General Fiction

Back When We Were Grownups by Anne Tyler was made into a Hallmark Hall of Fame movie, and I can easily see why. I wasn't a big fan of the book, but I wasn't making myself turn the pages, it was actually a very light and easy read.
The story follows a year in the life of Rebecca Davitch, who runs the Open Arms, her house that the family have used for parties since 1951. It takes you through her realising she isn't who she once though she'd be and her trying to get back to her college day ways. As you read how she answers her own question of where exactly things changed, you learn that sometimes, when you think something might have changed your life for the worse, it's actually exactly what you needed.

Light Reads

Babies & Other Hazards of Sex by Dave Barry is a wonderfully funny and light read. It can be comically off base, and sometimes scarily accurate. "How to make a tiny person in only 9 months, with tools you probably have around the home" is only the start of this book. Wonderful illustrations by Jerry O'Brien top the book off for a great read. This book is perfect for the child phobia people, a great gift for the guys in your life that "don't read" and a good laugh for moms of all stages.

Erotica

Erotic Confessions is a mixture of self help and nonfiction erotica. Its focus is on marriages and relationships that have lost their spark over a period of time, ranging from months to decades, and how to rekindle the flame.
Each section has a page or two of information about the theme of the stories in that "chapter". Each true story gives a brief description of the person or persons involved. With chapter titles such as "Imagination", "Amour, Amour", "Showing Off", "Professional Help", and "Sex, Sex, And More Sex" (just to name a few) there is something for everyone.

I really enjoyed these stories because they are all told from the people who have lived the experience. You get a first hand look at what was said, thought, and done. How they felt then, and how they feel now looking back on it. It's written in the way you'd tell a story to your friend, all the side glib included, making it much more real, easier to relate to, and imagine.

Extraordinary Togetherness

I've been skimming through this book just because I have it. It's a Prevention Health book for women and can be read cover to cover or by sections like I have. I would presume that it's a great book if you're looking for help in love, sex and intimacy, because it's given me a few fun facts about things with out me seeking them out. I think this is a good bedside book for all women. Here's the link

Three Junes

I'm not used to reading general fiction, so it took me a while to finish Three Junes by Julia Glass. I'm not one of those people that can pick up a book and not finish it (its one of the few things I can't do that with) so reading the book was a bit torture. However, winning me over in the end made it that much more of a triumph.



Three Junes is divided into three different stories. The first takes place in 1989 looking at the life, past and present, of Paul. A Scottish man who is currently traveling trying to define his self and what his past might have to do with it.



Next you step into 1995 and take a look at Paul's son, Feno. You learn how "Upright, upright, stay upright" helps him stay alive in a time when so many of his friends are dieing, how he vastly differs from his family, how everything isn't as it looks, and how he yearns for a love he doesn't realise he's ever had.



Four years later you meet a lass who over a weekend with a houseful of men realises that maybe her life will be fine, and come to conclusion in what she might want out of it. She also helps you put some pieces of Feno's story together, as they make friends in an unexpected way.



The latter of the two stories were a lot more enjoyable than the first, and made it a pleasant read. The ending makes you realise that even though you don't always expect a place to be "home" sometimes its the best place to be.