tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-303588282024-03-06T20:04:33.084-08:00The Magic Bookcase...Book reviews, writings and ramblings...Paulahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17016439610436864684noreply@blogger.comBlogger87125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30358828.post-91558826598519224832012-07-29T19:26:00.001-07:002012-07-29T19:26:17.961-07:00The Green Mile by Stephen King<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; text-align: left;">Never having read Stephen King, I wasn't sure what to expect with The Green Mile but I am here to say that this is one incredible story, written so well and so engaging right from the first page that I couldn't put it down. </span><br style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; text-align: left;" /><span style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; text-align: left;">Set at Cold Mountain Penitentiary in Georgia, this is the story of just a few months of time during 1932 and really focuses on John Coffey, a man who has been convicted of the rape and murder of two little girls. Two other prisoners, convicted murderers as well, are also a big focus of the story; Eduard Delacroix, a small french man who befriends a mouse named Mr. Jingles, and William Wharton, a psychopath known as "Billy the Kid". Paul Edgecombe is the "bull-goose screw" of the E block known as The Green Mile. Here we meet the other very likable guards, Brutal, Harry and Dean as well as one guard, Percy, who has his job because of his family connection to the governor and is just as sadistic and mean as the worst prisoner to live on this death row. </span><br style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; text-align: left;" /><span style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; text-align: left;">John Coffey is a huge black man, simple-minded, afraid of the dark, and whose face shows great sorrow with his never-ending tears. He seems to be just a gentle giant of a man and after miraculously curing Paul's terrible urinary tract infection with a touch of his hand, Paul starts to wonder if it is really possible that John committed the terrible crime that he's been convicted of. John seems to have a gift - but is it more of a curse than a gift?</span><br style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; text-align: left;" /><span style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; text-align: left;">I can't tell you much more in order to not spoil some things for you if you haven't read this book. What I can tell you is that it is one of the best books I've ever read. You will connect emotionally with each character, whether or not you like them, love them or hate them. Each character could be your neighbor in your small town. There is no horror in this book like Stephen King is known for, only friends, enemies and magic. I finished the book in tears, then turned around and watched the movie, (which was done really well, by the way!), in tears also. A story that will haunt me for awhile.</span>
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<br />Paulahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17016439610436864684noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30358828.post-58975329224022636062012-07-28T19:58:00.001-07:002012-07-28T20:03:27.457-07:00Little Bee by Chris Cleave<br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #181818; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; text-align: left;">Hmmm...What to say about <b><i>Little Bee</i></b>? This is such a powerful novel about a young Nigerian girl whose entire family, entire village, is murdered by the oil company who has discovered the countries biggest national resource right under their village. The story starts out with Little Bee in a refugee detention center in Britain where she has been held for two years after coming over to Britain hidden on a ship. A slip of the keyboard, (and a favor granted to one of the office men), has four girls being released into the countryside outside of London with no papers and left to get by on their own. If caught, they will all be sent back to their respective countries, where it has been deemed they are not in danger. Of course, the people who decided these countries are safe are Britain's Home Office bureaucrats who have not lived through the terror of your family and neighbors being destroyed and who are not witness' to such horror. After being released, Little Bee sets out to find the only people in the UK that she has any connection with. Andrew and Sarah were Englishman that just happened to take a vacation to Nigeria and happened to be where they shouldn't have been; on the same beach where Little Bee and her older sister were running and hiding from the men who murdered their family. Worlds collided as the men caught up with them moments after they revealed themselves to the Britt's on the beach. </span><br style="color: #181818; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; text-align: left;" /><br style="color: #181818; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; text-align: left;" /><span style="color: #181818; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; text-align: left;">I'm not going to tell you what happens next as it would be a big spoiler if you haven't read this novel. I will tell you that it is a novel that is written so well, that it truly evokes that thoughts and feelings of this young girl who has lived through such horror. It opens your eyes to the fact that these terrible things that happen in our world are not just a small story on the evening news, but rather a large, horrible story in the lives of so many and that these terrible things really do happen all of the time in our world. The story is powerful and moving but also written with humor that will make you laugh out loud from time to time. I am always amazed when a male author can write so well from the voice of a woman and Chris Cleave did it wonderfully. I am in love with Little Bee.</span></span>Paulahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17016439610436864684noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30358828.post-7367325467520394992012-06-21T21:42:00.000-07:002012-06-21T21:42:16.460-07:00An Untamed Land by Lauraine Snelling<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<i>Norway 1877</i></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">'Gustaf Bjorklund waited patiently in his chair at the head of the oval oak table for the members of his family to take their seats so the discussion could begin. He stroked his gray beard with fingers coarsened and cracked by years of heavy labor in the frigid Norwegian winter air. One curling strand caught in an open crack and he felt the small twinge of pain.' </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">And so the story of the Bjorklunds migration to America begins with this opening chapter of Lauraine Snellings </span><i style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">An Untamed Land</i><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">~</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; text-align: left;">I really enjoyed this book, staying awake until 2 this morning to get it finished! Roald and Ingeborg Bjorklund traveled from Norway to America along with Roald</span><span style="color: #181818; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; text-align: left;">'s brother Carl and his wife Kaaren in 1880. After a long ship ride and then cross country journey, they settled on land in North Dakota for their homestead. Breaking the sod for planting and building a home took much hard work from these very strong and stubborn people. The hardships and heartache's they experienced along the way are faced with faith in God and hope for the future. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br style="color: #181818; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; text-align: left;" /><span style="color: #181818; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; text-align: left;">My sister live</span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">s in North Dakota so as I was reading, I was picturing the land as it w</span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; text-align: left;">ould have been in the late 1880's and can't even imagine the terrible blizzards they would have faced in the wintertime. Ingeborg was a very strong woman, stubborn at times with the wish to be more help on the homestead than just the woman that was needed to tend the children and the garden. I could really relate to her and all she felt. The end of the book had me in tears, which doesn't happen often but I am glad to know that I can visit Ingeborg again with the next book in this series. </span></div>
