A few weeks ago I finished a book I had been wanting to read for a long time.  The book is by the lady I refer to as "The Bloggess".  One of the bloggers that I have followed off and on for years.  Her sense of humor is great but she is also very honest about her struggles with mental illness which I love and appreciate.  I came across her book at a library book sale last summer and did not get around to reading it until the end of the school year.

                                        

                                        *Contains affliate links*

One of the last books I picked up over the summer was The Book Thief.  I had noticed that several of my friends were reading and suggested it as a good read.  It also made a few lists of the books you need to read before you watch them.  I am so glad I did this is one of the best books I have read in the last few years and I would recommend it to anyone.

One of the best aspects of this book was the unique points of view. The entire book was written from the point of view of death.  It was interesting to think about and see what death would be like if they were a person and their take on what it means to usher someone from this life to the next.  In addition to the unique viewpoint of the book that characters in this novel were amazing.  Anyone who has read my reviews knows that I am big on the characters in the book.  Not only in this book was a immediately attached to the main character Liesle but the secondary characters as well.  I was drawn not only to the relationships between the characters I was drawn to them individually.  I can honestly say in the sadder moments of the books I openly wept.  One of my favorite characters was that of Liesle's best friend and almost boyfriend Rudy.  He reminded me of many of the boys that have drifted through my life over the years and I wanted so much more for him.

I think it also is worth noting that the basic story of this book, which is told during the holocaust, has been told a 1000 different ways.  Being a history buff I have read countless accounts, novels, memoirs of the holocaust .  To me this novel brings a whole new feel to the story not only with the character work and storyline but again the book being told from the point of view of death was key.  There was something breathtaking about hearing death describe his work during those most tragic of events during the holocaust.

To me this was a must read I would encourage anyone to read it.  This was definitely a 5 out of 5

So I began reading this book to be part of my Mom's Reading Group over on Facebook.  I had read a great review of it in the New York Times book reviews as well as seeing it come up occasionally on Amazon.  I was able to snag it at a few bucks on Amazon's used books.  For those of you who love books like I do, being used on amazon is a good way to go.

So as I began the book I instantly loved it. Then again I am a huge historical fiction fan so what would not be to like about a book about the "Lost Generation".  I do love this time period and am endlessly fascinated by F Scott Fitzgerald.  This book takes a look into the life of both Ernest Hemingway and his wife Haddy.  It covers the store of how they met, the early good years of their marriage, and its ultimate end.  Although this book is about Hemingways' wife I found it was equal parts always about him. After reading this book, I can assume that is how it always was when they were together-all about him.  Now I loved the character development and the love story that was Ernest and Haddy.  I also really liked the look into how their marriage fell apart.  Most often stories of divorce are about the bitterness and finality of it, there was a lot of the book that was about them trying to figure out how to end their marriage.

A negative of this book was I was expecting something more from it. It got amazing reviews-I just sort of kept waiting for a big moment, something monumental.  That never happened. It doesn't mean that it takes away from the positives of the book it just means that if you are reading for this for a big shocking moment, a huge plot twist...this book doesn't have that.  Having finished this book a few weeks ago I am not more ok without that big moment then I was upon completion of it.  This was a solid read with great character insight and development.  I would give it 3 out of 5 stars....maybe 3 1/2 only because it didn't have that moment that I kept expecting.

The funny part of this photo is my husband is in no way religious at all…so he asked Miss J to pick out a book and what did she pick-The religion book for Daddy to read.

As  much as I do enjoy my girly fiction books. I have been on a kick lately of enjoying both historical fiction and non fiction history books.  What can I say, I am a history geek.  Although my main love is United States history I find other cultures exceptionally fascinating.  When I was offered the chance to review From the Dragon's Mouth I was intrigued about a book that would offer an insider look into life in a communist nation.  Ever since reading an amazing book in college on life for women in the USSR, I have been drawn to reading about life in communist nations.  I think this interest comes from the fact that published work in which people are able to speak freely in a communist nation are few and far between.

