Countdown Challenge Wrap-Up (2009)

Yesterday I signed up for the 2010 version of the Countdown Challenge. As I mentioned, I wasn't quite able to finish the 2009 challenge, but I did come close!

2009 - Completed

1. Beat the Reaper by Josh Bazell (review)

2. Lethal Legacy by Linda Fairstein (review)

3. Delicate Edible Birds: And Other Stories by Lauren Groff (review)

4. Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford (review)

5. The Mighty Queens of Freeville: A Mother, a Daughter, and the Town That Raised Them by Amy Dickinson (review)

6. The Survivors Club: The Secrets and Science that Could Save Your Life by Ben Sherwood (review), audio

7. The Help by Kathryn Stockett (review)

8. A Child's Journey out of Autism: One Family's Story of Living in Hope and Finding a Cure by Leeann Whiffen (review)

9. Mixed Blood by Roger Smith (review)

2008 - Completed

1. The Shiniest Jewel: A Family Love Story by Marian Henley (review)

2. The Third Angel by Alice Hoffman (review)

3. The Gargoyle by Andrew Davidson (review)

4. The Girl Who Stopped Swimming by Joshilyn Jackson (review)

5. Tears of the Desert: A Memoir of Survival in Darfur by Halima Bashir (review)

6. Firefly Lane by Kristin Hannah (review)

7. Her Last Death by Susanna Sonnenberg (review)

8. Fractured by Karin Slaughter (review)

2007 - Completed

1. Book of the Dead by Patricia Cornwell (review)

2. Absolute Fear by Lisa Jackson (review)

3. Shoot Him If He Runs by Stuart Woods (review)

4. Invisible Prey by John Sandford (review)

5. Down to a Sunless Sea by Mathias B. Freese (review)

6. Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher (review)
7. Waiting to Surface by Emily Listfield (review)

2006

1. Monique and the Mango Rains: Two Years with a Midwife in Mali by Kris Holloway (review)

2. Girlbomb: A Halfway Homeless Memoir by Janice Erlbaum (review)

3. Bitter is the New Black : Confessions of a Condescending, Egomaniacal, Self-Centered Smartass,Or, Why You Should Never Carry A Prada Bag to the Unemployment Office by Jen Lancaster (review)

4. Beach Road by James Patterson (review)

5.

6.

2005 - Completed

1. Honeymoon with My Brother: A Memoir by Franz Wisner (review)

2. Julie and Julia : 365 Days, 524 Recipes, 1 Tiny Apartment Kitchen by Julie Powell (review)

3. 13 Little Blue Envelopes by Maureen Johnson (review)
4. Looking for Alaska by John Green (review)

5. A Certain Slant of Light by Laura Whitcomb (review)

2004

1. Case Histories by Kate Atkinson (review)

2.

3.

4.

2003 - Completed

1. Dry by Augusten Burroughs (review)

2. The Virgin Blue by Tracy Chevalier (review)

3. Sleep Toward Heaven by Amanda Eyre Ward (review)

2002.

1.

2.

2001 - Completed

1. Bel Canto by Ann Patchett (review)

Review: A Certain Slant of Light by Laura Whitcomb

Book Info:
A Certain Slant of Light by Laura Whitcomb

Paperback: 288 pages
Publisher: Graphia (September 21, 2005)
ISBN-13: 9780618585328

Genre: Young Adult

Rating: 4/5

In the class of the high school English teacher she has been haunting, Helen feels them: for the first time in 130 years, human eyes are looking at her. They belong to a boy, a boy who has not seemed remarkable until now. And Helen—terrified, but intrigued—is drawn to him. The fact that he is in a body and she is not presents this unlikely couple with their first challenge. But as the lovers struggle to find a way to be together, they begin to discover the secrets of their former lives and of the young people they come to possess.

I don't usually like, or even pick up, ghost stories, but for some reason this one sounded interesting, and I was not disappointed. I would almost call this more of an afterlife story, than a ghost story...

I always thought the cover on this book was interesting. The bathtub is a shiny material so it really does catch and reflect the light. Now that I've read the book, I think the cover makes much more sense. I also think it's kind of creepy, but in a good way.

The characters in the book, Helen especially, grabbed my attention right from the start. I thought she was fascinating, and very worldly and well-read for a ghost. James was also interesting, but he didn't captivate me the way Helen did. Even the minor characters were colorful and believable.

The language in the book is descriptive without being sappy. There is also an amazing amount of tension in the book. I couldn't read fast enough to find out what was going to happen next. I wasn't completely thrilled with the ending though. Part of it I really liked, and part seemed all wrapped up a little too neatly. Even with that, I can't really think of another ending I'd rather have seen instead.

