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Review Date: 4/11/2009
Helpful Score: 1
Abide with Me, by Elizabeth Strout
A young minister comes to a small New England town, where he suffers a profound loss. The themes of faith and challenges, loyalty and abandonment, depression, and loss swirl around the story. The author is an eloquent writer.
A young minister comes to a small New England town, where he suffers a profound loss. The themes of faith and challenges, loyalty and abandonment, depression, and loss swirl around the story. The author is an eloquent writer.
Review Date: 4/11/2009
A teenage couple leaves their newborn son on the property of an estate. The caretaker decides he wants to keep her. The book explores how secrets of the past affect today, what capabilities are needed to rear a child, how generosity changes lives, and how the aged are vulnerable. This is another book that is hard to put down.
Review Date: 4/11/2009
Helpful Score: 1
Cooked by Carol Karels (autobiography) is set in Chicago at the Cook County Hospital. A naive suburban teenager entered nursing school at the largest public hospital in the country- one marked by racial barriers, chronic shortages, laziness and political turmoil Carol describes her rite of passage through a tumultuous three year diploma program. She brings to life the day-to-day rigors of a student nurse who faces the challenges of his large institution. This is available through Arcania Press, PO Box 415, Leonia, NJ. Contact them at info@arcaniapress.com.
Review Date: 4/11/2009
Helpful Score: 1
The Innocent Man by John Grisham is a nonfiction book that describes the arrest and conviction of a four men accused of murder. The Oklahoma story centers around Ron Williamson, a troubled bipolar maverick who was arrested and sentenced to death for a murder he did not commit. This pre-DNA analysis story uncovers how the small town politics, fixed beliefs of prosecutors and tainted and ignored evidence combine to send innocent men to prison. It also lays bare the nastiness of sadistic prison guards who tormented Ron while he was on death row. John Grisham became interested in the story after reading a headline about Williamson and reconstructed the events. This is a chilling book that reads like a novel but is true.
Review Date: 4/11/2009
Ricochet by Sandra Brown (fiction) is set in Savannah. Detective Duncan Hatcher is called to a crime scene. The beautiful trophy wife of an influential judge fatally shot a burglar. Duncan suspects she is lying, and investigates the murder. But when the wife makes an incredible accusation, sparks fly. When she goes missing, Duncan begins to unravel the truth. Sandra brown excels at writing suspenseful books. This is no exception. It kept me engaged to the end.
Review Date: 4/11/2009
Helpful Score: 1
It is easy to see why this book stayed on the New York Times bestseller list. Seabiscuit was a world glass athlete who captured the imagination of the American public during the Great Depression. No other racehorse has rivaled Seabiscuits fame. This is a spell-binding story of the world of horse racing, the men who staked fortunes on the outcomes of races, and the men who risked their lives to be jockeys. The authors ability to fill in the details and vivid writing style brings you to the race and into the jockeys quarters. I was particularly interested in the details of how they purged to reduce their weights to the acceptable level right before a race, and the risks entailed in riding horses. Another fascinating detail was how a mountain of horse manure melted during a flood and washed away a track. The story ends with the death of Seabiscuit, whose skills made fortunes for his owners and for many other people.
Review Date: 4/11/2009
Helpful Score: 1
Sweetwater by Christine Baker Kline
The water and the tongues in Sweetwater, Tennessee are anything but sweet. A girl who was torn from the family by the tragic death of her mother returns to the homestead to learn more about the event surrounding her mother's death. The family secrets are revealed in shattering ways. This is a beautifully written first novel.
The water and the tongues in Sweetwater, Tennessee are anything but sweet. A girl who was torn from the family by the tragic death of her mother returns to the homestead to learn more about the event surrounding her mother's death. The family secrets are revealed in shattering ways. This is a beautifully written first novel.
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