Summer Reading at its Best!

The Weird Sisters by Eleanor Brown (2011)                                    
Three sisters return to the home they grew up in to help their parents while their mom battles cancer.  Each daughter is a at a different place in life, one is a “glam” girl from New York City, another is a free spirit who  is sort of the prodigal daughter, and the third is the stay-near- home dutiful daughter.  The interactions of the sisters and how they fall into their childhood positions in the family make the changes they experience very real.  To add to the complications of family life, their father is a Shakespeare professor at the local college and still speaks in Shakespeare quotes as he did during their childhood years. Thus, he says what he is thinking without speaking directly which adds to the confusion.  Anyone with sisters will enjoy reading this story and will identify with one of the characters or certainly recognize someone else’s behavior.  ~ Recommended by Sue

Arcadia  by Lauren Groff (2012)
During the 1960’s, a midwife, a carpenter, a baker and a musician moved to a dilapidated estate in western New York to start a commune. This creative and independent minded group of individuals had lofty goals for their settlement and worked hard to develop the land and welcome new members into the fold. Bit, the first child born on the commune, narrates the rise, fall and aftermath of this hippie community throughout four consecutive periods of his life.  Arcadia is a beautifully written novel that weaves together themes of beginnings, endings, community, family and connection.  ~ Recommended by Rebekah

Wild:  From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail by Cheryl Strayed (2012)
The opening of this book describes a woman standing above the tree line of a trail out west after having just lost one of her hiking boots to the trees far, far below as she was taking it off.  She throws the other one right behind it in an act of completeness.  The reader is left wondering what the heck this woman will do without anything on her feet, in such an impossible situation.  But impossible situations seem to be what the author’s life was all about, even at the ripe old age of 26.  Her memoir is heartbreaking, inspiring, and witty.  Her unconventional upbringing is as interesting as the journey she continues on the Pacific Crest Trail.  Anyone looking for an adventure, a narrative of re-invention or self-discovery, or just a well-crafted story will enjoy this thoughtful book.   ~Recommended by Sheila