Summer Sisters, by Judy Blume
Book title: Summer Sisters
Rating: 5/5
Binding: Paperback
Rating: 5/5
Binding: Paperback
In this book two girls, Vix and Kaitlin, become friends at school. Kaitlin is a rich, exciting, and outgoing girl who brings Vix, a more quiet and reserved girl, to her summer beach cabin. The two form an unbreakable bond and call themselves the summer sisters. They continue to visit the summer cabin from the time they're 12 to they're 30. The story brings you through all the struggles and triumph of the girls through their lives. Also it tells about the heart breaks of their first loves.
This book does a wonderful job of describing the beautiful scenery of the cabin and the small town around it. It lets you feel like you are their with them in their turbulant relationship. Also Judy Blume does a wonderful job of depicting the feelings you have when first fall in love. You won't be able to put this book down. I give it two thumbs up!
EAN: 9780440226437
Pages: 399
Publisher: Dell
Authors:
Judy Blume
This book takes the mystery out of renovation
Book title: Renovation: A Complete Guide
Rating: 5/5
Binding: Hardcover
Rating: 5/5
Binding: Hardcover
I am a first-time female homeowner of a pre-war apartment. It is amazing what you can do after reading this book. Most people I know find doing-it-yourself an intimidating process and wouldn't conceive of undertaking the simplest of jobs themselves. They just wouldn't know where to begin. "Renovation" has taken me from life-long yuppie renter to where my power drill is now my best friend.Litchfield does a great job of guiding you through each aspect of home renovation. The explanations are well-written and clear, the illustrations are extremely helpful, so while it does not seem dumbed-down in any way, the first-time DIYer will find it very useful. Now when I go to Home Depot, I can ask intelligent questions about what I need to buy. It's going to become a regular housewarming gift for my friends.
EAN: 9780131593367
Pages: 566
Publisher: Pearson P T R
Authors:
Michael W. Litchfield
Unabashedly different-- and fascinating
Book title: The Chosen (The Stone Dance of the Chameleon, Book 1)
Rating: 5/5
Binding: Hardcover
Rating: 5/5
Binding: Hardcover
Yes this book is complex. But world building must necessarily be so. This world is alien-- in culture, in social strata, in the beasts (including humans) that dwell there. But isn't that in fact what makes fantasy so compelling? I found the descriptive passages engrossing and was able to satisfy my "creature" fix, something I absolutely must have. I found this world utterly unique and I highly recommend you go there.
EAN: 9780312872083
Pages: 510
Publisher: Tor Books
Authors:
Ricardo Pinto
Love That Dog
Book title: Love That Dog
Rating: 5/5
Binding: Paperback
Rating: 5/5
Binding: Paperback
A must have to share with kids! It is about a fifth grade boy who detests writing, mostly poems. Creech does an amazing job of taking you through a diary of the boys writing journal and his thoughts that coincidently turn into superb poetry. He thinks poetry is for girls but realizes that poetry doesn't have to rhyme and more importantly need not be only for girls. Very inspirational for students' writing and heart felt as the boy deals with his feelings about a dog he sees at the pound.
EAN: 9780064409599
Pages: 112
Publisher: HarperTrophy
Authors:
Sharon Creech
Some Things You May Not Have Known
Book title: Appointment in Samarra (Vintage Open Market)
Rating: 5/5
Binding: Paperback
Rating: 5/5
Binding: Paperback
I grew up in the town at the center of this story. The next response would be, "there is no such place as Gibbsville, Pa". You would be right. The town's real name is Pottsville. Pottsville also appears on Yuengling Beer labels where the beverage was originally produced. Each character is a composite of real people that existed at the time of publication. The book was fist published in 1934, and was considered controversial for it's openly explicit language and it's references to sex. It's also a very realistic portrayal of life at that time.
I don't know if I was so taken with the book because of it's significance to where I lived or because it fairly represents the mindset of community economically devastated by it's reliance on the coal industry (which ultimately failed everyone associated with it).
I still think it's a great read.
