#42: Five Brides by Eva Marie Everson

Five Brides by Eva Marie Everson has become one of my favorite books EVER!  If you have a daughter, or are someone else's daughter, this book is a feel-good must read! 

Simply stated, Five Brides tells the stories of five different women, all roommates in Chicago, who are in their early 20's during the 1950's.  These women could not be any more different from one another, yet on a rare day when all five are together (because their jobs keep them on the go and often away from the apartment), a day spent window shopping takes an interesting turn when they spontaneously pool their money and purchase a wedding gown.  Not a single one is yet engaged, and several aren't even involved with a man) they create a plan for using this amazing gown they have found, that fits them all beautifully.  

Despite this turn in the plot, the book is much less about the gown and way more about the lives of these amazing women:

• Joan, from England, a real go-getter that lets nothing stand in her way from what she wants 
• Betty, a Chicago socialite with connections everywhere who suddenly finds herself cut off from her parents financial support
• Magda and Inga, sisters from Minnesota with VERY strict parents about the rules governing the conduct of women
• Evelyn, the sweet Southern girl from Georgia, who finds Chicago cold and strange compared to her rural farm life in S.C.

Everson tells this story of these amazing women in such a detailed way that you are drawn into their lives and into their hearts and you can't help but love them all.   They are strong, fearless, and they refuse to let life pass them by as they work hard to live the lives they have always dreamed at a time when women were just beginning to gain strength in the working world.  Five Brides makes me proud to be a woman, yet it also makes me think that I have not done enough to further the feminist cause, but every woman must do what she must do.  And in the spirit of the book, I have followed the path that God had planned for me, no matter how curvy.

Read this one.  You will love it.  

Happy reading, everyone! 

-Dodie 

#41: Silver Linings by Debbie Macomber

Silver Linings is the fourth book in the new Rose Harbor Inn series by Debbie Macomber, who also wrote the much beloved Cedar Cove series of books (and co-produces the Hallmark Channel original TV series by the same name, to which I am addicted).  This new installment continues the love story in progress of Jo Marie and Mark, a story which takes a turn I would never have imagined.  We also get to meet Coco and Katie, high school friends returning to Cedar Cove for their 10th reunion who are hoping to right some past wrongs.  As the title foreshadows, there are silver linings in every cloud and so while things at first don't seem to quite work out for Katie and Coco like we are typically used to in Macomber's books, they do in the end.  Never fear!

Except for Jo Marie.  This story has ended in such a terrible cliffhanger I am not sure I can wait until next August to see what happens.   Hang on Jo Marie!  I have hope for you and Mark!

Silver Linings is a lovely (yet apparently suspenseful) continuation of the Rose Harbor series and I am so glad that Macomber has not abandoned Cedar Cove.  I can't wait to read the next book!  Come on August 2016!

Happy reading everyone!
-Dodie

#40: Me and Earl and the Dying Girl by Jesse Andrews

Having teenage girls in my house has caused my reading choices lately to include books like The Hunger Games, If I Stay, and The Fault in Our Stars.  Somehow I have been able to escape reading the Divergent series and have stuck to watching the movie versions, which is fine by me.  I had seen commercials for Me and Earl and the Dying Girl and when I read the back of the book, I knew I was going to have to read it.  Just add this one to my list of teenagerish reads for 2015.

Truthfully, I don't think my girls should read this book until they are out of high school.  Not because of Earl's terrible language and consistent sexual references, but because I don't think they will get it until they have not only experienced high school but have also been removed from the high school dynamic and can look back and see the truth about how kids behave and treat each other in High School.

Greg ("Me" from the title) is a high-school senior who has been perfecting a plan to be friends with everyone and yet with no one that has propelled him through high school with little drama.  He does have one friend, Earl, who is probably one of my favorite characters of all-time.  Earl is funny, he is sweet, and he gets how hard real life can be.  Greg just prefers to be filming life rather than living it.  The Dying Girl is Rachel, and while she is important enough to be in the title, she really is a minor character, in my opinion, who we don't get to know very well at all before she dies. But she is important to Greg's evolution and change, so she makes it into the title.

The story really is about the evolution of Greg, a boy who doesn't seem to want to evolve at all.  As it turns out, and we don't find out about this until the very end, Greg is writing this book as an explanation to his top-choice college as to why he performed so badly in school during his senior year.  Prior to learning this, the reader thinks Greg is just writing a book to tell a story that he really doesn't want to tell (like his mom is making him do it or something).  And he also doesn't like writing and he isn't too fond of his readers, either, but it just seems so like him--this guy who doesn't really even want friends, he just doesn't want to be beat-up or bullied by his classmates--you don't really even care.  You just keep reading.  And laughing.  Earl is hilarious and without him this book would be so dull and insulting you'd never get past the first few chapters.  Thanks to Earl, I read this book in two days.

Me and Earl and the Dying Girl is coming to the Big Screen after wining two awards at the Sundance Movie Festival: The Audience Award and the Grand Jury Prize.  It's no surprise to me that this book/movie won awards.  It's clever, it explores the inner workings of the complicated High School dynamic, and it explores how one event can change your life forever.  Even the best planned lives.

