"The Gift Of An Ordinary Day"

I just started "The Gift Of An Ordinary Day" again.  I had started it last year but never got past the first chapter.  I know enough about it to know it is a tear-jerker..but I have no choice...it my January book club book.  I know I wont be alone with the tears!!

"Leisure Seeker" by Michael Zadoorian

I have finally finished "The Girl Who Played With Fire" and am happy to be moving on.  It was a long book and full of serious content.  My brain was working on overload with the amount of characters I had to keep up with!

I am thrilled that my usual monthly book club is picking up again after taking the summer months off and "Leisure Seeker" is our August book.  As I write this I am loving the main character, Ella!  She is easy to like.  The thing is... the subject matter is quite sad.  Ella and John are an elderly couple travelling across the country in their Leisure Seeker for a last vacation together.  Ella has terminal cancer and John has Alzheimer's.  There are times when I'm reading that I forget these facts and just laugh at Ella's quick wit.  Her commentary about their marriage, their family and life is endearing.  She makes me smile. 

Ella and John are normal, everyday American who are in the sunset of  their lives. However, they aren't giving up.  Their love for each other and life lead them onto Route 66 heading towards guess where?  Disneyland!

More Soon!

"The Girl Who Played With Fire" by Stieg Larsson

I'm on to the second in the series, which is pretty awesome as well.  I like the fact that I am able to continue the story right after I read the last book.  I dont have much to say about these books except that I generally dont read books of this genre but I am so glad I have!  I am excited to see the movies as well.  Just the foreign ones right now as the american answer has not been filmed yet. 
Stay tuned!!

"The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo"

I would not say that I have ever really enjoyed the mystery/thriller genre of books or movies for that matter.  I was concerned when I started to read this book that it was a bit over my head.  The author was spinning the web that is the story and there were so many people and information to digest!  There is even a family tree on the first page to refer back to.  It took me to get through about half of the book to where I felt comfortable that I knew who was who without referring back to that family tree.  All of a sudden , the story took flight for me and now I get all the hoopla about this book!  It is cleverly written, full of drama and mystery. 

I am sorry to say that as I write this post, I am almost finished with the book.  I have truely enjoyed it.  But..my good news is that I have the next book sitting next to my bed just waiting to be picked up when I am finished with this one!  I have never read a series so I am excited to see how the second book goes.

Stay tuned!

"Roses"

I have finished "Roses" and absolutely loved it!  I could barely put it down for the last 1/2!  It lived up to the all the family drama and romance talk for sure!

Percy, dear Percy Warwick, who is one of the main characters..oh how I loved Percy!  The author painted the perfect picture of a strong, southern gentleman in Percy, one who loved and lost.  Mary Toliver DuMont is the other main character, who like Percy loved much and lost much.  Conflicted about her life early on when she inherits her family's farm at 16 years old..Mary struggles with the love of farming that runs through her blood and coming to age.  Percy has loved her since the day she was born and wants nothing more than to marry her and spend his life with her.  Mary can not let go of the farm and all it takes to run it day in and day out.  Mary and Percy go on to marry other people and that is where the story takes flight. 

I would say if you like a little romance, this is a great read!  It may seem a bit daunting since it is a large book, but chances are it will fly by and even envoke a few tears along the way. 

My next book is one you may have heard of, "Girl With The Dragon Tatoo" by Steig Larson(sp).  I am psyched to begin as everyone I know that I has read it has LOVED it.

"Roses" by Leila Meacham

I know it's been quite a while since I've posted, things have been a little crazy around here.  End of the school year and that it entails kept me pretty busy! 

I was interested in this book first because of the cover.  What girl doesn't like Roses!!  I asked my friend that works at our local book store about it and she said it was a "epic family drama"... sounded like a great read for the summer.  Here's the thing, it is epic.  It's LONG!  Honestly, it was slow going to start and I didn't know if I wanted to waste the time since it was really long. Then, the romance kicked and as you know I'm a sucker for a good romance!! 

