I just finished reading The Sunshine Girls by Molly Fader. When I read the last paragraph I wanted to be able to turn the page and continue reading . . . about the mysterious Kitty Devereaux and BettyKay Allen. And yes, BettyKay is one word. And I like it that way. I wondered how a girl named Kitty and a girl named BettyKay could exist in the same small universe? Was it The Universe that put them in the same room in the college dorm their freshman year? Because a "Kitty" sounded glamorous and a "BettyKay" sounded like a farmgirl and champagne doesn't mix well with cow's milk. I would be pleasantly surprised.

Of course, not only the title but the cover design caught my attention when I was looking for a book to read at my library up the street. It's a small library and I like it that way. More intimate. Not like Cameron Village which grew big during a remodeling and I never knew my way around it ever since. Why do things have to change?

That would be a good question two sisters would ask themselves once a stranger, a world-reknowned stranger, showed up at their mother's funeral.  They wouldn't need to ask who she was but rather why is she, of all people, showing up at the service? Did their mother know her? If so, how and when?

If I didn't have other things to intrude on my reading, like grocery shopping, bills, scooping a litter box, I would have gladly stayed on the couch with Molly's story in my hands. Reading until the end. It's that good. I can't say that about the last two books I've read reluctantly because I hate to leave a book half-read if someone has taken time out of their life to write it. I should give it that much respect as I would hope someone would do the same for me. 

So if you want a good summer read, then go to your nearest library, whether big or small, and check it out. Or buy it on Amazon. Whatever floats your boat. But I think this book will. Happy reading!

 

The Witch's Heart by Genevieve Gornichec is a book I checked out at a library near me. The first thing that caught my eye was the book design and of course, the fact that it would be about a witch's heart intrigued me. I can barely put it down to get anything done but watering my plants!

This book is Genevieve's first novel and I give her huge kudos. 

Her passion for and knowledge of Norse myths has weaved their way into this captivating story including Odin, Skadi, Loki, wolves, a giant snake and our main character . . . Angrboda. 

Here's a hint of some strange things that happen . . . Angrboda births three children but are they all humans? You'll have to read the book to get that answer. Are the worlds as the gods know them coming to an end or a new beginning? What is Angrboda's purpose in bringing the worlds together or blowing them apart? Do her "children" play a pivotal part?

Genevieve will keep you guessing as you turn the pages til the very end. I hope you will enjoy it as much as I have.  

I couldn't remember if I had read The Great Gatsby so when I saw it in my neighborhood's Little Library by the pool, I grabbed it. This copy had a lot to say about F. Scott Fitzgerald and comments about the story. I found that to be enlightening. I can't say I like the cover but it is by someone famous at that time. I would have liked a different cover, but that's my preference.

I can now add this book to my list of classics that I have read. We'll see what I grab next!

 

 

Remember Me by Mary Higgins Clark

This book was published in 1994 and it could still be a "#1 New York Times Bestseller". On the last page of this book that I retrieved from my neighborhood's Little Library, it reads: "Mary Higgins Clark, America's Queen of Suspense". I have to agree. 

This past Sunday I sat in my backyard in the warm Spring sun and read and read. And read. When a cool breeze sent me inside, I continued to read to the last page. That is how good Mrs. Clark's story was to me as I turned page after page while she weaved her suspense in a web around my brain and I continually asked myself, "Who killed her? Or was it an accident?" I wanted to know.

If you are an aspiring writer, I would suggest reading this book to garner how to keep a reader's curiosity in one's storytelling so that the reader doesn't want to put your book down. I know I will need to read Remember Me again and possibly take notes!

Enjoy! And push everything off your list of things to do as you will not want to do anything but sit in your backyard and read this book all day.

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid

The Night She Disappeared by Lisa Jewel

It's been far too long since I have posted about books I have read. Should I blame it on life or on the fact that I have put other things ahead of posting to this blog. Sorry! But it was worth the wait for the last two books I have read have been page-turners. Must reads. Get them from the library, from your daughter as I did or buy them, but be prepared to get nothing done. You'll want to keep turning the pages, keep the light on, not sleep, and generally enjoy being emersed in the written words.

First up is The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid. I wish I could put a picture of the front cover here because I like it, but it wouldn't copy and paste. Chagrined. My daughter said, "This is a page-turner" and let me borrow it to read on a plane. Anyway, from the get-go, you are caught up in questions rolling around in your head. Seven husbands? How? Why? Were any of them any good? Did she love them all? What has this not-forgotten Hollywood star kept secret all her life that she is now ready to tell the world? As the story unfolds you wonder if this is really fiction or is it a scrapbook of pieces stitched together of real stars woven into one woman? I'll let you ruminate on that after you have read the book. 

