Loving Frank

Loving Frank By Nancy Horan. At first, this title didn't interest me. The main character Mamah has an odd name I did not like nor did I know how to pronounce. She had an inappropriate, dramatic, obsessed yet loving affair with a famous then and now, Frank Lloyd Wright. This account of historical fiction is based on their love affair. How it affected both of their families and tore them apart. The historical buildings being built, the absurd relationships, the deep love that would not dissolve. Nancy Horan hooked me in the first chapter. This book travels through so many lives, so many cities and continued to amaze me. Mamah was no ordinary woman but did she deserve more than everyone else. Could she do whatever she wanted, hurt whomever she needed to to fulfill her heart? Could Frank, who was already famous and getting more so with each passing year? All these questions and more will go through you rmind as you read this page turner. I was surprised how very much I liked this book. Excellent read but word of advice, do not research before or during because the information is readily available and you will ruin the story, especially the end. If you don't know the details prior, only look after you are finished! Enjoy!

Among Other Things I've Taken Up Smoking

Among Other Things I've Taken Up Smoking  By Aoibbeann Sweeney. Miranda lives on tiny Crab Island off of Maine with her father. It is just the two of them. They live a painfully quiet, lonely life on this practically nonexistent island. Her father translates ancient stories and she tries to get any attention of love he can spare. He deeply cares about her but has no ability to have true relationships or show affection. It seems he changed when her mother died years before and he is hiding from the world at this remote location. Miranda, completely naive to world starts to slowly step into town and see outside the island, her father decides she needs to visit  NY where he used to live and work. She stays with his old friends and begins to explore life, sexuality and the world. This novel is unique, funny in a dark humor sort of way. It's hard to say whether I really liked it because I did not care for any of the odd characters but the writing is so good the reader becomes involved and must continue to the finish.

How To Be Good

How To Be Good  By Nicky Hornby.  Okay, first rule - you are only allowed to read this if you really want a laugh! This story is about Katie and David Carr. Katie is a doctor, David is a columnist better known as "The Angriest Man in Holloway" (name of column), they have two children and live in the suburbs of London. If you appreciate English humor you'll truly enjoy this adorable, surprising story! Katie wants back the man she married. She is miserable and as cliches go, looking for love in all the wrong places. David writes a local column about how unfair and miserable life is. You name it, he is angry about it. Sound familiar? Katie wishes everyday, if only David would change their lives would be so much better. Be careful what you wish for! David "magically" changes and she wants to eat her words. He becomes the absolute complete opposite and she cannot stand him! There is alot of underlying meaning in this story, so when you are done laughing it really gives you somthing to think about! Enjoy, I did!!!

Marrying Anita

Marrying Anita.  By Anita Jain. Think Sex and the City from New York to India. Anita's memoir is a journey of her dating life. It is filled with feeling, experiences and laugh out loud humor. She is witty, intelligent, warm and caring. After growing up in California, later attending Harvard, this writer lived and worked in NYC. She was on the dating circuit literally unable to keep up with the scene. Like SATC Anita was able to find humor in her crazy dating experiences and bizarre guys she meets. Nearing 30 which is when girls in America start to fret, Anita is influenced also by her families Indian traditions (where 30 is way old) and she decides to get serious and find a mate! She decides to live, work and date in India for one year and give that a try. This memoir records in hilarious detail her relationships or lack thereof and her feminine feelings about needing to get married and have kids on this strident deadline the world (and our bodies) has put us on. Could not put this one down, even wrote this wonderful new author a letter and she kindly took the time to write back. I hope she keeps us posted with a sequel!

