America America: A Novel by Ethan Canin

This was an audio book. I really enjoyed it. I am getting spoiled by reading such good ones lately!

This story is about a young boy who is hired on by the founding family of the town. As he works for them he is drawn into their lives. He begins to help with various things and the patriarch of the family is helping a senator run for president. During this time, the boy learns I think more than he ever imagined about the political process and what wealth can do good and bad.

I'm not going to go too much into it because I don't want to give it away, but its told from the view point of the young boy who is now a married man with mostly grown daughters of his own.

I thought it was really good. If I were grading it, I would give it a B+. Not one of my all time favorites, but one I am really glad I read.

The Help by Kathryn Stockett

Another book I wasn't too anxious really to read, but it had gotten such good reviews. Of course I loved it too.

In this story Skeeter comes back to Mississippi after college. This is at the beginning of the civil rights movement. Her mother is anxious for her to marry, but she really just wants to be a writer. She applies for a job in New York, but is turned down. The editor however is interested in her and offers to read some of her work. After sending off ideas to her that are rejected by her, she comes upon the idea of writing about what it is like to be a black maid in a white household. She is hoping that through this she can find out what happened to her own housekeeper that raised her.

She gets one maid to tell her story and after interest from the publisher they are able to get others. Each has their own reason for wanting to tell their story, which is what makes it so fascinating. Most are very distrustful of Skeeter and her motives, but eventually they overcome that and get the stories told.

The book was written from three of the characters point of view, Skeeter, and two of the maids Aibileen and Minny.

It was a very good enlightening book. Another book I would highly recommend.

The Guernsey Literar and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows

Wow what a great book!!! I totally understand why it is so popular. I wasn't sure about it, but it had gotten such great reviews it was put on my TBR list. I'm so glad I read it.

Told in letter form it is a story of an island in Europe that was occupied by Nazis during WWII. An author received a letter from a man on the island and comes to talk about the Literary Society they formed during that time, completely by accident. Intrigued the writer, Juliet, begins corresponding with not only Dawsey, the original gentlemen who sent her the letter, but other residents of the island and members of the Literary Society.

I thought it was fantastic and fair minded. While it does describe the atrocities of the Nazis, it also tells of the humanity of some of the Germans. But that is not the main story. The main story are these residents and how they survived. Each character is somewhat quirky and fun. I loved them all!

It is definitely a book I would recommend to everyone. Absolutely fantastic.

Handle with Care by Jodi Picoult

I'm trying to get caught up on my reviews. So I'm starting with the last book I read.

All of her books are very educational about different diseases and social issues. I really enjoyed all the characters and for a change was more ambivalent about the outcome.

The mother of the OI daughter I thought was sympathetic and I understood why she was suing, trying to make sure that her daughter would always have the care she needed. However I think that she was wrong to do so. I do think that our society is way to litigious now. I also think that to blindside her best friend was inexcusable.

As always she has a twist, but to be honest after so many of her books, it was a twist I expected. Her books don't bring the reactions out of me that they used to, mainly because you see them coming.

Overall I did think it was a good book.

Agh, I am a bad blogger

Okay I have been horrible with this, after my vacation I had a business trip and just got back a few days ago. I am still recovering.

I will go home tonight and update on all the books I have read.

I did purchase the new Kindle 2 before leaving on my business trip. I really like it. There are some pros and cons, but overall it was much easier than packing all the books I normally bring on a trip. A con of it is that my reading speed is much slower on it than with a book, but I think that may just be adjustments and hopefully can get that back up. With a book I am at about 100 pages per hour, with the Kindle I am about 60-70 pages/hour. I'm figuring that out by the amount of pages per book and the time it takes me to read it. The Kindle doesn't really have pages so its a bit different.

Well I promise to catch up on everyone else's blogs and get my updates done on here.

MIA - Vacation

Sorry I have been MIA, I have been on vacation and away from computers for some of it. When I did have access to the internet, I was doing work. Blah! I just didn't have time to blog. I did Facebook though.

