Dear Mr. Knightley

by Katherine Reay
Rated PG

A captivating tale, told in letter form, of a seemingly tough but oh-so-vulnerable young woman who is trying to find her place in the world after growing up in the foster care system. Completely unsure of her own opinions, she has always hidden behind dialogue crafted by her favorite authoresses, namely Austen and Bronte, when she can't think of anything original to say, which is nearly always.

Our heroine, Sam, receives an incredible offer of support to get her through college from an anonymous benefactor, who requests only that she write to him occasionally to update him on her progress. This book is the collection of her letters to this benefactor, whom she addresses as Mr. Knightly. She opens herself up to him on paper as she never would in person, and her story unfolds as one of perseverance, grit and compassion.

If you love Jane Austen, you'll be captivated by the little inside jokes Sam creates as she uses Austen's dialogue as her own. And if you don't love Jane Austen, give this book a try anyway. It's got a good heart.

Rated PG, it's a clean book with some darkness as different characters grapple with past tragedies.

stir

by Jessica Fechtor
Rated PG

I had a craving for memoir, and I picked stir up by happenstance. By which I mean, it happened to catch my eye from a display at the library, so I checked it out. And ended up loving it so much I will probably buy it as well.

Fechtor weaves the story of an unlikely brain aneurysm that struck in her 20s with her love of cooking, and even more, of feeding those she loves. She writes gently, as though stirring something that mustn't be handled too much, as in, when entering her apartment after ages in the hospital, she writes, "I felt shy but welcome, as though I'd shown up late somewhere important to find that someone had saved me a seat." In this way she leads the reader through years where her memories of and experiences with food finally awaken in her the truth that she is still "she", still Jessica Fechtor. Deliciously, every chapter culminates with recipes for the foods most important to her.

I admit I'm not an accomplished cook, only a good enough cook. This is why Fechtor has so endeared herself to me by taking her time with the recipes she writes. She's in no hurry to lead you along to the finished product. Ingredients, methods, even sometimes utensils or receptacles are explained and even adored. For example, where most people would write "saute the onion", Fechtor writes, "...add the onion, and saute until it softens, goes translucent, and browns a little around the edges." When it comes time for you, the cook, to saute the onion in this recipe, there will be no doubt when you've done it right, will there?

And certainly, the book is sparkling clean. Not a drop of bad language or anything else to besmirch this beautiful memoir.

Get a glimpse of this author's writing style and recipes on her food blog at http://sweetamandine.com.

The Alchemist

By Paulo Coelho
Rated: PG

Santiago was just a shepherd boy - but not just a shepherd boy. He was a boy who had already left his family to become a shepherd in order to follow his dream of traveling. For several weeks, while resting in a field with his sheep, he had a recurring dream in which he was led to a place where he would find a hidden treasure. In confusion he went to a woman who could interpret dreams. What she told him and guidance provided by a mysterious king led him on a journey to find his personal legend; a trip that takes him over the sea, into foreign lands, through desert sands and through a war.

A story with a strong philosophical bent, I found there were many interesting coincidences and links between characters that a reader may not fully realize until reading through it second time. The book is spotlessly clean and would be an interesting read for teenagers, adults and seems to cry out for a book club.

These Is My Words

by Nancy E. Turner
Rated; PG-13

Sarah Prine is just a teenager in July of 1882 when her family decides to move from the west end of New Mexico Territory to San Angelo, Texas. Although not well educated, she decides to write her experiences ". . . so if we don't get to San Angelo or even as far as Fort Hancock I am saving this little theme in my cigar box for some wandering travelers to find and know whose bones these is." This book follows the joys and travails of Sarah's life as she records them in her diary, her discovered love of learning, and her indomitable spirit that leads her to not only survive but flourish in a harsh frontier world full of myriad dangers.

Full of fine details of life in those times, we watch Sarah grow from an uneducated teenager to a self-educated, determined young woman to a woman who is a force of nature. Truly a well-written book that grabs you and pulls you into Sarah's life (I had a hard time putting it down) but definitely not for everyone and absolutely not for the kiddos due to the many dangers and harsh and sometimes disturbing situations Sarah was involved in. Punches are not pulled in describing scenes that show almost too well the dark side of human nature. This book is PG-13 - a hard PG-13 approaching being non-recommendable for the purposes of this blog. There is frontier violence, reference to sexuality and an attempted rape although, surprisingly, only a few curse words.

