Library Loot

Hosted by Eva at A Striped Armchair and Marg at ReadingAdventures,

Library Loot is a fun weekly meme that allows others to peek in your bookbag to see what you came home from the Library with this week. Here's what's in my bag:







John and Ella Robina have shared a wonderful life for more than fifty years. Now in their eighties, Ella suffers from cancer and has chosen to stop treatment. John has Alzheimers. Yearning for one last adventure, the self-proclaimed "down-on-their-luck geezers" kidnap themselves from the adult children and doctors who seem to run their lives to steal away from their home in suburban Detroit on a forbidden vacation of rediscovery.


With Ella as his vigilant copilot, John steers their '78 Leisure Seeker RV along the forgotten roads of Route 66 toward Disneyland in search of a past they're having a damned hard time remembering. Yet Ella is determined to prove that, when it comes to life, a person can go back for seconds- sneak a little extra time, grab a small portion more- even when everyone says you can't.

Eighteen years ago, Billy Peters disappeared. Everyone in town believes Billy was murdered- after all, serial killer Arnold Avery later admitted killing six other children and burying them on the same desolate moor that surrounds their small English village. Only Billy's mother is convinced he is alive. She still stands lonely guard at the front window of her home, waiting for her son to return, while her remaining family fragments around her.

But her twelve-year-old grandson Steven is determined to heal the cracks that gape between his nan, his mother, his brother, and himself. Steven desperately wants to bring his family closure, and if that means personally finding his uncle's corpse, he'll do it.

Spending his spare time digging holes all over the moor in the hope of turning up a body is a long shot, but at least it gives his life purpose.

Then at school, when the lesson turns to letter writing, Steven has a flash of inspiration... Careful to hide his identity, he secretly pens a letter to Avery in jail asking for help in finding the body of "W.P."- William "Billy" Peters.

So begins a dangerous cat-and-mouse game. Just as Steven tries to use Avery to pinpoint the grave site, so Avery misdirects and teases his mysterious correspondent in order to relive his heinous crimes. And when Avery finally realizes that the letters he's receiving are from a twelve-year-old boy, suddenly his life has purpose too. Although his is far more dangerous...

When Miranda first hears the warnings that a meteor is headed on a collision path with the moon, they just sound like an excuse for extra homework assignments. But her disbelief turns to fear in a split second as the entire world witnesses a lunar impact that knocks the moon closer in orbit, catastrophically altering the earth's climate.

Everything else in Miranda's life fades away as supermarkets run out of food, gas goes up to more than ten dollars a gallon, and school is closed indefinitely.

But what Miranda and her family don;t realize is that the worst is yet to come.

Which of these have you read- and did you like them? If not, which one looks the most interesting?

Blog Tour: Life, In Spite of Me by Kristen Jane Anderson with Tricia Goyer

Overwhelmed by wave after wave of emotional trauma, Kristen Anderson no longer wanted to live. One January night, determined to end her pain once and for all, the seventeen-year-old lay across train tracks not far from her home and waited to die.

Instead of peace, she found herself immersed in a whole new nightmare.

Before the engineer could bring the train to a stop, thirty-three freight cars passed over her at fifty-five miles per hour. After the train stopped and Kristen realized she was still alive, she looked around- and saw her legs ten feet away.

Surviving her suicide attempt but losing her legs launched Kristen into an even deeoer battle with depression and suicidal thoughts as well as unrelenting physical pain- all from the seat of a wheelchair.

But in the midst of her darkest days, Kristen discovered the way to real life and a purpose for living.

Life, In Spite of Me recounts in riveting detail the trauma of her suicide attempt, the miracle of her survival, and the life-tansforming power of hope in Christ.

Kristen should never have lived to tell her story. That much is evident from what the paramedic who was at the scene told her and what a train engineer explaining the physics of a train described.

But Kristen has done more than just live. She has fought, excelled, learned, inspired and reached out to others in similar situations- all with the help of God. I am reminded of one of my favorite sayings when I think of all Kristen has accomplished so far.

