Lights, Camera, Amalee by Dar Williams

So I was in the Juvenile section of my library and this little gem was propped up with it's cover facing out, and I got excited to see Dar Williams as the author!  I hadn't thought of her much since college, but a woman who can write an awesome song like The Babysitter's Here, must be able to tell a good story, right? (Although for the record, I like your version best, CCW).

This is the story of the summer between 7th and 8th grade when Amalee decides to make a movie about endangered species.  She was inspired by English teacher, and their end of the year project. He says, "You have many stories ahead of you.  Tell them with creativity, clarity, and integrity."

Maybe it was just my mood, but I did kind of fall for this book.  I found the adult friends of Amalee who are supposed to be these amazing people who have helped raise her to be very annoying.  There were 4 and it was hard to keep track, and to really feel like they were all necessary.  BUT I found out after I finished that there was an original Amalee, and maybe if I had read that first I would have been attached to these characters.  You know how sometimes the second book kind of assumes stuff?

It took me a while, but at about 100 pages in I was taken with Amalee and I think we can all relate to that 12-year-oldness where you feel these big grown-up emotions but you don't really know what to do with them.  Or who your real friends are, and you want to be cool and pretty and smart, you know what I mean, right?  So that part felt very Dar Williams, and I did buy into it.  I liked it.

I thought the writing was good, not amazing.  Here are some sentences I liked:

"It was like Mr. Chapelle's assignment; their silence had a language of its own."

"Thanks, Kyle," I said, trying to sound close to sixteen.

"I'd stopped being friends with Ellen and Hallie--or maybe they had stopped being friends with me-- but they still visited my mind from time to time when I was wearing pants that felt too tight or I had an idea that felt stupid."

"From what I could tell, she didn't stand out in her classes for being smart.  She wasn't an athlete, she definitely wasn't funny, and she probably still wasn't particularly nice, but I wanted her to feel like she fit in the world, because who was I to say she didn't?"

 
My favorite part of the book is how the movie she is making gives her the chance to repair old insults, strengthen her friendships, and really figure out some things about herself.  At the beginning it felt forced how all the adults jump on board and give her advice and guidance, and even the research at first feels too tidy.  But like I mentioned before somehow it all came together for me and worked.

Now I've got to go look up the first book!

As Easy as Falling Off the Face of the Earth By Lynne Rae Perkins

I don't remember how I came across this title, but I suggested it to my 12-year-old who needed to find literary devices in a novel.  It is full of metaphors, hyperboles, similies, etc.  When I talked to him about it he said he didn't really like it.  He thought it was kind of boring.  But we both agreed that there are so many mysteries you want to finish the book.

The story begins with Ry, who is travelling on a train to summer camp.  His parents are vacationing in the Caribbean, and his grandpa is housesitting.  Of course they have just moved into a new house, so he doesn't really know his neighbors or have friends at his new location.  He has just discovered that the camp is no longer going to be held, and he is desperately trying to get in touch with someone to figure out what to do.  While he's trying to get a cell phone signal, the train leaves without him, and the adventure begins.

I think Lynne Rae Perkins has a unique writing style.  I liked her clever chapter titles and intermittant illustrations.  But the story was kind of too much for me.  Everything that could go wrong does.  Ships sink, cell phones are left, cars break down.  And ultimately, Ry makes decisions over and over again that I think are crazy!  As a partent it's hard to get past him accepting rides from strangers, sleeping in crummy conditions or cutting of his lifejacket!  I would have thought it would be more appealing to younger readers, but as mentioned above, my son found it boring too.  She won a Newberry medal for another book she wrote, so I might pick it up sometime out of curiousity to see if it was just her subject that bugged me.

Has anyone else read this?  I saw some glowing reviews that kind of surprised me.  I think it's one to skip.

My Name is Mary Sutter by Robin Oliveira

Mary Sutter is a midwife, who has been trained by her mother, and is the best around.  She also wants to be a surgeon, but no one will accept her to medical school or let her apprentice.  But the civil war has just begun and so she leaves to be a nurse.  What follows is an informative story about the horrible conditions and lack of supplies medics worked under during those times.

The book is also the story of the Sutter family who is grieving the loss of their father.  Their interactions and decisions move the story.  Mary, her twin sister Jenny, younger brother Christian and her mother Amelia live in Albany together.  Mary is a like able character, and you do empathize with her family members.  But it almost felt like there was just too much going on to really pick favorites or decide which character you liked best.

