Review-Home Safe by Elizabeth Berg

I choose to read Home Safe because I had enjoyed The Day I Ate Whatever I Wanted so much. This review is going to be all over the place because my feelings on the book were all over the place. At the beginning (the first 50 pages or so), it was hard for me to keep reading. Helen just lost her husband and struggles through her grief. I still know what it's like to lose someone close to you. It was a little too painful to hear the same feelings echoed in a book. But I pushed through it and became friends with Helen. Oh, Helen, what a funny little character. Almost like a child. She's lost without her husband, unable to care for her home, make a decision without consulting her friend or her daughter. I'll warn you, Helen does whine and stamp her little foot about being left alone in this world. But she reminded me of me. She may not like it but she'll do after she complains a bit. I enjoyed watching Helen push her boundaries reluctantly.
But my favorite parts were when she talked about books. Helen is a writer and she reads too. You can see Berg's love of books in passages like this:

"She talked, too, about how books educate and inspire, and how they soothe souls-'like comfort food without the calories'." 

Berg goes on about the tactile experience with books (the reason I'm loathe to get a Kindle or Nook). I could feel what it was like in that bookstore, listening to Helen talk about the writing experience.
Overall I enjoyed this book. I'll be reading more of Berg's books. Highly Recommended.
Other reviews can be found at Life In The Thumb, Bibliophile By The Sea, and Redlady's Reading Room.