Firefly Lane

Firefly Lane
by Kristin Hannah

Hardcover, 496 pages

Published February 5th 2008 

by St. Martin's Press

ISBN

0312364083

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Finished Book: July 24, 2011


About the Book ~
(Good Reads)


From the New York Times bestselling author of On Mystic Lake comes a powerful novel of love, loss, and the magic of friendship. . . .

In the turbulent summer of 1974, Kate Mularkey has accepted her place at the bottom of the eighth-grade social food chain. Then, to her amazement, the “coolest girl in the world” moves in across the street and wants to be her friend. Tully Hart seems to have it all---beauty, brains, ambition. On the surface they are as opposite as two people can be: Kate, doomed to be forever uncool, with a loving family who mortifies her at every turn. Tully, steeped in glamour and mystery, but with a secret that is destroying her. They make a pact to be best friends forever; by summer’s end they’ve become TullyandKate. Inseparable.

So begins Kristin Hannah’s magnificent new novel. Spanning more than three decades and playing out across the ever-changing face of the Pacific Northwest, Firefly Lane is the poignant, powerful story of two women and the friendship that becomes the bulkhead of their lives.

From the beginning, Tully is desperate to prove her worth to the world. Abandoned by her mother at an early age, she longs to be loved unconditionally. In the glittering, big-hair era of the eighties, she looks to men to fill the void in her soul. But in the buttoned-down nineties, it is television news that captivates her. She will follow her own blind ambition to New York and around the globe, finding fame and success . . . and loneliness. 

Kate knows early on that her life will be nothing special. Throughout college, she pretends to be driven by a need for success, but all she really wants is to fall in love and have children and live an ordinary life. In her own quiet way, Kate is as driven as Tully. What she doesn’t know is how being a wife and mother will change her . . . how she’ll lose sight of who she once was, and what she once wanted. And how much she’ll envy her famous best friend. . . .

For thirty years, Tully and Kate buoy each other through life, weathering the storms of friendship---jealousy, anger, hurt, resentment. They think they’ve survived it all until a single act of betrayal tears them apart . . . and puts their courage and friendship to the ultimate test.

Firefly Lane is for anyone who ever drank Boone’s Farm apple wine while listening to Abba or Fleetwood Mac. More than a coming-of-age novel, it’s the story of a generation of women who were both blessed and cursed by choices. It’s about promises and secrets and betrayals. And ultimately, about the one person who really, truly knows you---and knows what has the power to hurt you . . . and heal you. Firefly Lane is a story you’ll never forget . . . one you’ll want to pass on to your best friend.

My thoughts on this book ~

Second book in a row about two friends, two best friends.  However, this one is much more intertwined than the last.  I enjoyed this one more due to the fact that their friendship is weaved into their life.  They meet as young girls and stay friends their entire life.  I find it interesting that two friends can indeed stay best friends there entire life without distancing themselves or making other friends they relate to better at adults.  I certainly cherish my childhood friends, but we are not a part of each other's everyday lives.

I could relate to Vix the entire book.  That I loved.  I could sympathize with how she was feeling, all her insecurities, and hopes.  The author did a good job at keeping you guessing.  I thought I knew what direction the book was headed, then she sent me in a completely different direction.  I loved that.  I also really enjoyed the relationship between Vix and her mom, as well as Tully and Vix's mom.  I really loved her strength and relationship she had with both women.  The book is a reminder of the importance of friendship and love.  Friendship is an amazing thing.  It's not perfect, it's real emotion and from the heart.

Summer Sisters

Summer Sisters
by Judy Blume

Mass Market Paperback, 416 pages

Published July 25th 2006 by Dell (first published 1998)

ISBN 0440243750

My rating: 4 of 5 Stars

Finished Book: July 18, 2011

About the Book
(Goodreads)
In the summer of 1977, Victoria Leonard's world changed forever - when Caitlin Somers chose her as a friend. Dazzling, reckless Caitlin welcomed Vix into the heart of her sprawling, eccentric family, opening doors to a world of unimaginable privilege, sweeping her away to vacations on Martha's Vineyard, a magical, wind-blown island where two friends became summer sisters...

