These Things Hidden

I love and hate a good book. Do you ever get done with a book and think there is no way I can top that with anything in my pile of books to read? This is one of those books. I read it in 2 days and my arms literally ached this morning. So intense too.
This book is about a girl convicted of a murder, her sister that suffers the consequences, and a family living in fear of having everything taken from them. This is written true Jodi Picoult style. My favorite. Mostly in 1st person.
Allison is living in a halfway house after serving her prison sentence, her sister, Brynn wants nothing to do with her. Charm is a nursing student that carries a secret and Claire is the adpoted mother of Joshua, the little boy that is the center of each of thems world.
There is same language in this book and it deals with adult topics of murder and some sex. Very good though. I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys a good intense read. No teenagers though.

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

Once again, Lindsay comes through. (Lindsay got me to read a silly story about teenage vampires that don't suck human blood.) Don't worry. This is not a vampire story. Mostly...
This is a non-fiction book people. I don't read many, but this one sucked me in. This is the story of a black woman in the 50's that dies of cervical cancer. Before she passes away, doctors take a sample of her cells and notice that they multiply quickly and can be kept alive very easily. This woman's cells become legendary. They have been instrumental in many medical studies and are sold around the world. They estimate that if you put them all together, they could circle the earth 3 times. Here is the crazy part. Her family of uneducated tobacco farmers, cannot afford health insurance.
This is a nail biter from the beginning. It really made me think that every time I take a pill or hear about some medical breakthrough, that it most likely happened because of Henrietta Lacks. Appalling! Read it! and let me know what you think!

Shadow of the Wind

Yippee!! Another good read! What great luck I have. So my BFF Blythe recommended this book to me and as usual, never a disappointment. I had a little bit of a conflict in that I don't know why I loved this book. It's one of those books that you can't leave alone but you're not sure why.
So, this one is about a boy that finds a book in a cemetery of forgotten books. He is intrigued by it and goes out in search of the authors other works only to find everything ever written by the fella has been destroyed. AND mysterious characters keep popping up....ohhh. I love it. This is a somewhat long story so don't get into it unless you have time. I would recommend it to most people, but not young folks. There are a few bits of language by the stinky villain. Overall a nice bit of literature for sure.

Divine

Again, couldn't put a darn book down. It certainly wasn't the best book I have ever read, in fact, it was down right depressing at times. Some parts hard to read, but it was as clean as it could be given the story.
So, it is a book that goes between past and present stories. It is about a woman that runs a women's shelter, but has her own story to help her clients get back on track. It also is all about coming to Jesus. (Not in an LDS way.) But I love the way that she really puts it out there in Gods hands.
Good story. Not for kids even though it is an easy read. Adult topics and some major child abuse. I would maybe not read it again, but it was a good one-timer.

Seriously

Does no one read? People I need a phenom book please.
Cough up your favorites here....
Right away
Before I go into withdrawal
You know the kind that comes on the heels of a fabulous read?
Yep, that kind
Please
Help a sister out

Unbroken

By far, the best book of my year!!!! Unbelievable! Unbroken is an absolutely true story of courage, resilience and endurance. I seriously read this book in like 3 days and it's a biggie. It is beautifully written and easy to read.

This is the story of Louie, an Olympic hopeful that's plans are derailed by the Army Air Force. I do not want to go into too much detail and ruin a good book for you all, so I won't go much farther than that. I will say that Louie goes through some of the most horrific things I have ever read about. This book does have a lot of history in it. (The whole last 25-30 pages are resources.) The details and the numbers of Americans affected are staggering.

Hillenbrand does a fine job of writing a clean book out of not so clean material. The only cussing in this book comes as direct quotes or names given to Japanese soldiers. Very clean. It is about war however and younger readers may find it boring or hard to follow some parts.

Please somebody read this book!!! Let's talk about it!

Will read it again and again!

The Girl With The Pearl Earring

I wasn't so sure about this book for a while. I have had it on my "to read" list and my bookshelf for some time now. I finally picked it up the other day thinking if nothing else it would be a quick read. It certainly was. Once again, I am forced to starve my family and leave dirty laundry strewn about. I don't know why I liked it so much. Not the most engaging story by any means. And I still haven't figured out if it is based on true accounts or totally fictional. A girl, Griet, is hired by an artists family to be the maid. She ends up intriguing the artist, his purchasers and the local butchers son. An easy, pretty clean read. If anyone knows if this is a true story, do tell.