Please Don't Eat the Daisies

Best present ever from julie. Finally someone who respects my love of Miller!

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This book follows the story of the owners of a fictional 36th Vermeer from modern-day back to... well, I don't want to give away too much. It reads as a collection of short stories and is super fast and easy to read. If you're into Vermeer, you'll enjoy it; if not, I'd say you could probably skip this one.

Girl in Hyacinth Blue

Susan Vreeland

It's not that I'm cheap... We don't buy cards in my family. I can't even imagine how bummed my mom would be if I showed up with a hallmark card!

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Unfortunately, there's not a whole lot of room for words... But I think sometimes it's best just to let her know she is loved and appreciated.

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Rachel Sontag grew up with a father who controlled and abused her family in ways one couldn't even dream of making up. He tape-recorded Rachel's phone conversations, made her write apology letters to him for her very existence, told her he wished she'd never been born, and yet, somehow, because it was clear she was the center of his world - made her feel special and loved.

Sontag explains in her "thank yous" that she realizes this book is incredibly personal and that she is sharing family "secrets," but says - She couldn't live with herself unless she wrote it.

Maybe it's because, as a non-fiction writer, I can wholly relate to that sentiment - the idea that there's a story in you that absolutely must be told - or maybe it's just because Sontag lived through - and survived - one of the worst types of abuse - but I could not put this book down and I highly recommend you pick it up this riveting memoir by this first-time author.

House Rules: A Memoir

Rachel Sontag

So glad we didn't have to wear bright orange construction vests on field trips when I was a kid.

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Show us the contents of your bag or pockets.

Contents of My Bag

Secret past lives, a magical healing stream, and an home for unwed mothers run by nuns. Sounds like a good book to me!

Told from the point of view of three different narrators, this novel is filled with the pain that exists in a human being when he/she avoids the past and lives only in the present. Well-written and compelling, I would have honestly kept reading had the story continued for another 500 pages. I was sad to see it end.

The Patron Saint of Liars: A Novel (P.S.)

Ann Patchett

And it totally spazzed out and started frantically flying at the next stop when more people tried to board the train. Is there anything worse than the sound of frantic wings flapping in your ear?! *shudder*

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