EAN: 9780394711928
Pages: 256
Publisher: Vintage
Authors:
John O'Hara
One of the top 10 novels of the last century
Book title: The Stranger
Rating: 5/5
Binding: Hardcover
Rating: 5/5
Binding: Hardcover
A brilliant novel worth everyones attention, Albert Camus "The Stranger" is, in my opinion, one of the greatest stories ever written. A short read, this story of a man of indifference living along the Algerian coast packs quite a punch. You may be infuriated by the main characters lack of emotion, even when he's killing another human being, but the themes that it touches on are fascinating. The book evokes emotions that are rarely felt when reading other literature, and it has one of the greatest final sentences ever. I loved every line of this book, and it has motivated me to seek out more work by Albert Camus.
EAN: 9780394533056
Pages: 144
Publisher: Knopf
Authors:
Albert Camus
A must-read book for friends, relatives.
Book title: Seeing the Crab
Rating: 5/5
Binding: Paperback
Rating: 5/5
Binding: Paperback
I read this book to better understand what my sister is going through and what she may face in the future. Anyone with a friend or relative with advanced breast cancer should read it. We try to "minimize" what is happening to them, and we tell them to keep a positive attitude, and we deny the reality of the seriousness of the disease, and the outcome. We tell them they look good, and try to give them false hope of surviving cancer. As the author pointed out, this makes them very angry, as though we are discounting what is happening to them. We need to be there for them and to listen. Just because they are in treatment for this dreaded disease, it doesn't mean they will survive it. The author knew she would likely not survive, and that her treatments, as horrific as they were, were just "buying her more time." This was a sad, but "real" story. Very powerfully written. I could not put it down.
EAN: 9780385488655
Pages: 224
Publisher: Anchor
Authors:
Christina Middlebrook
will make you see the world in a new way
Book title: The End of Nature
Rating: 5/5
Binding: Hardcover
Rating: 5/5
Binding: Hardcover
This book has already received the highest accolade the reading public can grant: it has become part of the way we think. Since the publication of THE END OF NATURE we have all accepted McKibben's premise. Mankind is so powerful that no natural process on the planet now operates beyond the range of human influence. A pleasure to read, it is a great pleasure to see a tenth anniversary edition that will make this fascinating book available to new readers.
EAN: 9780394576015
Pages: 226
Publisher: Random House
Authors:
Bill Mckibben
A book not to be missed
Book title: The Surrender : An Erotic Memoir
Rating: 5/5
Binding: Hardcover
Rating: 5/5
Binding: Hardcover
Toni Bentley is a brilliant author and very brave woman. The Surrender is an honest, humorous, enlightened and rich book about one woman's experience of finding spirit through her surrender into the world of sexuality, sodomy and union with a soul mate. Most people never have the chance in their lifetime to know what it means to merge with another through their sexuality, heal masochistic tendencies and childhood wounds through pure love, or find God through ecstatic surrender to another. This book is the vicarious thrill of knowing what all of that would be like. It is a voyeuristic pleasure to watch such an articulate, open, cultured and successful woman find such an unconventional way to reach God and her own transformation from hurt child to powerful Goddess. I would recommend this book to any woman who has been exploited in a man's world and can appreciate the tantric way of sodomy.
EAN: 9780060732462
Pages: 224
Publisher: Regan Books
Authors:
Toni Bentley
must read
Book title: The Giver (Newbery Medal Book)
Rating: 5/5
Binding: Hardcover
Rating: 5/5
Binding: Hardcover
different from gathering blue, this book is just as good. jonas lives in a world of organization, where no memories are found, no colors or sounds. there is one person who holds them all, the giver. it is so organized that you have no choices. 2 kids per family, extra infants are killed, the leaders don't know anything, nor do they want to. it is a world unexpected and makes you think. makes you wonder but most of all, makes you feel happy for what you have. it sheds light on the most unnoticed things in life, like love, sight, sound, color, and the choices you make. this book was and is a part of me always because it taught me an important lesson, to appreciate.
EAN: 0046442645669
Pages: 192
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin/Walter Lorraine Books
Authors:
Lois Lowry
