Looking Back - Stargirl

Looking Back... In an effort to transfer my book journal entries over to this blog, I'm going to attempt to post (in chronological order) an entry every Friday. I may or may not add extra commentary to what I jotted down in these journals.

Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli

Fiction

2000

Finished on 6/28/2002

Rating: 4.5/5 (Terrific!)

Publisher's Blurb:

A celebration of nonconformity; a tense, emotional tale about the fleeting, cruel nature of popularity--and the thrill and inspiration of first love. 

Leo Borlock follows the unspoken rule at Mica Area High School: don't stand out--under any circumstances! Then Stargirl arrives at Mica High and everything changes--for Leo and for the entire school. After 15 years of home schooling, Stargirl bursts into tenth grade in an explosion of color and a clatter of ukulele music, enchanting the Mica student body.

But the delicate scales of popularity suddenly shift, and Stargirl is shunned for everything that makes her different. Somewhere in the midst of Stargirl's arrival and rise and fall, normal Leo Borlock has tumbled into love with her.

In a celebration of nonconformity, Jerry Spinelli weaves a tense, emotional tale about the fleeting, cruel nature of popularity--and the thrill and inspiration of first love.

My Original Thoughts (2002):

This is a fantastic YA novel. Almost as good as Lois Lowry's gem, The Giver. Beautiful passages. Couldn't put it down. Borrowed a copy, but need to buy my own.

My Current Thoughts:

Not my usual genre, but I remember enjoying this book quite well. I think I recommended it to a lot of parents while working at Barnes & Noble.

Looking Back - Flight Lessons

Looking Back... In an effort to transfer my book journal entries over to this blog, I'm going to attempt to post (in chronological order) an entry every Friday. I may or may not add extra commentary to what I jotted down in these journals.

Flight Lessons by Patricia Gaffney

Fiction

2002

Finished on 6/26/2002

Rating: 3.5/5 (Good)

Publisher's Blurb:

Though Anna once adored her aunt Rose, that ended when she betrayed Anna and her mother - Rose's terminally ill sister - and Anna can't forgive or forget. Years later, her own heart broken, Anna returns home to Rose, and to the family restaurant, the Bella Sorella, now grown shabby with age. Anna is still reluctant to forgive Rose, insisting that her stay is temporary. But the intimacy of working with Rose to put the Bella Sorella back on its feet, and an unexpected chance at true love, bring about a change of heart. Patricia Gaffney once again delivers a story told with grace and warmth, reminding us that there's no place like home.

My Original Thoughts (2002):

Took me a while to get interested in the characters, but eventually I did. Enjoyed the emails between Anna and new friend, Mason. Touching passages put a lump in my throat several times. Nice follow-up to The Saving Graces. "Funny, moving, and insightful about love, life, and family..."

My Current Thoughts (2026):

I suspect this spoke to my younger self, but I have a feeling it would be to boring at this point in my life.

Looking Back - Lady Chatterley's Lover

Looking Back... In an effort to transfer my book journal entries over to this blog, I'm going to attempt to post (in chronological order) an entry every Friday. I may or may not add extra commentary to what I jotted down in these journals.

Lady Chatterley's Lover by D. H. Lawrence

Fiction/Classic

1928

Finished on 6/20/2002

Rating: 3.5/5 (Good)

Publisher's Blurb:

Lyric and sensual, D.H. Lawrence's last novel is one of the major works of fiction of the twentieth century. Filled with scenes of intimate beauty, explores the emotions of a lonely woman trapped in a sterile marriage and her growing love for the robust gamekeeper of her husband's estate. The most controversial of Lawrence's books, Lady Chatterly's Lover joyously affirms the author's vision of individual regeneration through sexual love. The book's power, complexity, and psychological intricacy make this a completely original work—a triumph of passion, an erotic celebration of life.

My Original Thoughts (2002):

Started out a little slow, but I eventually got engrossed in the story and wound up enjoying it more than I thought I would. Not shocking by today's standards, but I can see why it would raise eyebrows in the 20s and 30s!

My Current Thoughts (2026):

I'm surprised this classic novel wound up in my 2002 reading journal. If hard pressed, I would have said I never read the book. I have a vague memory of starting it, but I could have sworn it was a DNF for me. I read it with an online Banned Book group, so maybe that was my inspiration to not give up.

