Just Take My Heart by Mary Higgins Clark

Published in 2009. 322 pages.



I think I've read every one of Mary Higgins Clark's mystery and suspense novels. This one isn't anything special - but it was a good escapism read for a MHC fan like me.

2009.59

What's in a Name? 2

I was a dismal failure with this year's What's in a Name? challenge, hosted by Annie, completing just two of the six books. But Annie is at it again for 2009, and I'm going to give it another try.

The six selections for the challenge must again contain a specific element in the title (but these are different elements than for 2008):

• A book with a profession in its title


• A book with a time of day in its title


• A book with a relative in its title


• A book with a body part in its title


• A book with a building in its title


• A book with a medical condition in its title

These are my tentative picks:

• The Bookseller of Kabul by Asne Seierstad


• Scrambled Eggs at Midnight by Brad Barkley and Heather Hepler


• Summer Sisters by Judy Blume
  or The 19th Wife by David Ebershoff


• Piece of My Heart by Peter Robinson
  or I Feel Bad About My Neck by Nora Ephron


• House of Sand and Fog by Andre Dubus III


• Fever 1793 by Laurie Halse Anderson

Library Lion by Michelle Knudsen

Illustrated by Kevin Hawkes.
Published in 2006. 48 pages.


Library Lion is a delightful picture book about libraries and friendship and rules. It was a Children's Literature Association of Utah (CLAU) Beehive Award Nominee for 2007-2008.

First line: One day, a lion came to the library.

My favorite lines: Sometimes there is a good reason to break the rules. Even in the library.

2008.61

Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes

Originally published in 1966.
Co-winner of the Nebula Award for Best Novel in 1966.
Audio book performed by Jeff Woodman.


Although I remember friends reading Flowers for Algernon in high school, for some reason, I never did. But earlier this year, I decided to put it on my What's in a Name? challenge list. Because I recently had to make a three-hour-plus drive to do some training, I decided to get the book on tape from the library so I'd have something to listen to while I drove. I ended up listening to the other six hours a little at a time while commuting, traveling to my dentist (about 30 miles from my home), and driving the "mom taxi" to pick up my kids.

If you are not familiar with the premise of the book, the plot is basically that a 32-year-old retarded man named Charlie Gordon undergoes a surgical experiment to increase his IQ, as it has for the lab mouse, Algernon. Charlie keeps a journal of progress reports to record the changes this experiment creates in my mind and in his life.

I'm very glad I've now "read" this book. I think it's an important one, and I would recommend that everyone read it. It made me incredibly sad, however. This was both because of the treatment Charlie receives from his family when he was a young boy and from his co-workers now that he is an adult and because of the difficulties his new-found intelligence brings and the ultimate outcome of the experiment. A review at amazon.com summarizes my response well: "Flowers for Algernon is a timeless tear-jerker with a terrific emotional impact."

Flowers for Algernon is on the American Library Association's list of the 100 Most Frequently Challenged Books of 1990-2000. The most frequent reason for the challenges relates to Charlie's sexuality. For a thoughtful review of the book by a mom who recommended it to her twelve-year-old daughter despite the "distasteful sexual scenes" (in the words of some censors), click here; even the title of the review is terrific: "Flowers for Algernon, Stinkweeds for the Censors!"

2008.25

Some Ramblings about Reading

It's been an extremely busy few weeks with not much book blogging and not even much reading. But I do have several books on my mind!

First of all, I promised to give away my copy of An Absolute Gentleman! I had my daughter randomly choose a number from those who commented on my review by February 29, and the winner is (drumroll, please) Naida! (If you'll email me your snail mail address, Naida, I'll send the book to you as soon as I can.)

I've also got to mail two books that have been requested of me via BookMooch and PaperBackSwap - Barbara Vine's Gallowglass and Anne Tyler's Celestial Navigation, respectively. Getting to the post office is a challenge for me at times, but it'll happen soon!

In addition to needing to send books out, I've received a few books lately!

The Book Buddies pick for March is People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks. I've only been reading the group pick about every other month and really hoped to participate in March, but since the book is a new release, there are a lot of holds on it at the library. Realizing that I probably wouldn't be able to get it from the library until the end of the month, I decided to order it from amazon.com. They had it at a decent price, and thanks to Christine, I had a $10 gift card I could apply to the order. The book was delivered early this week, and that is what I've been reading a few pages from this week. I made some progress on the book this morning and have just finished posting a few of my thoughts over at the Book Buddies blog.

I also recently received in the mail a package from Florinda. She'd read Firefly Lane by Kristin Hannah and generously offered to pass her copy along to me. It'll probably be a few months until I get to it, but once I read it, I'd love to pass it along to someone else.

Thursday one more book package arrived. This one was from Susan, who had held a drawing for a copy of The Bookseller of Kabul by Asne Seierstad. My friend Cynthia had previously recommended the book to me - and I included it on my "What's in a Name?" challenge list - so when I saw that Susan was going to give her copy away, I hoped that I would get it. And I did!

One last book note for today! We visited the PTA book fair after the kids' parent-teacher conferences Thursday night. Sugar Bear got some Avatar: The Last Airbender books, Sugar Plum got Becoming Naomi León, and I got Poor Pluto!, a book written and illustrated by third-grade students of Tokay Colony Elementary School in Lodi, California.

What's in a Name?

Annie - who is the daughter of Debi - is hosting a creative reading challenge for 2008. It's called What's in a Name? and the six selections for the challenge must contain a specific element in the title:

• A book with a color in its title


• A book with an animal in its title


• A book with a first name in its title


• A book with a place in its title


• A book with a weather event in its title


• A book with a plant in its title

These are my picks:

• Born on a Blue Day: Inside the Mind of an Autistic Savant
  by Daniel Tammet


• Library Lion by Michelle Knudsen


• We Need to Talk about Kevin by Lionel Shriver


• The Bookseller of Kabul by Asne Seierstad


• House of Sand and Fog by Andre Dubus III


• Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes