Friday Nights by Joanna Trollope

Another good book! (Our library is full of them!) Friendships are so important. The older we get the more we realize our important it is to have relationships with others. Eleanor has retired from a job that took up most of her life. Now she has time to watch out her window. She notices there are two women with kids in her neighborhood who always appear to be alone. One day she confronts the two of them and insists they come to her place Friday night. Eventually this weekly ritual is attended by six women (from the elderly Eleanor to twenty-two year old Jules) plus children. This is the story of their ups and downs and the usual you would expect from a bunch of women. (Can we really be that petty sometimes?) Then a man enters the life of one of the women - that messes up lots of things!

Searching for Paradise in Parker PA by Kris Radish (Audio book)

Addy and Lucky have been married for a long time and Addy has about had it. She is tired of his antics and is very tired of parking her car outside because Lucky has for years been storing his "treasures" in the garage. Addy has daydreamed about driving through the garage door for a while now. One day she returns home after teaching kids all day and sits in the driveway. This will be the day that she steps on the gas. Before she can act, Lucky comes running out to tell her the good news. He has won a sales contest at work and they are going to Costa Rica on a romantic vacation. So she doesn't plow through the garage door. Trying to have a good attitude, Addy tells herself (and her sister and a few close friends) that maybe this will recharge their marriage. Addy never finds out. The day they are to leave Lucky is carrying the suitcases to the car when Addy (in the middle of a shower) hears a blood-curdling scream. She rushes out (towel only!) to find Lucky in excruciating pain. Lucky is taken to the hospital where he must have a serious back surgery.
Too much togetherness leads both Addy and Lucky to search for understanding and support from their friends. Eventually there is a war between the sexes that spreads throughout Parker PA. This is a light-hearted and entertaining audio book.

the day i ate whatever i wanted and other small acts of liberation by Elizabeth Berg

Elizabeth Berg is one of my favorite authors. I was SO excited when I saw that she had a new book out. The writing in this book is as flawless as always. The only problem is - it isn't a novel! It is a book of short stories. I did read the book and I enjoyed many of the stories. But short stories are not my thing. I don't want a good book to end after 500 pages so you can imagine how excited I am when a good story ends in a handful of pages. If you like short stories I'm sure you will like this. If you are a Berg fan like I am you must read it - that's just the way it is when you are a real fan! I hope she's working on a new novel right now!

The Next Thing On My List by Jill Smolinski

June Parker is leaving a Weight Watchers meeting when she decides to offer a ride to a stranger. Marissa has just received a pin for reaching her goal weight (after losing 100 pounds!) and is walking toward the bus stop on teetering heels. They chat and Marissa tells June about a great soup recipe. She undoes her seatbelt to turn around and grab the recipe from her purse. It was then that a dresser falls off a truck in front of June. In the accident Marissa is killed and June is left with overwhelming guilt. Among the wreckage is a list of Marissa's - "20 things to Do by My 25th Birthday". Eventually June decides to fulfill the wish list in honor of Marissa and in doing so changes her own life. It's a good book. The characters were endearing and the story moves along at a good pace. Maybe we should all have a list. The act of doing so might make us think more deeply about our lives.

No time for Goodbye by Linwood Barclay

At the age of 14, following a fight with her father, Cynthia wakes up one morning to find her entire family gone - mother, father, and brother - with no note or any clue as to where they have gone. Now it's 25 years later and she is married with a daughter but is still unable to leave her past behind her and new clues are resurfacing. Seen through the eyes of her husband, Terry, we wonder with him if his wife is completely sane. Is she making up the clues? Has she known all along what happened to them? And if she is sane, then what happened to her family all those years ago. Some people might figure out part of the story - but not the whole thing! I went along for the ride - and enjoyed this book tremendously.

The Appeal by John Grisham

This is a typical Grisham novel. It was interesting and I generally learn something new. In a year filled with politics maybe I really don't want to think about what might be going on behind closed doors! Of course this IS a novel - it isn't true....I'm sure this sort of thing doesn't happen......
The book opens with a jury bring back a shocking verdict - they have found a chemical company guilty of causing a cancer cluster and given the plaintiff( a young woman who lost her husband and son within 6 months of each other) a verdict of 41 million dollars. The company immediately starts an appeal to the Supreme Court of Mississippi. They want to be sure those 9 justices are on their side..... thus begins the intrigue. I liked this book a lot and you can't figure out who is going to do what. Good guy? Bad guy? - hard to tell in this political arena.

Roommates Wanted by Lisa Jewell

This is not fine literature! It is, however, an entertaining, quirky book! Here is the storyline: Toby has received a big house as a wedding present from his father, who wants to give him his "inheritance" and be done with him. Of course the house is in terrible shape- as is the marriage. Within a month the bride has fled, leaving Toby alone and lonely. So he decides to advertise for roommates - ones who are also down on their luck. He figures they can live in his house until they get their lives together. Toby even makes them write a letter to explain why they should live there. Fifteen years later Toby is finally going to move on with his life. But how can he get rid of the people he meant to shelter for a short while? He tries to solve the problems that brought them to him in the first place. I enjoyed it.