A Dog's Purpose

This story follows a dog through several lifetimes.  Each life leaves the dog with bits of wisdom that he will use in the next lifetime. Each time he comes back into the world, he feels that he has not yet fulfilled his purpose. But he is getting increasingly depressed as he leaves people he loves.   I will not go into detail because there is a lot that happens in this book, but I will tell you that I cried like a baby. I mean, sitting on the couch absolutely sobbing.  Now, that doesn't necessarily mean that the book ends badly... This just made me look at my dog a bit differently. Like, what is he thinking? Is he having a good life? If he died and came back, would he remember me and think fondly of our time together?

Any dog owner (or animal-lover for that matter) will be able to relate to this book and will probably want to go give their pet a big hug after reading this touching story.

While I highly recommend this book, you've been warned! Come armed with a box of tissues:)

Sister of My Heart

This book is set in India and is told in alternating chapters by two girls, Anju and her cousin Sudha.  Anju is the daughter of an upper-class Calcutta family who has fallen on tough times.  Both Anju's and Sudha's fathers died while on an ill-fated adventure weeks before the girls' births.  Anju and Sudha are inseparable. Their bond is unbreakable. However, when Sudha learns the truth about her family's past, she questions this bond.  As a family illness develops, the young girls are pressured into marrying young.  They both find what they think to be love, but one will sacrifice her love in order to let her cousin have her own happiness.

As the girls grow up and distance is put between them, they realize that they can always count on one another when they are in need.

A good story with several unexpected twists!

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

My friend lent me this book and I'm glad she did! This is the story of an African American woman born in the early 1900s to a poor southern farming family. Henrietta Lacks developed cervical cancer and was treated at Johns Hopkins Hospital, which was segregated at the time.  When doctors took a sample of her tumor and sent it off to the lab, Henrietta hadn't a clue.  This was before informed consent and such.  Henrietta's cells were the first to be successfully cultured in a lab. They multiplied ferociously and ended up being integral in the development of many important drugs, treatments and vaccines that helped millions and millions of people around the world.  Meanwhile, Henrietta dies at 30 leaving behind her husband and young children, none of which know anything about Henrietta's cells and what they've contributed to medical research and development.

While this is nonfiction, it reads very much like fiction.  This is the story of the author's journey to write Henrietta's story, which has never really been the focus before.  Most in the medical field have heard of HeLa cells and their contribution to their field, but very few knew where those cells came from; Henrietta Lacks. 

I highly recommend this book. While it is very informative, it is extremely interesting to know how a lot of our current medical practices came to be (albeit some were rather controversial and questionable).

Book Club Read: One Day

This month's book for book club is One Day.  I had never heard of it, but I thoroughly enjoyed it.  The story visits the two main characters, Emma Morely and Dexter Mayhew on the same day each year over 20 years.  Everything begins in the 1980s as both are graduating from college and are getting ready to embark of their new lives.  Emma is a bookish, shy girl who wants to change the world, while Dexter is a handsome, cocky playboy who is getting ready to travel on his parents' money for the next year or so.  They decide to be friends, despite the sexual tension and the reader gets to see how their friendship develops over time with all their ups and downs, successes and epic failures. 

Very cute book. Since this takes place mostly in and around London, there is that certain British humor that I love. All the one-liners and quippy dialogue to keep things interesting!

Room

I actually listened to this book because I was being stingy and didn't want to buy it and the library only had an audio book available. No ebook...  I've never listened to a book on tape... and I discovered that I'm really not a fan of audio books.  I got distracted or fall asleep, waking up chapters later and had to try and find the exact point where I dozed off. HOWEVER, I did manage to make it through the book and it was good.  I think I would have liked it even better if I was actually reading and not listening to it.

This is a story about a young woman and her young son who are being held captive in a small one room 'apartment'. The story is told by the young son, Jack and his mother.  Jack's voice in the beginning is simplistic and was a bit irritating (especially since I was listening to some actor's version of his voice). But once the mom joined in the story-telling, it was much better.  Anyways, Jack describes the world as he knows it, which centers around their daily schedule of games, TV watching and the nightly routine of Jack hiding in the wardrobe until "Old Nick" (their captor and Jack's father) leaves for the night.  It was interesting to see how a 5 year old perceives the world around him and how his mother tried to explain things that didn't make any sense to Jack.  Eventually, the mom makes some bold decisions and Jack must be exceptionally brave as they plot their escape to rejoin a world Jack doesn't believe exists and cannot even begin to comprehend what awaits him on the other side of "Door".

Like I said, this was a great book and I would have liked it even more if I was actually reading it and not listening to it. 

The Apothecary's Daughter

This was one of the books I hadn't heard of, but purchased on my Nook because it was on sale or free... When you read as much as I do, you read just about anything that is free since you don't want to spend a fortune on books.  I still frequent the library, especially since they lend ebooks too, but when I need a book instantly, I'll check out what Barnes and Noble has for free.

This was actually a cute book. Nothing earth-shattering in terms on literary genius or anything, but it was a thoroughly enjoyable story.

Set in rural England in the time where medicine was an even more inexact science and apothecaries were frequented for remedies and tonics, Lilly Haswell longs for more than being the apothecary's daughter.  While she excels in the field, she is not respected due to the fact that she is a woman.  She longs to travel the world as she believes her mother is doing. Her mother mysteriously left the family a few years prior, and she still holds onto hope that she may return. 

