On June 1st I challenged myself to read the books pictured above before Labor Day. While not 100% successful, I was happy with the result.
Click here to see which books I read.
My Summer 2010 Challenge
Show Me 5 Saturday – Your Roots Are Showing by Elise Chidley
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1 Title: Your Roots Are Showing by Elise Chidley
2 Words that describe the book: Lizzie’s changes
3 Settings or characters:
* Lizzie Buckley, in the throes of postpartum depression, has little interest in her husband or life in general.
* Tessa, Lizzie’s best friend since they were small, is her biggest supporter. She won’t let Lizzie fall any deeper into the abyss of depression. She gets her started on the process of climbing out. Everyone needs a friend like Tessa.
* Roger, Lizzie’s father-in-law. Always her fan, he truly hopes she and his son can make things work. He’s a bit of a character but he seemed genuinely in Lizzie’s corner. I thought he was the one person who gave her hope.
4 Things I liked/disliked about the book:
* I loved Elise Chidley’s way of telling the story so that it was easy to sympathize with almost every character.
* The humor was laugh-out-loud at times. That said, this is not a fluff book. It addresses serious issues faced by many women at one time or another. It was an emotional read but not a depressing one.
* I liked how Chidley showed Lizzie’s experience of starting to run, starting therapy, dealing with her food issues, etc. I could imagine myself feeling the same way as Lizzie.
* I didn’t like that Lizzie and James seemed to give up too easily from the start (that’s not a spoiler). I guess their feelings were so hurt they just turned inward. Maybe that’s not so unusual.
5 Stars or less for the rating: 4.5/5 stars. I recommend it.
Back of the book: Lizzie Buckley is having doubts about her picture-perfect world. She does love her country estate, precocious three-year-old twins, and handsome husband, James. But nobody warned her about postpartum depression and the toll it would take on her marriage. Or how she’d fantasize about chucking it all for a box of chocolates and an uninterrupted bath.
Lizzie vents these frustrations in an e-mail and her life is shattered: James gets the message by mistake. Lizzie soon finds herself uprooting her children to start over in a ramshackle garden cottage. Now facing life – and the twins – alone, Lizzie struggles to reinvent herself and forget about her soon-to-be ex. But when thoughts of James still haunt her, she begins to wonder if the best part of marriage starts after the fairy tale ends…
Show Me 5 Saturday – Real Life & Liars by Kristina Riggle
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1 Title: Real Life & Liars by Kristina Riggle
2 Words that describe the book: Family reunion
3 Settings or characters:
* Mira Zielinski – wife of Max and mother of Katya, Ivan, and Irina.
* Katya – the totally together, on top of everything wife, mother, daughter, sister. She’s about ready to crack.
* Irina – the youngest child of Mira and Max who arrives home with two big surprises
4 Things I liked/disliked about the book:
* I liked how real Kristina Riggle’s characters are -the Zielinski siblings especially.
* I enjoyed how while reading it I felt like I was watching a movie. The descriptions and dialogue were great. I really liked the anniversary party scene.
* Each chapter is about or from a different character’s perspective. The details revealed about the characters filled in a lot.
* I liked how the title worked into the plot at what seemed like the right time.
5 Stars or less for the rating: 4/5
Back of the book: For Mirabelle Zielinski’s children, happiness always seems to be just out of reach. Her polished oldest daughter, Katya, clings to a stale marriage with a workaholic husband and three spoiled children. Her son, Ivan, so creative, is a down-in-the-dumps songwriter with the worst taste in women. And the “baby”, impulsive Irina, who lives life on a whim, is now reluctantly pregnant and hitched to a man who is twice her age. On the weekend of their parents’ anniversary party, lies will be revealed, hearts will be broken . . . but love will also be found. And the biggest shock may come from Mirabelle herself, because she has a secret that will change everything.
Where The River Runs by Patti Callahan Henry
Back of the book: Meridy Dresden was once a free-spirited, fun-loving girl. All that changed when the boy she loved was killed in a tragic fire. Since then, she alone has carried the burden of a terrible secret. Years later, married to a wonderful man and mother of a teenage son, she is shocked to learn that a childhood friend is being blamed for that long-ago fire. Fearful but determined, Meridy returns to the South Carolina Lowcountry and summons the courage to make a decision that may destroy her well-ordered life, her family’s reputation, her contented marriage, and everything she’s worked so hard to protect… including her heart.
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I was pulled into Patti Callahan Henry’s touching novel from the first page. Meridy Dresden has reached a point in her life where she is known among her husband’s friends as “perfect Meridy” – the perfect wife, mother, friend. The problem is she feels like a fraud. Ever since the tragic night where life changed forever she has tried to be good. Her husband knows nothing about her life before they met; her son is grown and ready to leave for college; and her best friend was just divorced by Meridy’s husband’s boss. Things are happening that are out of her control.
Meridy goes home to South Carolina to write a curriculum of the Gullah culture for her local school. Repressed memories return that force her to face the past. With the help of Tulu, her family’s former housekeeper, she learns how to come to grips with what happened twenty-five years earlier – the night of the tragic fire. Tulu teaches her the meaning of Gullah proverbs which leads to finding the truth in her past and helps her to understand what is important going forward.
I really liked this novel. It was easy for me to relate to Meridy in a few ways. I enjoyed the story, the characters, and the lessons learned. Where The River Runs is the second book I’ve read by Patti Callahan Henry and I look forward to reading more.
My Summer 2010 Challenge
Happy June! I’ve decided to challenge myself to read some or all of the books pictured above between now and Labor Day (Sept. 6). They are personal buys or giveaway wins and have been on my TBR shelf for several months.
Have you read any of them? What did you think? Which should I read first?
Books Read:
1. Supreme Courtship by Christopher Buckley
2. Where The River Runs by Patti Callahan Henry
3. Italian For Beginners by Kristin Harmel
4. Real Life and Liars by Kristina Riggle
5. Your Roots Are Showing by Elise Chidley
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My Summer 2010 Challenge
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Bookfan 