Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford

This was our January Valley Book Club selection, and I think everyone in the club would say they thoroughly enjoyed it. It tells of the long-time love and hardships of two people, one Chinese and one Japanese, both during the time right after the bombing of Pearl Harbor and in the present day.

Henry Lee was born Chinese in America to a domineering, old-fashioned father and a helpless, traditonal mother. Keiko Okabe was born Japanese in America to parents who spoke only English and cherished their new country. Henry and Keiko become friends, and then more than friends, during their time at an all-white school. When all of the Janpanese are forced to move and live in "relocation camps" and Keiko is one of them, Henry struggles with his love of family, his love of country, and his undying first love of Keiko.

Will circumstances tear them apart or pull them together? This is the question that drives this powerful story home. While the book is a bit on the sticky sweet side for me, it was a quick, enjoyable read that led to some excellent discussion about the war and our nation's prejudices, both in the past and today. Check it out, and let me know what YOU think!

I apologize for being so behind on posting. So, it's been a little while since I read this beautiful historical piece by one of my favorite authors, Alice Hoffman. 

Based on historical events in 70 C.E., The Dovekeepers is the story of four extraordinary women who much fight against their circumstaces to survive after escaping different kinds of persecution only to come together in a place called Masada. This place is a stronghold that evenually comes under seige by the Romans.  Their loves, secrets, and perseverance in the wake of much adversity makes this tale a remarkable work about the strength of women.

If you enjoyed books like my favorites, The Red Tent by Anita Diamont or Pope Joan by Donna Cross, then you will love The Dovekeepers.

Sarah's Key by Tatiana deSosnay

This historical novel has been on book club reading lists all over the country, and I was so excited to have it on our list. The beautiful writing and intertwing historical stories make it easy to see why readers everywhere are talking about this book.

The present day story is about an American journalist in Paris who, through her research, discovers that her own apartment used to be the home of a Jewish family who were involved in the French "round-up" of Jews during WWII. In this particular family were a young girl named Sarah and her even youger brother named Michel.

It is Sarah's heartbreaking and unbelievable story that drives Julia not only to find out the truth and remind the public of past atrocities, but also to find her true self-as a wife and a mother.

For me this book hit home and made me think about many issues in our lives today - from motherhood in middle age to how we often compromise our values and ethics in order to protect a way of life. The tragedy of Sarah's life is a hard thing to read and contemplate when we know that although the story is fiction, the context was absolutely real. I hope hat the old adage is true: that by learning from the past, we can prevent it from happening again.Check this one out for a thought-provoking, enjoyable read.

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot

I have heard so much about this nonfiction title and was ecstatic that our Valley Book Club picked it for its October discussion. It is what people now refer to as "narrative nonfiction" which to me means nonfiction that reads like a novel. Or in other words, nonfiction that I can read, understand, and even enjoy. And enjoy it I did!

Henrietta Lacks was a poor, black woman who was treated for cervical cancer in the 1950's at Johns Hopkins hospital. The cancer spread rapidly, possibly because her cheating husband was constantly giving her one venereal disease after another. While treating her, a doctor at Johns Hopkins took a cutting from one of her tumors and put it in a petri dish and gave it to a scientist who was obsessed with finding cells that would continue to grow outside the body. These cells became HeLa cells, which did live outside of Henrietta and whose "offspring" are still being used in science today. The funny thing was, no one told Henrietta or her family that those cells were taken, and no one told them after they had reproduced by the millions. No one told them after these cells helped to cure diseases like polio. No one told them until some writers began to question who the cell donor was and began to dig into Henrietta's family. But none were successful until Rebecca Skloot.

Not only do we have a wonderful story of science and research here, but we also get a vivid historical story of Henrietta's world as a wife, mother, and woman. Skloot has woven the intricate details of cell duplication and reproduction along with the sorrows and harsh realities of cancer, poverty, discrimination, and struggles with faith. These are all rolled into a fascinating true tale of the power of one: one woman gave us what no one else could at the time, and it's changed the world and helped millions of people. A powerful story of survival even in death.

Don't miss this one - put it on your list just as the Valley Book Club has. And PLEASE post your comments so I can share them with our club!

Children and Fire by Ursula Hegi

I haven't heard anything about Ursula Hegi for a very long time, and so I was surprised and excited to see her new book. Hegi's Stones from the River is one of my favorites from back when I read every single Oprah Book Club pick about 15 years ago, and I've read everything I can by her. But it is Hegi's stories about World War II that are so memorable that their characters, like Trudi Montag, will live in your mind forever.