<br />Paulahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17016439610436864684noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30358828.post-8453673896081863642012-06-17T19:32:00.001-07:002012-06-17T19:32:36.505-07:00The Memory Book by Penelope J. Stokes<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; text-align: left;">Phoebe Lange was just a little girl when her mother was murdered in there home. Phoebe remembers standing in the kitchen, her mama hurt and bleeding on the floor and a man with ice blue eye's staring at her. Her grandmother took her in and raised her in the old family home. When Phoebe's Grandmother gets sick, she comes home from college to help care for her and finds out that her father, whom she always has been told was dead, is too soon be released from prison for the murder of her mother. Talk about a reality that will shake a person's faith to the core! As Phoebe is questioning everything she is and knows, she runs across and old Memory book that belonged to her great-aunt who just happened to have the same name as Phoebe herself. Wanting to know more about her great-aunt and why the memory book ended so abrubtly, Phoebe digs in. In a dream, (or was it?), Phoebe is transported back in time and spends some time as her great-aunt. There, she is able to answer some questions about her family and her faith in God. Can the past redeem the future, and the future redeem the past?</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; text-align: left;">I really enjoyed this book, until the very last chapter or two. It was about a young woman struggling with her faith and with who she is; learning to trust in the people and the God who love her. I felt that the last couple of chapters were written as if I was sitting in church, listening to a sermon and it was a bit to much and heavy for the story. All in all a good read.</span>Paulahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17016439610436864684noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30358828.post-54581463486975571882012-01-26T21:00:00.000-08:002012-01-28T09:41:04.525-08:00Eye of the Needle by Ken Follett'It was the coldest winter for forty-five years. Villages in the English countryside were cut off by the snow and the Thames froze over. One day in January the Glasgow-London train arrived at Euston twenty-four hours late. The snow and the blackout combined to make motoring perilous; road accidents doubled, and people told jokes about how it was more risky to drive an Austin Seven along Piccadilly at night than to take a tank across the Siegfried line.'<br />
First paragraph of <em>Eye of the Needle</em> by <strong>Ken Follett</strong><br />
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It's funny that I usually don't care for spy novels, but I have really liked every <strong>Ken Follett</strong> book I have ever read and this one was no exception. Set during the last days of WW II, Die Nadel was Germany's top spy. The Needle was living in England under numerous identities while ferreting out all the British secrets he could. When he uncovers the biggest secret of all, the one that will make all of the difference in Germany winning the war, he must get this secret intelligence back to Hitler. <br />
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David and Lucy Rose were in a terrible accident the night of their wedding that ended David's career as an Army pilot and severed both of his legs. David and Lucy went to live on a remote Scottish island where David's dad owned a house and sheep farm, the only other inhabitant being Old Tom, the sheepherder. <br />
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These four lives intertwine in passion, treachery and absolute bravado. You will fall in love with Lucy Rose and will find yourself turning pages late into the night. Wonderful!Paulahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17016439610436864684noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30358828.post-73401377688236337082012-01-15T16:21:00.000-08:002012-01-15T16:21:05.329-08:00An Absence So Great - Jane Kirkpatrick<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6934205-an-absence-so-great" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px;"><img alt="An Absence So Great (Portraits of the Heart, #2)" border="0" src="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1320402016m/6934205.jpg" /></a><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6934205-an-absence-so-great">An Absence So Great</a> by <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/40572.Jane_Kirkpatrick">Jane Kirkpatrick</a><br />
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My rating: <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/254647175">5 of 5 stars</a><br />
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'A photograph, like life, often reveals as much about who's absent as who's there.'<br />
~First paragraph of An Absence So Great by Jane Kirkpatrick<br />
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Another wonderful book by one of my favorite authors! An Absence So Great carries on where A Flickering Light left off in the life of Jane's grandmother, Jessie Gaebele. Jessie is now eighteen and living and working in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. She has gone away from her family and hometown of Winona, Minnesota as a punishment to herself for the longing of a married, much older man; her boss and mentor Fred J. Bauer. In Milwaukee, Jessie is working for Suzanne Johnson, a woman who has lost her husband so is now running his photography studio. She is living with the Harms family who are actually relatives of Mr. Bauer and in the course of time it comes out that Mr. Bauer is paying them for Jessie's room and board. She does not at all want this support, so begins to take photographs at the local dances in order to tuck away enough money to pay Mr. Bauer back and be once again out of his debt. When word gets to Jessie that one of the studio's in Winona is up for sale, she goes back home only for a short visit to approach the bank manager for a loan to secure the studio. Turned down on the basis that she is a woman, Jessie instead goes to work for this same studio to prove her abilities to the owner. She does so and the banker has a change of heart and gives her the loan. But all is well only for awhile and circumstances have Jessie once again leaving her family and hometown for the wide open prairies of North Dakota. Will painful memories ever leave Jessie behind? Will she come to terms with the pullings of her own heart? <br />
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Another historical novel beautifully written. Jessie Gaebele will grab your heart. <br />
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<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/list/5746014-paula">View all my reviews</a>Paulahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17016439610436864684noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30358828.post-79714875585976739282012-01-15T15:51:00.000-08:002012-01-15T15:51:21.460-08:00Don't I Know You? - Karen Shepard<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/336056.Don_t_I_Know_You_" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px;"><img alt="Don't I Know You?: A Novel" border="0" src="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1173847033m/336056.jpg" /></a><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/336056.Don_t_I_Know_You_">Don't I Know You?: A Novel</a> by <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/192720.Karen_Shepard">Karen Shepard</a><br />
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My rating: <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/262499118">3 of 5 stars</a><br />
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'August 1976<br />
It was a Tuesday. Steven's key worked like it always had. His mother was lying between the living room and the front hall. He saw her feet first. They were bare, and at first he thought she was doing her yoga.'<br />
First paragraph of Don't I know You? by Karen Shepard<br />
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This was a really interesting murder mystery written first from the perspective of the murder victim's 12 year old son, then wrapped around other lives in the neighborhood. <br />
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Gina Engel was brutally murdered in her New York City apartment in the summer of 1976. Her son, Stephen, coming home from a day playing with friends, finds his mother's body lying in the hallway of their home. Could the murderer have been Gina's current boyfriend, Phil; Stephen's abscent father; an ex-boyfriend? It's determined only that it was someone that Gina knew. Stephen caught only a glimpse of a man in green Adidas tennis shoes leaving through an open window. The story stays with Stephen throughtout the first week of the investigation and up until the time when his father comes to take him to San Diego and a whole new life. <br />
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Next, two years later with the murder still unsolved, we meet Lily Chin. Lily is engaged to Nick, a wealthy landowner. A strange woman brings it to Lily's attention that her fiance' may have a secret life that was once tangled up with Gina Engel's. Is he a dangerous man or the man that Lily thinks she knows? <br />
