My Reading Blog

A day to remember all of those men and women who have served and fought to defend this great nation to keep us free.  I give thanks to those in our family who served - my Dad, my husband, my son, my brother.  We all need to give thanks to all veterans each day - not just one day a year. Ten years ago today, Jon proposed to Michelle.  We are so thankful to have him in our family. Ten years ago, Max was born - Happy Birthday to Max!  We have had him for 9 wonderful years and he has been a great addition to our family. We have many blessings and these are only a few.

Book Cover:  "  Alice Howland is proud of the life she worked so hard to build.  At fifty years old, she's a cognitive psychology professor at Harvard and a world-renowned expert in linguistics with a successful husband and three grown children.  When she becomes increasingly disoriented and forgetful, a tragic diagnosis changes her life - and her relationship with her family and the world - forever. At once beautiful and terrifying, Still Alice is a moving and vivid depiction of life with early-onset Alzheimer's disease." I have read about people who have Alzheimer's, but usually it happens at a much later age and towards the end of their lives.  But this book is about a relatively young woman - only 50 - who starts having problems remembering words or names for objects, and probably the most scary time was when she was running and had no idea where she was or how to get home.  And then over a matter of a few months, it gets worse.  Her students n...

Book Cover:  "Success is fleeting, nobody knows this better than lawyer Amanda Jaffe.  She had been the undisputed rising star of Portland's legal community, but in a cruel twist of irony, the same case that put her on the map - the Cardoni trial, which pitted Amanda against a brilliant sociopath (Wild Justice) - had left her traumatized, doubting her instincts, and shunning the limelight. This reticence ends when Amanda agrees to handle the case no on else will touch.  Jon Dupre, who runs an upscale call-girl service, is accused of murdering a U.S. senator.  Dupre claims to possess proof of the existence of a secret society of powerful men who have banded together for a commonly held political agenda.  The rite of passage that binds them together - the initiation into this powerful brotherhood - is murder. To Amanda these seem the desperate claims of a man who will lie to save his own skin - until she is pressured to walk away from the case.  Determine...

Upon arising, the stars & moon are shining in the dark, clear sky. As the sky becomes lighter, the temperature drops, the fog comes up off the lake. The stillness of the morning enshrouded by the fog, just waiting for the sun to rise. As the sun rises, the fog disappears as quickly as it came. The birds awaken and are chirping. The sound of a boat running on the lake. Once again we have received a blessing from God as dawn breaks into morning.

Book Cover:  "When confronted by raging fires or deadly accidents, volunteer fireman Taylor McAden feels compelled to take terrifying risks - risks no one else in the department would ever take - to save lives.  But there is one leap of faith Taylor can't bring himself to make:  He can't fall in love.  For all his adult years, Taylor has sought out women who need to be rescued, women he leaves as soon as their crisis is over, as soon as the relationship starts to become truly intimate. Then, one day, a raging, record breaking storm hits his small Southern town.  Denise Holton, a young single mother, is driving through it when her car skids off the road.  With her is her four-year-old son, Kyle, a boy with severe learning disabilities and for whom she has sacrificed everything.  Unconscious and bleeding, she - but not Kyle - will be found by Taylor McAden.  And when she wakes, the chilling truth becomes clear to both of them:  Kyle is gone. ...

Book Cover:  "One of the most important works of the 20th century American literature, Zora Neale Hurston's beloved 1937 classic, Their Eyes Were Watching God, is an enduring Southern love story sparkling with wit, beauty, and heartfelt wisdom.  Told in the captivating voice of a woman who refuses to live in sorrow, bitterness, fear, or foolish romantic dreams, it is the story of fair-skinned, fiercely independent Janie Crawford, and his evolving selfhood through three marriages and a life marked by poverty, trials, and purpose  A true literary wonder, Hurston's masterwork remains as relevant and affecting today as when it was first published - perhaps the most widely read and highly regarded novel in the entire canon of African American literature." This book took me some time to read, as I had to literally read every word in order to understand the "southern black" language.  Even though it was a fairly short novel, it seemed to drag on and on in parts. ...

Book Cover:  It is a boiling hot Boston summer.  Adding to the city's woes is a series of shocking crimes in which wealthy men are made to watch while their wives are brutalized.  A sadistic demand that ends in abduction and death. The pattern suggests one man:  serial killer Warren Hoyt, recently removed from the city's streets.  Police can only assume an acolyte is at large, a maniac basing his attacks on the twisted medical techniques of the madman he so admires.  At least that's what Detective Jan Rizzoli thinks.  Forced again to confront the killer who scarred her - literally and figuratively - she is determined to finally end Hoyt's awful influence...even if it means receiving more resistance from her all-male homicide squad. But Rizzoli isn't counting on the U.S. government's sudden interest.  Or on meeting Special Agent Gabriel Dean, who knows more than he will tell.  Most of all, she isn't counting on becoming a target herself, o...