The story takes some unexpected turns, but Lilly ends up discovering she had everything she always wanted, she just didn't realize it yet.

Book Club Read: Warriors Don't Cry

Warriors Don't Cry

by Melba Pattillo Beals

This is the story told by one of the Little Rock Nine who fought to integrate Arkansas' Central High School in the 1950s.  Based on newspaper clippings, Melba's diary and her memory, this book recounts the horrors that the nine teens faced on a daily basis just to get their education.

Some of things that were said and done to these kids will make your stomach turn.  All the while, I couldn't help wondering what kind of person I would have been had I grown up during that time and in the South...  Would I have had compassion for these kids as I do now? Or would I have had the same deep-rooted hatred that brewed in these southern segregationists... Would I have been able to stand up to the abuse? And then as a teacher- would I have let these kids be verbally and physically abused IN my classroom; in front of my eyes?  School is supposed to be a safe place...

I have a lot of respect for these men and women who put their lives in danger to stand up for what they deserved.  I wish my students now (who often take education for granted) could understand what these teens went through to get their education.  They endured so much more than I can imagine and I'm glad we've come a long way since.

Book Club Read: Heaven is For Real

Heaven is for Real: A Little Boy's Astounding Story of His Trip to Heaven and Back

 by Todd Burpo

I was invited to join a book club last week and this was the book that we were supposed to read.  I was hesitant at first because I generally don't read religious books and this book is written by a small-town pastor who claims that his 4 year old son tells stories of his visit to heaven during a near-death brush with a burst appendix. 

Of course, there are many skeptics out there. People wondering if the parents are exploiting their son and making up this tale. And as I read through this quick read, I found myself wanting to believe.  Some of the 'evidence' did seem to be convincing.  The boy's unwavering belief that he did in fact visit heaven and meet Jesus, his deceased grandfather and miscarried sister made it seem like there was no other way for him to know these things other than that his story is true.

Do I know that this is true? No... But do I want to believe it? Absolutely.  And even if you don't accept this story as true, it is a feel-good story that makes the idea of death a little less scary.



The Hunger Games

The Hunger Games Trilogy was a great, fast read. Although this is marketed towards Young Adult readers, I found this an intriguing story that was well-written.  The story takes place in a land called Panem, once known as North America. It now consists of a central Capitol that houses the government and the upper-class and the outlying Districts 2-12. There used to be a District 13, but that was destroyed during the rebellion as a reminder to the other districts of the Capitol’s power.  Each year, the harsh Capitol forces its people to participate in the Hunger Games. One girl and one boy from each districts is chosen by lottery to be sent to the Capitol to participate in a gruesome competition. This competition is to the death. Only one makes it out alive to reap the benefits of being a champion. The champion lives on in comfort and his or her district is given extra food for the year.

Katniss Everdeen from District 12 must support her depressed mother and younger sister after her father’s death in the coal mines.  She learns to hunt illegally and sell her finds on the Black Market. When her little sister’s name is pulled for the Hunger Games, Katniss willingly takes her place. We then follow Katniss through the Hunger Games as she makes an unlikely alliance with her District-mate, Peeta. 

Just when you think everything is resolved and the Hunger Games are over, the 2^nd and 3^rd books continue to keep your interest and the tension between the Districts and the Capitol builds, and secrets start unraveling.

The Hunger Games on Amazon.com

Those Who Save Us

This is a story that alternates between the present-day Trudy, a history professor collecting first-hand accounts of Germans living during the Holocaust, and the story of her German mother living during the Holocaust. Trudy's mother Anna grows up during the beginnings of the Holocaust and falls in love with a Jewish doctor, which is forbidden, of course.  She becomes pregnant with the doctor's child just as he is taken to the camps. She must hide the true identity of Trudy's father as she runs away from home to work in a local bakery.  She strikes up a friendship with the baker and they join the resistance efforts. Anna and Trudy's survival eventually land in the hands of a high-ranking German official. Without giving too much away, Anna ends up in America married to an American soldier and she refuses to disclose how she survived all those years during the war.  It is through Trudy's research that we finally begin to see what Anna had to endure to save herself and her young child in war-torn Germany.

Loved this...

Outlander Series

I stumbled upon this book when I was trying to stuff my Nook with ebooks before heading off to jury duty... and now I'm hooked.

This 600 pager chronicles the perilous journey back in time by the main character, Claire.  The happily-married Claire finds herself separated from her husband, life and time period. She encounters the rustic Scottish descendants of her husband's family and she struggles to survive in the world in which she doesn't belong. This develops into a wonderful (although intense and often barbaric) love story- I found myself drawn into the emotional bond between the two main characters (similar to how I felt while reading the Twilight series...)

Lucky for me, this book is the first in a series of 7! Possibly an 8th sometime in 2012?! 

**UPDATE: I've finished book # 2 (Dragonfly in Amber), book #3 (Voyager), book #4 (Drums of Autumn)  and am now starting book #5 ( The Fiery Cross).  I guess you can say I'm hooked. Even though these books are loooong, there's rarely a dull moment! Looooove!

**5/04/11: I will say that I've slowed down tremendously with book 5... There are more slow spots and I find myself doing a bit more skimming.  I do still enjoy the story that is being told, perhaps I could do without some of the detail? I'll get back to you when I'm on to book 6.
Outlander on Amazon.com