Prayers For Sale by Sandra Dallas *Review*

Quaint. That's the word that sticks in my mind as a descriptor for this book.




It's 1936 and the Great Depression has taken its toll. Eighty-six-year-old Hennie Comfort has lived in Middle Swan, Colorado- up in the high country of the snow-covered Rocky Mountains- since before it was Colorado. When she meets seventeen-year-old Nit Spindle, Hennie is drawn to the young grieving girl. Nit and her husband have come to this small mining town in search of work, but the loneliness and loss Nit feels are almost too much to bear. One day she notices and old sign that reads "Prayers for Sale" in front of Hennie's house and takes out her last nickel. Hennie doesn't actually take money for her prayers, never has, but she invites the skinny girl in anyway. The harsh conditions of life that each has endured help them to create an instant bond, and a friendship is born, one of which the deepest of hardships are shared and the darkest of secrets are confessed.




Prayers For Sale is a book in which nothing much goes on. But that does not mean it's boring. I was enchanted by this story of two women of such differing ages- one 17, one 86- becoming such fast friends. Hennie really took Nit under her wing, looked after her and her husband, and taught her about life up on the mountain. Through stories of her youth and her beginnings in the mining town of Middle Swan we see what shaped Hennie into the caring matriarch of the village and it is through these stories Hennie passes on her love of the colorful people who inhabit it.



Stories for Sale would probably have been a more accurate title for the book. The stories are what make this novel come to life, and Hennie has a boat load of them. She's always ready to sit a spell and tell them to the fascinated audience and she weaves them expertly through the fabric of their lives. We learn of a cross eyed prostitute at the hookhouse, con artists and leather bellies; war widows, left behind children and a gambler who rides his horse right up to the bar. All these stories are told in the regional dialect of Middle Swan which adds to the stories quaintness.



Reminiscing is the one of the best ways to pass on the history of a locale or it's people. I have learned many things about my family history from listening to my grandparents talk about the "good old days." Some things I have written down, some I have committed to memory and already passed down to my children. These stories are a treasure to me and the stories that Hennie passed to Nit will be a treasure she can one day pass on to her children to teach them about the rich history of where they grew up.



If you are looking for excitement on every page this book is not one you should pick up, but if you are looking for a rich story with many interesting characters this lovely novel will dig its way into your heart

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 comes from the book Prayers for Sale by Sandra Dallas.

Hennie stuck the tip of her needle into the fabric and wiggled her fingers to get the kinks out of them. She wondered how it was that rheumatism crippled them so much that she could barely grasp a rake and had to use both hands to lift a heavy pan off the stove, but it didn't affect her quilting.

What Happened to Silence in the Library?

Shhhhh!

Lately I have been frequenting the library more often then usual and one thing I've noticed is that no one knows how to be quiet in the library anymore. When I was a youngster (and really it was not all that long ago) a library was a place of solitude. Students went there to use the encyclopedias for research (okay, maybe longer ago then I want to admit), parents went there to check out books for their children and the older generation checked out novels and read the newspaper.

I know the times they are a changin'. Now more and more students as well as adults are bringing their laptops to the library to do their research or their work. And while I can live with the clickety clack of the computer keyboards- what I can not deal with is all the extra unnecessary noise.

Tonight for instance I stopped off at the library to do some research between work and a meeting. I was doing just fine until a young lady in her early 20's set up her laptop next to mine. Her volume must have been on high because when the computer booted up the Windows music was really blasting. Then the website she clicked on had some crazy special effects noises which she did turn down as she loudly "shushed" her computer. While noisily rummaging through her tote bag she pulled out a large bottle of water (did she not see the No Food or Drink in the Library sign posted at the door?) and proceeded to "glug, glug, glug" it until it was almost gone. Next came the "crinkle, crinkle" of a candy wrapper (again I refer to the sign) before her cell phone rang and she answered that giggling with a friend.

At this point I powered down my laptop and packed it away. Am I too "old school" as my 14-year old thinks or should I still be able expect silence in the library?

Look Again by Lisa Scottoline *Review*

When reporter Ellen Gleeson gets a "Have You Seen This Child?" flyer in the mail, she almost throws it away. But something about it makes her look again, and her heart stops. The child in the photo looks exactly like her adopted son, Will. Could the child in the photo really be her son? Everything inside her tells her to deny the similarity between her son and the boy in the photo, because she knows her adoption was lawful. But she's a journalist and won't be able to stop thinking about the photo until she figures out the truth. And she can't shake the question: If Will rightfully belongs to someone else, should she keep him or give him up?

I have read many Lisa Scottoline books and thought they were great. She always writes an excellent thriller. Very suspenseful. A page turner. I wasn't as impressed with this one.

The storyline was excellent. Being a mother, the thought of having to give up my child for any reason would tear my heart out. And that is where this novel fell short. The emotion was not there. After her child is taken from her (I'm not giving anything away by saying that- you know it's going to happen), Ellen doesn't fall apart like I would. Like any mother would. Oh, she cries- a little. She worries about how he'll adjust- for a minute. Then she stops to do a "redecorating" project and laughs while sh'e doing it. Not laughing through her tears with hysteria like I would be doing, but with delight. The emotions just didn't seem true to me. Not from Ellen. Not from her father. Not from anybody. And that's where I emotionally disconnected from the story. This book could have been so much better then it was had there been more depth of feeling in it. I'm not suggesting you not read this book, just to put some of your own heart in it when you do.

Library Loot 2/23/2010

Due to the fact that I went super nuts last week and checked out way too many titles, I made this week a lighter check out week. I had 11 books on my list of items to request, but showed a lot of restraint and only requested my 3 top picks for now. Hopefully those will be in soon.

