Labor Day

Fiction by Joyce Maynard.


http://www.barnesandnoble.com

This was a good book. It's coming out as a movie pretty soon, and I just read a bad review of the film.

That's not the book's fault, though.

The Husband's Secret

Fiction by Liane Moriarty.


http://www.barnesandnoble.com

What would you do if you found a letter with "For my wife, to be opened after my death," written on it in your husband's writing? (He's still alive in this scenario, by the way.)

Well, I don't know about you, but I'd open it. Like a SHOT.

That's what the main character finds at the beginning of this book, but it takes her a little longer to work her conscience around to opening it. And I was surprised at the contents of the letter inside.

Great premise, great story, great cover. I recommend it highly.

Ghost Girl

Nonfiction by Torey Hayden.


http://www.barnesandnoble.com

Wow.

I listened to this as an audiobook and it was amazing. It is a true story about a child with selective mutism in the author's special education class.

It was really interesting and a great audio performance as well; however, it left a lot of questions unresolved at the end of the story. That's the problem with real life...

The Fault in our Stars

Fiction by John Green.


http://www.barnesandnoble.com

Really good book.

I think it's supposed to be for teens, but it should be definitely interesting to anyone. It's about a teenage girl with cancer who meets a teenage boy with cancer. Except that synopsis doesn't do it justice. It's awesome.

I believe this is a movie coming out later this year; they will probably mess it up...

Falling Leaves

Nonfiction by Adeline Yen Mah.


http://www.barnesandnoble.com

This was a pretty good memoir by the "Chinese Cinderella." I read her story as it was written for children, but this told about her life in much more detail.

Also I like the cover on this copy.

Orphan Train

Fiction by Christina Baker Kline.


http://www.barnesandnoble.com/

I recently read another book that touched on the subject of orphan trains: The Chaperone. This is an interesting subject; it was "a seventy-five year social experiment" that transported street children and orphans from East Coast big cities to Midwest farming towns for adoption.

Basically they would take a group of kids cross-country on a train and offer them to families in farm communities. There would be an advertisement about the arrival of the train and people could come and inspect the kids to decide if they wanted one. The children that no one picked would be put back on the train and shipped to the next town, where they'd be offered up again.

You can see the problems inherent in this system. The kids had both the opportunity of a better life and the chance to be abused or exploited. Babies and older boys went first, to childless couples and those who wanted free labor, respectively. Girls, like the ones fictionalized in both books I read, would have been at greatest risk.

It amazes me that this is true;  more than two hundred thousand children were shipped off like this between 1854 and 1929. I shudder to think of my own kids abandoned to such a fate. But I can also see that these children wouldn't have had much of a chance of survival on the streets of New York City either. The rationale was that it couldn't get any worse, I suppose.

This book melds the story of an orphan girl from that time with a modern girl in foster care, and we can see the both the similarities and differences in the stories. Do we do any better with our orphaned and homeless children nowadays? It's an interesting question.

Definitely worth reading.

A Dog Walks into a Nursing Home

Nonfiction by Sue Halpern.


http://www.barnesandnoble.com

I love the title of this book, and the cover.

Unfortunately I didn't find the content all that interesting. This may be my own fault.

The Silent Wife

Fiction by A.S.A. Harrison.


http://www.barnesandnoble.com

Jodi is the perfect wife for Todd. For twenty years she has kept his house and made his meals and projected a soothing calm all the while. She accepts it when he goes on a "fishing weekend," knowing that he doesn't fish and never has. But one day all of this is just not enough for Todd.

What happens next is intriguing...

The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat

Nonfiction by Oliver Sachs.


http://www.barnesandnoble.com

I read this because my husband had it lying around the bedroom. It's a really interesting set of true short stories.

The Longest Ride

Fiction by Nicholas Sparks.


http://www.barnesandnoble.com

This was a good book, but not my very favorite of Nicholas Sparks'. Still worth reading, though...



Other books I read recently by this author: The Best of Me.

The Valley of Amazement

Fiction by Amy Tan.


http://www.barnesandnoble.com

Awesome book. I LOVE Amy Tan.

Unspoken

Fiction by Dee Henderson.


http://www.barnesandnoble.com

This book is about a woman who is recovering from a kidnapping ordeal, and the man who learns to love her.

It's pretty good, but I have read others by Dee Henderson that are more exciting.  Usually her books are thrillers, such as The Witness. >>>>

If I hadn't been expecting excitement I might have enjoyed "Unspoken" more.

Innocence

Fiction by Dean Koontz.


http://www.barnesandnoble.com

I have always liked Dean Koontz. His last few books have been a little disappointing though. (77 Shadow Street, Deeply Odd)

This one is pretty good, although the descriptions get a little long and grandiose. It is about a boy whose appearance is so frightening he must live underground and never let anyone see his eyes. The ending is a surprise.



Books I recently enjoyed by this author: Life Expectancy, Relentless

The First Phone Call From Heaven

Fiction by Mitch Albom.


http://www.barnesandnoble.com

What if people were able to make contact with their lost loved ones through the telephone? This story explores that idea.

It's a good book with a surprise ending.