Wild Ginger by Anchee Min I've always enjoyed reading book about other cultures. I read all of Lisa See's books not too long ago and have since been missing that cultural aspect. So I searched a bit for similar authors and was able to find this author and this book at my local library. I did like that the book took place in the late 60s early 70s in China during the cultural revolution. I liked learning about the cultural and historical aspects of this time period. Overall I wish I had started with another of Min's books because while I liked the writing I didn't particularly enjoy the plot line. A young girl coming of age during this tumultuous time and her only friend at school meet a young man that attempts to help them in this difficult time. Of course a sort of love triangle develops in a culture that does not value love at that time in history. The story was interesting enough and kept me turning the pages but perhaps I had too high expectations since I still found it to be lacking.
The Lolita Effect by M. Gigi Durham This non fiction book has been on my list for some time. The author provides her perspective on the media and it's sexualization of, especially young, girls. The author takes us through reasons why girls are sexualized and various cultural differences around the world. I liked the informative research provided, what I didn't like was that it felt like the whole book was telling us as readers we shouldn't be allowing this instead of accepting the reality we do live in. It seemed to me that she was advocating for radical change rather then education. Then at the end of the book she stated the opposite that she realized the culture and times we lived in but that by being informed users we could make choices as parents and consumers through education. It was a bit of a confusing message at least to me.
Eight Girls Taking Pictures by Whitney Otto- This book was not on my list but I saw the picture of the old camera on the front of the novel and the title and got sucked in to putting it in my bag. I really liked the book but it is advertised as a novel, says it on the front cover, but more so seemed like a collection of short stories to me. In any case each section is narrated by a different character but all have a love of photography in common. The stories are told throughout the 20th century with each woman having to make choices about the sacrifices she will or will not make to further herself in life. I loved reading the different stories from different years and across the globe. I loved the vivid way the author captured each characters story.
"Nothing was fixed. Nothing is any one thing really, and isn't that the beauty of it all?"
Book Four will not be blogged about.
Dupont Circle by Paul Kafka-Gibbons I picked this book up at the library simply based on the title and my recent move. Little did I know when I picked it up how timely it would be for last month. The story is told through many characters voices but all center around a DC family and several of it's members. The oldest member of the family is a judge and his wife has died and he is in need of new company and continuing to advance his career. Another set of characters is his son and his son's partner who want to marry but are not allowed to legally at the time. The judge is hearing a case about gay marriage and has to pass a decision on the case. His son and his son's partner are also the parents to two young children born to his daughter who is unable to care for them due to her prevalent mental illness. While I liked reading the book and hearing about now familiar places to me, since the book was published in 2002 thankfully the gay marriage issue has moved much further forward and hopefully will continue to do so. Because of this though, the book seemed to be timely but is really too far in the past already to be as timely today given how much this issue has changed recently. I liked the book though and do not regret reading it and it served it's purpose as far as why I took it off the shelf to begin with.
Sunday, April 7, 2013
February 5
Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn I have to start by saying I threw this book on the ground when I finished reading it, that's how into I got and how frustrated I was with it. This was the first book I read by this author after repeatedly hearing from others that I must read it. It was very good. I love the author now and really respect her way of writing and leading you as a reader exactly where she wants you to go and think. This story was of a married couple who recently moved back to the husband's hometown leaving behind their former Manhattan lives. It is clear the marriage has become an unhappy one and we begin with the book being narrated by the wife and then start alternating in various sections back and forth between the wife and the husband. The wife goes missing by the end of the first section of the book and the rest of the book takes us back and forth from former days in the relationships to the present day potential murder case. Warning for this book, just as soon as you have it all figured out, guess what, you don't. Flynn is remarkable at moving you along with the book and getting you to think you've solved the mystery and then throwing huge surprising curveballs.
"And it's so far beyond fine that you know you can never go back to fine. That fast. You think: Oh, here is the rest of my life. It's finally arrived."
"Maybe that is what I like best about him, the way he makes me. Not makes me feel, just makes me."
difficult era to be a real perosn, how to be real again
Promises to Keep by Jane Green I'm not certain I understood the plot here. I get it that one of the main characters had cancer and we earn this early on and then continue on with what is happening for her and her family and friends as a result of this. That being said, I didn't feel like the book went anywhere. I understood as a reader that I was following the life of two sisters and some of their women friends. We learned about different choices woman make as far as career and children and family. But I'm still not sure what the author's message was. I like Jane Green and her novels are usually good for a quick light hearted story, but I'm starting to feel like there are a lot of repetitive story lines and not a good clear story being produced in some of the books. May need to take a break from her books.
