The 2009 Year End Book Meme

I saw this meme at The Bookkittten's blog, and wanted to participate!


1. What did you do in 2009 that you'd never done before?
I started blogging....I had never blogged before, and finally felt bold enough to try it. I am so glad that I did!

2. Did you keep your new years' resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
I don't bother with New Year's Resolutions...I don't like to be under pressure!

3. How will you be spending New Year's Eve?
At home, with my husband, my 2 Chihuahua's and 3 cats...my dear family!

4. Did anyone close to you die?
My mom has not passed away, but she was diagnosed with Dementia in September. I feel like I have already lost her because she no longer talks or interacts with me.

5. What countries did you visit?
None...I stayed right here in the US.

6. What would you like to have in 2010 that you lacked in 2009?
A more positive outlook on life....

7. What date from 2009 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
September 24th - the day my mom fell in the nursing home and broke her hip - 2 days afterwards is when she stopped speaking to me.

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
Being able to express myself on my blogs - writing about my childhood memories.

9. What was your biggest failure?
Having a negative attitude, and beating myself up on a daily basis.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
Besides having a nasty stomach bug the week before Christmas, I was relatively healthy in 2009!

11. What was the best thing you bought?
My iPod - I don't go anywhere without it!

12. Where did most of your money go?
The mortgage, and my pets monthly vet bills for medicine and food.

13. What song will always remind you of 2009?
You Belong With Me by Taylor Swift

14. What do you wish you'd done more of?
Visit with friends - Everybody is so busy all of the time

15. What do you wish you'd done less of?
Worry and being angry

16. What was your favourite TV program?
Two and A Half Men

17. Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year?
I don't hate anyone.....

18. What was the best book you read?
Homer's Odyssey by Gwen Cooper

19. What was your greatest musical discovery?
Christian Rock and Pop: Casting Crowns, Red, Big Daddy Weave, Bo Bice, Taylor Hicks - and some new groups that I discovered: The Kooks, Busted, Copeland and Ari Hest.

20. What was your favorite film of this year?
The Blind Side - it was awesome!

21. What did you do on your birthday?
Took the day off from work and went to a huge used book sale, then out to lunch with my husband.

22. What kept you sane?
My husband...he is my rock.

23. Who did you miss?
My dad, who lives so far away, my mom who is here but isn't, and my dear friend Julye, who passed away from breast cancer in 1997...I miss her every day.

24. Who was the best new person you have met?
Cecile from All I Want And More - she is a fantastic person and a wonderful friend!

25. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2009:
Be happy each day that you wake up, love the ones around you, cherish the ones that you miss, and always look at the bright side of any situation.


Happy New Year to you all!

~Booking Through Thursday~

It’s the last day of the year, and you know what that means … nostalgia and looking back.

What were your favorite books of the year? (Books that were new to you in 2009, if not necessarily published this year.)

I have read a lot of good books this year. The ones that are most memorable to me (and I have highly recommended to others) are:

The Unseen by T.L. Hines

Tomato Girl by Jane Pupek

Who Do You Think You Are by Alyse Myers

My Cat Spit McGee by Willie Morris

Homer's Odyssey by Gwen Cooper

Driving With Dead People by Monica Holloway
What were some of YOUR favorites of 2009?

A Challenge That is Right Up My Alley!

I love love love memoirs and autobiographies! Lucky for me, Melissa at The Betty and Boo Chronicles is hosting The Memorable Memoir Reading Challenge of 2010! Many thanks to Melissa for hosting this challenge.

Here are the details:

1. The Memorable Memoir Challenge will be hosted at the The Betty and Boo Chronicles.

2. The challenge will run from January 1, 2010 - December 31, 2010. You're welcome to join anytime.

3. Memoirs, letters, diaries, and autobiographies count as reads for this challenge. (Basically, if you think it is the stuff of memoir, it counts.)

4. Overlaps with other challenges are allowed. Audiobooks and e-books are also allowed.

5. Participants are encouraged to read at least 4 memoirs/diaries/letters/autobiography books in 2010. (Of course, more are fine!) The four was kind of a random number because I was thinking about the seasons of our lives ... hence, four memoirs ... but I want this to be a fun, low-key challenge, especially for those who might be new to memoirs or haven't tried them before.

6. You're not required to make a list, but feel free to do so. You can change your list anytime. I'll do a separate post with some thoughts, and will compile yours too. (Just leave them in the comments.)

