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The Year of Fog

Michelle Richmond

Recommended by: Mindy (a rock star mom I know from workout)
Also recommends: Amazing Grace By: Danielle Steel

12/9-16 the fastest I've read a book yet on this project

Here is the truth, this is what I know: I was walking on the beach with Emma. It was cold and very foggy. She let go of my hand. I stopped to photograph a baby seal, then glanced up toward the Great Highway. When I looked back, Emma was gone.

From this moment unfolds the spellbinding story of Abby Mason--photographer, fiancee, soon-to-be-stepmother--and the consequences of her greatest error. A riveting drama of how life can change in an instant, of a family torn apart by the search for the truth behind a child's disappearance, and of one woman's unwavering faith in the power of love, The Year of Fog is a profoundly original glimpse into the mysterious and wondrous workings of the human heart, all made startlingly fresh through novelist Michelle Richmond's incandescent sensitivity and extraordinary insight.

My Thoughts: What a amazing, great and wonderful book! I loved it!! It's written very easy and with short chapters, which I like cause I feel like I can pick it up and do some reading and stop after a few chapters. I will admit I held on a little bit more to my kiddos while reading this book. The thought of losing one of my children is so scary to think about. I love that Abby didn't once give up. Even after Emma's dad did. Now the ending did surprise me alittle. I had a feeling they were going to find her. Just the way the book was going. But I thought it would be a kind of happy ever after thing and it was a not really happy ever after ending. On the side I like the photography part. I use to really enjoy taking pictures, before digital. So that part was inspiring. Great book!

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Title: Elleander Morning

Author: Jerry Yulsman

Recommended by: Julie (mother of the lovely Kara

and the best neighbor in the world)

Dates read: 11/19 - 12/8

This is where I would normally type up the back of the book. But the copy I read has no cover and I haven't been able to find anything. (I didn't try very hard, I'll be honest). If I do I'll update later. So on with....

My thoughts: I loved it. It starts in 1913 with a shooting. Then takes you to 1983 with Lesley Morning going to visit her father who dies before she can get there. Soon she learns more of her grandmother Elleander Morning. The story has lots to do with World War Two, which never happened. But a book gets out and it might happen, just a later date. Lesley, like her grandmother, takes matters into her own hands and saves the day. Some parts about the war I don't understand. But over all a great story. It makes you wonder how the world would be if certain thing didn't happen.

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The Glass Castle

Jeannette Walls

Recommended by: Marla ( my rock star partner at MOPS)
Also recommends: The Space Between Us by Thirty Umrigar
Dates read: Nov. 5  - Nov. 12

The Glass Castle is a remarkable memoir of resiliencee and redemption, and revelatory look into a family at once deeply dysfunctional and uniquely vibrant.When sober, Jeannette's brilliant and charismatic father captured his children's imagination, teaching them physics, geology, and how to embrace life fearlessly. But when he drank, he was dishonest and destructive. Her mother was a free spirit who abhorred the idea of domesticity and didn't want the responsibility of raising a family.
The Walls children learned to take care of themselves. They fed, clothed, and protected one another, and eventually found their way to New York. Their parents followed them, choosing to be homeless even as their children prospered.
The Glass Castle is truly astonishing--a memoir permeated by the intense love of a peculiar but loyal family.

My Thoughts:
I not normally a fan of memoirs. They sound whiny alot. But I did like this one. It made me love my family more and made our deals seem not so bad. I did like the way the author wrote, it was easy to keep with the story. And you could enjoy the humor even when she telling something kind of sad. Cause really the way that family lived was pretty sad. I thought is was good.

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The Oath

Frank Peretti

Recommended by Erica (one of my favorite people in the world)

Dates read: 10/5- 11/1

An ancient sin. An ancient oath. A town with a deadly secret.....

Something sinister is at work in Hyde River, an isolated old mining town in the mountains of the Pacific Northwest.

Something evil.

Under the cover of darkness, it strikes without warning, taking life in the most chilling and savage fashion. The latest victim, nature photographer Cliff Benson, was brutally killed while camping in the mountains.

With little hard evidence to go on, Sheriff Les Collins closes the case, chalking it up to the work of a rogue bear-just like so many other unsolvable deaths and disappearances that have plagued Hyde River over the years.

But wildlife biologist Steve Benson refuses to let the cause of his brother's death remain a mystery. He is joined in his investigation by attractive, auburn-haired Sheriff's Deputy Tracy Ellis. She has grown up in Hyde River. She's seen enough things swept under the rug by local law enforcement to know that something's amiss.

The harder townsfolk are pressed for information, the more they close ranks, as if sworn to secrecy. It is only when Steve gains access to old letters and diaries of the town's forefathers that he begins to peel away the layers of mystery surrounding Hyde River. Steve and Tracy are drawn closer to each other and to the town's terrible secret. What they discover is a predator more terrifying than anything they had imagined and a town in the grip of unspeakable evil.

My thoughts:

I loved the ending!! I'll amitt the beginning is a little slow. But on my last day reading it I did nothing but read. I couldn't put it down. I love the good vs. evil. I read a review that Frank Peretti is the Christan version of Stephen King and they were right. It had all the good stuff and a great message. I enjoined all the charatchers, the twist and turns the book takes you through. Erica recommended it because she had a hard time reading it and wanted me to read it for her. But it's hard to explain unless you read it. Great book!

Back With the Project

So I was finally able to get Mockingjay away from my lovely neighbor girl. I'm happy to be done with it. It didn't suck, but it wasn't great. I liked the first better. But now that I'm done I can get back to my project. FINALLY!!!

Why I shouldn't read a trilogy

Enjoyed Catching Fire book 2 in the trilogy. But now I'm waiting on book 3 which is now out.  My lovely neighbor girl, Kara, has it and is reading it. But I want it now! I haven't read anything in about a week, I couldn't seem to get into anything because my brain is still in these books. Which means my project is on a small hold. So note to myself try not to start a trilogy and definitely not a series while doing this project.

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BOOK 1

The Hunger Games

Suzanne Collins

Recommended by Kara (my great neighbor girl)

    She also recommends Catching Fire and Mockingjay even though
    she hasn't read it yet.
Dates read: Tuesday August 24- Wednesday September 1

Could you survive on your own, in the wild with every one out to make sure you don't live to see morning?

     In the ruins of a place once known as North America lies the nation of Panem, a shining Capitol surrounded by twelve outlaying districts. The Capitol is harsh and cruel and keeps the districts in line by forcing them all to send one boy and one girl between the ages of twelve and eighteen to participate in the annual Hunger Games, a fight to the death on live TV.
     Sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen, who lives alone with her mother and younger sister, regards it as a death sentence when she steps forward to take her sister's place in the Games. But Katniss has been close to dead before--and survival, for her, is second nature. Without really meaning to, she becomes a contender. But if she is to win, she will have to start making choices that weigh survival against humanity and life against love.

My thoughts: I LOVED IT!! I love books with a possible future. Could it really happen to us? Could we really be controlled in such a way as The Hunger Games? I like that the book has a little of everything, suspense, adventure, and romance. But mostly it made me think, made me feel for the chartchers. All of the them, even the ones we're not suppose to like. I feel bad for them. I will be reading the other two books before continuing with 30 recommended.

Late Start

So the goal was to start this blog on my birthday back in August. Well life happens, computers stop working, so on and so on. But I'm here, life has slowed a little and I'm ready to do this. I have been reading. Maybe not as much as I would like but reading just the same.