Now, years later, Vix is working in New York City. Caitlin is getting married on the Vineyard. And the early magic of their long, complicated friendship has faded. But Caitlin has begged Vix to come to her wedding, to be her maid of honor. And Vix knows that she will go - for the friend whose casual betrayals she remembers all too well. Because Vix wants to understand what happened during that last shattering summer. And, after all these years, she needs to know why her best friend - her summer sister - still has the power to break her heart..

My Thoughts on This Book


This was a book club selection.  Overall, everyone liked it.  Most of us remember Judy Blume from when we were MUCH younger.  It was interesting reading her as an adult.  Some of us liked it more than others, but overall, I liked it.  It was a good, easy summer read.  I thought the book had good character development, however it lacked a plot for the most part.  It followed the life of two life long friends.  I found myself finding bits and pieces of each friend while relating it to my own childhood friends.  If you are looking for an easy read, this is your book!

Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet

Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet
by Jamie Ford (Goodreads Author)

Kindle Edition, 304 pages

Published January 27th 2009 by Ballantine Books

ASIN B001NLL5AO

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Finished Book: April 7, 2011

About the Book
(Goodreads)
 
In the opening pages of Jamie Ford’s stunning debut novel, Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet, Henry Lee comes upon a crowd gathered outside the Panama Hotel, once the gateway to Seattle’s Japantown. It has been boarded up for decades, but now the new owner has made an incredible discovery: the belongings of Japanese families, left when they were rounded up and sent to internment camps during World War II. As Henry looks on, the owner opens a Japanese parasol.

This simple act takes old Henry Lee back to the 1940s, at the height of the war, when young Henry’s world is a jumble of confusion and excitement, and to his father, who is obsessed with the war in China and having Henry grow up American. While “scholarshipping” at the exclusive Rainier Elementary, where the white kids ignore him, Henry meets Keiko Okabe, a young Japanese American student. Amid the chaos of blackouts, curfews, and FBI raids, Henry and Keiko forge a bond of friendship–and innocent love–that transcends the long-standing prejudices of their Old World ancestors. And after Keiko and her family are swept up in the evacuations to the internment camps, she and Henry are left only with the hope that the war will end, and that their promise to each other will be kept.

Forty years later, Henry Lee is certain that the parasol belonged to Keiko. In the hotel’s dark dusty basement he begins looking for signs of the Okabe family’s belongings and for a long-lost object whose value he cannot begin to measure. Now a widower, Henry is still trying to find his voice–words that might explain the actions of his nationalistic father; words that might bridge the gap between him and his modern, Chinese American son; words that might help him confront the choices he made many years ago.

Set during one of the most conflicted and volatile times in American history, Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet is an extraordinary story of commitment and enduring hope. In Henry and Keiko, Jamie Ford has created an unforgettable duo whose story teaches us of the power of forgiveness and the human heart.

My thoughts on this book

This book had been on my To-Read list for a long time.  And I can proudly say that this was my first Kindle book I purchased.  My favorite genre of books is WWII fiction, so I couldn't wait to read this one.  It gives a different perspective of this time period.  Until a couple of years ago, I had no idea that Japanese internment camps ever existed.  I still question why this wasn't taught in History class??  These camps make me question what our government was thinking to lock up American citizens out of fear of the unknown.


The book has a delicate mix of historical facts and love.  It is a love story between two teenagers, one Japanese and the other Chinese.  It is an unlikely love, but one that endures through many years.  What I liked most about this book was seeing into what life was like for not only the Japanese, but the Chinese during this time.  Many of these people were born in America, but felt like foreigners in their own country.  Where did their devotion lie?  Was it to their ancestral country or here?

Great book!!

Room

Room
by Emma Donoghue (Goodreads Author)

Hardcover, 321 pages

Published September 13th 2010 by Little, Brown and Company

ISBN 0316098337

Finished This Book:  March 20, 2011
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

About This Book 
(Goodreads)

To five-year-old Jack, Room is the entire world. It is where he was born and grew up; it's where he lives with his Ma as they learn and read and eat and sleep and play. At night, his Ma shuts him safely in the wardrobe, where he is meant to be asleep when Old Nick visits.

