The Last Will of Moira Leahy

by Therese Walsh
Enough. Just light enough. Just dark enough. Just perfectly balanced and just enough.
Maeve and Moira were twin girls who lived with their family on the Penobscot. They lived
with loving parents, an adventuring grandfather and good friends and neighbors.

Like so many twins they shared a special closeness, and even a language between just the
two of them. For years they had all that they needed in just themselves in the security of their
family. Time passes. Things change. A mothers well meaning choices came back to haunt them all. One
day, a boy came into their lives and things changed forever.

The story of how Maeve lived after the changes, and what happened to this loving family..
is entrancing, magical at times and filled with sorrow and loneliness. Just for a while.. and
then as they do, things changed. They changed because Maeve found a strength in her she didn't know she had.
She was prodded by her father to step out, step forward and to live. A wise man, he was. He set both of his daughters free.

Read this book. Highly recommended.

Schuyler's Monster

by

Robert Rummel-Hudson

This is a story of loving (and all too human) parents, and an extraordinary child. Rarely do you find a child who has special need described with such humor. There is always love, just as there was in this story, but humor and honesty and passion have equal roles.

I work with children who have special needs. Even though none of them have the same diagnosis as Schuyler, some of the obstacles they face are the same. The most difficult, is always communication. It is what the parents want the most, the children need badly and what is all too often not given enough attention.

This is a story of Schuyler's life, from conception to present day, more or less. The reader learns all about the world she developed in and how she began to grow. We learn what Mom and Dad are like, and how they learned along with their daughter what she needed to be happy and purposeful.

I wish that more of the parents had the gumption of these two, instead of sitting in IEPs and just going with the flow. I wish that more use was made of these communication devices, and not just 10 or 20 minutes during the day. I would like to give a copy of this book to every single family in our school.

( Things would really start hitting the fan, then!)

Well done Schuyler's daddy...! Good job Schuyler's mom. Keep up the good work, because I am sure that there will be more beneficiaries from it than just your amazing little girl.

I highly recommend this book to anyone who has a child, and anyone who does not. I particularly recommend this book to anyone who works with or runs schools for special needs children...or typical children. You are the ones who need to learn to reach for the stars.

of BEES and MIST

by Erick Setiawan


Wiki says : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fable

A fable is a succinct story, in prose or verse, that features animals, plants, inanimate objects, or forces of nature which are anthropomorphized (given human qualities), and that illustrates a moral lesson (a "moral"), which may at the end be expressed explicitly in a pithy maxim.

This story is meant to be a fable, and so it is. An adult fable with adult themes and adult situations. IT is the story of Meridia, a young woman who spent her childhood in a home whose mirrors held images of strangers within them. A home whose stairway was apt to grow or shrink while traveling on it. A home filled with chill, and cold and empty hearts.

It her coming of age story. Something that is accomplished in a small town where anything might happen. She meets Daniel, and her life continues and becomes a life she wouldn't have recognized from her dreams. They battled hardship and hate and his shrewish mother. Her unloving father broke Meridia's heart, and her mother Ravenna's as well. Still, goodness and love grew in Meridia's heart.

The mysterious Hannah, though seldom seen was often vital to the story.

Why Bees and Mists? well, you will see their role as well. One that you wouldn't expect to find in an ordinary story. This though, is not that, not ordinary at all. There is magic and mystery and defiance and most of all there is love.

recommended.

The Angel's Game

by Carlos Ruiz Zafon

This is an all enveloping love story that......no, maybe not. This is a paranormal mystery that will draw you in from the...no, maybe not that either. This is an extraordinary piece of literary fiction, touched by murder, deception and deep friendship. I'm sorry, that isn't quite right either.

None of these things describe this book. All of these things describe this book.

This book is like a fire opal. Hold it up and from each direction, and in different light the color that you see blazing through is different. Also like a fire opal, this story is a gem worth having. It is worth passing on to others , to share the wealth. Perfection!

No, surely not. Nearly all gems have flaws. I read, and even went back to reread some passages, I never lost interest for one moment.