The Bright Side of Disaster by Katherine Center Really didn't like this book. The writing wasn't bad, or I wouldn't have finished it, but the concept was cool but then went romance novel very quickly. A young woman is pregnant and right before she is due to have the baby the baby's father, her fiance, leaves her. For awhile we watch her pick herself up and enter single motherhood with courage but then the book becomes about her next relationship rather then continuing on with her independence. Not the overall message I was looking for.
Rape A Love Story by Joyce Carol Oates Loved this story. It wasn't an easy read even though it was a quick one. As someone who has heard numerous women's rape stories this fictional woman's story was hard to read through. A woman and her daughter are walking home through a park after a July 4th celebration and she is gang raped by a group of men in her neighborhood. The story tells the aftermath for both the victim and her daughter. Though justice is not served through typical court justice, the story also follows the cop who was a first responder to the scene and how he connects to the victim and her family. I love JCO and her work and this one did not disappoint.
Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn Really growing to like this author. This novel followed a young woman returning home as a journalist after many years of being away. The young woman is a former cutter who used to carve words into her skin. She does not have a good relationship with her mother or her half sibling or step father. Her mother and her have not been able to get along well since her younger sister died many years ago. The main character has to come of age all over again in returning to her childhood roots and having to confront all that she left behind. This story was a little easier to predict then the other novel by the same author that I read, but possibly only because of my own career choices. I really like how Flynn paints the story for us as readers and how difficult it is to put down her books because of that.
"And it's so far beyond fine that you know you can never go back to fine. That fast. You think: Oh, here is the rest of my life. It's finally arrived."
"Maybe that is what I like best about him, the way he makes me. Not makes me feel, just makes me."
difficult era to be a real perosn, how to be real again
Promises to Keep by Jane Green I'm not certain I understood the plot here. I get it that one of the main characters had cancer and we earn this early on and then continue on with what is happening for her and her family and friends as a result of this. That being said, I didn't feel like the book went anywhere. I understood as a reader that I was following the life of two sisters and some of their women friends. We learned about different choices woman make as far as career and children and family. But I'm still not sure what the author's message was. I like Jane Green and her novels are usually good for a quick light hearted story, but I'm starting to feel like there are a lot of repetitive story lines and not a good clear story being produced in some of the books. May need to take a break from her books.
The Bright Side of Disaster by Katherine Center Really didn't like this book. The writing wasn't bad, or I wouldn't have finished it, but the concept was cool but then went romance novel very quickly. A young woman is pregnant and right before she is due to have the baby the baby's father, her fiance, leaves her. For awhile we watch her pick herself up and enter single motherhood with courage but then the book becomes about her next relationship rather then continuing on with her independence. Not the overall message I was looking for.
Rape A Love Story by Joyce Carol Oates Loved this story. It wasn't an easy read even though it was a quick one. As someone who has heard numerous women's rape stories this fictional woman's story was hard to read through. A woman and her daughter are walking home through a park after a July 4th celebration and she is gang raped by a group of men in her neighborhood. The story tells the aftermath for both the victim and her daughter. Though justice is not served through typical court justice, the story also follows the cop who was a first responder to the scene and how he connects to the victim and her family. I love JCO and her work and this one did not disappoint.
Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn Really growing to like this author. This novel followed a young woman returning home as a journalist after many years of being away. The young woman is a former cutter who used to carve words into her skin. She does not have a good relationship with her mother or her half sibling or step father. Her mother and her have not been able to get along well since her younger sister died many years ago. The main character has to come of age all over again in returning to her childhood roots and having to confront all that she left behind. This story was a little easier to predict then the other novel by the same author that I read, but possibly only because of my own career choices. I really like how Flynn paints the story for us as readers and how difficult it is to put down her books because of that.