Room is home to Jack, but to Ma, it is the prison where Old Nick has held her captive for seven years. Through determination, ingenuity, and fierce motherly love, Ma has created a life for Jack. But she knows it's not enough...not for her or for him. She devises a bold escape plan, one that relies on her young son's bravery and a lot of luck. What she does not realize is just how unprepared she is for the plan to actually work.

Told entirely in the language of the energetic, pragmatic five-year-old Jack, ROOM is a celebration of resilience and the limitless bond between parent and child, a brilliantly executed novel about what it means to journey from one world to another.  


My Thoughts on This Book

It took me a while to figure out that this was written from a 5 year old's perspective.   With that, imagine trying to understand a 5 year old telling a story of being locked up in a room with his kidnapped mother.  It is a tragic story and is told extremely well.  I could relate to both the boy and his mom at any point during the story.  There were times when I found myself shaking, I wanted to know what was going to happen next.  This book was riveting and sucked me in from the beginning.  However, about half way through, it slows down for me.  You reach a climax in the book and the remainder is tying up the story of this duo.  Had it not been for that, I would have rated it with 5 stars.

Kane and Abel

Kane and Abel
by Jeffrey Archer

Kindle Edition, 656 pages

Published April 1st 2010 by St. Martin's Paperbacks 

(first published 1979)

ASIN B003JMF4FC

Finished Book: February 18, 2011

My Rating: 4 Stars

About the Book
(Goodreads)

William Lowell Kane and Abel Rosnovski, one the son of a Boston millionaire, the other a penniless polish immigrant-born on the same day near the turn of the century on opposite sides of the world-are brought together by fate and the quest of a dream. Two men - ambitious, powerful, ruthless - are locked in a relentless struggle to build an empire, fueled by their all-consu...moreWilliam Lowell Kane and Abel Rosnovski, one the son of a Boston millionaire, the other a penniless polish immigrant-born on the same day near the turn of the century on opposite sides of the world-are brought together by fate and the quest of a dream. Two men - ambitious, powerful, ruthless - are locked in a relentless struggle to build an empire, fueled by their all-consuming hatred. Over sixty years and three generations, through war, marriage, fortune, and disaster, Kane and Abel battle for the success and triumph that only one man can have...

My Thoughts on This Book


This was a book full of intertwined characters and story lines.  I was mesmerized by the life of both the main characters in the book.  I loved and hated both of them at different times in the book.  It was an amazing story of strength, courage, deception, greed, and a little bit of love in the mix.  I liked that there was a lot of detail about each character, luring the reader in.  What I didn't like about the book was that it seemed like the author ran out of gas in the end.  I felt like the last 100 pages drug on and on.  To top it off, I didn't like how he tied the end together in the end.  I'm not sure how I would have ended the book, but that certainly wasn't it.  Overall, it was a good read.

The Girls from Ames

The Girls from Ames: A Story of Women and Friendship by Jeffrey Zaslow

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

About the Book:
Meet the Ames Girls: eleven childhood friends who formed a special bond growing up in Ames, Iowa.  As young women, they moved to eight different states yet managed to maintain an enduring friendship that would carry them trhough college and careers, marrage, and motherhood, dating and divorce, a child's illness, and the mysterious death of one member of the group.  Capturing their remarkable story, The Girls from Ames  is a testament to the deep bonds of women as they experience life's joys and challenges - and the power of friendship to triumph over heartbreak and unexpected tragedy.

The girls, now in their forties, have a lfetime of memories in common, some evocavative of their generation and some that will resonate with any woman who has ever had a friend.  Photograph by photograph, recollection by recollection, occasionally with tears and often with great laughter, their sweeping and moving story is shared by Jeffey Zaslow, Wall Street Journal columnist, as he attempts to define the matchless bonds of female friendship.  It demonstrates how close female relationships can shape every aspect of women's lives - their sense of themselves, their choice of men, their need for validation, their relationships with their mothers, their dreams for their daughters - and reveals how much friendships thrive, rewarding those who have committed to them.