A Certain Slant of Light is Laura Whitcomb's first novel. Her second novel, The Fetch, was just released in February and I will definitely be checking it out. 4 stars

Review: The Virgin Blue by Tracy Chevalier

Book Info:

The Virgin Blue by Tracy Chevalier
Paperback: 320 pages

Publisher: Plume (June 24, 2003)

ISBN-13: 9780452284449
Genre: Historical Fiction
Rating: 3.5/5

Meet Ella Turner and Isabelle du Moulin - two women born centuries apart, yet bound by a fateful family legacy. When Ella and her husband move to a small town in France, Ella hopes to brush up on her French, qualify to practice as a midwife, and start a family of her own. Village life turns out to be less idyllic than she expected, however, and a peculiar dream of the color blue propels her on a quest to uncover her family's French ancestry.

As the novel unfolds - alternating between Ella's story and that of Isabelle du Moulin four hundred years earlier - a common thread emerges that unexpectedly links the two women. Part detective story, part historical fiction, The Virgin Blue is a novel of passion and intrigue that compels readers to the very last page.




I really enjoy historical fiction and have been trying to read more of it of this year. I had this book on my shelf for a while and when it got requested from me on Paperback Swap, I made time to read it before I mailed it out.

I really enjoy historical fiction that moves back and forth from past to present as The Virgin Blue does. Ella is trying to find out more about her relatives and the narrative moves between times, giving you a glimpse into the lives of the ancestors she is trying to learn about. There is also a bit of a mystery surrounding her family and this adds another layer instead of being strictly a historical fiction book.

The Virgin Blue started a little slow for me. The parts of the book set in the past revolved around the religious feelings of the times and this isn't an area I know much about. Once I got to know the characters a little better I found it more enjoyable. The book usually changes time periods each chapter, up until the very end of the book. Then, the shift between the times happen more frequently. This really helped build suspense toward an exciting ending. 3.5 stars

Review: Sleep Toward Heaven by Amanda Eyre Ward

Book Info:
Sleep Toward Heaven by Amanda Eyre Ward

Paperback: 304 pages
Publisher: Harper Perennial (February 17, 2004)
ISBN-13: 9780060582296
Genre: Contemporary Fiction

Rating: 3/5

In Gatestown, Texas, twenty-nine-year-old Karen Lowens awaits her execution with a host of convicted serial killers on death row. In Manhattan, Dr. Franny Wren, also twenty-nine, tends to a young cancer patient, and resists the urge to run from her fiancé and her carefully crafted life. In Austin, Texas, brassy Celia Mills, a once-vibrant librarian, mourns her murdered husband.

Over the course of the summer, fate pushes these eerily recognizable women together, culminating in a revelation of the possibility of faith, the responsibility of friendship, and the value of life. Sleep Toward Heaven is a luminous story of murder and desire, solitude and grace -- a rare literary page-turner where redemption seems perpetually within arm's reach.

Sleep Toward Heaven is the second book of Ward's that I've read, and while I liked this one better than Forgive Me (review), it fell firmly into the category of good, but not great. It was a fast read, but I just didn't really feel any real connection to any of the characters.

The three connected story lines were an effective way to tell the story, and I liked the shift in perspective. It was easy to feel all the characters drawing together and that helped build suspense. I liked the suspense in the story line. This wasn't a book where I was expecting that element, so I was pleasantly surprised by it.

I really liked the ending to the story. It wrapped things up a little neater than I would normally like, but I thought the ending was fitting. After reading two of Ward's books and feeling just so-so about both of them, I'm starting to think her style just isn't a good fit for me. 3 stars

Review: Bel Canto by Ann Patchett

Book Info:
Bel Canto by Ann Patchett

Paperback: 352 pages
Publisher: Harper Perennial (August 2, 2005)
ISBN-13: 978-0060838720

Genre: Literary Fiction

Rating: 2.75/5

Somewhere in South America, at the home of the country's vice president, a lavish birthday party is being held in honor of Mr. Hosokawa, a powerful Japanese businessman. Roxanne Coss, opera's most revered soprano, has mesmerized the international guests with her singing. It is a perfect evening -- until a band of gun-wielding terrorists breaks in through the air-conditioning vents and takes the entire party hostage.

But what begins as a panicked, life-threatening scenario slowly evolves into something quite different, as terrorists and hostages forge unexpected bonds and people from different countries and continents become compatriots. Friendship, compassion, and the chance for great love lead the characters to forget the real danger that has been set in motion and cannot be stopped.

