Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

My bookclub just finished reading the "Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society" by Mary Anne Schaffer and Anne Barrows.

This was a good book with an easy-flowing writing style and fun characters that you soon come to love. This is a novel written through a series of letters between Juliet Ashton, successful London journalist, her friend and publisher Sydney, Sydney's sister and Juliet's lifelong friend Sophie, and a group of strangers who have a group called the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. These letters tell a tale of life on the island of Guernsey during the German invasion during the war. Juliet eventually travels to Guernsey and what she finds there will change her life forever.

I would certainly recommend this book if you are looking for an easy-to-read leisurely book. Since it is written through letters, it is very easy to pick up the book for just a few minutes, but then come quickly to a stopping point if you need to. Personally, I didn't really want to put it down!

For the month of March we are reading "Water for Elephants" by Sara Gruen. I'm only 3 chapters in and I'm already loving it. I can't wait until April when it comes out on the big screen. Want to read with us - please feel free to!

Book Review - The Shack

A few weeks ago I read "The Shack' by William P. Young with my book club. Before I read the boo, I had heard a lot of different things - some people liked it, other didn't. Personally, I thought it was a great book.

The basic story line goes something like this:
Mack takes his three children on a camping trip, but his youngest daughter is kidnapped, and believed to have been murdered in a desolate shack. The killer is never found. Years later, Mack received a mysterious note to go to the shack - possibly to meet God. Over a life-changing weekend, Mack learns who God really is and learns to finally let go of the guilt he felt of his daughter's death.

There are a few controversial things about this book. Many people have felt that God being portrayed by a large african american woman is one of them. I have to admit that when I first read about this in the book, I was taken aback as well, but as "God" explains his revelation to Mack, I realized one thing - we cannot put God in a box. Just as the book states, we often think of God as this old, white robed and white bearded man - maybe something like Gandolph in Lord of the Rings - but the fact is that He is nothing like that at all! He is EVERYTHING! He is a nurturing mother to those who need love; he is an adoring father to those who need his compassion; he is a shepherd to those who need his guidance - he is our everything!

Although there are a few things I didn't care for about this book, it certainly had me thinking. I would definitely recommend this to a believer who is strongly rooted in their faith. However, because of some of the questionable "religious" material, I would not recommend this book to a non-believer or a person who is struggling with their faith.

If you have already read "The Shack", what were your thoughts?

The Help

I just finished reading "The Help" by Kathryn Stockett. This was the very first book in my new book club and it was a wonderful choice. I truly enjoyed the book and it provided great discussion.

Last night was actually our very first book club meeting (besides our meet n' greet several weeks ago) and it was so great. To honor the southern heritage of our book, we sure did have some fried chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy, corn, green beans, macaroni and cheese, coleslaw, biscuits and DELICIOUS caramel cupcakes! It was fabulous.

More information about the help, here is what is being said about it.

Publisher's Weekly Synopsis:
This novel is set during the nascent civil rights movement in Jackson, Miss., where black women were trusted to raise white children but not to polish the household silver. Eugenia Skeeter Phelan is just home from college in 1962, and, anxious to become a writer, is advised to hone her chops by writing about what disturbs you. The budding social activist begins to collect the stories of the black women on whom the country club sets relies and mistrusts enlisting the help of Aibileen, a maid who's raised 17 children, and Aibileen's best friend Minny, who's found herself unemployed more than a few times after mouthing off to her white employers. The book Skeeter puts together based on their stories is scathing and shocking, bringing pride and hope to the black community, while giving Skeeter the courage to break down her personal boundaries and pursue her dreams. Assured and layered, full of heart and history, this one has bestseller written all over it!

I'll be honest, it took me several chapters to actually get into the book, but once you get going, you won't want to put it down. If found myself relating to several of the characters; love some and hating others. It sheds new light on the civil rights movement and will effect your thinking on the way life was "back then".

I hope that you will pick up this book and enjoy it as much as I did.

Await Your Reply

Today I finished my latest book, Await Your Reply, by Dan Chaon.

This book was definitely different, and not a personal favorite. The story follows three different people: a man named Miles trying to search for his long-lost twin brother, Ryan a guy who decides to reinvent himself when he realizes he was adopted, and Lucy a girl who runs off with her high school teacher to a deserted motel.

For me, this book was extremely difficult to follow. First of all, there are three completely separate story lines, and within each storyline, the author goes from past to present, from past to present. I was constantly having to go back and remind myself about which character I was reading.

Although the author does do a good job of entangling the three stories, I felt that his writing style just made reading the book more of a challenge than an enjoyment. I was originally going to stop reading after a few chapters, but I was too intrigued to find out how the whole thing came together...so I kept reading.

