The Pilot's Wife

The Pilot's Wife by Anita Shreve
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Finished: March 10, 2011
Edition: Trade Paper Back
ISBN: 0-316-78990-9


Back of Book
A pilot's wife is taught to be prepared for the late-night knock at the door.  But when Kathryn Lyons receives word that a plane flown by her husband, Jack, has exploded near the coast of Ireland, she confronts the unfathomable - one startling revelation at a time.  Soon drawn into a maelstrom of publicity fueled by rumors that Jack led a secret life, Kathryn sets out to learn who her husband really was, whatever that knowledge might cost.  Her search propels this taut, impassioned novel as it movingly explores the question,  How well can we ever really know another person?

About the Author
Anita Shreve has taught at Amherst college and is the recipient of the PEN/L. L. Winship Award and the New England Book Award for fiction.  She lives in western Massachusetts with her husband and family.

Why I Read This Book
I purchased this book back in 1998 because it was featured on Oprah. It got lost in the shuffle and ended up on my "to be read shelf", well actually one of many.

I promised myself that I would raid my book shelves at least once a month and slowly start to read the books that have been neglected for years.

The Pilot's Wife has graced my shelves for 13 years and I'm most pleased that I finally read it and have found myself a new favourite author.

My Thoughts
Reading this book was a pleasant surprise and not at all what I was expecting. There were many twists and turns, gripping my attention with every turning of the page.

The only downside to this book is that it ended when it did.

Happy Reading, Signing off till next time.

Library Thursday ~ March 10

Library Thursday Blog Hop is hosted by Lazy Girl Reads.  Should you wish to participate please follow the picture link above.


I'm not usually one to visit the library.  New books are published and I'm to impatient to wait on the hold list for the book.  I'd spend hours at the local book store and mega dollars, leaving with stacks of books.  Pick one or two books to read, never finishing the stack before there were more books to purchase.  Probably like many of you, my house is full of "to be read" books.  The books took over and my husband (who does like to read) asked kindly if I could make some changes.  First I purchased a Kobo (reading device)  purchased books will now take up space in my computer, not the floor space of multiple rooms and I swore I would start to use the library and only purchase when it was absolutely necessary.  LOL to that comment.
So that being said, I have many books on hold at the library, and in some cases I'm the 100 th or so person in line.

I'm pleased to say that I received an e-mail today announcing that a book has been placed on the hold shelf for me and I will be stopping by later to pick it up.

The closest library for me is in the local mall.

The book waiting to be picked up is.......

Still Alice by Lisa Genova

Happy Reading everyone.  Signing off till next time.

WWW Wednesdays ~ March 9

Hosted by MizB at  Should Be Reading.

To play along, just answer the following 3 questions.

What are you currently reading?

The Pilot's Wife









What did you recently finish reading?

LEFT neglected










What do you think you’ll read next?

STiLL ALiCE










Signing off till next time.

LEFT Neglected

Book:    LEFT neglected

Author:  Lisa Genova

Edition:  E-book

Finished:  March 5, 2011

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Please visit the Still Alice Website to learn more about this author.

ABOUT THIS BOOK

Sarah Nickerson is like any other career-driven supermom in Welmont, the affluent Boston suburb where she leads a hectic but charmed life with her husband Bob, faithful nanny, and three children-Lucy, Charlie, and nine-month-old Linus.

Between recruiting the best and brightest minds as the vice president of human resources at Berkley Consulting; shuttling the kids to soccer, day care, and piano lessons; convincing her son's teacher that he may not, in fact, have ADD; and making it home in time for dinner, it's a wonder this over-scheduled, over-achieving Harvard graduate has time to breathe.

A self-confessed balloon about to burst, Sarah miraculously manages every minute of her life like an air traffic controller. Until one fateful day, while driving to work and trying to make a phone call, she looks away from the road for one second too long. In the blink of an eye, all the rapidly moving parts of her jam-packed life come to a screeching halt.

