Gone With the Wind
by: Margaret Mitchell
Rating: Great (Excellent)

Growing up in Jonesboro Georgia, I have seen the movie Gone with the Wind multiple times. As high school girls, my friends and I would quote varies lines of the movie reminiscing as we drove through Main Street, past the train depot, and the Warren house (a Confederate, and Union field hospital). I am ashamed to say; I never read the book, until now.  For those who have only heard of the book/ movie, Scarlett, the main character, is probably one of the first feminists.  She is beautiful, head strong, determined, successful, and sometimes showing no scruples. She is forging through the present, but has left her heart in the past. 

   The book is a classic.  It is well written, professionally executed, and has an intriguing plot with fully developed characters. Expressed in the book so beautifully are not just the tortured relationship of Scarlett and Rhett, but also the relationship between Scarlett and Melanie.  Melanie is quite, reserved, and seems to be over powered by the strong overbearing Scarlett, but her quiet reserved demeanor is the pillar of strength in crisis. She is what everyone should want in a best friend, and as Rhett said, “The only true good person he ever knew”.  Most every confrontation Scarlett seems to be faced with, Melanie is by her side, facing it with her. Unfortunately for Scarlett, she realizes this to late.

  The other relationships that are revealed in the book, which could be over-looked by just seeing the movie, are the relationship between Scarlett and the servants.  The trust and love she feels for Pork, Dilcey, Uncle Peter, and Mammy are explored in depth.  She considers them as family, and seeks refuge in them.  When left with nothing, it is not Tara that Scarlett is craving to return to, but Mammy.  Mammy’s love, strength and righteousness are her hope, because “Tomorrow is another day”.

Cutting for Stone
by Abraham Verghese
Rating: Great, Excellent
It has been a long time since I made a post, because out of the 30 plus books I have read this year, none have given me the passion to comment.  This book is an epic. It touches on every aspect of life that needs to be told. It is not for the squeamish. The Stones are doctors, and their surgeries appear very accurate in their description.  Very well written, the story is compelling, and the adventure unexpected.  Excellent!

A Dirty Job
by Christopher Moore
Rating: Good
This is a funny book, Charlie Asher is a normal guy that tragically lost his wife after she gave birth to their daughter. He actually sees the "soul catcher" that comes for his wife.  Now that Charlie has seen the unseeable, people are beginning to drop dead around him.  He has now been recruited for a job of a "soul catcher". Reluctant to the job, he finds it isn't one he can refuse. Christopher Moore takes a grim subject, and turns it into a satire, that is entertaining and sometimes laugh out loud funny.

The Confession
by: John Grisham
Rating: Great
Love John Grisham when he is on roll.  This book is suspenseful and a paige turner. It has been out for a few years, but if you haven't read it, get it.  Won't disappoint!
Travis got a way with murder, why is he coming around the crime scene after years of being away?  He seeks counsel from a local Texas minister, when it appears that a young promising African American boy will be killed via lethal injection, for a crime he didn't commit.  Will Travis, confess in time, or will he change his mind at the last minute?

gods in Alabama
By: Joshilyn Jackson
Rating Great
It has been along time since I posted a review.  This book took me out of hibernation.  A great story about a girl that thinks she did something horrible, and runs away to Chicago to start a new life.  She falls in love with Bur a young black tax lawyer obsessed with legal trillers.  Bur encourages Arlene to go back to Alabama for her Uncles retirement party, but Arlene refuses.  Until Bur issues an ultimatum, they both will go to the party, or their through. Arlene has a secret, and to keep her deal with God, she must never tell a lie, never sleep with another man until she is married, and never go back to Alabama. Although she knows that her family will be surprised with Bur, that is not the reason she has stayed away.  Her biggest fears will be uncovered, and she will lose everything.  Excellent story, characters, plot, and setting. Very entertaining.

How to Be an American Housewife
By: Margaret Dilloway
Rating: Good
Shoko is a Japanese girl at the time of WWII.  She and her brother and sister are in a field when the bomb goes off at Nagasaki.  They are far enough away that the bomb does not affect them until later in life.  Her brother and her are very close until Shoko is a young women and falls in love with a "undesirable" man.  She is forbidden to see the man, and is disgraced.  Her father feels that Shoko only choice to marry would be an American GI. Shoko had been dating Charlie, a GI that she met in the hotel gift shop where she works, and decides to marry him.  Her brother is furious with her for dating someone that is beneath her, and then agreeing to marry an American.  He refuse to talk to her and has disowned her. When she arrives in America, she purchase a book for Japanese women that are moving to America with their husbands.  Shoko has a son, and a daughter, that she raises in America without any connection with her family.  When Shoko gets sick and tries to go back to Japan, she reaches out to her estrange brother, but does not get a response.  She becomes to ill for travel, and her daughter agrees to go in her place. Shoko daughter eventually finds her uncle, and is shocked by what he gives her to take back for her mother. The book is well written, entertaining, and insightful.  A good way to spend time on a rainy day.

The One & Only
by: Emily Giffin
Rating: Not so Wonderful
When I read a book, that I think is "Not so Wonderful", I have to refrain from posting a review, and think about the book before being negative. I am still thinking "not so wonderful" for The One and Only by Emily Giffin.  The book is based in the small town of Walker Texas, and revolves around a relationship of the head college football coach, Clive Carr and Shea Rigsby.  Shea is best friends with the daughter of the head coach, and grows up going in and out of the Carr house as easily as her own.  After graduating from Walker, she continues to work at the college and interact with the Carr family.  When Coach Carr's wife dies of cancer, Shea discovers that she has romantic feelings for the Coach. The book tries to distract from the inevitable, by Shea leaving her job at Walker, and getting a reporting job covering the Walker College football season. Simply written and with an overuse of the word "Coach" is another reason that this book is "Not so Wonderful".