Friday Finds-June 11

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

It has been awhile since I have posted a Friday Find, but I guess nothing has really caught my eye up until the last week or so.  Room is a novel that I originally spotted in a Shelf Awareness newsletter and it sounds like a pretty powerful story to me. 

Here is a summary of Room by Emma Donoghue from the Hachette website:
To five-year-old Jack, Room is the entire world. It is where he was born and grew up; it's where he lives with his Ma as they learn and read and eat and sleep and play. At night, his Ma shuts him safely in the wardrobe, where he is meant to be asleep when Old Nick visits.

Room is home to Jack, but to Ma, it is the prison where Old Nick has held her captive for seven years. Through determination, ingenuity, and fierce motherly love, Ma has created a life for Jack. But she knows it's not enough...not for her or for him. She devises a bold escape plan, one that relies on her young son's bravery and a lot of luck. What she does not realize is just how unprepared she is for the plan to actually work.

Told entirely in the language of the energetic, pragmatic five-year-old Jack, ROOM is a celebration of resilience and the limitless bond between parent and child, a brilliantly executed novel about what it means to journey from one world to another.

Not that I need to be adding any books to my Must Read pile, but this one really tempts me!  So did anything catch your eye recently?

Friday Finds-April 16

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

I went to the website of Alexander McCall Smith to look up the next book I plan on reading in the No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency series and found that another book in this series is going to be released next week!

Here is a summary of this book from his website:

Readers will agree that this touching and dramatic new installment in Alexander McCall Smith’s beloved and best-selling series is the finest yet. In this story, Precious Ramotswe deals with issues of mistaken identity and great fortune against the beautiful backdrop of Botswana’s remote and striking Okavango Delta.



Mma Ramotswe and Mma Makutsi head to a safari camp to carry out a delicate mission on behalf of a former guest who has left one of the guides a large sum of money. But once they find their man, Precious begins to sense that something is not right. To make matters worse, shortly before their departure Mma Makutsi’s fiancé, Phuti Radiphuti, suffers a debilitating accident, and when his aunt moves in to take care of him, she also pushes Mma Makutsi out of the picture. Could she be trying to break up the relationship? Finally, a local priest and his wife independently approach Mma Ramotswe with concerns of infidelity, creating a rather unusual and tricky situation. Nevertheless, Precious is confident that with a little patience, kindness and good sense things will work out for the best, something that will delight her many fans.

This is the 11th book in the series and since my book club has been reading at least one of these books a year I can't wait to tell them about this one.  The next one we will be reading together is The Good Husband of Zebra Drive, which is the 7th book in the series, so it will be a while before I get to the newest one.

Friday Finds-Feb. 19

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

 The book that caught my eye this week I found at both the GoodReads website and in the Shelf Awareness newsletter.

Here is a summary of Pearl of China by Ancee Min from the Bloomsbury website:

In the small southern town of Chin-kiang, in the last days of the nineteenth century, two young girls bump heads and become thick as thieves. Willow is the only child of a destitute family. Pearl is the headstrong daughter of zealous Christian missionaries. She will grow up to become Pearl S. Buck, the Nobel Prize-winning writer and activist, but for now she is just a girl embarrassed by her blonde hair and enchanted by her new Chinese friend.

Moving out into the world together, the two enter the intellectual fray of the times, confide their hopes and dreams, and survive early marriages gone bad. But when civil war erupts between the Nationalists and Communists, Pearl’s family is forced to flee the country ahead of angry mobs. Willow, despite close ties to Mao’s inner circle, is punished for her loyalty to her ‘cultural imperialist’ friend. And yet, through love and loss, heartbreak and joy, exile and imprisonment, the two women remain intimately entwined.

In this ambitious and moving new novel, Anchee Min brings to life a courageous and passionate woman who loved the country of her childhood and who has been hailed in China as a modern heroine.

I think this sounds like a very interesting book.  After I read The Good Earth a few years ago I did some research on Pearl Buck so I think it would be interesting to compare this book to some of the facts that I learned about her life.

So did anything catch your eye this week?