Fever

by Mary Beth Keane
Rated PG-13

This well-researched novel chronicles the life of the unfortunately nicknames "Typhoid Mary", a woman who appears to be in perfect health, but is accused of being an asymptomatic carrier of the deadly Typhoid virus.

As medical science plows through uncharted waters in the early 1900s, Mary finds herself in her own uncharted waters - forced to live for years in quarantine on a little island, surrounded by a bunch of tuberculosis patients and nurses wanting to get samples from her every other day.

Mary's decisions as she struggles to come to terms with the abrupt changes in her life, and her undulating relationship with Alfred, her live-in boyfriend of many years, are spellbinding. I kept thinking, "I can't believe this could really happen to someone!"

I really wanted to rate this book PG because it is pretty mild, but there are a couple of paragraphs that allude to physical intimacy, and I promised no sexuality in my PG ratings, so there you go :)  Also, there are a handful of swear words: about 10 occurrences, mostly one certain word used to describe the ever present filth in the streets of the tenements.

This would be a great book club read.

The Alchemyst: The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel

by Michael Scott
Rated: PG

15-year-old twins Josh and Sophie do everything together, they even work across the street from each other in San Francisco: Josh in a used book store and Sophie at a coffee shop. With their parents on an archaeological dig, Josh and Sophie are living with an elderly aunt and enjoying a perfectly ordinary summer until an ancient evil dressed in an expensive suit walks into the bookstore. Josh quickly discovers that his employer, Nick Fleming, is not just a slightly odd bookshop proprietor but is, in fact, the immortal Nicholas Flamel. In an instant, Josh and Sophie's lives are changed forever. They are swept into a world of magic, where legends are fact, mythic creatures are real, and the only chance of saving Nicholas' wife and, indeed, the human race, may be the sleeping powers of the twins themselves.

This is a truly enjoyable read. My niece, who is 13, recommended this book to me and even lent me her copy to read. I can't say enough good things about it. It has great characters, it's completely fun to see mythology come to life, the twins are likeable and real, the story is entertaining and engaging, and in general is a fine read. Best of all, it's a series and my niece assures me that at least the next two books in the series (as far as she's gotten through it) are just as good as this one! There are zero curse words and no sexual tension or inappropriate material. There are fantasy fight/battle scenes that involve violence, which is why the rating is PG rather than G. All in all, I think tweens, teens and even adults (case in point) will enjoy this book. I look forward to reading the remaining books in the series.

The Elegance of the Hedgehog

By Muriel Barbery
Rated: PG-13

What is a humble concierge at No. 7, Rue de Grenelle, Paris (a very exclusive address, you know) to do when she knows she doesn't fit the preconceived image of a concierge? Why, pretend, of course. Pretend to be slow, stupid, addicted to bad television, and unable to comprehend even a shallow thought, much less a deep one. Renee lives for her solitary passions: philosophy, great literature, any book that expands her knowledge, great art and great music. But she indulges these passions oh so carefully, so no one suspects she is anything more than the surface image she presents. Paloma, the hyper-intelligent 12-year-old daughter of a wealthy tenant, hides behind a wall of silence. No one knows of her troubles, her dreams, her plans, or the extent of her perspicacity. Lonely and alone, these two hide themselves from the world around them, not realizing how life could change with a little openness and camaraderie. But sometimes, thankfully, there are people who see us even when we're hiding and such was Monsieur Ozu. What a difference one person can make. And how perspectives can shift when we know there is one person who truly sees and understands beauty.

I will be honest and say that at first I did not like this book. It was depressing and seemed to try just a bit too hard to be intellectual. But I had a high recommendation from a friend so I kept reading. To my surprise, I found that each time, I was picking up the book a bit more eagerly. Then I found myself nodding along with some of the insights from a character's inner monologue. And then I reached the turning of the tide, the point of no return that comes in a good book where no matter how late it is, you just have to finish it. I loved it. I have rated it PG-13 mostly because Paloma is obsessed with planning her own suicide and I felt that pushed the rating up higher than it otherwise would have had. There is the occasional use of a curse word as well.

Out Stealing Horses

By Per Petterson
Rated: PG-13

In a small cabin by a lake in Norway, Trond is finding peace with his life and the loss he has recently suffered. Isolated and rustic with only one nearby neighbor and in need of a lot of TLC, it is exactly what Trond is looking for to find meaning in each moment. But a chance meeting with his neighbor stirs old memories and Trond finds himself returning to in his mind to the summer of 1948, when he was just 15 years old. Finds himself returning to another cabin hired by his dad for just the two of them. It was a glorious summer hanging out with 15-year-old Jon, who shows up at the cabin door with the wildest ideas. It was a perfect summer. . . until tragedy strikes. And Trond's understanding - of his world, of his father, of himself, of Jon, of relationships, of everything - was forced to change.

