Bio - WILD: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail by Cheryl Strayed

WILD: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail by Cheryl Strayed
The Worst Hard Time: The Untold Story of Those Who Survived the Great American Dustbowl   by Timothy Egan

  I read these books simultaneously and found an extreme juxtaposition of individual angst vs  tragedy of epic proportion. In both instances, people started out for a new life with as much baggage as they could carry. One was a voluntary personal journey of self-fulfillment, the other a necessary migration for survival.  
 
  Wild is the story of a woman who had a bad home life while young, then in her early 20's, lost her mother to cancer.  Failing to keep her family and marriage together, she embarks on a whirlwind of casual sex and drug use, ultimately deciding to hike the daunting Pacific Crest Trail solo as a purging experience. With no hiking experience, she buys gear and books from REI and starts out on her trek. Cheryl makes irresponsible life choices, taps into the luck gene, and survives relatively unscathed. This book has been viewed alternately as:  1. a self-indulgent me-fest;   2. a poignant homage to her mother;  or 3. a serious coming-of-age journey. What it assuredly is NOT - - is a guide to hiking the PCT. 

  The Worst Hard Time is a history of people who weathered the Great American Dustbowl of the 1930s. Taken from diaries, oral history, and interviews with survivors, it's a gripping story of optimistic, hardy westward-bound homesteaders.  The "Sod-Busters" or "Nesters" came to the Prairie lured by free land and a promise of better life life. It's also the story of speculators, lawmen, and desperados who killed then displaced entire nations of Indians while slaughtering millions of bison; both of whom had roamed the land in harmony for centuries. The magnitude of inexperience, hopefulness, stupidity, greed, and bad weather made for a perfect storm of desperation, poverty, and death. The lessons in responsible land stewardship were learned the hard way. 

Fict - The Storied Life of A. J. Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin

We are introduced to A. J. Fikry, owner of the Island Book Store, as he meets with a publisher’s sales rep. He is extremely cranky and proceeds to tell her what kinds of books he does not like. “I do not like postmodernism, post apocalyptic settings, postmortem narrators, or magical realism…I rarely stock debuts, chick lit, poetry or translations…”  The list goes on but you get the idea.  Amy, the poor sales rep, does not have anything to sell him.  

What has made A. J. so unpleasant and unhappy? He has had a terrible tragedy in his life and is not coping well. Soon somebody leaves something in his store that will change his life and outlook forever.

I really liked this book. It has great characters, some romance, and a mystery that takes years to solve.  I also appreciated that it was less than 300 pages and not part of a trilogy or series. It also had some engaging book reviews by A. J. 

YA - Love Letters To The Dead by Ava Dellaira

  Love Letters To The Dead is a story about Laurel, told by Laurel through various letters to famous dead people.  Her deceased pen pals include Kurt Cobain, Judy Garland, Jimi Hendrix, Heath Ledger, River Phoenix, Amelia Earhart and a couple more.  Laurel is really going through it.  Her sister May has died, her mother has moved to California to "cope", her father has pretty much checked out, and her Aunt Amy is a holy-roller who just doesn't get it.
  In an effort to distance herself from the death of her sister, Laurel changes schools and tries desperately to change herself.  She makes new friends and even starts dating her dream guy, Sky.  But as hard as she might try, Laurel can't escape the pain she has kept bottled up.      Eventually, despite her best efforts, the pain seeps out and so does the truth - not just her truth, but the truth about those around her.
  This is one of the best books I've read by a YA author in a very, very long time.  It's original, sweet, sad, and just so hopeful.  The characters voices are flawed and true.  I would recommend this book to anyone, young or old.  It's one of those stories that I'll carry with me and think of from time to time whenever I hear a Nirvana song or see a Judy Garland movie. 

