I had a hard time with The Tin Horse... not because the story line wasn't good - it was.  I just couldn't seem to remember the story line for the first 1/2 of the book.  Every time I picked it up to read it I was confused because I couldn't remember what I'd read before.  I don't know why I was having this problem - like I said - the story line was good (now that I've finished the book I am doing better at remembering it!)

This book is about Elaine and Barbara who are fraternal twin sisters.  They are as different inside and personality wise as they are on the outside physically.  Barbara is brash and more likely to get in trouble whereas Elaine is more quiet and studious.  The story takes place when the girls are in their senior years, but there are flashbacks to when they were growing up. 

The big mystery of the book is why Barbara left in her late teens and never contacted her family to let them know she was OK.  She disappeared for decades until Elaine is going through her parents things and finds a clue to where Barbara might be. 

The author very ably told a story of young girls in the 1940s, in a Jewish neighborhood growing up with strict but loving parents. The girls both fall for the same guy and he chooses between them causing a rift between the sisters as one girl goes out with the boy and merely plays at being his girlfriend; and the other sister pines away in quiet.  Interweaved in the background of this story is the threat of Hitler and America getting into the war. 

I really enjoyed this book because of the realistic story line. I hope that despite my telling you I couldn't remember the book while I was reading it - that you will still give this book a try - because it is definitely worth it.

Rating: 8 / 10  
ISBN: 9780679643746
Publisher: Random House
Edition: 1st Edition 

Hazel has cancer.  She is 16 years old.  Her mother believes that she is depressed because of her illness and insists that she goes to a support group with people her age.

Hazel, being the typical teenager doesn't want to go anywhere near the support group, but goes at her mother's insistence.  Hazel meets Isaac who has one eye because cancer took the other eye and Augustus who lost a leg from cancer of the bone.  Hazel, Augustus and Isaac become fast friends and great moral support for each other.

They deride everything, play games and read and talk about books.  They even egg Isaac's ex-girlfriend car when she breaks up with him because she can't handle the fact that he has cancer.

Augustus and Hazel fall in love and one of the books they read becomes a favorite of theirs.  They contact the author to ask some questions and end up taking a trip to Holland together to meet the author.

This is a book of teenage love and teenagers that die to soon - both in equal parts.  It is funny and quirky and an excellent read.  The one detraction that I had for the novel was that every person in the novel always had a witty reply to whatever was being said.  This did make the novel fun - and funny, but it didn't seem altogether real.  I'd still read it again though because it is a sweet story.

Rating: 8 / 10  
ISBN: 9780525478812
Publisher: Dutton Books
Edition: 1st Edition 

 Henry Archer is divorced and is gay.  For the most part he is happy, but he feels that there is something missing in his life.

Henry's ex-wife Denise had a girl from a previous marriage who Henry adopted when he was married to Denise.  But soon the philandering Denise moved on to another man - Glen.  Henry let Glen adopt the girl and he stayed out of her life.

But at the very beginning of the story, Glen dies and it is some 10+ years later.  Henry finds his long lost adopted daughter Thalia and they begin a very good friendship.

This is the story of how Henry becomes friends with his ex-wife and his ex-adopted daughter Thalia.  It is also a story of how Henry finds his true love.

This is a very light-hearted but energetic book -- you find yourself wanting Henry to succeed at these new relationships that are made with his ex-wife and ex-adopted daughter.  This isn't a book about gay rights - it just happens to be about a gay man and his relationships.   If you are in for a breezy novel with lots of charm, then this is for you.

PS:  There is nothing offensive in this novel - my Mormon mother gave it to me to read!

Rating: 8 / 10  
ISBN: 9780547336084
Publisher: Mariner
Edition: 1st Paperback Edition 

Josephine is a house girl - someone who attends to the mistress of the house during the slavery years of the late 1800s.  While she is treated well by Missus Lu, she is sexually and physically abused by Mister.  Josephine vows she will run away to the North where she will be free to live her life.

Lina is a lawyer in our current times.  She is tasked with finding the descendants of any slave so that they can place a reparations case before the courts.

Chapter by Chapter, you first read Josephine's story and then Lina's story as Josephine makes her break for freedom and Lina finds the descendants of Josephine.

I really enjoyed this book because you were reading two disparate stories at the same time that eventually link up.  Josephine is a completely believable slave girl and you feel for her plight.  Lina is likewise believable as a lawyer and daughter to a famous artist.  Lina learns about her own life as she discovers Josephine's.


Rating: 8 / 10  
ISBN: 9780062207395
Publisher: William Morrow
Edition: 1st Edition 

The twelve tribes refer to Hattie's 11 children and 1 grandchild that she raised. Hattie's children all grew up in the 50's and 60's and the story is told from each of their perspectives as adults.

The two youngest children die of pneumonia when they are just babies.  This destroys Hattie for many years to come - even after several more children are born.

Life is very hard in Hattie's household.  There is never enough food to eat, or money to clothe the children and keep the house warm.  This is in large part due to Hattie's husband August who is a gambler and a womanizer.

