The Good House

Author: Ann Leary
Genre: Fiction
Publisher: Macmillan Audio, 2013 (print book: St. Martin's Press, 2013)
Pages: 8 discs (print book: 304)
Rating: Highly Recommend

Synopsis: Ann Leary's The Good House tells the story of Hildy Good, who lives in a small town on Boston's North Shore. Hildy is a successful real-estate broker, good neighbor, mother, and grandmother. She's also a raging alcoholic. Hildy's family held an intervention for her about a year before this story takes place—"if they invite you over for dinner, and it's not a major holiday," she advises "run for your life"—and now she feels lonely and unjustly persecuted. She has also fooled herself into thinking that moderation is the key to her drinking problem.

As if battling her demons wasn't enough to keep her busy, Hildy soon finds herself embroiled in the underbelly of her New England town, a craggy little place that harbors secrets. There's a scandal, some mysticism, babies, old houses, drinking, and desire—and a love story between two craggy sixty-somethings that's as real and sexy as you get. An exceptional novel that is at turns hilarious and sobering, The Good House asks the question: What will it take to keep Hildy Good from drinking? For good.

Review: My coworker came in one day all excited about this book, and told me not only did I have to read it, she highly (strongly) recommended the audio version. She said the narrator was excellent, and now, having listened to this, I wholeheartedly agree. The novel is well-written, and it's quite an entertaining (and at times, sobering) story, but Mary Beth Hurt (the narrator) takes it to a whole new level.

Even though all of my books come from the library, this one doesn't seem to fit any of the other criteria on my 2016 Reading Challenge. I'm counting it toward that one.

Where the Sidewalk Ends

Author: Shel Silverstein
Genre: Poetry
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishing, 1974
Pages: 183
Rating: Recommend

Synopsis: Where the sidewalk ends, Shel Silverstein's world begins. There you'll meet a boy who turns into a TV set and a girl who eats a whale. The Unicorn and the Bloath live there, and so does Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout who will not take the garbage out. It is a place where you wash your shadow and plant diamond gardens, a place where shoes fly, sisters are auctioned off, and crocodiles go to the dentist.

Shel Silverstein's masterful collection of poems and drawings is one of Parent & Childmagazine's 100 Greatest Books for Kids. School Library Journal said, "Silverstein has an excellent sense of rhythm and rhyme and a good ear for alliteration and assonance that make these poems a pleasure to read aloud."

Review: Of course I've known about Shel Silverstein and this book for years, practically since birth, but I had never sat down and read it. When my 2016 Reading Challenge required a book of poetry Where the Sidewalk Ends immediately came to mind. It was cute. While most of the poems are nonsensical and simple in their meaning, his use of alliteration and rhyme was just fun.

I highly doubt some of these would be published if written today, guns and death are just a couple of the themes that I found questionable in my 2016 mind.

Reflection

Author: Diane Chamberlain
Genre: Fiction
Publisher: HarperCollins Publisher, 1996
Pages: 403*
Rating: Recommend

Synopsis: Rachel Huber returns to her hometown of Reflection to care for her ailing grandmother. Twenty years ago, a tragedy occurred in Reflection and the people hold Rachel responsible. Now she finds herself the object of anger and hostility. She is not without her allies, however. Lily Jackson, a young woman who was personally touched by the tragedy, perplexes everyone by treated Rachel with compassion. And Michael Stoltz, the minister of the Mennonite church, is elated by Rachel's return. He and Rachel were close friends as children, and that childhood bond quickly evolves into a loving relationship that must be hidden. It is Rachel's grandmother, Helen, however, who becomes her strongest advocate, surprising Rachel with her wise counsel and rare strength - and with a wealth of secrets she has long been concealing.

Review: Chamberlain's writing has certainly evolved over the years, and now having read a few of her books, I like her newer books better (Reflection was republished in both 2010 and 2014). That isn't to say this wasn't good. I did enjoy it. However, the story line was pretty typical or expected, although there was a bit of a plot twist toward the end. It took me longer to get into this novel than it had several of her others, but as an author I really like, I hung in there knowing it would pick up.

It took me a few days to get 3/4 of the way into it, but the last 1/4 was excellent. I binge read that portion this afternoon while my children "destroyed" the house.

If you're a Diane Chamberlain fan, you will like this. If you haven't read Chamberlain before, this is not the book to read first. I recommend Necessary Lies instead.

I'd like to read all of Chamberlain's novels, and luckily this was set in Pennsylvania, my home state. That was a requirement for my 2016 Reading Challenge.

Other Diane Chamberlain Novels
Big Lies in a Small Town
Necessary Lies
Pretending to Dance
Summer's Child
The Courage Tree
The Dream Daughter
The Last House on the Street
The Silent Sister
The Stolen Marriage

Assassination Vacation

Author: Sarah Vowell
Genre: Non-fiction
Publisher: Simon & Schuster, 2005
Pages: 272
Rating: Do Not Recommend

Synopsis: New York Times bestselling author of The Wordy Shipmates and contributor to NPR’s "This American Life" Sarah Vowell embarks on a road trip to sites of political violence, from Washington DC to Alaska, to better understand our nation’s ever-evolving political system and history.

Sarah Vowell exposes the glorious conundrums of American history and culture with wit, probity, and an irreverent sense of humor. With Assassination Vacation, she takes us on a road trip like no other — a journey to the pit stops of American political murder and through the myriad ways they have been used for fun and profit, for political and cultural advantage.