It's good.  I remember now why High School was so hard for me and why the first thing I said to my very best friend on the first day of Senior Year was "179," as in 179 days left until the last day of school and the beginning of your real life.

Happy reading, everyone!
-Dodie

  

#39: Show of Hands by Anthony McCarten

I decided to read Show of Hands because for the first time in a long time I found a book with a plot that I had never encountered before.  Show of Hands is the story of a group of people trying to win a car.  Set in London, the book tells the story of 40 people, but the main characters are a small group, trying to win a Range Rover by being the last person to have one hand on the car.  See--unique plot.

The main characters are:

• Hatch Back, the owner of the car dealership who is holding this contest to boost sales for his failing business
• Jess Podorowski, a widowed mother, who works as a meter maid, of a sweet girl confined to a wheel chair who wants this car in order to transport her to and from her school
• Tom Shrift, a businessman, and member of Mensa, who is trying to win the car in order to sell it so he can begin to pay off debt from a failed business venture
• Matt Brocklenbank, a young guy who has entered the competition in order to prove that he can accomplish something without the help of his parents

There are a few other contestants that we get to know throughout the story, along with the family of each contestant as well as the dealership owner.   

The story is a good one and I particularly liked each character was explored so deeply, after all there is very little to do when you are spending days with one hand on a car except talk about yourself, your family, and why you are trying so hard to win a car.  The story also has a plot twist toward the end that I never expected.  I also never expected the ending to be what it was.  I guess people can surprise you, even ones that you think you know and understand.  

This was a great book and such a different read from my typical romance books or historical fiction novels.   It's good to break away from the norm every now and again and read something new.  

Happy reading, everyone! 

:) Dodie

#38: The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins

Many people have raved about this book.  Many.  I feel as though for one solid week at the onset of summer every talk show host was talking about the book.  They read it, loved it, couldn't put it down.  So, I got it and it sat on my night table.  I knew enough about the overall plot of the book (a girl who rides the train into London every day sees something shocking one day on her ride into the city...something she can't keep to herself) to know that I had to be in the right frame of mind to read a book like this.  Last week I finally picked it up, took a deep breath, and prepared myself to be consumed by the story until it was over.

Except I wasn't.  It took me over a week to read this book.  I didn't find the story to be a page turner at all, until the last 75 pages.  I know now that the author was just building background and telling the story that ultimately unfolds in the last 75 pages, but it was, for me, a slow moving, rather depressing story until then.  And even after the story was over it was sad and depressing.  But very scary.  Very.  Like Gone Girl scary.  I am now completely convinced that you never really know people.  Or that at the very least they can truly surprise you.

The Girl on the Train is the story of Rachel, an unemployed girl who lives outside of London but continues to take the train into the city every day so that her landlord/roommate won't know that she's lost her job.  She's also a divorced alcoholic who obsessively tracks the life of her ex-husband and his new family.

But The Girl on the Train is also the story of Megan and Anna. Anna is the new wife of Rachel's ex, Tom.  Megan lives a few doors down from Tom and Anna and actually works as their "child minder" (I love that!) for a bit for their daughter Evie.  By the time the story ends, it really is hard to pick one woman from the story that you feel the most sympathy for.  At first I thought it was Rachel, as she really has it tough: can't get pregnant with no real reason why, failed IVF, turns to drinking to soothe her pain, her husband has an affair, leaves her, marries the girl (Anna) and then they have a baby.  Rubbing salt in her wounds, Rachel's train stops behind their house every day.  She can see into their home, their back yard.  She just can't seem to get away from them.  But by the end I was very worried about not just Rachel, for obvious reasons, but also Anna, who just didn't see any of the events of the story coming.  She was totally blind sighted.  And Megan...well...you can't help but feel total pity and sadness for poor Megan.  You will have to read the book to find out why that is.  I refuse to ruin it for you here.

The Girl on the Train is a great read.  If you like a mystery, want to be a little scared, and want a story that is totally fresh and new, you need to read this book.  There's nothing out there like it, that's for sure.  And, if it's not already in the works, I predict a movie based on the book.  This story lends itself nicely to a movie.

Happy reading, everyone!
:) Dodie

#37: Are You Gonna Kiss Me or Not? by Thompson Square and Travis Thrasher

I love Thompson Square.  If you aren't familiar with their works, they are a country duo, husband and wife, who sing some of my favorite songs.  One of their most well-known is a song called "Are You Gonna Kiss Me or Not?" It was this song and the story told in the song that inspired them to write, with Travis Thrasher, the novel by the same name.  I was so excited to read the book and quite honestly I expected great things.  They are, after all, amazing songwriters/singers.

Well...the book was good, not great.  I kept waiting for something to happen and while things rolled along, they did so slowly.  Eventually the plot got to where it was going but it took a long time.  And it took me a long time to finish the novel, as a result.  The story was cute.  I liked Casey and Daniel.  It just took a while to get to their story out there.

