The Autobiography of Mrs. Tom Thumb by Melanie Benjamin

I have mixed feelings about The Autobiography of Mrs. Tom Thumb.  It’s the story of Mercy Lavinia Warren Bump Stratton, known to most as Vinnie or Mrs. Tom Thumb.  She was only thirty-two inches tall as an adult, having the condition known as proportionate dwarfism.  While Vinnie was in fact a real person, the story is a novel told from her perspective.

Vinnie’s small size does not mean she had a small personality.  Vinnie had plans to see the world and have everyone know her name.  When a “cousin” invites her to join his traveling show, she anticipates that she would be performing.  She had no idea her size was to be the show.  The story follows Vinnie’s life in show business, both at the beginning and later under contract with P.T. Barnum.  

I enjoyed the first part of the story a great deal.  I enjoyed Vinnie as a child and a young adult learning her way in a big world.  The story takes place in a fascinating time in history, so interesting that I found myself doing research into some of the people and places mentioned.   
 
I had trouble with the story when I started disliking Vinnie just a little bit.  Her marriage to Charles Stratton (General Tom Thumb) was never real to her and I felt that Vinnie became hard and cold after that.   Ms. Benjamin does an excellent job of story telling but I have to wonder if the real Vinnie was that hard or not.  I liked the innocent Vinnie a little bit more.   This is worth a read but I can't recommend it like I want to.

Cheap Cabernet: A Friendship by Cathie Beck

I'll be honest with you. . . I wasn't in the mood to read a memoir and I really didn't want to read a sappy story of friendship.  I was dealing with my own friend drama at the time I picked this book up and my mind was soured to the thought of reading it.  I'm so glad I did though.  It's certainly not sappy.  Thank goodness.

Cheap Cabernet: A Friendship is written by Cathie Beck, who had a friend named Denise.  This book is their story.  Cathie was in desperate need of friends and decided to start a women's group in order to find those friends.  While the group met for about a year and a half, the purpose of the group was fulfilled the first night with one person.  Cathie and Denise clicked in that rare, special way.  Denise was also suffering from MS.

Through their few years of friendship, they had extreme highs and lows where they wouldn't talk for weeks.  They argued, they disapproved, they laughed, and they celebrated.  I encourage you to read, enjoy, and grieve a friendship that ended too soon.  While I didn't love everything about it, I can respect the emotion behind it.

The Extraordinary Secrets of April, May, & June by Robin Benway

I wasn't sure what to expect from The Extraordinary Secrets of April, May, & June by Robin Benway.  I wasn't sure if it was a superhero novel or something supernatural.  Really, it was a neither.  It was at heart a story about growing up, dealing with circumstances beyond control, and living with changes.  Add in a few "super powers" and you have a strong story.

April, May, and June are sisters who are dealing with their parent's divorce.  They've moved to a new town with their mother while their father moves to a different state.  While dealing with a new school in a new town, strange abilities - that they noticed briefly as children - manifest themselves again.  April discovers that she can see the future, May can disappear, and June can read minds.  Initially their abilities are exciting but when April starts getting visions of a dangerous situation, her need to protect her sisters hurts their relationship.  They learn that they do best when working together.

I enjoyed this more than I expected.  It's a quick read and it's an interesting story.  I wonder if there is a sequel planned which might explain more about how the girls got their abilities.  It was hinted that there was a family history and I'd like to know more.  Highly recommended for older teens and adults as there is some alcohol usage and talk of sex.

My Name is Memory by Ann Brashares

I was thrilled to receive an advance copy of My Name is Memory by Ann Brashares.  I've been a fan of hers for several years and I was looking forward to this book.  It didn't disappoint.  Except the ending - which I'll get to later!

I'm not one who believes in past lives but this story made everything seem very possible.  Daniel has lived a very long time, in many different bodies, in many different parts of the world.  What's unusual is that he remembers each of his lives.  He sees Sophia in one of his first memories and meets her again several times during different lifetimes.  She's always different but he knows her.  She doesn't have the memory and never remembers her past lives.  Daniel knows that he is meant to be with Sophia but their lives rarely connect at the right moment.  She is usually married to someone else or the wrong age.

