two recommendations

Recently two books were recommened to me by my reading buddies and I enjoyed reading them both.



The Pioneer Women: this is the blogging of a young women going from city to country life. I cannot knock it because here I am blogging. Maybe someday my blogs will be turned into a book!?!!  I had high expectations for this book, and found it to be a quick, light read.

My mom's book club had read:



And I really enjoyed this book! Great literature, very engaging story about a women's search for her true identity, spanning 3 generations. The book was filled with vivid descriptions of life and love and pain and joy.

The Forgotten Garden takes root in your imagination and grows into something enchanting--from a little girl with no memories left alone on a ship to Australia, to a fog-soaked London river bend where orphans comfort themselves with stories of Jack the Ripper, to a Cornish sea heaving against wind-whipped cliffs, crowned by an airless manor house where an overgrown hedge maze ends in the walled garden of a cottage left to rot. This hidden bit of earth revives barren hearts, while the mysterious Authoress's fairy tales (every bit as magical and sinister as Grimm's) whisper truths and ignite the imaginary lives of children. As Morton draws you through a thicket of secrets that spans generations, her story could cross into fairy tale territory if her characters weren't clothed in such complex flesh, their judgment blurred by the heady stench of emotions (envy, lust, pride, love) that furtively flourished in the glasshouse of Edwardian society. While most ache for a spotless mind's eternal sunshine, the Authoress meets the past as "a cruel mistress with whom we must all learn to dance," and her stories gift children with this vital muscle memory. --Mari Malcolm

Books into movies

I am happy to report the movie The Help


did a great job bringing the book to life. I did not notice a few minor changes from the book to the movie (Mary Lou reminded me, thank you!). I think the changes were just to make the movie more appealing to a wider audience. Craig went with me and even enjoyed the movie, without having read the book. I loved the book and loved the movie too! Great way to spend a few hours in the theatre, transporting yourself back to the 60's.

My daughter Mary and her friend Sarah and I went to see Sarah's Key,


Mary & I had both read the book, and although Sarah had not read it yet, we all loved the movie. I think they did a great job bringing the book to life. Some of you might find it a tough movie to watch because of the story-line and the subtitles for the dialogue that is spoken in French. But I would highly recommend this book and movie too!
The book; Sarah's Key, by Tatiana de Rosnay was very well written, however, I would not recommend it to everyone, because the storyline is a very difficult topic to read about, a time in France's history that has been swept under the rug, during WW2, and the sending of thousands of Jews to concentration camps.

Just finished reading - fast reads

I just finished reading two books that were fast, easy reads, ....both very different genres, but fun to wizz through.

French Lessons -  Ellen Sussman

Easy reading, a day in the life of 3 tutors of French in Paris, romance and drama, but left me wanting to know more about the characters.

The Mozart Conspiracy - Scott Mariani



If you like murder, mystery, fiction mixing with historical non-fiction, you will love this book. Reminded me of other similiar books such as The Da Vinci Code.

So little time,

With so many great books out there, and so little time, I think I need to be more discriminating about what I choose to read. Do you ever think that too?

I just finished two books listed on the bestsellers list and a third one that was recommended to me;

The Paris Wife, which was just ok....I was a bit disappointed by it, sadly...


Room: which was a real page-turner, I couldn't put it down....


Skipping A Beat: was a quick easy read, light....


Actually, I did NOT read "I still Dream about You" by Fannie Flagg after about 20 pages, it was just too depressing at the start, so I just let that one go. Hard decision, but I needed to move on.

So many great books and so little time!

Non-Fiction favorites

This one I am recommending to everyone, ....maybe for my next book club selection? An amazing story, very informative, very well written, just made me want to learn more about this family!



The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks a fascinating and moving story of medicine and family, of how life is sustained in laboratories and in memory. Henrietta Lacks was a mother of five in Baltimore, a poor African American migrant from the tobacco farms of Virginia, who died from a cruelly aggressive cancer at the age of 30 in 1951. A sample of her cancerous tissue, taken without her knowledge or consent, as was the custom then, turned out to provide one of the holy grails of mid-century biology: human cells that could survive--even thrive--in the lab. Known as HeLa cells, their stunning potency gave scientists a building block for countless breakthroughs, beginning with the cure for polio. Meanwhile, Henrietta's family continued to live in poverty and frequently poor health, and their discovery decades later of her unknowing contribution--and her cells' strange survival--left them full of pride, anger, and suspicion. For a decade, Skloot doggedly but compassionately gathered the threads of these stories, slowly gaining the trust of the family while helping them learn the truth about Henrietta.

Another non-fiction author that I discovered through my girlfriends recommendations; Karen M and Marcia B, both told me about these two books by Robert Kurson.

