Favorite Books from 2009

I've noticed many blogs posting lists of their favorite books from 2009.  Many of the books that I read this year were published in previous years, so I am following Ti's example from Book Chatter and Other Stuff and listing my favorite books that I read during the year.

So here were my absolute favorites, not in any particular order:
The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne
The Last Queen by C.W. Gortner
Beach Trip by Cathy Holton
The Day the Falls Stood Still by Cathy Marie Buchanan
Three Cups of Tea  by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin
Shanghai Girls by Lisa See
A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Housseini
Cleopatra's Daughter by Michelle Moran
A Lucky Child by Thomas Buergenthal

And here were my favorite audiobooks:
One for the Money by Janet Evanovich
Two for the Dough  by Janet Evanovich
Lost and Found by Carolyn Parkhurst
BoneMan's Daughters  by Ted Dekker
Still Summer by Jacquelyn Mitchard

If you posted about your favorites this year, feel free to leave the link to your post.  Did you happen to read any of the books that I have listed here, and if so what were your thoughts?  I am definitely looking forward to another great year of reading!

Wondrous Words Wednesday-Dec. 30

Bermudaonion asks you to share new words that you have learned during your reading adventures in the last week. Feel free to join in the fun!

Here are a couple of new words that I learned this week while reading The Lone Star Legend by Gwendolyn Zepeda:

Kitschy: something of tawdry design, appearance, or content created to appeal to popular or undiscriminating taste.

Vitriol:  something highly caustic or severe in effect, as criticism.

Here is how these words were used on page 194 of the ARC edition:
Sandy sat in a kitschy diner in South Austin, miles away from the university and Daniel's stomping grounds, where she read the latest string of anonymous commenters' vitriol and her loyal readers' defense.

So did you learn any new words this week?

WWII War Through the Generations Challenge Completed!

Hooray for me!  This year I signed up for the War Through the Generations challenge and committed to reading five books.  Well I certainly cut it close, but I accomplished my goal.  Here are the books that I read for this challenge and you should be able to click on the title to see my review..

1. The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne--completed 2/10/2009

2. Tallgrass by Sandra Dallas--Completed 2/28/2009

3. Sarah's Key by Tatiana de Rosnay--Completed 5/17/2009

4. Guernica by Dave Boling--Completed 11/25/2009

5. A Lucky Child by Thomas Buergenthal--Completed 12/13/2009

These were all great books but my favorites were The Boy in the Striped Pajamas and A Lucky Child.

I'm so glad that I signed up for this challenge and actually completed it too!  I want to give a special Thank You to both Serena and Anna for co-hosting this challenge as I'm sure we can all appreciate the work you put into this for us!

Review: A Lucky Child: A Memoir of Surviving Auschwitz as a Young Boy by Thomas Buergenthal

Here is a summary of A Lucky Child from the Hachette website:

Thomas Buergenthal, now a Judge in the International Court of Justice in The Hague, tells his astonishing experiences as a young boy in his memoir A LUCKY CHILD. He arrived at Auschwitz at age 10 after surviving two ghettos and a labor camp. Separated first from his mother and then his father, Buergenthal managed by his wits and some remarkable strokes of luck to survive on his own. Almost two years after his liberation, Buergenthal was miraculously reunited with his mother and in 1951 arrived in the U.S. to start a new life.

Now dedicated to helping those subjected to tyranny throughout the world, Buergenthal writes his story with a simple clarity that highlights the stark details of unimaginable hardship. A LUCKY CHILD is a book that demands to be read by all.

My Review:
This is a wonderful memoir that Thomas Buergenthal has created that not only gives us a glimpse of what it took for him to survive during such a vicious period of history, but also how these events helped to make him into the man that he is today.  Buergenthal does a great job of sharing how his emotions changed from fear, to anger, and eventually forgiveness once he was able to finally heal.

The title of this book comes from the idea that Thomas' mother truly believed that he was a lucky child because of what a fortune teller told her many years before.  After reading some of the things that Thomas had to endure throughout his ordeal, it is definitely hard to disagree with her.  Isn't it curious that when he was in Auschwitz a boy that he slept with on the same bunk came down with diptheria, while Thomas never showed any symptoms at all?  Considering how young he was and having a low immune system I find this to be a miracle in itself.

Before the Holocaust, Thomas' parents own a beautiful hotel that was very profitable.  When his father learns what the Nazi regime is doing to Jewish families and businesses he decides to sell everything so they will have enough money to live on and hopefully not draw any attention to themselves.  Of course they do not expect the extent of power that the Nazi's will have, because before they know it they have spent all of their savings and find they have no other choice but to move into one of the ghettos.  They are thankful to be around friends again, but eventually realize that they will be taken away to a work camp.

After living at Auschwitz for some time, Thomas does become separated from his parents and will not know for quite some time if they are even alive.  His creativity, intelligence, and wits help him to survive the abuse of the German guards and from being selected by Dr. Mengele for experiments.  How such a young, innocent child could survive these conditions and the Auschwitz Death March is amazing to me...and once again lucky.

Buergenthal admits to us early in this book that there are many events that he does not recall as he decided to write this book very late in his life.  He shares that it may have been difficult to write about his Holocaust experience shortly after it happened and it may have taken him longer to recover.  But his experiences did help to shape him into the person that he has become and be a very active and successful human rights lawyer.

