Only Time Will Tell , The Sins of the Father- Jeffrey Archer, November 2013

I couldn't put the book down.  I loved the way it was written with sections of the book given to each character.  The story unfolds as you read the story from one persons perspective and they fill in the details that you missed from the previous chapters and then give you more to wonder about.  Yes, it is entirely unbelievable that one character could go through so much.   Then to pull it into the truly unbelievable, each of the side characters has just as unbelievable series of events that happen to all intertwine.  But who cares.  Sometimes the foreshadowing is so blatant that you can nearly call the next chapter before reading it.  But who cares.  I want to keep reading -see if I am right and see what other twists happen because I can't unravel it all.  I am taken by the boy who against-all-odds becomes a scholar.  Who doesn't want to root for the boy who has nothing and is becoming something great? Then his mother who will do anything and everything to make the life for her Henry better than her own.  Stan is a filthy character who will defy his own family for money.  For a time you want to like the character, only because Harry follows him like a puppy dog but in the end you just can't like him. Worse yet is Hugo, the father of Harry's best friend at school.  He is entirely unpalatable yet has a father Sir Barrington who is very upstanding and smart man.  The Tancock/Clifton clan intermingles with the Barringtons and a number of other characters and many intertwined stories weave together to create intrigue.  I finished the book in less than a week.  I then picked up its sequel and finished it within a day. I am not allowing myself to get the third book from the library until I complete some of my 'to do' list or I will never get anything done.  Even with my best intentions I would convince myself, "Just one more chapter."  And so it went until I had flipped through to the very last page.

It isn't a literary classic and I feel somewhat guilty to have liked it so much (stealing a line from the book when Harry is working in the library).

State of Wonder by Ann Patchet October 2013

A pharmaceutical company is developing a new drug in the Amazon.  The ever energetic and incredibly intelligent Dr.Swenson is working on the drug that will allow women to become mothers even as old women.  She has been working in a place down an undisclosed tributary in a spot in the Amazon and not even her boss Mr.Fox doesn't know of its location.

Anders Eckman is given an assignment to the jungle to learn of the drugs progress after Dr. Swenson fails to give reports to the company.  He is supposed to report back  to Mr.Fox but a succinct letter from Swenson states that he is dead.  Karen Eckman his wife falls apart but doesn't necessarily believe that her husband is dead.

Then Marina is asked to go by her boss and lover Mr.Fox.

Okay read.  Entertaining.

The Heart is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers - Read Sept 2013

I ordered several books from the Toronto Public Library Catalog that I found listed on the Oprah Book List.  This was the second that arrived - The Heart is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers.  It was written in much the same style as Beautiful Ruins that I had just read, where we follow different characters.  There stories intertwine and we look at human character.  The main take away for me in this book is that people feel connection by telling there stories and sharing their 'true' self when the other can not or does not respond.  I say this because many of the characters develop a relationship with a deaf mute, Singer and they go to him regularly to tell him their woes or their stories.  He listens and takes it all in - no judgement, no suggestions - just takes it in.  Then also Singer finds comfort in going to talk to his confidant, Antonapolous, a fellow mute.  Antonapolous, you are lead to believe, can not understand Singer yet Singer longs to go to talk to his friend throughout the book.  It ties into the next book I am reading in a way.  The book I am now reading is talking about shame and that sometimes we are afraid to let who we are show.

I don't know if it was because I had just finished a book in such a similar style, or if it was just that I didn't feel connected with the writers story but I didn't really like it.  It was okay.  The writing was fine.  The themes were moderately interesting but I finished the book and was glad it didn't go on.  I was done. 

Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walter - Read Sept 2013

I took the Oprah Book List and the Toronto Library Catlogue. The first book I "read" or listened to unabridged on audiobook was Beautiful Ruin.  It is quite funny that its setting is along the coast of Italy in a fictitious town that lies south of the Cinque Terra as my sister-in-law Karlene and I have mentioned several times that we wish to take a trip here.  Now, just next week Karlene may be coming onto a three week holiday and we are tossing around ideas for a trip... is the book tempting me.  It seems so and for Karlene too she is seeing Italy everywhere so I believe for both of us Italy is nearing the top of our desired trip locations for this October.

The book went from character to character skipping around through the chapters of the book from story to story, occasionally giving you some insight of the past.  Pasquale is the main man and Di More is the main lady.  She is an actress who ends up at his hotel in Italy.  She is pregnant with another high end actors baby but has been told she has cancer. Pasquale and Di foster an attraction and enjoy their conversations for a few days.  At the end of the book as an old man and old lady they meet again.  In between there is a lot of development of the characters.  There isn't hiding the very human faults and misfortunes.  It looks at the hopes and have-tos and responsibilities.  For me it highlighted the realities of life.  In other words, this is great and awesome, but this other thing- this thing I have already started and am responsible for can also be awesome.  The grass is not always greener on the other side.  Although it might have been.  We don't know.  But people did the "right" thing and made it turn out really alright.  That doesn't mean that we all don't have bits and pieces hiding in our hearts wondering what if or what happened to.  It was a fine book.  It won't be climbing to the top of the list.  I won't be running out to recommend it, nor will I suggest others don't read it.