Minutes from Home" by Beth Greenfield.

Book #56 of 2010

Book #56 of 2010 was "Thinking of You" by Jill Mansell.

Ginny Holland’s daughter Jem has headed off to university, leaving single mum Ginny with a severe case of empty nest syndrome. To make matters worse, the first gorgeous man she's clapped eyes on in years has just accused Ginny of shoplifting. So Ginny decides to advertise for a lodger but what she gets is lovelorn Laurel, who can only talk about her ex-boyfriend. However Laurel has a dangerously charming brother, Perry, and add to that the offer of a great new job, and things are looking up … until Ginny realizes that her potential boss is all too familiar.

Is it too late for Ginny to set right the first impression she made when Finn Penhaligon got quite the wrong end of the stick? And is either Finn or Perry quite what they seem?

Broken record here: light and fun summer read!

Up next is "Eye Contact" by Cammie McGovern.

Books #54 and #55

Book #54 was "Rumor Has It" by Jill Mansell

Newly single, Tilly Cole impulsively accepts a job offer in a small town as a "Girl Friday." Fun job, country house, fresh start, why not? But soon she finds herself in a hotbed of gossip, intrigue, and rampant rivalry for the town's most desirable bachelor-Jack Lucas.

Rumors of Jack's "love 'em and leave 'em" escapes abound, and Tilly decides to do the mature, sensible thing... avoid Jack at all cost. But the more time Tilly spends with Jack, the more the rumors just don't make sense. Tilly doesn't know what to believe... and Jack's not telling.

Just your classic easy-to-read chick lit from one of my favorite British chick lit authors. Perfect to take to the beach this summer.

And Book #55 was "Three Little Words" by Ashley Rhodes-Courter.

"Sunshine, you're my baby and I'm your only mother. You must mind the one taking care of you, but she's not your mama." Ashley Rhodes-Courter spent nine years of her life in fourteen different foster homes, living by those words. As her mother spirals out of control, Ashley is left clinging to an unpredictable, dissolving relationship, all the while getting pulled deeper and deeper into the foster care system.

Painful memories of being taken away from her home quickly become consumed by real-life horrors, where Ashley is juggled between caseworkers, shuffled from school to school, and forced to endure manipulative,humiliating treatment from a very abusive foster family. In this inspiring, unforgettable memoir, Ashley finds the courage to succeed - and in doing so, discovers the power of her own voice.

This is a memoir written by a teen writer about her time in the extremely flawed foster care system. At times her youth is evident in her writing, but it doesn't detract from the overall impact of the book.

Up next is another perfect-for-summer chick lit book by Jill Mansell, "Thinking of You".

Book #53 of 2010

Book #53 of 2010 was ... "Kinky Gazpacho" by Lori Tharps.

Magazine writer and editor Lori Tharps was born and raised in the comfortable but mostly White suburbs of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where she was often the only person of color in her school and neighborhood. At an early age, Lori decided that her destiny would be discovered in Spain. She didn't know anyone from Spain, had never visited the country, and hardly spoke the language. Still, she never faltered in her plans to escape to the Iberian Peninsula.

Arriving in the country as an optimistic college student, however, Lori soon discovers Spain's particular attitude toward Blackness. She is chased down the street by the local schoolchildren and pointed at incessantly in public, and her innocent dreams of a place where race doesn't matter are shattered. The story would end there, except Lori meets and marries a Spaniard, and that's when her true Spanish adventure really begins.

I enjoyed the book. Her writing made my me feel like I could sit down with Tharps and have many laughs over coffee. Having grown up the minority white kid in a majority Black school system, I could relate to her need to fit in and also find her own identity. There were times where her writing seemed a little scattered but I thought of it more as train of thought writing. She had so much to say and reflect on that it couldn't always be contained neatly. I am looking forward to her new book in August.

You might notice I didn't actually read the book I said I was going to read next. It was due and I had no more renewals. That's the hazard of taking out so many books at a time. So now I have to re-check it out and finish it. Until then I am reading "Rumor Has It" by Jill Mansell.

