Madame Tussaud: A Novel of the French Revolution

by Michelle Moran
5 Stars
Historical Fiction
Setting: France
446 pages
Published 2011

Ellie's Review

Although I've never toured a Madame Tussauds wax museum, I've walked past the NY location numerous times not knowing how this tourist attraction claimed its name.  Who is/was Madame Tussaud? 

I stumbled upon this novel and soon became engrossed in the French Revolution, which is a war I previously did not understand nor not have an interest in.  This historical fiction tale tells of the French Revolution from a girl who makes wax sculptures of famous people in her uncle's salon - this tourist stop started long before I had realized.  She mingled with both sides of the war and was brought into the midst of it.  I learned so much about this turbulent time for France, and I loved being engrossed in this wonderful woman's life.

If you enjoy historical fiction, this is an amazing read!  I'm excited to read other historical fiction novels by Michelle Moran.

Book Summary
Spanning five years, from the budding revolution to the Reign of Terror, Madame Tussaud brings us into the world of an incredible heroine whose talent for wax modeling saved her life and preserved the faces of a vanished kingdom.


Smart and ambitious, Marie Tussaud has learned the secrets of wax sculpting by working alongside her uncle in their celebrated wax museum, the Salon de Cire.  From her popular model of the American ambassador, Thomas Jefferson, to her tableau of the royal family at dinner, Marie's museum provides Parisians with the very latest news on fashion, gossip, and even politics.  Her customers hail form every walk of life, yet her greatest dreams is to attract the attention of Marie Antoinette and Louis XVI; their stamp of approval on her work could catapult her and her museum to the fame and riches she desires.

Ellie's Review of Michelle Moran's novel Nefertiti

A Christmas Memory

by Truman Capote
4 Stars
Nonfiction: Memoir
Setting: USA
48 pages
Published 1956


Ellie's Review
For a great story to get you in the Christmas spirit, check out Truman Capote's memory of a Christmas when he was a child.  This story is one you can read quickly to boost your Christmas energy to decorate the house or lick envelopes.  It's a nice little story that reminds you that Christmas is about more than Black Friday.


Book Summary
First published in 1956, this much sought-after autobiographical recollection of Truman Capote's rural Alabama boyhood has become a modern-day classic.  Seven-year-old Buddy inaugurates the Christmas season by crying out to his cousin, Miss Sook Falk: "It's fruitcake weather!" Thus begins an unforgettable portrait of an odd but enduring friendship between two innocent souls - one young and one old - and the memories they share of beloved holiday rituals.

The Art of Loving Life

by Sandra Thebaud
4 Stars
Nonfiction: Self Help
78 pages
Published 2011

Ellie's Review
I am someone who is constantly stressed out.  Though I purposefully keep a very busy life, I hate the anguish and sore shoulders caused by stress.  I have read another stress management book that was good to learn about techniques such as deep breathing and visualization.  I felt better while I read it but was soon caught up in my life, forgetting about using my diaphragm to inhale.  The Art of Loving Life crossed my path, and I decided to give stress management a try again to see how it could improve my sore muscles and help me enjoy life a bit more.

While this book did discuss several stress management techniques, it started out by teaching us that to better manage the stress in our lives, we first have to understand what stress is, what causes our personal stress, and how we react to stress.  I had a notepad I used to write down my own definitions of ideas and different types stress in my personal life, as I was instructed.  Then Thebaud helped me understand things differently than before.  

One example is while I focus on the major stressors in my life, my energy is used up in small stressors that I ignore and fail to manage/decrease.  She told of being frustrated at all the laundry she did every day when potty training her son; it was a small thing, but when she purchased more pairs of pants and underwear, her stress level greatly decreased.  I had similar little things in my life I was ignoring even though they caused me anguish.    

Thebaud realizes that most of us do not have extra hours we can daily dedicate to meditation, etc.  She has reasonable suggestions such as practicing deep breathing every time we are stopped at a red light - I can do that!  

I was not a fan of the writing style, but I have noticed a big difference in how relaxed I am and how much I'm enjoying my daily life.  The message is realistic enough for me that I'll keep this book on hand as a reference.  

Book Summary

Life can be difficult and unpredictable.  Sometimes you feel like no one understands what you're going through.  You want a life that you love, but stress can make that seem impossible.

Unlike other stress management books that talk about techniques out of the context of real life, this book approaches life from an emotional standpoint and uses proven techniques to show you how to improve your life, not just deal with stress.  Tried and true techniques have been tweaked to make them easy to practice and more effective.

One for the Money (Stephanie Plum #1)

by Janet Evanovich
3 Stars
Setting: Trenton, New Jersey
320 pages
Published 1994

Ellie's Review
One for the Money tells the tale of an average girl, Stephanie Plum, who turns into a bounty hunter since she's desperate for cash after being laid off.  I could relate to Stephanie's character as she jumps into this new lifestyle (I have no experience with killers, surveillance, or thugs).  This crime mystery was fluffy, sometimes humorous, and definitely geared towards a female audience.  The next time I'm looking for an entertaining and light read, I'll pick the next in the Stephanie Plum series - these are perfect for a flight, beach, or lazy day.

Book Summary
Welcome to Trenton, New Jersey, home to wiseguys, average Joes, and Stephanie Plum, who sports a big attitude and even bigger money problems (since losing her job as a lingerie buyer for a department store).  Stephanie needs cash--fast--but times are tough, and soon she's forced to turn to the last resort of the truly desperate: family.

Stephanie lands a gig at her sleazy cousin Vinnie's bail bonding company.  She's got no experience.  But that doesn't matter.  Neither does the fact that the bail jumper in question is local vice cop Joe Morelli.  From the time he first looked up her dress to the time he first got into her pants to the time Steph hit him with her father's Buick, M-o-r-e-l-l-i has spelled t-r-o-u-b-l-e.  And now the guy is in hot water--wanted for murder.