I appreciate how Buergenthal honestly shared his feelings and emotions with us, especially his state of mind after the war was over.  When he was still a young boy and living in liberated Germany he wanted revenge on many of his German neighbors with such a fierce intensity.  He cannot understand how these same people just a couple of years before would not even look at him on the street and now they smile at him as nothing had happened.  Once he is able to deal with his feelings he shares the shame that he felt for the vengeance that he so desparately wanted at that young age.  Here is an excerpt from page 163 where he talks about struggling to stop this vicious cycle:
It took me much longer to realize that one cannot hope to protect mankind from crimes such as those that were visited upon us unless one struggles to break the cycle of hatred and violence that invariably leads to ever more suffering by innocent human beings.

I am so thankful to Thomas Buergenthal for taking the time at this stage of his life for putting together this memoir for us.  Not only does it give us a glimps as to what he had to endure, but also how he dealt with his conflicting emotions.  I could feel the different stages of healing and forgiveness among the pages and this obviously helped him to become the person he was meant to be.  This book includes a map and a few pictures that help you feel a little closer to his family and what a cute young boy he was!  I highly recommend this book!

My Rating:  5/5

Disclosure:  This book is from my personal collection and I read it for my own entertainment.

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Teaser Tuesday-Dec. 29

Check out Teaser Tuesdays from Should Be Reading.  TEASER TUESDAYS asks you to:

Grab your current read.

Let the book fall open to a random page.

Share with us two “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page.

You also need to share the title of the book that you’re getting your “teaser” from … that way people can have some great book recommendations if they like the teaser you’ve given!

This week my teaser is again from Lone Star Legend by Gwendolyn Zepeda:
"If he wants to know what a certain woman wants, the best thing to do is ask that woman herself.  But if he's thinking all women are the same-that they all want the same thing out of life-then he needs to go back to school and pull on little girls' pigtails until one of them hauls off and smacks some sense into him."

pg. 139
***Please note that this is from an Advanced Reading Copy so the final printing may change.

Mailbox Monday from my Secret Santa!

Thanks to Marcia of The Printed Page for hosting the Mailbox Monday Meme that has us list the books that we received last week. You can go to her blog to see what everyone else got last week or to play along.  This week I thought I would share what I received from my Secret Santa since I didn't open the gifts until Christmas morning.

I am so glad that I participated in the Book Blogger Holiday Swap again this year.  I always look forward to events like this as they are a great opportunity to find new blogs that I wasn't aware of before.  And it happened again!  This year my Secret Santa was Sharla from Winter Write, and if she is new to you, you should really go check out her awesome blog!  The following books have been on my wishlist for quite some time and thanks to Sharla they are now on my shelf!

Thanks so much Sharla and I can't wait until I can dive into these books!

Here are a couple of other books that I received from my family:

From my loving husband I received Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford

My wonderful son gave me The Story of Edgar Sawtelle by David Wroblewski

I think that is a pretty good haul for Christmas!  So what was in your mailbox?

Merry Christmas!

I hope you all are having a safe and Merry Christmas!  Things have gotten a little hectic for me as we ended up having to take my Grandma to the hospital last weekend and found out that she had a heart attack.  Just yesterday they put a pacemaker in and she appears to be recovering well from that surgery.  Unfortunately, the hospital where they did the procedure is an hour and a half away and since we are in the middle of a snow storm here, I haven't been able to spend as much time there as I would have liked.  But I am planning on spending the day with her tomorrow. 

After opening our gifts this morning I was surprised(not really) to have received four books for Christmas!  I received two books from the book blogging Christmas exchange, which I will post about later after I take a picture, and I also received Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet from my husband, and The Story of Edgar Sawtelle from my son.  Woohoo!  We decided this year not to exchange a lot of gifts among our family as we are planning a nice Cancun vacation in March and consider that a Christmas gift.  I might have to bring my new books on vacation with me!

I hope everyone is having a relaxing Christmas vacation, and if you don't hear from me very much over the next week, it is probably because I am traveling back and forth to the hospital.  With all of the events of this last week I haven't had much time for reading and the roads are still too cruddy for travel,I think I will just go and relax with a good book for the rest of the day.

Review: Made in the U.S.A. by Billie Letts

Here is a summary of Made in the U.S.A from the Hachette website:

The bestselling author of WHERE THE HEART IS returns with a heartrending tale of two children in search of a place to call home.

Lutie McFee's history has taught her to avoid attachments...to people, to places, and to almost everything. With her mother long dead and her father long gone to find his fortune in Las Vegas, 15-year-old Lutie lives in the god-forsaken town of Spearfish, South Dakota with her twelve-year-old brother, Fate, and Floy Satterfield, the 300-pound ex-girlfriend of her father. While Lutie shoplifts for kicks, Fate spends most of his time reading, watching weird TV shows and worrying about global warming and the endangerment of pandas. As if their life is not dismal enough, one day, while shopping in their local Wal-Mart, Floy keels over and the two motherless kids are suddenly faced with the choice of becoming wards of the state or hightailing it out of town in Floy's old Pontiac. Choosing the latter, they head off to Las Vegas in search of a father who has no known address, no phone number and, clearly, no interest in the kids he left behind.