Friday Finds-Feb. 12

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


The book that caught my eye this week was One Amazing Thing that I spotted over at Linus's Blanket.

Here is a summary of One Amazing Thing from Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni's website:

Late afternoon in an Indian visa office in an unnamed American city. Most customers have come and gone, but nine people remain. A punky teenager with an unexpected gift. An upper class Caucasian couple whose relationship is disintegrating. A young Muslim-American man struggling with the fallout of 9/11. A graduate student haunted by a question about love. An African-American ex-soldier searching for redemption. A Chinese grandmother with a secret past. And two visa office workers on the verge of an adulterous affair.

When an earthquake rips through the afternoon lull, trapping these nine wildly individual characters together, their focus first jolts to a collective struggle to survive. There’s little food. The office begins to flood. Then, at a moment when the psychological and emotional stress seems nearly too much for them to bear, the young graduate student suggests that each tell a personal tale, “one amazing thing” from their lives, which they have never told anyone before. As their surprising stories of romance, marriage, family, political upheaval, and self-discovery unfold against the urgency of their life-or-death circumstances, the novel proves the transcendent power of stories and the meaningfulness of human expression itself. One Amazing Thing is a passionate creation about survival—and about the reasons to survive.

I think this sounds like a fabulous story and hopefully I can get my hands on one!
So did anything catch your eye this week?

Friday Finds-Jan. 22

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

The book that most recently caught my eye is Wench by Dolen Perkins-Valdez that I first spotted over at Bookin' With Bingo, and now I've actually won this book from Karen so before you know it I will be posting about this in my Mailbox Monday post!

Here is a summary of the book from the HarperCollins website:

An ambitious and startling debut novel that follows the lives of four women at a resort popular among slaveholders who bring their enslaved mistresses

wench \'wench\ n. from Middle English "wenchel," 1 a: a girl, maid, young woman; a female child.

Tawawa House in many respects is like any other American resort before the Civil War. Situated in Ohio, this idyllic retreat is particularly nice in the summer when the Southern humidity is too much to bear. The main building, with its luxurious finishes, is loftier than the white cottages that flank it, but then again, the smaller structures are better positioned to catch any breeze that may come off the pond. And they provide more privacy, which best suits the needs of the Southern white men who vacation there every summer with their black, enslaved mistresses. It's their open secret.

Lizzie, Reenie, and Sweet are regulars at Tawawa House. They have become friends over the years as they reunite and share developments in their own lives and on their respective plantations. They don't bother too much with questions of freedom, though the resort is situated in free territory–but when truth-telling Mawu comes to the resort and starts talking of running away, things change.

To run is to leave behind everything these women value most–friends and families still down South–and for some it also means escaping from the emotional and psychological bonds that bind them to their masters. When a fire on the resort sets off a string of tragedies, the women of Tawawa House soon learn that triumph and dehumanization are inseparable and that love exists even in the most inhuman, brutal of circumstances–all while they are bearing witness to the end of an era.

An engaging, page-turning, and wholly original novel, Wench explores, with an unflinching eye, the moral complexities of slavery.

I can't wait to dive into this book!  So has anything caught your eye recently?

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?

Friday Finds-Nov. 6

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

A book that caught my eye recently was 72 Virgins by Avi Perry that I spotted over at Everything Distills Into Reading.

Here is a summary of 72 Virgins from Avi Perry's website:

72 Virgins is a novel about Jihad terrorism and the security agencies’ struggle to thwart its stratagem and trounce the perpetrators. Abu Musa is an Islamic Terrorist with an agenda, a ticking bomb inside the US. Arik Golan is an Israeli who tries to bring him down and pull the plug on his terror organization. Stanley Kramer is an FBI agent on a hunting mission, seeking to place both Abu Musa and Arik within his crosshair. The FBI, the Israeli Foreign Intelligence Service—the Mossad, the US-based Iranian clandestine terror network, and the Islamic Jihad fraternity are engaged in a timeless conflict, playing out to a crescendo that comes to a head before the dramatic conclusion.

