Author: Cindy

Review: Louder Lili

Posted on by Cindy

TITLE: Louder Lili
AUTHOR: Gennifer Choldenko
DATE: 2008

Lili was a quiet girl in school. Her teacher was always telling Lili she needed to speak up. When recess would come Lili always stayed inside. She would stay with Lois who was the classes guinea pig and she would read books. Lili didn’t take part in class because she was shy. Lili’s mother had no idea that Lili had no friends except Lois. One day a girl named Cassidy partnered up with Lili for a project and she took all the credit for it. It was until Cassidy started to hurt Lois ie cut his fur and put glue in his water that Lili finally spoke up. At the end she made a new friend.

Thanks to my son for this great review.

copyright 2010, Cindy (Cindy’s Love Of Books)
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Review: The Mighty Queens of Freeville

Posted on by Cindy

TITLE: The Mighty Queens of Freeville
AUTHOR: Amy Dickinson
PUB DATE: February 3,2009

I received this book from Barnes & Noble as the book club read. It was an okay book for me.

Five years ago after the death of Ann Landers there was a nationwide search for someone to take over. The Chicago Tribune announced that Amy Dickinson would be the next Ann Landers.

Amy has a column called “Ask Amy” and it appears in over 150 newspapers nationwide daily and read by over 22 million people.

The book is about Amy’s life. She writes about all the mistakes she has made. Amy talks about her daughter Emily and her family. Her family helped them out when her husband suddenly leaves her in London. She talks about how all the women in her family are all single parents. Even her own mother was a single mother.

Even though Amy and her daughter have lived in different cities they always find a way back to Freeville. Amy’s family still live in Freeville and all within a 10 house radius of each other.

copyright 2010, Cindy (Cindy’s Love Of Books)
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Review: Testimony

Posted on by Cindy

TITLE: Testimony
AUTHOR: Anita Shreve
PUB DATE: Oct. 21,2008

Testimony is Anita Shreves 14th book. This is my second book of hers that I read. My first introduction to Anita’s work was The Pilots Wife. Which I loved. Reading Testimony I realized that this is an author I need to read more of.

Testimony is written in many different perspectives. The characters all narrate in different points of views. For example the students when they speak are in first person, when Rob’s mother Ellen speaks she does so in second person and when Mike speaks he does so in third person.

Testimony is about how one incident that happened in a private school affected the lives of the students, family, community and school. A reporter discovers that three boys have been arrested from the school and charged with sexual assault and he goes to investigate. Mike the headmaster has been trying to contain the scandal with in the school.

The story begins at Avery Academy which is located in New England. The headmaster has been handed a video cassette and when he watches it he realizes its a sex tape involving five students from his academy. He finds out who the three boys are. They are three 18 year old male students. The camera man is unknown and no on will say who the person is. He is devastated when he realizes that the female student is only fourteen years old.

The book is about love (giving into desires that might ruin you/your life)families (parents wishing they could protect their child) an affair (that you don’t see coming) and a death (which will shock you).

copyright 2010, Cindy (Cindy’s Love Of Books)
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Review: Bang Crunch

Posted on by Cindy

TITLE: Bang Crunch
AUTHOR: Neil Smith
DATE: January 2008

This is a collection of 9 short stories, which by the way is Neil Smith’s debut novel. He is a Canadian author living in Montreal, QC. The characters in all the short stories are all average people who end up in unexpected situations. The stories all vary in plot but the settings are all the same. The stories are all based around Montreal locations. (Its always nice to read books that take place in your city.)

The first story called Isolettes opens like this “Blue tube, green tube, clear tube, fat tube” The story is about An who has just had a premature baby with her gay friend Jacob. The details of the premature baby are so exact that you feel as though you are in the Nick U with the baby.

The story of Green Florescent protein is about a 17 year old boy, Max who is struggling to admit his attraction to his friend. There is also another story about Max’s mother Funny Weird or Funny Ha Ha. Where she talks about growing up watching reruns of I Love Lucy. She talks about her husband and how he died. She put his ashes in a curling stone.

