Book Review -- "The Twelve" by Justin Cronin

4 starts out of 5

"The Twelve" by Justin Cronin

genre:  post-apocalyptic with some vampires thrown in

(but not your typical vampire)

OK. I really, really loved the first book, so much so it's one of my top favorites ever.

However, the second book left me a little confused and constantly flipping back to see where I was and who was who.


I should have done several things before reading this book -- one, reread "The Passage" immediately before "The Twelve". Two, NOT bought this on Kindle so I would have a place to write things down and keep up with the flow of characters. And three, not try to read it when I was on heavy pain killers AND Valium.


That being said, I can say that while I occasionally got lost, and sometimes wondered who was on what side, and what the point was on a few thing (like why DID the government want to get rid of the Last Stand in Denver dude????) I truly enjoyed it. I needed that suspension of belief and I like a post-apocalyptic story. I'm going to blame my confusion on my reading circumstances on on the "2nd book in a trilogy" syndrome -- it doesn't quite tie things up while it introduces things the author can't dig into QUITE yet.


Over the holidays I'll probably reread both books again. He's a heck of a writer.

Lori Anderson creates jewelry and bead kits as well as collaborative mixed media art with her son, Zack.  Visit her shops by clicking here.  She is also the creator of the Bead Soup Blog Party®   and author of the book Bead Soup.

"The Forgotten Garden" by Kate Morton

"The Forgotten Garden" 

by Kate Morton

Five out of Five Stars

This book was absolutely fabulous. The story line didn't waver, and with several dates spanning 1900-2005, it could easily have become confusing -- but it didn't. It's the story of family (good and bad), searching for long lost relatives, and finding out if they're really your relative or not.

The only thing I didn't care for was the skeevy uncle. He rarely showed up in the book and his bit of the story never really got fleshed out (thankfully, in my opinion).


A must read.

Visit me on Goodreads.com by clicking here!

Lori Anderson creates jewelry and bead kits as well as collaborative mixed media art with her son, Zack.  Visit her shops by clicking here.  She is also the creator of the Bead Soup Blog Party tm  and author of the book Bead Soup.

Join her at the Facebook group Bead Soup Cafe for bead chat, swaps, challenges, and lots of eye candy!

Summer Reading List, Part One

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I've been reading a bit!  Let me get you caught up.

"2BR02B" by Kurt Vonnegut

Five out of Five Stars

WOW. What an impactful 12 pages this was. This is my first Vonnegut, but it certainly won't be the last. The Nook version I got had another 12 pages or so about Vonnegut's life and other books, which was just as fascinating to read as the book.

2BR02B (to be or not to be) is a book about our world, a scary Brave New World, with population control and assisted suicide. You can have kids, but you have to find someone who is will to die in order to keep your kids. And people are now able to live into the hundreds, two hundreds, even, because of all the new medical technology.

The story begins with a father in the waiting room. His wife has just had triplets. That's as far as I'll tell you, but you MUST read this story -- it's a tale to think about.

"Diary of a Nursing Sister on the Western Front, 1914-1915" 

by Anonymous

Three out of Five Stars

This was a free book on the Kindle, and since I love WWI things, I had to read it.

This is the diary of an unnamed nun who was a nurse during WWI in France.  It was fascinating in that she served most of her time on a train hospital -- each section of the train held different patients, and operating theater, dorms, etc.  As this was a discovered diary, it has a quick stop and no idea what happened to her.  It was enjoyable, and she has to be the merriest war-time nurse I've ever read about, fictional or real, but it drags a little bit, and bits are nebulous as she references things we, the reader, aren't privy to.  However, if you're a WWI buff, and read "All Quiet on the Western Front", snag it.  It's a quick read.

"Heresy", "Prophecy", and "Sacrilege"

by S. J. Parris

overall, 3 out of 5 stars

This series is a historical fiction mystery trilogy (at least, trilogy so far).  In the first book, an Italian monk, Giordano Bruno, is accused of heresy because he's caught reading "heretical" books about Copernicus and believes in his teachings -- essentially, the earth revolves around the sun, which, in the time of Queen Elizabeth I, is a big no-no.  Throughout the series, Bruno solves and gets tangled in mysteries and scandals while weaving in the historically factual story of Queen Elizabeth's spies against Mary of Scotland.