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:

Just as she gave voice to the silent women of the Old Testament in the Red Tent, Anita Diamont creates a cast of breathtakingly vivid characters- young women who escaped to Israel from Nazi Europe- in this intensely dramatic novel. Day After Night is based on the extraordinary true story of the October 1945 rescue of more than two hundred prisoners from the Atlit internment camp, a prison for "illegal" immigrants run by the British military near the Mediterranean coast north of Haifa. The story is told through the eyes of four young women at the camp with profoundly different stories. All of them survived the Holocaust: Shayndel, a Polish Zionist; Leonie, a Parisian beauty; Tedi, a hidden Dutch Jew; and Zorah, a concentration camp survivor. haunted by the unspeakable memories and losses, afraid to begin to hope, Shayndel, Leonie, Tedi, and Zorah find salvation in the bonds of friendship and shared experience even as they confront the challenge of re-creating themselves in a strange new country.

From the incomparable Anne Tyler, a wise, gently humorous, and deeply compassionate novel about a schoolteacher, who has been forced to retire at sixty-one, coming to terms with the final phase of his life. Liam Pennywell, who set out to be a philosopher and ended up teaching fifth grade, never much liked the job at that run-down private school, so early retirement doesn't bother him. But he is troubled by his inability to remember anything about the first night that he moved into his new, spare, and efficient condominium on the outskirts of Baltimore. All he knows when he wakes up the next day in the hospital is that his head is sore and bandaged. His effort to recover the moments of his life that have been stolen from him leads him on an unexpected detour. What he needs is someone who can do the remembering for him. What he gets is - well, something quite different.

Barry Laverty, M.B., can barely find the village of Ballybucklebo on a map when he first sets out to seek gainful employment there, but he already knows that there is nowhere he would rather live than in the emerald hills and glens of Northern Ireland. The proud owner of a spanking-new medical degree and little else in the way of worldly possessions, Barry jumps at the chance to secure a position as an assistant in a small rural practice. At least until he meets Dr. Finegal Flahertie O'Reilly. The older physician, whose motto is never to let the patients get the upper hand, has his own way of doing things. At first, Barry can't decide if the pugnacious O'Reilly is the biggest charlatan he has ever met or the best teacher he could ever hope for.

"It used to be Cliff and Vivian and now it isn't." With these words, Jim Harrison begins a riotous, moving novel that sends a sixty-something man, divorced and robbed of his farm by a late-blooming real estate shark of an ex-wife, on a road trip across America, armed with a childhood puzzle of the United States and a mission to rename all the states and the state birds to overcome the banal names men have given them. Cliff's adventures take him through a whirlwind affair with a former student from his high school-teacher days twenty-some years before; to a "snake farm" in Arizona owned by an old classmate; and to the high-octane existence of his son, a big-time movie producer who has just bought an apartment over the Presidio in San Francisco. The English Major is the map of a man's journey into- and out of- himself, and it is vintage Harrison: reflective, big-picture American, and replete with wicked wit.

( And strictly for fun!)

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 checked out the audio book version of this one)

Hmm... a little bit of an older man/ exploring job & life theme going on this week!

Which of these books have you read that are simply fantastic...or not? Have you reviewed any of them? Let me know- I'd love to "hear" your thoughts!

The Lost City of Z by David Grann *Review*

I have always fancied myself as quite the adventurer, seeking out for parts unknown and laying eyes on something no human has ever seen before. In fact, I made elaborate plans while working with my son on the Hiking Merit Badge for Boy Scouts, to travel to a very remote location with glacial lakes and a big bear population, only to chicken out at the last minute. He took the Swimming Merit Badge instead.

That is why when I saw this book I knew it was the perfect way for me to live vicariously through someone else's Amazonian exploits. And it was. It was fascinating!

The Lost City of Z is the true story of Englishman Percy Fawcett, a well known explorer who is almost single handedly responsible for mapping a large part of the Amazon jungle. PHF, as even his wife called him, was obsessed with finding the city of El Dorado that earlier explorers alluded to in their journals. He became a member of the Royal Geographical Society, secured money numerous times through them to finance trips into the "green hell." As his obsession grew he invented codes- naming the lost city "Z", and formulas for longitudinal and latitudinal coordinates so others could not figure out where he was starting his journey from. His greatest fear was that someone would get there before him.

Fawcett would start with only a few men, believing large groups of botanists, anthropologists, and pack animals was "suicide." And indeed, many times he was right. His group would forge on all day in the hot, insect infested jungle with maggots burrowing into their wounds and gangrene infected limbs to get as many miles in a day as humanly possible. Or maybe not so humanly as Fawcett is reported to have a constitution unlike any other. He rarely contracted the fevers others did and never seemed to tire, a fact that irritated him greatly in others. He would ruthlessly plod on though others begged for rest.

In his journeys he encountered indian tribes who had never before seen a human. He never approached them with guns drawn, but with arms up and white handkerchief waving in the air as arrows zinged by his body, and soon befriended them with gifts of mirrors and knives. He was able to once observe a Guarayo indian crush "a plant with a stone and let it's juice spill into a stream, where it formed a milky cloud. After a few minutes a fish came to the surface, swimming in a circle, mouth gaping, then turned on it's back apparently dead. Soon there were a dozen fish floating belly up. They had been poisoned. A Guarayo boy waded into the water and picked out the fattest ones for eating. The quantity of the poison only stunned them...the fish that the boy left in the water soon returned to life and swam away unharmed."

After the war as Fawcett became older and financing became harder to appropriate, Fawcett struck out with his son Jack and Jack's best friend Raleigh, on a trip financed through the newspaper industry who had been promised updates sent back by indian runners along the journey. From this trip Fawcett would never return. Hundreds went out on rescue missions, many of them never returning either.