The story is told by an omniscient narrator, which allows you to have insight into the thoughts and motivations of several characters.  I liked this, but again, I felt like I had a lot of information, and I didn't fall in love with anyone.  Even so, I enjoyed the book, I liked the characters, and I felt compelled to keep reading.

Mary is spunky, as she challenges a doctor who won't apprentice her, "In your opinion, is there a limit to how much knowledge one person is allowed to accumulate?  Have I reached my quota?"

I love it.

As Mary reflects how after the hard work of birth, she doesn't remember the horrors, but "the gasp of love when at last the mother encircled the infant in her arms."

If you like historical fiction, I think you'll like this book.  I remember reading little books about Clara Barton and Florence Nightengale when I was a kid.  This is a great expansion of those little snippets I learned.  I love the glimpses into the doctors who were really figuring things out.  Trying to solve the mysteries of the human body and to save lives. 

I liked the choices that Mary made.  She had been brought up in comfort, but had worked tirelessly as a midwife.  She didn't take no for an answer, or accept her current life as the only one available to her.  Instead she worked hard.  She did what no one else wanted to do, and ultimately it paid off. 

One complaint about the story....men keep falling in love with Mary.  She's not pretty, they are quick to point out, but there's something about her.  I think this is kind of annoying.  I'm starting to feel like it's a common theme.  Remember how Jane Eyre is like that?

This is my current theory.  The women who write these books, and maybe those of us who read them, want to believe that being clever, skilled, educated, all of these things is more attractive to men then outward beauty.  Which I think is true in real life.  But the way it is written, it feels phony, in the same way falling in love at first site feels forced.

There's a great conversation, which is kind of a turning point because the Doctor is taking her seriously instead of being delicate around her.  He says, "You want to be a surgeon?  To be a surgeon is to look a man in the eye and tell him the truth.  If you can't do that, then get out of here.  Go home.....It is all butchery. Every bit of it."  Then, "Choose who you are, choose who you'll be."

The School of Essential Ingredients by Erica Bauermeister

I'm just going to preface my review with the fact that I read this entire book in sunny, sunny California.  Most of it while sitting or laying in the sand by the ocean, with NO kids.  It was the perfect setting for this book.  I totally believe in books fitting your mood, and maybe if I was in my normal life chaos, I might not have been as taken in.
That being said, I really liked this book!  The premise is very creative, and allows the book to read more like short stories than a novel.  Each chapter follows one member of a cooking class.  Not just any cooking class, but these amazing ones taught by Lillian who gets food, and seeks to teach her class about "Essential Ingredients."  The first chapter gives us a glimpse into her sad childhood, and perspective into her love affair with cooking.  "It was the cooking that occurred in her friends' homes that fascinated Lillian."

The food is described romantically.  I can't think of a word that fits it better.  "The flavor opened like a flower across his tongue, soft and sweet."  And, "the sauce, an untouched snowfield, its smell the feeling of quiet at the end of an illness."  See what I mean?  And I love this description, "he was full of philosophy, his favorite class of the previous term, reciting passages of Plato and Kant as if they had just been written and he the first to find them."  I love that kind of passion for knowledge or litereature.

As the characters cook with each other, they support and love one another.  This can sometimes feel contrived, but I bought into it.  They pass on the things they know to each other.  "Life is beautiful.  Some people just remind you of that more than others." 

Isabelle, the oldest student, is dealing with losing her memory.  She describes, "Our bodies carry our memories of them, in our muscles, in our skin, in our bones.  My children are right here.' She pointed to the inside curve of her elbow. 'Where I held them when they were babies.  Even if there comes a time when I don't know who they are anymore, I believe I will feel them here.'  She's talking to a younger man who is grieving, and I thought it was a sweet exchange.

I liked it from the beginning.  The writing is smart, and the characters are interesting and real, if a little romanticized.

Erica Bauermeister lives in Seattle, and this book is set in the Northwest, without disclosing a specific city that I remember.  If you live here too, you know how true this is:  "It was a clear, cold evening in early February, the end of a miraculously blue day blown in from the north like a celebration.  People in the Northwest tended to greet such weather with a child's sense of joy."  That's exactly how it was here yesterday!