This is the story of a remarkable life. David Martin's life. All of the experiences that fed or sucked away at his soul. The events that broke his heart, or filled it. It is the explanation of how spirit kept him going, and where he landed. Some parts may sound familiar, because who among us has never had a broken heart, or spirit?

I highly recommend this book. I am at a loss to explain it, but I do recommend it

The Mystery of Grace

by Charles De Lint

There is a blurb on this book by Alice Hoffman. She said "Nobody does it better".
I don't usually put much stock in these author blurbs, but I have to say that I agree with this one.
I don't remember how I found Charles De Lint, but I am grateful that I did, because as Ms Hoffman says, nobody does it better.

This is the story of Grace. It is a story of life and love and faith, or the loss of it.
It is a story of friendship and commitment and death. Most of all, it is a story that reminds us, as do all of De Lint's books of the magic within us all.

Grace with her tattoos and her grease and her family, the good and the bad,, is each one of us. Grace is more aptly named than you might think at first look. Grace learns to open her heart wider than she ever believed that she could, and see truth.

This is yet another must read in a long line of must reads by this magical author.

Goldengrove

by Francine Prose

I'd allowed myself to drift into that hushed and watery border zone...

Is an example of the word pictures created by Francine Prose. This is a story of sadness and loss, grief and discovery. A story told in the voice of Nico, the sister left behind.

Nico's family struggles to survive the death of a beloved child. A whimsical, talented and loving girl just beginning to become a woman. The angst and the fear that it could have been prevented if only something were different, or someone had done or not done this or that.

To be honest, this is a story that has been told before, but rarely in such a compelling and beguiling way. I read Goldengrove in one sitting. I had to know how it ended for Nico. It is her story.

The Lace Reader

by Brunonia Barry

Beginning this story is like leaning back into a soft feather bed on a winters night. I am breathless with anticipation as each page ends and I turn to the next. I want more, and I want it now. But also, I dread coming to the end.

I feel the breeze blowing my hair back from my face, and smell that northern sea. There is nothing like it. I watch the bricks of Salem passing under my feet. I am there.

Towner is the main character. Her story is no less compelling or real than those of the others in the book. Eva, May, even Ann one of the more renowned witches in town all have their own equally strong personalities and stories. Mostly, it is about the Whitney family, life in a small town, and the injuries we all suffer as we make our way through life. It is the story of life through the eyes of Sophya, who takes the the name Towner in a desperate attempt to distance herself from things she cannot bear to remember.

May lives on Yellow Dog Island, and her home is a sanctuary for abused women. Emma, her half sister lives there as well. They work the land for food, and they make lace. The Whitney family woman all read lace. It is a family gift, or curse depending on how each woman sees the lace.

Towner is living in California until a call from her brother draws her to her home in Salem. A home only minutes away by boat from Yellow Dog Island. Once she is again face to face with where she spent her childhood, she has to deal with family mysteries both current and in the past. Facing these mysteries, learning to accept the abilities she had to read people, and to see them after they have passed on is a fascinating and intriguing read. No less intriguing is the story of Towner's healing.

Like the most beautiful examples of lace itself, this story is woven, interwoven and no thread is left hanging free. It pulls them all together to create a work of art to be cherished. A piece to look at again and again merely because it exists.

Dorothy On The Rocks

by Barbara Suter

This is a story about Maggie Barlow. At first, Maggie seems to be a self centered and immature woman heading into middle age drinking too much, smoking to much and having promiscuous sex.

Maggie is an entertainer who makes a living doing voice overs and commercials at times. Most often she pays her bills by participating in a children's theater group. The group is made up of down on their luck actors who seem to have outlived their dreams, but not their pain. But as I continued to read, I realized that they had stories. They were survivors. They had lived through loss and hardship, and lived to tell about it, and their stories are worth hearing.

Maggie herself is recovering from a staggering loss. She has been thrown off the track of her life when she loses her great friend and partner, and is struggling to regain some balance.

She finds love, and recognizes that she has friends, good friends. She even has a fairy god-queen. All of whom ultimately help her begin to grow into her life.