So we get back from a great vacation for a niece's wedding in Savannah, GA (one of the most beautiful cities I have ever been to) and then we get our hot tub delivered, I have a nephew's first communion and a niece/nephews birthday, so its been a bit crazy. To top it off, I leave next week for a business trip to Las Vegas. Should be fun and hopefully I will get some reading and some writing done.

I did get three books completed while on vacation which isn't as many as I normally would, but they were good. I will hopefully work on reviews this week to get them up. I also want to catch up on everyone's blogs!

My reading is slowing down a bit because I have been working really hard on my book. I am almost 1/2 way done with the second chapter, and I have to admit I really like how its going. I have gotten some really positive feedback so it helps keep me going. I haven't told many people in my "real" life about it. Just my book club basically.

Hopefully I will get to catch up on everyone's blog and get my reviews posted this week!

Heart and Soul by Maeve Binchy

Another hit! I loved it. She has such a way of taking these wonderful characters and weaving a story around them all.

It starts with stuffy, crabby Frank the hospital administrator wanting to sell some land the hospital owns, but being over ridden by the board who wants to turn it into a heart clinic. Enter Clara who is the one chosen to run the heart clinic. She finds all these wonderful people she hires to be part of the clinic.

The think I love is that characters from other books pop up, Fionna from Nights of Rain and Stars is featured prominently. But your able to catch up with other characters from that book as well as many from her other books.

The patients in the clinic also figure prominently as part of the story. While Clara is meaning to set up this heart clinic, she finds herself building a family.

It was a wonderful, heartwarming story. It was also a very quick read.

Behind the Lines by Andrew Carroll

WOW! This was a very good, interesting book. It was just a slow read for me and I'm not used to that.

This book brings letters from soldiers, their family and/or eye witnesses during times of war.

I had read another book like this years ago, but this one was so much more fascinating. I really liked the fact that the letters came from both sides. You could get the mindset of the kamikaze pilot and the Germans on the front line of WWII. The letters go back to the Revolutionary War and go all the way through all the major and minor conflicts up to current day Iraq and Afghanistan.

It was very interesting and very moving, but at times it drug a bit. It did get a bit too tactical for my tastes at times, but overall it was a great book and I think a must read for every citizen. It definitely made me feel lucky that we have never known a full blown war on our soil like those in Europe did during WWII.

An Invitation to Provence by Elizabeth Adler

I "read" this as an unabridged audio book. It was weird because I liked it most of the time, but overall I would say I didn't like writing style.

The book is a good premise, an old lady in Provence, France owns a chateau and winery. Her kids are gone for one reason or another and she is basically alone. She decides to have a "family" reunion to bring life back to the chateau. She invites a long lost distant neice, her old lover's son, an old friend and her sons, while in the process, one son dies and it is discovered he had a daughter so she invites her 10 year old granddaughter who is living in poverty in China.

It wasn't much of a family reunion, as there were more people there that were not related than the related ones.

I liked the characters, but the writing style just didn't work for me. The dialogue was very forced, and at times seemed to come out of nowhere. Big reveals, were really no big deal and again forced. It seemed like she was trying to force action where she should have just let the characters do their thing. I guess what I am trying to say is she wrote really good, interesting characters, but the rest was not very good.

Booking Through Thursday

How often do you use your public library and how do you use it? Has the coffeehouse/bookstore replaced the library? Did you go to the library as a child? Do you have any particular memories of the library? Do you like sleek, modern, active libraries or the older, darker, quiet, cozy libraries?

I saw this on http://belleofthebooks.wordpress.com/, and had to answer it I love musing on this! I am so excited to have found all these wonderful book blogs! I'm not alone in my passion of books.

I use the public library fairly frequently but mainly just for books on CD. I usually reserve them ahead of time. I have my TBR's on an excel spreadsheet and have it marked if my library offers it on CD, I don't purchase those books.

