Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Teaser Tuesday-Aug. 31


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 I am sharing a teaser from Home in Carolina by Sherryl Woods:
"I'm sorry, Sarah, and no, I am not okay.  Not only do I have a raging headache and look awful, but who do I see first thing this morning but Ty, with Trevor's mom, the beauty queen."

pg. 237

Monday, August 30, 2010

Mailbox Monday-August 30


Thanks to Marcia of The Printed Page for starting the Mailbox Monday Meme that has us list the books that we received last week. Although Marcia isn't going to be hosting Mailbox Monday any longer, she set it up so different bloggers have the opportunity to host this meme for a month at a time.  This month the host is Chicks Love Lit and you can go to her blog to see what everyone else got last week or to play along.

Here is what was in my mailbox last week:

Not too much was in my mailbox this last week, but considering how backed up my TBR pile is getting, I'm ok with that!  Just from the little bit that I have browsed this book so far, I can tell that I will really enjoy to have this cook book to reference once and a while.  So did you have any surprises in your mailbox last week?

Friday, August 27, 2010

Java with Jo


Since we will be bringing my daughter back to college this weekend I guess that it is time to admit that summer has passed us by.  It is a sad time for me as my home will be quieter and the weather will get progressively cooler.  There will be a crispness in the air as the dreaded 'F' word approaches...yes, it is FALL!  Many of my friends love the fall season, but not me!  I can't stand it as I long for the long, hot summer days. 

I will just have to immerse myself in some good books to ease the pain of fall.  I haven't been able to read quite as much of The Passage as I would like.  I am over halfway through the novel, but then I joined the readalong for The Handmaid's Tale, which is amazing I might add, and started reading my book club selection of Home in Carolina.  Our first book club meeting for the year (because we follow the school year) is next Wednesday so I need to get cracking!  These books are keeping me super busy!  I've often wondered how people can read so many books at once, but here is how I'm doing it.  I was reading The Passage at night and The Handmaid's Tale during my lunch hour.  This was working fine until I had to throw into the mix Home in Carolina.  So that is now my night time read for a few days but I'm hoping to finish that one up over the car ride this weekend.

And today my Kindle should be shipped, which means I should have it next week!  Can you tell that I'm a bit excited about this?  A question for Kindle or other E-Reader owners:  Have you purchased the extended warranty?  I'm wondering if I should make this investment and would like to get an idea as to how many of you have made this purchase.

Have a wonderful weekend everyone!

Thursday, August 26, 2010

Winner of my Birthday Giveaway!


Thanks to everyone for all of the birthday wishes throughout the month and for stopping by and entering my contest!  It was a great birthday and can you believe that my husband got me a Kindle for a gift!?!  Of course they are backordered, but at least it's bought and paid for!  Last time we checked it was supposed to be shipped this Friday so I should have it by the end of next week.  I will be sure to let you know how much fun I am having with my new toy!

Ok, ok, enough bragging!  The winner of the giveaway is...........

Congratulations!  I will be emailing you soon to find out what book you would like me to send you.  Stay tuned everyone because I know there will be another contest in the near future.

Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Review: Ellen Foster by Kaye Gibbons

Here is a summary of Ellen Foster from the Random House website:

"When I was little I would think of ways to kill my daddy," [p. 1] says eleven-year-old Ellen. Thus the young narrator begins her life-story, in the process painting an extraordinary self-portrait: Ellen is a child whose courage and humor win her a place in literature alongside J. D. Salinger's Holden Caulfield. Ellen's first eleven years are a long fight for survival. Her invalid, abused mother commits suicide, leaving Ellen to the mercies of her daddy, a drunken brute who either ignores her or makes sexual threats. Through her intelligence and grit Ellen is able to provide for herself, but her desperate attempts to create an environment of order and decorum within her nightmarish home are repeatedly foiled by her father. After his death, a judge awards Ellen's custody to her mother's mother, a bitter and vengeful woman who hated her son-in-law for ruining her own daughter's life and who hates the child Ellen for her physical resemblance to him.