"You alone can do it, but you can't do it alone"

Kristen's story is an inspirational message of hope to those who suffer from depression and thoughts of suicide. There are people who love you and want to help. You don't have to travel the road alone. 3.5/5 stars

Suicide Warning Signs: (from Kristen's book)

• appearing depressed or sad most of the time
• having no hope for the future
• feeling hopeless, helpless, worthless, or trapped in a situation, and having excessive guilt or shame
• talking or writing about death or suicide
• withdrawing from family or friends
• acting recklessly or impulsively
• a change in personality, sleeping or eating habits
• decreased interest in most activities
• dramatic mood changes
• giving away prized possessions
• writing a will
• poor performance at work or in school
• strong anger or rage
• abuse of drugs or alcohol
• self-harm
• self hate

View the video of Kristen Jane Anderson on Life Today. Or, download the first chapter of her book here.

This book was provided for review by the WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group.

The Help by Kathryn Stockett *Review*

Three ordinary women are about to take one extraordinary step.
Twenty-two-year-old Skeeter has just returned home after graduating from Ole Miss. She may have a degree, but it is 1962, Mississippi, and her mother will not be happy till Skeeter has a ring on her finger. Skeeter would normally find solace with her beloved maid Constantine, the woman who raised her, but Constantine has disappeared and no one will tell Skeeter where she has gone.
Aibileen is a black maid, a wise, regal woman raising her seventeenth white child. Something has shifted inside her after the loss of her own son, who died while his bosses looked the other way. She is devoted to the little girl she looks after, though she knows both their hearts may be broken.
Minny, Aibileen's best friend, is short, fat, and perhaps the sassiest woman in Mississippi. She can cook like nobody's business, but she can't mind her tongue, so she's lost yet another job. Minny finally finds a position working for someone too new to town to know her reputation. But her new boss has secrets of her own.
Seemingly as different from one another as can be, these women will nonetheless come together for a clandestine project that will put them all at risk. And why? Because they are suffocating within the lines that define their town and their times. And sometimes lines are made to be crossed.
In pitch-perfect voices, Kathryn Stockett creates three extraordinary women whose determination to start a movement of their own forever changes a town, and the way women--mothers, daughters, caregivers, friends--view one another. A deeply moving novel filled with poignancy, humor, and hope, The Help is a timeless and universal story about the lines we abide by, and the ones we don't.

Reserving a book at the library just because numerous book blogs rave about it is usually- for me- a recipe for disaster. The book gets set up in my head to be a fantastic life altering tome. reading it is usually deflating and disappointing.

While I wouldn't say The Help was disappointing, I would say it was not near what I hoped it would be, although I do think it would make an excellent choice for book clubs.

Prejudices. The Help is full of them. Set in the south in the 1960's, slavery is no longer permitted. But similar to slaves, the black servants and housekeepers of the well-to-do housewives who employ them are treated just as bleakly.

I was really naive to believe that in the 6o's- the decade of peace and love- the attitudes towards blacks were better then this. I knew blacks were still segregated to a certain extent but the ignorance and small mindedness of the families featured in this story was unbelievable.

Bathrooms being built in garages or outside for the help so diseases wouldn't be caught from them sickened me. These were the housekeepers who cleaned their homes and raised their children and yet were considered unclean themselves. How degrading it must have felt for them to be viewed as no better than animals.

And the prejudices didn't stop there. Minnie's white boss deals with prejudices of her own, being misjudged because of where she lived or what she wears.

Skeeter decided to take on prejudices by writing a book about it and opening the eyes of the town in which she lives.

The Help was an eye-opener for me, and for that it deserves a higher rating in my book then I would normally have given it. I didn't love-love it, but it was an excellent story and one worth my time as well as yours. 3/5 Stars

Blog Tour: Indivisible by Kristen Heitzmann

An Inseparable Bond.

An Insatiable Force.

Battling his own personal demons, Police Chief Jonah Westfall has experienced the dark side of life and is committed to eradicating it. When a pair of raccoons are found mutilated in Redford, Colorado, Jonah investigates the gruesome act, seeking to unmask the perpetrator before the crime escalates and destroys the tranquility of his small mountain town. Jonah fights for answers- and his fragile sobriety- amid a rising drug threat and never-ending conflict with Tia Manning, a formidable childhood friend with whom he has more than a passing history.

But he can't penetrate every wound or secret- especially one fueled by love and guilt teetering on madness.

Jonah Westfall's pull to Tia is painful. He has loved this woman he can't have for many lonely years. He can't make himself move on- he really doesn't want to. Tia's loneliness is evident from the very beginning. Shunned from her family and townsfolk, it takes a leap of faith to form a friendship with Piper- the new girl in town with family problems of her own.