The books were slow to start, but halfway through things sped up, and that made them worth my time.  The last book was the best, in my opinion, and left enough strings loose to allow for another book, but not TOO many loose strings so you're felt like you MUST read another book.  I doubt I'd read any further in this series, but it was interesting.  I just wasn't as into astrology, Copernicus, and the occult as this book requires you to be.

So far this year, I've read More to come!

Visit me on Goodreads.com by clicking here!

Lori Anderson creates jewelry and bead kits as well as collaborative mixed media art with her son, Zack.  Visit her shops by clicking here.  She is also the creator of the Bead Soup Blog Party tm  and author of the book Bead Soup.

Join her at the Facebook group Bead Soup Cafe for bead chat, swaps, challenges, and lots of eye candy!

Book Review -- "Heresy" by S. J. Parris

Four out of Five Stars

Italian monk Giordano Bruno is on the run from the Inquisition because he dares to agree with Copernicus and his theory of the earth revolving around the sun.  Excommunicated and now residing in England, Bruno has become a favorite of nobility, and is on his way to Oxford University to debate the Copernicus theory -- quite a change from six years prior!


While at Oxford, several suspicious deaths occur, and Bruno finds himself trying to solve the mystery and not get himself killed in the process.  Oh, and he's also acting as a spy to find out anything he can about anti-Queen-Elizabeth plots.  So he has his hands full.


I enjoyed the book, and will be reading the two subsequent novels.

Lori Anderson creates jewelry for her web site, Lori Anderson Designs, and wrote the blog An Artist's Year Off.  She is the creator of the Bead Soup Blog Party tm.   

Join me at the Facebook group Bead Soup Cafe for bead chat, swaps, challenges, and lots of eye candy!

Book Review -- "Generation A" by Douglas Coupland

"Generation A" by Douglas Coupland

Three out of Five Stars

Douglas Coupland is one of those authors whose work I collect. I vividly remember being handed his first book, "Generation X", and I was hooked. His dry wit, gift of parody, and excellent story-telling have made it such a pleasure to hunt down all of his books.


This book, however, left me wanting more. The story is a little off. Five people in five different countries are stung by a bee -- yet all the bees disappeared years ago. Each of these people is whisked away to a "clean room", observed and tested upon, and then let loose to meet up with each other.


When these people meet up with each other, one of the scientists ask them to tell stories they've made up on the spot. This figures into the bees, and why these people were essentially kidnapped after being stung, but the stories the people tell were really what kept my attention. The sub-story, if you will.


I suspend belief when reading because in order to enjoy certain books, you have to believe that what's happening is true. This book, though, no matter how hard I tried, couldn't keep me from going, "Oh, come on!" a few times. Fortunately, I laughed more than a few times so that redeemed it.


Definitely not Coupland's best, but die-hard fans should still read it.

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Lori Anderson creates jewelry for her web site, Lori Anderson Designs, and wrote the blog An Artist's Year Off.  She is the creator of the Bead Soup Blog Party tm.

"Zone One" and "Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk"

Three out of Five Stars

This book has an post-apocalyptic setting -- a mysterious illness creates zombies out of many people, leaving others untouched, and after the unidentified plagues starts to wind down, causes survivors to form enclaves in decimated cities.


I expected more.  I started out eagerly expecting a story that would tell the why and wherefore, like Stephen King's "The Stand", Justin Cronin's "The Passage" (who ironically loved the book), Robert McCammon's "Swan Song" or even Robert Matheson's "I Am Legend".  At least I wasn't naive enough to expect a "Hunger Games".


My problems were the unanswered questions:

~Why was Connecticut always called names? 

~What was the best guess for the "Last Day"?

~The relentless mentioning of the character with his first and last name -- "Mark Spitz", never just "Mark", or even "Spitz".  I'm sure Whitehead had a reasoning for this but it irritated me and made the flow of the book falter.


Lots of questions a reader may have are just never answered.  It's more a story of survival than how come they HAVE to survive -- what put them there in the first place.  While Whitehead is certainly very well educated with an amazing vocabulary, the book seemed tedious and took me too long to read -- I kept having to go back to reread what Whitehead wrote, wondering what he was on about.  There also seemed to be a marked lack of plot.


