The Sight of The Stars by Belva Plain

Belva Plain has written many books and I picked this one up at my Goodwill (where else!) because I remembered reading her, so I was happy to find this novel in the stacks of books available.

Funny ... as I began to read and read I realized I had read this one before but could not remember the outcome. It had been awhile. This book came out in 2004. But it is a good read so I did not put it down nor hand it over to someone else to enjoy.

I thought of my father as I read this book again. He likes stories about people who come from nothing and bring themselves up in the world by their boot straps and make a success out of themselves and their families. This story fits that category.

Adam Arnring comes from a poor family and he decides to go out into the wider world and see if he can survive in it. He does so very successfully with hard work and determination and he is then able to help send money back to his father to send his younger brother to med school (which he never is able to accomplish and you will have to read on to see why), to build up the town he finds himself becoming a prominent figure in, and creates a growing family that is his heart and soul.

But he could lose it all.

Read on and see what happens to Adam. It's a good read. Will he lose it all? Is there forgiveness?



social lives by wendy walker

As you can see, the title to this entry is all in lower case to match the book's cover. I felt it was only right to do so, adding to the playing down of the significance of all the social lives within the pages of this good read.

Not that their lives are insignificant. That is not what I am saying, but rather the insignificance of all the social things they feel compelled they need to do or accomplish in order to stay in the top five. The top of the social ladder. The top five rungs. Don't look down you might fall off the ladder and then what would you do? Oh no!

If you think that all is bling and right with one's world if one possesses possessions and can throw billions around the globe then think again. If anything there may be more intrigue, more secrets under the covers and more pill popping than you can imagine. And that's just the children! The adults are more subtle at hiding their fears and their real thoughts under the makeup, inside the mansions, within their verbal barbs and aboard their private jets.

But it's more about the girls, the young women and the well heeled wives who's reputations and fortunes are at stake. What do they have to do in order to begin to be popular at a young age and what do they have to do in middle age in order to keep their status once achieved. Let the claws come out.

It's a Peyton Place waiting to happen and you want to read on and on because you get wrapped up in these four couples and their social lives.

Don't get too smug. The ending is not what you think it will be and you will go ... what?!

Good show, Wendy.

By the way ... got this one at my Goodwill.



Circle of Three by Patricia Gaffney

Another find at the Goodwill. First of all, the image on the cover could have been more defining of the story within. How about an Ark? The three persons that this book evolves around never sat at an iron table and chairs outside on a beautiful green lawn. All was not perfect. Uh uh.

Perhaps there should have been crossed swords on the front because the grandmother, daughter and granddaughter were always at odds. O.K., so there was a moment or two when they weren't butting heads ... but don't hold your breath for those scanty peaceful moments. A Circle? More like three individual straight lines that seldom intersect.

If the book revolved more around the main character (Carrie) and her High School love (Jess) finding themselves again in each other's arc (play on words here) then it could have been more full. Maybe more satisfying. But it is about forgiveness, redemption and starting anew. It is flooded (again a pun) with sorrow. Not a happy book.

I could see a book based entirely on the grandmother and her sarcastic and witty thinking, demeanor and barbs as she goes through her life at her age now, losing to younger people to be the heads of committees, being frustrated with her husband, confused by her long time friends. It could be a funny book, I think.

As it is I was depressed reading about a daughter that was so rude to her mother and so selfish. O.K., so she's 16 but not all 16 year olds are so awful. I don't think I could have put up with it and been so docile to all the stinging verbal arrows consistently pointed and directed into my heart and feelings. Ouch! Not nice. Sad. Let me say "Thank You" right now to my daughters for being who they are ... I love you!

So would I recommend this book? It's readable and you don't want to throw it down after the first page, so it will fill in the blanks from one book to another. But if you are looking for a real page turner, I wouldn't say that this one fits that category.

I apologize in advance to all those who disagree.