Run by Ann Patchett

Friday, 12 March, 2010

SYNOPSIS (copied from here):

It’s a winter evening in Boston and the temperature has drastically dropped as a blizzard approaches the city. On this fateful night, Bernard Doyle plans to meet his two adopted sons, Tip the older, and more serious and Teddy, the affectionate dreamer, at a Harvard auditorium to hear a speech given by Jesse Jackson. Doyle, an Irish Catholic and former Boston mayor, has done his best to keep his two sons interested in politics, from the day he and his now deceased wife became their parents, through their childhoods, and now in their lives as college students. Though the two boys are African-American, the bonds of the family’s love have never been tested. But as the snow begins to falls, an accident triggers into motion a series of events that will forever change their lives.

This is at its very center, a novel about what truly defines family and the lengths we will go to protect our children. As she did in her bestselling novel Bel Canto, Patchett beautifully weaves together seemingly disparate lives to show how intimately humans can connect. Stunning and powerful, Run is sure to engage any Patchett fan and bring her even more admirers.

The Help by Kathryn Stockett

Wednesday, 3 February, 2010

Synopsis from Barnes & Noble.com

Be prepared to meet three unforgettable women:

Twenty-two-year-old Skeeter has just returned home after graduating from Ole Miss. She may have a degree, but it is 1962, Mississippi, and her mother will not be happy till Skeeter has a ring on her finger. Skeeter would normally find solace with her beloved maid Constantine, the woman who raised her, but Constantine has disappeared and no one will tell Skeeter where she has gone.

Aibileen is a black maid, a wise, regal woman raising her seventeenth white child. Something has shifted inside her after the loss of her own son, who died while his bosses looked the other way. She is devoted to the little girl she looks after, though she knows both their hearts may be broken.

Minny, Aibileen’s best friend, is short, fat, and perhaps the sassiest woman in Mississippi. She can cook like nobody’s business, but she can’t mind her tongue, so she’s lost yet another job. Minny finally finds a position working for someone too new to town…

Bird in Hand by Christina Kline

Wednesday, 6 January, 2010

This is the first book I’ve read from my Barnes & Noble eReader app on my phone.  I wasn’t sure how I would like it, but it actually worked great. I still prefer reading from a book-you know, the “old fashioned” way! But it’s great to have a digital book with you for all those times you’re having to wait with nothing to do. This book is definitely a soap opera….

Synopsis from barnesandnoble.com

Four people, two marriages, one lifelong friendship: everything is about to change

It was an accident. It was dark, it was raining, Alison had only had two drinks. And the other car ran the stop sign. But Alison finds herself trapped under the crushing weight of grief and guilt, feeling increasingly estranged from her husband . . .

Charlie, who has his own burdens. He’s in a job he doesn’t love so that Alison can stay at home with the kids (and why isn’t she more grateful for that?); he has a house in the suburbs and a long commute to and from the city. And the only thing he can focus on these days is his secret, sudden affair with . . .

Claire, Alison’s best friend. Bold where Alison is reserved, vibrant where Alison is cautious, Claire has just had her first novel published, a thinly veiled retelling of her childhood in North Carolina. But even in the whirlwind of publication, Claire can’t stop wondering if she should leave her husband . . .

Ben, an ambitious architect who is brilliant, kind, and meticulous. And who wants nothing more than a baby, or two—exactly the kind of life that Charlie and Alison seem to have. . . .

In each of her novels, Christina Baker Kline has explored how people tell the stories of their lives and what those stories reveal about who they are. As they set out on their individual journeys, Alison, Charlie, Claire, and Ben explore the idea—each in his or her own way—that every moment of loss contains within it the possibility of a new life. Alternating through these four intertwined perspectives,Bird in Hand is a searing novel about friendship,love, marriage, loss, and the choices we make that irrevocably alter everything we believe to be true.

Tell Me Something True by Leila Cobo

Wednesday, 11 November, 2009

Every night when I start to read this book, I only last for a few pages before my medicine kicks in.  I’ve just been so tired since… “YOU KNOW”  (I said I wouldn’t talk about it anymore.)

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Synopsis from Barnes & Noble

Gabriella always loved the picture of her mother kneeling in front of a bed of roses, smiling, beautiful and impossibly happy. But then she learns that her late mother hated gardening; that she had never wanted the house in the Hollywood hills, the successful movie producer husband, and possibly, her only daughter. When Gabriella discovers a journal–a book that begins as a new mother’s letters to her baby girl, but becomes a secret diary–the final entry leaves one question unanswered: the night her mother died, was she returning to Colombia to end an affair, or was she abandoning her family for good?

Perfect Match by Jodi Picoult

Sunday, 18 October, 2009

 

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I picked this book up really cheap at a used book store.  I have loved all of Jodi’s books and I hadn’t read this one, so I bought it. Now that I’ve started reading it, I can’t put it down, just like her other book My Sister’s Keeper.

click here for Chapter 1 of Perfect Match. Once you read this, you’ll be running to Barnes & Noble!

WARNING: The topic and descriptions in this book can be disturbing to some. Even with the graphic nature, I couldn’t put it down. What does that tell you about me??!?