"Roses" takes place in the early 1900's set in eastern Texas.  3 aristocratic families move there from England.  In England, the families grew roses, each a different variety.  After coming to America they settle and expand their wealth by branching out and getting involved in different opportunities like growing cotton and timber.  When they settle they name their town "Howbutker".  The story follows the families, what ties them together and what tears them apart.

The story is told from Mary Toliver's perpective who inherits her family's cotton plantation at an early age when tides are changing in cotton farming.  Since her adult life has barely begun when she inheirits the plantation, she struggles between her duty in running it and life.  Mary's primary pursuer is Percy, who is the most elligible bachlor around.  Mary loves Percy but feels connected to the plantation in a way Percy does not understand. 

I am about half way through, enjoying the drama and romance.  This is a fluff book, comparable to the old TV show "Dynasty"...great to start off my summer reading!!

"Her Perfect Symmetry"

"Her Perfect Symmetry" is a book like none other than I have read.  If you like ghost stories you will like this book.  It's slightly odd, but the characters are likeable.  I have not come across those sentances I like to find which is fine.  It's a good book..easy to read...interesting story line.  I would certainly recommend it!

"Her Perfect Symmetry" by Audrey Niffenegger

"Her Perfect Symmetry" is the second book by the author who wrote "Time Travelers Wife", one of my all time favorite books!!!  Audrey Niffenegger is a local author who uses the Chicagoland area as backdrop in her books.  In this book, Lake Forest serves as home for the set of twins you see on the cover.  If my memory serves me correct, I do belive that I heard that Audrey was staying at Ragdale (a small artisans retreat on Green Bay Road in Lake Forest) when she wrote Time Travelers Wife.  I have been lucky to spend a few hours at Ragdale which is an amazingly beautiful place with lots of history.   

I have just started the book and it's an easy read..into it already!  Stay tuned :)

Cutting For Stone

I'm back again, a few weeks after my last post about this book.  I was glad to finally finish.  There were times when I pushed through wanting to be done.  It did not move fast enough for me.  All in all I would still highly recommend it because when I look back the story as a whole was pretty incredible.  I found my favorite passages along the way and some pretty thought provoking as well.  You know I relish in finding those passages..here they are.

"Make something beautiful of your life". So incredibly simple and it's what we all want isn't it?

"Wasn't that the definition of home?  Not where you are from but where you are valued." Don't even need to explain why I liked this one!

Here's the part in the book where it was hard to get through.  I felt like the story lacked umpf so to speak.  I went almost 200 pages before I found another good one.

"All possibilities resided within me, and they required me to be here.  If I left, what would be left of me?"  This line was spoken by the main character Marion.  His whole identity is entangled with the hospital, mission and town he lives in.  Sometimes in life we step out of our comfort zone that is when great growth happens.  There is something to be said to have your roots so solid some place you become afraid to leave and challenge the life you know.  A life changing event happens to Marion which causes him to go on the run and end up in New York.  It is there that he eventually finds comfort in crafting his life call, becoming a doctor.

"Life is full of signs.  The trick is how to read them."... we just have to open our eyes to see them.  I don't think you have to be superstitious to believe in signs.  There are signs everywhere, street signs, signs of illness, signs of love and signs from God.  All we have to do is open our eyes, ears and heart.

And lastly, and it's a long one but so worth it...  "All sons should write down every word of what their fathers have to say to them.  I tried.  Why did it take an illnss for me to recognize the value of time with him.  It seems we humans never learn.  And so we relearn the lessons of every generation and want to write epistles.  We proselytize to our friends and shake them by the shoulders and tell them, "Sieze the day! What matters is this moment!" Most of us can't go back and make restitution.  We can't do a thing about our should haves and could haves."  Ug, makes me want to cry.  Isnt that always the way it is when we have a loved one that is dying or has died?  We want more time with them even if we have had a lifetime.  We realize how precious life is and remember not to take anything for granted.  But..as always the sun always rises and life goes on.

