Finished: The Secret Keeper (Morton). Book Club Book #1. Great book with a huge surprise twist ending that I didn't actually see coming. :-) I read this book for a book club that I may join, and I really enjoyed it! I've been reading so many classics the last year and a half, that it's nice to also read some books that are current best sellers or current popular books. In 1961, sixteen year old Laurel secretly witnesses as her mother horrifically stabs a man who wanders up their driveway to speak to her. In 2011, as Laurel's mother deteriorates in ill health, Laurel finally decides to figure out why her mother stabbed the man all those years ago. The story takes us back to the World War II bombings and air raids in England, and the 17 to 20 year old Dorothy, Laurel's mother. We become very acquainted with Dorothy's personality and her thoughts and hopes. We also meet the love of her life, Jimmy...and we meet Dorothy's good friend (or so she thinks) Vivienne. We get to know Vivienne and Jimmy as well as we do Dorothy as the story flashes between the 1940's and 2011. The twists and turns just kept coming as I actually grew to like Jimmy and Vivienne more than I did Dorothy. I was really happy with the twist at the end and I can't wait to go to my first book club meeting and discuss. :-)

Finished: David Copperfield (Dickens) Oh my, what a good book! Of course, with an opening line like..."Whether I shall turn out to be the hero of my own life, or whether that station will be held by anybody else, these pages must show", I couldn't have expected any less! In this journey of reading books, I can always count on Dickens to give me beautiful writing that draws me into the joy mixed with heartbreak, terrible reality mixed with hopeful dreams, and such vivid characters, descriptions and conversations, that it is like I'm always there viewing the action from a little corner of the horse cart. As I approach having read 250 books in the past 19 months, I am pretty sure I can count on ONE hand the number of books that have had a happy ending, and David Copperfield turns out to be one of them. Oh, poor David goes through so many horrific, abusive experiences to get there, but he does in fact get a happy ending. :-) It was so difficult to read about the early years of his life, though. I just wanted to snatch him right out of the pages! David's father having died before he was born, David's mother and nurse, and David become a tight, inseparable, loving trio until David is about 8 years old. Then, David's mother is courted by a horrific man named Mr. Murdstone. Just the name brings shudders! Of course, Murdstone pulls the wool over the eyes of Mrs. Copperfield, and pretends to be a pal to David, but the minute she marries him, he becomes the domineering, evil man that he is and bullies her into submission to the point where she's not even allowed to hug or kiss her own son, or show any emotion towards him whatsoever. Then, he arranges for David to be sent to an awful school for boys where the headmaster, a former prison warden, is mercilessly, physically abusive to the boys. When David goes home for the Christmas break, he is made to feel like an unloved stranger in his own house. And...he's just a little boy. :-( We are privy to all his thoughts and emotions, and it's just heartbreaking. Mr. Murdstone's evil sister, Miss Murdstone, has also moved in with the family at this point and between the two of them, they keep David's mother browbeaten into submission. The loyal nurse and friend, Pegotty, can't defy them or they'll fire her and she wants to stay close to David's mother to help her as much as she can. When David arrives home, he sees that he has a new baby brother, who he instantly loves! His mother is thrilled to let him hold him. David's mother, Pegotty, David and the new baby have a wonderful evening like old times, because the Murdstones are out on a social call. When they arrive back home, though, the horror continues. David's not allowed to go anywhere near the baby, and his mother must refrain from showing any emotion towards him. His mother is also a bit sickly and weak after the birth. There is one moving page of dialogue where David sums up his feelings of not being wanted around the house, and of him actually looking forward to going back to the abusive school for boys, since he has made a couple of good friends there. One snippet of the lament stayed with me...."What meals I had in silence and embarrassment, always feeling that there were a knife and fork too many, and that mine; an appetite too many, and that mine; a plate and chair too many, and those mine; a somebody too many, and that I! - what a blank space I seemed, which everybody overlooked, and yet was in everybody's way". David hasn't been back at school long when his 9th birthday arrives. He's called to the headmaster's office, hopefully wondering if maybe they do something nice for a boy on his birthday, only to be told of a letter from home that his mother and baby brother have both died. His mother had been sicker than anyone knew after the birth, and the baby brother didn't live much longer after she died. Poor David is devastated. He goes home for the funeral, not realizing that it is also the last time he'll see his good friends he has made. With his mother dead, Mr. Murdstone doesn't send David back to school. He sends him to work with the lowest of the low in his run down, rat infested wine factory. David's one hope for the future before that was that he was at least being somewhat educated and surrounded by other boys being somewhat educated. Now, he is thrust into the life of the lowest socioeconomic status, made to live by himself in a rundown "let", made to fare for himself in terms of food, comfort, etc. Again, he's only 9 years old. :-( David finally makes up his mind to run away and find the long lost aunt he had always heard about, Miss Betsey Trotwood. He does this, and shows up on her doorstep as a dusty, starving urchin. Having only heard stories of how rigid and unloving she had been to his own father for years and years, David is desperate to beg her for her help. Moved beyond words, and not nearly the old bitty that he had come to expect, Aunt Betsey Trotwood takes David into her home and her heart. His turnaround is immediate! :-) David is sent to a wonderful school, he is fed, and clothed, and most of all nurtured by his aunt and her friends. I can't possibly recap the entire book here, or I'd be typing forever. I'll just smile in the knowledge that even though there are many more hardships to come, David does end up happy in the