If you read my Tuesday Teaser post from a while back, you already know that I struggled a bit with this book. I did end up finishing it, and I'm glad that I did, but it won't be one that I will be recommending too often.

Bel Canto is not an action packed book. I wasn't expecting constant action like in a mystery, but I thought there would be more action than there was. If you are looking for action, this is not the book for you. The main focus of this book seems to be Patchett's writing, more than the plot or the character development. I think Patchett writes beautifully, but her prose alone wasn't enough to hold my interest over 350 pages.

The interaction between the hostages and the terrorists was interesting, but I wished there was more of it. I didn't feel that I got to know any of the characters very well, and I think more interaction between the two groups would have helped this. If someone asked me to describe that characters, I would be able to give much detail beyond the most superficial information.

Even with all the pieces that didn't work for me, I'm still glad I finished it. The story was interesting, I just wish it had been about 100 pages shorter. This will not be the last Ann Patchett book I read. I think she writes beautifully, and I really enjoyed her other books I've read. 2.75 stars

Review: Invisible Prey by John Sandford

Book Info:
Invisible Prey by John Sandford

Paperback: 448 pages
Publisher: Berkley (April 29, 2008)
ISBN-10: 0425221156

Genre: Mystery

Rating 4/5

In the richest neighbourhood of Minneapolis, two elderly women lie murdered in their home, killed with a pipe, the rooms ransacked, only small items stolen. It's clearly a random break-in by someone looking for money to buy drugs. But as he looks more closely, Davenport begins to wonder if the items are actually so small or the victims so random, if there might not be some invisible agenda at work here. Gradually, a pattern begins to emerge – and it will lead Davenport to somewhere he never expected. Which is too bad, because the killers – and yes, there is more than one of them – the killers are expecting him.

This is one of my favorite series, and one I am sad to be behind on. I enjoyed the book, but I didn't think Davenport came across quite as likeable as he usually does. He police work and logic were entertaining as always, but there didn't seem to be as much personal information in this book as there usually is. Letty, Weather and his son, whose name escapes me, only made the briefest of appearances. This worked fine for me as I am hooked on the series, but I don't know that this book would be the best one for someone new to the series to start on. But, then again, I'm a stickler for reading things in order anyways.

Antiques of all kinds made an appearance in the book, and as I don't know much about them, it was interesting to get a small introduction into the world of collecting. I also found the villains in the book to be quite entertaining. 4 stars

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Review: Dry by Augusten Burroughs

Book Info:
Dry by Augusten Burroughs

Paperback: 320 pages
Publisher: Picador (April 1, 2004)
ISBN-13: 9780312423797

Genre: Non-fiction/Memoir

Rating: 4.5/5

From the bestselling author of Running with Scissors comes Dry—the hilarious, moving, and no less bizarre account of what happened next.

You may not know it, but you've met Augusten Burroughs. You've seen him on the street, in bars, on the subway, at restaurants: a twenty-something guy, nice suit, works in advertising. Regular. Ordinary. But when the ordinary person had two drinks, Augusten was circling the drain by having twelve; when the ordinary person went home at midnight, Augusten never went home at all. Loud, distracting ties, automated wake-up calls, and cologne on the tongue could only hide so much for so long. At the request (well, it wasn't really a request) of his employers, Augusten landed in rehab, where his dreams of group therapy with Robert Downey, Jr., are immediately dashed by the grim reality of fluorescent lighting and paper hospital slippers. But when Augusten is forced to examine himself, something actually starts to click, and that's when he finds himself in the worst trouble of all. Because when his thirty days are up, he has to return to his same drunken Manhattan life—and live it sober. What follows is a memoir that's as moving as it is funny, as heartbreaking as it is real. Dry is the story of love, loss, and Starbucks as a higher power.

I've read all of Augusten Burroughs books, except for his newest A Wolf at the Table, and while I enjoyed them all, I think Dry is my favorite. Dry is also quite a bit different than his other books, especially Running With Scissors.

I know some people found Running with Scissors to be out there, with too much craziness to possibly be true. I took Running with Scissors with a grain of salt and enjoyed it, but I did think things may have been exaggerated to help play up the shock value. That isn't the case at all with Dry.