When Lucy/Sophia meets Daniel, she is instantly drawn to him, unaware that she has met him several times before.  Daniel scares her away and spends several years watching her from afar.  Daniel is forced to reveal himself to Lucy once again after a threat from their past arrives to take back what was his.

The story is told both in modern day and the stories from Daniel's memory.  It sucked me in quite quickly and I enjoyed the entire story.  Until the end.  I like neat and tidy endings and this one left some things open.  I hear rumors this is a planned trilogy and I really hope it is!   Go out and pick up this book.  It's a good one.

The Map of True Places by Brunonia Barry

As a fan of Brunonia Barry's The Lace Reader, I was really looking forward to reading The Map of True Places.  In her latest novel, we again return to Salem, which just seems to grow more and more charming in my head.  I'll have to get there someday.  While this book is not a sequel to The Lace Reader, there are a few familiar characters.

The Map of True Places centers on Zee, a psychologist from Boston who returns home to Salem to help care for her father. She's lost a client to suicide and is in an unhappy relationship with her fiance.  Her father,  Finch, is suffering from Parkinson's and as the disease progresses into signs of dementia and alzheimer's, he breaks up with his longtime partner who has been a faithful caregiver.  Zee can't leave him alone and takes a leave of absence from her work to care for him.  Back in her childhood home, memories of Zee's mother and her suicide are brought to the surface.

I was quickly caught up in the many layers of stories offered in the book.  While everything circles back to Zee, we are given opportunities to read stories about the other characters.  I wanted some to go on and on.  One mark of a wonderful book is the knowledge I take from it.  This book was full of facts, history, and legends.  It's a wonderful book, with wonderful characters, and sly twists that keep you reading even after you've figured things out.  I highly recommend it!

The Christmas Train by David Baldacci

I'd waited a year to read this book.  My mother gave it to me last Christmas but I didn't have time to read it.  All year long I toyed with wanting to read it but it never seemed right.  My decision to read Christmas books during the month of December allowed me the opportunity.

I don't typically go for the sappy, feel-good Christmas stories.  Fortunately this book wasn't like that.  Yes there was a happy ending, but the characters were charming and flawed.  The book revolves around Tom.  He's a fortyish journalist who loses his patience with the TSA and ends up losing his flying privileges in the United States.  Needing to get from Washington, DC to California for Christmas, he decides to ride the rails.

I've traveled short distances by train and while they were good experiences, they weren't quite like Tom experienced on his long -haul trains.  The story brings up a whole host of quirky characters, like the young couple planning to get married on the train and Agnes Joe, a lonely but feisty woman who isn't all she seems.  The biggest surprise for Tom was running into his long lost love, Eleanor.

Tom and Eleanor face challenges as they try to get to know each other after so many years apart.  They struggle to face the past and why they broke up.  They also face the weather, when the train gets caught in a winter storm.  Christmas is nothing like any of them planned, but it was better than they ever expected.

I highly recommend this book to anyone looking for a little love, and a little adventure at Christmastime (or anytime really).  If you love trains, you need to read this book.  If you don't love them, read it anyway!  You'll want to have your own cross country adventure.

Thirsty by Tracey Bateman

Thirsty, by Tracey Bateman was not anything like I anticipated. The big hook is that it's a Christian vampire story. Kind of. Yes, there are Christian themes, but it's not preachy in the slightest. It was subtle and because of that it will reach a wider audience. Yes, there is a vampire -actually two, but the story was really about a woman and her struggle with addiction.

Nina is a recovering alcoholic just out of rehab. She's divorced and estranged from her children. To make a new start, she moves back to her hometown to live with her sister. Her daughter comes with her for the week in order to try to get their relationship back on track. While in her hometown, she faces her parents for the first time in years, along with an ex- boyfriend.

The vampire, Markus, provides a friend for Nina as she struggles in her first days out of rehab. The correlation between an addict and a vampire is definitely present as Markus' thirst for blood parallels Nina's thirst for alcohol.

Don't expect Twilight. This is not a romance novel. This is a book about fighting the past, finding forgiveness and moving into the future. This is an adult novel but would be appropriate for some older teens.

I'm giving away a brand new paperback copy of this book! If interested please comment to this post. . . right. . . here.

To purchase the book for yourself you can go to http://waterbrookmultnomah.com/catalog.php?isbn=9780307457158

*This book was provided for review by the WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group.