Author David Grann pored over journals and books written by Fawcett and other explorers into the region to try to recreate Fawcett's trail to come to some understanding of PHF's last trip and his death. Was he captured and killed by hostile indians or did he starve to death? Read The Lost City of Z to find out what the author finds out about the fabled El Dorado. Could it have existed?

How about you. Are you adventurous? What have you always dreamed of doing?

The Blue Notebook By James A. Levine *Review*

Revulsion roiled in the pit of my stomach- it was page 2. By page 6 I had put the book down on the coffee table and confessed to my husband "I don't think I can read this book." My dear sweet husband, to which everything is black or white, replied "Then don't." But it wasn't that easy.




I thought about what I had read in a few short pages of this book while washing dishes and had come to the conclusion that I could bury my head in the sand and just choose not to believe things like this still really happen; or I could read the book, educate myself, and spread the message. I chose the latter.



Levine, a doctor at the Mayo clinic, was inspired to write this heartbreaking and terrifying novel when he was interviewing homeless children in Mumbai as part of his medical research. In the "Street of Cages" where child prostitutes ply their trade, literally encaged by their neglectful and abusive overseers (who pocket all the profits), Levine was struck by the sight of a young girl sitting outside her cage writing in a notebook. Batuk is a 15 year old girl who was sold to Mamaki Briila by her father when she was 9. Forced to service up to ten men a day from her "nest," and subject to deplorable treatment by the men who pay for her services, she's even abused by the doctor who examines her; her friend Puneet, meanwhile, nearly dies after being sexually assaulted by two policemen and is castrated at the first signs of puberty. Batuk tells her story matter-of-factly, in a voice reminiscent of The Color Purple's. While painful to read, Batuk's story puts a face on the mistreatment and disregard for children worldwide, as well as a testament to the hopefulness and power of literacy. All U.S. proceeds from the book will be donated to helping exploited children. (Publisher's Weekly)

Young prostitutes on The Street of Cages.

Even after writing this book and donating the proceeds of it to The International and National Centers for Missing & Exploited Children, author James A. Levine was still so troubled by what he had seen that he made repeated trips to India to try to figure out how something positive could be made out of what was happening day after day. He found a place called The Sparrow's Nest that was making a difference. Sparrows are the children of the Mumbaii prostitutes. The Sparrow's Nest provides food, medical care, a place to sleep and an education to these children free of charge. Out of 230 Sparrows cared for over an 8 year period not a single one has entered into prostitution. In fact many have entered college and gone onto careers in teaching, business and hotel management. Read more about The Sparrow's Nest here.

Even though this was an extremely difficult book to read and I am still processing what I read, I would recommend everyone to push past the disgust you will first feel and finish this book. It has definitely made a difference to me and I hope to other children as well. I initially checked this book out from the library but I went today and purchased this book and my donation to The Sparrow's Nest is on it's way.

Honolulu by Alan Brennert *Review*

Kampana- A Buddhist term meaning "good people's hearts are moved" to do a compassionate act.



Honolulu is the rich, unforgettable story of a young "picture bride" who journeys to Hawaii in 1914 in search of a better life. Instead of the affluent young husband and chance at an education she has been promised, she is quickly married off to a poor, embittered laborer who takes his frustrations out on his new wife. Renaming herself Jin, she makes her own way in this strange land, finding both opportunity and prejudice. With the help of three of her fellow picture brides, Jin prospers along with her adopted city, which is growing from a small territorial capital into the great multicultural city it is today. But paradise has its dark side, whether it's the daily struggle for survival in Honolulu's tenements, or a crime that will become the most infamous of the island's history... With it's passionate knowledge of people and places in Hawaii far off the tourist track, Honolulu is most of all the spellbinding tale of four women in a new world, united by dreams, disappointment, sacrifices, and friendship.



Honolulu was a sweeping novel that followed the life of Jin, a young Korean woman as she moved to Hawaii to become a picture bride and followed her through many milestones in her life up to her 60th birthday. When she arrives in Hawaii she is startled to find her fiance is not how he was portrayed. Though disappointed, she knows she can not go back to her homeland so she decides to give it a go. Her husband is a common laborer who drinks, gambles all their money away, and beats her. She decides to leave him and thus begins a new life in the foreign city of Honolulu.



Jin is one of these soul-deep beautiful people who hold true to her ideals. No matter how hard life is for her- and she does suffer through many trials- she doesn't sway from her beliefs and inspires those around her to be better people for having known her. During her years in Hawaii she makes many lifelong friends and gives so much of herself to each one of them.



Normally I tend to get a little bored with books that follow a character through that many years of their life. That was not the case with this one. Author Alan Brennert wove so much history of the Hawaiian islands into this fictional story that at times it could pass as non-fiction for the wealth of knowledge in it, but it doesn't read like non-fiction at all.



Kampana, the Buddhist term from the opening of this post, defines so much of this novel that it could have served just as well as it's title. Jin loves so deeply, and despairs so deeply, that one can feel their heart swelling or breaking right along with her. I thought this was a fantastic book and one to enjoy just for the history of Hawaii in the infancy of the island as a part of the Americas.

Library Loot 2/16/2010

Okay. There have been titles that have been on my list to check out from the library for several months now, but they always seem to be checked out by someone else. Not being the type that likes to wait, I just search the shelves for something else and go on my merry way.

But this last week I finally decided to reserve them. They were all still out- some due back in February and some in March, but I knew if I didn't request them from either my branch of the regional library or another branch I wouldn't get to read them for quite some time.

