#44: The Girl You Left Behind by Jojo Moyes

I absolutely loved this book, a combination of historical fiction, romance, and mystery.  And, I love it's lesson, or what I think to be it's lesson.  I guess that's the beauty of a well written book.  It becomes what you want it to be.

The Girl You Left Behind is told in two parts.  Part One is Sophie's story, told in 1916 in occupied France.  Part Two is Liv's story, told in London 2006.  The beauty of the story is not their individual stories, although they are unbelievable in their own rights, but in how the two stories become one.  It's brilliant, really.  "The Girl You Left Behind" is the name of a painting Sophie's husband, Edouard Lefevre, painted of her.  It hangs in their hotel, which eventually gets taken over by the Germans in WW1, and it is this painting that becomes the true main character of this novel.  However, one can quickly figure out that The Girl You Left Behind also refers to Sophie herself, as her husband goes off to war, and Liv, whose husband dies suddenly one night only a few years into their marriage.  These two amazing women tell their stories as they desperately attempt to move on after being left behind by their husbands.  The truly amazing part, the part I will not divulge here, is how their stories become intertwined and eventually become one. 

As with all really great books that I read, I feel smarter after finishing this book and I feel as though I have been reminded of what life is really all about.  It's not the money you have, or where you live, or what you wear, or even what you believe.  Life is about your family and about the love you have for your family and the lengths you will go to to keep your family intact. 

This book is superb.  I highly recommend it. 
Happy reading!
-Dodie

#43 The Husband's Secret by Liane Moriarity

What would you do if you stumbled across a letter written to you by your husband, to be opened upon his death?  Would you read it?  What would you do if you stumbled across the very same letter, but your husband was still alive? 

And thus begins The Husband's Secret and my new love for all books by Liane Moriarity.  I am going to search out any others by her and stash them away for Christmas Break and Spring Break, if they last that long!  Her books are perfect vacation reads! 

I won't give away any details about this book because it is positively too good and I don't want to ruin anything about this delicious tale.  However, I will share this one thought that I have about The Husband's Secret. The book opens with the story of Pandora's box.  It is a great reminder of how we, as humans, are curious souls, and we often bring trouble on ourselves as we attempt to quench our curiosity.  Then, once we discover things about our lives, our families lives, or even our friend's lives, we are often suddenly faced with having to forgive and then we are angry about forgiving.  But, the irony to me is that this Forgiveness is something that we might not even have had to give if we had just kept the box closed in the first place.  Don't borrow trouble.  Keep the box closed.  But, it seems to me, after reflecting on the end of this amazing novel, that forgiveness is something we must give no matter what.  Or else, it will eat away at you and will possibly cause more harm than you ever imagined.

Are you now very curious about this book?  I hope so! Pick this one up and read it.  It's too good not to!

Happy reading!
:) Dodie

#42: The Longest Ride by Nicholas Sparks

I made the mistake of reading this book on the plane ride home from Orlando last weekend.  To the very polite twenty-something sitting next to me by the window, I must apologize for crying like a fool as I read the ending to this book.  With not the first tissue in my purse, either.  What an idiot I am.  Who reads any Nicholas Sparks book without tissues? 

I must admit that I am a hit or miss Nicholas Sparks fan.  I love some of his books, and I mean LOVE, and others I have taken out of my permanent collection.  The Longest Ride is going into the permanent collection (once I get it back from my mother-in-law who borrowed it from me).  The Longest Ride is right up there with The Walk and The Notebook and I am praying long and hard that this one becomes a movie.  I will be the first in line on opening night.

The book tells the stories of Ira and Ruth and Sophia and Luke, alternating between the two.  Ira is an older man, in his seventies.  He has crashed his car and while he waits, freezing in the snow, for help, trapped inside his car, he begins a long conversation with his wife, Ruth, who passes away years before.  It is through these conversations that we hear their beautiful love story.  Meanwhile, on and off the campus of Wake Forest University, we meet Sophia and Luke.  Sophia is an art history major; Luke is a professional bull rider, whose paths cross and are never the same again.  Like only Nicholas Sparks can, he manages to weave these two individual stories into one brilliant story that I know will touch your heart. 

I will not say anything more except this...(for those of you who have read this book already, you will know what I mean.  For those of you who haven't, I hope I spark your curiosity enough so that you will pick up this treasure and devour it (with tissues!)) Ira...I totally understand. And, I would've bought the painting, too.  First off, right away.  It truly was the treasure. 

Happy reading everyone!
:) Dodie