How to be an American Housewife by Margaret Dilloway

How to Be an American Housewife

This is the story of a Japanese woman who married an American soldier after the end of the Second World War. She then came to the US with him and raised two children. She follows a book called How to Be an American Housewife that was written to help Japanese brides with the culture of a different country. So, punctuated through the book are the excerpts from the guidebook. 

The book was in two halves and each part narrated by a different person - mother and daughter. In the second half of the book, the daughter goes to Japan to visit her relatives. While the book was a cute story, that was it, just someone's life story of moving to America from Japan. The book was meant to be fiction, but it was so close to the real story of the author, that it was more an autobiography.

Olive Ketteridge by Elizabeth Strout

Olive Kitteridge

This book was originally a collection of short stories that was then put together as a book. But in my opinion, it didn't work as the stories didn't flow into one story and stayed a little disjointed. The only flow through the whole book was Olive, no one else appeared more than once. By the end of the book you did get a feeling for the small town in which she lived, but it was still not my favorite kind of book. I mainly disliked the book because the main character, Olive Kitteridge, was just not a nice person.

The Orchard: A Memoir by Theresa Weir

The Orchard: A Memoir

Theresa Weir (who also writes as Anne Frasier) has written many successful books, but The Orchard is her life story. It's a story of a family farm and the use of pesticides on that farm. It was a fairly quick, easy read, but haunting. After I finished the book my mind was still on that farm, my thoughts directed to the story I had immersed myself in for the previous week. I can't say it was a pleasant read, or even that I enjoyed reading it, but it was certainly educational. 

I really like her writing style, and although I don't usually read the type of books she writes, I would love to read more from this author. My only criticism of the book is that it was a little short and I would have liked more detail. I could tell, however, that the author's emotions were very much in this book and she did say in the front cover that it took her a long time to write.

Where are you now? by Mary Higgins Clark

Where Are You Now?

This was not a typical book club book, but more of a summer reading book. Carolyn's brother disappeared 10 years ago, but every year he phones home on Mother's Day. Finally Carolyn decides to solve the mystery.

This was the first Mary Higgins Clark book I had read and my friends in book club said it was not typical of her writing, and that they had read books by her that they had liked better than this one. It's not really a book I would recommend as I got a little confused with the people in the plot and especially by the ending.