Against all odds, Ellen never gives up her belief that there is a place for her in the world, a home which will satisfy all her longing for love, acceptance, and order. Her eventual success in finding that home and courageously claiming it as her own is a testimony to her unshakable faith in the possibility of good. She never loses that faith, and she never loses her sense of humor. Ellen Foster, like another American classic, Huckleberry Finn, is for all its high comedy ultimately a serious fable of personal and collective responsibility.


My Review:
Even though this book is unlike anything I have ever read I can honestly tell you that I loved it.  It took a while to get used to the writing style, considering the author did not use quotation marks or even italics to indicate dialague within the pages.  It was a very short book at only 126 pages but it sure packed a punch with our spunky narrator Ellen doing what she needed to do in order to survive.  I knew I was hooked when the following sentence from page two made me laugh out loud:
I figure I made out pretty good considering the rest of my family is either dead or crazy.

Poor 'old' Ellen probably had the worst family life that one could imagine.  After both of her parents pass away she finds herself being shuffled from home to home in search of a stable lifestyle.  It seemed to me that one of the only stable things in Ellen's life was her friendship with Starletta.  Since Starletta was a negro and segregation was just coming to an end, Ellen had a very interesting relationship with her.  She couldn't have asked for a better friend than Starletta but she still managed to keep her distance in her own way.

Ellen grows up quickly as she moves from home to home and learns some very valuable life lessons along the way.  She learns about the different values that people have and figured out what was important to her.  Knowing what she expected to gain from life she put a plan in motion to turn her dream into a reality. 

I don't want to say any more about this wonderful story but I will tell you that I, along with the rest of my book club just loved it.  It made for a very in-depth discussion and we discovered information about the author that helped understand the story and her writing style.  Here is an article from the Minneapolis Star Tribune that you may find interesting if you plan on reading any of her work.  We also used discussion questions from Reading Group Guides.com that had us touch on parts of the story that we probably wouldn't have even thought about.  I highly recommend this book!

My Rating:  5/5

Disclosure:  This book was from my personal collection that I read as a book club selection.

You can check out more great book reviews at Cym Lowell's Book Review Party Wednesday!

Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Teaser Tuesday-August 24


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 comes from The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood:
Nothing changes instantaneously:  in a gradually heating bathtub you'd be boiled to death before you knew it.  There were stories in the newspapers of course, corpses in ditches or the woods, bludgeoned to death or mutilated, interfered with, as they used to say, but they were about other women and the men who did such things were other men.

pg. 56

Monday, August 23, 2010

Winners of New Tricks!

How about a drum roll for the winners of New Tricks by David Rosenfelt!  Congratulations to.......
Martha Lawson
Nancye
skkorman

Congratulations to the winners!  I will be emailing you shortly to get your mailing information to forward to the publisher.  Thanks again to Valerie from Hachette  for allowing me to have this contest on Jo-Jo Loves to Read!!!

Friday, August 20, 2010

Current Giveaways!!!

Here are some great giveaways that I found over the last week.  I've been pretty busy the last couple of weeks so if I missed your contest please feel free to add it in the comment section below.

All About {n} is giving away Radiance by Alyson Noel--Contest ends 8/22.

B.A.B.A.E.L is giving away The King's Mistress by Emma Campion--Contest ends 8/23.

Historically Obsessed is giving away The Red Queen by Phillipa Gregory--Contest ends 8/23.

Reading Without Restraint is having a Five Cup Giveaway--Contest ends 8/28.

Peeking Between the Pages is giving away The King's Mistress by Emma Campion--Contest ends 8/29.

Luxury Reading is giving away Once in a Blue Moon by Eileen Goudge--Contest ends 8/30.

Luxury Reading is giving away What We Have by Amy Boesky--Contest ends 9/3.

DebsHere is giving away the audiobook of The Bourne Objective by Eric Van Lustbader--Contest ends 9/4.

Good luck everyone!

Thursday, August 19, 2010

CSN Kitchen Products





I know that many of you are already aware of the various products that CSN Stores have to offer, but did you know that they probably have the perfect coffee maker for you?  There are hundreds of coffee makers that range from the economy line to the gourmet brand, so I'm sure they have a coffee maker that would suit your needs. 

