Book 59 (2011): Fragile

Here is a summery of the book Fragile by Lisa Unger that I've taken from Amazon who took it from Publisher's Weekly:

Set in the Hollows, a secluded town about 100 miles outside New York City, Unger's contemporary thriller offers solid entertainment, but lacks the tension of her 2008 stand-alone, Black Out. Psychologist Maggie Cooper and her husband, Det. Jones Cooper, disagree on how to handle their rebellious son, 17-year-old Rick, who prefers to spend time with his band or holed up with his girlfriend, Charlene Murray. When Charlene disappears one night after a fight with her mother, Maggie and Jones wonder if she ran off to Manhattan, but are reminded of the disappearance 20 years earlier of Sarah Meyers, whose mutilated body was found after she vanished on her way home from school. Though the alleged killer confessed, there are still unanswered questions, and Maggie and Jones find themselves forced to revisit the past as suspicion falls on Rick.

I liked the book well enough. It was better than some I've read this year. There's a very small group of characters and their development is shallow. (336 pages)

B-

Book 56 (2011): The Imperfectionists

It's been awhile since I read this book but I did like it well enough.

A bunch of folks work at a English speaking newspaper in Rome. The cast of character- editors, reporters, staffers, management- all have their own stories of how they came to Rome and to the paper. The paper was originally started by a millionaire and it's struggled to stay afloat for 50 plus years. The Imperfectionists tell the stories of the current staff while blending the back story of the previous staff and the newspaper's history.

Each chapter tells the story of a different member, almost like a bunch of short stories tied together with a central theme, setting, etc, and how they all come together. (288 pages)

B

Book 53 (2011): After

Devon Davenport is on trial because she had a baby and threw it away in a dumpster. The thing is... she doesn't remember it ever happening.

Devon, age 15, has a crummy home life, but she's a model student, a star soccer player, holds down a job and is involved in all things a perfect student does. So why is she in a juvenile detention center, awaiting a trial to see if she will be sentenced to life for an act she doesn't even remember committing?

After is an excellent young adult novel. It's well written and it gives Devon a realistic teen girl voice. I think teen girls will eat it up. (354 pages)

B+

Book 50 (2011): In Search of the Rose Notes

I liked this book. Something about it just drew me to it and I enjoyed reading it all the way to the end to see what the twist was going to be. I love a good twist!


Nora and Charlotte are friends as young 11 year old girls when the babysitter they both idolize, Rose, goes missing and is never found. Charlotte is strong and assertive and wants to see if they can find her, using their Time Life Mystery Books as a guide. Nora, quiet and introverted, wants nothing of the sort, and shortly after the disappearance of Rose, the friendship ends and is never rekindled. Nora graduates from high school and leaves town, vowing to never look back since she will forever be known as "the last person to see Rose".

Now years later, Nora returns to her home town, drawn by the news that Rose's remains have been found. Nora comes back and is again drawn into memories of that time before and after Rose went missing, and she does a bit of investigating on her own, since no killer was found-- just her remains.

While back in her small town, she and Charlotte re-kindle their friendship, as it were, working through old demons as well as new ones. And many misconceptions from the past also surface, between them and between others childhood friends.

I did like In Search of Rose Notes, especially the pacing. There were two things that left me questioning the plausibility of the story. The first was that Nora, having not spoken to Charlotte since one brief conversation in high school, so basically since they were 11 years old, that she would go back to stay with her, in Charlotte's home, for weeks on end. That left me troubled- the too casual quickness of the friendship coming back together, especially since both women were uneasy with each other, and Charlotte was quick combative, strange and angry. The second was just... sort of uncomfortable. There was a distinct pre-occupation with sex when the girl's were 11 years old, and Nora was always uncomfortable just sort of turned on, but she didn't know that's why she felt tingly or giddy or whatever adjective. The sex was subtle and often just talk but Nora's shy thoughts still seemed to make her feel good and she chastised herself for feeling good. It was just strange.

Other than that, which I could overlook, I did enjoy this psychological thriller and will certainly be hunting for more books by Emily Arsenault. (384 pages)

B+

Book 49 (2011): Shaken

Shaken is the latest installment in the life of Jack Daniels, former copy gone PI.

I like the twist- this story jumps around in flashback- but is very easy to follow- as we read about Jack entering the force, leaving the force, her partner, and about a serial killer (who she called Mr. K) she was chasing and the outcome of of that chase.... will she live or die while her family and friends race against time to find her, and to help her.

Great Jack Daniels... the author is obviously winding down the story of Jack and while she's bounded and gagged after being kidnapped by Mr K and the flashback story is her life passing before her eyes... (304 pages)

B

Book 48 (2011): The Weird Sisters

The one thing I enjoyed about The Weird Sisters was the awesome and repeated use of everything Shakespeare throughout the novel: quotes, character names, references to plays, conversations that take place in almost solely Shakespeare nuances.

