October- 9

The Godmother by Carrie Adams-  This story was about a 30something woman at a crossroads.  The title is referencing the about a dozen god children she has.  Tessa, our narrator, is a wonderful godmother to numerous children of her friends.  She is single and just back in her home after getting some time off work due to her ex boss stalking her and taking some time to travel (eat, pray, love style) to get back to herself.  The book focuses on really looking at what she wants in life.  Marriage, family, kids?  I liked the exploration from a new standpoint and after a semi traumatic event.  I liked the humor that Tessa brought to a subject that could be taken very seriously  It was cool to be with her on her journey to decide/discover what really matters most in life for her as an individual.  I got, and liked, the overall message from the author that we each choose our own way that is best for us as individuals.  

Into the Darkest Corner by Elizabeth Haynes-  This book was scary creepy good.  The main character Catherine narrates from the present and takes us back to the past as a parallel to the present.  Catherine in the present lives alone and at first seems very paranoid.  As the book goes on and the past and present connect we see the reasons for this current state.  Catherine dated a psychopath Lee for some time and had to escape from him (the parallel story line) and the terribly abusive relationship they had.  Now far away she learns he has been released from prison and she knows he will come after her again.  This book was terrifying and great.  I loved the strength of Catherine's character.  I liked the ending of the book too and think it really wrapped it up while also leaving the reader to think.  

Daughter’s Keeper by Ayelet Waldman-  I really like this author, but this was not my favorite book of her's.  This is about a young 20 something Olivia and her mother Elaine.  The woman live in California and are extreme opposites of each other.  Olivia winds up arrested and having to move back in with Elaine to be released while waiting for her trial.  During this waiting time Olivia also finds out she is pregnant and against Elaine's wishes decides to keep the baby even though the father is also in jail and his family is in Mexico.  Both woman narrate and while I saw lots of potential I just couldn't like either character enough to like the story overall.  The mom Elaine was not very motherly and the story for her was more or less her journey to figuring out what it meant to be a mom even though she had been one for some time.  Olivia's story of figuring out who she is in the world as an adult, a daughter and an almost mother is interesting but just fell a little flat for me.  Overall I felt like the concept was great but the novel took too many twists and turns away from the storyline.  

Sometimes Mine by Martha Moody-  Liked the first book I read by this author but since then I haven't connected as much to her novels.  This one was about Genie a single middle age doctor with a teenage daughter.  Genie has a relationship with a man she sees infrequently because he has a wife and kids.  Their relationship changes when the man is diagnosed with a terminal illness and all parties have to confront their interactions and how they will move forward.  I bought the concept but I just didn't see the growth in the characters I had wanted to see.  Mostly the novel kept going back to the past and how the couple met or other things from the past.  I appreciated the main character's journey to figuring out who she would be without this affair and also at the same time accepting her teenage daughter would be moving away to college shortly.  I just didn't really get that invested in her as a character though to really sympathize with her journey.  

The Cider House Rules by John Irving-  I can't say enough good things about this book.  I read my first book by this author last month and found this was a good second one.  I had a vague idea on what this was about having seen clips from the movie made.  This is the story of Homer Wells, an orphan coming up in an orphanage in St Cloud's Maine in the 1940s.  We hear narration from the founder of the orphanage Dr Wilbur Larch, and later after we watch him grow up into a teenager from Homer.  Homer is returned to the orphanage several times after possible adoption but never finds a suitable home and grows up in the orphanage.  Homer becomes a doctor in training knowing how to perform abortions and births but not having the formal education or licensure to legally be doing these things.  As a young adult Homer moves away from the orphanage following a young couple coming in together who he ends up in a love triangle with.  This couple takes him to live on an apple orchard that one of their parents owns.  Homer spends some years living in the cider house with the African American workers.  During this time we hear also from several of the other orphans who are having their own journeys into the world.  In the meantime Dr Larch's hope is Homer will return home and take over the orphanage/clinic so he can die in peace.  This is a long book with so much packed in.  We hear Dr Larch's story of becoming an abortionist, we hear about political debates, racial difficulties, the Vietnam War, and ultimately about an orphan finding his way.  It was a great read.   