7. To join, simply sign up by using MckLinky on this post. If you want to do a special sign-up post on your blog, feel free ... but just the url of your blog is fine.

8. Feel free to grab the button that Florinda made for us!

Ok, so I really couldn't resist this challenge...I am so excited! Here are some of the books that I am planning to read:

Dreaming In Libro: How a Good Dog Tamed A Bad Woman by Louise Bernikow

Life Al Dente by Gina Cascone

Jesus Land: A Memoir by Julia Sheeres

Manic: A Memoir by Terri Cheney

Never Let Me Down: A Memoir by Susan J. Miller

Cowboy and Wills by Monica Holloway

What about you? Will you join this wonderful stress-free challenge?

Just in Time for Valentine's Day!

The Art of Kissing by William Cane

Product Description

In The Art of Kissing, William Cane reveals that there is more to kissing than simply locking lips. Through a hundred thousand interviews he has discovered the truth about what men and women do, think, and feel when they kiss. Their input and his expert knowledge can help you to master the secrets of great kissing.

With specific techniques for more than thirty types of kisses, this updated and revised edition features:

* Overcoming first kiss shyness
* Secrets to increasing your 'kissability'
* Complete instructions on French Kissing
* Electric kisses, neck kisses, ear kisses and much more

Transform your kissing technique, pucker up with passion, and master The Art of Kissing today!

• Hardcover: 368 pages
• Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin (January 5, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312615809
• ISBN-13: 978-0312615802

What are YOU waiting for today?

It's Time for A Teaser!

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:
* Grab your current read*
* Open to a random page*
*Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
* BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!) Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers! ;)

My teaser today is from The Tin Box by Holly Kennedy.

He took her hand and squeezed, then slipped his headphones on to watch the news. Kenly looked out the window, into the pillowlike clouds below them, and as she slowly sipped her wine, it occurred to her that she was praying~pg 182

What's YOUR teaser today???

Mailbox Monday

I had a credit to use at Amazon.com....what did I use it for? Books, of course!!

The Tin Box by Holly Kennedy
Kenly Alister is a Grownup. Unlike those who sail through life taking what they want regardless of how their actions affect others, Kenly cleans up other people's messes, picks up the pieces, and is the one who others turn to for solace. As the child of an alcoholic, she weathered abuse and sadness and emerged from childhood determined to bring comfort and happiness to those she loves.

While in college she fell for Ross Lowen. Ross wasn't looking for someone to take care of him--he wanted a lover, a friend, and a partner. In Kenly he found not only all that but a woman whose capacity for love and kindness bowled him over.

The last fifteen years have been good to them and Kenly basks in the glow of a wonderful marriage. An as an extral bonus she revels in their son who, even in his most arrogant, adolescent moments, still has the ability to take Kenly's breath away.

This happy life is threatened when her dearest childhood friend dies and Kenly receives an old battered tin box, a relic of her childhood. Inside are the remnants of Kenly's past and a secret she has sheltered for decades. To reveal the secret means the destruction of her happy family--but can she continue to shoulder the weight of years of silence?

The Tin Box is an achingly beautiful novel of one woman's desire to save all that she loves while honoring the past that made her into the woman she is.

Life Al Dente by Gina Cascone
Gina Cascone's Life al Dente: Laughter and Love in an Italian-American Family is an enjoyable, emotional roller coaster of a memoir. With the kind of sensitivity you get only from someone who's lived the experiences, Cascone's story is laugh-out-loud funny, heart-wrenchingly sad, and everything in between. The first-born in a tightly knit Italian Catholic family cursed with only girls, Cascone (the author of Pagan Babies) shares sweet memories of hilarious hiccups she experienced growing up, first in an overcrowded semi-detached house in a heavily Italian enclave in New Jersey, and then as the only ethnic variation in the suburbia of the "American Dream." You don't have to have been the only anything growing up to relate--as Cascone wisely acknowledges, we've all felt that way. Teenage angst is universal, as are the growing pains we experience from birth to death. So what sets Cascone's story apart is her intelligent sense of humor and the passionate love she feels for her family. She recognizes their quirks, and treasures every one of them. And just like in life, it's easier to laugh at just about anything in retrospect. An easy read that's impossible to put down, Life al Dente is the kind of memoir that makes us all wish we were taking notes growing up.

I won this book from Number One Novels!