MADE IN THE U.S.A. is the alternately heartbreaking and life-affirming story of two gutsy children who must discover how cruel, unfair and frightening the world is before they come to a place they can finally call home.

My Review:
As I started reading Made in the U.S.A, I couldn't help but let a smile cross my face as another tramatic event takes place in the local Wal-mart store.  I love how she always seems to weave the Wal-mart stores into her stories.  Even though the store has a very small appearance, it really sets off a chain of events that will change Lutie and Fate's lives forever.

Lutie and Fate are a brother and sister that have not had the opportunity to live a life full of love and family.  After their mother died years ago, their father seemed to hook up with any single gal that would take him and his two children in, knowing that she would be there to take care of them so he could drink himself into a stupor.  One day when their father doesn't return, it isn't much longer until they realize that he is not coming home at all.

When life-changing events take place, Lutie decides that the only thing left for her and Fate to do is to find their father so he can take care of them.  Their quest takes them to the streets of Las Vegas, which as you can imagine is not the best place for a couple of young kids with no home or money to spend any time.  They find themselves living out of a car and Lutie is doing all that she can to save money to get themselves a reasonable apartment so Fate can at least be enrolled in a decent school.  What she is earning is not enough, and she finds herself having to resort to unimaginable jobs to make the money that is needed.

As Lutie and Fate seem to be just getting by day after day, it appears that they have a secret guardian angel that enjoys leaving them little gifts that are greatly appreciated.  When events take a turn for the worst, their guardian angel comes to their rescue, and while revealing his identity he also saves them from imminent danger.  In the process of saving the children, in a way they are also saving him.  I love how he needed these children to heal his wounds as much as they needed him to heal theirs.

Although I throughly enjoyed this novel, there were pieces that were definitely hard to read.  The hardest part of this book for me was watching these children live in a way that didn't allow them to be children.  With themes of abandonment, growing up, forgiveness, and love, this book will stay in my memory for quite some time.  I feel that I should warn you that there is some offensive language in these pages, but the story itself is well worth the read.

My Rating:  4/5

Disclosure:  This book is from my personal collection and I read it for my own entertainment.

Teaser Tuesday-Dec. 22

Check out Teaser Tuesdays from Should Be Reading.  TEASER TUESDAYS asks you to:

Grab your current read.

Let the book fall open to a random page.

Share with us two “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page.

You also need to share the title of the book that you’re getting your “teaser” from … that way people can have some great book recommendations if they like the teaser you’ve given!

This week my teaser is from Lone Star Legend by Gwendolyn Zepeda:
Before she could ask what was going on, the Lady herself strutted into the room.  Angelica, all glammed out in chic white linen and carrying a matching white laptop that must have cost more than all the computers Sandy had every owned, combined, took the seat at the head of the table.

pg. 42
**Please note that this excerpt comes from the Advance Reading Copy and may change with the final printing.

Mailbox Monday-Dec. 21

Thanks to Marcia of The Printed Page for hosting this fun meme that has us list the books that we received last week. You can go to her blog to see what everyone else got last week or to play along. Here is what I found in my mailbox:

Into the Beautiful North by Luis Alberto Urrea

Saving CeeCee Honeycutt by Beth Hoffman

I just love the cover of the second book since I have turned into a bird watcher over the last couple of years.  Those little hummingbirds are just amazing!  So what was in your mailbox last week?

Winner of The Bell Jar!

And the winner of The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath is...................

Kristinemarie7

Congratulations!  I will be emailing you shortly to get your mailing information so the publisher can send the book out to you.

Have a great weekend everyone!

What's in a Name Challenge Completed for 2009

I joined the What's in a Name Challenge for 2009 and it was a lot of fun, not to mention one of the challenges that I actually finished, although I was scrambling for the last book with a medical condition.  I finally decided that Her Fearful Symmetry would have to do for this selection, thinking that phobias are considered a medical condition and all.  That's what I'm going with anyway!  Here were the books that I read for this challenge:

1. A book with a "profession" in its title
The Last Queen by C.W. Gortner--Completed 5/10/2009

2. A book with a "time of day" in its title.
The Darkest Evenening of the Year by Dean Koontz--Completed 4/20/09

3. A book with a "relative" in its title.
Two Brothers: One North, One South by David H. Jones--Completed 6/16/2009

4. A book with a "body part" in its title.
BoneMan's Daughters by Ted Dekker--Completed 9/15/2009

5. A book with a "building" in its title.
Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Promote Peace One School at a Time by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin--Completed 10/3/2009

6. A book with a "medical condition" in its title.
Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger--Completed 12/10/2009

You should be able to click on the title to see my review.   I will tell you that my favorites out of these books were The Last Queen and Three Cups of Tea.  Now I need to get ready for next year's challenge!

Friday Finds-Dec. 18

Should Be Reading asks you to share what books you discovered this week that interest you!

 It has certainly been awhile since I have posted any Friday Finds, but I guess not much has really caught my eye recently.  Until this last week that is!

The first one that I want to share with you caught my eye probably a couple of weeks ago, but I just recently read a review over at Laura's Reviews that intrigued me even more is Roses by Leila Meacham.