I especially loved, found very fascinating;

The biography of Mike May, a highly successful entrepreneur, athlete, husband and father who undergoes experimental surgery to regain the vision that he lost in a chemical explosion at age three. When May chooses to pursue the risky procedure, he rejects the notion of blindness as an infirmity that requires healing. Instead, May views the restoration of sight as a new adventure to explore with the same gusto that he has demonstrated in all facets of life. Without pathos or pity, Welch vividly portrays May's challenge of processing the mental complexities of his newfound vision, including navigating the aisles of Costco and recognizing the gender of patrons at a neighborhood coffee bar.



Shadow Divers, the true story of a deadly search for a German U-boat off the coast of New Jersey,

More great recommendations

I have had the pleasure of reading alot of great books this summer. The ones below are based on recommendations from fellow teachers friends. Fun reads that really hit home if you work with kids in any capacity! I highly recommend these too!

This one could have been written by my daughter Hanna, she experienced alot of the same things as this author. Non-fiction, very insightful!


This one was recommended by a High School English teacher, and I would suggest everyone read this - nonfiction, very inspiring!



This one is very insightful as to what life is like for middle-school - to high school students, this is such a challenging lifetime for all kids to go through. Very well written, fictional, but so real too, not for the faint-of-heart!

Books into Movies

Book Club Buddies have read many books that have been made into movies. It is always been fun to take a field trip to see the movie after the book club discussion.


One of our earliest and my most favorite book-to-movie was: Like Water for Chocolate: A Novel in Monthly Installments with Recipes, Romances, and Home Remedies, by Laura Esquivel




Like Water for Chocolate, the movie - I remember there were 5 of us who drove into Chicago to see the movie, it had not been widely released yet, and it was in Spanish with English subtitles! We read each other exerpts from the book in the car on the way into Chicago. We giggled like high-school girls during the steamy parts of the movie, the other people in the theater must have thought we were really wacky! It was soooo fun!

What were some of the others? 

The Hours, by Michael Cunningham


 

Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austin at Nancy's house!
 

Young Adult books

Recently I have had the pleasure of reading several young adult (YA) books and have loved them. Over the past years, I have also read some wonderful YA books.  I know we read Harry Potter as a book club selection, but there are many more out there....

Have you? What ones would you recommend?

I would highly recommend the following! This author, Blue Balliett is from Chicago, and these stories are based in Chicago, with three school age children solving mysteries in and around the city with an artist's theme intertwined. Fun reads!!

I just finished reading the 3rd book of this series;


Book 1 in the series


and Book 2 in the series



Also, I recently read this book for  tutoring assignment, and I was just blown away with the power of the story! It is a true story of a young boy growing up in Germany during the Hitler regime, ...a must read, similiar to the Anne Frank genre!




This is a sweet and wonderful story about a young girl, from a wealthy family growing up in Mexico, when her world is turned upside down and she has to escape to the US and become a farm worker to survive. Loved it!

So many books, so little time!!!!

Delighted and Disappointed

Have you ever read a book that you loved, and eagerly awaited another one by the same author,only to be disappointed?

This just happened to me! I loved "Sarah's Key" by Tatiana de Rosnay

Excellent story, very engaging, and I would highly reccommend it to my buddies. Based upon this seldom mentioned, little known piece of French history,that alternates between the past in 1942, and the present. The past centers around a 10 year old Jewish girl Sarah Strazynski who is forced to go to the Velodrome d'Hiver with her mother and father, innocently leaving behind a 4 year old brother Michel locked in a secret cupboard with the assurance that she would return to let him out when it was safe.

So, when I saw her newest book on the shelf at the library, I was so excited to get it home to read it. "A Secret Kept"

was a huge disappointment. It was drudgery reading through it, and did not have any redeeming qualities. I would not recommend it to anyone. I will await her next book, and try her once again, but if it doesn't have a better story next time, I am taking her off my list!

My friend Marcia just reminded me of another example. We loved, loved, loved


But was really dissapointed with her follow up book;

How about you, have you ever been disappointed by a favorite author?

Buy, borrow, check-out?

Do you buy, borrow or check-out books?

If you read as much as I do, it gets too expensive to buy books. So I love the library and visit it often. I even remember very vividly as a kid, going to the Dekalb Public Library to check out books on my own, and sitting on the cool curved walls of stone outside on the west side.  Sycamore Public Library is my current favorite and the best place in town to peruse and find great books among the shelves to read and enjoy. Their staff is so helpful and can get any book for you if they don't have it in their location. Their Prairie Cat book search is really user friendly and I use it alot!

I also love to visit book stores. I feel bad because I probably contributed to the closing of the Junction in Dekalb and Borders too, because I would visit the stores regularly, hunting for the latest best-sellers and wandering through the book shelves. However, then I would go home and call my library to check it out.

