#57: Angels at the Table by Debbie Macomber

I bought this book a couple of years ago for my mother as part of her Christmas gift.  She just adores Macomber's fictional angels, Shirley, Goodness, and Mercy.  I read a book many years ago about these rather mischievous angels and while I thought they were funny, I didn't feel the need to read every book about them as my mother did.  Angels at the Table, however, reminded me of how truly funny and uplifting these angels are and provided me with a sweet story to read on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.

Angels at the Table is really the love story of Aren and Lucie, two souls who are destined by God to come together, but because of three wacky angels and their apprentice, Will, Lucie and Aren meet before they are supposed to, so the order of events is thrown off and their meeting does not go according to God's plan.  The bulk of the novel is about how Shirley, Goodness, and Mercy (and Will) attempt to right their wrongs and put God's plan for Aren and Lucie back on track.

The book reminded me so much of "It's a Wonderful Life" in the sense that we, the readers, actually get to read the conversations between Gabriel and the other angels as they discuss humans and life on Earth and how they are going to try to help answer the prayers of the humans without intervening.  These conversations are interspersed throughout the novel, as needed, and function as a narrator, of sorts, of the story about Aren and Lucie that is happening on Earth.

Macomber did an outstanding job reminding readers of the jobs of angels and God through this cleverly told, inspirational, yet wildly funny at times, Christmas story.  I loved it.  I hope I can find another Angel story to read next Christmas!

Happy reading, everyone!
:) Dodie

#56: Snowflakes on the Sea by Linda Lael Miller

After finishing my last book, I needed a book that was straightforward and clear-cut.  I found one in Miller's Christmastime love story, Snowflakes on the Sea.

It is the story of Mallory and Nathan McKendrick, characters that I have read about before in other books by Miller, during their early years of marriage.  It's not an easy love story, as the couple certainly has their ups and downs during the first few years of their marriage.  But, they tell the story to the readers as a flashback at Christmas time many, many years later.  Retelling their story each Christmas has become a tradition as they wish to always remember how hard they fought for the love they have and how love and marriage isn't easy.

I think this is why this book held such great meaning for me.  As Rob and I are about to celebrate 20 years of marriage, I'd be lying if I said those 20 years were all sunshine, roses, and lollipops.  Marriage is hard work and I am so tired of movies and books painting it out to be so easy.  The thing is, aside from my children, my marriage is the thing I am most proud of in my life, because despite it all, Rob and I don't give up or give in.  We work at it, knowing that no matter what, we want to spend our life together.  And it isn't always an easy thing for either of us to do.  Mallory and Nathan reminded me of this on every page.  It's been a long time since I've read a book that showed the reality of marriage.  It was a good read.  A very good read.

Happy reading everyone!
:) Dodie

#55: The Secret of Magic by Deborah Johnson

When I first read the inside flap of The Secret of Magic, I had high hopes for an outstanding story.  The summary writer did a fantastic job of setting up the background for a historical murder mystery involving Thurgood Marshall set in 1945 post-war Mississippi.  I just wish that the rest of the book had been as good as the summary.

I was glued to the first two chapters and was still quite taken with the book up to around page 75, but then I got confused about which book I was reading.  The Secret of Magic is actually a book within a book and the lawyer, Regina Robichard, who ventures down to Mississippi to help resolve a murder case, uses this novel (The Secret of Magic) that she read back as a child to help her piece together what really happened to John Howard (the black war hero who was killed on his way home after the war was over).  Honestly, it was all a bit too confusing for me.

The characters are typically southern, eccentric and set in their ways, and are very unhappy about a young, black woman (Regina Robichard) who also happens to be a lawyer, coming into their town and digging around for clues to a murder that the white people of the town feel is a closed case.  But it is, ironically, the author of The Secret of Magic, who calls upon Thurgood Marshall for help.  Regina is quite excited about meeting the author of this book that cast such a spell on her as a child.  Imagine her surprise, and the reader's, when things don't turn out to be quite what they seemed at first.

The Secret of Magic was a good, solid story and a good reminder of how lucky we are to not live in a black vs. white society any longer.  I just wish I had been clever enough to keep details straight as I read.  (Perhaps it was because I read this the week before Christmas.  I was lucky to keep up from down a week before Christmas!)  I think a clearer mind might have made the story within a story a bit easier to follow.

