If I Stay is a tear-jerker that will illicit emotions about things buried deep inside you. There are so many words I could use to describe this story: inspiring, funny, visceral, humbling, touching, powerful, sad yet calming.
Young Mia is a cellist who lives with her wonderfully happy family who are all musically inclined, or at least enjoys and appreciates music for the feelings and emotions it can bring out in us.
Young Mia faces a tragedy that is so profound you'll be shaking your head wondering how such a young girl is going to be able to cope with what lays before her and the decision she has to make. This is a story that will stay with you long after the last page has been turned, a book for everyone!
February 18, 2011
THE BOOKBAGLADY REVIEWS BOOKS FOR YOU!
Showing posts with label family. Show all posts
Showing posts with label family. Show all posts
Friday, February 18, 2011
Friday, February 11, 2011
BEFORE I DIE (JENNY DOWNHAM)
Sixteen-year-old Tessa has been diagnosed with cancer and it's terminal - she IS going to die. Tessa decides to make a list of all the things that she wants to experience and do before her final day comes and first on her list is...sex!
As the story proceeds, Tessa continues to work off her list one by one interspersed with visits to doctor's offices, hospital stays for transfusions and other medical procedures. Keeping true to her list is her main priority.
Her younger brother Cal can be a pain in the rear end, but deep down he loves his sister, and Zoey, Tessa's zany friend is a weird one for sure. Unfortunately, her parents are divorced but Tessa lives with her Dad who attends all her appointments with her and holds her hand during yet another lumbar puncture, a very painful procedure. Her mother is somewhat distant and Tessa doesn't ever remember her mother telling her that she loves her.
In the mix she finds a love truer than she ever thought possible but at the same times realizes that it's not always easy getting what you want and that what you want isn't always what you need.
By the end of the book I was literally bawling my eyes out. Her death was written beautifully but I was so emotionally involved in the story that I felt I was standing by the side of all the family members as she took her last breath.
The book was uplifting and not written at all in a sad, cold, detached way that many novels about death are written, but it was rather life-affirming and happy if that's possible to believe. As with any death, it is painful, but that of a child or a teenager is even more so.
Great read!!
February 4, 2011
As the story proceeds, Tessa continues to work off her list one by one interspersed with visits to doctor's offices, hospital stays for transfusions and other medical procedures. Keeping true to her list is her main priority.
Her younger brother Cal can be a pain in the rear end, but deep down he loves his sister, and Zoey, Tessa's zany friend is a weird one for sure. Unfortunately, her parents are divorced but Tessa lives with her Dad who attends all her appointments with her and holds her hand during yet another lumbar puncture, a very painful procedure. Her mother is somewhat distant and Tessa doesn't ever remember her mother telling her that she loves her.
In the mix she finds a love truer than she ever thought possible but at the same times realizes that it's not always easy getting what you want and that what you want isn't always what you need.
By the end of the book I was literally bawling my eyes out. Her death was written beautifully but I was so emotionally involved in the story that I felt I was standing by the side of all the family members as she took her last breath.
The book was uplifting and not written at all in a sad, cold, detached way that many novels about death are written, but it was rather life-affirming and happy if that's possible to believe. As with any death, it is painful, but that of a child or a teenager is even more so.
Great read!!
February 4, 2011
Thursday, February 10, 2011
STILL HOUSE POND (JAN WATSON)
Personally, I found this book to be a little boring with not much of a story. It was quite uninteresting and lacked character development. I also found the story to be quite predictable, so I'll just leave you with the synopsis taken from the book cover and then you can draw your own conclusions.
"Lilly Gray Corbett loves living on Troublesome Creek, but she would much rather play with her best friend than watch her little brother and the twins. Her mama, Copper, is often gone helping birth babies, and Lilly has to stay home and help. When Aunt Alice sends a note inviting her to visit in the city, Lilly is excited to go.
