Kate Jacobs - Comfort Food (May 2008)

I received this book from two good friends and really appreciated the thought that went into picking it off of my "Books in the Bookcase Waiting to be Read" list, my own personal reading wish list on the blog! This is a list of books I want to read, but do not own...

Having just finished reading the HUGE and INTENSE Ken Follett book, World Without End, I was eager to find a good chick lit! Kate Jacobs is one of my favorites because I was ready a few years ago to move to New York and join The Friday Night Knitting Club! Comfort Food provided comfort to me, no brutal 12th and 13th Century lifestyles with unnecessary violence!

You will want to get to know the main character of Jacob's novel personally, Augusta "Gus" Simpson, as she tells most of the story from her perspective recalling tragedy that befell on her young family and how that propelled her to be everyone's provider and protector! Not only wanting to solve all of her daughter's problems, she looks out for her work colleagues, extended family and closest friend, next-door neighbor, Hannah.

Gus is a national name on the CookingChannel, one of their biggest celebrity chefs, complete with her own line of cookbooks and cooking utensils! As reality TV mixed with big names of Rachel Ray and Emeril begin to break through in popularity in TV ratings, Gus feels the world she once knew as secure, slipping away. Having two grown daughters who clearly need their space from mom but love her dearly, as well as an upcoming 50th birthday, Gus questions everything.

Her TV show Gusto with Gus has slipped in the ratings and Gus faces her biggest challenge from the Network President when he gives her a co-host and changes her pre-recorded 30 minute shows to one-hour shows taped live from the grand kitchen in her extravagant home.

You will want Gus in your life as you read her story! I even told my husband tonight how sorry I am that the book was only 330 or so pages that ends with a conclusion that leaves little room for a sequel!

Thank you Angie and Joyce, this was just the Comfort Food I needed, without the dairy or calories!

Ken Follett - World Without End (Hardcover 2008)

Let's be honest, last summer I was captivated with the fictional English town of Kingsbridge and its' citizens like Tom Builder, Jack, Prior Phillip and many more as they were determined to build the Church a cathedral. I spent days and weeks engrossed in The Pillars of the Earth. Shortly after posting my blog review, a parent-volunteer in my Kindergarten classroom asked if I had plans to read the sequel! Having just started Follett's Fall of Giants, I was hesitant to take on the task of another "big book", but felt torn because I really did want to go back to Kingsbridge! The next day one of my kids came bouncing into the room with a thick package, "a gift from Mom" he said!

The sequel was just as addicting as the first, and with a two week trip to Northern Wisconsin and Northern Michigan, there was ample time to dive headfirst into this storyline. The text opens with four kids sneaking away from the Kingsbridge Cathedral to a nearby woods where they witness the murder of two men. Each character, Caris (a girl with ambitions to be a doctor), Merthin (young boy who desires to be a master builder), his brother Ralph (purely a bully at this point) and Gwenda (a thief at a young age) will take something different from this episode in the woods. Their stories are intertwined throughout as they grow up in a time of greed, lust, romance, perversion, war, plague, and with the dynamics of royalty and politics.

As time passes, readers will ultimately take sides with their favorites and wish evil upon their fictitious enemies! My husband is currently reading the story on his Kindle and it's been fun to hear him get angry at characters who already hold a place on my "Jerk" list!

Without giving too much away, I really loved the mastermind of Follett here as he constantly threw curveball upon curveball followed by jaw-dropping twists and then of course, romance! You never quite know what will happen next, and it is this intrigue and desire that made me read this story cover to cover in less than a week.

P.S. Via Ken Follett's web site, an 8-hour mini-series for "World Without End" will begin taping this July in Hungary! If Starz is going to show this mini-series I highly suggest keeping an eye out for this mini-series in the future months to come, the mini-series for Pillars of the Earth was phenomenal!

Something Borrowed & Something Blue both by Emily Giffin

I read these two books in order in hard copy simultaneously with Jen Lancaster's Bright Lights, Big Ass (May 2007) on my iPad! Transitioning to books on the iPad has been an event that I could not take lightly... I love the feel of a book in my hand and the emotional satisfaction of turning a page or completing a chapter! I enjoy putting a book back up on the shelf, completed. Hence, I read Something Borrowed with lightning speed and then progressed on to Something Blue, the sequel to Something Borrowed while my book on the iPad sat waiting on the coffee table.

You will fall for these characters. You will choose Team Rachel or Team Darcy. You may even go between the two, rooting for the original plan or rooting for what fate has in the works for these two ladies. You will take sides and then question what if this happened in your own life? You will want to see the movie just to see how Hollywood portrays these characters.

