The Secret Life of Bees [Hardcover] Review

The Secret Life of Bee's is an enduring story set on a southern bee farm.The characters will enlighten and warm your heart.The Secret Life of Bee's is similar to many southern stories; however, the bee lore that Kidd interjects throughout makes the book unique and interesting.The Secret Life of Bee's is a heartwarming, feel good read.There are universal lessons about family and self throughout.
The main character, Lily Owens is fleeing an abusive father and an all-consuming truth surrounding her mother's death.The Secret Life of Bee's is set in the 1960's when racial tensions and violence were at an all time high.Lily and her caretaker Rosaleen, leave town after a violent encounter with racists while Rosaleen was attempting to exercise some of her newly granted freedoms.
Since the death of her mother, Lilly has a few precious clues as to her last days.The clues lead Lily and Rosaleen to Tiburon, South Carolina where they meet the `calendar sisters', May, June, and August Boatwright.The Boatwright sisters operate a successful Bee farm.Lily and Rosaleen are welcomed to the farm with open arms.Through her work on the farm, Lily is able to examine her past and begin to trust as she finds love again.
The Secret Life of Bee's is the story of mothers.The reader will travel with Lily as she experiences each of the four remarkable women ~ Rosaleen, May, June, and August.Each of these women is a teacher and guide to Lily.It is through her experiences that she is able to discern that a mother is more than just a biological bond.
A great debut for Sue Monk Kidd.I cannot help thinking that I would have loved to learn more about Boatwright sisters...maybe there is room for another story!

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Life of Pi [Hardcover] Review

With over 1250 reviews already registered for LIFE OF PI, I first thought there could be nothing more to say about this marvelous novel. But after scanning the most recent 100 reviews, I began to wonder what book many of those reviewers had read. Had I relied on 98 of those reviews, I would have expected a far different book than the one I actually read.

Let's begin with what LIFE OF PI isn't. It's not a Man against Nature survival story. It's not a story about zoos or wild animals or animal husbandry. It's not ROBINSON CRUSOE or SWISS FAMILY ROBINSON. It's not a literary version of CASTAWAY or OPEN WATER, and it's not a "triumph against all odds, happily ever after" rescue story. To classify it as such would be like classifying THE OLD MAN AND THE SEA as a story about a poor fisherman or MOBY DICK as a sea story. Or THE TRIAL as a courtroom drama, THE PLAGUE as a story of an epidemic, HEART OF DARKNESS as a story about slavery, or ANIMAL FARM as an animal adventure.

Martel's story line is already well-known: a fifteen-year-old boy, the son of a zookeeper in Pondicherry, India survives a shipwreck several days out of Manila. He is the lone human survivor, but his lifeboat is occupied by a Bengal tiger named Richard Parker, an injured zebra, a hyena, and an orangutan. In relatively short order and true Darwinian fashion, their numbers are reduced to just two: the boy Piscene Molitor Patel, and the tiger, Richard Parker. By dint of his zoo exposure and a fortuitously positioned tarpaulin, Pi (as he is called) manages to establish his own territory on the lifeboat and even gains alpha dominance over Richard Parker. At various points in their 227-day ordeal, Pi and the tiger miss being rescued by an oil tanker, meet up with another shipwreck survivor, and discover an extraordinary algae island before finally reaching safety.

When Pi retells the entire story to two representatives of the Japanese Ministry of Transport searching for the cause of the sinking, they express deep disbelief, so he offers them a second, far more mundane but believable story that parallels the first one. They can choose to believe the more fantastical first one despite its seeming irrationality (Pi is, after all, an irrational number) and its necessary leap of faith, or they can accept the second, far more rational version, more heavily grounded in our everyday experiences.

LIFE OF PI is an allegory, the symbolic expression of a deeper meaning through a tale acted out by humans, animals, and in this case, even plant life. Yann Martel has crafted a magnificently unlikely tale involving zoology and botany, religious experience, and ocean survival skills to explore the meaning of stories in our lives, whether they are inspired by religion to explain the purpose of life or generated by our own psyches as a way to understand and interpret the world around us.

