52 Books 52 Weeks - Books from Jaclyn

Jaclyn has been following our challenge.  She shared two books she just finished.

Phantom by Jo Nesbo


In Nesbo's deeply moving seventh Harry Hole mystery, Harry left Oslo again for Hong Kong--fleeing the traumas of life as a cop--he thought he was there for good. But then the unthinkable happened. The son of the woman he loved, lost, and still loves is arrested for murder: Oleg, the boy Harry helped raise but couldn't help deserting when he fled. Harry has come back to prove that Oleg is not a killer. Barred from rejoining the police force, he sets out on a solitary, increasingly dangerous investigation that takes him deep into the world of the most virulent drug to ever hit the streets of Oslo (and the careers of some of the city's highest officials), and into the maze of his own past, where he will find the wrenching truth that finally matters to Oleg, and to himself.  ~ from the Publisher

The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson

In this epic, beautifully written masterwork, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Isabel Wilkerson chronicles one of the great untold stories of American history: the decades-long migration of black citizens who fled the South for northern and western cities, in search of a better life.

From 1915 to 1970, this exodus of almost six million people changed the face of America. Wilkerson compares this epic migration to the migrations of other peoples in history. She interviewed more than a thousand people, and gained access to new data and official records, to write this definitive and vividly dramatic account of how these American journeys unfolded, altering our cities, our country, and ourselves. ~ from the Publisher

52 Books 52 Weeks / Week Ending February 18

THE DINNER  by Herman Koch

There's been a lot of buzz about THE DINNER.  It  may be one of the most talked about books this year, possibly one of the most polarizing, and definitely one for book clubs.  From the library staff: one thumbs up, one thumbs down. 

"Already a runaway hit throughout Europe, boasting more than a million copies sold, Koch's sixth novel arrives stateside, giving readers here a chance to mull over some rather meaty moral quandaries. But not so fast. First, Koch has a few false paths to lead us down. The story starts off casually and unassumingly with a dinner between two brothers, one running for prime minister of the Netherlands, along with their wives at one of Amsterdam's finest establishments. The other brother, as narrator, sharply ridicules every absurd element of the night to great effect. But just as everything settles in, Koch pivots, and these pointed laughs quickly turn to discussion about their teenage boys and something they've done. And it's at this point when readers will feel two distinct ideologies forming and will face the novel's vital question: which position to side with?...."

~ Booklist, copyright 2012, American Library Association.

More from Melanie

Thank you, Melanie, for sharing these two powerful books!

 HATE LIST by Jennifer Brown

 "Last night, I finished "Hate List" by Jennifer Brown. This story is about a high school shooting, and therefore may be too soon to read for some. I did find it incredibly sad, and definitely teared up a few times. It is told from the point of view of Valerie, who was the girlfriend of the shooter. She had begun the 'Hate list', a notebook of names of all the people who made her life miserable. It was never intended to become a hit list, but that's how her boyfriend Nick ultimately chose to use it. And that day, Valerie was he last person he shot before he turned the gun on himself. Alternating chapters between the day of the shooting and many months later, Valerie takes the reader on the difficult journey of putting her life back together and coming to terms with what her boyfriend did. While it is a very sensitive subject right now, I do recommend this book. I found it to be thought-provoking, real and touching."

 
 EVERY YOU, EVERY ME by David Levithan

"This is the second I've read by Levithan, and I really enjoyed it. It's about a teenager named Evan who is being harassed and maybe even stalked by someone who blames him for the loss of his best friend, Ariel. The writing style in this one is really unique, with about a third of the text printed in strike through, as is it is a rough draft of his thoughts. Sounds weird I'm sure, but it worked brilliantly. Another one I'd recommend! He's just a talented author, I'm willing to bet all his books are wonderful."

Recommended by Melanie

"This is book 2 in the Birthright Trilogy, the follow-up to "All These Things I've Done." I loved this one as much as the first! This one picks up I think 3 months after the end of the first, and wastes no time roping you right back in to Anya's story as she struggles to (among other things) protect what's left of her family, no matter the price. Another that I highly recommend :)"

Thanks, Melanie!
 
BECAUSE IT IS MY BLOOD by Gabrielle Zevin

"In this sequel to All These Things I've Don, Anya Balanchine's life becomes very complicated not long after she is released from a prison located near a future Manhattan. In her continued attempts to protect her siblings, manage her family's standing in the mafia world of black-market chocolate, and plan her future, the teen finds herself in Mexico where she sees the cacao business from a different angle. Here she learns about the healing powers of chocolate and its rich folkloric tradition, causing her to wonder why it was outlawed and if it were possible that chocolate isn't dangerous, or even unhealthy. Anya's on-again, off-again romance with Win Delacroix persists in spite of numerous obstacles, including her rocky relationship with his District Attorney father. Threatened by her competitors in the criminal world, she is forced to return quickly to New York to intervene in her family's affairs. Anya finally finds a way to legitimize her family's longstanding ties to chocolate..."  

