Tuesday, July 13, 2010

It's Tuesday - How the Heck Did I Miss That Book?

It's Tuesday again, Week # 2 of How the Heck Did I Miss That Book.  It's the new Tuesday meme where I add a few books to my ever expanding wish list. These books called my name this week. (I looked, wrote down the titles/authors, but I did not cave to temptation...yet!)


This week I'm wondering how I missed this one.  It sounds like a fun read and right up my alley:

 Last Time I Was Me; Cathy Lamb

(Pub. Weekly)....I wrapped up my grandmother's tea cup collection and my mother's china, then grabbed a violin I'd hidden way back in my closet that made me cry, a gold necklace with a dolphin that my father gave me two weeks before he died of a heart attack when I was twelve and, at midnight, with that moon as bright as the blazes, I left Chicago. When Jeanne Stewart stops at The Opera Man's Cafe in Weltana, Oregon, to eat pancakes for the first time in twelve years, she has no idea she's also about to order up a whole new future. It's been barely a week since she succumbed to a spectacularly public nervous breakdown in front of hundreds of the nation's most important advertising and PR people. Jeanne certainly had her reasons--her mother's recent death, the discovery that her boyfriend had been sleeping with a dozen other women, and the assault charges that resulted when Jeanne retaliated in a creative way against him, involving condoms and peanut oil.

Now, en route to her brother's house in Portland, Jeanne impulsively decides to spend some time in picturesque Weltana. Staying at a B&B run by the eccentric, endearing Rosvita, she meets a circle of quirky new friends at her court-ordered Anger Management classes. Like Jeanne, all of them are trying to become better, braver versions of themselves. Yet the most surprising discoveries are still to come--a good man who steadily makes his way into her heart and a dilapidated house that with love and care might be transformed into something wholly her own, just like the new life she is slowly building, piece by piece.

As heartfelt as it is hilarious, The Last Time I Was Me is a warm, wise novel about breaking down, opening up, and finally letting go of everything we thought we should be, in order to claim the life that has been waiting all along.

How about this one, a bit more serious.....

A Breath of Fresh Air; Amulya Malladi

(amazon).....On the night of December 3, 1984, Anjali waits for her army officer husband to pick her up at the train station in Bhopal, India. In an instant, her world changes forever. Her anger at his being late turns to horror when a catastrophic gas leak poisons the city air. Anjali miraculously survives. Her marriage does not.
A smart, successful schoolteacher, Anjali is now remarried to Sandeep, a loving and stable professor. Their lives would be nearly perfect, if not for their young son’s declining health. But when Anjali’s first husband suddenly reappears in her life, she is thrown back to the troubling days of their marriage with a force that impacts everyone around her.

Her first husband’s return brings back all the uncertainty Anjali thought time and conviction had healed–about her decision to divorce, and about her place in a society that views her as scandalous for having walked away from her arranged marriage. As events unfold, feelings she had guarded like gold begin to leak away from her, spreading out into the world and challenging her once firm beliefs.

Rich in insight into Indian culture and psychology, A Breath of Fresh Air resonates with meaning and the abiding power of love. In a landscape as intriguing as it is unfamiliar, Anjali’s struggles to reconcile the roles of wife and ex-wife, working woman and mother, illuminate both the fascinating duality of the modern Indian woman and the difficult choices all women must make.

Have you read any of these? If so what were your thoughts?

19 comments:

  1. I haven't read either of these, but I think I would enjoy them both--especially the first.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Is this is new meme? (Or--how the heck did I miss this meme?). I haven't read these books, or even heard of them before reading your post! :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Both books sound wonderful. I had not heard of A breath of fresh air and now must try to find this (hopefully Chennai will have it).

    ReplyDelete
  4. A Breath Of Fresh Air sounds good. Enjoy your reading.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Suko...yes, I started this Tuesday meme last week. I came up with the idea while browsing a bookstore and saw so many great looking/great sounding books that I missed :)

    ReplyDelete
  6. Great choices! I haven't read either, but I did read one of Amulya Maladi's other books, The Sound of Language, and it was one of my favorite reads of 2009. I need to read more of her books. I hope you enjoy both!

    ReplyDelete
  7. I've missed those too, but they both look good!

    ReplyDelete
  8. How the heck did i miss A Breath of Fresh Air! The cover looks amazing and the story looks like something that i might enjoy.

    Diane, i love the name of this meme. We're swearing for the love of books...lol

    Have a great one : )

    ReplyDelete
  9. Both of these look great, but I think I am really interested in A Breath of Fresh Air. If you get the chance to read it I will be curious as to how it is!!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Both of these are now in my TBR List! Thanks!!!!

    ReplyDelete
  11. Both of them appeal to me...thanks for adding to my blame it on Diane list!!

    ReplyDelete
  12. I LOVE tales set in India! MUST pick that one up.....

    Love your meme!

    Lisa

    ReplyDelete
  13. THE LAST TIME I WAS ME sounds great!!! Thanks for bringing it to my attention!

    -Amy
    Life by Candlelight

    ReplyDelete
  14. Both of these sound like good reads with timely themes. Perfect name for this new meme!

    ReplyDelete
  15. I wanted to comment on your later post but I find that one post is overlapping the other so I cant reach the comments section.

    ReplyDelete
  16. You got me at condoms and peanut oil - now I HAVE to read this book to find out what that's all about.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Love the new meme. Seems I am always coming across books that have been out for awhile and I wonder how did I miss that?
    The second book sounds great. Will have to add this to my wish list too.

    ReplyDelete
  18. I haven't read either of these, but the second one sounds very good. Nice addition to your wish list!

    ReplyDelete
  19. Mystica.....I don't know why some of my posts seem to overlap onto other posts, so ONLY some computers??

    I noticed this at work when I use Internet Explorer. I use Firefox at home and everything looks fine.

    Anyone with suggestions?

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for taking the time to visit and double thanks for any comments. If you ask a question in your comments, I will try to reply to it here, or by email if your settings allow me to do so. Thanks again for visiting.