Martel employs a number of religious themes and devices to introduce religion as one of mankind's primary filters for interpreting reality. Pi's active adoption and participation in Hinduism, Islam, and Christianity establish him as a character able to relate his story through the lens of the world's three major religions. Prayer and religious references abound, and his adventures bring to mind such Old Testament scenes as the Garden of Eden, Daniel and the lion's den, the trials of Job, and even Jonah and the whale. Accepting Pi's survival story as true, without supporting evidence, is little different than accepting New Testament stories about Jesus. They are matters of faith, not empiricism.

In the end, however, LIFE OF PI takes a broader view. All people are storytellers, casting their experiences and even their own life events in story form. Martel's message is that all humans use stories to process the reality around them, from the stories that comprise history to those that explain the actions and behaviors of our families and friends. We could never process the chaotic stream of events from everyday life without stories to help us categorize and compartmentalize them. Yet we all choose our own stories to accomplish this - some based on faith and religion, some based on empiricism and science. The approach we choose dictates our interpretation of the world around us.

LIFE OF PI bears a faint resemblance to the movie BIG FISH, also a story about storytelling and how we understand and rationalize our own lives through tales both mundane and tall.Martel's book is structured as a story within a story within a story, planned and executed in precisely 100 chapters as a mathematical counterpoint to the endlessly irrational and nonrepeating value of pi. The book is alternately harrowing and amusing, deeply rational and scientific but wildly mystical and improbable. It is also hugely entertaining and highly readable, as fluid as the water in which Pi floats. Anyone who enjoys literature as a vehicle for contemplating the human condition should find in LIFE OF PI a delicious treat.



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The Lovely Bones: A Novel (Hardcover) Review

Alice Sebold has written a remarkable debut novel.The narrator, Susie Salmon, was raped and murdered in 1973 and now resides in her heaven; yet, her voice contains none of the bitterness one would expect.She is able to see into the lives of those who touched her in life and death. At times wistful - for she will never be able to experience growing up - and others matter-of-fact, Susie witnesses the changes and growth within her family and small circle of friends.Her story is not one about death, but about loss and affirming life in its face, about moving on not only for those she left behind but for herself.The reader won't be able to escape the sadness in these pages - I came close to crying several times - but the overall tone is hardly grim. Because Susie is secure and happy in her heaven, she keeps the story full of light and optimism.
This novel is not flawless, nor should it expected to be.The narrative loses some of its momentum near the end. In addition, Sebold makes the mistake of adding a scene (which I won't describe here) seemingly designed to lessen the reader's regret about Susie's missed coming-of-age, but instead the scene falls flat.Susie's loss is as much a part of this book as her family's is, and to pretend it can be reversed, even if only temporarily, defeats the story.Still, given the first two-thirds of the book, this misstep and others can be forgiven.

The Lovely Bones is one of those books you can pick up and not want to put down again until you finish.At roughly 325 pages, this novel demands to be read on a plane, or on the beach, or when you have good chunks of time available to sit with it. Don't frustrate yourself by allowing a half hour here and there.
This is one book that deserves its spot on the bestseller list.

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Alexandria: In Which the Extraordinary Correspondence of Griffin & Sabine Unfolds (v. 2) (Hardcover) Review