Tia's penance of running into Chief Westfall in the small town they both share is one her wounded heart must bear. They share a painful past with no hope for a future. Despair drains her. Enter Piper. Perky and enthusiastic she settles into her new life, makes friends and fills Tia's need for companionship. For Tia, life is working but it is not fulfilling nor is it her life- the one she would have chosen for herself- instead it's the life that was chosen for her.

Indivisible is a novel about relationships and ties that bind one person to another. From the back cover, the mystery that was written of is very secondary to the book and too hidden in its pages. I was hoping for more of a mystery then I got but I finished the book not disappointed from the lack of a more thrilling tale, but with the satisfaction of a well woven story or love, friendship, and taking risks to achieve what you really want.

Kristen's characters are familiar which is why I enjoy her writing. Piper feels like my best friend. What she says and does are familiar to me. I understand Tia's ache for Jonah and Jonah's loneliness, pain, and struggle to overcome his addiction.

I enjoyed Ms. Heitzmann's Diamond of the Rockies series more, but this novel stands on its own and is a well written addition to her bibliography. Download Chapter 1 for free by clicking here.

This book was provided for review by the WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group.

Library Loot

Hosted by Eva at A Striped Armchair and Marg at ReadingAdventures, Library Loot is a fun weekly meme that allows others to peek in your bookbag to see what you came home from the Library with this week. Here's what's in my bag:

Josh Goldin was savoring a Friday afternoon break in the coffee room, harmlessly flirting with co-workers while anticipating the weekend at home where his wife, Dori, waited with their eight-month-old son, Zack. And then Josh's secretary rushed in, using words like intensive care, lost consciousness, blood...

That morning, Dori had walked into the emergency room with her son in severe distress. Enter Dr. Darlene Stokes, an African American physician and single mother whose life is dedicated both to her own son and navigating the tricky maze of modern-day medicine. But something about Dori stirred the doctor's suspicions. Darlene had heard of the sensational diagnosis of Munchhausen by proxy, where a mother intentionally harms her baby, but she had never come upon a case of it before. It's rarely diagnosed and extraordinarily controversial. Could it possibly have happened?

When these lives intersect with dramatic consequences, Darlene, Dori, and Josh are pushed to their breaking points as they confront the nightmare that has become their new reality.

Bestselling author Susan Jane Gilman's new memoir is a hilarious and harrowing journey, a modern heart of darkness filled with communist operatives, backpackers, and pancakes.

In 1986, fresh out of college, Gilman and her friend Claire yearned to do something daring and original that did not involve getting a job. Inspired by a place mat at the International House of Pancakes, they decided to embark on an ambitious trip around the globe, starting in the People's Republic of China. At that point, China had been open to independent travelers for roughly ten minutes.

Armed only with the collected works of Nietsche, an astrological love guide, and an arsenal of bravado, the two friends plunged into the dusty streets of Shanghai. Unsurprisingly, they quickly found themselves in over their heads. As they ventured off the map deep into Chinese territory, they were stripped of everything familiar and forced to confront their limitations amid culture shock and government surveillance. What began as a journey full of humor, eroticism and enlightenment grew increasingly sinister-becoming a real-life international thriller that transformed them forever.

At the tail end of 1946, the United States Navy sent an expedition into the stark cold of Antarctica to photograph the terrain from the air and lay claim to the huge continent at the bottom of the globe. Many of the navy's men on the expedition were fresh from service in the recently ended World War II. This is the story of nine of those men, facing an enemy of another kind.

As their plane flew above the most desolate part of that continent, the weather threw a "whiteout"- a combination of a slanting sheet of ice on the land and low clouds that makes it seem the air ahead is clear when it is not. The blinded plane slammed into a mountainside and exploded. Three men were killed; all the others were injured, most of them seriously. Their only shelter was the badly damaged fuselage. They had a food supply intended for a few day's trip, and no way to communicate with their would-be rescuers.

For thirteen days the men waited for discovery- or death. Even when they made contact with another seaplane, which led them from the air, they had to struggle, wounded, several miles through blizzard winds, snow, and ice to reach safety.

Still trying to keep my library books to a minimum so I can get through the pile before its due date. Have you read any of these and what did you think? If you haven't- which one sounds the most interesting?

