Sunday Salon

I can finally say, "School's out for summer!"  My girls get out tomorrow after just half a day, so even though it is a school night we aren't doing a very good job of getting to bed. 

This past week my brother-in-law and his wife and daughter came to visit us from Montana. Their daughter is a year and a half old and this was our first time meeting her.  My girls were very excited to see their new cousin.  There were a lot of late nights, meals out, and time spent with them.  It was great, but hard on my kiddos who were extremely crabby and tired by the end of the week.

Tonight my oldest daughter had a going away party for her best friend. We have known she was moving for the past three months, but what once looked so far off is now upon us.  I have shed tears over this myself because this a friend that isn't replaceable. They have a few plans already for later this summer and spending time together, but I think things will be very noticeable once school starts in the fall. Sigh.

I have had a productive week of reading although I haven't been as good about blogging. A class I am taking has started so that is absorbing some of my free time. The week ahead is full of softball games, an eye doctor appointment, piano lessons and a hair cut.  That schedule looks pretty nice considering I usually cram much more into a week where I am working full time.
What's up for your week?

Louise's Gamble

Sarah Shaber's new mystery series set during World War II is fast becoming a favorite of mine. Louise lives in Washington, D.C. where she works for the OSS, spending her days filing important documents to help the war effort.  She rents a room in a boarding house, typical for single adults in the 1940s. Shaber seems to have her finger on the pulse of what this time period was like from Louise's clothes to the idea that even kissing a man in public was inappropriate. 

Louise spends one night each week attending a knitting group where she becomes friendly with a young Italian immigrant.  When this woman approaches Louise and tries to give her some information to help the war effort.  Louise talks to her boss who then advises her how this will be handled. However, things don't go as planned and once again Louise finds herself in the middle of something dangerous.  Not one to shy away from a little excitement and also wanting to find out the truth, Louise embarks on her own investigation. 

Mystery lovers will enjoy this book as will readers who like books set in the 1940s or about World War II.  I am recommending this series to many friends and think this will be a big hit in my small library where many readers remember the era Shaber is writing about.

May Recap

Despite May being a busy month with all the end of the year activities at school, I read a lot of great books. Here's the recap:

1. How To Eat a Cupcake by Meg Donohue
2.  Rush for the Gold by John Feinstein
3. The Starboard Sea by Angela Dermont
4. The Woman Who Wasn't There by Robin Gaby Fisher
5. I've Got Your Number by Sophie Kinsella
6. By the Iowa Sea by Joe Blair
7. The Fall Back Plan by Leigh Stein
8. The Good Father by Noah Hawley
9. Much Ado About Anne by Heather Vogel Frederick
10. The Unfinished Work of Elizabeth D. by Nichole Bernier
11. Irises by Francisco X. Stork
12. The Lost Years by Mary Higgins Clark
13.  Monday Mornings by Sanjay Gupta
14.  The Red Book by Deborah Copaken Kogan
15. Child of the Mountains by Marilyn Sue Shank
16. The Sleepy Hollow Family Almanac by
17.  Love's Unfolding Dream by Janette Oke
18.  Lone Bean by Chudney Ross
19. Faith Bass Darling's Last Garage Sale by Lynda Rutledge
20. The Master's Muse by Varley O'Connor
21. Wild by Cheryl Strayed
22. Louise's Gamble by Sarah Shaber
23.  True Sister by Sandra Dallas

19 books were library books, 4 were my own
3 were non-fiction,20 were fiction
5 were YA/tween, 18 were adult books
5 were written by male authors, 18 by females

Blast From the Past

I can't believe it's been a decade since this book was out.  I love Jeanne Ray's work and am excited that just this past month she has a new novel out. Her books are ones I can consistently recommend to people of all ages and not worry about the language or content offending anyone.

Kotlowitz's book showing how two young boys grew up in the projects is one I should re-read. Since I first read this book my job situation has changed and I now educate children whose childhoods are not that different than the boys in this book.

I probably shouldn't admit this, but I recall very little about this Picoult book. 

Love, love, love Alice.  I'm still a bit behind in this series, but these are books I can't wait for my own girls to read.

While I can't recall the plot of this one anymore, even though I could make some guesses based on the cover picture, I do remember enjoying it and thinking that this was a good book for boy readers - sometimes hard to find.

How about you? What were you reading ten years ago? Last year?

True Sisters

I love pioneer stories and I love Sandra Dallas, so True Sisters was nearly a sure thing even before I began reading.  And I did love this book, despite the fact that it was hearbreaking.

True Sisters is the fictional accoung of the Mormons trek from Iowa City to Salt Lake City,Utah, pushing handcarts.  I had never heard this portion of Mormon history and couldn't imagine undertaking such a journey.  The pioneers had it rough enough on their westward journey but in comparison to what the Mormons endured, their trip looks surprisingly easy,

Louisa is married to Thales, the leader of the Mormons. He is certain that their trek to Salt Lake City will be successful and openly shares his belief that those who perish along the way did so because of their lack of faith.

Anne has come along on the journey with her husband, John, despite the fact that she is not Mormon and does not intend to join their faith. 

And Nannie is traveling with her sister and sister's husband, faced with seeing the man she was once going to marry along on this journey now married to another woman. 

