Photofunia!

Everyone can be a star at http://www.photofunia.com/. Just pick a category, upload a photo and post to your blog!

Laura

Plain Truth

Since I work for a public library, I have a heads up on popular authors. Novels by Jodi Picoult are always in demand, so I thought I would give one a try.

In the Plain Truth, Picoult pens the story of an 18 year-old unwed Amish girl, Katie Fisher, who is charged with the murder of her newborn infant. Katie claims she was never pregnant or even had a baby, yet an infant is found dead in a calving stall next to her and also shares her DNA.

Enter high profile Philadelphia attorney, Ellie Hathaway, who wants nothing more than a break from the courtroom and her stressful career. Yet she is Katie's only hope of acquittal. As part of Katie's bail requirement, Ellie must accompany her 24/7, which forces Ellie to move into the Fisher's home on a Amish dairy farm in Lancaster County. Ellie finds herself torn between two vastly different cultures and sets of values.

Picoult does an excellent job of immersing readers in the Amish or "plain" lifestyle. Instead of telling readers upfront about the Amish, they are slowly introduced to the mysterious culture through character and plot development. At the same time, Picoult keeps the novel moving with various subplots and a moving courtroom drama.

Give Plain Truth a shot and you won't be disappointed.

Laura

Book to Movie

American author Cormac McCarthy has struck gold with the film adaption of his Pulitzer Prize winning novel, The Road, scheduled for release Wednesday, November 25. The post-apocalyptic thriller follows the journey of a father and son walking across a burned out America searching for the unknown. Cast includes Viggo Mortenson, Charlize Theron, Robert DuVal and newcomer Kodi Smit-McPhee. Think Oscar buzz...

McCarthy also penned the award winning No Country for Old Men, which won the 2008 Best Picture Award.

Laura

Christmas Reads!

Christmas is just around the corner and publishers are releasing holidays books. Here are a few titles to enjoy over the holiday season.

1. The Gift by Cecelia Ahern

2. Home for Christmas by Andrew Greeley

3. Wishin' and Hopin' by Wally Lamb

4. The Christmas Clock by Kat Martin

5. A Christmas Promise by Anne Perry

Happy Holidays!

L

Under This Unbroken Sky

"There is a black-and-white photograph of a a family: a man, woman, and five children. Scrawled on the back, in tight archaic script, are the words Willow Creek, Alberta, 1933. This will be their only photograph together.

Within three years, this farm will be foreclosed. Two years later, one will die. Two others, of whom there is no photograph, will be murdered.

But this day, in the moment right after the shutter clicks shut, this family takes a deep breath and smiles. "

In the spring of 1938, after two years in prison for stealing his own grain, Ukrainian immigrant, Teodor Mykolayenko is a free man. While in prison, his no-frills wife, Maria, takes of care of their five children and Teodor's delusional sister, Anna, on a barren homestead in the northern Canadian prairies.

Surviving Stalin's regime and near starvation, Teodor is determined to build a profitable farm and provide for his family and sister, but the odds are against him from the very beginning. Clearing the land and raising wheat in the middle of the harsh Canadian tundra is difficult enough, but when Anna's loser of a husband, Stephan, returns, Teodor's problems escalate.

This debut novel is not about the characters, but about the land and starkness of existence in the middle of nowhere. The author, Shandi Mitchell, shows the reader through language the difficulties of one man and his family as they try to build a home and provide for themselves against natural elements and family feuds.

If you enjoy literary books and beauty of language, you will devour Under This Unbroken Sky. I give this novel a 10!

L

Top 10 Teen Books!

Nearly 11,000 teens across the nation voted for their favorite book of 2009 in YALSA's annual poll. One of my favorite authors, John Green, won first prize with Paper Towns.

Since I just checked out the book from my local library, I can't give you a review. But if it is as good as his award winning Looking for Alaska, you won't be disappointed. Other winners include:2. Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer

3. Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

4. City of Ashes by Cassandra Clare

5. Identical by Ellen Hopkins

6. The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman

7. Wake by Lisa McMann

8. Untamed by P.C. & Kristin Cast

9. The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks by E. Lockhart

10. Graceling by Kristin Cashore

Oh, did I mention Paper Towns will be hitting the silver screen with John Malkovich directing!

Laura

Dream House by Valerie Laken

Tired of living in a dumpy apartment, Kate and Stuart Kinzler buy a fixer-upper house in Ann Arbor, Michigan as an investment and an opportunity to rebuild their crumbling marriage. Little do they know, the house was the scene of a bloody murder 18-years earlier. When Kate discovers the history of the property, she decides to gut every room putting a deeper wedge in her marriage and driving her husband away.

After serving 18-years in the big house, Walker Price returns to Ann Arbor and his old neighborhood. With a little too much time on his hands, he hangs around his childhood home eventually befriending Kate as a handyman, while searching for his past.

Years ago, Jay Harrison worked for a company cleaning up after disasters and crimes. One rainy night 18-years ago, Jay pulled an all nighter patching bullet holes and mopping blood puddles in an old broken down house in Ann Arbor. Memories of the murder still haunt him.

Methodically, the author builds tension as Walker and Jay help Kate remodel her dream house. Slowly each character reveals their own secrets and relationship to the house leading to an unpredictable ending.

While the plot is moving and the ending climatic, Laken never fully develops any compelling relationships between the characters leaving readers a bit frustrated. She does address some societal issues on a broad scale such as neighborhood gentrification, race relations and family values.

Laura
http://valerielaken.com/