I have seen various CSN Store reviews over the last few months ranging from bookcases, kitchen products, and various home furnishings.  I mean they have almost everything!  If you have a child getting ready to head off to college I suggest that you check out their site as I'm sure you would find many necessities for the dorm room or apartment.  My daughter already has her wish list started!

I think my next product review for CSN will be for a wine rack since all I am able to do at this time is lay my wine down on the shelf in the pantry.  If you aren't aware, good wines should be stored laying down so the wine covers the cork during storage.  But since I don't have a rack they end up rolling around in there.  So stay tuned for that product review in the near future.

Java With Jo

Even though summer may be winding down, I am not going to write it off just yet.  Summer is my favorite season as it's a time to just kick back and enjoy quality time with friends and family.  Yes, there are still obligations that need to be dealt with, but I try to keep things at a relaxed pace. 

Although I cut back on my review obligations this summer, I've noticed that I still have a pile of books that I have hardly made a dent in!  I'm still plugging along reading The Passage by Justin Cronin, which I am really enjoying, and I've also started The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood.  Did you know that Trish from Hey Lady! Whatcha Readin'? is leading a readalong for this novel that begins on August 23rd?  I'm finding it interesting and there are really some strong similarities between The Passage and The Handmaid's Tale.  My book club meets on September 1st so I will also have to get started reading Home in Carolina by Sherryl Woods.  My goodness...I will be reading 3 books at a time!  I've never done that before so we will see how that goes! 

Before you know it I will be bringing my daughter back to college in St. Paul and my home will be quiet once again.

Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Audiobook Review: Cross Country by James Patterson

Here is a summary of Cross Country from the Hachette website:

When the home of Alex Cross's oldest friend, Ellie Cox, is turned into the worst murder scene Alex has ever seen, the destruction leads him to believe that he's chasing a horrible new breed of killer. As Alex and his girlfriend, Brianna Stone, become entangled in the deadly Nigerian underworld of Washington D.C., what they discover is shocking: a stunningly organized gang of lethal teenagers headed by a powerful, diabolical man-the African warlord known as the Tiger. Just when the detectives think they're closing in on the elusive murderer, the Tiger disappears into thin air. Tracking him to Africa, Alex knows that he must follow. Alone.


My Review:
This was my first encounter with an Alex Cross novel and it was sure action packed and fast paced.  Although there are several novels preceding this one in the series, I feel that Patterson did a good job of bringing the reader up to speed with Alex's current situation. 

When Alex arrives at a murder scene he is shocked to find the first woman that he fell in love with, along with her entire family, has been brutally killed.  He knows the responsible party must be stopped and as he follows leads he stumbles upon eerily similar murder scenes, which eventually take him to all corners of Africa.  Cross finds himself experiencing many dangers in Africa from the activities in the diamond mines to the atrocities taking place in Darfur.

Finding himself alone in a crime-ridden country he learns that he needs to put his trust in a few key people.  Hopefully he has selected the right people to confide in, but only time will tell.  As Alex continues his investigation it is evident that the individual responsible for the brutal murders is a thug that is known as Tiger.  He becomes confident with this new lead only to be let down when he learns that many of the most violent criminals from Africa take the name Tiger. 

I'm not going to give any more away about this book as it is from the suspense/thriller genre.  It was a great book to bring along on our road trip as my husband enjoyed it too.  And it was even his second time listening to it!   Although I don't think I would enjoy reading this type of book, this is the second audiobook that I have listened to by Patterson and I'm sure I will be listening to more in the future. 

My Rating:  4/5

Disclosure:  This audiobook was from my personal collection to that I listened to for my own entertainment.

You can check out more great book reviews over at Cym Lowell's Book Review Party Wednesday.

Wondrous Words Wednesday-Aug. 18

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 while reading The Passage by Justin Cronin:
Tumescent: swelling; slightly tumid.

Here is how tumescent was used on page 65:
The air of the room was as tumescent as a greenhouse; everyone was dancing and shuffling and clapping along, a crowd of people of all ages and colors. 

Coterie:  a group of people who associate closely.

Here is how coterie was used on page 173:
They'd been separated the minute they landed, Amy hustled away by Richards and a group of armed soldiers, Wolgast and Doyle with a coterie of their own-but then they'd been split up, too.