Happy reading, everyone!
:) Dodie

#54: Where Wicked Starts by Elizabeth Stuckey-French and Patricia Henley

I read about this book in our local paper about a week ago and ordered it right away.  It was billed as a YA novel that was for both young adults as well as adults and was likened to Harry Potter in that  adults would find the book intriguing and would perhaps get more out of reading it than teenagers.
Truthfully, this book just scared me from start to finish.  And I certainly hope my girls do not behave as these girls did.  If so, we are going to have a serious talk.  And then I am going to lock them in a cage and not let them out!

The basic plot of the book is that two step-sisters, Luna and Nick, think they have stumbled across a young girl being held against her will by an older man and they attempt to secure evidence to support their theory.  The back cover of the book makes this novel seem like a delicious mystery that perhaps helps to explain how wickedness begins in people.  Instead, it was just a week or so in the life of two rather screwed up teenagers and their even more screwed up parents.  While it was a good story about Nick and Luna, I rarely felt the mystery of it all and I still am not sure where wicked starts.

Happy reading, everyone!
-Dodie

#53: Last Light Over Carolina by Mary Alice Monroe

Last Light Over Carolina is a wonderful book.  A wonderful, real story about Carolina and Bud, who have been married for over 30 years.  They haven't always had an easy life.  In fact, most of their life has been a struggle.  But, even when things got hard, really hard for them, they stuck by each other and weathered the storm.

They are now faced with a day like no other--a day that calls back into both of their minds their beginning as a couple, the ups and downs of their marriage, and makes them wonder where life is about to take them.  This day is what we, the readers, get to experience through a series of present day accounts and flashbacks.  It is an amazing story.

Personally, what I liked most about this book is how it paints marriage realistically.  Marriage is not easy and I am getting a bit tired of books that make it out to be a piece of cake--all sunshine and unicorns.  Last Light Over Carolina portrays a long term marriage for what marriage really is--hard work, a series of never-ending compromises, and love like no other.

Thank you, Mary Alice Monroe, for writing a real book about love and marriage.

Happy reading, everyone!
:) Dodie

Top Ten List of Favorite Reads for 2014

While I know that the month has only begun and I still have 4 more weeks to read and to add books to my list, my Top Ten list for the year is already way beyond 10 books, so I am stopping with my annual goal of 52 books and will make my Top Ten list based on what I have read so far.  And, with my annual Christmas Card letter having been mailed today, if anyone is so inclined to check my blog after reading the letter, I'd like to have this list ready for those who want to cut down 52 books to a more manageable one book per month (or thereabouts) list of potential reads. 

So, after much thought, here's this year's list of my Top Ten Favorite Reads for 2014. 

1. The One and Only by Emily Giffin.  By far this is my favorite book of the entire year, perhaps decade.  It's a good reminder of what's really important in life.  This one is a must-read!   It is very much about football, so keep that in mind. 

2. Tender by Mark Childress.  The Elvis fan in me couldn't resist putting this one on the list.  

3.  Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn.  Crazy clever--a brilliant novel.  And scary.  

4. Orange is the New Black by Piper Kerman.  Just a reminder that those orange jumpsuits are one more reason for me to be terrified of prison. 

5. The Art of Fielding by Chad Harbach.  Yet another sports book appears on my list this year.  This book, however, is about a lot more than baseball and yet it was baseball that drew me to this book at first. I love baseball! 

6. Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty.  This book appealed to the mom in me, stuck in the Far West End of Richmond, wanting desperately to fall off the grid and move far away from the drama.  Drama can get you killed.  And be careful...apples don't fall far from trees. 

7. The All-Girl Filling Station's Last Reunion by Fannie Flagg.  A beautiful tribute to the women who kept America going during WW2.  

8.  The Reading Group by Elizabeth Noble.  A book about a book club.  Enough said! 

9. Somerset/Roses by Leila Meacham.  These are two separate books but should be read one after the other in order to get the full story.   Don't be scared by the size of these books.  The stories told within the covers are well worth the weight of the books. 

10.  American Wife by Curtis Sittenfield.  A beautiful story about (Laura Bush?) what really goes on behind the closed doors of political marriages.  

I left off several of my other favorites: Calling Me Home, Walking on Water, and One Plus One.  If the list went to 13, those would be my last three additions. 