Saturday, April 6, 2013
January-6
The Group by Mary McCarthy This book was referred to in another book I was reading and I got curious about it. It tells the story of 8 women who recently graduated from college in the 1930s and shows the paths their lives begin to take. I found it to be an excellent piece of feminist literature and quite shocking for it's intended audience as it was published in the early 60s. I really related to the women each trying to find their own path and see where their lives would take them. Each of them in their own way had their own hopes and dreams and they were living in a time where it wasn't an easy task to get those wants met. It was odd to read about women in a much different era but facing many of the same issues today's women face. It was easy to relate to the idea of wanting to keep your college friends but getting lost in your career, marriage, and family choices. It was also sad to read about the challenges they faced and the loses that they endured. Overall I'm certain it didn't have the impact on me that it would have had if I had been around to read it when it was first released, but I still found it to be a great read. I also see the influence it has had on other writers who write about women's friendships throughout the life course and how they grow and change.
This is how You Lose Her by Junot Diaz This is a collection of short stories all following the main character, Yunior. There are 9 short stories all telling of/about love. The author shares stories of family love, love for one's country of origin, romantic love, and the mistakes sometimes made in romantic love and the consequences those mistakes can have. The book was a little too vulgar for my taste at times but I appreciated that it wasn't vulgar for the sake of being vulgar but as a way to explore the main character in a real way. There were stories I liked better than others but throughout I liked the authors writing style. I also think the book started strong and ended strong but I got lost a little in the middle stories. I also think since 8 of the 9 stories included the main character and the other one hinted at his involvement in the story, the book may have been better as a sequential novel rather than a fragmented short story book. The stories jumped around a bit and made it a little confusing. That being said I liked the authors style and added his other two books to my to read list.
"Okay, we didn't work, and all memories to tell you the truth aren't good. But sometimes there were good times. Love was good. I loved your crooked sleep beside me and never dreamed afraid. There should be stars for great wars like ours." Sandra Cisneros opening quote
"Ana Iris once asked me if I loved him and I told her about the lights in my old home in the capital, how they flickered and you never knew if they would go out or not. You put down your things and you waited and couldn't do anything really until the lights decided. This, I told her, is how I feel."
No One is Here Except All of Us by Ramona Ausubel This was an excellent book. I've gotten quite behind on my blog writing but even 3 months later I still vividly remember this book. The author narrates in such a detailed way it would be difficult to forget. The story is of an isolated Jewish town in Romania starting during WWII. The town reinvents itself in order to keep the bigger world out and is successful at doing so for some time. Eventually the two worlds collide though and the main characters face many hardships and challenges. The writing in this book was excellent and I am sad this was the author's first novel as I don't have other books of hers yet to add to my "to read" list.
The Silver Linings Playbook by Matthew Quick I only added this book to my never ending "to read" list after seeing the movie. I happened upon the movie by chance and I absolutely loved it and saw how it would make a great book. I think this is the first time in a long time that I liked a movie more than the book it was based on! The book is more or less the same storyline of the movie but with some key differences that really change the tone of the novel. The story still revolves around a 30 something year old man with Bipolar disorder that is getting out of a mental institution. There is still a love story in the middle of it all and also the story of the man reintegrating into society after his life has had such a dramatic change. The title is made more clear in the book and the family dynamics are explored much more as well. Overall the book wasn't bad and if I hadn't had such a great experience with the movie it may have met my expectations but since I was really counting on it being great it just didn't satisfy me as much as the trumped up Hollywood version did.
Swimming Home by Deborah Levy This book confused me. I guess it was passed on a story from some years ago and may have had more meaning if I had known what it was based on. The story follows a family visiting France and is told through several of the main characters voices. There is a young girl who is the daughter of a couple and then several neighbors and friends staying with the family. There is also a young woman who is involved in each of their lives. It was a short read but a bit confusing to follow and I'm not entirely sure what message the author was trying to convey was.
Birds of a Lesser Paradise by Megan Mayhew Bergman This book is a collection of short stories with human characters as narrators but each story has animal characters as well which are important to each story in a unique way. The human characters are struggling and sharing their stories of the struggle they are facing. The animal characters are important to each story and for some stories bring in some happiness where there is only sadness. The reader learns unique facts about the animals as we are learning about the human characters and making connections of similarities. As both a book lover and animal lover this book was such a great read for me. It was also the first time in awhile that I read a book of short stories where I felt the author did a good job of closing the stories individually. For the most part each story had the right amount of writing to get you interested but also to give you closure where you weren't constantly looking elsewhere in the book for the character's chapter to return to be closed in a better way.
"I want to fix everything. I want him to know nothing but gentle landings. I don't want him to know that people like Louis's mom exist, that people fall into land mines of pain and can't crawl back out."