All Fall Down by Jennifer Weiner-  Like this author, did not like this book.  Maybe "like" is not even right word for it.  I just didn't find it to be realistic at all.  I felt indifferent to the main character, Allison. She's a mom to one, sometimes difficult, young daughter.  The book opens with her at the pediatricians office taking an addiction quiz in a managing in the waiting room.  We then follow Allison down the path of past stories that led her to her pill addiction, present day consequences, and on her path of recovery.  Though I liked pieces of the story, as someone who works in addiction this book was not a realistic portrayal.  The timing of everything was way of.  I mean I get you only have so many pages, but then do a "one year later" or something.  It felt too rushed for such an important topic.  

China Dolls by Lisa See-  Love this author and was excited to learn she had a new book out.  This is the story of Ruby, Helen, and Grace.  3 women living in California in 1938.  We hear narration from each character over the next few years of their lives.  Grace is an American born Chinese woman escaping her abusive father.  Helen is a Chinese woman from a well known family in China town.  Ruby is a Japanese woman trying to pass as a Chinese woman during an anti Japanese climate due to the war.  Each woman is keeping her own secrets. The three become friends while trying to become performers in a show in China town.  We follow the girls through their joys and sorrows in a difficult historical time for their cultures.  We also watch as their secrets unfold and their friendships are tested.   

Nine Inches by Tom Perrotta-  I like this author and enjoyed this book of several short stories of his.  I enjoyed the way he developed the characters in each story.  I think the common themes were typical of this author: relationships, sex, growing up, change, regret, etc.  I didn't see a huge connect between the stories but I also didn't feel like the stories left me hanging as I usually do with short story books.  

Leaving Time by Jodi Picoult- I'm so torn on this one.  This is my favorite author and I love love love elephants.  Usually this author puts out a book every March but this one didn't come out until October so I waited even longer for a new one from her.  When I saw months ago what the newest story would be about I was incredibly excited.  This story was about the unsolved murder/disappearance of a young girl's mother from an elephant sanctuary.  We hear from several narrators including the girl in present day, her mother from the past sharing the story of falling in love with her father, and a former psychic/communicator with the dead.  I love love loved all the great information about elephants in the book, but I think for anyone who doesn't love elephants the way I do it might have been overkill.  I also liked the story but couldn't figure out where it was going and then when it started to come to a close I was very upset with the ending.  Having stepped back for awhile and looking back at the ending I'm not as upset by it but I still feel like I was lied to throughout the book in some ways.  I feel a little more now as though I understand why the author may have made some of the choices she made and why she choose to end the book the way she did.  That being said though I had, maybe too, high expectations for this book that just did not get met.  

September 6

The Casual Vacancy by JK Rowling- An interesting story with many stories within the story.  This novel shares the story of a small town and it's political elections due to a vacancy seat on the parish council due to the untimely death of one of the council members.  There are many characters involved and many unique individual story lines going on at the same time with the main story being about the election.  We as readers know more then the towns people know about one another and can see things more objectively because we see the background stories of the characters.  The one thing I didn't like was how graphic the novel was.  I don't mind sex scenes but I feel like the author was trying to prove something with her first adult novel.  Some of it just was not necessary and was too much detail.  Other then that I really liked the book

The Other Family by Joanna Trollope- I didn't care for this story.  It was about two families.  One with 3 young women and the mom and dad and one with a single mother with an adult son.  The dad dies unexpectedly which brings the two families together in some ways since the single parent and adult son were his first family.  The story had potential but it was very slow moving and I still don't quite get what the point of it was.  The characters weren't likable and the story didn't really move anywhere. 

The One I Left Behind by Jennifer McMahon- I like this author because her books are unpredictable and take twists and turns.  This one's main character is named Reggie and when she was a young girl a serial killer was in her town.  The killer would cut off the victims hand leave it to be found and then 3 days later the rest of the body.  Reggie's mom was a victim but her body never turned up.  25 years later her mother shows up in a hospital/homeless shelter and she has to confront her past and how it affected her future.  A good mystery that kept me guessing until the end, I definitely could not have predicted how this one would end.  

The Good Luck of Right Now by Matthew Quick- The main character, Bartholomew, has lived with his mother for 38 years, after she dies Bartholomew has to figure out life on his own.  The book is a series of letters to actor Richard Gere who the character's mother seemed obsessed with and now the character is.  It's never said but the character seems to have something wrong with him mentally.  It was interesting to read about Bartholomew's adventures trying to navigate the world and make friends after so many years of isolation.  I was pretty confused on the ending though and what the book's message was overall.  

