Olive Kitteridge

Elizabeth Strout's Pulitizer Prize winning book was my latest read. Another book that I often thought about as I went through my day. The main character, Olive Kitteridge is a person that I feel like I vaguely know. Though stern and unbending she reminds me of my grandmother somehow. Another generation that I'm not quite connected to and have difficulty relating to. This book takes a look at how our lives rush by and the changes in it can some times be baffling and leave us disoriented and dismayed. The story is told in a series of little stories with Olive sometimes as the center of the story, and somethimes as just a bit player. All of them feature citizens of Crosby, Maine and tales of hurt, loss, life. I highly recommend this book, and am even more thrilled to say I loved a Pulitzer Prize winning story.

September Book Club

My very favorite kind of book can be any genre - you know, a mystery, a romance, science fiction or a western, but it has to be one that I can't put down. And when I do put it down I have to be thinking about it, wondering about it's characters, the story line and what new turn I'm going to find. Then When I get to the end. Well, there is the great sadness. Ending a book I really like is, at the same time bittersweet and satisfying. Not to many books out there that I feel that way about but Mark Haddon's The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time was one of them. This was a book recommended by my sister. She usually has some really good story for me to read when I go visit her and I end up reading the story instead of visiting the way a good sister should. I can't tell you how many times that's happened. This means that when she tells me the book is "really good" I usually believe her and pick it up and get going. She rarely disappoints me.

All this as a lead in to Haddon's wonderful book about a 15 year old boy with Asperger's. The story is told from Christopher's point of view and I really liked that about the book. It gave me perspective and respect for not just those I know who are autistic but who are 'different'. This book is our September book Club selection. Be sure to stop down and pick up a copy. Enjoy the read then we'll see you at book Club On September 8 at 5:30

The Defector

Daniel Silva's new Gabriel Allon book, The Defector was wonderful! It continues the story of Gabriel after he brings Russian defector Grigori Bulganov out of Russia from his last book, Moscow Rules. His disappearance draws Gabriel out of semi-retirement and into the path of Ivan Kharkov, the former KGB agent and Russian oligarch from Moscow Rules. Exotic locales, intriguing characters, and a breakneck pace
Gabriel is living a peaceful contented life restoring art for the Vatican and getting to know his bride, Chiara in Italy when Grigori is kidnapped by arms dealer Ivan Karhkov. The Ivan who's main goal in life is to emulate Stalin and inflict as much damage on the rest of the world as possible. Exotic locales intriguing characters, and a breakneck pace. I hope this isn't the last Gabriel story we'll have.
But if you haven't read any spy novels at all, Silva's series is a great one to start with!

The Devil's Punchbowl

I finished listening to Greg Iles The Devil's Punchbowl on Friday on my way home from work. This was the story of a gambling casino in Natchez, Mississippi gone really really wrong.

"The Devil’s Punchbowl refers to a deep pit near the river in Natchez, Mississippi. Not only have outlaws dumped numerous murder victims there, but there is also a long-standing rumor that it is where Jean Lafitte buried his treasure. This is a dangerous place, a kudzu-strangled, snake- rat- and armadillo-infested hole so deep that the bottom can’t be seen. Against this backdrop, Iles plunges the reader into a mix of murder, racial tension, double-crosses, illicit sex…and all of the ensuing violent consequences.

Rich with Southern atmosphere and plenty of page-turning intrigues, The Devil’s Punchbowl is further proof that Iles is today’s unparalleled master of the suspense novel" -Kirkus review





If you enjoy suspense and thrills you will enjoy this one for sure. It's fast paced and full of surprises and tension! I will also add that there is quite a bit of violence and since the topic is about dog fighting the images Iles paints can be quite disturbing, so reader beware! This was my first Iles book and I will be sure to try another one.

The Help

I know, the year is only half way through and here I am picking the best book that I've read this whole year. That book is, Ta Da!! The Help by Kathyrn Stockett. Oh my goodness, I could not put it down. And when it was down all I could think about was what was going to happen and what must be going on in the book right now. We were camping and when I should have been doing other things I was sneaking some reading in. I read sitting around the campfire, I read before bed, I read while my husband started the morning with the breakfast cooking routine. I read when we rode in the car. I finished the book in 3 days with a bit of extra things thrown in for good measure.


The book centers on the lives of 3 women, 2 black and 1 white, in the south during the 1960's. It is the story of Jackson, Mississippi and those southern belle sorority girls who have little to do but play bridge and gossip all day, and their 'help' black domestics who clean, cook and care for their children all day. It takes quite a look at the injustice and racial lines that were firmly in place during the 60's but puts a very personal face to it all. I found the story to be very authentic, troubling and deeply compelling. This is one book I highly recommend.