Oscilloscope:  a device that uses a cathode-ray tube or similar instrument to depict on a screen periodic changes in an electric quantity, as voltage or current.

Here is how oscilloscope was used on page 313:
In the shed, piled among the old CRT's and CPU's and plasmas and bins of cell phones and Blu-rays, was an old stereo receiver-just AM and FM bands, but he could open that up-and an oscilloscope.

Well those are the new words that I learned last week..did you come across any new words?

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Audiobook Giveaway: The Island by Elin Hilderbrand


Thanks to Anna from Hachette I am able to give away up to three copies of this unabridged audiobook on Jo-Jo Loves to Read!!!

Here is a summary of The Island from the Hachette website:

Birdie Cousins has planned a getaway with her daughter Chess on rustic, charming Tuckernuck Island off the coast of Nantucket, a chance to bond before Chess's upcoming marriage. Birdie's been through a difficult divorce herself, so she knows the big commitment that marriage entails. She's only recently dared to tiptoe back into the waters of romance.

When Chess abruptly breaks off the wedding and her fiancé shockingly dies in a rock climbing accident, it leaves Chess feeling guilty and deeply depressed. Birdie circles the wagons, convincing her younger daughter Tate, and her own sister India to join them on Tuckernuck for the month of July. Secrets and intrigue soon make their way to the surface, as Elin Hilderbrand once again weaves a masterful story of summer suspense.


Now for the giveaway:

I will be giving away one book for every 10 entries with a maximum of three books to give away.

To enter this contest you must be at least 18 and live in the U.S. or Canada. No PO Boxes please.

For one entry leave me a comment including your email address below.

For two additional entries, blog about this contest or add the link to your sidebar.

Please include your email so I will have a way to contact you if you win.

You will have until August 31st to enter and I will draw for winners on September 1st.

**This giveaway is closed.

Monday, August 16, 2010

Mailbox Monday-Aug. 16

Thanks to Marcia of The Printed Page for starting the Mailbox Monday Meme that has us list the books that we received last week. Although Marcia isn't going to be hosting Mailbox Monday any longer, she set it up so different bloggers have the opportunity to host this meme for a month at a time.  This month the host is Chicks Love Lit and you can go to her blog to see what everyone else got last week or to play along.

This week I only received one book in my mailbox:
The Island by Elin Hilderbrand (audiobook)

I have a couple of friends that have read some Elin Hilderbrand books this summer and just loved them, so I can't wait to read this one myself!

Friday, August 13, 2010

Winners of the Backseat Saints Audiobook!

I am pleased to announce the following winners of the Backseat Saints audiobooks!

Simply Stacie
kathy pease

Congratulations ladies!  I will be emailing you shortly to get your mailing addresses to forward to the publisher. Thanks to Anna from Hachette for offering this contest on Jo-Jo Loves to Read!!!  Stay tuned for another audiobook giveaway coming soon!

Thursday, August 12, 2010

Current Giveaways!!!

Check out the great giveaways that caught my eye last week!  If I happened to miss your giveaways please feel free to leave the link in the comment section below.

Passages to the Past is giving away The Red Queen by Phillippa Gregory--Contest ends 8/17.

Booking Mama is giving away Fragile by Lisa Unger--Contest ends 8/18.

Bermudaonion is giving away The Last Time I Saw You by Elizabeth Berg--Contest ends 8/19.

Library Girl Reads is having an August Giveaway--Contest ends 8/25.

At Home With Books is having her August Bookshelf Cleaning Giveaway--Contest ends 8/29.

Don't forget to see what contests I have right now by checking my sidebar.  Good luck everyone!

Wednesday, August 11, 2010

Audiobook Review: Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter by Seth Grahame-Smith

Here is a summary of Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter from the Hachette website:

Indiana, 1818. Moonlight falls through the dense woods that surround a one-room cabin, where a nine-year-old Abraham Lincoln kneels at his suffering mother's bedside. She's been stricken with something the old-timers call "Milk Sickness."

"My baby boy..." she whispers before dying.

Only later will the grieving Abe learn that his mother's fatal affliction was actually the work of a vampire.