Brick Lane

Brick Lane  By Monica Ali.  Hazneen moves to England from Bangladesh to an arranged marriage. Chanu is kind, older and truly cares about her. They have two daughters. They live in a low income housing filled with other Indian families. Hazneen has trouble adapting. She is influenced to break away from certain Indian traditions that she finds restricting. She wants to learn, wants freedom. She begins to have an affair with a younger man who is angry and political. He is involved with protests. Hazneen believes that real love and affection exists. She sees herself as an individual and the Indian customs that her husband treasures seem outdated to her and unfair. Chanu dreams of going back to India and he spends his time scheming to make business so he can go back successful and be considered richer and more prominent. The more time that goes by, the less Hazneen wants to go back. It is a depressing story and with characters that are not very likeable. Hazneen is admirable but I struggled to hold my interest through the story.

Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict

Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict. By Laurie Viera Rigler.  Courtney is a woman living in modern day California that is Obsessed with a capital "O", anything regarding Jane Austen and her novels. After a bad bump on the head in a pool, she awakens to find herself in England, in Jane Austens England. It takes Courtney quite awhile to first understand where she is, how she may have gotten there and Yikes! What is she to do now! She focuses on the two most important things, her love life with Edgeworth and ultimately getting back home. She marvels at both the luxury of Janes life ie. house like a castle, maids etc. and is terrified of the ways of this world at that time, ie. bloodletting when you are not feeling well and hygiene habits in general. This novel is laugh out loud funny and a most enjoyable easy read. If you are a Jane Austen fan, the correlation between the two worlds and many characters will be thoroughly hysterical. If you have never read her, No Matter! Still alot of fun. Take this trip back in time and enjoy the ride.

Honolulu

Honolulu  By Alan Brennert.   If you remember the beauty of his novel, Molokai, get ready to once again be immersed in this engaging story of Jin. Korea, 1914, country is unstable, future is unsure. Jin becomes a picture bride which is very popular at this time. There are many Korean men working the fields in Honolulu but hardly any women to take care of them. They are lonely and want families, so these men search magazines for picture brides. Unfortunately, similar to internet dating today, what you see is not always what you get! Jin is matched with a man in Honolulu. It all sounds promising and her voyage is financed. On arrival he is not what she expected. He abuses her and she is lonely and afraid. Jin escapes his wrath, finds work for herself and ultimately rebuilds her life. These characters are timeless and the reader can easily visualize this magnificent island where life is anything but easy.

Free Food For Millionaires

Free Food For Millionaires  By Min Jin Lee  

"It's free food for millionaires... In the International Equities Department--that is, Asia, Europe, and Japan Sales--the group you're interviewing for--whichever desk that sells a deal buys lunch for everyone in the department."


Casey Han is a recent grad of Princeton. She's got it all, well almost all. She is beautiful, smart, excellent golfer, funny and feels the world is at her fingertips the one problem being; neither she nor her family has alot of money. She has acquired very expensive tastes throughout her college years and has slid by by her wits, looks and choice of friends but after graduation she finds herself jobless, lacking connections and feels extreme pressure to suceed. Her sister is in medical school and in the small Korean neighborhood she was raised, her parents expect the very best for her future. The best for them is a Korean husband of the right caliber and a solid prestigious career. They are sorely dissapointed in her choices and this story is about those months and years when many overachieving graduates find they don't know what they want to do with their lives. Casey's strong streak of independence puts her at war with both the Korean world her parents live in and her family in general. Although there is a touch of Sex and the City as far as fashion and hip mentions throughout the book, even a bit of truth about post college blues, Casey for the most part is not a likeable character. The writing in this debut novel is good and kept me going but at some point I just hoped it would end sooner than later because frankly, I couldn't stand her whining anymore.

Home Game

Home Game  By Michael Lewis.   This is a memoir about the authors experience of fatherhood.  Great cover photo. Good writing. At first the reader (I can only speak for females here) thinks how cute and sweet and funny to hear some (very true!) feelings and experiences that new parents all go through. But ... there really wasn't enough meat in this story to keep me on the edge of my seat. After some "Oh, that's happened to us!" and what a cute dad he is, there is a lot of whining. What women have been accomplishing for all of time, namely motherhood and all that comes with it, can be written a hundred times over. The only thing that is remotely interesting is that guys rarely express themselves and most don't say what they really feel when it comes to parenthood. He seems like a nice guy and entertaining writer but for me, my TBR list is way too long for this.

