December 2

The Jew Store by Stella Suberman  Great true story of the only Jews in a small southern community in the 1920s.  This story shared by the youngest daughter of the family shares her parents background and how they came to own a "Jew Store" in the community she was raised in.  The story had many interesting stories from the authors childhood but was not quite what I expected to be reading about.  Also throughout the story the author references an incident she will get to later as though there is a major plot twist to be expected.  This turn did not end up happening until very close to the end and was given only a few paragraphs of space which seemed odd given the build up.  Overall not a bad read but I'm still a little confused on what the overall message of the book was meant to be.

So Much for That by Lionel Shriver This is the story of a man who has always dreamed of retiring early in life and moving away to an amazing place with his wife.  Through circumstance his big dream has never come to be.  The day he decides to make it happen no matter what, and buys plane tickets for himself, his wife, and his high school age son, he shares his plan with his wife only to find out that she needs him to stay because she needs his insurance due to being diagnosed with a rare cancer.  For whatever reason it always takes me a minute to get into this authors books but I always end up really liking what I find when I stick with it.  This story shared what happens in families when things don't always go the way you want/think/hope they will.  There was also an interesting political background in how the health care system fails and how employers really hold such a key to our family members care.  This was also compared to other cultures and what they value and how things can be different in other parts of the world.  Overall a great book with some odd twists and turns but with an amazing ending that did a good job closing the characters story lines.