The Dry Grass of August by Anna Jean Mayhew

From Goodreads: In this beautifully written debut, Anna Jean Mayhew offers a riveting depiction of Southern life in the throes of segregation, what it will mean for a young girl on her way to adulthood--and for the woman who means the world to her. . .
On a scorching day in August 1954, thirteen-year-old Jubie Watts leaves Charlotte, North Carolina, with her family for a Florida vacation. Crammed into the Packard along with Jubie are her three siblings, her mother, and the family's black maid, Mary Luther. For as long as Jubie can remember, Mary has been there--cooking, cleaning, compensating for her father's rages and her mother's benign neglect, and loving Jubie unconditionally. Bright and curious, Jubie takes note of the anti-integration signs they pass, and of the racial tension that builds as they journey further south. But she could never have predicted the shocking turn their trip will take.

This audiobook was a win from Kathy at Bermudaonion's Weblog and, boy, was that a lucky win - I LOVED it! I didn't love it in a perky "OMG it was so cute" way more like it was cathartic because it just left me feeling wrung out. The time period is so tension filled as racial segregation is creeping through the South and the family is a bundle of nerves tiptoieng around their dysfunction. The soft spot for Jubie to land is in Mary's arms, their "girl", their black maid who functions as Jubie's anchor. Reading the dscription, I knew there was tragedy ahead and the suspense just kept me on edge. When the moment finally came, I just wanted to scream at all of them to run and then scream again to berate them for their naivete - how could they not see it coming when my stomach had been in knots for hours? What a good book! Kudos to Anna Jean Mayhew for a wondeeful debu tnovel and thank you's to Kathy for hosting the giveaway!

The audiobook challenge is hosted by Teresa at Teresa's Reading Corner, click on the logo to see my progress.










I am trying to reach 100 books this year - I've never done it before although I have come very close, click on the logo to see how I am doing for this year!

Skeletons at the Feast by Chris Bohjalian

From Goodreads: In January 1945, in the waning months of World War II, a small group of people begin the longest journey of their lives: an attempt to cross the remnants of the Third Reich, from Warsaw to the Rhine if necessary, to reach the British and American lines. Among the group is eighteen-year-old Anna Emmerich, the daughter of Prussian aristocrats. There is her lover, Callum Finella, a twenty-year-old Scottish prisoner of war who was brought from the stalag to her family’s farm as forced labor. And there is a twenty-six-year-old Wehrmacht corporal, who the pair know as Manfred–who is, in reality, Uri Singer, a Jew from Germany who managed to escape a train bound for Auschwitz. As they work their way west, they encounter a countryside ravaged by war. Their flight will test both Anna’s and Callum’s love, as well as their friendship with Manfred–assuming any of them even survive.

LOVED IT! I think this is my favorite thus far for 2012 (I know it's only March but it really was that good!). I've read books before about the Second World War and the terror of the Nazi's and the plight of the Jews but there always seems to be more to be explored. This book explores the time from the perspective of a German family that are initially Nazi supporters but slowly discover the hideous barbarity being perpetuated. There were several instances in this book where I wondered if the described events were more history than fiction. At one point the Jew, Uri, goes into hiding in the woods where it is rumored a whole community of Jews are living; well, I seem to remember a book or a movie with that scenario at the core, so maybe it is true? True or not, it was fascinating. I cared deeply for the characters and while I wanted the war to end, I didn't want the story to end.



I have another book of his, Midwives, in my TBR pile, I might have to dig it out and put it closer to the top!

The audiobook challenge is hosted by Teresa at Teresa's Reading Corner, click on the logo to see my progress.










I am trying to reach 100 books this year - I've never done it before although I have come very close, click on the logo to see how I am doing for this year!

Hold Tight by Harlan Coben

From Goodreads: Tia and Mike Baye never imagined they'd become the type of overprotective parents who spy on their kids. But their sixteen-year-old son Adam has been unusually distant lately, and after the suicide of his classmate Spencer Hill - the latest in a string of issues at school - they can't help but worry. They install a sophisticated spy program on Adam's computer, and within days they are jolted by a message from an unknown correspondent addressed to their son - 'Just stay quiet and all safe.'