I'm rating this squarely in the middle with Three Stars because there were some very good parts, but overall, the book isn't my favorite of this genre.

Four out of Five Stars

I love Dave Sedaris.  His wry sense of humor and self-deprecation has always endeared him to me.


This book is a book of modern fables of a sort, anthropomorphizing animals.  You could easily substitute "guy down the street" for "chipmunk", as the animals take on very distinctive human traits, such as waiting in a complaint line kvetching.  There's even a couple of well-intended swears that make you either gasp or laugh out loud.

The artist for the "Olivia" books illustrated, and I have two things to say to Mr. Olivia Artist -- the baby lamb -- REALLY?????  And the back end of the rhino -- holy proctologist, dude.  But, they fit the story and the humor, pathos, sadness, hilarity -- there's a bit for everyone.


A very short book you can tackle in a day.

Visit me on Goodreads.com by clicking here!

Lori Anderson creates jewelry for her web site, Lori Anderson Designs, and wrote the blog An Artist's Year Off.  She is the creator of the Bead Soup Blog Party.

Book Review -- "The Last Jew of Treblinka"

5 of of 5 Stars

An incredibly sobering, but important, book.

Many concentration camps were work camps, where Jews and other political prisoners were made to work literally to death.  Not all concentration camps had ovens, crematoria, gas chambers.  Treblinka, however, was made as a death camp with one main purpose -- killing.

Very few people survived Treblinka.  There are many memoirs of Auschwitz or Buchenwald, but Treblinka killed almost every single person who passed their gates.  This is the memoir of Chil Raichman, a survivor who worked in Camp 2, the camp where crematoria and burial pit workers tried to work and tried to stay alive.

I thought I'd read it all, but I clearly haven't.  This short memoir doesn't go into Chil's background or after-liberation life at all, speaking only to the year he worked in Treblinka.  The matter-of-fact way he tells his story is chilling.  The fact that he survived is miraculous.

We cannot let anything like this happen again.

Lori Anderson creates jewelry for her web site, Lori Anderson Designs, and wrote the blog An Artist's Year Off.  She is the creator of the Bead Soup Blog Party.

Three Book Reviews

"Electric Brae" by Andrew Greig

4 out of 5 stars

A friend gave me this book to read and for the first 40 pages I was dubious, but it didn't take long to fall in love with it.  The author has a way with words, and I kept finding myself pausing to mark passages I particularly liked.

It's hard to describe this book.  It's billed as a romance, but it's from the point of view of a man who works on an offshore oil rig.  The love of his life is a younger artist who struggles with a dark past and staying out of mental institutions.  And a lot of rock climbing.

The book is also about the love between friends (male and female) as well as the relationship of fathers with their kids.

Written by a Scottish author, a few of the Scottish words can through you at first, but it most definitely didn't detract from the book.

Recommended.

"Doctors From Hell" by Vivien Spitz

Four out of Five Stars

This book was written by one of the court reporters during the medical portion of the Nuremberg trials.  It includes fewer photos than I expected, but far more substance.  I've been interested in the Nuremberg Trials but had yet to find a book about it, so this was a lucky find.

DEFINITELY not for the squeamish, as explicit testimonials from survivors are included.  The book also includes Spitz's thoughts on life in bombed-out Germany (no hot water or heat even after 18 months since the end of the war) and observations that offered me new insight.

Recommended for the WWII memoir enthusiast.

"Silent Tears"

by Kay Bratt

Four out of Five Stars

My husband and I considered adoption from a Korean or Chinese orphanage and had heard a lot about the neglect that was prevalent there.  I accidentally ran across this memoir by Kay Bratt and learned a lot.

Kay followed her husband to China with her young daughter and while her husband worked at setting up a new facility for his work in China, Kay threw herself into working to bring about change in a Chinese orphanage. 

One thing Kay emphasized -- don't go into a Chinese orphanage going gangbusters and expect things to work.  They'll bar you from coming back.  Rather, volunteer, keep quiet, and let the nannies get to know you. 

I also realized that a lot of the neglect has to do with not enough nannies per baby.  There never seemed to be enough time in the day between rapid feedings, quick cold rinse-offs, changing diapers, and dressing the children.  Imagine two people trying to deal with 22 babies -- that gives you some idea.