The book draws on current world events, politics, cultural divisions, international intrigue and religious fanaticism. It is masterly plotted, thrilling, captivating, replete with stealth, and above all, enlightening.

The story offers an ample dose of realism, a cast of intense characters who engage in love, lust, and violence. It portrays the Jihad culture with its rationale and the volcano that breeds an irrational obsession with death. Moreover, it builds on the Jihadists’ motivation for targeting so many innocents and exploiting the victims’ massacre as a stepping-stone to their dream of eternal paradise next to Allah’s throne.

So did anything catch your eye this last week?

Friday Finds-Oct. 16

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

The book that caught my eye this week wasn't found on another blog, but actually at the Bon Jovi website!  Yes, you have read this correctly.  After hearing their newest song, We Weren't Born to Follow, I decided to go to their website and see if they were planning a tour soon.  I didn't see one yet, so please keep your eyes and ears open for me and if you catch wind of an upcoming tour please let me know!  But I did find a book that they are releasing...am I wanting this just for the pictures?  Maybe, but who cares!  Check it out:

In all seriousness, here is a summary of Bon Jovi: When We Were Beautiful by Bon Jovi from the HarperCollins website:

You think you know Bon Jovi, but you don't until you open this book. With gorgeous, exclusive photographs and revealing text from the band members themselves, Bon Jovi: When We Were Beautiful captures Jon, Richie, Dave, and Tico at both intimate moments and under the limelight in all aspects of their lives, from the private times backstage and on the road to their stunning and unforgettable live performances. Stretching back to the early days in Jersey, through successes and struggles, and up to the 2008 Lost Highway tour—the highest-grossing rock tour of that year—this book offers fans a dazzling portrait of rock stars on the road as they reflect on their twenty-five years together as a band of brothers. This insider's portrait of one of America's best-loved rock bands is the subject of a major documentary and this extraordinary book.

You may be unaware that I am a Bon Jovi fan, so rest assured, if they do happen to go on tour again soon, I will be there.  So did anything catch your eye this week?

Friday Finds-Oct. 9

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

The book that most recently caught my eye is The Last Dickens by Matthew Pearl that I found at both Book Chatter and Other Stuff and Bookish Ruth.

Here is a summary of the book from the Random House website:

In his most enthralling novel yet, the critically acclaimed author Matthew Pearl reopens one of literary history’s greatest mysteries. The Last Dickens is a tale filled with the dazzling twists and turns, the unerring period details, and the meticulous research that thrilled readers of the bestsellers The Dante Club and The Poe Shadow.

Boston, 1870. When news of Charles Dickens’s untimely death reaches the office of his struggling American publisher, Fields & Osgood, partner James Osgood sends his trusted clerk Daniel Sand to await the arrival of Dickens’s unfinished novel. But when Daniel’s body is discovered by the docks and the manuscript is nowhere to be found, Osgood must embark on a transatlantic quest to unearth the novel that he hopes will save his venerable business and reveal Daniel’s killer.

Danger and intrigue abound on the journey to England, for which Osgood has chosen Rebecca Sand, Daniel’s older sister, to assist him. As they attempt to uncover Dickens’s final mystery, Osgood and Rebecca find themselves racing the clock through a dangerous web of literary lions and drug dealers, sadistic thugs and blue bloods, and competing members of Dickens’s inner circle. They soon realize that understanding Dickens’s lost ending is a matter of life and death, and the hidden key to stopping a murderous mastermind.

So did anything catch your eye this last week?

Friday Finds-Oct. 2

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

A book that caught my eye recently was A Separate Country by Robert Hicks that I found over at Bermudaonion's Weblog.

Here is a summary of A Separate Country from Robert Hicks' website:

Set in New Orleans in the years after the Civil War, A SEPARATE COUNTRY is a novel based on the incredible life of John Bell Hood, arguably one of the most controversial generals of the Confederate Army--and one of its most tragic figures. Robert E. Lee promoted him to major general after the Battle of Antietam. But the Civil War would mark him forever. At Gettysburg, he lost the use of his left arm. At the Battle of Chickamauga, his right leg was amputated. Starting fresh after the war, he married Anna Marie Hennen and fathered 11 children with her, including three sets of twins. But fate had other plans. Crippled by his war wounds and defeat, ravaged by financial misfortune, Hood had one last foe to battle: Yellow Fever.