Abject poverty is a great motivator for learning new skills, but being trained in the school of hard knocks by people like psycho prizefighter Benito Ramirez isn't.  Still, if Stephanie can nab Morelli in a week, she'll make a cool ten grand.  All she has to do is become an expert bounty hunter overnight--and keep herself from getting killed before she gets her man.

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow

by Washington Irving
4 Stars
Children's Classic
Historical Fiction
Setting: Sleepy Hollow, NY
112 pages
Published 1819

Ellie's Review
To bring out the Halloween spirit (or spirits?), I read this classic American tale for the first time even though I've heard the retelling countless times and ways.  This short story was a quick and entertaining read and something people should read at least once in their lives.  I had never really known the truth about what happened between the Headless Horseman and Ichabod Crane.  (But does anyone really know?)

Book Summary
Since this story's first appearance in 1819, generations of readers, young and old, have thrilled to the Headless Horseman galloping through the haunted woods of Sleepy Hollow.

Note on Editions
While many editions of this classic tale are available, I recommend finding an illustrated copy to make reading it that much more fun!  I enjoyed the illustrations of Arthur Rackham who focused on the haunting spirits that the inhabitants of Sleepy Hollow saw in everything.

Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers

by Mary Roach
4 Stars
Nonfiction: Other
304 pages
Published 2003


Ellie's Review
This book is utterly fascinating.  As I learned about the many kinds of research on cadavers (including auto safety testing), I actually laughed out loud numerous times as Roach kept it light without being inappropriate.  I am even more convinced now to donate my organs.


Book Summary
Stiff is an oddly compelling, often hilarious exploration of the strange lives of our bodies postmortem.  For two thousand years, cadavers - some willingly, some unwittingly - have been involved in science's boldest strides and weirdest undertakings.  They've tested France's first guillotines, ridden the NASA Space Shuttle, been crucified in a Parisian laboratory to test the authenticity of the Shroud of Turn, and helped solve the mystery of TWA Flight 800.  For every new surgical procedure, from heart transplants to gender reassignment surgery, cadavers have been there alongside surgeons, making history in their quiet way.

In this fascinating, ennobling account, Mary Roach visits the good deeds of cadavers over the centuries—from the anatomy labs and human-sourced pharmacies of medieval and nineteenth-century Europe to a human decay research facility in Tennessee, to a plastic surgery practice lab, to a Scandinavian funeral directors' conference on human composting. In her droll, inimitable voice, Roach tells the engrossing story of our bodies when we are no longer with them.

City of Fallen Angels (The Mortal Instruments #4)

by Cassandra Clare
3 Stars
Young Adult
Fantasy with Vampires
Setting: NY
424 pages
Published 2011

Ellie's Review
While I did really enjoy the latest novel in The Mortal Instruments series, I didn't like it as much as the 2nd and 3rd books.  In the middle, too much was going on with the subplots and drama that was being created.  I would have been happy if Clare ended the series after the third novel since things were tied up so nicely.  She had to create so many new problems with the characters who had already overcame their numerous conflicts.  I did like City of Fallen Angels though and will probably read the next book whenever it is published.

Book Summary
Who will betray everything they ever believed in? Who will fall in love, and who will find their relationship torn apart?  Love.  Blood.  Betrayal.  Revenge.  In the heart-pounding fourth installment of The Mortal Instruments series, the stakes are higher than ever.

View Ellie's reviews of the rest of the series:
City of Bones (The Mortal Instruments #1)
City of Ashes (The Mortal Instruments #2)
City of Glass (The Mortal Instruments #3)

City of Glass (The Mortal Instruments #3)

by Cassandra Clare
4 Stars
Young Adult
Fantasy with Vampires
Setting: NY
683 pages
Published 2009

Ellie's Review
Once again, I was totally hooked on a cheesy, juvenile, vampire novel.  Clare nicely wrapped up the trilogy in City of Glass, and I was happy with the ending.  The teenage characters are still learning and making mistakes, but they have matured some since the first installment of The Mortal Instruments series, City of Bones.

Book Summary
To save her mother's life, Clary must travel to the City of Glass, the ancestral home of the Shadowhunters -- never mind that entering the city without permission is against the Law, and breaking the Law could mean death.  To make things worse, she learns that Jace does not want her there, and Simon has been thrown in prison by the Shadowhunters, who are deeply suspicious of a vampire who can withstand sunlight.

View Ellie's reviews of the rest of the series:
City of Bones (The Mortal Instruments #1)
City of Ashes (The Mortal Instruments #2)
City of Fallen Angels (The Mortal Instruments #4)

City of Ashes (The Mortal Instruments #2)

by Cassandra Clare
4 Stars
Young Adult
Fantasy with Vampires
Setting: NY
464 pages
Published 2007

Ellie's Review
I'm embarrassed to admit that I really liked this book, but I did.  The dialogue is cheesy, but again I stayed up late at night reading this!  I'm not too ashamed to say I have a crush on Jace.

Book Summary
As readers of series starter City of Bones already know, teenager Clary Fray is a Shadowhunter, a demon slayer who has the gift (?) of spotting Downworlder werewolves, vampires, and faeries.  She is also an adolescent in an abnormally dysfunctional family: Her mom is in a magically induced coma and her father is probably insane and undoubtedly evil.  All of which places Clary in situations that would challenge even the most talented average American girl.