I guess the bottom line for me about this particular book is this: if you've heard the song, stop there.  If you haven't heard the song, download it, listen to it, and stop there.  Thompson Square is way better at writing and singing songs than writing novels.

Happy reading, everyone!
:) Dodie

#36: Go Set a Watchman by Harper Lee

I finished Go Set a Watchman about a week ago and am just now getting around to blogging about this story.  The truth is, I was, and still am, a bit fearful about what to actually say about Lee's novel.  I mean, what can I say about her book that others haven't already said?  I knew mostly what the book was about before the box from Amazon containing the novel hit my front stoop.  I knew that people were sad because their images of Atticus were destroyed.  I know that Go Set a Watchman made Atticus out to be a racist.  But, like every good reader, I read the book and formed my own opinions.  It is those opinions that I am fearful to share.  

For those of you who might not have heard, Go Set a Watchman is a novel written by Harper Lee, and it's being billed as a sequel to To Kill a Mockingbird.  The truth is, Go Set a Watchman was written before To Kill a Mockingbird but it was rejected by publishers.  Lee put it aside, at some point wrote To Kill a Mockingbird, rocked the world with this amazing story that deals with lots of white vs. black issues, and recently someone found Go Set a Watchman and now it's on store shelves and coffee tables everywhere as people devour Lee's second and sure to be final novel.  

In Watchman, Scout, who was about 8 or so in Mockingbird, is now in her late 20's and is coming home for a visit to check on her aging father (Atticus is now 72) and to deal with a persistent boyfriend (Henry/Hank) who wishes to marry her.  During her time at home, Scout is reminded that she is an out-of-the-box sort of girl that no one in Maycomb really quite knows how to handle, even as an adult.   Scout truly believes her place in the world is NYC because she can just be herself there and no one cares.  However, she knows that her roots are in Maycomb and she seems to enjoy "woolgathering" as she calls it--remembering good times and good stories about her young life with Atticus and her neighbors and friends.   

While she attempts to make sense of her relationship with Henry, a young lawyer that Atticus mentored, Scout stumbles into a situation, a Maycomb County Citizen's Council meeting, where she realizes that Atticus isn't exactly who she thinks he is.  I have read and re-read this part of the book and Rob and I have talked about it until we realized that we were never going to agree (I feel compelled to add that he has read neither of Lee's books) and finally stopped talking about it altogether.  I see what readers are talking about, I do.  I see Scout's concern with Atticus, too.  Upon hearing the discussion at the Citizen's Council meeting, it does seem as though Atticus has some racist/segregationist ideas which is alarming when you recall that he was the white lawyer defending a black man in Mockingbird.  How is it possible that he could be racist?  How?  Well...when you hear the men talking about keeping blacks and whites separate, it seems clear.  I just personally think there's more to it.  And so does Scout's uncle, Atticus' brother, who tries to explain to Scout that the issue isn't quite as clear-cut as Scout believes it to be. 

I know that I have a bad habit of reading and creating characters in my head to be more than they really are.  They become real to me and I do know that Atticus is fictional.  Lee created him and over the years he became God-like not just to Scout, but to readers, as well. Atticus Finch became the moral standard by which millions of people measured themselves and others.  In Go Set a Watchman, Atticus is not the perfect man from Mockingbird.   He's a human who has lived a long life and who has seen many things, but I just think there's more to the story.  I just can't believe that Atticus is a racist man.  I think he is a man trying to make sense of a confusing time the best he can.  I think he is a brilliant lawyer who is trying to uphold the law the best he can while helping those who are wronged, regardless of their color.  And I think he is trying hard to make sure that the US government doesn't make decisions based solely on color (which we all know is never a smart choice).  Maybe I am Scout...maybe I have put Atticus on a pedestal, too...but I just don't think people can call Atticus a racist and have it be that simple.  I just don't agree.

I also don't agree with the publishers who rejected this novel the first time around.  It is quite a good story and well-written for a first time author.  Truthfully, I question their reasons for denying publication of the book and I strongly suspect it has little to do with a poorly written first novel and more to do with the content and subject matter it explores from a governmental standpoint.  Furthermore, I am beyond impressed that Lee was able to, within the body of Watchman, write a 1-2 page synopsis of Atticus's by now well-known trial and then was able to create an entire book (The Kill a Mockingbird) based on these few pages.  That is truly amazing!  It is also amazing to me that he nailed Scout's character both times--the little girl in Mockingbird is absolutely the same girl in Watchman.  Same voice, same personality.  Lee truly has a gift.  

I hope that everyone out there reading this chooses to read Watchman, if they have read Mockingbird.  If you haven't read either, do yourself a favor and read these books.  Read Mockingbird first, but read them.  They are brilliant.  Harper Lee is brilliant.  I hope that she realizes what an impact her books have made upon American society.  She is deserving of every award and prize (including a Pulitzer and the Presidential Medal of Freedom) she's earned.  And I feel lucky to have read both of her works.  I am better for it. 

Happy reading, everyone! 

:) Dodie