Children and Fire is the story of a school teacher named Thekla Jansen during the early days of Hitler's Third Reich. Thekla has replaced a Jewish teacher who she greatly admires and loves, but she struggles with her own unprejudiced nature and her patriotism and love of Germany during this difficult time. She so wants to impart to her boys what it means to be a good person while having to be very careful about what she says and who she says it to and watching books burn on the city streets. In addition to this struggle, Thekla's family upbringing come into play, an upbringing that in the end could prove dangerous.

I loved this book for it beautiful writing style and realistically flawed characters and the terrible history they cannot escape. I did find the movement of the book's chapters, which alternate from 1934 and Thekla's teaching days to the past and her mother's early life, very distracting at first, but I got used to it. I am always looking for books that teach me something new or allow me into the perspective of people with viewpoints which oppose mine. This book is a wonderful remembrance of what can happen when we trust leaders blindly and think we can allow ourselves to compromise our basic humanity just a little at a time.

I hope you'll pick this one up and then read Hegi's Stones from the River, if you haven't already. You'll never forget it. Also don't forget to post and let me know what you think!

State of Wonder by Ann Patchett

Ann Patchett is one of my favorite authors. I can still remember many wonderful details from her book Bel Canto, and I read it almost 10 years ago. That's an amazingly memorable book. So I was excited to pick up Patchett's new one and find out if it had the same magical feel and vivid details that Bel Canto did.

State of Wonder is the story of Marina Singh, a research scientist quietly studying lipids with her lab partner Anders Eckman. She is farily content with her life, even though she is midde-aged, single, childless, and sleeping with the boss. But then the boss sends Eckman into the Amazon jungle to find out the progress of a research project funded by the drug company she works for. The project involves the life-long fertility of a Brazilian tribe and the doctor, Annick Swenson, who changed Marina's life forever without even knowing it. When Eckman fails to find out the needed information, Marina's boss and boyfriend sends her to the jungle as well, forcing her into a world full of danger, uncertainty, oppressive heat, and strange customs. Marina must find out the research's secrets, deal with the doctor who changed her career, find out the details of Eckman's "failure", and keep herself alive despite swarms of insects, huge snakes, threat of malaria, and other jungle pleasures.

I loved this book for its believable characters, wonderful details of the Amazon, and its extremely interesting medical research premise. Could it be possible for a 70-year-old woman to give birth? Why would she want to? Are medical breakthroughs really found in the way that Dr. Swenson employs deep in the jungle? If we just found the right bark of the right tree and ate it in just the right way, could we cure cancer someday? It doesn't seem possible; it is a novel after all. And yet it seems completely possible, because I am completely hopeful. Anyway, it all completely fascinated me, and I'll look forward to Patchett's next memorable novel, hopefully very soon.

Portrait of a Spy by Daniel Silva

What can I say about someone who has perfected the spy thriller? What can I say about the perfect spy character, Gabriel Allon? The one thing I can say is that Daniel Silva has done it again with a timely, scary, thought-provoking speed ride of a book in Portrait of a Spy.

I've been reading a lot in this genre lately, and while I've come across a lot of them that I like, there is something about Silva's Gabriel Allon that is so interesting I just don't get tired of him. Yes, this is a series of books with the same basic premise of CIA and MI5 and Israel's secret service all fighting against jihadist terrorists. Yes, they have the same basic set of characters. But for some reason, Allon stands out and keeps it all going. He is part spy, part husband, part art restorer, part linguist, part friend, and all hero.

In this book, Allon is retired until he and is wife are taking a leisurely stroll in Covent Garden in London, and Allon comes across a man who is, to his trained spy's eye, a terrorist bomb threat. The outcome of the incident puts in motion a scenario that can only be stopped by trained, seasoned professionals like Allon and his crew. So he is forced to come out of retirement and bring down the kingpin of a new terrorist cell, who is hidden in plain sight. He again employs the help of a civilian who has the right contacts, but this ploy always makes Gabriel very nervous. Can he pull it off once again and take down the cell without getting any innocents killed in the process? You'll have to read to find out, but it won't take you long, because once you start on this roller coaster, you won't  be able to stop.

