The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

My latest read is a book that's been on my shelves for a few years.  I originally got it with the thought of reading it with the kids at school. Additionally it's on a subject that fascinates me:  The Holocaust.  This one, however, is a bit against the norm.

In The Book Thief, the narrator is Death.  Not the devil; not someone/something evil but the collectors of souls.  The story takes place in Germany during World War II.  Our main character is Liesel Meminger, who, at the age of nine, has already lost everything she holds dear.  She never knew her father; her mother, was a communist and so hunted by the Nazi's, and is forced to give Leisel away with the hope of giving her a life; Leisel's brother died en route to their new parents.  Leisel arrives in the blue-collar neighborhood of Molching.  Her new "mother" is a tough-talking, name-calling woman who loves in her own way, though it takes Leisel a long time to realize this.  Her new "father" is what, at first, gets Leisel through the toughest time in her short life.  With his assistance, Liesel learns how to read and learns how to cope with her nightmares. And as the war picks up speed and things (luxuries like books) are hard to come by, Leisel starts stealing to feed her new love of reading.  With each new book collected, Leisel's life changes.

This was such a different book told in such a unique way.  I took my time reading this because it was a tough subject with a lot of heartache but well worth the read.  Often when I read books about the Holocaust I wonder how a whole German society could let what happened during WWII happen.  This book showed me that most likely, people didn't just sit back and let things happen.  In their own ways they rebelled and did what they could to thumb their noses at Hitler.  Realistically, however, those living in such an upside down society were most focused on surviving.  After reading The Book Thief, I get that. 

I highly recommend this book.  I don't know that I could read it with my kids at school because it is very confusing and would boggle them but anyone else should read it.  (And there's a movie now too).

The Time of My Life by Cecelia Ahern

My latest listen was a completely enjoyable book that I didn't want to end.  The narrator did a great job and I can't wait to listen to another novel by Cecelia Ahern.

The Time of My Life is about Lucy Silchester whose actual life has gotten away from her.  She's living a completely underwhelming existence in a job she hates (that she got under false pretenses), with a family that makes no effort in hiding their disappointment in her and the friends she has no longer know her because she's been telling them lie after lie for nearly three years. Along comes "her life" in the form of a middle-aged businessman who is bent on helping Lucy regain a happier existence; one where she no longer needs to pretend.

I loved this book, like I said, and would imagine that the written word would be just as entertaining as the spoken.  Read this...an easy and utterly enjoyable book. 

Big Stone Gap by Adriana Trigiani

My mom told me about this author long ago but I knew it was a series so I've never read her until now because I had to wait until the first was available at Half Price.  My lucky day came the last time I went shopping there. 

Big Stone Gap centers on the main character - Ave Maria Mulligan.  She is the self-proclaimed "town spinster" - although she is only 36. Her life has recently taken a turn because her beloved mother passed away after a long illness and so she is now reexamining her path.   And then on a fateful day in 1978 (yes it takes place then), she discovers that her mother kept a secret about her that would change things forever. Before she knows what's happening, the town is abuzz about her business, men are asking to marry her left and right and greedy relatives are claiming a stake in her inheritance. All of this is slightly too much for Ave and so she starts carving her way through the muck in a not so graceful way. 

Big Stone Gap is full of hilarious and lovable characters.  It's one of those novels you will read when you want to feel good.  It has it's moments of sappiness but who can't do with a little sappiness now and then.  A great and easy read...highly recommended...and the 2nd in the series that I will be hunting down is called Big Cherry Holler.

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Mortal Instruments: City of Bones by Cassandra Clare

My most recent read is teen fiction but don't let that stop you from reading. 