I still love wandering through used book stores. It is like sorting through a treasure chest and special to find a used book that you want to keep and share. One time, when we were on vacation in New Orleans, I found a used copy of Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austin. Our book club was reading it at the time and this copy was a student version that had lots of footnotes and underlined passages, it was perfect for keeping and sharing with the club! (on the right in photo). I also watch for used books at garage sales and rummage sales.

How about you?


http://www.sycamorelibrary.org/

http://www.dkpl.org/

Next month' s selection

Thanks Irene for choosing Unbroken! We all gave it a thumbs up and enjoyed reading about this amazing man and his life-long, inspiring journey.

 

Nina has chosen the next book selection from one of our favorite authors;

Barbra Kingsolver: The Lacuna --- contains two very distinct parts. One features a vibrant Mexican landscape with the equally colorful personalities of Rivera, Kahlo, and Trotsky. The other centers more on Harrison's reclusive existence in small-town America and his battle with the House Un-American Activities Committee. Despite the prodigious research that both parts exhibit, critics clearly preferred the former, marveling at Kingsolver's lyrical passages and her expert recreation of 1930s Mexico. A few reviewers also noted instances of sermonizing and inaccurate history. However, the novel's compelling, engrossing story certainly outweighed these minor complaints, and in the end, Kingsolver has created a convincing "tableau vivant of epochs and people that time has transformed almost past recognition" (New York Times Book Review).

 

Another book we have read from Barbra, is one of my all time favorites;

 

 

 

The list - wow '93 to now!

Date                      Host                       Book                     

5/9/11                   Marcia                  The Shadow of the Wind

2/28/11                Nancy                   Becoming Jane Eyre

1/12/11                Mary Lou             The Amatears

11/16/10              Jan                         Cutting for Stone                            

10/5/10                Liz                           Into the Beautiful North

8/16/10                Joyce                     Pay It Forward and 29 Gifts

6/17/10                Lee                         The Piano Teacher

4/20/10                Lois                        The Help

3/2/10                   Nina                      Naked

1/19/09                Nancy                   Same Kind of Different as me

11/19/09              Mary Lou             The ELegance of the Hedgehog

8/25/09                Liz                           Watership Down

6/29/09                Joyce                     The House on Mango Street

5/28/09                Marcia                 It Happens Everyday

3/31/09                Nina                      Three Cups of Tea

2/10/09                Lois                        The History of Love

10/9/08                Mary Lou             The Time Travelers Wife

8/26/08                ?                              Love in the Time of Cholera

6/2/08                   Liz                           Someone Knows my name

4/8/08                   Joyce                     Water for Elephants

2/20/08                Bobbi                    To Have and Have Not

1/10/08                Nina                      My Life in France

11/14/07              Lois                        Devil in the White City

10/9/07                Nancy                   Then She Found Me

8/29/07                Mary Lou             Swallows of Kabul

7/24/07                Jan                         1776

5/29/07                Liz                           Eat, Pray, Love

4/1/07                   Joyce                     Gilead

2/27/07                ?                              The Lost Painting

1/30/07                Nina                      Independence Day

11/27/06              Gayle                    How Green was my Valley

10/3/06                Nancy                   Persuasion

8/29/06                Jan                         If you lived her, I’d know your name

6/27/06                Liz                           The Heart is a lonely hunter

5/30/06                Sharon                  Night- Elle Wiesel

4/25/06                Mary Lou             Ragtime

3/9/06                   Irene                     Pompeii

2/7/06                   Joyce                     The ALchemist

1/3/06                   Karen                    Balzac and the little Chinese seamstress

11/21/05              Nina                      A Thousand Days in Tuscany

10/13/05              Kristy                    The Other Bolyn Girl

9/1/05                   Liz                           The Hummingbirds Daughter

7/28/05                Nancy                   Fire by Night

6/9/05                   Bobbi                    The Known World

5/5/05                   Gayle                    The Memory of Running

3/29/05                Liz                           My SIsters Keeper

2/22/05                Irene                     Kite Runner

1/27/05                Nina                      A Tree Grows in Brooklyn

11/30/04              Joyce                     One Thousand White Women

1/10/04                Karen                    The Piano Tuner

9/1/04                   Mary Lou             The Devils Highway

8/1/04                   Kristy                    Nector in a Sieve

7/22/04                Jan                         The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night

5/23/04                Gayle                    The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency

3/25/04                ?                              The Day Christ Died

2/26/04                ?                              The Three Junes

1/22/04                Liz                           The Life of Pi

11/18/03              ?                              The Secret Life of Bees

10/9/03                Karen                    You May not like me, but you’re a lot like me & The color of Water

