The Lace Reader by Brunonia Barry



The Lace Reader is the story of one woman, Sophya 'Towner' Whitney, who left Salem, MA for California as a young adult after the tragic death of her twin sister Lyndley. Prior to heading to California, she had a brief, but successful, stay at a psychiatric hospital.

She returns to Salem following the death of her beloved aunt, Eva, a local 'lace reader' and town legend. The story is all about the women who've influenced Towner, with the confusing events of her past and a mystery intricately woven in.

I just finished this book, and there is still a lot to be processed. I really loved that it's set in Salem, a place I've visited a couple of times before, and that I still have another chance to see before leaving New England.

This book is a rich, descriptive text, full of explanations of lace-making and the geography in which the story is set. I did, toward the end, start to guess how it was going to end, and piece things together, but I think it was intended with the break-through flashes of memory and family history provided.

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A Reliable Wife by Robert Goolrick


My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Goolrick's novel, an idea which was first explored after he read Wisconsin Death Trip in the 70's, is another of those quick reads that's got a lot of depth at the same time. I flew through this book in two days, mainly because I couldn't wait to see if what I thought was going to happen would.

Ralph Truitt is a Wisconsin businessman living in the small town of his family's name. A man haunted by the ghosts of deeds and relationships past, he puts out a want ad for 'a reliable wife.' Answering the call is Catherine Land, a woman who also has her share of dark corners and regrets.

Together they explore the landscape that may or may not become their lives. Set in one very long Wisconsin winter, the novel delves into an array of relationship dynamics with twists and turns while also giving a glimpse at some of the vignettes that inspired Goolrick to write about a Wisconsin winter in the first place.

The lives that go terribly wrong in the turn of a thought, minds gone mad when the snow sticks around too long.

While it could easily have been a very bizarre tale that took everything just a step too far, I felt like he kept a nice balance between predictable love story and a novel with deception and twists; sex and sexual themes seem to have a heavy hand, but it didn't feel gratuitous.

No spoilers, this is one to delve into post-haste.

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Sonicare for Kids!

Many parents find that one of their battles is a struggle with their children to get them to brush their teeth the recommended twice daily, or to get them to brush for the desired two minutes. I'm lucky in that H definitely loves to brush his teeth; a tube of toothpaste, if not closely monitored, can be used within a month's time because he will stand at the sink and brush every time he washes his hands. That's great, right? Well, it would be if he got more tooth-paste on his teeth than he did on his face, or if he wasn't quite so excited about the rinsing phase, and spent more time on the brushing itself.

I didn't want to dissuade his eagerness to brush, but I also wanted him to understand that there could be too much of a good thing by brushing too often (I counted one day and it was 9 times...). Also, because I come from a family of obsessive-compulsives who brush way too 'briskly' I didn't necessarily want him to pick up my form, but I did want him to make sure that he wasn't missing any major sections and, mostly, I wanted it to remain fun for him so that it would be a good habit instead of a dreaded one.

In Massachusetts, they recently instituted a new law that daycare providers and pre-schools who have children that stay for a meal period (or more than four hours) have to brush their teeth while there. I thought this was great, as it's one more way to ensure that the sticky residue from the fruit snacks I swore I'd never let my kids eat gets brushed away expeditiously. As an aside, I was a little shocked to learn last week that raisins are just as bad in regards to sugar (yes, it's fructose instead of corn syrup, but still) getting stuck to their teeth as fruit snacks! Just when you think you're providing a healthy alternative...but I digress.

I was offered the chance to try the new Sonicare for Kids electric toothbrush, and I couldn't wait to tell H. He was ridiculously excited, but what boy doesn't love to get new electronics? It came with different 'face plates' that could make the brush handle more customizable, and two brush heads; one designed for 7+ year-olds, and one designed for 4+year olds. Because H loves to brush, but Charlie primarily bites down, or chews, on the toothbrush, I decided to use one for each, even if the ages didn't exactly correspond. The brush heads were comparable to the ones they currently use, so I thought it would be fine.

After letting it charge for the full 24 hours, which is recommended, I let Henry go at it after briefly explaining to him that he just needed to push the 'big button' once, then when it beeped at him, he needed to brush another area of his mouth. The first brushing session went really quickly, because for the 4 year-old setting (which I had already designated) it starts out at 1 minute, and then increases up to the recommended 2 minutes gradually after each full session with the brush is completed.

It beeps little tunes to move to each quadrant of the mouth, and then plays a longer tune as it shuts off and your time is complete. When it played the 'el fin' song the first time, H looked at me and said 'Is my tooth brush telling me I did a great job?' I would never have thought of that, but told him that it certainly was.

After just a week of him using the brush, he's able to do so independently in the morning, with me watching for the evening session to make sure he's getting all the nooks and crannies. I am able to use it on my almost-two year old just fine, and I'm getting his front teeth and insides of the back teeth much better than before because he doesn't seem quite so tempted to bite down on the vibrating head.

I like the musical cues, because I feel like it makes it really easy for H to use the toothbrush very independently, and at his age, he's really excited about anything that he can do fully on his own. There is only one button they need to push, and they don't hold it down the whole time, it's just a simple press and release. The gentle setting for the 4+ group versus the more vigorous cleaning for the 7+ group only has to be chosen once, but can be changed with the press of a button.