Looking Back - Enduring Love

Looking Back... In an effort to transfer my book journal entries over to this blog, I'm going to attempt to post (in chronological order) an entry every Friday. I may or may not add extra commentary to what I jotted down in these journals.

Enduring Love by Ian McEwan

Fiction

1997

Finished on 5/?/2002

Rating: 3/5 (Good)

Publisher's Blurb:

From the Booker Prize winner and bestselling author of Atonement —a brilliant and compassionate novel of love, faith, and suspense, and of how life can change in an instant.

On a windy spring day in the Chilterns, the calm, organized life of science writer Joe Rose is shattered when he witnesses a tragic accident: a hot-air balloon with a boy trapped in its basket is being tossed by the wind, and in an attempt to save the child, a man is killed. A stranger named Jed Parry joins Rose in helping to bring the balloon to safety. But unknown to Rose, something passes between Parry and himself on that day--something that gives birth to obsession in Parry so powerful that it will test the limits of Rose's beloved rationalism, threaten the love of his wife, Clarissa, and drive him to the brink of murder and madness.

My Original Thoughts (2002):

Bizarre book! Dark and suspenseful. The first two chapters were very intense. 

My Current Thoughts:

I must have decided to read this after reading Atonement, which I loved. I have since read more by McEwan, including a re-read of Atonement, but can safely say that his books aren't for me.

Looking Back - The Handmaid's Tale

Looking Back... In an effort to transfer my book journal entries over to this blog, I'm going to attempt to post (in chronological order) an entry every Friday. I may or may not add extra commentary to what I jotted down in these journals.

The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood

Fiction

1985

Finished on May 19, 2002

Rating: 4.5/5 (Very Good)

Publisher's Blurb:

The Handmaid's Tale is an instant classic and eerily prescient cultural phenomenon, from "the patron saint of feminist dystopian fiction" (New York Times). 

The Handmaid’s Tale is a novel of such power that the reader will be unable to forget its images and its forecast. Set in the near future, it describes life in what was once the United States and is now called the Republic of Gilead, a monotheocracy that has reacted to social unrest and a sharply declining birthrate by reverting to, and going beyond, the repressive intolerance of the original Puritans. The regime takes the Book of Genesis absolutely at its word, with bizarre consequences for the women and men in its population. The story is told through the eyes of Offred, one of the unfortunate Handmaids under the new social order. In condensed but eloquent prose, by turns cool-eyed, tender, despairing, passionate, and wry, she reveals to us the dark corners behind the establishment’s calm facade, as certain tendencies now in existence are carried to their logical conclusions. The Handmaid’s Tale is funny, unexpected, horrifying, and altogether convincing. It is at once scathing satire, dire warning, and a tour de force. It is Margaret Atwood at her best.

IN THE WORLD OF THE NEAR FUTURE, WHO WILL CONTROL WOMEN'S BODIES?

Offred is a Handmaid in the Republic of Gilead. She may leave the home of the Commander and his wife once a day to walk to food markets whose signs are now pictures instead of words because women are no longer allowed to read. She must lie on her back once a month and pray that the Commander makes her pregnant, because in an age of declining births, Offred and the other Handmaids are valued only if their ovaries are viable.

Offred can remember the years before, when she lived and made love with her husband Luke; when she played with and protected her daughter; when she had a job, money of her own, and access to knowledge. But all of that is gone now... everything has changed.

My Original Thoughts (2002):

Terrific! Couldn't put it down. Much better than The Blind Assassin. I will be more apt to read more by Atwood now that I've read this engaging and imaginative novel. It's quite disturbing, at times. Highly recommend.

My Current Thoughts:

It's funny to read my past thoughts on this book since I've always thought I didn't like it. Huh. I'm really tempted to read it again now that I'm watching the Hulu TV series, starring Elizabeth Moss (which is outstanding!).

Looking Back - Step.Ball.Change

Looking Back... In an effort to transfer my book journal entries over to this blog, I'm going to attempt to post (in chronological order) an entry every Friday. I may or may not add extra commentary to what I jotted down in these journals.

