Friends and Loss

It's been a rough week, my best friend from across the street lost her mother to cancer on Monday and my best friends from Ohio, Milana Idle, gave up the fight to live on Thursday. Milana was a free spirit and a survivor! She was diagnosed with cancer at the age of 13, fought and won! In her thirties she was diagnosed with breast cancer, which she defeated. She wasn't through with the Big C when in her forties she was diagnosed with melanoma. She required open heart surgery, but wasn't strong enough to recover from it.

Milana was truly gifted and inspiring. She couldn't have children so she was engaged to John for ten years to make sure not having kids was ok with him. They married on the beach at midnight and she loved to tell the story of how the minister thought they wanted to be naked. She loved art, dogs, and swimming in the moonlight. I'll miss her.

I started the book, Firefly Lane by Kristin Hannah at the beginning of this week. I had recommendations from two friends that it "was so good" but they cried through the last 45 pages. I may not have chosen to read this book if I'd known what kind of week I was going to have, but once I started it, I couldn't put it down. It's the story of friends who vow to be BFFs when they are still in high school. Kate's family is the perfect nuclear family but Talulah's mom was a child of the sixties and an addict, who walked out on Tully numerous times. Tully was ambitious and would someday be a big name in TV broadcasting. Kate sails along on her coat tails but really wants to be a wife and mom. They both have terrific success in realizing their dreams and stay close despite their many disagreements. The characters are so real, you'd swear the author lived just next door. I strongly recommend this book but wait until you're having a really good week.

More for Your Book CLub

I'm recommending the following titles for your book club!

The Zookeeper's Wife by Diane Ackerman

This is the true story of a courageous couple. As the title suggests, they kept a zoo in Warsaw Poland during the Nazi occupation. Antonina and Jan offered refuge to Jewish refugees, "hiding them in plain sight." They were able to feed and house over 300 Jews that would otherwise have perished. The zoo also served as headquarters for the Polish Underground. Told in exquisite language, the author thoroughly researched Antonina's diary and other first hand accounts.

The Penny Tree

Annie Hillman has moved back to her hometown to try to recapture her life. The soon to be divorced mother of two teenage sons, she is barely holding on financially. Unable to find a job in her profession, physical therapy, she settles for being a receptionist at a funeral parlor. One day she opens the local paper to see a personal ad placed on the front page, "Do you recognize this woman? ...How did I lose the only woman I ever loved?" A picture of Annie as a young woman is included with the ad. She puzzles over who the ad writer might be, but the ads continue, one a week, now accompanied with media attention. This book holds so many wonderful surprises including Annie's relationship with her parents and sons. You'll continue to think about this book long after you've read the last page!

A Change of Heart by Jodi Picoult

Jodi Picoult once again tackles the tough issues with her latest best seller! I sat in a sunny window and devoured this book. Questions about organized religion, miracles and the death penalty will make you want to share this novel so you can talk about it. Picoult brings together a Catholic priest, a civil rights lawyer, a death row inmate and the victims' family. Shay Bourne is a convicted murderer, scheduled to be executed, the first execution in New Hampshire in over sixty years. Bourne has decided that in order to set the world to rights he must donate his heart to the little girl, sister and daughter, of the two people he has been convicted of killing. His lawyer and the heart recipient are running out of time.