end, and with the one true love he didn't realize was his one true love until he grew wise enough from his experiences to realize it! Yes, there were some of the most evil characters that David has to face: Mr. Murdstone & Miss Murdstone, making appearances throughout his life; the slimy, duplicitous Uriah Heep; Mr. Creakle, the evil headmaster with the zealous whip. And, there are some of the kindest characters who help develop every good and strong aspect of David: Pegotty, the faithful and beloved nurse from the time he is born; Aunt Betsey, his benefactor in heart, strength, advice, and means; Mr. Dick, the "simple" friend of Aunt Betsey's who teaches David that there is always honesty and honor to be found in that simplicity; Mr. Pegotty, Pegotty's brother, who teaches David about compassion, fierce love, determination; Tommy Traddles, who teaches David the true meaning of friendship; Dr. Strong, David's second, schoolmaster, the antithesis of Creakle, and a lifelong mentor and friend; even David's mother, Clara, who at least starts him off in life with kindness and love, even though she is tortured into not demonstrating those feelings; and last, but not least, Agnes...the true love of David's life, and his guide, his angel, his conscience, who teaches him, without him even knowing it, about true unconditional love. Of course, there are also the "characters" of the book, and I mean true "characters", who David meets along the way who have great influences on his life: James Steerforth, his charismatic, charming, too-good-to-be-true friend who David adores and worships, who ends up selfishly performing an act that devastates many characters, including David; Mr. Micawber, with his verbose letters of woe and conundrum and his wife, Mrs. Micawber, who float in and out of David's life in their poverty, and unconventional means of surviving in London, but who also become the saviors of the day against the evil Uriah Heep; and Dora...sweet, beautiful, silly, "childbride", Dora. Though David's age, they are only about 18 when they meet and fall in love. Married when they are about 20, David has continued to grow, mature and have deep feelings about the world and issues and their future, while Dora, who grew up rather wealthy, is thrown off by the merest of household duties. She is content to just be happy with David and her dog, Jip, but doesn't really provide David an equal partner that he truly needs. After about a year of marriage, David comes to realize this, and decides to just be happy with his sweet young bride and not try to mold her into something she isn't. She is his first true love, and he doesn't really realize that he rushed into that marriage unwisely until he hears Dr. Strong's wife reassuring Dr. Strong that she loves him and not her first love of her youth. The following words stick with David for long after: "There can be no disparity in marriage like unsuitability of mind and purpose. If I were thankful to my husband for no more, instead of for so much, I should be thankful to him for having saved me from the first mistaken impulse of my undisciplined heart." David repeats the first line over and over to himself and realizes that there will always be unsuitability of mind and purpose between himself and Dora, because she will never "grow up" with him. He adores her, though, and is determined to make the best of their marriage. Sadly, Dora has a miscarriage and grows weaker and weaker afterwards until it is clear she is on her deathbed. :-(  David is devastated by Dora's death, and comforted by Agnes, who has loved him all these years, but also been a true friend to Dora, comforting her in her time of death. Aunt Betsey and Agnes both encourage David to travel abroad for awhile to overcome his grief. David, who is by this time working his way to being a pretty successful writer, travels to Switzerland, where he stays for three years, writing. He realizes in this time, what he never allowed himself to realize during his life with Dora....that he has also truly loved Agnes all his life! At the old and ripe age of about 25, lol, David travels back home, and it takes him awhile to admit his feelings for Agnes, since he's the only person in all their circle of family and friends who has never realized that Agnes has loved him forever. When they do both finally make their admissions, they are married, surrounded by loved ones, and are shown ten years later, happily, in their little home, surrounded by a passel of children. :-) Oh, and Uriah Heep has been locked in prison for the rest of his life! Getting into the why's of that, is a whole other story. I only wished that the book had wrapped up with Murdstone in prison somewhere as well...but that would be my only disappointment in the book! A wonderful, deep, story full of all the highs and lows of life, and full of all manner of characters, and most importantly, full of David Copperfield, who indeed, did become the hero of his own life, with a little help from others along the way. :-)

Finished: The Girls From Ames (Zaslow) A great book and true story about the fortitude of the lifelong friendship of women! Thank you to my friend, Nancy Shearer, for lending it to me to read! The women, from Ames, Iowa, all grew up together in Ames. They remained friends...continuing to find time for regular reunions, even after reaching their 40's, moving to different cities and states, having children, jobs, etc. Through several heartbreaking events, they were there for each other...and through happy times too. They were typical teenagers in the late 70's, though, and also had their share of spats with each other, talking about each other, liking each other's boyfriends, etc. Through it all, though, nothing could weaken their friendship. I verbally lamented "noooooooo", when they lost Sheila, one of the group, at 22. So tragic, and so young. :-(  And, I was especially moved by the story of the death of one of their 13 year old daughters from leukemia. It was so difficult to read about, especially since one of the dear friends that Nancy and I are a "group" with lost her own daughter almost two years ago to "pre-leukemia". You want to always think that miracle bone marrow transplant will work...but they just don't always work. Bless the hearts of mothers and daughters everywhere! Anyway...reading this book made me doubly thankful for all my girlfriends, in and out of the "group". :-) The author says that women stay friends for far longer than guys, and I kinda tend to agree! Thanks for passing the book along, Nancy, and for your friendship these past....hmm....22ish years!