Saturday, August 17, 2013

The Story of Beautiful Girl


It is 1968. Lynnie, a young white woman with a developmental disability, and Homan, an African American deaf man, are locked away in an institution, the School for the Incurable and Feebleminded, and have been left to languish, forgotten. Deeply in love, they escape, and find refuge in the farmhouse of Martha, a retired schoolteacher and widow. But the couple is not alone-Lynnie has just given birth to a baby girl. When the authorities catch up to them that same night, Homan escapes into the darkness, and Lynnie is caught. But before she is forced back into the institution, she whispers two words to Martha: "Hide her." And so begins the 40-year epic journey of Lynnie, Homan, Martha, and baby Julia-lives divided by seemingly insurmountable obstacles, yet drawn together by a secret pact and extraordinary love

Published May 4th 2011 by Grand Central Publishing (first published 2011)
original title
The Story of Beautiful Girl
ISBN
0446574465 (ISBN13: 9780446574464)
edition language  English
My review:  A beautifully written book about exceptional people living in a  society where they are considered unacceptable.  This story started out a slow for me, but was told by a friend to continue, that I would not be disappointed.   Well, she was right.  The best parts of the book for me, were of Martha and Julia and then of course at the very end.     I would recommend this book to people who  love heartwarming and emotionally moving stories with  happy endings.  
 
I would love to hear from you, if you decide that this story fits your taste.  As, my friend said to me, "You won't be disappointed.

Happy Reading !!!!


Wednesday, August 14, 2013

Waiting On Wednesday


Waiting on Wednesday is a meme, hosted by Breaking the Spine, dedicated to highlighting the books we are especially excited to read that haven’t been released yet, because publishers like torturing us instead.

This week's pre-publication "We can't wait to read it!" selections is...

Author: Antoinette van Heugten  
Expected released on October 29, 2013
Publisher:  Harlequin MIRA; Original edition


 In a riveting exploration of the power the past wields over the present, critically acclaimed author Antoinette van Heugten writes the story of a woman whose child's life hangs in the balance, forcing her to confront the roots of her family's troubled history in the dark days of World War II…

It's the stuff of nightmares: Nora de Jong returns home from work one ordinary day to find her mother has been murdered. Her infant daughter is missing. And the only clue is the body of an unknown man on the living-room floor, clutching a Luger in his cold, dead hand.

Frantic to find Rose, Nora puts aside her grief and frustration to start her own search. But the contents of a locked metal box she finds in her parents' attic leave her with as many questions as answers—and suggest the killer was not a stranger. Saving her daughter means delving deeper into her family's darkest history, leading Nora half a world away to Amsterdam, where her own unsettled past and memories of painful heartbreak rush back to haunt her.

As Nora feverishly pieces together the truth from an old family diary, she's drawn back to a city under Nazi occupation, where her mother's alliances may have long ago sealed her own–and Rose's—fate


 by Summary via Goodreads




  Why I Can't Wait

I absolutely love a good mystery and a Historical Novel at that.


What are you waiting for? Please feel free to share and leave your link below.
Also be sure to add me on Goodreads…I love seeing other peoples book interests

Tuesday, August 13, 2013

First Chapter first Paragraph Tuesday Intros

First Chapter ~ First Paragraph Tuesday Intros is a weekly meme hosted by Diane at Bibliophile by the Sea. It's an opportunity to share the first paragraph(s) of a book I am currently reading or planning to read sometime soon.


In a clearing, somewhere between the edge of the forest and a jagged cliff, a lone firefly danced in graceful circles. It was beautiful, stealing attention away from the moonlight shimmering on Penobscot Bay. For a brief moment, the captivating creature was more hypnotic than the wispy clouds that brushed the face of the moon.

Pentermann, Meira (2012-04-02). Firefly Beach (p. 2). Meira Pentermann. Kindle Edition.


This week I'm featuring the opening paragraph from a book I just purchased ,  Firefly Beach by Meira Pentermann.

 **************************************************


Have you read this one? What do you think? Would you keep reading?  



Monday, August 12, 2013

Book Beginning: The Story of Beautiful Girl

Book Beginnings The Story of Beautiful Girl by Rachel Simon.

