#32: Dandelion Summer by Lisa Wingate

Dandelion Summer was another book I picked up during a leisurely shopping trip to Barnes and Noble with my girls and a good friend.  It sounded interesting, was a bargain table book, and the price was too good to pass up for a book that sounded promising.  And, one of my favorite authors (Kristin Hannah) gave a favorable comment on the back cover, so Dandelion Summer came home with me. 

What a great choice!  This story has the most unusual storyline with the most unlikely characters, it's hard not to love it and to remember every detail of the plot.  J. Norm  (a retired space engineer who recently lost his wife and needs a bit of help around his house) and Ephiphany (a high school girl from the wrong side of life) are thrown together in Dandelion Summer when J. Norm's daughter, Deborah, hires Epie to cook for J. Norm a couple times a week.  They not only become friends, but they learn from each other, grow because of each other, and end up helping each other discover their families.  In J. Norm's case, his real family.  There is a bit of a mystery in the plot, as well, which helps to keep the story moving forward, and this mystery is created in such a way that it's hard not to be sucked in and to back J. Norm and Epie as they make bad choices (like Epie driving without a license) in order to find out the truth behind J. Norm's dreams and memories. 

The story is told in my favorite way--the first chapter is told by J. Norm, the second by Epie, and they alternate through the end of the book.  I love this technique as you get the first person perspective from both characters as well as being able to get to know each character more deeply.  It's hard not to love each character, too.  J. Norm is exactly as you'd expect: retired, extremely intelligent, wealthy, set in his ways, and doesn't want anyone to bother him. He is busy trying to figure out the meaning behind some random dreams and memories and can't be bothered to eat, or to remember that he can't walk up and down the stairs.  Epie is a smart, bi-racial high school girl who just wants to still be at her old school where people believed in her and where she actually had some friends.  She finds a friend in J. Norm, and he in her.  It's an unlikely friendship, but it works.  By the end of the book, their friendship has developed into more of a familial relationship and it's so touching, I dare you not to need some tissues!  There are other characters in the book besides these two, and you get to know them through the eyes of Epie and J. Norm, but these two are definitely my favorites!

As I read, I found myself thinking that Rob, my amazing husband, was going to turn out like J. Norm.  I don't know if he will ever have to live without me, but if he should, I imagine that he will take to someone fussing over him about as well as J. Norm.  Rob doesn't like to have to ask for help, he wants to do things his way, and if he ever gets to a point in his life where he can't climb stairs because of a heart condition, he might as well just not be alive at all.  It will devastate him not to be independent.  I can see him hoping to find his own version of Epie, someone who will stand guard and will signal him when one of our girls comes by to check on him, so that he's in his chair with no signs of not following directions anywhere near.  But, I also thought of Rob as J. Norm's chapters progressed and I got to know him and understand him better.  Rob is the father of two girls, and while he is an amazing father, he is also the primary provider for our family.  (I know that I work, but it's hard to support a family of 4 on a teacher's salary) Because of his work, he is away from home often.  He travels, works weekends, and most days isn't home until around 6:00.  As a result, homework is done before he gets home, the stories of the day have been told, and the girls are winding down, or are not even home because of sports and other school commitments.  I think Rob often feels as though he wishes he could be more to the girls than a taxi/ATM.  J. Norm felt the same way and these feelings of his come through in his chapters.  J. Norm ends up writing a letter to his daugther that appears a little past the middle of the story that brought me to tears.  The letter makes it clear that J. Norm is a very sensitive man, who wishes he could've been more to his daughter.  In this letter he gives her advice from the point of view of a father.  I was touched by the wisdom of the letter, but also by how much of it my own husband actually does.  It makes me realize that he is teaching our girls some valuable lessons about their value and place in this world and I am so very grateful for this.  Mothers are necessary, but fathers can teach girls so much that mothers never could.    I am so blessed to be married to such a wonderful man who has so many great things to teach my girls.   I won't ruin the ending of the book, because it is just a fabulous way to end this moving story, but J. Norm shows more of his kind and giving spirit to Epie at the end of the book.  Again, I thought of Rob, someone who isn't afraid to share his wealth and knowledge with those who need it, and imagined that if given the chance, he would do for someone exactly as J. Norm did for Epie. In fact, I know he would.

I treasure Dandelion Summer and am again reminded that some of the best books can be found not on the main shelf front and center, but at little lower and to the left.  Don't assume that because books are on the bargain table that they are cast offs that are no good and not worth your time. 

My next real book has come again from the sale table at BN.  It's another book about South Carolina.  I enjoyed CeeCee so much that I can't wait to get back to SC in my mind and meet some more interesting characters. 

Happy reading, everyone!
:)  Dodie

#31: Saving CeeCee Honeycutt by Beth Hoffman

I went shopping several weeks ago with a good friend and ended up buying 5 books that day.  Two were from the clearance table at Barnes and Noble.  Saving CeeCee Honeycutt was one of them.  The other (Dandelion Summer) I am reading now and am loving as much as I loved CeeCee.  I guess it goes to show that sometimes you can find real treasures for very little money in the bargain bin!  It also proves that some of the best books are NOT the ones that everyone is currently reading and that we should all take a chance on authors whose names we might not recognize immediately.

Saving CeeCee Honeycutt is a glorious book that I hope everyone will read.  It's truly a feel good book that will have you laughing out loud, smiling as you turn the pages, and wanting to be a better person.  The characters are created in such as way that you wish you were their neighbors.  For those of you who loved the characters in The Help, but may not have liked the racial issues that dominated the book because it was often heavy, Saving CeeCee Honeycutt is the book for you! 

CeeCee is a twelve year old girl who suddenly finds herself leaving her home and moving to Savannah, Georgia.  The book details one year in her life and is truly an inspirational book in so many ways.  I did notice, it was hard not to, that there are only 2 men in the entire book, and they are not created in a favorable light.  This book is clearly about the complicated relationships that exist amongst women, but these relationships are explored in a such a fun, playful way that it's hard to not admit that, as a woman, you just might be guilty of some of the crazy behavior, too! 

I almost wish that I had saved this book for my trip to the beach in two weeks, because it is the sort of book that you could easily read and completely enjoy while you sunbathed on the beach.  But, I just got an email a couple of days ago that Emily Giffin (who wrote Something Borrowed, Something Blue, and Babyproof, just to name three) has a new book coming out just a few days before we leave for the beach.  I can't wait to sit back in my beach chair and read that one, so I am glad CeeCee is done and hopefully Dandelion Summer will be finished by then, too.  Besides, I still have those other 4 books that I bought with my friend to read!  I'm sure they will all end up in my beach bag! 

Happy reading, everyone!
:) Dodie

P.S. Saving CeeCee Honeycutt will be on my top 10 list this year.  I truly loved it and know that you will, too.  I dare you not to laugh out loud and for those of you who read it...enjoy the flying slugs and the little fight at the end!  Hysterical!