How Starbucks Saved My Life: A Son of Privilege Learns to Live Like Everyone Else by Michael Gates Gill

This was a really cute memoir that can be appreciated by any Starbucks addict/lover. The book is about a man who had it all--great job, family, and lots of $. Well he loses his job and makes a poor decision which ends up ruining his marriage. He's trying to pick up the pieces of his life when he decides on a whim of course, to apply for a job at Starbucks. In the book, he talks about the lessons he learns while working at Starbucks and you get peek into what it might be like to work for this company. Parts are kind of cutsy and cheesy, but that's why I liked it. It was fun, quick and made me want a grande non-fat pumpkin spice latte really bad!

sTori Telling by Tori Spelling

This was a fun read--I almost didn't want to post it for fear of people asking me why I would be interested in reading a book about Tori Spelling. Well this summer I got hooked on her show and well I was curious about what happened between her and her mom. It's in the press that Tori didn't receive much of an inheritance from her dad and her mom got everything. It was a fun read--really easy as I finished it in two days. I don't envy her living in the public eye and having to deal with papparazzi. I am happy that she's finally found love and has been able to start the family she has wanted all of her life.

New Moon by Stephenie Meyer

This is the 2nd book in the Twilight series. Bella and Edward break up! He breaks her heart and leaves her severely depressed. She finally brings herself out of her depression by becoming better friends with Jacob Black. Jacob is a warm, understanding guy who Bella sees as her best friend--not in the romantic way. I won't give away anymore of the story because it would ruin it for you if you are interested in reading these. It was fun and quick despite the 500 pages. The Twilight movie comes out in November--yea!

Home: a memoir of my early years by Julie Andrews

I listened to Julie Andrews' autobiography. She actually performed the narration for it which was really neat. One of my all-time favorite muscials is "The Sound of Music" so I couldn't resist listening to this one. It's fun to learn of her childhood and how she first began singing with her mom and dad. She goes into great detail about her run as Eliza in "My Fair Lady". She ends at the point where she's almost ready to film "Mary Poppins". I hope she's not finished because I would love hear about her adventures filming MP and Sound of Music. If you're a fan of Julie's, I recommend this one.

Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult

Wow. Picoult's books are so intense. She's a great story teller and weaves such great stories. They are always on the ethical line and in most cases cross the ethical line many times over. This book is about a small town in NH where a school shooting takes place (mimicked after Columbine). The shooter who is a student, Peter, doesn't end his own life and is tried by the courts.

Picoult takes you back and forth through time to when Peter was little and shows a lot of his experiences through school. Of course he's constantly picked on and bullied by the other kids in school and he's a loner and likes video games. You also get to see his mom and dad's point of view. It's heartbreaking for them going through this and the mom keeps racking her brain as to what she could have done better. Picoult has obviously done tons of research on bullying, the court systems and traumatic events like these.

I won't give away more details in case some of the gals in book club read my blog before we meet in a couple of weeks. We'll have tons to talk about. I will say, get out your box of tissues and get ready for an emotional roller coaster ride.

This book made me reexamine Columbine and Ron and I actually went to the Columbine Memorial which is in Clement Park off of Bowles in Littleton (right by the school). It was moving--I couldn't stop the tears from streaming down my face. Talk about powerful...

Columbine for me will be like the assassination of JFK for my parents and now what 9/11 is like for our generation as well. You remember where you were when you found out about these events. I'll always remember watching on TV the images of kids running out of the school with their hands on top of their heads and just how shocking the whole thing was for not only the Denver community and the state of Colorado, but for our nation. It used to be that schools and churches were safe places to go, unfortunately that's just not the case anymore.

It was an intense read and I'm glad I read it.