Shoe Addicts Anonymous by Beth Harbison *Review*

Helene Zahari's politician husband keeps her on a tight leash and cancels her credit cards as a way of controlling her. Lorna Rafferty is up to her eyeballs in debt and can't stop her addiction to eBay. Sandra Vanderslice, battling agoraphobia, pays her shoe bills by working as a phone-sex operator. And Jocelyn Bowen is a nanny for the family from hell (who barely knows a sole from a heel but will do anything to get out of the house). On Tuesday nights, these women meet to trade shoes and, in the process, form friendships that will help each triumph over their problems- from secret pasts to blackmail, bankruptcy, and dating. Funny, emotional and powerful, Shoe Addicts Anonymous is the perfect read for any woman who has ever struggled to find the perfect fit.

I picked this up at the library several weeks ago at the same time I picked up a lot of heavy war-themed books. I figured a little levity to balance things out would be much needed and that is just what I got.

Shoe Addicts Anonymous is the humorous tale of four women addicted to shoes- expensive shoes, and not the means to purchase them.

Lorna is debt-ridden by bills she ignores a little too long. Electricity is cut off and car in danger of being repossessed just so she can buy another pair of shoes. Helene is the wife of an ambitious politician who cuts off her credit cards when he catches her in a lie. Sandra is an agoraphobic phone sex operator who tries to keep her clients on the phone as long as possible to be able to afford the newest pair of shoes she's salivating over. Jocelyn is the young nanny who is looking for a way to get out of the house to keep her insufferable boss from finding her more work to do that is not in her contract.

When Lorna realizes she needs to quit spending money on shoes she can't afford she comes up with a plan. She organizes a Shoe Addicts Anonymous group for the "sole" (pun shamelessly intended) purpose of trading designer shoes with others.

What she and others get though, is more than a new pair of pumps. This mismatched group form a lasting friendship that fills the ache of loneliness and encourages recovery.

A delightfully and sometimes wickedly funny tale that kept me laughing at the end of a hard day. I listened to this on audio format in my car. Because of the language sprinkled in here and there I did keep my windows rolled up but the chuckles definitely outweighed the winces!

The Zookeeper's Wife by Diane Ackerman *Review*

Jan and Antonina Zabinski were Polish Christian zookeepers horrified by Nazi racism, who managed to save over three hundred people. Yet their story has fallen between the seams of history. Drawing on Antonina's diary and other historical sources the author recreate Antonina's life as "the zookeeper's wife," responsible for her own family, the zoo animals and her "Guests"- resistance activists and refugee Jews, many of whom Jan had smuggled from the Warsaw Ghetto. Ironically, the empty zoo cages helped to hide scores of doomed people, who were code-named after the animals whose cages they occupied.

The Zookeeper's Wife is a true story of a Polish family who were involved in an underground effort to hide Jews from the Warsaw ghetto during their escape from the Nazi Germans.

Jan, Antonina and their son Rhys ran and lived at the zoo. They loved their animals and took good care of them. During the holocaust the zoo was shut down and the animals were transported to other zoos around the country.

Jan was the head manager of the zoo who had to find another job when the zoo closed. His job on the outside brought him in close proximity to the Warsaw ghetto and he is single-handedly responsible for transporting hundreds of Jews out of the prison that was their former home.

Antonina had to be on constant alert in the villa they lived in. Any knock on the door could mean detection of the Jews she has harboring or death for her and her family for abetting their escape. Because of her background caring for animals and learning their subtle cues and behaviors she became adept at reading homo sapiens as well. When suspicion was aroused she easily deflected it, coming up with an alibi or excuse that was easily accepted by the German's living in a camp based literally right outside the fence of the zoo. What daring and bravery it took to run this underground movement right under their noses!

Rhys, their young son, was a smart boy who never questioned the appearance or disappearance of various "guests". Often bringing plates of food to the "animals", (families who were given animal names like the Sables, the Mink, or the Badgers depending on which cage or house of the zoo they lived in) he kept their living their a secret.

I was interested in this book because of it's very different spin on the horror of the Holocaust. They German's were so anti-Jew and anti-Polish that not only did they want to eliminate all their people, but their culture, plants and animals as well because they were not considered pure enough.

The descriptions of trying to breed backward a purer horse to get back to more ancient genes instead of one that had been bred with Polish horses was fascinating. Ripping up beautiful rose gardens within the zoo because they were Polish hybrids was too small-minded for me to understand.

With language woven so poetically throughout the book, Diane Ackerman weaves a tale that seems too unbelievable to be true, but one that really hit me in the gut. A fantastic non-fiction find!

