The Rocks by Peter Nichols FIC Nic

Although Lulu and Gerald were once madly in love and were even married for a very short time, they managed to live in the same village on the island of Mallorca for 60 years, without ever crossing paths, until one day . . .

Author Peter Nichols opens the tale of this couple in 2005, when a chance (or is it?) meeting between Lulu and Gerald ends in an argument and unfortunate fall that leads to their demises. He then takes the reader back through time, a decade more or less at a time, to learn how events in their lives brought them to their ultimate fate. It isn’t until the end of the book that the reader finds out why this marriage did not survive the honeymoon.

Along the way, Nichols introduces a colorful cast of characters including Lulu’s son Luc and Gerald’s daughter Aegina, who are both still seeking their real adult identities and at the same time are sorting through feelings for each other. Regular summer residents at The Rocks resort owned by Lulu, a smattering of locals, and a couple of friendly, unscrupulous strangers round out the cast of this trip back through time.

It is a journey worth taking.

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The Book of Lost and Found by Lucy Foley FIC Fol

Kate Darling was raised by her mother June, a celebrated ballerina, and her grandma, Evie.  Kate always had the feeling that Evie wasn't always happy having to share her daughter with her grand-daughter.  Kate adored her mom and when June was killed in a plane accident she is heart-broken. Evie is all she has left and Kate makes regular visits to the nursing home to visit.  Evie has many days when she is totally out of it and sometimes she has moments of lucidity.  On one of her visits Evie wants to give something to Kate.  They are letters and programs from June's career.  Kate takes them home but it is a while before she can look at them. She wants to talk to Evie about them but she waits too long.  When Evie dies Kate goes into a deep depression.  When she finally begins to look through the box she discovers a picture.  At first she thinks it is a picture of her mother when she was young.  But as she studies it she realizes it was from a different era.  It had to be June's biological mother who gave her up when she was just a baby.  This picture leads Kate on a quest to find out more about this woman when she finds letters in the box that she is sure were written by this unknown woman.  A very entertaining book!

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Bald, Fat & Crazy by Stephanie Hosford 362.1969 Hos

If you can't read the small print on the picture of the cover I will type it so you can read it.  "How I Beat Cancer while PREGNANT with One Daughter and ADOPTING another".

I was tired just reading the front of the book.  I love non-fiction because it is often hard to believe the things that happen to people.  As with most breast cancer stories you see how quickly your life is turned upside-down.  It begins in 2007 with a conversation between Stephanie and Sara, her best friend since high school.  They are discussing going to their high school reunion the following year.  When she pictures what she will look like then she has no idea that a hairstyle will not be given much thought - because she won't have any hair.

Stephanie will be your new hero when you read this book.  She found out that she had cancer before she found out she was pregnant.  Her husband insisted on visiting more than one doctor.  And because of that they found one who felt she could get treatment and have a healthy baby.  Quite the story!  You can tell from the cover of the book that there is also plenty of humor in this book.  It was a fast and interesting read.

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Bald is Better with Earrings by Andrea Hutton 616.99 Hut

This is a very quick read.  The subtitle is "A Survivor's guide to Getting Through Breast Cancer."  So now you know what the book is about!  Being six months into a fourteen month breast cancer 'journey' myself I probably have a different take on the book than others might.  First of all you have to remember that when people write books like this it is usually because they have a long story to tell - I could write mine in about one chapter.  Ms. Hutton had a lot of things happen to her that did not happen to me.  So if you are newly diagnosed don't get freaked out!  That being said she does a wonderful job of sharing the emotional ups and downs that she went through (and still does).  Her description of appointments and procedures is spot on.  There are many moments of levity throughout the book.

I would really recommend this book for people who have a spouse, family member or friend.  It will give you a good perspective of what it is all about.  For someone who is going through this, you will pick up some good suggestions.  Well worth reading!

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Did You Ever Have A Family by Bill Clegg FIC Cle

I read this book over the weekend and I really liked it.  I will warn you that it is rather intense because it is filled with the agony of people who lost loved ones.  The story is like a jigsaw puzzle.  It starts with a tragedy and then we learn about the background of the people involved.  It is told through the eyes of many characters and I will admit that there were times I had to pause and remember who that person was!

A singular event can have far-reaching consequences.  It was early morning of the day that Lolly and Will were supposed to get married.  June Reid, Lolly's mom, was outside.  Inside there were four people sleeping - Lolly, Will, Luke (June's boyfriend) and Adam (June's ex).  Then there was an explosion.

The way Clegg wrote about the pain of the survivors was unbelievable.  You will feel the sympathetic pain in your own soul.  Powerful book!

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Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard: The Sword of Summer by Rick Riordan J Rio

Note: This is a new title in children's fiction by one of the most successful authors in recent years. Don't let the "children's" classification keep you from picking this up for an entertaining read.

Someone is looking for Magnus Chase, and after two years living on the streets in Boston, this 16-year-old knows he needs to lie low until he has a little more information. When he overhears the man and his daughter, who are handing out flyers with Magnus’s picture on it, he realizes that he is being sought by his uncles and a cousin, whom he hasn’t seen in ten years – and whom his mother warned him away from right before she died.

Curiosity leads Magnus to break into his uncle’s house in search of clues about why his family is looking for him after all these years of not caring. But he lingers longer than he should and Uncle Randolph prevents his escape.

Claiming Magnus’s life is in danger, Randolph persuades him to get in his car, and they take a speedy drive to the Longfellow Bridge. As explosions and fires draw near, Uncle Randolph explains to Magnus that he is the son of a Norse god; that today, his 16^th birthday, he has attained manhood and will be able to resurrect his father’s powerful sword from the bottom of the Charles River, where it has lain for centuries. And the perpetrator of the pyrotechnics is after the same souvenir.

In true Riordan style, the non-stop action is a little over the top. Our hero is just this side of a smart-aleck – a little snarky, a little irreverent. Supporting characters are well-defined with their own quirks that add to the humor of the book.

Riordan sets the opening scene and many subsequent ones in Boston, which is brilliant. In the late 1800s, a Harvard professor was convinced that the Vikings had set up housekeeping in the Boston area, and he managed to get a statue of Leif Erikson erected on a main thoroughfare in the city. He was also responsible for including copies of Viking ship mastheads on the pillars of the Longfellow Bridge. He based all of this on wishful thinking and supposition, and Boston has lived with it ever since. Boston landmarks are prominent in the story. (The famous Swan Boats in the public garden are used to great comedic effect – but you have to read the entire book to get there.)

Norse mythology is a tangled thicket of nine worlds, and it helped that I had read up on it a bit. With giants, elves, dwarves, major gods, lesser gods, and even people, there is a lot to keep track of. While the story is complex, it isn’t confusing. And what a romp! Riordan hits this one out of Fenway Park.

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