Sing You Home by Jodi Picoult

Just finished this on my lunch break.  Will write more later...
Ok so it is much later.  This was a pretty good book.  It's about a woman who has been married for 10 years and has been trying to have kids with her husband for most of those years.  She has major complications and doesn't carry to term...eventually her husband walks away and cannot take going through everything they try anymore.  The main character then goes into a downward spiral of depression only to be saved by another woman, who she falls in love with.  The story gets interesting from there.  It has another ending I'm satisfied with. 

The Help by Kathryn Stockett

This was this months book club book.  I haven't seen the movie but I really loved this book.  I didn't want to put it down.  Skeeter quickly became my favorite character.  Along with Aibileen.  This probably wouldn't have been a book I'd have read on my own (choosing), and now I'm curious about the movie and how well it follows the book.  I will have to see it sometime.  I don't really have a lot to say about the book...so much happened, many surprises...and it was just really interesting. 

Trust Me by Lesley Pearse

This was a book a co-worker lent me and recommended a long time ago.  It took me forever to get around to it, I'm pretty sure it was over a year.  I just finished it today and I can't believe I didn't find time to read it sooner.  It captivated me from the very beginning.  I didn't want to stop reading, I picked it up every chance I got, and pages would fly by without me realizing I had read 100+ pages since I last looked at the bottom to track my progress.

Trust Me is about two little girls who lose their mother, their father goes to jail, and their grandmother is too old to be able to keep looking after them...so they get sent to an orphanage.  Their life is horrible.  The things they endure is incredible.  Then they're given an opportunity to go to Australia, and it looks like their life will be so much better, so they take it.  Luckily the girls are sent to the same orphanage upon their arrival, so they stay together, but this place is far worse than the one they left in England.  It goes on telling their story.  The older sister turns 15 and can leave the orphanage, but she has to work for three years at a place arranged for by the orphanage.  It surprisingly gets even worse...until finally she gets a break and events change her circumstances.  But by now the two sisters have drifted...due more so to the people running the orphanage than anything else.  Then when the younger sister turns 15 and goes out to work, they eventually re-unite.  I can't go into more detail.  A lot of unfortunate things happen.  But the older sister is painted in such a way you can't help but love her.  Things eventually get better for her too (although she has a great place to work at her second job, falls in love and gets married, there is still a major problem).  The ending is happy for her, but there is still a sad element.

It's neat to read about the different places they go to in Australia.  Perth, Esperance, King's Cross, Kalgoorlie, and Sydney.  This story is incredible.  Please read it!

A Painted House by John Grisham

This is September's book club book.  It's about a family who lives on a cotton farm.  The main character is a little boy who is seven years old, he is also the narrator.  However, the way it is written, it's easy to quickly forget his age.  Some wild events happen and the ending of the book was disappointing for me.  It left a lot of open ends, so that the reader can choose their own conclusions.  I didn't like that, but it is a good story.  And short-ish; about 300 pages.

Fly Away Home by Jennifer Weiner

This was August's book club book.  I wasn't sure I was going to like it, because it again involved politics, but it wasn't a main focus and quickly got away from that side of things into the Mother's life.  The mother gets very interested in all kinds of recipes and starts cooking many delicious dishes.  I love when food gets involved in any book, described so that you can see it and hate that you can't taste it.  Anyway, the story is written so that each new chapter switches to a different character like Jodi does.  It was a good book to read, although I'm not sure how I feel about the ending. 

The Best Laid Plans by Terry Fallis

I didn't think I was going to like this book, based on it surrounding politics.  I was pleasantly surprised.  The Old guy, Angus, is at times a hoot, and very lovable.  His character made me enjoy the book.  This was July's book club book. 

Escape from the Holocaust by William & Paul Ruben

This book made me nauseous.  It was interesting, and eye opening; horrific.  Not for the faint of heart.