After reading The Gryphon last year, I was instantly frustrated that I was going to have to wait a year for the next installment.About two days into the agony, I realized that the true bummer was that this new story line seemed to be preplanned to leave off in order to pre-sell the next book.After reading Alexandria, I feel that my conclusion has more basis.Alexandria IS an amazingly beautiful book, and some of the letters are absolutely inspired, but it lacks the storytelling power of the original trilogy.Instead of the letters slowly revealing a relationship, they are starting to resemble gimmicky plot devices.The revelations seemed more trite and some of the more interesting occurances are glossed over in a single postcard. Part of the wonder of the first three books is that each could stand nearly alone.The end of each book did not instantly suggest a followup.Alexandria, like The Gryphon before it, kind of stops that narrative because there are no more pages in the binding. Grrr.
If you are considering this book as your introduction to Nick Bantock, please go elsewhere (Either start with Griffin and Sabine, or maybe even The Forgetting Room).Alexandria is kind of an odd duck for me.I thoroughly enjoyed reading and savoring each of the letters, but felt let down and even kind of patronized by the way the story line was delivered.The "flow" is just very different from the first half of the Griffin and Sabine saga.Not completely bad per se, just very different.Soa four star kind of a let down rather than an outright rejection.

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Sunday Morning Secrets [Paperback] Review

In Sunday Morning Secrets, King's Chapel has many underlying secrets, and they will soon be revealed. Pastor Jonathan Pierce is caught between his moral values and God's teachings or hiding his wife's drug addiction at any means necessary. Unfortunately, there is one person who knows about his wife's drug addiction and is blackmails the pastor to help him with his illegal activities.

Busybody, but devoted church member, Alma Curtis suspects something is not right within the church. When the FBI comes knocking, because of a murder that leads to the church doors, Alma is determined to find out the truth.

Unbeknownst to everyone else, Alma has a secret of her own, that she has been hiding for years. If this secret is revealed, it will hurt those closest to her. Unfortunately, the damage proves to be too much and Alma does the unspeakable. Everyone will be shocked to the core.

Sunday Morning Secrets by Shirlita McFarland proved to be a surprisingly fantastic read. This is definitely unlike any Christian novel you will ever read. Although it is sprinkled with some sermons, it really has an awesome storyline that will keep you engrossed. I really enjoyed this novel and eagerly anticipate more from this author. Due to minor editing issues, with words running together, my final rating would be 4.5 stars.

Reviewed by Leona R.
APOOO BookClub



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In this riveting tale of intimate secrets and hidden agendas, Pastor Jonathan Pierce is caught between the prominent church he is rebuilding and protecting his wife-s abominable secret. The fact that two of his devoted parishioners are murdered because of his deceit doesn-t deter unforgiving church member, Alma Curtis, from harboring a shameful secret of her own, that if revealed, will destroy much more than her saintly reputation.

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Morning by Morning (Hendrickson Christian Classics) [Hardcover] Review

I chanced upon this daily devotional in a local bookshop. I didn't know it was that good. I just bought it because I needed something extra for the morning before going off to work. As I began going through it, I realised how inspiring, motivating and crystal clear Spurgeon was able to explain some of the things about God. Along the way, it gave me many fresh revelations; things that I accepted previously as a Christian but never really understood why. As mentioned, many of the devotionals were inspiring and motivating. I really felt that God was speaking to me so lovingly through Spurgeon's devotionals. I'm not the only one who felt this way. Many of my friends and colleagues whom I shared the devotionals with felt the same way. Spurgeon's devotionals brought them so much closer to God and made some of them so much more passionate about God. This is definitely the first-choice daily devotional to go through first thing after we wake up every morning.

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For tens of thousands of Christians over the last century, Charles Haddon Spurgeon's Morning By Morning has been a daily devotional guide through life's ups and downs. New generations can once again enjoy Spurgeon's beautiful prose and elegant command of the English language in this addition to the Hendrickson Christian Classics series.Morning By Morning offers readers the best of Spurgeon's insight and wise counsel on themes that are as relevant to our day as they were in his day. In this updated version, Spurgeon's work is returned to its former brilliance while retaining the beautiful language of the original King James Version.