My Review:
This is the story of Karla, Kelly, Marilyn, Jane, Jenny, Karen, Cathy, Angela, Sally, Diana, and Sheila.  I was so moved by this book.  I haven't read a book in a long time that just consumed me like this one did.  It made me sit and ponder past friendships and relationships that molded who I am.  To some extent, aren't we who we are because of those childhood friendships?  As I read, I kept recalling old stories from my own childhood.  Ones I hadn't thought of in years... 

For the most part, I liked how the book what broken up.  However, there were entire chapters devoted to four of the girls, then the rest were stories and highlights of all the girls.  I would have liked to have seen individual chapters on all the girls.  Yes, I'm nosy.  What about the dirt on the others?  Their stories made me laugh and cry, envy that their relationships are still strong today.

Torn Thread

Torn Thread by Anne Isaacs

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

About the Book: 
It is June 1943, and for four years the Nazi armies have occupied the Polish town of Bedzin.  Twelve-year old Eva, along with her father and her sister, have been forced to leave their comfortable home and move into a tiny attic in the Jewish ghetto.

But for Eva's life takes an even more terrifying turn when she and her sister are torn from their father and imprisoned in a Nazi work camp.  There, Eva is forced to spin thread to make blankets and uniforms for the German army.  As she struggles amid ever-worsening dangers to save her life and that of her sick sister, Eva's world tears apart like the weak threads on her spinning machine...

My Review:
As usual, I am a sucker for anything about the Holocaust and WWII.  I have been intrigued by this time period since I was in high school and college.  I am mostly of German descent, so it intrigues me.  It seems like I was always studying this time period every chance I got.  I was always asking the same question over and over.  WHY?  To be honest, no one ever quite knew or was bold enough to just put it out there.  The following excerpt from the Afterword of the book really hit home for me:

"Under Nazi rule, Germany conquered most of the nations of Eastern Europe, and proceeded to institute a reign of terror and mass extermination of the Jewish people in each country.  The Nazis also imprisoned or murdered members of other ethnic or political groups, including anyone they deemed undersirable to their plan for a "racially pure" Europe."  

So how does one justify in their mind that a race of people considered to be "God's chosen people" could be racially unpure?  I just don't get it and will never get it.  The book captures Eva's journey through the prison camp, trying to care for herself and her sister.  What popped out at me through this short book was the hunger.  They were so hungry and had to work so hard just to survive.  It is a story of love and devotion to family and faith. 

The Purpose Driven Life

The Purpose Driven Life: What on Earth am I Here for? by Rick Warren

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is my third time reading this book.  I read it the first time back in 2004.  We had been trying to conceive and it just wasn't happening.  I was frustrated and confused.  This book helped me to put my life in focus.  Shortly thereafter, I was pregnant.  Coincidence?  It's hard to say.

My husband and I read the book together this time around.  We were facing a "life decision" and needed some clarity.  One of the reasons I enjoy this book so much is because depending on where you are in your life, you can take what you are in need of from the book.  Some of my favorite snipets this time around were:

**If you can't get it all done, it means you're trying to do more than God intended for you to do.
**Worship is a lifestyle of enjoying God, loving him, and giving ourselves to be used for his purposes.
**Anytime you reject any part of yourself, you are rejecting God's wisdom and sovereignty in creating you.
**Surrendered hearts show up best in relationships.
**You are as close to God as you choose to be.
**Humility is not thinking less of yourself; it is thinking of yourself less.  Humility is thinking more of others.  Humble people are so focused on serving others, they don't think of themselves. 
**Life is supposed to be difficult!  It's what enables us to grow.
**We become whatever we are committed to.
**The way you think determines the way you feel, and the way you feel influences the way you act.
**Spiritual growth is the process of replacing lies with truth.
**God is never in a hurry, but he is always on time.
**When you don't have a heart for what you're doing, you are easily discouraged.
**Small tasks often show a big heart.
**Become friends with God.