Nobody ever explained to me when you reserve a bunch of books all at the same time they miraculously all seem to come in all at the same time too! Yikes! It looks like I'll have my work cut out for me in the next week or two. Here is what I came home with in the last week:

Every now and then we come across a novel that moves us like no other, that seems like a miracle of the imagination, and that haunts us long after the book is closed. James Levine's The Blue Notebook is that kind of book. It is the story of Batuk, an Indian girl who is taken to Mumbai from the countryside and sold into prostitution by her father; the blue notebook is her diary, in which she recalls her early childhood, records her life on the Common Street, and makes up beautiful and fantastic tales about a silver-eyed leopard and a poor boy who fells a giant with a single coin.

In 1925, Percy Fawcett ventured into the Amazon to find an ancient civilization, vowing to make one of the most important archaeological discoveries in history. Fawcett embarked with his twenty-one-year-old son, determined to prove that this ancient civilization (the glittering kingdom of El Dorado)- which he dubbed "Z"- existed. Then he and his expedition vanished. Fawcett's fate- and the tantalizing clues he left behind about "Z"- become an obsession for hundreds who followed him into the unchartered wilderness. For decades scientists and adventurers have searched for evidence of Fawcett's party and the lost City of Z. Countless have perished, been captured by tribes, or gone mad. The author's quest for the truth, and his stunning discoveries about Fawcett's fate and "Z", form the heart of this enthralling narrative.

When reporter Ellen Gleeson gets a "Have You Seen This Child?" flyer in the mail, she almost throws it away. But something about it makes her look again, and her heart stops. The child in the photo looks exactly like her adopted son, Will. Could the child in the photo really be her son? Everything inside her tells her to deny the similarity between her son and the boy in the photo, because she knows her adoption was lawful. But she's a journalist and won't be able to stop thinking about the photo until she figures out the truth. And she can't shake the question: If Will rightfully belongs to someone else, should she keep him or give him up?

It's 1936 and the Great Depression has taken its toll. Eighty-six-year-old Hennie Comfort has lived in Middle Swan, Colorado- up in the high country of the snow-covered Rocky Mountains- since before it was Colorado. When she meets seventeen-year-old Nit Spindle, Hennie is drawn to the young grieving girl. Nit and her husband have come to this small mining town in search of work, but the loneliness and loss Nit feels are almost too much to bear. One day she notices and old sign that reads "Prayers for Sale" in front of Hennie's house and takes out her last nickel. Hennie doesn't actually take money for her prayers, never has, but she invites the skinny girl in anyway. The harsh conditions of life that each has endured help them to create an instant bond, and a friendship is born, one of which the deepest of hardships are shared and the darkest of secrets are confessed.

On September 6th, 2007 an African Grey parrot named Alex died prematurely at the age of thirty-one. His last words to his owner, Irene Pepperberg, were "You be good. I love you." Over the thirty years they had worked together, Alex and Irene had become famous- two pioneers who opened an unprecedented window into the hidden yet vast world of animal minds. Alex's brain was the size of a shelled walnut, and when Irene and Alex first met, birds were not believed to possess any potential for language, consciousness, or anything remotely comparable to human intelligence. Yet over the years Alex proved many things. Alex and Irene stayed together through thick and thin- despite sneers from experts, extraordinary financial sacrifices, and a nomadic existence from one university to the other. The story of their thirty-year adventure is equally a landmark of scientific achievement and an unforgettable human-animal bond.

This memorable, heartbreaking story opens in Addis Adaba, Ethiopia, 1974, on the eve of a revolution. Yonas kneels in his mother's prayer room, pleading to his god for an end to the violence that has wracked his family and country. His father, Hailu, a prominent doctor, has been ordered to report to jail after helping a victim of state-sanctioned torture die. And Dawit, Hailu's youngest son, has joined an underground resistance movement- a choice that will lead to more upheaval and bloodshed across a ravaged Ethiopia. Beneath the Lion's Gaze tells a gripping story of family, of the bonds of love and friendship set in a time and place that has not been explored in fiction before. It is a story about the lengths human beings will go in pursuit of freedom and the human price of a national revolution.

The Twelve is an extraordinary and unforgettable novel about a most unusual and unsuspecting hero. As a child, Max lives in a world of colors and numbers, not speaking until the age of six. As an adult Max ventures on a journey of destiny to discover the secret behind the ancient Mayan prophecy about the "end of time," foretold to occur December 21, 2012. At fifteen years old, Max has a near-death experience during which he has a vision that reveals the names of twelve unique individuals. Max's voyage of discovery begins, as he strives to uncover the identities and roles of the twelve individuals he will meet during his journey toward truth. All of The Twelve seem connected, and all of them are important to what will happen at the exact moment the world as we know it will end.

So how did I fare this week? Did I pick out some real dogs, or are there treasures in my stack just waiting to be opened. If you have read any of these please let me know what you thought of them!

Hurry Down Sunshine by Michael Greenberg *Review*

Hurry Down Sunshine tells the story of the extraordinary summer when, at the age of fifteen, Michael Greenberg's daughter was struck mad. It begins with Sally's sudden visionary crack-up on the streets of Greenwich village, and continues, among other places, in the out-of-time world of a Manhattan psychiatric ward during the city's most sweltering months. "I feel like I'm traveling and traveling with nowhere to go back to," Sally says in a burst of lucidity while hurtling away toward some place her father could not dream of or imagine. Hurry Down Sunshine is the chronicle of that journey, and it's effect on Sally and those closest to her- her mother and stepmother, her brother and grandmother, and, not least of all, the author himself. (Biography)

Hurry Down Sunshine is a novel in 3 parts. The first part deals with the day Sally had her crack-up and the trip to the emergency room to find out what was wrong with her. Part two tells about her 24 week stay in a psychiatric hospital. Part three goes on to describe her release from the hospital and dealing with life on the outside again. There are no chapters in the book and normally this would really bug me. I personally like shorter chapters in a book since I am a person who reads a little here and a little there, the short chapters always give me a good starting or stopping place. But in this book , having no chapters really work.

