This is a memoir written by Andy Williams describing his life, his successful career and his friendships.  He grew up in Wall Lake, Iowa with three brothers and a sister.  The four Williams Brothers sang on live radio in Iowa and later moved to Chicago where there was a larger audience.  After several years  they moved to Los Angeles where they sang at the same radio station where Ronald Regan worked. Soon The Williams Brothers began touring in a night club act with Kay Thompson.  After four years, Andy Williams opened his solo career.  A lucky break lead to a job on Steve Allen's Tonight Show .  Within a few short years his beautiful tenor became a recognizable voice in popular music.  Andy Williams shared a special friendship with Robert and Ethel Kennedy.  Andy and his wife Cauldine Longet, and John Glenn and his wife, Annie were with the Kennedy's the night Robert Kennedy was shot.  All of them rode back to Washington D.D. in Air Force Two with Robert Kennedy's body.  Andy Williams sang the Battle Hymn of the Republic at the funeral several days later.  Mr. Williams has collected original art pieces since the beginning of his career that he uses to decorate his theater and his various homes.  Now Andy Williams plays a lot of golf, supports libraries and the Boys and Girls Clubs.  He has been good friends with Judy Garland, Henry Mancini, Jack Lemmon, Frank Sinatra and Elton John.  For the past twenty years he has had the Moon River Theater in Branson, MO. He also owns a restaurant across the street where the theater goers can eat after the show.  Mrs. Williams and he divide their time between La Quinta, California and Branson, Missouri.  Andy Williams is now in his eighties and still prefers to perform.

Dar McCarthy is expecting her sisters, Delia and Rory, to join her in Martha’s Vineyard for a final visit to the family beach home before being forced to sell it for taxes.  Each of the sisters has taken a different path, and Dar, the oldest, is the only one remaining on the island.  As the sisters begin to pack up mementos, they attempt to define who their parents were and question the choices they’ve made and the lives they are living.  All the sisters are haunted by the disappearance of the father, Michael, when they were young.  Michael was an Irish immigrant shipbuilder, while their mother came from a prestigious family.  Michael maintained that his family had a land grant from the king of England on Martha’s Vineyard.  Driven to show his worth, he sails to Ireland to look for the original deed and disappears.  As the sisters divvy up the assets and furniture in the house, they come across old love letters between their parents.  Dar convinces Delia and Rory to take a trip to Ireland to discover the truths, where their ancestral roots run deep. 

This book is a story of faith and love.  It’s also, a story about two islands and the people who love the sisters.  I was fascinated with Dar, she’s the kind of spirit that never forgets.     

This is the story of a young man of Chinese ancestry who is growing up in California during the years of World War II. He is friends with a young Japanese girl whose family is removed to an internment camp. Very good read; interesting information about the internment camps.

Katniss Everdeen, a sixteen year old girl from a poor district, enters The Hunger Games to save her younger sister, Prim.  Prim’s name was drawn in the lottery to determine which boy and girl from her district will go to The Hunger Games and Katniss isn’t about to let her go.  Katniss has been hunting to feed her family for the last five years and would have a better chance of surviving than Prim, who has spent those years learning to heal people. 

The Hunger Games are a televised, gladiator-like fight to the death between twenty-four teenagers.  The last person standing wins, which means he or she will receive a lifetime of food, shelter, and money.  For Katniss, this is a confusing prospect.  Her family could certainly use the security that winning the games would provide, but without hunting, who is she?  Katniss fights to survive the games, while discovering who she is and dealing with love and loss.

I couldn’t put this book down and am looking forward to reading the other two books of the trilogy.  I highly recommend this book to anyone who likes post-apocalyptic settings and future dystopias.  The Hunger Games is reminiscent of The Running Man and Rollerball, while maintaining a style that is entirely its own.  I give it five stars! 

I recently read The cat who said cheese by Lilian Jackson Braun, and liked it very much.  Jim Qwilleran, a crime reporter for a newspaper "Down Below", received a huge inheritance, and moved to Pickax, Moose County ("400 miles north of everywhere") to write a column for the Moose County Something.  The bulk of the inheritance was given away (though he must have kept some of it, for his two cats, Koko and YumYum, dined on fresh caviar, smoked salmon, and oysters!).  Qwilleran (with a lot of input from Koko) loved to solve mysteries; Ms. Braun wrote quite a few books about their antics.  The cat who said cheese involves a Pickax hotel bombing, the "Great Food Explo". a mysterious visitor, an eccentric beekeeper, and more.  It was a fun mystery to read, and I'll be reading more by this author! 