Bio - Empty Mansions: The Mysterious Life of Huguette Clark and the Spending of a Great American Fortune by Bill Dedman

Interesting non-fictional account of the life of the richest women in the world no one has ever heard of.   This is the story of Huguette Clark and her self-made father, how he amassed his fortune, and how it passed through his descendants eventually to her.  It was the Golden Age of mansions on 5th Avenue - the Vanderbilts, Carnegies - and W.A. Clark had the grandest home of all.  

Huguette, the only surviving child from a second marriage, grew up with wealth, privilege, and tragedy. Sometimes withdrawn, sometimes generous, with unoccupied fully-staffed mansions on both coasts and an eccentric habit of doll-collecting, Huguette ended up managing her fortune a la Howard Hughes - from a hospital bed. Good story for a book club discussion.

YA - Something Real by Heather Demetrios

 

  Something Real is a look at what it must be like to grow up on a reality television show.  Bonnie Baker and her 11 siblings had such a life on Baker's Dozen, until her father got caught cheating on national television and Bonnie tried to kill herself.  Year's later, the Baker's have moved to a new town and Bonnie has adopted a new name - Chloe. 
  Chloe finally has real friends, a normal social life, and a love interest, but all of this is thrown into chaos when she and her brother Benton come home from school one day to a lawn filled with production equipment.  Chloe finds out that Baker's Dozen is back - as Baker's Dozen: Fresh Batch.
  As Chloe struggles, her mother and the show's producer put tremendous pressure on her to fall in line with the rest of the family.  In one particularly shocking scene, the producer, Chuck is threatening her.
  All I could think about when reading this book is Jon & Kate Plus 8.  Is this the reality of reality t.v.?  Every mistake you've ever made readily available to a national audience.  Parents so obsessed with fame and money that the child's welfare isn't even a consideration.
  The book itself is outstanding.  The characters are well fleshed out and relatable.  Bonnie and her brother, Benton, have a relationship that I envy.  The book touches on infidelity, divorce, suicide, sexual preference, friendship and so many other topics, but it never feels forced.  A great book for anyone looking for a good read.

YA - Amity by Micol Ostow

  Maybe I'm a big baby....or Amity is the scariest book that I've read, like EVER.  Amity is perfect for teens who love anything horror.  Me on the other hand, I had to get a "buffer" book just to be able to fall asleep.  It freaked me out so bad that I kept talking about it at work, just to purge myself of fear.
  Amity is a spin on the classic Amityville horror house stories.  In Ostow's version, we have two alternating viewpoints, two different families, separated in time by 10 years.  In the first family we hear from Connor, who is unnaturally attached to his twin sister Jules.  Connor has a history of odd behavior.  He loves Amity.  He embraces her message.  He acts as her tool.
  With the second family we hear our story from Gwen.  Gwen has recently suffered a mental "breakdown", so her parents purchased Amity (because they got a good deal) to get her away from it all.  Gwen knows that Amity is evil, she's having visions, but because of her recent issues no one will listen to her.  Her brother, however, begins to be seduced by Amity.
  Bottom Line: The ending will leave you speechless and the way there will leave you with a serious case of the willies.
**An early release version of this book was provided by Netgalley and the publisher.  Amity will be released on 8/26/14.

Bio - Journeyman by Sean Pronger

Journeyman is the story of the ups and down of Sean Pronger’s hockey career. He bounced around from minor league to NHL so many times I lost count. Despite all the ups and downs, Pronger never seemed to lose the sense of humor that made this book so entertaining. Well, maybe he lost his sense of humor in Germany, but in his situation you can’t blame him. There were times when he was more serious, such as during the birth of his daughter. He also discussed the effect his many career moves had on his family, as well as the effect his family had on his career decisions. 

My only complaint, and it's a tiny one, is that he seems to downplay his hockey skills throughout the book. I've never seen him play, but if you make it to the NHL, you've got to be among the best. Sometimes his description made him seem mediocre, and I'm sure that wasn't the case. 

The accessible tone of this book made it read like a friend relating his experiences over a few beers. I loved it and am a little disappointed that this is the only book he’s written.