Reading is a passion of mine and on a
good week I read about 2 books.
In the summertime my favorite reading
spot moves from the bathtub to the
lounge chair on my shaded deck.
Pure bliss.
Throw in an iced coffee and I'm in heaven.
If you like to read and want a couple
good book suggestions then read on.
You can click on any of the pictures to
be directed to Amazon.
The first one is "Hitmaker"
by Tommy Mottola
I really enjoy reading biographies, historical
pieces and memoirs. This book falls into all
those categories. For you music lovers out there
I highly recommend this book. Tommy Mottola is
the man behind many successful musicians
including; Hall & Oates, Bruce Springsteen,
Mariah Carey, Celine Dion, Gloria Estefan,
J-Lo.....the list goes on and on.
This is his story and point of view to how
he helped build SONY records into the mega hit
company it is. Along the way you get to read
fun stories behind some of the greatest hit songs
and the artists who performed them. What I
found most interesting about this book
was the progression of the music industry and
how it has changed since the 1970's because
of technology. It's obvious reading it that
the author has a large ego but I don't think
his success would have been possible without
that ego and mindset. Regardless of your
feelings toward the author, the book is a
great piece of historical documentation about
the music industry.
The next book is "The Silver Linings Playbook"
by Matthew Quick
I bought this book on my Nook because I
recalled the movie was recently nominated
and even received Oscars. I had no
idea whatsoever as to what the storyline was about.
In a nutshell....it's about mental illness;
A fictional story told from the view point of
a man who has just returned home from a
mental hospital. He has no memory of how
long he was there or why he was there.
The story is a journey into his finding the
future thru remembering his past.
Along the way he is helped by a woman
who also suffers from mental illness.
Although the story doesn't plunge into the
dark abyss that the topic of mental illness often
guides us to....it still teeters on the heavy
and dark side. For those of you who
prefer to read heavier stuff.....this is for you.
The next one is "The Healing"
by Jonathan Odell.
I thoroughly enjoyed this story;
A fictional story about a baby who is ripped from her
slave mother's arms in order to be raised
by the emotionally stricken lady of the house after her own daughter tragically dies.
I love stories that cover more than one generation
and show us the unseen connections
from generation to generation.
This book does specifically that.
It starts off with the main character as an
old woman. She is what many would term a "witch Dr." or "natural healer". A young child that needs
healing comes into her life tragically and suddenly.
From there, she starts telling the child the
story of her life, as a way to help the child heal
her hurting heart. While telling her stories,
the main character (wish I could remember her name)
helps to heal her own hurts and discovers
her roots and how this child's roots are
intertwined with her own.
This was an exceptional story and is now
in my top ten favorite books. I highly
recommend this book.
The next book is "Until I Say Goodbye"
by Susan Spencer-Wendel
A beautiful memoir of Susan's determination
to live her life with joy after receiving
the terminal diagnosis of ALS (Lou Gehrig's Disease).
This book jumped out at me when I was shopping
for a book on my Nook because my dear
Grandma died of ALS 9 years ago.
Reading about her struggle as the symptoms
got worse brought up many memories
for me about my Grandma as her symptoms
progressed.
Despite the subject matter of
this book, it manages to not get too heavy
and emotionally sappy. It's the perfect
combination of heartfelt, funny, profound and simple.
I was highlighting and noting phrases in this
book like crazy. Susan is a journalist who
was diagnosed with ALS at the age of 42.
For those of you not familiar with ALS,
it is a terminal disease. A disease in which
you eventually lose any function in your body
that requires muscle. It works it's way up from your
toes and eventually paralyzes your ability to
move, swallow, chew, talk and eventually breath.
It's a sad progressive disease and it's
devastating to watch it happen to a person.
In spite of all this, she commits to live a life
with joy by planning vacations specifically for
each person in her life that she loves....
each of her 3 kids, her husband, her best friend,
her sister, etc. She does this in the hopes that
she can plant a seed in each of her children
that will remind them to live with joy
even if she is not with them physically.
She is a beautiful writer and has such an easy
style of writing. The story is packed with
so many profound and beautiful analogies
about life. It's also filled with many
laughs. This is another book I
highly recommend.
The last book is "Sarah's Key"
by Tatiana DeRosnay
A friend recommended this to me and I
was able to purchase it on my Nook for
a good price. I would call this historical fiction.
It's a story that takes place in modern day France
about a reporter who is writing an article about
the roundup of French Jews back in 1942.
Through her research, she soon discovers her
life is intertwined with a young French girl's
who was a victim to this injustice.
The girl's name was Sarah.
Back in 1942 when the French police raided
her home to take them away, she hid her
4 year old brother in a secret cupboard,
thinking she would be back later that day
to let him out. Sarah carries the key to this cupboard
with her for her entire life. As the story is told you
find out the fate of Sarah and her family
and realize the connection this story has
with the journalist.
For those of you who enjoy historical fiction.....
this is top notch!
I hope you enjoy your summer reading
as much as I do. If you have any good books
to recommend let me know. I'm always up
for a good read.
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