A fairly interesting story that is presented in a somewhat unusual way and one that answers some questions, hints at others and leaves you to fill in the gaps. The style is a little clipped but it works. There is a sexual component, which is why this is rated PG-13: a crush on an older woman, reference to an affair, and a couple of episodes of teenage lustful thoughts. Curse words are used rarely but there are a few instances. There is also a couple of episodes of violence. For the above reasons, this is rated for adults.

Mister Owita's Guide to Gardening

by Carol Wall
Rated PG

Mister Owita's Guide to Gardening is a tender memoir about an unlikely friendship, combined with a little lesson in facing our trials with dignity.

When Carol Wall tentatively approaches the man who has made her neighbor's yard so beautiful, it is with some serious misgivings. After all, she has always had an aversion for flowers, dirt, and all things horticultural.

But as Carol and Mr. Owita (Giles) come to know and trust each other, Carol not only finds comfort in watching the way her friend responds to heartache, she also learns to appreciate the beauty that surrounds her, in her very own yard.

The First Phone Call From Heaven

by Mitch Albom
Rated PG

The small town of Coldwater, Michigan is turned upside down when residents begin receiving phone calls from the dead. Suddenly, daughters are getting calls from mothers, mothers from sons, businessmen from partners...is it real, or some sort of complex hoax?

It would seem much of the world believes the phone calls are real, as strangers from all over begin flocking to Coldwater to get a glimpse of the "chosen ones" who receive the calls. Sully Harding, however, is one man who does not believe. A single father whose wife died tragically and recently, Sully is determined that his little son not be duped into thinking his Mama might pick up the phone and call him from heaven. There's enough hurt without that.

As Sully quietly investigates the calls, he finds things he never expected. And that's the premise at the heart of this whole book - what would it mean if the unexpected happened?

A fun, clean mystery, this book is rated PG for suspense and mild references to violence and suicide. This book is really completely clean - thank you Mitch Albom!

Great choice for book club.

Belonging to Heaven

by Gale Sears
Rated PG

I love Christmas, I always get new books, Yay!!!

Belonging to Heaven is historical fiction, based on the life of one of the first Mormon missionaries to preach in the Hawaiian islands, George Q. Cannon, and the man who became one of the first native leaders of the church there, as well as Elder Cannon's lifelong friend, Jonathan Napela.

The story is rich in historical detail and faith promoting experiences, but at its heart, it is really a love story between Jonathan and his wife Kitty. Their life together is full of blessings and trials, but the real test comes about two-thirds of the way into the book, when Kitty is stricken with leprosy - "the disease that deprives one of family and friends". Government regulations require that Kitty be relocated to a leper colony on the island of Moloka'i, and Jonathan must decide whether or not to accompany her, when staying with Kitty means leaving his precious daughter and grandchild, his work as a church leader in the Mormon settlement at Laie, and running the great risk of catching the dread disease himself.

This book is so well-researched, you will quickly find yourself drawn into the lives of these families, marveling that these astounding events ever really happened.  

The Rent Collector

by Camron Wright
Rated PG

I've been on the waiting list at the library to read this book, and when my turn came I zipped right through it in a couple of days :)

This novel is loosely based on a real family in Cambodia, who make their living, and their home, in the dump, scavenging for metal and glass that they can exchange for barely more than enough money to feed their family each day. They are one of many families surviving in this manner.

The ornery, unsympathetic rent collector is a woman loathed by all, until one young mother, Sang Ly, finds out by accident that this woman used to be an honored university professor, a fact she has kept secret for all her drunken years collecting rent at the dump. Sang Ly manages to convince the rent collector to teach her to read, hoping that it will lead to a better future for her and her son, and her journey changes everything - and everyone.

I really enjoyed this book. It was equal parts unsettling and gratifying.

Rated PG for some gang violence that goes on in the dump, including a child gang member who is beaten to death, so if you are reading this with your children, watch for that. There is also the rent collector's fondness for alcohol.

Until I Say Good-Bye

by Susan Spencer-Wendel
Rated PG

When 44-year-old Susan Spencer-Wendel was diagnosed with ALS, or Lou Gehrig's disease, she knew it would be fatal, and perhaps quickly so. But she was determined to leave her family with a legacy of joy, rather than sorrow.

