My husband has changed my life. Before I met him, there is no way I would have picked up this book, let alone requested it from the library the way I did. He has an unsatiable appetite for political and historical biographies. He talked me into getting the HBO miniseries of John Adams on netflix a few years ago. I was surprised to find it very interesting. Since then, reading a biography on Abigail Adams has been on my list.
I finally picked one up and I wasn't disappointed. Abigail Adams is a remarkable woman. She raised their four children, managed their farm and finances and was John's closest advisor during their long separations. At one point, they did not see each other for five years and the five years before that they had only had intermittent and short visits. John was not there when she gave birth to a stillborn daughter. She would go months (even up to ten!) without receiving even one letter from him. Not only did she do all of this with strength and grace, they were truly in love which made the separations much more difficult.
This book highlighed each phase of her life, giving insights into her character and providing details on the chronicles of their lives. I was fascinated throughout but found a few parts were a little bit dry and difficult to get through. If you are interested in learning more about her, this is a great book to read. If you aren't, I don't think this book will change your mind.
Bottom line: Enjoyable and interesting for the person wanting to know a little bit about the only woman ever to be both wife and mother to an American President
Showing posts with label good reads. Show all posts
Showing posts with label good reads. Show all posts
Saturday, July 30, 2011
Sunday, July 17, 2011
The Lake of Dreams
I thought The Memory Keeper's Daughter was a great book - it drew me in and fascinated me. When I saw another book by the same author on one of my quick pass-throughs of the adult section of the library, I grabbed it quickly.
Edwards didn't disappoint. Not only is the story interesting, but the langauge of this book is poetically beautiful in places. It is vivid and draws you on in spite of the story, which is strong in its own right. A story of how the past determines the present, infused with dreams and dream metahpors, this is a beautifully woven novel.
A definite summer recommendation!
Edwards didn't disappoint. Not only is the story interesting, but the langauge of this book is poetically beautiful in places. It is vivid and draws you on in spite of the story, which is strong in its own right. A story of how the past determines the present, infused with dreams and dream metahpors, this is a beautifully woven novel.
A definite summer recommendation!
Monday, June 27, 2011
These Things Hidden
My grandma recently gave me a stack of books about the time another friend gave me a stack of books. I've been slowly working my way through both of them. This is one of my favorites.
Every bit a page-turner, the author is masterful at creating and building tension. I could figure things out as I read, but was still a bit surprised by the ending. This would be a great beach read or airplane book. It's not light and fluffy, but it's also a very quick read.
Every bit a page-turner, the author is masterful at creating and building tension. I could figure things out as I read, but was still a bit surprised by the ending. This would be a great beach read or airplane book. It's not light and fluffy, but it's also a very quick read.
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
Sunday, May 29, 2011
You Know When the Men Are Gone
I picked this book off the shelf while spending a rare hour in Barnes and Noble by myself.
I quickly settled in and hated to leave it behind when my time was up. I had read so intently that I hadn't even noticed the man sitting across from me had left while I had been sipping my toffeenut latte and reading, something that rarely happens when I read in a place with distractions. I found it at the library and finished it in one sitting.
A collection of short fictional stories that share a common theme and events, this book is a fascinating look at life on a military base during a time of war. Each story is really about the women left behind to continue their lives yet is pivotally dependent on the men that leave them.
This book is poignant and painful, more about brokenness than reunion. While uniquely military, the stories contain the same elements of love, pain, betrayal, and hope that mark all human relationships. Definitely a good read.
I quickly settled in and hated to leave it behind when my time was up. I had read so intently that I hadn't even noticed the man sitting across from me had left while I had been sipping my toffeenut latte and reading, something that rarely happens when I read in a place with distractions. I found it at the library and finished it in one sitting.
A collection of short fictional stories that share a common theme and events, this book is a fascinating look at life on a military base during a time of war. Each story is really about the women left behind to continue their lives yet is pivotally dependent on the men that leave them.
This book is poignant and painful, more about brokenness than reunion. While uniquely military, the stories contain the same elements of love, pain, betrayal, and hope that mark all human relationships. Definitely a good read.