Sally's descent into madness seems to happen overnight. Her parents are at a loss to figure out how Sally's personality can change that quickly. Fearing something physiological they take her to the emergency room where after consulting with the staff psychiatrist, they find out her "condition" is Bipolar 1. The treatment? To be checked into a psychiatric hospital. At first her father is resistant. His daughter is not crazy, there must be something elso wrong with her. But after looking at her again he realizes he is not able to take care of her when she is like this.

Upon being checked into the psychiatric hospital, her parents are denied visitation until Sally comes out of the Quiet Room. Sally is in isolation until she is a little more manageable. After being released to a regular room her Dad visits her daily for several hours a day. When she's released after little more then three weeks he is surprised- he hasn't seen that much improvement.

Sally is released, slowly weaned off drugs and getting ready to start the tenth grade, a fact that makes her nervous that she can't cut it and everybody will be staring at her and talking about her. She improves slowly and then one day it's like a breakthrough, and she seems to be her normal self again.

I can't say I really liked this book. It was interesting to learn a little bit more about mental illness. I, like the author, was surprised at how quickly someone can change and all of a sudden be declared mad. I always thought the descent into mental illness is a slow process and there are various warning signs. Sally's struggles were very real. During moments of lucidity she was very profound. I think this book would have been more interesting from her point of view. If you are interested in Bipolar 1, have Bipolar 1 (formerly called manic depressive), or know someone that does- this book could probably give you a lot of insight into the minds of patient or parent. If you don't then you might want to skip this book. The few tidbits I gleaned out of it did not make up for the time I spent reading it.

Not My Daughter by Barbara Delinsky *Review*

Barbara Delinsky had plenty of opportunities to make this book a warm fuzzy feel good book about a very serious subject- teen pregnancy. Not just a simple overcome-with-passion-in-the-backseat-of-a-car teen pregnancy, but a pregnancy pact.

Not My Daughter is the story of a group of girls who make a decision to all become pregnant together so they can support each other during the trials of raising a child. What they don't stop to consider is not only how it affects their lives, but the lives of those they love as well.

Many authors try to take the approach of showing a problem- one small problem- solving it and giving their novel a happy ending. And while this story does have a happy ending (because most of us like it that way), Barbara gives the teenagers and their parents, multiple problems to work through to get there.

The book follows Susan Tate, a single mother and principal of a high school in which her daughter Lily attends. Lily decides, along with her best friends, to have a child because she loves children and thinks she would be a good mother. Susan is disappointed that her daughter has made a decision like this without thinking everything through and sad that her daughter will face tough times ahead as she did when she herself got pregnant at the age of 17.

Lily hasn't thought about how to support the baby, who will take care of the baby while she finishes school, or how this will mess with her mother's job, and the teen pregnancy program Susan has worked so hard to incorporate into the school. Soon the school board is not only questioning whether she is a good principal, but whether she is a good mother as well. Couldn't she have seen this was going to happen? If she was a good mother wouldn't she have known what Lily was planning? Susan then starts to question it herself.

Many more problems arise throughout the book and I'm not the one who wants to tell you everything that happens. While I was not blown away by this book, I did think it was worth reading as it brought things to the surface I would not have considered myself. I listened to this on audio book and at times I got the voices mixed up in my head just because there were so many female characters. This might have been a better book to read in print. On a scale of 1-5 I would give this book a solid 3.

Dream House by Valerie Laken *Review*

The house is not the only thing falling apart in this novel by Valerie Laken.



One terrible night. One outraged act. What price will people pay to hold their homes and dreams together? When Kate and Stuart Kinzler buy a run-down historic house in Ann Arbor, Michigan, they're looking for a decent remodeling investment and a little space in which to rekindle their troubled marriage. Instead they discover that their home was the scene of a terrible crime many years ago- a revelation that tips the balance of their precarious union. When a mysterious man begins lurking around her yard, Kate- now alone- is forced to confront her home's dangerous past. Hers is not the only life that has crumbled under this roof. But the stranger who has returned to this house- once his own childhood home- is in search of something Kate may never really understand.

Kate's marraige has grown lackluster, nothing she does is ever good enough for her father, and her mother never seems to "see" her. So when Kate and Stuart buy a run-down house and start renovating it, Kate throws everything she has into it. Stuart is working long hours at work and doesn't seem to be the handyman type. Kate however tiles, strips floors, replaces vanities and hangs drywall. The house takes on the role of family to her. It means something and she loves it. When Stuart and Kate find out from a neighbor that a murder has occurred in the house, Stuart is furious and has a hard time dealing with it, but Kate barely pauses.


When a man stops one day and offers to haul away some of the garbage piling up beside her already full construction dumpster, they forge a working relationship and then become friends. What she doesn't know, is the man who is in her house helping her everyday is a part of this house's dangerous past.


First of all, I loved seeing a woman taking on the main role of remodeler in this house. Kate knew what she wanted and worked hard, very hard to achieve it. So many times, even in this day and age, we are given the impression that drywalling and demolition are not "women's work", so it was refreshing to see how Kate tackled this job with such fervor.

Secondly, I just enjoyed the "feel" of the book. I agreed with Sheila from One Person's Journey Through a World of Books about the prologue, (read her review here ) I was sickened by Claire as well. But I did want to know what happened to Claire? That part of the whole story was never answered. The book read quickly though, and I really liked it.