Here's the scenario: Clary Fray is a normal 16-year old New Yorker. She lives, in Brooklyn, with her single mother (father died before she was born) and spends most of her time with her best friend Simon. When they head out to the all-age club Pandemonium, she never expects to be witness to a murder.  And more than that - the murderers are three teens covered in tattoos and wielding strange weapons. When the body vanishes before her eyes, she knows there's something strange going on.  Then, Clary's mother is kidnapped and Clary is nearly killed by what appears to be a giant scorpion. From there she's drawn into a world she's never known - a world of Shadowhunters: Warriors dedicated to ridding the world of demons.  Why is she just now being made aware of this world?  What is the connection it has with her mother? What is the connection to her? 

I read this book in record time...it was quite enjoyable.  Completely supernatural and strange but the great writing kept the thrills coming.  I gave it only 4 stars because there were some things that weren't explained completely.  In a world where things are new and different with strange names, the reader isn't always given a complete explanation for what they are supposed to be imagining.  Didn't take away from the enjoyment but I can imagine some people having a hard time.  By the way - this book has been made into a movie, coming out in August (Lily Collins - Phil Collins daughter - plays Clary)...I certainly look forward to that. Read it - you'll be swept away in a world you've never imagined.

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The Confession by John Grisham

My latest listen on CD is The Confession by John Grisham.  It's been a while since I've read a John Grisham (even though this was actually a "listen) and I'm not sure why I haven't read him.  He's always enjoyable. 

The synopsis (from Amazon): In 1998, in the small East Texas city of Sloan, Travis Boyette abducted, raped, and strangled a popular high school cheerleader. He buried her body so that it would never be found, then watched in amazement as police and prosecutors arrested and convicted Donté Drumm, a local football star, and marched him off to death row. Now nine years have passed. Travis has just been paroled in Kansas for a different crime; Donté is four days away from his execution. Travis suffers from an inoperable brain tumor. For the first time in his miserable life, he decides to do what’s right and confess. But how can a guilty man convince lawyers, judges, and politicians that they’re about to execute an innocent man?

This was a really enjoyable book. If you plan on listening to it, it was fairly short (9 CDs) and the narrator did a good job.  I gave it 4 stars because there were some contrived parts and sometimes John Grisham can get a bit redundant in his lawyer mumbo jumbo. Basically, this was a book delving into the debate of the death penalty.  And if you are for the death penalty, by the end of this book, I guarantee, you will either be against it or certainly on the fence.  A definite recommendation. Read it.

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Girls In White Dresses by Jennifer Close

This is my latest book on CD. I usually pick what looks to be easy, chick-lit, somewhat mindless “reads” to listen in my car. This one was no exception and that isn't an insult (nothing wrong with mindless reads especially when they make you laugh out loud).

So the premise: Girls in White Dresses focuses on three friends, Isabella, Mary and Lauren – 20-somethings, making their way in NYC. Isabella is working in a dead-end job she hates, dating a pot-head; Mary is struggling her way through law school and dating a nice guy with an awful mother; Lauren is stuck waitressing and getting sucked into a “going nowhere” relationship with a sleazy bartender. The one constant in their lives seem to be each other and alcohol. The three are sick of brides and bridal showers and being bridesmaids and yet wish they didn't have to spend time in the dating pool. I REALLY liked this book. (4 stars only because of its lack of “depth”). Partly, I’m sure, because the woman reading was hilarious. She gave the characters such great voices but of course, that couldn't have happened without great writing. This book made me laugh out loud many times and I the characters were real and likable. I’d definitely read/listen to Jennifer Close again.

The Beach House by Jane Green

Here's a book that's an easy beach read...nothing too heavy...easy to put down and pick back up again. I actually listened to this in the car...good reader if that's the route you want to take.

So here's the plot: Nan Powell is a free-spirited, sixty-five-year-old widow who has lived a full life and isn't afraid to keep smoking her beloved cigarettes and skinny-dip in her neighbors' pool. She lives in the same Nantucket home she's been in since she married. Unfortunately she discovers that the money she thought would last forever is dwindling. She realizes she must make major changes or be forced to sell the house she's held onto and loved for years. As a last ditch hope, Nan takes out an ad: Rooms to rent for the summer in a beautiful old Nantucket home with water views and direct access to the beach. Immediately, people start renting her rooms and filling the house she's loved with noise, laughter, and tears. As the house comes alive again, Nan finds her family and friends expanding. Her son comes home for the summer, and then an unexpected visitor turns all their lives upside down.

