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Classic Book Review: Peyton Place by Grace Metalious
BOOK DESCRIPTION (FROM THE BACK OF THE BOOK) When it first appeared in 1956, Grace Metalious’s Peyton Place unbuttoned the straitlaced New England of the popular imagination, transformed the publishing industry, and made its young author one of the most talked about people in America. Metalious’s debut novel ~ which topped the best seller lists for more than a year and spawned a feature film and long~running television series ~ reveals the intricate social anatomy of a small New England town. This new paperback edition, which celebrates the seventy~fifth anniversary of Grace Metalious’s birth, will reintroduce readers to a landmark of American popular culture. An introduction by Ardis Cameron explores…
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Book Review: Perfect Peace by Daniel Black
BOOK DESCRIPTION The heartbreaking portrait of a large, rural southern family’s attempt to grapple with their mother’s desperate decision to make her newborn son into the daughter she will never have When the seventh child of the Peace family, named Perfect, turns eight, her mother Emma Jean tells her bewildered daughter, “You was born a boy. I made you a girl. But that ain’t what you was supposed to be. So, from now on, you gon’ be a boy. It’ll be a little strange at first, but you’ll get used to it, and this’ll be over after while.” From this point forward, his life becomes a bizarre kaleidoscope of events.…
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Book Review: What to Read When by Pam Allyn
Even though I’m a librarian, I sometimes have trouble finding age appropriate books. Don’t believe me? Then read this post. I mean, I know how to help college students conduct research, I know how to preserve documents and I know how to make early American history relevant to today’s present but sometimes finding a children’s book stumps me. That is where What to Read When: The Books and Stories to Read with Your Child ~ and All the Best Times to Read Them by Pam Allyn comes in handy. Pam Allyn is the the founder and executive director of LitLife, an internationally recognized organization that trains hundreds of K~12 teachers…
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Book Review: The Girls from Ames: A Story of Women & a Forty~Year Friendship by Jeffrey Zaslow
The Girls from Ames: A Story of Women & a Forty~Year Friendship is an intimate look at the friendships of eleven women over a forty~year period. Interspersed with studies that highlight the importance of the development and maintenance of close relationships in the health and well~being of women, The Girls from Ames is part sociology study, part biography and part cultural reference book. The women came of age just at the tail end of the Baby Boom, so they are the immediate benefactors of the women’s rights movement and other social changes that marked the 60s, 70s and 80s. It was fun to read about the different hairstyles and clothes…
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Book Review: Friendship for Grown~Ups: What I Missed & Learned Along the Way by Lisa Whelchel
Like many women my age, I grew up envying the relationships between Blair, Jo, Natalie and Tootie on The Facts of Life. I thought the relationships between the girls epitomized everything that a friendship between girls should be ~ loving, supportive and genuine. In my child’s mind, I didn’t realize that the friendships were fictional. Lisa Whelchel, who played Blair, writes: “I think there is a certain irony in the fact that the television show I was on was all about female friendships, and yet in real life I had very little experience with close relationships.” This book is her exploration of what impeded her ability to develop close relationships…
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Book Review: Rooms: A Novel by James L. Rubart
“What would you find if you walked into the rooms of your soul?” Micah literally finds out when he inherits a home built especially for him by his great uncle, Archie. Micah is a software tycoon who has it all ~ fame, fortune, and a beautiful girlfriend who loves him, yet something is missing… And it takes a supernatural force for him to realize that what he is missing a relationship with God. As a young man, Micah had enjoyed a close relationship with God but as his fortune grew, his focus became centered on storing up worldly treasures in direct conflict with the scriptures. Matthew 16:26 says: “What good…
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Book Review: The Revolutionary Paul Revere by Joel J. Miller
Have you ever wondered about the back story of one of America’s greatest revolutionary heroes? Then The Revolutionary Paul Revere by Joel J. Miller is the book for you. It’s an irreverent look at an American hero who always seemed to be in the thick of things. The book is a quick and easy read that follows the life of Paul Revere from the immigration of his father, Apollos, in 1716 to Revere’s death in 1818. Miller highlights every day events in Revere’s life that propelled him into the limelight. For example, his work as a goldsmith granted him access to key people in his community which led to his…
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Book Review: True Colors by Kristin Hannah
I’ve just finished reading True Colors by Kristin Hannah and all I can say is, I wish there were more… I’ve been a fan of Hannah’s since I read her book, Firefly Lane, a few years back because her books always leave me thinking and challenging myself to do more. Set on a picturesque horse farm in Washington State, True Colors follows the lives of the Grey sisters who were devastated by their mother’s death while they were still young as they navigate through the haze of their father’s distant affections. Winona, the oldest, is overweight and most starved for her father’s attention. She’s an over~achieving lawyer who has never really felt at home on…
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Book Review: The Gospel According to Lost by Chris Seay
To say that Lost is a phenomenon would be an understatement. Over the last 6 seasons, I’ve watched and listened as viewers have followed the trials of their favorite island castaways and with the final season just beginning, it seemed appropriate for me to review The Gospel According to Lost by Chris Seay. As many viewers are aware, Lost is more than a story about a group of people who get stranded on an island, it’s a multi~layered story that explores fate, reason, faith, guilt, salvation and a host of other philosophical and religious tenents. And it’s within this framework that Seay seeks to explore the relationship between the television…
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Book Review: Sweetsmoke by David Fuller
Sweetsmoke is the story of Cassius Howard, a secretly literate slave, and his desire to find justice for his murdered friend, Emoline Justice. Emoline was a free black woman who served as surrogate mother and mentor to Cassius while he was recovering from a severe beating. Using his cunning and the limited freedoms granted to him as a favored slave, Cassius is able to gather clues to the identity of Emoline’s murderer. These clues take him from his plantation, Sweetsmoke, to the campgrounds of Confederate and Union soldiers to the middle of a battlefield during the Civil War. Along the way, Cassius meets a host of characters who alternately move…
