Looking forward to September

Big news on the new release front - two good authors have books coming out in September. I realize it's still four months away but that's OK, it's still nice to have something to look forward to!

An Echo in the Bone by Diana Gabaldon: This will be book 7 in her Outlander series and should be setting up the next, and final, book. This book takes place in 1777 and while Jamie and Claire know that the Americans will win the Revolutionary War, they don't know what the cost to their family will be. And knowing the outcome doesn't guarantee survival.

The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown: This is the eagerly anticipated follow up novel to The DaVinci Code and Angels and Demons. Robert Langdon is back again and apparently the entire course of this novel takes place in 12 hours. No other details are available yet but I am sure that will change as we get close to September. 

Handle with Care by Jodi Picoult

I really, really like Jodi Picoult as an author; it probably stems from the frist book of hers I ever read, My Sister’s Keeper, but every novel of hers is so well researched and well written that I can’t help but be drawn in. Handle with Care is no different – it is the story of Willow O’Keefe, a girl born with Osteogenesis Imperfecta, also known as Brittle Bone Disease. When Willow is born she has 7 healing fractures, and breaks 4 more bones just during the process of the C-Section. She can break a bone by turning over in bed wrong, being hugged too hard by her sister, Amelia, or any manner of similar, simple things. And over the course of her life, she will break hundreds of bones. Because her disease keeps her from doing anything remotely physical (despite her desire to ice skate like her sister), she throws herself into books and becomes a walking encyclopedia; her sister even nicknames her Wiki. But the heart of this novel is when Charlotte, Willow’s mother, decides to file a Wrongful Birth suit against her OBGYN, Piper, who incidentally, is also her best friend. A Wrongful Birth suit is exactly what it sounds like – Charlotte is saying that if she had known about Willow’s illness earlier, she would have terminated the pregnancy and Willow would have never been born. How can a mother say that, in court, in front of an extremely bright child, who can understand exactly what you are saying? And is this the truth? That’s one of the things Charlotte wrestles with throughout this novel and I have to give credit to the author here – you really feel for Charlotte. Even as someone who isn’t a parent, I felt her struggles to do what was best for Willow. Because if she won, she would have enough money to care for Willow for the rest of her life, whether Charlotte and Sean are there to take care of her or not. And while money can't buy happiness, it could solve a lot of the problems in this family - it's expensive having a child with Brittle Bone Disease and insurance only covers so much. Sean O’Keefe, Willow’s father, rejects his wife’s lawsuit and the ensuing familial struggle made my heart ache for this family. Willow, who perhaps can understand, but maybe not comprehend why her mother is doing this. Amelia, who has always felt second rate to Willow and finds her own ways to self soothe. And Sean and Charlotte, who love Willow, more than anything, and can’t imagine life without their funny, engaging, bright, wonderful daughter. Definitely a must read – for me, this ranks high on my Jodi list, up there with My Sister’s Keeper and Nineteen Minutes.

Other Favorites

There are several books I've wanted to cover for awhile now and just haven't gotten to it so I thought I'd do a long post and get them all out there. These are all books that I've really enjoyed reading and are always at the top of my list when I am asked to give recommendations.

Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen
At the beginning of this book, we meet Jacob Jankowski, a ninety-something man who lives in a nursing home and hates it. But Jacob has a story - when he was a young man, he literally ran away and joined the circus. Not Ringling Brothers, which was the standard in circuses in depression-era America, but the Benzini Brothers, a poor imitation. The book follows Jacob's life in the Circus, from the brutal to the amazing to the mundane. The animals are abused and underfed and Jacob suddenly finds himself the manager of this menagerie when it is discovered that he has some Veterinary skills. Along with Jacob, we meet some very interesting characters in the Circus from Uncle Al, who bullies people because he can, to August, the paranoid schizophrenic animal trainer, to Marlena, August's wife, whom Jacob falls in love with. It is 0bvious from the onset that Gruen has carefully researched this book; the circus language and lore is all correct and really brings the story to life. The only complaint I have with this book is the end - I felt it was a bit too contrived, although it did fit in with the rest of the story.