From the Dragon's Mouth is a completion of several stories that Ms. Fuentes had put together as her years as a journalist.  There were several people that she interviewed whose stories did not make the cut for the news that she was reporting but yet she was drawn to their stories.  Each of the stories gives a separate peak into a life that is ultimately high regulated by other cultural expectations as well as a well run and heavy handed communist government.  Some of the stories that I was most drawn to were the story of a mom who secretly works as a prostitute to give her son the best life possible-yet, he does not appreciate all that he has or has any idea what his mother does to support him.  Another story that pulled at my heart strings was the story of a young woman who married a gay man because of the large cultural importance placed on marriage in Chinese society.  A final story that really stuck with me was the story of a man who left his village to work in the city and actually lives in a shared space in an underground apartment (think living in a NYC subway that has been closed and made into rooms that are shared apartments).  This man left behind his family, only seeing them once a year, and working for the reason of providing his children with a better life.  What was crazy in the book revealed that there are hundreds of thousands of people who leave their children behind to be raised by relatives.  This is crazy to think about-100,000 of children who only see their parents once a year.   The other fascinating fact that I found in this book was the most if not all of the people who were interviewed (regardless of their status in life) talked about love of their country.  We in America often associate communism with evil or horrendous atrocities and it unimaginable that people would like or be proud of their country.  In the book it was clear that regardless of what their life or status in society is like almost all those interviewed had a deep love for their country.  

With the variety of stories offered in this book I think that anyone reading will form a connection or life at least one or two of these stories.  I would highly recommend it for the fact that it gives an almost unprecedented look at the average Chinese citizen and their life under Communism.  This is a must read for anyone who is interested in history or culture in general.  

Along with my recently reviewed book by Alison Sweeney  I was also asked if I wanted to review a book from Amazon Publishing called Prime Time Princess.  The author of this book Lindy DeKoven was a real life TV producer for major companies her in the United States.  Her book is a take on the industry as well as a lovely little romance and change your life book.  What I mean by change your life book is that is one of those books where the main character is headed in one direction in their life and because of a major event/s they change their life.   The book centers around the main character Alexa and her life as a TV executive.  It starts out as the classic girl works to hard has no life meets a guy story but goes so much farther than that.  It almost acts in some ways as an expose of what life is like in a business that is run main by men and how a woman fits into the world-or in this case doesn't.  There are several great characters in this book that I enjoyed including the main character Alexa's arch nemesis Jerry.  I loved that this character was so well written that you hated him....you really do.  He is such a piece of work you love to hate him.  For me one of the qualities that I look for in a book is how well are the characters fleshed out...are there enough details that you get invested in them good or bad.  Do you find yourself wanting to know more about the characters then what is offered...for me this is the mark of a well written book.  DeKoven does this very well in Prime Time Princess.  My only critique of the book is that I felt that there were a few sections that dragged and bit and could have been trimmed but other than that  I feel that it is a great summer beach read.  I would give the book 4 out of 5 stars.

If you would like to win a copy of Prime Time Princess be sure to enter my giveaway here.  The winner will be notified via email.


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I have to be honest I think I was just a little too excited when the folks over at Hyperion asked me if I wanted to review a book by Alison Sweeney (you know that super cute chic from Biggest Loser and Days).  I get lots of great books to review but not always by bigger name people or authors.  I was more than willing to review the book.  Now be it my own personal bias, I honestly did not think that an "actor" would be a good writer...but I was pleasantly surprised.  This books was SO GOOD!!! I read it in less that a week which for me is huge because I only have to time to read at night which means most books regardless of how good they are often take me a month or two to read.  I couldn't put the book down.  Not only did it have really good character development the story was literally addicting.