Even as I read through this list, it gives me hope.  This book lifted me up and gave me a sense of peace in my busy mom life.  This book is encouraging and uplifting.  Even if you don't generally read this type of book, it is easy to read and understand.  If you find that you are missing something in your life and can't quite put your finger on it, give this book a try.  It has certainly given me direction.

The Irresistible Henry House

The Irresistible Henry House by Lisa Grunwald
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

If you looked at this blog, you'd think I fell off the face of the earth.  The problem is reading too many books at one time, and then there is that mothering thing and wife thing.  So little time for my favorite pass time!

This book was selected as our next book club book.  It was a fast read indeed for me.  Many of our book club selections this past year have been fiction based on real life events.  This happens to be one of them.  The book is based on the use of "practice babies" which began at Cornell University back in 1919.  Infants were loaned out to universities to be used as practice babies in practice houses (a.k.a. home economics) to be used to teach young women how to mother.  Can you believe it?  Gives you a whole new outlook on home ec, eh?  A set number of practice mothers would take turns caring for the baby throughout the year.  Believe it or not, this practice continued until 1969.  It draws the question of how this affected these young infants.  Did they grow up to have normal lives or disfunctional ones?

The book is definitely a fictional story, but follows the life of one practice baby, Henry.  Henry comes to the practice house as a young infant and ends up being raised in this environment his entire childhood.  He is loved by so many, yet lives a life desperately seeking love.  The author does a good job at allowing you to feel what he feels.  My heart ached for him.  I could only imagine how he must have felt.  Coming from a divorced family myself, I could relate to many aspects of this book.

What amazes me most about this book is that I had no idea practice houses even existed at one time.  How can this be?  How screwed up was this?  It is no wonder the women's liberty movement took place.  They were groomed to be mothers and nothing else.  It is hard for me to fathom that this was the only choice for women of this time period.  How far we have come!!!

The Wednesday Letters

The Wednesday Letters by Jason F. Wright

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I had seen this book pop up on Goodreads a couple of times, so I Bookmooched it.  It was a delightful book.  Yes, I said delightful.  For the third book in a row, I couldn't put it down.  There isn't a greater feeling when reading.  It was a light read, but full of so much character.  It is a book about love, forgiveness, loyalty, redemption, and life.

The book is about a couple who peacefully die in each other's arms.  Shortly after their death, they find letters from their father written to their mother.  Every Wednesday, since their wedding, he would right his wife a letter.  The letters reveal his love for his wife and his family, yet open the door to a hidden family secret.  I'll leave it at that.  I don't want to spoil it.

For me, the book shows us that yes you can have love, yes you can have moments along the way that a blissful, wonderful.  However, life is never going to be perfect.  Life is hard, life is worth living everyday.  Love your spouse.  Love them for them, they will love you back.  Marriage is made up of many trials, happiness, struggle, and most importantly, love.

The Language of Secrets

The Language of Secrets by Dianne Dixon

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This book landed in my lap.  I was contacted by a Advertising Director of a publishing company.  She had seen was I was reading through GoodReads (my all-time favorite website) and thought I might like this new book.  She mailed it to me.  I read it.  It was great! 

Once I started the book, I had a hard time putting it down.  I wanted to keep reading to find out what happened.  The book is about a young boy who is caught up in a family of secrets and regret and throughout the process, becomes a lost child.  As an adult, he starts looking for answers as to what happened to him as a child, which he has no memory of.  The book if full of many unexpected twists and turns.  It is what keeps you reading.  I wanted to know more, more, more. 

I fell in love with so many of the characters in this book.  I found that as I read, I was trying to put myself in their situation.  What what I have done?  Made me look at the consequences of our decisions and how they not only effect me, but those I love.  Towards the end of the book, it gave me insight as to how parents really feel when their kids are grown and move away.  Do we ever really know what our parents experienced as young parents?  As children, do we really now our mother or father?  And as parents, we try to protect our children and make a good life for them.  Then perhaps you raise your children and be the everything in their life and then all of sudden, you are in the shadow of their own lives.  They've moved on and without you?  Does life really go by that fast that before you know it, it has passed you by?  Looking back, will I regret the wife that I was?  The mother I was?  The daughter I was?

