The Distant Land of my Father

The Distant Land of my Father

by: Bo Caldwell

One of my top 10 book ever.

It is an amazing story of a man that is raised by American parents in Hong Kong. He gets married and brings his American wife to live in Hong Kong. They have a daughter. That is all just the beginning. The book is really about the relationship between the daughter and the father.

It is powerful, thought provoking. It's about how we live our lives, who we need to forgive, do we need to ask forgiveness; falling in love, choosing to marry, divorce.

It's very good.

Fatally flaky

Fatally Flaky

by: Diane Mott Davidson

Ok - your average, usual detective story. The twist here is the person doing the detecting is a caterer and she includes a lot of her recipes. She makes all the cooking seem so easy and effortless. It's not, really.

I liked it fine; not great.

The caterer deals with a difficult bride. People die. She finds out why.

The Help

The Help

by: Kathryn Stockett

I thought about this book long after I read it. It was VERY good, very thought provoking.

This one I highly recommend!

It is set in 1962, in Mississippi. Everyone had a maid and they were treated just like "the help". The time period is the beginning of the Civil Rights movement.

It has great insights into the lives of The Help, the people that hired the Help; their families, their children.

I really liked it!

Read it, then comment! Let's talk.

Shanghai Girls

Shanghai Girls
by: Lisa See

I REALLY liked this book. I also really liked the book this author wrote before...Snowflower and the Secret Fan. Excellent!

Shanghai Girls is set in Shanghai, 1937. These 2 rich girl's lives get torn apart when they discover that things were not as they seemed. Their father did not have the money they thought.

They are thrown into arranged marriages. I hate to give anything away. This is a very interesting book, lots of insights into the lives of girls living in China and in the U.S. at that time.

What do we become when hard times and trouble come our way?

This is a good one!

Perfect Fifths

Perfect Fifths
by: Megan McCafferty

This book looked SO promising. I thought I would really enjoy it.

The language was VERY bad. It was embarrassing! I had to stop reading the book and hide it until I could get it back to the library!

I wrote the author and told her I wished she would write without that language!

She wrote back and pretty much said that that is how she thinks people in real life talk. Huh?? Not me and not my friends.

Really, let's all try to raise the bar; not see how far we can sink. It will make the world a better place.

Dead Lucky

Dead Lucky

by: Lincoln Hall

I have a fascination with Mount Everest.

I don't want to climb it.

I really like to read about it!

This book takes place in 2006, mount Everest.

Lincoln Hall had an amazing, scary, death defying trip on that Mountain.

I CAN recommend this book. Really interesting.

4 Books!

The Piano Teacher

by Janice Y. K. Lee

Hong Kong, WW2 time period, what happens to people before, during after the war. Affairs, mean. I wished it was better.

The Reliable Wife

by: Robert Goolrick

Wished this was better too! Great story idea. WAY too sordid for me. Man writes an add for a reliable wife, she is a con woman who answers; eventually they fall in love.

Ultra Violet

by: Nancy Bush

This is like a Janet Evanovich book. Woman detective, a husband with 3 ex-wives is killed, she solves the mystery. It was ok.

Holly's Inbox

by: Holly Denham

This is written all like e-mails. It is a VERY thick book, but a fast read. I wished it was better.

It has some adult themes.

I was bugged. I really wanted to really like this book. I didn't.

Crazy for the Storm

Crazy for the Storm
by: Norman Ollestad

Ok, this book I got for FREE in the mail! Very exciting. I signed up for a book give away, and apparently I was selected. I had to read it and give my opinion, which I did happily.

It's a memoir, which I think means, this is how Norman remembers these things, not all certain fact. Norman is 11. His father has taught him how to play hockey, ski, surf. His father was a big force in his life to over come your fears, push through, keep trying. Sometimes to the frustration to Norman, well a lot of times his frustration. His parents divorced when he was 3; but his father was always there, always loved him. Norman won a skiing competition in Big Bear. The trophies would be given out the next day. They drove home (Topanga Canyon) only to fly back the next day for the trophy ceremony. The dad chartered a small plane. There was the dad, his girlfriend, Norman and the pilot. They flew right into the mountain, killed his father and pilot on impact. The girlfriend died later on the mountain. Obviously Norman makes it down the mountain; he wrote the book.

I enjoyed reading about his life. He is only a few years younger than me; lived within 100 miles of me, yet he lived a totally different life than I did. His father loved him and showed it, but was also hard on him.

