THE GLASS CASTLE by Jeannette Walls
is an unbelievable memoir about her life growing up in the most unusual family. She and her two sisters and brother were reared by parents who couldn’t live in the real world, and barely fed, clothed or looked after their children. They were constantly on the move.

The author’s mother describes herself as an excitement freak and labels everything that happens to them as an adventure. She is a free spirit who hated the idea of domesticity and didn’t want the responsibility of raising a family. She is also very smart. Her father is brilliant and charming and captures his children’s imagination, teaching them physics, geology and incredibly he has gained all his knowledge by on his own. The only problem is he is also an alcoholic, who becomes dishonest and self destructive when he drinks.

This incredible tale is told without self-pity and blame. This unconventional family had love, loyalty and they embraced life fearlessly. I would highly recommend this book, it’s an amazing story.

MY SISTER'S KEEPER by Jodi Picoult
is the story of a family, a most unusual one. They are dealing with a daughter , who has leukemia, her younger sister Anna, who was conceived as a bone marrow match for her, their older brother Jessie and of course, Mom and Dad.

The narrator is 13 year old Anna, but the story is also told from each person’s perspective, in their own chapters. This makes it so easy to comprehend where each of them are coming from. It is a breathtaking, emotional story in which many issues are explored, including the moral, practical and emotional complications, involved in having a very sick child.

I found this novel very compelling and would highly recommend it not only as a good story but also one that makes you think about what you would do in the same situation.

Next month I have chosen, WATER FOR ELEPHANTS by Sara Gruen. If you would like to join the discussion please contact me by clicking on the e mail address at the bottom of the page.

FALLING ANGELS, by Tracy Chevalier.

January 1901, the day after Queen Victoria’s death: Two families visit neighboring graves in a fashionable London cemetery. One is decorated with a sentimental angel, the other an elaborate urn. The Waterhouses revere the late Queen and cling to Victorian traditions; the Colemans look forward to a more modern society. To their mutual distaste, the families are inextricably linked when their daughters become friends behind the tombstones. And worse, befriend the gravedigger’s son.

As the girls grow up and the new century finds its feet, as cars replace horses and electricity outshines gas lighting, Britain emerges from the shadows of oppressive Victorian values to a golden Edwardian summer. It is then that the beautiful, frustrated Mrs Coleman makes a bid for greater personal freedom, with disastrous consequences, and the lives of the Colemans and the Waterhouses are changed forever.

A poignant tale of two families brought reluctantly together, Falling Angels is an intimate story of childhood friendships, sexual awakening and human frailty. Yet its epic sweep takes in the changing of a nation, the fight for women’s suffrage and the questioning of steadfast beliefs.

MY SISTER'S KEEPER
by Jodi Picoult
please read along with me and send me your thoughts on this book. auntybernice17@optonline.net

MY SISTER’S KEEPER is the story of a family, a most unusual one. They are dealing with a daughter , who has leukemia, her younger sister Anna, who was conceived as a bone marrow match for her, their older brother Jessie and of course, Mom and Dad.

The narrator is 13 year old Anna, but the story is also told from each person’s perspective, in their own chapters.  This makes it so easy to comprehend where each of them are coming from. It is a breathtaking, emotional story in which many issues are explored, including the moral, practical and emotional complications, involved in having a very sick child.

I found this novel very compelling and would highly recommend it not only as a good story but also one that makes you think about what you would do in the same situation.

Next month I have chosen, WATER FOR ELEPHANTS by Sara Gruen. If you would like to join the discussion please contact me by clicking on the e mail address at the bottom of the page.

WATER FOR ELEPHANTS
by Sara Gruen

This novel explores the pathetic grandeur of a Depression-era circus. It is a captivating story alternating between Jacob as an old man in a nursing home and as a young man studying to be a veterinarian when he suddenly loses his parents and becomes homeless. He ends up with a circus traveling around the country amid a bizarre group of people.

This is a different kind of tale, is easy to read and includes romance, mystery, and murder. It is obvious the author did a lot of research on the time period and circus life which gives the novel an historical feel. What more can you ask for in a book. I would highly recommend this #1New York Times bestseller to anyone looking for a different kind of story to get lost in.

Please email me at the address below if you have any questions, thoughts or wish to discuss this book or one of the past ones I’ve written about.

My next book is DIGGING TO AMERICA by Ann Tyler. Read along with me and let’s have a dialogue.

ATONEMENT

Making of amends: the making of reparation for a sin or a mistake 

ATONEMENT, by Ian McEwan, is about the enjoyment, pains, and risks of writing, and perhaps even more, about the challenge of controlling what readers make of your writing. The story is divided into three parts.

The first section of this novel takes place on a sweltering hot day that changes the lives of almost everyone present. We are introduced to overly imaginative 13-year-old Briony, who accuses Robbie, her sister's childhood friend and their housemaid's son, of raping her cousin.

The second part of the book takes place five years later and focuses on Robbie. He is freed from jail and part of the British Army that was cornered and eventually evacuated by a fleet of small boats at Dunkirk during the early days of WWII. This is a wonderfully written interpretation that shows the pain of what Britain in later years came to see as a kind of victory.

The third part is about how Briony seeks atonement first through a career in nursing and then through writing. Having mistakenly cast her sister Cecilia, and Robbie in a story that totally misrepresented them, she seeks to retell their story with the compassion and understanding that she lacked as a thirteen-year-old girl.

I found it took a few chapters to really capture my attention. Although ATONEMENT was not one of my favorites it is well written, although there was too much description for my taste. I thought that because Ian McEwan is English, the cultural differences probably accounted for some of my feelings.

EAT, PRAY, LOVE
by Elizabeth Gilbert

Elizabeth Gilbert is not the first author who has written a book about searching for meaning in her life but I found her journey to Italy, India and Bali fascinating. She writes about religion, spirituality, personal growth, pleasure, co-dependence and happiness with sincerity and humor.

Some may think of Elizabeth as selfish, while others will envy the trip she was able to take to find herself. There are many different ways to find ones self and her journey was not something most people could or would even want to take but it made for a humorous, insightful, interesting read. I was able to learn from and relate to Elizabeth in many ways.

The author has appeared on Oprah twice and there is a movie being made with Julia Roberts playing Elizabeth. I am so glad I read the book before seeing the movie as there is no way everything in this story can be portrayed on the screen and I would recommend you do the same if you have any interest in this story.