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Joy Comes in the Morning (Perfect Paperback) Review

This is a remarkable tale of one woman's courageous journey through abuse and trauma by relying on her faith in God. Christian themes, such as those demonstrated by the parable of the Good Samaritan, are subtly interwoven into this believable Civil War era romance. The characters, dialogue, and plot work so smoothly that this reader felt Ms. Hope was telling a true story, rather than fiction. I'm very impressed that this is the author's first published work and highly recommend it!

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Libby Prescott's life becomes a nightmare after the Civil War, when her husband, a Union soldier, grows addicted to morphine and whiskey and begins abusing her. Begging God for help, she receives a solution unlike any she imagined. Libby awakes one day in the Southern home of the Chambers family with no memory of who she is or how she has arrived there. The Chambers begin a search for anyone with a connection to the lost and battered woman. Libby finds friendship with Clary, but their discussions incite haunting memories from her youth. The mystery deepens when the Chambers receive Libby's rings and learn of a ragged, indigent woman searching for her. As Libby's presence begins to change their lives, the Chambers will call into question everything they know, especially Justin, whose engagement to Susanna becomes less appealing as the days pass. And Libby, who has been confiding in Justin, must confront her past while fighting her growing feelings for him and her uncertainty concerning what happens next. With the themes of hope and justice, along with a lesson in history, Joyce Hope takes readers on an amazing adventure through the darkest hours of night, promising that Joy Comes in the Morning.

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Morning, Noon and Night (Paperback) Review

I stumbled upon a discount copy of Spalding Gray's Morning, Noon and Night and was morbidly compelled to read it. Basically, he recounts a day in his life when his youngest son was still an infant.
Other of his works are better written and with sharper wit and insight, and to plod through this one - to get it - you have to hear Spalding tell it in your head, see his expressions and mannerisms.
This memoir is something of a reflection on parenthood, and, well, everything, in true Spalding fashion. The book is full of sentiments that everyone confronting parenthood can relate to. I found myself angry at him for saying some of it though (OK, so I'm not finished with my anger just yet). Toward the end he writes:
"Here it is only ten-fifteen in the evening and I'm wasted, and I didn't even go to work. I don't know how people do it. I don't know how people raise families and work at the same time. What's more, why would they want to do it? With only one life to live, why bring more life into the world to be responsible for? It's absurd. It's ridiculous, I think. Why complicate your life with more life that you are ultimately responsible for? I love my children, but they could only be accidents born out of a kind of blind passion. I could never have had a child if I had to think about it."
Although he didn't go to work, he didn't do much parenting either. His girlfriend, working from a home office, also cooked, managed the household renovations, tended to the baby. He was selfish and spoiled - yoga, bike-ride, drinking.
But in the light of his death this work also sketches a portrait of a very sad, confused, scared - desperately scared - childish man. (Lots of inky water imagery too.) The humour and the wonder had already started leaving him.
http://magnificentoctopus.blogspot.com

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Morning Sky (Freedoms Path Series #2) [Bargain Price] [Paperback] Review

Morning Sky is the second book in Judith Millers Freedom's Path Series about the Harban and Boyle families. Nicodemus, Kansas is settled by predominatly African-American familes while neighboring Hill City is mostly white.

Exekiel Harban is doing his best to keep his family together following the death of his wife. Then Lily Verdue, his sister-in-law, arrives from New Orleans. Exekiel suspects Lily is running from someone, which doesn't surprise him one bit. A free spirited woman who makes her own rules, Lily is not the kind of person he wants living in the same house with his daughters.

Before long, Lily starts to cause just the kind of trouble Exekiel feared. She tries to break up Truth's engagement to Moses Wyman, because she feels he would be better suited to Jarena. Nevermind that Jarena is in love with Thomas, who is serving in the army, fighting Indians. Lily is a woman of the world and knows what is best for her sheltered nieces.

Dr. Boyle asks Truth to travel to New York to see about his daughter Macia, who is enrolled in an exclusive finishing school. Macia has been sick ever since reaching the city. Truth uncovers a diabolic scheme which could be fatal to her friend.