A traumatic brain injury completely erases the left side of her world, and for once, Sarah relinquishes control to those around her, including her formerly absent mother. Without the ability to even floss her own teeth, she struggles to find answers about her past and her uncertain future.

Now, as she wills herself to regain her independence and heal, Sarah must learn that her real destiny-her new, true life-may in fact lie far from the world of conference calls and spreadsheets. And that a happiness and peace greater than all the success in the world is close within reach, if only she slows down long enough to notice.

MY OPINION

If you are a cell phone user please do not use it while driving.

I purchased this book with the gift card my husband gave me for Christmas.  I did not read Lisa's first novel, Still Alice, but I am definitely interested now.  Also anxious for her third novel Love Anthony expected in 2013.

Left Neglected was an exceptionally, fast paced novel that grabbed my attention right away.

Sarah is a career woman who doesn't have enough time for her three young children, sometimes only getting enough time to read a book before they are put to bed.  Her husband doesn't have much time for family either.  The title definitely describes how little time these parents have for their children as well as describing the condition Sarah is left with after her accident.  An accident that would not have happened if Sarah wasn't  pressed for time because of her career.

Having read this book I clearly have an idea of what it would be like to live with Left Neglected.

The only complaint I have about this book is that the author didn't explain what happened to Sarah's mother.  After all the detail given about Left Neglected, the condition, I felt the author left me hanging here.  Not enough for me to feel that the book deserved less than a 5 rating though.

Would I recommend this book to a friend?  Most definitely and already have.

I rate this book a 5 / 5

Happy Reading

Signing off till next time.

400 Miles in 2011 Fitness Challenge 2/20 - 3/5



This fitness challenge is hosted by Ellie at Books, Fitness & Other Stuff hop on over there for more information, just follow the link picture above.

Ok, the past two weeks weren't great for me, the first week was a four day work week and I don't know about anyone else but I find short weeks soooo long.  Why does it work that way?  I got an eye infection and the hubby had the tennis elbow. 

The second week I was suffering with sinus headaches and the last thing I wanted to do was exercise.  Oh well as long as we get back on the wagon.  Hopefully next week will be better. :)

My fitness
Sunday February 20, 2011 WATP DVD = 4 miles

Monday February 21, 2011 WATP DVD = 1 mile

This week:  miles

Total to date: 10.5/400

Walk strong.  Signing off till next time.

Friday Finds ~ March 4

This is my first time participating in Friday Finds.  Should you wish to see more Friday Finds please visit Should Be Reading.

The following books have been added to my TBR list.

The Salt Road by Jane Johnson author of The Tenth Gift.

      Found while browsing Chapters online.

From the author of The Tenth Gift comes another story of exotic, foreign lands, entwining story lines spanning generations, and the quests to overcome love lost.

"My dear Isabelle, in the attic you will find a box with your name on it."

Isabelle''s estranged archaeologist father dies, leaving her a puzzle. In a box she finds some papers and a mysterious African amulet - but their connection to her remains unclear until she embarks on a trip to Morocco to discover how the amulet came into her father''s possession. When the amulet is damaged and Isabelle almost killed in an accident, she fears her curiosity has got the better of her. But Taib, her rescuer, knows the dunes and their peoples, and offers to help uncover the amulet''s extraordinary history, involving Tin Hinan - She of the Tents - who made a legendary crossing of the desert, and her beautiful descendant Mariata.

Across years and over hot, shifting sands, tracking the Salt Road, the stories of Isabelle and Taib, Mariata and her lover, become entangled with that of the lost amulet. It is a tale of souls wounded by history and of love blossoming on barren ground
 
 
Dreams of Joy by Lisa See.  Dreams of Joy is the continuation of Shanghai Girls.  Publish Date: May 31, 2011
Found on At Home With Books while blog hopping.
 
In her beloved New York Times bestsellers Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, Peony in Love, and, most recently, Shanghai Girls, Lisa See has brilliantly illuminated the potent bonds of mother love, romantic love, and love of country. Now, in her most powerful novel yet, she returns to these timeless themes, continuing the story of sisters Pearl and May from Shanghai Girls, and Pearl's strong-willed nineteen-year-old daughter, Joy.



