Luanne Rice and Joseph Monninger - The Letters

48. The Letters by Luanne Rice and Joseph Monninger (2008)
Length: 199 pages
Genre: Contemporary Fiction
Started: 8 June 2012
Finished: 9 June 2012
Where did it come from? From a Library Book Sale
How long has it been on my TBR pile? Since 1 June 2009
Why do I have it? I like contemporary fiction and books about family dynamics.

Sam and Hadley West are a couple just trying to survive the soul-shattering loss of their only son in Alaska. They each decide to do this in their own ways: For Sam, a sports journalist, acceptance of his son's death means undertaking an arduous trek by dogsled across the beautiful but forbidding Alaskan landscape to find the spot where Paul died. For Hadley, it means renting a benignly haunted, salt-soaked cottage off the coast of Maine where she can paint and begin to grieve in peace.

Now, at opposite ends of the country, waiting for their divorce to be finalized, they begin to exchange letters through the post - missives filled with longing and truths they have never before voiced. They recall their marriage - its magic moments and its challenges - and begin to rediscover the reasons why they fell in love in the first place.

As Sam risks his life to reach the remote crash site, Hadley begins an equally hazardous inner journey to rendezvous with the mad grief of a mother's heart. At the place where all else is lost, they will meet again.

This is the first time that I read this book, although I did read, and enjoy, The Perfect Summer by Luanne Rice sometime last year. I always enjoy books about family dynamics and give this book an A+! I would definitely recommend it to others.

A+! - (96-100%)

Till we Meet Again, Glow Brightly as Moonlight

Mary Alice Monroe - The Book Club

47. The Book Club by Mary Alice Monroe (1999)
Length: 368 pages
Genre: Contemporary Fiction
Started: 5 June 2012
Finished: 7 June 2012
Where did it come from? From a Library Book Sale
How long has it been on my TBR pile? Since 1 April 2009
Why do I have it? I like contemporary fiction and Mary Alice Monroe is a new author for me.

On the surface, it is a monthly book club. But for five women, it is something infinitely more precious: a lifeline to hang on to and a chance to share their hopes, fears and triumphs. There is Eve, whose husband's sudden death has turned her safe little world upside down; cheating her out of every security that she had assumed was hers. Annie is a brilliant attorney who at 43 decides to have a baby, but all the determination in the world cannot change the cold reality of nature.

Doris, forced to acknowledge her dying marriage, will find the ultimate freedom through her husband's betrayal. Gabriella, the "perfect" wife, mother and friend, is afraid to ask for support for herself even as she offers such support to those around her. Finally, there is Midge - an artist who has always lived her life against the grain - but she suddenly feels like a stranger to the very people who should know her the best. These five women are women in transition and as they embrace the challenge of change, they will hold fast to the true magic of their book club - friendship.

Mareena was the one who found this book for me at our local library's book sale. I was intrigued by the book's plot because I love books that delve into people's relationships and the intricacies of women's friendships. This is the first time that I read The Book Club by Mary Alice Monroe and I am delighted to discover that she has written more books. I give this book an A+! and am immediately going to put Mary Alice Monroe on my TBR pile.

A+! - (96-100%)

Till we Meet Again, Glow Brightly as Moonlight

Mary Alice Monroe - The Book Club

47. The Book Club by Mary Alice Monroe (2000)
Length: 368 pages
Genre: Contemporary Fiction
Started: 5 June 2012
Finished: 7 June 2012
Where did it come from? From a Library Book Sale
How long has it been on my TBR pile? Since 1 April 2009
Why do I have it? I like contemporary fiction and Mary Alice Monroe is a new author for me.

On the surface, it is a monthly book club. But for five women, it is something infinitely more precious: a lifeline to hang on to and a chance to share their hopes, fears and triumphs. There is Eve, whose husband's sudden death has turned her safe little world upside down; cheating her out of every security that she had assumed was hers. Annie is a brilliant attorney who at 43 decides to have a baby, but all the determination in the world cannot change the cold reality of nature.

Doris, forced to acknowledge her dying marriage, will find the ultimate freedom through her husband's betrayal. Gabriella, the "perfect" wife, mother and friend, is afraid to ask for support for herself even as she offers such support to those around her. Finally, there is Midge - an artist who has always lived her life against the grain - but she suddenly feels like a stranger to the very people who should know her the best. These five women are women in transition and as they embrace the challenge of change, they will hold fast to the true magic of their book club - friendship.

Mareena was the one who found this book for me at our local library's book sale. I was intrigued by the book's plot because I love books that delve into people's relationships and the intricacies of women's friendships. This is the first time that I read The Book Club by Mary Alice Monroe and I am delighted to discover that she has written more books. I give this book an A+! and am immediately going to put Mary Alice Monroe on my TBR pile.

A+! - (96-100%)

Till we Meet Again, Glow Brightly as Moonlight

Robin Maugham - The Servant

46. The Servant by Robin Maugham (1948)
Length: 75 pages
Genre: Short Story
Started: 4 June 2012
Finished: 5 June 2012
Where did it come from? From Paperback Swap
How long has it been on my TBR pile? Since 4 January 2010
Why do I have it? I had read The Link several years ago by the same author and as a matter of fact, I saw the film adaptation of The Servant with my sister Margaret in 1963 when it first came out.

Set in London just after World War II, Richard Merton tells the story of Tony, a close friend and fellow Army officer, who - breaking ties with old friends and habits - steadily falls under the influence of his sinister new butler, Barrett. Concerned for his friend, Richard slowly uncovers a strange affair which shatters both class and sexual barriers and turns the servant into the master, and the master into the servant. I really did enjoy this book and give it an A+!