Step.Ball.Change by Jeanne Ray

Fiction

2002

Finished on May 12, 2002

Rating: 4/5 (Very Good)

Publisher's Blurb:

Caroline and Tom are looking forward to retirement. He's been practicing law, she's been running a dance studio, and together they've raised four great kids. It's time to enjoy the fruits of their labor...Suddenly, though, their empty nest is filling up. Caroline's sister arrives with a load of luggage, a bad-tempered terrier, and a broken heart. A contractor finds cracks in the foundation, and sets up camp indefinitely. And their daughter Kay brings home her fiance, the richest boy in Raleigh--and plans a high-society wedding that could wipe out their savings. Filled with the warmth and wit that delighted readers of Julie and Romeo, this tale of a family caught in a whirlwind of change reminds us that life is what happens while we're making other plans--and that having loved ones along for the ride is the greatest blessing of all.

My Original Thoughts (2002):

A nice "fluff" read. Good for a gloomy weekend or an airplane flight. A couple of nice passages about love and marriage.

I leaned over and kissed him. I tried to make it count. A person had to be diligent about kissing. Kissing was the affirmation of the union, the secret handshake that identified its members. And even knowing how important it was, it was easy to let it slide altogether, and suddenly one day you wake up and realize that it has been weeks since you've kissed your husband while you've had your clothes on. Worse still were the kisses that became mere gestures of kissing, those hard little pecks like the kind you got from a great-aunt when you were five, kisses that weren't kisses at all but said instead, I used to kiss you and this is the symbol that now stands in its place. It was the difference between eating a great meal and looking at a picture of food in a magazine: One made you feel full and the other only reminded you that you were hungry.

and

Was I sure about love, that this was the person I would be eating my meals with and raising children with and making love to for so many years. I had no idea. I wanted to tell my daughter that I had been absolutely certain, but I think what I had been is absolutely lucky. I don't think that I knew Tom's middle name when I married him. It didn't matter. We had been full of a dreamy sort of romance then. Maybe we had excellent intuition about each other, but the real love came later. I think, probably, the real love always comes later.

My Current Thoughts:

I don't read much in the way of romance or fluff these days, but I might re-read this one since I still own a copy. 

Fun fact: Jeanne Ray is Anne Patchett's mother.

Looking Back - Durable Goods

Looking Back... In an effort to transfer my book journal entries over to this blog, I'm going to attempt to post (in chronological order) an entry every Friday. I may or may not add extra commentary to what I jotted down in these journals.

Durable Goods by Elizabeth Berg

Katie Nash #1

Fiction
1993

Finished on May 10, 2002

Rating: 3.5/5 (Good)

Publisher's Blurb:

"Sometimes life is so hard and then, bingo, it's like happiness is pushing at your back, waiting to come out your front..."

In the sweltering heat of a Southwestern summer, on a small army base in rural Texas, Katie waits impatiently for her life to change. These are uncertain times--a mix of pleasure and pain, of girlish confusion and adult discovery. Though battered by the recent death of her mother--and by a distant, abusive father driven to near madness by inner pain and rage--Katie's spirit remains miraculously strong. For she knows one day soon she'll be a woman. One day soon she'll understand.

My Original Thoughts (2002):

A quick, easy read. Berg's first novel. Not nearly as good as those that follow, but enjoyable the second time around. 

My Current Thoughts:

I've read close to two dozen books by Elizabeth Berg, and have over a dozen on my "keeper" shelf, but it's been a few years since I've read anything new. Whenever I write one of these "Looking Back" posts, I think about re-reading so many of my old favorites. I'd like to carve out time to read one each month, especially some of the shorter books like this one.

Below are links & ratings of all of Berg's books that I've read to date (2025):

Talk Before Sleep (4/5)

Range of Motion (4/5)

The Pull of the Moon (4/5) and (5/5)

Joy School (4/5)

What We Keep (4.5/5)

Until the Real Thing Comes Along (4/5)

Open House (5/5)

Ordinary Life (4.5/5)

Never Change (4.5/5)

True to Form (4/5)

Say When (4.5/5)

The Art of Mending (4/5)

A Year of Pleasures (5/5)

We Are All Welcome Here (3/5)

Dream When You're Feeling Blue (2.5/5)

The Day I Ate Whatever I Wanted (3.5/5)

Home Safe (4.5/5)

The Last Time I Saw You (2.5/5)

Once Upon a Time, There Was You (2.5/5)

The Story of Arthur Truluv (4/5)

Night of Miracles (5/5)

The Confession Club (2/5)

The Handmaid and the Carpenter (DNF)

Looking Back - Perfect Match

Looking Back... In an effort to transfer my book journal entries over to this blog, I'm going to attempt to post (in chronological order) an entry every Friday. I may or may not add extra commentary to what I jotted down in these journals.