I really like Jane Green...I've listened to her before and always enjoyed. One of these days I'll get one of her books in my hands and actually read it. Anyway - if you're looking for an easy read - this one is a good way to go.

Emily and Einstein by Linda Francis Lee

You know I loves me a story with a dog in it.  Especially one where the dog is trying desperately to communicate with his human because he’s been reincarnated.  Have I sparked your interest yet? 

So, the synopsis:  Sandy Portman, at first seems to be a man with it all:  Career, money, loving wife whom he loves (supposedly).  And then we get to see beyond his cover and what’s inside is sort of hideous.  Here’s a man who has it all and doesn’t really deserve it.  Enter karma.  On a nasty New York night, it all comes to a head for Sandy when he dies tragically in an accident while on his way to meet his wife Emily (to tell an unsuspecting and devoted wife that he wants a divorce).  Obviously, Emily’s life is turned upside-down when she discovers she’s about to be evicted from her husband’s family’s apartment and her husband was the epitome of scum.  Through it all, however, Emily finds comfort in a scruffy dog named Einstein.  What she doesn’t realize is her new best friend is really her husband, sent back to make amends. 

I really liked this book.  Sandy was definitely a putz but as a dog, it was sometimes hard to hate him.  This was a solid, feel-good book – perfect for an easy summer read.  Recommended:  Yes!

Red Mist by Patricia Cornwell

Let me start by saying that I love Patricia Cornwell and though she may have gotten off track with her Scarpetta books (about 4 or 5 books ago) she is certainly back on track with her usual engrossing mysteries.

Red Mist (#19 in the Scarpetta series) is focused on the team (Kay, Benton, Lucy and Pete) attempting to piece together the mystery around former deputy chief, Jack Fielding’s murder six months earlier. Kay is lured into travelling to the Georgia Prison for Women, where an inmate has information on Fielding as well as a string of other horrible killings (the murder of an Atlanta family years ago, a young woman on death row and more). Kay soon discovers, however, that the connection between Jack’s death and an attempt on her own life is something far more complex: A conspiracy on an international level that she must solve before more people are dead.

I really, really liked this book and was so happy that it kept me turning the pages. It wasn’t hard to follow and the mystery was new and exciting. I would definitely recommend this book and am psyched that her next Scarpetta is scheduled for release this October 16th!

One Fifth Avenue by Candace Bushnell

From the author of Sex in the City, Candace Bushnell has written this book focusing on a cast of characters living in a luxurious apartment building (One Fifth Avenue) in NYC. When an elderly matron of society dies, a backbiting scramble for her penthouse apartment follows. In the end, Annalisa and her hedge-funder husband, Paul Rice, land the lavish pad, pissing off the building's rivalries. There's Billy Litchfield, an art dealer who lives off the wealthy; Mindy and James Gooch, and their 13-year-old Sam, a bitter and green-with-envy family wishing for the wealth that all their neighbors seem to have; gossip columnist Enid Merle and her screenwriter nephew, Philip Oakland, who struggles with his own mortality and lost love; actress Schiffer Diamond, who lands a hit TV series and moves back to her One Fifth apartment after years of being away. These stories and antics that follow are page turning and fascinating.

I really, really liked this book. It made me want to live in NYC (with the stipulation that I had loads of money and lived the same life of luxury that many of the characters lived). The stories of the characters and my wish to see the antagonist “get his” kept me turning the pages. I would certainly read another of Candace Bushnell’s books. Worthy of four stars, certainly.

