Cover Snapshot of Read Books

Sara's bookshelf: read

Crazy Little Thing
A Kiss at Midnight
The Disenchanted Widow
Hollywood Wives - The New Generation
There Goes the Bride
Table for Five
Do Not Disturb
The Husband's Secret
The Ugly Duchess
Help for the Haunted
The Power Trip
Flawless
The Haunting of Maddy Clare
Fame
Summer At Willow Lake
Barefoot
Every Crooked Nanny
The Mystery Woman
The Woodcutter
How to Be an American Housewife


Sara's favorite books »

Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Indulge in this Southern Delight

Saving CeeCee Honeycutt
Wonderfully surprising and engaging, this novel is a Southern delight that tells the coming-of-age story of CeeCee Honeycutt.

Twelve year old CeeCee has lived a lonely and heartbreaking life. CeeCee’s mom, Camille, has mental health issues and the young CeeCee is her mother’s sole caretaker. Camille isn’t a mother, she is a child; her wardrobe consists of tiaras and dress-up clothes. Southerner Camille has never adapted to living up North and mentally lives in her past where her crowning role was Vidalia Onion Queen. Sadly, CeeCee’s dad can no longer abide Camille and he is rarely home, letting Cee Cee take on the burden of her mother alone.

After Camille dies in a tragic accident, CeeCee meets her great Aunt Tootie. CeeCee has never met her Southern Great Aunt; an Aunt who had no idea of CeeCee or Camille’s troubles until now. Tootie is a take-charge spitfire, determining immediately that CeeCee needs a good female influence in her life. Headstrong and wealthy Tootie soon convinces CeeCee’s deadbeat dad that CeeCee will be better off living with her in Savannah.

Savannah is a new and wondrous place, a place where CeeCee can mourn her mother, while also finding little glimpses of happiness. In Savannah, CeeCee starts building relationships with adults, charming women who truly have her best interests at heart. Tootie is the caring, loving and dependable grandmother-like character. Oletta is the warm and sassy housekeeper who becomes CeeCee’s best friend. Tootie’s world is rich with southern women who serve as champions for the young impressionable girl they befriend.

Bittersweet, sad, charming, and endearing, this novel would be perfect for your next book club. Saving CeeCee Honeycutt was written by Beth Hoffman and the Trade Paperback is 306 pages

Suggested Menu:
Oletta’s Beach Picnic: ham and cheese sandwiches, potato salad, lemonade, coke, and raspberry cobbler.

Tuesday, March 8, 2011

Mardi Gras Celebration & The Lightening Thief

My friend from New Orleans chose Percy Jackson, Lightening Thief  for what became our March Mardi Gras book club meeting. You may be wondering about the correlation between Mardi Gras and Olympians, and I was surprised that the connection is that New Orleans Mardi Gras Krewe names come straight out of Greek/Roman mythology! As I understand it, the Kewes are the parade groups and organizers for Mardi Gras and there are numerous Krewes including a Krewe of Muses!

 How to host a Mardi Gras Book Club:
(taken straight from our fabulous New Orleans Hostess)

MENU:  Jambalaya and red beans and rice, King Cake and Chicory coffee
PARTY FAVORS: Mardi Gras Beads and Masks (just for fun)

Book Club Discussions included:
• the Krewes and their mythological history
• how many of the book clubbers did research/looked up mythology
• how tweens and teens would be encouraged to look up the mythology stories
• chasm between the book and the movie
• the preteen humor in the writing

It was immediately clear that all enjoyed this book and many will pursue the rest of the books in the Percy series. Needless to say, the socializing was cut short as the first order of business was tucking into the delicious New Orleans-style food.

A Review: Percy Jackson & The Olympians, The Lightening Thief

I knew I would like this action adventure book when the first chapter was about vaporizing the pre-algebra teacher. Who wouldn't love that and why didn’t I ever have those powers? This book was written and is classified for young adults, but if you liked Harry Potter or know a bit about Greek mythology, you need to read the Percy Jackson series.

Percy is a difficult child, one with ADHD who has been kicked out of every school he’s ever attended. Now that he is eleven he starts seeing and dreaming odd things. Some things cannot be real and are beyond imagination, or are they? With the gods speaking to Percy in dreams, Percy is soon immersed in another world, one that he never knew existed, that of the Greek gods. Of course, once the real-world Percy has vaporized his algebra teacher, he realizes that something about his life has been missing. Percy will soon learn that he is a half-blood—the son of a God and a human.

Percy soon meets and befriends other half-blood children and mythological creatures. The skies are dark and angry, the seas are large and looming and the earth is quaking, the Gods are getting ready for war. Zeus, Poseidon and Hades are in-fighting and since Percy is a magnet for trouble, he is soon accused of stealing Zeus's lightening bolt. To clear his name, Percy must go on a quest to find the real lightening thief and to return Zeus’s master lightening bolt. In order to complete his quest, Percy must become a hero and defy the mythical creatures determined to destroy and defeat him.

Enjoyable for everyone, a very easy fun read for adults, Percy Jackson and the Olympians, The Lightening Thief was 375 paperback pages and can be found in the Young Adult (YA) section. Another YA plus, the paperback price was $6.75 at Wal-Mart. And,  the 2010 movie is now available on DVD.