Reeling from newly uncovered family secrets, and anger at her mother and aunt for keeping them from her, Joy runs away to Shanghai in early 1957 to find her birth father-the artist Z.G. Li, with whom both May and Pearl were once in love. Dazzled by him, and blinded by idealism and defiance, Joy throws herself into the New Society of Red China, heedless of the dangers in the communist regime.


Devastated by Joy's flight and terrified for her safety, Pearl is determined to save her daughter, no matter the personal cost. From the crowded city to remote villages, Pearl confronts old demons and almost insurmountable challenges as she follows Joy, hoping for reconciliation. Yet even as Joy's and Pearl's separate journeys converge, one of the most tragic episodes in China's history threatens their very lives.

Acclaimed for her richly drawn characters and vivid storytelling, Lisa See once again renders a family challenged by tragedy and time, yet ultimately united by the resilience of love
 

Sharaf by Raj Kumar
   Found while exploring Good Reads, have entered to win this book.
 
The first volume of a gripping trilogy set in Saudi Arabia, this is a story of love, loyalty, intrigue, suspicion, and intolerance



Major-General Farhan Al-Balawi is a loyal soldier in the Saudi Arabian army who dotes on his beloved daughter, Maryam, his pride in her learning and independent spirit sharpened by the death of his elder son and his estrangement from the younger who has opted to pursue a hedonistic western lifestyle in the U. S. Despite the love she shares with her family, the pride she takes in her Arabian heritage, and her loyalty to Islam, Maryam yearns to travel and to continue her education in a European university. When Farhan announces that Maryam is to marry the son of a man who once saved his life, as the fulfillment of a promise made before she was born, Maryam endeavors to stifle her bitter disappointment and honor her father's wishes. Then she meets Joe, an American dentist—and a Jew. As Joe and Maryam pursue an increasingly intimate clandestine relationship they dare to dream of freedom and of a life together. But Joe is gradually drawing the attention of the Muttawa, the feared religious police, and when Maryam realizes that she is pregnant, it is then that her trials really begin.



The Other Life by Ellen Meister
   Found on At Home With Books while blog hopping.

If you could return to the road not taken would you? Happily married and pregnant Quinn Braverman has an ominous secret. Every time she makes a major life decision she knows an alternate reality exists in which she made the opposite choice-not only that she knows how to cross over. But even in her darkest moments-like her mother's suicide-Quinn hasn't been tempted to slip through...until she receives devastating news about the baby she's carrying. The grief lures her to peek across the portal and before she knows it she's in the midst of the other life: the life in which she married another man and is childless. The life in which her mother is still very much alive. Quinn is forced to make a heartbreaking choice. Will she stay with the family she loves and her severely disabled child? Or will an easier life-and the primal need to be with her mother-win out?If you could return to the road not taken would you? Happily married and pregnant Quinn Braverman has an ominous secret. Every time she makes a major life decision she knows an alternate reality exists in which she made the opposite choice-not only that she knows how to cross over. But even in her darkest moments-like her mother's suicide-Quinn hasn't been tempted to slip through...until she receives devastating news about the baby she's carrying. The grief lures her to peek across the portal and before she knows it she's in the midst of the other life: the life in which she married another man and is childless. The life in which her mother is still very much alive. Quinn is forced to make a heartbreaking choice. Will she stay with the family she loves and her severely disabled child? Or will an easier life-and the primal need to be with her mother-win out?

Signing off till next time.

Book Blogger Hop: 3/4-3/7

It's Friday again and time for the Book Blogger Hop.  Should you wish to partipate please hop on over to Crazy for Books.

The Question for this weekend.

"Who's your all-time favorite book villain?"

My Answer:

I would have to say that my all-time favorite book villain is Severus Snape from The Harry Potter series.

Signing off till next time