Where Have I Been?

Maybe you haven't noticed, but I have been gone. My last post was a month ago. I did a disappearing act one day...POOF!



Traditionally, March is always my busiest month of the year. I don't know why it works out that way but it does. This year, March was even busier than usual










and I became extremely overwhelmed. Aside from my fulltime job and this blog, I also have my life blog which I keep up for my brother in California and a few sisters-in-law that read it, and a Boy Scout website that includes a blog as well as their advancements and ranks. There was zero time to give my book blog anything...so I didn't.



This blog is only a few months old and I had been trying to keep up with other bloggers out there who are career bloggers posting every day or several times a day. I admire you, I don't know how you keep up! I have decided that I can not do that and keep my sanity. I enjoy blogging about the books I have read, sharing my opinions with others and reading all of yours so I will not give it up- I will just be a little more low key posting only once or twice a week rather than daily.



I have a few reviews to catch up on, for even though I was really busy I only quit blogging not reading! These are a few I have read that I will start reviewing soon:



The Zookeeper's Wife by Diane Ackerman

Little Bee by Chris Cleeve

The Alchemist by Paolo Coehlo

The Help by Kathryn Stockett

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins

The Good Thief by Hannah Tinti

The Weight of Silence by Heather Gudenkauf


A.D. 62: Pompeii by Rebecca East

by the time you read this by lola jaye *review*

When he discovered that he had only six months to live, thirty-year-old Kevin Bates picked up his pen and wrote The Manual- advice for his five-year-old daughter, Lois, to live by, laugh at, and follow from twelve until thirty. Seven years later, when Lois is given The Manual, she can barely bring herself to read her father's words, the pain of his loss is still so raw. Yet soon Kevin's advice is guiding her through every stage of life from teen angst to career arcs, to knowing when she's at long last met "the one." While The Manual can never substitute for having Kevin back, the words left behind become Lois's steady support through all life's ups and downs, and prove invaluable to unlocking the key to happiness.

On the eve of her 12th birthday, Lois' aunt Philomena visits her to give her a very special present- a present from her dead father. Running up to her room she reads The Manual in private, explicitly following the directions to only read the entry for her birthday that year. While the temptation would be to sit and absorb every page her father has written, she knows that if she does that this gift will be over. She wants her father to be a part of her for a long, long time...so she waits.

Scattered with a miscellaneous section of advice from things like job interviews, first kisses, and possible new siblings, Lois has a manual for just about anything that happens in life. She starts to feel like her father is the perfect dad and man and no one else can live up to him. Her happiness is tied to The Manual and living it out as her father thinks her life is going. Without The Manual and her father's "presence" in her life, she doesn't feel like her life has meaning.

With the potential to become a cheesy, sappy book I was glad to see the author did not take it in this direction. Kevin Bate's advice to his daughter was matter-of-fact and relevant to what she would be encountering at various stages of growing up. It was heart warming- not heart wrenching, which definitely moved it up a notch in my opinion.

What advice would you give to your child that would help him/her with life's trials?

Library Loot March 31st, 2010

Starting to gradually catch up to my large, looming stack, I requested 10 books at the library today for upcoming weeks. These, however, are what I found on the shelves today.

Hosted by Eva at A Striped Armchair and Marg at ReadingAdventures, Library Loot is a fun weekly meme that allows others to peek in your bookbag to see what you came home from the Library with this week. Here's what's in my bag:

Seen on book blogs everywhere, no further description needed. Usually I read books in the order they were checked out so I'm not stuck with having overdue books. However, since there are still many people waiting for this one, I will be reading it immediately following the book I'm reading now.

Lia and Cassie were best friends, wintergirls frozen in matchstick bodies. But now Cassie is dead. Lia's mother is busy saving other people's lives. Her father is away on business. Her stepmother is clueless. And the voice iinside Lia's head keeps telling her to remain in control, stay strong, lose more, weigh less. If she keeps on going this way- thin, thinner, thinnest- maybe she'll disappear altogether. In her most emotionally wrenching lyrically written book since the National Book Award finalist Speak, best-selling author Laurie Halse Anderson explore's one girl's chilling descent into the all-consuming vortex or anorexia.