Here is a summary from the Hachette website:

Spanning the 20th century, the story of Roses takes place in a small East Texas town against the backdrop of the powerful timber and cotton industries, industries controlled by the scions of the town's founding families. Cotton tycoon Mary Toliver and timber magnate Percy Warwick should have married but unwisely did not, and now must deal with the deceit, secrets, and tragedies of their choice and the loss of what might have been--not just for themselves but for their children, and children's children. With expert, unabashed, big-canvas storytelling, Roses covers a hundred years, three generations of Texans and the explosive combination of passion for work and longing for love.

The other book that sounded wonderful to me is I Still Have a Suitcase In Berlin by Stephens Gerard Malone.  I have never even heard of this book before but after reading a review over at A Season to Read, I decided that I need to add this one to my list.

Here is a summary of this book from Stephens Gerard Malone's website:

1932 seemed the perfect year to move to Berlin.
 

Leaving behind a Halifax scarred by war and a country mired in Depression, a young Canadian named Michael Renner turns a family errand to Berlin into a chance to embrace his German roots. Entranced by a capital that is surging in spirit, buoyed after years of crippling humiliation by the rising tide of National Socialism, Michael marries and becomes a father. He even finds success, first taking a job with his father-in-law, auctioning the property of those forced to flee the new Germany, then by managing a punch-card census cataloguing the European Jews.

But the poisonous dogma binding Michael to his new life begins to unravel. While his family and friends reassure Michael that the cruelties of nationalization are a necessity, he strays. Berlin’s legendary sexual underworld, a place where masochistic cabarets mimic the spiralling violence on the streets above, proves to be dangerously irresistible—as does the prostitute Michael turns to for solace. 

I STILL HAVE A SUITCASE IN BERLIN is a deceptively subtle story about the way ordinary people slip naively into horror, and how in times of moral chaos, disgrace might be the only place a man of principles can live with himself.

I think both of these books sound great!  So did anything new catch your eye this last week?

Fall Into Reading Challenge Completed!

Katrina at Callapidder Days  hosted the Fall Into Reading Challenge this fall and I am excited to say that I completed this challenge before the end date of December 20, 2009!  I'm very excited to have finished this as I thought I was cutting it pretty close and for awhile I wasn't sure if I could pull it off.  Here is what I read for the challenge:

1. Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin--Completed 10/3/2009
2. The Financial Lives of the Poets by Jess Walters--Completed 10/7/2009
3. A Change in Altitude by Anita Shreve--Completed 10/22/2009
4. Made in the U.S.A by Billie Letts--Completed 11/1/2009  (Review coming soon)
5. Cleopatra's Daughter by Michelle Moran--Completed 11/14/2009
6. My Antonia by Willa Cather--Completed 12/1/2009 (Review coming soon)
7.  Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffeneger--Completed 12/10/2009
8. A Lucky Child by Thomas Buergenthal--Completed 12/13/2009 (Review coming soon)

My absolute favorites from this list were:
Three Cups of Tea
Cleopatra's Daughter
A Lucky Child

If you are interested you can click on the title to see my reviews, unless of course I haven't posted it yet.  Thanks to Katrina for hosting this fun challenge!

Current Giveaways!!!

Here are some great contests that I wanted to share with everyone this week:

One Persons Journey  is giving away The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows--HURRY-because this contest ends today, 12/17!

Savvy Verse and Wit is giving away Dragon House by John Shors--Contest ends 12/21.

All About {n} is giving away Cleaving by Julie Powell--Contest ends 12/27.

Jenn's Bookshelves is giving away The Girl on Legare Street by Karen White--Contest ends 1/28 (But I think she means 12/28).

Readaholic is giving away A Blue and Gray Christmas by Joan Medlicott--Contest ends 12/28.

Peeking Between the Pages is giving away Daughters of the Witching Hill by Mary Sharratt--Contest ends 1/3.

Peeking Between the Pages is giving away an audioversion of Cleaving by Julie Powell--Contest ends 1/3.

A Bookworm's World is giving away Cleaving by Julie Powell--Contest ends 1/16.

Good luck everyone!

Review: Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger

Here is a summary of Her Fearful Symmetry from the Regal-Literary website:

Julia and Valentina Poole are normal American teenagers – normal, at least, for identical “mirror” twins who have no interest in college or jobs or possibly anything outside their cozy suburban home.  But everything changes when they receive notice that an aunt whom they didn’t know existed has died and left them her amazing flat in a building by Highgate Cemetery in London.  They feel that at last their own lives can begin... but have no idea that they’ve been summoned into a tangle of fraying lives, from the OCD-suffering crossword setter who lives above them to their aunt’s mysterious and elusive lover who lives below, and to their aunt herself, who never got over her estrangement from the mother of the girls – her own twin – and who can’t even seem to quite leave her flat....   

My Review:

I still haven't read The Time Traveler's Wife by Niffenegger so I went into this book not really knowing what to expect from the author.  What I found was not only a ghost story, but the result of keeping secrets buried for a lifetime between twin sisters who gave up on their relationship years ago.  This book was full of beautiful, descriptive writing of London and gave you a vivid glimpse into the Highgate Cemetary.