When the truth becomes known to young Lincoln, he writes in his journal, "
henceforth my life shall be one of rigorous study and devotion. I shall become a master of mind and body. And this mastery shall have but one purpose..." Gifted with his legendary height, strength, and skill with an ax, Abe sets out on a path of vengeance that will lead him all the way to the White House.

While Abraham Lincoln is widely lauded for saving a Union and freeing millions of slaves, his valiant fight against the forces of the undead has remained in the shadows for hundreds of years. That is, until Seth Grahame-Smith stumbled upon The Secret Journal of Abraham Lincoln, and became the first living person to lay eyes on it in more than 140 years.

Using the journal as his guide and writing in the grand biographical style of Doris Kearns Goodwin and David McCullough, Seth has reconstructed the
true life story of our greatest president for the first time-all while revealing the hidden history behind the Civil War and uncovering the role vampires played in the birth, growth, and near-death of our nation.

My Review:
After hearing so many good reviews of this book I decided to go ahead and give it a try with the audio version.  It really was full of interesting historical facts of Abraham Lincoln's life, including his climb up the political ladder, which ended in his Presidency.  It was very unfortunate that all of the women in Abe's life were taken from him (except for the woman he married), although history gives a more medical definition for the deaths of these women, this novel accounts these deaths to vampires.

As a young man Abe finds himself befriending a man named Henry, who he learns is actually a vampire.  Henry teaches Abe everything he knows about vampires, including how to hunt and kill them.  I don't think that Abe ever actually understood why Henry would take the time to teach him how to kill one of his own, but he follows Henry's lead in an attempt to seek vengeance on his mother's death. 

This book follows Lincoln's political career including when he was elected as a state legislator to the President of the United States.  Along his journey tales of vampire hunting are weaved within the storyline.  We are shown a close look at how slavery apalled Lincoln and within the novel he even blames the circumstance of slavery on the vampires.  Certain events that had taken place during the civil war were also attributed to the vampires within the pages of this book.

I did appreciate many of the facts that were included in this novel, but I must admit that I really was expecting more humor.  It was not humorous in any way and many parts were very graphic and grotesque.  Although this wasn't my favorite audiobook I did appreciate the historical elements the book had to offer.  This audiobook was narrated by Scott Holst.

My Rating: 3/5

Disclosure:  This was my own audiobook that I listened to for my own entertainment.

You can check out more great book reviews over at Cym Lowell's Book Review Party Wednesday.

Tuesday, August 10, 2010

Teaser Tuesday-Aug. 10



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 The Passage by Justin Cronin:
Most just stood there at the gate, blinking into the spotlights, waiting for the shot.  Peter supposed that some part of them still remembered being human well enough to want to die.

pg. 273

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

Sunday, August 8, 2010

Mailbox Monday-Aug. 9

Thanks to Marcia of The Printed Page for starting the Mailbox Monday Meme that has us list the books that we received last week. Although Marcia isn't going to be hosting Mailbox Monday any longer, she set it up so different bloggers have the opportunity to host this meme for a month at a time.  This month the host is Chicks Love Lit and you can go to her blog to see what everyone else got last week or to play along.

I actually didn't receive any books in the mail last week, but I was did cave in and purchase a couple on my shopping trip last Friday:

Here is what I snagged at the thrift store and happens to be what I will be reading with my book club for our Christmas selection:
Comfort and Joy by Kristin Hannah

And then I found this at Barnes and Noble:


So what kind of new books came into your house last week?

Friday, August 6, 2010

My Birthday Giveaway!


Well today is my birthday and along with being older, I'm hoping I'm a little wiser also!  I'm not sure where we will be going for dinner yet tonight, but today I plan on spending the day shopping in Duluth with my daughter. 

For my birthday I decided to have a giveaway that allows one winner to choose one of the following books that are gently read from my personal collection.  You can click on the title to read my review.


31 Bond Street by Ellen Horan (this is a hardcover I received from the publisher)












Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger (This is a paperback ARC I received from the publisher)











The Age of Orphans by Laleh Khadivi (This is a Trade Paperback edition I received from the publisher)












A Change in Altitude by Anita Shreve (This is a trade paperback edition I received from the publisher)











Now for the giveaway!