Thanks For The Memories by Cecelia Ahern

This is the first time I've ever read this author and she's got a ton of stuff out there.  (She wrote P.S. I Love You which was a movie with Hilary Swank).  I'll be picking her up again (in fact I'm listening to one of her other books right now in my car).

Thanks for the Memories focuses around two characters.  First is Joyce Conway - an Irishwoman who has just survived the tragic loss of her baby (in utero) and the end of her marriage.  While in the hospital (she fell down the stairs and which caused her miscarriage) she receives a blood transfusion.  Afterwards, she starts experiencing memories for a life that she's never lived.  In addition she suddenly has an incredible knowledge base about architecture and art - two subjects which, in the past, were never things she cared about.

The other character that the book follows is Justin Hitchcock - American architect, recently moved to London (but doing guest lectures in Dublin), recently divorced and recently a blood donor.  His are the memories that Joyce is experiencing. The book follows these two as they chase each other and the possibility of true love. 

I really liked this book.  The concept was quite unique and I was cheering and reading as fast as I could to see if these two would finally pull it together.  The characters were endearing (especially Joyce's elderly Irish father) and lovable.  Of course there was strife and there was a bit of a runaround in them "just missing" each other but it made the ending all the more sweet.  Get it, read it...an easy, light, "beach read".

Joy For Beginners by Erica Bauermeister

My latest - actually a latest listen, rather than a recent read - is Joy For Beginners.  Again, it's always a crap shoot when I get a book to listen to because the reader can ruin it all but alas, this one was a winner. 

Synopsis:
At an intimate, festive dinner party in Seattle, six women gather to celebrate their friend Kate's recovery from cancer. Having survived such a thing has kicked Kate into gear to make the rest of her life exciting and not humdrum.  Kate strikes a bargain with her friends: In order to celebrate her new lease on life, she'll do the one thing that's always terrified her: white-water rafting. But if she goes, all of them will also do something they always swore they'd never do-and Kate is going to choose their adventures.

Each chapter focuses on a different friend in a different voice living a much different life than her compadres.  Each woman is so different from the next which makes it such a "real" book since the women I know and am friends with are often the complete opposite of me.  This book reminds you that it isn't the similarities which draw and hold a friendship together but the differences that bring to the table. 

I really, really liked this book and it was a really easy listen...light although there were times the subject matter was heavy.  I would imagine it would be a really easy read as well.

Annie's Ghost by Steve Luxenberg

For some reason, I've been into memoirs and nonfiction lately.  That's what this latest is. 

Steve Luxenberg's mother, Beth died in 2002.  A few years before her death (1999), she had a bit of a mental breakdown and was "forced" into an institution to regulate meds.  While there, she let slip (after a lifetime of claiming to be an only child) that she had a sister.  In the years following his mother's death, Steve Luxenberg searches for the answers of who his aunt was and why his mother consciously chose to keep her hidden.  What follows is the story of Annie who, at age 21, was committed to Eloise Hospital, southeastern Michigan’s sprawling psychiatric facility.  She spent her life there, approximately 40 years, until she was moved into a nursing home facility where she died completely alone.  "Annie's Ghost" centers around answering the questions of why did Beth, two years Annie’s senior, refuse for so long to acknowledge her sibling’s existence?

Really this was an intriguing book.  It read like a novel and was fascinating and rich in state institution stories.  Amazing that these places existed but more amazing still that our system today is still so flawed.  Quite interesting but not a "light" read.

The Widower's Tale by Julia Glass

My latest:  Percy Darling is 70 years old, a retired Harvard librarian, father of two grown daughters, grandfather to three and pretty much settled into life.  He's been a widow for 30 years and because of the guilt he still feels surrounding his wife's passing, he's done with love.  Sounds as though Percy's life is one simply waiting for the end but in reality, the next several months have something of a surprise in store for our main character. 