The Accidental Bestseller by Wendy Wax-  It's a book about an author who needs to come up with a story to turn in to her publisher but hasn't written anything and who's husband ends up leaving her so she doesn't seem able to get the novel done.  Her 3 writer friends try to rescue her by creating characters but the characters are based on themselves.  The women have an agreement not to tell that they helped write the book so the book ends up being about 4 women friends each struggling with something and keeping secrets.  I got a little lost to be honest.  It was a book within a book but it just didn't work overall.  I liked the realistic pieces where the story didn't just have a great happy ending but I didn't really understand the overall point either.  

A Widow for One Year by John Irving- Really liked this book and now this author.  The main character of this book is Ruth and we follow her through her childhood and adulthood.  The book starts with Ruth being 4 years old, the summer her mother leaves her family.  Ruth's father, a writer, takes on an assistant for the summer and he narrates parts of the book as well.  Ruth grows up in the shadow of her dead brothers who died when they were teenagers before she was born.  Ruth's mother leaves her and her father that summer and we follow Ruth and her family and the young assistant through the next decades of their lives.  I just loved the author's writing style and how many stories within the story there were.  Each worked in it's own unique way and I never felt lost trying to connect the characters.  As a reader I identified with each character when they were narrating and wanted to know more about what would happen for their lives.  

August 12

Love and Treasure by Ayelet Waldman- What a story this was.  This story alternates from the 1940s during the war and present day.  During the present day Jack gives his grand daughter Natalie a necklace and asks her to find the owner.  The story then weaves back and forth on how the necklace came to be in Jack's hands after he was a soldier in the war and Natalie's search to help her grandfather's guilt.  The story was just wonderful and I was turning the pages as fast as I could to see what would happen next.  The author had a way of keeping us as readers interested in both stories too which is what I think is hard sometimes about going back and forth like this.  I liked that the ending wasn't quite what you wanted it to be or how you thought it might go.  I liked that she took a more realistic approach and went for something different.  A great read.  

The Weird Sisters by Eleanor Brown- I didn't really care for this book.  It had an interesting concept, three sisters raised by a father who was somewhat of an expert in Shakespeare as a professor at a local college.  The girls are all grown up but each take turns narrating pieces of their current lives and childhood.  The girls mother is sick with breast cancer and each young adult ends up back at home to help as they themselves are each at their own cross roads in life.  Rose, the oldest, is choosing between the quiet home life she has always desired or making the brave decision to move to London to be with her fiance.  Bean, the middle child, has had to move back from New York with a secret about why she had to leave her supposed successful career and life.  Cordy, the youngest, is returning home pregnant after wandering around the country and not really ever having to grow up on her own.  I think the author relied too heavily on the Shakespeare references and on the birth order of the girls.  

Four Friends by Robyn Carr- This book was about 4 women who form somewhat unlikely friendships and all going through rough spots in their lives.  I found myself waiting for the novel to get good for as long as I was reading it but it just fell short in a lot of ways.  It never really connected the women realistically and sort of threw them and their problems together and then boom happy endings for each of them.  I didn't really care for the book.  

After You by Julie Buxbaum- This is a story about a woman named Ellie living in the United States but temporary living in London since her best friend was murdered.  Her best friend, Lucy, was murdered in front of her young daughter Sophie.  Ellie movies in with Sophie and Lucy's husband to help get Sophie through the trauma.  The story has several stories within it.  The marriages of Lucy and Ellie, motherhood for Lucy while Ellie remains childless until she steps in as a mother figure and contemplates if motherhood is for her after all, the friendship of Lucy and Ellie and the secrets they kept from one another.  Overall I liked the book and found myself turning the pages to see what would happen next for Ellie.  

Love Water Memory by Jennie Shortridge- This book starts with the main character Lucie waking up in San Francisco bay not sure of who she is and why she is there.  From there Lucie's fiance, Grady, sees her on the news and gets her back home.  The book is narrated by both characters and we travel with Lucie on her journey her to try to find out who is now and also where she came from.  Secrets from her childhood and past unravel and she gets a chance to decide who she will be going forward.  Overall I liked the book but wish it had been longer and more developed.  Everything seemed to move very fast with little time to really process what was going on.  

Red Hook Road by Ayelet Waldman-  This was a story about a young couple who die in a tragic car accident on their wedding day.  The book is about their families and what happens in the years after their deaths.  The family had been waiting at the reception while the young couple went to take pictures and the police show up at the reception.  The book opens with this scene which was written well.  The rest of the book fell a little flat for me.  It felt like the main characters were the people that had died and maybe that was part of the point of the book but it just didn't work for me.  I really like this writer and her books and I'll keep reading more from her, this one just wasn't a favorite.  

