Fever 1793, Laurie Halse Anderson

Title: Fever 1793
Author: Laurie Halse Anderson
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Publishing Date: 2000
Length: 243 Pages
Summary: (from book)  During the summer of 1793, Mattie Cook lives above the family coffee shop with her widowed mother and grandfather. Mattie spends her days avoiding chores and making plans to turn the family business into the finest Philadelphia has ever seen. But then the fever breaks out. 
Disease sweeps the streets, destroying everything in its path and turning Mattie's world upside down. At her feverish mother's insistence, Mattie flees the city with her grandfather,. But she soon discovers that the sickness is everywhere, and Mattie must learn quickly how to survive in a city turned frantic with disease.


My Thoughts:  I feel dumb for not even knowing there was a huge outbreak of Yellow Fever in late Colonial America. This book was great for telling me otherwise. I've seen this book around for a few years, but never picked it up because the cover kind of freaks me out. But I was at the library and spotted it as a quick read to help me get to my book quota for the year. I'm glad I read it.
Mattie was a likable female protagonist and her story very believable. I admired her love for her grandfather and her persistence on survival and independence.

What I learned: It taught me a lot about the innate sense we all have for survival and made me wonder what I would do in a situation like hers.

Things To Be Cautious Of:  The Lord's name taken in vain I think...twice. And the nastiness of disease and how they treated it and the sick patients.

The House I Loved, Tatiana De Rosnay

Title:  The House I loved
Author: Tatiana De Rosnay
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Publishing Date: February 2012
Length: 222 Pages
Summary: (From book)  Paris, France: 1860's. Hundreds of houses are being destroyed, entire neighborhoods reduced to ashes. By order of Emperor Napoleon III, Baron Haussmann has begun a series of large-scale renovations that will permanently alter the face of old Paris, molding it into a "modern city."  The reforms will erase generations of history, but in the midst of the tumult, one woman will take a stand.
Rose Bazelet is determined to fight against the destruction of her family home until the very end, even while others flee to new houses on bigger streets. She stakes her claim in the basement of the old house on rue Childebert, ignoring the sounds of change that march closer and closer each day. And as she waits, she escapes in the past, writing letters to her beloved late husband, Armand. By delving into the ritual of remembering, Rose is forced to come to terms with a secret that has been buried deep in her heart for thirty years.
My Thoughts:  Well....this book was nothing like the cover promised. I'm guessing the picture is supposed to portray how Rose and Armand looked as a young couple-but they didn't live in some mansion down a tree lined  drive, so I'm missing the point here...
I liked the writing style. It was elegant and too the point, but the story overall fell a little flat for me. I saw the movie Sarah's Key, and have had that story impressed on my mind for quite some time, so when I saw a new book by this author, I wanted to give it a try.
Rose is a widow living in the cellar of her house waiting for the destruction of her neighborhood. She does't want to let her house go, and is planning on staying until the bitter end. It wasn't a public protest, just her alone by herself, so the fight was more personal than rallying.
While she waits, she writes letters to her dead husband, Armand. I have to say I felt like she was a little selfish. She talks about how her mother paid little attention to her and her brother growing up, but then justifies not loving her own daughter in favor of their son. It's like an abuse cycle.
The big secret she carried around for thirty years wasn't something I wanted to read about, and I didn't feel like it was necessary to the story, but it works.
I have never wanted to visit Paris; it's always felt very pompous and...French. But I get the impression I would have liked to visit the old Paris before the renovations; that sounds more like something I'd love. So for giving me an interest in the old city, the book did it's job. For plot and characters....not so much.

Things To Be Cautious Of:  *MAJOR SPOILERS*  Rose's secret is that she was taken advantage of in her home and that is where her son comes from. I found it awkward and not necessary to the book and really wished I hadn't read that. After the son, *SPOILERS,* dies, the husband writes her a letter and says the way to overcome their grief is to love each other. ....Right.   There's hinting at romance lovey stuff, but nothing obscene, just married couple things. I really don't care for adult fiction since that seems to be an underlying theme.

What I Learned:  Old Paris sounds amazing. I don't want to be an old widow waiting for my house to cave in on me.

The Death and Life of Charlie St. Cloud, Ben Sherwood

Title: The Death and Life of Charlie St. Cloud
Author: Ben Sherwood
Publisher: Bantam Books
Publishing Date: March 2, 2004
Summary: (From book)   In a snug New England fishing village, Charlie St. Cloud tends the lawns and monuments of an ancient cemetery where his younger brother, Sam, is buried. After surviving the accident that claimed his brother's life, Charlie is graced with an extraordinary gift: he can see, talk to and even play catch with Sam's spirit. Into this magical world comes Tess Carroll, a captivating woman training for a solo sailing trip around the globe. Fate steers her boat into a treacherous storm that propels her into Charlie's life. Their beautiful and uncommon connection leads to a race between death and life, between the past and the future, between holding on and letting go-and the discovery that miracles can happen if we simply open our hearts.

My Thoughts:  Saw this at the library at this afternoon and remembered always wanting to read it after watching the movie awhile ago. It was a short read, took me a couple of hours, and very good. I could consider this my first adult fiction book and was a little taken back by how much they mentioned drinking. So watch out for that. I also encountered my first, uh, love scene...but I skipped it when it got awkward. The entire time I read this, all I could picture was Zac Efron in the role of Charlie, and I do believe he was perfect for that role. I'm rather impressed with how well Efron is doing in the acting profession after High School Musical, but that's not really the point here...

Overall it was a good book. I've always loved the story and the book and movie stay very true to each other.  There is a constant sense of melancholy and longing to the book, making it perfect for a rainy day like today.  But do watch out for the infrequent swearing (several of the Lord's name in vain in different variations), the love scene (still feel guilty over that) and the mention of heavy drinking.

What I learned:  It's ok to let go.