Nora G. Murphy, Flintridge Sacred Heart Academy, LaCanada-Flintridge, CAα(c) Copyright 2011. Library Journals LLC

Recommended by Jan

 

One of the exciting aspects of reading is losing yourself in different worlds.  Two titles that Jan recently finished took her into the fictional world of a family living in modern day Korea, and into the Depression-era childhood in the Bronx experienced by a young Mary Higgins Clark, now a bestselling author.

Thank  you Jan, for sharing these with us!

PLEASE LOOK AFTER MOM by Kyung-Sook Shin


When sixty-nine-year-old So-nyo is separated from her husband among the crowds of the Seoul subway station, her family begins a desperate search to find her. Yet as long-held secrets and private sorrows begin to reveal themselves, they are forced to wonder: how well did they actually know the woman they called Mom?

Told through the piercing voices and urgent perspectives of a daughter, son, husband, and mother, Please Look After Mom is at once an authentic picture of contemporary life in Korea and a universal story of family love.

Kyung-Sook Shin is one of Korea's best known authors, and the first Korean and the first woman to win the Man Asian Literary Prize

KITCHEN PRIVILEGES: A MEMOIR by Mary Higgins Clark

"Even as a young girl, growing up in the Bronx, Mary Higgins Clark knew she wanted to be a writer, The gift of storytelling was a part of her Irish ancestry, so it followed naturally that she would later use her sharp eye, keen intelligence, and inquisitive nature to create stories.

Along with all Americans, citizens of the Bronx suffered during the Depression. So when Mary's father died, her mother opened the family home to boarders and placed a discreet sign next to the front door that read, "Furnished Rooms. Kitchen Privileges."

The family's struggle to make ends meet; her days as a scholarship student in an exclusive girls academy; the death of her beloved older brother in World War II; her marriage to Warren Clark; writing stories at the kitchen table; finally selling the first one for one hundred dollars, after six years and forty rejections -- all these experiences figure into Kitchen Privileges."  - From the publisher

52 Books 52 Weeks / Week Ending February 11, 2013

Nemo or Charlotte or The Blizzard of 2013

If you weren't shoveling snow or baking cookies, you might have been doing what I spent a lot of time doing--sitting in front of a hot fire, snuggled in a warm sweater, a cat or dog at your side, reading.  I finished a few books, and started a few others that didn't catch me.  How about you?  What did you read?  Currently I'm immersed in COVER OF SNOW: A Novel by Jenny Milchman.  How could you not be, with that title?





I  read:    

Three Days and Still Househound

Nemo struck!  What are you reading in between trying to shovel out and trying to get warm?  I finished WAITING by Ha Jin, and 15 SECONDS by Andrew Gross, and am reading FRIENDKEEPING by Julie Klam. 

 

52 Books 52 Weeks - Share Your Reading With Us!

Did you read anything interesting this week?  Here are some of the books from our readers:

52 Books 52 Weeks: Week Ending February 4

THE GOOD HOUSE by Ann Leary    

Hildy Good is a successful realtor in Wendover, the little Massachusetts town where she's lived her entire life. Hildy has lived her whole life in Wendover, Massachusetts, an historic town on Boston's North Shore. One of her ancestors was one of the first women hanged for witchcraft during the Salem trials, some  women in her family have claimed to have a psychic gift, and many think Hildy can read minds, which she says is nonsense, she's just really good at reading people.

However, Hildy has a drinking problem, and recently her two daughters staged an intervention and sent her to rehab. Now she feels awkward at parties where everyone drinks, so she doesn't, at least not until she's back home and can climb down to her cellar with her dogs and drink a glass or two, or a bottle or two as time goes on. She doesn't see anything wrong with that until she starts having blackouts again, and can't remember what she's done or where she's gone the night before. She develops a friendship, and finds a nonjudgmental drinking partner with Rebecca, new in town, married, wealthy and quickly involved in an affair with a local psychiatrist, which Hildy becomes privy to after doing a reading for Rebecca.  Hildy also becomes involved with an old flame, the town's garbageman, who's a bit of a miser, but also quite wealthy, who cares deeply for Hildy.

Great story, great characters and some wicked plot twists. Hildy isn't always easy to love, but she grows on you and you come to understand why she does what she does.  You may not always like her, but you grow to love her and hope for the best for her.  Ann Leary captures her alcoholic essence, and small town New England life perfectly.

Anyone enjoying Superbowl Sunday with a book?

 If so, what are you reading, and what do you think of it?

 

Brian Malow, Earth's Premier Science Comedian  enjoys some seasonal reading.