Ellen Foster by Kaye Gibbons

This is a short little volume that is told in a unique narrative style.  Ellen is the main character and as she tells her tragic life story, she switches from present to past, to a more recent past and around and around.  As a reader you're not sure of the timeline and how long different periods last.  There are two Christmases, but I imagine the whole story takes place over about 18 months.  It is set in the rural South, I would have thought in like the 1950's, but then there is a reference to the 60's, so my best guess is mid 1970's.

I liked it pretty well.  I think maybe it would be better suited for studying in school where you could discuss how the narrative added to or distracted from the story.  You could have students create their own timeline and piece together what is going on.  I can imagine good book club discussions about it.

The story itself is very sad.  Ellen is 10 then 11 and her mom dies first, her father is a monster and alternately treats her horribly or just neglects her.  She is of course a resilient character and works hard to make things work out.  Every family member who takes her in is bad to her. 

"Everything was so wrong like somebody had knocked something loose and my family was shaking itself to death.  Some wild ride broke and the one in charge strolled off and let us spin and shake and fly off the rail."

Ulitmately, she saves herself and it has a happy ending.  In such a short time you do see growth and more understanding in Ellen.  I liked her as a character. 

"Have you ever felt like you could cry because you know you just heard the most important thing anybody in the world could have spoke at that second?"

 
Has anyone else read it?  It's only 126 pages long, and I read it in just a couple hours.

Princess of the Midnight Ball by Jessica Day George

I can't remember how I found Bookshop Talk, but I've found some good book recommendations there.  They have a really good variety of books reviewed, and most of the time I have never heard of them.  One review I read was for Princess of the Midnight Ball, and Jessica Day George is one of the hosts of the website.  So I was curious, and ready for something quick and easy after The Winter Sea and Jane Eyre.

I enjoyed this book!  It is a re-telling of the Grimm fairytale of the Twelve Dancing Princesses.  All I know about the story I learned from the Barbie movie that my daughter has checked out from the library a few times.  So I don't know how much is fairytale and how much is the author's imagination.  Either way I think this was a fun, simple story.  It is written for upper elementary grades, so there isn't a lot of character development, and many of them are stereotypes.  But that's what I expect in a fairytale.

Galen is the hero of the book.  He has just fought in a war and lost his whole family.  He travels to a relative's house where he is employed to work as an undergardener at the palace.  The princesses mysteriously wear out their dancing shoes during the night, but can't tell anyone why.  As a reader, we are slowly let in on the curse that binds them.  I like how it is revealed a bit at a time.

I like Galen's character.  He adapts quickly to his new situation and does his best to help others.  "Here, though, was an intriguing new word.  A world of thinning, mulching, bandaging, grafting, and pruning--it was like building fortifications against an enemy invader."

I liked Jessica Day George's writing style, "She held the flowers to her stuffy nose and tried to breathe in some of the scent.  Only the faintest trickle of the flowers' perfume came through, so she gently stroked her cheek with the soft petals instead, savoring the exquisite feeling."

If you like fairytales, I would recommend this book.  I think my daughter will love it in a couple of years.

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

FINALLY!  I've started it three times since I saw the movie this summer.  The beginning is just so, so tragic and awful.  I haven't read this since high school, and I'm wondering how I ever got through it before.

I really, really liked it.  I've been thinking a lot about what makes something a classic, and whether I really think books deserve the title.  For this book, I think it should be studied and held up as a classic because Jane Eyre is a heroic character.  She thinks through her decisions, she chooses what is right and what she is inspired to do.  She does not sacrifice what she knows is right just because she wants something dearly.

I've  been struggling to form a review, and putting it off for over a week!

I assume everyone knows the basic story or has at least seen a movie version.  So I'm including spoilers.  I marked so many great passages as I read, which again, is a sign of a good classic.

Jane is treated so poorly by her aunt and cousins.  But I love that it doesn't break her spirit.  I love this dialogue as she stands up for herself.

"I am not deceitful: if I were I should say I loved you; but I declare I do not love you; I dislike you the worst of anybody in the world except John Reed; and this book about the liar, you may give to your girl, Georgiana, for it is she who tells lies, and not I."

Or this amazing wisdom that Helen gives her:

"But I feel this, Helen; I must dislike those who, whatever I do to please them, persist in disliking me; I must resist those who punish me unjustly. It is as natural as that I should love those who show me affection, or submit to punishment when I feel it is deserved."

(Helen responds.) "Heathens and savage tribes hold that doctrine, but Christians and civilised nations disown it."

