The Book of Bright Ideas
Sandra Kring

I started out thinking that Kring was trying hard to ride the coattails of Ya-Ya Sisterhood, but she made a nice turn and created some good characters and an alright plot line. Good, not great.

2.5 stars

In Spite of the Gods: The Strange Rise of Modern India
Edward Luce

On library wait list...

From Publishers Weekly
A burgeoning economic and geopolitical giant, India has the 21st century stamped on it more visibly than any other nation after China and the U.S. It's been an expanding force since at least 1991, explains journalist Luce, when India let go of much of the protectionist apparatus devised under Nehru after independence in 1947 from Britain, as part of a philosophy of swadeshi (or self-reliance) that's still relevant in India's multiparty democracy. From his vantage as the (now former) Financial Times's South Asia bureau chief, Luce illuminates the drastically lopsided features of a nuclear power still burdened by mass poverty and illiteracy, which he links in part to government control of the economy, an overwhelmingly rural landscape, and deep-seated institutional corruption. While describing religion's complex role in Indian society, Luce emphasizes an extremely heterogeneous country with a growing consumerist culture, a geographically uneven labor force and an enduring caste system. This lively account includes a sharp assessment of U.S. promotion of India as a countervailing force to China in a three-power "triangular dance," and generally sets a high standard for breadth, clarity and discernment in wrestling with the global implications of New India. (Jan.)

The Memory Keepers Daughter
Kim Edwards

"A snowstorm immobilizes Lexington, Ky., in 1964, and when young Norah Henry goes into labor, her husband, orthopedic surgeon Dr. David Henry, must deliver their babies himself, aided only by a nurse. Seeing his daughter's handicap, he instructs the nurse, Caroline Gill, to take her to a home and later tells Norah, who was drugged during labor, that their son Paul's twin died at birth. Instead of institutionalizing Phoebe, Caroline absconds with her to Pittsburgh. David's deception becomes the defining moment of the main characters' lives, and Phoebe's absence corrodes her birth family's core over the course of the next 25 years. David's undetected lie warps his marriage; he grapples with guilt; Norah mourns her lost child; and Paul not only deals with his parents' icy relationship but with his own yearnings for his sister as well."

3 stars

The Return Journey
Maeve Binchy

Collection of short stories, all linked through travel. Beautifully told stories with thoughtful lessons weaved in.

4 stars

Glass Castle : A Memoir
Jeannette Walls

Fantastic story - totally crazy family! I love memoirs - truth is always stranger than fiction.

4 stars

Made to stick : Why some ideas survive and others die
Chip Heath & Dan Heath

Currently reading...Self-proclaimed companion book to Gladwell's "Tipping Point." The authors explore what makes certain ideas memorable.

The Clock Winder

Anne Tyler

The protagonist of the story is Elizabeth, a young woman who is taking time away from college to earn a bit of money and discover a sense of direction. By happenstance, she ends up landing in Baltimore near the home of Mrs. Pamela Emerson, a recent widow and the mother of seven grown children. Seeing Mrs. Emerson struggling to store her porch furniture in the garage for the winter, she stops to offer help and ends up becoming Mrs. Emerson's handyman and companion. The story, which spans 14 years, discusses the relationship between first Elizabeth and Mrs. Emerson and then the relationship between Elizabeth and several of Mrs. Emerson's children, particularly Timothy and Matthew. Elizabeth and the Emersons end up changing each others' lives in fundamental ways.

3 stars

Up All Night
Martha Gies

Sixteen snapshots of people who work at night. Interesting for the rare glimpse at people who seem to live in a sort of alternate universe. The strange is made familiar by the author's willingness to take the perspective of her characters.

3.75 stars

A Tale of Two Cities

Charles Dickens

Listened on the iPod. I think I prefer actually reading this, as opposed to listening. Harder to get into - kept falling asleep.

Anne of Green Gables

L. M. Montgomery

Listening on my iPod.

Pride and Prejudice
Jane Austen

Listened to this one on my new iPod through a podcast called Audiobooks with Annie. I love the newest movie version so it's fun to imagine the actors along with hearing the text.

Out of the Silent Planet
C. S. Lewis

Currently reading...
This first of three books starts a lesser known series by Lewis. I thoroughly enjoy.

The Silver Chair
C. S. Lewis

Daniel and I are currently reading...