Actually the online bookstores have replaced my library. I love barnesandnoble.com; they have terrific bargain books. I really like having a large library of books at home, so I do like to buy them.

As I child I spent a lot of time at the library. My Mom said she began taking us there when I was a baby. I had three older brothers and money was always tight so it was an inexpensive afternoon and we all seemed to enjoy it. As I got older I remember riding my bike the mile plus to the library, I had to ride up this HUGE hill to get there, but coming home down the hill was fun!

As for the type of libraries I like, I like them all. Give me rooms of books piled high and I am in love. My dream is to have a big library room, you know like in the old movies where its two stories high full of bookshelves with one of those sliding ladders. Aahh, sounds like heaven to me. Unfortunately I will never be rich enough so its just a dream.

Slow Reads, need more reading time.

Well life has been busy so I haven't had much time to finish the four books I am reading right now. What time I have I am really engross in the book Behind the Lines by Andrew Carroll. Its the book of soldier's letters. It is really fascinating as it is written from the many sides of conflicts from the Revolutionary War and through present day conflicts. I am loving it, but it is a bit of a slow read. There are times its a little to tactical for my tastes, but overall its good.

I am also listening to the audio tape of Invitation to Provence. This one started out slow, but once it picked up its pretty good. I think some of the dialogue is a bit forced, but overall pretty good.

The other two I am in the middle of, I hope to finish up soon is His Excellency: George Washington by Joseph Elllis and Heart and Soul by Maeve Binchy. Maeve is one of my all time favorite writers, so I am really waiting until I have the time to sit and read the whole thing and savor it. I started it a week or so ago before Behind the Lines was delivered and then I have been engrossed in that, I just haven't had enough time to read anything much and its frustrating me!

Computer issues at work

My internet is down at work as is my email! It has been down all day. I've missed my blogs, my news and my facebook!

It's very frustrating. All the companies blame each other. They were down all day today and are still not up.

Of course the worst is I left my book at home. It was a very long day to say the least!!

Blogging for Dummies and other current reads

Yep I purchased the book blogging for dummies. It should be delivered on Wednesday so start looking for updates after that! I really hope to fix this up and make it a little more interesting. I just have no clue what I am doing.

I'm starting Heart and Soul by Maeve Binchy and I do have a new audio book in my car I just got started on. So far that was is a little hard to get into, but I am hoping that will change. I'm still on the first CD. I keep turning it off because I haven't gotten into it and my mind starts wandering.

I think I am going to start doing some book give aways once/if I get some followers on here. I have tons of books and not enough space for them.

The Inner Circle by T.C. Boyle

This is one that has been on my TBR lists for a while. It wasn't bad, it was just weird.

The book has Prok or Professor Kinsey doing his sex study back in the 1940's. A student John Milk starts by working for him in the biology lab, but quickly becomes his right hand. The book is written from John's perspective. The relationships are all a bit convoluted and almost incestuous as they are all having sex with one another.

Their philosophy is that is has nothing to do with love etc, just about biology. Of course those beliefs do get put to the test in the book.

Overall the writing style didn't grab me. It wasn't a book I ever felt totally engaged in. Another so so book to me.

The Art of Mending by Elizabeth Berg

In this book Laura is going home for her annual trip with her family for the Minnesota State Fair which she has been going to since she was a child. Now married with children, they have continued this tradition with her parents and siblings.

Before she arrives she gets the ominous phone call from her sister Caroline that she wants to talk to her and her brother alone while she is there. Caroline doesn't offer any information over the phone and has Laura reminising a bit about how Caroline was always upset or removed from everything.

While at the fair tragedy befalls the family and while dealing with that Caroline is trying to come to grips with her issues in the family as well.

I don't really want to say more because I don't want to give anything away. The book was really good.

One of the most amazing things to me is that three children can grow up in the same house, but all with different memories and feelings about that. I come from a family with three older brothers and when we are all together talking about our past I am amazed at how different we all interpret it.