The Office of Desire by Martha Moody- I picked this book up since I really liked the first book I read by this author last month, Best Friends, but I didn't like this book nearly as much.  This is the story about a doctor's office with two doctors and 3 medical workers who do various tasks for them.  The office is changed when one of the medical workers has an affair with one of the doctors.  The problem for me was that none of the characters, all who narrate at some point in the book, were really that likable.  I didn't really care what happened next for them in the book which spans over their lives over the course of years.  

The Gift by Cecelia Ahern- This is a very short novel about a police officer telling a story to a young man brought in on Christmas.  The story is about anger and time.  The police officer tells about a man he met that was essentially cloning himself to be in two places at once and the disastrous results.  I liked the main story line but the story within the story was a bit unrealistic.  It worked for some time but then some key details just didn't work out.  It's possible if the story within the story had been the only story it may have worked, but because someone else was narrating there was just something about it that didn't work for me.  

The Girls of August by Anne Rivers Siddons- Overall this was an easy light read.  The story if about 4 women who began renting a beach house in August when they were in their 20s and their husbands were in medical school.  One of the women has since died and the new wife of the man who was married to her sets up another summer vacation after years of the tradition not having happened.  The characters were likable and I wanted a strong female friendship novel.  Instead what I got was a novel about women keeping big secrets from each other and then revealing them in a big dramatic fashion towards the end of the book and then everything wrapping up somewhat unrealistically at the very end.  It wasn't bad but not at all what I thought I was getting. 

Where She Went by Gayle Forman- This is the continued story of Mia and Adam after the same author's first book If I Stay which I read last month.  This book was told from Adam's prospective which I really liked since both stories were his stories too.  It's again a teen novel and I wasn't expecting a whole lot, more just wanted to see what happened next for the characters.  The story takes us to a few years after the accident and after Mia has awaken from her coma.  Getting the story from Adam's point of view rather then Mia's allows the reader to stay more neutral and see things from his perspective.  Adam and Mia meet again for one day in NYC where she is playing a concert and living, and where he is visiting as a professional musician and about to leave on another tour, which he doesn't want to go on.  We find out about their struggle to maintain their love after the accident and see how the accident changed both of their lives.  Overall a short easy read that I enjoyed since it means seeing what happened next for the characters.  

Tempting Fate by Jane Green- I go back and forth with this author sometimes but really liked this newest book of hers.  This was the story of Gabby and her husband Elliot and their marriage.  Gabby winds up having an affair and the consequences of that to her husband and two children are long term.  I liked that the book was very real at times and didn't sugar coat anything.  I thought the author made the book relatable.  You felt for both characters and their situations as the story unfolded.  I'm still torn on the ending though as that was where it felt to me where things were a bit unrealistic.  

The Book of Tomorrow by Cecelia Ahern- I like this author, but the thing with her books is they have really interesting concepts and sometimes she makes them believable and other times she doesn't.  This was the case where it just wasn't believable what was happening with the main character, Tamara.  Tamara is moved to her aunt and uncle's house after her father dies and her mother is overcome with grief.  They both make this move together but her mother is entirely not available to her.  Tamara as a teen is used to the big city life and having lots of money and friends.  Now she is living in a very small town with no friends and with the loss of her father, the loss of all her financial security too.  Tamara finds a diary which is her's and each night she reads and learns of what will happen the next day.  This leads to a dramatic ending with all secrets revealed but by the time I got there I just didn't believe any of what was happening.  For me this was a case of too many ingredients being added without thought to how to develop them.  

July 8

The First Phone Call From Heaven by Mitch Albom- This was a somewhat strange story but by an author I like very much and was reminded of after seeing him on a TV show.  I picked this book up the next time I was at the library and I think overall I liked the story.  The book follows a small town in Michigan where several people in town start receiving phone calls on specific phones from deceased loved ones.  The town becomes a media sensation, the specific cell phone all the calls are coming in on booms with sales, and the town becomes divided on those who believe and those who do not.  The main character, Sully, a police office is determined to get to the bottom of things especially with his own personal connection to the case.  I like that Albom adds so many details and gives pieces of the story that one would not expect but that seem to fit and help to move the story.  I was curious from the start on how it would end and found the ending unexpected and I’m still not certain if I liked the ending or not.  In either case I want to get back to reading more from this author.