Eventually, Bratt was able to start a fund-raising campaign in the US to help severely hurt children get operations (for cleft lip/palette and heart problems, predominantly).  The book showed the massive amounts of red tape involved in what we as Americans would consider a no-brainer.

I came out of this book with not only an appreciation for all the expat volunteers, but for the Chinese nannies as well.  The majority of them want to help -- they just can't.

A quick read, and worthwhile.

Read my other reviews at GoodReads.com, and don't forget to friend me there!

Lori Anderson creates jewelry for her web site, Lori Anderson Designs, and wrote the blog An Artist's Year Off.  She is the creator of the Bead Soup Blog Party.

 

Book Review: "The Photograph" by Penelope Lively

5 out of 5 Stars

SPOILER ALERT
Go no further if you want to read the book.

This is a story of how lives can change even ten years after the death of a loved one. 

Glyn, widow of Kath, is a driven professor.  Kath's sister is an equally driven landscape artist.  Kath reads as a free-spirit.  Ten years after Kath's death, a photograph found of her holding hands with her sister's husband.

The book hops chapter to chapter among various people.  One chapter may focus on Glyn's relentless search to find out if Kath was unfaithful in other ways.  (I despised Glyn, by the way.  What a horrible husband.)  Kath's sister struggles with her feelings  of ennui with her husband Nick and uses this new revelation as a way to kick Nick out of the house. 


As I read the book, I was struck by how little ANYONE knew Kath.  She would reach out, but was increasingly left behind and alone by all the people who should have mattered to her.  Ultimately, this strikingly beautiful free spirit commits suicide, but only after phoning and leaving a message to please call back - to her husband, and to her sister.  Neither called until some ten hours later, showing once again, as throughout the book, how little Kath figured into any of their lives.

I read the book in a day, and while it's gotten some bad reviews, it resonated with me, and the way Lively uses words is reason enough to read it.

Recommended.

Lori Anderson creates jewelry for her web site, Lori Anderson Designs, and wrote the blog An Artist's Year Off.  She is the creator of the Bead Soup Blog Party.

Book Review -- "The Favored Queen" by Carolly Erickson

Three out of Five Stars

I've been spoiled by Sharon Kay Penman and Phillipa Gregory.  While this book was a very quick read, and interesting, it felt far less genuine and not nearly as well written as books by other authors I mentioned.  At the end of the book, Erickson states this is her interpretation, but I wish she'd put that at the BEGINNING of the book.

I have also watched "The Tudors" which of course just glamorized the heck out of things (such as, Henry VIII never got fat).  I've read a lot of fiction AND nonfiction about this era, so while I was enjoying the book, I kept thinking, "that's not right".

I'm not sure I'd recommend this book since there are so many other books that are better.

Lori Anderson creates jewelry for her web site, Lori Anderson Designs, and wrote the blog An Artist's Year Off.  She is the creator of the Bead Soup Blog Party.

Book Review -- "The Sinner's Grand Tour" by Tony Perrottet

Three out of Five Stars

The title alone caught my attention as I passed the travel section at Barnes and Noble.  However, the book is more of a historical reference than a travel guide (although the fact Perrottet carted his wife and two young boys with him all over Europe did make for some hilarious moments). 

If you're interested in the era of the Borgias, Casanova, and those time periods, you'll probably be interested in the book.  Luckily, I read a lot of that sort of thing so many of the references made total sense.  Even if you don't, there are a few parts that are particularly interesting -- for one, Perrottet's attempts to get into the Vatican to see the secret bathroom with the dirty pictures on the wall. o_O

Definitely a departure from the average book!

Lori Anderson creates jewelry for her web site, Lori Anderson Designs, and wrote the blog An Artist's Year Off.  She is the creator of the Bead Soup Blog Party.

Book Review -- "I Am Legend"

Four out of Five Stars

This book came across my email when Kindle was having a sale and I thought, "Why not?"

Written in 1954, it hits the vampire genre far before "Twilight" romanticized it. The book's main character is Robert Neville, who very well may be the last man on earth -- other than the half-dead and full vampires who try to lure him out of his home every night.