If you are a person who enjoys a good web of chaos or reading a challenging book, than this is a book for you. However, if you are like me and just like reading for sheer enjoyment, than this book probably shouldn't be on the top of your reading list.

But tonight, I am looking forward to picking up my next book...although, I'm not quite sure what book it will be! I need to go exploring in the "library".

The Appeal

POLITICS, POLITICS, POLITICS! On Saturday, I finally finished reading "The Appeal" by John Grisham, and it was all about (you might have guess it...)POLITICS!

Now I hold a BS in Political Science, and I work in a law firm, so this book was certainly my cup of tea!

The basic premise of the book is about how politics and people of power can so deeply affect our judicial system. Although the book did now end how I wanted it to, it ended in realistic way. In my opinion, John Grisham didn't write this book to make you smile and laugh, he wrote this book to make the American citizen realize that there is a need for judicial and political reform.

John Grisham definitely did a fine job of writing a fictional story about the factual world of politics. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who either 1) love politics, or 2) wants to know more about the world of politics! I have read quite a few Grisham novels, and this one was definitely different than all the rest. If you're a Grisham fan, pick it up and give it a read.

The next book I've decided to read is "Await Your Reply".

The Amazon book description:
The lives of three strangers interconnect in unforeseen ways--and with unexpected consequences--in acclaimed author Dan Chaon’s gripping, brilliantly written new novel.

Longing to get on with his life, Miles Cheshire nevertheless can’t stop searching for his troubled twin brother, Hayden, who has been missing for ten years. Hayden has covered his tracks skillfully, moving stealthily from place to place, managing along the way to hold down various jobs and seem, to the people he meets, entirely normal. But some version of the truth is always concealed.

A few days after graduating from high school, Lucy Lattimore sneaks away from the small town of Pompey, Ohio, with her charismatic former history teacher. They arrive in Nebraska, in the middle of nowhere, at a long-deserted motel next to a dried-up reservoir, to figure out the next move on their path to a new life. But soon Lucy begins to feel quietly uneasy.

My whole life is a lie, thinks Ryan Schuyler, who has recently learned some shocking news. In response, he walks off the Northwestern University campus, hops on a bus, and breaks loose from his existence, which suddenly seems abstract and tenuous. Presumed dead, Ryan decides to remake himself--through unconventional and precarious means.

Await Your Reply is a literary masterwork with the momentum of a thriller, an unforgettable novel in which pasts are invented and reinvented and the future is both seductively uncharted and perilously unmoored.

I hope you'll read with me!

The Host

Well I finished The Host by Stephenie Meyer last night and I was SAD! This book was so good that I didn't want it to end!

I will say that after reading the inside cover and reading the first couple of chapters, I wasn't even sure that I wanted to read the book - its sci-fi...and I don't really read sci-fi. But this is certainly sci-fi for those who hate sci-fi!

The first few chapters are background info...its the stuff you need to make everything else make sense. But one you get into the story and love triangle (actually a love square), then it is really fabulous.

If you are anything like me and love a good love story - this book is for you! Great plot, great writing, great reading, great emotion and great ending! However, the author does leave the ending a little open so that she can come back and write a sequel if she wants to ...and I certainly hope she does!!!

Here are a few reviews from Amazon.com:

Amazon.com Review

Amazon Best of the Month, May 2008: Stephenie Meyer, creator of the phenomenal teen-vamp Twilight series, takes paranormal romance into alien territory in her first adult novel. Those wary of sci-fi or teen angst will be pleasantly surprised by this mature and imaginative thriller, propelled by equal parts action and emotion. A species of altruistic parasites has peacefully assumed control of the minds and bodies of most humans, but feisty Melanie Stryder won't surrender her mind to the alien soul called Wanderer. Overwhelmed by Melanie's memories of fellow resistor Jared, Wanderer yields to her body's longing and sets off into the desert to find him. Likely the first love triangle involving just two bodies, it's unabashedly romantic, and the characters (human and alien) genuinely endearing. Readers intrigued by this familiar-yet-alien world will gleefully note that the story's end leaves the door open for a sequel--or another series. --Mari Malcolm

From Publishers Weekly

In this tantalizing SF thriller, planet-hopping parasites are inserting their silvery centipede selves into human brains, curing cancer, eliminating war and turning Earth into paradise. But some people want Earth back, warts and all, especially Melanie Stryder, who refuses to surrender, even after being captured in Chicago and becoming a host for a soul called Wanderer. Melanie uses her surviving brain cells to persuade Wanderer to help search for her loved ones in the Arizona desert. When the pair find Melanie's brother and her boyfriend in a hidden rebel cell led by her uncle, Wanderer is at first hated. Once the rebels accept Wanderer, whom they dub Wanda, Wanda's whole perspective on humanity changes. While the straightforward narrative is short on detail about the invasion and its stunning aftermath, it shines with romantic intrigue, especially when a love triangle (or quadrangle?!) develops for Wanda/Melanie.

