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.



Still Life With Bread Crumbs by Anna Quindlen

Another Bookclub book.


First of all ... don't you like the title? I do. It makes you peaceful and a bit hungry at the same time.


I enjoyed this book choice. It's about a women who becomes defined by one painting. Is that all that she is?


Read the book to find out and make sure you don't leave any crumbs in your bed!



Munster's Case: An Inspector Van Veeteren Mystery by Hakan Nesser

As usual, I picked this one off the shelf at my Goodwill. And, as usual, it was the cover that stabbed me. (Pun intended).


I had never read a book by this author plus I was in the mood for a murder mystery. So, why not?


This was not an Agatha Christie type of story. It was dryer. But it was well written and I assure you that it wasn't the butler in the pantry with the knife. But a knife was used and it was used over and over and over. What a mess!


So "who done it"? You'll have to read it to find out. No, it wasn't that person and no, it wasn't that one either. You'll have to read it through to the end to find out.


Watch your back!



The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

Do you want to enter a world that you have never seen before? That you may think that you would never have been able to imagine on your own?


Then enter the magical and mysterious world of the Night Circus.


As you can surmise the circus is only open at night. Not only that, but it will appear and disappear when you least expect it. Out in a field beyond the town. Lit up by a central fire. Telling time by a unique clock.


The performers within the tents are not like any that you will ever see in a circus. Get your special ticket and enter into the minds of those that dreamed it into existence. It's enigmatic.


I picked this one up at my Goodwill. The cover caught my attention as well as the title. I wasn't disappointed but was confused at times. That's all I'm going to say except ...


Abracadabra!



Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston

This book was a pick for my neighborhood book club. I am ashamed I had not read it before!


I could not put this story down and recently, when I was going through some of my daughter's high school notebooks, I saw that she had read this book. It was surprising to me that it was one of the books her class had read since I always thought that some of the classics that I was supposed to read were boring. Like what I call, 'The Tale of Two Boring Cities'. I also had read other classics last summer that I had not read, thinking I should, and found them to be just as boring. But I know that this book, if it had been one of the required readings while I was in high school, would have been enjoyed. But of course I was in high school during the time of the beginning of integration. Perhaps this book would not have sat well with our parents. To stir things up. We couldn't have that, right?


But when my children were in the same high school that I went to, it was different. It was filled with children from all backgrounds and nationalities. It had become a Magnet High School and populated with different cultural backgrounds. It was grand to see the friends that my daughters brought home.


So, about this book, get it. Read it. Enjoy.

The Bolter by Frances Osborne

I could not put this book down. I found it on the Goodwill shelf and the spine of the paper cover caught my attention first. It looked old and yellowed with B&W photos as well. I took it off the shelf and looked at the front cover and saw what you are seeing above. Then I really wanted to read it. I immediately took it to the check out counter and bought it for less than two dollars.

Yesterday was a cloudy day that was cool/warm enough to have the screen doors open in my sitting room. I basically decided to take a staycation and curl up on the couch and read and read and read. Finally finished the book this morning and am sorry to have to say good-bye to it.

The book was written by Frances Osborne whose great-grandmother was Idina Sackville. Idina lived her own life in her own way, being married and divorced five times! She loved Africa and ended up building her home there called Clouds. It sounds wonderful. Idina stripped away any boundaries or mores at the time and had so many sexual encounters that there aren't the pages to fill them. She married men who also, but being British nobility, if you kept it discreet, then nobody said anything.

Idina wasn't discreet.

I think you may find this true story as fascinating and as enthralling as I did. Make sure you devote a staycation to its read.





Just Breathe by Susan Wiggs

Just Breathe is a book that would be a good Summer Read. After all it is set near water.

I think the cover is misleading as this is not a story about a very young girl at the beach but rather about a married woman who has tried unsuccessfully to get pregnant. Over and over. About her marriage that falls apart and about how she begins to put it back together again with the help of her family and so forth. If I tell you the whole story then you won't have to read it, right?

So it's got humor but it's not all rose colored glasses. It's real. We all have our ups and downs, don't we? If not then you just haven't lived long enough yet.

As usual I grabbed this off the Goodwill shelf. 

ME: Stories of My Life by Katharine Hepburn

What a delight to read! Ms. Hepburn writes as she speaks and therefore you get to "see" her as she talks you through the stories of her life. Included amongst the pages are photographs which are always a delight. Especially the big two page spread of her and Spencer. You can see the love.

I enjoyed this book immensely and didn't want to put it down. She was truly a new woman in her day and age. She lived her life as she wanted and acknowledges her selfishness except when it came to S.T.

Wouldn't it have been lovely to be her friend? I think so.



(A Goodwill shelf find)

The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd

This book should be read by all. It was hard for me to put it down but it was fun to pick back up. It is a novel about two sisters who endeavored to change the way their generation looked at slavery and women.