I found Dry to be much more introspective and very honest. While Burroughs humor and crazy personality still came through the story, it wasn't as jaw dropping as Running with Scissors. Burroughs talked about his drinking honestly, why he did it, why he couldn't stop and all of the emotional issues that go along with alcoholism. If you've ever been close to someone with a substance abuse problem, Dry gives some insight into an addict's thought process. It's a sad story, but Burroughs did have me laughing too. 4.5 stars

Review: Down To A Sunless Sea by Mathias B. Freese

Book Info:
Down to a Sunless Sea by Mathias B. Freese

Paperback: 148 pages
Publisher: Wheatmark (November 15, 2007)
ISBN-10: 1587367335
Genre: Short Stories

Rating: 2/5

Down to a Sunless Sea plunges the reader into uncomfortable situations and into the minds of troubled characters. Each selection is a different reading experience-poetic, journalistic, nostalgic, wryly humorous, and even macabre. An award-winning essayist and historical novelist, Mathias B. Freese brings the weight of his twenty-five years as a clinical social worker and psychotherapist into play as he demonstrates a vivid understanding of-and compassion toward-the deviant and damaged.

I finished this book quite a while ago and have been letting it roll around in my head before I wrote my review. I thought with some more time, maybe the book would grow on me, but I have come to realize this one just wasn't for me.

There were a couple of stories that I really did like, but the majority didn't appeal to me. My favorite story was I'll Make It, I Think. It is the story of a young man who is physically disabled. You get a glimpse into his life and mind, and what you see isn't always pretty. He is angry and sometimes unhappy, but the story is unflinchingly honest.

I also enjoyed Little Errands a lot. It is a stream of consciousness type story and I really related to it. I occasionally have days when I feel like I am always second guessing myself and feel ragged and run down, like the character in the story.

I didn't really connect to the characters in the other stories though. It wasn't the writing, but more the feeling that I just didn't have anything in common with them. These stories are very short, sometimes only a few pages. I usually like my short stories to be a little longer so that I am able to get a sense of the character before moving on to the next story.

This collection has gotten really good reviews both on Amazon and from other bloggers though, so I will leave you with a couple of those reviews for a different viewpoint.

Literary License

J Kaye's Book Blog

Errant Dreams

Booking Mama

Melody's Reading Corner

Review: The Survivors Club by Ben Sherwood

Book Info:
The Survivors Club: The Secrets and Science that Could Save Your Life by Ben Sherwood
Audio CD: 11.5 hours
Publisher: Hachette Audio; Unabridged edition (January 26, 2009)
Rating: 3.5/5

Each second of the day, someone in America faces a crisis, whether it's a car accident, violent crime, serious illness, or financial trouble. Given the inevitability of adversity, we all wonder: Who beats the odds and who surrenders? Why do some people bound back and others give up? How can I become the kind of person who survives and thrives?

The fascinating, hopeful answers to these questions are found in THE SURVIVORS CLUB. In the tradition of Freakonomics and The Tipping Point, this book reveals the hidden side of survival by combining astonishing true stories, gripping scientific research, and the author's adventures inside the U.S. military's elite survival schools and the government's airplane crash evacuation course.

With THE SURVIVORS CLUB, you can also discover your own Survivor IQ through a powerful Internet-based test called the Survivor Profiler. Developed exclusively for this book, the test analyzes your personality and generates a customized report on your top survivor strengths.

There is no escaping life's inevitable struggles. But THE SURVIVORS CLUB can give you an edge when adversity strikes.

When I got this audiobook I was really excited about it. I thought it would include all sorts of tips and tricks about the safest way to handle all kinds of situations. The section on airplane crashes was exactly what I was hoping for. It had tips on where on the plane was the best place to sit and things you can do to keep yourself safer in the event you are in a crash.

After this, the book gets away from concrete examples and talks about the more abstract parts of being a survivor. These topics included luck and faith. While these are a big part of being able to survive adverse situations, they didn't lend themselves to the examples that I was hoping for.

One part of the story that I wish had been longer was Sherwood's experience inside the military's survival schools. I thought the scenarios they put him through were fascinating and would have like a little more detail.

While this was an interesting audiobook, it just wasn't quite what I expected. I did find the survivor stories interesting and the website includes some of the people featured in the book, as well as some new survivor stories. 3.5 stars

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Review: Mixed Blood by Roger Smith

Book Info:

Mixed Blood by Roger Smith

Hardcover: 320 pages
Publisher: Henry Holt and Co. (March 3, 2009)
Genre: Mystery/Thriller

Rating: 4/5

Reluctant bank robber Jack Burn is on the run after a heist in the United States that left $3 million missing and one cop dead. Hiding out in Cape Town, South Africa, he is desperate to build a new life for his pregnant wife and young son. But on a tranquil evening in their new suburban neighborhood they are the victims of a random gangland assault that changes everything.

Benny Mongrel, an ex-con night watchman guarding a building site next to Burn's home, is another man desperate to escape his past. After years in the ghetto gangs of Cape Town he knows who went into Burn's house. And what the American did to them. He also knows his only chance to save his own brown skin is to forget what he saw.