I would definately recommend this book. This had been on my TBR list for a while and am glad I finally got to it. I think it would make a great book club read as there is lots to discuss from the different points of view.

Life and completing the dream

This post isn't a review, its just me. I have really been working on my own book and it is really coming together well. I have finished the first chapter and am pretty excited about how it is turning out.

I'm not telling everyone in my real life about it, only a few of them know about it. I'm trying to visualize it being completed and all that entails. It may never go anywhere, but at least I will have done it. I have wanted to write this for over 20 years. It's about time I do it. I think with my 40th approaching I'm wanting to complete a few life goals.

I just wanted to write this because I am really excited about it. It's hard not to tell people at times, but I really want to wait until it is done. Honestly I want to wait until it is published, if it ever is. I am thinking positive though so IT WILL BE.

Revolutionary Road by Richard Yates

Wow, I am having trouble finding an awesome book lately. This wasn't bad by any means, but I certainly wouldn't say it was good. I thought it was rather dull. It's just this couple Frank and April, they both think they are something special and the book kind of deals with what happens as they realize maybe they aren't. Neither is satisfied with their lives, they try to make changes but are unable to.

It was kind of depressing. I think the first 1/2 of the book I kept waiting for something to happen and by the second half realized that nothing would really happen. By then I wanted to see how things played out.

So again it was ok. I would grade this one in the middle.

Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov

Okay another "classic". I actually listed to this as an audio book. I was never quite sure if I was going to finish it until the last two out of 10 CDs. It was a deeply disturbing book. I think everyone knows the premise of the story. Basically its about a pedophile. But really it was so much complex than that. His "Lolita" was very disturbed before she met him it seemed. The poor girl really needed help and instead she got Humbert.

I had this on my TBR mainly because it had been banned at one point and I wanted to see why. There wasn't anything explicit about the book, no sexual scenes, so it must have been the subject matter. I'll be honest I could have lived my life without reading this. It was very disturbing on so many levels.

And the main character of Humbert did have some redeeming qualities. Not enough, but some. I believe it was the guilt of his thoughts that led him to the insane asylums prior to meeting Lolita. And of course I believe it was the guilt that led to his insanity after losing her.

It was a very well written book about a very disturbing subject. Humbert truly loved Lolita, but his love was so dark and she was so young. My main problem in getting through the book was when they would use french and not translate it. I felt I missed part of the story by not understanding those parts.

So overall I would say it was okay. I think probably it was an excellent book because it did disturb me so much. However its not a book I would readily recommend.

While My Sister Sleeps by Barbara Delinsky

This book is about a woman whose sister is a competive runner and while out on a run one day suffers from a major heartattack and goes into a coma, and how the family deals with it.

The characters were so rich to me. In the beginning I hated the mother, but she was redeemed for me by the end.

For me I know it was a good, well written book when I am so into the characters that I start crying for them. Not just in sadness, but in their small triumphs as well.

Okay, I do cry easy and I do tend to fall into a book and live with the characters, but I didn't just tear up with this one, I sobbed. I actually had a headache from sobbing. I was so mentally fatigued after finishing this Saturday that I couldn't read the tearjerker bday card from my Mom to me. I was just drained.

I love books like that!!!

A Thousand Voices by Lisa Wingate

Another hit!!!

In this book a grown up Dell, a character from the other stories in this series, goes searching for the truth about her biological father and during the search stumbles upon a family of Native Americans that befriend her and help in her search.

I love these series that keep characters going. Its like you can check back in with old friends and see how their life is going.

I think the book was fantastic. I think that the portrayal of Dell as still being unsure of her adoptive parents love. She didn't tell them of the journey for fear they would be upset. She still has the feeling she has to be perfect to "earn" their love. I think in this book of the series there was less of that than in the books where she was younger. However it seems to still be something she feels.

My only gripe was the ending. It didn't feel like it was all resolved and I believe this is the last in the series. I need to check that to be sure though.

If I were grading this book I would say B+, it would have been an A if there were more of an ending.