The book only lightly touches upon WHY there are vampires. Apparently, there was a plague or virus or "something" unknown that created a world of vampiric entities.  Robert thinks he's been immune because he was bit by a vampire bat while he was in the war.

It's interesting to see how Robert handles being alone.  I personally would go stark raving mad, but Robert handles the madness and frustration by trying to figure out just what causes a person to become a vampire.  He discovers a potential reason, but the irony is it's just too late.

The ending I'll leave to you to read.  It's faster paced than the rest of the book (which in and of itself is a short book and a quick read) and the ending leaves you wondering about "what if".

Lori Anderson creates jewelry for her web site, Lori Anderson Designs, and wrote the blog An Artist's Year Off.  She's also a contributor to Art Bead Scene and is the creator of the Bead Soup Blog Party.

People who are in love with the romance of vampires will hate this book.  People who loved Van Helsing will likely enjoy this book.  Either way, it's a classic and worth the time.

Book Review -- "The Hunger Games" by Suzanne Collins

 

I must be the only person in the world who hadn't heard of this series, and I finally caved and got the trilogy.  I had no idea what the books were even about -- and I devoured the first book in two days.


I found strong elements of "The Running Man" by Stephen King and "The Lottery" by Shirley Jackson, but I don't feel the book is a copy of either.  The book stands on its own merit.  Katniss and Peeta, the main characters, are fighting to stay alive in the annual Hunger Games, a "game" of survival by wits, weapons, and will.  Both main characters are richly developed, and even lesser characters who only appear in a few chapters are given their own importance and significance.


The ending leaves the reader in suspense and eager for the next book.  I can't wait to start it.  However, I was rather surprised the book was written for a teen audience.  A lot of kids in my son's third grade class are completely capable of reading on this level, and I think it might be too much for some of them.  I'd recommend a parent read the book first (hardly a chore for most!) and decide then if it's appropriate yet for your child.  (Just my two cents, your mileage may vary.)


Excellent book, a completely departure-from-the-world book.  Highly recommended.

Lori Anderson creates jewelry for her web site, Lori Anderson Designs, and wrote the blog An Artist's Year Off. She's also a contributor to Art Bead Scene and is the creator of the Bead Soup Blog Party.

Book Review -- "Atypical: Life with Asperger's in 20 1/3 Chapters" by Jesse Saperstein

4 out of 5 Stars

I'm really impressed with Jesse Saperstein.  Diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome (a mild form of autism, and one of the most misunderstood), he write his memoirs to not only tell his story but share his insight into how the community at large observes Asperger's.


For those who don't know, Asperger's Syndrome is a mild form of autism, but shouldn't be discounted.  Symptoms range from inability to read social cues, repetitive actions, intense interests or fascinations in certain things, inappropriate outbursts or comments, and in more severe cases, tics (stimming), hand flapping, and meltdowns.  Before Asperger's was recognized by the medical community in the 1990's, people with this disability (as he calls it in his book) had to suffer through school and life with no help, being labeled lazy, weird, and the like.


Saperstein is remarkable in that he grew to be able to work with people.  A very memorable experience touched my heart.  He raised nearly $20,000 for a Pediatric AIDS/HIV foundation by hiking the entirety of the Appalachian Trail (that's 2,178) over seven months.  His story of that hike was both heart-warming and hilarious and showed that there is a little bit of Asperger's in all of us.


One of the things that stuck in my head was Saperstein's comment about how "tolerance" can be a bad word.  "Tolerance" can equal "ignoring".  If people "tolerate" a person with a disability, often that means they don't give that person a second look, a CHANCE.  First impressions for person with Asperger's is difficult, so instead of turning your head in "tolerance" and ignoring -- try giving a chance.  This message of Saperstein's will stick with me always.

Lori Anderson creates jewelry for her web site, Lori Anderson Designs, and wrote the blog An Artist's Year Off. She's also a contributor to Art Bead Scene and is the creator of the Bead Soup Blog Party.

Book Review -- "Lionheart" by Sharon Kay Penman

Rating:  Three out of Five Stars

I want to caveat my Three Star rating by saying I adore Sharon Kay Penman.  I pre-ordered this book and interrupted what I was currently reading (an unheard of thing for me!) to start "Lionheart".  While I wasn't sorry I did that, and wasn't at ALL sorry I read this book, to me, it wasn't like her others.