Elspeth has lived her entire life in a flat next to the Highgate Cemetary in London, where her deceased family rests. When Elspeth dies of cancer within the first few pages of the book, her spirit finds its way back to her flat and cannot seem to leave that area.  In her will, Elspeth left all of her belongings to her twin nieces, Julia and Valentina, with the condition that they live together in her flat for at least a year with the stipulation that their parents must never set foot on the premises.  It is definitely curious as to why Elspeth would leave such a valuable lot to a couple of girls that she has never known and with such strict stipulations.

Julia and Valentina have lived their lives in Illinois with their parents, Edie and Jack.  Edie is Elspeth's twin but since they became estranged many years before, they have hardly had any contact since she left London years ago.  Edie's twin daughters have done everything in their lives together, including attending the same college.  If college life wasn't working out for one of them, both of the girls would return home.  So it isn't a surprise when they decide that they will head to London to live in Elspeth's flat together.

The twins find life in London exciting as they realize they can do basically anything that they wish since Elspeth left them plenty of money for expenses.  Although they do everything together you start to get the sense that both want to branch out and explore their own personal interests and longings.  Julia wants to sit back and enjoy life while Valentina wants to continue her education.  With both girls wanting to pursue different endeavors that means that they would have to continue their life journey separately, and neither one is quite sure of taking this drastic action.

After the twins are living in the flat for awhile, Elspeth finds a way to communicate with them.  They find comfort in getting a chance to know the aunt that they never had a chance to know before.  I enjoyed this part of the book because I do believe that there is a very powerful spiritual realm out there.  While certain events occurred that made the occurrences more realistic, the book seemed to take a turn that really was a bit too far out there for me.  It's not that I didn't like where it was going, but maybe just unsure of it (if that makes sense). 

I enjoyed getting to know all of the characters that were in this novel.  Elspeth's boyfriend Robert happened to live in the flat below the twins and Valentina was able to befriend him in a way that helped him recover from losing his love.  Martin lived in a flat upstairs from the girls and after his wife left him he seemed to sink deeper into his OCD disorder.  Julia became a confidant to Martin and eventually helps him to get his life back on track.  I think it was interesting how the girls reached out to others and helped them find a piece of themselves that they didn't know existed-life without their twin by their side constantly.

The writing in this book flowed so nicely and I appreciated the vivid descriptions that were provided of both London and the Highgate Cemetary.  If you enjoy a good ghost story without being scared to death then you will probably enjoy this book.  Neffenegger is obviously a very talented author and I do plan on reading The Time Traveler's Wife yet, even though I have already seen the movie. 

Disclosure:  This book was provided to me from Amanda at Regal-Literary in exchange for an honest review.

Teaser Tuesday-Dec. 15

Check out Teaser Tuesdays from Should Be Reading.  TEASER TUESDAYS asks you to:

Grab your current read.

Let the book fall open to a random page.

Share with us two “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page.

You also need to share the title of the book that you’re getting your “teaser” from … that way people can have some great book recommendations if they like the teaser you’ve given!

This week my teaser is from A Lucky Child: A Memoir of Surviving Auschwitz as a Young Boy by Thomas Buergenthal:
As I reflect on this attitude, I realize that it was probably a product of selfish sentiments of a child:  Until then, I had been responsible for my own life, for my survival; I could not afford to depend on anyone but myself; I had to think and act like a grown-up and be constantly on the alert against all possible dangers.  But once I was back in her arms, I could be a child again, leaving these worries and concerns to her.

pg. 161

Mailbox Monday-Dec. 14

Thanks to Marcia of The Printed Page for hosting this fun meme that has us list the books that we received last week. You can go to her blog to see what everyone else got last week or to play along. Here is what I found in my mailbox:

An Offer You Can't Refuse  by Jill Mansell

 

Wishin' and Hopin'  by Wally Lamb

I didn't get a whole lot, but I have plenty on my shelves to keep me busy so I'm not complaining!  So what was in your mailbox this last week?

What's in a Name Challenge 3

Since I completed this challenge for 2009 I decided to join up again for 2010.  Beth Fish Reads is hosting this challenge for 2010 and I'm sure it will be a blast!

All that we need to do is read one book from each of the following categories betweeen January 1, 2010 and December 31, 2010:

1. A book with a food in the title.
Espresso Tales by Alexander McCall Smith-Completed 2/10/2010

2. A book with a body of water in the title.
The Swimming Pool by Holly LeCraw-Completed 12/27/2010

3. A book with a title (queen, president, sir) in the title.
The Quilter's Apprentice by Jennifer Chiaverini-Completed 3/31/2010

4. A book with a plant in the title.
The Blood of Flowers by Anita Amirrezvani-Completed 3/2/2010

5. A book with a place name (country, city) in the title.
Black Hills by Dan Simmons--Completed 5/17/2010

6. A book with a music term in the title.
Absolute Power by David Baldacci--Completed 7/20/2010

You can check out all of the rules and sign up yourself here.  I will update this post as I make progress with this challenge.

100+ Reading Challenge for 2010

I can't believe that I actually have decided to join this challenge, but hey, what have I got to lose?  I don't think the challenge police are going to come and lock me up if I don't complete it.  J. Kaye's Book Blog is hosting this challenge and I thought it would be a great way to keep a running tally of the books that I read during the year. 

This is a pretty laid back challenge as you can include just about any book that you read from January 1 to December 31, 2010.  You can check out all of the rules yourself and sign up for the challenge here if you think this interests you. 