Burn's actions on that night trap them both in a cat-and-mouse game with Rudi "Gatsby" Barnard, a corrupt Afrikaner cop who loves killing almost as much as he loves Jesus Christ, and Disaster Zondi, a fastidious Zulu detective who wishes to settle an old score. Once Gatsby smells those missing American millions, the four men are drawn into a web of murder and vengeance that builds to an unforgettable conclusion.

Roger Smith's debut thriller is a fast-paced book with many twists and turns. The character's actions, ever the minor ones, have great influence on the course of the book. The connections between the characters and well done and believable. Sometimes in mysteries things come together a little to conveniently, and I didn't have that feeling with this book.

The characters aren't really deep, but in a mystery the attraction is the action, and there is plenty of that here. The setting of South Africa is also interesting. It lent an air of unfamiliarity that added some extra spark to the book. Some of the slang didn't make complete sense to me, but I was always able to get the general idea.

If you prefer your mysteries to by cozy, this may not be the book for you. There is some violence and foul language. I prefer my mysteries gritty and this one fit the bill. Smith is working on another book set in South Africa and I will be on the lookout for it. 4 stars

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Review: Waiting to Surface by Emily Listfield

It takes just one phone call to change your life...

On a steamy August morning, Sarah Larkin drops her six-year-old daughter, Eliza, off at camp and heads to her office, where she works as an editor of a women's magazine. Sitting at her desk testing a $450 face cream, she is just rubbing it into her forearm when the phone rings.

Detective Ronald Brook, speaking softly and deliberately, tells Sarah that her husband has vanished. A keening sound escapes from Sarah's throat as the detective lays out the few facts he knows.

A noted sculptor, Todd Larkin went swimming at midnight off the coast of Florida and hasn't returned. He was staying with a woman. He was drinking. He left behind his keys, wallet, cell phone, and his return airline ticket. They also found two drawings and pieces of a sculpture. But there is no trace of him or his body. The coast guard has been scouring the shoreline, but no one has seen a thing.

Has Todd run off to start a new life or is he dead? Could it have been an accident, suicide, or homicide? Immediately, Sarah's life spins into a world of uncertainty, hope, and fear as she grapples with the mystery of his disappearance.

I had high hopes for this book, and it didn't quite live up to my expectations. It wasn't bad by any means, but it also didn't grab my attention like I'd hoped it would.

I never found Sarah to be very engaging. I know she was going through a lot and was juggling her job, her daughter and her sorrow, but as a whole she fell flat for me. I actually found the parts about her job as a magazine executive much more interesting than her struggle over her missing husband.

Maybe this book just didn't fit in with my mood at the time I read it...I have heard good things about Ms Listfield's other books, especially Acts of Love, so if you have read other books by her I would be interested in hearing your thoughts. 3 stars

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Review: Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher

Clay Jensen's first love records her last words.

Clay Jensen returns home from school to find a strange package with his name on it lying on his porch. Inside he discovers several cassette tapes recorded by Hannah Baker,his classmate and crush, who committed suicide two weeks earlier. Hannah's voice explains that there are thirteen reasons she decided to end her life. Clay is one of them. If he listens, he'll find out why.

Clay spends the night crisscrossing his town with Hannah as his guide. He becomes a first-hand witness to Hannah's pain, and learns the truth about himself, a truth he never wanted to face.

Through Hannah and Clay's dual narratives, debut author Jay Asher weaves an intricate and heart-rending story of confusion and desperation that will deeply affect teen readers.

When I picked up this audiobook from the library I knew it was a young adult book about suicide, but I didn't know that the format of the story included cassette tapes. Because the story revolves around these tapes of Hannah's, it makes for a very powerful audio book. You are hearing Hannah's words through the speakers, just as Clay would.

There was both a male and female narrator on the audio, and they both were very well done. The emotion of the story came through strongly, and throughout the story I would get goose bumps.

Sometimes as Clay was listening to Hannah's tapes his thoughts and reactions to her statements would break into her narrative. While these often clarified or added to the story they were also a little distracting. I would be so engrossed in Hannah's story that I didn't want any interruptions.

This is a powerful and well-written story. It is definitely not just for teens, as suicide is a subject that doesn't just affect them. I highly recommend this book, especially the unabridged audio version. This is a story that will stay with me. 5 stars

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Review: Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell

In this stunning new book, Malcolm Gladwell takes us on an intellectual journey through the world of "outliers"--the best and the brightest, the most famous and the most successful. He asks the question: what makes high-achievers different?

