The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins

The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins

Rachel rides the train each day into London to her non existent job.  She lost it long ago but admits that fact to no one.  She watches out the window of the train as it passes her old neighborhood and the home she once shared with her ex-husband.  He still lives there with his new wife and new baby daughter.  Rachel pines for the life she once had with Tom while she tries to peer behind the blinds in the instant the train passes each day.

When a woman from the neighborhood goes missing, Rachel's vivid imagination kicks in.  I need to mention that Rachel is an alcoholic.  Her life revolves around a careful manipulation of events she can't recall.  She has a habit of doing her best thinking while drinking a wine on the train.

The Girl on the Train is a psychological thriller that will keep you on the edge of your seat.  But beware, the story is intense from start to finish.  The reader never gets a chance to even take a breath, relax, gather some thoughts.  The tension makes for a really good, fast paced novel, but I was exhausted half way though.  I couldn't stop.

Every twist and turn lead to a new and unexpected surprise.  I had no idea what was coming in the end.  The Girl on the Train is exactly the kind of emotional train ride I love to take.  

Finders Keepers by Stephen King

Finders Keepers by Stephen King

It does seem odd to me that I wanted to read this second installment of the Bill Hodges Trilogy.  Mr. Mercedes was so gruesome but so good I couldn't put it down.  This time I prepared myself for the horror to come because the writing is just so damn good.

The opening scene introduces us to Morris while engaged in a robbery of the home of his favorite author.  Morris knows the guy is hiding notebooks filled with the manuscripts of sequels to his favorite books of all time.  He has to have them.  Robbery leads to murder and he hides the cherished notebooks until the coast is cleared.  He ends up in prison for another crime for several unexpected decades leaving his treasure unattended.

Enter Pete, a teenage boy who discovers Morris' stash.  Pete is also a young literary connoisseur who becomes consumed by the contents of the trunk.  Let the action unfold.  And Stephen King is a master at doing just that.

If I have any criticism, it's that the action really doesn't get started until two thirds of the way through.  Once it starts however, hold on to your hat.  The tension builds swiftly like only Stephen King can do it.  The stage is set for the return of Mr. Mercedes villain, Brady Hartsfield, but he plays only a minuscule role in this book.  He seems to have been inserted in Finders Keepers so we'd be sure to come back for book three.

And maybe I'm getting used to all the gruesome stuff.  This book didn't bother me as much in that regard.  I'd hate to think that I'm becoming hardened to violence and I don't think I am.  I'm just mesmerized by one incredible author who has an amazing voice on the page.

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

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

I've read this book before but decided to read it again.  Why?  Because in 2 weeks time I'm leaving on a cruise around the British Isles.  And the first stop is St Peter Port, Guernsey, The Channel Islands.  This novel seemed like the perfect way to prepare for what I'm going to see there.

Juliet is a writer looking for a topic for her next novel when she receives a letter from a man living on Guernsey.  He's read a book by his favorite author and the book had been inscribed to Juliet.  So begins her correspondence with the post war residents of the island.  Their stories of the German occupation are fascinating and Juliet just may have landed on the perfect new story for publication.  She decides to visit them and falls deeply in love in more ways than one.

The members of the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society are an eclectic cast of characters who all want to get in on the action to correspond with the well known author.  They each tell their own story in their own words. And what a story they tell about life during the German occupation.  They found joy on even the darkest days.

I love stories that are written as letters.  Modern society has lost the fine art of written correspondence.  An email is simply not the same.  Fine penmanship has also gone by the wayside. Juliet and her new friends were able to convey emotion in a handwritten post that brought them together quickly.  Their bonds sealed by the time they had licked the stamp and dropped the letter into a mailbox.   I can't wait to see this charming place and imagine each of the inhabitants as they went about their daily lives.  And I can't wait to handwrite a postcard, buy a local stamp and mail it home.