A SEPARATE COUNTRY is the heartrending story of a decent and good man who struggled with his inability to admit his failures--and the story of those who taught him to love, and to be loved, and transformed him.

I really enjoy historical fiction and although I have found that Civil War novels can be hit or miss for me, I have a feeling that this one will be a hit considering that it takes place after the war.  Check out Kathy's review yourself and see what you think!

So what did you find this week?

Friday Finds-Sept. 25

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

I can't believe it has been almost a month since I have posted a Friday Find, but I guess not much has caught my eye lately.  Today I want to share with you a book that I found over at Cerebral Girl's Mailbox Monday post. 

The following is a summary of The Postmistress from the Barnes and Noble website:

Filled with stunning parallels to today's world, The Postmistress is a sweeping novel about the loss of innocence of two extraordinary women-and of two countries torn apart by war.



On the eve of the United States's entrance into World War II in 1940, Iris James, the postmistress of Franklin, a small town on Cape Cod, does the unthinkable: She doesn't deliver a letter. In London, American radio gal Frankie Bard is working with Edward R. Murrow, reporting on the Blitz. One night in a bomb shelter, she meets a doctor from Cape Cod with a letter in his pocket, a letter Frankie vows to deliver when she returns from Germany and France, where she is to record the stories of war refugees desperately trying to escape.


The residents of Franklin think the war can't touch them- but as Frankie's radio broadcasts air, some know that the war is indeed coming. And when Frankie arrives at their doorstep, the two stories collide in a way no one could have foreseen. The Postmistress is an unforgettable tale of the secrets we must bear, or bury. It is about what happens to love during wartime, when those we cherish leave. And how every story-of love or war-is about looking left when we should have been looking right.

This sounds like an excellent book to me and I am going to definitely try to get my paws on this one!  I think the cover may be influencing me on this one too, I think it's just beautiful.  So did you find anything new this week?

Friday Finds-Aug. 21

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



The book that caught my eye this week was The Weight of Silence by Heather Gudenkauf that I found over at Fizzy Thoughts.

Here is a summary of The Weight of Silence from the ReadingGroupGuides.com website:

It happens quietly one August morning. As dawn’s shimmering light drenches the humid Iowa air, two families awaken to find their little girls have gone missing in the night.

Seven-year-old Calli Clark is sweet, gentle, a dreamer who suffers from selective mutism brought on by tragedy that pulled her deep into silence as a toddler. Calli’s mother, Antonia, tried to be the best mother she could within the confines of marriage to a mostly absent, often angry husband. Now, though she denies that her husband could be involved, she fears her decision to stay in her marriage has cost her more than her daughter’s voice.

Petra Gregory is Calli’s best friend, her soul mate and her voice. But neither Petra or Calli has been heard from since their disappearance was discovered. Desperate to find his child, Martin Gregory is forced to confront a side of himself he did not know existed beneath his intellectual, professorial demeanor.

Now these families are tied by the question of what happened to their children. And the answer is trapped in the silence of unspoken family secrets.

So did anything new catch your eye this week?

Friday Finds-Aug. 14

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

I just read a review yesterday over at Bermudaonion's Weblog for The Seamstress by Frances de Pontes Peebles, that made me say to myself "Self, you really need to read this one."

Here is a summary of The Seamstress from the HarperCollins website:

As seamstresses, the young sisters Emília and Luzia dos Santos know how to cut, mend, and conceal—useful skills in the lawless backcountry of Brazil, where ruthless land barons feud with bands of outlaw cangaceiros, trapping innocent residents in the crossfire. Emília, a naive romantic, dreams of falling in love with a gentleman and escaping to a big city. Quick-tempered Luzia also longs for escape, finding it in her craft and secret prayers to the saints she believes once saved her life. But when Luzia is abducted by cangaceiros led by the infamous Hawk and Emília stumbles into a marriage with the son of a wealthy and politically powerful doctor, the sisters' quiet lives diverge in ways they never would have imagined.