The characters in Judith Miller's Morning Sky are so skillfully developed you will feel as if you know them as real people. Morning Sky is an intriguing story guaranteed to hold the readers attention from start to finish.

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(Freedom's Path Book 2) Nothing will ever be the same after boisterous Aunt Lilly Verdue arrives in the new settlement of Nicodemus, Kansas, in the early summer of 1880. Her brother-in-law is not at all happy to see her, and her unwillingness to admit the reason behind her hasty exit from New Orleans only fuels the fire. She's not content to peacefully join the little farming community. No, Lilly manages to shake things up even further when she decides Moses Wyman is engaged to the wrong sister!

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Morning and Evening Talk [Paperback] Review

(A star rating is not appropriate for this "novel," which is really not a novel in the traditional sense.)Written in 1987, this last entry in the Cairo series by Nobel Prize winner Naguib Mahfouz has no beginning, middle, and end, and no real plot.There are no standard chronology and no strong individual characters who develop fully during the action.Modeled on traditional Arab biographical dictionaries, which recorded the lives of influential citizens in single-paragraph entries, this is Mahfouz's most experimental novel.Here he arranges sixty-seven character sketches according to the Arab alphabetical order of the characters' first names, creating a series of short personal anecdotes which reveal lives and convey the history of three Cairo families from the Napoleonic wars through the death of Anwar Sadat.

The book begins with the death of a child, an episode which is recalled near the end of the book, and as the child's family is recreated, in random order by alphabet, the novel ripples out, incorporating different eras and other families, over four or five generations.Showing the progression of Egyptian political change, Mahfouz moves (non-chronologically) from the entrance of Napoleon into Cairo in 1798to the British Occupation from 1882 - 1952;the 1919 Revolution against the British occupation;the Free Officer's movement, founded by Gamal Abdel Nasser, leading to the July Revolution of 1952;the Tripartite Aggression (the Suez Crisis) of 1956, in which Britain, France, and Israel attacked Egypt for nationalizing the Suez canal; the Six Day Warof 1967, in which Israel attacked Egypt;the War of Attrition from 1967 - 70 between Egypt and Israel; and the Yom Kippur War of 1973, in which Egypt and Syria attempted to recapture land lost to Israel in the Six Day War.

As much as the book may be about political change, however, it is at least, if not more, about marriage and its importance in the culture. Throughout these generations, members of the same family intermarry to protect inheritance and wealth, but other marriages are also arranged among other "appropriate" families.The women are educated, at least at the level of literacy, and as time moves toward the present, the wives are often educated professionals--lawyers or physicians--who move easily between Egyptian and European cultures.A few of the individual family members move to other parts of the world--Germany, the United States, France, and Saudi Arabia, returning often to Cairo, despite their absences for significant periods of time.And while some of the characters may be passionately committed to some of the political movements of the day (and others may oppose them just as passionately), none of them are religious extremists.

Readers new to Mahfouz will probably want to start elsewhere for their introduction, perhaps with the more traditional The Cairo Trilogy or even Akhenaten: Dweller in Truth, written just two years before this novel.Written when Mahfouz was an old man reflecting on history and the meaning of being Egyptian, this novel can be tedious and sometimes frustrating.The characters' names are often very similar, making it difficult to remember who is who, and the lives of many characters resemble those of other characters and do not add significant new information.Still, likean impressionistic or pointillist painting, the individualbiographies provide color and interest, which, taken together, give a picture of a broad cross section of Egyptian society dealing, over time, with the winds of change. n Mary Whipple

Palace Walk (Cairo Trilogy), Book 1
Palace of Desire (Cairo Trilogy), Book 2
Sugar Street (The Cairo Trilogy), Book 3
Children of the Alley: A Novel
Three Novels of Ancient Egypt: Khufu's Wisdom, Rhadopis of Nubia, Thebes at War (Everyman's Library)



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This unusual epic from the Nobel Laureate Naguib Mahfouz portrays five generations of one sprawling family against the upheavals of two centuries of modern Egyptian history.