I did put it in my mouth to see what it felt like, and have to say it would take a little getting used to, because it's kind of a ticklish sensation, like when you get your teeth cleaned at the dentist's office, but the surface of the tooth I tried it on felt squeaky clean!

I've been wanting to get a Sonicare for quite some time, and will definitely invest in it now that I see how much easier it's made my kids' routines at night, and how clean my 'test tooth' felt after using it just briefly.

You can currently purchase Sonicare for Kids at Target and Amazon.com, but beginning May 3rd it will also be available at Wal-Mart stores nationwide. At $69.99 it is an investment, but investing in your child's dental health is definitely a worthy one! The replacement heads come in a 2-pack for $21.99. Also, keep in mind that if your budget is tight and you've got two kids, you could purchase one set, and the stand will accommodate both heads, or three kids could even share, storing one of the heads on the handle itself.

I wrote this review while participating in a blog tour campaign by MomCentral on behalf of Sonicare and received a free Sonicare for Kids toothbrush to facilitate my review.

Remains Silent by Michael Baden


My rating: 2 of 5 stars
This book had a lot of potential, and I read it mainly because it sounded like it could really be along the lines of the Kay Scarpetta books.

I guess the word that could really describe this would be 'unsophisticated'. It was almost as if you were reading the pitch for this book and not the actual book. The rough outline. The character development was pretty lazy, and there was no real build-up...the portions that were supposed to leave you breathless barely registered a change in heart-rate.

I had the second one out of the library, but after reading the first chapter, I realized that my hopes that the editors would have taken a more heavy hand with this one were going to be dashed, so I returned it. What a disappointment! I was really hoping to find the next great medical drama/thriller series.

No cigar on this one.

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Born To Run

Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen by Christopher McDougall


My rating: 5 of 5 stars
I honestly haven't had a book that was, if not life-changing, then thought-changing like this book. I'm currently in the midst of training for my first half-marathon, and just thinking about the body mechanics, mind-set and absolute joy that the Tarahumara find in running makes each run go a little more smoothly, and has forced me to push myself WAY outside of my former comfort zone.

I've improved my time by almost two minutes per mile, and actually look forward to those long Saturday runs.

Coincidentally, this is the first time I've spent a lot of money on shoes...and that was because this is the first time I've felt on the verge of injury. I'm hoping that with ice, ibuprofen, lots of quality time with the foam roller and time, it'll resolve itself.

Some day, I may even invest in a set of the Five Finger 'shoes' that they feature in the book and my friend's husband bought after reading the book.

This is a must-read for every runner, or anyone who's even thinking of taking that first step. It's ridiculously inspirational and a phenomenal cultural read on top of that!

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Mennonite in a Little Black Dress: A Memoir of Going Home by Rhoda Janzen

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I really liked this memoir. I loved that it was the kind of read that you could pick up and finish in a couple of days, but not because you'd done nothing but read for those two days.

Rhoda Janzen is a Mennonite who 'left the fold' in the religious sense only. Following the dissolution of a long-term marriage when her mentally ill, sometimes abusive husband left her for 'Bob from gay.com' she is further broken, literally, by a car accident that leads her to take some much-needed solace and rest in the home of her parents, who are devout Mennonites; her father was actually once the head of the North American Mennonite Conference for Canada and the United States.

Full of humor, explanations of some of the philosophies of the faith and lots of talk about the food that comforts, there were several times that I actually laughed out loud. I know it's such a cliche, but this really is 'laugh-out-loud funny'.

Throughout, she is respectful of her parents' religion, but is still able to point out the things that are ridiculous to her in a way that is humorous without being bitter.

She clearly loves her family, and everybody likes a good story about getting back to your roots, even if you never really strayed very far.

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The Hour I First Believed by Wally Lamb


My rating: 4 of 5 stars
In this story within a story, within a story, Wally Lamb encompasses a number of this country's tragedies from the last decade, then reaches back to the Civil War, suffrage and the formation of women's prisons to weave a tale that is richly told.

Focussing on the lives of teacher Caelum Quirk and his 'three strikes' wife Maureen, a school nurse, Lamb tells the story of a couple struggling to make their marriage work, after finally realizing that they truly do love, need and want each other, in the midst of chaos and tragedy.

Maureen, working at Columbine on the day of the shooting, was in the library hiding in a cupboard. One of the 'collaterally damaged' she struggles with acute PTSD that slowly slides into chronic PTSD. Caelum, who was on his family farm dealing with the aftermath of his Aunt Lolly's death, the aunt who helped raise him, was gone from school that day and is left wondering how everything might be different if he'd been at school that day.

Selling their home in Colorado, they move back to his family home in Connecticut where he discovers old letters and documentation about his ancestors and the Women's prison his great, great, great grandmother founded, along with family secrets, history and lore.

A story of self-discovery, intertwined with mythology and faith and rich with history, this is one story that won't let you down on a research level. i won't go into the particulars of the story, so as not to contain spoilers.

The one criticism I have, and it was discussed at book club, was that it seemed like SO much happened in the book; he was personally involved with people from Columbine, Hurricane Katrina, the Iraq War...but that's understandable from the story-telling standpoint because those sub-plots were illustrative of how much things have and have not changed all at once. From the Civil War to Iraq, everyone struggles with their belief system, and how they're going to apply it.

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