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Fast forward ten years to the fall of 1988. Louise Carpanetti and her son, Michael, live in the same building that Gina was killed in years ago. Michael is a slow, emotionally-disturbed man who used to water Gina's plants when she was away and had a relationship with her son, Stephen. Louise had recieved a phone call from Gina as she had lain dying. She has always had suspicions that she has kept to herself about her own son. Is it time to come forward?<br />
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I thought this book was done quite well, but was left a little disappointed with the ending. All three voices were done well and we got to know the people involved intimately, but the very last chapter that held the answer was too short and lacked the depth of the rest of the novel. I felt that it ended very abruptly. <br />
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<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/list/5746014-paula">View all my reviews</a>Paulahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17016439610436864684noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30358828.post-50099560628589562652011-09-22T07:14:00.000-07:002011-09-22T07:14:18.067-07:00Death Comes As Epiphany<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/166670.Death_Comes_As_Epiphany" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px;"><img alt="Death Comes As Epiphany (Catherine LeVendeur, #1)" border="0" src="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1312232631m/166670.jpg" /></a><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/166670.Death_Comes_As_Epiphany">Death Comes As Epiphany</a> by <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/50581.Sharan_Newman">Sharan Newman</a><br />
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My rating: <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/209618186">3 of 5 stars</a><br />
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This was a fun, light read. Set in 1139 France, Catherine LeVendeur is a novice nun who has not yet taken her final vows. She is at the Convent of the Paraclete studying under the abbess Heloise. Catheine had a part in preparing a manuscript for Abbe' Sugar that has disappeared and word is that the manuscript has been defaced with heresy. Catherine is sent back to her family from the convent in the disguise of a disgraced nun, but in reality is on a mission to find the missing manuscript and determine who defaced it and why. In this quest, Catherine puts herself in much danger physically and also mortally with the evil that is involved in this mystery.<br />
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Death Comes As Epiphany is the first in a mystery series, all with Catherine as the heroine. If you are ready for a light adventure, these are really fun books to dig into. <br />
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<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/list/5746014-paula">View all my reviews</a>Paulahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17016439610436864684noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30358828.post-27792228444541825112011-09-16T19:55:00.001-07:002011-09-16T20:16:14.232-07:00Innocent Traitor<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/111218.Innocent_Traitor" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px;"><img alt="Innocent Traitor" border="0" src="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1298443197m/111218.jpg" /></a><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/111218.Innocent_Traitor">Innocent Traitor</a> by <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6583.Alison_Weir">Alison Weir</a><br />
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My rating: <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/208653098">5 of 5 stars</a><br />
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<em>If my faults deserve punishment, my youth at least, and my imprudence, were worthy of excuse. God and posterity will show me more favor.</em><br />
<em>~Lady Jane Grey, in the Tower of London, February 1554</em><br />
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Everyone knows the basic story of Lady Jane Grey, but this novel really brought her to life for me. Author Alison Weir is a historian, so this book was painstakingly researched and all of the characters have so much depth and personality to them. I found myself either loving or hating each of them and feeling true sorrow for the innocent Jane. <br />
Lady Jane Grey has Tudor blood; her ambitious mother is cousin to Henry VIII and in line for the throne behind Henry's son Edward and daughters Mary and Elizabeth. Jane's parents wanted a male heir, not a mere girl, and Jane's young life has been spent being the abused pawn of her repulsive parents but much loved by Mrs. Ellen, her nurse since birth. Jane has also had a loving mother figure in Katherine Parr, King Henry VIII's last wife, but when Henry dies, Katherine soon remarries and dies after a long and harrowing childbirth. Jane is sent back home to her parents, where the plot remains to marry her to her young cousin, King Edward. When Edward dies of consumption, the plot changes from marriage to a ploy to overthrow the next in line, Princess Mary, and crown Lady Jane queen instead. Poor Jane wants nothing to do with this, but as a young 15 year old girl, can do nothing but obey her parents and the all powerful Duke of Northumberland. The wheels are set in motion for betrayal and heresy that will bring the innocent girl to an early death. <br />
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This story is so well told through the eyes and imagination of the author that it left me wanting more. The story is a centuries old one that we are all familiar with, but the telling of it left me feeling very emotional and wanting to change history, if only we could. <br />
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I have done some ancestoral research and have found, before reading this book, that Lady Jane was a cousin of mine, (as was her mother, but I'm choosing to ignore that part!). I loved reading her story through the voice of Alison Weir.<br />
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<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/list/5746014-paula">View all my reviews</a>Paulahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17016439610436864684noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30358828.post-4633522554867482302011-08-30T12:47:00.000-07:002011-09-05T21:15:55.685-07:00The Swimming Pool by Holly Lecraw<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6677653-the-swimming-pool" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px;"><img alt="The Swimming Pool" border="0" src="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1260809361m/6677653.jpg" /></a><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6677653-the-swimming-pool">The Swimming Pool</a> by <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/3007959.Holly_LeCraw">Holly LeCraw</a><br />
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My rating: <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/202833479">1 of 5 stars</a><br />
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Hmmm...what to say about this book. It sounded interesting and I was looking forward to reading it - the plot was a seven year old murder that somehow was tangled around the lives of two different families, a clandestine love affair and summer on Cape Cod. Sounded intriguing. What I found was a disjointed novel describing the events that lead up to the murder, interspersed with present-day drama from the families involved. I felt that the author didn't do a good job of jumping from one time frame to another or from one character to another. It seemed very abrupt. <br />
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Betsy was the woman murdered; I felt nothing for her as her character was not given any time or depth. Marcella, the woman having an affair with the murdered woman's husband, is now, seven years later, having an affair with the murdered woman's son since his father had died of heartbreak after the murder. Can you say yuck? I kept reading, thinking the plot would redeem itself, but towards the end, I found myself just skimming so that the pain would end. <br />
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<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/list/5746014-paula">View all my reviews</a>Paulahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17016439610436864684noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30358828.post-48788162239050232542011-08-15T17:49:00.001-07:002011-08-15T18:14:27.310-07:00The Help by Kathryn Stockett<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4667024-the-help" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px;"><img alt="The Help" border="0" src="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1312519558m/4667024.jpg" /></a><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4667024-the-help">The Help</a> by <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/1943477.Kathryn_Stockett">Kathryn Stockett</a><br />
