Every Last One by Anna Quindlen

Mary Beth Latham has a good life. Married with three teenage children, she devotes herself to her family, yet still manages to run a landscaping business on the side. Each of her kids requires something different of her - eighteen year-old Ruby is independent and creative, ready to move on to college; the twins, Max and Alex, are fraternal in every way. Max is quiet and a loner; Alex is a star athlete and popular. Despite all the different needs, schedules and lives, Mary Beth manages to create a happy and secure home for her family.

One night, Mary Beth's world is shattered by one violent, tragic act. As she struggles to recover, she must rediscover what she holds dear while dealing with her staggering loss. While this is a difficult book to read at times, it is also beautifully written. Quindlen is amazing at writing real women characters and relationships. While ultimately an uplifting story, it is a long hard road for both Mary Beth and the reader to reach that point of hopefulness at the end of the book.

Bookies Book Club!

Join the village of Minooka and Three Rivers Public Library
for our monthly book discussion club! We meet the 2nd Saturday of the month, at 10:00, at Bean Encounters
in Minooka. For the June meeting, we will be discussing The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, by Stieg Larsson, Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls, and Lion's Heat by Lora Leigh. See you June 12th!

Still Alice by Lisa Genova

This book is written from a unique and frightening perspective - that of an Alzheimer's patient. Author Genova, a first time novelist, holds a PhD. in neuroscience and is active with the National Alzheimer's Association, lending an air of credibility to her work.

Alice Howland has it all - she is a busy, brilliant lecturer and Harvard professor, married to an equally brilliant man. Her three grown children have all turned out healthy and are pursuing dreams of their own. Alice has begun to notice little annoyances, such as not being able to locate her glasses or forgetting appointments, which she feels are easily explained away by menopause. When she becomes disoriented when out for a run one day, she decides to visit the doctor just in case. At age 50, Alice is diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer's Disease.

As the book progresses, so does the disease. We feel Alice's descent into the unknown, as her husband and children try to cope with this stranger in their lives. This is a difficult book to read, not only for the sadness factor, but also because so many of us can relate to the early symptoms of the disease. Have some kleenex on hand to read this one!