Silence - Thomas Perry

A favorite author of mine. A thriller that was all right but not great. I still love all the details of how to "disappear" and keep people from finding you.

Life Sentences - Alice Blanchard

Another gripping book by Alice Blanchard. The main character is human. I didn't like her at all to start with because of what I perceived as being "weak" in spirit but you know, everyone can be weak and that doesn't mean they are ALWAYS weak. I think that more thought was put into the character of her sister but the sister is bipolar/schizophrenic and maybe because of that, I felt I knew her better through the book. Daisy seemed a little underdimensional in comparison to her sister. It was a solid book. Not the best but definitely worth reading.

Into The Forest - Jean Hegland

What happens if you live in a remote area, are two teenagers and your parent's both die and the world is not what it is supposed to be? Read it to find out. Great book.

Mister B. Gone - Clive Barker

A demon tells his story. Very clever and I liked the ultimate piece of the plot. Short, fast read.

Snowstruck: In the Grip of Avalanches - Jill Fredston

I'm not a snow person even though I grew up in upper Northwestern Pennsylvania. We had mountains but not the kind of mountains that produced avalanches so this was a completely new subject for me to learn about. And Jill Fredston nailed this perfectly. She tells us the science behind avalanches but she also introduces the human factor into it. Natural disasters that happen all the time and yet people that live directly in the paths, even some of them don't seem to recognize the dangers. It was a mix of science, personal memoirs and narratives on the history of avalanches. Highly recommended.

House to House: An Epic Memoir of War  - SSG David Bellavia with John R. Bruning

I am vehemently opposed to our continued presence in Iraq and have been for 6 years now. George Bush is doing nothing but creating a huge mess, continuing to put our men and women's lives in danger just because of his own agenda at this point.

But I am not against the men and women who go and give their lives for a cause they believe in. I support them completely. This is the first book I've read regarding the war in Iraq and it made me weep. SSG Bellavia writes from the heart and gut and there are no questions in my mind of just how much they are sacrificing every day, in ways that I will never understand.

This is a first hand account of a short period of time and the fight at Fallujah that occured on November 10, 2004 and it is gut wrenching and majestic and explains what compels these men and women to be over there. It's not just an order from their government. It's a cause they believe in enough to die for and so many have died. If you read anything about first hand experiences for the soldiers over there, I ask you to put this one at the very top of your list. It deserves to be read and you will find yourself never wondering why they do what they do. Hooah to SSG Bellavia and his team and all the other soldiers over there.

Here If You Need Me - Kate Braestrup

I'm not sure why I picked this book up but I did. It is Kate Braestrup's memoir about losing her husband who was a State Trooper for Maine, becoming the Chaplain for Maine's Game Wardens and raising her 4 children in the aftermath of losing her husband, becoming a chaplain and her experiences. Very well written but I lacked the complete connection that I expected to find, that I can usually find with most memoirs.

The Fighting 69th - Sean Michael Flynn

This book sort of ties in with the House to House memoir. It's told from the point of view of the 69th National Guard Unit out of New York. They were one of the first on the scene at 9/11 and they were eventually dispatched to the fight in Iraq. It covers roughly the same time frame that the unit SSG David Bellavia covers in his book. So, it was nice to get a bigger picture of what was happening during that time in different military outfits.

On Call In Hell: A Doctor's Iraq War Story - Cdr. Richard Jadick and Thomas Hayden

This was a pretty decent book for a memoir that tries to reach out to people not familiar or in the military to try and show a small part of what it was like to be a battle surgeon in Iraq. The writer seemed very self-conscious of himself though at times and seemed like he held back on his emotions a lot. I think just based on the title that I was going to encounter some pretty heavy emotional issues and while he did convey things in a realistic way, it's like he was too removed to be able to truly communicate every thing he felt in a way that I could identify with. Overall, a solid memoir of this man and his story.

eat pray love - Elizabeth Gilbert

Sometimes in your life you pick up the exact book you need to make a difference in your life at precisely the right moment. That's what this book is to me. Incredible, lovely, perfect. I think maybe it's because I can identify so closely with what the author went through. I envy her travels and life and it makes me wish I had the means to take a year off to center my own self.

Down the Nile : alone in a fisherman's skiff - Rosemary Mahoney

I had higher hopes for this book. I guess I expected more of a growth of the person but if that happened, it was not communicated at the end. Decent enough book though.

Kabul Beauty School: An American Woman Goes Behind the Veil - Deborah Rodriguez and Kristin Ohlson

A wonderful book that every woman who has had a dream to do something BIG but had to get past abusive relationships to make that happen. Also full of information on what life is really like for Afghani women.

Sand in My Bra and Other Misadventures: Funny Women Write from the Road (Travelers' Tales) - Jennifer L. Leo and Jessica Maxwell

Short stories, mostly centered around travel anecdotes. The best one in it was written by Ellen Degeneres.

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