Each Little Bird That Sings/Deborah Wiles

Also a Young Adult title this story was at times exciting, sweet and wise.

















Publisher's Description:
Ten-year-old Comfort Snowberger has attended 247 funerals. But that's not surprising, considering that her family runs the town funeral home. And even though Great-uncle Edisto keeled over with a heart attack and Great-great-aunt Florentine dropped dead--just like that--six months later, Comfort knows how to deal with loss, or so she thinks. She's more concerned with avoiding her crazy cousin Peach and trying to figure out why her best friend, Declaration, suddenly won't talk to her. Life is full of surprises. And the biggest one of all is learning what it takes to handle them.

A Step From Heaven/An Na

From time to time I find myself choosing titles shelved in the Young Adult section. Here is one of many I encourage you not to miss.

A Step From Heaven/An Na
Publisher's Description:

The story of a Korean family that immigrates to California in search of a better life, only to find that the American Dream is harder to achieve than they thought. Told through the eyes of Young Ju, who is a preschooler when the book begins and a young woman heading off to college by the time it ends, A Step from Heaven is a moving and sometimes painful tale about cultural differences, family dynamics, and the struggle to survive.

As little Young Ju's plane leaves Korea and climbs high into the sky, she thinks she is headed for heaven. In a way, so do her parents, who believe that America will offer them big opportunities and a more heavenly lifestyle. But life is much harder than they anticipate, and both of Young Ju's parents must work multiple jobs just to make ends meet while they share a house with relatives. Disillusioned and ashamed, Young Ju's father tries to drown the harsh realities of his life in liquor, eventually descending into a pit of alcoholism that turns him emotionally and physically abusive.

Though the family as a unit doesn't adapt well, Young Ju adjusts quickly and soon excels in school. But the shame of her family's poverty and her father's worsening alcoholism leads to several lies and cover-ups that prevent her from ever fully embracing her new life. Caught between two cultures and increasingly isolated by the growing tension within her family, Young Ju eventually finds herself at a crossroads, forced to make a decision that will likely tear her family apart.

Some Things that Stay/Sarah Willis

I stumbled across this one by chance at the library which prompted me to seek out the author’s other titles. “Some Things that Stay” is an accurate portrayal of family life. The narrator, Tamara, is a highly likeable character who tells her story with wit and sensitivity and without sentimentality.

Publisher’s Description:

Tamara Anderson's father is a landscape artist who quickly tires of the scenery, so every year her family seeks out new locations for his inspiration. When the Andersons move to a farmhouse in Sherman, New York, in the spring of 1954, fifteen-year-old Tamara and her mother want to settle down and make it home. Sherman begins to work a strange magic on Tamara and her siblings: there's the proselytizing family in the tar-paper house across the street; the dairy cow that becomes a beloved pet; the dead boy who used to live in Tamara's bedroom; her friend Brenda, who teaches her to swear; and Brenda's big brother, Rusty, an irresistible freckle-faced redhead. While Tamara experiences her first real year of happiness, her mother is diagnosed with tuberculosis, forcing her into a sanatorium. Tamara struggles with her desire to stay in Sherman, her fear of losing her mother, and her anger at being left in charge of two younger siblings while her father escapes into the world of his art.

The Sound of Us/Sarah Willis

Though Alice has struggles like everyone else the story is more uplifting than “A Good Distance” also by Sarah Willis. The story has adventure, touches the heart and is true to life.

From the Publisher:

Alice Marlowe accepts her life the way it is. She is single, in her late forties, lives with a cat named Sampson, and has imaginary conversations with her dead twin brother. As a sign-language interpreter for the deaf, she is used to standing between people, facilitating their conversations with each other. But then a late-night phone call brings a beautiful, scared six-year-old girl into her life.

Author Biography: Sarah Willis, a Pushcart Prize nominee and winner of the Cleveland Arts Prize for Literature, is also the author of A Good Distance, The Rehearsal and the New York Times Notable Book Some Things That Stay, which won the Book-of-the-Month Club's Stephen Crane Award for First Fiction.

A Good Distance/Sarah Willis

Two difficult subjects are covered – the aftermath of a parent and husband’s death and Alzheimer’s disease – and both are handled well. The story switches voices between mother and daughter and the writing from the mother’s point of view seemed like an accurate portrayal of what it might feel like to be in the shoes of an Alzheimer’s patient. The daughter, Jennifer, is seemingly desperate in her search for redemption from her mother for past transgressions as she races to her goal before time runs out and her mother no longer comprehends what she wants to say. The story of each the mother’s and daughter’s pasts were quite engaging. However reading this immediately after “You’re Not You” was hard due to similarly serious subject matter. Each book was so absorbing I have needed to take a few days off from reading to shake the dark shroud of the weighty subject matters. I don’t recommend reading these titles back-to-back.

From the Publisher

“A Good Distance” is a heartrending story about mothers and daughters doing their best to negotiate the distance between freedom and love.

Jennifer's mother, Rose, belongs in a home. At least that's what everyone else thinks. But Jennifer has walked away from her mother too many times already, and this is one duty she intends to fulfill herself. So she takes a leave of absence from her job and invites Rose to live with her and her family. Jennifer's teenage daughter and new husband can hardly tolerate Rose and her short temper, but Jennifer is desperate to know about the memories drifting in and out of her mother's reach, sometimes comforting her, sometimes tormenting her. Jennifer longs to use these memories to help rebuild her mother's life—to remind herself, and her mother, what went wrong, so she can ask for forgiveness—or is it the other way around?

Author Biography: Sarah Willis, a Pushcart Prize nominee and winner of the Cleveland Arts Prize for Literature, is also the author of The Rehearsal and the New York Times Notable Book Some Things That Stay, which won the Stephen Crane Award for First Fiction.

You're Not You/Michelle Wildgen

Definitely a good read. The main characters Kate and Bec are so incredibly well drawn it was easy to stay with this story stopping only when necessary (at times life does intrude on my reading time.) It should be noted that this book deals quite frankly with the sexuality of both characters but it is handled gracefully and makes a valid point: those ill or disabled have desires like everybody else. A thought-provoking and satisfying novel.

From the Publisher

College student Bec is dangerously adrift. Self-conscious and increasingly uncertain about her long-term plans, she's studying a major that no longer interests her and is caught up in a bewildering affair with a married professor. In an impulsive attempt to redeem herself, she answers a want ad seeking a caregiver. What she finds is a wealthy, cultivated woman in her mid-thirties. Once an advertising executive, accomplished chef, and skilled decorator, Kate is now in the advanced stages of ALS (Lou Gehrig's disease). She and her husband, Evan, handle their situation with humor, careful planning, and a lot of determination. Yet while Bec perceives the couple as charmingly frank and good-humored, strains exist beneath the surface. Bec is soon a vital part of her employer's household, and their increasing closeness transforms both women's lives and their relationships. The more she acts on Kate's behalf, the further Bec strays from her stringent comfort zone. She performs every task, from the most administrative to the most intimate, and she translates Kate's speech for strangers, friends, and even family. Sometimes enthusiastically, sometimes reluctantly, Bec advances further and further into Kate's world, surprised by her own increasing dedication and ease. But how closely can Bec intertwine her own life with Kate's? The two confront their obstacles unsentimentally, with dark humor and unflinching candor, as their relationship is slowly stripped of pretense. Honesty becomes their touchstone: They may find humor in the most devastating moments, but they won't pretend to believe in silver linings that don't exist. With crystal clarity, debut author Michelle Wildgen has crafted a deeply affecting novel about the singular relationship between two women, balancing humor and regret, sensuality and necessity, and testing the outer limits of friendship.