Unwind by Neal Schusterman

I'm not going to say too much about this book, in case some of my book club members tumble upon this post before July 15. It is really good, you should read it. Here is the blurb from B&N:
"

In a society where unwanted teens are salvaged for their body parts, three runaways fight the system that would "unwind" them

Connor's parents want to be rid of him because he's a troublemaker. Risa has no parents and is being unwound to cut orphanage costs. Lev's unwinding has been planned since his birth, as part of his family's strict religion. Brought together by chance, and kept together by desperation, these three unlikely companions make a harrowing cross-country journey, knowing their lives hang in the balance. If they can survive until theireighteenth birthday, they can't be harmed -- but when every piece of them, from their hands to their hearts, are wanted by a world gone mad, eighteen seems far, far away.

In Unwind, Boston Globe/Horn Book Award winner Neal Shusterman challenges readers' ideas about life -- not just where life begins, and where it ends, but what it truly means to be alive."

Read it.

What We Keep by Elizabeth Berg

This was one of the best book club books that we have done. It garnered enough discussion to last us several hours. We did get off topic a couple of times (we always do), but it was mostly relating the book to our own lives and those of people we know.

As the book opens, the main character is flying to see her mom, whom she and her sister have not talked to in 35 years. Her sister is about to find out whether or not she has cancer and she feels they should reconnect with their mother, in case. We hear most of the story through the main character's reminiscences on the plane flight there. Their mother did something horrible all those years ago. Can you wait to find out what?

Booked for Breakfast

I joined an e-mail book club a couple of years ago. It's quite fun. They feature a new book each week and M-F you receive a small snippet of the book, along with funny stories by the host, Suzanne. If you don't like the book, you can delete it. Sometimes I do, but I always read Suzanne's column. She's very funny and she likes to give things away, like home-baked chocolate chip cookies and fuzzy socks. I belong to the Mystery and Thriller Book Club, but they offer others as well. Check it out here: http://www.randomhouse.com/bantamdell/bookedforbreakfast/

Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim by David Sedaris

For those of you who are regular readers, you know I'm not really into non-fiction. I actually chose this book for our Book Discussion Group at my library. They like to have books with lots of controversy so they have a lot to talk about.

Sedaris writes about his life and the lives of his family and friends. I laughed a lot at their antics, although there were many sad and poignant stories as well. He has admitted that he tends to exaggerate things at times, but I think that added to my enjoyment, rather than detracted from it. Some of my favorite stories in this book are about his baby brother. He is so crude and much larger than life. Even if you normally like fiction, you'll probably enjoy this too.

The Rag and Bone Shop by Robert Cormier

I probably would have had an easier time with this book if I had read it instead of listening to it on audio. The book focuses on the murder of a 7 yr old girl, Alicia. The main character, a 12 yr. old boy named Jason, is under suspicion for her murder, although he doesn't know it. The bulk of the book is Jason being interrogated by a professional police interrogator named Mr. Trent. This made me so uncomfortable that I had to shut the tape off at least 5 times.

See, Jason's mother lets him go to the police station alone, thinking he is only there to give police some background information to help their investigation. Once there, they corner him in a small stuffy room with Mr. Trent and let him at Jason. Mr. Trent has been promised political favors if he secures a confession from Jason. I'll stop there, so I don't give everything away. A thought-provoking book, although the subject matter was uncomfortable.

Sheer Abandon by Penny Vincenzi

Ok, so I finally finished my book club book for May. I know, I know, it's June. But, it was a good book nonetheless. I don't have a lot to write since we did discuss it at book club a couple of weeks ago, but I'll give a short synopsis for those of you interested in possibly reading it.

The book starts with three English girls leaving for a year of holiday between high school and college. They meet in the London airport and travel together for a week. They then split ways, agreeing to meet again in a year and see how things are. Life intervenes and they don't meet up after that year. In fact, as one of the girls is on her way back, she delivers a baby in a cleaning closet at the airport and abandons her there. You, as reader, do not know which girl it was.

Fast forward 16 years. The abandoned girl is looking for her mother. We now see the three women and where they are in their lives. One is a doctor with a controlling husband, one is a barrister (lawyer) looking at getting into politics, and one is a journalist for a tabloid (I don't think the English use the word "tabloid" in the same manner that we do). Now, I'll leave the rest to you to find out. I enjoyed the book, although I wished some things had worked out a little differently at the end. Hey, you know I'm an optimist.