marriage

"Continuing in a festive annual tradition, #1 New York Times bestselling author Debbie Macomber returns with a new original holiday novel full of romance and cheer--and the magical prospect of finding love in even the most guarded hearts. Friendly and bubbly, Julia Padden likes nearly everyone, but her standoffish neighbor, Cain Maddox, presents a particular challenge. No matter how hard she's tried to be nice, Cain rudely rebuffs her at every turn, preferring to keep to himself. But when Julia catches Cain stealing her newspaper from the lobby of their apartment building, that's the last straw. She's going to break through Cain's Scrooge-like exterior the only way she knows how: by killing him with kindness. To track her progress, Julia starts a blog called The Twelve Days of Christmas. Her first attempts to humanize Cain are far from successful. Julia brings him homemade Christmas treats and the disagreeable grinch won't even accept them. Meanwhile, Julie's blog becomes an online sensation, as an astonishing number of people start following her adventures. Julia continues to find ways to express kindness and, little by little, chips away at Cain's gruff façade to reveal the caring man underneath. Unbelievably, Julia feels herself falling for Cain--and she suspects that he may be falling for her as well. But as the popularity of her blog continues to grow, Julia must decide if telling Cain the truth about having chronicled their relationship to the rest of the world is worth risking their chance at love"--.

For generations the Millers have lived in Miller's Valley. Mimi Miller tells about her life with intimacy and honesty. As Mimi eavesdrops on her parents and quietly observes the people around her, she discovers more and more about the toxicity of family secrets, the dangers of gossip, the flaws of marriage, the inequalities of friendship and the risks of passion, loyalty, and love. Home, as Mimi begins to realize, can be "a place where it's just as easy to feel lost as it is to feel content."
 
Miller's Valley is a masterly study of family, memory, loss, and, ultimately, discovery, of finding true identity and a new vision of home. As Mimi says, "No one ever leaves the town where they grew up, even if they go." Miller's Valley reminds us that the place where you grew up can disappear, and the people in it too, but all will live on in your heart forever.

Sometimes the greatest dream starts with the smallest element. A single cell, joining with another. And then dividing. And just like that, the world changes. Annie Harlow knows how lucky she is. The producer of a popular television cooking show, she loves her handsome husband and the beautiful Los Angeles home they share. And now, she’s pregnant with their first child. But in an instant, her life is shattered. And when Annie awakes from a yearlong coma, she discovers that time isn’t the only thing she’s lost.

Grieving and wounded, Annie retreats to her old family home in Switchback, Vermont, a maple farm generations old. There, surrounded by her free-spirited brother, their divorced mother, and four young nieces and nephews, Annie slowly emerges into a world she left behind years ago: the town where she grew up, the people she knew before, the high-school boyfriend turned judge. And with the discovery of a cookbook her grandmother wrote in the distant past, Annie unearths an age-old mystery that might prove the salvation of the family farm.

Family Tree is the story of one woman’s triumph over betrayal, and how she eventually comes to terms with her past. It is the story of joys unrealized and opportunities regained. Complex, clear-eyed and big-hearted, funny, sad, and wise, it is a novel to cherish and to remember. 

Read-alikes for THE LIGHT BETWEEN OCEANS

The movie rights have been purchased for M. L. Stedman's THE LIGHT BETWEEN OCEANS.  wonderful book about a lighthouse keeper and his wife. Tom is a WW I veteran, one of the 'lucky ones', he has lost a limb nor his mind but he deliberately seeks the solitude of an island off Australia.  He meets and marries, Isabel. But times on the island are tough for Isabel as she suffers multiple miscarriages and a stillbirth in just four years time. When a boat with a dead man and a young baby washes ashore, Isabel convinces Tom to let her keep the baby as their own, but the consequences to her actions may be dire.  Similar books are:

The sandcastle girls: a novel by Chris Bohjalian

The orchardist: a novel by Amanda Coplin

The secret keeper: a novel by Kate Morton

Canton Seniors Book Discussion: August 28, 2014

Canton Seniors Book Group will meet on Thursday, August 28 from 2:00-3:00pm in Canton Public Library'sGroup Study Room A. We will be discussing M. L. Stedman's THE LIGHT BETWEEN OCEANS. Requesta copy at the Information Services Desk.

THE LIGHT BETWEEN OCEANS by M. L. Stedman.  World War I has ended and Tom Sherbourne has returned to Australia after four years at the Western Front.  Seeking peace, he becomes the lighthouse keeper on isolated Janus Rock.  On his once a year shore leave, Tom meets and marries beautiful, headstrong, loving Isabel. After several years of marriage and heartbreaking miscarriages, Isabel finds solace in long walks on the island.  One afternoon, she hears a baby's cry, making a fateful decision with far reaching results.  A story about extraordinarily compelling characters seeking to find their North Star in a world where there is no right answer, where justice for one person is another's tragic loss.

What We're Reading: June 2013

We're not just reading, we're watching DVDs, listening to audio books and music.

Hustle. The complete season one [videodisc]: the con is on

The school of essential ingredients [sound recording] by Erica Bauermeister

The blue room [sound recording] by Madeleine Peyroux

The autistic brain: thinking across the spectrum by Temple Grandin and Richard Panek

Fatherhood: and other stories by Thomas H. Cook

What We're Reading: April 2012

Look What's In Large Print January 2012

Year 2010 Top Non-Fiction Picks

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