I can't believe it is already the weekend and it is weekend review time.  This week I read Budget Savvy Diva's Guide to slashing your grocery bill by 50% or more by Sara Lundberg.  For those of you who do not know who the Budget Savvy Diva is she is a blogger who has made popular the act of saving you money with all her tips.  She has an amazing blog that can be found here .   She has also written several great books with numerous money saving tips.  In this particular book she focuses on how you can save big at the grocery store.  Although I like to think of my self as a savvy shopper who doesn't go too overboard at the grocery store, there were several helpful hints in this book that I plan on using next time we hit the stores.  The first thing that I really liked about the book is Ms. Lundberg starts at the beginning with menu planning. This is something that I am not always successful at. She talks about how you go from not planning at all to taking baby sets to becoming a supreme planner.  I like that she uses easy tips and gives sort of the step by step on how to get more budget friendly.  I enjoy the if you are doing nothing, here are the baby steps, then the next steps, then the final big picture.  Without giving away all of the Diva's ideas my other favorite part of the book was the recipes.  The end of the book is just filled with numerous budget friendly recipes, many of which are also kiddo friendly or good for those with picky eaters (kids or adults) in the house.  In fact, I bookmarked a few for making this week.  I would say if you are trying to trim your budget a bit this book is worth the purchase price because I am sure you would save that much in your first few trips to the store.  Yet, even better than buying it.....you can win it.  Enter below with the rafflecopter to win a copy!

Also if you have written a review on a product or book don't forget to link it below!














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Book's Cover

Reading Time

 I was recently contacted by the people at Anne Stone publishing about reviewing a new children's book.  I never turn down children's books because well my kids love to read and what is better than a free kids book right!  When I got the book in the mail even before reading it with my kids I was struck by the amazing graphics-The cover and the first pages had amazing drawings with bright bold colors.  The story itself was also well liked by both myself and the kids.  My son (6) who goes to a science school loved the details there were given about all the animals, my daughter (3) liked the pictures of the birdies.  For myself I liked the moral of the story, that you shouldn't judge people by their looks and that you  shouldn't try to be something that you are not.  Two very valuable lessons for kiddos (and adults) to learn.  But the craziest part about this book is that the author and illustrator is a young girl.  In fact in her author photo she even has braces-so cute.  I love that a young girl has followed her dream, was picked up by a publisher, and created such an impressive and beautiful work.  Kudos to her for putting together such a fantastic piece of art and literature.  You can find out more information about the author here.   I would say that that this is a great read for kids and if you are going to spend the money on a kids book, what better thing to support than a budding author.  Click here for link to amazon.  I would give it Five stars for a children's book 


Now, what else is everyone reading or reviewing this week.  Please link up your latest reviews (feel free to link more than one if you have it)so I can go check them out as well as the rest of my readers.  Have a great week and keep up those reviews.

To start out with I am trying something new on my blog called Book Review Weekend.  My hope is every weekend-at least over the summer-post a book review for my readers.  I am also hoping to find others out there who are review books who can link up there posts underneath my main post.  
So my weekend review was a book written by a cardiologist Peter R. Kowey.  Dr. Kowey weaves a very interested story about his main character Dr. Sarkis and life after having to leave a prestigious practice due to huge scandal.  This whole scandal can be found in Dr. Kowey's first book called Lethal Rhythm.  In this novel the main character Dr. Sarkis is called in on a consult of a suspicious death of a World War II veteran.  What he is discovers is more than a possible malpractice cause, but what might be a serial killer.  The story contains lots of interesting medical facts and data as well as well written characters and plot.  In fact at one point in the story I was suspecting one of the main characters of some shady business (won't go into too much detail because I don't want to spoil anything).  For me I love when that happens because it means the author has done a good job of not making the story line too obvious.  That being said I do have one small critique of the book and it is small-There was a tie into world war II and Nazi's and I wish this had been explored a bit more than it was in the story line.  Then again the book wouldn't have been such a quick read if that was the case.  

I would give the book 4 out of 5 stars and say it is a good summer beach read for those who like thrillers/mysteries.  

If you are a book review and would like to link up please do so below.  I would love to see what others out there are reading!!