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My rating: <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/182591517">5 of 5 stars</a><br />
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I loved this book! I usually mark my favorite passages and quote them in my review, but it would be simply ridiculous to tap out all 451 pages, now wouldn't it?<br />
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This book grabbed me right from the beginning and kept me turning pages long into the night. I'm really impressed with the writing style and the ease that the author takes us from one persons perspective to another throughout the entire story. I really felt that the characters all had a lot of depth to them, letting the reader either connect with a character or loathe them. Not being from the south myself, this isn't a lifestyle that I am familiar with, but Kathryn Stockett wrote the stories so that I feel as if I was there. She picked such a hard time in the south to set her story in. A time when racial tensions were running extremely high and horrible things were happening to both the blacks and the white "sympathizers". We meet Miss Skeeter, a young woman who was raised and loved by her family maid. Skeeter wants to find out what happened to the woman who raised her and she wants to make some changes that will make life easier for the black families in America. Being a writer, Skeeter sets off to interview as many maids as will talk to her, telling their stories about the hardships, and pleasures, they have found working for white families. Jackson, Mississippi is one of the most dangerous places at this time and Skeeter and the maid's that finally agree to talk to her for her book are in great danger everytime they meet. Emotions are high when the book finally goes to press. Will the people of their community read it? Will they know who the people in the stories represent, even though names have been changed? Was it worth the risk?<br />
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Okay - I'll do it. Here are two of my favorite passages-<br />
Minny is one of the maids that Skeeter is interviewing. It took awhile to talk her into it, but she finally decided to do it. Skeeter has to be really careful with Minny, making sure that she doesn't scare her off. In this passage, Minny is talking to her friend Aibileen, who Sketter is interviewing as well.<br />
<i>'<i>"Oh, fore I forget, Miss Skeeter wants to come over early Tuesday night," Aibileen says. "Bout seven. You make it then?"<br />
"Lord," I say, getting irritated all over again. "What am I doing? I must be crazy, giving the sworn secrets a the colored race to a white lady."<br />
"<i>It's just Miss Skeeter, she ain't like the rest."<br />
"Feel like I'm talking behind my own back," I say.</i></i></i><br />
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In this next passage, we are listening to Minnie again, after a tough run-in with her mean husband.<br />
<i>' "I guess I got to go," I say, even though I'd rather spend the rest of my life right here in Aibileen's cozy kitchen, having her explain the world to me. That's what I love about Aibileen, she can take the most complicated things in life and wrap them up so small and simple, they'll fit right in your pocket.'</i><br />
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If you haven't yet read "The Help", pick it up. You will be so glad that you did!<br />
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Paulahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17016439610436864684noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30358828.post-41761030868223970842011-08-01T20:18:00.000-07:002011-08-01T20:26:18.549-07:00Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood - Rebecca Wells<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/137791.Divine_Secrets_of_the_Ya_Ya_Sisterhood" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px;"><img alt="Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood" border="0" src="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1172090847m/137791.jpg" /></a><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/137791.Divine_Secrets_of_the_Ya_Ya_Sisterhood">Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood</a> by <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/3489.Rebecca_Wells">Rebecca Wells</a><br />
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My rating: <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/182301206">5 of 5 stars</a><br />
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I've had this book languishing on my to-be-read shelf for a year - maybe more - and I was prepared for a book that I was just kind of meh about. Instead, I couldn't put it down and absolutely loved it. This was a wonderful story about a not so perfect mother and the harsh realities of life. <br />
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Sidda is a 40 year old theatre director who has fallen in love with the fabulous Conner McGill, but Sidda doesn't know if she knows how to love somebody right. She feels that she was not loved right as a child and does not want to pass that legacy on to her own family. She decides to take some time away to think so heads to a friends cabin in the pacific northwest, taking along her Mother's scrapbook "Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood". Inside this wonderful scrapbook, Sidda finds more questions than answers about her mother's life in the bayou of Louisiana. It's not until her Mom's best friends, the Ya-Ya's, show up that Sidda begins to get some answers and understand that life is messy. As her mom, Vivi Dahlin says - "It's life, Sidda. You just climb on the beast and ride."<br />
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This was a wonderful, deeply moving book that had me in turns laughing out loud and wiping the tears from my eyes. I thoroughly enjoyed it!<br />
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<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/list/5746014-paula">View all my reviews</a>Paulahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17016439610436864684noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30358828.post-5035408297861546602011-07-24T17:31:00.000-07:002011-08-02T06:56:38.448-07:00The Language of Sand - Ellen Block<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7621807-the-language-of-sand" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px;"><img alt="The Language of Sand: A Novel" border="0" src="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1275927335m/7621807.jpg" /></a><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7621807-the-language-of-sand">The Language of Sand: A Novel</a> by <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/3336608.Ellen_Block">Ellen Block</a><br />
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My rating: <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/187414800">3 of 5 stars</a><br />
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This was a very quick read with enjoyable characters and a wonderful setting.<br />
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After losing her husband and young son in a tragic fire, Abigail has moved to Chapel Isle off the North Carolina coast as the caretaker for a lighthouse, hoping to connect in someway with the island that her late husband loved as a boy. When she arrives, she finds the lighthouse possibly haunted and quite run-down; the town full of colorful characters and herself changing from the Abigail she has always known into simply Abby. <br />
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I found it an enjoyable read, one that kept me turning the pages but left me in the end wishing that there had been more depth to many of the characters and more story behind the haunting of the lighthouse. It did feel as if the last 1/4 of the book was rushed a bit and could have been played out with more depth, but all in all a nice light read.<br />
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One of my favorite quotes from <em>The Language of Sand </em>was from a scene where Abigail was unpacking all of her books that she had brought to the island with her:<br />
"As she organized, she allowed herself to read the first few pages of each book, tasting the story or sampling a morsel from a text. It was as if she were bumping into an aquaintance on the street-Abigail couldn't simply pass them by."<br />