Library Loot

I snuck to the Library a day earlier this week then normal. I was out running errands on my lunch break and since the library was close I thought I'd stop by, that way I wouldn't have to make a special trip in on my day off. My son was just getting off the bus when I got home and when I got out of the car with a stack of books he was mad. "I need a book to read this weekend", he complained. Well, I guess I'll have to make another trip into the library. Darn! ;)

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:

It only takes a moment for a life to change forever. Ethan Denton is a lucky man. Lately things have gone his way–like being granted custody of Nate, his three-year-old son. But when he takes the child up to Angels Crest early one morning to show him the mountains, Ethan’s luck changes instantaneously. In an impulsive decision any parent might make, he leaves his son asleep in the back seat while he follows a pair of magnificent buck, just for a minute–but when he returns the truck’s door is open, the child is gone, and snow is falling . . .As townspeople gather to aid in the search, the boy’s disappearance resurrects old wounds and regrets for each of them. But it also provides the chance for love and redemption, as they struggle to make sense of the inexplicable. (I checked out the audio book version)

A twelve-year-old girl and her younger brother go on the run in the woods of North Idaho, pursued by four men they have just watched commit murder—four men who know exactly who William and Annie are, and who know exactly where their desperate mother is waiting for news of her children’s fate. Retired cops from Los Angeles, the killers easily persuade the inexperienced sheriff to let them lead the search for the missing children.
William and Annie’s unexpected savior comes in the form of an old-school rancher teetering on the brink of foreclosure. But as one man against four who will stop at nothing to silence their witnesses, Jess Rawlins needs allies, and he knows that one word to the wrong person could seal the fate of the children or their mother. In a town where most of the ranches like his have turned into acres of ranchettes populated by strangers, finding someone to trust won’t be easy. (I checked out the audio book version of this one too)

Honolulu is the rich, unforgettable story of a young "picture bride" who journeys to Hawaii in 1914 in search of a better life. Instead of the affluent young husband and chance at an education she has been promised, she is quickly married off to a poor, embittered laborer wo takes his frustrations out on his new wife. Renaming herself Jin, sje makes her own way in this strange land, finding both opportunity and prejudice. With the help of three of her fellow picture brides, Jin prospers along with her adopted city, which is growing from a small territorial capital into the great multicultural city it is today. But paradise has its dark side, whether it's the daily struggle for survival in Honolulu's tenements, or a crime that will become the most infamous of the island's history... With it's passionate knowledge of people and places in Hawaii far off the tourist track, Honolulu is most of all the spellbinding tale of four women in a new world, united by dreams, disappointment, sacrifices, and friendship.

Hurry Down Sunshine tells the story of the extraordinary summer when, at the age of fifteen, Michael Greenberg's daughter was struck mad. It begins with Sally's sudden visionary crack-up on the streets of Greenwich village, and continues, among other places, in the out-of-time world of a Manhattan psychiatric ward during the city's most sweltering months. "I feel like I'm traveling and traveling with nowhere to go back to," Sally says in a burst of lucidity while hurtling away toward some place her father could not dream of or imagine. Hurry Down Sunshine is the chronicle og that journey, and it's effect on Sally and those closest to her- her mother and stepmother, her brother and grandmother, and, not least of all, the author himself. (Biography)

After a car accident in which her passenger, Marissa dies, June Parker finds herself in possession of a list. Marissa has written: "20 Things to Do by My 25th Birthday." The tasks range from inspiring (run a 5K) to daring (go braless) to near-impossible (change someone's life). To asuage her guilt, June races to achieve each goal herself before the deadline, learning more about her own life than she ever bargained for. (Heads up Bookies, I'm nominating this at Book Club tonight!)

Which books have I hit a home run with this week? Or am I out before I hit first base? Let me know if you have read any of these and your thoughts on them.

I'm Not Scared by Niccolo Ammaniti *Review*

I still am trying to figure out exactly how I feel about this book.

The Hottest Summer of the twentieth century. In a tiny community of five houses enclosed by wheat fields, the adults shelter indoors, while six children venture out of their books across the scorched desert countryside.

Exploring a dilapidated and uninhabited farmhouse, nine-year-old Michele Amitrano discovers a secret so momentous, so terrible, that he dare not tell anyone about it. To come to terms with what he has found, Michele has to draw strength from his own sense of humanity...

This book tells the disturbing story of a summer in the life of a young boy named Michele. Michele is like any other nine-year old. He loves hanging out with his friends, riding his bike and traveling a little farther from home each day. After losing a race one day, Michele must pay a "forfeit". He must crawl up into an abandoned house, travel across the second story, and crawl out the other side. When he travels done the other side he finds a hole covered with a mattress and a piece of corrugated tin. He moves it aside to discover the body of a boy. At first he thinks the boy is dead, but when the boy moves Niccolo screams and runs away.

But the boy in the hole keeps niggling in his head. He goes back the next day, finds the boy is still alive, brings him water and befriends him. When Niccolo goes back home he doesn't tell anybody about his find. The boy is his secret and he doesn't want to share the secret with anybody.

But the book takes on a darker tone. Michele finds out not only that the boy was kidnapped, but that his parents and the other adults in the hamlet in which he lives are responsible. Now the secret is more then a delicious one- it's a dangerous one.

I'm Not Scared wasn't a page turner in the traditional sense of "I can't put it down", but it was an extremely tense read. The tenseness, because of the forboding I felt throughout the entire book, was not a good feeling, and that's why I said earlier I'm still not sure how I feel about this book. The book was not a bad book, it made me peer into the thoughts of a child and see how they see things through ther eyes, but I'm not sure it's one I would recommend to very many people. Michele might not have been scared, but I was.

