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Manatee435@aol.com
ENVY
by Sandra Brown, 5 stars
I have told everyone I know to read this book. There are so many twists and turns it keeps you guessing and turning the pages. This is definitely her best book ever.
WATERLEO@aol.com
PRODIGAL SUMMER
by Barbara Kingsolver
Wonderful reading which combines a love for the Appalachians with the many relationships we all have in our lives. I always learn so much about ecology when reading one of her novels.
SPhalen597@aol.com
THE GIVER
by Lois Lowry
This "children's" book is must reading for all ages. It is science fiction, yet many of the situations described in the book are happening in today's world. Although it begins slowly, readers will be chilled when they discover some of the truths of Jonas's world. This book will stay with you for a long time after you put
it down. A great book for discussion.
UKHRH@aol.com
THE ELUSIVE VOICE
by Mary Jo Adamson, 4 1/2 stars
A startling mystery set in the Boston of the late 1800s, concerning a series of murders involving the Spiritual Movement (then at its height). Old-fashioned and traditional, Adamsom weaves a nice blend of fact, fiction and historical detail. Though a tad wordy at times, it's certainly not enough to draw the reader's attention away from the plot which remarkably closes on the final few pages.
VALAITISH@aol.com
THE WOMAN NEXT DOOR
by Barbara Delinsky, 3 stars
A young widow becomes pregnant and each of the three married women on the cul-de-sac begin to wonder if her husband might be the father. Gimme a break. This really stretches the credibility factor. ALL the wives suspect their husbands????
Scrrk@aol.com
AMERICAN GODS
by Neil Gaiman, 4 stars
This book is an entertaining story of an excon who is enlisted by Odin, the father of Norse gods, to become a bodyguard of sorts. Odin, called by the name Wednesday, attempts to garner support from the legendary but fading old gods in a battle with the more contemporary gods that are replacing them. These new gods are the worldly aspects of media, technology, and the such. In the course of this quest, Shadow, Odin's bodyguard, is pulled into the wacky world in which old gods are now quirky characters that have since tried to fit into the real world. Beside the unforgettable characters that will have you smiling to yourself as you imagine them, you can almost match them up with the likes of your own kooky neighbors and coworkers. Neil Gaiman has a way of taking the unreal and weaving it into the real that it seems almost possible that these things can be happening under our noses. His style of writing is fluidly composite, drawing the reader into the story without hesitation. The tempo is maintained through the end. I hesitate giving this book five stars only because the ending was less climactic than what I expected. I should blame this on myself, since I anticipated other than what it was. Regardless, it is worth the time and effort to pick up a copy and read.
pkmiller@att.net
THE SINGING BOY
by Dennis McFarland
It seems very apt for our times. Sarah's husband Malcolm is gunned down in an incident of road rage. She is left to raise Harry, their 7-year-old son, with the sometimes help/sometimes hinderance of Malcom's best friend, Deckard, a Vietnam Vet who is battling his own demons. Sarah is so wrapped up in her on inconsolable grief that she does not see how much Harry is hurting. It seems, as I said, so apt for these times. There is no magic or 'proper' way to grieve. Each of us copes with our grief in our own way at our own speed. There's no magic path "from denial to acceptance in 30 minutes or less." Sometimes it is so overwhelming that, indeed, we do not appreciate that our child is grieving their loss, terribly. I went through this with my best friend when he died suddenly of a brain aneurysm, leaving behind his wife and 5-year-old son. This book is so well written it is almost real. Sarah's strange encounters with the detective assigned to the case, Deckard's struggles with his own demons, Harry lost in all of this. It ends on a note of hope. Maybe not quite happily ever after - for like the survivors of the World Trade Center terrorist attack, there's NO 'happily ever after.' But rather, that life does go on and there is light at the end of the tunnel and the inconsolable can become bearable.
jennysnell@netspeed.com.au
DOWN UNDER
by Bill Bryson
Comic and interesting observations of life in Australia.
NCT49@aol.com
A PLACE IN THE COUNTRY
by Laura Shaine Cunningham, 4 stars
A delightful read especially after we get into "the country" part of this memoir. Ms. Cunningham is an artful storyteller and I felt I was house hunting right along with her and dreaming of my own "place in the country."
SORTOFAWRITER@aol.com
THE SHADOW HUNTER
by Michael Prescott, 4 stars
I'd never heard of this writer and got the book by mistake, but it was a fast-paced, enjoyable mystery.
Caroline@swtexas.com
BRIDGET JONES'S DIARY
by Helen Fielding, 3 stars
It started out kind of slow but it eventually picked up and is now holding my interest. It has lots of comical scenes that I found very delightful.
GandmaRI@aol.com
AMERICA
by Stephen Coonts, 5 stars
A fully armed state of the art American submarine is hijacked by a CIA trained team of Russians and Germans who were originally trained to hijack a Russian sub. In view of the current events in our country, it hard to discern if you are reading great fiction or current events. It's a page turner!
