Affinities

Affinities and Other Short stories
by: Mary Roberts Rinehart

I picked this book up somewhere, I was drawn to the old cover as well as the authoress. At the time I thought it was Radcliffe not Rinehart. Radcliff is mentioned in Jane Austen's books. I began reading the first story titled Affinities and was a little shocked at the story line as it was married couples going out for a secret picnic with other people's spouses. This was especially troublesome to me after seeing that it was first published in 1909. I paused in my reading to do a quick wikipidea search on the author to rule out any Nora Roberts of the 1900's. I was reassured by what I found on the web and picked up the book again. It took me maybe an hour and a half to read the entire story and I'm so glad I did. It had a good moral and I had a good laugh after it was all said and done. The first thing I thought when I was done reading it was, my grandmother would love this story!

The Secret Life of Bees

This book is by Sue Monk Kidd, who it says lives in Charleston. Maybe Kellie will run into her :). Anyway, it's set in South Carolina (they mention Goose Creek!) in 1964 as the Civil Rights Act was signed. It's about a white 14 year old girl named Lily, and her colored nanny/housekeeper Rosleen. Lily runs away from home and takes Rosleen with her, after Rosleen got herself in trouble when trying to register to vote. They end up in the home of three colored sisters, one of whom is a beekeeper. The sisters let them stay. It's about Lily coming to terms with her childhood, her mother, her father, and the changing world; she has a policeman tell her she's lowered herself by living with these ladies, yet she finds she likes being there better than she ever liked her own home. There is swearing in it.

I'm now reading The Help, as Maria suggested, which is very good, and it's interesting to read these two books about the same subject - civil rights and segregation in the South in the early '60s. It would be interesting to hear what someone who lived in that era - hint, hint Mom - has to say about it, I'm sure that Utah/Idaho were far different from the South at that time. Was anything in Idaho/Utah even segregated?

Forest Born

I just finished Forest Born, by Shannon Hale. She's LDS (I'm almost positive) and her books are great (nothing religious at all, I just read her little summary about herself). This is the fourth in a series, the first is Goose Girl, then Enna Burning, then River Secrets. She also wrote The Princess Academy. It's taken me a while to read each one, just not enough time, but once I get about halfway through it's so hard to stop! The endings are all really good, and often surprising. Thanks, Deb, for tipping me off to her books! And letting me borrow one :)

The Miracle at Speedy Motors

by Alexander McCall Smith

This is the 8th or 9th book in his No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency Series. I love them. They're not difficult reads but they aren't light-minded either. The characters are well drawn. I love getting a glimpse of Botswanan culture, and sometimes, they are laugh-out-loud funny. I recommend them.

Nancy Drew and Fablehaven

Hi! This is Regan and Hadyn. We just finished the first book of Nancy Drew. (Editor's note: Regan's comments are in green and Hadyn's are in purple.) It was about three people who stole some furniture from the Topham's. I liked the book very much. Nancy was trying to find the clock the thieves took in a van. The secret was really mysterious. Inside of the clock was Josiah Crowley's notebook that said that another will was made. The Topham family wanted to destroy the will because they didn't get any money. You should read this book. I got another Nancy Drew book, The Secret of the Wooden Lady, from the library on April 9th, yesteday. I can't wait to read it. I want to read another Nancy Drew book as soon as possible. I hope the mystery will be mysterious and I bet I'll like it a lot. (Editors note, again: This is how every conversation goes in my house :) If I could have figured out how to type two sentences on top of one another I would have done so, just to make the convo more realistic. The girls LOVED Nancy Drew. Regan and I went to the library yesterday, and I taught her how to use the computers to find and/0r request books from other libraries as well. She's has a list of which ones she wants to read next. Hard enough to be challenging for Regan to read on her own, but easy enough language for them to follow the story when I read it out loud. Now we're on to Charlotte's Web, then back to Nancy Drew #2...)

I'm sure you've all already finished this, since I believe I am the last person on the planet to read it, but I really enjoyed it. A good fantasy, without the weird sci-fi stuff. It was easy to read and didn't take a lot of thinking, which is nice every now and then. I have actually requested the 2nd book from the library, so that tells you something, I guess. I also told the story to Regan, and now she has confiscated my copy and is reading it as well. I'm not sure she has the staying power to read that long of a book, but I don't mind that she does read it. There is one chapter where the plot gets a little scary. Not too bad. I'd still read it to Regan, but not as a bedtime story. Maybe an after school story for that chapter. This author lives in Utah, around the Point of the Mountain. Wave says the author is actually going to do a book signing at Joplin sometime soon. Regan and I might just have to crash that party... If you have been living on another planet and haven't read this one yet (as I was), I do recommend it. It's perfect for just picking up when you have 10 minutes here and there to read. Happy Reading!

Gang of One: Memoirs of a Red Guard by Fan Shen

I just finished reading this for a book club I'm in, and I really liked it. It is written by Fan Shen, who was a pre-teen when Chairman Mao's Cultural Revolution "hit" China, and was a avid supporter of the revolution and the Communist party. He quickly became disenchanted as he witnessed and took part in the reality of it. Fan Shen's autobiography tells of all the years he spent in China, assigned to various jobs, no longer believing in the Communist regime, but unable to protest without losing his life. It is so fascinating as a first-hand account of Communism, but it reads like a novel. So interesting. It's one you can't put down. Fan Shen, the author now lives and teaches college in the US. I think it is out of print now, but I was able to find a copy at the library.

Wives and Daughters, Elizabeth Gaskell

This is supposed to be her masterpiece. It's mostly about a girl and her father and what happens when he decides (after being a widower for many years) to remarry. It's very slow-paced, which is fine in the beginning when you're still getting a feel for the characters and the setting. It starts to drag, though, when the action gets going, and you want to know how things are going to resolve themselves and she takes 300 pages to do it!

The main problem: Gaskell died before she finished the book! No one told me and the story ends with only a chapter or two to go. It was really frustrating after investing myself for 650 pages. Maybe other versions have added an ending, but mine didn't.

But I've got my name in for the DVD at the library. I've heard the movie version is very good, so if you don't want to slog through the text, that is another option because it really is a good story. :)