The Help by Kathryn Stockett

I know, I know, I'm late on the draw with this one.  You know you are behind on your reading when the book you are reading already has a movie version out.  I beat the movie by about 2 weeks.  For those of you like me who haven't yet read this book and have just been hearing murmurs about it, here's a breakdown for you.  The Help is set in the early 1960's and features 3 main characters.  2 are black maids and one is part of the society that they serve in the southern US.  It is the story of unlikely friendship and a look into life from the Help's point of view.  I fall into the category of readers that just loved this book and cheered right along with the characters.  I was so hooked on it that I bought my mom a copy of the book for herself.  I look forward to watching it on the big screen, hopefully soon :)

The Flying Troutmans by Miriam Toews

This book made me glad I read A Complicated Kindness, purely because it led me to here.  I enjoyed this book so much more than A Complicated Kindness.  It was darkly funny.  The characters were well developed.  The story was interesting. The subject matter is heavy, but it isn't heavy to read.  It is written in such a way that you can find humour without making light of the topics.  It also has prompted me to dig out my copy of Little Miss Sunshine to watch again.  If you enjoyed that movie, you will like this book. 
This is the story of Hattie, 28, who returns home to Manitoba from Paris to help out her sister Min, (who is spiraling in depression) and her kids.  Hattie has just broken up with her French boyfriend and feeling a little lost herself.  Her fly by the seat of her pants plan starts with checking her sister into the psychiatric ward of the hospital and packing up the kids to search out their long lost father.  Thebes (12) is pretty much running the home.  She is trying to cling to any sort of order she can in her  world.  She is a fantastic character, one I won't soon forget.  Her brother Logan (15) has his own share of teen angst that makes sense as the story unfolds. 
I'm pleasantly surprised by this book and would recommend it to others.

A Complicated Kindness by Miriam Toews

This book has been jumping off the shelves at me for the past 5 years at least. Every time I'm in a bookstore or at the library, it calls to me - read me Kris!  I've picked it up, looked it over and thought, really another Canadian book on the prairies?  Nope, not for me.  And put it back down again.  And then there it was again and again, flaunting it's Governor General award winner badge at me.  So finally I gave in.  Because I had such low expectations of this book (I really thought I wouldn't like it at all) I was surprised to find myself engrossed in the story.  I have since read reader reviews of the book and it seems to me that people either love it or get so bored with it they don't finish it.  I don't fit into either category.  I think the writing was good, but I really couldn't call it much of a plot lined story.  There was lots of missing pieces of information that you wanted to have and I still don't have them at the end of the book.  There's a lot of filling in the blanks to do.
This is the story of Nomi Nickel, a teenager growing up in a Mennonite small town community in rural Manitoba? (I had envisioned Saskatchewan until reading the author was from Manitoba).  You learn early on that Nomi lives with her father Ray.  Her mother and sister left separately 3 years before - though you don't learn the whys of those departures until much later in the book.  The community of East Village is controlled by Nomi's uncle nicknamed The Mouth.  The Mouth takes his religious doctrine to the extreme, quashing any notions of worldly influence.  This isn't too far fetched.  The story is set in 1982.  I, myself grew up in a community with a large Mennonite population and had friends who had certain restrictions regarding movies, music and dance.  The Mouth takes it too the extreme however and you learn that shunnings are commonplace.  Being a Christian myself (and a pastor's wife) I can see the bent theology clearly here and it is no wonder that Nomi's sister Tash, becomes disenchanted with the church, looking to atheism. 
The story is told through Nomi's eyes, a 16 year old stuck in depression really with no way out.  She kind of watches life, looking to her boyfriend, drugs and nostalgia for pleasure.
The gem of this book for me is her relationship with her father, Ray.  Ray is a solid fellow who is lost in his own unrealized bewilderment of where life has taken him. 
This is the kind of book I would be interested in discussing with other readers, particularly those who were raised Mennonite, or in a small town community.  You do at times wonder if the book's accolades are merely a reflection of our society's need to discount religion, or, if it really is a deep, meaningful book?

