September'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. September's Book of the Month is: 

 Whispers by Belva Plain

Published as: Whispers in April 1993

Publisher: Delacorte Press

Birth Name: Belva Offenberg

Born: 9 October 1915 in New York City, New York
Died: 12 October 2010 in Short Hills, New Jersey

Canonical Name: Belva Plain

Pseudonyms: None

Whispers by Belva Plain was the ninety-first book that I read in 2013. I have had this book on my TBR shelf since August 28, 2010 and this third reading took me three days to finish. Definitely a keeper for me!

Till we Meet Again, Glow Brightly as Moonlight

September'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. September's Book of the Month is: 

 Whispers by Belva Plain

Published as: Whispers in April 1993

Publisher: Delacorte Press

Birth Name: Belva Offenberg

Born: 9 October 1915 in New York City, New York
Died: 12 October 2010 in Short Hills, New Jersey

Canonical Name: Belva Plain

Pseudonyms: None

Whispers by Belva Plain was the ninety-first book that I read in 2013. I have had this book on my TBR shelf since August 28, 2010 and this third reading took me three days to finish. Definitely a keeper for me!

Till we Meet Again, Glow Brightly as Moonlight

Heather Gudenkauf - The Weight of Silence: A Novel

92. The Weight of Silence: A Novel by Heather Gudenkauf (2009)
Length: 373 pages
Genre: Contemporary Fiction
Started: 26 September 2013
Finished: 28 September 2013
Where did it come from? From a Library Book Sale
How long has it been on my TBR pile? Since 20 July 2012
Why do I have it? I like contemporary fiction and Heather Gudenkauf is a new author for me.

It happens quietly one August morning. As the sun rises, and dawn's shimmering light inundates the humid Iowa air, two families awaken to every parent's worst nightmare: their little girls have gone missing during the night. 

Calli Clark is a sweet, gentle dreamer of seven who suffers from selective mutism - a condition brought on by a tragedy that pulled her deep into silence as a toddler. Calli's mother, Antonia, tried to be the best mother she could within the confines of marriage to a mostly absent, often angry husband. Now, though she denies that her husband could be involved in the possible abductions, she fears her decision to stay in her marriage has ultimately cost her more than her daughter's voice.

Petra Gregory is also seven years old; Calli's best friend, her soul mate and her voice. But neither Petra nor Calli has been heard from since their disappearance was discovered. Desperate to find his daughter, Martin Gregory is forced to confront a side of himself he never even knew existed beneath his intellectual, professorial demeanor.

Now these families are tied together by the question of what happened to their children. And the answer is trapped in the silence of unspoken family secrets. 

I found that this book was beautifully written, and the plot was convoluted enough to keep me intrigued throughout the story. I give this book an A+! and will certainly be keeping my eyes open for Heather Gudenkauf's next two books: These Things Hidden and One Breath Away. This was such a wonderful debut, that I'm immediately putting both books on my Wish List.

A+! - (96-100%)

Till we Meet Again, Glow Brightly as Moonlight

Belva Plain - Whispers

Re-read. Whispers by Belva Plain (1993)
Length: 475 pages
Genre: Contemporary Fiction
Originally Read: 1 September 2010
Re-read Finished: 25 September 2013
Where did it come from? Originally from Bookmooch. It was put on my shelf as a book by one of my favorite authors.

I think that I've read this book perhaps three times, so far. The first time was from August 28th to September 1st, 2010. The second time was from November 8th to November 16th, 2011. My third reading of this book was from September 22nd to September 25th, 2013. This book is definitely a keeper for me!

Till we Meet Again, Glow Brightly as Moonlight

Nancy Thayer - Summer Breeze: A Novel

90. Summer Breeze: A Novel by Nancy Thayer (2012)
Length: 303 pages
Genre: Contemporary Fiction
Started: 19 September 2013
Finished: 21 September 2013
Where did it come from? From Bookmooch
How long has it been on my TBR pile? Since 24 June 2013
Why do I have it? I like contemporary fiction and have read and enjoyed several books by this author in the past.

In Summer Breeze: A Novel, Nancy Thayer tells the wonderfully moving story of three women who forge a unique bond of lasting friendship during one sun-drenched summer on New England's Dragonfly Lake. Morgan O'Keefe feels trapped in a gilded cage. True, the thirty-year-old mother had agreed to put her science career on hold in order to raise her young son while her husband pursued his high-powered job. But although Morgan loves many things about staying home with her child, she misses the thrill of working with her colleagues in the lab. She's restless and in dire need of a change. 

