Reviewed by Teresa G (May 7, 2013)

Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal? is a thought provoking book. Telling the story of her life, Jeanette Winterson holds very little back as she describes growing up as an only child adopted by Pentacostal parents. Mrs. Winterson, her adopted mother, looms larger than life as she refuses to give warmth and love to the child she has been given. Despite the harsh conditions under which she starts life, the young Jeanette refuses to give up on life. After attending Oxford Ms. Winterson goes on to achieve success as a writer. She never completely puts the demons of her past behind her and at a time in her life when she feels loved and safe she explores her adoptive history and eventually meets her birth mother. Her thoughts on adoption are thought-provoking. If she'd been raised by her birth mother would she have become the woman she is today? Despite the harsh realities of her early life this upbringing has made her who she is. Fascinating, at times funny, and always as honest as one can be when telling one's own story, Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal is a beautiful book whose words will linger long after the last page is turned.

Reviewed by Mary M (May 1, 2013)

The inspirational stories found in this book elevate the spirit and the heart of the reader. Life is a learning tool that must be explore in all its levels to achieve happiness and joy. The challenging experiences that are found in the person’s walking path help him to open undiscovered doors with potential alternatives and solutions. According to Paulo Coelho: “Difficulty is the name of an ancient tool that was created purely to help us define who we are.” The positive or the negative impact of the ripple effect can be diminished depending of the lector’s perception of solving the dilemma.

The main message of Manuscript Found in Accra is to enjoy life in its simple way with its ups- and-downs. Feeling neglected will bring negative vibrations into the person’s life and future spiritual enrichment. The best approach to any difficult situation is to admire the outer and inner beauty of every creature that is part of the human cycle. Looking at the world’s creation can provide the person in need a sense of belonging to something magnificent. In Coelho’s own word: “Everything has a reason to exist.” Excellent book!

Reviewed by Mary M (Feb 11, 2013)

The new released book: The Things They Cannot Say written by the journalist and author Kevin Sites reflects on the experiences of combat soldiers that return to the civil life, as veterans, after spending many years in the international wars: Vietnam, Afghanistan and Iraq. After learning how to survive in a war zone; now the ex-fighters must acquire the skills needed to return to live in peace and in harmony with family and friends. Many questions are raised in the nonfiction story regarding the wellbeing of the combatants: what happens with the soldiers’ mind and spirit when they return home? How they can erase the killing memories of the past? And, how far the ghost of the death can haunt them in the present?

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) are the two illnesses that postwar fighters must deal with in their adjustment to the civil life. The book excerpt: “I don’t want to die anymore and I don’t want to go back to the sad angry person I was,” reveals to the reader not only the soldiers’ pain to leave the bad memories of the past but also the commitment to find a new way to express happiness with family and friends.

As a war correspondent, Kevin Sites also suffers the same psychological trauma as any soldier in action. Storytelling and sharing his experiences with other war veterans are the only way to grieve the past with a hope for a peaceful future. This book is divided in five parts and the writer provides photos of soldiers, poems and email conversations with other postwar fighters that keep struggling with the ghost of the past. This narrative recollects those experiences and the willingness to look up for a better future.

Reviewed by Mary M (Feb 11, 2013)

Gregory Mallory died in his third intention to climb the Mount Everest in 1924. His frozen body was found by another group of mountaineers seventy-five years later. According with the history records, Arthur Hinks the chair of the English expedition in 1920 invited Mallory to be the team leader of the last journey that was supposed to conquer the Mount Everest. Glory and fame were awaiting at the top of the Bloody Mountain for this qualified and experienced group of climbers.

Mallory’s main purpose in life was to be prepared physically, emotionally and mentally to defeat the weather conditions of the Mount Everest. The meetings, the trainings and the team’s survival plan were the pieces of the puzzle that needed all his concentration to reach the final destination. In Gregory’s fantasy world his vision in life was to be remembered, especially by his family and his friends, as the first climber who reached to the top of the Mount Everest. The reality is that his obsession built a bridge of emptiness in the heart of the people that he loved the most.

Above All Things written by Tanis Rideout combines the facts of Gregory Mallory’s life with the fiction of Ruth Mallory’s psychological battle, in the personage of supportive wife, to the challenges and the difficulties of having an absent husband and father to live with. How to cope with guilt, desire, anxiety and joy in an empty life? How the person’s subconscious can fade away these contradictory sentiments? What sacrifices someone can do to attain a goal in life? And, how far a person can go to reach the glory?

In this biographical fiction story, Rideout’s seduce the reader with a descriptive writing style evoking not only powerful imagines in the mid of the lector, but also bringing to the reader the pain and the psychological battle among all personages of the narrative. During the six stages of Mallory’s last climbing, the writer introduces to the reader all the adversity that the expedition team battled to continue in the ascendant way to the top of the Mount Everest. The challenging weather conditions and the instinct for survival were the only two elements that keep Gregory’s adrenaline a life until the next team crisis. What happens next is the following question?

The message of this book reveals that a person’s passion and his meaning in life cannot be mistaken with the obsession to sacrifice his family’s love for the glory and the recognition of others. This is a great story!