The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
This story is told by the two main characters, Henry De Tamble, and his wife Clare, in alternating narratives. Henry is a librarian with "Chrono Displacement" disorder: with no advance warning, he randomly disappears and reappears in either the past or the present, usually to a point in time that is of some importance in his life. When he first meets his wife Clare, she claims she has known him all her life; he, on the other hand, has never seen her before. But then in his 40's, he travels to the past and meets a 6 year old Clare. The author does a great job of describing Clare's feelings of always being the one left behind, as well as Henry's confusion around where and when he'll appear next. It's an unusual premise and while we follow Henry on his jumps through time, we still get a chance to know each of the characters and see how their
relationships develop.

The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold
"My name was Salmon, like the fish; first name, Susie. I was fourteen when I was murdered on December 6, 1973." This is how we first come to meet Susie, the narrator of this novel, while she is adjusting to a life in Heaven, where she can have anything she wants except the only thing she wants - to be alive and back with her loved ones. Throughout the next few years, Susie objectively watches while her friends and family come to terms with her death. She is even able to see her murder-rapist and while she wants him caught, she is also fascinated by him. She
watches Ray, the first and only boy to kiss her, be initially blamed for her murder while still coping with losing his first love. While the first chapter is quite graphic, the rest of the novel is really a story of observation and despite it's rather morbid start, will speak to you in many ways. It's not a story about murder, it's a story about love and forgiveness and living life, even when you don't think you can anymore.

The Memory Keeper's Daughter by Kim Edwards
The pivotal moment in this novel happens at the very beginning, when Dr. David Henry is forced to deliver his twins in the midst of a snowstorm in Lexington, KY. When the doctor sees that his daughter was born with Down Syndrome, he asks the nurse, Caroline Gill to take her away. When his wife, Norah, awakens, he tells her that the other twin died during childbirth. Instead of sending Phoebe, the child, to an institution, Caroline moves to Pittsburgh and raises her as her own. David's deception is the driving force behind this novel and propels the story through the next 25 years; David is eaten away by guilt and Norah cannot stop mourning the child she never knew. While the story can get a bit preachy, the overall tone is one of compassion and acceptance and will be one you will definitely enjoy.

Ken Follett's Masterpieces

A few years ago, my brother was reading a book and when he finished, he handed it to me, stating that I'd love it. We were on vacation and I started reading it immediately and couldn't put it down the rest of the trip. The book was Ken Follett's Pillars of the Earth, first written in 1989; you may not have realized that the book was almost 20 years old since it's had a huge resurgence lately thanks to Oprah's book club. Part of the frenzy was driven by the fact that Follett was about to release a sequel to his popular novel. The original story follows a group of people in Kingsbridge, England and the challenges associated with building a cathedral in medieval England. I decided that in order to follow World Without End, the sequel, I should reread POTE and was honestly a bit apprehensive - would it hold up over time? Would I enjoy it as much this time around? The answer is a resounding YES! And WWE is a worthwhile successor; not a sequel in the traditional sense since it picks up about 200 years after the ends of POTE, but it is still
Kingsbridge, and the characters are the descendants of those we came to know, love, respect and in some instances, hate. While both books are hefty, the story is very engrossing, and you will come to care deeply about these characters.

If you enjoy these two, try also Ildefonso Falcones' Cathedral of the Sea, about a cathedral in Barcelona or John Shors' Beneath a Marble Sky, about building the Taj Mahal.

My Favorite Book

I get asked this question a lot so I thought I'd get it out of the way early - my all time favorite book is Margaret Mitchell's "Gone With The Wind." I first read it when I was in 6th grade and have read it so many times since then, I've lost count. It's one of those books that I can read anytime, and can open the book to anywhere in the story, and just pick it up from there.

The movie, if that's all you know of the GWTW story, doesn't even come close to doing the story justice. The movie Scarlett is shallow, vain and self-centered and while that is true of the book as well, the book does an excellent job of also showcasing her strengths, which I don't think the movie addresses.

I won't rehash the story since most people know it, but I will encourage everyone to go out and read it. Even though it is a hefty book, it is more than worth the time.

Other info: 1,048 pages, hardcover and paperback versions available