I will be sure to update this post as I make progress on this challenge. 

1. The Cost of Dreams by Gary Stelzer--Completed 1/10/2010

2. Saving CeeCee Honeycutt by Beth Hoffman--Completed 1/16/2010

3. Bon Jovi: When We Were Beautiful by Bon Jovi--Completed 1/17/2010

4. Matrimony by Joshua Henkin--Completed 1/27/2010

5. The Private Papers of Eastern Jewel by Maureen Lindley--Completed 2/5/2010

6. Espresso Tales by Alexander McCall Smith--Completed 2/10/2010

7. Denise's Daily Dozen by Denise Austin--Completed 2/22/2010

8. Dear John by Nicholas Sparks--Completed 2/28/2010

9. The Blood of Flowers by Anita Amirrezvani--Completed 3/2/2010

10. The Circle of Friends Book V: Heather by L. Diane Wolfe--Completed 3/13/2010

11. The Unnamed by Joshua Ferris--Completed 3/14/2010

12. The Sweet By and By by Todd Johnson--Completed 3/28/2010

13. The Quilter's Apprentice by Jennifer Chiaverini--Completed 3/31/2010

14. Goodnight Nobody by Jennifer Weiner--Completed 4/13/2010

15. Very Valentine by Adriana Trigiani--Completed 4/17/2010

16. Where Grace Abides by BJ Hoff--Completed 4/20/2010

17. Worst Case by James Patterson and Michael Ledwidge--Completed 4/27/2010

18. The Swan Thieves by Elizabeth Kostova--Completed 5/17/2010

19. Black Hills by Dan Simmons--Completed 5/17/2010

20. The Age of Orphans by Laleh Khadivi--Completed 5/28/2010

21. Ellen Foster by Kaye Gibbons--Completed 6/1/2010

22. Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter by Seth Grahame-Smith--Completed 6/2/2010

23. The Life O'Reilly by Brian Cohen--Completed 6/13/2010

24. Cross Country by James Patterson--Completed 6/19/2010

25. The Wedding by Nicholas Sparks--Completed 6/22/2010

26. The Hundred-Foot Journey by Richard Morais--Completed 6/30/2010

27. Absolute Power by David Baldacci--Completed 7/20/2010

28. 31 Bond Street by Ellen Horan--Completed 7/22/2010

29. Labor Day by Joyce Maynard--Completed 7/27/2010

30. Men and Dogs by Katie Crouch--Completed 8/9/2010

31. Home in Carolina by Sherryl Woods--Completed 8/30/2010

32. The Bride Collector by Ted Dekker--Completed 9/1/2010

33. Finny by Justin Kramon--Completed 9/13/2010

34. The Passage by Justin Cronin--Completed 9/19/2010

35. The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood--Completed 9/21/2010

36. Backseat Saints by Joshilyn Jackson--Completed 9/24/2010

37. Things I've Been Silent About by Azar Nafisi--Completed 10/5/2010

38. Four to Score by Janet Evanovich--Completed 10/9/2010

39. The Auschwitz Violin by Maria Angels Anglada--Completed 10/12/2010

40. The Island by Elin Hilderbrand--Completed 10/28/2010

41. The Heretic's Daughter by Kathleen Kent--Completed 11/1/2010

42. How to be an American Housewife by Margaret Dilloway--Completed 11/8/2010

43. Private by James Patterson and Maxine Paetro--Completed 11/9/2010

44. Brava, Valentine by Adriana Trigiani--Completed 11/17/2010

45. The Good Husband of Zebra Drive by Alexander McCall Smith--Completed 11/28/2010

46. The Whole Truth by David Baldacci--Completed 12/2/2010

47. Oogy by Larry Levin--Completed 12/9/2010

48. Drinking Closer to Home by Jessica Anya Blau--Completed 12/11/2010

49. The Postcard Killers by James Patterson and Liza Marklund--Completed 12/26/2010 

50. The Swimming Pool by Holly LeCraw--Completed 12/27/2010 

51. Comfort and Joy by Kristin Hannah--Completed 12/28/2010

Good luck everyone!

Current Giveaways!!!

Here are a few giveaways that I wanted to share with you this week:

Savvy Verse and Wit  is giving away Searching for Pemberly by Mary Lydon Simonsen--Contest ends 12/14.

The Christmas Spirit is giving away The Christmas Box Collection by Richard Paul Evans--Contest ends 12/17.

Jenn's Bookshelves is giving away Dragon House by John Shors--Contest ends 12/18.

Pudgy Penguin Perusals is giving away Dead Pan by Gayle Trent--Contest ends 12/22.

Peeking Between the Pages is giving away The Girl on Legare Street by Karen White--Contest ends 12/27.

Jenny Loves to Read  is giving away Searching for Pemberly by Mary Lydon Simonsen--Contest ends 12/28.

Passages to the Past is giving away The Queen's Confession by Victoria Holt--Contest ends 12/28.

Peeking Between the Pages is giving away The Little Giant of Aberdeen County by Tiffany Baker--Contest ends 1/3.

Good luck everyone!

Audiobook Review: Still Summer by Jacquelyn Mitchard

Here is a summary of Still Summer from Jacquelyn Mitchard's website:

When four friends who ruled the school twenty years ago gather for an idyllic sailing vacation – meant to comfort Olivia, who has returned home a widow after twenty years abroad – they expect two weeks of gossip, sunbathing and drinks with little umbrellas.

