Jenna Bush - Ana's Story: A Journey of Hope

33. Ana's Story: A Journey of Hope by Jenna Bush (2007)
Length: 290 pages
Genre: Non-Fiction
Started: 18 April 2013
Finished: 19 April 2013
Where did it come from? From Bookmooch
How long has it been on my TBR pile? Since 5 May 2011
Why do I have it? I like non-fiction and wasn't aware that Jenna Bush had written any books.

Ana's life is a collection of bits and pieces of her past. Infected at birth with HIV, she had lost her mother, her father and youngest sister to AIDS. Ana is unaware of many details from her early childhood, with only blurry memories of her parents and baby sister. Ana and her younger sister Isabel are sent to live with their grandparents, where ten-year-old Ana is informed by her grandmother that she has HIV. She is told to keep her illness a secret from others - just one of the many secrets young Ana is forced to keep to herself - from sexual and physical abuse perpetrated by her grandparents, to broader neglect and mistreatment from her other family members.

Shuffled from home to home, Ana rarely finds safety or acceptance. Until she meets and falls in love with Berto, becomes pregnant, and then a mother at age seventeen. She begins her journey of hope - a journey of protection of herself, her baby, and others. Struggling to break free from the cycle of abuse, silence, and illness with passion and eloquence - proving to the world that Ana is living with, not dying from HIV/AIDS.

I enjoyed this book. I think that it could be very instructive for children who are affected by HIV and/or AIDS. I give this book an A!  

Till we Meet Again, Glow Brightly as Moonlight

Rosamude Pilcher - The Empty House

32. The Empty House by Rosamunde Pilcher (1973)
Length: 249 pages
Genre: Contemporary Fiction
Started: 16 April 2013
Finished: 17 April 2013
Where did it come from? From Bookmooch
How long has it been on my TBR pile? Since 20 March 2013
Why do I have it? I like contemporary fiction and Rosamunde Pilcher as an author, having read and enjoyed several books by this author in the past.

Virginia Keile's secret dream had always been to have a second chance at loving the tall, handsome Cornish farmer she had met - and foolishly lost - the summer she was a debutante. Now, ten years later, Virginia is twenty-seven years old and life has taught her a great many lessons. She had married a titled bachelor chosen by her mother, lived in a lonely marriage until her husband's accidental death, and had nearly lost her two children to her former mother-in-law and a bossy Nanny.

All Virginia wants now is to to take her daughter and son, return to picturesque Cornwall and rent a seaside cottage to help them recover. But her true love was also there, waiting, hoping and praying that this time Virginia would be strong enough to seize happiness and fill an empty house with love.

I did enjoy reading this book, however, I am beginning to find that Rosamunde Pilcher is just reworking the same plots. It may just be because I've read two books by the same author back to back, but in my opinion, Rosamunde Pilcher's plots tend to run along this similar theme: 'girl meets boy, they fall hopelessly in love, girl cruelly loses boy, girl marries the 'proper gentleman', girl somehow moves to Scotland, lives in an unhappy marriage for a certain amount of time, husband propitiously passes away and girl returns to live happily ever after with her one true love.'

I give this book an A! I think I will certainly read more by Rosamunde Pilcher in the future, but maybe not for a while yet.

A! - (90-95%)

Till we Meet Again, Glow Brightly as Moonlight

Rosamude Pilcher - The Empty House

32. The Empty House by Rosamunde Pilcher (1973)
Length: 249 pages
Genre: Contemporary Fiction
Started: 16 April 2013
Finished: 17 April 2013
Where did it come from? From Bookmooch
How long has it been on my TBR pile? Since 20 March 2013
Why do I have it? I like contemporary fiction and Rosamunde Pilcher as an author, having read and enjoyed several books by this author in the past.

Virginia Keile's secret dream had always been to have a second chance at loving the tall, handsome Cornish farmer she had met - and foolishly lost - the summer she was a debutante. Now, ten years later, Virginia is twenty-seven years old and life has taught her a great many lessons. She had married a titled bachelor chosen by her mother, lived in a lonely marriage until her husband's accidental death, and had nearly lost her two children to her former mother-in-law and a bossy Nanny.

All Virginia wants now is to to take her daughter and son, return to picturesque Cornwall and rent a seaside cottage to help them recover. But her true love was also there, waiting, hoping and praying that this time Virginia would be strong enough to seize happiness and fill an empty house with love.

I did enjoy reading this book, however, I am beginning to find that Rosamunde Pilcher is just reworking the same plots. It may just be because I've read two books by the same author back to back, but in my opinion, Rosamunde Pilcher's plots tend to run along this similar theme: 'girl meets boy, they fall hopelessly in love, girl cruelly loses boy, girl marries the 'proper gentleman', girl somehow moves to Scotland, lives in an unhappy marriage for a certain amount of time, husband propitiously passes away and girl returns to live happily ever after with her one true love.'

I give this book an A! I think I will certainly read more by Rosamunde Pilcher in the future, but maybe not for a while yet.

A! - (90-95%)

Till we Meet Again, Glow Brightly as Moonlight

Rosamunde Pilcher - The End of Summer

31. The End of Summer by Rosamunde Pilcher (1971)
Length: 233 pages
Genre: Contemporary Fiction
Started: 15 April 2013
Finished: 16 April 2013
Where did it come from? From Bookmooch
How long has it been on my TBR pile? Since 20 March 2013
Why do I have it? I like contemporary fiction and Rosamunde Pilcher as an author, having read and enjoyed several books by this author in the past.