Set in Cairo, Morning and Evening Talk traces three related families from the arrival of Napoleon to the 1980s, through short character sketches arranged in alphabetical order. This highly experimental device produces a kind of biographical dictionary, whose individual entries come together to paint a vivid portrait of life in Cairo from a range of perspectives. The characters include representatives of every class and human type and as the intricate family saga unfolds, a powerful picture of a society in transition emerges. This is a tale of change and continuity, of the death of a traditional way of life and the road to independence and beyond, seen through the eyes of Egypt's citizens. Naguib Mahfouz's last chronicle of Cairo is both an elegy to a bygone era and a tribute to the Egyptian spirit.

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Christmas Every Morning [Hardcover] Review

Christmas Every Morning is one of the best books I've read all year and in my opinion the best book Lisa Bergren has ever written! The troubled relationship between Krista Mueller and her mother Charlotte is as authentic as it is complex. There is intensity and depth to the ravages of Alzheimer's that makes you want to call your mother to tell her you love her. Lisa Bergren avoids the trap of stereotypical pat solutions, offering a story that will keep you reading late into the night, get out the Kleenex for Christmas Every Morning!
-Traci DePree, author of A Can of Peas

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Krista Mueller admitted her mother to the care facility run by Dane McConnell-Krista's friend and former love-knowing that Dane could take better care of Charlotte than Krista ever could. Besides, Krista has long since stopped actively caring about the woman who has hurt her so deeply through the years. Her intention is never to see her mother again. Then Dane informs Krista that he has found something of her mother's that Krista simply must see.

Unable to refuse the man who still means so much to her, Krista sets out for Taos-thoroughly unprepared for the dramatic journey of discovery that leads to a deeper understanding of the mother who emotionally abandoned her and brings back to the lost love of her youth.

A story of joy and loss, connection and forgiveness, Christmas Every Morning presents each day as a gift to be opened and every loved one as a treasure to be rediscovered.

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A Morning Like This: A Novel [Paperback] Review

David and Abby Treasure (niiiiiice fake last name), along with their son Braden, are the perfect Christian family. Until, that is, David's affair from 9 years ago comes back to haunt them. Turns out his mistress gave birth to his child and never told him. Oops. And of course, now the illegitimate daughter is dying of cancer and needs a bone marrow transplant, and he has to tell his wife and bring all sorts of loverly turmoil into his family. Yada yada yada, we've all heard this story a zillion times before.

I was pretty irritated by this book. Abby gets angry at David, rightly so, and he acts like a creep toward her. He doesn't get that because he went out acting like a manwhore, he's to blame. But what grossed me out was when Abby tells him that the affair was partly HER fault, that she pushed him away, even though he cheated on her while she was not only pregnant, but just after giving birth to their son. Nice guy there. She forgives him (this is a Christian novel, and the author seems set on the fact that divorce is never an option, even if your significant other goes around acting like a workaholic prostitute), and of course, everyone lives happily ever after.

I don't agree. I think that she was making faith out to be the only remedy for a marriage that was in desperate need of a lot of therapy (faith never hurts, of course, but God helps those who help themselves). I felt almost as though the author looked down on anyone who would dare divorce over something so little as infidelity. This made me feel small. Didn't care for that.

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Lydia Cassatt Reading the Morning Paper (Paperback) Review