Bjglu@aol.com
TOO CLOSE TO THE FALLS
by Catherine Gildiner, 5 stars
One of the best memoirs I've read in a long time. Cathy grew up near Niagara Falls, NY and went to Catholic school in the 50s. She's bright, sardonic, honest to a fault and the book soars. It's laugh-out-loud-funny, but also touches on many situations of the times including racism and feminism. Read it. You won't be sorry.
mi3son@bellsouth.net
FUNERAL IN BLUE
by Anne Perry, 5 stars
This is about William Monk and his wife Hester and their investigation of the murder of two young women. One was a freedom fighter and wife and the other was a model/kept woman. Hester works for Dr. Kristian Beck who is accused of the murders. One of the victims was his wife. During the investigation, some starling facts come out about the doctor, the doctor`s wife, and Hester`s sister-in-law that makes this book an interesting read.
Lucky4750@aol.com
CARNAL KNOWLEDGE
by Nora Roberts, 4 stars
An okay read. When a world famous violinist inherits her grandmother's home in Innocence, Mississippi and decides that's where she'll go for some r & r, she has no idea about a killer stalking and killing the prettiest women in town. Then she meets a good looking local named Tucker. She's attracted to him but fights it until bodies keep turning up behind her house.
MIDNIGHT BAYOU
by Nora Roberts, 4 1/2 stars
Located in New Orleans, the story tells of Declan , a lawyer from Boston who decides to give it all up and moves to New Orleans to restore a mansion he bought eleven years ago. It's going to take lots of money which he has and a lot of work. There is a pull to this mansion he cannot explain and then while restoring it he starts seeing images like he's watchng a movie in the house. Scenes and feelings of violence, love and sorrow. Then he meets Angelina Simone, and she mentions to him that maybe he's been reincarnated. He's also madly obsessed with Angelina and realizes he never felt the way he does for her, with any other women. It's a different spin than what I'm used to reading from Nora Roberts but it was a good story, although it stretched the imagination a little.
JOURNEY
by Marsha Mason, 1 stars
Marsha Mason, the movie star and broadway actress, tells her life in different personalities which I found hard to follow. I don't know why she does this considering she says she isn't schizophrenic. I never finished it.
SteLevey@aol.com
THE FAMILY ORCHARD
by Naomi Eve, 5 stars
JoyPub@aol.com
ANGELHEAD
by Greg Bottoms, 5 stars
I found a review of this book yesterday in another search, bought it on my way home, and read it last night. After I read it, I was up just thinking for hours - about all the book stirred up about my own memories, things I have felt, thought about, friends I've had whose desperations and loves have expanded into relative levels of happiness or violence. This story is Greg Bottoms' story of his own experience with his family, whose epicenter of cause and effect was his brother Michael, an "acute paranoid schizophrenic" without any satisfactory way to understand his internal world(s). As I read I realized more emphatically than ever that we must understand these lives of extremes desperation and depression to truly understand "mental health" and "illness." Although our experiences may look different, this is a universal story.
DEPRESSION: Our Normal Transitional Emotions
by Kathy Oddenino, 5 stars
Depression is Kathy Oddenino's sixth of seven books, and it fits in the context of her body of knowledge of philosophy as the "science of life." This book changed my life. I was waiting for this book, which I recognized as soon as I read it, because the author's explanation of depression as a normal transition of emotions in our evolution as a soul satisfied my search for meaning in my own experience with depression through my life. Like an Alice in Wonderland story, this book gave me my view through the keyhole of my confused mind, and suddenly (and gradually) I began to understand myself. Depression is epidemic among us, and while many forms of therapy and explanation serve many who experience depression, Oddenino's book is the one that satisfies me. I recommend it to everyone, now (post 9/11) more than ever.
dbelk105@adelphia.net
THE GLASS LAKE
by Maeve Binchy, 5 stars
A real page turner. A wife and mother in a small Irish village disappears and is presumed to have drowned in the lake. What follows solves the mystery. Very enjoyable.
cuz99@msn.com
A LESSON BEFORE DYING
by Ernest J. Gaines
One of Oprah's book club books. This book is a real great reader. I think you will enjoy it. Good luck.
Dommy52@aol.com
HOUSE OF SAND AND FOG
by Andre Dubus III
FATAL NORTH
by Bruce Henderson
PARALLEL LIES
by Ridley Pearson
HEMLOCK BAY
by Catherine Coulter
HeyRUSaved@aol.com
IS JESUS GOD?
by Sherly Isaac, 5 stars
This book compares the Bible and the Quran and lists more than 75 reasons why Jesus is God. This book is a great book. The author has put so much effort to put up all the pieces together.
crafty2@newnorth.net
GOD ALLOWS U-TURNS and MORE GOD ALLOWS U-TURNS
by Allison Gappa Bottke, 5 stars
Both these books provide help, hope, and encouragement in these troubled times.
THE MARK
by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins, 5 stars
This is book number eight in the five star Left Behind series. The best in Christian fiction.
BREAKUP
by Dana Stabenow, 5 stars
Book number seven in the Kate Shaguk Mystery series. A rich blend of setting in Alaska, unforgettable characters, and nonstop, thrill a minute adventure. It's definitely a book you'll read in one sitting. Once you start you can't put it down.
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