Perfect Match by Jodi Picoult

Fiction

2002

Finished on May 7, 2002

Rating: 4.5/5 (Very Good!)

Publisher's Blurb:

Picoult brings to life a female prosecutor whose cherished family is shattered when she learns that her five-year-old son has been sexually abused.

What does it mean to be a good mother?

How far would you go in the name of love -- and justice?

In the course of her everyday work, career-driven assistant district attorney Nina Frost prosecutes child molesters and works determinedly to ensure that a legal system with too many loopholes keeps these criminals behind bars. But when her own five-year-old son, Nathaniel, is traumatized by a sexual assault, Nina and her husband, Caleb, a quiet and methodical stone mason, are shattered, ripped apart by an enraging sense of helplessness in the face of a futile justice system that Nina knows all too well. In a heartbeat, Nina's absolute truths and convictions are turned upside down, and she hurtles toward a plan to exact her own justice for her son -- no matter the consequence, whatever the sacrifice.

My Original Thoughts (2002):

I couldn't put it down! Picoult's books are not great works of literature, and rarely do I find a beautiful passage to mark, yet they're great reads. Always satisfying and very entertaining. The subject matter is always original to each book. They don't blend together and are very memorable. This one was about a prosecutor who faces the horrible knowledge that her five-year-old son has been sexually abused. What occurs in the chapters to follow is astonishing, but as a parent myself, I have no idea if I wouldn't react in a similar manner. A real page-turner. Great airplane book!

My Current Thoughts:

I remember that I enjoyed this one a lot, but the details of the story are long gone. Picoult is a favorite of mine and I think there's only one of her books that I didn't care for. I still have a few more to read, too, which is nice. 

Looking Back - The Eyre Affair

Looking Back... In an effort to transfer my book journal entries over to this blog, I'm going to attempt to post (in chronological order) an entry every Friday. I may or may not add extra commentary to what I jotted down in these journals.

The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde

Fiction

2002

Finished on April 28, 2002

Rating: 4.5/5 (Terrific!)

Publisher's Blurb:

Meet Thursday Next, literary detective without equal, fear or boyfriend.

There is another 1985, where London's criminal gangs have moved into the lucrative literary market, and Thursday Next is on the trail of the new crime wave's Mr Big.

Acheron Hades has been kidnapping characters from works of fiction and holding them to ransom. Jane Eyre is gone. Missing.

Thursday sets out to find a way into the book to repair the damage. But solving crimes against literature isn't easy when you also have to find time to halt the Crimean War, persuade the man you love to marry you, and figure out who really wrote Shakespeare's plays.

Perhaps today just isn't going to be Thursday's day. Join her on a truly breathtaking adventure, and find out for yourself. Fiction will never be the same again...

My Original Thoughts (2002):

I couldn't put this down! Highly recommend. Characters with names such as Braxton Hicks and Jack Schitt. There's even a vampire slayer. Fun read!

My Current Thoughts:

This humorous debut novel came highly recommended by several friends. I enjoyed it a lot, but I don't think I read any more in the series. 

Looking Back - Dreaming Water

Looking Back... In an effort to transfer my book journal entries over to this blog, I'm going to attempt to post (in chronological order) an entry every Friday. I may or may not add extra commentary to what I jotted down in these journals.

Dreaming Water by Gail Tsukiyama

Fiction

2002

Finished on April 20, 2002

Rating: 4/5 (Very Good)

Publisher's Blurb:

Bestselling author Gail Tsukiyama is known for her poignant, subtle insights into the most complicated of relationships. Dreaming Water is an exploration of two of the richest and most layered human connections that mother and daughter and lifelong friends.

Hana is suffering from Werner's syndrome, a disease that makes a person age at twice the rate of one that is healthy. At thirty-eight Hana has the appearance of an eighty-year-old. Cate, her mother, is caring for her while struggling with her grief at losing her husband, Max, and with the knowledge that Hana's disease is getting worse by the day.

