Simple Prayers by Michael Golding needs to be unwrapped slowly, savored, tasted, smelled, rolled around on the tongue to catch both the bitter and the sweet. Then again, comparing this novel to a complex confection, a tired cliche, doesn’t do it justice. “Pansies, chrysanthemums, violets, daisies, lilies, lilacs, pinks. Their perfume sent wild ribbons into the air, and their color woke the rabbits. Spring had finally come to Riva di Pignoli. And flowers were just the beginning.” The novel takes place in a small island near Venice in the fourteenth century, a setting that is both dreamlike and throbbing with … Continue reading →

Wow, this book starts off with a hard question and doesn’t really get any easier. As a mother your first instinct is to protect your child from harm. What do you do if you are faced with the decision to save your child, or someone elses? What if the seconds it takes to help another child could mean your childs death? Are you responsible if someone else’s child is harmed while you are saving your own? How do you make these choices? This is what Rose McKenna faces the first day she volunteers as a lunch mom at her daughters … Continue reading →

In a little coffee shop in Kabul, a quiet revolution is taking place. A free-spirited American brings a group of men and women together to change lives, to change stereotypes and to change the future. Yazmina, a new widow is taken as payment for her uncle’s debts. When she is discovered to be pregnant, she is beaten and left for dead. Sunny, an American who owns a successful coffee shop takes her in. There Yazmina must hide the secrecy of her pregnancy from Sunny, Halajan, an older window with a few new ideas, and the others that make up the … Continue reading →

I have to say that despite reading The Hunger Games and Catching Fire (Book 2 of the Hunger Games) I was not looking forward to MockingJay. While the story line and the characterization is intense, the violence was a little hard to take. From the way the series was going, I knew that it would probably only get worse. And it did. There is no ultimate happy ending here. Favorite characters die, and they do so in horrific ways. The faith and the hope that Katniss Everdeen would find her heart and finally get rid of President Snow to stop … Continue reading →

Sometimes life changes in an instant. At least is seems that way to Samantha. One day she was a happily married woman raising her son Travis, and the next her husband wanted a divorce. In the beginning, Samantha is waiting for David to return to her, to realize it was all a mistake and that he loves her still. While she is waiting she goes on shopping sprees at Tiffany’s, and tries to become a different woman, one who serves her son breakfast in the dining room. Her most pressing problem is money, David thinks they should sell the house … Continue reading →

Jodi Picoult is one of my favorite authors and in Lone Wolf, she doesn’t disappoint. Luke Warren is a man obsessed with studying wolves, and when he meets Georgie part of what attracts her to him is his passion and the wildness about him that comes from preferring wild animals to people. This is also what ultimately drives them a part. Although Luke loves his family his desire to understand what it’s like to be a wolf causes friction. His wife doesn’t understand, his son, Edward, also doesn’t understand why his father chooses his wolf family over his human one, … Continue reading →

I first started appreciating the Old Farmer’s Almanac magazine when we moved into our current house. There in a holder in the downstairs half bathroom (which we promptly removed) was a copy of it. While we ditched the bathroom magazine holder, we did keep the magazine (and moved it out of the bathroom). It was amusing and filled with all sorts of strange trivia and information, such as the bit about the chicken that lived for a number of years without its head, or the best time to plant marigolds. I’ve never come close to being an old farmer, having … Continue reading →

Soldiers, spies, businesswomen, lobbyists, those Shakespearean women really knew how to live. Outspoken and daring, all while keeping their heads during a time when women could be flogged for speaking harshly to their husbands, or in the case of King Henry VIII, loose their heads for not producing an heir, the women portrayed in this book are proud, passionate or just trying to make a living. Uppity Women of Shakespearean Times is one of a series of books about groundbreaking women of history that really got lost in the shuffle. You won’t find the famous, at least not today, but … Continue reading →

Poor misunderstood goblins. Humans have no idea that they have individual personalities and tendencies. Well, thanks to Brian Froud, a former piscepodiatrist (a foot doctor who specializes in the treatment of fish) who was trolling East Africa looking for work when he came across a strange earthenware jug, this little know species can come to life. Along with the help of Terry Jones of Monty Pyton fame, whose annotations bring the goblins to life once again, we can learn all that there is to know about these fascinatingly disgusting creatures. As the title suggests, the book is a field guide … Continue reading →