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Happy Reading!Paulahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17016439610436864684noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30358828.post-63957012415223622452011-07-22T21:37:00.000-07:002011-08-02T06:51:29.110-07:00Voyage of a Summer Sun: Canoeing the Columbia River<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1130381.Voyage_of_a_Summer_Sun" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px;"><img alt="Voyage of a Summer Sun: Canoeing the Columbia River" border="0" src="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1181236948m/1130381.jpg" /></a><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1130381.Voyage_of_a_Summer_Sun">Voyage of a Summer Sun: Canoeing the Columbia River</a> by <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/81296.Robin_Cody">Robin Cody</a><br />
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My rating: <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/183555525">4 of 5 stars</a><br />
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I was a bit aprehensive about reading this book, just because I thought that it may be a bit dry. Instead it was a completely delightful read and really interesting. I loved the way the author eased his way into the actual canoe trip by giving the reader a background of his family and his Dads love of the river. Robin Cody gives a wonderful history of the Columbia river and the dam's that provide the Pacific Northwest with power, as well as colorful accounts of his trip and the characters he meets along the way as he paddles his way from the source of the Columbia River to the mouth where it spills out into the Pacific Ocean. This book is really eye-opening and heart-breaking in many ways; the loss of native life-styles up and down the river as the dam's went in; the change of landscape as these dam's backed up creating reservoirs and leveling age-old falls. <br />
If you have a connection with the Pacific Northwest or a love of rivers and wildlife, I would definately recommend this book. <br />
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A couple of my favorite passages from <em>Voyage of a Summer Sun</em> - <br />
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"From my mother came a strong sense that it mattered who came before us, and how they did it."<br />
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On witnessing a family of geese in spring on the river - <br />
"Adult geese lose their flight feathers soon after the goslings hatch in spring. The adults can't fly until the little guys can, which is nature's way of keeping the family together."<br />
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<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/list/5746014-paula">View all my reviews</a>Paulahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17016439610436864684noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30358828.post-49840116934970248752011-07-22T17:06:00.000-07:002011-07-22T17:06:29.566-07:00I Still Dream About You - Fannie Flagg<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcfRAzzlvOF4n_CN2zZ3uqazB8SMFK0ATNO3I-cgkTx9OpV2Au6l19410Mdj6RleSQFFo67acjO0wUUqi5Q6fRbGm_xAbsnIsiPx8fm3Dx8HY-6blpcu3PJ1C0zLO68JlRJWBDng/s1600/_book.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400px" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcfRAzzlvOF4n_CN2zZ3uqazB8SMFK0ATNO3I-cgkTx9OpV2Au6l19410Mdj6RleSQFFo67acjO0wUUqi5Q6fRbGm_xAbsnIsiPx8fm3Dx8HY-6blpcu3PJ1C0zLO68JlRJWBDng/s400/_book.jpg" t$="true" width="258px" /></a></div>I've read a few Fannie Flagg books and this one was certainly not my favorite. It was a very light read without much depth to any of the characters. The main character is a 60 year old former Miss Alabama who now sells real estate and thinks that her life has been one big disappointment. With nothing to live for, she makes plans to "leave", meaning that she is going to strap weights to her amrs and legs and throw herself into the river. Each time she plans the exact time of the end of her life, some crisis or another turns up that makes it necessary to put off her demise. I thought it got old really fast and honestly just kept reading, hoping that something interesting would happen. There were a little bit of predictable twists and turns, but nothing that saved the story in my eyes. <br />
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"Fried Green Tomatos" is one of my favorites and this one fell far short.Paulahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17016439610436864684noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30358828.post-1356048841943862242011-07-17T20:45:00.000-07:002011-07-17T20:45:17.879-07:00Daughters of the Witching Hill<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_zbEvhPv4zCIXZAhwzN9mvz55gSZRIigWyUNrrggVzdPl76kJV2osa-wlLhAgJjqK1wUrkXEIFtadrjviDFgQiUXCb5nyROEjOo27uoNvR5RDD-C1m-ZDRQE4tNbNuA6KBkHhrw/s1600/_a.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" m$="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_zbEvhPv4zCIXZAhwzN9mvz55gSZRIigWyUNrrggVzdPl76kJV2osa-wlLhAgJjqK1wUrkXEIFtadrjviDFgQiUXCb5nyROEjOo27uoNvR5RDD-C1m-ZDRQE4tNbNuA6KBkHhrw/s1600/_a.jpg" /></a></div> <strong>Daughters of the Witching Hill ~ Mary Sharratt</strong> <br />
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'See us gathered here, three woman stood at Richard Baldwin's gate. I bide with my daughter, Liza of the squint eye, and with my grandaughter, Alizon, just fifteen and dazzling as the noontide sun, so bright that she lights up the murk of my dim sight. Demdike, folk call me, after the dammed stream near my dwelling place where the farmers wash their sheep before shearing. When I was younger and stronger, I used to help with the sheepwash. Wasn't afraid of the fiercest rams. I'd always had a way of gentling creatures by speaking to them low and soft. Though I'm old now, crabbed and near-blind, my memory is long as a midsummer's day and with my inner eye, I see clear.'<br />
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I picked up this novel in Powell Books not long ago. The write-up on the back of the book intrigued me and I was not disappointed. The author has done her research well and each character is based on a true person; many of the scenes based on actual court clerk, Thomas Pott's account of the 1612 Lancashire Witch Trials. <br />
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Bess Southerns is a widow living in Pendle Forest who has built her reputation as a cunning woman; a woman who can heal the sick and bless others as well as animals. Her best friend has no such powers, but Bess teaches her what she knows and her friend turns to dark magic to save her daughter from their landlords son, who has terrorized her for years. As Bess' grandaughter grows, Bess can see that she has the gift as well, but Alizon wants nothing to do with it. One day Alizon meets a peddler on the road who seems to think she is a prostitute. Alizon exchanges harsh words with him, cursing the peddler who suddenly falls to the road with a stroke. The local magistrate is trying to build his reputation as a witch hunter, so locks Alizon up in the dungeon and the witch trials begin. <br />
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This book is written really well, bringing this disturbing time in history to vivid life. The author lives in Pendle Forest, right where the witch hunt took place. I think her nearness to the scene lent clarity and depth to the writing . If historical fiction is one of your passions, than this book should not be missed. <br />
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<em>'She was a very old woman, about the age of Foure-score yeares, and had been a Witch for fiftie yeares. Shee dwelt in the Forrest of Pendle, a vast place, fitte for her profession: What shee committed in her time, no man knowes...She was a generall agent for the Devill in all these partes: no man escaped her, or her Furies.'</em><br />
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</em><br />
<em>-Thomas Potts, The Wonderfull Discoverie of Witches in the Countie of Lancaster, 1613</em><br />
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</em>Paulahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17016439610436864684noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30358828.post-69376355065474442482011-07-17T20:31:00.000-07:002011-07-17T20:31:54.507-07:00What Matters Most - Luanne Rice<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoJj4R98Mvn9LvfDZztPBCgglrOyOeam51Q9s_SYFk8FwIFPdRGwP7X8P9_5OkuxGJIiGK7Fhwv23S7hbNQzfZ5M5begldfcItEKH7ozhuK5VsirLFBKLolP3gkzEx3IKUJGw_4g/s1600/_a.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300px" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoJj4R98Mvn9LvfDZztPBCgglrOyOeam51Q9s_SYFk8FwIFPdRGwP7X8P9_5OkuxGJIiGK7Fhwv23S7hbNQzfZ5M5begldfcItEKH7ozhuK5VsirLFBKLolP3gkzEx3IKUJGw_4g/s400/_a.jpg" width="300px" /></a></div><br />
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'The annual Children's Home summer beach picnic was on everyone's mind, and the kitchen was bustling. A ham roasting, to be sliced and served cold; Dublin Bay prawns, a gift from one of St. Augustine's benefactors, chilling in the huge refrigerator; fresh-baked bread cooling on the rack; cookies already packed in baskets.<br />