In 1851 Bishop Latour and his friend Father Vaillant are dispatched to New Mexico to reawaken its slumbering Catholicism. Moving along the endless prairies, Latour spreads his faith the only way he knows- gently, although he must contend with the unforgiving landscape, derelict and sometimes openly rebellious priests, and his own loneliness. Over nearly forty years, the two friends leave converts and enemies, crosses and occasionally ecstasy in their wake. But it takes a death for them to make their mark on the landscape for ever... (A friend told me this was thier favorite Willa Cather book. Since I had never read her before I thought this would be a good one to start with.)

Being bad never tasted this good... With hundreds of recipes for mouthwatering candies, chocolates, pralines, cremes, fudges, toffee, holiday treats, and no-bake cookies, this step-by-step candy bible for beginners and accomplished candy-makers alike covers everything from the traditional to the exotic. (our family is notorious for their sweet tooth. Couldn't pass this one up!)

Now all devoted Fluffernuts can expand their repertoires with the most complete collection of Marshmallow Fluff dishes ever. The Marshmallow Fluff Cookbook offers over 110 delicious and easy recipes, and you'll be making homemade Chocolate Cheesecake, Never-Fail Fudge, and Fluffy Blackberry Sorbet in no time. Also included are brand new recipes like Fluff-filled Chocolate Madeleines and Mocha-Almond Fudge contributed by contemporary chefs and food experts who love Fluff. (Seriously? A whole recipe book devoted to Marshmallow Fluff? I had to check this out just to see what it was about. The ONLY thing I have ever used Fluff for was Peanut Butter Fudge, but there is a recipe for brownies in this book that looks pretty darn good!)

How about you? What is your favorite thing to use Marshmallow Fluff for? Enlighten me. Then tell me what you think of this week's loot!

The Geurnsey Literary & Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows *Review*

I am enchanted. I want to grab my passport, hop a ship (yes, a ship,). and sail to the Channel Islands. I want to live in Guernsey.


The Guernsey Literary & Potato Peel Pie Society has become my favorite book so far this year. A very rare 5 star book.


The novel, written entirely in letters, starts out with Juliet conversing with her best friends Sophie and Sidney. Sidney is Sophie's brother and Juliet's editor who has sent her on a book tour.



Then a letter comes from Dawsey in Guernsey, a fan of Juliet and a fellow admirer of author Charles Lamb. Having something in common, they start to write each other quite often. In Dawsey's letters he writes about a society he is a member of- The Guernsey Literary & Potato Peel Pie Society. Juliet is intrigued and wants to know more. Dawsey convinces other members of The Society to write Juliet to tell her about how a group of people during the war came to become a book club of sorts. The Society's members not only inundate Juliet with letters they encourage her to come for a visit.


Feeling she has found new friends, and wanting to learn more about the Island, it's inhabitants, and its German Occupation during the war (could there be a book in it?), Juliet consents.


The characters in this novel were so well drawn I felt like I had known them for years. They felt like my friends. I found myself cheering them on, hurting for them when they were grieving, and laughing at their antics. I loved Dawsey, the quiet, reserved, gentle man whom Juliet first encounters; Kit, the wary 4-year-old; Elizabeth, Kit's mother who was so brave and full of love for everybody; and especially Isola, the quirky, neighborhood busybody who made me laugh throughout the novel.


I was saddened to come to the last page of this book and leave my friends behind but I was so glad I had finally decided to read it.


If you haven't read it, do yourself a favor and do so right away. I know you will love these wonderful people of Guernsey just as I did.

Angel's Crest by Leslie Schwartz *Review*

Ethan is a single father who has fought his alcoholic ex-wife for custody of his young son Nate, and won. Ethan is a good father who loves his son and takes care of him very well.

One chilly day while out driving, Ethan sees some deer entering the woods. Enchanted, he parks the truck, gets out of the cab and watches them. Soon, he's left his sleeping son to follow them a short ways down the trail. Soon, the short jaunt becomes a longer distance until he realizes he's been absorbed with watching the deer for too long and has wandered farther then he should have. He hurries back to the truck only to find it empty. Nate is gone.

The search for Nate begins. Townspeople, friends and strangers join the local authorities to find Nate. Nate is found. He is dead, the chilly temperatures to blame. Tired, Nate laid down and went to sleep, the bottoms of his footed pajamas worn through from walking.

I did not give away a spoiler. The reader is prepared for this. Now the book can begin. Because the book is not about Nate. It's about how lives in a small town can alter and take on new meaning when a tragedy like this occurs.