One of Hattie's children Floyd, is gay during a time when being gay is most certainly not OK.  He struggles with his sexuality and stays on the road as a musician so he can meet men on one day and be gone the next to another town.

Another child, Six, becomes a preacher in his late teenage years, but in secret is a womanizer just like his father.  And Franklin tells his story as a military man in Viet Nam.

Cassie sounds like she is a bi-polar schizophrenic and as an adult child with a child of her own, Hattie and August institutionalize her. Her daughter Sala is the granddaughter that Hattie must raise.

All of these stories and more comprise this book which shows Hattie for the most part, as a strong woman bent on taking care of her children to the best of her abilities - even if it may seem harsh at the time.

I liked this book because it showed that families aren't perfect and that everyone struggles with their own problems.  What I didn't like about the book is that each chapter of the children seemed a novella unto itself.  For the most part there wasn't one story line that was developed through the book.  Instead there was a story line for each of Hattie's children.  These stories were good - but other than having the same people in each story there was really nothing that linked them together to make one cohesive book.  If you approach it like all of the chapters are short stories, then it makes a little more sense.  More importantly, all of the chapters were good and held your attention.

Note: This is an Oprah's Book Club selection.

Rating: 7 / 10  
ISBN: 9780385350280
Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf
Edition:  1st Edition 

Wow.  How do I even begin to describe this book?

This fiction book contains the real-life characters Woodrow Wilson, Grover Cleveland, Mark Twain and Upton Sinclair.  All of them purportedly knew each other in 1905 Princeton, New Jersey where the story takes place.

Annabel Slade is to be married and during the wedding ceremony she is whisked away so quickly it seems to be magical.  She is brought to the Bog Kingdom where her lover treats her like a slave and allows his friends to have their way with her.  She suffers through all of this and manages to escape the Bog Kingdom and makes it back home.  She is pregnant by this time and both she and the baby die in childbirth.

Todd Slade, Annabel's nephew is distraught by Annabel's death and is in the cemetery so much that he soon turns to stone and becomes a statue in the cemetery.

A class of young girls as well as their teacher all see writhing snakes in the classroom, but when help comes, no snakes can be found.  Another man, Horace Burr, stabs his wife to death and then kills himself.  Many other wild occurences take place as well.

All of these incidents take place in 1905-06 Princeton and are blamed on The Curse.  This book's goal is to clarify all of these incidents and to prove once and for all what really happened that year in Princeton.

This 667 page book skips from one character and event to another with sluggish speed.  It also has so many characters it is hard to keep track of them all.  The addition of ex-presidents Woodrow Wilson and Grover Cleveland as well as authors Upton Sinclair and Mark Twain only makes things confusing because the reader is left wondering what is true about these people - and what is not since this is a fiction book. 

If you are a die-hard Oates fan, then definitely read this book as it is part of series of several gothic tales written by the author that are supposed to be thematically linked.  If you aren't, you might want to skip this book.


Rating: 6 / 10
ISBN: 9780062231703
Publisher: Ecco
Edition:  1st Edition

Originally written as a 5-part serial in All-Story magazine, The Gods of Mars is the 2nd book in the Barsoom series.

At the end of the first book (also the movie John Carter) John Carter is transported back to earth. He lives on earth for 10 years trying to get back to Mars.  The Gods of Mars is the story of his second visit to Mars.

Upon arrival on Mars, John Carter is met with savage tree like species that eats humans.  After getting away from these Plant Men, he finds Tars Tarkas (his old ally from his previous adventure on Mars) and they try to escape from the Therns - who are the gods of Mars.  

Apparently, when one is ready to die, they go to the Valley of the Gods to die.  What REALLY happens here is that they are met by the Plant Men and if they survive this, they are usually taken in as slaves to the Therns.  It is believed that anyone who returns from the Valley of the Gods should be killed because they are a monstrosity to everyone around them.

But escape from the Valley of the Gods and returning to Helium is just what John Carter and Tars Tarkas set out to do. This story is about their adventures on the way back to Helium.

One thing of note about this book is that a race of black Martians is featured prominently in this book.  They are free and in fact are warriors and masters with their own slaves.  I would like to have been around in 1913 when this book was written to hear the controversy surrounding the black martians. I believe there must have been some controversy since 1913 was only 30 some add years after the Emancipation Proclamation.


Just as I enjoyed The Chessmen of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs, I found this book enjoyable because it is science fiction and because it is a tale about the heroic John Carter and his friend Tars Tarkas.  If you have seen the movie John Carter or read the book noted above, then you will enjoy this further adventure. 

You can even get the Kindle edition for free here.

Rating: 8 / 10 
Edition:  E-Edition 

Translated from the Turkish language, this book is about the timeless love Kemal has for Fusan, a woman who is 12 years his junior.

Kemal is engaged to Sibel but meets Fusan during his engagement and starts up a relationship with her.  Kemal becomes obsessed with Fusan and his love for her all the while maintaining his engagement with Sibel.  He doesn't want to break off the engagement with Sibel because he knows what damage this will do to her reputation.  The storyline of this book takes places in the 1970's and at this time, if a woman was engaged and then became unengaged - no matter the reason - it is assumed that she is no longer a virgin and is therefore tainted goods.

