Patty Pick for 2/26/15 is "The Rosie Project" by Graeme Simpson

In "The Rosie Project", Don actually starts his own "Wife Project" but gets sidetracked by the phenomenon that is Rosie. Don has a very structured and planned life, but he wants to find a life partner. He has had quite a bit of trouble with this in the past due to his unique social skills. So being the scientist that he is, he develops a questionnaire to help him find the perfect spouse. 

His good friend, Gene, sends in Rosie to shake things up for Don but it develops into more, at least for Don. Don is a socially awkward scientist with a memory and intellect that's amazing. He runs into Rosie who is impulsive, smart and fun.  He decides to take a risk and help her find her biological father. Neither Rosie nor Don plan on all the madcap adventures that they have or expect the dedication of Don to finding the one person Rosie is desperate to find - her dad. 
As  Rosie pulls Don along and out of his shell, he becomes a different person, adjusting his routine as he goes. This is so funny in spots, you will laugh out loud, as I did. It is also touching that one of the brightest men in this fictional book in this fictional college could not get a date. We like them together so you need to read the book to find out what happens next. You won't want to miss any of their adventurous times together. 

Patty PIck for 2/19/15 is The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins

This engaging book takes an interesting look at the world from the main character's eyes - through the window of the train on which she rides twice a day. Rachel has lost her marriage, her home, her job and now she is working on becoming a homeless alcoholic. How do we feel about her? We love her! Even when she keeps making the most idiotic mistakes in her life, we want to help her. She is us, if we had made some of the terrible choices that she has and has been manipulated by someone you love.

How she gets pulled into the strange situations that develop in this book are improbable and interesting at the same time. You want to scream at her to stop doing what she is doing, like you are watching a horror movie. Why did that character go in that room? Or go down that path? That's our Rachel, but you like her anyway. She used to actually go to work, but her drinking has gotten out of control and she lost her job. She planned on getting another one but somehow it's not working out for her.

Everyday she watches a couple that lives a few doors away from her old home. As their 

world is viewed from the train window, Rachel names them and deems them the perfect couple. She feels like she knows them. Then she sees something that will change her life forever. As she pushes her way into the missing person investigation that follows, she will make horrible mistakes. But we will pull for her to figure this out and do the right thing. 

She is likable even while she is blacking out, which really makes it hard for her to remember what actually happened.  This book reads like a thriller and a feel-good book at the same time. You will want to read it as quickly as you can. Thank goodness for the ice storm that gave me more time to finish this wonderful book. The buzz is right on this book, and you should read it now!  

PATTY PICK for 2/12/15 is The Silver Star by Jeannette Walls

Jeannette Walls usually knows how to wreck our ideal of the perfect family with 

gritty characters in tough situations. You end up feeling sorry for them and wish 
you could somehow make their lives better in some small way. 

As we meet our two sisters, Bean and Liz, their mother is off on another wild 
scheme to find her big break in the music industry. The sisters are used to making do 
and taking care of themselves. They are stuck in a dusty run-down town in California. 
Their mother, Charlotte, doesn't come home but that is not unusual in itself. After the police show up, the girls decide to take a bus across country to their mom's family home in Virginia and stay with their aunt and uncle, they have not see since they were very little. 

This is where the story really started for me, I love the descriptions of small town, Byler, in Virginia and the eccentric townspeople who populate it. I could have done without Jerry Maddox, but guess we needed an antagonist to spice things up. If their lives are not hard or strange enough all ready, he definitely adds more drama to it. Needless to say they work through some pretty adult situations and make decisions about their own lives 
with their mom and Uncle Tinsley. The story is well worth the read! You will love spunky Bean.  

Patty Pick for 2/5/15 is "To Kill A Mockingbird" by Harper Lee

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee has been one of my favorite books since I read it many years ago. I'm sure it makes many other reader's favorites list! It is so hard to believe that Harper Lee had never chosen to write another book after the success of it. 
The story of Scout, Atticus , Jem and Dill as they interact with the other characters in the small Southern town of Maycomb, Alabama touched a cord with me and many other people. As a true Southerner, born in a North Carolina small town, I could personally relate to some of the eccentric people who populated this town. I thought of my father while reading about Atticus' brave fight against racism. The humor and detailed characters made this book come alive for me.     
Now, we find out that she actually wrote another book before To Kill A Mockingbird! 
It was announced this week that Harper Lee has a sequel coming out in July. 
Go Set a Watchman brings us the adult Scout as she returns home to Maycomb for a visit with her father, Atticus. This will be one of the most anticipated novels of it's time. It does have a hard act to follow in the first novel, but Harper Lee has her own voice and I 
can't wait to read it.