It is true, tomorrow is another day.  Please God, grant me many days and many tomorrows to look forward to!

"Cutting For Stone" By Abraham Verghese

"Cutting For Stone" is a book I have been eagerly waiting to read.  I started to hear about it last year..just mumblings really but I didn't know anything about the story.  In January I ran into a friend and she said, "It's the best book I have ever read!"  Here's the thing with me, if someone says that to me I automatically put it on my list to read even if the subject matter is something that does not interest me,  I have never heard about it or whatever.  To say a book is the "best" is like a moth to the flame for me.  Very basically, "Cutting For Stone" is the story of twin brothers born to a nun at a mission based hospital in Africa around 1940.  The hospital, the people who work and live there, and the country of Africa are all active characters as well.

I started this book about a week ago, before I left for Scottsdale hoping to do some real damage and get through as much of it as I could before I got home.  "Cutting For Stone" happens to be my April book club book so I am on a time crunch with it and it is long, 657 pages.  As of last night I am on page 235.  I will admit to struggling through a majority of the first few chapters hoping to God that one of the story lines takes off.  Well, I am happy to say that indeed..it had taken off.  Phew!   I book marked my first promising sentance on page 9 which reads, "Life too, is like that.  You live it in the forward but understand it backward".  Isn't that the truth!!  And then another that my friend Michele and I said to each other during our visit while I was in Scottsdale, "If you want to make God laugh, tell him your plans."  Amen to that!

I'll keep you posted!

"House Rules" By Jodi Picoult

Of course I love Jodi!  You know that..she is one of my faves!  I was thrilled when I heard she was releasing a new book and that she was doing a press tour for it stopping in our sleepy litte town!  I was able to start the book just a bit before I attended the reading with Jodi and a few hundred other loyal followers.  I am always impressed when I see her that she looks just like me and my friends but who just happens to have an amazing writing talent.  I love listening to her read from her books.  It brings the whole book experience to another level for me.  I read the story to myself in my head each time I pick up a book to read, but to hear the author read it is fascinating to me.  

"House Rules" is the story of a family whose oldest son has Aspergers Syndrome, which is on the Autism spectrum.  Emma, the Mom, is doing the very best she can everyday.  Jacob, the teenage son with Aspergers is quite interesting to me to read.  I didn't know much about Aspergers, but I sure do now!  That is one of the things I love about reading Jodi's books, I always learn something.  I told her that when she signed my book and took the picture you see.  Huge highlight for me!!!  Theo is the 3rd member of the family..the brother who is a teenager as well and is struggling within himself between what his brothers condition has meant to him and not blaming his brother for his crappy cut of life.

I have been so immersed in reading that I have not posted in a while.  I started to, as I always do, mark the pages where there is a sentance that I like..but here's the thing.  There's too many!! I'm learning constantly and connecting with each character so I can't keep up with myself!! I'm not quite done, so look for more from me soon!

Here's the pic of me and Jodi.  March 2010

"The Last Song"

"The Last Song" really touched me.  Nicholas Sparks has a way of weaving a story that tears at your heartstrings every darn time!  This book is about a family coming back together to share the summer together..all be it under stressful circumstances. 

I'm not a crier per say but I found myself tearing up the last quarter of the book.  I so did not want the ending to turn out the way it did!  Ug...so frustrating but beautiful in a way.  Life has a way of happening whether you want it to or not and presents opportunities  that you can choose to take or not.  In my own life I have been presented with choices to make and opportunities that have presented themselves as challenging.  I did not shy away, I took the challenge and hoped for the best holding on by the hair on my chin.  Isn't that what we can ever do?  Hope for the best and hope all goes well???  Nicholas Sparks has a gift of writing about every day events in everyone's lives...love stories, parent-child relationships, birth and death.  That's why we love him and love to read him!