It's New York City and two best friends since elementary school have well established lives and routines. Rachel, single, is a practicing lawyer at a big firm downtown and Darcy, is a popular publicist also in the city. Darcy and her fiance Dex have plans to marry in the summer and of course Rachel is Darcy's Maid of Honor. To know how the relationship has worked for decades, you must understand that Darcy has always outshone Rachel, and Rachel has accepted the role of living in Darcy's shadow.  While growing up in a small town in Indiana, the girls remained tight while Darcy was always popular and well liked, and Rachel remained in the background, the brains of the duo. This all changes when they get drunk on Rachel's 30th birthday party and what has seemed right, Darcy and Dex, may no longer be the case!

Instead of feeling guilty about what she has done, Rachel comes to realize that she's only really ever loved Dex, and that she is "good" enough to have Dex over Darcy.  A surprise twist at the end will make you gasp at Darcy's reaction... definitely not what I was expecting. And good enough to make me want to read the sequel RIGHT AWAY!

I would like to blog more about the sequel, but here's the dilemma... If I say anymore, such as, "here's what happens in the second book..." I will be giving away the ending of the first. Look at the titles, Something Borrowed and Something Blue. If you can't figure it out, it's time you pick up these books! (20% off at Target stores)

And now, it's time to get a friend who has my copy of Something Borrowed  to hurry up because there's a major motion picture in theaters to be watched!

Little Giant of Aberdeen County - Tiffany Baker (2010)

I liked this book. I really liked this book. I found this one at a Borders Books sometime last year on the table where if you bought one, the other was 50% off. This was my 50% off and I am genuinely sorry that I waited so long to read this story! It was touching and at times, heart breaking. You will fall in love with Truly, a woman with a heart to match the size of her body, enormous, or as her teacher once told her, “giant”.

Truly enters the world in a precarious situation as her birth kills her mother. Left with her father and her sister, Serena Jane, for the first 12 years of her life, Truly is raised by her father, to the best of his abilities. Truly is born large and continues to grow uncontrollably as the result of a pituitary gland problem. Her sister, Serena Jane, is everything that Truly is not. She’s petite, beautiful and garners a lot of attention from other adults, especially women. After the passing of their father, Serena Jane is taken in by a family of upper class in Aberdeen. Truly is sent to live with the Dyersons on the outskirts of town at their farm. She wears boy clothes and outgrows them weekly. She stops attending school for a time period and helps with chores on the farm in the barn. She quickly forms a friendship with the Dyerson’s daughter, Amelia, a social outcast who stutters and has difficulty talking.

As Truly grows up she will come to live with Dr. Robert Morgan, her sister’s husband, and their son Bobby.  Living with the Morgan’s Truly discovers a secret within the house, the combinations Tabitha Dyerson used long ago to treat the ill. She was suspected to be a witch and Truly begins to conjure up many of the mixtures to help ailing citizens of Abderdeen.

Without giving too much of this story away, I would suggest this book for an individual read or a book club read. In fact, my copy had several questions in the back that could be used for a fantastic book club discussion. So much emotion comes out in this story as Truly is constantly ridiculed and teased about her size, yet she outlives most of the characters in the story and does so in a proud manner. You will love Truly and you will wish you could be her friend!

Furthermore, you will wish for a sequel!

Bitter is the New Black - Jen Lancaster (2006)

My sister told me about this author that made her laugh non-stop while she quickly read through her books. After reading Pillars of the Earth this past summer (and its 900+ pages) I found myself in the Book World store on Bridge Street in Charlevoix looking for a good summer laugh. I had passed this store many times on walks into town and noticed the one copy of Lancaster’s book displayed prominently in the front window. Figuring this was my “fun summer-make you want to laugh-easy read” book I plucked the novel from the window, paid my “not-so-Costco-discounted” full price and headed home!

Yes, it is March and I am just now blogging this story, but I really did finish it in February! This was an easy read and one that I read on and off as more Ken Follett passed through my hands. Lancaster is hilarious. She’s got a witty way of analyzing people, expressing her opinion and telling you through the use of footnotes, how she really feels. Going from a six-digit paying job to unemployment we watch Lancaster transform into someone who is bound and determined not to let society ruin her life. She explores the complexities of large corporate businesses and their lack of concern for those who apply for their job openings. She finds that many times she is too qualified for positions and is refused at the first interview. Anyone that says they will be in touch with her for a second interview is sure not to call back. Even her husband, Fletch, ends up in the unemployment line with her and falls into a great depression as they move from their “dream” apartment into one in a mixed neighborhood (I say that lightly… Surely Lancaster would have a better way of describing the crowd!).

I have to say, this was probably the funniest book I have read in a very, very long time. It was amusing, clever and well written. I now follow Jen Lancaster on Twitter (@altgeldshrugged) and am planning on purchasing the next book as soon as my birthday present iPad arrives! If you are looking for a good laugh in the ‘chick-lit’ category, check out Jen Lancaster.

