The Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver

Great book! I really liked this book. It's fairly long (over 500 pages) so it took me a few weeks to read it, but once I got going I was fully immersed in this tale of Harrison Shepherd. Shepherd was born in America in 1916 to a Mexican mother. His mother decides to go back to Mexico when he is 13 and takes him with her.

Shepherd ends up working for Diego Rivera the famous Mexican muralist. His life becomes intertwined with Diego and Frida Kahlo, Diego's wife. It was interesting to read a fictionalized version of Diego and Frida, but from the biography that I read about Frida I think Kingsolver was very accurate in her portrayal.

Shepherd also becomes acquainted with Lev Trotsky and is ultimately put on trial for his affiliation with the Trotsky. He's accused of being a communist just by association. It's rather appalling that this actually happened in the US in the late 40s and 50s.

I love Kingsolver's writing style. I enjoyed this book much more than "The Poisonwood Bible" which is touted as one of her best. I think "The Lacuna" trumps PB by a landslide.

The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley and The Weed that Strings the Hangman's Bag by Alan Bradley

These are two books that feature 11 year old Briton, Flavia de Luce. Chemist, investigator, instigator and precocious girl that gets herself mixed up in solving two murders (one in each of the above-referenced books). You fall in love with her and can't really even believe she's only 11 since she knows so much about chemistry. She has 2 older sisters: Daphne and Ophelia of Fili for short. The stories take place in 1950 England. Fun, Fun, Fun!

I enjoyed listening to these in the car on my daily commute. I highly recommend the version that Jayne Entwistle narrates as she's very entertaining and gets each character's voice just right.

The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho

Very interesting and spiritual book that had my book club talking about our faith journeys. In a lot of ways we connected on a deeper level because of this book. Santiago is a boy who is on his journey to find his treasure and along the way meets people that push him forward. It's beautifully written and spiritually uplifting.

Fly Away Home by Jennifer Weiner

SO GOOD!
The book is about a senator's wife who finds out that her husband has cheated on her through the media. This book is written from the wife, Sylvie and their two adult daughters' (Diana and Lizzie) perspective. Weiner is quite knowledgeable on this topic as she mentioned at her book signing that we are seeing these men in the news cheating on their wives and having press conferences with the wife present! (ie. Elliott Spitzer) It's a quick easy read, but fun and engaging. I recommend picking this up when you get a chance.

Jennifer Weiner booksigning

I have to share with you that I went to the Tattered Cover (awesome independent bookstore with three locations in the Denver metro area) to see Jennifer Weiner last week. I was so excited to meet her. She spoke for about 45 minutes and then read a short excerpt from her new book "Fly Away Home". She then took the time to sign her books and take pictures with the people that were in attendance. It was such a fun night as she is hilarious in person!!! She had some funny stories to share about her mother meeing Rosie O'Donnell for the first time. She was a hoot and I really enjoyed the evening with my friend Arin. Here is a picture of us with Jennifer:

A lot of catching up on my blogging!!!

I didn't realize I haven't updated my blog in quite some time. I am going to be lazy and use a star system to show you my favs of my summer reads this year. 5 stars is a must-read, outstanding book and 1 is don't even bother looking it up to see what it is because it's a waste of time. :) I'll also bold my favorites for you.

SUMMER READING:

The Jane Austen Book Club**** by Karen Joy Fowler
Scout, Atticus and Boo: A Celebration of 50 years of To Kill A Mockingbird*** by Mary McDonagh Murphy
Dead as a Doornail*** by Charlaine Harris (audio)
The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner*** by Stephanie Meyer
Grave Surprise*** by Charlaine Harris (audio)
Heart of the Matter**** by Emily Giffin
To Kill a Mockingbird***** by Harper Lee (second time reading--last read in HS)
Caught*** by Harlan Coben (audio)
Grave Sight*** by Charlaine Harris (audio)
A Reliable Wife** by Robert Goolrick
The Art of Racing in the Rain** by Garth Stein (audio)
The Help***** by Katheryn Stockett
13 1/2*** by Nevada Barr (audio)

Emma by Jane Austen

This is the last Jane Austen book that I had to read. I loved this book. I loved Emma as a character. She has depth= a sense of humor, confidence, humility, kindness. At the end of the day she realizes what her faults are and feels bad about some of the stupid things she has done to people.

Emma is the consummate matchmaker although her matches never seem to work out. She is devoted to her father and is attentive to the other people who live in the neighborhood, in particular she regularly visits with Mrs. Bates and her daughter Miss Bates. Knightley lives next door (well not really next door since this is England in the 1800s but you get the picture). His brother is married to Emma's sister. He's kind of like the guy who is always hanging around Emma's house and helps her to care for her father... There are a whole host of other characters that make this novel so interesting.

On another note, I recommend seeing the BBC/PBS Masterpiece Theatre version of Emma. This mini-series was excellent and follows the book closely.