The Round House by Louise Erdrich

image from LibraryThing

Joe's life is about to end on a sunny, spring, Sunday afternoon as he quietly pulls sprouts out of the foundation of his family's home.  He is helping his judge father while him mother does a little work at the reservation office.  But, she doesn't come home.  And when she does nothing will ever be the same again.

His mother has been attacked and escaped with her life.  But, she slips into a deep, dark depression as Joe and his father struggle to figure out what happened, who the attacker could be and how to be a 13 year old boy whose very normal life has disappeared.

Erdrich weaves stories of reservation life and loyalties into this narrative - some through the nightime talk of Joe's very ancient grandfather or his reformed stripper aunt.  But mostly we learn the ins and outs of life from Joe and his three friends.  Riding bike, smoking stolen cigarettes, sharing stories and histories all come together to create a world where justice is not expected and history means more than current day.

This story spins and pulls the reader deeply inside the reservation world - deeply inside the psyche of a 13 year old in the summer of 1988.  Another one that I would recommend!

This is our book club book for June.

Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer

image from LibraryThing

Well - I finished them all.

Of course, now I wish I was still in the midst of Bella's story.

This is the longest of the four books - it is also my least favorite of the books. Odd things happen in here - things that I did not want to happen.

In the end all is well, but I was not happy with the direction Stephanie took some of the characters. Some of it was just too contrived, too neat and tidy even for a vampire. The tension wasn't as real as the other books. I found myself just wanting to finish some parts.

But, as a whole the books hang together very well. I can't imagine reading them over the course of years - I was so immersed I couldn't stop reading!!

I still say that Jacob is my favorite!

Read these!!

Twilight by Stephenie Meyers

Let's just say I read this book in a flash!!

And the next one...

And the next one...

So we start here. Bella Swan is a new kid at the Forks Washington High School. She has moved from sunny Phoenix to live with her father in dark and rainy Washington. And there she meet... Edward Cullen. A high school boy like no other - really like no other. He is a vegetarian vampire. But that's getting ahead of the story.

Bella is drawn to Edward and against Edward's better judgement he is also drawn to her.

Bella uses her friend Jacob Black, a local native American, to find out about this odd man and his family. Jacob tells her a story about an ancient truce made between some 'bloodsuckers' and his great grandfather's tribe. From there Bella guesses just what Edward is. Instead of scaring her away - the knowledge seems to draw her even closer to Edward.

As their friendship grows to something more - Bella draws bad luck and pain to her from all over.

This is a love story - a romance between two unlikely people. The fact that one is a vampire gives it a twist. But the story flies and draws the reader in.
Stephanie Meyer is quite a storyteller!!!