What I'm Reading

Two Great books this week:

Logan Thibault, a U.S. Marine, discovers a photograph of a young smiling woman while on a tour of duty in Iraq. After a series of fortunate events, he comes to view the photograph as a lucky charm, and carries it with him always. Once back in the United States, his obsession with the mysterious woman grows, and he eventually tracks her down. She's a single mother in North Carolina, and Logan finds himself unexpectedly caught up in a passionate romance with his "lucky one."
Stayed up 45 minutes past my bed time last night to finish this off. Not his best story, but it kept me wondering what was going to happen in the next chapter. A must read!

"I have been standing on the side of life, watching it float by. I want to swim in the river. I want to feel the current." So writes Mamah Borthwick Cheney in her diary as she struggles to justify her clandestine love affair with Frank Lloyd Wright. Four years earlier, in 1903, Mamah and her husband, Edwin, had commissioned the renowned architect to design a new home for them. During the construction of the house, a powerful attraction developed between Mamah and Frank, and in time the lovers, each married with children, embarked on a course that would shock Chicago society and forever change their lives. In this ambitious debut novel, fact and fiction blend together brilliantly. While scholars have largely relegated Mamah to a footnote in the life of America’s greatest architect, author Nancy Horan gives full weight to their dramatic love story and illuminates Cheney’s profound influence on Wright. Drawing on years of research, Horan weaves little-known facts into a compelling narrative, vividly portraying the conflicts and struggles of a woman forced to choose between the roles of mother, wife, lover, and intellectual. Horan’s Mamah is a woman seeking to find her own place, her own creative calling in the world. Mamah’s is an unforgettable journey marked by choices that reshape her notions of love and responsibility, leading inexorably ultimately lead to this novel’s stunning conclusion. Elegantly written and remarkably rich in detail, Loving Frank is a fitting tribute to a courageous woman, a national icon, and their timeless love story.

This book made me look forward to going to work, so I could listen to the story. Had a sudden and disturbing ending, but it was a great book-good for anyone who likes a true love story.