His answer is that we pay too much attention to what successful people are like, and too little attention to where they are from: that is, their culture, their family, their generation, and the idiosyncratic experiences of their upbringing. Along the way he explains the secrets of software billionaires, what it takes to be a great soccer player, why Asians are good at math, and what made the Beatles the greatest rock band.

I'd known of Malcolm Gladwell's books for a while, but hadn't picked one up. Now I wish I hadn't waited so long as I loved this audio book. It was entertaining, interesting and educational without being dry, as some non-fiction can be. It was read by the author and I enjoyed him as the narrator.

This book was an eye opening look at successful people. When most people think success they think hard work, but Gladwell shows that it is so much more than that. His examples come from all walks of life and from many different professions, yet they all get you thinking about success in a whole new way.

The section on Asians being good at math was one of my favorites. My mom, who is a teacher, and I were recently discussing Gladwell's thoughts on the topic. She mentioned that the district she teaches in has been redesigning the math curriculum's language to more closely resemble that of Asian speakers. I love it when things I'm reading about apply to everyday life!

I highly recommend this book, even for those readers or listeners who don't normally read non-fiction. Now, I'm off to track down his other books! 4 stars

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Review: The Help by Kathryn Stockett

Twenty-two-year-old Skeeter has just returned home after graduating from Ole Miss. She may have a degree, but it is 1962, Mississippi, and her mother will not be happy till Skeeter has a ring on her finger. Skeeter would normally find solace with her beloved maid Constantine, the woman who raised her, but Constantine has disappeared and no one will tell Skeeter where she has gone.

Aibileen is a black maid, a wise, regal woman raising her seventeenth white child. Something has shifted inside her after the loss of her own son, who died while his bosses looked the other way. She is devoted to the little girl she looks after, though she knows both their hearts may be broken.

Minny, Aibileen's best friend, is short, fat, and perhaps the sassiest woman in Mississippi. She can cook like nobody's business, but she can't mind her tongue, so she's lost yet another job. Minny finally finds a position working for someone too new to town to know her reputation. But her new boss has secrets of her own.

Seemingly as different from one another as can be, these women will nonetheless come together for a clandestine project that will put them all at risk. And why? Because they are suffocating within the lines that define their town and their times. And sometimes lines are made to be crossed.

Wow! I flew through this book. It is a large book, over 450 pages, but it flows so well, and I was so engrossed in the story, that I read it in three days. The characters aren't only well written, they are all the type of character that linger with you after the end of the story. Once I finished The Help I actually waited until the next day to start another book because I wasn't ready to walk away from them quite yet.

One thing that I couldn't decide if I liked or not was that the book was written in first person, but the narrator changed every few chapters. In one way, I really liked it because it gave you more insight into each of the characters. On the other hand, it always took me a little while to get into the rhythm of the new narrator. The maid's portions are also written as they would speak, and at times I found this to be a little overdone.

All in all, I thought this was a very impressive debut. The characters emotions really came through, and I felt their anger, fear and hope right along with them. 4.5 stars

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Review: The Mighty Queens of Freeville by Amy Dickinson

Amy Dickinson has made a career out of helping others, through her internationally syndicated advice column "Ask Amy." Readers love her for her honesty, her small-town values, and for the fact that her motto is "I make the mistakes so you don't have to." In The Mighty Queens of Freeville, Amy Dickinson shares those mistakes and her remarkable story.

This is the tale of Amy and her daughter and the people who helped raise them after Amy found herself a reluctant single parent. Though divorce runs through her family like an aggressive chromosome, the women of her family taught her what family is about. They helped her to pick up the pieces when her life fell apart and to reassemble them into something new.

It is a story of frequent failures and surprising successes, as Amy starts and loses careers, bumbles through blind dates and adult education classes, travels across the country with her daughter and their giant tabby cat, and tries to come to terms with the family's aptitude for "dorkitude." Though they live in London, D.C., and Chicago, all roads lead them back to her hometown of Freeville (pop. 458), a tiny village where Amy's family has tilled and cultivated the land, tended chickens and Holsteins, and built houses and backyard sheds for more than 200 years.

Most important, though, her family members all still live within a ten-house radius of each other. With kindness and razor-sharp wit, they welcome Amy and her daughter back weekend after weekend, summer after summer, offering a moving testament to the many women who have led small lives of great consequence in a tiny place.

Amy Dickinson's memoir is a heartwarming story of family. While there are some tough times, like Amy's divorce and single parenthood, this upbeat book celebrates the love of family, particularly the special bond between female family members.