Reviewed by Mary M (Dec 13, 2012)

“Summer of the Mariposas” reflects on the psychological conflict of five teenage girls who are looking for answers about their family disharmony. This adventure will teach the Garza sisters -Odilia, Delia, Velia, Juanita and Pita- life lessons that will reassure their family bounds. In the story, the problem solving cycle is divided in three stages: The departure, the initiation and the return. In the first part, Gabriel Perdido is found dead in the Río Bravo, when the cinco hermanitas were playing around the river. The first instinct of the Garza sisters was to deliver the dead man to his family. This tragic event was the beginning of a sisterhood journey to the Mexican country. La Llorona -in an unusual role- is introduced by the writer Guadalupe Garcia McCall as the spiritual guide of the five sisters. In the second part, the Mayan Mother Earth, Tonantzin, will come to rescue the siblings when Odilia -the oldest sister - calls her throughout an ancestral magical earring given by the Llorona. This amulet has divine powers that will aid the cinco hermanitas during their odyssey. In this self-discovery journey, the Garza sisters are being challenged by the devil and the bad witches who are trying to mislead them. In the final part, Tonantzin reminded Odilia that she and her siblings must go through this peregrination of pain in order to reborn as a family. As the story develops, the reader finds out that the sisterhood journey to Mexico has a background story: The teenage girls wanted to find out why their father has abandoned them, for more than a year, without any explanation. What they find out at the end of their journey might not be the answer they were looking for. In this book, the author challenges the reader’s imagination with mythical personages of predecessor civilizations. This book is divided in twenty-two chapters with a Spanish glossary of terminology. This is a great story for a bilingual book club!

Reviewed by Mary M (Oct 15, 2012)

When someone dearly that you love dies, the emptiness of your heart and your soul are fill up with a profound sadness. For many people mourning is a process that must be taken care; accordingly, with the family traditions and the culture that the person grew up. How do you encounter happiness again after a devastating loss? Have you seen Marie? is a beautiful book written by Sandra Cisneros that describes the many ways that growing up people can cope with the loss of someone special. In one of the passages of the story, the author writes: “We found her [a neighbor] planting paperwhites in her front yard in memory of her mother.” Cisneros believes that “it is essential to create when the spirit is dying.” Esther Hernández complements the story telling with vibrant colorful illustrations that reinforces the message of the writer. Do not be confused: This is not a children’s book; but definitely, you can read the story to your children.

Reviewed by Jamie W (Jul 23, 2012)

This first novel shines with vivid characters and a big heart. Former academic and 550 pound shut-in, Author Opp, recalls Ignatius J. Reilly, were John Kennedy Toole's hero achingly humane rather than tragically self-involved. The contrast between Arthur Opp and his co-protagonist, the 17 year-old, intensely self-reliant athlete, Kel Keller, couldn't be more satisfying. Liz Moore does such a masterful job tying these two conflicted souls together that she succeeds in showing the fundamental loneliness that connects us all. This excellent first novel will appeal to both literary fiction readers and YA fans.

Reviewed by Mary M (Jun 2, 2012)

The Peruvian Notebook by Braulio Muñoz explores the conflicts of the human mind and the subconscious stages of the human being. In one hand, what happens when the unwritten universal values --such as honesty, justice and self-respect-- are confronted with our personal and family moral values? On the other hand, how the human instincts can arise from the dark side of our self looking to solve life problems in an irrational manner contradicting the true self. Although the plot reveals the interior battle between the two occasional identities created by Antonio Alday Gutiérrez, a sand castle of lies and deceptions are built around him to cover his untrue life as a successful businessman; and his factual life, as a security guard in an important mall in Pennsylvania. Muñoz crafted the story of Anthony Allday --his new American name-- with the challenges that an illegal immigrant must go through when arriving to a new culture.

Reviewed by Teresa G (May 15, 2012)

Code Name Verity tells the dramatic story of two friends who find themselves in dire circumstances when an espionage mission to occupied France goes astray. Maddie, a tough, self-reliant pilot finds herself stranded in occupied France. She becomes a part of the local resistance unit and works to bring down the local Gestapo agency. Julie, a well-healed member of a prominent Scottish family, finds herself a prisoner of the local Gestapo agency and must reveal all she knows of British code and airfields. Both Maddie and Julie must rely on their wits and must take great risks in order to stay alive throughout their ordeal. Beautifully written, Code Name Verity paints an intimate portrait of WW II seen through the eyes of the brave women who actively worked as pilots and spys during the war. Elizabeth Wein gives the reader a perspective on the war that is not often portrayed. Lives are changed forever by the brutality of war and friendship sometimes means sacrificing everything for another.

Reviewed by Teresa G (May 15, 2012)

Read for May 2012 book discussion group. Liar is the intriguing story of a girl with a mysterious illness that sets her apart from others at her school. When her secret boyfriend, Zach, dies a brutal and violent death details about Micah's life begin to surface. But she is known to be a liar so is what she's saying really true? The consequences of her "illness" are graphically and realistically portrayed. The ending was too neatly tied up and seemed a bit rushed, but the first two-thirds of the book was engaging and kept me turning the pages. Did Micah kill Zach? You will have to decide for yourself after you finish reading Liar.