A Tale of Two Sisters by Anna Maxted

It certainly seems fertility is an issue in the books I am reading!

This book is about two sisters with a very strange relationship. The older sister isn't as pretty or successful, but very happy in her relationship. They didn't want children and were not comfortable with kids. She finds out she's pregnant. It really throws her for a loop but she realizes she wants the baby. They wait until she is 16 weeks to tell her family. She is most excited to tell her sister and does so by phone. Unbeknownst to her, her sister, the pretty, successful married one, has been trying for over a year to get pregnant and has been unsuccessful. Her sister Cassie is very upset and is very selfish about it. Shortly after Lizbeth loses the baby. She is heartbroken and goes through major life changes which ultimately strains her relationship with the perfect guy.

Overall the story is about family and how no matter how screwed up they may be, we still love them no matter what.

I really never felt for Cassie. From the beginning I felt she was selfish and expected everyone to cater to her. I started warming up a bit towards the end, but never completely.

Grade: B

Back Roads by Tawni O'Dell

Man this book sure makes me appreciate my normal childhood.

The book is about a nineteen/twenty year old boy who is raising his three sisters because his Mom is in jail for murdering their abusive father. He gets involved with one of his sister's friends Mom. He falls in love and she is murdered.

Through his interrogation with the police his childhood and life is revealed. His sister turned to him for comfort through the abuse of his father and they were sexually involved.

It took a lot of twists and nothing was as it seemed as he discovers through the novel.

It was a great book, very gritty.

My Grade: B+

At First Sight by Nicholas Sparks

Aagh, one of my favorite all time authors. I have always really enjoyed his books, especially after reading Three Weeks with My Brother and learning more about him as a person.

This book was really good! It is about a man who does fall in love pretty much at first sight and the ramnifications of it when you don't really know the person. Its a beautiful and heart wrenching love story. The best friend was a real jerk and from day one trying to plant seeds of doubt. I pretty much could see that coming from the beginning. Not the whole story, but I knew he would be causing problems down the line.

Very, very sad ending which left me literally sobbing.

This was my book club's selection for December and it was a great one!

Grade: A

One Small Thing by Jessica Barksdale Inclan

The book is about a couple who are unable to conceive when suddenly the husband finds out he has a 10 year old son and his ex-girlfriend has died. With this discovery the wife learns secrets of her husband's past that she had no clue about.

Being infertile myself it was easy to put myself in the wife's shoes. She is thrown for a loop and goes somewhat off the deep end. I felt her reactions were very realistic. I won't give the ending away because I think its well worth the read. I did hope for an epilogue with more resolved though.

Grade: A-

The Diviners by Rick Moody

OH MY GOD this was the worst book I have read in a long time. It was way to wordy! Probably sounds funny to say that about a book, but god it was awful. The writer would go off on tangents that seemed to make no sense. He would use two pages to describe what could be said in two sentences. I never really got the "theme" of the book or what it was really all about.

Basically it starts off about light moving across the world, then to some old drunk lady, then her daughter, then her driver, then back to her, then various people in her office etc. Something about making a miniseries called "The Diviners". I will give away the ending, because there was no build up or anything but in the last what, paragraph or so it doesn't get made. I am only assuming that was the general theme. There was no real resolution of anything not that there was a major conflict really. They all had individual conflicts that never came together and none of them ever resolved.

Glad this was a cheap book because it was awful. I also bought The Ice Storm by the same author, which was made into a movie. Man I hope it is better than this was.

Grade: F

A Separate Peace by John Knowles

Wow it was a smaller book, but was really good. One of the reviewers on the cover compared Mr. Knowles to Salinger. I could definitely see a similarity to Catcher and the Rye, more in the way the book "felt".

It was a coming of age story of two boys in a "prep" school in the Northeast during WWII. As someone that did not live through that time parts were hard to really "get" what the main character talks about feeling. I guess that is also true since I am a female and this comes from a man's side.

Overall though I really enjoyed it and it has some parallels now with the Iraq war and boys going over and being killed. Its easy sometimes to forget that these young men are still in so many ways boys.

Grade: B+

Baker Towers by Jennifer Haigh

It was a really interesting read. It takes place starting in the 40's or so about a family in a mining town. To me it was especially interesting because my step father grew up in a mining town in Canada.

Jennifer Haigh did a fantastic job portraying the bleakness of it all. There wasn't a great climax as in a typical novel. I thought though it was more realistic than some books, there is no happily ever after, its just more that life continues with its ups and downs.

My grade: B-

I am in the middle of a Separate Peace by John Knowles and am really enjoying it. Reminds me in spirit of the Catcher and the Rye.

Beginning

I have decided to start this blog to keep track of what I am reading. I am a pretty avid reader and started to keep a binder of books I read with descriptions etc. but it became pretty troublesome to keep up. I figured this would be a good way to keep up and share what I thought with other people.

I also always love to hear about other great books so maybe as I get this going people will post their suggestions for books as well.

I should also say that I love pretty much every type of fiction and biographies, but do not like science fiction at all.

I feel like a kid at Christmas today because I ordered 50 books from Barnes and Noble of their clearance and it should be delivered today. I would love to own a quaint bookstore someday. Too bad all the B&N's and Borders have put most of the small bookstores out of business. I love to be surrounded by books and love talking to other readers!