Hana and Cate's days are quiet and ordered. Cate escapes to her beloved garden and Hana reads and writes letters. Each find themselves drawn into their pasts, remembering the joyous and challenging events that have shaped spending the day at Max's favorite beach, overcoming their neighbors' prejudices that Max is Japanese-American and Cate is Italian-American, and coping with the heartbreak of discovering Hana's disease.

Dreaming Water is about a mother's courage, a daughter's strength, and a friend's love. It is about the importance of human dignity and the importance of all the small moments that create a life worth living.

My Original Thoughts (2002):

This was a very easy, quick read, but the subject matter is quite sad. At times I thought it read like a memoir. Beautiful, engaging prose. Informative, yet a simple story spanning two days with numerous flashbacks and memories.

My Current Thoughts:

I enjoyed this one, but didn't keep a copy. The Samurai's Garden was more impressive.

Looking Back - Three Junes

Looking Back... In an effort to transfer my book journal entries over to this blog, I'm going to attempt to post (in chronological order) an entry every Friday. I may or may not add extra commentary to what I jotted down in these journals.

Three Junes by Julia Glass

Fiction

2002

Finished on May 21, 2002

Rating: 3.5/5 (Good)

Publisher's Blurb:

Three Junes is a vividly textured symphonic novel set on both sides of the Atlantic during three fateful summers in the lives of a Scottish family. In June of 1989, Paul McLeod, the recently widowed patriarch, becomes infatuated with a young American artist while traveling through Greece and is compelled to relive the secret sorrows of his marriage.

Six years later, Paul's death reunites his sons at Tealing, their idyllic childhood home, where Fenno, the eldest, faces a choice that puts him at the center of his family's future. A lovable, slightly repressed gay man, Fenno leads the life of an aloof expatriate in the West Village, running a shop filled with books and birdwatching gear. He believes himself safe from all emotional entanglements--until a worldly neighbor presents him with an extraordinary gift and a seductive photographer makes him an unwitting subject. Each man draws Fenno into territories of the heart he has never braved before, leading him toward an almost unbearable loss that will reveal to him the nature of love.

Love in its limitless forms--between husband and wife, between lovers, between people and animals, between parents and children--is the force that moves these characters' lives, which collide again, in yet another June, over a Long Island dinner table. This time it is Fenno who meets and captivates Fern, the same woman who captivated his father in Greece ten years before. Now pregnant with a son of her own, Fern, like Fenno and Paul before him, must make peace with her past to embrace her future.

Elegantly detailed yet full of emotional suspense, often as comic as it is sad, Three Junes is a glorious triptych about how we learn to live, and live fully, beyond incurable grief and betrayals of the heart--how family ties, both those we're born into and those we make, can offer us redemption and joy.

My Original Thoughts (2002):

I probably would have finished this sooner had I not set it aside for several new releases. It's not like it wasn't good. The last section, though, didn't hold my attention as well as the other two parts. Not great, but I'm glad I gave it a chance.

My Current Thoughts:

Three Junes won the 2002 National Book Award for Fiction. I vaguely remember the plot of this debut novel, but wasn't impressed enough to read more by the author.

Looking Back - The Hours

 Looking Back... In an effort to transfer my book journal entries over to this blog, I'm going to attempt to post (in chronological order) an entry every Friday. I may or may not add extra commentary to what I jotted down in these journals.

The Hours by Michael Cunningham

1998

Fiction

Finished on April 17, 2002

Rating: 4/5 (Very Good)

Publisher's Blurb:

The Pulitzer Prize-winning novel that became a motion picture starring Meryl Streep, Julianne Moore, and Nicole Kidman, directed by Stephen Daldry from a screenplay by David Hare.

In The Hours, Michael Cunningham, widely praised as one of the most gifted writers of his generation, draws inventively on the life and work of Virginia Woolf to tell the story of a group of contemporary characters struggling with the conflicting claims of love and inheritance, hope and despair. The narrative of Woolf's last days before her suicide early in World War II counterpoints the fictional stories of Samuel, a famous poet whose life has been shadowed by his talented and troubled mother, and his lifelong friend Clarissa, who strives to forge a balanced and rewarding life in spite of the demands of friends, lovers, and family.