Art and life.Life and art.The lines pf demarcation aren't' visible in this richly imagined story of the relationship between Impressionist painter Mary Cassatt (1847 - 1926) and her older sister, Lydia, who sometimes served as Cassatt's model.Using five of the artist's paintings as springboards the author offers a moving story of courage and creativity, while she renders a fascinating study of the times in which the women lived.
Although suffering painfully, from a terminal illness, Bright's disease, Lydia continues to model for her sister, relentlessly scanning each finished portrait as if it foretold her future.Chessman conceives of Lydia as a study in patience and resignation, imagining thatpainter Edgar Degas, who often visited the sittings, said to Lydia, "You show me how to live, if only I could do it as you do."
In addition to exploring a unique sibling bond "Lydia Cassatt Reading The Morning Paper" suggests aspects of Cassatt's daring life, hints at a liaison with the dynamic Edgar Degas, and presents thumbnail sketches of her interaction with such artists as Renoir and Caillebotte.
Lydia, we learn, died in 1882 while Cassatt lived to create for over thirty more years.
Rather than a sad reflection on a too short life, Chessman, with pitch-perfect prose, has penned a celebration of family, love, and art.
- Gail Cooke

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Waiting for Morning (Forever Faithful, Book 1) [Paperback] Review

"There was a horrific jolt and the defending sound of twisting, sparking metal and shattering glass. Jenny screamed, but it was to late. The explorer took to the air like a child's toy spinning wildly and coming to rest wrapped around a telephone pole a hundred feet away." In Karen Kingsbury's Waiting For Morning, the tragedies represent life experiences. This book is interesting and heart warming. It is hard to put down.
Hannah Ryan waits for her two girls and wonderful husband to come home from a summer camping trip. It is a perfect Christian family with nothing missing or where anything could go wrong. They got in a wreck with an unstable drunk driver. Instantly, her oldest daughter and husband died. The youngest daughter lives, but goes through severe trauma. Hannah tries to convict the driver of first-degree murder. It will be the biggest charge for drunk driving in the history of California. At the same time, it just makes things insoluble between her daughter and herself when both are bewildered about the accident.
Kingsbury makes the characters very easy to understand. Hannah Ryan is portrayed as a dynamic character in direct characterization. Jenny, her daughter, a very round character, struggles with so many difficulties after the deaths of her family members. Both struggle with unspeakable feelings of sorrow and rage that fuse into one chilling purpose for living. All Hannah wants is revenge against Brian Wesley, the drunk driver that causes her all the pain. In fury of things going on, Hannah shuts the Lord out of her life, the biggest mistake of all.
It is not very difficult nor too easy to follow along with. The book's superior ways in the dialogue is extremely intelligible. Although the characters are older, the reading is not too mature for younger teens. The language is internal. It speaks to the inside of your heart. The tone can make a person change completely, or can shake them up. It is also shocking at times with a touch of thrill.
When the holidays arrive, everything becomes a lot harder for everyone. The Novel takes place in a city in the mists of California. It takes place around the time of holidays and vacations, which makes it more difficult on Jenny and Hannah.
The story, told in third person omniscient, revolves around Hannah. A couple of flashbacks take place while she remembers memories, and looks back at old pictures. The foreshadowing works greatly and proves that someone can live for something that they cannot find in themselves. "I don't need God anymore..." becomes the realistic nature of this novel. Horrible circumstances make many people question their faith.
Waiting For Morning, by Karen Kingsbury, a fantastic book on true-life experiences, keeps the reader on edge, waiting for the next sight. It can have a huge effect on a person from laughing, to crying, to smiling. It can and will leave the readers in true amazement. If people need to find themselves or find the truth in the Lord during hard battles, this book is wonderful.

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Hannah Ryan is the mother of two adorable little girls and the wife of a doting husband. Her life is perfect -- until the night her husband and eldest daughter are ripped away from her by a drunken driver. Torn by grief and rage, Hannah finds her faith -- like that of Jeremiah weeping over Jerusalem -- tested to the limits. As she walks the long road of her own modern-day Lamentations, she must learn to forgive... and finally discover that God's mercies truly are new every morning. Sometimes the road home is only found by letting go.

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Earthquake in the Early Morning (Magic Tree House #24) (A Stepping Stone Book(TM)) (Paperback) Review

This is an educational fiction book.It's about the earthquake in California in 1906.Jack and Annie need to save Camelot.They are destined to find the fourth special kind of writing to put in their collection of things to cheer up the king of Camelot.If you have a 1st-3rd grade reader, this book is on target for them.These books come in amusing fiction and in enlightening research guides.