Fall of Giants: Book One of the Century Triology – Ken Follet’s (2010)

After completing Ken Follett’s Pillars of the Earth I moved right along to this huge, hardcover copy of Follet’s book, Fall of Giants (September 2010) that I had picked up at Costco this past fall. It was daunting to carry this nearly 1,000-page book with me to Florida for vacation in December! (My Dad even asked if the book had an “ON” switch and was safe to read outside). Little did I know that I would fall in love once more with a collection of the stories of five families during World War I in Russia, England, France, Germany, Wales, and America.

 I will be the first to admit that prior to this book I knew very little about World War I, and I have learned more from this book than any textbook in my high school history class!

The story begins with the story of Billy Williams, a young boy growing up in a mining community under the authority of Earl Fitzherbert. We learn of the Fitzherbert’s through Billy’s older sister Ethel as she works for the Earl at Ty Gywn (the largest private estate in Wales with 200 bedrooms) despite the protest of her father (a character who gets limited attention but represents the mining union workers and has a major role and influence in his family). Ethel and the Earl (who is married to a Russian princess named Bea) fall hard for one another and the result is a pregnant Ethel being disowned from her family and her being shipped by the Earl to London to raise their child alone. While feeling for Ethel, we learn of a feminist movement brewing in London as men are being drafted and put into military ranks for the oncoming war. We learn of Fitz’s sister, Maud, who is working with his Aunt Herm to bring equal rights and voting privileges into power for women across England. 

Readers are also introduced to the Peshkov brothers, Lev and Grigori. Having grown up in a lower class society in Russia, the brothers have grown accustomed to living meal to meal as Grigori worked to provide for his younger brother. Both of their parents are killed early in their childhood as the result of clashes with authoritative figures from the controlling Russian government.  Grigori works hard to save some money for a ticket to America and his hopes of leaving Russia are dashed with Lev gets into legal trouble and must take Grigori’s passport and ship ticket out of Russia, leaving Grigori behind with Lev’s pregnant girlfriend Katerina. Keep in mind that Russia as well is now heading to war and will soon face its own revolutionary war later in the book!

Then there is Gus Dewar, an American born son of a Senator, working for President Woodrow Wilson in the White House in Washington D.C.. Dewar is a character who gives the reader insight about the President’s actions, his participation in the war, rallies at home and the peace treaty Wilson creates with 14 points of pride to help end World War I after over four years of fighting. We hear from Dewar about the League of Nations that forms while he is in the trenches fighting with the allies for an end to the war.

The last story is that of Walter von Ulrich, the son of a powerful German diplomat. Romance and love grows between Walter and Lady Maud prior to the War when the Germans and the English could travel between the countries easily. Fearing separation from one another as the two countries would go to War, Walter and Maud are married secretly and spend only one night together before Walter goes off to battle for Germany and Lady Maud is left to wonder in England about the safety of her beloved.

There is so much more I could tell about this story, but then you would not need to read it. Amazon readers only give this book 3 out of 5 stars. I loved the story, I loved the romance, I loved the mental images Follett creates of the men at war. The only fault I could find to this story is its length. There were times when the book seemed “long” yet I found it hard to put down. In a time when life has been busy, there was always time for some Fall of Giants at night. This book gets a solid five out of five stars from me!

The second in this trilogy will be published in 2012 as it chronicles the stories from the kids of the characters in Fall of Giants through the Depression and World War II. Below is a link to author Ken Follett’s web page.

http://www.ken-follett.com/home/index.html

This second link provides useful background information about World War I. This helped me to connect to the book and to better understand the historical information Follett explains with precision and detail.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_I

The Pillars of the Earth - Ken Follett (1989)

I picked up Ken Follet’s The Pillars of the Earth while at Costco this past summer. 973 Pages of action adventure set in the 12^th Century seemed way out of my standard reading genre, so I jumped in, head first!  A fellow friend of mine as well as her husband had both read the book a few summers prior (when I had my head stuck in the vampire drama unfolding in Forks, Washington) and were constantly talking and citing this book as one of their favorites.

I was instantly engaged in the story of Tom Builder and his family setting out with nothing on their backs, in search of a cathedral looking for a master builder and later in awe of the series of events that would unfold over four decades that were filled with love, hardship, politics and jaw-dropping twists and turn of events! This was the first of Follet’s books that I had read and I was amazed at how easy it was to keep the story straight between the characters of Prior Phillip, Aliena, Richard, Jack, William Hamleigh, Ellen, Remigus, Bishop Waleran and more. I was more impressed with the detail in the text used to describe the events within the story. From Aliena’s rape, to William’s attempted destruction of Kingsbridge and the market to the completion of the cathedral in Kingsbridge, the picture Follet creates is so detailed, you feel as though you are actually there, and will feel a mix of satisfaction and loss as the tale winds down at the very end.

This book will surprise you... You will want to celebrate victorious battles, drop your jaw at the treachery and rape while shedding a tear when favorite characters come to meet their fate!

I would highly suggest this book and throw in a disclaimer that Starz has done a remarkable job with the “Pillars of the Earth” series (Fall 2010) however, nothing can replace the attention to detail that Follet has provided for his readers within this novel.