Thursday, May 19, 2011
The Thirteenth Tale
Don't pick this book up unless you want to give up extrarraneous activities and sit and read for hours. It will draw you in and keep you turning pages until you get to the end and feel disappointed that it is over.
A bit of a ghost story (which I don't normally like) and a mystery quite unlike those typically in that genre, it tells the story of a strange place called Angelfield, a set of twins, a biographer dealing with her own grief and a story that once it is told, changes everything you believe at the beginning of the book.
Pick it up and read it but don't expect to get much done until you turn the 408th page.
A bit of a ghost story (which I don't normally like) and a mystery quite unlike those typically in that genre, it tells the story of a strange place called Angelfield, a set of twins, a biographer dealing with her own grief and a story that once it is told, changes everything you believe at the beginning of the book.
Pick it up and read it but don't expect to get much done until you turn the 408th page.
Sunday, May 15, 2011
The Pioneer Woman: Black Heels to Tractor Wheels
I was excited when my friend Jessi gave me this book. I got hooked on the online version of the famous Pioneer Woman's love story but I never got around to finishing it. I love the Pioneer Woman - her cookbook is phenomenal and her blog is one of the best out there.
The book did not disappoint. I stayed up late to read it several nights. The book is light, easy reading. It is full of witty remarks and hilarious stories. I found myself wiping tears away a few times from laughing so hard.
If you want a fluffy love story that is actually true and contains hilarity along with some serious moments, put this one in your stack. You won't be sorry!
The book did not disappoint. I stayed up late to read it several nights. The book is light, easy reading. It is full of witty remarks and hilarious stories. I found myself wiping tears away a few times from laughing so hard.
If you want a fluffy love story that is actually true and contains hilarity along with some serious moments, put this one in your stack. You won't be sorry!
Thursday, March 31, 2011
Book Club Review: The Weird Sisters
I loved so much about this book. I loved that the characters always had their nose in a book. I loved that it was told from the first person using "we" instead of "I". I loved the father who would always quote Shakespeare and leave his family to search out the meaning. I loved the stories of sisters. And, I loved how real and flawed the characters were.
Bean flees for home after a disastrous stint in New York where she stole money from her employer to buy clothes. Cordy, the baby, flees for home after she finds out she is having a baby. And, steadfast Rose, is home thinking she is the glue that holds it all together.
I enjoyed reading about how they navigated each other and plodded their way through their messes. Eventually they each let go of their expectations of how things were "supposed" to be.
Sunday, March 13, 2011
The Girl Who Chased The Moon
Another one of Sarah Addison Allen's books. They are like candy and I can't get enough. She also wrote Garden Spells and The Sugar Queen.
This is by far my favorite of her books. All of them have been fun to read and all have been read in one sitting. I love the magical elements, the food, and the mystery.
After her mother dies, Emily moves to a small North Carolina barbeque town to live with her grandfather whom she has never met. She soon learns that her mother left after something horrible happened and now Emily has to live down her mother's reputation.
There is a little bit of romance. A lot of cake baking (recipes included at the end of the book). Mysterious lights and wallpaper that changes on a whim.
I would recommend this book when you are in need of something light and fun.
This is by far my favorite of her books. All of them have been fun to read and all have been read in one sitting. I love the magical elements, the food, and the mystery.
After her mother dies, Emily moves to a small North Carolina barbeque town to live with her grandfather whom she has never met. She soon learns that her mother left after something horrible happened and now Emily has to live down her mother's reputation.
There is a little bit of romance. A lot of cake baking (recipes included at the end of the book). Mysterious lights and wallpaper that changes on a whim.
I would recommend this book when you are in need of something light and fun.
Thursday, February 24, 2011
Amos
On a wonderful, nonexciting date with my husband, we ended up at Barnes and Noble as we almost always do. There was a display table with Montana authors. Intrigued by this book, and vaguely remembering reading another book by West, Blind Your Ponies, I grabbed it.
I was hooked from the first sentence: "He was an old man, clinging fiercely to the tattered garment that had once been his dignity."
I could barely put this book down. I even stayed up until one last night, which I rarely do these days. The writing was exquisite, the story painful, the characters full of life despite the fact that they are all living in a county home for the elderly.
