The Kitchen House

The beginning of this book had me hoping for more. Sadly, I felt that Kathleen Grissom lost focus on the purpose of the story and ended up kind of wrapping things up at the end. It isn't all roses, but is a believable ending to where she was taking us. I would have just liked more development or emphasis on the theme of "family". I do appreciate her undertaking of difficult subject matter and the way she chose to expose the issues without becoming vulgar or graphic with explanation.
It's an incredibly quick read and I do like her writing style. It was good just to read a book quickly and be able to get other things accomplished, too.

Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister

Love this perspective change on the age-old fairytale of Cinderella. Gregory Maguire brings the fairytale to reality by setting the story in more reality based settings and characters. Isn't real life stranger than fiction? He applied the same theory to freshening this fairytale to be more interesting to a grownup audience. And that means he had to have symbolism and other "meat" to the novel, too! Great, fun read. I look forward to checking out other of his titles of the same genre.

C. S. Lewis

The Screwtape Letters is SO true! Wow, C.S. Lewis so hits the nail on the head with this book. He has pinned down human nature...especially involving religion. It's almost scary. But, it is also a way to become enlightened to vices an individual (say, myself) has had....and to let them go. A work in progress, but at least I am past denial, right?
Definitely something I put on my "must read" list.