Sing You Home

I tried so hard to read this book slowly but I just couldn't help myself from gulping it!

Jodi Picoult has done it again.  She's created characters to love and a story that grabs hold and won't let go until you stay up late finishing it.

And this book is unique because it comes with a CD.  Jodi herself wrote the lyrics to the songs and her friend, Ellen Wilbur put them to music and sings them in her beautiful voice.  They add another layer to the meaning of the novel.

Zoe Baxter is a music therapist whose son is stillborn.  He was conceived through IVF and the three extra embryos were frozen for further use.  Her husband can't handle the idea of more tries after five attempts and leaves her.  Soon after, Zoe meets a new love and they want to use the remaining embryos to have a child.

But her ex-husband has other ideas for them.  What ensues is a legal fight to decide who gets them.

I like how Jodi wasn't in any hurry to tell this story.  She takes her time to develop the characters and situations so that the reader is fully engaged with it.  And I loved the pauses to listen to the songs; the haunting melodies stayed with me all day.

I cried in the first chapter and I cried in the last one.  Doesn't get much better than that!

Fly Away Home

My friend, Beth, who lives in Florida, went to a luncheon last week where Jennifer Weiner was speaking.  She and I are both fans and I was so envious, being stuck up here in northern NH where authors never venture.  But, I got the next best thing: a autographed copy of Fly Away Home.  I read it and reviewed it last summer when it first came out.  Great book!

I think it's my first ever autographed book!

It's extra meaningful for me because I associate this book with my mom since I was reading it when she died and it gave me solace to think of her flying away home to my dad. 

This is the journal page I did of it.

Jennifer was kind enough to have her picture taken with Beth and they even had a little chit chat.  I so wish I could have been there!

Thanks again, Beth!

The List

This was a really good book!  I was kind of leery because it was only $2.99 but I took a chance and downloaded it and I'm glad I did.

Tom Mankowski is a Chicago detective.  While investigating a murder, he notices that the dead guy has a numbr tatooed on the bottom of his foot.  This interests and scares Tom because he also had a number on his foot.  As he looks into it, he discovers several others with numbers and the mystery of why they have those numbers becomes a race to save them and the world from an ambitious nut case.

The character were quirky and lively and the humor kept me chuckling. 

I'm definitely going to download more of Konrath's novels.

The Book of Men

Every morning I check The Writer's Almanac to read the poem of the day.  Last week they featured two poems by Dorianne Laux.  She's one of my favorite poets so I just had to click the "buy now" button and download her newest book to my Kindle.

I love how her poems are easy to understand but are still very poetic.  She writes about ordinary things that have happened to her and I can't help but nod my head knowing I've had similar experiences.

I've already used "The Beatles" as one of my poems of the day in my classroom.  It led to a very spirited conversation about the fab four.  These kids are 15 and 16 years old and it's amazing how many of them are Beatles fans.

Anyway, I'm glad I downloaded this little book of poems.  I've read it once but it'll be handy for whenever I want to read it again.  And I will!

The Double Comfort Safari Club

It had been a while since I'd visited Mma Ramotswe and her crew in Botswana.  It's such a welcomed trip. 

In this one she has a couple of cases.  In one she is searching for a safari guide who had been very kind to an American lady.  The lady had died and left him some money.  In her other case she's doing a favor for her friend and trying to find out who the lady's husband is having an affair with. 

Her assistant, Mma Makutsi, is having troubles of her own.  Her fiance gets hit by a car and loses his leg.  His overbearing aunt "kidnaps" him from the hospital and won't let Grace near him.

As usual, the novel is full of dignity and simple wisdom and is just the sweet vacation I needed to get my reading back on track.

Alone & Mockingjay

What's going on with me?  I can't find a book to read!  I got a ways into this one and realized that I've read it before.  Darn.  It was good, too!










So, then, I decided to read the third book in The Hunger Games trilogy but I couldn't get into it.  I tried; I really did.  But this one didn't catch my interest at all.  I read about a quarter of it then skipped to the epilogue to find out what happened.  Sweet ending but it didn't make me want to read more of it.  I bought into the fantasy in the first two books but this one just took things too far for my taste.


So, now, I've got to find something I like!  I'm getting worried that my next book will be a disappointment, too.  So, tonight I went to Amazon.com and bought the latest book available in the #1 Ladies Detective Agency.  I've always enjoyed them and I see a new one is slated to be published at the end of this month.  So, I'll try The Double Comfort Safari Club and keep my fingers crossed!