Faces of the Gone: A Mystery by Brad Parks

Four bodies, each with a single bullet wound in the back of the head, stacked like cordwood in a weed-choked vacant lot: That’s the front-page news facing Carter Ross, investigative reporter with the Newark Eagle-Examiner. Immediately dispatched to the scene, Carter learns that the four victims—an exotic dancer, a drug dealer, a hustler, and a mama’s boy—came from different parts of the city and didn’t seem to know one another.

The police, eager to calm jittery residents, leak a theory that the murders are revenge for a bar stickup, and Carter’s paper, hungry for a scoop, hastily prints it. Carter doesn’t come from the streets, but he understands a thing or two about Newark’s neighborhoods. And he knows there are no quick answers when dealing with a crime like this.

Determined to uncover the true story, he enlists the aide of Tina Thompson, the paper’s smoking-hot city editor, to run interference at the office; Tommy Hernandez, the paper’s gay Cuban intern, to help him with legwork on the streets; and Tynesha Dales, a local stripper, to take him to Newark’s underside. It turns out that the four victims have one connection after all, and this knowledge will put Carter on the path of one very ambitious killer.

Treading the same literary turf as Harlan Coben, and writing with a fresh Jersey voice, Brad Parks makes an energetic, impressive debut.

What was in YOUR mailbox today???

So, What Did You Get?

I hope that everyone had a wonderful Christmas, filled with family and fun....and lots of good food!!

So.....what did you get for Christmas? Books? Gift cards? Did you get something really special that you had been wanting for a long time?

My dear husband got me a Wii Fit....I had asked for one last Christmas, but they were difficult to find last year. Well, I have one now. I am all ready to begin my New Year with an exercise plan. I can't wait to get started!

We had dinner with his parents yesterday....they had SO much food. We came home with tons of leftovers, plus a pumpkin pie and a pineapple cake. I had made some Chewy Caramel Bars on Christmas Eve, so we have plenty of sweets to snack on.

What did you have? What was special about your day?

A Short Hiatus

I have decided to take a short break from my blog. This past Thursday, I was struck down with The Stomach Virus From Hell, which has put me out of commission for almost 4 days. I missed doing my 2 Flashback posts, plus a couple of others.

After the excitement of the holidays, I will return to my usual posting schedule.

I hope that all of you enjoy this Christmas Holiday, enjoy your time with family and friends, and receive loads of books as gifts! Take time to read, relax, and love the ones around you.

Merry Christmas to all of my wonderful friends!

~Friday Finds~

Lark and Termite by Jayne Anne Phillips

From Publishers Weekly

From Phillip's (Motherkind; Shelter) comes a long-awaited and wonderful coming-of-age tale of grief and survival. The story straddles a parallel six-day period in July, one in 1959—during which 17-year-old Lark; her brother, Termite, who cant talk; and their aunt and caretaker, Nonie, are struggling to balance hope and despair in smalltown West Virginia—and nine years earlier, when Termites father, Robert Leavitt, serves a tour in Korea. Lark, living with her aunt without knowing who her father is or why her mother gave her up, was nine years old when baby Termite landed on their doorstep. Nonie works long hours at a local restaurant to support the hodgepodge family, leaving Lark to take over mothering duties, but as Lark finishes secretarial school and realizes how limited the options are for her and Termite, forces of nature and odd individuals shed light on mysteries of the past and lend a hand in steering the next course of action. Through Robert and Nonie's stories and by exposing the innermost thoughts of each character, Phillips creates a wrenching portrait of devotion while keeping the suspense at a palpitating level.

• Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: Vintage (January 12, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0375701931

Waiting On Wednesday

This Is Not A Game by Walter Jon Williams

THIS IS NOT A GAME is a novel built around the coolest phenomenon in the world.

That phenomenon is known as the Alternate Reality Game, or ARG. It's big, and it's getting bigger. It's immersive and massively interactive, and it's spreading through the Internet at the speed of light.

To the player, the Alternate Reality Game has no boundaries. You can be standing in a parking lot, or a shopping center. A pay phone near you will ring, and on the other end will be someone demanding information.

You'd better have the information handy.

ARGs combine video, text adventure, radio plays, audio, animation, improvisational theater, graphics, and story into an immersive experience.

Now, one of science fiction's most acclaimed writers, Walter Jon Williams, brings this extraordinary phenomenon to life in a pulse-pounding thriller. This is not a game. This is a novel that will blow your mind.