Amos finds himself choosing between heroism and comfort, choosing to live out the rest of his days or find solace in sleeping away his life. Love, danger, pain, intrigue, daring and courage fill his golden days. Some would find this a depressing book, but I loved every minute of it. In fact, I've got four more books by West sitting on my end table, snatched from the library this very week.
I was hooked from the first sentence: "He was an old man, clinging fiercely to the tattered garment that had once been his dignity."
I could barely put this book down. I even stayed up until one last night, which I rarely do these days. The writing was exquisite, the story painful, the characters full of life despite the fact that they are all living in a county home for the elderly.
Amos finds himself choosing between heroism and comfort, choosing to live out the rest of his days or find solace in sleeping away his life. Love, danger, pain, intrigue, daring and courage fill his golden days. Some would find this a depressing book, but I loved every minute of it. In fact, I've got four more books by West sitting on my end table, snatched from the library this very week.
The Help
Everyone who recommended this book to me said they couldn't put it down. That they would stay up all night to read it.
That's a good recommendation. So, when I finally picked up the book, I couldn't put it down either. It was very well paced and suspenseful enough to keep me turning the pages.
The book takes place during the tumultuous 1960's in Jackson, Mississippi. We follow three characters. Two are "the help". And one is slowly becoming aware of the injustice that surrounds her.
I'll pass along the same recommendation: read it now!
That's a good recommendation. So, when I finally picked up the book, I couldn't put it down either. It was very well paced and suspenseful enough to keep me turning the pages.
The book takes place during the tumultuous 1960's in Jackson, Mississippi. We follow three characters. Two are "the help". And one is slowly becoming aware of the injustice that surrounds her.
I'll pass along the same recommendation: read it now!
Sunday, February 20, 2011
Five Quarters of the Orange
This was a used book that I recently got at Hastings. My reasons for picking up particular books are pretty silly. But, I picked up this one because it was by the same author as Chocolat. I never read that book but I loved the movie. And, I love books about food. Such as Like Water For Chocolate.
Fiver Quarters of the Orange follows an older woman as she returns to the small village where she grew up but fled due to a scandal during World War II. The book goes back and forth between the present and the summer during WWII where her life was forever changed.
Her father was killed in the war. She and her sister and brother were then raised by her mother. The mother was afflicted with terrible migraines and when one would come on she would smell oranges. Then she would lock herself in her room, leaving her kids to their own devices. Framboise, the main character and youngest child, figures out that if she uses orange peels and a bit of orange juice, she can get her mother to retire to her room for a day. Then she and her siblings are free to do whatever they like.
The kids get into all sorts of trouble as they are "spies" for German soldiers in a nearby town. They trade "information" for comic books, candy, and lipstick. It all goes horribly awry causing the family to flee and Framboise to return decades later pretending she has never been there.
From her mother she inherits a cookbook of sorts. It is filled with recipes and cryptic diary entries. The diary entries have no discernible pattern. They aren't by date. Often don't include names. And are obviously written by a troubled person. Framboise spends her time cooking her mother's recipes and trying to decode the cryptic entries to unravel all that happened to the family so long ago.
Fiver Quarters of the Orange follows an older woman as she returns to the small village where she grew up but fled due to a scandal during World War II. The book goes back and forth between the present and the summer during WWII where her life was forever changed.
Her father was killed in the war. She and her sister and brother were then raised by her mother. The mother was afflicted with terrible migraines and when one would come on she would smell oranges. Then she would lock herself in her room, leaving her kids to their own devices. Framboise, the main character and youngest child, figures out that if she uses orange peels and a bit of orange juice, she can get her mother to retire to her room for a day. Then she and her siblings are free to do whatever they like.
The kids get into all sorts of trouble as they are "spies" for German soldiers in a nearby town. They trade "information" for comic books, candy, and lipstick. It all goes horribly awry causing the family to flee and Framboise to return decades later pretending she has never been there.
From her mother she inherits a cookbook of sorts. It is filled with recipes and cryptic diary entries. The diary entries have no discernible pattern. They aren't by date. Often don't include names. And are obviously written by a troubled person. Framboise spends her time cooking her mother's recipes and trying to decode the cryptic entries to unravel all that happened to the family so long ago.