Julia Glass weaves an intricate tale of family and the highs and lows that comes with it.  As usual, she tosses in some interesting characters, some you love (Sarah) and some you wish would go away.  Like Maeve Binchy, she does a great job at tying seemingly unconnected characters together and manages to make a hodge podge of people become symbiotic.  This is my fourth read by Julia Glass and though it isn't my favorite - it is still a great read and definitely worth your time!

Secret Daughter by Shilpi Somaya Gowda

My latest...I'm actually surprised I picked this up.  Reason:  I usually am not attracted to books that have a central plot and setting in Asia.  This one takes place, partly, in Mumbai, India.  It's a place that fascinates me but not because I would ever want to visit there.  No.  Instead, I'm fascinated by the hugeness of it.  The poverty.  The crowdedness that I can't imagine ever living in.  After reading this book, I have a different view of the place.

Synopsis:
Somer has a life that she's always wanted - a wonderful husband, a brand new career as a physician and the promise of what those two things will bring.  Unfortunately certain dreams are dashed when Somer and her husband Krishnan find out that she will not be able to have kids.  That same year, Kavita, a poor Indian mother is forced to give her baby girl up for adoption for fear that her husband will kill her because she wasn't a boy.  It is a choice that follows her for the rest of her life.  That baby, "Asha" is adopted out of the Mumbai orphanage and is placed in the loving arms of Somer and Kris.  These two worlds are thus bound together forever. 

I really, really enjoyed this novel.  How hard must it have been for Somer (blond-haired Californian) to never be thought of by strangers as Asha's mother.  Such a scary disconnect that she had with her daughter and something that her Indian husband could never grasp.  I felt a better understanding of the type of place that India is as well.  Maybe poverty-stricken in many areas but no less full of the same love we all feel for those special people in our lives.  Definite must read!

Let The Northern Lights Erase Your Name by Vendela Vida

I could actually give this book 4 stars AND 1 star!  I'll explain in a minute...here's the synopsis:

On the day her dad is buried, twenty-eight year old Clarissa Iverton finds out that he wasn't her biological father.  Her mother had disappeared when she was 14 without a trace and her fiance reveals to her that he's known about her father for years.  Needless to say, Clarissa's life is turned upside down.  In reaction, she takes off to "Lapland" - the upper reaches of Scandinavia in the Arctic Circle in search of her real father.  Clarissa ends up at the Ice Hotel where a life-changing secret is uncovered that will turn her life upside-down again.

So I read this book really fast and it was a pretty amazing (which is why I gave it 4 stars) but at the same time, Clarissa made me so mad!  I just couldn't understand her actions in the end!  She was such an angry woman (understandably) but what she ended up doing wasn't justified with how she had been treated by her own parents.  To me, she was repeating a vicious cycle (which is why I could give the book 1 star).  She didn't seem to learn from other's mistakes.  In the end though, after thinking about it, Clarissa's actions were reasonable and human.  Certainly worth your time.

Labor Day by Joyce Maynard

Synopsis: 
The end of summer is nearing with school starting just after the Labor Day weekend in the town of Holton Mills, New Hampshire.  Thirteen-year-old Henry—a lonely and mostly friendless kid—spends most of his time watching TV and daydreaming about his female classmates. Henry main companion is his equally lonely mother, Adele—a onetime dancer whose main pastime is talking with too much detail about her life before her divorce.  As much as Henry tries, he knows that he can't make his emotionally fragile mother happy. To make it worse, Adele has a secret pain that makes it hard for her to leave their house, and seems to possess an irreparably broken heart.

Enter the mysterious Frank a mysterious bleeding man who approaches Henry and asks for a help. Over the next five days, Henry will learn some of life's most valuable lessons: how to throw a baseball, the secret to a perfect pie crust, the pain of jealousy, the power of betrayal, and the importance of putting others—especially those we love—above ourselves. And the knowledge that real love is worth waiting for.