Teaser Tuesday - November 17

Today's teaser comes from the novel Thirsty by Tracey Bateman. It's a very different vampire story that is really less about the vampire and more about a woman's struggle with alcohol and dealing with her past.

From Page 208

The secret was so well preserved that the thought of opening up the jar of truth seemed foolish, dangerous even, as though the release of pressure might cause an explosion. Nina wasn't sure she was strong enough to let it out.

I'm giving away a copy of this book if anyone is interested. Just add a comment to the post below this one or click here and then comment.

The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley

The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie, by Alan Bradley, is a very good book. I wasn't sure what to expect but I'd read some good reviews so I was hopeful.

The story is about a young girl named Flavia. She is eleven-years-old and lives with her father and two sisters in an old estate home in England during the 1950's. She has a passion for chemistry and a fondness for torturing her sisters with her experiments. When she happens upon a dying man in her garden, she sets out to solve the mystery of who he was and how he died. She and her trusty bike, Gladys, set off to gather clues and put the pieces together, always one step ahead of the police.

Flavia is a unique character. She's a child who thinks like an adult and yet is still a little girl, seeking a relationship with her father and grieving for a mother she never knew. I found the character to be more interesting than the mystery in some ways. I also love that she named her bike. It gives her a bit of quirkiness which I enjoy.

The mystery is intriguing and the author nicely weaves in backstory to make it more complex. I've heard rumors that there may be more books about Flavia and I look forward to reading them. This is not a young adult novel but teens could easily read the book. There isn't anything to take offense to. It should appeal to all mystery fans, especially those who like clues coming together to form facts.

A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray

A Great and Terrible Beauty is an intriguing book. I'm going to have a hard time reviewing it because I don't feel that it is over yet. It's the first book in a trilogy and so much was left open. That being said, I enjoyed it a lot.

The story begins in India where we are introduced to Gemma and her mother on Gemma's sixteenth birthday. A tragedy occurs that we only begin to understand much later in the book. Next thing the reader knows, Gemma is in London on her way to a finishing school. Gemma immediately falls victim to the popular girls and their pranks. Through a series of blackmail and secrets, the popular girls become her friends. They soon discover a dark past to the school and enter into the Realms, another dimension of sort, where Gemma can be with her mother and all their wishes come true.

Gemma is torn between visiting the Realms and staying in reality. As her friends fall deeper into the magic, she tries to pull away. Eventually they learn more about what they are doing and why. This opens the door to the second and third book, which I look forward to reading.

While this is a "young adult" book, it should appeal to any age reader who enjoys a little fantasy mixed in with their reality. I'm far from being a young adult and thoroughly enjoyed it. Ms. Bray writes with an open, easy style that is easy to get swept along in. The fact that Gemma is quite snarky and sarcastic only makes me like her more!

The Shepherd, the Angel, and Walter the Christmas Miracle Dog by Dave Barry

Another Christmas book finished. . . and just a week after Christmas. It's all right though since I bought the book on Christmas Eve.

Any Dave Barry fans? If you are, you'll enjoy this one. It's not one of his normal humor books. It is a sweet story that will make you laugh and maybe cry just a little. This little book, coming in at just over one hundred pages, is filled with pictures of Christmases past and old memories. It takes place in the 60's in a small town where things seem idyllic to most of us.

Doug is the narrator and I'm guessing he's around thirteen or fourteen. He's got the role of Shepherd in the church Christmas pageant. The story revolves around his family and one Christmas that stood out among others. It's such a short book that if I tell you anything much I'll be giving it away. Just take my advice, put it on your "to be read" list and look for it. It would be cute to read to your kids too - just leave out the part about the bras!

The Lace Reader by Brunonia Barry

I finally finished The Lace Reader. Whew! What a ride that book was. First off I want to say that I did enjoy it very much. That being said, there are a few comments I'd like to make. First of all I picked up this book because I had read good reviews. I don't know anyone personally who has read it. I'm glad I did pick it up because now I get to share it with some friends.