View Ellie's reviews of the rest of the series:
City of Bones (The Mortal Instruments #1)
City of Glass (The Mortal Instruments #3)
City of Fallen Angels (The Mortal Instruments #4)

City of Bones (The Mortal Instruments #1)

by Cassandra Clare
4 Stars
Young Adult
Fantasy with Vampires
Setting: NY
485 pages
Published 2007

Ellie's Review
This book sucked me from from the start, and I stayed up many nights past my bedtime reading it. This reminded me of Twilight due to the juvenile fantasy genre and the magnetism I was drawn in with. However, I didn't rate it higher because the writing itself is not fabulous. This would be a great book to read on a trip: it's easy to read and is a page-turner.  If you are a fan of Stephenie Meyers and wanted more after Breaking Dawn, pick this book up.

Book Summary
When fifteen-year-old Clary Fray heads out to the Pandemonium Club in New York City, she hardly expects to witness a murder - much less a murder committed by three teenagers covered with strange tattoos and brandishing bizarre weapons. Then the body disappears into thin air. It's hard to call the police when the murderers are invisible to everyone else and when there is nothing - not even a smear of blood - to show that a boy has died. Or was he a boy?

This is Clary's first meeting with the Shadowhunters, warriors dedicated to ridding the earth of demons. It's also her first encounter with Jace, a Shadowhunter who looks a little like an angel and acts a lot like a jerk. Within twenty-four hours Clary is pulled into Jace's world with a vengeance, when her mother disappears and Clary herself is attacked by a demon. But why would demons be interested in ordinary mundanes like Clary and her mother? And how did Clary suddenly get the Sight? The Shadowhunters would like to know.... 

Series Information
Originally The Mortal Instruments were to be a trilogy, but Clare decided to continue with a fourth, which is City of Fallen Angels, published in 2011. 


View Ellie's reviews of the rest of the series:
City of Ashes (The Mortal Instruments #2)
City of Glass (The Mortal Instruments #3)
City of Fallen Angels (The Mortal Instruments #4)

Gregor the Overlander (Underland Chronicles #1)

by Suzanne Collins
3 Stars
Children's Fantasy
Setting: NY
320 pages
Published 2003

Ellie's Review
This was a fun kids' book about a NYC brother and sister who fall through a laundry grate into the Underland where rats, bats, roaches, and spiders are huge and warring with each other. While I probably won't read any more in this series, I will recommend it to 8-year-olds, especially if they've ever been in a big city with those pests.

Book Summary
When eleven-year-old Gregor follows his little sister through a grate in the laundry room of their New York apartment, he hurtles into the dark Underland beneath the city. There, humans live uneasily beside giant spiders, bats, cockroaches, and rats—but the fragile peace is about to fall apart.  Gregor wants no part of a conflict between these creepy creatures. He just wants to find his way home. But when he discovers that a strange prophecy foretells a role for him in the Underland's uncertain future, he realizes it might be the only way to solve the biggest mystery of his life. Little does he know his quest will change him and the Underland forever.

Author Information
Gregor the Overlander is the debut novel from Suzanne Collins who is now best known for writing The Hunger Games series.

Read Ellie's 5-star review of The Hunger Games.

Infidel

by Ayaan Hirsi Ali
5 Stars
Nonfiction: Memoir
Setting: Africa, Middle East, USA
353 pages
Published 2006

Ellie's Review
This memoir was fascinating to me! Ayaan grew up in Somalia, Kenya, Ethiopia, and Saudi Arabia and just told her life story as a Muslim. On one hand, she's just a normal person who had a typical childhood. On the other hand, she is incredible for what she's gone through. I learned so much about Muslims and the world we live in.

Book Summary
Somali-born author Ayaan Hirsi Ali is one of the most controversial women on earth. For years, she has been forced to live in hiding; her life has been threatened numerous times; an anti-Koran script that she wrote provoked the assassination of filmmaker Theo Van Gogh; and a dispute over her citizenship indirectly brought down the Dutch government. This memoir about her family's travails living under strict fundamentalist Islamic precepts tracks the evolution of a world-changing radical feminist.

The Passion

by Jeanette Winterson
3 Stars
Historical Fiction
Setting: Europe
176 pages
Published 1987

Ellie's Review
This was beautifully written novel about the many different aspects of passion set during Napolean's reign, and I loved how she spun in little bits of fairy tale. I really liked the first section and while I enjoyed the other three sections, they weren't as gripping.

Book Summary
Set during the tumultuous years of the Napoleonic Wars, The Passion intertwines the destinies of two remarkable people: Henri, a simple French soldier, who follows Napoleon from glory to Russian ruin; and Villanelle, the red-haired, web-footed daughter of a Venetian boatman, whose husband has gambled away her heart. In Venice's compound of carnival, chance, and darkness, the pair meet their singular destiny. In her unique and mesmerizing voice, Winterson blends reality with fantasy, dream, and imagination to weave a hypnotic tale with stunning effects.

Born to Run

Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen
by Christopher McDougall
5 Stars
Nonfiction: Memoir
Setting: USA, Mexico
287 pages
Published 2009

Ellie's Review
If you run or have ever thought about running, you should read this book. I was completely hooked from the first page to the last: the story was so incredibly interested and was well written. Learning about the running tribe in Mexico was amazing, and I am seriously considering purchasing a pair of Five Finger running shoes (even though I've openly mocked their appearance). I will honestly think of this book every time I run, and I hope to think of it whenever I face a challenge I think is too great for me. I loved this book!
 
Book Summary
Full of incredible characters, amazing athletic achievements, cutting-edge science, and, most of all, pure inspiration, Born to Run is an epic adventure that began with one simple question: Why does my foot hurt? In search of an answer, Christopher McDougall sets off to find a tribe of the world’s greatest distance runners and learn their secrets, and in the process shows us that everything we thought we knew about running is wrong.

The History of Love

by Nicole Krauss
4 Stars
Jewish
Setting: USA
260 pages
Published 2005

Ellie's Review
This book was very enjoyable, and I was sad to finish it. Different people narrate this novel, which was confusing at first (maybe because I was listening to the audiobook?). I absolutely loved the narration of Leo Gursky - he was a quirky and amazing character who I fell in love with and just wanted to hug.  Simply, it was a great book.

