Mercy Snow by Tiffany Baker FIC Bak

I enjoyed this book.  It takes place in a small town in New Hampshire where the main industry is the paper mill.  As the wife of the owner of the mill, June McAllister has the duty to be perfect.  Her appearance is immaculate and her house sparkles.  Her marriage has been a bit rocky since she found out about her husband's infidelity a few years before.  But Cal has apologized and promised it would never happen again.  No comment.  Together they have a teen-aged son, Nate.  On the night before Thanksgiving June is fixing food when the phone rings.  Her heart stops when she is informed that the school bus Nate was on has overturned on an icy road.  Unable to reach Cal, June rushes to the scene.  That night will change everything for June and her family.  It will also change things for Mercy Snow and her siblings. After the death of their mother they came to the area and moved into an old abandoned RV.  Their late family members were shunned by the town and now so are they.  When Mercy's brother is blamed for the wreck she is determined to do whatever is necessary to protect him from the town.  Interesting characters - not all of them are lovable for sure! 

David and Goliath by Malcom Gladwell 155.24 Glad

I love Gladwell's books.  He takes the oddest groups of topics and turns them into a fascinating read (or in my case a listen).  You can probably guess what the general theme of this book is from the title.  He actually writes about that story first and explains why David was probably so successful.  The rest of the book will make you think about your attitude toward people who have met obstacles or who have had a disadvantage.  He will amaze you with the number of highly successful people who had a lot of things in their lives which looked like setbacks at the time.  A boy losing his father (whether by death or divorce) will have a negative effect.  However, 12 out of 44 of our presidents were in that position.  Maybe overcoming that obstacle gave them something which led to their success.

Some of the topics in the book are basketball underdogs,  dyslexics, the importance of classroom size and the impressionists.  Really there is something of everyone.  Highly entertaining book that will make you think. 

The Smartest Kids in the World: and how they got that way by Amanda Ripley 370.9 Rip

I have been out of the teaching world for eleven years after a 33 year career.  I saw many new administrators come into the district with new ideas of how we were going to invent a better mousetrap.  It never happened. Oops I feel one foot up on the soapbox - back to the book.  This is a very readable book - even if you don't generally care for non-fiction.  Reporter Amanda Ripley introduces us to three American students who went abroad as exchange students in high school.  In case you don't know, when foreigners come to our high schools they take actual classes, they take tests and they write papers.  Like every one in the class they received a grade (even though it had no effect on their school record back home).  Our students basically go for the cultural experience and don't really experience what it is like for the natives.

Ripley gives us the background information on these students - all three came from different parts of the country and different socio-economic backgrounds.  They went to Finland, South Korea and Poland.  The reason that Ripley was interested in these three countries is that they all had something in common.  Years ago they were at the bottom of the barrel when it came to schools - and then it changed.  How did they do it?  Read the book and find out.  You may - no, I guarantee you will, be shocked at some of things these countries do.  And you will probably be shocked by what is said about the students' home schools.  This is a fascinating book.  If you are at all interested in education you should check out this book!

the Husband's Secret by Liane Moriarty FIC Mor

 

Cecilia Fitzpatrick is a successful Tupperware dealer (with an extremely organized home), an involved mother and a devoted wife to Jean-Paul.  She is happy.  Then one day she goes down to breakfast and discovers that her daughter, Esther, has dropped her obsession with the Titanic and is now enthralled with the Berlin Wall.  Cecilia was actually in Berlin when it came down.  She knows Esther will be thrilled to see the piece of the wall that Cecilia brought back from that trip so many years ago.  And of course she knows exactly where it is in the attic because everything is organized in her life!  Jean-Paul?  His contribution to the attic every year is a shoe box of tax stuff and he just keeps adding to the pile.  When she bumps into one there are several that go flying, spreading papers all over.  An envelope catches her eye because it looks out of place.  It is sealed . In Jean-Paul's handwriting is the message that it is to be opened by his wife only in the event of his death.  First she laughed and then she began to wonder.  I would have had that letter open immediately.  Cecilia is a better woman than I and she doesn't.  She does, however, mention it to him when he calls home from his business trip.
       There are two other women in the story whose lives will be changed by the contents of that letter.  This book kept my interest - I finished it in a couple of days- and caused me to do some thinking about what I would do.  I highly recommend this as a good read!

