The Freedom Writers Diary (Erin Gruwell) **

277 pages. Kristen and I read this book together. It is composed of diaries from a group of 150 students living in the hood in LA who wrote about the problems they were experiencing and how they bonded together to graduate from high school, fight intolerance, and make their lives better. At times we got tired of all the "Ms Gruwell is so great" [she's their teacher who helped put the book together, and it's definitely not for little kids (Kendrick) due to the bad words, etc. But overall, it was a good book.

New Moon (Stephenie Meyer) ***

This is the 2nd book in a series of three about a relationship between a normal girl and a vampire. The first was called "Twilight". It's such a good read! Romance, suspense, action, fantasy, etc. I'm really enjoying the series.

My Sister's Keeper (Jodi Picoult) ***

423 pages. Kate was diagnosed with leukemia as a child. Her parents went through preimplantation genetic diagnosis, so that Anna would be born as a perfect match to be a donor of bone marrow and other organs. At age 13 Anna decided she wanted to make her own choices about being a donor. It's a story about how this family deals with it all. Sometimes the language isn't that great, but otherwise it was very good and captivating.

The Brotherhood of Pirates (William Gilkerson) ***

Inside cover says it was published in the US as Pirate's Passage.

Children's book (probably aimed at about age 12). Tim picked it up at random at our library. From the back cover: "One stormy night, fierce winds force a small boat into port. The captain is the eccentric Charles Johnson, who takes up residence at the local inn run by a young boy, Jim, and his mother."

Very well written book which gives a nice history of pirates while you read. Recommended.

When Crickets Cry (Charles Martin) ***

Very good novel about a cardiac surgeon and how he recovers from losing his wife from a bad heart. His life changes when he meets another little girl with a bad heart. I recommend it.

A Painted House (John Grisham) **

Bryan and I were looking for a quick paced novel for the drive from Utah to Nashville, so we picked a John Grisham. It was totally different from his others that we've read. It was a slow paced tale of a southern farming family. Still good, but not the action packed suspense novel we were expecting.

Twilight (Stephenie Meyer) ***

This is categorized as young adult and is the first in a series of three. It's a quick read about a vampire and a normal girl who fall in love, and all the challenges that go along. Very good; I'm anxiously awaiting the other two.