It is set in Charleston, South Carolina, where these two sisters really lived and grew up when slavery was de rigueur. You may know them ... Sarah and Angelina Grimke.




You will vicariously grow up with them as well as Sarah's personal maid which she was given on her birthday. Her maid was called Hetty, or Handful by her Mauma, (and yes I spelled that correctly). As these girls mature they are the generation that realizes that slavery should be stopped within their parents world where slavery is the norm and expected.




How will these young women challenge the system in order to right a terrible wrong?


At the end of the book the author goes into more detail about the true dealings these women went through and I am sure you will be enlightened by their true stories put into a historical fiction. I wanted to read on but alas must go to the library or the internet to look up more about these sisters who gave up so much for their cause.


I can thank my neighborhood Book Club leader who picked this one out for our group to read.

The Lincoln Myth by Steve Berry

This book was a good read once you got past the slowness in the beginning. It does make you think about what may be the secrets passed down through the office of the Presidency that we as mere mortals will never know.


Do we know all that the Founding Fathers wanted for our United States? Is there possible paperwork hidden in places that would reveal all their purposes? One such myth may surround our revered Abe Lincoln. A myth that if known could transform what we as a nation can be allowed to do which would destroy all we know.


Read on and find out what Steve Berry's well known characters Cassiopea Vitt and Cotton Malone have to do in order to keep the secret or let it be known.


What would you do?

Girl in Translation by Jean Kwok

Do you have a trip you have to take and you need a good book to keep you company on the plane or in your hotel room between meetings or you just want to take a staycation on your couch with a fuzzy blanket over your legs?


Then pick this page turner up wherever you can get it. Of course you know where I got this one, right? That's correct. Goodwill.


Make sure you have food around you as well because you are not going to want to put it down to grab a bite from the fridge, or even take a bathroom break, or even answer your cell phone. Why? Because you have just entered Jean Kwok's semi-autobiography about growing up in America with English not being your first language. You will live with her and her mother as they try to navigate their new world. Understanding how others live from hand to mouth day in and day out but with an unswerving determination to succeed is inspiring.


Kudos to you, Jean.

The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins

I really don't think I need to even comment about this book as you all may have seen the movie. I did not see the movie but I read the book and don't want to muck up my own imagination by seeing the movie. Does that make any sense? I am sure that it was a fabulous rendition of the book but sense I have my own mental image of the characters, the train, the scenery, the homes, the park, etc. I just want to stay within those confines.


That said ...


this book was definitely a page turner. It's dark. But not all books can be Mary Poppins.



Tarzan the Untamed by Edgar Rice Burroughs

I remember the first time I saw a book about Tarzan written by Edgar Rice Burroughs. It was a paperback with a drawing of Tarzan, half clothed, on the cover. It was laying on my mother's night stand and I thought as a child, "My mother is reading something wild! Something about a half naked man right here in her bedroom. How can that be?"

I asked her about it and why she liked it and she told me all about it and about the author and I realized it was more then my little brain thought. Later when a movie came out about Tarzan, we saw it together and she and my twin sister had a code word we could say to one another ... "Ray-zore" or we would just put our head down and lift the other person's hand to the top of our head so that they would have to pat it and while they did we'd go "oooh oooh" imitating a quiet ape sound. If you saw "Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, 1984" you would understand.

As my mother was dying I lifted her frail hand up to the top of my head and patted it for her on my hair and did the little ape sound hoping she knew what I meant. That I loved her and I would miss her and that we were and would forever be connected.

This little book I picked up somewhere ages ago and it sat on my bookshelf for ages as well. I the embossed letters on the red cover. The "Z" especially. They don't seem to make them like this anymore. It's a work of art. Then inside the cover are beautiful drawings of Tarzan. I have another Tarzan book on my shelf waiting for me to peruse. Of course when I read them I think of my mother and how she opened my eyes to many books.

The Postmistress by Sarah Blake

 The year is 1940.

The setting is a small town on Cape Cod in Massachusetts.


War is raging in Europe.


And that's the scene set for you to enter with female characters being the main subjects. One is the postmistress of this small town called Franklin. She tries to keep everything in order and moving in proper sequence so that the mail is delivered professionally. But can she keep any back from being delivered so that others won't be hurt? It's not proper but can she do it? Is it for the best? Can she hold her little section of the world together while the rest is falling apart?


Then there's the overseas female voice that comes over the radio at night that tells of the bombings, the faces, the voices recorded, the lives lost in front of her eyes. A letter handed to her to deliver to someone if he is dead. Does she finally have to deliver it? In person? What should she do?


How are lives affected back home in Cape Cod while families wait for their loved ones to return home whole or lost forever to them.


I think you may like this read. It's not fast paced but neither is a small town.


Of course, I bought this at my wonderful Goodwill where I can find all kinds of genres.


As Martha Stewart used to say, "It's a good thing".