Fed up with New York City's hectic pace, Natalie Reynolds takes her aunt's offer to move to the Berkshires and house-sit her fabulous lakeside house for a year. Passionate about applying brush to canvas, Natalie is poised to become the artist that she has always longed to be. But life on Dragonfly Lake is never without surprises, and for a novice swimmer like Natalie, the most welcome surprise of all proves to be the arms of a handsome neighbor pulling her up from the water for a gulp of air. 

When her mother breaks her leg, Bella Barnaby quits her job in Austin and returns home to help out with her large, boisterous family. Among her new duties: manning the counter of the family business, Barnaby's Barn, an outdated shop sorely in need of a makeover. While attractive architect Aaron has designs on her, Bella harbors long held secret dreams of her own. 

Summer on Dragonfly Lake is a season ripe for romance, temptation, and self-discovery as the lives of these three women unexpectedly intertwine. Summer Breeze: A Novel illustrates how the best of friends can offer comfort, infuriate, or even - sometimes - open one's eyes to the astonishing possibilities of life lived in a different way.

I absolutely loved this book. I became completely immersed in the story, and it only took me two days to finish reading it. I definitely give this book an A+! 

A+! - (96-100%)

Till we Meet Again, Glow Brightly as Moonlight

Dan Wakefield - Returning: A Spiritual Journey

89. Returning: A Spiritual Journey by Dan Wakefield (1988)
Length: 250 pages
Genre: Non-Fiction
Started: 13 September 2013
Finished: 18 September 2013
Where did it come from? From a Library Book Sale
How long has it been on my TBR pile? Since 21 November 2001
Why do I have it? I like non-fiction and Dan Wakefield is a new author for me.

Dan Wakefield was a successful writer of novels, non-fiction, and screenplays when he awoke to a private life that was disintegrating around him due to alcohol, depression, and isolation. On a balmy spring morning in Hollywood, a month or so before his forty-eighth birthday, Dan Wakefield woke up literally screaming. His private life had been crumbling for years and alcohol barely numbed the pain.

Those horrifying morning screams drove him back to Boston, his former home, where he changed his entire life. He stopped drinking, started exercising, and discovered, much to his surprise, the power of Christianity. Dan had become an atheist while in college, and did not return to church until 1980 - when he initially heard a Christmas Eve sermon that seemed directed especially at him.

This book is about Dan Wakefield's return to his past life: his boyhood in Indiana, his student years at Columbia University being taught by Mark Van Doren, his bitter disappointment with Freudian psychoanalysis, his sexuality, and his writing career. It is also the story of a spiritual pilgrimage, a courageous and comforting return to faith.

Getting into the flow of the story was slow going for me at first; there were a couple of places during my reading where I thought that the pace was slower than I would have liked, but that could have just been my own experience while reading this book.  Overall, I actually enjoyed this book much more than I thought I would. I give this book a B+! 

B+! - (89-94%)
      
Till we Meet Again, Glow Brightly as Moonlight

Brooke Leimas - The Summer Visitors

88. The Summer Visitors by Brooke Leimas (1980)
Length: 187 pages
Genre: Horror
Started: 11 September 2013
Finished: 13 September 2013
Where did it come from? From Bookmooch 
How long has it been on my TBR pile? Since 15 July 2013
Why do I have it? I like horror and have read and enjoyed The Eighth Day by the same author in the past.

Christian and Leila Chantillie - they had apparently been best friends of her husband Anton's for quite some time before Elizabeth knew him - so when she first learns that the glamorous couple is coming to visit them on Fire Island, New York, Elizabeth Copeland is both slightly surprised, and a little wary about their imminent visit. The Chantillies were coming all the way from France and hadn't seen Anton in four years. Incredibly good-looking, fabulously wealthy, ultra chic, and irresistibly charming to everyone - yet Elizabeth still can't completely dispel her nagging doubts about meeting the Chantilles for the very first time. 

To see them was to be utterly dazzled. To know them was to be infinitely privileged. To be seduced by them was to be damned forever...For their dazzling, seductive beauty concealed such hideous secrets and dark desires, that no one was safe. Least of all, Elizabeth Copeland.

I really enjoyed reading this book. The plot was intriguing, and the horror built in such a way that I was certainly interested to know how the story would end. For me, the story was just the slightest bit anticlimactic, although I would still give this book a definite A!

A! - (90-95%)   
 
Till we Meet Again, Glow Brightly as Moonlight