The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
C. S. Lewis

Daniel and I read together.

Prince Caspian
C.S. Lewis

Daniel and I read together.

What We Keep
Elizabeth Berg

I've read this one before. Elizabeth Berg is another author that can beautifully identify and describe emotions and almost unconscious feelings.

Publisher description: "Ginny Young is on a plane, en route to see her mother, whom she hasn't seen or spoken to for thirty-five years. She thinks back to the summer of 1958, when she and her sister, Sharla, were young girls. At that time, a series of dramatic events - beginning with the arrival of a mysterious and sensual next-door neighbor - divided the family, separating the sisters from their mother. Moving back and forth in time between the girl she once was and the woman she's become, Ginny at last confronts painful choices that occur in almost any woman's life, and learns surprising truths about the people she thought she knew best."

4 stars

The Year of Pleasures
Elizabeth Berg

Berg writes great books - enough said.
4 stars

Publisher description: "Berg's unique gift is for capturing emotions and joys in women's lives, this time with the story of a woman who refuses to let widowhood define her, and goes about recreating a happy and meaningful life. She moves to a new town after the death of her husband, where she rents a room in a house with two young men. She forms a mother/lover relationship with one of the young men, then meets a man with whom she also starts a relationship, with complicated results. At the same time, she reconnects with three college friends; they don't live in her new town but they begin to correspond and visit each other. Reinvention of a self and a life, through love and forming connections between one's past, present, and future is at the heart of this beautiful novel."

Until the Real Thing Comes Along
Elizabeth Berg

I've read this book before, but I wanted to read it again so that I can add it to the blog. The character development is great because you want to shake this woman and yet deeply emphathize with her at the same time.

Publisher description: "What do you do when your life isn't living up to your dreams? When the man you love is unavailable, and yet you long for a family, a home? What is the cost of compromising until the real thing comes along? Patty Ann Murphy says she's "Ms. Runner-Up" in life. Rarely the bridesmaid, never mind the bride, Patty sells houses for a living (well, she's sold one house so far), longs to be married and have a family, but is irresistibly drawn to the wrong man. Ethan seems perfect for Party - handsome, generous, and sensitive - but he's hopelessly unavailable. Patty's frustration leads her to feelings she doesn't admire - jealousy of her beautiful best friend, Elaine, for instance, about whom she says, "Find me one woman who doesn't withhold just a bit from another woman who looks like that." She's also worried about her mother, with whom she's very close but who is beginning to act strangely. Patty longs more and more for the consolation of loving and being loved, but for the moment feels she must content herself with waiting - until she can wait no more."

4 stars

The Horse and His Boy
C. S. Lewis

Daniel and I read together.

The Magician's Nephew
C.S. Lewis

Daniel and I read this together. Obviously, a timeless classic.

4 stars

Pure Drivel
Steve Martin

A collection of humerous essays, some previously published in the New Yorker. Martin has a very specific brand of humor, doesn't appeal to everyone, but I think he's funny.

2.75 stars

The Pleasure of My Company
Steve Martin

Nice quick read. The main character of this novella is both quirky and loveable. By allowing himself to become involved in the lives of others, he is willing to let go of his incapacitating neuroses.

3 stars

Shopgirl
Steve Martin

Daniel and I recently watched the movie version. Normally I would be complaining that the movie doesn't do the book justice, but in this case the film and the book add elements that neither could accomplish alone and combined add to my appreciation of each. The writing has a sort of hazy and clinical feel. Despite the author's reputation, don't expect a humorous book - this one is more of a happy/sad thinker.

Publishers description: "

Mirabelle is the “shopgirl” of the title, a young woman, beautiful in a wallflowerish kind of way, who works behind the glove counter at Neiman Marcus “selling things that nobody buys anymore . . .”

Mirabelle captures the attention of Ray Porter, a wealthy businessman almost twice her age. As they tentatively embark on a relationship, they both struggle to decipher the language of love — with consequences that are both comic and heartbreaking. "

3 1/4 stars

The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love
Oscar Hijuelos

To Read List

The Bean Trees
Barbara Kingsolver


I had forgotten that I had already read this book until I got to the second or third chapter. But, it has been a while, so it feels like reading it for the first time. I love Kingsolver's use of language. If you are comparing this book to Kingsolver's "Poinsonwood Bible" then you will be a bit disappointed. But it is a strong work in it's own right.