"Mother's, I believe, intoxicate us. We idolize them and take them for granted. We hate them and blame them and exalt them more thoroughly than anyone else in our lives. We sift through the evidence of their love, reassure ourselves of their affection and its biological genesis. We can steal and lie and leave and they will love us."
This is how You Lose Her by Junot Diaz This is a collection of short stories all following the main character, Yunior. There are 9 short stories all telling of/about love. The author shares stories of family love, love for one's country of origin, romantic love, and the mistakes sometimes made in romantic love and the consequences those mistakes can have. The book was a little too vulgar for my taste at times but I appreciated that it wasn't vulgar for the sake of being vulgar but as a way to explore the main character in a real way. There were stories I liked better than others but throughout I liked the authors writing style. I also think the book started strong and ended strong but I got lost a little in the middle stories. I also think since 8 of the 9 stories included the main character and the other one hinted at his involvement in the story, the book may have been better as a sequential novel rather than a fragmented short story book. The stories jumped around a bit and made it a little confusing. That being said I liked the authors style and added his other two books to my to read list.
"Okay, we didn't work, and all memories to tell you the truth aren't good. But sometimes there were good times. Love was good. I loved your crooked sleep beside me and never dreamed afraid. There should be stars for great wars like ours." Sandra Cisneros opening quote
"Ana Iris once asked me if I loved him and I told her about the lights in my old home in the capital, how they flickered and you never knew if they would go out or not. You put down your things and you waited and couldn't do anything really until the lights decided. This, I told her, is how I feel."
No One is Here Except All of Us by Ramona Ausubel This was an excellent book. I've gotten quite behind on my blog writing but even 3 months later I still vividly remember this book. The author narrates in such a detailed way it would be difficult to forget. The story is of an isolated Jewish town in Romania starting during WWII. The town reinvents itself in order to keep the bigger world out and is successful at doing so for some time. Eventually the two worlds collide though and the main characters face many hardships and challenges. The writing in this book was excellent and I am sad this was the author's first novel as I don't have other books of hers yet to add to my "to read" list.
The Silver Linings Playbook by Matthew Quick I only added this book to my never ending "to read" list after seeing the movie. I happened upon the movie by chance and I absolutely loved it and saw how it would make a great book. I think this is the first time in a long time that I liked a movie more than the book it was based on! The book is more or less the same storyline of the movie but with some key differences that really change the tone of the novel. The story still revolves around a 30 something year old man with Bipolar disorder that is getting out of a mental institution. There is still a love story in the middle of it all and also the story of the man reintegrating into society after his life has had such a dramatic change. The title is made more clear in the book and the family dynamics are explored much more as well. Overall the book wasn't bad and if I hadn't had such a great experience with the movie it may have met my expectations but since I was really counting on it being great it just didn't satisfy me as much as the trumped up Hollywood version did.
Swimming Home by Deborah Levy This book confused me. I guess it was passed on a story from some years ago and may have had more meaning if I had known what it was based on. The story follows a family visiting France and is told through several of the main characters voices. There is a young girl who is the daughter of a couple and then several neighbors and friends staying with the family. There is also a young woman who is involved in each of their lives. It was a short read but a bit confusing to follow and I'm not entirely sure what message the author was trying to convey was.
Birds of a Lesser Paradise by Megan Mayhew Bergman This book is a collection of short stories with human characters as narrators but each story has animal characters as well which are important to each story in a unique way. The human characters are struggling and sharing their stories of the struggle they are facing. The animal characters are important to each story and for some stories bring in some happiness where there is only sadness. The reader learns unique facts about the animals as we are learning about the human characters and making connections of similarities. As both a book lover and animal lover this book was such a great read for me. It was also the first time in awhile that I read a book of short stories where I felt the author did a good job of closing the stories individually. For the most part each story had the right amount of writing to get you interested but also to give you closure where you weren't constantly looking elsewhere in the book for the character's chapter to return to be closed in a better way.
"I want to fix everything. I want him to know nothing but gentle landings. I don't want him to know that people like Louis's mom exist, that people fall into land mines of pain and can't crawl back out."
"Mother's, I believe, intoxicate us. We idolize them and take them for granted. We hate them and blame them and exalt them more thoroughly than anyone else in our lives. We sift through the evidence of their love, reassure ourselves of their affection and its biological genesis. We can steal and lie and leave and they will love us."