?                              ?                              Seabiscuit

?                              ?                              Bel Canto

?                              ?                              Six Kinds of Sky

?                              ?                              Lovely Bones

1/27/03                ?                              The Day of Bees

12/12/02              Jan                         The Weight of Water

11/7/02                Liz                           The Angle of Repose

9/12/10                ?                              The Sin Eater

7/31/02                ?                              Becoming Madame Mao

5/22/02                ?                              In the Bedroom

4/24/02                ?                              The Bonesetters Daughter

?                              ?                              The Courage Tree

2/28/02                ?                              Good Harbor

1/1/02                   Nina                      The Cunning Man

12/6/01                Mary Lou             An American Outrage

10/24/01              Jan                         Plantation

9/28/01                Karen                    Katherine Graham, Personal History

7/26/01                ?                              Plain Truth

6/28/01                Liz                           Snow Mountain Passage

5/24/01                ?                              Galileos Daughter

3/8/01                   ?                              Chocolat

 ?                             Barb                       A Cup of Tea

1/18/01                Liz                           The Hours

12/14/00              ?                              Straight Man

11/3/00                Joyce                     Daughter of Fortune

10/10/00              ?                              The Orchid Thief

9/13/00                ?                              Sleeping Arrangements

6/25/00                Karen                    Nothing to do but stay

5/4/00                   ?                              The Red Tent

?                              Liz                           The Poisonwood Bible

3/2/00                   ?                              Harry Potter & the Sorcorers  Stone

2/3/00                   Joyce                     Welcome To the World Baby Girl

1/1/00                   ?                              Angela’s Ashes

12/2/99                Nina                      Winesburg, Ohio                            

11/4/99                ?                              At Home in Mitford

10/7/99                ?                              Jewell

9/2/99                   ?                              A Widow for one year

7/1/99                   ?                              Cold Sassy Tree               

6/6/99                   ?                              Midwives

5/13/99                ?                              The Divine Sisters of the YaYAhood

4/1/99                   Liz                           Under the Tuscan Sun

?                              ?                              Falling Leaves

2/4/99                   ?                              In the Time of Butterflies

1/7/99                   ?                              The Perfect STorm

11/5/98                Bobbie                 Great Expectations        

?                              Mary Jo                                Bean Trees

?                              Karen                    Tender is the Night

?                              Kristy                    Snow Falling on Cedars

7/1/98                   Liz                           Cold Mountain

5/28/98                ?                              The Notebook

1/21/98                Joyce                     Midnight in the Garden of good and evil

4/21/98                Barb                       South Pacific

2/28/98                Nina                      The Awakening

1/29/98                Mary Lou             A Civil Action

12/1/97                kate                       Inspirational Sandwich

11/1/97                Mary Jo                                Still Watch         

10/24/97              Karen                    The Chosen

9/25/97                Kristie                   Stones From the River

?                              Liz                           The God of Small THings

6/25/97                Irene                     A Song of Solomon

5/29/97                Joyce                     A Long Fatal Love Chase

4/23/97                Barb                       A Bed by the Window

3/27/97                Nina                      The English Patient

2/20/97                Karen                    Saying Grace

1/31/97                Liz                           Horse Whisperer

11/14/96              Irene                     An Anthropologist on Mars

10/15/96              Joyce                     Coming Home

8/21/96                Nina/Barb           Fault Lines

6/28/96                Nina                      Love Medicine

5/22/96                Karen                    In His Steps

4/22/96                Irene                     Tunnel Vision

3/19/96                Liz                           Cry the Beloved Country

2/13/96                Joyce                     Pride and Prejudice

1/19/96                Barb                       Rabbit at Rest

12/7/95                Nina                      Stone Diaries

11/6/95                Karen                    The Scarlet LEtter

9/14/95                Joyce                     The Lilac Bus

8/15/95                Barb                       Mama Makes up her Mind

7/13/95                Nina                      Pigs in Heaven

6/13/95                Bobbie                 The Gates of Zion

5/17/95                Karen                    Run with the Horseman

4/18/95                Joyce                     The Giver

3/1/95                   Diane                    The Pearl

12/1/94                Bobbie                 Our Town

2/8/95                   Barb                       Ethan Frome

1/17/95                Nina                      The Shipping News

11/18/94              Joyce                     Disclosure

10/5/94                Karen                    Johnny Tremain

9/14/94                Diane                    Farwell to Arms

8/19/94                Nina                      For Love

7/12/94                Bobbie                 Christy

6/14/94                Karen                    The Celestine Prophecy

5/11/94                Joyce/Karen       Remains of the Day

4/14/94                Diane                    A is for Alibi

3/1/94                   Nina                      The House of Mirth

2/1/94                   Bobbie                 Shindlers List

1/1/94                   Joyce                     Like Water for Chocolate

12/2/93                Karen                    Wouldn’t take nothing for my Journey now

11/1/1993            Diane                    The Kitchen God’s Wife               

WOW!!!

Sycamore Ladies Literary Society for Meeting and Munching

Lang, Slack, Shumway, Mathey, Minnihann