So did anything new catch your eye this last week?

Friday Finds-Aug. 7

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

The book that caught my eye most recently is Cleopatra's Daughter by Michelle Moran that I found over at the Queen of Happy Endings.

Here is a summary of Cleopatra's Daughter from Michelle Moran's website:

The marriage of Marc Antony and Cleopatra is one of the greatest love stories of all time, a tale of unbridled passion with earth-shaking political consequences. Feared and hunted by the powers in Rome, the lovers choose to die by their own hands as the triumphant armies of Antony’s vengeful rival, Octavian, sweep into Egypt. Their three orphaned children are taken in chains to Rome, but only two—the ten-year-old twins Selene and Alexander—survive the journey. Delivered to the household of Octavian’s sister, the siblings cling to each other and to the hope that they will return one day to their rightful place on the throne of Egypt. As they come of age, they are buffeted by the personal ambitions of Octavian’s family and court, by the ever-present threat of slave rebellion, and by the longings and desires deep within their own hearts.

The fateful tale of Selene and Alexander is brought brilliantly to life in Cleopatra’s Daughter. Recounted in Selene’s youthful and engaging voice, it introduces a compelling cast of historical characters:

Octavia: the emperor Octavian’s kind and compassionate sister, abandoned by Marc Antony for CleopatraLivia: Octavian’s bitter and jealous wife Marcellus: Octavian’s handsome, flirtatious nephew and heir-apparent Tiberius: Livia’s sardonic son and Marcellus’s great rival for powerJuba: Octavian’s ever-watchful aide, whose honored position at court has far-reaching effects on the lives of the young Egyptian royals

Selene’s narrative is animated by the concerns of a young girl in any time and place —the possibility of finding love, the pull of friendship and family, and the pursuit of her unique interests and talents. While coping with the loss of both her family and her ancestral kingdom, Selene must find a path around the dangers of a foreign land. Her accounts of life in Rome are filled with historical details that vividly capture both the glories and horrors of the time. She dines with the empire’s most illustrious poets and politicians, witnesses the creation of the Pantheon, and navigates the colorful, crowded marketplaces of the city where Roman-style justice is meted out with merciless authority.

Based on meticulous research, Cleopatra’s Daughter is a fascinating portrait of Imperial Rome and of the people and events of this glorious and tumultuous period in human history. Emerging from the shadows of history, Selene, a young woman of irresistible charm and preternatural intelligence, will capture your heart.

So did anything new catch your eye this week?

Friday Finds-July 24

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

A couple of books have caught my eye this week. The first one is The Devil's Company by David Liss that I spotted over at A Bookworm's World(you can also enter to win a copy there).


Here is what The Devil's Company is about from David Liss' website:

The year is 1722. Thief-taker, ex-boxer, “ruffian for hire,” and master of disguise, Weaver finds himself caught in a deadly game of cat and mouse, pitted against Jerome Cobb, a wealthy and mysterious schemer who needs Weaver’s strength and guile for his own dark purposes.

Weaver is blackmailed into stealing documents from England’s most heavily guarded estate, the headquarters of the ruthless British East India Company, but the theft of corporate secrets is only the first move in a daring conspiracy within the 18th century’s most powerful corporation. To save his friends and family from Cobb’s reach, Weaver must infiltrate the Company, navigate its warring factions, and uncover a secret plot of corporate rivals, foreign spies and government operatives. With millions of pounds and the security of the nation in the balance, Weaver will find himself in a labyrinth of hidden agendas, daring enemies and unexpected allies.

Another book that I have seen popping up here and there is A Change in Altitude by Anita Shreve. I haven't read any reviews of this one yet, but she is one of my favorite authors so I know that I will want to get my grubby paws on this one. This book was first revealed to me by a couple of Mailbox Monday posts from Diary of an Eccentric and Savvy Verse and Wit. So ladies, I am green with envy over this one!