February Book: Incendiary
JT picked this month's book. I haven't started it yet. However, I did blow right through Little Bee.
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Israel, My Beloved
I just finished this spectacular book, and lost some sleep in the process. Written with attention to detail yet able to span thousands of years of history, it captured my attention and tied many tidbits of history into a comprehensive whole.
The main character Sarah, exists separate of time and represents the Jewish people. We pick up her story in the days of the first destruction of the temple in Jerusalem by the Assyrians and follow her all over the earth throughout the history of the last 2500 years. She experiences the rebuilding of the temple and the destruction yet again by the Babylonians. Again the temple is rebuilt only to be destroyed by the Romans in AD 70, never to be rebuilt.
She experiences the Crusades of the Middle Ages and the horror of Auschwitz. She has friends that walk with her through these difficult times, and loses some dear to her as well. Many of the things I have learned in history classes or sermons or Bible studies were finally brought together in a cohesive way by the story of Sarah. An excellent read.
The main character Sarah, exists separate of time and represents the Jewish people. We pick up her story in the days of the first destruction of the temple in Jerusalem by the Assyrians and follow her all over the earth throughout the history of the last 2500 years. She experiences the rebuilding of the temple and the destruction yet again by the Babylonians. Again the temple is rebuilt only to be destroyed by the Romans in AD 70, never to be rebuilt.
She experiences the Crusades of the Middle Ages and the horror of Auschwitz. She has friends that walk with her through these difficult times, and loses some dear to her as well. Many of the things I have learned in history classes or sermons or Bible studies were finally brought together in a cohesive way by the story of Sarah. An excellent read.
Saturday, January 22, 2011
The Wednesday Sisters
My mother-in-law got me this book for Christmas. I was really impressed that she picked out a book I hadn't read and was interested in reading. About the only one who buys me books is my husband, unless I give specific requests.
The book chronicles the friendship of five women who meet in Palo Alto, California, in 1967. All wives and mothers, they form a writing club and meet weekly at the park while their children play.
Each character has her own story both with her writing and her personal life. From breast cancer to cheating husbands, the gamut is covered. The historical climate plays a lot into the story. I feel like if you were a contemporary to these women, this book would mean so much more. It caused me to contemplate how much has changed since then, particularly for women.
I enjoyed all of it but the end. I felt like it just. Ended. Kinda like that. Obviously that's probably intentional but it still bugged me. I wanted a sounder conclusion. Other than that, I really liked it. Enough to stay up an hour past bedtime three nights in a row.
The book chronicles the friendship of five women who meet in Palo Alto, California, in 1967. All wives and mothers, they form a writing club and meet weekly at the park while their children play.
Each character has her own story both with her writing and her personal life. From breast cancer to cheating husbands, the gamut is covered. The historical climate plays a lot into the story. I feel like if you were a contemporary to these women, this book would mean so much more. It caused me to contemplate how much has changed since then, particularly for women.
I enjoyed all of it but the end. I felt like it just. Ended. Kinda like that. Obviously that's probably intentional but it still bugged me. I wanted a sounder conclusion. Other than that, I really liked it. Enough to stay up an hour past bedtime three nights in a row.
Sunday, January 16, 2011
Let the Great World Spin
This book has been on my reading list for awhile. First off, let me say that I love the artwork on the cover! It is perfect for this book.
McCann does an amazing job of weaving together several separate stories and I love books that do that! At first, each section seems scattered and disjointed but by the end it has been woven into a seamless story.
The writing is beautiful and poignant without being sentimental or overdone. He shifts voices without any trouble at all, making the myriad of different characters authentic and believable.
The story centers around the amazing (true!) story of a man who walked a tightrope between the World Trade Center towers in 1974. That small snippet of truth is turned into a fictional novel. The characters are all tied somehow to this amazing event and not in the traditional ways one might assume. The author keeps you guessing until the end and I enjoyed every minute along the way.
McCann does an amazing job of weaving together several separate stories and I love books that do that! At first, each section seems scattered and disjointed but by the end it has been woven into a seamless story.
