Lucia, Lucia

Lucia, Lucia by Adriana Trigiani

I enjoyed this novel despite the fact that I had a hard time relating to the main character. Lucia is a career girl growing up in New York post WW2. She works in the custom fashion department of an upscale department store and she loves beautiful clothes. The author spends lots of words describing - in detail - various character's outfits, which I found a little tedious. She loves being a career girl and isn't willing to give it up for her traditional Italian fiancé. She later falls in love with an uptown man and finds herself in the middle of a "sizzling scandal" (as the book cover puts it.) I would recommend this book.

The Magic of Ordinary Days

This week I read The Magic of Ordinary Days by Ann Howard Creel. My mom recommended it to me. She told me when she finished it, she started reading it again right away (something she has never done with any other book). I did enjoy the book greatly. It was set in Colorado during WW2. The main character is a woman who a student of history working towards her masters degree. She has to abandon her plans and enter into an arranged marriage. I won't go into the details, but I did enjoy the book greatly. As she struggles with the accepting the disappointments of her new life, she learns to see the magic in everyday ordinary life.

Summer of the Monkeys

This month, my book club is reading Summer of the Monkeys by Wilson Rawls. He is the same man who wrote "Where the Red Fern Grows". I enjoyed this book so much! I was actually laughing out loud. It is about a boy who discovers a tree full of monkeys on his Oklahoma farm. It turns out that a circus train had a wreck and about 30 monkeys escaped. The circus is offering a reward to whoever can catch the monkeys, and this 14 year old boy is determined to collect the reward. Just as in "Red Fern", the boy has a dog who he loves with all his heart. It is obvious Wilson Rawls has been best friends with a dog or two in his lifetime.

I began to tell Chris all about this book and he replied "Yeah, I read that book in 8th grade." Personally, I'm glad I was a grown up when I read it for the first time. I feel like I can appreciate it much more.

The Nanny Diaries

I just finished reading The Nanny Diaries by Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus. Both these women have been nannies at one time in their life, and base this fictional book on their experiences. It is a funny book that offers a peek into the bizzare world of nannies for the oh-so-wealthy. I enjoyed it, but it does have a fair amount of cussing (from an LDS point of view). It's an entertaining and quick read.

The Taking

The Taking; Author-Dean Koontz; Publisher-Bantam Dell.

Hope and purpose are the themes that drive this book for me. Unraveling and unveiling. Mr. Koontz artfully unravels the mystery and unveils evil, as well as good. The insensitivity of modern society to human suffering might be the platform from which the enemy springs. All of us have the dark corners, the fog obscured environments, and the creeping crawling intrusions into our lives. The desire for a cleansing is universal; catharsis is therapeutic. I feel as though I need to read the book a second time just to see what other morsels of truth or relavence this work has for me.

I have sympathetic leanings toward both the protagonist and her husband. She is a proactive kind of person and he is her deep mirror of morality and stability, though more passive in nature.

Since being diagnosed with lymphoma, I have not invested in a lot of hope. I have turned passive in many areas, a type of giving up, perhaps. I need a bigger purpose outside of myself to justify passion and proactivity.

Finally, I need the confirmation that I can and will make an impact for good in this world. Molly has done that in the book. She will leave a legacy of love and bravery. What will I leave? Who have I helped? Is this a mother thing or a universal need?