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 496 pages
• Publisher: Orbit (January 4, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0316003166
• ISBN-13: 978-0316003162

What are YOU waiting for today?

Teaser Tuesday

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:
* Grab your current read*
* Open to a random page*
*Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page *

BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!) Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers! ;)


~As he slid behind the wheel he saw the man, sitting where Nancy should have been. Despite the darkness he instantly recognized the long oval of the face, the deep-set eyes, and he was dismayed neither by finding him there nor by all that his presence implied.~ pg 41, Red Lights by Georges Simenon


Whats YOUR teaser today?

Mailbox Monday

What's in YOUR mailbox today?

From Paperbackswap:

Red Lights by Georges Simenon

It is Friday evening before Labor Day weekend. Americans are hitting the highways in droves; the radio crackles with warnings of traffic jams and crashed cars. Steve Hogan and his wife, Nancy, have a long drive ahead—from New York City to Maine, where their children are in camp. But Steve wants a drink before they go, and on the road he wants another. Soon, exploding with suppressed fury, he is heading into that dark place in himself he calls “the tunnel.” When Steve stops for yet another drink, Nancy has had enough. She leaves the car. On a bender now, Steve makes a friend: Sid Halligan, an escapee from Sing Sing. Steve tells Sid all about Nancy. Most men are scared, Steve thinks, but not Sid. The next day, Steve wakes up on the side of the road. His car has a flat, his money is gone, and there’s one more thing still left for him to learn about Nancy, Sid Halligan, and himself.

Paperback: 144 pages
Publisher: NYRB Classics (July 18, 2006)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1590171934

The Friendly Persuasion by Jessamyn West

A quintessential American heroine, Eliza Birdwell is a wonderful blend of would-be austerity, practicality, and gentle humor when it comes to keeping her faith and caring for her family and community. Her husband, Jess, shares Eliza's love of people and peaceful ways but, unlike Eliza, also displays a fondness for a fast horse and a lively tune. With their children, they must negotiate their way through a world that constantly confronts them-sometimes with candor, sometimes with violence-and tests the strength of their beliefs. Whether it's a gift parcel arriving on their doorstep or Confederate soldiers approaching their land, the Birdwells embrace life with emotion, conviction, and a love for one another that seems to conquer all.The Friendly Persuasion has charmed generations of readers as one of our classic tales of the American Midwest.

Paperback: 228 pages
Publisher: Harvest Books (September 8, 2003)
ISBN-10: 015602909X

The Honest Scrap Award

I received The Honest Scrap Award from Marce at Tea Time With Marce! Thank you so much, Marce!


The rules are for me to list ten truths about myself:

I love the rock group Kiss and still listen to their music

I always water down any juice that I drink - including orange juice

I love books about dysfuntional families

I love peppermint ice cream

I own 20 pairs of pajamas - I'm addicted to them

I love rainy days

I cry when I hear wedding vows

I'm saving for a condo at the beach

I still have a stuffed toy and blanket that I was given the day I was born

I love really scary movies

I would love to pass this award on to anyone who wishes to play and list ten truths about themselves.....It was fun!

~More 1996~

1996 was a year for BIG changes.

Mark accepted the Program Director job at the radio station on Cape Cod. He left Florida in January to begin work, and to find a place for us to live. In the meantime, I had decided to make a career change from office work to pet grooming. I began training with a pet groomer who had a shop close to our house. I still worked at Sun Paging Monday-Friday, then trained for grooming every Saturday. I began my training in September 1995, and finished in February 1996. Mark was coming to get me, our pets and our furniture in March for the big move.

It's been said that moving is as stressful as experiencing a death in your family, and I wholeheartedly agree. It took us 3 days to get from Fort Myers to Hyannis. I was so stressed out it was unbelievable. The first day on the road, we drove 13 hours straight, and made it to Hampstead, NC to spend the night with Mark's father. That day was stressful enough to make me beg and plead with Mark to see if we could stay with his Dad a few days. The next day, we drove again almost 13 hours to spend the night at Mark's sister's home in New Jersey. During that days drive, Mark and I got separated at a toll booth at the beginning of the New Jersey Turnpike. Mark was driving the Ryder truck. I was following in my car. We chose separate lanes to go through, and then I lost sight of him. I got over on the side of the road and tried to reach him on the walkie talkie's that we had. No luck. I got off the next exit, and all that there was was a convenience store with black iron bars over the doors and windows. I had to actually be buzzed in. I was crying and hysterical. The guy working there was nice, gave me a map of how to get back on the turnpike and told me I'd find my husband, not to worry. I get back in my car, my 3 cats are crying, I'm crying. I finally make it to the right exit, then go the wrong way AGAIN and end up in Perth Amboy NJ which was a scary looking place at night. I called his sister, and she came and got me. We were leaving our dog, Snoopy, with her until we could move into our house up there.