Kathleen Murphy, thirteen, stood at the long stainless-steel work table, peeling potatoes for potato salad. Her fingers worked so fast, a total blur to anyone who might be watching. Her long dark hair was held back in a ponytail, and her clothes were protected by a stiff green apron. She kept one eye on her work, another on the side door. Sister Anastasia would be back in five minutes, and if James Sullivan wasn't here by then, there'd be hell to pay.'<br />
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Luanne Rice is one of my favorite authors for quick summer beach reads. This book is one I had picked up at a yard sale last summer but had not gotten around to reading until now. It takes us from Dublin, Ireland to the Connecticut shoreline following the love and life of two different couples as they try to figure out What Matters Most. It's a story of true love that never dies and soul mates who are connected over time and space. <br />
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From the back cover:<br />
For Bernadette and Tom it is a return to their roots in Ireland and a love that broke every rule and could have withstood any consequence-but the one that broke their hearts. For James and Kathleen, whose indelible bond was forged in a Dublin orphanage before one was adopted and carried across the sea to America, it's a reunion they could never see coming, even if they dreamed of it all their young lives. From the Emerald Isle to the Connecticut shore, four lives are about to come together in a confrontation that will challenge each of them to leave behind the past and all they once thought was important and embrace at last What Matters Most.<br />
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A great summer read, but make sure and keep the kleenex's close!Paulahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17016439610436864684noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30358828.post-70813503809898402132009-05-18T17:40:00.000-07:002009-05-18T18:05:52.725-07:00The Glass Castle<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8z4Wqhqe8zhCb1jWNOKTsGqmfq_O-cqh_StkXZQghZxZiaSE7WEgby61pKXZUwZVLgYjtxzAq0jSbcxaB046sE-D49_JyuJn5mATkBH0oxAsY4-PHbJzvyhrRnzelz7XNE-Jd8g/s1600-h/glass+castle.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 160px; height: 160px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8z4Wqhqe8zhCb1jWNOKTsGqmfq_O-cqh_StkXZQghZxZiaSE7WEgby61pKXZUwZVLgYjtxzAq0jSbcxaB046sE-D49_JyuJn5mATkBH0oxAsY4-PHbJzvyhrRnzelz7XNE-Jd8g/s400/glass+castle.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5337335011135831490" /></a><br /><br /><br />'I was sitting in a taxi, wondering if I had overdressed for the evening, when I looked out the window and saw Mom rooting through a dumpster. It was just after dark. A blustery March wind whipped the steam coming out of the manholes, and people hurried along the sidewalks with their collars turned up. I was stuck in traffic two blocks from the party where I was heading.<br />Mom stood fifteen feet away. She had tied rags around her shoulders to keep out the spring chill and was picking through the trash while her dog, a black-and-white terrier mix, played at her feet. Mom's gestures were all familiar - the way she tilted her head and thrust out her lower lip when studying items of potential value that she'd hoisted out of the dumpster, the way her eyes widened with childish glee when she found something she liked. Her long hair was streaked with gray, tangled and matted, and her eyes had sunk deep into their sockets, but still she reminded me of the mom she'd been when I was a kid, swan-diving off cliffs and painting in the desert and reading Shakespeare aloud. Her cheekbones were still high and strong, but the skin was parched and ruddy from all those winters and summers exposed to the elements. To the people walking by, she probably looked like any of the thousands of homeless people in New York City.'<br />The Glass Castle is a memoir written by Jeannette Walls about her strange and dysfunctional, yet somewhat happy childhood. I really enjoyed this book, at times intrigued and other times disgusted by Jeannette's parents. She has written her story through the eyes of herself as a child and is a wonderful story teller. Jeannette's Dad is brilliant, teaching the kids physics and geology while they travel around, never living very long in any one place. I would describe their Mom as a hippie-type, never content to settle in any one place either, hating housework and responsibility, and completely embracing her artistic self. She gives the kids her love of reading, teaches them to paint in the desert and to be creative. She doesn't care if they attend school, it's much more fun and rewarding to wander outside at will all day. Dad has a drinking problem and becomes violent when he drinks. One of Jeannette's earliest memories is of her dad trying to run her mom down with the car late at night in the desert. The kids learn, at an early age, to take care of themselves and each other, that they are really all they've got to lean on. As teenagers, they rise above the poverty they were raised in, bettering their lives as they get older, while their parents choose to become homeless as the kids grow-up. <br />This is an incredible storyand written very well. I'm sure that I'll read this one again someday.Paulahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17016439610436864684noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30358828.post-63780664479292967732009-05-03T18:33:00.000-07:002009-05-03T19:03:09.570-07:00Inkheart<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoB84G7Dp8zEii88wQBD4jRBD-CplFgs9BdEcVbBCL9zhVg9ZSWm6vU_ZROWbqoNjn5XcB8EOBQAzjgYQcDvn69DpMB19Hsv84jVNRrVIuM8iRkE64CErEcfzpKA_aqljk-9qBNA/s1600-h/Inkheart_book.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 304px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoB84G7Dp8zEii88wQBD4jRBD-CplFgs9BdEcVbBCL9zhVg9ZSWm6vU_ZROWbqoNjn5XcB8EOBQAzjgYQcDvn69DpMB19Hsv84jVNRrVIuM8iRkE64CErEcfzpKA_aqljk-9qBNA/s400/Inkheart_book.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5331783492082241490" /></a><br />'Rain fell that night, a fine, whispering rain. Many years later, Meggie had only to close her eyes and she could still hear it, like tiny fingers tapping on the windowpane. A dog barked somewhere in the darkness, and however often she tossed and turned Meggie couldn't get to sleep.<br />The book she had been reading was under her pillow, pressing its cover against her ear as if to lure her back into its printed pages. "I'm sure it must be very comfortable sleeping with a hard, rectangular thing like that under your head," her father had teased the first time he found a book under her pillow. "Go on, admit it, the book whispers its story to you at night."<br />"Sometimes, yes," Meggie had said. "But it only works for children." Which made Mo tweak her nose. Meggie had never called her father anything else.'<br />These are the first few paragraphs of Inkheart by Cornelia Funke.<br /><br />This is a young reader book full of magic and mayhem. I first became interested in reading Inkheart when I saw the preview for the movie - (which I haven't seen yet.) It looking intriguing, stuffed with wonderful books and a fairy-tale like quality. My sister and I were at the movies together when this preview came on. I looked at her and said "I want to see that one!". She replied, "That's the best book I've ever read. Really!" Well, alrighty then, I had better pick it up somewhere. Pretty darn good recommendation, I would say. <br /><br />The story begins with a stranger standing in the dark outside of Meggie's bedroom window. She runs to get her father, who happens to know this shady character, and the journey begins. Seems that Mo has has such a magical voice that you can actually see, smell and feel the story that he is reading out loud. Turns out that he has a special talent for reading people and things OUT of their stories, which is why Meggie can't ever remember him reading aloud to her. Nine years before, Meggie's mom disappeared into a story when Mo accidentally read the villain Capricorn, his henchman, Basta and fireeater Dustfinger out of a story. Ever since that day, Capricorn and his followers have terrorized the countryside, though they seem to keep under the law somehow. Now Dustfinger has reappeared looking for the final copy of the book Inkheart, so that possibly Mo can read him back into that old life. Capricorn has grown to like this life and has other evil plans concerning his story. What can Meggie do to save her father from his evil clutches? Is there anyway to find her lost mother in that other story land?