Book Summary
Leo Gursky is trying to survive a little bit longer, tapping his radiator each evening to let his upstairs neighbor know he's still alive, drawing attention to himself at the milk counter of Starbucks. But life wasn't always like this: sixty years ago, in the Polish village where he was born, Leo fell in love and wrote a book. And although he doesn't know it, that book also survived: it crossed oceans and generations, and changed lives." Fourteen-year-old Alma was named after a character in that book. She has her hands full keeping track of her little brother Bird (who thinks he might be the Messiah) and taking copious notes in her book, How to Survive in the Wild Volume Three. But when a mysterious letter arrives in the mail she undertakes an adventure to find her namesake and save her family.

The Birth of Venus

by Sarah Dunant
4 Stars
Historical Fiction
Setting: Florence, Italy
403 pages
Published 2003

Ellie's Review
If you liked Pillars of the Earth or The Other Boleyn Girl, you should read this. Set in Florence, Italy in the 1500's, The Birth of Venus is a wonderful historical fiction novel wrapped around the art of the time. I was fascinated by the story plus I loved learning about the art and treatment of women at this time. Just to warn you, this does have some sex scenes.

Book Summary
Alessandra Cecchi is not quite fifteen when her father, a prosperous cloth merchant, brings a young painter back from northern Europe to decorate the chapel walls in the family’s Florentine palazzo. A child of the Renaissance, with a precocious mind and a talent for drawing, Alessandra is intoxicated by the painter’s abilities.

Room

by Emma Donoghue
4 Stars
Setting: USA
321 pages
Published 2010

Ellie's Review
This was a crazy, dark book I was utterly hooked on. Donaghue did a wonderful job of drawing me into the story and actually causing me stress when the characters were in the most critical times and were themselves stressed.

Book Summary
To five-year-old Jack, Room is the entire world. It is where he was born and grew up; it's where he lives with his Ma as they learn and read and eat and sleep and play. At night, his Ma shuts him safely in the wardrobe, where he is meant to be asleep when Old Nick visits.

Unaccustomed Earth

by Jhumpa Lahiri
4 Stars
Settings: USA, India
333 pages
Published 2008

Ellie's Review
Unaccustomed Earth is a collection of short stories by Indian author Jhumpa Lahiri (Interpreter of Maladies and The Namesake) tells different stories of Indians from West Bengal adapting to America. While some stories I would only give 3 stars, I really enjoyed the collection as a whole. Two of the stories ended a bit abrupt - I would have liked even another paragraph in conclusion.

Book Summary
These eight stories by beloved and bestselling author Jhumpa Lahiri take us from Cambridge and Seattle to India and Thailand, as they explore the secrets at the heart of family life. Here they enter the worlds of sisters and brothers, fathers and mothers, daughters and sons, friends and lovers. Rich with the signature gifts that have established Jhumpa Lahiri as one of our most essential writers, Unaccustomed Earth exquisitely renders the most intricate workings of the heart and mind.

The Distant Hours

by Kate Morton
4 Stars
Setting: England
562 pages
Published 2010

Ellie's Review
The Distant Hours was an enjoyable read that ended up about a fascinating mystery; however, a mysterious letter doesn't intrigue me in the beginning as much as the foundling in Morton's The Forgotten Garden. I loved the descriptions of the castle in this book. I raced through the last 100 pages as the brilliant plot unfolded, but before that I found some slow parts.

Book Summary
A long lost letter arrives in the post and Edie Burchill finds herself on a journey to Milderhurst Castle, a great but moldering old house, where the Blythe spinsters live and where her mother was billeted 50 years before as a 13 year old child during WWII. The elder Blythe sisters are twins and have spent most of their lives looking after the third and youngest sister, Juniper, who hasn’t been the same since her fiance jilted her in 1941. 

See Ellie's review of Kate Morton other books: The House at Riverton and The Forgotten Garden.

The Forgotten Garden

by Kate Morton
5 Stars
Setting: Australia, England
645 pages
Published 2008

Ellie's Review
This was a great book with an intriguing mystery about a foundling. Throughout the book, Morton carefully solves one part of the mystery while presenting other small mysteries. Readers are hooked! She jumps between three time frames without being confusing, which is a hard effect for authors though many try. I highly recommend this novel for a book club - readers love it and have a lot to discuss.

Book Summary
A foundling, an old book of dark fairy tales, a secret garden, an aristocratic family, a love denied, and a mystery. The Forgotten Garden is a captivating, atmospheric and compulsively readable story of the past, secrets, family and memory from the international best-selling author Kate Morton. 

See Ellie's reviews of Kate Morton's other novels: The House at Riverton and The Distant Hours.

Book Club Information
Click here to see a video of Kate Morton talking about The Forgotten Garden (no spoilers).


Discussion Questions

1. Christian said the following about “The Golden Egg” fairy tale, “The characters in the story are all doing what they think is right.  It’s just that it can’t have a happy ending for all of them.”  In The Forgotten Garden, who do you think had a happy ending?
2. Lady Montrechet convinces Eliza not to travel to New York with herself and Rose.  She convinces Eliza that lying to make someone happy is a good thing.  Do you agree?
3. Discuss what parts of Nell’s true story were never discovered by Cassandra.
4. Ruby said the following about not having children, “You make a life out of what you have not what you’re missing.”  Nell admits to herself she has focused too much on her missing late husband and child.  Who else focused on what was missing? 
5. Did Hugh and Lil make the right decision when they kept Nell? (question from katemorton.com)
6. On the night of Nell’s twenty-first birthday, her father Hugh tells her a secret that shatters her sense of self. How important is a strong sense of identity to a person’s life? Was Hugh right to tell her about her past? How might Nell’s life have turned out differently had she not discovered the truth? (question from katemorton.com)
7. Is it possible to escape the past, or does one’s history always find a way to revisit the present?  (question from katemorton.com)

Crone: The crone is a stock character in folklore and fairy tale, an old woman who is usually disagreeable, malicious, or sinister in manner, often with magical or supernatural associations that can make her either helpful or obstructing. She is marginalized by her exclusion from the reproductive cycle, and her proximity to death places her in contact with occult wisdom. As a character type, the crone shares characteristics with the hag.  The word "crone" is a less common synonym for "old woman," and is more likely to appear in reference to traditional narratives than in contemporary everyday usage. 