This is the first time that I have actually read The Servant although I did see the movie when it came out in the 1960's. I enjoyed the movie and the book independently of each other and found that the movie was completely different from the book. In my opinion, the movie did not follow the book at all, but still was very good! :)

A+! - (96-100%)

Till we Meet Again, Glow Brightly as Moonlight

Elizabeth Ergas - Devil's Gate

45. Devil's Gate by Elizabeth Ergas (1991)
Length: 352 pages
Genre: Horror
Started: 30 May 2012
Finished: 3 June 2012
Where did it come from? From a Library Book Sale
How long has it been on my TBR pile? Since 1 April 2009
Why do I have it? I like horror and Elizabeth Ergas is a new author for me.

Alison Crandall knew the tale which had been passed down through the generations: Nearly two centuries ago her tiny New Hampshire town had made a desperate bargain with a mysterious stranger on the night of a terrifying flood. The town was magically saved...but in the cemetery a hideous wrought iron gate suddenly appeared and terrified screams echoed from behind its bars as the demonic stranger began exacting his bloody price that very night. In modern-day Draconia, New Hampshire, these stories of a deal with the devil were thought to be nothing but trumped up stories told to frighten or entice the tourists.

That was before Adrian Blaise showed up in Draconia with a million dollar real estate project. Ghastly apparitions suddenly began to terrorize the town and certain women were deliciously seduced by the all too charming Adrian - just before their frightened screams betrayed the devil's old asking price and their lifeless bodies were found. Alison knew that time was running out. Unless she could find a way to break the bargain, she too would be doomed to the ghoulish horror that existed beyond the Devil's Gate.

This was actually a reread for me. I had read this book for the first time several years ago and truly enjoyed it. However, if I had one dislike of the book, it would be that the sexual situations depicted in the book were slightly more graphic than I remember them to be during my initial reading of Devil's Gate. That being said, I still give Devil's Gate an A! and I have obtained a copy of Rage by Elizabeth Ergas.

A! - (90-95%)

Till we Meet Again, Glow Brightly as Moonlight

Reading Wrap-up for May at Moonshine and Rosefire

Hello everyone out there and I hope that you all had a terrific reading month for yourselves. I am known as Rosefire around the Internet and this is my new personal reading blog. I originally posted my reviews over at my daughter's blog, Emeraldfire's Bookmark but am now in the process of transferring them all over to my own blog. My daughter makes blogging look like so much fun that I thought that I would try it out for myself! :)

Anyway, I started out May with 642 unread books lying around the house and ended the month with 633 books unread. All the books that I acquired this month came from an author.

Let me try to break down the influx for you:

Changes to the TBR pile

Read from my TBR pile (Yes! I am a reading machine :))
- Looking For Peyton Place by Barbara Delinsky
- The Saints and Sinners of Okay County by Dayna Dunbar
- A Sight For Sore Eyes by Ruth Rendell
- The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows
- The White Voyage by John Christopher
- Sally: Unconventional Success by Sally Jessy Raphael and Pam Proctor
- Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger
- Anima by Marie Buchanan
- Lullaby and Good Night by Vincent Bugliosi and William Stadiem

Added to my TBR pile (oh well, you win some and you lose some! Not too bad though, I suppose:))

- Evil Stalks the Night by Kathryn Meyer Griffith 

- The Calling by Kathryn Meyer Griffith

- The Ice Bridge by Kathryn Meyer Griffith

Taken off my TBR pile and sent to a new home (Yay! Happy Dance! :))
- Crooked House by Agatha Christie
- False Witness by Dorothy Uhnak
- The Story of Winston Churchill by Alida Sims Malkus
- The Prodigal Daughter by Jeffrey Archer
- The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows
- The Ugly Duckling by Iris Johansen

Well, there it is...the breakdown! All in all, a very good reading month for me. Here's a further breakdown:

Books Read: 9
Pages Read: 2,980
Grade Range: A+! to B+!


So, there you go! The reading month that was May. I hope that you all had an equally good reading month; if not a little better. :) See you all next month! :)


Till we Meet Again, Glow Brightly as Moonlight

May's Book of the Month

Hello Everyone! I chose the picture posted above because it reminds me of reading to my daughter Mareena when she was little. Every afternoon until she was about eight or nine years old, we would take one of her books that she wanted to read or that she was reading and we would curl up together on my big bed. 

We would spend an hour or so reading a chapter of her book, and then take a nap together. Her absolutely favorite author at that time was an English author named Enid Blyton. Ahh, nice memories...

My picks for 'Books of the Month' will be decidedly more adult these days, but they will be from almost any genre. May's Book of the Month is: 

   The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows

Published as: The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society: A Novel in July 2008

Publisher: The Dial Press

Birth Name: Mary Ann Fiery

Born: 13 December 1934 in Martinsburg, West Virginia
Died: 16 February 2008 in San Anselmo, California

Canonical Name: Mary Ann Shaffer

Pseudonyms: None

Birth Name: Annie Barrows

Born: 1962 in San Diego, California

Canonical Name: Annie Barrows

Pseudonyms: None

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows was the thirty-ninth book that I read in 2012. I had had this book on my TBR bookshelf since March 3, 2012 although I didn't actually read it until May of 2012. It took me three days to read this book and I sent it off to another good home on May 29, 2012.

Till we Meet Again, Glow Brightly as Moonlight