From Buffalo to Alaska, Washington to the Dry Tortugas, Vowell visits locations immortalized and influenced by the spilling of politically important blood, reporting as she goes with her trademark blend of wisecracking humor, remarkable honesty, and thought-provoking criticism. We learn about the jinx that was Robert Todd Lincoln (present at the assassinations of Presidents Lincoln, Garfield, and McKinley) and witness the politicking that went into the making of the Lincoln Memorial. The resulting narrative is much more than an entertaining and informative travelogue — it is the disturbing and fascinating story of how American death has been manipulated by popular culture, including literature, architecture, sculpture, and — the author's favorite — historical tourism. Though the themes of loss and violence are explored and we make detours to see how the Republican Party became the Republican Party, there are all kinds of lighter diversions along the way into the lives of the three presidents and their assassins, including mummies, show tunes, mean-spirited totem poles, and a nineteenth-century biblical sex cult.

Review: I wanted to love this, but I just didn't. It was my "road trip" pick from the 2016 Reading Challenge.

The premise was there and the book held promise, but the author and her writing style grated on me. I've read and studied Lincoln's assassination in depth. My husband is an avid James Garfield fan and through him I've learned about his assassination. The chapter on President McKinley was weak, but not horrible. In other words, I didn't learn a whole lot, but suffered through the author's high opinion of herself anyway.

I'm going to read another Sarah Vowell book at some point because I hate to judge an author, particularly one who writes about history, by only one book. This is an older one too so maybe something more recent will be a better option.

Living Beyond Your Feelings

Author: Joyce Meyer
Genre: Self-Help
Publisher: FaithWords, 2014
Pages: 288
Rating: Recommend

Synopsis: The average person has 70,000 thoughts ever day, and many of those thoughts trigger a corresponding emotion. No wonder so many of us often feel like we're controlled by our emotions. Our lives would be much improved if we controlled them. 

In Living Beyond Your Feelings, Joyce Meyer examines the gamut of feelings that human beings experience. She discusses the way that the brain processes and stores memories and thoughts, and then - emotion by emotion - she explains how we can manage our reactions to those emotions. By doing that, she gives the reader a toolbox for managing the way we react to the onslaught of feelings that can wreak havoc on our lives.

In this book, Meyer blends the wisdom of the Bible with the latest psychological research and discusses the 4 personality types and their influence on one's outlook, the impact of stress on physical and emotional health, the power of memories, the influence of words on emotions, anger and resentment, sadness, loss and grief, guilt and regret, the power of replacing reactions with pro-actions and the benefits of happiness.

Review: I chose this as my pick for a self-improvement book from my 2016 Reading Challenge. This isn't my genre of choice so I selected the audio version thinking it would be easier to digest. I was put off initially because it was "preachy," and then I realized I was probably annoyed because there's a lot of truth to her words and advice that I had been ignoring. 

The bottom line is that we cannot control others, we can only control ourselves. It seems simple, but I really liked that she pointed out that emotions are like unruly children, and it is up to us rational, mature adults to keep them in check. You can be really angry, but you do not have to react with anger. You always have a choice. 

I got a lot more out of this book than I had expected. I'm pleasantly surprised.

Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl

Author: Harriet Jacobs
Genre: Non-fiction
Publisher: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2009 (first published in 1861)
Pages: 336
Rating: Recommend

Synopsis: Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl is the true story of a former slave's life told from her perspective. Harriet Jacobs was born into slavery, and as she grew older, became aware of the monumental injustice of the institution. As a young and attractive women, she also faced the unwanted attentions of her male owners. Facing a life of misery and fearing for her children' future, Jacobs fled and hid from her owner for seven years. She made her way to Philadelphia in 1842 and later purchased her children.

Review: Surprisingly easy to read in style and language, but difficult to digest. The horror, the treatment, the sad truth about slavery. This book was moving, and an important read. 

Still Growing

Author: Kirk Cameron
Genre: Autobiography
Publisher: Bethany House Publishers, 2008
Pages: 224
Rating: Recommend

Synopsis: Kirk Cameron is best known for his role as loveable teenage troublemaker Mike Seaver on the award-winning TV series Growing Pains, but his rise to fame and fortune is only part of his incredible story. In this intimate autobiography, Kirk opens up about his early years, his rocket to stardom, his life-changing encounter with Jesus and the hard choices he made along the way to live in the Way of the Master. Fans will get an up-close and personal look at what drives the former teen-magazine heartthrob and find out how God and family became the secrets behind his celebrated smile. In his own words, Kirk shares how he's still growing even through the triumphs and temptations of his Hollywood career.

Review: I haven't read a celebrity memoir or autobiography that I felt would win any writing awards. In fact, I only picked this one to read because my 2016 Reading Challenge says to read a book an autobiography, and I took that to heart (in other words, I wanted to stay true to autobiography and not go in the direction of a memoir). 

Anyway, this was one of the better celebrity-authored books I've read. Kirk Cameron is a likable guy. I was right to have a crush on him all those years ago.

Thoroughly enjoyable. Light read. Fast read. Good read.

I'd like to point out that my mom had told me years ago that Kirk Cameron was too old for me. As it turns out, he's only a couple months older than my husband.

I also want to mention that I requested the first season of Growing Pains from the library. My memories of the show are sketchy, at best.