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The magic tree house takes Jack and Annie to San Francisco in 1906, in time for them to experience one of the biggest earthquakes the United States had ever known.

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One Morning in Maine (Picture Puffin) (Paperback) Review

This book, along with Blueberries for Sal and Time of Wonder, by the same author, were some of my favorite books as a child growing up in Maine.I loved them because the children did things I did---dug for clams, pickedblueberries, took boat rides to get ice cream, played on the rocky shoreand on and on!I loved the pictures because they are so detailed andrealistic.This book in particular was a favorite because it was about anolder Sal than in Blueberries for Sal, dealing with the universalexcitement of losing a first tooth.I love her relationship with heryounger sister Jane, who is drawn as one of the most adorable toddlersaround.If you are looking for a calm and wholesome in the best way bookfor your child, this might be one you want to consider.

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Product Description:
"As we follow the story of Sal and his lost tooth we feel as refreshed as though we had spent a day with his family on their island."--Saturday Review. Caldecott Honor Book. Full-color illustrations.

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One Tuesday Morning (September 11 Series #1) [Paperback] Review

Jake Bryan is a firefighter with the FDNY, the only thing he has ever wanted to do. His Christian faith gives him the strength to get through each day, both on the job and at home. His wife Jamie has run from God most of her life. After a tragic childhood, she doesn't believe God would want anything to do with her or her failures. She worries constantly about Jake and his safety. The two have a daughter, Sierra, who is the light of their lives. Jake has been praying for God to make a statement in Jamie's life to bring her to know Him.
Eric Michaels is a businessman striving for success at any cost. And his greatest cost is his family. He has slowly shut out his wife and young son. His wife is at the end of her rope. When Eric returns from his business trip to New York, she is not sure whether she can continue marriage with him or not.
These men meet in the stairwell of the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001. The tower collapses and only one survives, burned and suffering from amnesia. Jake's supervisor recognizes the man as Jake, but is it really him? Jamie works with him to re-gain his lost memory, and in the process learns about God and her husband through his Bible and journals. Which man survived the disaster? Can God redeem even those who seem completely lost?
I was touched by this fictionalized account of the calamity that affects us all.Ms. Kingsbury states that it was her way of working through the grief, and I am glad she wrote this book. The characters are very true to life, seeking God's will as well as running from it. Eric and Jamie go through tremendous transformation as God becomes real to both of them. It would be difficult to finish this novel and remain closed about God's hand in our lives.
I highly recommend ONE TUESDAY MORNING. It isn't a book that can be read all in one sitting. It takes time to experience, especially the scenes that take place on September 11. Ifelt as if I was right there with the characters in the book. For an emotional, yet uplifting look at God's everlasting love and mercy in our lives, ONE TUESDAY MORNING is not to be missed.

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Product Description:
A devoted fireman and a driven businessman, strangers with the same face. On that fateful Tuesday, one will leave the Twin Towers alive--but will he ever find his way home?Winner of the Silver Medallion Book Award.

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Beyond Tuesday Morning (September 11 Series #2) (Paperback) Review

This book is about healing and moving on past what happened on 9-11.This book is about Jamie, struggling with just that, as she gets involved with two men.She is constantly struggling with leaving the memories of Jake behind and moving on.

The research on what happened on 9-11 was excellent.I thought that Kingsbury did a wonderful job, capturing the depth of people's pain after what happened to our Twin Towers.I loved how she had Jamie do volunteer work, helping people who lost loved ones in 9-11.

As usual, Kingsbury's books rock!I look forward to reading more from her.

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Product Description:
In this sequel to the bestselling One Tuesday Morning, to widow Jamie Bryan it is still September 12, 2001.What will move her from living in the past to living the life God has given her today?

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