As the school year is coming to close I always have visions of grandeur about my summer vacation.  The amazing summer projects I will complete, the 100 pounds I will loose, and how I will somehow have a clean house.  Well this year as been a particularly rough one at school so my goal is to spend a lot of my vacation recharging my batteries, spending time with my kids, and getting myself grounded and ready to start what will be a crazy next school year as we go to block scheduling and new teacher evaluations.  Yet, no more talk of the negative, lets talk about what awaits me for the next 8 weeks!  So here are my summer to do lists.  I can't wait to begin! 


Reading List
-The Star Attraction-Alison Sweeney (review book)
-Prime time Princess-Lindy Dekoven (review book)
-Change your life in 7 days-Paul McKenna (review book)
-Joy Worthy-Julie McGrath (review book)
-Budget Diva's Guide to Slashing grocery bill by 50% or more-Sara Lundberg (review book)
-Love Anthony-Lisa Genova
-Cold Light-Traci Slatton
-The Queen's Fool-Philippa Gregory
-The Kingmaker's Daughter-Philippa Gregory
-Reading Lolita in Tehran-Azar Nafisi

Image taken from http://hamptonroads.com/2010/11/your-stack-books-helps-portsmouth-public-library

Non-reading To Do
-Vacation with the Hubby
-See the BFF Twice
-Complete 5 graduate classes (if this becomes too stressful I may get rid of it)
-Complete at two official 5k's
-Get my time to under 40min on a 5k
-Work on my self help books
-Blog three times a week
-Enjoy my down time with my family
-Scan kids artwork and make books about their year
-Make a photo album online of this year
-Work on at least three months of Josie's first year scrapbook (once I am done with her first year I am moving to all digital)
-Take one nap a week
-Go outside at least once everyday day (weather permitting)
-Average at least 9000 steps a day
-Go on one "trip" each week with the kids to a museum, park, zoo, etc

My latest book to review was a book about Cynthia Helms the wife of late director of intelligence Richard Helms.  Although a lot of the book was about Mrs. Helms life with her husband the head of CIA it was also about her early life as young woman in WWII Britain and her role in the war effort.  This book was an amazing looking into the "Greatest Generation" and an amazing first hand account of the Cold War.  As a history teacher I loved the look into cold war and the players within the United States government.  Not often do we hear the side of the story from such an intimate first hand account to these events.  Now I will say this, if I wasn't a history geek I think it may have been hard to follow some of this biography in the later chapters.  The story at the end was a whose, who of Cold War Washington.  If you are not well versed in who a lot of people were, the biography might have lost some of the overall appeal.  Overall, this biography was a great read about one of the lesser known figures in our nation's (and Britain's) history.  I am going to give this 3 out of 5 stars because of the last few chapters, but for history buffs it would be a 4 out of 5.

Earlier this month I was asked to take part in a book review group called Heroines with Heart.  I really liked the concept of a large group of new writers using bloggers like myself to promote their new books. A lot of the authors are YA authors which is a genre I haven't exactly delved into yet, so I figured this would be an amazing opportunity.  So for my first selection I chose to review Confessions of a Teenage Hermaphrodite by Lianne Simon.  Now I a sure some of my readers are like "what, what now".  I was too but one of the subjects I teach in Psychology is all about intersexed conditions.  I am absolutely fascinated by the subject so I figured this would be a fun YA read.  It was, I finished the book in only two weeks while reading only on my computer (the only downside is a lot of books are PDF files not kindle set up).  I thought it was absolutely fascinating.  The main character Jamie/Jameson was so well written that you felt were right there experiencing the story with him/her.  The story takes through Jameson dealing with the fact that he has wanted to be a boy, yet seemingly his parents have wanted him to be a girl.  It is a great story of self discovery and a look into the emotional roller coaster that is the life of a teenager who is born intersexed.  The only aspect of the story that I really enjoyed was the time period.  It was set in the Vietnam era which added a who other dimension to the story.  The acceptance of some and the complete rejection of others of his condition (sadly I would say today's society isn't much different).  The only thing that I did not like about the book, was that I wanted more. Some of the story lines and characters were not developed as much as I would have liked.  Now the book was only 200 pages and YA so this may be why those characters and story lines were not developed in more detail.  In fact, I felt that the book ended way to quickly and I was wanting more details about the end few scenes of the book.  Now again, I don't think this is a fatal flaw of the book, just that I wished Simon had developed some of the story lines a bit more.  Then again if she had done that it might not be as appealing to a YA audience.  As I said at the beginning I am not that well versed in YA literature so maybe this is something that happens some story lines get more of a background then they would in a "regular" book.  Overall I thought this was a very interesting read and well worth the time.  I would give it 3 1/2 stars.