The writing is beautiful and poignant without being sentimental or overdone. He shifts voices without any trouble at all, making the myriad of different characters authentic and believable.
The story centers around the amazing (true!) story of a man who walked a tightrope between the World Trade Center towers in 1974. That small snippet of truth is turned into a fictional novel. The characters are all tied somehow to this amazing event and not in the traditional ways one might assume. The author keeps you guessing until the end and I enjoyed every minute along the way.
Tuesday, December 28, 2010
Christmas Stack
We all got books for Christmas this year. I have to say my favorite was the Pioneer Woman cookbook. I have been wanting that ever since I started reading her blog! My husband is a meat-n-potatoes man so he is going to be happy. We've probably read the Train to Timbuctoo and Picture This a few dozen times already. I am not sure why the books are tiled diagonally (and it is driving me nuts) but you get the idea. Hooray for books!
Friday, November 19, 2010
A Slant of Sun
Once again, I accidentally found this book while looking in the library for something else. I am always up for reading a memoir or any kind of book about disabilities and when the two are combined, I can't pass it up. This was a story, written by a mother, about the journey of her son who was given a diagnosis on the autism spectrum.
I have never read a memoir about this subject that was so exquisitely beautiful and vulnerable. I've worked with many parents of kids on the autism spectrum and even worked in their homes and gotten to know them fairly well. But to see into the emotions and particularly the relationship of love between a son and a mother alternately squeezed my heart with joy and grief. And did I mention the writing was exquisite? Like poetry in prose.
I have never read a memoir about this subject that was so exquisitely beautiful and vulnerable. I've worked with many parents of kids on the autism spectrum and even worked in their homes and gotten to know them fairly well. But to see into the emotions and particularly the relationship of love between a son and a mother alternately squeezed my heart with joy and grief. And did I mention the writing was exquisite? Like poetry in prose.
Friday, October 15, 2010
I Am Charlotte Simmons
If you ask me for a book recommendation, the one that first comes to mind is Tom Wolfe's I Am Charlotte Simmons. Of course, anything Tom Wolfe is brilliant. But, at the time I read Charlotte Simmons, I was just past the age of Charlotte, with enough similar experiences and just enough time between those experiences and reading the book that I could put it into perspective.
Charlotte is a brilliant college freshman who has led a sheltered life. She goes to a very prestigious university and is culture shocked and completely let down by it. The cast of characters includes the stereotypical college types: the frat guy, the intellectual (socially awkward) geek, and the star basketball player.
What is simply amazing about this book is that an older guy wrote it. He does an amazing job of capturing college life. He did lots of research on college campuses including Stanford and Michigan. With one little exception, a completely melodramatic boy induced depression, he nails the life of a college girl. Or, a college girl like me.
I certainly was not as smart as Charlotte Simmons, but I was definitely the sheltered girl who went to the big fancy school and got an education. Before I started college I barely knew what brand names were, let alone high end brand names. Gucci for example. Not a lot of need for designer duds when growing up on a ranch. I remember using a month's worth of food money for a pair of Diesel jeans...just like Charlotte.
I've read reviews that pan Wolfe for setting the stage to make a big social commentary on college life, race relations, and sex hierarchies. Or saying that Wolfe trying to "shock" us. Having been there, nothing in the book is that shocking and telling it like it is...well, it is what it is.
This is definitely one of my favorite books. Have you read it? What do you think? If you haven't read it, go get it right now! It reads fast. And, stop by and let me know what you think.
Charlotte is a brilliant college freshman who has led a sheltered life. She goes to a very prestigious university and is culture shocked and completely let down by it. The cast of characters includes the stereotypical college types: the frat guy, the intellectual (socially awkward) geek, and the star basketball player.
What is simply amazing about this book is that an older guy wrote it. He does an amazing job of capturing college life. He did lots of research on college campuses including Stanford and Michigan. With one little exception, a completely melodramatic boy induced depression, he nails the life of a college girl. Or, a college girl like me.
I certainly was not as smart as Charlotte Simmons, but I was definitely the sheltered girl who went to the big fancy school and got an education. Before I started college I barely knew what brand names were, let alone high end brand names. Gucci for example. Not a lot of need for designer duds when growing up on a ranch. I remember using a month's worth of food money for a pair of Diesel jeans...just like Charlotte.