Meanwhile, browsing through an online memorial for Spencer put together by his classmates, Betsy Hill is struck by a photo that appears to have been taken on the night of her son's death and he wasn't alone. She thinks it is Adam Baye standing just outside the camera's range; but when Adam goes missing, it soon becomes clear that something deep and sinister has infected their community. For Tia and Mike Baye, the question they must answer is this; When it comes to your kids, is it possible to know too much?

I read the horror book Duma Key by Stephen King last month and laughed off the walking dead, they didn't scare me. But this book by Harlan Coben, with the teeneage boys and suicide and drugs, scared the bejeezus out of me. Listening to the parents worry about their son as he slips away from them into a world of drugs made me physically ill - stomach in turmoil, muscles tense, it was frightening. There was more than one storyline and when the narration would switch from the reckless teens to the sadistic killer, I would breathe a sigh of relief, "yes, let's chop this lady into small pieces" THAT I can handle. It's all about perspective isn't it? Tween now Teen has such struggles with depression and self-injury and experimentation with drugs - this book just captured the parent's misery (my misery) of worrying about your child and feeling helpless. Having gone through two suicidal instances with Teen this fall, I really wondered if I could make it through this book, but I did; Harlan Coben keeps things moving at such a fast pace that it just keeps you listening. I did only give it four stars on Goodreads because the preachiness of the whole "Should you monitor your kids using technology?" debate was tiresome and the multiple plot lines coming all together was a bit of a stretch - but overall this was a fast paced thrilling read, but perhaps, a bit too close for comfort for me.

The audiobook challenge is hosted by Teresa at Teresa's Reading Corner, click on the logo to see my progress.










I am trying to reach 100 books this year - I've never done it before although I have come very close, click on the logo to see how I am doing for this year!

Duma Key by Stephen King

From Goodreads: Six months after a crane crushes his pickup truck and his body self-made millionaire Edgar Freemantle launches into a new life. His wife asked for a divorce after he stabbed her with a plastic knife and tried to strangle her one-handed (he lost his arm and for a time his rational brain in the accident). He divides his wealth into four equal parts for his wife, his two daughters, himself and leaves Minnesota for Duma Key, a stunningly beautiful, eerily remote stretch of the Florida coast where he has rented a house. All of the land on Duma Key, and the few houses, are owned by Elizabeth Eastlake, an octogenarian whose tragic and mysterious past unfolds perilously. When Edgar begins to paint, his formidable talent seems to come from someplace outside him, and the paintings, many of them, have a power that cannot be controlled.

I think I read Carrie in high school, I know I saw the movie. And I think I read Christine too. That's the total of my Stephen King experience prior to Duma Key so my expectations came more from my own imagination than from any actual experience - I was expecting violence, shock and harsh fear. I didn't get that; I got characters that I actually cared about and day to day lives with friendships and banter and ease and families with the resulting relationship issues. But all of those good things were floating along on this undercurrent of dread - that's the Stephen King part, knowing there is something coming. I liked what I got much more than what I had expected to get! 23 hours on audio and I was still kind of sad for it to end.

The audiobook challenge is hosted by Teresa at Teresa's Reading Corner, click on the logo to see my progress.


I am trying to reach 100 books this year - I've never done it before although I have come very close, click on the logo to see how I am doing for this year!

Getting Personal With God by Joyce Meyer

From Amazon: Getting Personal with God Excerpts from Three Classic Messages: HOW TO HEAR FROM GOD, KNOWING GOD INTIMATELY, AND SEVEN THINGS THAT STEAL YOUR JOY

This one was really good - probably because it was excerpts from three different books so I was getting just the best parts and not all the filler! The three CD's flew by and I enjoyed each one. Joyce Meyer is the most practical evangelist there is - so down to earth, I love that about her. And while I often don't like it when authors read their own work, with Joyce it works. That flat Midwestern accent just adds flavor for me. It maybe because it is non-fiction and she's not trying to introduce characters or set a mood. It's just Joyce, talking to me, reminding me to pray, telling me to read my Bible, and gently chastising me for trying to handle my problem son my own while God waits patiently for me to ask Him to help.

The audiobook challenge is hosted by Teresa at Teresa's Reading Corner, click on the logo to see my progress.


I am trying to reach 100 books this year - I've never done it before although I have come very close, click on the logo to see how I am doing for this year!

