June so far

I've been down with a nasty cold recently, which has given me time to rip through four books in the space of a week, vastly making up for some of my lackluster reading earlier in the year.  

Disturbing the Peace by Nancy Newman
Despite it's appearingly chick lit cover, this is fairly serious book about an adopted daughter searching for her birth mother while trying to figure out why she self-destructs when it comes to relationships.  

Girl in the Cage by Jane Yolen and Robert J. Harris
This one was in a pile of books my mother gave me last Christmas, knowing my weakness for historical young adult fiction.  It's about Marjorie Bruce, daughter of Robert the Bruce, just after he becomes King of Scotland in 1306.  She is imprisoned in an outdoor cage by King Edward Longshanks, the reigning king of England, in his attempt to get her father to cease the war between the two countries.  

Garlic and Sapphires by Ruth Reichl
I've loved Ruth Reichl ever since I inhaled the first volume of her memoir while on vacation at the home of some friends in rural Virginia, more than five years ago.  They had gotten a copy of Tender at the Bone in the free pile at the local dump, and offered it to me as entertainment, knowing that I liked food writing.  I've been on the library waiting list for this third installment of her life and times for more than four months now, and so was thrilled when my time with a copy finally came due.  This edition focuses on her time as the New York Times food critic, and about how she embodied many disguises in order to review restaurants without bias or special treatment.  I inhaled it in just over 26 hours.  

Keeping Faith by Jodi Picoult
I finished this one less than an hour ago, so the story is still fresh and present in my mind.  It's primarily the tale of Mariah (mother) and Faith (daughter) White after they discover that their husband and father with another woman in their house.  Faith stops talking for days, and when she finally finds her power of speech, she talks to an imaginary friend she calls Guard.  When she brings her grandmother back from the dead, people start wondering if she's actually talking to God.