The Breakdown by B.A. Paris MYS Par

I really enjoyed Paris’ last book so I was eager to read this one.  One night Cass is on her way home after an evening with friends.  It’s dark and rainy.  Her husband had called her to say that he wouldn’t be up when she arrived home because he had a migraine and was going to bed.  He was very clear that she was not to take the shortcut through the forest because of the storm and the isolation of the road.  Cass knew that was good advice and intended to follow it - until the storm became worse and when she saw the turnoff she took it.  She comes upon a car that is just sitting in the middle of the road.  Cass waits to see if the woman who is sitting inside signals for help.  But she doesn’t.  Cass doesn’t have a very clear look at the woman because of the pouring rain. And she continues on her way to the safety of her home.

The next day she is shocked to find out that a woman had been found murdered on that road.  Her instinct is to tell no one - she really didn’t have any knowledge that would help.  But as the days went on it weighed more heavily on her mind.  And her mind is having enough problems.  She can’t seem to remember things - where she parked the car, the code for the alarm and so on.  She confides in her best friend about her fears.  Rachel has been her friend forever and knows that Cass’ mom died after suffering from early-onset Alzheimer’s.  She understands why Cass is so worried.

Her husband is also trying to be supportive but Cass gets the feeling that he is losing patience with her.  Cass’ life is becoming a nightmare.  The guilt she hides about seeing the woman that night, the hang-up phone calls she gets at home and her inability to convince herself she isn’t losing her mind.

It was an entertaining read!

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The Music Shop by Rachel Joyce FIC Joy

When I finished this book the first word I thought of was quirky. A quirky story with quirky characters.  The story begins in 1988 in a little dead-end street in London. The area is home to a variety of little shops whose owners have bonded over the years as they try to survive.  The most unusual of the shops belongs to Frank - he sells vinyl records. No cassettes or CDs for him.  Frank has an unusual ability to talk someone and some how he knows what music they need to listen to.  Normally it is not a record that the person would ever listen to - and yet it makes a difference in their lives.

One day a very attractive woman comes into the store.  Strangely Frank cannot “read” her.  Her name is Ilse and she asks Frank to teach her about music.  He has never done anything like that but he is drawn to her and so it begins.  He knows fun facts and stories about many of the composers or artists but it is his ability to talk about the feelings of the music that make his gift special.   Frank has a lot of sadness in his soul and is wary of ever getting involved with someone but over and over again she draws him in.

I loved the book!  The descriptions of music made me want to listen to Beethoven or Aretha Franklin from a different perspective!

The Music Shop is an out-of-the-box book.  I highly recommend it if you love character books.

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Until I Say Good-bye by Susan Spencer-Wendel 616.83 Spe

Susan had a wonderful life.  She was a successful journalist at the age of 44.  She also had a loving husband and three kids.  Life was busy and fulfilling. But then she sought medical help when she began to have some weird symptoms.  When you go to the doctor you might expect a few tests and then some medicine or maybe surgery.  You don’t expect to be told that you have a deadly disease (ALS - also known as Lou Gehrig’s Disease) and probably a year left to live.  I think many of us would spend 11 months trying to come to terms with the news.  But Susan was different.  She wanted to make it a year of joy.

After quitting her job she made plans.  During that year she planned seven trips with seven people that meant the world to her. Now we aren’t talking an hour trip to sit in a cabin and look at mountains!  With her health declining she went all over the world. One of the touching things was to take her daughter to a famous bridal store in New York City so that she could see what her daughter (who was just a teen at the time) would look like in a wedding dress.  Susan wrote this book using one thumb - yes one thumb because that is the only finger that was still working - on her IPhone.  This woman was amazing.

A woman like that would not write a “poor little me” book.  It is truly an uplifting book about joy - not about a year of slowly dying.

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Promise Me, Dad: A Year of Hope, Hardship and Purpose by Joe Biden 973.932 Bid

I personally find Joe Biden to be one of the most admirable men in the nation.  The things life has thrown at him is unbelievable. Biden writes about his earlier tragedies and his political life but the main focus is on his son, Beau.  I went through more than a couple of tissues during this book. When Beau was diagnosed with brain cancer the whole family took on a new challenge. Whenever Beau needed him he was there.  But Biden also managed to serve our country as Vice-President with the help of President Obama.  What Beau went through during that last year is unbelievable.  He was willing to endure anything in order to live.  Who knows what he could have accomplished if he had been granted a normal lifespan.

An extremely touching book.