Instead, two days into their crossing, a single small mistake turns paradise a sun-baked hell.

The same elements that combined to make this trip an adventure in paradise combine in for survival. Surrounded by water, but with almost none to drink, with refrigerators filled with gourmet food rotting before they can used it, and a deluxe communication system ruined in an instant, the women must hide from the punishing sun and use all their strength and intelligence to try to outwit nature, their own demons and human predators.

What happens when friendship must face the ultimate test? Does the better nature prevail or is it everyone for herself?

My Review:
When I listen to an audiobook, I have found that I really need all elements to work together in harmony for me to stay focused on the story.  Still Summer fit the bill perfectly for me as it had elements of romance, action, and an emotional storyline that had my eyes tearing up at the end.  The story begins as four friends plan on renting a yacht for a tropical vacation, with the most strenuous work planned being to put a lawn chair away at the end of the day if necessary.  Olivia, Tracy, Holly, and Janice were friends since high school and are in need of a relaxing vacation.  When Janice's husband suddenly is struck with a medical emergency, she finds that she can't go along on the trip, so Tracy's daughter Cammie is lucky enough to be able to take her place. 

Tracy and Cammie's relationship has been a bit strained lately, so Tracy thinks this may be an opportunity for them to grow closer.  Cammie recently broke up with her boyfriend and thinks the trip will be a good way to put him out of her mind.  When a new romance is introduced upon arriving at her destination she has no problem pushing that ex-boyfriend to the far recesses of her mind! In the beginning of this book I found that I really didn't like Cammie, as she acted like a self-absorbed college student whom really didn't consider anyone's feelings but her own.  I enjoyed watching Cammie's character develop into a responsible young woman as the novel went on.

Olivia was another character that wasn't very likeable, as she is a recent widow that married her husband for money and not love.  She is a very selfish individual in this story, and when the ladies find themselves having to depend on one another, they find that Olivia will only take care of herself.  Even when it comes to the point of fatal consequences she only looks out for her own well-being and does not even consider what she can do to improve the chance of survival for her friends.

Holly is the character that everyone loves.  She is a loveable mom with twin boys and a husband at home, and your everyday gal, as she has a regular job and does not seem to have a perfect body.  Early on in the story Holly gets injured, but since she is a nurse she is able to take care of herself and not worry her friends with her own problems.  Holly steps up to the plate when danger is imminent and she will do whatever is necessary to protect her friends.  This is one gal that you would be proud to have in your corner!

Tracy is the strong a steadfast character that we all want to try to strive to be.  She is a great mom and will do whatever is necessary in the face of adversity.  When events start to go terribly wrong on the yacht, Tracy struggles with feelings of guilt since this vacation was her idea.  She feels that she has no choice but to risk her own life to save the lives of her daughter and her friends.  You can really feel the love that is contained in this woman's heart throughout the book.

As this book started I couldn't help but think that this would be the ultimate vacation with some of your closest friends.  But what started out as a relaxing tropical vacation, quickly turns into a life-threatening nightmare.  As they watch their food and water supply dwindle they must do what is necessary to survive, and in their greatest hour of need secrets are revealed that will change lives forever.

Many times I find myself saying that I wish I would have read this book rather than listening to it, but not so with this one.  It was a great audiobook and I don't know if I would have enjoyed it as much had a read it.  I highly recommend this audiobook, especially if you enjoy listening to books that have a little bit of everything in them. 

My Rating 5/5

Disclosure:  This was an audiobook that I borrowed from the library and listened to for my own entertainment.

Win a Kindle at a Book Review Party!

Check this out!  You can join in the fun of the Book Review Party at Cym Lowells blog and have a chance to win a Kindle 2!  All you need to do is link up any review, old or new to be entered.  If you are interested go check it out here.

I can't wait to see some of the other reviews that will be posted and probably find a couple of new great blogs!  Good luck everyone!

Join in on the fun here.

Teaser Tuesday-Dec. 8

Check out Teaser Tuesdays from Should Be Reading.  TEASER TUESDAYS asks you to:

Grab your current read.

Let the book fall open to a random page.

Share with us two “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page.

You also need to share the title of the book that you’re getting your “teaser” from … that way people can have some great book recommendations if they like the teaser you’ve given!

This week my teaser is from Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger:
He missed Marijke terribly, but he did not miss her reproving glares, her loud sighing, the way she rolled her eyes when he asked her to leave a room and come in again because she'd entered with the wrong foot first.  Marijke wasn't there to frown when he ordered five thousand pairs of latex surgical gloves from a dodgy outfit on the Internet.

pg. 47

**Please note that this is from an ARC so the final printing may change.

Mailbox Monday-Dec. 7

Thanks to Marcia of The Printed Page for hosting this fun meme that has us list the books that we received last week. You can go to her blog to see what everyone else got last week or to play along. Here is what I found in my mailbox:

Bon Jovi: When We Were Beautiful  by Bon Jovi

9 Dragons  by Michael Connelly

Isn't it funny how I received Bon Jovi items in my mailbox two weeks in a row?  I promise, that will be it for awhile!  But I have to share that I browsed through some of the pictures in the Bon Jovi book and there happens to be a lot from the concert I went to in March 2008.  And I am quite confident that I found myself and the friend that was with me in one of the pictures!  How cool is that? So what was in your mailbox?

