Famous Last Words

My father once shared some profound words of wisdom with my husband. "I always have the last word (with my mom) and you'll be smart to remember this - it's always "yes, dear!" So far, Richard has done well honoring such sound advice from his father-in-law.

Famous last words ... in thinking about books you've read, do these lines sound familiar? Name novels with the following last lines?

1. "I lingered round them, under that benign sky; watched the moths fluttering among the heath, and hare-bells; listened to the soft wind breathing through the grass; and wondered how any one could ever imagine unquiet slumbers for the sleepers in that quiet earth."
2. All was well.
3. Whatever our struggles and triumphs, however we may suffer them, all too soon they bleed into a wash, just like watery ink on paper.
4. Are there any questions?
5. In thirty minutes my whole life's ....done. Maybe I ought to keep writing, not just for the paper, but something else, about all the people I know and the things I seen and done. Maybe I ain't too old to start over, I think and I laugh and cry at the same time at this. Cause just last night I thought I was finished with everything new.
6. After today, he thought, the world will never be quite the same.
7. After all, tomorrow is another day.
8. You are afraid that you might forget, but you never will. You will forgive and remember. Think of the vine that curls from the small square plot that was once my heart. That is the only marker you need. Move on. Walk forward into the light.

What other favorite last lines do you remember?

Beat the Heat In the Stacks

With summer vacation just beginning next week, I’ve decided to gather my To Be Read list. Here is what I have so far and if you'd like to help me prioritize them, please post the book you recommend for starting out the summer. Or, tell us what you're reading.

Early From the Dance by David Payne

Gravesend Light by David Payne

The Lincoln Lawyer by Michael Connelly

Skylight Confessions by Alice Hoffman

Committed by Elizabeth Gilbert

Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov

Iron House by John Hart released in July

The Litigators by John Grisham released in July

The Whole Payne Bit

"Back to Wando Passo quivers with authentic life and is so bold in concept and audacious in scope that it seems like the summing up and exclamation point of a great writer's career. The novel contains everything -- from the horror of 1860s rice culture slavery, to the perils of modern love, to the history of rock and roll . . . Payne takes on the whole known world and pulls it off with the deftness of a writer in his prime, enhancing a literary reputation that burns as brightly as any writer of his generation."
-- Pat Conroy

'Nough Said for me! This is an awesome book that you will not be able to put down, especially if you're a civil war buff! Payne takes the reader back to the civil war era while paralleling with a contemporary rock-n-roll family's lifestyle. As Ran discovers skeletons of the past, he begins to reveal the mystery of his wife's ancestors and continues the weaving of social issues such as racism, jealously, and revenge throughout the generations of the character's lives from 1860's to modern times. A bit of history, ghosts, rock-n-roll, and a lot of suspense.

The Pact

... by Joni Picoult.

The Hartes and the Golds have been neighbors for 18 years and their children have been like brothers and sisters. Surprisingly, once Chris and Emily get to high school their friendship becomes more intimate. The devastation hits when Emily's family receives a call from the hospital saying that she is dead from a gunshot wound to the head. All evidence leads to Chris, buy why? He claims to love Emily and that he had planned to kill himself as well. Detectives do not believe his story about the suicide pact and suspects there is much more involved. Picoult keeps the reader in total suspense, as the relationship between the families becomes strained and the story unfolds, developing the motive for the murder of Chris' childhood friend and first love.

Juniper Road

... by Hal Duvall.

The story takes place in South Carolina during the Depression. Woodrow Wilson Jones, becomes a young man in just a matter of a few pages, as he discovers hard work and poverty in the rural south. His father has been sent to a sanatorium leaving him in charge of the family. As the story begins, Wilson is trying to get a job with a work crew clearing property for a future state park, only to realize that at 14, he is too young. The recruiter suggests he come back in a couple of days, once he's matured a bit. So, on Monday, four years older, he secures the job, proving to be a diligent worker. Once this job ends, Wilson lands a job in the small town's hardware store as an afternoon clerk. He falls in love with a local girl, Betsy, befriends the recruiter, Tom Stone - soon to be a local lawyer, and comes to the defense of a "colored" friend and neighbor, whose father has been falsely arrested on a charge of arson. Wilson, determined to help clear his friend's father of all charges, seeks help and comes to their aid. Wilson, as most young men of his stature, joins the army in search of a future more meaningful than the life he foresaw by staying behind in a small, country town overcome with poverty and unemployment. But Hal, we've got to know what happens to Wilson!

The story is told with authenticity, reflecting the devastating times of the 30's due to poverty, segregation, and unemployment. It portrays the warmth of a small community yet reveals the harsh realities of racial segregation and poverty. The story takes me back to Cheraw, SC and stirs a desire to dig into the past, learning more about that "prettiest little town in Dixie."

Three Cups Of Tea

... by Greg Mortenson.

One of the books I read awhile ago was recently reintroduced at the SCASL when I discovered that it has been rewritten as a picture book and a young reader novel. The two new versions, Listen to the Wind and Three Cups of Tea, share this wonderful story on one man's dream to improve education. Greg Mortenson is mountain climbing in the Himalayas and gets lost. He ends up in the village of Korphe in Pakistan, where the villagers take care of him and share their hospitality and wisdom over cups of tea. When he learns that the village has no school and the children practice their lessons outside using sticks to write with, he decides to build a school. The story follows his experiences through Pakistan and Afghanistan as he struggles to gain the support and money to build schools. With the current relations in Pakistan and Afghanistan, this book offers a different perspective of the culture and traditions in these countries and shows how strong determination for humanitarian efforts can make worldly differences. A lesson all ages can benefit from.

This is a thought provoking and complex novel, mixing the themes of art, family, values, and death. It alternates between the voices of Pru, a young girl whose pictures are taken by a family friend, and Kate, a young woman teaching at a University. The author does a great job with this story but forces the reader to determine their own opinion as to what is "art" and to distinguish the difference between innocence and wrong. Each girl's character is developed so that we hear their thoughts and understand how they feel. This book elicited one of the most passionate book discussions that our book club has experienced in quite a while.