Richard the Lionheart is a noteworthy, larger-than-life person in history I was dying to learn more about.  This particular book covers the crusades, another section of history I didn't know much about.  I learned quite a lot about the Crusades, and learned it in a way that will stick with me and was far richer and more interesting than reading a dry history text.  However, one of the things I love about Penman's books are her richly developed characters, and I felt that was missing in "Lionheart".  Just when I thought a character was on the verge of opening up and blossoming into a richer, more intensely interesting person, Penman moves on to something else. 


This minor character development didn't ruin the story for me, though.  She DID develop the characters well enough, and in some scenes, QUITE well, to make this book a page-turner.  I just missed her usual style.  I have to admit, I don't have any idea how any other author out there could have tackled this subject any better, so I give the book Three Stars, meaning yes, I liked it, and yes, all Sharon Kay Penman fans should read it.  But a new reader who discovers Penman should start with "The Sunne in Splendour" and then her series from the first book and not skip around.


Looking forward to her next book!!!

Lori Anderson creates jewelry for her web site, Lori Anderson Designs, and wrote the blog An Artist's Year Off. She's also a contributor to Art Bead Scene and is the creator of the Bead Soup Blog Party.

Book Review -- "Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children" by Ransom Riggs

Oh my.

This is a strange, fantastical story.  And it will either enchant you or weird you out.  Or a little bit of both.

As a lover of vintage things, I have a special fondness for old photographs and cabinet cards.  This book includes tons of old photos culled from ten different people's collections and they all work into the story.  If you would like to see some of the photos, click this link to the Amazon.com page and then click the short video clip called "Related Media".  

The book is about a boy whose grandfather has told him amazing tales of his time in a home in Wales he was sent to "to be safe" during WWII.  Of historical note -- many kids were shipped off from various European cities, away from their parents, in hopes they would survive the war, and subsequently became orphans.  Very sad.

As the boy grows up, he realizes his grandfather's stories of fighting monsters, a girl who could levitate, an invisible boy, and other "peculiar children" he lived with had to be just that -- stories.  Or were they?

The rest is a multi-level story that demands you, the reader, suspend your mind from reality and enjoy the story -- just go with it.  The pictures are haunting, interesting, and a couple are so creepy I didn't think at first they were real, but staged (and was even more creeped out when I got to the end of the book and realized they were actual photos.  But an interested creeped out.)

Do NOT buy this book on a Kindle or you won't be able to see the photos well or read any of the handwritten letters that are printed on some of the pages.  This is a book you want to hold in your hands.

If you read this, let me know what you thought!

Lori Anderson creates jewelry for her web site, Lori Anderson Designs, and wrote the blog An Artist's Year Off. She's also a contributor to Art Bead Scene and is the creator of the Bead Soup Blog Party.

Book Review -- "Wonderstruck" by Brian Selznick

I read "Wonderstruck" to my eight-year old son, and we both loved it.  One character's story is told in Selznick's iconic pencil drawings, and, at a time fifty years later, another character's story is told simultaneously in words.  At a certain point in the book, the two character's stories come together.

One of our favorite things about this book was the explanation of museum boxes, curio cabinets, and how museums really came to be.  The book follows the creation of several museum exhibits, and blends the stories of two children who are deaf and missing integral parts of their families.

The book also led us to create our first treasure box:

It's a lovely story, and recommended for both children and adults.

Read more of my book reviews and link up as friends at Goodreads.com

Lori Anderson creates jewelry for her web site, Lori Anderson Designs, and wrote the blog An Artist's Year Off. She's also a contributor to Art Bead Scene and is the creator of the Bead Soup Blog Party.

"The Winter Sea" by Susanna Kearsley

Wow. This was an amazing book.


I don't think it's a secret that I love the Scottish time period surrounding the Jacobite Uprisings. After all, "Outlander" is my all-time favorite series. So I figured I'd enjoy this book, centered around the doomed '08 Jacobite Uprising.


