I'll Watch the Moon by Ann Tatlock
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is a heart warming, beautifully written gem of a book with an uplifting and faith promoting message about the power of love and hope. The characters are varied, endearing, and unforgettable. I want to hug every one of them. The late 1940's story, told from a young girl's perspective, sometimes made me laugh out loud, at other times tugged at my heart strings, and constantly kept me wondering what would happen next. I will definitely be reading more of Tatlock's books. Audio version exceptionally well done. Highly recommend to all readers, all ages.
Favorite quotes:
“I decided that faith must be the strongest thing in the world, because an ounce of it can change the course of an entire life.” -Nova Tierney
“And if I curse God, Mrs. Tierney? What then? If I turn away from him, what do I turn toward? …No. Better to keep one’s face toward heaven, even if you are angry with God, than to turn away and find nothing at all.” -Josef Karski
“Funny how even a grain of hope can manage to eclipse a whole world of despair.” -Nova Tierney

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Crocodile on the Sandbank by Elizabeth Peters
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Fun, witty, light mystery with a little romance. Amelia Peabody is delightful, as are the other characters. Reminds me of Alexander McCall Smith's #1 Ladies Detective Agency series.

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The Cuckoo's Calling by Robert Galbraith
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Unimpressive, run-of-the-mill, mystery with a few red herrings and an over abundance of distracting, inflated descriptions and horrendous, foul language, the latter causing me to dock her 2 stars in this review. It was completely unnecessary profanity which contributed nothing. J.K. Rowling wrote this under a pseudonym and methinks she is tying too hard to prove she can entertain adult readers. One good thing: her characters are well developed, interesting, and have descriptive names, e.g. Cormoran Strike, a detective with a Hagrid type appearance and personality, Lula Landry, the shallow super model muder victim , her adaptive parents, Sir Alec and Lady Yvette Bristow, and Deebee Macc, an American rapper super star. Great names.

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Freeman by Leonard Pitts Jr.
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

An engrossing, powerful read, to which I was riveted until its triumphant ending, this novel tells the stories of three individuals in the immediate aftermath of the Civil War.

Sam, a former runaway slave, now an educated successful man who is passionate about freedom, leaves his home & respectable position of employment in Philadelphia, on a desperate journey of 1,000 miles to find his wife whom he has not seen for 15 years.

Tilda, his wife, still considered as “property” by her brutal master who would kill her as he has his other slaves, has no concept of the word”freedom,” and cannot fathom where she would go or what she would do without her master.

Prudence, a wealthy white woman from Boston determined to start a school “for coloreds,” has newly arrived in Mississippi and faces obstacles never considered and an unrevealed past personal history that will shake her world

The realistic lives of these three are intertwined, along with lesser characters’ stories. Heartfelt, poignant, at times horrifying, the book clearly illustrates the inhumanity of antebellum slavery culture, along with an illustration of the most uplifting and praiseworthy nature of humans. Great character development, realistic, believable, some of the characters based on actual individuals and events. It is a book that will affect me for a long time.
Audio version. A masterful job done by Sean Crisden, the narrator.

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Flunking Sainthood: A Year of Breaking the Sabbath, Forgetting to Pray, and Still Loving My Neighbor by Jana Riess
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The author shares her "failed" experiment at challenging herself to focus on a specific religious practice e.g. fasting, centering prayer, Sabbath keeping, charity, and generosity each month of a year. In reality, her experience resulted in increased spirituality so she only "failed" at perfection. Her keen sense of humor made the reading not only enjoyable, but easy for the reader relate. All of us have at sometime vowed to be better and not met our goal completely.

Favorite quotes from the book:

"...those attempts at sainthood that seemed like dismal failures at the time, actually took hold somehow. They helped to form me into the kind of person who could go to the bedside of someone who had harmed me and be able to say, "I forgive you, Dad, Go in peace." Although I didn't see it while I was doing the practices themselves or even while I was writing the chapters in the book, the power of spiritual practice is that it forges you stealthily, as you entertain angles unawares."

“we need to take a long hard look at what we believe about God . God doesn't owe us anything, no matter how cheerful and uncomplaining we are. Period.”

“The less comfortable we are with ourselves, the more we will look to things around us for comfort. The more assured we are of ourselves, the less assurance we will need from things outside”

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Mrs. Queen Takes the Train by William Kuhn
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

omg this was a delightful story about a bored, unhappy woman in midlife crisis who just happens to be the Queen. Great characters! I predict a movie contract for author William Kuhn.

