Where You Left Me

Author: Jennifer Gardner Trulson
Genre: Memoir
Publisher: Simon & Schuster, 2011
Pages: 249
Rating: Highly Recommend

Synopsis: LUCKY—that’s how Jennifer would describe herself. She had a successful law career, met and married the love of her life in Doug, had an apartment in New York City, a house in the Hamptons, two beautiful children, and was still madly in love after nearly seven years of marriage. Jennifer was living the kind of idyllic life that clichés are made of.

Until Doug was killed in the attacks on the World Trade Center, and she became a widow at age thirty-five—a “9/11 widow,” no less, a member of a select group bound by sorrow, of which she wanted no part. Though completely devastated, Jennifer still considered herself blessed. Doug had loved her enough to last a lifetime, and after his sudden death, she was done with the idea of romantic love—fully resigned to being a widowed single mother . . . until a chance encounter with a gregarious stranger changed everything.

An unlikely love story set in the wake of September 11, Where You Left Me is a quintessentially New York story—at once Jennifer’s tribute to the city that gave her everything and proof that second chances are possible.

Review: Heartbreaking, sweet, funny, and uplifting. This is an amazing memoir and a definite must read. 

The Rebel Wife

Author: Taylor M. Polites
Genre: Historical Fiction
Publisher: Simon & Schuster, 2012
Pages: 320
Rating: Do Not Recommend

Synopsis: Brimming with atmosphere and edgy suspense, The Rebel Wife presents a young widow trying to survive in the violent world of Reconstruction Alabama, where the old gentility masks continuing violence fueled by hatred, treachery, and still powerful secrets.

Augusta Branson was born into antebellum Southern nobility during a time of wealth and prosperity, but now she is left standing in the ashes of a broken civilization. When her scalawag husband dies suddenly of a mysterious illness, she must fend for herself and her young son. Slowly she begins to wake to the reality of her new life: her social standing is stained by her marriage; she is alone and unprotected in a community that is being destroyed by racial prejudice and violence; the fortune she thought she would inherit does not exist; and the deadly fever that killed her husband is spreading fast.

Augusta needs someone to trust if she and her son are to escape. As she summons the courage to cross the boundaries of hate, The Rebel Wife presents an unforgettable heroine for our time.

Review: There is so much wrong with this novel - undeveloped characters and at least 100 pages in the middle that could have been (read: should have been) cut out - to start.

For example (this is just one, but there are many instances of this happening), Eli's room was searched about 50 times too many and the reader gets the details of the search each of those 50 times. As an editor / professional writer I wanted to take my red pen to the pages and slash, slash, slash.

Oh, and during reconstruction, servants didn't serve - they hung around eavesdropping and acting in mysterious ways.

I felt like screaming to Augusta, "be you daft woman?" I suspect women were intelligent beings in the 1800s, but you wouldn't know it from the author's portrayal of Augusta. Which, by the way, is a perfectly lovely name but one that the author shorts to "Gus". Why?

I will say that the last 2-3 chapters were fast-moving, action-packed and did end the novel on a high note, but the pain of the prior 22 chapters did not make reading this novel worth it.

The Kirkus Review on B&N.com states, "As for plot, progress is leaden until the final apocalyptic sequence of violence, revenge and just desserts."  I absolutely agree.

There was great potential here, but the author failed to deliver. 

Kindred Spirits

Author: Sarah Strohmeyer
Genre: Fiction
Publisher: Penguin Group, 2012
Pages: 336
Rating: Recommend

Synopsis: After one fateful PTA meeting, four young mothers—Lynne, Mary Kay, Beth, and Carol—discovered they had more in common than they ever thought possible. Meeting once a month, the women would share laughs and secrets, toasting to their blossoming friendship with the clink of their sacred martini glasses.

Two years later, when Lynne passes away suddenly, she leaves behind one simple request: that her old friends sort through her belongings. The women reunite to rummage through her closets, and buried deep within Lynne’s lingerie drawer, they find an envelope addressed to their little society…

Inside is a letter that reveals Lynn’s shocking secret and last wish, sending the women on a life-changing journey that will reveal to them that nothing is more powerful than the will of a true girlfriend—and a good, strong martini.

Review: I wasn't "wow"ed by this novel. It wasn't a story that hasn't been told before. There was nothing written about friendships and relationships that hasn't been said before. That said, Sarah Strohmeyer has a companionable writing style and solid storytelling skills. 

Likeable story, but nothing noteworthy about it.

Dream New Dreams

Author: Jai Pausch
Genre: Memoir
Publisher: Crown Publishing Group, 2012
Pages: 240
Rating: Highly Recommend

Synopsis: "Jai is such a giver that she often forgets to take care of herself," Randy Pausch wrote about his wife. "Jai knows that she’ll have to give herself permission to make herself a priority."

     In Dream New Dreams, Jai Pausch shares her own story for the first time: her emotional journey from wife and mother to full-time caregiver, shuttling between her three young children and Randy’s bedside as he sought treatment far from home; and then to widow and single parent, fighting to preserve a sense of stability for her family, while coping with her own grief and the challenges of running a household without a partner.