I found the writing in the book comfortable. It was like sitting down with a friend you haven't seen in a while and catching up. The writing was smooth and often had me chuckling at the small town antics and Amy's witty phrasing.

Growing up I didn't have the extended family that Amy had. It was wonderful to share her experience of walking a few blocks and visiting many family members. The small town atmosphere was charming and I highly recommend this memoir as a nice change of pace from the negativity of some memoirs. 4 stars

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Review: Bitter is the New Black by Jen Lancaster

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.

One of my (unofficial) goals this year is to finally read some books which have been buried on my TBR shelves. If I had know how funny this one was, I wouldn't have waited so long to read it.

Lancaster is (admittedly) quite nasty at times. But even with her foul mouth and self-centered attitude I still found myself laughing out loud more than once. This story isn't all about her nastiness though and I found myself rooting for her too!

This memoir is a fun, fast read and is a nice change from some of the heavier memoirs I usually read. 4 stars

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Review: Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford

In the opening pages of Jamie Ford's stunning debut novel, Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet, Henry Lee comes upon a crowd gathered outside the Panama Hotel, once the gateway to Seattle's Japantown. It has been boarded up for decades, but now the new owner has made an incredible discovery: the belongings of Japanese families, left when they were rounded up and sent to internment camps during World War II. As Henry looks on, the owner opens a Japanese parasol.

This simple act takes old Henry Lee back to the 1940s, at the height of the war, when young Henry's world is a jumble of confusion and excitement, and to his father, who is obsessed with the war in China and having Henry grow up American. While "scholarshipping" at the exclusive Ranier Academy, where the white kids ignore him, Henry meets Keiko Okabe, a young Japanese American student. Amid the chaos of blackouts, curfews, and FBI raids, Henry and Keiko forge a bond of friendship, and innocent love, that transcends the long-standing prejudices of their Old World ancestors. And after Keiko and her family are swept up in the evacuations to the internment camps, she and Henry are left only with the hope that the war will end, and that their promise to each other will be kept.

Forty years later, Henry Lee is certain that the parasol belonged to Keiko. In the hotel's dark dusty basement he begins looking for signs of the Okabe family's belongings and for a long-lost object whose value he cannot begin to measure. Now a widower, Henry is still trying to find his voice, words that might explain the actions of his nationalistic father; words that might bridge the gap between him and his modern, Chinese American son; words that might help him confront the choices he made many years ago.

Set during one of the most conflicted and volatile times in American history, Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet is an extraordinary story of commitment and enduring hope. In Henry and Keiko, Jamie Ford has created an unforgettable duo whose story teaches us of the power of forgiveness and the human heart.

Wonderful reviews of Jamie Ford's Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet have been circling the blogosphere and when that happens I am always afraid that a book won't live up to its hype. I am happy to say that was not the case here!

This book is so many things at once, and all of them work so well together. It is a historical novel, a tale of past and present, love and loss, and a moving family drama.

The writing is descriptive without being flowery. There aren't long passages of details, which I can usually do without anyways, but I still have a very clear picture in my mind's eye of the settings and the characters. There are a couple of wonderful minor characters in the book too and they left as big an impression as the main characters.

The story moved seamlessly between past and present and the WWII setting was very well done. The Japanese internment camps and the mood of the times was portrayed very honestly. It is a focal point of the book, but it doesn't overwhelm the people part of the story.

Ultimately, this is a love story. It is about the love of family and friends, and all the things you do, and don't do, for love. It is a heartwarming story, and one I wouldn't be surprised to see as a movie. 5 stars

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Review: Delicate Edible Birds

From Lauren Groff, author of the critically acclaimed and bestselling first novel The Monsters of Templeton, comes Delicate Edible Birds, one of the most striking short fiction debuts in years. Here are nine stories of astonishing insight and variety, each revealing a resonant drama within the life of a twentieth-century American woman.

In "Sir Fleeting," a midwestern farm girl on her honeymoon in Argentina falls into lifelong lust for a French playboy. In "Blythe," an attorney who has become a stay-at-home mother takes a night class in poetry and meets another full-time mother, one whose charismatic brilliance changes everything. In "Delicate Edible Birds," a group of war correspondents - a lone, high-spirited woman among them - falls prey to a brutal farmer while fleeing Nazis in the French countryside.

In some of these stories, enormous changes happen in an instant. In others, transformations occur across a lifetime - or several lifetimes.

For some people a catchy title will stand out to them, for me it's the cover that catches my eye. I love this cover and the way the black scroll work stands out against the light blue. This book was already on my must read list because I really enjoyed Lauren Groff's The Monsters of Templeton, but if it hadn't been, I would have checked it out just based on the cover.

