Touched too many memories
592906
Didn't know what to expect when I got the book.  First realizing the story had roots in St. Pete was unexpected (Dunedin is home) and the trip to the Nam touched off so many long suppressed memories and feelings I could smell the smells, feel the pain and experience emotions I had not let surface in years.  If the guy that wrote this story did not experience what he wrote first hand then  he is an excellent researcher or has a great research team and if he wrote this story from research he is a fine writer.  This is a story that will move anyone who reads it whether the reader made the trip across the pond or not.
251472
This brought back so many memories... I felt I was on the journey from then and now and didn't miss a thing!  I can look at this over and over again and find new things and enjoy the trip as often as I want!
681713
Boy, does this one b ring back some memories! I can say with certainty that I was present at at least two of the incidents depicted in the short stories this book presents.
4193185
Brought me back decades to a time when music was in the front row of life.  I finished the book wanting more detail, specific lyrics and the emotions they connected with.  Spent the next few days mentally compiling my own "Dozen", remembering the feelings they evoked and the memories they continue to refresh and reinforce.  This was a short book with a surprisingly big impact.
3537871
I sat down this evening with Laura Lynn Brown's&nbsp;<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Everything-That-Makes-You-Mom-A-Bouquet-of-Memories/dp/1426767463/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Everything That Makes You Mom: A Bouquet of Memories</a>&nbsp;to get my copy of this beautiful book ready to give to my own mom.  I thought I had bought it as a gift for her, but was surprised to find what a gift it was for me.  I loved reading the author's short vignettes of memories about her own mother - both touching and funny. I found myself laughing, wishing I had known Laura's mother, and feeling strengthened to become a better mom myself.  When I began to fill in the blank pages with my own memories of my mother I was shocked at the power this book had to jog my memory.  Stories came pouring out of me that I had long since forgotten.  I was laughing and tearing up as I wrote them down, and now I can't wait to see my mother's reaction and hear the stories she will remember as she reads them.  This is a well crafted gift of memories recounted, stories told and relationships strengthened masquerading as a book.  I'm planning to buy several more copies as gifts for friends, both those whose mothers would appreciate the gift and those who will want to record the memories of their mothers who are no longer with them.
1710603
Wow. This book really knocked me out. The six stories in Anthony Doerr's fantastic collection each deal with memory--what memories (and their loss) mean to us, how they move us and how conscious we are in the creation of new memories. (A character in the first story says "Remember a memory often enough and you can create a new memory, the memory of remembering.")

Each story has a wholly different premise and different main characters, and takes place in a completely difference place and time, from the lengthy opening story about a town in South Africa where doctors have developed a procedure to harvest memories from those suffering from dementia in the hopes of rebuilding some of the brain's connections, to the concluding story about a dying woman struggling with early memories of growing up in Nazi Germany. And each has its own power--some hit you between the eyes while some slowly build in your mind.

This is a tremendously well-written book that really has me thinking about my own memories. Doerr has done a fantastic job, and I can honestly say this is one of the best books I've read all year.
3944852
Thank You Ann Huber for taking me back to some wonderful, and some sad, memories of family long gone.  And, your style of writing made me feel like you were having a conversation with me about your family.  And, yes, I did shed a tear or two toward the end of the book.  Loved it.
2496511
Brought back so many wonderful childhood memories and surprisingly I had remembered most of the words from 30 years ago.
4199105
I don't know how I died. Thats strange, isn't it? To be dead and know that but to not know how it happened. To not know my last memory. Its not something that I ever considered when I was alive. I can see and I can hear. And when I remember back to other times and other places, I see and hear them as though Im reliving them. But when I remember, I miss things that are happening now. I miss chunks of time. I try not to remember. I try not to think. I watch and I listen and I hope to not miss any more time. Because time is all I have now. And how quickly it disappears.

Cate is the narrator, her words begin this touching, lovely story. Heartbreaking, yes, but theres this strong bond of family, of love, that ever so slowly, and with such quiet strength, gently speaks to the eternal bond of families, the grief of loss and the life that follows after. Love. Hope.

Cate Carlton, wife and mother, in life married to Bass, the only man she ever loved, mother to twin boys Rafferty and Cameron, and to daughter Jessa. She loved, loves her horses, especially her horse Opal. Their farm is in the countryside, in rural Victoria, with assorted farm animals in addition to the horses.