Elizabeth I by Margaret George

I absolutely love a new Margaret George book.   I've been waiting with eager anticipation for this one to come out.  What sets Margaret George apart from a lot of historical authors is her incredible research combined with fantastic writing skills.  The result is a historically accurate and highly readable novel.  Don't let the size of her books scare you off (this one is close to 700 pages).  What is inside is interesting reading.
This book begins in the later part of Elizabeth I's reign.  It is the time of the first Spanish Armada and continues until the end of her life.  The story of Lettice Knollys (a cousin and enemy of the Queen) is intertwined in juxtaposition.  This book is a departure from many recent writings of Queen Elizabeth.  George keeps her as the true Virgin Queen (where many others maintain that she was no virgin).  It shows her as a strong woman, a symbol of a time remembered as the Golden Age of England.  The secondary characters read as a who's who of the time (William Shakespeare, Francis Bacon, William Cecil, and even Guy Fawkes making an appearance among others).  I completely enjoyed this book and found it to be a good installment for her books of the era.  She previously authored tales of King Henry VIII (my favorite of her works) and Mary, Queen of Scots (also a fantastic read).   I look forward to her next offering and wonder which historical figure she will tackle next.

Riven by Jerry B. Jenkins

A friend of mine gave me a Facebook shout out when she finished this book a couple of weeks back.  She thought I would love it.  She was right.  This is a highly readable, interesting book.  The middle does get a bit depressing, but press on and finish it, it's worth it.
The story flips back and forth between Thomas, a pastor, and Brady, a kid from the wrong side of the tracks.  You know their paths will cross at some point, but it takes a good three quarters of the book to get there.  The good thing with Jenkins' writing is that you don't feel disoriented with the 2 stories being told simultaneously.  It's easy to follow both and you do care about both characters (which makes the book difficult to put down).  I don't want to say too much about the plot as I don't want to give anything away.  This one is definitely worth your time. 

Madame Tussaud by Michelle Moran

Michelle Moran is an author whose work I have become a fan of during the past few years.  She is an author who I admire.  Her books are well researched and very well written.  (My husband asked what was wrong with me the other night and I told him that it was tough to transition from the middle of the French Revolution to The Big Bang Theory).  That's what is good about Moran's writing.  She brings you into history.  You feel as though you are there, part of what is happening.   That being said, this book should come with a warning - pay attention to the second part of this book's title "A Novel of the French Revolution".  The French Revolution was a particularly horrific, bloody time in history and this book does not spare the reader of the realism of that time period.  I was convinced I was going to have nightmares at one point, yet I was unable to put the book down.  That is saying a lot for me.  I don't like graphic violence so to be able to stay hooked in this one tells a lot about the writing of the book.
A great part of that was the main character Madame Tussaud herself.  She is a character I knew almost nothing about prior to reading.  I hear the name and I think of the wax museum in London.  Beyond that, nothing.  She has a very interesting perspective on the time of the French Revolution because she lived on both sides of it.  She was a commoner, friends with revolutionaries, and also tutored Princesse Elisabeth (sister of the King of France) in wax modelling.   Her salon and museum was popular and constantly changing, reflecting the news of the day.  Because she was so good at what she did, her work was in demand by the revolutionaries when it came time to make death masks of those they considered heroes and traitors to the cause. 
If you can handle the violence of the period, I recommend this book to you.  Madame Tussaud is a fascinating character of an unforgettable time in history.

If You Could See Me Now by Cecelia Ahearn

My 3rd novel by Ahern and I am getting the picture that you really have to suspend reality when you read one of her books.  This is the story of Elizabeth a control oriented person who is a care taker. She is the responsible one who looks after her alcoholic sister, her sister's son and her father.  She runs her own business as well.  Enter Ivan, a mysterious man who brings a little joy into her life.  This book was okay.  There were a lot of aspects to this book that would have make it more interesting to read. 

SPOILERS BELOW - BE WARNED

Things I would have liked to have seen in this novel
1) The actual conversation between Elizabeth and her father filling in the mysteries of the past
2) Elizabeth being able to say 'no' to her sister - to realise that being a caretaker is not a healthy way to be.
3) As the book went on, to see Elizabeth connecting more with Luke (her sister's son) - to build that relationship up