3 stars

The Betrayal of Work

I got about a quarter of the way through this one and Daniel made me stop reading. I just got to emotional. I called him into our room and informed him that we were one paycheck away from eviction (which is obviously not true), and Daniel decided it would be better to pull the plug on this one.

On the other hand, this book highlights the difficulty faced by low-wage workers in our country. It's just such a difficult problem, I don't think raising the minimum wage is the panacea that people think it would be. Still, I don't know what kind of approach is reasonable.

3 1/2 stars (based on what I read)

Heat: An Amateur's Adventures as Kitchen Slave, Line Cook, Pasta-Maker, and Apprentice to a Dante-Quoting Butcher in Tuscany

I had a hard time maintaining momentum on this book and ended up giving up about half way through. It's very much about food, when I wish the author would have leaned more toward the people who make the food.

2 stars - People who are into cooking would certainly rank it higher

Water for Elephants
Sara Gruen

Finally got around to reading in April '07. What a great book! I couldn't put it down.

" Jacob Jankowski says: "I am ninety. Or ninety-three. One or the other." At the beginning of Water for Elephants, he is living out his days in a nursing home, hating every second of it. His life wasn't always like this, however, because Jacob ran away and joined the circus when he was twenty-one. It wasn't a romantic, carefree decision, to be sure. His parents were killed in an auto accident one week before he was to sit for his veterinary medicine exams at Cornell. He buried his parents, learned that they left him nothing because they had mortgaged everything to pay his tuition, returned to school, went to the exams, and didn't write a single word. He walked out without completing the test and wound up on a circus train. The circus he joins, in Depression-era America, is second-rate at best. With Ringling Brothers as the standard, Benzini Brothers is far down the scale and pale by comparison."

4 stars - reader caution, slightly graphic

The Tipping Point

I liked the inclusion of interesting psych studies in this book. Made me want to look into Fundamental Attribution Error and helping behavior or bystander effect more.

4 stars

Blink
Malcolm Gladwell

Gladwell very successfully explores expert cognition. This book makes you think twice about all the decisions we make without thinking.

I think this book would be interesting to include in a cognitive psychology class.

3 1/2 stars

Mountains Beyond Mountains

Book Club selection for Sept-Oct 2006

Currently reading...

Liars and Saints

The story follows one family through several generations. Chock full of interesting plot twists. Worth reading.

3 1/2 stars

Ya-Yas in Bloom
Rebecca Wells

Different feel from the other Rebecca Wells books, but still v. good.

3 1/2 stars

Little Altars Everywhere
Rebecca Wells

Must read.

4 stars.

Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood
Rebecca Wells

Classic.

4 stars

The Kite Runner
Khaled Hosseini

Starting reading but had to quit when the foreshadowing hinted toward a depressing plot line. Just not in the mood for sad.

The Notebook
Nicholas Sparks

Though I rarely feel this way, this is one case where I preferred the movie to the book. Still, not a waste of time.

Publishers description: "A man picks up a very special notebook and begins reading to his beloved wife, his voice recalling the story of their poignant and bittersweet journey to happiness. . . so begins The Notebook, a touching novel that is a dual tale of love lost and found, and of a couple's gentle efforts to retrieve the most cherished moments of their lives. The Notebook is irrepressibly romantic and has become a classic. "

2 1/2 Stars

The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down
Anne Fadiman

Excellent book. Moving example of the role of culture in medicine and disability.

Publisher's description: " Brilliantly reported and beautifully crafted, The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down explores the clash between the Merced Community Medical Center in California and a refugee family from Laos over the care of Lia Lee, a Hmong child diagnosed with severe epilepsy. Lia's parents and her doctors both wanted what was best for Lia, but the lack of understanding between them led to tragedy."

4++ stars

The Man of My Dreams

When I started reading this book, I was concerned that I would be disappointed because Sittenfeld's first book "Prep" was so good. I was not disappointed in the lest! It was a fantastic book - I read it in one day.

4 stars

Prep
Curtis Sittenfeld

Great book. This author takes me back to high school in ways that I would sometimes rather not visit. She has an amazing ability to put words to the kind of inner turmoil and self-awareness specific to teenage girls in a way that made me understand myself better. Very insightful.