Happy Family

Happy family  By Wendy Lee.  When Hua Wu arrives in New York City she is like most other immigrants in the big melting pot. She starts working in a restaurant in China Town. One afternoon while resting in a park and dreaming of the future she meets Jane Templeton. Upper class Jane with little Lily befriends Hua and their repor is so great that she hires Hua to be Lily's nanny. Hua continuously relives her past in her mind while adjusting to her new life. She is overworked, taken advantage of and misled in many directions. Quietly she is falling in love with Lily who is adopted and rather resembles Hua more than her mother Jane. While out with Lily people believe she is her mother. As Hua watches Janes marriage deteriorate, she dotes more and more on Lily to protect her from any unhappiness. Interesting idea for this story. Weird twist, unexpected conclusion, not particularly fond of any of the characters.

Happens Every Day

Happens Every Day  By Isabel Gillies.   Like watching a train wreck, this memoir is hard to put down. The reader knows what is coming, can feel it coming, knows how sad it will be, wants to warn Isabel! Isabel and Josiah have known each other all their lives. They come from similar waspy backgrounds. Both prestigious and educated, wealthy and elite. She is beautiful, talented and smart. He is romantic, poetic, warm and familiar. They fall in love, have two little boys and Josiah accepts a job in Ohio at a university. It is a big move. They easily melt into small town quaint life.  They spend their time adjusting, renovating their small home, teaching and repeating how wonderful it will be be to raise their two boys in this beautiful enriching environment. Their relationship hits a bumpy road when Josiah and Isabel befriend a new teacher who is married but living alone in Ohio. It is the beginning of the end for Isabel as her life slowly disintegrates. This memoir can be viewed from many angles depending on your experiences, your fears and perhaps the present state of your marriage or singleness. Sadly Isabel is told by none other than the culprit, it happens every day.

In the Land of Invisible Women, A Female Doctor's Journey in the Saudi Kingdom

In the Land of Invisible Women  By Qanta A. Ahmed, M.D.        Dr. Ahmed is denied a renewal of her US visa where she has studied and practiced medicine for the past few years. Of Pakistani descent and raised in England, Qanta is quite the woman of the world. This memoir is written about her life at 31, when she accepts an opportunity to work in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The facility is high tech, many of the physicians are U.S. trained and she is looking forward to the exciting adventure of working in this part of the world. Dr. Ahmed is pleased, surprised, apalled and shocked by the many diversities she discovers in this land where one side of the road you may see a camel and the next moment a Porsche zooms on by! She rediscovers her muslim identity and makes a Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca, a once in a lifetime dream. She makes many friends from around the world and learns to work in this extreme environment. In the hospital she is an intelligient, outspoken, confident physician saving lives and in the streets she must be covered head to toe and watch very carefully what she says, whom she is with and where she goes. The differences of many worlds clashing together is both a learning process and frustrating experience. Excellent memoir and insight into another country, another world and a brilliant young womans mind.

Iodine

Iodine  By Haven Kimmel.  Trace Pennington is a brilliant, troubled, small town girl that grew up in extreme poverty. By pure luck she makes her way to college where although she is a complete isolated loner who only spends time with her dog, she does have the opportunity to hone her intelligient creativity. Trace is haunted by her past, her crazy unbalanced family and scary childhood memories. It is amazing she is even remotely normal. She begins a relationship with Dr. Jason Matthias, a professor that appreciates her intelligience and inner beauty but takes controlling advantage of her naiveness. I truly enjoyed both of Ms. Kimmels memoirs called A Girl Named Zippy and She Got Up Off the Couch. The authors stories about growing up in Indiana during the 70's and 80's. She is witty, smart and a great storyteller. This novel Iodine, caught me off guard, I almost do not know what to make of it, neither liking it nor wanting to put it down.