The Prince of Tides by Pat Conroy

The Prince of Tides by Pat Conroy

I don't know why I've never read any Pat Conroy.  He's the kind of writer right up my alley.  I listened to The Prince of Tides on a CD in my car.   His prose is rich and lyrical, full and blossoming at each turn of the page or in my case, each new track.

Some of this story seemed familiar to me, but a lot of it wasn't.  I must have seen the movie starring Nick Nolte and Barbra Streisand.  In fact it's their faces I imagined as the characters, Tom Wingo and Susan Lowenstein.  And there are just two memorable scenes that I clearly remembered.  The first is when Tom's mother serves up a canned dog food casserole as dinner to his irritable and irrational father.  The second is when Tom holds Lowenstein's husband's Stradivarius over the balcony from the fortieth floor of their New York City apartment.

Both of those are quite memorable parts of the novel as well. But the novel includes so much more pure and raw emotion.  The story of the Wingo family unfolds when Tom leaves his home and family in Charleston, rushing to the bedside of his twin sister, Savannah who has yet again made an attempt to commit suicide.  Her psychiatrist, Lowenstein, seeks clues into Savannah's troubled past through Tom.  He tells the story of his family with precise detail and ends up healing not only Savannah, but himself.  Believe me, everyone in this story needed a boatload of healing, so that was nothing short of miraculous.

When I tell you that The Prince of Tides is a gorgeous read, I mean that it is able to tap into every emotion a reader can have.   I often laughed out loud and other times, I was totally sickened by the action of the characters.  Sometimes I could anticipate what might happen next and other times, I gasped at an event so unexpected it took my breath away.  These kind of feelings can only happen when the characters are fully developed, allowing the reader to envision them as a best friend or hated bully and the setting is described as lush garden completely natural to letting the events of a troubled life unfold.
 
The Prince of Tides is long, but don't let that scare you away.  It's a masterpiece worth every single minute of the time you invest in it.

The Clothes on Their Backs by Linda Grant

The Clothes on Their Backs by Linda Grant

This review will be short and sweet.  Or maybe not so sweet.  I just plain and simple didn't get it.  The prose was pretty but only served as fluff around a weak story.  I kept finding myself looking back to see what I might have missed.  The plot limped along and what I thought to be the climax turned out to be quite anti-climatic.

Vivian is the daughter of Hungarian immigrants to London after World War II.  Her parents rarely leave their apartment and she, being a modern girl wants more out of life.  She knows her father has a brother but he will never speak of him or explain why he hates Uncle Sandor so much.  One day Vivian strikes up a conversation with a man while sitting on a park bench.  She knows the man is Uncle Sandor and accepts a job transcribing his life story for him.  So the deception begins.

The Clothes on Their Backs has the components to make a great novel, but fell short.  Nothing in the book connected for me, and the end left me unsatisfied.  And why the title of this book references clothes, will always remain mystery for me.  

Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear by Elizabeth Gilbert

Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear by Elizabeth Gilbert

Dear Elizabeth,

Thank you, thank you, thank you. I am a writer and I write for the pure joy of it.  But I fear of it.  I'm not good enough, or other people won't like it or I'm simply not talented enough.  You've helped me to say phooey to all those things I'm afraid of and you've shown me that as a writer, I'm not alone.  I saw myself in every chapter of Big Magic.

I wasn't a huge fan of Eat, Pray, Love when I read it. But I loved it more when a story I wrote about my puppy named Ginger who flunked obedience school, was published in Chicken Soup for the Soul: My Dog's Life,  as "Treat, Pray, Love".  I loved the chapter about how ideas float around the universe searching for a place to land.  My first novel, One Clown Short is story about a woman who lands a job at a circus supply company.  It's a satirical look at the workplace complete with yahzoos and clown costumes.  While I made about $100 in royalties and occasionally I'm paid thirty five cents for a copy of the digital version,  The Office appeared to great success on television.  They worked at a paper company.  Hmm.  I understand completely that ideas belong to different people in varying degrees.