The House at Riverton

by Kate Morton
3 Stars
Setting: England
599 pages
Published 2006

Ellie's Review
I actually give this 3 1/2 stars. I enjoyed this 1920s novel set in England - it had some nice family and romantic parts in the plot as told by the maid. Even though the ending had a nice twist, the fact that a mysterious death is told about at the beginning and you find the true story out in the last few pages a bit cliche. It was very enjoyable and great to curl up with and read all in a weekend.

Book Summary
Summer 1924 - On the eve of a glittering society party, by the lake of a grand English country house, a young poet takes his life. The only witnesses, sisters Hannah and Emmeline Hartford, will never speak to each other again.

See Ellie's reviews of Kate Morton's later novels: The Forgotten Garden and The Distant Hours.

This was published in Europe under the title The Shifting Fog.

Click here to watch a 4-minute video of Kate Morton talking about The House at Riverton (no spoilers).

To Kill a Mockingbird

by Harper Lee
4 Stars
Classic, Historical Fiction
Setting: Alabama
323 pages
Published 1960

Ellie's Review
To Kill a Mockingbird is a great book about prejudice that was artfully written from the viewpoint of a child who knows no prejudice and learns the social customs and hatred our world has. I enjoyed it in high school and enjoyed it again as an adult who has experienced more. I hope to have the strength of the character Atticus in raising my children.

Book Summary
The unforgettable novel of a childhood in a sleepy Southern town and the crisis of conscience that rocked it, To Kill A Mockingbird became both an instant bestseller and a critical success when it was first published in 1960. It went on to win the Pulitzer Prize in 1961 and was later made into an Academy Award-winning film, also a classic.

East of Eden

by John Steinbeck
3 Stars
Classic, Historical Fiction
Setting: USA
601 pages
Published 1952

Ellie's Review
I almost gave East of Eden 4 stars. I did enjoy this book and the lessons of good and evil within us. Some of the descriptions were fabulous (Liza is "as humorless as a chicken"). However, I think Steinbeck added in things he could have cut out to make the book shorter. I was a bit confused as to why he had someone narrate it first-person in just a handful of sections; I kept waiting for that person's story to be told more.

Book Summary
The masterpiece of one of the greatest American writers of all time. East of Eden is an epic tale of good vs. evil with many biblical references and parallels. The story is ultimately that of good's triumph over evil and the human will's ability to make that happen.

Killer Weekend (Walt Fleming #1)

by Ridley Pearson
4 Stars
Setting: Sun Valley, Idaho
336 pages
Published 2007

Ellie's Review
If you're looking for a good murder mystery, try this out. This is the first book I've read of Pearson's, and I liked the main plot and was very interested in the subplots as well. This was a good page-turner, and I liked the ending.  Killer Weekend is a nice, entertaining read and is especially fun for anyone with an Idaho connection since novels aren't usually set there.

Book Summary
Eight years ago, in Sun Valley-snowcapped playground for the wealthy and ambitious-all that stood between U.S. Attorney General Elizabeth Shaler and a knife-wielding killer was local patrolman Walt Fleming. Now Liz Shaler returns to Sun Valley as the keynote speaker of billionaire Patrick Cutter's world-famous media and communications conference, a convergence of the richest, most powerful business tycoons. The controversial attorney general is expected to announce her candidacy for president. It's a media coup for Cutter-but a security nightmare for Walt Fleming, now the county sheriff. As the Cutter conference gets under way, authorities learn of a confirmed threat on Shaler's life, and various competing interests-the Secret Service, the FBI, Cutter's own security forces -begin jockeying for jurisdiction. Amid the conference's opulent extravagances, Walt is suddenly shaken by an apparent murder, his nephew's arrest, and a haunting legacy from his family's past. The clock ticks down toward Shaler's keynote address as we track the chilling precision of her assassin's preparations.

Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet

by Jamie Ford
4 Stars
Historical Fiction, WWII
Setting: Seattle
304 pages
Published 2009

Ellie's Review
This book was a fascinating read about the Japanese internment - I learned so much. However, this book was also a wonderful love story and a novel about father/son relationships. At times, the writing didn't flow that well, but I still really liked the book.

Book Summary
In 1986, Henry lee joins a crowd outside the Panama Hotel, once the gateway to Seattle's Japantown. It has been boarded up for decades, but now the new owner has discovered the belongings of Japanese families who were sent to internment camps during World War II. As the owner displays and unfurls a Japanese parasol, Henry, a Chinese American, remembers a young Japanese girl from his childhood in the 1940s -- Keiko Okabe, with whom he forged a bond of friendship and innocent love that transcended the prejudices of their Old World ancestors. After Keiko and her family were evacuated to the internment camps, she and Henry could only hope that their promise to each other would be kept. Now, forty years later, Henry explores the hotel's basement for the Okabe family's belongings and for a long-lost object whose value he cannot even begin to measure. His search will take him on a journey to revisit the sacrifices he has made for family, for love, for country.

