Bud, Not Buddy

Title: Bud, Not Buddy
Author: Christopher Paul Curtis

Genre: Historical Fiction, Historical drama

Summary: Amazon.com Review

"It's funny how ideas are, in a lot of ways they're just like seeds. Both of them start real, real small and then... woop, zoop, sloop... before you can say Jack Robinson, they've gone and grown a lot bigger than you ever thought they could." So figures scrappy 10-year-old philosopher Bud--"not Buddy"--Caldwell, an orphan on the run from abusive foster homes and Hoovervilles in 1930s Michigan. And the idea that's planted itself in his head is that Herman E. Calloway, standup-bass player for the Dusky Devastators of the Depression, is his father.
Guided only by a flier for one of Calloway's shows--a small, blue poster that had mysteriously upset his mother shortly before she died--Bud sets off to track down his supposed dad, a man he's never laid eyes on. And, being 10, Bud-not-Buddy gets into all sorts of trouble along the way, barely escaping a monster-infested woodshed, stealing a vampire's car, and even getting tricked into "busting slob with a real live girl." Christopher Paul Curtis, author of The Watsons Go to Birmingham--1963, once again exhibits his skill for capturing the language and feel of an era and creates an authentic, touching, often hilarious voice in little Bud. (Ages 8 to 12) --Paul Hughes

Rating: Excellent
Why I Like It: Very entertaining, laugh out loud funny!

Other: What made it so entertaining was I listened to it on Audio. It was read by James Avery, who did an outstanding job!
Reviewer: Patsy

All The Light We Cannot See

Title: All The Light We Cannot See
Author:  Anthony Doerr
Genre: Historical Fiction      

Summary: Story interweaves the lives of a blind girl from Paris and a young man from Germany before and during WWII.  Although the characters are fictional, there are events in the story that actually happened in France and Germany, especially the bombing of the city of Saint-Malo. 
Rating: Very good

Why I Like It:  The story takes place during a war, but is not your usual war story. 

Reviewer: Kathy 

A MAN CALLED OVE

Title: A MAN CALLED OVE          
Author:  Fredrik Backman
Genre: Fiction          

Summary: from back cover of book:  'At first sight, Ove is almost certainly the grumpiest man you will ever meet, a curmudgeon with staunch principles, strict routines, and a short fuse.  People think him bitter, and he thinks himself surrounded by idiots.  Ove's well-ordered, solitary world gets a shake-up one November morning with the appearance of new neighbors, a chatty young couple, who announce their arrival by accidentally flattening Ove's mailbox with their U-Haul.  What follows is a heartwarming tale of unkempt cats, unlikely friendships, and a community's unexpected reassessment of the one person they thought they had all figured out.
Rating: Very good
Why I Like It:  Interesting story, humorous. 
Other: Written by a Swedish author
Reviewer: Kathy 

My Life on the Road

Title:  My Life on the Road
 
Author:  Gloria Steinem

Genre: Autobiography

Summary:  From book inside cover:   "Gloria Steinem had an itinerant childhood.  When she was a young girl, her father would pack the family in the car every fall and drive across country searching for adventure and trying to make a living.  The seeds were planted.  Gloria realized that growing up didn't have to mean settling down.  And so began a lifetime of travel, of activism and leadership, of listening to people whose voices and ideas would inspire change and revolution.

Rating: Very good.

Why I Like It:  Very interesting.  I knew about her and remember her being ridiculed in the earlier years, but didn't realize how much she had done for women's rights and equality.  
 
Reviewer: Kathy

Brooklyn

Title: Brooklyn

Author: Colm Tóibín

Genre: Historical fiction

Summary: Amazon Best of the Month, May 2009: Committed to a quiet life in little Enniscorthy, Ireland, the industrious young Eilis Lacey reluctantly finds herself swept up in an unplanned adventure to America, engineered by the family priest and her glamorous, "ready for life" sister, Rose. Eilis's determination to embrace the spirit of the journey despite her trepidation--especially on behalf of Rose, who has sacrificed her own chance of leaving--makes a bittersweet center for Brooklyn. Colm Tóibín's spare portrayal of this contemplative girl is achingly lovely, and every sentence rings with truth. Readers will find themselves swept across the Atlantic with Eilis to a boarding house in Brooklyn where she painstakingly adapts to a new life, reinventing herself and her surroundings in the letters she writes home. Just as she begins to settle in with the help of a new love, tragedy calls her home to Enniscorthy, and her separate lives suddenly and painfully merge into one. Tóibín's haunted heroine glows on the page, unforgettably and lovingly rendered, and her story reflects the lives of so many others exiled from home. --Daphne Durham

 
Rating: Pretty Good, Interesting

Why I Like It: First heard about this book when saw a trailer about the movie “Brooklyn”. Wanted to read it before seeing the movie.Will see movie soon.