Publisher's description: "Lee Fiora is an intelligent, observant fourteen-year-old when her father drops her off in front of her dorm at the prestigious Ault School in Massachusetts. She leaves her animated, affectionate family in South Bend, Indiana, at least in part because of the boarding school's glossy brochure, in which boys in sweaters chat in front of old brick buildings, girls in kilts hold lacrosse sticks on pristinely mown athletic fields, and everyone sings hymns in chapel.

As Lee soon learns, Ault is a cloistered world of jaded, attractive teenagers who spend summers on Nantucket and speak in their own clever shorthand. Both intimidated and fascinated by her classmates, Lee becomes a shrewd observer of-and, ultimately, a participant in-their rituals and mores. As a scholarship student, she constantly feels like an outsider and is both drawn to and repelled by other loners. By the time she's a senior, Lee has created a hard-won place for herself at Ault. But when her behavior takes a self-destructive and highly public turn, her carefully crafted identity within the community is shattered.

Ultimately, Lee's experiences-complicated relationships with teachers; intense friendships with other girls; an all-consuming preoccupation with a classmate who is less than a boyfriend and more than a crush; conflicts with her parents, from whom Lee feels increasingly distant, coalesce into a singular portrait of the painful and thrilling adolescence universal to us all. "

4 stars

Don't expect this one to be like Bridget Jones - same author, but not funny. Still, good read, made me think a bit.

3 stars

Bridget Jones': The Edge of Reason
Helen Fielding

Just as funny as the first.

4 stars

Can't go wrong with Bridge Jones. Even makes a good re-read.

4 stars

I haven't seen the movie, but I imagine the book is better.

3 stars

Read this on the recommendation of a library when I told her I was looking for 'vacation' books. It was alright, nothing too special. Bit scary at times. Not something I would normally read, or recommend. I kind of question this librarian's taste, to be honest.

2 stars

Open Season
Linda Howard

Another book that I'd rather not admit to reading, but am justified that it was a vacation read.

The Amazon description: "On her thirty-fourth birthday, small-town librarian Daisy Minor resolves to enliven her boring life by finding a man with whom she'll have a steamy fling. Makeover done, she dances the night away and later finds a place of her own on the seamy side of town. Then one night she sees something that puts her in danger, and she finds herself having to deal with the infuriating local police chief--single, attractive . . . and sexy. Although the premise is a little shopworn and the "makeover changes all" plot point a trifle unbelievable, Linda Howard gives Daisy a lot of spirit and the police chief a lot of spice--and the result is good chemistry that makes for an enjoyable romantic thriller."

One star

This book served its purpose as a dumb vacation read, but I won't give it credit for much more than that.

The Amazon description: "Successful health club owner Blair Mallory is the only witness when a troublemaking member gets shot behind her North Carolina gym. Since the killer may not realize that Blair hasn't seen his face, she needs police protection—but her difficulties only escalate when Lt. Wyatt Bloodworth, with whom she had a short but intense relationship several years earlier, is assigned to the case. Still smarting from Wyatt's unexplained rejection, Blair resists his macho self-confidence; Wyatt in turn is irritated by her refusal to follow orders, even as he succumbs to her feisty charm and potent sexuality."

One and 1/2 stars

Fifth Chinese Daughter

I have an ongoing interest in books that give insight into how people of other cultures live and think. This book does not disappoint. Sort of a precursor to "Joy Luck Club"; written by a woman who grew up in America with Chinese parents in the 1930's and 40's. She struggles to create her own identity as both an American woman and a dutiful Chinese daughter. The writing style is very straight-forward and factual.

I would include this in a class on culture and learning.

Four stars

By far, Nicholas Sparks' best work. The story of the Sparks family's very tragic history through the framework of a trip around the world with Nicholas and his brother Micah. I was inspired by Sparks' great faith in the face of numerous losses. Beautifully written and provides great insight into Sparks' other books.

Four stars

Arthur and George
Julian Barnes

I can't decide whether or not I liked this book. Follows the lives of Arthur Conan Doyle (writer of Sherlock Holmes) and George Edalji around the turn of the 20th century. George is wrongly accused and imprisoned for a crime and Arthur is able to use his clout and Holmes-like ability to solve a mystery to clear his name. The book took a very slow turn in the end, but still an interesting read.

Three stars