Big Magic is in me, I know it.  I have to let it flow and let go of my fear of not being good enough.  I am already good enough and my creative life will take me to great and wonderful heights, if I just let it.  I write for me!  It's not my baby, I'm its baby.

Thank you for sharing your insight through this book.  I needed it!  I still have my day job, but I am living a creative life and big magic is headed my way!

Sincerely,

Linda C Wright
Creator of Big Linda Magic

A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry

A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry

Well I've made a huge leap forward.  I've finally discovered audio books.  I pop a CD into the car player and listen while I'm driving to work.  The written word takes on a whole new meaning when spoken.  So here we go!

I last read A Raisin in the Sun while in high school.  Being young and naive, I couldn't fully comprehend the depth of this play.  I knew it as one of those classics that should never be forgotten but I filed it in the way back of my mind with the rest of the things I've forgotten since my teenage years.  It's a play so this audio version comes complete with not only actors but doorbells, telephone rings and squeaky doors opening and closing. I got an inside look into this family that I never would have discovered by simply reading the words on the page.

The Younger family is waiting for a life insurance check.  Lena and her children, Walter Lee and Beneatha , Walter's wife Ruth and her grandson, Travis live together in a small apartment on the south side of Chicago in the mid 1950's.  Like all of us, they had dreams of building a better life.  Each member of the family had a different idea on how the money should be spent in order to find those dreams.  What they learn about themselves and the world they are living in is a powerful lesson.

What struck me the most about this play is how far we've come in trying to heal the racial divide in this country but how little we've changed now that we've arrived in the 21st century.  We've only made our differences more visible since the advent of 24 hour news.  It's sad.  I highly recommend that A Raisin in the Sun get dusted off, read or listened to, whatever works for you.  The story is thought provoking, real and current for today's world.  A classic for today, real change for tomorrow.

The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo

The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo

It's spring!  That means it's time for a fresh start and spring cleaning!

I happen to be a pretty neat person.  My clothes are hung up the minute I take them off, I throw out all the junk mail as soon as it comes,and I take out the trash on a regular basis.  But I still often feel like I have too much stuff.  Frankly, too much stuff can be overwhelming.

Are there too many clothes in my closet?  Yes, but my real issue is books.  Books have their own chapter in this book so I know I'm not alone.  Ms. Kondo requires that I take all my books off the shelf and put them in a pile.  This will make it easier for me to decide if the book sparks joy in my heart.  If I bought the book and then never read it, most likely it gave me some kind of joy when I bought it, but quickly lost it's spark.  It needs to go.  This same theory can apply to clothing, mementos and even all that stuff I didn't know I had under the bathroom sink.

Ms. Kondo loves being tidy and she discovered her passion for it at a very early age.  What she conveys so well in this book is that tidying up is not only about our clothing, books, and papers, it's about how we live our lives.  We must ask ourselves, do the things we have spark joy?  If they don't, do we really need to keep them?

I'm not quite ready to empty all my drawers, shelves and closets, looking for joy, but I did take a load of items that no longer delighted me to Goodwill today.  I'm looking for joy and when I don't feel it, I can more easily let it go.  I've been given a great tool to use in all aspects of living.  What a better world we would live in if we could take the time to feel a spark of joy. I highly recommend this life changing magic even though the title may be frightening.  It will change your life.

The Revised Fundamentals of Caregiving by Jonathan Evison

The Revised Fundamentals of Caregiving by Jonathan Evison

I first learned of Jonathan Evison on my new favorite television show about books, Well Read.  The subject of his latest book, This Is Your Life, Harriet Chance didn't really appeal to me, but his conversation about writing intrigued me enough to see what else he'd written.  Since my latest project is about aging, I thought The Revised Fundamentals of Caregiving might be good research.

