Publisher: Little, Brown & Company
Publication Date: July 2012
Categories: Contemporary Women, Humorous, Family Life
Source: Library
Description:
Bernadette Fox is notorious. To her Microsoft-guru husband, she’s a fearlessly opinionated partner; to fellow private-school mothers in Seattle, she’s a disgrace; to design mavens, she’s a revolutionary architect, and to 15-year-old Bee, she is a best friend and, simply, Mom.
Then Bernadette disappears. It began when Bee aced her report card and claimed her promised reward: a family trip to Antarctica. But Bernadette’s intensifying allergy to Seattle–and people in general–has made her so agoraphobic that a virtual assistant in India now runs her most basic errands. A trip to the end of the earth is problematic.
To find her mother, Bee compiles email messages, official documents, secret correspondence–creating a compulsively readable and touching novel about misplaced genius and a mother and daughter’s role in an absurd world.
Then Bernadette disappears. It began when Bee aced her report card and claimed her promised reward: a family trip to Antarctica. But Bernadette’s intensifying allergy to Seattle–and people in general–has made her so agoraphobic that a virtual assistant in India now runs her most basic errands. A trip to the end of the earth is problematic.
To find her mother, Bee compiles email messages, official documents, secret correspondence–creating a compulsively readable and touching novel about misplaced genius and a mother and daughter’s role in an absurd world.
 |
| Funny, funny and more funny! Delightful read |
_________________________________________________________________________________
A Train in Winter: An Extraordinary Story of Women, Friendship, and Resistance in Occupied France By Caroline Moorehead
Publisher: Harper Perennial
Publication Date: November 2011
Categories: Historical, WWII
Source: Library
Description:
They were teachers, students, chemists, writers, and housewives; a singer at the Paris Opera, a midwife, a dental surgeon. They distributed anti-Nazi leaflets, printed subversive newspapers, hid resisters, secreted Jews to safety, transported weapons, and conveyed clandestine messages. The youngest was a schoolgirl of fifteen who scrawled “V” for victory on the walls of her lycÉe; the eldest, a farmer’s wife in her sixties who harbored escaped Allied airmen. Strangers to each other, hailing from villages and cities from across France, these brave women were united in hatred and defiance of their Nazi occupiers.
Eventually, the Gestapo hunted down 230 of these women and imprisoned them in a fort outside Paris. Separated from home and loved ones, these disparate individuals turned to one another, their common experience conquering divisions of age, education, profession, and class, as they found solace and strength in their deep affection and camaraderie.
In January 1943, they were sent to their final destination: Auschwitz. Only forty-nine would return to France.
A Train in Winter draws on interviews with these women and their families; German, French, and Polish archives; and documents held by World War II resistance organizations to uncover a dark chapter of history that offers an inspiring portrait of ordinary people, of bravery and survival—and of the remarkable, enduring power of female friendship.
 |
| All sorts of sad 😦 |
_________________________________________________________________________________
Publisher: Knopf
Publication Date: January 2012
Categories: Dystopian, Literary
Source: Library
Description:
In The Flame Alphabet, the most maniacally gifted writer of our generation delivers a novel about how far we will go in order to protect our loved ones.
The sound of children’s speech has become lethal. In the park, adults wither beneath the powerful screams of their offspring. For young parents Sam and Claire, it seems their only means of survival is to flee from their daughter, Esther. But they find it isn’t so easy to leave someone you love, even as they waste away from her malevolent speech. On the eve of their departure, Claire mysteriously disappears, and Sam, determined to find a cure for this new toxic language, presses on alone into a foreign world to try to save his family.
The sound of children’s speech has become lethal. In the park, adults wither beneath the powerful screams of their offspring. For young parents Sam and Claire, it seems their only means of survival is to flee from their daughter, Esther. But they find it isn’t so easy to leave someone you love, even as they waste away from her malevolent speech. On the eve of their departure, Claire mysteriously disappears, and Sam, determined to find a cure for this new toxic language, presses on alone into a foreign world to try to save his family.
 |
| Wtf? Yup, that was my reaction too. |
The Relentless Reader 
Ahh I love the gifs! I've heard so many good things about Where'd You Go, Bernadette that I really need to read it soon! A Train in Winter made me feel all the sad, too, but it was also inspiring.
LikeLike
What an emotional rollercoaster of books! I have earmarked \”Bernadette\” already as a TBR on goodreads, but I'll have to add \”Train\” too. Not sure about the third… other stories pique my interest more.
LikeLike
Bernadette was a joy to read, very funny 🙂 And at the other end of the emotional spectrum was A Train in Winter. Sad, but hopeful too!
LikeLike
Emotional rollercoaster indeed! The Flame Alphabet was just bizarre and I still don't know if I liked it, lol.
LikeLike
Whaaaaaaaaat? The Flame Alphabet sounds crazy! I think I need to read that bad boy. Thanks for the recommendation! And the GIFs :). (PS- Loved me some Bernadette!)
LikeLike
Oh The Flame Alphabet…I wanted to like it so much but it made me grumpy and I felt like Marcus was trying SO hard. Bernadette and the Train are both on my tbr lists. I suggest you use gif reviews every few books. They are perfect.
LikeLike
Bernadette was a hoot! Flame…I don't even know WHAT to say about it, lol.
LikeLike
I had similar reactions to Bernadette and Flame Alphabet. I couldn't even finish Flame Alphabet – I had no idea what the author was trying to say!
LikeLike
Those sounds so good! I have heard mixed reviews on Bernadette so I'm glad you liked it! And the other two sound great, too. Flame Alphabet sounds kind of strange, though!
LikeLike
LOL, it made me a bit grumpy too. Jew hole? Wth? Thanks, I kinda dig this whole gif thing and I think I'll keep it up!
LikeLike
I almost gave up on Flame a few times but I was just engaged enough to keep going. I wanted to know what in the world was going on. I never really learned though, lol.
LikeLike
Bernadette was a riot. 😉 Flame..umm, I'd skip it if I were you.
LikeLike
Great reviews, and I love those animations! lol. Where'd You Go, Bernadette was awesome!
LikeLike
Thanks so much 🙂 I had fun putting this together!
LikeLike
Okay. So, the synopsis of The Flame Alphabet had me salivating, but I take it from your gif that I need to stay far away? Or is it strange enough for my liking, since I tend to like the very weird and wacky?
LikeLike
You might really like it Michelle. It's well written and the synopsis is bizarre/interesting. I felt (like Lindsey said above) that the author was trying a bit too hard and there were long stretches where I was bored.
LikeLike