"The Last Song"

Ok, so bear with me while I incorporate a little romance in my life!  2 Sparks novels in one month might give me cavaties..but it's worth it!

"Same Kind Of Different As Me"

I know I say this all the time..but this was an amazing book!  I guess I am easy to please!  The book tells the story of 2 men living 2 very different lives that intersect and then follow the same path.  And..it's a true story!

Denver Moore's life is sad, and overwhelmingly tragic as he makes his way through it.  When you read it you think you are reading a story that takes place post civil war, but shockingly it starts in the late 1950's and 1960's.  It is hard to believe that there was still share-cropping going on in the south which is basically slavery.  Denver has no education, no money, no job, basically no life but something inside him draws him to the railroad trains that run not far from his so-called home for a better life.  He ends up in Texas homeless just waiting for his life to finish...no family no family no home no nothing.  He frequents a homeless shelter where he meets Ron Hall and his wife Debbie.  Ron and Debbie are well to do white people who volunteer at the shelter as part of their strong Christian values. Suprisingly, they find common threads and forge a friendship with Denver.

The real-life story tugged at my spritual heart strings and showed me that there is God in everything and everywhere.  I finished this book feeling joy and wanting to meet these 2 men.

Here is their picture...

Bestsellers 2009

Just thought I would post a list of the Bestsellers of 2009 from my local and favorite book store, the Lake Forest Book Store.  These are not from the national list, just the local flavor.

Fiction
1. The Help         (Yep, I read it!)
by Kathryn Stockett

2. Olive Kitteridge
by Elizabeth Strout

3. Sarah's Key   (Read it!)
by Tatiana DeRosnay

4. The Guernsey Literary And Potato Peel Society  (Read it!)
by Mary Ann Shaefer and Annie Barrows

5. The Commoner  (Yep!)
by Jonathan Burnham Schwartz

6. Girl With The Dragon Tattoo
by Steig Larson

7.  City of Theives
by David Benioff

8.  Elegance Of The Hedgehogs
by Muriel Barberry

9.  Mudbound
by Hilary Jordan

10.  People Of The Book
by Geraldine Brooks

Non Fiction
1. Outliers
by Malcolm Gladwell

2.  Downtown Lake Forest
by Susan Kelsey and Shirley Paddock

3.  Bear With Me
by Pat McCaskey

4.  When You Just Can't Say Goodbye, Don't
by Maria Malin

5.  Three Cups Of Tea  (Yep!)
by Greg Mortenson

6.  Superfreakonomics
by Steven Leavitt

7. My Life In France
by Julia Child

8.  Zeitoun
by Dave Eggers

9.  Infidel
by Ayann Hirsi Ali

10.  Mastering The Art Of French Cooking
by Julia Child

Pretty interesting list!

"The Queen's Fool"

Such an awesome story!  Phillipa Gregory never disappoints me!  She writes like she was there and in return I get sucked in like I am there when I read.  It's easy to loose yourself in the pages and connect with the characters.  I have to say, I did get a little irritated with Hannah, the main and title character.  Hannah is hired as Queen Mary's fool after King Edward dies.  Hannah is a young girl of 14 when the story begins.  I never really realized how chaotic England's history was, and feel like I have just touched the surface.  I am anxious to learn more.

Hannah is Jewish at a time when you could not be Jewish and live the Jewish ways.  She is  betrothed to a young Jewish man, named Daniel, who is studying to be a doctor.  She is to marry him when she turns 16 and is allowed to work at the Queen's court until then.  As her time at court continues she finds one reason or another to hold off her wedding.  Hannah is a bright and steadfast companion to the Queen who does not want to let her go, and Hannah also find herselfs intertwined in the many plots that surround the Queen and her sister Elizabeth.  Hannah finally flees England when her life it as risk for heresey to go and be with her betrothed.  Her life with Daniel ends up dysfunctional and she is once again on her own.  Hannah has the gift of "foresight" where she can see the future.  It comes at unpredictable times.  Instead of being cast as a witch, she is said to be a "holy" fool since in a vision she once saw and Angel.   She feels blessed and cursed with her sight as she knows it can be used against her at any time.