Otherwise, this felt like some traditional chick lit, but the serious sort. Three sisters who are all as different as night and day and don't get along and really don't like each other all that well but love each other no matter what, all end up back at their parents' place when their mother is battling cancer.

They are all grown adults, with their own personal battles to fight but come home to do that and then spar like little children.

And of course we all have a happily ever after in sister-land when they finally make nice after all these years.

Obvious stuff, but the repeated Shakespeare makes it worth turning the pages! Okay... and I thought the cover art and texture was pretty cool, too. (336 pages)

B-

Book 46 (2011): Then Came You

Then Came You is told in the voice of 4 women, all with different stories, who are joined together by infertility.

India re-makes herself and find her dream husband but the only thing lacking is their ability to have a child. Jules needs money to save her father so she sells her eggs while she's a poor college student. Annie is a young women with a family who's been beaten by the economy and she and her husband decide she can be a surrogate to bring in extra cash, and there's Bettina, India's step-daughter who is unsure of her place in her family's life after he parents divorce, and who wants to protect her beloved father from making a terrible mistake of having a late in life child.

All four women come together with unexpected twists and turns. Not only does this novel explore their own individual stories but of how these characters meld together. Great work by Jennifer Weiner! (352 pages)

B

Book 43 (2011) The Bird Sisters

Twiss and her sister are spinsters, living together, hobbling around in the house they grew up in. The Bird Sisters explains how they came to be a pair of single old ladies in their childhood home, told in flash backs to their summer of 1947, the summer cousin Bette came to visit, the summer their daddy lived in the barn, and the summer of first loves and heart breaks.

This is a really sweet story, nice character development, and a nice blend of flashback story telling, with just enough twist to keep interest and without the reader forgetting the "modern" story.
(pages 304)

B-

Book 42 (2011): The Postmistress

The Postmistress is 2 stories that eventually overlap into ton tale.

In a small American New England coastal town in 1941, the small town worried about the War and whether it would come to America. The postmistress dated Henry, the man who kept watch over the ocean, watching for the Germans, watching to protect the town. No one seems to believe the War will come to the States, though they do keep a close eye on the lone German man who suddenly appeared.

People all over the town listen to the reports on the radio of what's happening during battle, of the Blitz in London. They hear the horror stories as told by Ed Murrow, and of young woman reporter and journalist Frankie Bard.

The other story is of that of Frankie and her life in London as a reporter and about her trip into the Field, as she rides the trains trying to capture the voice of the Jews and other refugees.

The folks back in America listen to these report and Dr. Fitch, after a tragedy he couldn't prevent, goes to London to try and help, leaving his young wife, alone and pregnant, waiting for him. He's drawn by the stories he hears from Frankie's voice, and he's running from the horror he feels he caused.

The two stories come together.

It's a sad story and full of tragedy. It is well written, but still so sad. (336 pages)

B

Book 40 (2011): The Paris Wife

Hemingway is a real asshole, and I've really known that, but it was more apparent in this story, this historical fiction tome, maybe because it seemed like Hadley was telling this story. And I know he's dead and I know he was a brilliant writer, and part of the Lost Generation (blah, fricking rah rah blah) but it doesn't change the fact that he was a horror to his first wife. Probably why he had 4 of them.

The Paris Wife is the fictional account of his first marriage, to Hadley, to his one true love, she being 9 years old than he. They married and moved to Paris where he wrote and they lived, and they "experienced" where they hung out with the likes of Ezra Pound, Gertrude Stein, F. Scott, and many others. It seemed like a wonderful and true romance. Until, of course, Hemingway, screwed it all up.

It's an obvious testament to the powerful writing of author Paula McLain that though this is historical fiction, she wove such a grand and moving tale. I did a bit of research myself to see what I could discern fact from fiction and of course the emotions, the tone, the voice are works of fiction, from the creative and innovative author's mind, but the story is that of Hemingway and Hadley- the love, the happiness, the tears, the betrayal- warts and all, are true.

And while I love the lives of real people, especially my beloved authors, taken into a fictional setting, and I loved this book, I still think Hemingway was an ass. (314 pages)

B+

Book 38 (2011): Gatsby's Girl

I have a fondness for novels about real people. I LOVE them. Lucy, about Lucy Mercer and FDR is one of my favorite books, for example! So, I was very excited about Gatsby's Girl because 1) it's a fictional story about real people; 2) it's about F. Scott who is one of my all time favorite authors; 3) and it's tied to The Great Gatsby, one of my favorite books (though I have a love- hate relationship with this novel. In 2011, Year of our Lord, I have a "love" relationship, apparently!)


This novel chronicles the romance between young Scott, age 19 and struggling his way through Princeton, and young boarding school girl Ginevra Perry (who is based on the real life love interest Ginevra King). Ginevra is spoiled and self- centered. Scott is intense and brooding.

