MONDAY MEMES: MAILBOX MONDAY & WHAT ARE YOU READING? — MARCH 7

MONDAY MEMES

Good morning, and welcome to our Monday Memes.  Mailbox Monday is hosted this month by I’m Booking It.

What Are You Reading? is hosted by Book Journey.

 

MAILBOX MONDAY:

 

A bonanza of books came into my house this week.  Three review books; one contest win; and one purchase by me.

1.  Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakthrough, by Ruth Pennebaker – (from the publisher)

Joanie Pilcher, nearing 50 and recently divorced, is firmly entrenched in the sandwich generation. Working at a job she hates in an ad agency, she’s doing her best with her moody 15-year-old daughter, Caroline, and her depressed 77-year-old widowed mother, Ivy, who moved in six months earlier after her stock portfolio tanked. When Joanie’s ex calls to tell her that his much-younger live-in girlfriend is pregnant, it seems a final straw….

2.  Friday’s Daughter, by Patricia Sprinkle (contest win from Valerie Haight’s blog The Write One).

A contemporary novel of sisterhood, the South, and matters of the heart.

Teensie MacAllester’s two elder sisters consider her an insignificant appendage to their illustrious family. For fifteen years they have been delighted to let her care for their ailing relatives. After all, Teensie is both a nurse and a Friday’s child, naturally loving and giving.

As Teensie deferred her life, a dream sustained her: autocratic King MacAllester promised her the bulk of his estate. But when King’s will is read it divides his property equally among his daughters. Teensie’s share is scarcely enough to make a new start. Her sisters have a solution: Teensie can continue to serve as the family care-giver. But Teensie is determined to claim a life of her own. Throwing off the yoke of family expectations, Teensie sets in motion some surprising changes.

3.  Found, by Jennifer Lauck (a memoir from Amazon Vine)

Expanding on her previous titles (Blackbird; Still Waters), in which she related the traumatizing experiences of being adopted twice before reaching her teen years, Lauck begins her story a decade later. After years of therapy, Buddhist practice, her brother’s suicide, two failed marriages and motherhood, she rejects her old vision of comparing the past to “radioactive waste” that must be buried….

4.  The Four Ms. Bradwells, by Meg Waite Clayton (Amazon Vine)

Clayton, author of The Wednesday Sisters (2009), has created another tale about a group of female friends that tells the stories of many women. Mia, Lainey, Betts, and Ginger become best friends at law school in 1979, at the cusp of the feminist movement. Now Betts is navigating a Senate hearing to confirm her Supreme Court appointment, and she and her friends have reunited. When a long-buried, dark story from their shared history is dug up, the four escape the media at Ginger’s family’s home on a remote island, which is also the scene of the controversial event….

5.  Sing You Home, by Jodi Picoult (purchase)

In the aftermath of a series of personal tragedies, Zoe throws herself into her career as a music therapist. When an unexpected friendship slowly blossoms into love, she makes plans for a new life, but to her shock and inevitable rage, some people—even those she loves and trusts most—don’t want that to happen.

Sing You Home is about identity, love, marriage, and parenthood. It’s about people wanting to do the right thing for the greater good, even as they work to fulfill their own personal desires and dreams. And it’s about what happens when the outside world brutally calls into question the very thing closest to our hearts: family….

 

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WHAT ARE YOU READING?

 

This past week has yielded some of my favorite blog posts and a few completed books.

Here’s What I’ve Been Blogging About:

Resorting to Trickery — Or Doing What’s Necessary

Book Love — New Shelves

A Bit of Me (Me) – Changes

Saturday Reading — Adventures with Sparky

 

Finished These Books (Click Titles for Reviews):

1.  Facets, by Barbara Delinsky

2.  The Three Weissmanns of Westport, by Cathleen Schine

3.   The Weird Sisters, by Eleanor Brown

Ongoing Reads:

1.    Freedom, by Jonathan Franzen

2.    Wicked Appetite, by Janet Evanovich

What’s Up Next?

Because I’m carrying forward two books, with one of them a chunkster, I’m only adding one new one to the list this week.

1.  The Opposite of Me, by Sarah Pekkanen (contest win from Book Journey)

 

“Pekkanen’s wry voice and engaging characters—the bumbling parents are especially lovable—keep things fresh” —People (3.5 out of 4 stars)

“With her smart, soulful novel, author Pekkanen explores the place where self and sisterhood intersect.” – Redbook

“It’s warm, it’s whimsical, and it’s a winner.” —The Courier Mail (Australia)

“Fresh, appealing…the story is at turns funny and poignant.” — Booklist

 

That’s it for me this week!  What are the rest of you up to?  I hope you’ll stop by and share….