Former Single Mommy

The Road-Cormac McCarthy

A close friend knows my mama-bear, psycho mom, uber passionate about my daughter style and HE (yep it’s a he) suggested I read this.  He said “I think you’ll like it”.  Knowing he had it I deliberately avoided buying it, thinking someday down the road I’d just borrow his.  But last night in TJ Maxx I found a copy for $7.50 in a random spot and I just took it as a sign.  And guess what friends…I.  Love.  It.  I have found quotes by the motherload that I can relate to on a maternal level.  And it is so full of rich imagery.

Still Alice by Lisa Genova

This one made me CRY. Alot.  And for a long time.  This is written with excellent details about Alzheimers by a very educated scientist who decided to try her hand at a fictional account of a disease she has had a close encounter with via a family member.  The result will move you in ways you can’t imagine.  It will continue to provoke your thoughts (and the thought of losing your thoughts) for a long time after you’ve finished the novel. Try it.  And share it.

Because I Love Her -by Andrea N. Richesin

This book is a compilation of essays that is beautiful and moving in more ways than one.  I picked it up because it looked super and then realized my dear blog-friend Rachel Sarah was a contributing author.  You can read the essays individually, or just sit down like I did and polish off most of them.  I knew Rachel had contributed to a recent book, but had zoned out a bit (like I sometimes do and had been reading blogs way too sporadically due to the job I’m so busy disliking.  So glad I found it!  Please do pick up a copy and visit Rachel’s site to let her know your thoughts!  I’m sure she’d love it.

In The Woods- by Tana French

I’m not too far into this book yet, and it was a bit slow to get into, but now that I’m several chapters in, I’m enjoying it more and more.  It’s about a man who is currently a detective in Ireland investigating homicides, and few people know that he is actually a “survivor” of a missing children incident.  He was found under suspicious circumstances with bloody clothing and his fingernails embedded into a tree and he has no idea where his two best friends went.  This man has forgotten anything about what has happened in the woods.  The story picks up with a murder investigation in the same location as the childhood incident he suffered.  He is assigned to the case and how he handles the similarities/coincidences is supposed to be where it’s leading.  He has a partner named Cassie, who is a delightful character and their sibling type relationship is very enjoyable to read.  Apparently NPR recommended this book and it has won a literary award (An Edgar maybe?), but when I looked on Amazon at the comments by other readers I was very disappointed.  It doesn’t look like the mystery gets solved…that could prove frustrating.  I’ll keep you posted.

I’ve read tons of books in the past months, but forgot to log them in.    I’ve read many Jodi Picoult’s including Handle with Care, the newest and the Twilight series.  Now I want to get back into the more intellectual material again.

Right now, I’m still reading “Under the Banner of Heaven” by Jon Krakauer.

This book is about the history of the Mormon faith, especially the Mormon Fundamentalists and how they branched off from the Mormon Latter Day Saints.  Krakauer is a brilliant master of making historical research come alive, while still helping the reader to assimilate basic facts such as time and place.  I knew virtually nothing about this religion before reading this book (which had been on my list to read for some time now, as I really enjoy Krakauer’s style).  I started reading this before the current events unfolded regarding the polygamist sects being uncovered and the children taken into custody by the United States Government.  If you enjoy historical novels and especially if you enjoy true crime stories, check this out.  It has a close resemblance to Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood, also another excellent book.  And Krakauer’s Into the Wild, will move any parent, any son/daughter with wanderlust, and any person with a sense of being trapped in a materialistic society who longs to just “disappear”.

All done! 5/2008- and I loved it!

5/27/2008

This weekend I began, Eat, Pray, Love, by Elizabeth Gilbert.  I never thought I’d like it, as I’m not one for those highly popular books-but Gilbert’s sense of humor is charmingly captivating.  You instantly feel a bond with her…as though you’ve found a new friend.

The author takes a year long sabbatical, with 4 months in each of three places, Italy (eat), India (pray) and Indonesia (love).  I just finished the section on Italy and got a good dose of Italian history, plus a list of places I really want to explore when I get to Italy someday, hopefully soon!  The neatest feature for busy women, is that Gilbert writes bite-sized segments, tiny tales if you will-so if you have only five minutes, you can read one little segment and not lose out on the point of the whole cohesive story.

6/2008

Woman in Red

This was an interesting tale, spanning a couple of generations.  It’s a romance, yet a bit of a mystery all at once.  It was much more of a girl book than I usually read, but I liked it because of the story of how the two main characters underwent such grief and devastating occurences, yet still remained strong and prevailed because of their determination.  The story of how Alice, a mother who lost one of her two sons in a car accident, used her car as a weapon to assume vengeance on the man who murdered her son ties nicely into the life of a quiet former lawyer who lost his wife in 9/11.  Alice arrives back on her home of Gray’s Island after serving her sentence in prison and the lawyer arrives after his grandfather dies, leaving him with his cottage.  How these two meet and bond is as interesting as the connection their grandparents shared long ago. This was excellent light reading for the boat this past weekend.