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The Baker's Secret by Stephen P. Kiernan FIC Kie

I love novels that are set in the WWII era.  And in this one, in the village of Vergers located on the Normandy coast, there lives Emmanuelle (Emma) who through luck and hard work became an apprentice to Ezra, the baker of the village.  As the war causes shortages Emma does her best to keep the village fed.  One day she is baking when a newly arrived Nazi follows his nose to where she is baking.  He orders her to bake 10 baguettes for his soldiers every day.  To supply bread to her neighbors she has to improvise.  When things get more desperate she begins making more changes to help her village survive.  A very readable book.

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An American Family: A Memoir of Hope and Sacrifice by Khizr Khan 973 Kha

A friend sent me a text saying that I absolutely had to read this book.  I doubt that I would have picked it up without any more information. When she told me it was written by the Gold Star father who spoke at the Democratic Convention I was sold.  She also told me it was an up-lifting book - something I needed at the time!  It is a wonderful book.  Khan writes as well as he spoke that night.  His story is unbelievable.  He was born in Pakistan where his parents worked hard trying to support the ten children they had (Khan was the oldest). Nothing came easy to Khan - whether it was getting an education or winning the hand of the woman he loved.   He achieved his dream to move to America where for him the hard work continued.  I was mesmerized by what he did to become successful.   It is an outstanding book and an intimate story of one immigrant family.

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The Rooster Bar by John Grisham FIC Gri

I always look forward to a new Grisham book.  They are always entertaining.  This one has a different twist.  It begins with three law students - Zola, Mark, and Todd.  It is almost over.  They are third-year students which is the time that reality sets in.  They need to find jobs - jobs that pay well because they are all heavily in debt.  It won't be easy because their law school ranks as one of the worst - which explains why a lot of its students were accepted as students.  It is a for-profit school and it is very easy to borrow the money but not so easy to pay it back. One of their friends can see no way out except for suicide. Then one of the trio discovers that their school is actually part of a chain and all that matters is the money.

The only way out of it is to expose the banking scheme that has led to this pivotal moment.  It won't be easy and they certainly don't have time to attend their last semester and pull this off.  So they quit school and find a place to hide out.  It is entertaining to watch them as they pretend to be real lawyers in order to pick up some easy money.  A true David and Goliath story!

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Our Endless Numbered Days by Claire Fuller FIC Ful

After reading a new book by Ms. Fuller I went in search of another.  It was a different theme and as I read it I couldn't begin to guess how it was going to end.  Peggy Hillcoat has a life quite different from other 8-year-olds.  Her mother, Ute, is a concert pianist and often travels. That leaves Peggy home with her father who is a serious survivalist.  He spends his time with other survivalists arguing over the best way to prepare for the end. There are some advantages for Peggy when it is just the two of them at home.  Her dad doesn't seem to think that it is important for her to go to school, or to take a bath or anything else a girl might not want to do.

One day her dad abducts her (although as a child she didn't understand that concept).  After a long difficult trek he reaches the goal.  It's a totally isolated cabin (he was led to believe it was in better condition than it was) in the middle of a forest.  There they will fight everyday to survive for the next nine years. Peggy never asks to go home or back to her mother - because her dad has told her that the world has ended and no one else has survived!  I loved the book!

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The Story of Arthur Truluv by Elizabeth Berg FIC Ber

I love books by Berg.  This book is actually the story of three people but since Arthur is in the title I’ll introduce him first.  Arthur is in his mid-eighties.  Six months ago he lost his wife, Nola. Ever since that day Arthur takes the bus and his folding chair and goes to the cemetery to have lunch with her.  He tells her what has been happening and that he misses her.  During his walk through the cemetery he reads the inscriptions on the gravestones and can immediately conjure up a quick bio for each of them.  Other than this ritual his days are rather boring - hanging out at the house with Gordon the cat.  One day while ‘visiting’ his wife he notices a young girl hanging around.

Her name is Maddy.  She is a senior in high school.  She has been skipping school every afternoon and spending time among the dead.  Part of it is to escape the kids at school who are not kind to her.  She is also at peace there and feels closer to the mother she never knew.

The third person lives across the street from Arthur.  Her name is Lucille and is a retired school teacher who loves to cook and bake.  Unfortunately she has no one at home to feed but since Nola’s death she has supplied Arthur with a continuous source of cookies.  They are getting to know each other better since Arthur and Nola had kept mostly to themselves.

These three people are suffering in their own way.  Now they will begin to help each other.  It’s a quick read and filled with lots of thoughts about life and living.

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