To enter this contest you must be at least 18 and live in the U.S. or Canada. No PO Boxes please.

For one entry leave me a comment including your email address below.  No need to decide which book you want right now, as I will only be selecting one winner.

For two additional entries, blog about this contest or add the link to your sidebar.

You will have until August 17th to enter and I will draw for a winner on August 18th.

Good luck everyone!

**This contest is closed.

Thursday, August 5, 2010

Book Club Picks for 2010/2011

I know that many of you meet on a calendar year basis, but since our group first formed in the Fall we have just been following the school year. Over the last couple of months we have been busy finalizing our reading schedule for the next year and here is what we have come up with:

Home in Carolina by Sheryll Woods  (We actually won copies of this book for our whole group from Bookmovement.com)
Things I've Been Silent About by Nazar Afisi
The Heretic's Daughter by Kathleen Kent
The Good Husband of Zebra Drive by Alexander McCall Smith
Comfort and Joy by Kristin Hannah
Prayers for Sale by Sandra Dallas
Nefertiti by Michelle Moran
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Shaffer and Annie Barrows
They Almost Always Come Home by Cynthia Ruchti
The Help by Kathryn Stockett

This schedule allows us a break in the summer to get caught up on our personal reading.  We have a tradition of getting together in the summer and having a dinner and movie night.  We usually have a potluck with just appetizers and in the past have watched a movie of a book we have read.  This year we couldn't decide on a movie from what we read so we ended up watching My Life in Ruins, and we all loved it!  So we had a great night of food, friends and fun!

When we meet in September we will be beginning our 7th year together and I'm very excited to read these books with my group.  The only book on this list that I have read is Prayers for Sale and I know the ladies are going to love it!  Have you read any of these yourself?

Wednesday, August 4, 2010

Giveaway: Secrets to Happiness by Sarah Dunn



Thanks to Valerie from Hachette, I have up to 3 copies of this book to give away!  Secrets to Happiness would make an excellent selection for your book club.  Here is a summary of the book from the Hachette website:

Holly Frick has just endured the worst kind of breakup: the kind where you're still in love with the person leaving you.  While her wounds are still dangerously close to the surface, her happily married best friend confesses over a bottle of wine that she is this close to having an affair.  And another woman comes to Holly for advice about her love life--with Holly's ex!

Holly decides that if everyone around her can take pleasure wherever they find it, so will she.  As any self-respecting 30ish New York woman would do, she brings two males into her life: a flawed but endearing dog, and a good natured, much younger lover.  She's soon entangled in a web of emails, chance meetings, and misguided good intentions and must forge an entirely new path to Nirvana.

From the author of The Big Love, Secrets to Happiness is a big-hearted, knife-sharp, and hilariously entertaining story about the perils of love and friendship, sex and betrayal--and a thoroughly modern take on our struggle to be happy.


Now on with the giveaway!

I will be giving away one book for every 10 entries with a maximum of three books to give away.

To enter this contest you must be at least 18 and live in the U.S. or Canada. No PO Boxes please.

For one entry leave me a comment including your email address below.

For two additional entries, blog about this contest or add the link to your sidebar.

Please include your email so I will have a way to contact you if you win.

You will have until August 20th to enter and I will draw for a winner on August 21st.

Good luck everyone!

**This contest is closed.

Monday, August 2, 2010

Blog Tour and Review: Labor Day by Joyce Maynard

I must admit that I've had my eyes on this book since it first came out, and thanks to Trish from TLC Book Tours I've finally had the opportunity to read it!  Thanks so much Trish because I absolutely loved this book!

Here is a summary of Labor Day from the Harper Collins website:

With the end of summer closing in and a steamy Labor Day weekend looming in the town of Holton Mills, New Hampshire, lonely, friendless thirteen-year-old Henry spends most of his time watching television, reading, and daydreaming with only his emotionally fragile, long-divorced mother for company. But everything changes on the Thursday before the holiday weekend when a mysterious bleeding man named Frank asks Henry for a hand. Over the next five days, Henry will learn some of life's most valuable lessons, about the breathless pain of jealousy, the power of betrayal, and the importance of putting those we care about above ourselves—and that real love is worth waiting for. 