Change Your Thoughts - Change Your Life: Living the Wisdom of the Tao

by Wayne W. Dyer
5 Stars
Nonfiction: Self Help
416 pages
Published 2007

Ellie's Review
This is an amazing book! Split into sections for every verse in the Tao Te Ching, Wayne Dyer gives his interpretation of the verse and suggests how to apply it to your daily life. I read one verse a day so the meaning could sink in. I can honestly say this book has changed my life and helped me be more at peace. Regardless of your religious beliefs, I think you could benefit from this book. The world would be a much better place if everyone read this!

Book Summary
Five hundred years before the birth of Jesus, a God-realized being named Lao-tzu in ancient China dictated 81 verses, which are regarded by many as the ultimate commentary on the nature of our existence. The classic text of these 81 verses, called the Tao Te Ching or the Great Way, offers advice and guidance that is balanced, moral, spiritual, and always concerned with working for the good.In this book, Dr. Wayne W. Dyer has reviewed hundreds of translations of the Tao Te Ching and has written 81 distinct essays on how to apply the ancient wisdom of Lao-tzu to today’s modern world. This work contains the entire 81 verses of the Tao, compiled from Wayne’s researching of 12 of the most well-respected translations of text that have survived for more than 25 centuries. Each chapter is designed for actually living the Tao or the Great Way today. Some of the chapter titles are “Living with Flexibility,” “Living Without Enemies,” and “Living by Letting Go.” Each of the 81 brief chapters focuses on living the Tao and concludes with a section called “Doing the Tao Now.”Wayne spent one entire year reading, researching, and meditating on Lao-tzu’s messages, practicing them each day and ultimately writing down these essays as he felt Lao-tzu wanted you to know them.This is a work to be read slowly, one essay a day. As Wayne says, “This is a book that will forever change the way you look at your life, and the result will be that you’ll live in a new world aligned with nature. Writing this book changed me forever, too. I now live in accord with the natural world and feel the greatest sense of peace I’ve ever experienced. I’m so proud to present this interpretation of the Tao Te Ching, and offer the same opportunity for change that it has brought me.”

The Lost Symbol (Robert Langdon #3)

by Dan Brown
3 Stars
Setting: Washington, DC
509 pages
Published 2009

Ellie's Review
The first half of this book was a real page-turner for me. Then I started loosing interest, and it was work to keep myself interested at the end. I didn't feel like I learned that much in this book, unlike his other Robert Langdon novels. I'm interested in learning more about Masons but didn't feel like I learned too much from this book.  Brown had too much of an agenda, and I just got tired of it. One of his scientific breakthroughs in the novel was something I've known for years - I just expected more.  Overall, I liked it but this was not up on the same level as The Da Vinci Code.

Book Summary
As the story opens, Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon is summoned unexpectedly to deliver an evening lecture in the U.S. Capitol Building. Within minutes of his arrival, however, the night takes a bizarre turn. A disturbing object--artfully encoded with five symbols--is discovered in the Capitol Building. Langdon recognizes the object as an ancient invitation... one meant to usher its recipient into a long-lost world of esoteric wisdom.

When Langdon's beloved mentor, Peter Solomon--a prominent Mason and philanthropist--is brutally kidnapped, Langdon realizes his only hope of saving Peter is to accept this mystical invitation and follow wherever it leads him. Langdon is instantly plunged into a clandestine world of Masonic secrets, hidden history, and never-before-seen locations--all of which seem to be dragging him toward a single, inconceivable truth. 

Firefly Lane

by Kristin Hannah
3 Stars
Settings: USA
496 pages
Published 2008

Ellie's Review
Although the beginning of this book felt too much like a Lifetime movie, I ended up really enjoying it and couldn't put it down at the end. It's a nice chick-lit novel that's totally girly and just an enjoyable read.


Book Summary
Spanning more than three decades and playing out across the ever-changing face of the Pacific Northwest, Firefly Lane is the poignant, powerful story of two women and the friendship that becomes the bulkhead of their lives.

The Shadow of the Wind

by Carlos Ruiz Zafon, translated by Lucia Graves
4 Stars
Setting: Barcelona, Spain
487 pages
Published 2003

Ellie's Review
This is a beautifully written book! The plot of this mysterious book is so well laid out that at the end I could see how carefully the details were planned from the beginning, yet it wasn't predictable. I really enjoyed this both for the writing and the plot, which doesn't happen often for me.

Book Summary
Barcelona, 1945—Just after the war, a great world city lies in shadow, nursing its wounds, and a boy named Daniel awakes one day to find that he can no longer remember his mother’s face. To console his only child, Daniel’s widowed father, an antiquarian book dealer, initiates him into the secret of the Cemetery of Forgotten Books, a library tended by Barcelona’s guild of rare-book dealers as a repository for books forgotten by the world, waiting for someone who will care about them again.

Daniel’s father coaxes him to choose a book from the spiraling labyrinth of shelves, one that, it is said, will have a special meaning for him. And Daniel so loves the book he selects, a novel called The Shadow of the Wind by one Julian Carax, that he sets out to find the rest of Carax’s work. To his shock, he discovers that someone has been systematically destroying every copy of every book this author has written. In fact, he may have the last of Carax’s books in existence.

See Ellie's review of Zafon's book The Angel's Game.

The Broken Window (Lincoln Rhyme #8)

by Jeffrey Deaver
3 Stars
Setting: USA
414 pages
Published 2008

Ellie's Review
This novel reminded me of some of the original, classic John Grisham's - that's a good thing in my mind. While solving a crazy mystery, the reader learns about some topic. I would have given this 4 stars, but I didn't like who the killer was and Deaver had a teenager in NYC owning a car (I think that's totally unrealistic, especially for one in foster care - Deaver needs to learn to write about the subway).  If you like Grisham's first books and haven't  read Deaver, give him a try.  This is my first mystery read from the Lincoln Rhyme series, and I was fine picking this up without the others.