After several months of his relationship with Fusan, she disappears after an argument they had about Sibel and Kemal's engagement.  Kemal is heartbroken and tries to find Fusan but she and her family have picked up and moved somewhere.  Kemal breaks down and tells Sibel about his relationship with Fusan and asks her forgiveness which she does not give.  In fact, she is so angry that she breaks off the engagement with Kemal.

Kemal pines over Fusan and during the relationship with her he collected items that she touched, for example a hair pin or a spoon.  He takes comfort in these items by rubbing them over his body.  Still, he cannot get Fusan out of his mind.  Every little thing in the world reminds him of Fusan.  Finally he hires a detective to find her.

When he does find her, she is married to a man named Feridan and both of them are living with her parents.  On the pretext that he is a very distant relative of Fusan and her parents, he gets himself invited over for dinner so that he can congratulate Fusan on her marriage.  This starts a new relationship with Fusan wherein he goes to dinner at her house 4 or 5 times a week.  Each time he steals an item that Fusan has touched so that he can have something of hers even though he can't have her.  This goes on for 8 long years.

While I don't appreciate the lack of morals that Kemal displayed - having an affair with Fusan while he was engaged to Sibel - I did really enjoy this book.  Every single sentence was thought out carefully by the author and truly showed the state of mind that Kemal was in.  Kemal's angst-ridden and tortured soul was thoughtfully detailed in every paragraph and sentence.  I also liked the fact that Sibel, despite what society would say about her, was strong enough to dump Kemal when she found out about Fusan.

This book is strangely not a romance novel - despite what it may appear.  It isn't even a love story really; it is the story of Kemal's obsession with Fusan.

The interesting thing about this book is that the author actually created a museum that people could go to where they could see all of the items collected by Kemal in the book.  You can see this museum's web page translated into English - here.


Rating: 8 / 10
ISBN: 9780307266767
Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf
Edition:  1st American Edition 

If you saw the 2012 movie John Carter then you know about John Carter the human that makes it to Mars and falls in love with Deja Thoris.  This book is about John Carter and Dejah Thoris' daughter Tara, and her escapades in the wild lands of Mars.

Tara attends a ball at her father's palace and meets Gahan of Gathol who is a prince or a Jed.  She is unimpressed with him and snubs him at the ball, especially since she is to wed another.

Some very bad winds come up the next morning after the ball and despite how bad they are, Tara takes her flier out.  She is blown way off course and ends up the captive of a bunch of mars men who can remove their heads from their bodies.  They think she is some form of tasty morsel.  She wins the heart of Ghek, one of these mars men by singing songs to him - which move him as he has never heard singing before.  At the time that she is to be taken to their leader, Ghek helps her escape.

Ghek and Tara meet up with Gahan - though Tara doesn't realize that it is Gahan.  Since she doesn't recognize him, Gahan tells her that he is Turan - a regular panthon (warrior).  Gahan (Turan) feels not only bound by his love for Tara, but also his duty to Tara to safely bring her back to her own city of Helium.

Ghek, Tara and Turan head out to find home and end up in another perilous situation -  captured by the inhabitants of the remote city Manator.  Tara is placed as a chess piece in the chess-like game of Jetan and Turan is the warrior who must save his princess in this live-game of Jetan.  He conquers his foes in the live game of Jetan and saves the princess Tara.  It is then that the three of them race to get out of the city before they can be executed.

When I saw the movie John Carter and realized it was written by Edgar Rice Burroughs, I was excited to find that there were more stories from Burroughs about John Carter and his family on Mars.  This is a very fun book to read and I definitely recommend it to anyone that is a sci-fi lover.  If you are interested in reading this book you can find the Kindle edition for free on Amazon.


Rating: 8 / 10
ISBN: 9781475157994
Publisher:  Create Space Indepedant Publishing Platform
Edition:  E-Edition 

Translated from the Dutch language, The Dinner is an interesting story of how two families deal with a murder committed by their teenage sons.

Serge is soon to be named Prime Minister of The Netherlands and his son is one of the teenage boys. He struggles with the twin desires of keeping the murder a secret (no one has identified the boys yet) and coming clean - thus having to step down as Prime Minister.

Clair is Serge's sister-in-law and is the mother of one of the boys who murdered a street person.  Claire's only desire is to keep the murder hidden.  She doesn't believe the boys should have to pay the price for a teenage stunt that accidentally ended in the death of the homeless person. 

Clair and Serge with their respective husband and wife meet up for dinner at a posh restaurant to discuss what should be done about the boys. It is a very cantankerous dinner as Clair's husband - the brother of Serge, does not like Serge at all and thinks he is a pompous jerk.  It is this relationship between the brothers that comes between the two families as they try to deal with their children's actions.

This is a very interesting book: the entire novel takes place either just before the dinner, during the dinner, or just after the dinner. I didn't think someone could spend so much time on just a dinner in a novel, but the author does an excellent job of moving the dialogue on and the flashbacks about the murder the boys committed.

Rating: 7 / 10
ISBN: 9780770437855
Publisher:  Hogarth
Edition:  1st American Edition