Bitter is the New Black

So I just finished reading Bitter is the New Black: Confessions of a Condescending, egomaniacal, self-centered smart-ass, or why you should never carry a Prada bag to the unemployment office, by Jen Lancaster! This book can simply be described in one word: HILARIOUS!!!!!!!!!!

I don't know that I have ever laughed out loud so many times from a book!!!


Here is Amazon's description of the book:
"Jen Lancaster was living the sweet life-until real life kicked her to the curb.

She had the perfect man, the perfect job-hell, she had the perfect life-and there was no reason to think it wouldn't last. Or maybe there was, but Jen Lancaster was too busy being manicured, pedicured, highlighted, and generally adored to notice.

This is the smart-mouthed, soul-searching story of a woman trying to figure out what happens next when she's gone from six figures to unemployment checks and she stops to reconsider some of the less-than-rosy attitudes and values she thought she'd never have to answer for when times were good.

Filled with caustic wit and unusual insight, it's a rollicking read as speedy and unpredictable as the trajectory of a burst balloon. "

Just for fun, here are a few of my favorite quotes throughout the book!

"Perhaps my first mistake was taking financial advice from a book titled Confessions of a Shopaholic." Chapter 3

"Because I'm not a deadbeat. I'm not about to suck on the government's teat. For crying out loud, I'm a Republican. They'd kick me out of the party if I went on welfare." Chapter 4

"Maisy, this sucks. I have no Cadillac, no esthetician services, no Vegas trip, no tan, and no damn job. My life is a country music song." Chapter 6

"I complain. A Lot. Be particularly cautious if I am hungry, hot or tired. God have mercy on your soul if I am all three!" Chapter 6

"Mom, we're going to Las Vegas. They have EVERYTHING there, ok? I could call the concierge and request a crack pipe and a thirteen-year-old male prostitute, and both would be delivered to the room within the hour." Chapter 6

"My mother and I both lack the internal firewall that keeps us from saying almost everything we think" Chapter 6 - this is hilarious mainly because this runs in my family as well!

"You can insult my parentage, intelligence, or taste but you DO NOT say disparaging things about my dogs!" Chapter 7 - this is SOOO true!!!

All of this to say, if you need a fun, quick read (and don't mind a some language here and there), this is a great book! I'm out the door to purchase the rest of Jen Lancaster's books!

East of Eden

Well I just finished East of Eden, an incredibly novel by John Steinbeck.

WOW!!!

Throughout my reading, I wasn't always thrilled with the story line and sometimes I got confused, but there was something that kept me turning the page. This book my made my mind think about things I had never thought of before - of my faith, of my choices, of my will. The message of this book is one of the most powerful that I have ever read, although I didn't realize it until the last page, literally.

The story follows the history of two families: the Hamiltons and the Trasks. This story is 601 pages of good versus evil, and right versus wrong; it is 601 pages of love; it is 601 pages of blindness, betrayal and deceit.


This is John Steinbeck at his best! J and S Books says this:

"East of Eden is described as the classic Cain and Abel story replayed. The conflict of brothers is powerful in both generations. The Biblical story itself plays an important role in the novel. Yet East of Eden doesn't end the same as the original story in the Bible. Plus this novel takes the story further, showing the effects on the people around the brothers as well.

This is a masterful book, complex, and layered. The characters stay with you when you close the cover. After I finished it, I kept going back and re-reading different parts. The tone of the book is determined when Samuel, Lee, and Adam discuss the meaning of the wording of the original Cain and Abel story. That section needs re-read numerous times to get the full impact both of that scene and on the whole book.

East of Eden is considered one of John Steinbeck's greatest works. ... This is a longer, deep novel. It is worth every page of reading. Prepare to meet real people that you will respect, disregard, like and dislike depending on the circumstances - just like the people we know every day."

Reading

So I just finished reading the entire Twilight Series, by Stephanie Meyer (including the partial draft of Midnight Sun...the story from Edward's perspective). It was wonderful! I enjoyed both movies when they came out, but now have an incredible appreciation for the books as well. I can honestly say that I LOVED reading the whole series!

Now I am a reader...I love everything about reading, especially when there is a whole series! With summer coming around the corner quickly, I need a new reading lineup for my time in the sun! So, I am coming to you, my dear readers, for your advise on some great books...preferably fiction...but regarding pretty much any subject matter...romance, comedy, mystery, drama...just about anything! So let me have it...what are your favs?????