A few weeks ago I finished up Indiscretion by Charles Dubow and have not had the time to write a review that would do it justice.  Although I initially had a bit of tough time getting into the book by page 25 I was hooked.  Although this book could simply described as a love story, it is more than that.  This is a story of love, loss, and how sometimes the strongest loves in our life are not returned in the capacity that we love someone.  The story is told by Walter Gervais who is a dear friend of the main couple in the story.  It appears from early on that he is simply and auxiliary character in the book, yet as the book evolves the book tells his love story as well.  With a book like this I find it very hard to describe too much of the plot line without giving away the story so here is my basic summary of the story.  The main characters are Harry and Madeline Winslow they are best friends with Walter.  They take into the fold a young woman named Claire.  Claire and Harry are clearly destined for a love affair that rocks the world of everyone involved in so many faceted ways.

Now why I loved this book so much
    1. You think that this book is about the love story of Harry and Maddy and the betrayal of Claire     (hello the name of the book is Indiscretion).  Yet, for me the book was not about that love story but of the love story of Walter for his best Friend Maddy.  It wasn't until I was done and reflecting on the book that I realized this book is as much about their love as everyone else in the love triangle.

    2.  The character work is amazing.  It isn't often in a book about infidelity that you find your self attached and caring for and liking all of the characters even the ones involved in the affair.  The characters are written in such a way that you connect with each of them individually.  I found that my heart was breaking for Clair when she couldn't have her married man and hating her at the same time for hurting her lover's wife.  Not often are you rooting for everyone in the story.

I don't think I can tell much more without giving away too many details, but this is a must read.  One of the best review copies I have received and I have received some really good ones lately.  I am definitely giving this 5 out of 5 stars.

So it has come to my attention that I may be a judgemental B.  I wish it wasn't true but I am starting to realize that I often judge people by just a few pieces of what I see about them.  I can't go into too many details because I am starting to realize that people in my real life actually read this blog but I will just give loose references to get my point across.

I know that I often judge people who have a lot of money.  I sneer at how they spend there money, think to myself how nice it must be for money to not matter and to be able to buy what ever it is your heart desires and not think about it.  I often judge and think that they do not live in the real world.  Yet if I am being honest, I am judging them because I am jealous.  I wish I could buy things like they do.  I wish I could live a lifestyle like that.  I am judging them for no other reason than jealousy.

Another example is political beliefs.  I am often admittedly to liberal for my own good.  I find myself casting a stink eye at those with a republican flair to them.  I often think how could a woman allow her rights to be taken away, how could someone not want to take care of those less fortunate in society.  Yet, in reality I am just unwilling to look deeply at my own beliefs and be willing to have them challenged by others

The final example is the one I will be most vague about.  I have cast a few unsightly judgements about some of the people I work with.  I often see how they interact with other people and cast judgements on them.  I know that recently I have done this a lot and I think it has to do with certain of my own insecurities.  I know that I am judging them not on my own personal knowledge of them but perhaps gossip or snap judgement by a few interactions I have seen them in. 

Well I was recently proven wrong and it has made me think that maybe I am a bit too judgemental.  I do think it is part of human nature to make judgments on people.  I just know that I am not happy with this aspect of myself.  I think that I need to stop getting wrapped up in gossip, my own insecurities/personal stuff, and snap judgements and really take a step back.  Take a moment in the case with the people I work with be sure I know the real them, in the case of the first two items to take a moment and think about why I feel the way I do.

I know this is a bit of rambling but it was something that I needed to get out and off my chest.  So what about all you...do you judge others more than you should?