Book Summary
Lincoln Rhyme and partner/paramour Amelia Sachs return to face a criminal whose ingenious staging of crimes is enabled by a terrifying access to information....  When Lincoln's estranged cousin Arthur Rhyme is arrested on murder charges, the case is perfect - too perfect.  Forensic evidence from Arthur's home is found all over the scene of the crime, and it looks like the fate of Lincoln's relative is sealed.

Belong to Me

by Marisa de los Santos
4 Stars
Setting: USA
400 pages
Published 2008

Ellie's Review
What does it mean to belong to someone? This novel switches narration between Cornelia (someone I'd love to be friends with), Piper (the queen bee of a social group), and Dev (teenage genius); whose lives all intersect and explores various relationships as life becomes unexpected.  I really liked this book - it was quite enjoyable.

Book Summary
As this book begins, the couple is settling into their first house on an idyllic street in a picturesque Philadelphia suburb. Cornelia is inexplicably drawn to "this unsurprising place" that she yearns to call home, but her neighbors are less sure of how these transplanted, apparently childless urbanites will fare in their midst. Especially Piper Truitt. The epitome of blonde cool, this demanding mother of two has created her own version of perfection within the walls of a home that sits across the street from Cornelia's. From their early encounter at a dinner party, the two are at odds, a situation that Cornelia, adrift from her familiar surroundings, cannot conceive how to navigate.

As the novel progresses, new characters emerge. We meet Elizabeth, Piper's best friend, who's battling cancer, as well as Toby, Cornelia's brother, and Clare, the bright and compassionate teen familiar to readers of Love Walked In. Then there's Lake, a single mother working at a local Italian restaurant, who throws Cornelia a timely lifeline in the form of a dish of spaghetti alla puttanesca. Lake's son Dev, a preternaturally gifted 13-year-old, becomes Cornelia's unexpected kindred spirit. Deftly blending several tales at once, de los Santos' narrative is richly embroidered with intertwined lives and loves. As present circumstances are threatened by the revelation of past secrets, the friends forge a circle of strength and forgiveness that the reader, too, belongs to -- and will hate to leave when the last page is turned. A triumphant testimony to the power of love, Belong to Me hums with the hope that pulls friends through the ups and downs that the years hold in store for everyone. 

Tess of the D'Urbervilles

by Thomas Hardy
4 Stars
Classic, Historical Fiction
Setting: UK
592 pages
Published 1884

Ellie's Review
While I really enjoyed Jane Austen's books where the girl always ends up happily ever after with her love, Hardy's view of what girls go through was fascinating. Sometimes life sucks. I contemplated giving this book five stars, but I was a bit disappointed in the ending. Overall, I really enjoyed this book and was sad that it ended.  This gave me a lot to think about.

Book Summary
Thomas Hardy's penetrating look at the sexual hypocrisy of Victorian society attracted strong barbs (and numerous readers) when first published. Today it is revered for its subtle character portraits and resonant symbolism.

The original title was Tess of the D'Urbervilles: A Pure Woman Faithfully Presented.

Outliers

by Malcolm Gladwell
4 Stars
Nonfiction: Other
309 pages
Published 2008

Ellie's Review

Outliers is a great book that looks into why individuals or groups have been so much more or less successful than others. It mentions the research without going too deep into the statistics to overwhelm/bore the reader. I learned some fascinating things in regards to raising children and think any parent in particular would like this book. This is a wonderful book that I think anyone can gain great insight from.

Book Summary
Gladwell argues that, when we try to understand success, we normally start with the wrong question. We ask 'what is this person like?' when we should really be asking 'where are they from?' The real secret of success turns out to be surprisingly simple, and it hinges on a few crucial twists in people's life stories - on the culture they grow up in and the way they spend their time.

The Angel's Game

by Carlos Ruiz Zafon, translated by Lucia Graves
4 Stars
Setting: Barcelona, Spain
531 pages
Published 2005

Ellie's Review
This was a surprisingly good book! I really enjoyed the writing - the language is beautiful and Zafon is simply talented. Graves did a wonderful job translating the novel from Spanish.  On top of that, the plot is really, really good. It's nicely dark and twisted but nothing to give me nightmares.


Book Summary
In an abandoned mansion at the heart of Barcelona, a young man, David Martin, makes his living by writing sensationalist novels under a pseudonym. The survivor of a troubled childhood, he has taken refuge in the world of books and spends his nights spinning baroque tales about the city’s underworld. But perhaps his dark imaginings are not as strange as they seem, for in a locked room deep within the house lie photographs and letters hinting at the mysterious death of the previous owner.

See Ellie's Review of Zafon's novel The Shadow of the Wind.

Eragon (Inheritance #1)

by Christopher Paolini
4 Stars
Young Adult, Fantasy
503 pages
Published 2005

Ellie's Review
Eragon is a fun and exciting fantasy book including magic and dragons. Even though this is for young adults, the plot was complex enough to keep my interest. This is a very creative book and I was excited to read the others in the series.  However, the second book, Eldest, just did not hold my interest.  I saw the movie Eragon after reading this book and was disappointed at how cheesy the film was - the book is a lot better.

Book Summary
When young Eragon finds a polished blue stone in the forest, he thinks it is the lucky discovery of a poor farm boy; perhaps it will buy his adopted family meat for the winter. But when the stone brings a dragon hatchling, Eragon realizes he has stumbled upon a legacy nearly as old as the Empire itself. Overnight his simple life is shattered, and he is thrust into a perilous new world of inescapable destiny, magical forces, and powerful people. With only an ancient sword and the instruction of an old, mysterious, hermit storyteller for guidance, Eragon and the fledgling dragon must navigate the dangerous terrain and dark enemies of an Empire ruled by a Emperor whose evil and power knows no bounds. Can Eragon take up the mantle of the legendary Dragon Riders? The fate of the Empire may rest in his hands….