I really really liked this book and read it in less than 2 days.  The mind of a 13-year old boy can be scary (and sometimes disgusting, for sure!) but Maynard also reveals the intelligence and feelings that most of us don't realize is there in that same mind.  A definite read!

Harvest by Tess Gerritsen

Okay so my second read by Tess Gerritsen...good!  A nice solid surgical/psychological thriller. 

The synopsis:
Abby DiMatteo is in her second year as a surgical resident at Bayside Hospital in Boston when she is asked to join an elite cardiac transplant team.  She is beyond thrilled.  Everything in her life is on track:  She's fullfilling the life-long dream of becoming a doctor, she's got an amzaing thoracic surgeon sharing her bed and she's making all the right moves in becoming a great doctor.  Unfortunately, all that quickly changes when Abby makes a life-and-death decision to help a young teen receive a heart rather than a wealthy older woman (further down on the transplant list) - against her "teams" orders.  Lawsuits and bizarre accusations follow that threaten her career.  But suddenly, the older, wealthy woman gets a heart, the lawsuits are dropped and Abby is left mystefied.  In taking the investigation in her own hands, she discovers a horrible truth. 

A nice, fast-paced mystery that will keep you on your toes and turning the pages to the end.  I really like Tess Gerritsen and look forward to reading more by her!

Those Who Save Us by Jenna Blum

So my latest is another Holocaust book.  I know, I know!  I'm constantly reading Holocaust books.  It's an obsession of mine.  I think in a previous life, I must have had some connection to WWII. 

Anyway - this latest novel flips, back and forth between Trudy, a German history professor at a a Minneapolis university and her German mother Anna, who survived WWII through unbelievable ways.  Through Trudy, we see a woman who is struggling to know who and where she comes. She has tried, in the past to get these answers from her mother but Anna refuses to talk about any part of her past in Germany.  Trudy thus decides to take on a project of interviewing German immigrants who lived through the war and in surviving, possibly ignored the actions that Nazis were taking against the Jews.  Through Anna, the reader flashes back to her hometown of Weimar where she managed to survive starvation and certain death by entering into an abusive and torrid affair with a high-ranking Nazi officer at Buchenwald. 

I liked this book, probably more after I finished it and reflected on it rather than while I was reading it.  (While reading, I would have given it 3.5 stars.)The concept was an interesting one: Intertwining the stories of anti-Semitic German immigrants with those of the German survivors who only did what they had to do to live through the war.  How fine a line is there between the two?  It makes you ask yourself the question:  How far would you go to save those you love.  The novel was a slow read and it wasn't until the end that I really felt a need and a want to see what the outcome was.  The end was certainly worth it, however, and the answers to questions I thought would not be given, in the end were.

The Long Way Home by Robin Pilcher

Okay, so my most recent read is The Long Way Home by Robin Pilcher (son of Rosamunde Pilcher).  He writes very much like his mother and is reminiscent of Maeve Binchy as well.  This novel revolves around Claire Barclay and goes back and forth between her growing up years and present day.  When Claire was young (around 9), her widowed mother married Leo Harrison and she and Clarie moved to his estate in Alloa, Scotland.  Claire becomes best friends with Jonas who lives on the neighboring farm.  The pair are inseparable until one night, when Claire is 18 and ready to declare her love to Jonas, he shocks her by telling her he wants nothing to do with her.  Claire has no clue where this has come from but in her devastation she leaves Scotland to travel and recover and ends up in New York City where she meets and marries Art Barrington.  Years later, after her mother dies she gets a call that her beloved step-father has had an accident and she must return to Scotland to help in his recovery.  Circumstances arise and she is forced to deal with the issues surrounding Jonas that she never understood. 

This was an incredibly fast read and one that I thoroughly enjoyed.  Every now and then, after reading a really heavy book, you need a novel where the "good guys" win and the "bad guys" get theirs...this was a perfect fit.  I've liked all of Robin Pilcher's books and this one is no exception.  Read it  - you will like!