Benjamin Benjamin enrolls himself in a class on caregiving.  He has hit rock bottom and figures it's as good a place as any to start rebuilding his life, even if it only pays $9 an hour. Ben's first assignment is to care for Trev, a young man with a rare form of muscular dystrophy.  Trev comes with an overprotective mother and a clumsy father who she kicked out of the house long ago.  Trev is angry about life in general.  That is until Ben becomes his caregiver and his friend.

When I sat down to write this review, a book club discussion came to mind.  When you dislike the protagonist, is it a good book or not?  Ben is not a likable guy.  His marriage and his family have collapsed, he's broke, has a drinking problem, refuses to sign the divorce papers his wife keeps trying to serve him, and the list goes on.  Here's the spoiler alert.  I might have been more sympathetic to Ben, if I had been told why his life was in such a state of disarray sometime before I had read 75% of the book.

Mr. Evison is the master of creating tension.  There were so many great scenes in the book that could keep a reader on the edge of her seat.  But I just couldn't warm up to a guy for no reason at all.  The author kept me on the hook for far too long until Ben's disagreeable personality became ingrained in my mind and I couldn't change it.  It turned out Ben had a pretty good reason for being the way he was, but for me, I remain stuck in between good and not so good.

The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz

The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz

I felt it was time for me to do a little self reflection.  Recovering from a hip replacement forced me to face the fact that I'm getting older.  My ability to write a decent story seemed to have dissipated into thin air, and then both of the granddaughters dropped out of high school.  I needed some words of wisdom to get me back on track.

The author starts by reminding us that we have chosen to believe what we are programmed to believe. We are a product of of our environment and to shift our core beliefs is extremely difficult. He lays out The Four Agreements as the steps we need to take to effect real peace in our lives.

The Four Agreements are simple. Be impeccable with your words.  Say only what you mean and speak with integrity.  Our lives today are busy and hectic.  Gossip and negativity can roll easily off our tongues, spreading evil instead of the goodness we crave.

Don't take anything personally.  Others project their own version of reality and you don't need to be their victim.

Don't make assumptions.  I still remember Felix Unger on The Odd Couple when in a courtroom, he delivered his famous speech, "When you assume, you make an ass of you and me."  So true, so don't do it.

Be the best that you can be.  Everyday I now wake up each morning and say these four agreements out loud.  It's my own little pep talk that gets me ready to start the new day, fresh and with peace in my heart.  All those things that tried to derail me, are no longer worth all the negative energy I wanted to give them.  The wisdom of The Four Agreements will open your mind to a better life and a more peaceful world.  Share it with those you love.

Someone Else's Love Story by Joshilyn Jackson

Someone Else's Love Story by Joshilyn Jackson

I've read other novels by Joshilyn Jackson.  They are always smart, sassy and southern.  Someone Else's Love Story is no different.

Shandi Pierce is madly in love.  In love with her 3 year old son, Natty, whose birth she insists is a miracle.  Shandi believes she's a virgin and hangs on to that belief until the day she and Natty are held hostage at gunpoint in a Circle K.  The actions of another hostage, the hunky William, set her down a path of discovery.  Although she may never want to share Natty, Shandi now wants to find his father and stand up for her rights as a mother.

Right there is where the story got weird for me.  A virgin birth?  I completely understand the dynamics of a college fraternity party fraught with drugs and alcohol.  And that Shandi can't remember what happened that night is totally believable.  I can even accept that she doesn't know who Natty's father is, but the virgin part...  That belongs in the Bible and Shandi was no saint.

So right there I was turned off about the story.  That doesn't mean it wasn't a fun read with a lot of laugh out loud moments.  Ms. Jackson certainly doesn't disappoint with her snappy style of writing. I just simply couldn't get my head the whole premise of the story.  This book was not only, Someone Else's Love Story, for me, it was someone else's story to love.

The Light Between Oceans by M.L. Stedman

The Light Between Oceans by M.L. Stedman

Every now and then a book comes along that touches me like no other.  Something about The Light Between Oceans made me feel as if I'd lived it before, in the far reaches of Australia, on an isolated island, tending a lighthouse. Everything about this story seemed familiar to me.