I have intentionally left off children's books/young adult novels from my list this year in order to keep my list to 10.  However, this list is NOT to be missed...even by adults: 

1. Wonder by RJ Palacio
2. The Fault in our Stars by John Green
3. If I Stay/Where I Went by  Gayle Forman
4. Drums, Girls, and Dangerous Pie by  Jordan Sonnenblick

So, if you do the math, I really have a list of 19 favorite books this year, which is pretty good considering that I began with 52 possibilities.   For me, narrowing this list down to 10 is like trying to pick your favorite child.  Although for this year, my favorite child is definitely The One and Only.  If you have time to read only one amazing book this year, read that one.  Seriously, you will love it.  I didn't want the story to end.  

Happy reading everyone! 
:) Dodie

#52: Unbroken by Maya Banks

Unbroken is a trilogy by Maya Banks which details the the love stories of three friends--Jake, Luke, and Wes.  These are Texas men, two are ex-pro football players and one is a police officer.  They are not prone to falling in love, yet during this trilogy, all three find themselves falling head over heels for a woman.  And admitting that their lives were never better! :) 

The stories connect from one to the other and all of the characters find themselves woven into each other's stories, which I liked because the stories seem to never end until the very last page, and even them we got an epilogue.  They are very quick stories to read--I read the entire trilogy yesterday while Rob watched football.  I this this would be a perfect book to read on the beach.  Light and easy to follow.  

One word of caution, the second story in the trilogy is a bit steamy.  If you are in any way bothered by explicit adult scenes, you might want to skip this book, or at least skip the second story.  I could feel myself blushing at times and peering over my shoulder to make sure the girls couldn't see what I was reading.  It's no Not Fifty Shades of Grey, but it's on the same track. 

Despite that, it is a wonderful series of love stories that remind us that sometimes love, real love, can be found right under our noses, if we just take a moment to look.   

Happy reading everyone! 
:) Dodie

P.S.  I hit 52 and still have the entire month of December to read! I wonder what my final total will be for this year!  

#51: The Painted Girls by Cathy Marie Buchanan

I was so excited when I found The Painted Girls.  It's the story of the van Goethem sisters, set in the late 1800's in Paris, and is based on the real van Goethem sisters, who were ballet dancers for the Paris Opera.  Marie van Goethem is probably best known as the most famous child model (Little Dancer Aged Fourteen) for Edgar Degas.  A book that combines my love of reading and my love of art--what could be better?

Truthfully, the book was painful to read.  Not that the writing was bad, it's just that the story was just so depressing.  It very much reminded me of Les Miserables.  The van Goethem girls have lost their father, their mother is addicted to absinthe, and Antoinette (the eldest sister) and Marie (the middle sister) are doing their best to earn money (in any way they can) to keep a flat for them to live in and food on the table for all plus the youngest sister, Charlotte, who truly has the best chance of working as a ballerina.  It is while they are trying desperately to stay afloat that Marie has the chance to model for Degas.  He draws, paints, and sculpts her and uses her as the basis of the most recognizable pieces of sculpture ever created: Little Dancer Aged Fourteen, which currently resides in the National Gallery in Washington, DC.

This work is mostly fiction and I certainly hope so.  When I was in high school and college studying art history, to the disappointment of most everyone in my family, I recall looking at Degas' ballerinas and imagining the delicate, sweet life they must've led as adorable, beautiful ballerinas.  Buchanan paints them (no pun intended) in a very different light.  And while I know she did her research and she created them accurately for their station in life for the time period, these sisters were poor, not educated, and they worked themselves to the bone.  These were not girls who were lavished with the finer things in life (unless they paid a favor for it).  These were girls who sold themselves for money, who "modeled" for money, and who loved the wrong boys, and who spend time in "jail."  Their lives were not easy and I certainly will never view one of Degas' works the same ever again.  These are not innocent ballerinas.  These are girls hardened by a life no young girl should have to live. Yes, this book was painful to read because it ripped apart every innocent thought I had of these girls when viewing the final pieces of art.  I guess when we look at art, we see what we want to see, or what the artist creates for us to see, rather than what really is.  And, I suppose it is just that idea that sparked Buchanan's idea for this novel, which is worth reading, just hard to swallow at times.

But then again, so is life.

Happy reading everyone!
:) Dodie