Tale a Peek, Tuesday Teaser

Teaser Tuesdays is hosted each week by http://shouldbereading.wordpress.com/ and is oh-so easy. Let your book fall open, and share with us 2 sentences somewhere between line 7 and 12.

I love all these kinds of things! I am currently reading A Thousand Voices by Lisa Wingate.

This is from page 199 where I am at now:

"Jace had a way of making the past vibrant and real, of making it live and breathe with the souls of the individuals who had lived it. I could tell he was a good teacher."

Just so you know this is a really good book. I have read three of the series now and need to get the other two. They are stand alone books, but I love to see characters return from a good book I have read.

Does anyone else get like that? I fall in love with characters that I hate to see them leave me, so series like this make me happy.

Maeve Binchy is another one that even though they aren't what I would call "series" her characters from pop up in other books. I love it!

The Senator's Wife by Sue Miller

I guess this story really wasn't what I expected. I can't really say what I expected, but it wasn't this. That being said I would not say it is a bad book. I did enjoy it in parts, but it was a little strange.

Meri and Nathan move to a new city next door to Delia, the senator's wife. The story focuses on the two women. I thought Meri the younger woman was bordering on psycho. Delia was very nice, but aloof.

The Senator was a real ladies man which caused a rift in the marriage and left Delia living on her own, but still in love with her husband. I really felt sorry for Delia as she really was taking scraps from her husband and was grateful for them.

This book was on my TBR list so I'm glad to cross it off, but I would not say it was a great book. It was okay, if I were giving a grading scale I would say a C.

Tending Roses by Lisa Wingate

Oh my gosh, I am really liking this author. The first book I read was called Drenched in Light and I absolutely LOVED it. I found out this was part of a series, so I have gotten most of the series. This book is the first in the series.

Its about an old lady, Grandma Rose, trying to get her family together for one last Christmas. The family has been torn apart by old resentments and hurts.

It was a really good book just like the other one I had written. The characters come alive. I hate to give to much description of the book because I hate to give it away. I was just glad there was more to the series of books because I am not ready yet to part with the characters.

She is definately on my list of authors to recommend!

1% Well Read challenge

I am fairly new to blogging and so I'm not sure how to post all the links and what not. I need to figure it out so I can add book covers and stuff to make this a bit more visually appealing.

Hopefully my link I put in under the title works. I'm going to do this challenge. I'm not sure which option, I think I will aim for 10, but maybe the 13 of the 1300 books. I actually have a few of these on my to be read list! Some I have already read, so those won't count.

I'm excited to see what great reads I find in there!

Okay, I had to edit because somehow the link didn't make it, but anyway here it is:
http://1morechapter.com/

This is by 3M, I need to add that blog to my blogroll! I really like that site!

Happiness Sold Separately by Lolly Winston

I really enjoyed this book. To be honest I didn't even know the subject matter when I picked it up, it was on the discounted shelves at Borders. It was actually the audio version.

Imagine my surprise when the main topic was infertility and how it affects a marriage, in this case the husband turned to another woman.

Having first hand knowledge of infertility I understood a lot of the El's (the wife) feelings. Although she really had a lot of anger towards her husband. In the beginning I felt Ted was a jerk for having the affair, as it went on you could understand. I want to clarify, I understood, not condoned. I still thought it was a crappy thing to do, but when the relationship with his wife soured, his resistance was down.

It felt like Ms. Winston tried to make the mistress, Gina, a little more sympathetic by giving her a difficult child and bad ex boyfriends. I think it had the opposite effect for me. It never showed that she struggled with the morality of having an affair. Yes she said she knew it was wrong, but it never seemed to stop her or even make her hesitate.

That being said overall I really enjoyed the book. I did like that there was no happy ending. A lot of books that deal in any way with infertility have the ending where the couple somehow gets a baby. Real life is not always like that for a variety of reasons.