I've read reviews that pan Wolfe for setting the stage to make a big social commentary on college life, race relations, and sex hierarchies. Or saying that Wolfe trying to "shock" us. Having been there, nothing in the book is that shocking and telling it like it is...well, it is what it is.
This is definitely one of my favorite books. Have you read it? What do you think? If you haven't read it, go get it right now! It reads fast. And, stop by and let me know what you think.
Monday, September 27, 2010
Good Read: The King's English
Are you at all like me? Have you dreamed of running and owning a bookstore? Maybe a children's bookstore a la Meg Ryan in "You've Got Mail"...or a used/new bookstore like The Book Exchange? Or like the Tattered Cover in Denver (what a dreamy, dreamy place!)? Or a tiny local place like Aunt Bonnie's in Helena or The Bookstore in Dillon?
I imagine floor to ceiling shelves, stacks of books in every nook and cranny, comfy chairs, and delicious coffee. Or, cause I'm me, yummy wine.
Ah the lure of the independent bookstore. Don't get me wrong. I think Amazon is great because I can always find what I'm looking for. And, I love to wander the aisles of Barnes&Noble, Borders, and Hastings (I know, gasp!). But, I love that feeling of not looking for anything in particular and always finding a treasure. Or, how the people at the local places have actually read the books and can recommend things to you.
Debbie, at the Bookstore in Dillon, always has a recommendation. She knows local authors. And even though I don't live there anymore, she still remembers my tastes and what I have read. Amazon can recommend stuff to me, but it is always a little off.
Enter The King's English by Betsy Burton, "adventures of an independent bookseller." It is part memoir of a woman's struggles and successes running a bookstore before the megastores came on the scene and then the effects when the megastores arrived. It is part literary tribute to all of those wonderful things she read and the authors she met. And, what I find the most glorious about it, is that it is part book list.
A well curated book list from a life of books and reading. Whenever I am stumped on what to read, I reach for this book.
25 Mysteries to Die For. 35 Favorite Poetry Books from TKE's First 25 Years. An Incomplete and Unscientific but Nonetheless Shocking List of Books Challenged or Censored by Bookstores, Libraries, and Schools. 25 Western Fiction Titles Grounded in Place. 25 Books on Reading Books.
You get the drift. Ah-mazing.
I reach for this book for inspiration, for knowledge, for hope, for dreams, for love of books.
Oh, and I have to be honest here. This book also came from my mom. She knows a thing or two about good books.
I imagine floor to ceiling shelves, stacks of books in every nook and cranny, comfy chairs, and delicious coffee. Or, cause I'm me, yummy wine.
Ah the lure of the independent bookstore. Don't get me wrong. I think Amazon is great because I can always find what I'm looking for. And, I love to wander the aisles of Barnes&Noble, Borders, and Hastings (I know, gasp!). But, I love that feeling of not looking for anything in particular and always finding a treasure. Or, how the people at the local places have actually read the books and can recommend things to you.
Debbie, at the Bookstore in Dillon, always has a recommendation. She knows local authors. And even though I don't live there anymore, she still remembers my tastes and what I have read. Amazon can recommend stuff to me, but it is always a little off.
Enter The King's English by Betsy Burton, "adventures of an independent bookseller." It is part memoir of a woman's struggles and successes running a bookstore before the megastores came on the scene and then the effects when the megastores arrived. It is part literary tribute to all of those wonderful things she read and the authors she met. And, what I find the most glorious about it, is that it is part book list.
A well curated book list from a life of books and reading. Whenever I am stumped on what to read, I reach for this book.
25 Mysteries to Die For. 35 Favorite Poetry Books from TKE's First 25 Years. An Incomplete and Unscientific but Nonetheless Shocking List of Books Challenged or Censored by Bookstores, Libraries, and Schools. 25 Western Fiction Titles Grounded in Place. 25 Books on Reading Books.
You get the drift. Ah-mazing.
I reach for this book for inspiration, for knowledge, for hope, for dreams, for love of books.
Oh, and I have to be honest here. This book also came from my mom. She knows a thing or two about good books.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)