The Missing by Beverly Lewis

 Description: Twenty-one-year-old Grace Byler longs to find her missing mother and to uncover the secret that drove her to leave them three weeks before. Grace suspects the reason has to do with her father and his reserved, uncommunicative ways. This conviction led Grace to break off her betrothal to her quiet, staid beau, and she is now resigned to remain single. But when the young Amishman she thought was courting her best friend takes a sudden interest in her, Grace is befuddled and wonders if he can be trusted. "Englisher" Heather Lang has come to Amish country to relive fond memories of her mother and to contemplate a grave medical prognosis of her own. While in Bird-in-Hand, Heather meets Grace Byler and the two young women strike up a fast friendship, amazed by how well they click. Following the only clue they have, Grace and Heather travel together in hopes of finding Grace''s mother and bringing her home. Will they find what they''re looking for...or something much more?

Review: It was much better than the first book in the series, which seemed to drag a bit. It was interesting to see how the storylines in the book are starting to pick up both on the Lettie and Heather side of things, with the Grace storyline sort of just linking the two of them. Hopefully the third book, which is due out in April, will tie up the storylines.

2010 Chick Lit Challenge

The Chick Lit Challenge 2010 runs from January 1 - December 31st. The goal is to read at least 8 chick lit books during the year. Books can be listed ahead of time or as you go along. Books can also be used for multiple challenges.

Here are my books:
1) Bridget Jones's Diary by Helen Fielding
2) The Edge of Reason by Helen Fielding
3) Size 12 is Not Fat by Meg Cabot
4) Size 14 is Also Not Fat by Meg Cabot
5) Big Boned by Meg Cabot
6) Watermelon by Marian Keyes
7) Learning Curves by Gemma Townley
8) The Devil Wears Prada by Laura Weisberger
9) A Weekend in Paris by Robyn Sisman
10) Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict by Laurie Viera Rigler

2010 reading resolutions

Here are my reading resolutions for 2010:

• To spend more time at home reading. I spend way too much time online at home and need to spend less time online during the day and spend more time reading

• To reduce my library collection and to either donate my books to a good cause or give them to somebody who would also appreciate them

• To make an effort to read genres I haven't read or don't like reading.

• To finish a book from my bookclub that I am not presenting and to finish a former selection of my book club.

• To read at least 50 books and 15,000 pages during the year.

• To reduce the number of books that I have out from libraries at any one time. Libraries are like my crack cocaine and I also seem to bite off more than I can chew. In other words I tend to borrow more books than I can possibly read at one time. I am possibly thinking of limiting myself to 10 books from my public library and about 3 or 4 books from my church library.

• To read something like Anna Karenina or Moby Dick or The Count of Monte Cristo and to finish it!

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens

Description: Ebenezer Scrooge is a mean, miserable, bitter old man with no friends. One cold Christmas Eve, three ghosts take him on a scary journey to show him the error of his nasty ways. By visiting his past, present and future, Scrooge learns to love Christmas and the people all around him.

Review: Enjoyed it. It was the second time that I have read the novel and it was interesting to read the book again, especially after watching the most current version of the movie. I found it not only a good book, but also something that one should take to heart all the year round.

Two Book Reviews

I finished two books yesterday and here are the reviews for the books:

Book One:
The Prodigal God by Timothy Keller.

Description: [Timothy Keller] uses one of the best-known Christian parables to reveal an unexpected message of hope and salvation.

Review: A very interesting and thought provoking book. While most of the book seemed to be discussing parts of the parable that I already knew and understood, but what was most interesting was his discussion on the eldest son, which rarely gets a worth mention at all in most sermons that I have heard on the parable. Recommended.

Book Two:

The Secret by Beverly Lewis

Description: In the seemingly ordinary Amish home of Grace Byler, secrets abound. Why does her mother weep in the night? Why does her father refuse to admit something is dreadfully wrong? Then, in one startling moment, everything Grace assumed she knew is shattered. Her mother's disappearance leaves Grace reeling and unable to keep her betrothal promise to her long-time beau. Left to pick up the pieces of her life, Grace questions all she has been taught about love, family, and commitment. Heather Nelson is an English grad student, stunned by a doctor's diagnosis. Surely fate would not allow her father to lose his only daughter after the death of his wife a few years before. In denial and telling no one she is terminally ill, Heather travels to Lancaster County--the last place she and her mother had visited together. Will Heather find healing for body and spirit? As the lives of four wounded souls begin to weave together like an Amish patchwork quilt, they each discover missing pieces of their life puzzles--and glimpse the merciful and loving hand of God.


Review: If you have read any of Beverly Lewis' previous books, you can probably get through this book in short order. It was a good read, especially to pass the time as I either was waiting for a bus or riding on the bus to and from work. It is one of the more lighter pieces of fiction that I enjoy and thought that the storylines were intriguing, but mostly liked the storyline with Heather, as there wasn't much and when there was something, it wasn't connected at all to the primary storyline. I hope that the next two books provide more of the Heather storyline, but what one hopes and what one gets are two different things all together. Recommended for those that have enjoyed Ms. Lewis' previous work.

Bronte Challenge

I discovered a great challenge. Its to read, watch, or listen to a books by the Brontes. I plan on watching, as I have too much to read at this time and I would like to just sit down for an evening and watch a good miniseries.

Here are the three that I plan on watching:
Jane Eyre (2007 Masterpiece Theatre)
The Tenant of Wildfell Hall (1996 - Masterpiece Theatre starring Tara Fitzgerald and Toby Stephens)
Wuthering Heights (Masterpiece Theatre 2009)

Frustrated...a tad

Last Thursday I got a call about a book club that I belong to and found out that the meeting is this coming Saturday. I was a little pissed off, as I thought that it would be towards the end of the month. I am a little mad that I hadn't known at least a couple of weeks prior to and the fact that I have something up that evening that I have to be at around 5 pm makes me even more mad, but honestly, I could have said no to volunteering that evening, but then if we had been able to meet a couple weeks later I would have had the book done.

I am mostly pissed off at myself but there is nothing to do but making sure that I read as much as I can over the next two days, but with the thickness of Anna Karenina, I don't know how much more I can get done. Hopefully I can get the first half done.