Other: Listened on audio – really helps get a mind picture of the characters with the different accents etc.

Reviewer: Patsy

Don't Sing at the Table: Life Lessons from My Grandmothers

Title: Don't Sing at the Table: Life Lessons from My Grandmothers

Author: Adriana Trigiani

Genre: Non-fiction, memior

Summary: From Amazon ; "No one ever reads just one of Trigiani’s wonderfully quirky tales. Once you pick up the first, you are hooked.” —BookPage

New York Times bestselling author Adriana Trigiani shares a treasure trove of insight and guidance from her two grandmothers: time-tested, common sense advice on the most important aspects of a woman’s life, from childhood to the golden years. Seamlessly blending anecdote with life lesson, Don’t Sing at the Table tells the two vibrant women’s real-life stories—how they fell in love, nurtured their marriages, balanced raising children with being savvy businesswomen, and reinvented themselves with each new decade. For readers of Big Stone Gap, Very Valentine, Lucia, Lucia, and Rococo, this loving memoir is the Trigiani family recipe for chicken soup for the soul

Here is another review I wholeheartedly agree with:

Fans of Adriana Trigiani's novels will recognize the women in her non-fiction book- her grandmothers Lucy and Viola have appeared in many of the characters in her fiction. Not only does Trigiani do a marvelous job of recounting the fascinating life stories of these women, she uses their lives to write a primer for living your own life.
Women like Lucy and Viola are the people who made this country great, and they jump off the pages in this delightful book. They have more than their fair share of troubles, (both of them are widowed), but their sheer will and strength of character will inspire other women to persevere and succeed as they did.
Although she is an Italian immigrant, Lucy moves to Minnesota and takes on the stoic characteristics of American mid westerners. She loses her husband at an early age and raises her three children on her own, all while running her own business. Viola was a pistol, running her own clothing factory, raising her family, entertaining friends in her lovely home, traveling.
Both women had terrific advice for their granddaughter, and the way that Trigiani structures the book, first telling their life stories, then sharing the how living their lives were examples we could all follow today, makes this book so enjoyable.

Rating: Very good.

Why I Like It: It's memoirs of her Grandmothers so I could see where she got her ideas for her book “The Shoemaker's Wife.” The author is a very good story teller & does a lot of research for her books. Other: Read this one since I couldn't find it in audio. Still enjoyed it.

Reviewer: Patsy

Christy - Book Review

Title: Christy
Author: Catherine Marshall
Genre: Historical Fiction
Summary: From Amazon "In the year 1912, nineteen-year-old Christy Huddleston leaves home to teach school in the Smoky Mountains -- and comes to know and love the resilient people of the region, with their fierce pride, their dark superstitions, their terrible poverty, and their yearning for beauty and truth. But her faith will be severely challenged by trial and tragedy, by the needs and unique strengths of two remarkable young men, and by a heart torn between true love and unwavering devotion."
Rating: Good
Why I Like It: I really enjoyed re-reading this book. The last time I read it was 20 years ago! I found it to be really inspiring. I loved it being set in the Smokey Mountains, a place I love to visit and hike. Also, I could relate to working to help people but in the process having to face up to the evil in the world. The book demonstrated to keep seeking God and looking at His love. I felt like the ending was rushed, but I love the book overall. I look forward to reading with my daughters when they are teenagers.
Other: This had been made into a TV series in the 1990's. I plan on getting the DVD's from the library. Also, as a child my husband Luke was in a musical based on this book.
Reviewer: Brigette