Testimony by Anita Shreve Audio Book *Review*

"You stare at the cabinet in front of you. The one that holds the cereal boxes, and the salt and pepper, and the toothpicks, and the can of Pam and the Extra Strength Tylenol and wonder how it is that the events of one single night- which might have been lewd, or shameful or simply bacchanalian - can change the lives of so many people forever." Anita Shreve

Set in Vermont at Avery Academy, an elite private school, the book opens with a headmaster who pops in a tape- a sex tape- made by students in a dorm room at Avery Academy. He knows these students. And though he does not know the 14 year-old girl in the center of the scenes, yet, he does know he is horrified and that he must do something about it.

So begins a series of events that are set into play. That snowball, and roll down hill and ruin the lives of everybody in it's path. But who is really to blame? The cameraman for filming the video? The boys for partaking in this orgy? The girl for drinking to much and being a willing participant? The headmaster for calling the police? Or is it someone else?

This book explores this question from several different viewpoints. I had the privilege of listening to this on audio book. Read by a full cast you hear these viewpoints in the voices of each character. I was immediately drawn in by this style and felt more connected to the story. The depth of feeling really comes through when you can hear the catch in one's voice or a sob that escapes from their throats.

I finished listening to this just this morning as I was getting ready for work. At one point, crying myself, I looked into the mirror to realize I was going to have to reapply the mascara that was now running down my cheeks. If you can get this on audio book I suggest you do it. If you can't, read it on paper. Whatever you do, don't miss out on this fantastic 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 exerpt today comes from I'm Not Scared by Niccolo Ammaniti:

What if he wasn't there anymore?

I must pluck up the courage and look.

I leaned over.

He was rolled up in the blanket.

The Traveler's Gift by Andy Andrews *Review*

Forty-six year old David Ponder feels like a total failure. Once a high-flying executive in a Fortune 500 company, he now works a part-time, minimum wage job. His wife makes more money than he does by cleaning houses, and he drives an old car with a mismatched fender and a heater that no longer works.

Then an even greater crisis hits: his daughter becomes ill, and he can't afford to get her the medical help she needs. When his car skids on an icy road, he wonders if he even cares to survive the crash.

But an extraordinary experience awaits David Ponder. He finds himself traveling back in time, meeting leaders and heroes at crucial moments in their lives. From the European theater of World War II to an ancient Middle Eastern king's throne room, from a Civil War battlefield to a warehouse in heaven, David encounters some of the wisest people who ever lived. Abraham Lincoln, King Solomon, Anne Frank, Harry Truman, and others teach him unforgettable life lessons. By the time his amazing journey is over, he has received seven secrets for success- and a second chance to create a life worth living, no matter what opposition or obstacles he might face.

I checked this book out from the library last Saturday and was so excited to open it up I could hardly wait until I finished the book I was currently reading. I mean, just read the description! A novel about a formerly successful person who is down on his luck meets successful or inspirational people from the past, learns life secrets from them and turns his life around.

At least that's what I thought I was getting. A novel. A fiction novel. I guess it could be considered a fiction novel since it's about a made up person who travels back in time. That wouldn't happen in real life. Instead, I felt like I had stumbled into the wrong section in the library and checked out a self-help book.

As a self-help book it wasn't half bad. It did give some very simplistic, yet good advice. The Seven Decisions for Success that David Ponder collects as he travels from person to person in the story are doable suggestions to put into practice in your day to day life- not just in the business world.

This was a quick and easy read. The storyline, if given more depth, could have been a really good one. It just wasn't what I was looking for at the time.

Author Andy Andrews is a public speaker and entertainer who has performed live for four different U.S Presidents.

Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford *Review*

There are not many love stories that would qualify for a "G" rating but this novel would be one of them. When I say it rates a "G", I don't mean that in a negative sense at all. This book was a breath of fresh air, a story of friendship and young love that spans decades.

In 1986, Henry Lee joins a crowd outside the Panama Hotel, once the gateway to Seattle's Japantown. It has been boarded up for decades, but now the new owner has discovered the belongings of Japanese families who were sent to internment camps during World War II. As the owner displays and unfurls a Japanese parasol, Henry, a Chinese American, remembers a young Japanese American girl from his childhood in the 1940s- Keiko Okabe, with whom he forged a bond of friendship and innocent love that transcended the prejudices of their Old World ancestors. After Keiko and her family were evacuated to the internment camps, she and Henry could only hope that their promise to each other would be kept. Now, forty years later, Henry explores the hotel's basement for the Okabe family's belongings and for a long-lost object whose value he cannot even begin to measure. His search will take him on a journey to revisit the sacrifices he has made for family, for love, for country.

This novel follows Henry throughout the years, alternating between young Henry in the 1940s and the adult Henry in 1986. The simple one or two word chapter titles give you a peek at what's ahead for you in the chapter. Sometimes when a book alternates between two different times in a person's life it feeels disjointed and hard to follow. That is not the case with this book. The chapters from the 40's were dependent on the chapters from the 80's and vice versa.

Henry meets Keiko when they are both 12 at a special school they have earned scholarships to. Being the only two Asians in an all white school they form a special bond and it matters to neither of them that one of them is Chinese and one of them is Japanese. It matters to Henry's father though, who insists that Henry wear an "I am Chinese" button to distinguish him from the Japanese people who live in Japantown just a few blocks from them. Henry's father forbids him to have anything to do with the Japanese who are declared the mortal enemy. Henry however, defies his father and Keiko and him not only work together after school but meet in the park on Saturdays and walk the streets of forbidden Japantown. From a school friendship to a tender love Henry and Keiko vow to wait for each other always.

