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.  

Patty Pick for 1/29/15 is THE STORYTELLER by Jodi Picoult

As you can probably tell by now, Jodi Picoult is one of my favorite authors. The stories she writes just get to me. I love the way she pulls you along from each characters point of view. And she always has a twist, I didn't see coming most of the time. 

In The Storyteller, Sage Singer is a baker in a local cafe, making wonderful breads that her grandmother taught to her. Her face has been scarred from a terrible accident and she has become a loner, especially after her mother died. She wears her scars on the outside and inside. 

She befriends an elderly customer, Joseph Weber, who frequents the bakery to enjoy her bread and treats her with kindness. As they grow closer, he confides his life story. He was a Nazi SS officer and served at Auschwitz. How Sage deals with this shock and the unbelievable question he asks of her, will keep you riveted until the very end of the book. And of course there is the twist you won't see coming! 
When Jodi Picoult publishes a book, read it!

Update for Patty Picks

Hi! All you readers! There is so much going on to start our 2015! 
I am reading an ARC of My Sunshine Away by MO Walsh and really 
enjoying the writing. This is a coming-of-age novel and I can't 
wait to see how the characters end up by the end of the book. 
Look for a review next week. 
Also readying The Secret History by Donna Tart! This a complicated 
book about complicated characters. We will see when I can return 
to it!! 
Don't forget to celebrate National Reading Day on 1/24/15!
Happy Reading!!

Patty Pick for 1/22/15 is MY SUNSHINE AWAY by MO Walsh

My Sunshine Away
M.O. Walsh

The first thing I noticed about this book was the excellent writing. The rich descriptions immediately put me in the setting of Baton Rouge and the Piney Creek neighborhood. I went back through the book again to find the narrator's name, but realized it was not there for a reason. The reader can put themselves in the story and experience what happened before and after the summer that 15 year old Lindy Simpson was raped on a warm summer night. 
The juxtaposition of a young boy's obsessive love for his ideal girl who he imagines is Lindy and the memories and feelings that came years later after time and history has past. Our grown-up narrator comes to the realization that the adventures and feelings he has for people in his life during his childhood can 
translate to life lessons for him now. This knowledge makes him want a live a full life that is lived in the moment and to pass this knowledge along to his own kids. This is a coming of age book with a healthy dose of thriller as our young narrator tries to find the perpetrator of the rape of his Lindy. He does finally solve the mystery and you will enjoy the journey, but you will be surprised when he finds out who did it! A good book not to be missed! www.bookreaderforlife.blogspot.com

The Patty Pick for 1/8/15 is "leaving time" by Jodi Picoult

Jodi PIcoult has written another amazing book! When you finish "leaving time" you will know more about elephants that you could ever imagine. I did not know that elephants were so fascinating. After finishing the book, I immediately looked up the information on the Elephant Sanctuary in Hohenwald, Tennessee, www.elephants.com, and checked out the live elephant cams. Please do the same after you finish this book, Jodi Picoult really brings the elephants and characters to life for us. I did not realize so many of the fascinating elephant facts that Jodi Picoult shares with us. 

The main character, Jenna, is searching for her mother. Alice disappeared 10 years earlier  

when Jenna was a three-year-old toddler. A terrible accident at the elephant sanctuary that her parents run has lead to the death of one of the workers. Jenna's mother, Alice, is found with a head injury and taken to the hospital. Before she can be questioned she disappeared and has not been seen since.

Jenna's father, Thomas, is in a psychiatric hospital and can offer no clues to what happened that fateful night. Jenna hires a disgraced psychic, Serenity, and an alcoholic private investigator, Virgil ,to help her find her mom. As they work togther to follow the clues, the events of that night become more clear. This is a book you will want to read every word as quickly as possible but you do not want to end! You will need to read it for yourself to find out if Jenna finds her mother. 

The Patty Pick for 1/1/14 is Gray Mountain by John Grisham

Loved John Grisham's new novel, Gray Mountain! He touches on the coal industry, which continues to descreate the beauty of our mountains at will. The process of strip mining leaves a huge scar on the Earth and is very dangerous to the people who live around it. Many of them are all ready struggling for their daily existence.  

The main character is a female lawyer named Samantha Keofer, which a nice change from John Grisham's normal strong male leads. Grisham seems to have the whole female pysche down in this book. You will like her for her strength in troubled times but her humanity as well. 

As the recession begins to affect the big law firms, Sam finds herself downsized right out of her high-paying job. She has a choice to work for a non-profit and be able to rejoin the firm after a year or find a new job for herself. Samantha runs away to her parents in Washington DC to discuss her options.  Sam's parents have no contact with each other due to a nasty divorce and the conviction and disbarment served by her Dad for previous shady business dealings.  After listening to both parents' opinions on her future, she decides to check out a few of the non-profits on the list. 
She arrives at the door of the Mountain Legal Aid Clinic run by Mattie Wyatt. Sam also meets Mattie's nephew,Donovan, a fellow lawyer who fights the coal companies after his own struggle against the devastating effects of coal mining. The Mountain Legal Aid Clinic needs a new intern and Sam decides to stay and give try it. She quickly realizes she can touch lives on a more personal basis with this type of law.
Donovan and his brother, Jeff, quickly become her source of information and advice on the coal industry and life in Appalachia. Make sure you read this book to find out more about Samantha and to find out the clients she meets and what lengths the coal companies will go to find out what she knows.