Java with Jo

I've decided that about once a week I want to post something that just shares some random things about me, they may be book-related or they may not be.  I just wanted an opportunity to share some things that may be going on in my life.  This post could be any day of the week, as it is not part of a meme in any way and I don't want another commitment right now.  I am titling this segment Java with Jo because I love my coffee!  People really should not talk to me in the morning until I've had about a half a pot of coffee.

My life has been pretty busy lately as a couple of weeks before Thanksgiving we moved my Grandma in with us.  So the kids are out and Grandma is in!  Grandma is 87 years old and is fairly healthy.  She gets around our house pretty well and I'm also grateful that we are able to have home health care come to help her out during the week while my husband and I are both working.

Last week was super busy for me so Grandma has probably been lonely in the evenings because I haven't been getting home until almost 10pm every night.  I work every day from 8-4:30, so when I don't get home until 10pm that makes for a long day, even if it is for fun stuff!  I had birthday club Tuesday night, Wednesday night was book club, Thursday night was choir and ladies bowling, and Friday night was mixed couples bowling.  Crazy I say! 

With my evenings so busy this last week I haven't had much time for reading, but I'm hoping to catch up on Monday, since I am taking a day off just to relax.  I've started reading Her Fearful Symmetry and I'm enjoying it so far. 

I wasn't feeling so good this morning so I stayed home from church today, but if I am feeling better this afternoon I plan on going to the choir concert yet, where I have to sing.  Wish me luck and enjoy the rest of the weekend everyone!

RYOB Challenge 2010

Check it out!  It is time to sign up for MizB's RYOB Challenge for 2010.  I completed this one last year and it worked out well for me so I am going to try it again.  Here is what you need to do for this challenge:

Pick a number of books you’d like to read in one year

Choose those books from your OWN collection

Read them between January 1, 2010 and December 31, 2010

You can check out the complete rules and sign up for the challenge here if you are interested. 

I am going to challenge myself to reading 30 of my own books this year and I will update this post as I make progress.

1. The Cost of Dreams by Gary Stelzer-completed 1/10/2010

2. Saving CeeCee Honeycutt by Beth Hoffman-completed 1/16/2010

3. Bon Jovi: When We Were Beautiful by Bon Jovi-completed 1/17/2010

4. Matrimony by Joshua Henkin-completed 1/27/2010

5. The Private Papers of Eastern Jewel by Maureen Lindley-Completed 2/5/2010

6. Denise's Daily Dozen by Denise Austin-Completed 2/22/2010

7. The Blood of Flowers by Anita Amirrezvani--Completed 3/2/2010

8. The Circle of Friends Book V: Heather by L. Diane Wolfe--Completed 3/13/2010

9. The Unnamed by Joshua Ferris--Completed 3/14/2010

10. The Sweet By and By by Todd Johnson--Completed 3/28/2010

11. The Quilter's Apprentice by Jennifer Chiaverini--Completed 3/31/2010

12. Very Valentine by Adriana Trigiani--Completed 4/17/2010

13. Where Grace Abides by BJ Hoff--Completed 4/20/2010

14. Worst Case by James Patterson and Michael Ledwidge--Completed 4/27/2010

15. The Swan Thieves by Elizabeth Kostova--Completed 5/17/2010

16. Black Hills by Dan Simmons--Completed 5/17/2010

17. The Age of Orphans by Laleh Khadivi--Completed 5/28/2010

18. Ellen Foster by Kaye Gibbons--6/1/2010

19. Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter by Seth Grahame-Smith--Completed 6/2/2010

20. The Life O'Reilly by Brian Cohen--Completed 6/13/2010

21. Cross Country by James Patterson--Completed 6/19/2010

22. The Hundred-Foot Journey by Richard Morais--Completed 6/30/2010

23. Absolute Power by David Baldacci--Completed 7/20/2010

24. 31 Bond Street by Ellen Horan--Completed 7/22/2010

25. Labor Day by Joyce Maynard--Completed 7/26/2010

26. Men and Dogs by Katie Crouch--Completed 8/9/2010

27. Home in Carolina by Sherryl Woods--Completed 8/30/2010

28. The Bride Collector by Ted Dekker--Completed 9/1/2010

29. Finny by Justin Kramon--Completed 9/13/2010

30. The Passage by Justin Cronin--Completed 9/19/2010

31. Backseat Saints by Joshilyn Jackson--Completed 9/24/2010

32 Things I've Been Silent About by Azar Nafisi--Completed 10/5/2010

33. The Auschwitz Violin by Maria Angels Anglada--Completed 10/12/2010

34. The Island by Elin Hilderbrand--Completed 10/28/2010

35. The Heretic's Daughter by Kathleen Kent--Completed 11/1/2010

36. How to be an American Housewife by Margaret Dilloway--Completed 11/8/2010

37. Private by James Patterson and Maxine Paetro--Completed 11/9/2010

38. Brava, Valentine by Adriana Trigiani--Completed 11/17/2010

39. The Good Husband of Zebra Drive by Alexander McCall Smith--Completed 11/28/2010