The book is a tribute to Patrick Swayze written by him just before his death from pancreatic cancer at the age fifty-seven.  I have checked out many of his DVDs since I have been reading this book and enjoyed how his talent progresse.  He really was a gifted actor, singer and dancer on the stage, on film and in television.  His wife was actress, director, producer, writer and dancer Lisa Niemi.  Patrick Swazye began dancing in his mother's studio in Huston, Texas in the 1960s.  He traveled across the country with Disney on Parade in the early 1970s -- he played Prince Charming in the dance troupe.  Later he moved to New York with his girlfriend Lisa Niemi in 1974 where they both dreamed of becoming top-flight ballet dancers.  Soon they found themselves and in Los Angeles where Patrick found work as a young actor in the movie "Skatetown USA" that featured his skating and dancing abilities.  His first important break came with Francis Ford Coppola's film "The Outsiders".  The movie featured some up-and-coming actors including Emilio Estevez, Rob Lowe and a very young Tom Cruise.  Patrick Swazye and Lisa Niemi lived on a ranch twenty miles outside Hollywood.  They later bought a larger ranch in New Mexico where they became involved in conservation and preservation.  Together they raised horses and owned many animals.  Patrick Swazye did most of his own stunts and often sustained some major injuries.  He played Orry Main in "North and South", a made-for-television series that ran for ten episodes.  Patrick Swazye's stardom came from movies "Dirty Dancing" with Jennifer Grey and "Ghost" with Demi Moore.  He co-wrote the song "She's Like the Wind" that was used in the soundtrack for "Dirty Dancing".  The song was at the top of the music charts for eighteen weeks.  As he was filming the television series "The Beast" it was discovered that he had stage 4 pancreatic cancer.  He was able to continue filming as he was undergoing chemotherapy and he completed the first season before his demise.

This book was not about its name.  There was not much housekeeping going on in the plot.  The book is about Ruth and Lucille, who come with thier mother to live with their grandparents in the small town of Fingerbone.  After Grandfather is killed in a train derailment, their mother commits suicide and the girls begin life with their grandmother.  After she dies, her two sisters, the girls' great aunts, come to live with her.  They are not much for raising two preteen girls, so they start looking for the girls' aunt Sylvie, a vagabond, to come take care of them so the aunties can go back to their lives. 

After the aunties find Sylvie, they leave and Sylvie takes over raising the girls.  Sylvie is not much of a mother to them and they just about do what they want, skipping school and just doing whatever strikes their fancy.   Sylvie doesn't see that the girls are clothed well, cooks only sproadically, sits in the dark and hoards tin cans, jars and newspapers.  When the situation becomes too much, Lucille moves out of the house and moves in with her teacher.  Since she is no longer there, Sylvie and Ruth start wandering the countryside. Ruth never shows up for school.  One day, Sylvie takes Ruth across the lake to see some ruined cabins she found, they get lost and end up spending the night on the lake, hitching a ride on a freight train and get the attention of the Sherrif.  When he threatens to take Ruth away, Sylvie sets the house on fire and she and Ruth escape back to the life of intenerant vagabonds with no roots. 

This was a sad book about never being settled in life and not putting down roots. 

This is a loving biography of John Ritter written by his second wife Amy Yasbeck.  There was a 14 year difference in their ages which did not impinge on their marriage relationship.  Both partners were working actors.  John Ritter's death from an undiagnosed aortic dissection on September 11, 2003 at the age of fifty-four shocked and saddened his family and friends.  Amy Yasbeck and John Ritter were parents of a daughter Stella.  John had two sons and and daughter from his first marriage who he was very close to.  All his children were a very important part of John Ritter's life.  John starred in theater, movies and situation comedies.  He won an Emmy for portraying Jack Tripper on Three's Company.  He was filming the comedy 8 Simple Rules for Dating My Teenage Daughter when he became ill and was rushed to the hospital where he died.  John's father died from the same disease and in 2007, John's brother, Tommy, had a 12-hour surgery to repair the aneurysm and prevent the same death from befalling him.  John Ritter had many fans and was a genuinely nice person.  His favorite autography for his fans was, "With Love and Laughter, John Ritter."  The book was very well written and I really enjoyed reading it.  Amy Yasbeck has not remarried and has continued to act and raise her daughter Stella.  Amy Yasbeck has also formed the John Ritter Foundation for Aortic Health and the Ritter Rules to inform people about the disease of aortic dissection.

This is a story of unrequited love.  Fermina and Florentino fall madly in love during their teens, but Fermina turns her back on her 1st love to marry a wealthy doctor.  Florentino patiently waits for Fermina, never marrying.  The writing is very good, but it is a slow read.  I never found out if they ever were able to come together after Fermina's husband dies.  The novel won the Noble prize for Literature in 1982

Maya is a 15 year-old run-away.  The daughter of a con artist she loses the only family she has when her father is arrested.  Hoping to find some kind of normalcy she sets out to find her lon-lost Aunt Sarah.  Along the way she meets up with two more runaways, Capone and Klondike, who are also looking for something more.  The three form a strong bond. Maya's definitions of right and wrong are turned upside down when she's confronted with the realities and dangers of life as a runaway.  It is a raw, bleak cautionary tale of survival.