The End of Sex by Donna Freitas- This is a non-fiction work about the “hookup” culture and the influence of social media/ match making websites added in.  I think the author’s overall point with presenting the research and information she presents is to show readers that technology has changed the way we view and find relationships and intimacy.  I found myself wondering while reading this novel what the new meaning of intimacy is and how relationships will find it as we continue in this digital age.  I learned a few things but overall I found the author didn’t really present any startling new information or ideas on how to compensate for the new found problems she presented. 

One Hundred Names by Cecelia Ahern- I struggle with this author, I either really like her work or I don’t and usually when I don’t I liked the idea of the plot but it just didn’t seem to end up working out in a meaningful way.  This was the case with this book.  The book’s main character Kitty is a writer on a magazine who has just been embarrassed by a scandal with her last article.  Kitty’s mentor, and boss, leaves her a list of 100 names on her death bed and asks her if she could writer about anything what would she write about.  The implication is this list is what she would have written about if she had one more chance but she is dying.  Kitty sets about trying to meet the people on the list and prepare a tribute article to her dead boss.  Along the way of meeting a select few from the list she heals from her own embarrassment and works on trying to figure out the connection between the 100.  The concept I liked, but the product just didn’t work for me.  I almost wish each chapter had been a different one of the 100 or something.  Instead the author’s attempt to connect the various story lines occurring just falls flat.  Kitty is likeable though and her ultimate return to her professional career is a happy ending. 

The Ruins of California by Martha Sherrill- A really great coming of age in 1970s California story about a young girl names Inez.  Inez is shuffled back and forth between her white father in San Francisco and her Hispanic mother’s family in LA.  Inez’s father is very laid back and provides adventure when she spends summers, weekends, and holidays with his newest girlfriend or wife.  Her mother provides a more stable family environment with her extended family but more structure and less of the fun she gets when in San Francisco.  Her older half brother who she had not yet met also enters the picture at some point.  We follow her through her adolescence and young adulthood watching her figure her parents out and the free love and drug culture of her young adult years.  I liked how it was written and kept turning the pages to find out what would happen next for young Inez. 

Prophets Prey by Sam Brower- This is a true account of a private investigator and his experience with the FLDS community.  I enjoy reading about the fascinating FLDS community and I liked the way the author shared his account.  I just didn't feel that I learned anything new or different from this book then from any of the other accounts I have read.  Maybe I've read too many stories now on this community.  In any case I admire Brower's commitment to the cause.  

Someday Someday Maybe by Lauren Graham

         The main character of this novel is a young girl named Franny living in NYC trying to make it as an actress and catch her big break.  The author is why I wanted to read this book, actress Lauren Graham who I have always liked as an actress.  There are probably some parts of the story that were true or related to similar experiences the author had in trying to find her own way as an actress.  What I liked though was that you couldn't really tell that from the book.  The book just seemed genuine and Franny was a likable character you wanted to see succeed and find her way.  There was of course a love story but I liked that she didn't get caught up in it and it wasn't the plot of the book.  

If I Stay by Gayle Forman

         This is the story about Mia and her boyfriend Adam.  Mia is in a major and tragic car accident with her family and is in a coma but narrating from the coma while being able to see everything going on around her.  It's a teen book so I wasn't expecting much and it about met the expectation.  I wanted to read this book because I saw the previews for the movie coming out and I like to read the books before I see the movies.  For a teen novel I think this book had more substance then usual and I can see the appeal it has for the younger generation.  It is, in a big way, a love story but it has more to it then that and as a reader you want the happy ending for the girl but in this case looking at what "happy ending" means is suddenly very different.  

Best Friends by Martha Moody

         I randomly picked this book up off the shelf and I'm glad I did.  It was a great story of two women's friendship over many years.  Clare and Sally meet in the 70s at Oberlin college in Ohio.  Randomly thrown together as roommates the two could not be more different but end up forming a life long friendship.  Clare is from Ohio and Sally from California but they grow and change together and apart for the four years of college and long summer breaks and then through decades of their lives each with their own marriages and families now too.  Everything in the women's lives changes so much over the years but their friendship, while it makes some changes, is a constant and I loved that lesson about the book.  I loved that no matter what happened, no matter what they did to each other or to other's they had each other's back and knew they had someone they could count on.  I truly enjoyed the writing and was sad when this book ended not to know what happened next for Sally and Clare, though I can say that I really enjoyed the ending as well and thought it brought the book to a perfect close.