The Forgotten Garden

This is the best book that I have read in a few months. It is the absolutely fascinating story of Nell, a little girl who is abandoned on a ship headed for Austrailia. During the journey, Nell has an accident and when the four year old arrives at her destination, she has absolutely no memory of who she is.

On her 21st birthday, Nell finds out that she is not who she has always believed herself to be. This story is the quest for her to find out her true identity. Why are the little white suitcase and the book of fairy tales that she had with her so important?

In spite of being under a mountain of homework, I absolutely could not put this one down. It was a fascinating page turner that keeps you guessing throughout the entire story. It is certainly not predictable and would make an excellent beach read. I highly recommend it!

For any of you that read the Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield and enjoyed it, this book is for you!

Julie of the Wolves

To her friends in her Eskimo village, she is Miyax, to her friends in San Francisco, she is Julie.

Miyax is thirteen years old and she is running away. The problem is, Miyax lives in Alaska, she is alone on the Barrows and the weather is beginning to turn. Her father was a great Eskimo hunter who taught her many things, Will his lessons help her to survive?

She will need some help, and that is where a pack of wild wolves comes in. Amaroug, the great leader of the wolves, befriends Julie and she is eventually accepted into the Pack. During her journey, Miyax embraces her heritage, learns about herself, and builds a true friendship with the wolves.

When the time comes for Miyax to choose between the old ways and the new, which one will she chose? Is she Miyax of the Eskimos? Or Julie of the Wolves?

This is a wonderful, wonderful story and my fifth grader reading group comprised of girls and boys all enjoyed it. There are some difficult and adult situations in the book, but the details are obscured so that just enough information is given, but not too much. This book is a reminder that we are all stronger than we think we are. I would highly recommend this book to young adult readers.

The Postmistress

This book starts out so promising. It is set in pre- world war 2 New England and a concurrent story takes place over the pond, in London, during the Blitz. It is essentially the story of three women: Frankie, Emma, and Iris. Frankie is a war radio commentator working for Murrow in war torn London. She is the person who brings the war home for those in American, constantly telling the stories of our allies and reminding us of why America needs to get in the fight.

Iris James is the Postmistress in a small New England town. She knows that war is coming, and tries to keep it from her loved ones for as long as possible. She is the one who will deliver the news about the implications of the war for those left behind.

Emma is a newly married young woman. She faces tragedy when the young doctor that she marries goes off to London to help during the Blitz. She waits everyday for the postmistress to deliver the letters that mean so much.

The lives of these three women become inexplicably woven together in the course of the story. Will the postmistress deliver the mail? What is it that brings a career girl like Frankie Bard to New England? What ultimately will become of Emma?

I enjoyed the first two halves of the story very much, especially as the story followed Frankie's quest for the truth. However, the third part, while it had moments of real brilliance, was a let down, for me, in the end. Did the story mean anything or was it all just a string of words put together on a page? I'm still not sure and maybe that's the problem.

The Witch of Blackbird Pond

When I was a young girl, this was one of my absolute favorite stories. I loved the tale of a young woman struggling to fit it and finding ways to do so seemingly against all the odds. I think that is a story that just about every young girl can relate to. More than that though, The Witch of Blackbird Pond is a story of friendship, loyalty and finally love.

Kit is a strong female character for young women everywhere to look up to and admire. In a literary world crowded with pathetic codependents like Bella Swann from Twilight, our daughters need more examples of young women that the can admire. Kit does not need a man to establish her sense of self, unlike Bella Swann, but rather develops her own strength of character. I admire Kit because she is struggling through so much difficulty - the death of a loved one, the move to a strange new place, the intolerance of those around her - and yet, somehow she always chooses to do the right thing and further, encourages others around her to do the same.

This book has stood the test of time. It has been popular since I was a child and it still speaks to young girls today just as it did back then. I highly recommend it, especially for girls of an impressionable age looking to read a wonderful book about friendship and love and needing young lady role models that they can truly admire.

The Greatest Magazine - EVER.

Usually I am not a person who reads magazines. I find them frivilous and bad for the environment to boot, but recently a friend turned me on to a magazine that is simply a MUST for book lovers everywhere. It's called Bookmarks and it is just amazing. They do book reviews, cultural articles, history, bookclub reviews and so much more.

Every book that you have ever considered reading has probably been reviewed in this magazine. It is a collection of articles specifically for book lovers. I love my subscription so much that I back ordered many of their catalogs. I know I will wait with baited breath every two months and when my bookmarks finally comes, I will be like a kid on Christmas morning. If you love good books, do yourself a favor... visit Bookmarks Magazine and check it out. You will be glad that you did.

The Mighty Queens of Freeville

This was our book club selection for the month of May. We wanted to do something with a mother -daughter theme. This is the true story of Amy Dickinson and her daughter, Emily. Amy Dickinson is the advice columnist who eventually replaced Ann Landers.

This is a quirky, funny and sometimes sad look at their life from the perspective of some years. I found the relationships between mother and daughter, but also between the two of them and the women of their extended family to be very uplifting. These relationships were uplifting, humorous, supportive, and loving - everything that women should be for one another.

Her opinion of men was slightly flawed by the relationships in her own life. Although in the end, she has a healthy perspective on the traumas and occasionally the disappointments of her own life. I like her ideas on "failing up" - bad things happen to open us up for something better. That is something that I have experienced for my own self and honestly, I think everyone probably has.

I was glad that we chose this for our bookclub and I enjoyed reading it.

The Nazi Officers Wife

This book was the true story of Edith Hahn. Edith was a "U-boat" in Nazi Berlin during the worst years of the war. A "U-boat" in this sense is a person of Jewish descent who was posing as a person of Aryan descent.
Edith, calling herself Grete, survives a work camp only to find upon her return to Vienna, that most of her family and friends have been lost. She finds help and assumes another identity, going to work for the Red Cross in Berlin.
She meets and falls in love with Werner Vetter, a Nazi officer. This book is Edith's story of survival. It's amazing and compelling. If you read any history at all, this book is a must.