Book #52 of 2010

Book #52 of 2010 was ... "Expecting Adam" by Martha Beck.

Expecting Adam is an autobiographical tale of an academically oriented Harvard couple who conceive a baby with Down's syndrome and decide to carry him to term. Despite everything Martha Beck and her husband John know about themselves and their belief system, when Martha gets accidentally pregnant and the fetus is discovered to have Down's syndrome, the Becks find they cannot even consider abortion. The presence of the fetus that they each, privately, believe is a familiar being named Adam is too strong. As Martha's terribly difficult pregnancy progresses, odd coincidences and paranormal experiences begin to occur for both Martha and John, though for months they don't share them with each other. Martha's pregnancy and Adam (once born) become the catalyst for tremendous life changes for the Becks.

I don't know if it was my own mind set these days or what but I found this book completely bizarre. Beck goes off on some New Age psycho babble about paranormal experiences during her pregnancy in between talking about how she is so darn smart. Her husband is so darn smart. Their families are smart (but dysfunctional). And Harvard is a emotionless void. I don't know what I expected but it certainly wasn't this verbal diarrhea. (Yes, I did just call it verbal diarrhea. I apologize to my more sensitive readers.)

So onward and upward to the next book on the list "The Almond Picker" by Simonetta Agnello Hornby.

Book #51 of 2010

Instead of reading with the force of Niagara Falls, I am more dripping like a faucet. I promise to get my reading mojo back soon.

(Like once the pink elephants stop dancing around the room and my head doesn't feel plugged with cotton fluff.)

Book #51 of 2010 was ... "False Mermaid" by Erin Hart.

American pathologist Nora Gavin fled to Ireland three years ago, hoping that distance from home would bring her peace. Though she threw herself into the study of bog bodies and the mysteries of their circumstances, she was ultimately led back to the one mystery she was unable to solve: the murder of her sister, Tríona. Nora can’t move forward until she goes back—back to her home, to the scene of the crime, to the source of her nightmares and her deepest regrets.

Determined to put her sister’s case to rest and anxious about her eleven-year-old niece, Elizabeth, Nora returns to Saint Paul, Minnesota, to find that her brother-in-law, Peter Hallett, is about to remarry and has plans to leave the country with his new bride. Nora has long suspected Hallett in Tríona’s murder, though there has never been any proof of his involvement, and now she believes that his new wife and Elizabeth may both be in danger. Time is short, and as Nora begins reinvestigating her sister’s death, missed clues and ever-more disturbing details come to light. What is the significance of the "false mermaid" seeds found on Tríona’s body? Why was her behavior so erratic in the days before her murder?

Is there a link between Tríona’s death and that of another young woman?

Nora’s search for answers takes her from the banks of the Mississippi to the cliffs of Ireland, where the eerie story of a fisherman’s wife who vanished more than a century ago offers up uncanny parallels. As painful secrets come to light, Nora is drawn deeper into a past that still threatens to engulf her and must determine how much she is prepared to sacrifice to put one tragedy to rest . . . and to make sure that history doesn’t repeat itself.

Interesting how it all played out in the end. I like how Hart weaves historical information into a modern story. I hope there are more in the series with Nora Gavin in the future.

Up next is "Expecting Adam" by Martha Beck.

I'm going quackers! Quack! Quack! Quack!

It's been a long week that involved urgent care and ER visits for me. Suffice it to say, my reading speed has slowed to a trickle at best.

So in the meantime, enjoy my theme song:

Share Goin' Quackers by Donald Duck

The winner is ...

The winner of the Amazon gift card is ...

16

Random numbers generated Jun 1 2010 at 9:10:30 by www.psychicscience.org

Rachel! You are the winner! I will contact you regarding your prize.

Thanks to everyone who participated. I will be giving away another gift certificate when I get to Book #100 of 2010.