<br /><br />This book is a thick one, but a really fast read, mostly because it keeps you on your toes, wanting to know what is coming next. I finished it last night and keep thinking that I need to head to the bookstore for the next one, Inkspell. Thank you, Stacey, for the good recommendation, though I don't quite think it's the best book I've EVER read. There's way to many wonderful books out there for that...Paulahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17016439610436864684noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30358828.post-44436636751507740592009-04-21T18:33:00.001-07:002009-04-21T18:52:35.995-07:00The Widow of the South<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhn2-7Q_jdALl-xUIIfv9ochGijyb1uut2jIjfIZTXHeyiNF0mvB9Qed3wdtPoTLv2e7GKSEE3BikSRzLmSU9JAnYVOxjHFk1RyZ9VOiUFChtTASj-KBwf3CyQI4UVUOt98BfPz-w/s1600-h/what_carn_4.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 275px; height: 183px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhn2-7Q_jdALl-xUIIfv9ochGijyb1uut2jIjfIZTXHeyiNF0mvB9Qed3wdtPoTLv2e7GKSEE3BikSRzLmSU9JAnYVOxjHFk1RyZ9VOiUFChtTASj-KBwf3CyQI4UVUOt98BfPz-w/s400/what_carn_4.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5327323449933454370" /></a><br />'Prologue<br />1894<br /><br />Down the rows of the dead they came. Neat, orderly rows of dead rebel boys who thirty years before had either dropped at the foot of earthen works a mile or so away or died on the floors of the big house overlooking the cemetery. Now there were stone markers, but for so many years there had been only wooden boards, weathered and warped, and tall posts proclaiming the numbers of the dead.'<br /><br />This is the first paragraph of Widow of the South written by Robert Hicks. This is an incredibly moving book that really opens your eyes to the horrors of the civil war. Based, and very well-researched, on a true story, The Widow of the South tells the story of the bloodiest battle of the Civil War. The battle at Franklin, Tennessee raged for just 5 hours, but when the smoke cleared there were 9,200 casualties in a field just outside the town of 2,500. Carrie McGavock's plantation home was turned into a makeshift hospital where Carrie and her slave and friend, Mariah, worked tirelessly for days on end to save the wounded men who covered every inch of her house and yards. Two Confederate doctors worked away in the surgery upstairs, tossing amputated limbs out the window until a huge pile had grown. The story continues even after the men are gone and a bit of normalcy begins to take it's place. For Carrie, the war still rages on and she will tirelessly write letters to the dead men's families, so that they may know what has happened to their loved ones. The field where the battle raged and the men fell has also become their graveyard, so when, a few years later, the man who owns the field threatens to plow it over to plant crops, Carrie works to bring the men home to her plantation and several acres that her and her husband have set aside to become a cemetery for those lost men. <br />This is such a compelling story, written so well and with so much emotion. It will haunt your days until you finish the last page. Beautifully written and so full of history that it is very hard to put down. I know want to visit Carnton Plantation and the cemetery that Carrie worked so hard to preserve. <br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtAy1EjIL-iIGi9Hpyc8auj8N6Sh51KCI4g3cRCYPYe32NnWnWMoMzAcD3SIRohl2qJmKugelkBSl1y9Hq-XV6o8gh7wDUjGDNavyPI1DgDXZo2kgX2qiiaFFQPoVGWc3JEZP8vQ/s1600-h/carnton+plantation+cemetary.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 275px; height: 183px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtAy1EjIL-iIGi9Hpyc8auj8N6Sh51KCI4g3cRCYPYe32NnWnWMoMzAcD3SIRohl2qJmKugelkBSl1y9Hq-XV6o8gh7wDUjGDNavyPI1DgDXZo2kgX2qiiaFFQPoVGWc3JEZP8vQ/s400/carnton+plantation+cemetary.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5327323296342398418" /></a>Paulahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17016439610436864684noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30358828.post-38141459278926853712009-04-06T12:27:00.001-07:002009-04-06T20:04:44.513-07:00The Lollipop Shoes<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgi-FsHaOyXvm2c6_C_Dx1xyVASF8j6hjAzG5iZeZeZpx3aDA3UuehanhVsd4qeB8ag7_ij7NSL1TWxT2BWPv3WYtxgYuuMp0-aRpd7u3eeLrAsbDGa3BONDnbarquYUlV0bfhG3Q/s1600-h/lollipop+shoes.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 190px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgi-FsHaOyXvm2c6_C_Dx1xyVASF8j6hjAzG5iZeZeZpx3aDA3UuehanhVsd4qeB8ag7_ij7NSL1TWxT2BWPv3WYtxgYuuMp0-aRpd7u3eeLrAsbDGa3BONDnbarquYUlV0bfhG3Q/s400/lollipop+shoes.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5321779140955202002" /></a><br />(Originally uploaded <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/provincijalka/2809936088/">here</a> )<br /><br />Wednesday, 31st October<br />Dia de los Muertos<br />It is a relatively little-known fact that, over the course of a single year, about twenty million letters are delivered to the dead. People forget to stop the mail - those grieving widows and prospective heirs - and so magazine subscriptions remain uncancelled; distant friends unnotified; library fines unpaid. That's twenty million circulars, bank statements, credit cards, love letters, junk mail, greetings, gossip and bills, dropping daily on to doormats or parquet floors, thrust casually through railings, wedged into letter-boxes, accumulating in stairwells, left unwanted on porches and steps, never to reach their addressee. The dead don't care. More importantly, neither do the living. The living just follow their petty concerns, quite unaware that very close by, a miracle is taking place. The dead are coming back to life. <br /><br />This is the first paragraph of The Lollipop Shoes, the sequel to Chocolat written by Joanne Harris. <br /><br />Vianne Rocher now goes by the name of Yanne, trying to create a "normal" environment for her two daughters, Annie and Rosette. She know longer uses magic charms to add sparkle to their worlds, the wind isn't blowing them back and forth and Yanne is soon to marry Theirry, the older pompous landlord of her Parisian Chocolate shop. Soon a new friendship blossoms for Yanne and her daughters with the vivacious Zozie de L'Alba, who blows into their shop bringing sparkle and laughter and wearing the fabulous lollipop shoes that catch Annie's (Anouk) eye. But Zozie has her own brand of magic and a dark and devious nature that threatens to tear this little family apart. <br /><br />This is a very good read, especially for anyone who loved Chocolat. It's almost a thriller, full of magic, deception and even a bit of evil. A fast read that you won't be able to put down. I bought my copy in a little book store in Red Lodge, Montana. I found it in their used book section and when I brought it up front, the shopkeeper couldn't find it anywhere in his computer program. He finally found it, but the program told him that this particular printing had never gone to press. Hmmmm....very interesting. A bit of magic for me, wouldn't you say? I've googled it myself have not found the same cover so far, but have found that "The Lollipop Shoes" is the title of the UK version and in the US it was published under the title of "The Girl Without A Shadow". Again, interesting...Paulahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17016439610436864684noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30358828.post-49871675624945124032009-02-16T18:26:00.000-08:002009-02-16T18:49:46.858-08:00Fall On Your Knees<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieETVjagu08k47BVm_sz8DgdMSopAhFbr-XJmgKAgFhtTlLvbLmX10hu0lPnZv-WihFzavse3674FXN-a0wA0RrNDWh_BAVkYHL5qo45XWpkTdlCrfGW6Nps_NNx6T138JRirFQw/s1600-h/vook.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 257px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieETVjagu08k47BVm_sz8DgdMSopAhFbr-XJmgKAgFhtTlLvbLmX10hu0lPnZv-WihFzavse3674FXN-a0wA0RrNDWh_BAVkYHL5qo45XWpkTdlCrfGW6Nps_NNx6T138JRirFQw/s400/vook.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5303592908155523138" /></a><br />They're all dead now.