They meet at a party one Christmas and the relationship blooms through letters. Then there's a secret meeting in the City to see a play and then more letters, around which time that Ginevra is becoming board with the young F. Scott. Then he arrives at her home for a visit- she a wealth spoiled girl with snobby parents and he a poor lad who aspires to be a writer.

Ginevra casts him off and burns his letters. The latter part of the novel then focuses on Ginevra's marriage and her adult life, how boring it is and how tired she is. Then, through several unexpected twists, Ginevra meets Scott again, later in life, hoping to romance again, but to no avail.

This is, loosely, based on real events. Many of the details of the love affair, if you can call it that, between these two took place mostly through letters, and the ones that survived were Ginevra's, but Scott has always claimed she was his greatest love and most of his central female characters are based on her, especially that of the infamous Daisy Buchanan.

And since this the year I have a love affair of my own, with all things Gatsby, I'm also pleased to say it's the second fictional Gatsby tie in; I read The Double Bind earlier this year and LOVED it as well!

A good book, fun, lots of speculation! (320 pages)

B+

Book 36 (2011): Red Hook Road

I think I liked this book. I liked the premise, most certainly, and I'm not giving anything away here: a young couple dies in a car wreck after leaving their wedding ceremony and are en-route to the reception. The rest of the novel is how the families are left to cope. What a morbid yet fascinating story!

The other thing that makes me say I think I liked it is that I didn't really like many of the characters, certainly not the mothers of the deceased and that's who this story primarily focuses. It does shift from character to character: the groom's brother, the bride's father, sister and grandfather, a prodigy niece... the story goes between all these but the central focus is on the moms, neither whom I liked.

But I do like that the story takes place over 5 summers, in Maine, and I like to see the evolution of the characters, or at least the evolution of their private grief.

Not what you would call light reading, but it certainly does move along. I hate to say it, but I found it to be a page turner. (343 pages)

B

Book 35 (2011): Friendship Bread

Friendship Bread made me hungry! And wanting to cook! And made me want to have my bed and breakfast dram come true.

It's a beautiful story of an unlikely friendship between 3 women- Madeline, Hannah and Julia, who've all come together over a personal tragedy, and Amish Friendship Bread.

Julia receives a starter and a plate of bread and then it takes off. She makes the bread, out of duty to her 5 year old daughter, and then it gets passed and thus begins the unfolding of all three women. After unfolding their stories, are also the stories of Edie and Livvy.

It's a beautiful story, and it's also full of wonderful recipes. It's a good beach read, and in some ways it's reminiscent of The Friday Night Knitting Club. This novel too, is a simple story of the power of women's friendships and their strength. (400 pages)

B+

Book 34 (2011): The Peach Keepers

The Peach Keeper is part Southern magic, part mystery, part love story...

Willa Jackson came home to Walls of Water, North Carolina. She was a wild teenager but a quiet and sedate adult, single, living quietly, visiting her grandmother, and missing her dead father. She runs a sporting good store and has a coffe bar in the corner run by quirky Rachel, who sells yummy baked goods.

Then re- construction of the Blue ridge Madam, a mansion that was once in Willa's family but was sold in the middle of a 1930's scandal, is almost done, bringing ghosts that Willa knew and didn't back home. A boy who's now a man that was once a crush, a girl who's now a perfect woman who wasn't a friend in high school but is in and out of Willa's adult life but not by either woman's choice, and other ghosts she didn't know about.

Willa finds friends and secrets in strange places, and also finds a new part of herself.

This was a good read, and I always like a bit of the Southern magic- not fairies or monsters, but the illusion of Southern women's traditions and beliefs, of their sayings, some of the magic that comes from a bright moon, a scent of peaches in the air, or of a soft breeze on a still day... I love this story! (pages 272)

B

Book 32 (2011): Save Me

Save Me by Lisa Scottoline is a wanna be Jodi Picoult book, only minus the trial and add a mystery. And the emotional roller coaster is down played into something a bit more... light and fluffy.

I enjoyed the book and it's a quick, summer beach read, for sure. Rose volunteers as a lunch mom when her 3rd grade daughter is being bullied by another girl in her class. Then at lunch one day, tragedy strikes and Rose is forced to make a decision that no mother must have to make. In one quick thinking moment, Rose make a choice that will haunt her for the rest of her life, or at least the rest of the novel.

It's a good read for the summer... (384 pages)

B-

Book 31 (2011): The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake

This novel by Aimee Bender is an adult novel recommended for teens. It's... different.

I was pretty psyched about this book and have been waiting for months to get a copy. And I feel disappointed.