I understood these characters. Tom Sherbourne is a war hero, driven to always do what's right and his wife, Isabel, who is young, energetic and believes love will carry her through what is a secluded and lonely way of life.  Tom is content tending the light, while Isabel longs for the children that will fill the void.

When the cries of baby pierce the usual quiet of the island, Janus, the Sherbournes come running.  In a small boat that's washed ashore they find a dead man and a screaming baby.  Having recently buried a stillborn, Isabel is determined to keep the baby as her own.  Tom wants to follow the rules but in a moment of weakness, eventually gives in to his wife's wishes.

The Light Between Oceans is a beautifully crafted story.  The words glide easily over the page as if rolling over the waves of the ocean. The joy, the pain, the heartbreak are vivid and real. And I lived my emotions all over again on these pages.  

The Story Hour by Thrity Umrigar

The Story Hour by Thrity Umrigar

I picked up this book at the annual library sale, all the books you can stuff in a bag for $5.  I read The Space Between Us years ago and loved it, so another novel by Ms. Umrigar caught my eye.

Reading the first page, I thought what did I get myself into.  It's written in halting English, the speech of Lakshmi, an Indian immigrant now living in New York.  At first I found it very difficult to read and couldn't quite wrap my head around what was happening to her.  In the next chapter, the voice switches to Maggie, the psychologist who has been called on to treat Lakshmi.  Their two very different worlds collide and suddenly the story becomes magic.

Both of these women are carrying deep and dark secrets.  Maggie struggles to maintain a professional relationship with Lakshmi but Lakshmi, in her simple ways gets into Maggie's heart.  In return Maggie helps Lakshmi become the independent woman she always longed to be.  But no good deed goes unpunished.

The Story Hour is beautifully written.  It shows the reader the differences in cultures and the battle that still exists for women regardless of where they have come from.  I wanted this story to go on, but Ms. Umrigar's use of her craft left me wanting more.  She is a wonderful writer and I hope I find some more of her works at the next library sale.  Maybe I won't be able to wait that long.  My Kindle is waiting.

My Name is Lucy Barton by Elizabeth Strout

My Name is Lucy Barton by Elizabeth Strout

We meet Lucy Barton as she lies in a hospital bed in New York City.  She will remain there for nine long weeks, though the cause of her illness remains a mystery.   While she's in the hospital, her mother comes to visit for five days.  She never leaves Lucy's side and never sleeps.  They discuss people they knew over the years and this is how we learn who Lucy Barton really is.

Lucy grew up dirt poor, her family living on the fringes of their rural Illinois community.  Her husband had sent her mother the airplane ticket.  She had never been on an airplane before and Lucy hadn't seen her in many years. They talk about the past and look out at the Chrysler Building. Every now and then the doctor checks on her and periodically some nurses who she's given nicknames to, come to take her temperature.

The story is peppered with some talk of the AIDS epidemic in the 1980's, the decade in which we first meet Lucy Barton.  First we go back to her childhood when her father locks her in his truck with a brown snake of which she's terrified.  Her brother grows into a man yet is still reading Little House on the Prairie books. The reader is never given any explanation for why theses event are important.  We see snippets of Lucy's marriage and her children.  Then we skip to her quest to become a writer after her illness. And when her mother goes home, her life moves on.

I loved Olive Kitterridge but I just couldn't wrap my head around Lucy Barton.  I got more out of the advice she received from another writer, than I got from reading her story.  I just couldn't find much about Lucy to like, I found her kind of blah.  With that being said, Olive Kitteridge wasn't a likable character either but she was tough, funny and feisty.  And it's not to say, My Name is Lucy Barton is not a well written novel, but Lucy couldn't grab my attention.

Assassination Vacation by Sarah Vowell

Assassination Vacation by Sarah Vowell

In my quest to become well read, I've become hooked on a PBS show called "Well Read".  The hosts are bookworms who know just the right questions to ask the authors appearing on the show.  Each week features one author who has released a new book and then we are treated to a list of similar books that a reader would find comparable.