I had to search pretty hard for a summary of this book, but I finally found one at the UK Division of the Little, Brown Book Group:

Newlyweds Margaret and Patrick set off on a great adventure -- a year living in Kenya in a dizzying and sometimes dangerous city. Shuttling between expat suburbs and squalid shantytowns, Margaret realizes there is a great deal she doesn’t know about the complex culture of her new home, and about her husband.

The newlyweds eagerly take part in a climbing expedition to the summit of Mount Kenya. But during their arduous ascent a horrific accident occurs. In its aftermath, Margaret struggles to understand what happened on the mountain and how it has transformed her and her marriage, perhaps for ever.

When small actions have unintended, catastrophic consequences, where does responsibility lie, and can blame ever truly be laid to rest? With stunning language and striking emotional intensity, A Change in Altitude illuminates the inner landscape of a couple, the irrevocable impact of tragedy and the elusive nature of forgiveness.

Anita Shreve is one of my very favorite authors and you can see a list of her complete works at her website.

So what caught your eye this week?

Friday Finds-July 17

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

The book that caught my eye this week was Veiled Freedom by Jeanette Windle that I found over at the Book Movement website.

Here is a summary of the book from Jeanette Windle's website:

Kabul, 2001--American forces have freed Afghanistan from the Taliban. Kites have returned to the skies. Women have removed their burqas. There is dancing in the streets.

Eight years later, Afghanistan is a far cry from those first images of a country freed from Taliban rule. When Special Forces veteran Steve Wilson returns to Kabul as security chief to the Minister of Interior, he is disillusioned with the corruption and violence that has overtaken the country he fought to free. Relief worker Amy Mallory arrives in Afghanistan ready to change the world. She soon discovers that as a Western woman, the challenges are monumental. Afghani native Jamil returns to his homeland seeking work, but a painful past continues to haunt him.

All three search for truth and freedom when a suicide bombing brings them together on Kabul's dusty streets. But what is the true source of freedom--or its cost?

I don't know about you, but this sounds like an amazing novel to me! So did anything catch your eye this week?

Friday Finds-July 3

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

The book that caught my eye this week was Labor Day by Joyce Maynard that I found over at Bibliophile by the Sea. Although I do hate to even bring up the subject of Labor Day when it seems like summer is just beginning, it sounds like a great story.



Here is a summary of Labor Day from Joyce Maynard's website:

With the end of summer closing in and a steamy Labor Day weekend looming in the town of Holton Mills, New Hampshire, thirteen-year-old Henry -- lonely, friendless, not too good at sports -- spends most of his time watching television, reading, and daydreaming about the soft skin and budding bodies of his female classmates. For company Henry has his long-divorced mother, Adele -- a onetime dancer whose summer project was to teach him how to foxtrot; his hamster, Joe; and awkward Saturday-night outings to Friendly's with his estranged father and new stepfamily. As much as he tries, Henry knows that even with his jokes and his "Husband for a Day" coupon, he still can't make his emotionally fragile mother happy. Adele has a secret that makes it hard for her to leave their house, and seems to possess an irreparably broken heart.

But all that changes on the Thursday before Labor Day, when a mysterious bleeding man named Frank approaches Henry and asks for a hand. Over the next five days, Henry will learn some of life's most valuable lessons: how to throw a baseball, the secret to perfect piecrust, the breathless pain of jealousy, the power of betrayal, and the importance of putting others -- especially those we love -- above ourselves. And the knowledge that real love is worth waiting for.

So did you find anything new this week?

Friday Finds-June 26

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

The book that caught my eye this week was The Walking People by Mary Beth Keane that I found over at Peeking Between the Pages. And guess what--she is also having a giveaway for this book!