Passionate, profound, and deeply moving, this is Cunningham's most remarkable achievement to date.

My Original Thoughts (2002):

Very imaginative and enjoyable. Much easier to read than Mrs. Dalloway, but I'm glad I read that or I would have missed too much in The Hours. A surprise ending, although I should have known! "...the story of three women: Clarissa Vaughan, who one New York morning goes about planning a party in honor of a beloved friend; Laura Brown, who in a 1950s Los Angeles suburb slowly begins to feel the constraints of a perfect family and home; and Virginia Woolf, recuperating with her husband in a London suburb, and beginning to write Mrs. Dalloway." "Seamless transitions. Clarissa's day mirrors Mrs. Dalloway's... with, however, an appropriate degree of modern beveling..." Did you know that The Hours was Virginia Woolf's working title for Mrs. Dalloway?

My Current Thoughts:

I feel as if I've written about The Hours and Mrs. Dalloway more than once on this blog. I'd completely forgotten that I'd re-read The Hours just last year! (Reviewed here.) I doubt I'll read Mrs. Dalloway again, but I am looking forward to making time to watch the film version of The Hours. 

Looking Back - The House of Gentle Men

Looking Back... In an effort to transfer my book journal entries over to this blog, I'm going to attempt to post (in chronological order) an entry every Friday. I may or may not add extra commentary to what I jotted down in these journals.

The House of Gentle Men by Kathy Hepinstall

Fiction

1999
Finished on April 14, 2002

Rating: 3.5/5 (Good)

Publisher's Blurb:

In a year of war, sixteen-year-old Charlotte sets off on a mission of love in the backwoods of Louisiana, only to be violated by three soldiers in a lonely section of the forest. Charlotte's young life is destroyed, but another life is growing inside her. Years later, in peacetime, Charlotte comes to House of Gentle Men, a mysterious sanctuary where sad, damaged women are administered to by haunted men wishing to atone for their past crimes. Here, Charolotte falls in love with one of the Gentle Men, a tormented young soldier with a terrible secret of his own. An artistic triumph of the highest order, this debut is a transcendent tale of salvation that celebrates the strength of the heart.

My Original Thoughts (2002):

Read with On the Porch Swing online book group. Reminiscent of Alice Hoffman and Laura Esquivel - mystical tone. Set in Louisiana in 1941. It took me quite a while to get interested in this book. I might have given up if it weren't a group read. A couple of surprises, but an abrupt ending that was disappointing. 

My Current Thoughts:

No recollection of this novel. Just adding it to my list of books read in 2002.

Looking Back - The Dive From Clausen's Pier

 Looking Back... In an effort to transfer my book journal entries over to this blog, I'm going to attempt to post (in chronological order) an entry every Friday. I may or may not add extra commentary to what I jotted down in these journals.

The Dive From Clausen's Pier by Ann Packer

Fiction

2002

Finished on April 10, 2002

Rating: 4.5/5 (Very Good)

Publisher's Blurb: 

A suspenseful, richly layered first novel that asks: How much do we owe the people we love?

The Dive From Clausen's Pier will speak to all those who have ever thought about leaving when they knew they should stay, anyone who has ever felt trapped, not only by circumstance, but by the strength of their own love. Carrie Bell has lived in Wisconsin all her life. She's had the same best friend, the same good relationship with her mother, the same boyfriend, for as long as anyone can remember. But when her fiance, Mike is paralyzed by a tragic accident, Carrie has to question everything she thought she knew about herself and about the meaning of home.

Ann Packer has written a morally complex, deeply satisfying novel about the desire to live fully and the conflict between who we want to be to others and who we must be for ourselves. A magnificent debut from a remarkable new talent.

My Original Thoughts (2002):

Terrific! Couldn't put it down. Felt like I was watching a train wreck, though. Sad and depressing, but I couldn't stop reading. Very engrossing. Excellent dialogue. Complex story of friendship, loyalty, and love. Look forward to future releases by Packer.

My Current Thoughts:

I remember how much I enjoyed this thought-provoking novel. I've only read one other book by Packer (The Children's Crusade), and I thought it was also very good. It seems that both novels were depressing in nature, but I liked both of them well enough to give them high ratings.