Have you found her : a memoir by Janice Erlbaum

Have you found her : a memoir by Janice Erlbaum

early review selection

I hardly know where to begin. I have been holding my breath through the entire last half of the book. I am not sure if I was holding it for Janice, or for Sam.

This is the most emotionally provoking book I have read in a very long time. It reads like a novel, but it is all too real. Each page is filled with compassion, yearning and vulnerability. The author is brutally honest about herself and her feelings, her motives.

To say that I could not put this book down is an understatement. Even now, when I have come to the end of the book, I know that it is not a true ending. How can it be? I think I will always wonder what has become of Sam. Will she always be hovering on the edges of the lives of women who cared enough to bring her into their lives, and truly care for and about her? How many more will there be?

I have been angry with Sam, and felt compassion for her. I have mentally raged at Janice, and wondered why she could not see! And I have understood how she could be drawn in. Most of us want to do good things. We want to be helpful. I feel so much a part of what happened here, due to the remarkable storytelling abilities of this author. Before the end of the day I will have ordered her previous book, Girlbomb from Amazon.

I urge everyone to read this book, in order to be reassured that there are still more good people than bad surrounding us. There is love and selflessness., kindness and generosity. There is hope for us, due to the kinsness of strangers.

Affinity by Sarah Waters

Affinity by Sarah Waters

As always when Waters writes a story, I enjoy it immensely.

Margaret Prior begins visiting a womans prison as a form of therapy. All goes as well as can be expected when a lady visitor spends time with women who are incarcerated for sometimes heinous crimes. Then she meets Selena. Selena is quiet, seemingly shy and withdrawn. She is different from so many of the others. She sees dead people. Selena is a medium. A young woman imprisoned due to misadventure.

The story of how the lives of Selena and Margaret become entwined, is pure compelling Waters. You will not want to miss this one.

The characters are sometimes dark, but always exquisite, as are all of Waters characters. I can never put down a Waters book until I reach the end. I always read them more than once. If endings are important to you, this one is for you.

Tipping the Velvet by Sarah Waters

Tipping the Velvet by Sarah Waters

This is my favorite of Sarah Waters books. Having said that I admit to loving them all. This should not be considered simply lesbian fiction. It is a love story.

It has compelling and believable characters, but so do all of waters books. It draws you in and makes you a part of the story. Waters holds nothing back. All of her emotion is poured into her books, enriching and filling out her characters . We have all been Nancy..all known a Kitty. I could not put this book down.

From her fathers seaside restaurant where she worked shucking oysters, to music halls, to political demonstrations This is a story of Nancy's life and loves, her coming of age and the often difficult road to her destiny. I dampened it with my tears...I read it all over again. After sharing seven years of her life, I just could not walk away from Nan.

An exceptional read. An author not to be taken likely...


I also recommend the DVD. Fantastic!

The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell

The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell

This is by far the best sci-fi novel I have ever read. It has compelling characters, that stay with you long after the story is done. I strongly recommend this for anyone who is interested in good story telling, good research and a well written book.

Anyone who is an avid reader understand how it is to wonder what the characters have been up to while you are away from the book. Such a book is this. Jesuits going into space? Naturally. Political intrigue? Of course. Nothing this writer suggests will seem improbable once you sink into one of the best stories written in this genre in years.

This story revolves around some of the most lovable literary folk I have ever come across. You will laugh, cry and mourn. You will sing and ache and ultimately, I predict, come back and read this one again.

Children of God (Ballantine Reader's Circle) by Mary Doria Russell

Children of God (Ballantine Reader's Circle) by Mary Doria Russell

Sequel to The Sparrow... fantastic read.. somewhat sad..Russell is among the best storytellers I have found.

The Sparrow introduced us to a rich cast of characters who shared a journey that might seem unlikely, but at the hands of this writer became completely plausible. This book takes us into the year following that story, and updates us on the lives of those we came to love in the first novel. While her storytelling is equally as rich in both books, the events of the first book preclude some of the emotional attachments we formed there. A must read for anyone who read The Sparrow, but I am not sure that it can stand alone.