The next day, we drove to New York, to stay with my dad for a night. I would be leaving my cats with him to care for. I remember we left my Dad's and got on I95. We stopped right over the CT border to get some gas. I got out of my car and told Mark that I was going any further. "Just leave me here," I begged. "At this gas station?" he asked. I cried, moaned, shook. I couldnt' go another mile. Except, I did. Off we went, making the 4 hour trek to The Cape. For those of you who are not familiar with I95, it is an audobon. People MOVE. And if you don't get out of their way, they will flash their lights at you, honk their horn. Finally, at 11:00pm we were in Hyannis. The radio station was putting us up at a motel until we closed on our house. We had stayed at this motel the previous summer, and I had liked it. I fell into bed exhausted.
The next morning the first thing I did was open the curtains in the room. When I did, there was a brick wall staring me in the face. Nice. Also, the room did not have a kitchenette. It would be a MONTH before we closed on our house. How were we going to eat? We couldn't afford to eat every meal out. I felt myself sinking into a deeper and deeper depression.

As it turned out, a couple that my father knew lived in Brewster. They had a separate apartment in their basement, and kindly offered for us to stay there until our house was ready. In the meantime, I was offered a job at a veterinary clinic, in the kennel. I was promised that a grooming position would be coming open soon, but did I want to work at the kennel in the meantime....I accepted, and went to work for the most wonderful people; Pleasant Bay Animal Hospital in East Harwich. My kennel work lasted a month, then I moved into the grooming room. I loved it. I groomed so many different breeds of dogs. My employers were kind and thoughtful. I was happy.

Our house became available the second week of April. Mark's sister brought Snoopy up to his new home. We went to NY the next weekend and picked up the cats. Maybe....finally.....I was going to be able to have some peace in my life.

What about you? What were YOU doing in 1996?


Snoopy had NEVER seen snow before! Kate loved the fireplace!
He was one HAPPY Samoyed!

~Flashback 1996~

Economics

US GDP (1998 dollars): $7,661.60 billion
Federal spending: $1572.41 billion
Federal debt: $5207.3 billion
Median Household Income
(current dollars): $35,492
Consumer Price Index: 156.9
Unemployment: 5.4%
Cost of a first-class stamp: $0.32

U.S. Events

F.B.I. arrests suspected Unabomber (April 3).

Valujet crashes in Everglades; all 110 aboard killed (May 11).

747 airliner crashes in Atlantic off Long Island, N.Y.; all 230 aboard perish (July 17).

US budget crisis in fourth month (Jan 3).

Entertainment

Jazz great Ella Fitzgerald dies.

Gangsta rapper Tupac Shakur is shot four times in a drive-by shooting. He dies six days later at age 25.

Movies

• The English Patient, Fargo, Jerry Maguire, The People vs. Larry Flynt, Shine, Sling Blade

What were YOU doing in 1996?

What did YOU Find Today?

Tear Down the Mountain by Roger Alan Skipper

Product Description:

In their tiny, secluded mountain community, Sid Lore and Janet Hollar are misfits: Sid because he wasn’t born here, Janet because she can’t satisfy her Pentecostal church’s demand to speak in tongues. The two drift together and get married, and soon the optimistic, independent newlyweds vow to forge their own reality. Appalachian life, however, proves difficult: family and friends die or move away and Sid’s work-related injuries make it impossible to earn a living. As his enters a rut of odd jobs, bar brawls, and dog fights, Janet discovers new worth — and a hidden talent for destruction. Just when they don't think they can sink any lower, the "superior" outside world discovers their mountains, their lake, their forests, and their “rednecks” — which brings new problems. Incisive prose, vivid characters, and a compulsively readable narrative make this novel about lives cramped and cornered by economic and cultural forces a stunning debut.