The Irish Country Doctor

Title: The Irish Country Doctor  
Author: Patrick Taylor  
Genre: Fiction  
Summary: From Amazon: "Barry Laverty, M.B., can barely find the Northern Ireland village of Ballybucklebo on a map when he first sets out to seek gainful employment there. But Barry jumps at the chance to secure a position as an assistant in a small rural practice. At least until he meets Dr. Fingal Flahertie O'Reilly...Through O'Reilly, Barry soon gets to know all of the village's colourful and endearing residents and a host of other eccentric characters who make every day an education for the inexperienced young doctor."
Rating: Good
Why I Like It: This book is easy to read and I love the immersion into Irish country life. I love all the different characters. Some people compare this to "All Creatures Great and Small". I think each book is good in their own right. 
Other: This is the first in a series.
Reviewer: Brigette

Garlic and Sapphires

Title: Garlic and Sapphires: The Secret Life of a Critic in Disguise
Author: Ruth Reichl  
Genre: Memoir
Summary: From Amazon: "Ruth Reichl, world-renowned food critic and former editor in chief of Gourmet magazine, knows a thing or two about food. She also knows that as the most important food critic in the country, you need to be anonymous when reviewing some of the most high-profile establishments in the biggest restaurant town in the world—a charge she took very seriously, taking on the guise of a series of eccentric personalities."
Rating: Good
Why I Like It: This book is really interesting to learn how a family food critic would go around New York and wear disguises. She really cared about the common person having a good experience at a restaurant.
Reviewer: Brigette

The Big Stone Gap (#1), Big Cherry Holler (#2), Milk Glass Moon (#3), Return to Big Stone Gap (#4)

Title: The Big Stone Gap (#1), Big Cherry Holler (#2), Milk Glass Moon (#3), Return to Big Stone Gap (#4)
Author: Adriana Trigiani
Genre:  fiction
Summary: Nestled in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia, the tiny town of Big Stone Gap is home to some of the most charming eccentrics in the state. Ave Maria Mulligan is the town's self-proclaimed spinster, a thirty-five year old pharmacist with a "mountain girl's body and a flat behind." She lives an amiable life with good friends and lots of hobbies until the fateful day in 1978 when she suddenly discovers that she's not who she always thought she was. Before she can blink, Ave's fielding marriage proposals, fighting off greedy family members, organizing a celebration for visiting celebrities, and planning the trip of a lifetime-a trip that could change her view of the world and her own place in it forever.
Rating: Great
Why I Like It:  I love the audio-book recording that the author did herself!  She grew up in Big Stone Gap, and her voice and accent gives local flavor and dialect.  This is such a unique and sweet story, with very exciting characters!
Other: I haven't read the 4th book yet.
Reviewer: Avery

Daddy-Long-Legs

Title: Daddy-Long-Legs Author: Jean Webster Genre: Young Adult Fiction
Summary: From Amazon: "A trustee of the John Grier orphanage has offered to send Judy Abbott to college. The only requirements are that she must write to him every month and that she can never know who he is. Judy's life at college is a whirlwind of friends, classes, parties and a growing friendship with the handsome Jervis Pendleton. With so much happening in her life, Judy can scarcely stop writing to 'Daddy-Long-Legs', or wondering who her mysterious benefactor is..."
Rating: A good classic Why I Like It: I first read this book as a teen-ager. I liked it then, but I liked it even more now as an adult. This was the first book I ever read written in letter form. I think it is a fun way to tell a story. Re-reading this as an adult I was struck by how funny it was. I think I missed the humor as a teenager b/c of being at the same time in life as the main character.
Reviewer: Brigette Hill

The Unexpected Mrs. Pollifax

Title: The Unexpected Mrs. Pollifax Author: Dorothy Gilman Genre: Spy/action, with some comedy
Summary: From Amazon: "Mrs. Virgil (Emily) Pollifax of New Brunswick, New Jersey, was a widow with grown children. She was tired of attending her Garden Club meetings. She wanted to do something good for her country. So, naturally, she became a CIA agent. This time, the assignment sounds as tasty as a taco. A quick trip to Mexico City is on her agenda. Unfortunately, something goes wrong, and our dear Mrs. Pollifax finds herself embroilied in quite a hot Cold War--and her country's enemies find themsleves entangled with one unbelievably feisty lady." Rating: Great!
Why I Like It: This book is so much fun. Mrs. Pollifax is such an unlikely spy. She cares about the people around her, which leads to some funny situations and unexpected friendships. This is not a serious or grizzly spy book, but at the same time there is still action.
Other: This is part of a series of books. You don't have to read them in order, but references are made to past characters at times.
Reviewer: Brigette Hill