I think that is kind of the key to life.  To be able to move past what we feel like we deserve, or are justified in feeling. 

Along the same lines, "Life appears to me too short to be spent in nursing animosity or registering wrongs."

And again wisdom from sweet Helen, "Everybody Jane?  Why, there are only eighty people who have heard you called so, and the world contains hundreds of millions."

Mr. Broklehurst has got to be among the worst villains in any book, right?  I love how his power and authority is taken away after the epidemic that takes the lives of so many of the girls. 
But for me the best part of the book is when she lives at Thornfield hall.  I love how Charlotte Bronte narrates, and occasionally speaks to the reader.  She explains that this is no ordinary biography, and just skips over the unimportant years.  Of course, Mr. Rochester is so rough, and so rude at the beginning.  I feel like this character has been copied and remade so many times in later fiction.

But his lines are funny, like when they first talk, "I cannot see you without disturbing my position in this comfortable chair, which I have no mind to do." 

or "It would please me not to draw you out--to learn more of you--therefore speak."  Hilarious.

He also says, "I mentally shake hands with you for your answer."  Doesn't that seem like a really modern phrase?

The passages as she begins to fall in love with him are so well-written.

"The ease of his manner freed me from painful restraint; the friendly frankness, as correct as cordial, with which he treated me, drew me to him."

And, "Gratitude, and many associations, all pleasurable and genial, made his face the object I best liked to see; his presence in a room was more cheering than the brightest fire."

"Never had he called me more frequently to his presence; never been kinder to me when there--and, alas! never had I loved him so well."

For me Jane Eyre is romantic.  But it is just weird enough, that it doesn't get sappy for me.  I like the way that Jane responds to Mr. Rochester.  I don't love the way he messes with her.  His whole fake courtship with Miss Ingram seems just cruel.  Especially with Jane having to sit in the window witnessing it all.

But this description is great:  "She was not good; she was not original: she used to repeat sounding phrases from books: she never offered, nor had, an opinion of her own."  I like how Jane can't really be jealous of her because she feels above her.  I can relate to that, even if she sees Miss Ingram getting what she wants. "She could not charm him."

As a reader, I look up to Jane Eyre.  For persevering through a hard, sad, lonely childhood, and then for being self-motivated to change her working situation, but especially in refusing Mr. Rochester after their failed attempt at marrying.  He is so convincing, so logical, that I wanted her to say yes.  To feel justified in running away with him.  But then I like her more for sticking to what she knows is right.

"Laws and principles are not for the times when there is no temptation: they are for such moments as this, when body and soul rise in mutiny against their rigor; stringent are they; inviolate they shall be. If at my individual convenience I might break them, what would be their worth?"  See, she is a hero.  And this is the lesson I feel myself repeating over and over to my children and the girls I teach at church.

And then, when she hears her mother's voice!  I love it.  I do think the way that she flees is a little melodramatic.  Is it really necessary that she forget her bag in the coach? 

I love Jane's dialogue with herself, and how she is so practical. "But let me not hate and despise myself too much for these feelings; I know them to be wrong--that is a great step gained;"  Totally reasonable.  Check yourself, but forgive yourself.

I love that she resists St. John and his power to guilt her into going with him.  I like that she can resist and even though it is a noble cause, realize that she doesn't have to go.  She doesn't have to sacrifice that much. "God did not give me my life to throw away."

And then the reuniting.  "Choose then, sir--her who loves you best."  Ah.  I love happy endings.  Even if the actual ending is a little abrupt.

The Winter Sea by Susanna Kearsley

This book tells two stories.  First, Carrie McClelland is a successful historical fiction writer working on the story of Slain's castle in 1707 and the attempt of the Jacobites to restore Young King James to his rightful throne in Scotland.  The second story is the novel she is writing.  I really liked the format of the book.  Sometimes books that go back and forth can seem gimmicky, but this worked flawlessly.  Carrie's chapters are told in the first person, while the chapters that focus on Slain's and Sophia's story are told by a third person narrator.  So you kind of hear Carrie's voice as a writer.  They are also marked differently, one with numbers while the others are with Roman numerals.

The Winter Sea provides a lot of history as the story unfolds.  I still can't keep all the nobles straight, but I do feel like I learned something about British history.  Only a couple of times did I feel like the author was giving us too much historical background.  This is a long book, 527 full pages,  but it wasn't overwhelming to me.  I read it quick, but it helped that we are on Christmas vacation.  I really cared about both stories and found them interesting and intriguing.  I think I liked the 1707 story a bit better.

