"Dreams of Joy" by Lisa See is the sequel to "Shanghai Girls", which I really enjoyed. I liked this one, too, even though I don't really like Joy. I guess because she's so young and so damn naive. Pearl follows Joy to China, where Joy has run off to in order to track down her real father. She's also got it into her head that Communist China is superior to America. Joy ends up living in a commune, married to an illiterate peasant, and nearly starves to death during the disaster known as China's Great Leap Forward. Pearl manages to find her and rescue her in time.
"The Little Bookstore of Big Stone Gap" by Wendy Welch was great fun. Wendy and her husband Jack moved to Big Stone Gap, Virginia (population 5,000) to start a used bookstore. Of course the locals don't believe they'll last long, and they almost don't, but they manage, mostly through sheer luck, to turn their little bookstore into a success and live the life of their dreams. Wendy is very funny and the book was heartwarming and charming. I haven't enjoyed one this much in a long time.
"Daddy Love" by Joyce Carol Oates was, as is typical of her, very difficult to read due to the subject matter. It was very good, but so heartbreakingly sad. Robbie is abducted from a mall by a sick-o pedophile who calls himself Daddy Love. He nearly kills poor Robbie's mother Dinah in the process. While Dinah is in the hospital recovering from her injuries and mourning the loss of her child, Robbie is given the new name of Gideon and taken to New Jersey, where he becomes Daddy Love's slave in every sense of the word. Seven years go by before he is able to escape and is taken back to his parents. So sad that things like this actually happen.
"Waiter Rant" by Steve Dublanica was pretty funny. Steve worked as a waiter for seven years at a New York restaurant called the Bistro. He tells of crazy, cracked out coworkers and rude, entitled customers, like the couple who tried to step over a woman having a stroke to get to the table they wanted. Having worked with the public, I swear you can't make this stuff up. I love to read about people behaving badly, so Steve's book was great.
"Ali's Pretty Little Lies" by Sara Shepard is the PLL prequel. While home from the mental hospital one weekend, Courtney slips into her sister Ali's life and Ali is carted off to the hospital. Courtney as Ali makes friends with Hanna, Spencer, Aria, and Emily. We get to see the things we already know from Ali's point of view, which was interesting. When real Ali ends up killing her, she wasn't alone. I have a feeling I should be able to figure out who the unknown assailant is, but I'm not that clever.
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