The Way Life Should Be by Christina Baker Kline

This was an enjoyable book to read. At first I thought it was going to be too predictable - but there were a few twists in it - besides, it was well-written. It is the story of Angela who is in her thirties and working at a job that she doesn't love. While on the computer one day she clicks on a dating website. "MaineCatch" seemed perfect - except for the fact that she was from New York and he obviously lived in Maine. He eventually sweeps her off feet. When she loses her job (after committing a big mistake), she decides to throw caution to the wind and go to her soulmate. I liked the characters and the story.

Knit the Season by Kate Jacobs

This is the third in a series. (Friday Night Knitting Club and Knit Two). I would highly recommend that these be read in order. During the first book Dakota was just a young girl who hung around the knitters and baked muffins for them. Now she is grown and trying to be a responsible woman. She is one busy chic! She's keeping the knitting store open while attending culinary school. She still has time to keep up with the other members of the original group. I loved knowing how their lives were progressing! One of the book clubs read the original (Friday Night Knitting Club) for November. I thought it was interesting that a third of the women there said they were inspired to start or return to a knitting/crocheting project. So I guess that it should be considered an inspirational book! I hope that there is a number 4 coming next year.

A Quilter's Holiday by Jennifer Chiaverini

This is a quick read about the quilters of Elm Creek. I have read all of this series and they are all interesting and enjoyable. This one was perfectly timed. I read it over Thanksgiving weekend and it mostly takes place on the day after Thanksgiving. That is the day which one of the quilters refers to as the official beginning of quilt season! At Elm Creek the friends ignore Black Friday and instead gather to quilt. Most are working on Christmas presents. At noon they stop for a potluck lunch - the rule is that it has to be a leftover from Thanksgiving. During the day there are updates on on-going stories from previous books and also flashbacks to past holidays. A nice gentle read!

Family Album by Penelope Lively

I really liked this book. It is not a book filled with adventure or lots of action. Instead it is more of a study in family life. At the beginning of the book there are six grown-up children who were raised by Allison, her husband Charles and the au pair, Ingrid, who stayed forever. Allison never wanted anything else in life except for a family. She tried to be the uber mother and wife. As the book progresses we learn the stories of the family from different perspectives. Everyone is affected (either in a good way or a bad way) by childhood. It is a lot more fun to read about someone else's family!

Ladies of the Lake by Haywood Smith

The library owns the book and the audiobook. I listened and it was great. I have never read anything by Haywood Smith but I will go look for more of them. It is the story of four sisters: Dahlia, Rose, Violet and Iris (who is scared to death of spiders - just like me!). They are around my age (read the book if you want to find out). Their grandma, Cissy, dies. Cissy has been a bit strange for a long time. Last thing the sisters knew was that Cissy was going to leave whatever she had to some religious group she had become interested in. When Cissy dies the sisters go up to the lake to meet with the lawyer. Much to their great surprise Cissy had recently changed her will - AND she was really, really rich! Much to their chagrin Cissy has put in a stipulation. To get the money the four sisters must spend the summer together at the lake. They haven't been in that close proximity to each other in decades, so there are bound to be a few problems. I enjoyed the characters and the story - there are dead bodies in the basement, a rabid raccoon, skinny dipping......... and so on. An enjoyable read.

The Weight of Silence by Heather Gudenkauf

Another book set in Iowa! This one takes place in the fictional Willow Creek, Iowa. It's located near a forest - do we have a forest in Iowa??? That aside, it was a great book. It seems that every night on the news is a story about another manhunt for missing children. This is about that topic - but with enough twists to keep me turning the pages. Missing are two best friends. Calli is 7 years old and hasn't spoken a word in three years after witnessing a disturbing event. One morning her drunken father, Griff, is up early to go fishing with his friend. Instead he comes across Calli and decides to take her into the forest. He sends his friend on his way and leaves no note for Calli's mom. The same early morning Calli's best friend Petra also goes missing. There are many side- stories going on at the same time. (Calli's mom and the sheriff used to be in love.)
I thought it was great for a debut novel - and I look forward to many others.