The Shop on Blossom Street by Debbie Macomber

From Goodreads: Four lives knit together ...There's a little shop on Blossom Street in Seattle called A Good Yarn. You go there to buy knitting supplies and patterns -- and now it's offering a knitting class. The first lesson: how to knit a baby blanket.
For owner Lydia Hoffman, the shop represents her dream of beginning a new life free from the cancer that has ravaged her twice. A life that offers a chance at love ... and maybe marriage.
Jacqueline Donovan is stuck in a marriage that has dwindled into an arrangement of separate rooms and separate lives. She disapproves of the woman married to her only son, but if she knits a baby blanket, she can at least pretend to like her pregnant daughter-in-law.
For Carol Girard, the baby blanket brings a message of hope as she and her husband make a final attempt at in vitro pregnancy.
And tense-looking Alix Townsend -- that's Alix with an "i" -- is learning to knit her blanket for her court-ordered community service project.
Brought together by an age-old craft, these four women make unexpected discoveries -- about themselves and each other. Discoveries that lead to love, to friendship and acceptance, to laughter and dreams.

I randomly bought an audiobook at a tag sale like I have done a hundred times but this was different because I accidentally stumbled onto the FIRST book of a series rather than something in the middle - hooray! I really enjoyed this one! It was fairly predictable (actually that should probably say VERY predictable - I think I knew how everyone's story would turn out within moments of beginning!) but for a listen in the car when I am only half paying attention, predictable is not a bad thing. I'm not going to go out and search for the next books in the series...it wasn't THAT good, but I will keep one eye open for them!

Here's the author's website.

This one counts for the following challenges..

The audiobook challenge is hosted by Teresa at Teresa's Reading Corner, click on the logo to see my progress.


I am trying to reach 100 books this year - I've never done it before although I have come very close, click on the logo to see how I am doing for this year!







Click on the logo to see my progress towards the 2012 A to Z Reading Challenge hosted by Strawberry Splash Reviews.

Dashing Through The Snow by Carol Higgins Clark and Mary Higgins Clark

From Goodreads: In the picturesque village of Branscombe, New Hampshire, the townsfolk are all pitching in to prepare for the first (and many hope annual) Festival of Joy. The night before the festival begins, a group of employees at the local market learn that they have won $160 million in the lottery. One of their co-workers, Duncan, decided at the last minute, on the advice of a pair of crooks masquerading as financial advisers, not to play. Then he goes missing. A second winning lottery ticket was purchased in the next town, but the winner hasn't come forward. Could Duncan have secretly bought it?

This was a win from Teresa's Reading Corner, Teresa is also the hostess of the Audiobook Challenge. The Higgins-Clark mother-daughter team comes out with one of these books every Christmas, Christmas themed cozy mysteries. The characters were familiar faces from other Christmas books by this duo and the plot is nothing strenuous - it's just Christmas fun. But, this one was less fun than the others I have read mainly because it wasn't in print, it was on audio read by Carol Higgins Clark and her voice was a distraction. I've never been a huge fan of authors reading their own work and this is an example of why I don't like it. She has a Jersey girl accent that is fine when she is reading a character from that part of the country but when she is reading narration - descriptions and such - it is distracting to this Southern girl. She probably thinks her voice has is very plain but it just isn't! So I would have enjoyed this one more in print but it was still pleasant enough on audio.

This one counts for the following challenges..

The audiobook challenge is hosted by Teresa at Teresa's Reading Corner, click on the logo to see my progress.


I am trying to reach 100 books this year - I've never done it before although I have come very close, click on the logo to see how I am doing for this year!





Click on the logo to see my progress towards the 2012 A to Z Reading Challenge hosted by Strawberry Splash Reviews.

Audiobook Challenge

This is a challenge I have completed the past few years. That feat remains largely undocumented since I am really bad at the whole "linking up your posts" thing. But I am good at the actual listening to the book part so I am signing up for the Lover level - 25 audio books!

Hosted by Teresa of Teresa's Reading Corner, there are four levels to the challenge:
■Flirting-Listen to 6 Audio Books
■Going Steady- Listen to 12 Audio Books
■Lover- Listen to 25 Audio Books
■Married-Listen to +++ Audio Books

Does it interest you? Click on the logo above to go to the sign up post.

Here's how I am doing...
1. Dashing Through the Snow
2. Getting Personal With God
3. The Shop on Blossom Street
4. Duma Key
5. Hold Tight
6. Skeletons at the Feast
7. The Dry Grass of August
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