Sarah Vowell discussed her new book, Lafayette in the Somewhat United States. While Lafayette is an interesting character, when she mentioned Lincoln and Garfield in Assassination Vacation, my fascination peaked. Since I was unfamiliar with Ms. Vowell's work, a book on a topic I was interested in seemed like a good place to start.

Sarah is a history buff and her research is flawless.  She vacations at all kinds of remote spots and hideaways where long forgotten bits of history have happened.  And she drags her friends, twin sister and 3 year old nephew, Owen, along with her.  They all seem to understand this quirky side of her and happily investigate with her.  We are lead down dark trails and city sidewalks in search of the plaque that marks the historical spot.  I never knew we were a nation of so many plaques.  I'll pay more attention to them next time.

The tales of assassinations of our presidents are told in a funny, sarcastic and entertaining way.  I learned so much by reading Sarah's version.  Fifty percent of this book was dedicated to the story of Lincoln, John Wilkes Booth, Dr. Mudd and the people surrounding them. I enjoyed that but I was really looking forward to learning about Garfield. Sarah didn't devote as many pages to Garfield much to my disappointment. I'm kind of a freak about Cleveland and Lakeview Cemetery where he's entombed.  I visited it on my vacation.

Assassination Vacation is a great way to learn about the rich and diverse history of the United States.   Sarah puts her own personal spin on what can be dry and dull.  Laughter is not only the best medicine but can also be the best teacher.  

Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie

Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie

I don't think I've read an Agatha Christie novel since high school and that was a very long time ago.  So I have to say thank you to Lori, the librarian for selecting this for book club.  It's fun to get nostalgic while trying to solve a murder on a train.

The Orient Express is suddenly stopped by snow on the tracks shortly after midnight.  The following morning a man is found dead in his compartment, stabbed multiple times.  M. Hercule Poirot is on board and is asked to put his skills to work to solve the case.  The train is unusually full for the time of year so he has a lot of ground to cover.  The possible suspects are many and none are exempt from scrutiny.

Murder on the Orient Express is charming. The story flows smoothly and effortlessly page after page. The cast of characters represent the class structure of the times, and are rich with personality and suspicion.  And what's not to love about M. Poirot with his calculating mind and his direct, yet subtle line of questioning.

I loved this book. What a refreshing change of pace!  A good old fashioned murder mystery was the perfect distraction to a modern life.  Agatha Christie is a master.

A Wedding on the Banks by Cathie Pelletier

A Wedding on the Banks by Cathie Pelletier

Amy Joy Lawler is getting married and Mattagash, Maine is abuzz.  Her fiance, Jean Claude Cloutier, speaks French, lives in Frogtown and is Catholic.  Horrors!  Gossip races through the backwoods town, while Amy Joy's mother, Sicily, is dreaming up yet another imaginary illness so she can take to her bed. Once the invitations are mailed, the big city relatives arrive bringing more than what's packed in their suitcases, while the no good local Gifford brothers plot to crash the reception and steal the wedding gifts. The wedding day is set for May 1st. Can a spring snowfall bring the festivities to a screeching halt and are Sicily's wishes finally granted?

I'm a big fan of Cathie Pelletier and the antics in Mattagash.  The Funeral Makers, the first book in this series, is one of my favorites. It introduced me to the residents of Mattagash earlier in their lives. Their antics made me laugh out loud.  Even though they've grown up, their penchant for the absurd hasn't changed.

A Wedding on the Banks has lots of funny and laughable moments but the story just didn't come together for me.  The backstory overwhelmed the present.  Many times I felt like I was reading The Funeral Makers all over again. I understand that as a writer of a series, each book still needs to stand on its own.  In this case, the new story sprinkled itself over the backstory.  A good writer knows it should be the other way around.