This book takes place in Salem, MA. Most of us have heard the stories of the famous "witch" trials that took place. I've never been to that part of the country but I will be visiting Boston next week, which isn't far from Salem. It's about a woman, Towner, who is in her early 30's but for some reason I kept wanting to age her. I felt that she had to be older than me. In reading the author's notes I see that the time frame for this book was about 1996. This would make sense as it would make Towner older than me now. I know that doesn't make a lot of sense but it does in my head!

Towner comes home for the first time in many years because her great-aunt (the relationship is still not entirely clear) is missing. She has to face her mother, her aunt, and the memories of her twin sister for the first time. Towner is haunted by her past, including an abusive uncle who is now an extreme religious fanatic, starting his own witch hunts. Her old boyfriend is still around causing minor trouble for her burgeoning relationship with the town detective.

The twists and turns in this story were what kept it moving. Just when I'd figure something out, I'd be shown the opposite was true. Of all the characters, I enjoyed Rafferty the most. He was the detective, hopelessly infatuated with Towner even though he knew the truth of her past. He knew more than I as the reader did. I couldn't relate too much to Towner as I've never been in such emotional turmoil for such a long period of time.

This novel is full of clever writing and a very vivid setting. I really have quite the image in my head of Yellow Dog Island and surrounding areas. I have a few questions though! Wouldn't it be great to sit down with the author sometime? I'd post my questions but I don't want to give anything away. I'd love to hear what you think!

The Last Summer (Of You and Me) by Ann Brashares

I really loved this book. I wasn't so sure in the middle if I even liked it anymore but I kept going and ended up enjoying it. Ann Brashares is the author of the Traveling Pants books of which I am a fan. This is her first "adult" book. The only difference is that the characters were a bit older and the love scenes are a bit more graphic than you'd find in a typical young adult novel. They were quite tame compared to some of the bodice rippers I used to read.

The story takes place on Fire Island, New York. I don't know much about the island but it seems idyllic to spend the summer there. It revolves around two sisters who are both adults and are spending their summer at their family home on the island. Their parents come for weekends, but they stay during the week. Alice babysits and works at the yacht club, while Riley works as a lifeguard.

The third character that is central to the story is Paul. His family home is next door and he grew up with the girls. His relationship with Riley was of best friend. With Alice it was different. This is the crux of the book. He loves Alice and Alice loves him but they both love Riley. It is difficult for Alice and Paul to be together because neither wants to hurt Riley.

Things happen and circumstances change, tearing Paul and Alice apart very abruptly. This is where I got mad. I was mad at Alice for abandoning Paul, I was mad at Paul for not fighting, and I was mad at Riley for being stubborn. By the end I forgave them all and wasn't ready for the story to end.

It's a fairly quick story, it didn't take me long and I couldn't put it down when I got started. I'd love to know what you think!

Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants by Ann Brashares

The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2 came out today - in movie form. I hope to see it this weekend. I thought in keeping with the spirit, I'd try to think back and talk about the books a bit. The first book is pretty clear in my head, probably because I've seen the 1st movie recently. I remember thinking it was a great book. It was one of those friendship books that I've always wanted. I have good friends - great friends - but usually one on one. I have my high school friend, my college friend, my work friends, my old work friends. They don't fit together into a nice little group. I always wanted that. Even in high school and college where I was a part of a big group of friends, I didn't trust that they were my friends. I only latched onto one or two that I could really count on.

That being said, I love the idea that four girls, who are completely different in personality, interests, and ambition, can be that close. The pants were such a minor thing in the books. It kept the girls in contact but they didn't really need them. The pants were like Dumbo's feather and Dorothy's shoes. It gave them strength that was in them all along. I have no idea when I read the first two books because they were pre-journal. Here's the blurb's on the 3rd and 4th book:

Jan. 5, 2006: Third Summer of the Sisterhood, "Great! Touching!"

Mar. 26, 2007: Forever in Blue, The 4th Summer of the Sisterhood, "Great book. The girls are all grown up in many ways. Not a book for young readers. I hope it's not the last."

As you can see, I grew more wordy in my two years of journaling. Not much but more than in Jan of 2006.

From what I understand the 2nd movie is actually a compilation of the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th books. It will be interesting to see how it is put together. Oh. . . One more thing. Just because the books are classified as Young Adult, don't let it keep you from reading. It doesn't matter if your 15 or 95, these books will have something for you. The same is true of so many young adult books. Read them anyway. You won't regret it.