Two stars means a book is okay. I finished it and I didn't hate it and there were certain things I liked about it. The problem with this one for me was that I didn't like the main character, Helen, very much. She is a bit ditsy and unreflective, which would be okay. But she isn't congruent wi...
The central story line was nice enough, but the entire fortune telling thing as well as the presumptuous self-helpy/pseudo-psychology/I'm-saying-something-so-significant-about-the-meaning-of-life tone, present THROUGHOUT, was ridiculous. I liked the idea of these four older, intelligent women liv...
Sometimes books present themselves to us at special times of our lives and we love them because there is something particularly timely to us. I love Elizabeth Berg since Pull of the Moon, Open House and Durable Goods but this book was timely to me because my mother just died and she was a woman a...
More like a novella on women bonding and lost intimate reclamations. Excellent girl talks (cooking; kitchen centric; relations etc.) and situation development with feel-good resolutions. I would have preferred giving a two star but I followed up one of the story’s axioms – Be kind, for everyone...
I read "Open House" by Elizabeth Berg for the first time four years ago. I discovered her books at the library and read all of Berg’s titles available there, then purchased some additional titles as well. I’ve now read all of her books except, oddly considering my profession, her book on writing,...
There were aspects I liked and aspects I didn't. Maybe I felt bitter, coming off of some hard publishing house rejections for my own novel. But I kept wondering, "Is this what passes for good writing these days?" It's not that suspenseful of a plot, the writing isn't that amazing; I think the mai...
This short novel follows 12-year-old Katie as she goes about her life on an army base in Texas. While the novel doesn't say specifically when it is set, it has got a feel of the 1950s or 1960s about it. Katie lives with her older sister Diane, 18, and her father. Katie's mother died from cancer s...
Another Elizabeth Berg book-I am really on a streak! It seems as if when I go to the library and I don't really have a book in mind to read-I can wander over to the 'B's' and she always has a book on the shelf. This novel is about the Heaney family during World War II. The Heaney family has 6 c...
It’s so delightful, revisiting a book and discovering you enjoyed it just as much as you did the first time around – if not more so. This was certainly the case with Elizabeth Berg’s novel: “We Are All Welcome Here,” an endearing story of triumph over tragedy, love in the face of adversity, fait...
Notes from BookCrossing: I'm very excited to read this one especially, as I just recently "read" my first audiobook -- an Elizabeth Berg! And I really enjoyed it, so I'm sure this will be equally fun to curl up with (with which to curl. . .oh heck, with which to up curl. . . you know, to read i...
Talk Before Sleep is a novel that overwhelmed me. I became totally involved with the characters, and find myself unable to analyze this book or discuss it unemotionally. It is a novel that I actually “felt” – the emotion is real, strong, and beautiful, and if there are flaws with the book’s struc...
Series of short stories - most of them quite good. One of my favorite stories is a letter from Martin to Nan; who has taken a sabbatical of sorts from her marriage. Martin's perspective is interesting. Couldn't there be some benevolent intention that graced some lives?Martin to Nan: Nan you're ...
I grabbed this Elizabeth Berg without having read the back cover (rare for me), but decided to go ahead and start it despite the subject matter.(Minor) ***Spoiler Alerts***From a familial standpoint, I adamantly disagree with how the main character goes about trying to start a family. I know bett...
I really enjoyed reading this book, could hardly put it down, but after it was over I did feel a little dissatisfied. The review below has some good points, the plot does wander a bit, but the story kept me interested. I enjoyed reading about their marriage, a marriage that was happy and fulfil...
Berg re-imagines the story of Jesus's birth from the perspective of his parents - following them from the moment they met until Joseph's death.I picked up the book because I've enjoyed similar attempts to re-tell such a well-known story in the past, such as Lamb, or Testament. I find it an intere...
There is a special kind of person out there, well suited to be a counselor or therapist, who can, and with great fascination, co-opt other people's pain. Reading this novel, it became clear to me that Elizabeth Berg is one of these people. In both this and "We are all welcome here," she readily ...
Audio book performed by Arija BareikisElizabeth Berg returns to the story of Katie Nash in this third installment (after Durable Goods and Joy School). It is 1961, and 13-year-old Katie, having started school early and skipped a year is now in high school. An Army brat, she is used to moving fr...
My aunt is a renowned doctor living in Memphis. She was one of the first women breast surgeons and her and her husband founded the Mroz-Baier clinic for breast cancer in Memphis. They are innovators and have made great strides towards the cure of breast cancer. I have a box full of newspaper clip...
I loved this book! It was just beautiful. I cried so hard, almost from the beginning, but oh, what a lovely love story this was. It's really interesting to think about how a huge accident or death affects everything, and our lives are divided by before the Event and after the event. I know I ...
Exhilarating short stories of women breaking free from conventionEvery now and then, right in the middle of an ordinary day, a woman rebels, kicks up her heels, and commits a small act of liberation.What would you do, if you were going to break out and away? Go AWOL from Weight Watchers and spend...
her mother says. “How about that?” “Okay.” Janey doesn’t like to share food. It makes her nervous, deciding how much she can take. She’ll let her mother have all the French fries. While they wait for their food, Janey looks around the room. Big fat guys dressed in bib overalls and plaid shirts, h...
Ron says. “My mom wants to know what we should bring.”“Peace,” Sadie says.She hangs up the phone, leans back against her headboard, and listens to see if there are any more sounds coming from her mother’s bedroom. No. It’s quiet now. Sadie looks at her watch: seven-thirty. When is her dad coming ...
Why do you think I spend so much time in the laundry room? Why do you think I sigh and sigh this way? Of course it is!” If you were to ask George, he would say, “Is it in trouble? Why, I don’t believe so. You’d have to ask Phyllis, I guess. What do you mean, exactly, ‘in trouble’?” There was no f...
The lights in the room are out, but the drapes are open, revealing the bright moon and the many stars. Esther the bulldog lies between them at shoulder level, her head on her paws, her forehead wrinkled and worried looking. Lester and Candy are fully clothed, on top of the covers, and Candy is ho...
I stood before her, grinning foolishly, waiting for her to tell me to gather my things and come home with her. Instead, she said, rather impatiently, “So, Aurore, now you are here. I suppose it’s for the best, though I know you will earnestly be taught ridiculous things by bloodless women who can...
Griffin had told Zoe she could have anything she wanted. The menu was buttered noodles, sweet pickles, and ice cream sundaes for dessert with whipped cream from the can—no restrictions on the amount used, Zoe added firmly, and made Griffin promise. She was in a hurry to finish the noodles so that...