 Jai paints a vivid, honest portrait of a vital, challenging relationship between two strong people who faced a grim prognosis and the self-sacrificing decisions it often required. As she faced life without the husband she called her “magic man,” Jai learned to make herself a priority to create a new life of hope and happiness—as she puts it, to “feel a spark of my own magic beginning to flicker.”

     Dream New Dreams is a powerful story of grief, healing, and newfound independence. With advice artfully woven into an intimate, beautifully written narrative, Jai’s story will inspire not only the legions of readers who made The Last Lecture a bestseller, but also those who are embarking on a journey of loss and renewal themselves.

Review: I loved Randy Pausch's Last Lecture, so I was looking forward to reading this one as well. Written by his wife this is the story of his diagnosis and death from her perspective as wife, mother, and caregiver.

Jai Pausch comes across as a likeable, intelligent woman who, even before meeting Randy, went through a divorce and some tough times. Certainly she is no slouch. Because of Randy though she has financial means that most of us in her situation would not. She does not have to work full-time, although she is very busy with speaking engagements and is on the board for a pancreatic cancer institution. At times I felt myself getting frustrated with her complaints about how stretched she was when in fact, she had more resources than I would ever have in the same situation.

That said, this is an excellent read and plenty of good insight.

This Life is in Your Hands

Author: Melissa Coleman
Genre: Memoir
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers, 2012
Pages: 352
Rating: Highly Recommend

Synopsis: A true story, both tragic and redemptive, This Life Is in Your Hands tells of the quest to make a good life, the role of fate, and the power of forgiveness.

In the fall of 1968, Melissa Coleman's parents pack their VW truck and set out to forge a new existence on a rugged coastal homestead. Inspired by Helen and Scott Nearing, authors of the homesteading bible Living the Good Life, Eliot and Sue build their own home by hand, live off the crops they grow, and establish a happy family with Melissa and her two sisters. They also attract national media and become icons of the back-to-the-land farming movement, but the pursuit of a purer, simpler life comes at a price. In the wake of a tragic accident, idealism gives way to human frailty, and by the fall of 1978, Greenwood Farm is abandoned. The search to understand what happened is at the heart of this luminous, heartbreaking, and ultimately redemptive memoir.

Review: Wonderfully written this memoir is fascinating and heartbreaking at the same time. Choosing to live in such a primitive manner does not sound like fun to me, but I'm a moth to flame to read about it.

The author is able to make farming actually sound rewarding. I'm not exactly nature-girl, but this memoir has me thinking that maybe I'd like to plant a little garden next summer.

This is a memoir that will stay with me for a long, long time.

Off Balance

Author: Dominique Moceanu
Genre: Memoir
Publisher: Touchstone, 2012
Pages: 256
Rating: Recommend

Synopsis: At fourteen years old, Dominique Moceanu was the youngest member of the 1996 U.S. Women’s Olympic Gymnastics team, the first and only American women’s team to take gold at the Olympics. Her pixyish appearance and ferocious competitive drive quickly earned her the status of media darling. But behind the fame, the flawless floor routines, and the million-dollar smile, her life was a series of challenges and hardships.

Off Balance vividly delineates each of the dominating characters who contributed to Moceanu’s rise to the top, from her stubborn father and long-suffering mother to her mercurial coach, Bela Karolyi. Here, Moceanu finally shares the haunting stories of competition, her years of hiding injuries and pain out of fear of retribution from her coaches, and how she hit rock bottom after a public battle with her parents.

But medals, murder plots, drugs, and daring escapes aside (all of which figure into Moceanu’s incredible journey), the most unique aspect of her life is the family secret that Moceanu discovers, opening a new and unexpected chapter in her adult life. A mysterious letter from a stranger reveals that she has a second sister—born with a physical disability and given away at birth—who has nonetheless followed in Moceanu’s footsteps in an astonishing way.

A multilayered memoir that transcends the world of sports, Off Balance will touch anyone who has ever dared to dream of a better life.

Review: I imagine this book raised one or two eyebrows in the world of US Gymnastics, but what a story. You watch these girls perform on a stage such as the Olympics and don't imagine anything but a fairytale life for each of them.

Then you grow up and realize no one's life is perfect. We all have our crosses to bear.

Although repetitive at times, Moceanu does a good job of letting the reader into her life. Time, distance, and maturity can do wonders for the soul and I'm sure in some way writing this memoir was healing and a kind of therapy.

Gone Girl

Author: Gillian Flynn
Genre: Fiction, Thriller
Publisher: Crown Publishing Group, 2012
Pages: 432
Rating: Highly Recommend

Synopsis: Marriage can be a real killer. 
   

One of the most critically acclaimed suspense writers of our time, New York Times bestseller Gillian Flynn takes that statement to its darkest place in this unputdownable masterpiece about a marriage gone terribly, terribly wrong. The Chicago Tribune proclaimed that her work “draws you in and keeps you reading with the force of a pure but nasty addiction.” Gone Girl’s toxic mix of sharp-edged wit and deliciously chilling prose creates a nerve-fraying thriller that confounds you at every turn. 
  