Copper isn't quite ready to let her young daughter travel all the way to Lexington by herself, but she reluctantly agrees to let Lilly go. When Copper and her husband John hear news that Lilly's train crashed, they rush to find out if their daughter is injured or even alive!"
January 28, 2011
"Lilly Gray Corbett loves living on Troublesome Creek, but she would much rather play with her best friend than watch her little brother and the twins. Her mama, Copper, is often gone helping birth babies, and Lilly has to stay home and help. When Aunt Alice sends a note inviting her to visit in the city, Lilly is excited to go.
Copper isn't quite ready to let her young daughter travel all the way to Lexington by herself, but she reluctantly agrees to let Lilly go. When Copper and her husband John hear news that Lilly's train crashed, they rush to find out if their daughter is injured or even alive!"
January 28, 2011
THE WEIRD SISTERS (ELEANOR BROWN)
Rosalind or Rose is the first born in the Andreas family, Bianca or Bean second, and Cordelia (Cordy) last. Recognize any of these names? They're all taken from Shakespeare. You see, their father, Dr. James Andreas is a professor of English literature at Barnwell College and he LOVES Shakespeare and raised his girls with the "...sonnets as nursery rhymes..." and taught his girls to say things like you're: "...a fat-kidneyed rascal..." while mad at a friend instead of calling them an idiot. To say Dr. Andreas isn't eccentric wouldn't be far from the truth.
Each daughter comes home because they've learned that their mother has breast cancer and the funny thing about the novel, we never do find out their Mom's name throughout the entire story. Hmmm....wonder why that could be? Anyway, Cordy who is broke and basically homeless steals a pregnancy test from a drugstore and confirms her suspicions that she is indeed pregnant. And how does she think she can be a Mom and raise a babe in arms when she has to "steal" the very test to prove she is having a baby? Bean gets caught stealing money from her company to finance her bent for expensive jewellery, shoes, clothing, and Broadway shows in Manhattan's elite district. Luckily for Bean, the company only requests her letter of resignation and a promise to pay back the money she stole from them. She immediaately goes home, packs her stuff, empties her ATM account and buys an old car from a friend and heads home to her parents. Bean realizes the company could have called the police and had her arrested like a criminal and she'd be in jail. She'd never even thought this as a possibility while she was 'doing' the stealling, only after she got caught.
Later, Rose, Jonathan (Rose's fiance), James and Rose's Mother were sitting in a Chinese restaurant having dinner when James says he has an announcement to make but before he can say anything, Rose's mother blurts out: "I have breast cancer." She further informs them they've been to the oncologist and the tumour is malignant, quite large but hasn't spread. She would have chemo first to shrink the tumour and then a mastectomy. The following day, Rose broke her lease, packed up and moved home, uninvited!
Rose asks Bean what she is doing here because her parents hadn't said she was coming home. Bean retorts: "I didn't tell them I was coming." Rose and Bean continue their "snipping" and "sarcasm" back and forth: "Not everyone wants to live in New York City" Rose says to Bean. "And that's a good thing. It's crowded enough already there", Bean retorts. "You really quit your job?" asks Rose. "Yes. Why is that so hard to believe" answers Bean. "I don't know. I guess I just thought you might have mentioned it to us or something. That you were plannning to" responds Rose. "What, in our chatty once-a-week calls?" Bean sneered, and on it went. Rrreeow, and the cat's nails come out!!!
Beans begins to realize that her mother is dying, she herself was a criminal, Rose was a bitch and life wasn't about to get better anytime soon.
These three sisters are always imagining and playing in their heads what they think each of their other sisters would say about something they were doing or seeing. They perceive each other as "snippy, snappy and sarcastic."
Cordy arrives home at 2:00 o'clock in the morning and Rose finally had her wish that all three sisters were home again. Remember, she is pregnant.
Rose begins to realize her "need" and "desire" to be the caretaker for everyone in her family and her life comes from within herself. There are no extrinsic factors, it's all intrinsic. Rose also begins to realize that their parent's lives didn't just suddenly start with the birth of the three of them. But that they both had lives prior to them. Hmmm...what a humbling thought, and it dawns on her that she doesn't really know her mother at all.