Ms. Pelletier's works are funny, lighthearted and border on the ridiculous.  A Wedding on the Banks is sure to take your mind off whatever is ailing you.  The laughs are many.  But some of her other works are more entertaining and worth taking the time to read.  Just remember, this is Maine without the lobster, the way life should be.  Or not.

The Informationist by Taylor Stevens

The Informationist by Taylor Stevens

Vanessa Michael Munroe is a hired gun of sorts, who's handsomely paid to gather information for corporations doing business in developing countries.  She's an expert in analyzing the political and cultural practices in far corners of the world where few dare to tread.  How she came to this line of work is buried in a past that's filled with both physical and emotional scars. Sometimes she uses all of Vanessa's charms to lure her subjects, other times the makeup and heels come off and Michael takes over.

This novel is set in Africa and the author did a fabulous job of research to set the scene for the reader. The jungle, the non stop rain mixed with heat, the government corruption all got under my skin. Other things got to me also.  The writing was only okay. I found a lot of repetition and cliches.  For me, it ruined some of the enjoyment of the story.  Plus I found it difficult to read the words "Equatorial Guinea" over and over again in my head.

The Informationist is a book club selection.  What I love about book club is that I have to read books I've never heard of and wouldn't normally be attracted to.  It's rare that I would pick up any kind of suspense or thriller.  But I like being pushed outside my comfort zone. The Informationist is full of twists, turns and heart stopping surprises.  I wasn't completely satisfied with the ending, but then again, I don't read many mysteries or thrillers.  I'm also not a serial reader so it's unlikely I will read more of Vanessa / Michael's adventures.  But if suspense is what you like, I think you will find The Informationist a compelling and fulfilling story.

How Green Was My Valley by Richard Llewellyn

How Green Was My Valley by Richard Llewellyn

I'm a big fan of classic contemporary literature.  I love Steinbeck, Hemingway, and a family favorite, Thomas Wolfe.  And since I'm not typically a fan of British authors, I surprised myself by picking up this title. I remember loving the movie when I saw it many years ago, but couldn't remember much about the story other than its set in a Welsh coal mining village.  That's what happens with age.

How Green Was My Valley is the story of the Morgan family as told through the eyes of their youngest son, Huw.  Due to an accident with his mother in a blizzard, he is confined to his bed for several years.  He observes the rigors of mining life and also its pleasures while he recuperates.  The family has high hopes that Huw will not go into the pits like his father and his brothers.  Huw is given an education but coal mining is in his blood.

What a beautifully written story!  The coal miner's life is hard, yet the family that waits at home is happy, food is shared and Sunday chapel is a requirement.  But what the mine can give, it can also take away.  The slag waste from the mine creeps across the valley, sending Huw's brother's and sisters away to find greener pastures.  The black coal dust stamps out the light of the life Huw was born into.

How Green Was My Valley was a wonderful book to start the new year.  It's full of characters to love and to hate, scenery that comes alive in the mind's eye, and prose that will carry you away to a nostalgic place in time.

The Time of My Life by Cecelia Ahern

The Time of My Life by Cecelia Ahern

Lucy's life is a mess.  She's living in a tiny apartment where her rack of clothes has to double as the curtains.  She's still hanging on to her past relationship with a globe trotting boyfriend who dumped her almost three years ago.  A lie on her resume helped Lucy land her most recent job after she was fired from a much more lucrative one. And then the letters from her life began to arrive.  She refuses to respond to them, but her life is persistent.

When I started reading this book, I thought I'd never make it to the end.  The first ten pages or so seemed to drag on forever with long sentences. I couldn't make heads or tails of where I might be headed.  Then Lucy finally decides to meet with her life and let the fun begin.  They don't exactly hit it off. We could all say we've had some disagreements with our lives at some point in time.  That's all I needed, I was hooked.

The Time of My Life is funny, charming and witty. It's fast, romantic and funny with a unique fantasy twist.  Life refused to go away even when Lucy tried to ignore him. And just as Lucy learns to love her life, you will too.