<br /><br />Here's a picture of the town where they lived. New Waterford. It's a night bright with the moon. Imagine you are looking down from the height of a church steeple, onto the vivid gradations of light and shadow that make the picture. A small mining town near cutaway cliffs that curve over narrow rock beaches below, where the silver sea rolls and rolls, flattering the moon. Not many trees, thin grass. The silhouette of a colliery, iron tower against a slim pewter sky with cables and supports sloping at forty-five-degree angles to the ground. Railway tracks that stretch only a short distance from the base of a gorgeous high slant of glinting coal, toward an archway in the earth where the tracks slope in and down and disappear. And spreading away from the collieries and coal heaps are the peaked roofs of the miners' houses built row on row by the coal company. Company houses. Company town. <br /><br />Look down over the street where they lived. Water Street. An avenue of packed dust and scattered stones that leads out past the edge of town to where the wide, keeling graveyard overlooks the ocean. That sighing sound is just the sea. <br /><br />These are the first few paragraphs of the incredible novel Fall On Your Knees by Ann-Marie MacDonald. I've had this book on my shelf for a while now and pulled it off to fit the "body part" category of the <a href="http://whatsinaname-2.blogspot.com/">What's In a Name Challenge </a>and so glad I did. <br /><br />Dark and disturbing, but so well written and so real. I loved the multi generational part as you get to know the characters so well. There are so many different view points in this book that change the story and how the reader sees things as you look through the different characters eyes. The family drama and abuse are so real that I found myself almost reading with my hand over my eyes at times, just like watching a scary movie through your fingers, but this book isn't scary, only horrifying. <br />Even now, after I have turned the last page, I find myself still immersed in this family and thinking about these character. Haunting~Paulahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17016439610436864684noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30358828.post-23834471939123693462009-02-12T11:37:00.001-08:002009-02-12T11:48:55.003-08:00Blessed Are the Cheesemakers<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjz47-fA2qQgGmG2OxG2QUFWXJm1rXC7xkubzdvyBjmj2jYP4E_UaXqlirkz6cceA1pPClVKpZ1FYj3eZtk2E501JsEiGugja5B9ImnwhhqfNR66t-7aaDfkvFR_ma3IE6nLLgUsg/s1600-h/Cheesemakers.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 266px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjz47-fA2qQgGmG2OxG2QUFWXJm1rXC7xkubzdvyBjmj2jYP4E_UaXqlirkz6cceA1pPClVKpZ1FYj3eZtk2E501JsEiGugja5B9ImnwhhqfNR66t-7aaDfkvFR_ma3IE6nLLgUsg/s400/Cheesemakers.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5301997469071067266" /></a><br />'The Princess Grace Memorial Blue sat on the table in front of Abbey, screaming to be eaten.'<br />This is the first paragraph of Blessed Are the Cheesemakers by Sarah-Kate Lynch. <br /><br />Yolanda from <a href="http://www.themermaidsbookshelf.blogspot.com/">The Mermaids Bookshelf </a>sent me this book and I completely enjoyed it. Funny and quirky, it's a quick read and a lot of fun. The story is set in Ireland at a farm of two old Irish cheesemakers who employ singing milkmaids. The cows give their best milk to these young pregnant girls to the sounds of The Sound of Music. As in all good stories, there are some family secrets and mysteries that unravel as the story moves along. Corrie's granddaughter, Abby, has been gone from the family farm for way to many years and what really happened to her grandmother? The story also takes us to New York City to meet Kit, a stockbroker who has had his share of tragedy as well. A little bit of magic, mystery, romance, cheesemaking and a whole lot of quirkiness make this one an enchanting read.Paulahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17016439610436864684noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30358828.post-16615643606114787512009-01-23T19:28:00.001-08:002009-01-23T20:01:29.540-08:00Night Over Water<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQTPWgdZrzlNNjX_gfsh5aWYlPZ_4OjGE2zW9qZ_wV40WJQnGJZf8CbuzATlQAIBIJ0rbetNuq_oInoC0jKsypTwOI_D5PslKDfZlX3FgHPpOMOe390xI2-QwYT0EPiEyD-QrrxQ/s1600-h/IMG_3254.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQTPWgdZrzlNNjX_gfsh5aWYlPZ_4OjGE2zW9qZ_wV40WJQnGJZf8CbuzATlQAIBIJ0rbetNuq_oInoC0jKsypTwOI_D5PslKDfZlX3FgHPpOMOe390xI2-QwYT0EPiEyD-QrrxQ/s400/IMG_3254.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5294697493252099938" /></a><br />'It was the most romantic plane ever made.'<br /><br />And so begins Ken Folletts NIGHT OVER WATER. I am a big Ken Follett fan, my favorite being PILLARS OF THE EARTH which I read long before Oprah ever put it on her list. When I signed up for this years <a href="http://www.whatsinaname-2.blogspot.com/">What's In a Name Challenge</a> , it didn't take me long to decide that this was the book I would read for the "Time of Day" category. It was already on my shelf, just waiting to be read.<br />The story starts off in England, at the dock at Southhampton where people are gathered to watch the approach and water landing of the Clipper, a PanAmerican Boeing 314 passenger plane. The plane was what they called a flying boat, splashing down in the water instead of using a long landing strip. It was a luxury airliner, carrying only the wealthiest of passengers. It is September of 1939 and England has just entered the war with Nazi Germany. The passengers of this final flight of the Clipper,(due to the war), are all, for their own reasons, fleeing their country and the war. Aboard are the weathly Oxenford family. Lord Oxenford is a Facist and will be thrown in jail if he chooses to stay in Englund. His wife is from Connecticut, so they are headed to America to stay with her family for the duration of the war. Their children, Margaret and Percy, do not agree with their fathers beliefs and will do anything to get out from under his oppression and dictatorship. Harry Marks is a young lad of questionable means, but very charming, and has his eye on the upperclasses jewels. Diana Lovesey and her American lover, Mark are headed to a new life, with Diana's husband, Mervyen in hot pursuit. Eddie Deacon is the plane's engineer who is being blackmailed by a gang of thugs who have his wife held captive. Tom Luther is on board and part of the blackmailing, but Eddie hasn't quite figured out what their reasons are. Carl Hartmann is a Jewish scientist, who has been exiled from his country and is fleeing for his life. <br />Follett's story takes place almost entirely during the 27 hour flight across the Atlantic. It reads like a good movie with plenty of violence, intrigue and betrayal. I very much enjoyed this book, but do have to say that of Follett's work, it is probably my least favorite. Most of his work is full of history, but in this one he is really just telling a story, which is not a bad thing at all. <br /><br />Happy Reading!Paulahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17016439610436864684noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30358828.post-74650597519965795542009-01-11T15:44:00.001-08:002009-01-11T21:00:20.640-08:00The Story of Doctor Doolittle<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNLRkTYmY0BlRtuLJCRNYyxjwcSwVuVkMIDh9FElezeQw-l5VbHxo2gwnq5TSdkwtBdvNWDp3fpbjBDBvTF0Li0Sw-OQ8zQmRUaqxZLv2KR3z2HBmgl6juXnglWlmmnjlF6wjQlw/s1600-h/IMG_3215.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNLRkTYmY0BlRtuLJCRNYyxjwcSwVuVkMIDh9FElezeQw-l5VbHxo2gwnq5TSdkwtBdvNWDp3fpbjBDBvTF0Li0Sw-OQ8zQmRUaqxZLv2KR3z2HBmgl6juXnglWlmmnjlF6wjQlw/s400/IMG_3215.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5290186687287882898" /></a><br />'Once upon a time, many years ago - when our grandfathers were little children - there was a doctor; and his name was Dolittle - John Dolittle, M.D. "M.D." means that he was a proper doctor and knew a whole lot. <br />He lived in a little town called, Puddleby-on-the-Marsh. All the folks, young and old, knew him well by sight. And whenever he walked down the street in his high hat everyone would say, "There goes the Doctor!-He's one clever man." And the dogs and the children would all run up and follow behind him; and even the crows that lived in the church-tower would caw and nod their heads.'<br /><br />This is the beginning of The Story of Doctor Dolittle written by Hugh Lofting. My edition was published in 1948 and given to me by my sister last summer, along with another book in the Dolittle series. She knows that I have a love for the old hardback classics whether they be young readers or adult novels. <br />I read this book for the <a href="http://whatsinaname-2.blogspot.com/">What's In a Name 2 book </a>challenge. It fit rather nicely right into the book with a profession in it's title category. <br />Until my sister gave me these books, I had never even considered reading Doctor Dolittle, but now I'm glad I have. They are really fun stories, full of the adventures of the Doctor who can speak to animals. When the story begins, Doctor Dolittle is a very good people doctor who has many pets. His parrot, Polynesia, begins to teach him all the animal languages of the world. His office is in his house and as he acquires more and more pets, he starts loosing his clients until he has none left and becomes very poor. Polynesia suggests that the good doctor become an animal doctor since he can communicate with them so well. He takes her advice and soon becomes the best animal doctor around, with more and more animals wanting to live with him until a crocodile takes up residence in his goldfish pond. Now the farmers and little old ladies no longer want to bring their pets and farm-stock as they are afraid that the crocodile will eat them up, so the Doctor is once again without patients and very very poor again. This starts his adventures in the open-ocean, that includes pirates and monkeys. It's a very fun story, one I'm glad that this challenge prompted me to take off of my shelves and read. <br /><br />Happy reading to you!Paulahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17016439610436864684noreply@blogger.com2