Here is a summary of The Walking People from the Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishers website:

Greta Cahill never believed she would leave her village in the west of Ireland until she found herself on a ship bound for New York, along with her sister Johanna and a boy named Michael Ward. Labeled a "softheaded goose" by her family, Greta discovers that in America she can fall in love, raise her own family, and earn a living. Though she longs to return and show her family what she has made of herself, her decision to spare her children knowledge of a secret in her past forces her to keep her life in New York separate from the life she once loved in Ireland, and tears her apart from the people she is closest to. Even fifty years later, when the Ireland of her memory bears little resemblance to that of present day, she fears that it is still possible to lose all when she discovers that her children—with the best of intentions— have conspired to unite the worlds she’s so carefully kept separate for decades. A beautifully old-fashioned novel, The Walking People is a debut of remarkable range and power.

So what books caught your eye this week?

Friday Finds-June 19

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

A couple of books have caught my eye this week. The first one is The Painter from Shanghai by Jennifer Cody Epstein. Peeking Between the Pages(who is also giving away this book) and Redlady's Reading Room both gave great reviews of this book. I've always loved books that give me a glimpse into another culture so this one is right up my alley.

Here is a summary of The Painter from Shanghai from the W.W. Norton website:

Down the muddy waters of the Yangtze River and into the seedy backrooms of “The Hall of Eternal Splendor,” through the raucous glamour of prewar Shanghai and the bohemian splendor of 1920s Paris, and back to a China ripped apart by civil war and teetering on the brink of revolution: this novel tells the story of Pan Yuliang, one of the most talented—and provocative—Chinese artists of the twentieth century.

Jennifer Cody Epstein’s epic brings to life the woman behind the lush, Cezannesque nude self-portraits, capturing with lavish detail her life in the brothel and then as a concubine to a Republican official who would ultimately help her find her way as an artist. Moving with the tide of historical events, The Painter from Shanghai celebrates a singularly daring painting style—one that led to fame, notoriety, and, ultimately, a devastating choice: between Pan’s art and the one great love of her life.

When I saw Looking for Salvation at the Dairy Queen over at Lynne's Little Corner of the World I just laughed! I love the cover and the title and it appears that Lynne enjoyed the book so that's enough for me!

Here is a summary of Looking for Salvation at the Dairy Queen from the Random House website:

Sometimes you have to return to the place where you began, to arrive at the place where you belong.

It’s the early 1970s. The town of Ringgold, Georgia, has a population of 1,923, one traffic light, one Dairy Queen, and one Catherine Grace Cline. The daughter of Ringgold’s third-generation Baptist preacher, Catherine Grace is quick-witted, more than a little stubborn, and dying to escape her small-town life.

Every Saturday afternoon, she sits at the Dairy Queen, eating Dilly Bars and plotting her getaway to the big city of Atlanta. And when, with the help of a family friend, the dream becomes a reality, Catherine Grace immediately packs her bags, leaving her family and the boy she loves to claim the life she’s always imagined. But before things have even begun to get off the ground in Atlanta, tragedy brings her back home. As a series of extraordinary events alters her perspective–and sweeping changes come to Ringgold itself–Catherine Grace begins to wonder if her place in the world may actually be, against all odds, right where she began.

So has anything new caught your eye this week?

Friday Finds-June 12

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

This week I have been enticed by Sunnyside Blues by Mary Carter from a few blogs! Booking Mama and A Novel Menagerie gave rave reviews of this book and both have contests to win it! I also read a great review of this book over at Book Chatter and other stuff.

Here is a summary of Sunnyside Blues from Mary Carter's website:

Twenty-five-year-old Andes Lane has spent nine years moving restlessly from place to place as she searches for somewhere that feels right. In the little blue houseboat bobbing on a Seattle lake, she thinks she’s found it. But Andes has barely had a chance to settle in before her new life is upended by her landlord, Jay, and his ten-year-old son, Chase.

Smart, secretive, and precocious, Chase touches a chord with Andes even as he plays on her last nerve. When Jay needs someone to take care of Chase temporarily, Andes agrees to accompany the boy to Sunnyside Queens, on a quest she’s sure will prove fruitless. But in this new, strange, and unexpectedly welcoming city, Andes will confront the secrets she tried to leave behind and the lies that have kept her running. And against all odds, she’ll discover a place, a man, and a newfound peace of mind that feel very much like home. . . .

So what new books caught your eye this week?