Second up is The Night She Disappeared by Lisa Jewel. This one came from my neighbor. We swap books to read and I am always surprised at what an eighty-year-old will read. Obviously, nothing is too shocking for her. I'll have to tell her about the previous book, I know she will love it. At any rate, this is the first time I have read anything by Lisa Jewel, and I am hoping it will not be the last. Her characters jump out of the page and inhabit your space and you want to move over on the couch and invite them to sit down. You want to hang out with them for a while because there's definitely something going on underneath the surface. Especially where Scarlet is concerned. Would you also be drawn under her spell and want to be part of her entourage?  Do whatever she wants? Drop everything and come when she calls? It's a who-done-it that keeps you guessing and the plot keeps twisting until you don't know if your detective skills are as honed as you think. Where's Sherlock when you need him?



Oh my!!!  It's been awhile since I have posted about books I've read. I think life and forgetfulness and  the holidays of 2017 kept me busy. Plus I was getting my father's memoir self-published by moi. That was a learning curve! But I promise I have been reading and reading and reading. Here's a few of the most recent books I have read:


Tarzan the Untamed by Edgar Rice Burroughs
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot
The End of Your Life Book Club by Will Schwalbe


So I'll start with Tarzan the Untamed. Who wouldn't? I found this book a long time ago in a bookstore somewhere. I like the old cover and the embossed letters. Don't you love how the 'Z' just swoops down and around and traps the Untamed? I think I may have written about this book earlier but I haven't really finished it yet because I keep picking up two more books to read also and I get caught up in those. Yada yada yada. But I have to include Tarzan here in case, again ... forgetfulness. So all you Tarzan fans go out and find a 1920 edition (like I have) and swing into the life of the ape man as he tries to save his jungle. Ahhhhh ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ahhhhhhhh. (Tarzan yell).


The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks came from my Little Library in my neighborhood. I learned a lot about how Henrietta's life impacted the world. The creating of drugs to help cure Aids, cancer, etc. Of course this was all without her consent. Back in the day doctors and scientists would take samples of your blood, cells, cancer cells, umbilical cords, take out your uterus, etc. and do any number of things with them in order to study how cells grew or reacted to other cells, chemicals, etc. Henrietta died a painful death from a cancer that spread throughout her body. Henrietta's cells were kept alive and they multiplied and multiplied and were therefore shared all over the world. They are still around today. It's amazing. So this book took years of research on the author's part and I encourage all to read this story. You'll come away with more knowledge than you may want to know. Kudos to Rebecca Skloot who was compelled to bring Henrietta's story to light.


The End of Your Life Book Club is a true account about a son helping his mother through pancreatic cancer, chemo, and reading books all along the way. I have personally known two people who had pancreatic cancer. One lasted longer than the other. Will's mother, Mary Anne Schwalbe, was a woman who didn't give up. She lived long after it was deemed possible. Reading of her courage is uplifting and you get a sense that, in life, she was always uplifting anyone who crossed her path. So I encourage you to grab a copy somewhere. I grabbed mine out of our neighborhood Little Library. To read about all what Mrs. Schwalbe accomplished in her life made me feel like asking myself, "What have you done, Nancy?" Will shares in this book all the books that he and his mother read together during her last years. Some of the books I have never heard of but one in particular made me smile because they both agreed it was one of their favorites. It made me smile because it is my mother's all time number one favorite; A Prayer for Owen Meany.


So that's all for now. And remember what my mother said ... you're never bored if you have a book to read. Or something like that. I carry a book around with me wherever I go. You never know if you'll be stopped for hours in traffic or in an emergency room with your 99 year old father.


Ta ta.

Remarkable Creatures by Tracy Chevalier

If you enjoyed reading Girl With A Pearl Earring then you will enjoy this book as well I think. Why? Because the author is one and the same.

Tracy Chevalier researches her true characters in this novel as well as the time in which it is set. You begin to see everything she sees because Tracy writes vividly of the scenery and the people.

It is specifically about two women who really existed. Two women who changed the thinking of men who thought they knew all there was to know. But who realized that these women were indeed more knowledgeable even though one came from an uneducated background.

One women older than the other. How their lives enhanced one another. How their knowledge fed each other's hunger for the remarkable creatures they found who were not of this century or era. Were these creatures really alive at one time before they became encased in the layers of earth that preserved them for all time? What catastrophe occurred which embalmed them in stone?

If you are an archaeology buff then I think you will enjoy this true to history novel as you vicariously go on the beach digs with these two women.