Booking through Thursday - Collectibles

Hardcover? Or paperback?
Illustrations? Or just text?
First editions? Or you don’t care?
Signed by the author? Or not?

Okay I am just getting into this blogging thing, but I saw this on some other websites and loved hearing all the responsess.

http://btt2.wordpress.com/2009/02/26/collectibles/

For me, I have a fair mixture of paperback and hardback. I like hardback for the way it looks on my shelves, but I like paperback to carry around reading. And since I am nuts for the barnes and noble clearance items, they offer a broad range of paperback and hardback. I really don't care about illustrations or not. I don't really care about the edition. If I could get them all signed by the author I would, but its not a big issue to me one way or the other.

I just like having books and lots of them. When I walk into a book store I feel a calm come over me. Its hard to explain. My only anxiety is when I have to make either or choices. I would love to walk in and say one of every fiction book please. I would also love to have the time to read them.

My question to anyone who might be reading this is, what do you do with a book your not liking? Do you continue reading to finish it or do you just stop reading?

I tend to do both depending on the book, but if it is really bad I just stop. I used to feel I had to power through, but I have learned that life is too short to waste time reading something I don't enjoy, and there are too many good books out there I could be reading.

Another start

This is another attempt at creating a blog about the book I read. I average about 2-3 books a week and quite frankly it gets hard to keep track of them all. I tried doing a blog with a posting on each book I read, but that was difficult because I felt like some books I really had nothing to say about.

I love to read pretty much everything except science fiction. I'm not real big on mysteries either, there are some I really like though. I like to try different types of books and I go through phases with them. I will read nothing but historical fiction for a while, then I switch to contemporary. I started reading with mostly romances, but that did get old after years of reading them. I currently have about 160 in my want to read list. I keep a running spreadsheet going of all of them and I also use the Visual Bookshelf on Facebook to keep track.

I'm also addicted to buying books. I have to force myself away from Barnes and Noble's website. Although they have a great selection under their clearance, especially during the month of January. I currently have 44 books waiting to be read at home. That should keep me for a few months! :)

This will probably just be a rambling, but oh well.

Tonight is my book club and I am quite excited as we haven't all met since November so we have three books to discuss!

The current months book is The Memory Keepers Daughter by Kim Edwards. I will be honest that I wasn't looking forward to reading this book. The thought of the father just handing over his handicapped daughter and lying to his wife held no appeal to me at all. With that being said, once I started reading I really enjoyed it. I had it read in one day, yes I am a fast reader. I will say that the whole subject to me was reprehensible in thought. But once you start reading more the context of it, the era in which it happened, and his history with his sister you began to not condone, but understand.

We also will be discussing Grace by Richard Paul Evans. That was a fantastic book and I would definitely have to put this in my top 10 of all time. It was tragic but very well written.

The third book is Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd. Another book I really had no interest in reading but did enjoy when I was done. I actually listened to this book on CD. I really felt that it went very slow and was at times repetitive. It was one of those I wasn't really sure I liked while I was listening, but once it was done I really did like it overall.

So those are my book club books. I just finished on my own, The Hour I First Believed by Wally Lamb. Man he is a fantastic writer. This book is definitely one my favorites as well. Its a long book, but worth every moment. It starts with Columbine and has me bawling for the victims, not just the ones who died, but for all the victims. I won't give anything away, but I also bawled at the end for the characters. I love the characters Wally creates because they are so realistic. They aren't heroes in the traditionally literary sense. His books have a sense that they could be biographies. There were times in this book I had to remind myself that I was reading fiction.

Yesterday I read Away: A Novel by Amy Bloom. It was a decent, quick read. I think it suffered in my eyes from my having just finished The Hour I First Believed. It was a decent book, but not really the right book to follow the other.

I am a voracious reader. I usually have three books going at any given time, an audio book in my car, a book at home and one going for lunch at the office. I'm currently only reading two, so I feel a bit behind. I am almost done with my audio book so I need to pick the next one at the library.

Well I guess that is enough for the first post.