August 2013

David and Goliath by Malcom Gladwell

Gladwell (previous books include The Tipping Point, Blink, and What the Dog Saw) has the unique gift to take ordinary concepts and make them interesting and challenge us to think differently. His latest book -- a fresh perspective on what it means to be discriminated against, cope with a disability, lose a parent, or suffer from other setbacks. ♥

Paris Was the Place by Susan Conley

Willie Pears teaches at a center for immigrant girls who are all hoping for French asylum. We get an inside peek of the hardship faced by people hoping for a better life, and what they have to go through to find it. Combine that with Willies own issues and you’ve got a pretty good read.♥♥

Sea Creatures by Susanna Daniel

Georgia and Graham Quillian along with their son Frankie move to Coral Gables hoping for a fresh start. Graham’s got a sleep disorder, Frankie doesn’t talk, but thank goodness Georgia finds a cool job shuttling supplies to an artist who lives in a tiny house on stilts (!) off the coast in a community appropriately enough called Stiltsville. Eventually Georgia and Frankie find peace, thanks to the ocean, the artist…and the damn hard truth.♥♥

The End of the Affair by Graham Green

"This is a record of hate far more than of love." The first passage of this book really got to me. After all, when love turns sour it often turns to hate. The very English gentleman, Maurice Bendrix writes down the account of his adulterous affair with Sarah Miles. Sarah has since died and he is trying to discover how love turned to hate. Originally published in 1951, The End of the Affair was a Kindle Audible book (cheap!) - so I bought it to ease the drive from Portland to Boise. It was narrated by Colin Firth and made the drive fly by! ♥♥

The Gravity of Birds by Tracy Guzeman

Natalie is beautiful and sullen. Alice is a dreamer who loves books and birds. During their family’s summer holiday at the lake, both fall under the spell of a struggling young painter, Thomas Bayber – who paints the family in a series of portraits. Fast forward several decades --Bayber, now a world-renowned artist, unveils a never-before-seen work, Kessler Sisters. He hires a history professor, and a young art authenticator to sell the painting, but first they are required to find the sisters who seem to have vanished. ♥♥♥

July 2013

Frozen in Time by Mitchell Zuckoff

On November 5, 1942, a U.S. cargo plane crashed into the Greenland ice cap. Four days later, a B-17 became lost in a blinding storm and also crashed. Miraculously, all nine men on the B-17 survived. The U.S. military launched a second daring rescue operation, but the Grumman Duck amphibious plane sent to find the men flew into a severe storm and vanished. Those stories alone would be spellbinding to read, but Zuckoff joins the U.S. Coast Guard and North South Polar—a company who worked for years to solve the mystery of the Duck’s last flight—on a dangerous expedition (2012) to recover the remains of the lost plane’s crew. ♥♥♥

Life After Life by Kate Atkinson

How best to explain this book? Literary puzzle slash mind-twister comes to mind. In 1910 Ursula Todd is born but dies before she can draw her first breath. On that same night, Ursula Todd is born, and embarks upon a life that will be, to say the least, unusual. As she grows, she also dies again and again. Incredibly inventive. ♥♥♥

June 2013

A Borgia Daughter Dies by Maryann Philip

The story of the Borgia’s is intertwined with the live of Leonardo da Vinci. Historically accurate, this murder-mystery is set in Renaissance Rome and Milan. There is an illegitimate daughter and bewitching ex-mistress who solve three murders with help from da Vinci and Lucrezia Borgia. ♥

The Storyteller by Jody Picoult

Sage Singer and Josef Weber, an elderly man in Sage’s grief support group strike up an unlikely friendship. One day Josef confesses a shameful secret and asks Sage for an extraordinary favor. ♥♥♥