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Artemis Fowl: The Opal Deception by Eoin Colfer
Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress by Dai Sijie
Big Red Tequila by Rick Riordan
Coyote Blue by Christopher Moore
Cyclops by Clive Cussler
Deception Point by Dan Brown
Dr. Seuss Goes to War by Richard H. Minear
Driving Mr. Albert by Michael Paterniti
From Bauhaus to Our House by Tom Wolfe
Homeschooling on a Shoestring by Melissa L. Morgan
Jane of Lantern Hill by L.M. Montgomery
Learning to Swim by Ann Turner
Light on Snow by Anita Shreve
Lost in a Good Book by Jasper Fforde
Mom, There's a Pig in My Bed by Francess Lin Lantz
Mr. Ripley by Patricia Highsmith
The Plot Against America by Philip Roth
Spook by Mary Roach
Tears of the Giraffe by Alexander McCall Smith
Teasing Secrets from the Dead by Emily Craig
Travels with Charley by John Steinbeck
The Truman Show by Andrew Niccol

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Learning to Swim: 07/31/06

Learning to Swim

I normally avoid memoirs of child abuse, especially when presented as poetry. With Learning to Swim I made an exception because it came in a book box and I knew that all of us who had received boxes had received at least one copy. It also was short both in overall page length and in the lines per poem.

The poetry isn't that great. None of it has made a lasting impression to be able to quote lines. All that remains is a general sense of mood and of the events that unfolded that summer.

Here's my BookCrossing Review:

Ann Turner uses poetry to help herself recover from the painful memories of being molested by her cousin, Kevin, one summer. The poetry is not some of the best I've read but it does set the scene, tell the story and develop character. Each poem is also short and to the point. While the book is over one hundred pages, the poems flow quickly and the entire book can be read in half an hour.

The book was clearly part of the healing process for Turner and it is refreshing to read a book where one can see recovery from a tramatic event. It's nice to see that there can be a "light at the end of the tunnel" and a return to normalcy. So often these books focus on reliving the experience rather than moving on from it. I will be wild releasing this book in a week and I hope other readers benefit from it.

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