Author: Nicholas Sparks
Title: Safe Haven
Published: 2010
Category: Fiction, Mystery/Suspense

It took awhile for me to get this book from the reserve at the library. I picked it solely because of the author, as so far I have had good luck as far as liking his books. This author has a knack for tugging at the heartstrings. This one also has a bit of a suspenseful quality. And it's a love story, of course. It starts out with Katie arriving in Southport, North Carolina, a small town that is real. Apparently, it has a few movies that are set in it, including “I Know What You Did Last Summer,” and a TV show, “Dawson Creek” according to Wikipedia. Katie is mysterious obviously with a past and can't help but get the curiosity of the owner of a small country store where she goes to buy her staples. She makes one friend, and tries to settle in. Her story unfolds during the course of the novel. I was caught off guard a couple of times as the story took a bit of a curve into a suspense novel. Although Nicholas Sparks writes about love stories, you can never quite place them in the romance category. At least, so far, I've found that to be true. I think Nicholas Sparks writes for all of us. To me, it is the human condition that he writes about. I always come away from one of his novels feeling a little more human, anyway. And, you never know how things will end up, because they aren't always perfectly happy endings, although so far I haven't known him to be a truly dark storyteller. I guess now I am comparing his endings to that of The Story of Edgar Sawtelle, because I loved that story, but it was dark in the end. Safe Haven touches on domestic violence, but that is all I will say as to not spoil the story. I will leave Safe Haven for the reader.

Author:  Bill Bryson
Title:  At Home: A Short History of Private Life
Published: 2010
Category:  Non-Fiction, History

I loved this book, At Home--definitely a book I want to read again. Bill Bryson must be the most literal writer around, seriously, as he knows the meanings and origins of so many words and things. I first heard of Bill Bryson when Tracey of Book Reader's Traverse recommended reading The Mother Tongue for the book club all those years ago. The Mother Tongue was mostly about the origins of words. At Home is about the history of our home lives—mainly British but with a lot of references to American homes as well.  The book is mainly centered on the home that Bill Bryson lives in now, an old Victorian parsonage home. He sees the view from his window, and it is quite a story from there on.  Learning about the home and the comforts we enjoy now is quite a journey. The author divided the book into chapters about different rooms and provided history lessons based on the rooms he visited. I found that he may have rambled a little, or at least, I thought the subject matters covered may have been off topic a little at times. But I think this is because I became so absorbed in the book that it wasn't always easy to feel my way back to the origin. While this book talks of the comforts of home, Bill Bryson points out that a home was not always a point of comfort. I don't think I am easily grossed out, but the information he shares in the book often had me squeamish. Things in history were often of that nature. It was kind of cool. One thing I liked was the many references to people in history, people I've never heard of, as well as people I felt I knew quite a bit about—but I usually did not know the facts in this book. If you love history with a special knack for biographies, here is a good book for you. Also, if you like architecture, this book is for you. I don't claim that the stories are exhaustive; in fact, in some way, they all come back to the home. You will probably find yourself lost in the stories though; at least I did. I loved it.