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.