Both stories have romance, but only a couple times did they seem cheesy.  Kearsley treats her characters with respect (and her readers) by writing about grown-up relationships with out having to give us the graphic details.  Both romances are written tastefully, with an understanding that we can fill in what has happened.  I appreciate that.  I was a little nervous about how she would write the scenes that seemed inevitable, and I was pleasantly surprised.

One of the fun magical aspects of the book is that as Carrie is researching to write her story, she hears her characters.  "Watching, I could feel again the stirrings of my characters--the faint, as yet in audible, suggestions of their voices, and their movements close around me...in that strange writer's trance that stole upon me when my characters began to speak."  She always hears and feels her characters as she writes her books.  But, this time the character she writes about is her ancestor and she hears the details of her life through her character's voice.  Carrie is shocked as time after time her research turns up facts that she has already written about.  I think she over analyzes this phenomena a bit, I think it would have been cool to just have it be a little supernatural.  I know it sounds a little weird, but I thought it was a clever way to tell the story.

The story that Carrie is writing is at first focused on an a group of nobles and colonels who secretly meet and plot to return the Scottish king to his throne.  I guess this is one of the lesser known attempts.  She begins to focus on a young girl who has recently come to live in Slain's castle, Sophia.  Again I appreciated the authors restraint to not overwhelm the writer with tragic, graphic details of Sophia's past.  Sophia alludes to a troubled upbringing after both her parents die, but even when the full story is revealed, you are spared the sordid details.  Sophia is a great character, and I grew very attached to her.  When tragedy strikes again toward the end, she makes a decision that is hard to sympathize with.  For me, I took it in stride with the context of her age and station in the early 1700's.  I don't want to reveal too much, but I read in some other reviews that it was shocking to some readers.  I think it is sad, and not the best choice, but  it didn't ruin the story.

I loved the Countess of Earl.  She is a smart woman who keeps her cool and is not fooled by anyone.  She provides a great home for Sophia, and makes lots of wise decisions.  "Her voice, as always, calmed the waters."  She was very influential in the planning and preparations for the '08.  In one of her early conversations with Sophia she says, "Do you not believe that the opinion of a woman is of value?  For I tell you, I would rather have a woman's thoughts on character than those of any man."  Later she remarks to Sophia, "Were it up to God alone, I do not doubt but that the king would have been here already. But God passes His affairs into the hands of men, and there the trouble lies."  See what I mean?  Wise.

In the modern day story, I loved the Keith family.  The sweet charming dad that speaks in a strong dialect, and the two handsome sons.  Carrie says about them, "Stuart might be nice to look at.  Graham was the kind of man I couldn't look way from." (Yes, her love interest is named Graham.  Loved it.)

I love the description when Sophia wades in the ocean for the first time, "though she had come to it reluctantly, it proved to be the greatest pleasure that she could remember since her childhood."  Later she has to have some difficult conversations with men who are playing both sides of the attempt too return King James.  She does great staying calm.  Another great description, "Their conversation was a sort of dance, she thought, with complicated steps, but as the time wore on she grew to know the way of it, and when to step, and when to twirl, and when to simply stand and wait."

This is a good book.  I thought both stories were captivating, and I couldn't wait to get back to reading each time I had to stop.  Susanna Kearsley knows how to write a good story.  If you're up for something a little longer, I would definetly suggest this for a fulfilling read.  And be sure to let me know what you think.

The Return Journey by Maeve Binchy

I got a Kindle for Christmas!  Hooray.  I've avoided any type of e-book reader for a long time because I do love books.  But I'm excited for the portability, easy access to library books and the ability to highlight and add notes.  We'll see if it is as helpful as I hope writing this review.

The Return Journey is a collection of short stories that seem to have a thread or two of similar themes running through them.  Years ago, after seeing the movie, I read Binchy's Circle of Friends and really liked it.  I liked these stories too.  I sometimes forget how much I like the short story genre, and these were good examples of what makes a good short story.

There are 14 stories, and I think most are dealing with moments of catharsis or possible turning points in the character's lives.  I've decided to list them and add a little commentary or quote for each.

"The Return Journey" is a collection of letters between a mother and daughter.  It ends on a hopeful note.