The book is really two books in one. An author visits the castle Slains in Scotland to begin writing her book about a character involved in the '08. As she writes, she starts to have, for lack of a better work, waking dreams, dreams that allow her to write things that are uncannily real to the history. There's the book that centers around the author, her burgeoning romance with a local historian, and her struggle understanding how she could be having the same memories as her ancestor. Then there's the book about the '08, full on intrigue, betrayals, love, love lost, and all the details in between.


One of the things I loved about this book is it's the first book that succinctly and absolutely explained the '08, the Jacobites, the fight for the crown, and the switching of alliances to me. Anyone who reads historical novels knows how confusing keeping up with who's who can be. There are too many Henry's, Charles's, and Edward's, and the Duke of York is a title, not a person, as the title stays but the name continually changes. "The Winter Sea" did a fabulous job of explaining the '08 and the reasons behind it without bogging things down.


I must admit, I cried at the end, and I truly regretted closing the book when I was done. The hallmark of a 5-Star rating, for me, is missing the characters, and I am already missing them.

Lori Anderson creates jewelry for her web site, Lori Anderson Designs, and wrote the blog An Artist's Year Off.  She's also a contributor to Art Bead Scene.  She is also the creator of the Bead Soup Blog Party.

Book Review -- "Still Alice" by Lisa Genova

I read this book with apprehension because I'd been warned -- don't read this unless you have a full box of tissues next to you.

And they were right.

This novel is about an esteemed Harvard psychology professor who finds out she has early-onset Alzheimer's Disease.  Convinced her diagnosis is wrong (maybe it's a brain tumor, maybe it's due to menopause), she has genetic testing done, and finds out without a shadow of a doubt -- she has Alzheimer's. 

The book is written by a neuroscientist, and since I studied microbiology in college, I was able to follow the sometimes technical aspects of the discussions of drugs and drug trials and genetic markers.  However, those bits didn't detract from the compelling parts of the book -- Alice's relationship with her husband and three grown children, her coming to terms with herself beyond being a Harvard professor, and then ultimately, her rapid descent into dementia.

By the the time I got to the last twenty pages of the book, I was reduced to gasping tears.  I mean, I'm a total sap and OFTEN cry at the endings of books, but this was one difficult book to read.  It's an important book, though, and while I won't say it's a beach read, it's certainly one I'd recommend you read.

Just grab a box of tissues first.

Lori Anderson creates jewelry for her web site, Lori Anderson Designs, and wrote the blog An Artist's Year Off.  She's also a contributor to Art Bead Scene.  She is also the creator of the Bead Soup Blog Party.

Book Review -- "Sing You Home" by Jodi Picoult

 This book deeply affected me.

My son was born via in vitro and ICSI. My husband and I were very, very fortunate and only had to go through one cycle, but I could completely empathize with the main character's many shots, invasive procedures, and heartbreaks. It was a trying time for me, and I wouldn't want to go through it again - it's why my husband and I made the conscious decision to only try once.


This book deals with what happens when a husband and wife divorce and frozen embryos are left to be fought over as "property". It's a horrible, sad court room drama with much more involved than just the right of one parent verus another -- and I won't go into that here because I feel it would give away too much of the story.


I will say that Picoult brings up religion, something I rarely talk about. In this case, one side has gone over to a highly polarized church that preaches hate and intolerance of anything but what they choose to pull out of the Bible for convenience's sake. The vileness of the Westboro Baptist Church comes to play and I'm sickened to the bone at just the mention of their name (not just because of their general philosophy, but because they threatened to picket a friend's military funeral -- and wisely chose not to show up).


I am a Christian. I have a deep faith in God. But I do NOT believe in a God who would be as cruel and vile as some of the filth that comes out of the mouths of some of the characters in "Sing You Home". I'm quite certain I'll have dissenters to my opinion, and that's completely ok. I'm open to mature discourse, but not to screaming or damning speech. And that's what I think is wrong with religion today -- the inability for communication between differing opinions. Picoult makes a good show of that, whether she meant to or not.


Like most of her books, this is a tough one. However, for me, it was a page-turner, and left me thinking.

Lori Anderson creates jewelry for her web site, Lori Anderson Designs, and wrote the blog An Artist's Year Off.  She's also a contributor to Art Bead Scene.  She is also the creator of the Bead Soup Blog Party.