Book Beginnings on Friday is a meme hosted by Gilion at Rose City Reader. Anyone can participate; just share the opening sentence of your current read, making sure that you include the title and author so others know what you're reading.
 

"At the end of the night that would change everything, the widow stood on her porch and watched as the young woman was marched down her front drive and shoved into the sedan. The girl did not fight back, bound and tied as she was, nor did she cry out into the chill autumn rain, so surely the doctor and his attendants thought they had won."

This story has been a little slow, but am intrigued to get to know "Beautiful Girl"...





Sunday, August 11, 2013

It's Monday What Are You Reading!!!!

It’s Monday! What Are Your Reading? is a weekly meme hosted by Sheila of Book Journey. Be sure to check out her post today to see her selections and the list of links to all the other participating bloggers.


Just Finished

Actually Listened to this on Audio.  Absolutely loved it.  Jodi Picoult best ever in my opinion.

Currently Listening To


A little slow in the beginning, but the story is slow starting.    Have been told "Do Not Give Up.

Currently Reading



Story takes place on the Coast of Maine.   My home State. !!!!

A busy week of of listening and reading.



Saturday, May 11, 2013

Exploring China Through Books

Book Chat & Coffee Sign-Up: Exploring China Through Books

Temples at Yandang Mountain, Wenzhou, Zhejiang Province, China 2004
For me, one of the greatest pleasures of reading is an author's ability to transport a reader to far away lands and introduce ancient and contemporary histories, as well as cultures and traditions.  I have always been fascinated with China and during the summer of 2004, I was fortunate enough to spend six weeks in this fascinating country teaching English to elementary school children. I have since developed an ever-growing list of books to be read that in one way or another are related to China.  I'm convinced that I am not alone; there must be others who would enjoy this type of reading as well.  So, I've decided to host a summer reading program entitled, Exploring China Through Books, here on my blog.  I have chosen six books with the intention of discussing one book every two weeks during the summer months.  Essentially, this will be an on-line book club with scheduled live chats as an option.


Guidelines:
  • To sign-up, simply add a link to your blog or Good Reads profile to the linky at the end of this post. If you are a blogger, please post this event on your blog with a link to this post in order to share this with others.  Once you sign-up, please leave a comment on this post and let me know if you would be interested in the live chats. (I need to know an approximate number of participants in order to adjust the ChatRoll widget accordingly)
  • You do not have to commit to read all six books; you may pick and choose those that interest you the most.  However, these should be books...not audio books.
  • At the beginning of each new discussion week, I will create a post of the book being discussed with some possible discussions questions and I encourage to develop your own questions as well.  With each post I will also include a schedule for live book chats.  This is optional, and I will do my best to offer at least three different times to choose from to accommodate the various time zones.  Prior to participating in your first book chat, you will need to sign-up with Chatroll.  This will only take about 5 minutes and you can access Chatroll through the widget in my sidebar.
  • If you have any questions or concerns, please leave a comment on this post and I will address it as soon as possible.
Reading Schedule:
(Books should be read by the date listed for that week's discussion)

JUNE 9TH
Red Sorghum By Mo Yan
Description:
The acclaimed novel of love and resistance during late 1930s China by Mo Yan, winner of the 2012 Nobel Prize in Literature Spanning three generations, this novel of family and myth is told through a series of flashbacks that depict events of staggering horror set against a landscape of gemlike beauty, as the Chinese battle both Japanese invaders and each other in the turbulent 1930s. A legend in China, where it won major literary awards and inspired an Oscar-nominated film directed by Zhang Yimou, Red Sorghum is a book in which fable and history collide to produce fiction that is entirely new—and unforgettable.