The characters in this story are unique and filled with enough pain of their own. We come to know Angie, whose daughter left her child on Angie's doorstep to raise. Glick, the man who was falsely accused of a crime he did not commit. Roxanne, whose father abandoned her, and Roxanne's lesbian lover Jane who had abandoned her won child. And Jack, a judge whose son Monty steals from him. Each character's problems are unique, and while they aren't resolved, they learn to live within their lives.

I got this copy from the library as an audio book. It seemed to take me an extraordinary amount of time to get through. At first I was disappointed in the story because I thought it would be more about the search for Nate and the trial that ensues, but that was not the case. The book was good but for me it did not work in audio format. The reader's voice did well on the female parts, but the children's voices all sounded like high-pitched old people and the men all sounded constipated. If interested, check out the novel, pass on the audio book.

The Friday 56

Rules:

*Grab the book nearest you. Right now.

*Turn to page 56.
*Find the 5th sentence.

*Post that sentence (plus one or two others if you like) along with these instructions on your blog or (if you do not have your own blog) in the comments section of Storytime with Tonya and Friends.

*Post a link along with your post back to Storytime with Tonya and Friends.

*Don't dig for your favorite book, the coolest, the most intellectual. Use the CLOSEST.

My excerpt today comes from The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows:

Dearest Sidney,

I haven't heard from you in ages. Does your icy silence have anything to do with Mark Reynolds?

I have an idea for a new book. It's a novel about a beautiful yet sensitive author whose spirit is crushed by her domineering editor. Do you like it?

Love always,

Juliet

Dear Sidney,

I was only joking.

Love,

Juliet

I had to take a few liberties with this Friday 56 since these were the only words on the whole entire page!

Noah's Compass by Anne Tyler *Review*

Liam Pennywell is not the sort of man to argue...about anything.

He doesn't argue when his sister offers to bring him a pot of stew even though he hasn't eaten red meat for months, and he doesn't argue when he loses his teaching job to someone with less seniority. He just accepts.

But there's one thing that Liam can't accept, and that's having no memory of the brutal attack that left him bandaged and in a hospital bed.

Liam see this incident as a hole in his life. While others remark how he is lucky not to remember, Liam views the attack he can't remember as something that was taken from him that he wants to recover. He becomes obsessed with trying to figure out why bits and pieces aren't coming back to him. Shouldn't he remember a voice, a sound, a physical characteristic?

Then he meets Eunice Dunstead, a professional "rememberer" that he brings into his life to help jar his memory. Falling in love with this dumpy, overweight, bespectacled younger woman causes him to remember, but not in ways he would have thought.

This book was a welcome diversion from the heavier books of late. It was not a book I felt I had to concentrate too hard on. It just kind of flowed. I thought the characters were well developed- right down to his teenage daughter Kitty and her "praying mantis" pose that had me laughing as I had used that same "please, please, please" position on my parents when I was but a teen.

A good book, not action packed, but enjoyable.

Day After Night by Anita Diamont *Review*

Day After Night is based on a true story of an escape October 10th, 1945 of over 200 Jewish immigrants from Atlit, a detention center in Israel.

Anita Diamont spins the tale of 4 young women, each very different but now sharing a common experience. Shayndel is a Polish Zionist and is somewhat of a war hero who unconsciously reaches for the holstered gun on her shoulder that's no longer there. Leonie is a French beauty who used her looks in ways no girl should have to. Tedi is a Dutch girl who was hidden during most of the war and Zorah is a concentration camp survivor who is ashamed of the numbered tattoo on her arm and hides it every chance she gets. Each of these girls did what they had to in order to survive and each waits for the day when they will be free from the barbed wire that surrounds their lives.

With the help of the Palmach an escape is planned. Each of these girls has a vital role to play in getting everybody out as quickly and safely as possible. Once on the outside, they board buses to be taken to a kibbutz, a Jewish collective community, where the fences are used to keep others out instead of keeping the Jews in.

I was very interested in reading this since it was about an event I once again knew nothing about. I had read Anita Diamont's The Red Tent several years ago and loved it. I was hoping for the same reaction to this one. It was a very good book. It was well written and researched. However, I never felt like I connected with the characters. I was left wanting to know more about each of them, and I felt more time could have been spent deepening their friendship while inside Atlit. If you are going to read this one, read it for the war story or because you like books about true events, don't read it for a story of female friendship or you might be disappointed.