Cordy too is finally figuring out that her parents were human too, that they had: "...dreams and feelings and scars."
But in the end, they discover they are much, much more alike than they could have ever dreamed and that "snippy, sarcastic" bond; well, let's just say it too is much more than they ever imagined possible. These 'Three Weird Sisters' could NEVER function alone, without each other and there is a lot more to this story that what I've mentioned here.
Eleanor Brown has penned a stupendous novel and one that everyone should read! I was sorry to see it end and would love to see a sequel!! You're gonna love it!
January 17, 2011
Each daughter comes home because they've learned that their mother has breast cancer and the funny thing about the novel, we never do find out their Mom's name throughout the entire story. Hmmm....wonder why that could be? Anyway, Cordy who is broke and basically homeless steals a pregnancy test from a drugstore and confirms her suspicions that she is indeed pregnant. And how does she think she can be a Mom and raise a babe in arms when she has to "steal" the very test to prove she is having a baby? Bean gets caught stealing money from her company to finance her bent for expensive jewellery, shoes, clothing, and Broadway shows in Manhattan's elite district. Luckily for Bean, the company only requests her letter of resignation and a promise to pay back the money she stole from them. She immediaately goes home, packs her stuff, empties her ATM account and buys an old car from a friend and heads home to her parents. Bean realizes the company could have called the police and had her arrested like a criminal and she'd be in jail. She'd never even thought this as a possibility while she was 'doing' the stealling, only after she got caught.
Later, Rose, Jonathan (Rose's fiance), James and Rose's Mother were sitting in a Chinese restaurant having dinner when James says he has an announcement to make but before he can say anything, Rose's mother blurts out: "I have breast cancer." She further informs them they've been to the oncologist and the tumour is malignant, quite large but hasn't spread. She would have chemo first to shrink the tumour and then a mastectomy. The following day, Rose broke her lease, packed up and moved home, uninvited!
Rose asks Bean what she is doing here because her parents hadn't said she was coming home. Bean retorts: "I didn't tell them I was coming." Rose and Bean continue their "snipping" and "sarcasm" back and forth: "Not everyone wants to live in New York City" Rose says to Bean. "And that's a good thing. It's crowded enough already there", Bean retorts. "You really quit your job?" asks Rose. "Yes. Why is that so hard to believe" answers Bean. "I don't know. I guess I just thought you might have mentioned it to us or something. That you were plannning to" responds Rose. "What, in our chatty once-a-week calls?" Bean sneered, and on it went. Rrreeow, and the cat's nails come out!!!
Beans begins to realize that her mother is dying, she herself was a criminal, Rose was a bitch and life wasn't about to get better anytime soon.
These three sisters are always imagining and playing in their heads what they think each of their other sisters would say about something they were doing or seeing. They perceive each other as "snippy, snappy and sarcastic."
Cordy arrives home at 2:00 o'clock in the morning and Rose finally had her wish that all three sisters were home again. Remember, she is pregnant.
Rose begins to realize her "need" and "desire" to be the caretaker for everyone in her family and her life comes from within herself. There are no extrinsic factors, it's all intrinsic. Rose also begins to realize that their parent's lives didn't just suddenly start with the birth of the three of them. But that they both had lives prior to them. Hmmm...what a humbling thought, and it dawns on her that she doesn't really know her mother at all.
Cordy too is finally figuring out that her parents were human too, that they had: "...dreams and feelings and scars."
But in the end, they discover they are much, much more alike than they could have ever dreamed and that "snippy, sarcastic" bond; well, let's just say it too is much more than they ever imagined possible. These 'Three Weird Sisters' could NEVER function alone, without each other and there is a lot more to this story that what I've mentioned here.
Eleanor Brown has penned a stupendous novel and one that everyone should read! I was sorry to see it end and would love to see a sequel!! You're gonna love it!
January 17, 2011
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