It struck me again reading this book how people didn't live very long back then. Hannah is to be married when she is 16 and the Queen is considered old at 37.  This book ended in the year 1558 and it made me recall the birth of our own country. Why it was that some English people wanted to leave England to start their own country free of being ruled by the crazy King's and Queen's and longed for a place where people could be free.  The back and forth every time a new ruler came to the throne gave everyone whiplash with different laws, different religions, and threats of being burned alive on the street corner if you said the wrong thing.  Nobody trusted anyone as no one could be trusted.  Gives me goosebumps!

My next book will be "Same Kind of Different as Me" which is my next official bookclub book for March.

"The Queen's Fool" by Phillipa Gregory

Still in my catching up mode, since we have the month off of book club, I started "The Queen's Fool" by Phillipa Gregory.  Phillipa is a well known english author who's talent is taking the history of the english royal families and writing historical fiction books that are easy to read and full of information.  I have only recently discovered my love for England's history as generally I lean towards U.S history.  I read "The Other Boleyn Girl" last year and was fascinated by it! I am anxious to read and learn more about those crazy english families!

Onto to "The Queen's Fool".  I have only just started. The type is small, and it's a long book..so needless to say, it's going to take a while!  The story is from the perspective of Hannah Green who is hired to be King Edward's fool.  As we know, Edward dies young and there is some jockeying in who will be take the throne next.  I am to the part when Princess Mary has just come out of hiding to claim the throne. 

More soon!

Almost Forgot!

PS.... So So So excited!!!  I'm going to see Jodi Picoult in March to hear her read from her yet to be released newest book.  Of course, I can not remember the title right this second
(sorry!), but it comes out March 2.  This will be my second time seeing Jodi and I am thrilled!!  The Lake Forest Book Store is bringing her in to speak as they do with many authors.  It is an amazing experience to hear the author read their own work. 

I love to go to these events put on by the Lake Forest Book Store and I go whenever I can.

Record time..Finished Dear John!

Who does't love a good Nicholas Sparks romance??  I surely can not pass one up and when I started seeing the trailers for the movie I knew this was one book that I had to read!  Not to mention that I love Amanda Seyfreid and want to look like her in my next life!

Dear John  is a contempory love story about 2 young people who meet on a pier in North Carolina.  Opposite lives brought them to where they are when they meet and they fall in love.  Fate and circumstance follow their relationship and I was so hoping they find themselves together again. 

Savannah is very sweet, trusting and a do-gooder.  The type of girl you want to be friends with, be your daughter, or your son's wife.  John is a bad boy, who is reformed by the Army and ends up to be quite the stand up gentleman.  Sometimes, I found myself urging him to speak...to react..getting annoyed by his silence.  Savannah wore her heart on her sleeve.  

If you like things that always have a happy ending, don't read this book.  But if you like romance this is right up your alley.

Not sure what I'm going to read next... suggestions?

"The Bonesetter's Daughter"

Amy Tan is such a talented writer!  This book did not disappoint, of course.  I do have to mention, though that I enjoyed the second part of this book better than the first part.  I think it has to do with the Chinese history that was part of the second half of the book.  The Bonesetter's Daughter is about a young Chinese-American woman and her mother.  They struggle through life balancing the old Chinese ways but living in America.  The Mother is not a likeable woman in the first part of the book.  She mostly nags and makes her daughter feel like she never does enough for her.  In  the second part of the book, you learn the Mother's story, her life.  It is then that you understand her.  A prominent part of the book is the mother developing Alzheimers.  The disease that steals the mind.  Ruth is protective and loving yet doesn't know much about Luling.  When Luling realized she was forgetting things she wrote her life story down so Ruth would know.  And what a life she had.  You understood immediately why she was the way she was. 