I loved this book.  It is though provoking and intriguing to say the least.  Read it!

The Help

The Help by Kathryn Stockett
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This book was our February book club book.  Oh, how I loved this book. It takes place in the time of Martin Luther King, Jr.  I have read about this period of time, but never from a black maid's perspective. 

The book takes place in the south at a time where white families were cared for by black maids.  Not only did they take care of cooking the meals and cleaning the house, they helped (and mostly) raise their employer's children as well.  It was a time when black people were required to use separate entrances, use a black bathroom, etc.  I was very moved by this book and gave me an entirely new view of how they must have felt living through this and how strong their faith was that things would eventually change.

Great book!!!!!

The Story of Edgar Sawtelle

The Story of Edgar Sawtelle by David Wroblewski

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

If you are looking for a good writer, this is the one!  The writing style of this book is what keeps you coming back.  The setting of the story takes place on an old farm, which makes you fall in love with this story.  Throughout the book, I could picture in my mind what the farm looked like and the sense of peace that existed there. 

The main character is either Edgar, a mute boy, or his dog, Almondine.  The author makes you fall in love with Almondine.  She is loving, faithful, compassionate, and Edgar's protector.  The book is not only about Edgars life, but about a series of events that take place that makes Edgar forced to make heavy decisions about the direction of his life and the safety of his family.

The book is intertwined with story after story.  Loved it!

She's Come Undone

She's Come Undone by Wally Lamb
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is our January book club selection and what a book!  This is actually the second time around for me.  I read this book for the first time when I was in my third year at college.  I remember enjoying it, but thinking the main character, Dolores, was whack!  Reading it the second time, I felt like I really didn't remember the last two sections of the book at all, so it was like reading it for the first time.  And Dolores, well she didn't seem so whack afterall, well kind of!

The book captures the life of Dolores from the time she is around 12 up until she is 40.  Being in my 30's reading the book this time around, I felt like I could better relate to Dolores and all she went through in her life.  Dolores was the product of a divorced family, which many of us are.  However, Dolores sprials out of control and is put into difficult situations in which she isn't equipped to deal with.  To be honest, I don't really care for Dolores from the time she is 17 until she is about 24.  After that point, I get her and I want her to do well.  It's almost as if she becomes a different person.  It is such an empowering time and a time of self discovery.  As young adolescents, we certainly become self absorbed and feel like we can conquer the world, don't we?  I find it amazing that there are times in our life when we feel lost and depleted, then something just clicks and we get our act together and our life takes a completely different path.  This book is about accepting our journey and who we become along the way.  I highly recommend this book.  Great read.

The Stupidest Angel: A Heartwarming Tale of Christmas Terror, Version 2.0

The Stupidest Angel: A Heartwarming Tale of Christmas Terror, Version 2.0 by Christopher Moore

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

In one word: hilarious!!  This was the third Christopher Moore book I have read and it certainly didn't disappoint.  If you love those emotional and sappy Christmas books, this is definitely not for you.  This is the Author's Warning:  "If you're buying this book as a gift for your grandma or a kid, you should be aware tht it contains cusswords as well as tasteful depections of cannibalism and people in their forties having sex.  Don't blame me.  I told you."  Yep, that about sums it up.

The story takes place in sunny Pine Cove, California.  Pine Cove is a small town where everyone knows everyone.  Seems like the town is made up mostly of lunatics.  A little boy witnesses Santa being killed and makes a wish to have Santa alive again so that he can have a good Christmas.  The "stupidest" angel visits Pine Cove in order to grant the boy his wish and it all goes wrong . . . . I enjoyed the many laughs and actually enjoyed the zombies (I think my best friend's love for zombies is wearing off on me).  The book was funny, witty, and crude.  A Christmas story like no other!!