After years spent living in the United States, Jane returns to the Scottish estate of Elvie, where she had spent a magical childhood. Memories of a lifetime spent at Elvie had always summoned the image of Sinclair to Jane's mind. Sinclair was the rakish man Jane had once dreamed of marrying, but now that she is home, she finds Sinclair to be an entirely different man from the one she had known. His enticing charm now has a purpose, and Jane can no longer trust him...or herself.

I enjoyed this book quite a bit. In my opinion, it was a very easy and pleasant read for me. I didn't think that this was a particularly earth-shattering story, but overall I gave The End of Summer by Rosamunde Pilcher an A!

A! - (90-95%) 

Till we Meet Again, Glow Brightly as Moonlight

Rosamunde Pilcher - The End of Summer

31. The End of Summer by Rosamunde Pilcher (1971)
Length: 233 pages
Genre: Contemporary Fiction
Started: 15 April 2013
Finished: 16 April 2013
Where did it come from? From Bookmooch
How long has it been on my TBR pile? Since 20 March 2013
Why do I have it? I like contemporary fiction and Rosamunde Pilcher as an author, having read and enjoyed several books by this author in the past.

After years spent living in the United States, Jane returns to the Scottish estate of Elvie, where she had spent a magical childhood. Memories of a lifetime spent at Elvie had always summoned the image of Sinclair to Jane's mind. Sinclair was the rakish man Jane had once dreamed of marrying, but now that she is home, she finds Sinclair to be an entirely different man from the one she had known. His enticing charm now has a purpose, and Jane can no longer trust him...or herself.

I enjoyed this book quite a bit. In my opinion, it was a very easy and pleasant read for me. I didn't think that this was a particularly earth-shattering story, but overall I gave The End of Summer by Rosamunde Pilcher an A!

A! - (90-95%) 

Till we Meet Again, Glow Brightly as Moonlight

Laura Wilson - My Best Friend

30. My Best Friend by Laura Wilson (2001)
Length: 320 pages
Genre: Historical Mystery
Started: 12 April 2013
Finished: 15 April 2013
Where did it come from? From Paperback Swap
How long has it been on my TBR pile? Since 11 April 2013
Why do I have it? I like historical mysteries and had read and enjoyed A Little Death by the same author in the past.

England, 1944: In a time of unparalleled fear, youngsters everywhere sought sanctuary in the magical books of author M. M. Haldane. No danger was ever too great to prevent her hero - Tom Tyler, Boy Detective - from returning safely home for tea. Inside such an idyllic storybook world, the danger was always overcome and good always vanquished evil.

Playing in the woods of a quiet Suffolk village one day, fourteen-year-old Gerald Haxton - the disturbed and unpopular son of the famous children's author - discovers the body of his elder sister Vera buried in a shallow grave. She had been beaten to death with a wooden stake and her boyfriend, a young GI, is hanged for the crime. The discovery of Vera's body is so horrifying for Gerald, that his innocence is lost forever...

England, 1995: As a new generation prepares to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of VE Day, Gerald, who still remains a loner, is terrorized by his memories. Gerald is nearing retirement, desperately lonely and living something of a hermit's life. Obsessed with routine, he still talks to his dead twin brother, Jack. Surrounded by the nostalgic artifacts at the television prop-hire business where he works, he is constantly reminded of the past, and with it, his sister Vera's death.

Gerald eventually finds solace in following twelve-year-old Mel, the daughter of his colleague, home from school every day. To protect her, he says. But when Mel - who bears a striking resemblance to Vera - goes missing one day, all eyes turn accusingly to Gerald.

I really enjoyed reading this book. This was the second book by Laura Wilson that I've read, but it is actually the third book that she has written. I felt so sorry for Gerald - in my opinion, Gerald received rather a raw deal. He was targeted because he was different, but in my opinion, Gerald couldn't or wouldn't have harmed a fly. I give My Best Friend by Laura Wilson an A! 

A! - (90-95%)

Till we Meet Again, Glow Brightly as Moonlight

Celebrate National Library Week - April 14th-20th, 2013!!

Well, hello everyone! :) Since this week is National Library Week, I've decided to talk a little bit about my local library. I live in Loudonville, upstate New York and the library that Mareena and I usually go to is called the William K. Sanford Town Library. This library serves the Town of Colonie - surrounded by the main cities of the Capital District - Schenectady, Albany (where Mareena and I live), and Troy. 

There is always something going on at the library: art shows, book club meetings, kids' storytime, computer and Internet classes, book discussion groups and so many other things that I just can't list them all here. There is also a continuous Library Book Sale called the 'Book Nook Sale' which is always Mareena's and my stopping place during each library visit: paperbacks are .50, oversized paperbacks are .75 (I think), hardcovers are $1.00, CDs, DVDs and audiobooks are between $1.00 and $3.00. I believe that the funds raised by the Library Book Sale go to support the library somehow, I'm just not completely sure in what way. 

Mareena and I try to get to the library as often as we can - Mareena's birthday always warrants a celebratory visit - and we tend to visit the library once every two or three months beyond that particular visit. 

Till we Meet Again, Glow Brightly as Moonlight