A very well written book by Anne Carroll George.  It chronicles the lives of the Sullivan family of Mobile Bay as they bury their sister, Artie.  Artie is a famous painter, who has a twin brother, Donnie and another brother Hecktor.  The family's tragedies and triumphs are revealed as the brothers and other relatives prepare to bury Artie who has died after a long bout with lymphoma.  Strangely, Artie has asked to be cremated, although her family is devoutly Catholic and feels she should be buried with a funeral.  In the end, Artie gets her wishes, but her family has a Catholic burial with an empty coffin, also. 

The writing was very good and very descriptive.  The climate and sights of Southern Alabama are almost real.  The decriptions make you want to sweat, the sights are beautiful and the food sounds very mouthwatering.  I wanted a piece of Almond Cream Pie after reading the book!

This is the first book by this author.  It starts out, at first as two stories:  about Arthur Rook and his wife, Amy and about Desdemona Jones, her daughter, Oneida, and her boarding house.  When Arthur's wife dies in an electrocution, Arthur goes off the deep end and runs away, ending up at the boarding house of Mona.  For awhile he mopes in his room and Mona has no idea who he is.  (Amy was Mona's best friend in High school.) Once a spectacular accident throws everyone together, Arthur and Mona become friends.  After gaining his trust, with too much vodka, Mona unloads a bombshell; Oneida, who everyone figures is her daughter out of wedlock, is actually Amy's.  After Amy abandoned her as a newborn, Mona brought her home to her own family.

This event really upsets everyone involved.  To tell the ending would spoil the rest of the book.  Read it and see if all the characters can come to grips with this huge secret.

One of my favorite performers is Dick Van Dyke.  I enjoyed reading about his life and how he got started in show business.  Before going into show business he considered being a minister, but he realized that he liked performing too much.  He worked in radio before television, and he had a comedy act with a friend before going on his own.  He gives background information on how The Dick Van Dyke show came to be.  He wrote about specific episodes which were fun to read about.  He has thought a few times about retiring, but he finds things that interest him and keeps on working.  One thing that I thought was impressive was that he said that his best work was done at home.  “My kids have turned out to be truly admirable people.”   I recommend this book for an enjoyable read.

The author, a self confessed grump, sets out to travel the world in order to find out what happiness is and whether some countries or cultures have more happiness than others.  He travels to Bhutan, Denmark, Iceland, Moldova, Switzerland, Qatar, and India on a two year trip to measure the amount of hapiness that each country's residents have.  Some places are happy: Denmark, Iceland, Switzerland, Qatar.  Others are somewhat happy, and Moldova is not happy at all.  Moldova is a country of Russian transplants with few actual Moldovans living there.  He also finds that some of the poorest countries are not happy but not all are unhappy.

As a confirmed grump, I thought he wrote best about Moldova.  The only thing going for this country, say the residents, is the lovely variety of fresh fruits and vegetables and their wine, which is one of their only exports.  Weiner decides that the wine isn't that great, either.  Some countries like Qatar seem happy but they actually have no culture.  Could it be that money is the key to their happiness?  Is the United States happy?  What does it take to make each person happy?  These are some of the questions he asks. 

This book starts out slowly, but seems to gather some steam later in the book.  I hope the author got happier when he made money from this book!

The story features Rick Fallon, a newly divorced man, who goes to Death Valley as a way to clear his head.  He loves the desert for the quiet, solitude, and stark beauty.  On his fourth day there he finds an abandoned car and soon finds the nearly dead Casey Dunbar.  After rescuing her, Fallon learns why she had come to Death Valley to die.  Casey tells him that her ex-husband has taken their 8-year-old son and sent someone to assault her and threaten her with more if she tried to find him and their son.  She asks for Fallon's help in getting her son back.  Pronzini writes believable characters.  I felt like I knew Rick Fallon and rooted for him as he tried to help this woman and deal with the problems in his own life.

Hannah Bryant is living secluded on a granite quarry island off Maine. She’s content to work on her paintings and other art on the island she inherited from her great-uncle Arlo.

Hannah is happy her artwork is selling and providing her with a good living.  She has lived like a hermit for six years but one summer day a dog washes up with the tide.  Next, a teenaged boy is sent to her by her half-sister.  Will is on the run from his abusive father.  With two living things dependent on her for survival, Hannah finds she must put her work aside and deal with the outside world.  With Will’s presence come more people intruding on Hannah’s isolation.  Hannah befriends Zee, the local boat delivery service girl and Zee’s father and grandfather.  The last to show up is Hannah’s half-sister Emily. She is pregnant by Will’s manipulative father and looking for a place to hide until the baby is born.  Hannah faces emotional challenges as a series of family secrets are uncovered that intertwine this group of people together.  Hannah begins to question the way she has lived her life and understands the difference between solitude and loneliness.

She weighs the solitude against the meaning of home and connection.  This is a story about losing faith and finding love.

The characters are not perfect but start to reveal him or her self, each becoming more realistic.  The island has its own personality and evokes the sights, smells and sounds of the ocean effortlessly.  This is a powerful well written novel that the library will be using for its July book discussion.  Come join the group.

While looking for a story L.A. Times columnist Steve Lopez discovers a homeless man playing violin in a tunnel.  As Mr. Lopez gets to know Nathaniel Ayers he becomes his friend and tries to help him.  Mr. Ayers was a promising musician studying at Julliard until he developed schizophrenia after his first year at school.  He ended up on the streets of L.A. playing the violin.  The book, The Soloist, developed from a series of columns that Steve Lopez wrote about Nathaniel Ayers.  I enjoyed reading The Soloist.  It was sad that he had to deal with a terrible illness, but it was uplifting to read about the people who befriended him, such as several of the musicians of the L.A. Philharmonic, and of course Mr. Lopez.  Also it was inspiring to read of people who were touched by his story and gave him new instruments.  He was given a new cello and a couple of violins.  The Soloist is an inspiring story showing the power of friendship and music to help keep people going when faced with a debilitating disease like schizophrenia.   

Something Like Hope is the story of seventeen year-old Shavonne.  She has had it rough…really, really rough.  She tells her story and as a reader I came to understand what motivated some of her decisions.  She has spent most of her teen years in and out of juvenile detention.  With help and a series of unexpected kindnesses she is able to tell the truth and begin to heal.  It is a raw story, but one that ends on hope, and affirms that small acts of kindnesses can make a difference.