Paperback: 220 pages

• Publisher: Soft Skull Press (September 28, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1933368349

Summer Session by Kelly L. Frey, Sr. & Kelly L. Frey II

Product Description

Scott Greenwood was the golden boy in his small Texas town. But his life changes forever when his family is killed and he has to move to New England to live with his cold and distant aunt. Left to his own devices, and with the guilt of his possible complicity in his family’s death, Scott finds his new life inextricably intertwined with Stewart Academy, the elite prep school that overshadows his new home. Life’s lessons come hard as Scott attempts to fit into this unfamiliar place. He finds himself involved in all of the intrigue, deceit, and legendary pranks of the unforgettable characters that populate the world of the ultra-rich and extra-ordinarily talented prep school ranks—an unimaginable journey that culminates in the climax of the Summer Session.

• Paperback: 268 pages
• Publisher: iUniverse, Inc.; 1st edition (June 20, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0595342183

~Book Review - Swimming Naked by Stacy Sims~

Product Description:

As an adult, Lucy Greene lives hard and slips the clutches of any emotional commitment. She’s an incredibly appealing young woman who wields a bone-dry sense of humor as a shield and promiscuity as a weapon. But when she arrives in overheated Florida to take care of her cancer- stricken mother, Lucy finds herself in strange new emotional territory that can only be understood by a frank assessment of the past. Lucy unfolds the painful memories of her childhood—including a freak accident that occurred one fateful summer at the family lake house, after which her father seemingly disappeared and her mother moved forward on a very different course. Amid bitterness, self-doubt, and exasperation, it is Lucy’s one treasured memory—a midnight swim with her mother—that reminds her there is grace in her graceless world, a fact that helps her to forgive her mother and, ultimately, let her go.

Uplifting but unsentimental, compelling and remarkably moving, Swimming Naked is an unforgettable debut that will resonate with daughters, mothers, and anyone who’s ever searched her past in the hopes of finding a future.

My Thoughts:

I always seem to enjoy stories about dysfunctional families, and this book was definitely enjoyable.
Lucy Greene grows up with a psychotic sister, an "absent" mother, and a father who disappears when Lucy is just 10 years old.
Lucy's mom devotes all of her attention to Lucy's sister, who has a mental breakdown when she is still in elementary school.
It is when Lucy is 30 years old, that her relationship with her mother and the rest of the family is put to the test. Lucy's mom is dying of cancer. And Lucy is the only one available to be by her side during her last days.
Lucy wants nothing more than to run away from everything. While she sits with her mother, she replays her childhood in her head...and realizes what matters most in her life is right before her eyes. Is it possible for her to make peace with her mother before it is too late?



VERY GOOD!

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Plume (February 22, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0452285607
• ISBN-13: 978-0452285606

Waiting On Wednesday

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine.


Product Description

“One Good Dog is a wonderful novel: a moving, tender, and brilliantly crafted story about two fighters—one a man, one a dog— hoping to leave the fight behind, who ultimately find their salvation in each other. Susan Wilson’s clear and unflinching style is perfectly suited for her story that strips away the trappings and toys we all hide behind, and exposes our essential need to give and accept love in order to thrive.”—Garth Stein, New York Times bestselling author of The Art of Racing in the Rain

Adam March is a self-made “Master of the Universe.” He has it all: the beautiful wife, the high-powered job, the glittering circle of friends. But there is a price to be paid for all these trappings, and the pressure is mounting—until the day Adam makes a fatal mistake. His assistant leaves him a message with three words: your sister called. What no one knows is that Adam’s sister has been missing for decades. That she represents the excruciatingly painful past he has left behind. And that her absence has secretly tormented him all these years. When his assistant brushes off his request for an explanation in favor of her more pressing personal call, Adam loses it. And all hell breaks loose.

Adam is escorted from the building. He loses his job. He loses his wife. He loses the life he’s worked so hard to achieve. He doesn’t believe it is possible to sink any lower when he is assigned to work in a soup kitchen as a form of community service. But unbeknownst to Adam, this is where his life will intersect with Chance.
Chance is a mixed breed Pit Bull. He’s been born and raised to fight and seldom leaves the dirty basement where he is kept between fights. But Chance is not a victim or a monster. It is Chance’s unique spirit that helps him escape and puts him in the path of Adam.

What transpires is the story of one man, one dog, and how they save each other—in ways they never could have expected.

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: St. Martin's Press (March 2, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312571259
• ISBN-13: 978-0312571252

What are YOU waiting for?