Sarah's Key by Tatiana De Rosnay

Another WWII novel dealing with the Holocaust. But this one is quite different from the others I've read in the past year. Although fiction, the story is based on an incident in Paris, 1942. Thousands of Jewish families were arrested. Before they were to be transported to the concentration camps, they were temporarily housed in the Velodrome d'Hiver -a sports facility. The conditions that were described reminded me a lot of what I saw and read about the SuperDome during Katrina. The title character Sarah was 10 years old when this happened. She had been living happily with her 4 year-old brother Michel and her parents. Her father has been hiding in the basement of the building in which they live because the word on the street is that only men are being rounded up. This is the subject of half of the book. The other half is about 40-something Julia. American by birth, Julia has lived in Paris since she was 20. She's married to a Frenchman and they have one precocious 11-year-old daughter. Julia works part-time for an American magazine in Paris. Her editor suggests a story about the Velodrome d'Hiver roundup because the 60th anniversary is approaching. Of course this leads to a connection between Julia and Sarah. It was a fascinating read. I couldn't quit reading it. Highly recommended!!!!!!!!!

Postville A Clash of Cultures in Hearland American by Stephen Bloom

This is not a new book. It was published in 2000. I read it because I was in charge of the morning Book Club this month. I am blogging about it because it was a really good book! You will recognize names in the book if you have been reading the Des Moines Register lately. Postville has been getting a lot of press. Anyway - on to the book itself. Bloom ended up moving to Iowa City from California along with his wife and son. They are Jewish - though at polar opposites from the Hasidims of Postville. Bloom felt isolated from the Jewish community living in Iowa, so at first he just wanted to re-connect. He ended up writing a fascinating book about the clash of two cultures in small-town Iowa. I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants more information about the story in the headlines.

A Reliable Wife by Robert Goolrick

This is a first novel for Goolrick and I hope that many more will follow. This book takes place in the early part of the twentieth century. Ralph Truitt lives in very cold and snowy Wisconsin. He has lived a very lonely life for 20 years. He places a classified ad for a reliable wife. He waits at the train station for the woman he hopes will satisfy his needs. The woman who steps off the train is not the woman in the picture. She has a cover story for that - in fact she has lots of things planned out - that is why she is carrying arsenic in her bag. It's an intriguing story and different from the run-of-the-mill mail-order bride stories! I really enjoyed it.

Echo in the Bone by Diana Gabaldon

"Echo in the Bone", also referred to as EITB or just "Echo", is the seventh book in the author's Outlander series. I have waited anxiously for its publication since the sixth book was published in 2005. I wasn't going to read this book for at least a year but it seemed that everyone I knew was reading it. I couldn't stand it any longer...so I dove in.

For those not familiar with the series, it revolves around the adventures of Claire, a time traveler from the 20th century, and Jamie, the Scottish warrior from the 18th century that she falls in love with after traveling into the past through a circle of standing stones.

See? You just have to read them and then suspend your disbelief!

This novel is no different from the others. It's full of adventures and romance and near misses and plenty of loose threads that won't be resolve until the next novel in the series. I'm left to wonder how everything will be resolved - and hoping that I'll remember the questions I had!

No Time to Wave Goodbye by Jacquelyn Mitchard

Back in the 90's Ms. Mitchard came out with her first novel, The Deep End of the Ocean. It was the story of Beth Cappadora whose 3 year old son Ben is snatched. It was an emotional and touching story. I would suggest you read that book before her newest book. In the new book we return to the Cappadora family. It is twenty-two years later and we find out what has happened with the family and friends. Of course there is a new catastrophe in this book. It was great to return to the characters I met years ago. Can there ever be a happily-ever-after when a family has faced a tragedy?

Riverside Park by Laura Van Wormer

Riverside Park is an address and this book is about the people who live there. Some of their lives intersect. Some are married, some are single and some are messing around! Van Wormer did a great job of interweaving the stories and characters. There is nothing in the book that made me think or stuck with me. That said I really did enjoy reading the book. I was entertained and that's what I wanted at the time!

A Change in Altitude by Anita Shreve

I have ready all of Shreve's novels and have loved every one of them. She never uses a formula in her writing. Every book is totally different. In this book we follow a few years in the life of Margaret and Patrick. They have only been married for a few months when they take advantage of a chance to go to Kenya so that Patrick can practice equatorial medicine. There are some adjustments to the culture but mostly things are going well. Then a British couple invites then to climb Mount Kenya. Now keep in mind that these people are not climbers but they still say yes. During the climb there is a tragic accident and someone dies. The rest of the story is about how that incident on the mountain affects their lives and their marriage. I loved it.