Boy O'Boy

Realistic Fiction; Child Abuse; Sexual Child Abuse. "Describes the life of Martin O'Boy, a young child growing up in Ottawa during WWII, his being sexually abused, and how he reacts to it. " (titlewave.com)

This is also a powerful portrait of poverty; a portrait of a boy who is loved by his family and community, but has no one to protect him, no one to turn to. Short: 160 pages, but thought provoking. Grade 7 up, mature readers.
Powerful.

Joanne Presents

Freedom by Jonathan Franzen - 2
Neighbors wonder what is going on when Patty and Walter Berglund, once an ideal couple and perfect parents, begin to unravel, with their son moving in with the Republicans next door, Walter, an environmental lawyer, taking a job in the coal industry, and Patty becoming unhinged.

What I loved, a Novel by Siri Hustvedt - 6 - Winner (one round of voting)
The lives and families of art critic Leo Hertzberg and obscure painter Bill Wechsler become irrevocably entwined when Leo becomes enthralled with one of Bill's paintings and decides to track down the artist.

The Sorrows of an American by Siri Hustvedt - 4
Erik Davidsen and his sister Inga, going through their father's papers after his death, come across a disturbing note that implicates him in a murder, and spend the next year trying to unravel the mystery.

The Autograph Man by Zadie Smith - 0

Library Journal (May 15, 2003)

This is the story of one man's journey to find meaning in his life. Alex-Li Tandem, a 27-year-old who is half-Chinese and half-Jewish, ekes out an existence as an autograph dealer. Besides trying to find himself, Alex is also trying to get an elusive autograph of his favorite actress, a B-movie star from the 1950s named Kitty Alexander. The story devolves into a mishmash of fantasy and half-truths that are so twisted it is impossible to know where reality begins, let alone ends. Most of the characters are without dimension and simply serve as caricatures of bizarre individuals. Despite the needlessly long path of madcap adventures that morph into dreams or fantasies, this is a tortured tale that will wear out the best-intentioned of listeners. Even the tidbits about the Kabbalah, Zen Buddhism, and an alphabetical pursuit of drinks do not uplift this drivel. Steven Crossley's masterful reading is the only elevating feature. He is able to breathe some life into these lackluster and boring figures in an attempt to instill some animation into a painful listening experience. Smith won the Commonwealth Writers First Book Prize and the Whitbread First Novel Award for her first book, White Teeth. Her fans may want to give this a try just out of loyalty, but they should be warned that they will likely be disappointed. Not recommended.-Gloria Maxwell, Penn Valley Community Coll., Kansas City, MO Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

Zeitoun by Dave Eggers - 4
Details the experiences of Abdulrahman Zeitoun, a Syrian-American and New Orleans resident, and his family, in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, and describes how he was arrested and falsely imprisoned because of his ethnicity.

Broken for You by Stephanie Kallos

Joanne hosted; Jean reviewed. Joanne, Jean, Miriam, Kathy and Eleanor attended. We send Ellen our love. Cheryl is in Cape Cod. Joanne read a different book: Unfamiliar Fishes which she did not enjoy and doesn't know why she thought that was the book. She served pineapple in honor of the book; the pineapple was great; the book was not.

Eleanor only read half of the book but enjoyed what she did read and really liked finding out what happened.

We all agreed that it had some nice parts, but it had a few too many words. It is a tender book. The ending was a bit too tidy.

P.S. Ellen is coming for dessert!

Jean Presents March 11, 2011

The Stuff that Never Happened by Maddie Dawson (2)
Annabelle McKay enters a midlife crisis as her marriage begins to flounder, and when her pregnant daughter Sophie's health begins to fail, Annabelle travels to Manhattan to care for her.

Love in the Present Tense by Catherine Ryan Hyde (4) (3) (5)
Pearl, only thirteen when she gives birth to her son, Leonard, and on the run for accidently killing his father, begins leaving the child with her neighbor Mitch while she is at work, and Mitch and Leonard are left to figure out how to approach the future when Pearl fails to return home from work one day.

The Last Days of Ptolemy Grey by Walter Mosley (5) took out
Ptolemy Grey, an elderly man, falls further into his solitary existence and dementia, when his grandnephew--his only real connection to the outside world--dies in a drive-by shooting; when Robyn, his niece's lodger, helps him with his motivation and introduces him to a doctor who is touting an experimental drug that may give Ptolemy a temporary burst of clarity and energy, Ptolemy thinks of a way to leave a memorable legacy of himself.

Broken for You by Stephanie Kallos (4) (5)
Seventy-year-old Margaret Hughes is tired of living alone in her Seattle mansion, so she welcomes Wanda Schultz, a young woman suffering a broken heart, into her home, and the two form an unlikely friendship.

The Memoir Club by Laura Kalpakian (3)
Six women, all veterans of an extension night class in memoir writing, form a club dedicated to writing in order to breach the barriers of their pasts, and in the process make surprising discoveries that open the way to brighter futures.

January 21, 2011

Jean's house; Cheryl presented
CHOSEN: ISLAND BENEATH THE SEA by Isabelle Allende
Descriptions and images from http://titlewave.com

Island beneath the sea by Isabel Allende 2010; 457 pages (3 votes) (4) Cheryl broke tie vote with Prodigal Summer

Translation of: La isla bajo el mar. Zarite, who is known as Tete, born to an African mother she has never known and a white sailor, survives a brutal childhood and grows up to find comfort in the music and culture of her fellow slaves, and when Toulouse Valmorain purchases young Tete for his bride, both of their lives become intertwined in surprising ways, particularly when they both end up in New Orleans.




The zookeeper's wife by Diane Ackerman; 2007; 323 pages (3 votes) (2)
Relates the story of Jan and Antonina Zabinski, Christian zookeepers at the Warsaw Zoo, who helped save the lives of approximately three hundred Polish Jews during World War II by housing and feeding them on zoo grounds and teaching them how to "pass" as Aryan.

Valley Forge : George Washington and the crucible of victory by Newt Gringich 2010; 433 pages (1 vote)
A novelization of the events at Valley Forge that depicts Washington and his demoralized army in 1777, when they lived through the winter at the camp, enduring cold and starvation before being joined by Baron von Steuben, a volunteer from Germany who helps Washington mold the army into a force capable of taking on the British.

Nashville Chrome by Rick Bass 2010; 253 pages (1 vote)
A fictional account of the rise and success of Maxine, Bonnie, and Jim Ed Brown, whose music topped the country and pop charts in the late 1950s and 1960s.

The Forever Queen by Helen Hollick (3 votes) (1)
In 1002 England, Saxon queen Emma must take charge when her husband and king, Aether, fails to deal with the threat to their kingdom by Danish Vikings led by Swein Forkbeard and his son.

Prodigal Summer by Barbara Kingsolver 2001; 444 pages (4 votes) (2)
The coming of summer to Appalachia's Zebulon Mountain brings a blossoming in nature as well as in the lives of reclusive wildlife biologist Deanna Wolfe, young hunter Eddie Bondo, transplanted city-girl Lusa Landowski, and a pair of elderly, feuding neighbors.