More Than Enough by Anna Quindlan

I've read several of Anna Quindlan's books, and after reading this one, I probably should read some more. She reminds me a bit of Anne Tyler in that she writes about everyday people with whom you can easily relate. In this novel, we meet Polly, a 42-year-old woman living in New York City. She's married to her second husband and she teaches English in a private girls' school. Like most women in their 40's, she has her share of relationships and some of them are wonderful and others aren't. She struggling with infertility, her negative feelings about her mother, her father's dementia, and her best friend's cancer diagnosis. And then to add to the mix, she takes a DNA test and discovers she is supposedly related to a family she doesn't know.

The writing is easy and sometimes funny, sometimes sweet. I loved several of the characters, especially her brother, her husband (a vet at the Bronx Zoo) and his mother. They are people you know or you want to know. 

I enjoyed this book and I KNOW you would too, BT, because there is a moment where the birth of a giraffe is described. 

Recommend it. - June

The Secret Book of Flora Lea by Patti Callahan Henry

An interesting plot but just not well written. This is the story of two sisters who are sent away from London during the war to live in the country. The older sister creates a magical story world for her younger sister to distract her from the separation from their mother and from the horrors or the war. While they are living in Oxford with a woman and her son, the younger sister, Flora, disappears. 

The story shifts in time between the 1960s and the time the girls were sent to the country. In the 60's, the older sister comes across a book depicting the world she created for her sister leading her to believe her sister is still alive.

Getting to the end was painful. If you removed all the repetitive text in the novel, it would be a short story. We are told the same basic storyline over and over. There's a love interest, and we are told a million times how she's attracted to him. We get it. So I read the first half and skimmed the second half only to find out the ending was pretty ridiculous. So I don't recommend this one. - June

This Little Book Blog

Hello Reader. I started this blog years ago as a way of communicating to a just a few friends about the books I've been reading. I also use it as a way to remember what I've read and what books I want to recommend to friends and family. Only a small handful of people have the link to the blog.

According to the stats that are available to me, I can see that the number of views has increased dramatically, and it's reaching people around the world!! Yesterday, over a thousand people viewed it! I'm shocked and happy to know that my little blog is being read by others!!

Please post a comment and let me know how you found this blog and where you live! I'm curious!

Thanks.

June