Nine year old Rose can taste people's emotions when she eats food they prepared. She leans this on her 9th birthday when she learns how disappointed her mother is with her life. She struggles with this new found part of her self, thinking it's a curse rather than a blessing. Soon she learns secrets of her family members and is burdened with the knowledge: her father is distant and scared; her mother is lonely; and her brother is angry and so introverted he can't function in society.

The story follows her from age 9 until adulthood, struggling along, trying to find her place and keep her mixed up family together.

I don't know what I was completely expecting but this wasn't it. I also feel the second half of the book wasn't as good as the first part. I feel that more than one person in the book having some sort of 'special' power was weak, especially since it was introduced toward the end and really served no major purpose.

I thought with an awesome concept and with a fabulous title, this book was going to be about a million times better, but it just didn't work for me, no matter how much I wanted to love it. (292 pages)

B

Book 30 (2011): The Chamber

I have no idea how I missed this Grisham book. First, it was really good. Second, it was one of his earlier works, before he became a machine that generated one legal thriller after another.

While I found some of the tedious motions and filings a bit long in the tooth, I enjoyed this book about a first year lawyer from Chicago who moves to the South to defend his racist grandfather he'd never met until he sees him the first time on Death Row, 28 days prior to his execution date.

Adam goes South to defend his grandfather Sam (who is on Death Row for the bombing of a Jewish law office that ended up killing 2 people). Adam wanted to see if he can get a stay of execution for Sam. Adam bonds with the grandfather, and he also meets some of his other Southern relatives that he was hidden from his entire life.

Not a bad read, and it makes me want to plow through Grisham's earlier works like The Firm, The Pelican Brief, and A Time to Kill. (640 pages)

B-

Book 29 (2011): Linger

Linger is the second book in the Wolves of Mercy Falls trilogy, which is a young adult series.

Picking up in the days that followed Sam's permenent turn from wolf to human, we get to see how happy he and Grace are in their relationship and how Sam is adapting to being simply Sam all the time, without turning.

But the new wolves Beck turned are not like the others. One can't seem to turn and stay a wolf, even though it's a bitter Minnesota cold. One can't seem to stay in either form for very long, and goes through the agony of turning from human to wolf every few minutes.

Isabel is struggling with the loss of her brother and her father is still hunting the wolves.

Then Grace gets sick and no one knows what's wrong or how to save her from dying, other than one horrible act that might let her live but change all of them forever.

This is a great series. I like it much better than Twilight, actually. When I read the first one- Shiver- I had hopes it would be a stand alone book and not attempt to franchise it out. I'm glad to know it's just a trilogy and won't be a series of 20 books, like so many teen novels.

I still like the characters and the dialogue. I found it is a little long "maudlin" but still good enough to keep reading and to engage me, and I'm certainly not the target author since it's definitely teen literature.

And this is silly but I liked it- the cover is green, as you can see, and the text color of the novel is... green. Very cool! (360 pages)

B+

Book 28 (2011): deep down true

I picked up this book because of the pretty cover and in the end, I was glad I did, even though it's a sort of romance type of stuff that I wouldn't normally read. Fay 's book was funny and serious all at the same time, with a nice blend of focus on post divorce life and her "romance" blended together so I didn't feel like I was just reading a romance novel, straight up.

The main character, Dana, is recently divorced and she finds out she has to go back to work, which she does, par time, at her dentist office. Her middle school age daughter is struggling with her recently divorced parents and with middle school. Dana starts dating her son's football coach and her stray nice shows up and moves in. She also has an ex-husband who is living with the woman with whom he was having an affair.

It sounds like a lot of "schtick" but it's well written and funny, upbeat, and of course serious when necessary but not dragging out the serious to the point where it becomes depressive. The ending is cliched, but I don't think happy endings have to be a bad thing. (432 pages)

B

Book 21 (2011): The Chosen One

The Chosen One by Carol Lynch Williams is a young adult, fictional novel set in a cult.

Kyra is 14 and the oldest of many. She lives in a trailer in the desert with her mother and her siblings. All her other mothers and siblings live in trailers next door. Her father lives with them all. They live in a compound with the other members of the cult, The Chosen, and they are led by Prophet Childs.

As the story unfolds, Kyra learns she's to wed her 60 year old Uncle and she becomes defiant, because she doesn't want to.

After witnessing repeated violence brought upon her family and those in her "community", claiming it's the way of God, she has to make a choice to be broken and live that life, or leave.

This was an interesting novel and I'm not sure how I feel about it. I think because I'm an adult I wanted it to be longer and for the author to dig a little deeper, for it to be more detailed. I'm sure for teen readers, this is probably "just enough". It was an interesting story and Kyra, the protagonist, was unique enough to keep me reading but I'd like to know more, to have more character development and then more story. I'd also like to know some more backstory- what brought people to this cult and what made them stay.

I'll be interested to see what my high school readers think as this book circulates. (213 pages)

B-