Until I Say Good-Bye chronicles Susan's (pretty successful) attempt to live joyfully alongside her disease, committed to counting what remained instead of all she had lost. And when your muscles begin to die one by one, you lose quite a bit. She actually typed this whole book on an iPhone with her thumb, the only digit she could still control.

Susan's optimism and ability to tell her story with humor and just the right amount of sentiment kept me glued to this book. Certainly a good choice for book club, since we all have plenty to think, and talk, about when confronting the tragedies of others and our own what-ifs.

Rated PG for a smattering of swear words.

Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore

by Robin Sloan
Rated: PG

Clay Jannon was a victim of the great recession. His marketing job with a precision bagel company went phut with the company after just one year; barely long enough to gain experience and certainly not long enough to  make any real impression on a prospective employer. As the job search dragged on, Clay decided to take a chance when he saw the help wanted sign on a dusty, dark, 24-hour bookstore in a less than ideal part of town. As the night clerk, time dragged by with few customers and a strict ban on ever opening any of the books. The customers he did get were odd, though. With too much time on his hands, Clay started to notice patterns in the regular customers and when he actually took a peek inside one of the books, he really started to get interested. For within was not a story, but a code. He opened another, then another - the entire bookstore was a giant code. And Clay was going to solve it no matter where it took him.

This book reminded me of a Mr. Benedict Society for adults. I enjoyed it. It's an implausible, fun story with a somewhat corny ending. A great summer book for just relaxing and enjoying the moment. It is also very clean, which you just can't say about too many books for adults these days.

Have a Little Faith

by Mitch Albom
Rated: PG

Mitch Albom has done himself proud in yet another inspirational true story. The story begins when his childhood rabbi asks him to give the eulogy at his funeral, whenever that may be. Mr. Albom assumes it will be soon and decides he needs to meet with this man he knew only from a distance to really be able to eulogize him. What he thinks will be a few short visits turns into eight years of laughter, discussion, learning, and love. Interspersed with the stories of his visits with the Rabbi are Mr. Albom's visits with a very different kind of preacher named Henry - a Christian, former drug-using, drug-dealing ex-con who turned his life around and founded the I Am My Brother's Keeper ministry in Chicago. Through the interweaving of these stories, we appreciate the good people do, regardless of religion. A good act is a good act and should be celebrated. This is a story of redemption, tolerance, and loving your fellow man no matter what. I found it truly inspiring.

Although the book gives Henry's background which is a potluck of unfortunate decisions, it doesn't represent any of those deeds as desirable or good. Instead, it is used to juxtapose where Henry was to where he is now, giving all hope that lives can indeed be changed. There are no curse words or inappropriate sexual material.

The Lifeboat

by Charlotte Rogan
Rating: PG-13

It is two years after the Titanic has sunk. War is quickly coming to Europe and newlyweds Grace and Henry quickly book first class passage on the Empress Alexandra, trying to get back home to New York. The only darkness on Grace's horizon is the thought of meeting Henry's family, a well-to-do banking family. Her darkness quickly expands as a mysterious explosion rocks the ship and Henry miraculously gets her into a lifeboat with 38 other people, including one crew member, leaving Henry behind. For the next several weeks, Grace and the others in the lifeboat discover what survival really means and just what they are willing to do to ensure it for themselves. When life is restricted to the very next moment, you never think what will happen when you actually manage to survive. What happens when a court of law holds you accountable for the atrocities that occurred in the terrible name of survival?

As with the others I've recently reviewed, this book was well-written. But this one was deeply disturbing to me. I guess it is the spectre of confronting what darkness could lie in each of us - in me - in similar circumstances. We like to believe that we would be noble and moral. That no circumstance could change our convictions about right and wrong. This book forces us to question - would we? Would we really?

There was no bad language that I can recall and no sexual references. There was a scene or two of sometimes brutal violence, although not bloody, and much death - sometimes by choice and sometimes by force. This is not light summer reading and only read it if you are prepared to feel internal upheaval. It certainly brings a lot of larger points and ideas for discussion which makes it good for a book club.

