July Selection: Mistaken Identity

Our book for discussion in July falls into the genre of spiritual biography. It is Mistaken Identity: Two Families, One Survivor, Unwavering Hope by the Van Ryn and Cerak families with Mark Tabb.

If you heard of the story in the media of Laura Van Ryn and Whitney Cerak you were probably wondering as I was, how could the Van Ryn family not recognize that the "daughter" they were caring for was not their daughter? How could the Cerak family bury the wrong person, believing her to be their daughter? Well the answers are right here in the book.

Take a look at the You Tube clip from Dateline

Seabiscuit

We read and discussed the book, Seabiscuit, in November 2003. This morning I came across an interesting new and deep perspective of Seabiscuit by Tony Williamson. Click on the link to read the seven lessons he got out of watching the movie Seabiscuit. Here are just two lessons mentioned by Tony:

"1. Physical limitations, adversity and hardship are no indication of your true potential. Your true treasure is your mind, not your circumstances.

2. Every one of us is uniquely gifted in something. It does not matter that we may have been abused, discarded and 'left for dead'. If we find that 'something' with which our Creator has endowed us, we can rise and soar into the skies of success, leaving our past behind us."

New Book

About two days ago, USA Today had an article on the new book, Monster of Florence by Douglas Preston with Mario Spezi. Here is an online link to the article.

We meet tomorrow

We meet tomorrow to discuss, Between, Georgia by Joshilyn Jackson. This was for me just an "okay" family drama set in rural small town Georgia; it was not as funny and as entertaining as Jackson's first book Gods in Alabama. There were however some unexpected twists to the story so it was worth reading.

Playing for Pizza

Just finished reading Playing for Pizza by John Grisham. My attraction to this book of course was the setting - Parma, Italy.

I learned from the novel that Parma is the home of parma ham and parmesan cheese. The novel gave good information on Italian culture. Rick, the protagonist toured some of my favorite places: Siena, Florence, and Venice.

Here are my photos of a bronze boar by a market in Florence, a photo of Siena, and of the San Marcos church in Venice mentioned in the book.

Monster of Florence

I finished reading Middlesex. It had some really strange characters but it held my interest. I have moved on to Last Chinese Chef by Nicole Mones

I was browsing the list of bestsellers on amazon.com and came across the book cover for The Monster of Florence . It reminded me of the photo I took in Florence, Italy of a statue illustrating the Rape of the Sabine Women. I looked closely and of course it is the same statue on the book cover.

The book is based on the real life story of a serial killer who murdered couples in Florence in 1968 - 1985.

Okebook Club Selections 2008

This is our list so far:

January 18
The Husband by Dean Koontz

February 15
My Grandfather’s Son by Clarence Thomas

April 4
Water For Elephants by Sara Gruen

May 23
Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert

June 20
Between, Georgia by Joshilyn Jackson

Paperback Best Sellers

I notice that My Sister's Keeper by Jodie Picoult is still on the New York Times Book Review best sellers list (dated June 1, 2008). That's my favorite Picoult book. Also, number 1 on the list is one of my favorite book club picks, Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen.

I have not read number 5, Wicked Pleasure by Lora Leigh or the very popular Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini.

Chick-Lit Summer

I liked USA Today's suggestions for chick-lit summer reading. One of the titles suggested is A Bad Bride's Tale, read the excerpt.

Summer Reading

I love this interactive site on USA Today highlighting 2008 Summer Books.

By the way, Audition, by Barbara Walters should be on the new book shelf at Waycross College Library this week.

Also, I am enjoying Middlesex. You may find the incestuous relationship between two of the characters really gross but the storyline itself is good so far and I am getting a bit of history of the Greek and Turkish relationship.

See my photo of Ephesus in Turkey taken the second week in May 2008 and also my photo of a chapel in Turkey, near to Ephesus, that is supposed to have been the house where the disciple John lived with the Virgin Mary. The last photo was taken of a souvenir store in Kusadasi, Turkey.