What these three women endure along with the entire group on this journey is more devastating than anything they could have ever imagined.  Rarely do I sneak a peek at the end of a book, but I couldn't help but look ahead to see if these women survived.  Starvation was a major concern since the promised replenishments never arrived, frostbite - and even entire portions of the body freezing, sickness, drowning...the list of struggles was endless.  While Dallas does include a storyline featuring polygamy, the true heart of this story is the trip that these three women make across the country.

True Sisters was a great historical fiction novel. I am already telling friends about it and encouraging them to read it for themselves.

Wild

Over the Memorial Day holiday I devoured Wild by Cheryl Strayed, her memoir about hiking the Pacific Crest Trail in 1995.  Still reeling from her mother's death four years before, her divorce, and a string of bad decisions and relationships Strayed decides to hike the PCT where she hopes to reconnect with herself and find the person she once was.

Although this is a memoir that hikers and outdoorsmen will enjoy, I am neither of these things, and still found it hard to put down.  Wild is very well written - immediately engaging me.  Perhaps it helped that Strayed was also a novice hiker, never having undertaken anything like this before. Although she had done some research about her trip and purchased supplies from REI, the actual hike on the PCT was a new experience - and one that I was amazed she decided to undertake let alone be successful at.

Strayed enjoyed her time on the PCT which proved to be a life changing experience.  Her recollections of her childhood and other events that shaped her life are expertly interspersed with the events of her time on the trail and give more meaning to why she decided to undertake this endeavor.

Wild is one of the best memoirs I have read in 2012, and certainly worthy of the praise it has been receiving.

Waiting on Wednesday

Waiting on Wednesday is hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine.

This week's pick: Wish You Were Eyre: The Mother Daughter Book Club by Heather Vogel Frederick

Due out: September 25, 2012

Product Description taken from Amazon:

The book club says bon voyage to Concord and bonjour to France!

It’s a dream come true for Megan, who’s jet-setting to Paris for Fashion Week with Gigi. Meanwhile, back in Concord, Mrs. Wong decides to run for mayor, so Emma and Stewart team up to make her campaign a success. Jess and Cassidy are also hoping for victories, Jess in the a cappella finals with the MadriGals and Cassidy in the national hockey championships with her teammates. In the midst of it all, the girls—along with their Wyoming pen pals, who drop in for a visit over Spring Break—dive into Charlotte BrontË’s classic Jane Eyre. Some real life romance follows, as Becca may have found a Mr. Rochester of her own.

And then there’s the matter of a certain wedding. The book club girls, their families, the British Berkeley brothers, and even Stinkerbelle will be attending the ceremony, which means there might be some bumps before the bride waltzes down the aisle….

Faith Bass Darling's Last Garage Sale

A few weeks ago we had a garage sale at our house.  I am not much of a garage sale person. My in-laws, however, love them. So it is always my mother-in-law who gets our things ready and sets up our garage sale.  This weekend, while reading Faith Bass Darling's Last Garage Sale by Lynda Rutledge, I chuckled to myself at how different our garage sales were.

Faith Bass Darling is suffering from Alzheimer's -something obvious from early on in the novel.  She has determined that the last day of 1999 will be her last day on earth, and has decided to get rid of her family's antiques by hosting a garage sale.  This garage sale is a huge departure from the person Faith Bass Darling was.  She grew up with money, valuing her possessions more than her own children.  Her daughter, Claudia, has not been home in twenty years after a falling out with her mother over an antique wedding ring. Now items worth thousands of dollars - and sometimes even hundreds of thousands of dollars- are being sold for mere pennies. 

As the story unfolds Faith Bass Darling's past is revealed and the events that led to her life of solitude are explained.  Rutledge's novel takes place in the South and I could almost see the Southern charm of the Darling mansion and the people who inhabit the book's pages.  This novel is a lot of fun, despite the fact that Faith Bass Darling's life is a bit sad and lonely as it nears it's end. 

Lone Bean

If you're looking for a chapter book for a girl who enjoys books like the Sassy series, Clementine, or Keena Ford, Lone Bean by Chudney Ross (due out in July) is a great selection.

Bean is in third grade, suffering from some friend problems.  Her best friend has found a new best friend, and Bean is feeling alone.  She tries to find some new friends but learns that it is important to be careful about who you hang out with.  In addition to her friend issues, Bean starts learning how to play an instrument and struggles with missing her mother who has a busy work schedule.

Most girls can relate to Bean's friend issues and will appreciate a story about something most of them have experienced.  Bean is a girl readers will enjoy and while I don't know of any plans for future installments, I am hopeful that Ross will continue to write about Bean.

Child of the Mountains

I love middle grade historical fiction novels. And despite this being the last week of school, I have managed to get a fair amount of reading done. Child of the Mountains by Marilyn Sue Shank is set in 1953, West Virginia where Lydia and her family are poor but happy.  When her brother is born suffering from cystic fibrosis and her father dies, it is just the four of them - Lydia, Gran, Mom, and BJ - together, trying to survive.  However, things only get worse when BJ dies and their mom is arrested and put in jail for his death. Lydia's story is revealed throughout this book as she tries her best to cope while living with her uncle William and aunt Ethel Mae.  She dreams of seeing her mother again and being a family. When she discovers a secret that her uncle Williams is keeping, Lydia has to re-evaluate what being a family is all about.

I loved how Shank revealed bits and pieces of Lydia's story. Although sometimes I could guess at what I thought had happened to Lydia, Shank's writing made this story interesting and real.  Her own background growing up in West Virginia gives Lydia's story credibility as well.

This is a book I won't forget any time soon.