Author Information
Christopher Paolini was raised in the Paradise Valley, Montana area. Home schooled for the duration of his education, Paolini graduated from high school at the age of 15 through a set of accredited correspondence courses. Following graduation, he started his work on what would become the novel Eragon the first of a series, set in the mythical land of Alagaësia.

In 2002, Eragon was published by Paolini International LLC, Paolini's parents' company. Paolini created the cover art for the first edition of Eragon, which featured Saphira's eye. He also drew the maps on the inside covers of his books.

In Summer 2002, the stepson of author Carl Hiaasen found Eragon in a bookstore and loved it, and Hiaasen brought it to the attention of his publisher, Alfred A. Knopf. Knopf subsequently made an offer to publish Eragon and the rest of the Inheritance cycle.

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn

by Betty Smith
3 Stars
Classic, Historical Fiction
493 pages
Published 1943

Ellie's Review
I learned a lot about the early 1900s in Brooklyn and what struggles families encountered, so I'm really glad I read this book. However, I felt that while the subplots painted a fuller picture of the time, they were too numerous and meandering.

Book Summary
The beloved American classic about a young girl's coming-of-age at the turn of the century, Betty Smith's A Tree Grows in Brooklyn is a poignant and moving tale filled with compassion and cruelty, laughter and heartache, crowded with life and people and incident. The story of young, sensitive, and idealistic Francie Nolan and her bittersweet formative years in the slums of Williamsburg has enchanted and inspired millions of readers for more than sixty years. By turns overwhelming, sublime, heartbreaking, and uplifting, the daily experiences of the unforgettable Nolans are raw with honesty and tenderly threaded with family connectedness -- in a work of literary art that brilliantly captures a unique time and place as well as incredibly rich moments of universal experience.

Best Friends Forever

by Jennifer Weiner
3 stars
Setting: USA
368 pages
Published 2009

Ellie's Review
This is a nice, chick-lit novel that is great for when you don't want to think too hard.  It's a great book to read at the beach.

Book Summary
Addie Downs and Valerie Adler will be best friends forever. That's what Addie believes after Valerie moves across the street when they're both nine years old. But in the wake of betrayal during their teenage years, Val is swept into the popular crowd, while mousy, sullen Addie becomes her school's scapegoat.
Flash-forward fifteen years. Valerie Adler has found a measure of fame and fortune working as the weathergirl at the local TV station. Addie Downs lives alone in her parents' house in their small hometown of Pleasant Ridge, Illinois, caring for a troubled brother and trying to meet Prince Charming on the Internet. She's just returned from Bad Date #6 when she opens her door to find her long-gone best friend standing there, a terrified look on her face and blood on the sleeve of her coat. "Something horrible has happened," Val tells Addie, "and you're the only one who can help."

The 101 Dalmatians

by Dodie Smith
4 Stars
Children's, Classic
Setting: England
184 pages
Published 1956

Ellie's Review
The 101 Dalmatians is a splendid story from dogs' perspective.  Even though I pretty much have the Disney movie memorized, this plot had enough differences to keep my attention. It's very witty and enjoyable especially if you fancy dogs.

Book Summary
Pongo and Perdita have a litter of 15 dalmatian puppies. Cruella De Vil takes a fancy to the puppies and tries to buy them from their human owners, Roger and Anita. Cruella wants to get ahold of those puppies, as well as more puppies, to make herself a lovely dalmatian skin coat. Cruella hires some thugs to kidnap the puppies and hold them at an abandoned mansion. Now Pongo and Perdita must use an animal communication system to help find all the puppies.

See Ellie's review of I Capture the Castle, also by Dodie Smith.

Cry, the Beloved Country

by Alan Paton
5 Stars
Setting: South Africa
320 pages
Published 1944

Ellie's Review
I think this is my favorite novel I've read lately! This is a wonderful story that is beautifully written. The themes are universal, yet I also learned so much about South Africa. I listened to the audiobook, and the lady performing it has a beautiful voice and made the African words come alive (if I read it, I'm afraid I would have skipped over the foreign words and not heard their beauty).

Book Summary
Cry, the Beloved Country stands as a singularly important novel in twentieth-century South African literature. A work of searing beauty, Cry, the Beloved Country is the deeply moving story of the Zulu pastor Stephen Kumalo and his son Absalom, set against the background of South Africa and a people driven by racial injustice. Unforgettable for character and incident, it is a novel of love and hope, courage and endurance, born of the dignity of man.

The Giver (The Giver #1)

by Lois Lowry
4 Stars
Young Adult, Science Fiction
304 pages
Published 1993

Ellie's Review
Wow, I really liked this book. I was surprised by how deep it was since it's a juvenile novel. This will have me thinking for a while.

Book Summary
In a world with no poverty, no crime, no sickness and no unemployment, and where every family is happy, 12-year-old Jonas is chosen to be the community's Receiver of Memories. Under the tutelage of the Elders and an old man known as the Giver, he discovers the disturbing truth about his utopian world and struggles against the weight of its hypocrisy. With echoes of Brave New World, in this 1994 Newbery Medal winner, Lowry examines the idea that people might freely choose to give up their humanity in order to create a more stable society. Gradually Jonas learns just how costly this ordered and pain-free society can be.

Newbery Medal Award 1994

Bel Canto

by Ann Patchett
4 Stars
Setting: South America
318 pages
Published 2001

Ellie's Review
While I felt it dragged a bit about 1/3 through the book, when I finished it I was actually sad it was over. In all, I really enjoyed it. Patchett spun an interesting tale about various individuals being thrown together in a high stress environment.

Book Summary
Somewhere in South America at the home of the country's vice president, a lavish birthday party is being held in honor of Mr. Hosokawa, a powerful Japanese businessman. Roxanne Coss, opera's most revered soprano, has mesmerized the guests with her singing. It is a perfect evening—until a band of terrorists breaks in, taking the entire party hostage.