It took me a while to find some of those sentances that I love.  I was becoming discouraged, and then there it was... page 138 (I told you it took a while), "The diary would be proof of her existence, that she mattered, and more important, that someone somewhere would one day understand her, even if it wasn't in her lifetime."  Isnt that was everyone wants?  Some one to understand them? 

" Wisdom from a childs lips, simple yet true."  Don't even have to explain why I liked that one!

And my last and the most favorite of all, "A Mother is always the begining.  She is how it all begins."  I suppose I identify the most with being a mother in life.  I went from a girl to a mother inside of a year, skipping over the time where I was supposed to grow into a woman.   I'm only now figuring out the woman I want to be 16 years later and closer to 40 every second. 

PS.  Please excuse any grammatical or spelling errors..I'm tired and need to go to bed! 

"The Bonesetter's Daughter"

I have not read anything from Amy Tan before although I of course knew all about her.  She is an amazing writer who's book "The Joy Luck Club" was a world-wide success.  This book is beautifully written.  Amy Tan has a wonderful way with words and the way she brings her characters to life makes you identify with them right away.

"The Bonesetter's Daughter" is about a Chinese Mother and Daughter who live in San Francisco.  The Mother Luling, who has always been a challenging person to deal with, is diagnosed with Alzhimers.  The daughter Ruth, is in her 40's and is in a relationship with an American man whom she lives with although they are not married.  She is struggling still trying to find her way in life, and being shouldered with the responsibility of an aging and now sick Mother. 

I have not figured  out where the title fits into the book yet but I'm less than half way through. 

My monthly book club has decided to take the month of Febuary off so I'm  excited to be able to continue catching up with the other books I have that I want to read.  We met last Sunday and discussed "Benny and Shrimp" and it was so fun to hear  how everyone else liked the book.  We laughed and laughed about the characters and the quirkiness of the book.  My friend Max, the uber-book reader, told us that she thought she heard there is second book out about Benny and Shrimp.  Add it to the list!!!

"In the President's Secret Service" by Ronald Kessler

I super enjoyed this book!  It provided everything you would look for in book, history, education, and thought provoking.  It even had a little romance in talking about some of the presidental marriages.

It was very interesting to read about how the Secret Service began and how it has evolved over the years.  Definetly fulfilled my history bug and was a quick read.

Moving on.....

"In The President's Secret Service" By Ronald Kessler

I gave this book to Bob for Christmas knowing it was right up his alley and then asked him if I could read it when he was done (hope that wasn't too tacky!).  He is Mr. Speed Reader so he was done quickly and gave it to me to read!  Thank you!!

Just started it and it's very interesting!!  Kinda gossipy with tid bits from past Presidents, which is fun.  But also has interesting information on how the Secret Service began. 

Really enjoying it!

"The Widow of the South" By Robert Hicks

Just AWESOME!  Those who know me know that I love history.  I love learning about the past whether it be my family, my neighborhood and town or in the case of this book, The Civil War.  I have always been fascinated with that time in our county's history peaking with a recent obsession with Abraham Lincoln.  This book is an historical account of the battle of Frankin, Tenn. November 30, 1864 which includes the story of Carrie McGavock, her family and family home. Carrie and John McGavock's home is chosen to be a make-shift hospital for the wounded in the ensuing the battle.

At first, I felt like it was slow going, but once I saw what Robert Hicks, the author, was leading me to I became utterly entranced by the story.  I could not wait to read it everyday! 

It was in reading the chapters that go into detail about the battle at Franklin, I found those sentances that I love.  The sentances that I read over and over again because I actually feel the words written not just read them.  The first of those sentances was "I realized then that we are never still in life, that even when we think we are motionless, we are still vibrating a little.  It was odd and confusing, yet reassuring, to see a man at perfect rest.  And I went to join him".  The death toll at the battle of Franklin was over 8,000 Confederate Soliders in roughly 5 hours. 