On a warm summer morning in North Carthage, Missouri, it is Nick and Amy Dunne’s fifth wedding anniversary. Presents are being wrapped and reservations are being made when Nick’s clever and beautiful wife disappears from their rented McMansion on the Mississippi River. Husband-of-the-Year Nick isn’t doing himself any favors with cringe-worthy daydreams about the slope and shape of his wife’s head, but passages from Amy's diary reveal the alpha-girl perfectionist could have put anyone dangerously on edge. Under mounting pressure from the police and the media—as well as Amy’s fiercely doting parents—the town golden boy parades an endless series of lies, deceits, and inappropriate behavior. Nick is oddly evasive, and he’s definitely bitter—but is he really a killer? 
  

 As the cops close in, every couple in town is soon wondering how well they know the one that they love. With his twin sister, Margo, at his side, Nick stands by his innocence. Trouble is, if Nick didn’t do it, where is that beautiful wife? And what was in that silvery gift box hidden in the back of her bedroom closet?
   

With her razor-sharp writing and trademark psychological insight, Gillian Flynn delivers a fast-paced, devilishly dark, and ingeniously plotted thriller that confirms her status as one of the hottest writers around.

Review: I don't know what it takes to be able to write a novel like this. I thought I had pieces figured out and then I didn't. Twisted and dark, but oh so good too.

I hope there isn't a sequel. I'd be unable to avoid reading it and it could only end badly.

Interesting to note - on my 5th wedding anniversary I told my ex I was leaving. That's as juicy as it gets.

Calico Joe

Author: John GrishamGenre: Fiction
Publisher: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, 2012
Pages: 208
Rating: Recommend

Synopsis: Whatever happened to Calico Joe?

 It began quietly enough with a pulled hamstring. The first baseman for the Cubs AAA affiliate in Wichita went down as he rounded third and headed for home. The next day, Jim Hickman, the first baseman for the Cubs, injured his back. The team suddenly needed someone to play first, so they reached down to their AA club in Midland, Texas, and called up a twenty-one-year-old named Joe Castle. He was the hottest player in AA and creating a buzz.
 
In the summer of 1973 Joe Castle was the boy wonder of baseball, the greatest rookie anyone had ever seen.  The kid from Calico Rock, Arkansas dazzled Cub fans as he hit home run after home run, politely tipping his hat to the crowd as he shattered all rookie records.
 
Calico Joe quickly became the idol of every baseball fan in America, including Paul Tracey, the young son of a hard-partying and hard-throwing Mets pitcher. On the day that Warren Tracey finally faced Calico Joe, Paul was in the stands, rooting for his idol but also for his Dad. Then Warren threw a fastball that would change their lives forever…
 
In John Grisham’s new novel the baseball is thrilling, but it’s what happens off the field that makes Calico Joe a classic.

Review: In keeping with the theme of this summer, I decided to read a book about baseball. I've been to a Pirates, Cardinals, and Indians game, all on each of the team's home turf. It's been so much fun, and when I saw John Grisham wrote a novel about the game how could I resist?

This was good, not great. The father / son storyline was more interesting to me than the all the baseball history so it began slow, but ended on a high note. Grisham could have spent more time developing the main character and his father, but it was solid enough.

A Year and Six Seconds

Author: Isabel Gillies
Genre: Memoir
Publisher: Voice, 2011
Pages: 256
Rating: Recommend

Synopsis: A Year and Six Seconds opens on the winter day Isabel Gillies arrives in Manhattan, two young sons in tow, after her husband has left her; she's moving back in with her parents until she can figure out what to do next.In scene after sweet, hilarious scene, Gillies exposes her attempts to feel strong and lovable and to cross items off a staggering to-do list that includes: break down only in front of best friend, not in front of children; get along with parents in tight quarters; find preschool spot for son mid-school-year in Manhattan; receive one great, romantic kiss. She makes lists, she dates, she cries; she and her whole crowded family get the flu; then, just when Gillies least expects it, she falls in love. A Year and Six Seconds is a buoyant, true romantic comedy with a universal human undercurrent reminding us that we can all struggle and stumble, but somehow come out just fine on the other side.

Review: I read Happens Every Day shortly after filing for divorce from my ex-husband and thoroughly enjoyed it. A Year and Six Seconds, while very good, was not exactly what I expected. I wanted to know more about the "after" and not so much about recovering from a divorce.

That said, there were a couple lines that jumped out at me:

• Everyone has value; you just have to know what to take away.
• Finding love might be more about being willing than ready.

I'm in a serious relationship now too - two years after leaving my ex. Sometimes I wonder if it's too soon to be talking about marriage and starting over, but like Isabel points out it's a leap of faith no matter when you do it and when it's right, it's right. I know my first marriage was very very wrong. Time has given me ample opportunity to look back and see the problems that should have been so obvious, but weren't to my 20 something self.

If I do this again, I am in a much better place and not so naive. I've suffered enough because of bad decisions in the past. Maybe this is my reward.