Books, Movies, and Chinese Food

Summary from BN .com: At an intimate, festive dinner party in Seattle, six women gather to celebrate their friend Kate's recovery from cancer. Wineglass in hand, Kate strikes a bargain with them. To celebrate her new lease on life, she'll do the one thing that's always terrified her: white-water rafting. But if she goes, all of them will also do something they always swore they'd never do-and Kate is going to choose their adventures. Do you feel like your life is boring? Do you think that by doing something out of your comfort zone is something that you'd be willing to do to shake up your life? That's just what a group of friends do in this book as they honor their good friend who is a survivor of cancer. Each chapter is devoted to one of the seven women describing the adventure that Kate has picked for them and herself. Within each chapter, there is very little interaction between the women. In fact other than referencing that Kate has told them what to d...

How to Be an American Housewife is a novel about mothers and daughters, and the pull of tradition. It tells the story of Shoko, a Japanese woman who married an American GI, and her grown daughter, Sue, a divorced mother whose life as an American housewife hasn't been what she'd expected. When illness prevents Shoko from traveling to Japan, she asks Sue to go in her place. The trip reveals family secrets that change their lives in dramatic and unforeseen ways. Offering an entertaining glimpse into American and Japanese family lives and their potent aspirations, this is a warm and engaging novel full of unexpected insight. As the first generation daughter of Asian immigrants to the US, I am always on the lookout for books that tell the stories of immigrant parents and their American born children. It doesn't matter what culture the people are from. The stories end up all being the same of people having to adapt to a new culture and wanting what's best for the...

Same old story again John, the disciple Jesus loved most, is the only disciple left. All the others have been killed for their beliefs. Currently in prison awaiting his sentence, John wants to get his story about his life with the Messiah out to the rest of the world. When an attempt to boil him in a pot of oil fails, John is sentenced to exile on Patmos. Before he goes, he dictates his story to Polycarp in hopes that others will listen to it and believe. When I first heard the premise of this novel, I was excited. I thought it was going to be the New Testament through John's eyes during that time period. I thought the story would be first person narrative from John's point of view from when he grew up, to meeting Jesus, throughout Jesus' ministry, after Jesus died, etc. Unfortunately this book was not at all what I expected. I didn't feel this book to be on the level as the Left Behind series. To me the story was just verbatim the Bible with a little background...