You Disappear by Christian Jungersen FIC Jun

  

Loved this book.  It was different, informative and it kept my interest until the end.  Mia, who teaches school in Denmark, lives with her teen-aged son and her husband, Frederik.  She met Frederik when she began teaching.  He swept her off her feet.  As Frederik threw himself into his career as the headmaster of a private school, Mia was unhappy because he worked so hard and didn't have time for her.  Although he is still working hard, the past few years he has changed.  Now he actually spends time with his family.  She was thrilled with this change in him - until she found out why he had changed.  It was a tumor that had been growing in his brain and slowly changing his personality.   This seems to be the worse thing that can happen to Mia - until she finds out that a great deal of money has gone missing from Frederik's school.  And they think he is responsible.

If you want a change from novels with themes that have been over-done (even though they are still entertaining!) - check this one out.  It will make you think.  The problem might be that you start looking a little closer at family, friends and co-workers.........and you wonder if they might have had a bump on the head.

The Girl You Left Behind by JoJo Moyes FIC Moy

I loved this book!  It begins in France during WWI.  Sophie's artist husband has gone to fight at the front.  She is left to do the best she can with her sister (whose husband is also fighting) and their younger brother.  Things haven't been easy, but when the Germans take over their village Sophie is put in the awkward position of having to cook for the Kommandant and his men.  She has no choice but still she is highly criticized by the other villagers.  When the Kommandant becomes interested in Sophie's most prized possession she regrets not hiding it as her sister had suggested.  It is a portrait of her done by her husband - of  the girl he left behind.  I was totally wrapped up in Sophie's story when it stopped and I was transported back to present day!  Today that same painting is the most prized possession of Liv Halston.  It was a present given to her by her young husband during their honeymoon.  He died suddenly after just a few years of marriage and Liv is struggling to get on with her life.  As I read about her life I was treated to some bits and pieces of Sophie's story - and at the end of the book I had the whole story.  An enjoyable book! 

Let Me Tell You A Story by Renata Calverley 943.8 Cal

      

The World War II era is one of my favorites when it comes to reading.  This is the memoir of a woman beginning when she was two years old, at the start of the war.  Her first memories were of hearing a lot of thunder - she didn't realize what it was.  Her mother tried to explain that war was when men were fighting each other - but when she looked out the window she didn't see anyone fighting.  Calverley did a wonderful job of writing this book through the eyes of a child.  I could really feel the frustration and confusion of that young child.   Her childhood was filled with separations, losses and years of fear as she was moved from place to place in an effort to protect her from the Nazis.  Calverley grew up to teach English for 35 years and gives talks about her experience.  It is a heart-breaking story filled with courageous acts by many people.                           

Mud Season by Ellen Stimson 974.3 Sti

This was a very entertaining book!  From the first visit to Vermont, Ellen and husband John were in love with it.  Of course just conjuring up an image in my mind makes me want to pack up and move there too.  They actually do move several years later, taking along their three children, cat and three dogs.  Stimson has done a wonderful job of describing their great adventure.  I thought that buying the old house that needed renovations was rather daring of them.  That looked tame to me after they bought a general store in their little village!  This woman was nuts!  Although Stimson had a lot of experience with successful businesses, neither she nor her husband had ever worked in retail (she felt that shopping retail was good enough).  But the ideas she had!  It sounded wonderful.  I wanted to be able to go in the store and shop in such a quaint atmosphere.  Not quite understanding her clientele she moved the bread in the store..... you read that right.  She MOVED the bread.  She actually was boycotted for that!   The stories I loved the most were the adventures with animals - the goat, the skunks, the chickens and then the baby lambs they paper-trained.  Interesting - very interesting.  Check out this book.  A winter like we are having this year is a perfect time to lose yourself in a good book.  As an added bonus you will be thankful that we don't have a mud season in Iowa!