"The Wrong Suitcase" is clever and about two people who take the wrong suitcase, then form opinions of each other based on the contents.  I loved the line, "always better to say what you want at the start and say it pleasantly. Alan's motto."  There are several characters in her stories who have strict rules and codes of conduct for themselves.  I liked them and thought they made for quick character development.  You have so little time in a short story.

"Miss Vogel's Vacation" was one of my favorites and has a great story line.  I loved Miss Vogel's attitude and was pleased with her happy ending.

"The Homesitter" wasn't a happy story, but I think poignant.  A couple in a strained boring marriage leaves for a guest professorship for three months.  The woman who comes to sit at their house is kind of the opposite of the wife, Maura.  I could relate to Maura's feelings about Allie because I do see women who aren't that different than me, but seem to be doing it better than me.  Do you know what I mean?  I just thought it was sad that Maura couldn't be encouraged by this, and make positive changes in her life.  "She felt a physical shock, like the feeling you get if you think you've swallowed a piece of glass."  Perfect description.  Even without the happy ending, I liked this story too.

"Package Tour" is another perfect example of the short story form that I love.  A relationship hinges on a piece of luggage.  Really.  It's so well done.  Here's a quote I loved, "suddenly everything looked bright and full of glitter instead of commercial and tawdry as it had looked some minutes before."  I love people or conversations that are great enough to change your opinion of your surroundings in a single moment.  It doesn't happen often, but it is awesome.  Sadly, I think the opposite can happen too.  Someone can totally ruin the mood or event in an instant.

"The Apprenticeship" is a story about two friends who have gone to great lengths to rise above their humble upbringings.  It reminded me of a good friend of mine when I was 12 and all the magazines we read and the people we studied in an effort to unlock what it took to be popular.  Fashion rules, make-up tips and relationship advice.  As Camilla marries into the upper class, Florrie ultimately opts out.  And thankfully, so did I!

"The Business Trip" also compares two women who have chosen different ways of living their lives.  Thankfully the younger one, the niece, takes advice from her aunt and saves herself from a mislead life of heartache.  I really liked this one too.

"The Crossing" is mainly a conversation between two women who are strangers on a ship from England to Ireland.  I loved it.  They pass on advice and words of wisdom and encouragement, but will probably never meet again.

"The Women in Hats" was OK.  It centers on an employee of a cruise ship who wrongly identifies the two thin good looking friends in a trio as the married couple.  When instead, it is the good looking young man and the really fat young lady that are married.  It kind of shakes his reality.  It definitely struck a chord with me, because I can be so judgmental, but the story wasn't that interesting.

"Excitement" was clever because it read to me kind of like a sitcom.  Murphy's law, really, about a woman who is so bored with her life, but her attempt at excitement backfires.  It made me want to say "ha" to her.

"Holiday Weather" also ends on a hopeful note.  It has an affair and traveling in Europe as themes like a few other stories, but the descriptions of the weather in Ireland spoke to me.  "Then one morning the sun came out, and everything was different." That is exactly what it is like here, so many gray days in a row, but when the sun comes out you can't help but feel lucky.  Here's a conversation that Frankie has with the hotel owner about the change in the weather:
     "'It's like heaven.' She sighed....
     'Thank G-- we don't get weather like this all the time,' said Shane
      'Why do you say that?...' Frankie had been about to say the very opposite; she had been on the point of wishing that  every day could be so sunny.
     'Because we would be parched and dry, it would not be a green island, and we'd be so used to it we woldn't be calling out our thanksgiving to the very heaven.'"
    

I can totally relate to what he is saying and lots of times feel the same about Seattle.

"Victor and St. Valentine" is sweet, and again, I like a happy hopeful ending.

"Cross Lines" is another story about making snap judgements about someone based on their appearance.  It feels brief, and leaves you with just a clue of what might be in the future for the two characters.

"A Holiday With Your Father" seemed like a bad choice to end with.  It felt sad to me, and I like happier endings.  While so many of the other stories leave you hopeful that the characters are going to make a change in their lives for the better, this one ends with the daughter realizing that things aren't going to change.  I wish she had chosen one of the more uplifting stories to go out on.

If you like short stories, or if you don't have a lot of time to read right now, try this collection out!  I think a lot of these stories would be great to discuss.

Bookshop Talk

My review of The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie is posted over at Bookshop Talk today.

Check out their cool site with tons of book reviews!

Merry Christmas and Happy Reading!