Heroic Measures By Jill Ciment

I just finished reading this really cute and funny book. It is a tale of an elderly couple living in east Manhattan. There is a bomb scare that sends the city into a frenzy all the while the couple is trying to sell their apartment and look for a new one. Their weiner dog is sick and getting surgery during this time as well. It goes through each of these three story lines and how they affect each other. It made me laugh out loud at times at the real estate and media frenzy that we so often find ourselves caught up in. It also made me smile with the story about their dog. It was a super easy read. I started it last night and just finished it....and I had time to garden, go to Costco, mow the lawn and finish all my laundry today.

Say Your're One Of Them By Uwem Akpan

This book is on my want to read/going to read this summer list. It is a collection of stories that highlight the resilience of children all over the world. There are five different stories in this book. I came upon it last year when one of my book clubbers suggested it. Although we did not collectively choose to read it as a group...I still bought a copy at Costco. Then I needed a b-day gift for someone...then an extra x-mas gift for a friend. So I have bought this book three times at Costco and given it away twice. I am finally going to settle down and read it this summer. It is on my list.

Water For Elephants By Sara Gruen

Have you ever dreamed of joining the circus? This book may be the closest you will ever get to that dream. You feel like you are there. You can smell the popcorn and hear the commotion from the big top. I loved this book. It begins with the narrator Jacob...sitting in a nursing home remembering his life in the circus. The book flips from present day back to his circus life. It is full of hope, romance and adventure all wrapped into one. I just kept wanting to read more. I think I finished the book in three days.
Jacob graduated from veterinary school and soon after lost his parents. Unsure of how he will handle their deaths and their unpaid debts at the height of the Depression he runs away from it all and ends up joining the circus. He encounters an elephant that only understands Polish...his first language. He bonds with the elephant and becomes her trainer and her protector. The book is a story of his time in the circus and the events that led him to be in the nursing home. The circus life is unforgettable and this book will leave you wanting to join a circus too....or maybe just think about what it would be like.

What Is The What By Dave Eggers

What is the What was recommended to me by a teacher I met in university. It is a book that I am right smack dab in the middle of. It is a story about the lost boys of Sudan told through one particular character, Achak. Achak changes his name to Valentino??? when he arrives in the States...I guess because he had to pick an American name? The book begins with Achak being the victim of a home invasion. He is hurt and is held against his will in his own apartment for what seems like days. He is finally found by his roommate, who is also from Sudan. The story so far has weaved back and forth from Achak's life in Sudan where he lived in the village of Marial Bai. He had a great family and things were good. He begins to think back to his journey when he is being held captive in his apartment. He describes the little changes that occurred first in his country and goes on to describe how he lost his parents and had to trek across Sudan into Ethiopia into a refugee camp. At this time I have made it halfway through the book and Achak is still waiting in an American hospital to receive medical attention from the damage he sustained during the invasion. He slips back into remembering what he has gone through to get to this place in his life right now. I am enjoying this book. I enjoy the recollection of his journey more than the waiting in the hospital...but so far it is a good read. This book is a true story.

The Posionwood Bible By Barbara Kingsolver

I was excited to read this book because I had heard really great things about it. Sadly, I was disappointed. I was confused at first by the large amount of jumping around the book did back and forth between five people and different time periods. The whole idea of a missionary family going to "save" people in another country on a different continent is wrong to me. I don't think they needed or wanted saving...and the preacher was ultimately unsuccessful with his mission. I did enjoy how the women in the book became strong and independent and finally came into their own and found their own identity. Perhaps the character I enjoyed the most was Leah Price...who stayed in the Congo and who believed in the Congo. She seemed to at least have some substance to her. I liked Adah, Leah's twin, and her ability to manipulate words and numbers. I found her interesting. Her older sister...Rachel...what a materialistic, pretentious, predictable character. I must admit that I felt the book dragged on forever. This is part of why I did not enjoy it. I would have liked it much better if it was 100 pages shorter. What did you think?

The Gargoyle By Andrew Davidson

I had heard quite a bit about this book from a friends book club. The opinion was that you would either love it or hate it. There is no in between. I loved this book. It is possibly one of my most favorite books. What did I love? I really loved how every chapter flips back an forth between two stories...one story set in the present and one set back hundreds of years ago. It kept my attention throughout the whole book and made want to keep reading. The other interesting part to me was that both characters knew each other in the past...and in the present. Although the idea is so far fetched...the author made me believe it...or made me will it to be true in my head. Will what to be true? Their love story that transcends the boundary of time. I wanted these characters to survive and I wanted their story to be true. I wanted to the book to go on. I especially loved how the author made me love an awful person (at one point) for a main character. The first chapter is quite graphic but the author creates a great sense of how horrible of a person the main character really is. An added bonus....it is written by Andrew Davidson...an author from Manitoba (shout out to Neepawa!)