Book Report

Okay, okay.  I confess.  I read all three Fifty Shades books.  Yes.  All three.  I couldn't let everyone else on earth read it and not know what all the fuss is about!  Again, yes.  I understand what all the fuss is about. 

Have you read Jaycee Dugard's A Stolen Life?  She's the woman who was kidnapped as a child and held hostage for 18 years by a madman and his madwoman wife.  I was hesitant to read it because it's such a horrible story.  I'm glad I read it.  Hers is a remarkable story of survival.

Summerland:  A Novel by Elin Hilderbrand.   From Amazon's book description:  "A warm June evening, a local tradition: the students of Nantucket High have gathered for a bonfire on the beach. But what begins as a graduation night celebration ends in tragedy after a horrible car crash leaves the driver of the car, Penny Alistair, dead, and her twin brother in a coma. The other passengers, Penny's boyfriend Jake and her friend Demeter, are physically unhurt - but the emotional damage is overwhelming, and questions linger about what happened before Penny took the wheel."

Weight Loss Boss by David Kirchhoff:  David Kirchhoff is the CEO of Weight Watchers.  He tells his story of battling his food addiction and recovery through WW.  I have joined WW so many times.  It works. . . when you follow their directions!

Canada by Richard Ford:  I was really looking forward to this one.  What would you do if you were a young boy and your parents robbed a bank?  Really interesting at the beginning, but I got a little bored with the last half of the book.

Gone Girl:  A Novel by Gillian Flynn.  Very very good story.  When the wife goes missing, it's always the husband, right?  Maybe.  Maybe not. . .

The Beginner's Goodbye by Anne Tyler.  One of my favorite authors, and this time she shines.    The first sentence will make you stay for the rest of the story:   "The strangest thing about my wife’s return from the dead was how other people reacted."

The Sandcastle Girls by Chris Bohjalian.  I almost didn't finish this one, but I'm so glad I did.  Much of the story is set amidst civil war in Alleppo, Syria in 1915.  There is civil war there even today.  Strange to read a story set a hundred years ago and to  hear NPR reporting on the same fight happening now.  Reading this story inspired me to go back and re-read The Double Bind, my favorite CB book.

A Simple Thing by Kathleen McCleary.  Great story about a mother who is determined to help her children through the turmoil of growing up without falling apart in the modern day world.  She moves to an island with no electricity!  That's one way to do it :)

When It Happens to You by Molly Ringwald.  Molly can write!