From acclaimed author Joyce Maynard comes a beautiful, poignant tale of love, sex, adolescence, and devastating treachery as seen through the eyes of a young teenager—and the man he later becomes. 

My Review:
I've always loved Labor Day weekend-being the weekend that we say goodbye to summer, so I think that was part of the attraction for me with this book.  This story takes us into the lives of a young boy and his divorced mom as it covers the events that take place over a Labor Day weekend many years ago.  Henry is an adult now and he is basically retelling how the series of events that took place that weekend many years ago changed and reshaped his life.

As a young boy Henry watched his mother change from a vibrant and loving woman to someone that was basically afraid to interact with people or leave her home.  When his father left and remarried, started a new family, things only became worse at home for Henry and his mother.  Here is an excerpt from page 31 that described what Henry was thinking about how his mother may have felt:
I could feel her loneliness and longing, before I had a name for it.  It had probably never been about my father really.  Looking at him now, it was hard to imagine he could ever have been worthy of her.  What she had loved was loving.

The Thursday before Labor Day everything changed for Henry and his mother when they walked into the hardware store.  They bumped into Frank, who appeared to be wounded and trying to hide.  Before you know it they are driving home with Frank in the car, offering to give him somewhere to rest for the weekend.  This is the part of the novel that I know many people did have a problem with, indicating that no-one would willingly invite a stranger into their home.  I do agree with this in most cases, but it is important to realize that at this point Adele, Henry's mother, was obviously mentally unstable and was not able to make rational decisions.

The atmosphere within Henry's home changes throughout the weekend as he sees a sense of normalcy slowly creeping back into their daily routines.  Rather than opening their usual can of Campbell's soup for dinner, Frank cooks them a meal of the best chili they have ever had.  Frank even teaches Henry the proper way to make a pie crust so they can make a homemade peach pie.  Henry gets a glimpse over this weekend of some regular family interaction and realizes how much he craves this lifestyle.  Here is an excerpt from page 106 that explains how Henry is excited to be able just have fun as a kid:
And the thought occurs to me that here is one of the best parts about his showing up.  I am not responsible for making her happy anymore.  That job can be his now.  This leaves me free for other things.  My own life, for instance.

I thought the writing in this book was wonderful and I just found myself loving the story.  As I was nearing the end I found myself flipping the pages to find out how many pages I had left because I didn't want it to end!  There are some parts of this book that some of you may not enjoy, as Henry is a thirteen year old boy during this time and there are physical changes happening to him that he is trying to learn to accept.  This didn't take away from my enjoyment of the novel as I found the writing beautiful.  I think this would make a great book club selection with themes of coming of age, acceptance, love, and secrets.

Since Labor Day is next month, I suggest that you pick up this book to read over that weekend-I might just read it again over that weekend because I enjoyed it so much.  Joyce Maynard will be joining Book Club Girl on Blog Talk Radio on August 30th at 7pm ET, and you can listen here.

My Rating:  5/5

Disclosure:  This book was provided to me by Harper Collins to participate in the TLC Book tour.



Mailbox Monday-August 2


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.

I only received one book in the mail last week but I am so excited to now have this 50th anniversary edition of this classic!
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

So what was in your mailbox last week?

Sunday, August 1, 2010

Current Giveaways!!!

Well it has definitely been a busy weekend and I haven't been able to read nearly as much as I would have liked for the 48 Hour Read-a-thon.  But I would like to share a few contests with you that caught my eye this week.  If I happened to miss posting about your contest please feel free to add the link in the comment section below.

Readaholic is giving away the I Hate to Cook Cook Book by Peg Bracken--Contest ends 8/2.

Scraps of Life is giving away Hidden Wives by Claire Avery--Contest ends 8/10.

Readaholic  is giving away The Jewel of St. Petersburg by Kate Furnivall--Contest ends 8/11.

A Sea of Books is giving away Follow Me by Joanna Scott--Contest ends 8/20.

Good luck everyone and don't forget to check out my giveaways on the sidebar!