I would recommend it. I would also tell the author to take out the few swear words he chose to put in the book. I do think that is how he spoke, but it is not ok.

AustenLand

Austenland

by: Shannon Hale

Apparently, Shanon Hale is great friends with "Miss Twilight" Stephenie Meyer. So, I thought I would give her a try.

It was fine...here is the premise:

The woman (age 32?) was given a trip in the will of her aunt to Austenland. That is a place in England. People there act as if they are in a Jane Austen novel; Regency period. They dress and act like them. There are people there who are paying for the vacation, and there are actors there to help move the story along. You stay for 3 weeks.

Ok, the thought is interesting; different vacation, BUT the people come here to fall in love, like Jane and Mr. Darcy! I don't get it. Why try to fall in love for pretend? The people you would fall in love with are actors. Makes no sense. The author presented the case that rich people come here to just have an affair for 3 weeks, then go on with their regular life. Really, how gross.

I'm on the fence if I should recommend or not. I would read another one of her books, maybe this was not her best work.

5 Books; To Read or Not to Read?

This is a "catch-up" of the books I have read, but NOT blogged about...

The Story of Edgar Sawtelle
By: David Wroblewski

I really enjoyed the beginning. The middle was fine. By the end I was just quickly reading to find out what happened as long as I had invested so much time in the story! It is a LONG book.

Parents have a son. He should be able to talk, but he can't. He and his parents learn sign language. The family raises and trains dogs. It is set in (from memory now!) 1930's.

It IS an interesting story. I enjoyed learning about the dog business, the deaf son was an interesting part too. I just think the story was TOO long. There is mystery and intrigue.

If you usually like Oprah's book picks, you will like it. I have learned I don't usually like her book picks. I have tried many.





Ricochet
By: Sandra Brown

I really can't recommend reading this book. I have tried this author a couple of times, but I just don't care for her writing. Her stories are fine, but she has way too much R++ goings on in her books. It makes me feel like I need to read with one eye shut.

HER story is interesting. I enjoyed that, just that other was WAY too much.

A judges wife is accused of murdering a burglar in her home. She is married to a judge. The judge just let a murderer off in his court room. That made the detective mad. There is the mystery.

Rough Weather

by: Robert B. Parker

Robert Parker, at his best, is an easy read; does not tax the mind. It is not bad, but you can't eat cotton candy all day.

This one is worse that usual. I liked the book because the pages are thick, you can really tell when you turn a page. There are not too many words on the page. It is a fast read. Especially coming off that Sawtelle book (like reading the Bible), it was nice to feel like I was moving through the book. That is the best I can say for this one.

Go and read a different Parker book. He has way better ones out there.

If you want to know, Spencer (Parker's character) is asked to be a body guard at a wedding of a very wealthy woman. It is the woman's daughter that is getting married. At the wedding, the daughter is kidnapped, her very new husband was murdered, several guards were murdered. Things don't seem right to Spencer. He finds out why.

The Middle Place

by: Kelly Corrigan

Non-fiction! I really enjoy the Non-fiction variety. This one I liked, but the subject matter may throw some people off...Cancer.

She discovers she has a lump in her breast, it is cancer. The book shows how she deals with it, her marriage, her relationship with her brothers, parents. I enjoyed it, especially after I read the ending just to ease my mind.

Shockingly, her dad (I loved him!) ends up getting cancer too!

People can go through very traumatizing situations and come out the other end a better human being.

I am not really sure why it was called The Middle Place. I think she felt like she was in the middle of feeling like a mother and a daughter at the same time, and then feeling like she needed to parent her parents a bit.

I liked it.

The Last Town on Earth

by: Thomas Mullen

This book review should be written by my dad! He told me about this book, he REALLY enjoyed it. I did too. It was about something I really knew very little about. The flu of 1918; the end of WWI, unions and strikers. This book has all this as its background. True events, fictional people/town.

The town, Commonwealth, is set about 15 miles away from any other town in the state of Washington. The people wanted to have a different kind of town. They are loggers. No need to lock your house, very little crime. It was a good town. The flu started

spreading through the United States, through all the neighboring towns. Commonwealth was not affected, yet. They wanted to keep it that way. They decided to quarantine the town, no one in, no one out. They made a sign at the road to the town to let all people know.

What happens when the guards see a soldier coming to enter the town anyway. They tell him to go back. They hear him cough. What do the guards do?

It is an interesting study on human nature. Good book.