Hovering over her family, Cate finds herself watching Jessa ride her horse, or the familys attempts to find Opal, who has been missing since the day she died. Watching all the members of the family, friends, watching their grief, watching them stumble through the days, months as time passes in random patches of time. Alternating those with moments of remembering the years when the children were oh-so-young, and life was filled with small, but incessant energy draining moments. Moments like when she first brought Bass home the first time.

When I brought Bass home to meet my parents and Beatrice, it was autumn. We kicked our way through crunchy leaves and breathed steam as we waited on the doorstep.

This simply is a story of a family, their love, their grief, and perhaps about our memories and the way they haunt us. The importance, perhaps, of staying in the moment long enough to form those memories, and also to cherish those memories. How our memories can pull us back to another place, another time.

When I read my friend Angelas review (which is what convinced me to read this), what stayed with me most of all was the comment that was made to her, that it's so hard to lose a mother because she holds all of your memories. Which, of course, reminded me of my mother, and of these lyrics.

Sometimes when you're doin' simple things around the house
Maybe you'll think of me and smile
You know I'm tied to you like the buttons on your blouse
Keep me in your heart for a while

Hold me in your thoughts
Take me to your dreams
Touch me as I fall into view
When the winter comes
Keep the fires lit
And I will be right next to you

- Warren Zevon Keep Me in Your Heart

Recommended

Many thanks for the ARC provided by Harper-Collins AU
2437565
I loved this book! Being a person who is in touch with my surroundings, things like nature and people and their persona, I was able  to really relate to things
 Lori captures.  The nuances or essences of things that are and once were.
I found myself back in my Indianapolis childhood days as well as my days visiting Paducah, Kentucky as well as Savannah, TN with her nature descriptions. I felt the connections with people and attitudes on how we're sometimes thought of, about and how we think of those in our lives.
This book took me there, to those good times and bad. It made me reflect on many many things from days gone by that I wish I could relive or capture again.
The pictures and the way Lori expressed, I found myself being right where she wanted me.

Lifestyles today know nothing about this sort of living or passion of life's expression.
I say thanks Lori until the next time!
3028512
Boy in a Band brought back so many memories of my own "Mathew" and the feelings of love, passion, and loss.  I laughed. I blushed. I cried.  A great read!
56357
By the end of this book, I did not want to finish it. Lots of food for thought about shared youthful pasts and what those friends mean to us now --- even if people have not kept in close touch over the years. Berg frames her story within the preparation for and attendance at a 40th high school reunion ---- but it is about a lot more.

I loved all the memories this brought back and Berg's insights into the conflicting feelings when one encounters those people and memories 40 years later. Even if these people were not good friends in HS, those shared past experiences have created a forever bond.

I wrote down a quote I really liked in the book:

"Reunions show us that it's not that you can't go home again, it's that you can never leave."

I think that is so true, because we all carry that "home" in our hearts no matter where we live.
871712
I could relate to this story in many ways. So many memories of love and loss can be stored in a "shoebox". Dare we open them up and let loose those memories we have stored such a long time ago? Peter and Maddy were very real characters to me.  I appreciate reading love stories where the man is the romantic driving force behind the story.  Maddy and Peter's love was pictured in my mind so clearly. Keep writing stories that touch our hearts and ones that remind us of our past choices.
2323638
Most of the songs brought back fond memories of my younger happy days that were spent with a loved one
826939
It brings to mind a blend of David Copperfield and Tom Sawyer.  The author tells of how he struggled and made the best of difficult situations such as hard work on the farm, the heartbreak of broken relationships and loss of parents.  He tells of childhood and teen years adventures, eventual success in the business world and marrying a wonderful woman.  The underlying theme throughout is love of family,friends and faith in God.  A wonderful collection of memories.
2602980
Nice collection of memories and experiences reflecting those of many who bend and blur the boundaries of accepted gender definition.
My "macrame purse" was in a 2nd grade gift exchange where I had tried to participate in the "boys" exchange by bring a matchbox car set...instead I ended up with a pastel pink strawberry shortcake comb/hairbrush/ mirror and nail polish set. I was devastated and in big trouble because I hurt the girls feelings who brought the gift.  Your telling of the emotions and frustration in the macrame purse story captured the essence perfectly.
Thanks for the perspectives and anecdotes that sparked me to think of my own stories which I can smile about now but certainly couldn't at the time. I hope others will also be able to pick up this collection of short stories and see a glimpse of themselves regardless of their path or location on the gender continuum.
4128803
A slice of time, plucked out of the 50's and remembered with heart.  Makes my heart hurt and makes me want to know what happens next in the lives of the characters.