Endangered

by Eliot Schrefer

Rating: PG-13

When Sophie traveled to the Democratic Republic of Congo to spend the summer with her mother at her bonobo sanctuary, she was expecting a normal, somewhat boring, summer at her former home. Congo had other ideas. On her way from the airport, Sophie rescues a young bonobo from a trader in the street. Although her mother is upset, she accepts little Otto into the sanctuary under Sophie's charge. Much to Sophie's surprise, as she nurses Otto back to health, they form a strong bond. A few days before Sophie is to depart back to the States, with her mother gone on a long journey to release adult bonobos into a wild island preserve, Congo erupts. Revolution has come once again to the country and all is chaos. Unwilling to leave Otto, Sophie hopes that the sanctuary will remain safe but as the fighting draws nearer and smoke rises from a nearby village, she retreats with Otto into the wild of the sanctuary. But the revolution draws near and fighters occupy the sanctuary buildings. Can she and Otto survive while revolution swirls around them? Can they escape the false security of the sanctuary to find her mother, the only person Sophie has to turn to in Congo?

The language is clean in this book - I only recall one curse word used. The story is intense. Sophie and Otto are on the run in an extremely dangerous situation for most of the book. The country is in revolution and there are occasionally scenes of massacre and one scene where Sophie barely escapes without being violated. For this reason, the book is rated PG-13. It is a well-written book and reads like a true story, which it is not. But the characters are believable and the journey is descriptive and tense. I enjoyed it but with the scenes of violence and revolution, it's not for young kids.

The Light Between Oceans

by M.L. Stedman
Rated PG-13

Living on a remote island with only her quiet, steady husband Tom and a lighthouse for company, young Isabel Sherbourne suffers through two miscarriages and a stillbirth on her own. When, two weeks after she's buried her stillborn baby, a boat floats up on shore carrying a dead man, a woman's sweater, and a tiny baby, Isabel believes she has received a gift from God. Against Tom's ardent pleas to report the incident and turn the baby over to the authorities, Isabel names the baby and keeps her for her own, certain the child is better off with them than in an orphanage.

Two years later, Tom and Isabel, with little toddler Lucy, have been granted shore leave, and arrive on the mainland to discover that they are not as isolated as they thought, that their choice has had consequences they were unwilling to imagine.

Steadman draws you so steadily into the emotions of each character than you are stunned to realize you don't know who to feel sorrier for. This novel can only end in tragedy, no matter the outcome. I couldn't put it down.

The book has one brief husband/wife sexual comment, and some scattered incidents of taking the Lord's name in vain, earning it a PG-13 rating.

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The Enchanted April

by Elizabeth Von Arnim
Rated PG

I'll file this 1922 novel under "Classics I'd Never Heard Of." Until I saw it mentioned as a reader favorite in a magazine article, that is. Of course, I'm always on the lookout for good books, so I picked it up at my local library right away and dug in.

The Enchanted April is aptly named, telling the story of 4 London women, near strangers to each other, who share a month's holiday at an Italian villa. Each with her own reason for desiring a few weeks of solitude and beauty, they find their attitudes and even their attributes changing as the spell of the place infects them.

A quaint little read in some ways, there were also moments where I cried in my mind, "Yes, that's just how it is!" Take as an example Lotty, a woman who entered the villa dissatisfied with nearly every aspect of her life, but as the serenity and beauty of her surroundings softens her heart and fills it with love instead of gloom, she finds it so much easier to overlook the shortcomings in others that used to plague her, to love without regard to being loved in return...in short, to be her better self. Whew! That was a long sentence, sorry about that. Hopefully, after reading this novel, you're so full of love that you'll disregard my literary shortcomings.

There are certain roundabout references in the book to the married bedroom, and one husband who makes a living writing biographies of royals and their mistresses, meriting the PG rating, but the references are general and vague, and I feel safe in saying this is a clean book.


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I Am David

by Anne Holm
Rated PG

A blog reader wrote to tell me that this is her all-time favorite book, and although it was written for 9-13 year olds, I will be posting this under our Favorites also.

David is about 12 years old when he is given the chance to escape from the concentration camp that he has lived in all his life, or at least for as long as he can remember.

With no known family and nothing but a parcel of bread and matches to sustain him, he sets out for freedom and a place where he can belong.

Imagine what the world would look like if you'd seen nothing but the dreary surroundings and deathly countenances of a concentration camp your whole life! I found myself newly discovering the truly important things in this world through the eyes of David, as he sees and feels everything for the first time.

The profound sacrifice of a friend will either propel David to live or die...I let you discover which it is for yourself.

This book is perfectly clean in language and inference. I rated it PG because the subject matter can be kind of intense - he is a boy all alone and living in constant fear of being caught by evil people. However, this book begins on the day David escapes the concentration camp, so you won't find any of the brutalities you'd expect from a book set during war-time. Great, clean book club choice - Chapter 8 will give you plenty to discuss!


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