The Fault In Our Stars

Not everyone will jump at the suggestion to read a book about terminally ill cancer patients, but I strongly encourage you do so. John Green’s most recent fiction, ‘The Fault in Our Stars’, is smartly written, funny, extremely touching and REAL. Cancer is not so much the theme of the book but the vehicle that drives the romance between two teens. Sixteen year-old Hazel is a three-year stage IV cancer survivor and, upon her doctor’s suggestion, reluctantly attends a weekly cancer support group. It is there that she meets fellow cancer survivor Augustus Waters; tall, thin, quick witted and daring enough to catch and hold her gaze from across the circle of other attendees.  Their relationship, which moves along at a brisk pace, starts with a common interest in video games and books. Augustus’ taste in literature tends to lean toward sci-fi gore and Hazel’s current affinity is a particular novel about cancer patients. But the book leaves her disappointed with an unresolved ending and wondering about outcome of the characters. So August arranges for Hazel, her mother and himself to travel to Amsterdam to meet the eccentric and reclusive author. Yes, that sounds like an unlikely scenario but Green is able to make it all seem plausible. Because John Green writes so believably about smart teens that you buy into their use of advanced vocabulary, sly humor, and ability to make the impossible happen. My guess is that Green was a smart teen who grew into a smart man who then became a smart writer. An additional incentive to read this book is that Green, a resident of Indianapolis, uses the city and its landmarks as a setting for the story. So those familiar with Indy will have a frame of visual reference as you travel with Hazel and Augustus through their story.

Room

Jack lives with his Ma in a very small place, which Jack calls the Room. She spends all day playing with him, making up new games to keep him entertained and active, and teaching him how to read and write and do math. Sound like an idyllic existence for a five-year-old boy? Think again. The reader experiences the world through Jack's eyes as he grows and gradually realizes the limits and terrible condition of his life. Ma has kept him safe, but "Old Nick" represents danger and evil from the Outside. When the Outside becomes real, and Ma and Jack escape from Old Nick and the small shed in which they have lived for Jack's entire lifetime, it's almost too much for the both of them. This is a gripping and fascinating read about captivity and escape. It is also the February book club selection. Join us for a discussion of Room on February 22 at 9 a.m.

Love Anthony

I’m always hearing about how my brain doesn’t work right. . . . But it doesn’t feel broken to me.
Olivia Donatelli’s dream of a “normal” life shattered when her son, Anthony, was diagnosed with autism at age three. Understanding the world from his perspective felt bewildering, nearly impossible. He didn’t speak. He hated to be touched. He almost never made eye contact. And just as Olivia was starting to realize that happiness and autism could coexist, Anthony died.
Now she’s alone in a cottage on Nantucket, separated from her husband, desperate to understand the meaning of her son’s short life, when a chance encounter with another woman facing her own loss brings Anthony alive again for Olivia in a most unexpected way.
Beth Ellis’s entire life changed with a simple note: “I’m sleeping with Jimmy.” Fourteen years of marriage. Three beautiful daughters. Yet even before her husband’s affair, she had never felt so alone. Heartbroken, she finds the pieces of the vivacious, creative person she used to be packed away in a box in her attic. For the first time in years, she uncaps her pen, takes a deep breath, and begins to write. The young but exuberant voice that emerges onto the page is a balm to the turmoil within her, a new beginning, and an astonishing bridge back to herself.
In a piercing story about motherhood, autism, and love, New York Times bestselling author Lisa Genova offers us two unforgettable women on the verge of change and the irrepressible young boy whose unique wisdom helps them both find the courage to move on.

Will Sparrow's Road

Will Sparrow's Road, by Karen Cushman, will give young readers  a look at what life was like for a poor, young boy in Elizabethan England.  Will's father is a drunk who sold him to an innkeeper in exchange for liquor.  When Will steals a pie the innkeeper threatens to sell him to a man who will make him a chimney sweep.  Will knows that this is a death sentence.  So he runs away with no shoes and a blanket that smells of a horse as his only possession.

Will meets a number of people along the road as he flees, including a thief who steals his blanket and the bag of apples he has harvested.  Finally Will falls in with a man named Tidball who travels from fair to fair with his crew of oddities and prodigies.  At first he is grateful to Master Tidball and afraid of the cat-faced girl and the surly dwarf who are also part of the crew.

It takes a while for Will to learn to see the cat-faced girl who has named herself Grace Wise and the dwarf whose name is Fitz as people just like him.  It takes him even longer to see that Master Tidball is not the benevolent man he first thought he was.

This story follows Will as he finds a home and family of his choosing.  We also get to see Will learn to care about others.  The life of a young boy on his own in Elizabethan England is hard with lots of hunger and rough treatment.  We see  a lot of people who are not kind but we also see quite a few people who are kind to Will, too.

Five Miles South of Peculiar

Five Miles South of Peculiar is a well written story that describes in detail the four persons, three sisters and one pastor all living together on a Southern Florida estate.  It describes how each got to be where they are presently, and the life that each created for themselves.  Dalene is afraid of living in her Broadway sister's shadow.  Carlene, the star, lost her singing voice after an operation failed, and Magnolia had her heart broken and cannot move on.  The book talks of loss of love, family dynamics, and the dysfunctional past for each character even though they are siblings who all grew up togerther.  Five Miles also looks at life in a small town and what life is like for those living there.  Sisters would love this book and could relate to the situations described.