What follows is a story of love and loss, waiting and moving on, disappointment and hope, and a beautifully written novel that transcends time.

Library Loot

Welcome to my first edition of Library Loot. Library Loot hosted by Eva at A Striped Armchair and Marg at ReadingAdventures is a way to peek into everybody's book bag and see what they brought home from the library in the last week.

As a natural voyeur, I have to check out these weekly finds. I feed my book obsession by adding new titles to my list of books to check out at the library. Sometimes they have them, sometimes they don't but I never run out of list to check.

One of the books I checked out this week I read about first on One Person's Journey Through a World of Books. I was so intrigued I put it on the list. I haven't heard from Sheila to see if she's read it yet, but when I saw it on the shelf at the library I was so excited!

Anyways, on to the books!

Louisiana state veterinarian Lorna Polk stumbles upon a shipwrecked fishing trawler carrying a caged group of exotic animals. Yet, something is wrong with these beasts: a parrot with no feathers, a pair of Capuchin monkeys conjoined at the hip, a jaguar cub with the dentition of a saber-tooth tiger. They also share one uncanny trait- a disturbingly heightened intelligence. To uncover the truth, Lorna must team up with a man who shares a dark and bloody past with her, U.S. Border Patrol Agent, Jack Menard. Together the two must hunt for a beast that escaped the shipwreck while uncovering a mystery tied to fractal science and genetic engineering, all to expose a horrifying secret that traces back to mankind's earliest roots.

(I don't know what I was thinking when I checked this one out. It sounded better in the library!)

When Susan Tate's seventeen-year-old daughter, Lily, announces she is pregnant, Susan is stunned. A single mother, she has struggled to do everything right. She sees the pregnancy as an unimaginable tragedy for both Lily and herself.

Then comes word of two more pregnancies involving high school juniors who happen to be Lily's best friends- and the town turns to talk of a pact. As fingers start pointing, the most ardent criticism is directed at Susan. As principal of the high school, her detractors accuse her of being a lax mother, perhaps not worthy of the job of shepherding impressionable students. Susan struggles with the implications of her daughter's pregnancy, her job, financial independence, and long-fought-for dreams. The emotional ties between mothers and daughters are stretched to breaking in this emotionally wrenching story of love and forgiveness.

The hottest summer of the twentieth century. In a tiny community of five houses enclosed by wheat fields, the adults shelter indoors, while six children venture out on their bikes across the scorched, deserted countryside. Exploring a dilapidated

and uninhabited farmhouse, nine-year-old Michele Amitrano discovers a secret so momentous, so terrible, that he dare not tell anyone about it. To come to terms with what he has found, Michele has to draw strength from his own sense of humanity...

This book is a masterpiece of coming of age; a compelling portrait of losing one's innocence and a powerful reflection on the complexities and compromises inherent in growing up.

(This is the one I read about on One Person's Journey)

One terrible night. One outraged act. What price will people pay to hold their homes and dreams together? When Kate and Stuart Kinzler buy a run-down historic house in Ann Arbor, Michigan, they're looking for a decent remodeling investment and a little space in which to rekindle their troubled marriage. Instead they discover that their home was the scene of a terrible crime many years ago- a revelation that tips the balance of their precarious union. When a mysterious man begins lurking around her yard, Kate- now alone- is forced to confront her home's dangerous past. Hers is not the only life that has crumbled under this roof. But the stranger who has returned to this house- once his own childhood home- is in search of something Kate may never really understand.

Forty-six-year old David Ponder feels like a total failure. Once a high-flying executive in a Fortune 500 company, he now works a part-time, minimum wage job. His wife makes more money then he does by cleaning houses, and he drives an old car with a mismatched fender and a heater that no longer works. Then an even greater crisis hits: his daughter becomes ill, and he can't afford to get her the medical help she needs. When his car skids on an icy road, he wonders if he even cares to survive the crash. But an extraordinary experience awaits David Ponder. He finds himself traveling back in time, meeting leaders and heroes at crucial moments in their lives. From the European theater of World War II to an ancient middle eastern king's throne room, from a civil war battlefield to a warehouse in heaven, David encounters some of the wisest people who ever lived. Abraham Lincoln, King Solomon, Anne Frank, Harry Truman, and others teaching him unforgettable life lessons. By the time his amazing journey is over, he has received seven secrets for success- and a second chance to create a life worth living, no matter what opposition or obstacle he might face. (This one looks really fun. I can't wait to see what advice he gets!)

The books above ar what I came home with this week. Have you read any of them? Will I enjoy this week's Library Loot?

The Sound of Water *Review*

Written with rare literary style by a former director of the Indian Ministry of Coal, The Sound of Water provides an agonizing 360-degree account of an Indian mining disaster as seen from three perspectives: an old miner struggling to save himself and his coworkers hundreds of feet below the surface as water threatens to drown them; the company and government officials charged with managing the rescue efforts; and the miner's families anxiously awaiting word of survival or death.

Last week I checked this book out of the library anxious to read a story of survival. I love stories that show the strength of humans against almost impossible odds. That's what I thought I was getting when I checked this book out. I was looking for someone who defied the odds, became the victor over nature and circumstance, and lived to tell the tale. This book was not like that.

The majority of the story flopped back and forth between the victim's families (who really didn't care if they lived) and the government officials who were only concerned with covering their backsides so they wouldn't take the blame for the mining disaster. There was no happiness in this book, and no hope.

Most of the middle of the book was about Raimoti, the old miner, and his battle and discussion with The Beast and I'm sorry to say this part lost me completely, which at that point made me lose interest in the book. After reading the book I went to Amazon to see what others had thought of the book. Two reviews. Two 5 star reviews. Huh.