I thoroughly enjoyed reading Deanna Fei's book, "A Thread of the Sky". This novel weaves a marvelous tapestry - both with the relationships of grandmother, sisters, and daughters and the history and perceptions of life that each brings to their two-week vacation trip to China.

I found the characters to be very realistic in their relationships with each other and in their reactions to what they were seeing. Fei does a marvelous job describing the scenes in various Chinese locales and the reactions of the Chinese -American daughers to the food, the shops, the toilet facilities as well as the actual sights.

This would be a great discussion book for book groups.

The characters in this unusual book by Gina Ochsner (Tanya, Olga, Yuri, Zoya, Azade, Mircha, and Vitek) all live in a aging and derelict apartment building that doesn't have functioning indoor toilets. They all must share a latrine that is located in the courtyard. Azade collects payment for the use of this facility and it is in the courtyard that most of their interactions occur. Mircha fell off the roof one day and his ghost also hangs out in this area as well as in the building because they haven't been able to give his body a suitable burial. Tanya, Yuri and Zoya work at a pseudo-museum where they make and display replicas of replicas and give tours of the displays.

When there is a chance for a grant from some rich Americans of Russian heritage, it throws the whole group into a tizzy.

For those who enjoy magical realism in fiction, this would likely be an enjoyable book.

Taking a family vacation - two parents and a three-year-old to Belize in order to reconnect seemed like a great idea to Hope Edelman and her husband Uzi. The fact that their daughter, Maya, was exhibiting unusual behavior, including an imaginary friend that encouraged bad behavior, only added small complications to this holiday trip.

This was the start to Edelman's newest memoir - a delightful book that chronicles their trip into both Guatemala and Belize. It is also a testimony to the power of love - particularly the love of mother for daughter, but also the love of wife for husband and husband for his family.

Edelman does a wonderful job describing the people, places, foods and other particulars of the trip. More than that, she lets the reader share in her very real concerns about her daughter's mental health and her own reservations about using alternative healing techniques to alleviate the problem.

I wanted to savor every moment with Hope and her family - even when Maya was behaving incorrigibly. I think readers who like memoirs will love this book as much as I did. It is also an interesting choice for readers of travel books and for those with an interest in alternative medicine and indigenous Central American cultures.

This non-fiction book by esteemed Journalist, Wendell Steavenson, is immensely interesting. She has gone into Iraq and picked an individual - General Kamel Sachet - to illustrate the fascinating and terrible ways in which the wars in Iraq over the past 30 have affected real people. Sachet was a career soldier, a hero of the Iran-Iraq War, part of the Iraqi invasion force in Kuwait, a one-time favorite of Saddam and finally an honorable man who was executed by those in charge for his incorruptibility.
The book details the kind of life his family led - the author being a somewhat frequent guest in their home. It also goes into the psychological impact that so much war, so much terror and violence has on a society.

It is fascinating and horrific. I would recommend it for anyone who is interested in the Iraqi version (or versions) of what has been happening there since the rise and now the fall of the Saddam regime.

Canadian writer Sidura Ludwig has done a wonderful job with her first novel. I loved that it was set in Winnipeg, Manitoba - a city I have visited several times and always enjoyed.
This is not an action packed novel, but rather a character study of a family. The main character, Beth Levy, tells the stories of her family - parents, aunts, cousins- who live and work together in one of Winnipeg's Jewish neighborhoods. As Beth grows up, her perceptions of her family members change and thus add layers of complexity to their personalities. Ludwig has created people who seem extraordinarily real. I enjoyed every minute of my time with them.

This swirling novel gives insight into both Turkish life in Ankora in 1975 and the families of diplomats and military personnel coping with postings in unfamiliar cultures. The characters are well drawn and it could be an interesting book group discussion choice. However it is occassionally hard to follow the rapid switching in voices. I enjoyed it, but I didn't love it.

Rita Charbonnier has created a wonderful novel depicting the life of Wolfgang Mozart's older sister, known to family and friends as Nannerl. As a child, she too was a prodigy, performing with her brother, but their father's sexist attitudes sent her down another path. This book takes us along with her - to find her place in the world and in music.