"A Stolen Life" by Jaycee Dugard

Thanks to the Best of 2011 Blog Hop over at "A Pause on the Path," I discovered that this is our most viewed post of 2011 with 106.

As I read A Stolen Life by Jaycee Dugard I had to keep reminding myself that this was not a novel but it actually happened. It's a remarkable story of how Jaycee was kidnapped and lived in a backyard shack for 18 years. It will have you turning pages quickly because it is riveting. Thanks for telling your story so well, Jaycee! Hope your daughters and you can enjoy a normal life. I'm glad you finally have a dog too!
(Gerard's review)

After seeing the news story about Jaycee Dugard being kidnapped at age 11 and held captive for 18 years, I wasn't sure I wanted to read her book, A Stolen Life, because the abductor was such a slimeball but I am glad I did.  This is a fascinating book. I was pleasantly surprised that although she did not have freedom, she was not tortured too much. She cooperated so he would not get mad and so she could survive. It did surprise me though that she didn’t even think about ways to escape. I was so happy that she had kittens and a bird to keep her company. Phillip raped her and she became a 14-yr.-old mother of a healthy baby girl and had another later too. These girls brightened her life. This is a heartbreaking story while she was in captivity, but fortunately it has a happy ending.
(Karen's Review)

Here is a video that summarizes what she went through.  After we saw the show, we wanted to read her book!





Have you read this one? What did you think of it? You can help our charity of the month just by leaving a comment on any of our blogs! We will donate 50 cents per comment at the end of the month. The charity for this month is at the top of our blog.

Have To Join In Sugar's Pawty!

Our friend Sugar is having a Happy 10th Barkday  and all Sugar's doggie friends are joining the party by showing big smiles like Sugar shares.

Abby and Karen

Happy Birthday, Sugar!

You can help our charity of the month just by leaving a comment on any of our blogs! We will donate 50 cents per comment at the end of the month. The charity for this month is at the top of our blog.

Tuesday Teasers: "Look Again" and "A Stolen Life"

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should  Be Reading. Anyone can play along, so I thought  I  would play for fun! Just do the following

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on  that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away!   You don’t  want  to  ruin the  book for others!)
• Share the title and author, too, so that other TT participants can  add the book to their TBR  Lists  if they  like your teaser.   

Karen's:

Ellen couldn't stop looking at the white card, which read HAVE YOU SEEN THIS CHILD? The resemblance between the boy in the photo and her son was uncanny.

Taken from page 1 of Look Again by Lisa Scottoline.

Gerard's:
I do not want comfort from this awful man, but there is no one else here and I reluctantly lean into what comfort he gives.  Up until now I have not cried one time.  Only on the inside.  Now I feel like a rabbit being comforted by a lion.  I am so scared.



Taken from Page 19 of A Stolen Life by Jaycee Dugard (non-fiction).


Have you read this one? What did you think of it? You can help our charity of the month just by leaving a comment on any of our blogs! We will donate 50 cents per comment at the end of the month. The charity for this month is at the top of our blog.

"Before I Go To Sleep" by S. J. Watson

Before I Go To Sleep by S. J. Watson is No. 2 on Parade Magazine Books Of The Year!  (No. 1 is Faith which I read and loved.)  Amazon.com gives this book rave reviews and it is going to be made into a movie!  I'm here to tell you that this book lives up to the hype and more!  I am not sure I'll read another book that I was so into as I was this one.  I read it in two days.  It has a fantastic plot which makes it a real page turner.  I did not want to put it down and the ending is very good too!  No, make that great!  Read both "Faith" and "Before I Go To Sleep"--you will be glad you did!  I know I am. (Gerard's Review)

Karen's review:
Before I Go To Sleep by S. J. Watson started off slow to me, then got creepy and then a bit confusing.  It is about Chrissy, a woman who has a strange kind of amnesia.  When she sleeps, she forgets everything but when she is awake, she can function normally except for remembering her past or even what happened the day before.  It is written from her perspective and her doctor advised her to keep a secret journal and write in it each day before going to sleep what happened that day and what things she was able to remember or things she learned about.  That way she could read it the next day to refresh her memory.  I thought this book moved kind of slow for about the first 90 pages, but then things picked up.  I was completely wrong in what I thought about things.  The happy ending was a bit like a fairy tale but I'm glad I stuck with it and finished it.  It's a good read, an unusual story line.   I liked Iron House better.


Have you read this one? What did you think of it? You can help our charity of the month just by leaving a comment on any of our blogs! We will donate 50 cents per comment at the end of the month. The charity for this month is at the top of our blog.

"Middle School--The WORST Years of My Life" by James Patterson

What a gem of a small book this is for kids!  Middle School--The WORST Years of My Life by James Patterson and Chris Tebbetts tells the story of a young sixth grade boy.  It is a good story about how he deals with his classmates, family, grades and other school stuff, all with the help of his friend, Leo.  It is funny, including drawings by cartoonist and illustrator, Laura Park.  With school starting soon, it's a good time to give this a try.  I'm glad I did!

Here's a little teaser from it for you:   I decided that every rule in the Hills Village Middle School Code of Conduct should be worth a certain number of points, depending on how hard it was to break. (from p. 50)

(Gerard's review) 

Have you read this one? What did you think of it?

You can help our charity of the month just by leaving a comment on any of our blogs! We will donate 50 cents per comment at the end of the month. The charity for this month is at the top of our blog.