The first story in the book is set in Templeton. I loved this because it was like going home, back to a familiar, comfortable setting. From here, the stories all feature women, but they are all vastly different. This difference in all the stories was one of my favorite aspects of this collection. Often times with short stories it seems like you are reading variations on the same story over and over. I never felt that way with this collection.

There were a couple of times that the voice the story was told in seemed a little strange, a little off. By the end of the story, though, I always understood exactly why Groff told the story the way she did, and it always made perfect sense.

Groff's writing is beautiful and captivating without being overdone. I would often set the book aside after completing a story just to keep the characters with me a little while longer. Lauren
Groff has definitely made her way on to my "must read" list. 4.5 stars

Special thanks to Hyperion Books for providing my review copy.

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Review: Case Histories by Kate Atkinson

A triumphant new novel from award-winner Kate Atkinson: a breathtaking story of families divided, love lost and found, and the mysteries of fate.

Case One: Olivia Land, youngest and most beloved of the Land girls, goes missing in the night and is never seen again. Thirty years later, two of her surviving sisters unearth a shocking clue to Olivia's disappearance among the clutter of their childhood home. . .

Case Two: Theo delights in his daughter Laura's wit, effortless beauty, and selfless love. But her first day as an associate in his law firm is also the day when Theo's world turns upside down. . .

Case Three: Michelle looks around one day and finds herself trapped in a hell of her own making. A very needy baby and a very demanding husband make her every waking moment a reminder that somewhere, somehow, shed made a grave mistake and would spend the rest of her life paying for it--until a fit of rage creates a grisly, bloody escape.

As Private Detective Jackson Brodie investigates all three cases, startling connections and discoveries emerge. Inextricably caught up in his clients grief, joy, and desire, Jackson finds their unshakable need for resolution very much like his own.

This poor book has been sitting on my shelves for quite a while. With the release of When Will There Be Good News? my interest in this series was renewed and I decided now was a good time to get caught up.

Jackson Brodie is a bit of a mystery as a leading character. I didn't feel that I got to know him all that well. I thought he was likeable, but not a character that I immediately wanted to know more about. Hopefully more of his personality will come through in later books.

I thought the individual cases were interesting, but that things came together a little too neatly for me. It seemed like there were too many coincidences to be very realistic.

Even with that, this is a series that I think is worth following. I enjoyed watching Brodie's thought process as he worked through these cases. I have also heard from others that the series gets stronger with each book. 3.5 stars

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Review: Girlbomb by Janice Erlbaum

At fifteen, sick of her mom’s spineless reactions to abusive men–and afraid of her stepfather’s unpredictable behavior–Janice Erlbaum walked out of her family’s apartment and never returned. What followed that fateful decision is the heart of this amazing, fascinating, and disturbing memoir.

From her first frightening night at a shelter, trying to sleep in a large room filled with yelling girls, Janice knew she was in over her head. She was beaten up, shaken down, and nearly stabbed by a pregnant girl. But it was still better than living at home. Just like that, she was halfway homeless, always one step away from being sent “upstate to Lockdown.”

As Janice slipped further into street life, she nevertheless continued to attend high school, harbor crushes, even play the lead in the spring production of Guys and Dolls. She also roamed the streets, clubs, bars, and parks of New York City with her two best girlfriends, on the prowl for hard drugs and boys on skateboards. Together they scored coke at Danceteria, smoked angel dust in East Village squats, commiserated over their crazy mothers, and slept with one another’s boyfriends on a regular basis.

Janice Erlbaum paints a wry, mesmerizing portrait of being underprivileged, underage, and underdressed in the 1980s, bouncing from shelters to group homes, from tenement squats to legendary nightclubs. A moving and tremendously entertaining ride through the seediest parts of New York City, Girlbomb provides an unflinching look at street life, survival sex, female friendships, and first loves.

This book came highly recommended by other memoir lovers at PaperBack Swap. It had been in my bookshelf for a while before I finally picked it up, and I was glad I did.

Erlbaum was brutally honest in her descriptions of the shelters, group homes and the people she encountered in them. Her descriptions of the drugs she did and the nightclubs she frequented made me cringe at times. Through it all, I almost forgot how young she was. The fact that she was able to take care of herself and still make it though school is a testament to her strength.

I enjoyed the first two thirds of the book more than I did the ending. The last quarter of the book seemed to focus more on Erlbaum's choice of boyfriend more than anything else. As she was still young and on her own, I know this was a big deal, but it didn't have quite the same appeal to me as the first part of the book did. Still, this was a very well written memoir and I will definitely read her second book, Have You Found Her. 3.5 stars

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