Delicious! by Ruth Reichl FIC Rei

  
We own both the book and the audiobook.  (I listened).  Billie Breslin comes to New York from California to interview at Delicious which is a well-established food magazine.  When she is told that she must cook at the interview Billie is thrown into a panic.  However, she passes it with flying colors with her special gingerbread cake. There is a rather strange group working there and Billie doubts that she will ever fit in but of course she does.  When Delicious suddenly closed down Billie continues to work in the old mansion because she needs the money.  Her job is to answer complaints about published recipes.

There are several subplots going on at once.  There are hints as to why Billie is avoiding going home to visit her widowed father and her aunt.  She writes letters to her sister but there seems to be a problem between the two of them.  Then there is the story about the future of the building.  But my favorite part of the story involves a hidden room which leads to a cache of letters.  They were written during WWII by a young girl to James Beard.  Billie becomes enthralled in the life of the young author, Lulu.  This was a very entertaining book and I couldn't wait to get to the end - and then I was sad that it was over.

New Life, No Instructions by Gail Caldwell 070.92 Cal

 

I was interested in this book for two reasons - I loved the cover and the title.  A quick look at the jacket cover told me that the book was about a "dramatic turning point" in the author's life.  I didn't know what that was but I was willing to take a chance.  I was drawn in immediately.  Ms. Caldwell had polio as a child.  With a lot of hard work she was able to walk.  For decades she was faithful to an exercise regime (swimming and rowing among other things) to keep her leg going.  But during the past 10 years the pain and problems began.  She was sure that it was related to the polio.  This by itself  would have interested me - and it did.

What I wasn't expecting was the dog angle.  As she talked about her past pets and what they had meant to her, I found my eyes welling up with tears.  When she talked about getting her latest puppy, Tula, and wondering about her ability to keep up with an energetic ball of fur I knew exactly how she felt.  Throughout the book there were many sentences that struck a cord with me - in fact I copied them down.  Here is one that I wanted to keep: "We need to remember, I think, that dying isn't the worst thing.  That getting to love someone on the way out is a great honor, easy to forget in the wake of so much sorrow."   I loved this book. 

The Aviators by Winston Groom 629.13 Gro

I really enjoyed this book (I listened to the audio version) - but you have to like history!  It follows the lives of Eddie Rickenbacker, Jimmy Doolittle and Charles Lindbergh.  The book covers their lives from childhood until death.  I thought Groom did a wonderful job of intertwining the stories.  He gives the growing up part of their stories and then goes into WWI.  We get caught up to date with what happened after that war and then what happens to them during WWII.  These men were so brave - and I am not talking about during the war!  The early age of aviation is so dangerous that it makes for a scary story.  Even though I knew that Lindbergh's solo across the Atlantic was successful, I was still nervous for him as I listened.

Besides the history it was also interesting (and sad!) to see how our heroes can be worshiped one day and fall out of grace the next.  If you are a history buff I think you would enjoy this book. 

Mother, Mother by Koren Zailckas FIC Zai

If you like horror stories, try this book.  Not the bloody kind.  It's worse. The psychological kind.  And it is the mother.  Yikes.  Josephine likes to have her family in line.  She has two pretty daughters and a son who is brilliant.  Her husband works in the tech world.  Things were just the way she liked them until her older daughter, Rose, ran off with a boyfriend.  Now Josephine has to be twice as vigilant in order to keep her family under control.  Younger daughter Violet can't physically leave but she does what she can to escape her mother's control -  Eastern philosophy, hallucinogenic drugs and fasting to the extreme.  All this accomplishes is to land her in the psych ward.  No worries about son Will.  He has Asperger's and epilepsy so Josephine has been home-schooling him so that nothing happens to him. Douglas, the father, makes his escape through a bottle.  This is the story of a family falling down a hole into a very dark place.  You are not going to find many likeable characters!  

Stranger Here by Jen Larsen 613.25 Lar

    

I really like memoirs - so even though I have no personal interest in weight-loss surgery I enjoyed reading this book!  Ms. Larsen had been a blogger and columnist before writing this book.  I think that is usually the sign of someone who can write something that is entertaining.  The sub-title for this book is "how weight-loss surgery transformed my body and messed with my head". 

Jen had always had a weight problem but now she was over 300 pounds.  Still she did have a job and a boyfriend.  Diets had never worked for her.  But if she could lose weight wouldn't she be so much happier???  So one day she sees the answer so clearly - surgery.  This book is the story of that journey which led her to go under the knife, the reality of what post-surgery life was like (not pretty!) and the realization that being skinny does not always equate to instant happiness.

It was a fast read, I was entertained and I learned some stuff along the way!

The Forever Girl by Alexander McCall Smith FIC McC

   

I listened to the audiobook and enjoyed it a lot.  The voice of the narrator and the description of the Grand Cayman Island was so relaxing!  The title refers to Clover. (She was born Sally but decided that she preferred Clover when she was 4.  Her parents thought it would last a few days.  They were wrong!).  When the book begins Clover is living on Grand Cayman with her parents (Amanda and David) and her brother.  When she was quite young she developed a crush on her best friend James.  It turned into love - at least on her part.  This book follows the hopes and heartbreaks of that love during the decades to come.  It also tells a parallel story of Amanda.  As Clover was falling in love, Amanda realized that she was falling out of love with her husband.

The book touches on situations to which many of us can relate. Some are funny and some are sad but it was all entertaining and it was filled with endearing characters. 

The Innocent Sleep by Karen Perry FIC Per

    

Robin and Harry are two artist who as young newlyweds went to Tangiers. It was there that Dillon was born.  They adored their son even though he was a challenge.  Since his birth it was rare for them to get a good night's sleep.  On the day of Robin's birthday she is working late.  Harry is planning a wonderful dinner for her when he realizes her present is still at his friend's house.  Since Dillon is sleeping hard (makes you wonder doesn't it?) he decides to leave him and run his errand.  And that is when the earthquake hits.  When he returns back to his home there is nothing but ruins - and Dillon's body is never found.
      The story fast-forwards five years.  Robin and Harry are back in their native Dublin and getting on with life.  Harry's obsession with Dillon has been manifested through a series of sketches showing Dillon growing up on canvas.  He has never shared those with anyone - including Robin.  One day in the middle of a mob scene he catches a glimpse of Dillon with a woman.  He fights his way through the crowd but he loses sight of them.  He now believes that Dillon survived the earthquake or maybe he is losing his mind. 
       This was an interesting plot that kept me guessing.