"Table For Five" by Susan Wiggs

"Grief can take care of itself, but to get the full value of joy, you must have someone to divide it with" (Mark Twain)

This book was absolutely wonderful! I stumbled across it in the library while walking down an isle dissapointed that they had already checked out all 3 of my other options. I am so thrilled that I decided to pick it up. There was a lot of Golf terminology that i was completely unfamiliar with. However, the main character was an elementary teacher who also was unfamiliar with the world of golf, which reigned in the story for me to be a part of.

Here, we had 3 children orphaned, left in the care of their uncle, who, although quite loved, was something of a rolling stone & way out of his element reguarding the inner workings of family living. With the help of the mother's friend, an unofficial aunt to the children, this family discovers how to cope with grief and the uncertainty of what the future holds. They reinvent themselves, their "family", and learn how to fall in love with life again, and eachother.

"Table For Five" reminded me of the importance of faithfulness, devotion, and forgiveness. We must do right by each other now, not someday, because we can never be certain that we'll even get the chance again to repent & reconcile. This family was broken, and it took a devastating tragedy to make them whole again.

Read it. It'll be worth it.

NEXT BOOK: unsure

"Water For Elephants" by Sara Gruen

This book was so intriguing. "Water For Elephants" was about an old man reminiscing about his younger days of working in the circus during the time of the depression. When we go to see a live performance of any kind, we're trained to "pay no attention to the man behind the curtain". This book gives us an intimate look at the "man behind the curtain", all the crap that goes on behind all the hokum.

Sara Gruen did extensive research to do the ins & outs of the circus justice, with true to life circumstances jumbled up into one story, such as a dead hippo on display in formaldehyde, Jamaica ginger paralysis, an elephant who escaped to a backyard garden patch, parading a dead fat lady through town in an elephant cage, a murdered ringmaster wrapped in tent cloth, and the list goes on.

Reading this story, i couldn't help but be reminded of Queen's "The Show Must Go On"... ♫"Another hero, another mindless crime behind the curtain in the pantomime. On & on, does anybody know what we are living for?.. Whatever happens, we leave it all to chance. Another heartache, another failed romance. Hold the phone, does anybody know what we are living for?"♫

Definitely not the cleanest book I've ever read, but I would recommend as a must read.

NEXT BOOK: "Table for Five" by Susan Wiggs (review, end of July)