The B9ers is about the struggle of a group of people trying to return to normal life after finding out they all have benign tumors. They don’t get the support they need since their tumors aren’t malignant.

The Bang Crunch is about Eepie a girl with Fred Hoyle’s Syndrome, which ages her a year a day until she reaches 80 and then she goes back in time.

Those are just a few examples of the stories that are in the book. I really enjoyed reading them. Its been awhile since I have read short stories. Looking forward to reading some more.

I got to see and listen to Neil speak tonight and what a pleasure it was. He talked about his book and that its being published in different languages. He doesn’t write full time yet just part time. He is in the process of working on his novel called Heaven Is a Place Where Nothing Ever Happens. That sounds really good. Looking forward to reading it when it comes out. To read the first five chapters click here.

Neil is actually quite tall. Okay I am just short I admit it LOL.

copyright 2010, Cindy (Cindy’s Love Of Books)
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Review: Remembering The Bones

Posted on by Cindy

TITLE: Remembering The Bones
AUTHOR: Frances Itani
DATE: December 2007

We are introduced to Georgie Danforth Whitley. She is a Canadian widow. Her Husband passed away 3 years ago. Georgie is getting ready to go to London, England. She has been invited to London for a celebratory luncheon honoring Queen Elizabeth’s 80th birthday. She shares the same birthday with the Queen. She is one of 99 commoners who have been invited. We discover that Georgie is fascinated with the Queen. (BTW most Canadians are fascinated with the royal family.) Through all Georgies careful planning she will not make it to the palace this time.

On the way to the local airport Georgie gets distracted and her car slips off the road, through the guard rail and flips twice down the hillside. Georgie is thrown from the car into the brush. There is no visible sign from the road that an accident ever occured.

Georgie is alone and helpless. When she was a little girl she dicovered her grandfathers 1901 Edition of Grays Anatomy. She memorized all the bones in a human body. Which you will discover that after the first chapter all the other chapters in the book are named after bones in the body. Each bone tells a story from her past.

copyright 2010, Cindy (Cindy’s Love Of Books)
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Review: The Tutu Ballet

Posted on by Cindy

TITLE: The TuTu Ballet
AUTHOR: Sally O. Lee
DATE: September 5, 2008

This is such a cute children’s book. Sally the author is also the illustrater. She has written and illustarted 21 books. This is her newest one.

Sally takes us to the forest where the students are a bear, fox, mouse and hare who are doing ballet. Their teacher is Ms. Berry who was a former ballerina. The students love the class, but the only thing is that they excel each in one particular part of ballet.

Belinda the bear loves to do high kicks in the air, Harriet the hare loves to spin until she gets dizzy, Fillipo the fox loves to jump, and Mirabel the mouse loves to plie.

Ms. Berry gets worried that things aren’t going as planned so she decides to design a ballet recital that will high light each animals speciality and love. The ballet was a success it was the best ballet ever.

copyright 2010, Cindy (Cindy’s Love Of Books)
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Review: The Dragonfly Secret

Posted on by Cindy

TITLE: The Dragonfly Secret: A story of Boundless Love
AUTHOR: Cleo & John Adams
DATE: October 2008

This is such a beautiful story. I was in tears reading it. When my favorite aunt passed away I had gotten little signs like that. Its nice to know that there can be signs out there. My son loved the book.

The illustrations are beautiful in the book as you can see below. The book is about a mother and father who are grieving the death of their son and the fathers parents. David uses the dragonfly to get the attention of his parents. He gives the dragonfly three things to do for him the next day in the garden. All which Lea, the dragonfly does.

Its a beautiful story about love and hope that transends all bountries.

This picture is the part in the book where he is asking the dragonfly to do three things for him. “You have message to deliver, a promise so true, it can only be carried by a dragonfly like you.”

“The tenderness in her eyes drew Lea closer. The air around her became warm. The flowers and grass brightened.”

My review was also mentioned on This Blog

copyright 2010, Cindy (Cindy’s Love Of Books)
If you are reading this on a blog or website other than Cindy’s Love Of Books or via a feedreader, this content has been stolen and used without permission.