Another of the sentances that I read and reread was "Lord, give me the wisdom to know what you want from me and how to do it".  Said by Carrie in prayer as her home is filled with the wouded and dying soliders.  There is so much carnage she does not know what to do...where to start...she is totally understandably overwhelemed.  There are only 2 doctors and thousands of men that need help.  And there, she knows she must do something but is terrified.  She wants to ignore..to run like hell, but realized that she is there for a reason.  Carrie is kind of a tortured soul already and barely gets through her days anyway and now life is demanding her to be part of it with the war literally brought to her doorstep.  She wants to give up, but something is keeping her there and she finally figures that she is the one God intended to hold the hands of the wounded men to nurse them back to health or ease the dying men in death.  It must be an amazing thing to realize your purpose in life the way Carrie did.  "There by the grace of God go I".  

Now, I have to admit..because I love a good love story... I relished in the relationship between Zachariah and Carrie.  That they connected so deeply as humans without being married or even lovers but as people.  To connect with someone without the borders or boundries that life puts in the way and to just be.   Although they never fully expressed their love for one another with physicality I dont think they really needed to.  They were intuitively bonded the second they laid eyes on each other.  Getting choked up just writing about it!!!!

Here are some pictures from the "Widow of the South"website which I found so cool to look at!  I have never read a book that had a website about it!

This is Carrie McGavock. 

Although not the best picture, this is the house Carrie and family lived in which they called Carnton. 

 A better picture, but this is the back of the house.  Carrie, John, and Zachariah talk about how they dead and wounded were stacked up on the porches on the front and back of the house.  The operating room was a 2nd floor bedroom and when they had to amputate they just chucked the limb out the window where a pile of disregarded body parts grew higher and higher.









There are so many beautiful parts to this book it's not just about death.  The metamorphosis that Carrie makes from the woman she was to the woman she became was inspiring.  She turned her home and property into a memorial and cemetary and became the caretaker to those who died during those few days and always remembered those that lived.  She wrote letters to as many of the families she could to tell them of thier sons, father or brothers last moments and final resting place. 

Here's the thing I kept forgetting when I was reading but will never forget again...these were real people and it really happened.

"Benny and Shrimp"

I so enjoyed this book!  It was quaint, sweet and at times heartbreaking.  Benny and Shrimp meet visiting loved ones graves who happen to be buried next to each other.  They are both experiencing what is like to loose the one you love and how to continue living.  Shrimp's loss was her husband and Benny's was his Mother. 

They happen upon each other regularly visitng thier loved ones graves and wonder about each other.  They are drawn to each other fall in love.  She is a librarian who lives in the city and he a farmer who lives in the outskirts.  One of the funniest ways I have ever heard a person talk about love comes from Shrimp who says "He makes my ovaries jump and sing!"

They both know from the begining that their relationship wont last as each is tied into their lives so.  Shrimp is a city girl, who never thought herself worth much and loves Benny for all the reasons she is appalled by him.  He is a true farmer, loves his land, the life, the dirt and the cows.  He loves it too much to let it go when offered the life with Shrimp.  And Shrimp, she just can not live in the county.  The sadness and heartbreak for me was when they knew they were done, but didnt want to let go.  "It was as if we sensed that if we opened so much as a tiny crack onto the outside world, all manner of ghouls and ghosts would be blown in and skeletons would come toppling out of the cupboards."  They wanted to be together and yet knew they were far too different.  They knew it wouldn't last and didn't want to hurt the other, but were stumped as to how to end it.  We have all had those relationships were it would just take too much to make it work and so even though we really liked the person it just wasn't a fight we were willing fight.  The sadness in that realization does not make it any easier.  She says "Depression is contagious..dont let anyone tell you different."

I felt melancholy when I finished the book.  I've said before that I'm not the type who always has to have happy endings and things tied up with a bow, but this one..because it was so real I really wanted it to work.  Definetly worth the time to read it, just grab your box of kleenex!!