joycecebollero
Tara Road
Maeve Binchy has a marvelous way of weaving story and characters. It might take a bit taking used to her style, but once you do you find yourself looking forward to another title.
Finding familiar characters from other books never gets old; like visiting and catching up with old friends.
The Tales of Beedle the Bard, Standard Edition (Harry Potter)
What a fun little book!
I thoroughly enjoyed reading the stories that Harry, Ron and Hermoine must have grown up listening to.
The Bluest Eye (Vintage International)
My favorite books to read are debut novels. Although Toni Morrison has been around a long time, and her novels are wonderful, the first one is where the bar is set. She doesn't disappoint.
Highly recommended!
Scarlet Feather
I enjoy reading Maeve Binchy, and the more I read the more I like her. She sweeps me into her stories and it's a comfortable and easy place to be.
Binchy has a unique way of weaving her characters, and its always a surprise to find a familiar or favorite character in a subsequent novel.
Heartsick
Heart Sick is categorized as a thriller, and it is.
Gretchen Lowell is a sociopathic serial killer that defies description. Her methodology even had the profilers stumped. Although in prison for the remainder of her life, this beautiful woman maintains her hold on detective Archie Sheridan, the man she tortured and killed, and then saved as she turned herself in.
Susan Ward is the quirky, pink-haired reporter, out for a good by-line.
Heart Sick is psychological, compelling, unpredictable and suspenseful.
A good read!
The Swan Thieves: A Novel
Robert Oliver is moody, uncommunicative, a gifted artist. He is known to us mainly via the women who have known and loved him the best, leaving Dr. Andrew Marlow (an artist himself) to unravel the mystery that is Olver. Marlow follows clues that take him far and wide, through time and travels, to help his patient.
I did enjoy this book but found it to be a bit slow moving at times.
The Wolf at Twilight: An Indian Elder's Journey through a Land of Ghosts and Shadows
Kent Nerburn has woven a tapestry of tradition, spirituality, humor and friendship.
We are given glimpses into the Lakota soul.
The teachings are simple, really, but for most of us the lessons must be re-learned as the ancestorial voices have been silenced (or rather, ignored) for too long
On a long overdue journey to find a little girl named Yellow Bird, what we are shown includes that the path is not a always a straight line; education is not necessarily found in the classroom; wisdom comes from contemplation; everything in the world is connected.
The Wolf at Twilight finds me pining for my grandmother, her stories, her quiet ways, her long white braided hair.
Room: A Novel
Reading a book from the point of view of a five year old is, well, different. Jack and Ma have a life together, in a very small Room. It's Ma's prison but Jack's whole world. Once you make peace with the narration, you are caught up in a story that is heartwarming and bold.
Nothing is more solid than the love Ma has for Jack, but she knows that they need more. She needs to get back to the life she was taken from seven years ago, and Jack needs to live in a world that consists of more than just one tiny Room.
Room took me on a roller-coaster of emotions, even actually made me hold my breath as my heart pounded for this little hero.
The Book Thief
Markus Zusak (this is my first book by him) is a master story teller, with true and believeable characters. Set in Nazi Germany we witness helplessness, poverty, destruction. Yet also there are simple joys, such as in running, purloined apples, the miracle of books. We get to read in colors - lemon hair, silver eyes, red sky.
This is the first book I ever read that was narrated by Death. Not a black-robed scythe-carrying Death, but one who has a "round heart." Death's narrative style actually reminded me of the way people actually speak: sometimes telling the middle of a story before the beginning, or even starting from the end, with interrutions and reminiscences.
1
 - Alan Bradley)
The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie: A Flavia de Luce Mystery (Flavia de Luce Mysteries)
What fun book! Flavia Sabina de Luce is a delight: a free spirit, literate, imaginative, part Nancy Drew/Sherlock Holmes/Harriet the Spy all rolled up in an 11 year old bundle. Her love of chemistry made me so glad to not have a younger sister!
An easy read, I believe this to be primarily a "young adult" novel, yet it still kept you guessing. Just when you think it's predictable there's a turn in the road. And along with Gladys (the bicycle) Flavia sure covers a lot of ground!
As to the title, you find it referred to thus: " ' Unless some sweetness at the bottom lie, Who cares for all the crinkling of the pie?' "
Minding Frankie
Those who enjoy a Maeve Binchy novel will not be disappointed with Minding Frankie. As is Binchy's way, there are characters and subplots galore!
We get to meet new characters as well as get to "catch up" with some from prior novels. This was accomplished seamlessly.
This was an easy read, quite enjoyable.
The Weight of Silence
I did enjoy this book, Weight of Silence. It was predictable at times, but still kept it's secrets until close to the end. An enjoyable read. There were some sub-stories with the main plot, which keeps interest including the question of what constitutes a good mother.
A good summertime read.
The Help Deluxe Edition
I bought this book when it first came out, as one of my favorite things to read are new author's debut novels. Actually, I'd forgotten I had it until I heard an advertisement for the movie! Anyway, there it was on one of my bookshelves and I'm so glad I re-found it.
The relationships between the characters, as well as their development throughout the pages, was well played out. A fictional account of a turbulent nonfiction time in our recent history.
I enjoyed The Help very much and recommend it highly, without reservation.