JUNE 23RD
Bound Feet & Western Dress 
By Pang-Mei Natasha Chang
Description:
"In China, a woman is nothing." Thus begins the saga of a woman born at the turn of the century to a well-to-do, highly respected Chinese family, a woman who continually defied the expectations of her family and the traditions of her culture. Growing up in the perilous years between the fall of the last emperor and the Communist Revolution, Chang Yu-i's life is marked by a series of rebellions: her refusal as a child to let her mother bind her feet, her scandalous divorce, and her rise to Vice President of China's first women's bank in her later years. In the alternating voices of two generations, this dual memoir brings together a deeply textured portrait of a woman's life in China with the very American story of Yu-i's brilliant and assimilated grandniece, struggling with her own search for identity and belonging. Written in pitch-perfect prose and alive with detail, Bound Feet and Western Dress is the story of independent women struggling to emerge from centuries of customs and duty.

JULY 7TH

The Concubine's Daughter By Pai Kit Fai
Description:
In the bestselling tradition of Memoirs of a Geisha, a riveting saga of early twentieth-century China, where a mother and a daugther fight to realize their destinies in a world where woman could still be bought and sold. Lotus Feet. He would give his daughter the dainty feet of a courtesan. This would enhance her beauty and her price, making her future shine like a new coin. He smiled to himself, pouring fresh tea. And it would stop her from running away… When the young concubine of an old farmer in rural China gives birth to a daughter called Li-Xia, or “Beautiful One,” the child seems destined to become a concubine herself. Li refuses to submit to her fate, outwitting her father’s orders to bind her feet and escaping the silk farm with an English sea captain. Li takes her first steps toward fulfilling her mother’s dreams of becoming a scholar—but her final triumph must be left to her daughter, Su Sing, “Little Star,” in a journey that will take her from remote mountain refuges to the perils of Hong Kong on the eve of World War II.

JULY 21ST

Red Azalea By Anchee Min
Description:
Red Azalea is Anchee Min’s celebrated memoir of growing up in the last years of Mao’s China. As a child, she was asked to publicly humiliate a teacher; at seventeen, she was sent to work at a labor collective. Forbidden to speak, dress, read, write, or love as she pleased, she found a lifeline in a secret love affair with another woman. Miraculously selected for the film version of one of Madame Mao’s political operas, Min’s life changed overnight. Then Chairman Mao suddenly died, taking with him an entire world. A revelatory and disturbing portrait of China, Anchee Min’s memoir is exceptional for its candor, its poignancy, its courage, and for its prose which Newsweek calls "as delicate and evocative as a traditional Chinese brush painting."
AUGUST 4TH
Waiting By Ha Jin
Description:
The demands of human longing contend with the weight of centuries of custom in acclaimed author Ha Jin's Waiting, a novel of unexpected richness and universal resonance. Every summer Lin Kong, a doctor in the Chinese Army, returns to his village to end his loveless marriage with the humble and touchingly loyal Shuyu. But each time Lin must return to the city to tell Manna Wu, the educated, modern nurse he loves, that they will have to postpone their engagement once again. Caught between conflicting claims of these two utterly different women and trapped by a culture in which adultery can ruin lives and careers, Lin has been waiting for eighteen years. This year, he promises, will be different.

AUGUST 18TH
Miss Chopsticks By Xinran
Description:
Xinran takes her readers to the heart of modern Chinese society in this delightful and absorbing tale of three peasant girls getting to grips with life in the big city. The Li sisters don’t have much education, but one thing has been drummed into them: their mother is a failure because she hasn’t managed to produce a son, and they themselves only merit a number as a name. Women, their father tells them, are like chopsticks: utilitarian and easily broken. Men, on the other hand, are the strong rafters that hold up the roof of a house. Yet when circumstances lead the sisters to seek work in distant Nanjing, the shocking new urban environment opens their eyes. While Three contributes to the success of a small restaurant, Five and Six learn new talents at a health spa and a bookshop/tearoom. And when the money they earn starts arriving back at the village, their father is forced to recognize that daughters are not so dispensable after all. As the Li sisters discover Nanjing, so do we: its past, its customs and culture, and its future as a place where people can change their lives

Sunday, February 10, 2013

IT HAS BEEN A LONG TIME

It really has been too long since I have blogged.  I hate to admit it but I have been in a huge reading slump. I am hoping to be out of that slump by starting with The Aviators Wife by Melanie Benjamin   I will try to keep everyone updated to my progress.    Happy Reading Everyone.     Cathy