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 »

Monday, June 13, 2011

NEW! A Virtual Book Club: Summer At Tiffany

Hello My Fellow Book Lovers,

Are you looking for a great summer read? I am hoping that you will join my virtual book club in reading Summer at Tiffany, a memoir by Marjorie Hart. This book was chosen because it is about summer and because summer to me seems like a time to try lighter fiction. This true story is about two Iowa girls who travel to New York for summer jobs in 1945--it  already sounds like great fiction, right? I am really looking forward to reading this book with you!

I anticipate using this blog to attain comments and feedback, as well as Goodreads.com
You will have to join Goodreads. Then join the group Flit with Lit. Then RSVP to the Event!

If you aren't already a Goodreads member, you should consider joining, it is a great reader's forum. Please email me or join my Flit With Lit Group on Goodreads.com. Goodreads where I anticipate having our discussion forums!

Since it is summer, I have given us an extended reading timeline. The deadline for reading the book is August 1, 2011. However, I hope to get comments and thoughts from you as you read the book.

Have a great summer and please consider joining this virtual book club.  I am looking forward to this new endeavor.

Best Summer Vacation Reading Wishes,
Sara

Summer at Tiffany  by Marjorie Hart is 267 Trade Paperback Pages, and will be in the memoir/biography section.

Tuesday, June 7, 2011

Matilda: A Whimsical and Arty Romp

Revert back to your inner child as you fall in love with childhood memories and Roald Dahl all over again. It is not just the writing, it is also the illustrations—together the words and pictures intertwine to ensure a wonderfully told story. Be sure to schedule yourself a few hours with this captivating and wonderful children’s book full of kicky prose and childish cartoony illustrations. I was thrilled that even with the modern paperback, the publishers kept Quentin Blake’s fabulous illustrations.

 Matilda is an intelligent and independent child who has never known parental love. Matilda’s parents ignore her; they are self-absorbed dimwits on the grandest scale of dimwittery.  In the adult fiction world this would translate into a tragic coming of age story of Oprah Book club proportions. But because this is a children’s book, there is tremendous light and laughter mixed in with the sad happenings. And perhaps, just maybe, we can believe that there will be a happy ending.

 Early in her life Matilda discovers books; soon she is reading Great Expectations and learning mathematical equations. Matilda’s parents don’t understand Matilda; they are “gormless” TV watching losers with no life aspirations. Matilda’s dishonest car dealer father epitomizes shady and unloving. Matilda’s life and further troubles begin when her father sells a faulty car to school headmistress Trunchbull. After telling The Trunchbull about his terrible no-good daughter, she agrees to take on this pitiful student. Living up to her name, The Trunchbull is a mean hard woman who despises children; getting away with tossing them around by their pigtails. After all, whose parents would believe that a headmistress would behave that way?

 Matilda finds an unexpected and wonderful advocate in Miss Honey, her teacher. Realizing that Matilda is absolutely special, Miss Honey strives to get her into an older more advanced class in school. The Trunchbull will have none of it, Matilda is to stay put. Miss Honey doesn’t give up, and soon the bond between lonely teacher and lonely child is formed. Miss Honey also has a shocking revelation; The Trunchbull is her Aunt! Furthermore, The Trunchbull may have killed Miss Honey’s father, in order to have his house and inheritance. Meanwhile, feeling threatened, Miss Honey has had to move into a small and drafty house, especially sad since the Trunch continues to take Miss Honey’s paycheck.

 Armed with the knowledge that Trunchbull is a heartless adversary, Matilda will learn that she has the power to change the situation. When she focuses, Matilda has some special almost magical skills that she can use to stop the beastly Trunchbull. We all have hope that the evil doers will be defeated. This book will leave the reader in a good mood—if you loved Roald Dahl as a child it is even better as an adult. Do escape into the fun, whimsy and delight… I rather think that gormless is my new favorite adjective.

 Matilda was written by Roald Dahl, illustrated by Quentin Blake and consists of 240 paperback pages.


Wednesday, June 1, 2011

Alone Time with I'll Walk Alone

 It has been many years since I have read Mary Higgins Clark...and I was surprised when I became thoroughly engrossed in this modern suspense novel. I highly recommend that you take I’ll Walk Alone by Mary Higgins Clark on your next vacation! Escape into a quiet place where you can be alone and read this book cover to cover uninterrupted.


 Unfolding like a suspense movie, the story begins when a woman makes a confession to a Father O’Brien. The unknown woman knows that a murder is about to happen but she can do nothing to stop it. The priest does not know the woman and cannot prevent the murder, so he prays. The priest has no idea that a killer has watched the young lady go into his confessional, and now he is a target.

 Today Zan Moreland is a rising star, a Manhattan interior designer about to attain the corporate design job that will firmly establish her top design reputation. Two years ago Zan’s young son disappeared in an afternoon in Central Park when he was being watched by a babysitter. Zan is trying to move on with her life, focusing on her career, but she thinks of her son daily and is especially sad on what would have been his fifth birthday. On the two year anniversary of her son's kidnapping, a photograph of Zan (or someone dressed exactly like Zan) appears in the papers and shows her taking her son out of his stroller. Zan feels crazy as the photo is impossible, and yet the look-alike is wearing the exact outfit that she wore the day her son disappeared. The photo is so convincing that Zan’s ex husband angrily accuses her of stealing their son.

 With the emergence of this new photograph, police detectives start reinvestigating the case of the missing child. Zan’s friends know that she did not harm her son, but the photograph makes them doubt themselves and her. Zan’s husband is now eager for Zan to be arrested. Zan’s interior design nemesis Bartley Longe is confident and secretly thrilled at the idea of Zan’s impending arrest; surely this means she will lose the job for which they’ve both placed competitive design bids.

 When the photo emerges, the rest of Zan’s life starts collapsing. Suddenly, Zan’s bank account has been reduced to nothing; all of her savings are gone. Someone has forged her signature for design jobs and ordered supplies against her credit; all the while that same person has purchased clothing on her credit card. Her assistant wonders why Zan has bought a one-way ticket to Argentina. Zan claims that she has not made any of these purchases, but her lawyer advises her against claiming identity theft when charges of kidnapping or worse are pending against her.

 There is a reason that Mary Higgins Clark is called the Queen of Suspense, and this novel is a continuation of her legacy. Many readers will enjoy the easy flow as the novel transitions quickly through small character chapters and story segments. First there is the priest, then Zan, Zan’s ex-husband, the kidnapper/ identity thief, and Zan’s friends. The plot moves along at a steady and interesting pace until all the pieces fall into place with a well-wrapped and satisfying ending.