Eat Move Sleep by Tom Rath 613 Rat

It's a new year again and perhaps you are thinking about some resolutions that involve eating better and getting in shape.   I know better than to join a gym/club/Y - because it is always an expensive proposition for me.  I don't go because it is too hot, or too cold, or it's my dog's birthday ....... I always have an excuse.  So this is a book that was written for me!  Rath's philosophy is that small changes can make a big difference.  Of course, I knew that before but I enjoyed reading his suggestions.  Rath was very motivated to keep himself as healthy as possible because he has a rare genetic disorder that makes him prone to developing many cancers.  So he has learned as much as he can and put it into practice.  His life depends on it.  This is an easy read with some reminders (and maybe some new suggestions for you) about how to make your life better.   I even bought it for my Kindle so that I could do a quick refresher when my motivation flags! 

Looking for Strangers by Dori Katz 940.53 Kat

 

I have read many books about WWII and the Holocaust but this one was a bit different.  Dori Katz was three years old when her mother left her with strangers - a Catholic family with whom she would live until D-Day.  Then she was placed in an orphanage until her mother was finally able to claim her.  Her father had been taken away and she only had a few vague memories of him.  Dori and her mother immigrated to the United States.  She heard stories from her mother over the years.  Her father's fate was never known (death, of course, but not where or when).  In the early 1980's Dori is a university professor.  One day she makes the decision to buy a ticket for a noon movie in Manhattan.  It was entitled As If It Were Yesterday.  It was a documentary about the hidden children during the war.  There on the screen was her life - at least bits and pieces of what she remembered.  Thus begins a quest to return to Belgium and to try and find out about the family who hid her and maybe about her father's last days.  The book moves back and forth between the war years and Dori's trip to Europe. 

survival lessons by Alice Hoffman 616.99 Hof

    

This is a very short book.  It won't take you long to read.  It will, perhaps, make you think and wake you up.  Hoffman is a very successful author.  But even successful people get sick.  Fifteen years ago she was diagnosed with breast cancer.  Although her mother had the disease and she had friends who were also fighting it, it came as a shock to her when she was diagnosed - because she wasn't the type to get cancer.  She was the giver of care, not the recipient.  This book is a reflection of lessons learned - not about cancer itself, but about life.  She wrote it to remind herself of the joys that accompany sorrow and to remember that even when life has taken away some of your control you can still make choices.  Every chapter is about choosing something - heroes, friends, how to spend your time, etc.  I think everyone would get something out of this little book.  In particular those that are dealing with a disease, those who care about someone who is fighting a disease, those who are getting to that "certain age" when time is flying and there is less left than we have lived, those who need to remember to take more control of their lives, those who are young and are going to make the same mistakes we did because no one told us about them, those.... really I think everyone could take away something from this book.  I might buy it for my Kindle so that I can read it again from time to time.

Little Wolves by Thomas Maltman FIC Mal

     

This book is the All-Iowa Reads selection for 2014.  The first description I heard of it did not make me want to read it.  However, when I looked at a few reviews my interest returned.  I listened to the audio version from WILBOR and I enjoyed the book a lot.  It takes place in the 1980's in a Minnesota farming community.  Life is hard because of a drought that is touching the lives of everyone there.  There are a few story lines that intertwine. Clara is married to Logan who has come to this small town to serve his first congregation.  It isn't easy for him to fit into this close-knit community and he doesn't have a lot of confidence.  To make things more stressful for him, he is going to be a father - and he had been perfectly clear with Clara that he didn't want children.

Grizz (old football nickname!) is trying to keep his farm going.  Life is stressful for him too because his son Seth has been a handful.  Grizz, however, didn't know how bad it could be - until the sheriff arrived and told him that Seth had shot and killed Grizz's best friend and now he was missing.  It seems that the whys of the murder will never be known when Seth's body is discovered.

This book kept my interest from beginning to end.  And there are some real little wolves in the story that actually play an important part.  Join us at the library in April for a discussion of this selection!