Iron House by John Hart

Hart's novel The Last Child was one of my favorite reads of last year, so I couldn't wait to pick this one up, and I have to tell you, I literally could not put it down. I read this one in two days, which in the exta busy summer months just seems impossible to me, but it's true. The writing is so wonderfully rich and the story so exciting, that every chapter just kept me wanting to find out what would happen next.

Iron House is an orphange where the two brothers in the book, Julian and Michael, grew up after being abandoned and left for dead in a freezing river in wintertime. Julian is the weaker of the two and is constantly harrassed by older boys who are inexplicably cruel. Michael is his guardian until a terrible incident forces Michael to run away, just when a rich Senator's wife has come to adopt them. So Julian is given a life of privilege and Michael is forced into the world of organized crime by a boss who finds and "saves" him, training him to be an extremely skilled enforcer.

But eventually, Michael finds a woman who makes him see a future filled with love and family instead of guns and hatred, and he wants out. He is granted immunity by his adopted father, but when the crime boss dies, Michael is left to flee the others who are after the don's millions. The rest is an exciting game of cat and mouse with some disturbing family drama thrown in to make it more interesting. Hart's characters are wonderfully real and dynamic, and the action and drama are perfectly paced so that at every turn the reader is pulled deeper into the story. It is not a book for the squeamish, however, as many scenes are violent and at times, gruesome. But when it's a book about organized crime and childhood abuse, there can be no other realistic way to play it.

So if you like thrillers that make you turn page after page in the wee hours of the night, this is the one for you this summer. Give it a try and let me know if you love it as much as I did!

City of Bones by Cassandra Clare

I like to keep up on the YA scene as much as I can, and so I thought I'd try the first in this series that has been wildly popular at the library. Fans of Twilight gravitate toward these fantasy books and always give rave reviews, and now I know why.

Clary Fray is just a girl (or so she thinks) living with her mother in New York City, hanging with her best friend Simon and working her way through a normal teenage life including conflicts about boys and her mother. But a chance encounter with a demon and some beings called Shadlowhunters in a local club change her life forever. The fact that Clary can see these supernatural beings while others cannot, is the first clue that she is different, and her quest to learn about this new world and how she fits in becomes the stage for some exciting supernatural conflict.

There are many interesting facets of Clare's new world that I found fascinating and different from other fantasy novels. These aspects make the story realistic and fantastic all at once, and get me to lose myself in their world. For instance, Clary discovers from Jace and his family that Shadowhunters are the beings who keep the human world safe from demons of the underworld. Demons are supposed to remain "down below" per an agreement they have with the higher powers. In the middle world are creatures like vampires and werewolves, fairies and witches, who are allowed to live in the human world as long as they don't bother the humans too much (or in other words, kill them.)The story of City of Bones revolves around a former Shadowhunter turned bad named Valentine who threatens to mess up this tenuous balance between worlds. Clary and Jace fight their way through hordes of demons in order to find out the truth about their own powers and heritage, giving the reader lots to get lost in: love, friendship, physical battle, and struggles of family loyalty. A rich world to be sure.

So, if you're ready to get lost in a good story of good vs. evil, with cool, realistic yet fantastical characters for some exciting summer fun, then pick up this set of novels right away. Let me know what you think!

The Night Journal by Elizabeth Crook

I've been wanting the to read this book for a long time because it sounded like it would be right up my alley. It took me a while to get through, mostly because the summer is super busy for me, but I did get bogged down a little in the details. The story, however, is wonderful and well worth the read.

Meg Mabry is an unmarried, soon-to-be-middle aged engineer who also takes care of her aging grandmother, known as Bassie. Bassie is responsible for publishing some journals that her own mother wrote while living in the western frontier. There has always been an odd tension, love/hate bond between Meg and Bassie that makes their lives full of conflict, and this relationship is further strained by Bassie's insistence that they travel to New Mexico to exhume the bones of Bassie's mother's dogs. This seemingly crazy request leads them both on a journey of discovery about love, their heritage, and the ties that bind lives together for all of history.

Interspersed with segments that are supposed to be the real journals of Hannah Bass, the narrative is rich with detail. I enjoyed the history of the early west and learned something about the mixing of Mexican and Anglo cultures during that time. There is also a nice romance element to the book that is compelling and realistic, but somehow very depressing to me at the same time, and I was a bit disappointed in Meg at the end, but I'm not sure why. I found all the detail in the book enjoyable, yet some may find it slow-moving. It is a book that makes you think about history, life, and relationships, giving the reader much to think about even after the last page.