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The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A good read, but definitely not uplifting (a major factor affecting my enjoyment of any book) considering the rough sleazy characters and topics that give me upsetting dreams. That being said, I understand why it is considered a classic: Chandler writes a twisting, compelling narrative with both a spare style and absolutely wonderful metaphors.


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Secret Daughter by Shilpi Somaya Gowda
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Interwoven destinies of two mothers from opposite sides of the world and the daughter that binds them. I especially enjoyed the tasteful commentary on the brutal life of women & children living in India, without the gory details. Also admired the author's clear descriptive writing style which gave a cultural slice of life in India--the caste system, the poverty, the wealth, family devotion, religious ritual, the beauty, colors, contrasts,crowds of people, noise and even the smells, all giving a feeling of sensory overload. A week or so after reading this I watched netflix movie, "The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel" (awesome movie!) and felt strong dejavu - it was just as Gowda described in this book.

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The Dovekeepers by Alice Hoffman
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

An exceptional read. This is a masterpiece, a wonderful, mesmerizing book about the lives of four strong Jewish women, each with different backgrounds, powerful personalities, and distinct stories of there own. Their histories collided when destiny/circumstances found them living at the Jewish stronghold, Masada, during the last and final siege by the Romans. According to the historian, Josephus, two of these women and five children survived the horrendous event.

I agree with Janet, a goodreads reviewer who said the following: Words can be spoken or written. This book did for me what I love about books---it used the written word to create a world for me as real as the one I'm living in now.

On Oct 03, 2011, Another goodreads reviewer, Jennifer Rayment, wrote such an excellent review that I am quoting it in entirety here:

The Good Stuff

* I wish I had the words to express how wonderful this book is. I will be honest if Simon and Schuster hadn't sent it to me for review, I probably wouldn't have picked it up and let me tell you that would have been a shame. This book is haunting and sad but yet so full of hope and of the resilience of the human spirit
* Beautiful raw and honest story and just so god-damned emotional to read
* Exceptionally real and strong female characters
* History written so it comes alive and you learn so much without feeling like you are getting a history lesson
* The faults/flaws of the characters are not hidden and you see how they change and grow over the course of the story
* Emotionally raw by the end of the story and had to go hug my children before I could go to bed
* Obviously thoroughly researched and you feel the authors passion for the subject matter as it never comes across as dull
* I would be shocked if this doesn't get made into a movie or a mini series
* Further Reading at the end of the book is appreciated for those like me who will want to find out more of the history
* Very wise and thought provoking
* A wonderful book for various discussions about faith, forgiveness, compassion, woman's rights etc
* Why are you still reading my review -- get thee to a book store now and buy it -- hello what are you waiting for

The Not so Good Stuff

* Could have been perfect with a some stronger editing. There is some obvious repetition that should have been caught and it would have made it a truly brilliant novel.
* I was forced to stay up till a 1am to finish this and the last 15 pages or so I could barely read with the tears falling down. Alice you owe me some coffee and Kleenex & an apology to my kids for mommy being cranky from lack of sleep

What I Learned

* Man it really sucked to be a women in ancient times, we are so lucky in this day and age to be treated, for the most part, as the equals that we are (still so far to go)
* Now I really already know this, but lets just put this out again -- the persecution of Jews over and over again just completely baffles me. They truly are one of the most formidable, strong and resilient race the world has ever seen.
* Tons of fascinating information about 70-75 CE

Who should/shouldn't read

* Will be buying a copy for my niece, sister and sister in laws for Christmas because I don't want to lend them MY copy and risk the chance of one of them --- "misplacing it" LOL
* Those who enjoy a nice light read, would probably not want to pick one up. It is quite intense and detailed
* Thinking those of Roman descent might be a little put off
* A must have for public libraries

I listened to the audio version, which is very well done with four different women doing the narrative reading of the four main characters. If it were possible I would give this book 6 stars. It is among the best books I've read in a long time and touched me deeply.


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The Magician's Assistant by Ann Patchett
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Ann Patchett excels at taking ordinary likable people and dropping them into unusual situations. The premise of the book was fascinating and the characters are multi-dimensional, compelling and so human that you forget you're reading fiction. Her writing is elegant but not flowery, insightful, clever, and sophisticated, but it never gets in the way of the story. I thought this was a sweet and perceptive story. The plot unfolded well, and I didn't want to put the book down because I wanted to see what was going to happen next. I thought the main character, Sabine, was the only character that was hard to understand and was disappointed with the sudden ending.

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