Saturday, January 12, 2013
2012- 77
Well year end update: November/December were very disappointing numbers but I must say I started a new job and I'm not that surprised I had so little time to read. Hopefully 2013 will start off on a better reading note. This year has been full of so much change. Change that has also affected all my reading. I have fallen in love with my new city, but have yet to fall in love with any of the libraries it has to offer *sigh* But I'm making do with what I have and I'm thankful for where I am now after all this adjusting and changing.
In looking back over the list of all the books I read this year I read a lot of series: The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, The Hunger Games, The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. I also read a lot of "Jewish" stories, Unorthodox, The Outside World, The Ladies Auxiliary, The Jew Store. I always love looking back over the list and seeing the stories that really stuck with me, The Submission (a 9/11 memorial story), The Night Circus (such a visual story, and one I hope to see made into a movie), The Language of Flowers (a unique story), I Know this Much is True (a family dealing with mental health issues novel), Amaryllis in Blueberry (A great new author I had never read before), Between Shades of Gray (A Lithuanian novel that took me back to my roots). I seem to have repeated authors a lot too, Lisa See, Deborah Copaken Kogan, Joyce Carol Oates, Lionel Shriver, Tova Mirvis, Christina Meldrum, Jane Green, Marisa de los Santos, J Courtney Sullivan, Rebecca Miller.
Overall I'll take the 77, it's a way better number then last year and although there are some I might trade out for better books I think overall I read a good combination of light hearted books and heavier novels. 2013 may see me as more of a book buyer then borrower but no matter where I get the books from, I'll continue to always have a book on me no matter where I am...
-L
December 2
The Jew Store by Stella Suberman Great true story of the only Jews in a small southern community in the 1920s. This story shared by the youngest daughter of the family shares her parents background and how they came to own a "Jew Store" in the community she was raised in. The story had many interesting stories from the authors childhood but was not quite what I expected to be reading about. Also throughout the story the author references an incident she will get to later as though there is a major plot twist to be expected. This turn did not end up happening until very close to the end and was given only a few paragraphs of space which seemed odd given the build up. Overall not a bad read but I'm still a little confused on what the overall message of the book was meant to be.
So Much for That by Lionel Shriver This is the story of a man who has always dreamed of retiring early in life and moving away to an amazing place with his wife. Through circumstance his big dream has never come to be. The day he decides to make it happen no matter what, and buys plane tickets for himself, his wife, and his high school age son, he shares his plan with his wife only to find out that she needs him to stay because she needs his insurance due to being diagnosed with a rare cancer. For whatever reason it always takes me a minute to get into this authors books but I always end up really liking what I find when I stick with it. This story shared what happens in families when things don't always go the way you want/think/hope they will. There was also an interesting political background in how the health care system fails and how employers really hold such a key to our family members care. This was also compared to other cultures and what they value and how things can be different in other parts of the world. Overall a great book with some odd twists and turns but with an amazing ending that did a good job closing the characters story lines.
So Much for That by Lionel Shriver This is the story of a man who has always dreamed of retiring early in life and moving away to an amazing place with his wife. Through circumstance his big dream has never come to be. The day he decides to make it happen no matter what, and buys plane tickets for himself, his wife, and his high school age son, he shares his plan with his wife only to find out that she needs him to stay because she needs his insurance due to being diagnosed with a rare cancer. For whatever reason it always takes me a minute to get into this authors books but I always end up really liking what I find when I stick with it. This story shared what happens in families when things don't always go the way you want/think/hope they will. There was also an interesting political background in how the health care system fails and how employers really hold such a key to our family members care. This was also compared to other cultures and what they value and how things can be different in other parts of the world. Overall a great book with some odd twists and turns but with an amazing ending that did a good job closing the characters story lines.
Thursday, January 3, 2013
November 3
My Husband's Sweethearts by Bridget Asher
This was an interesting plot line. A woman who's husband cheated on her returns home to take care of him as he is suffering from a terminal illness. The first night she returns home she drinks too much and decides she shouldn't have to do this alone and calls all his ex girlfriends to let them know he is dying and they need to come help too. It's a really funny first few chapters as the mess gets sorted out but some of the exes do show up to say their goodbyes and get their closure. Which leads to lots of stories along the way of both ways that the husband helped and hindered their lives. The woman also realizes her husband has a grown son whom she and he have never met but that he has been sending money to all his life. He now as part of his dying wish wants to meet this son. I liked the unique story line which is what originally draw me to this light hearted book, but I didn't like the romance novel turn it took very quickly and predictably. Overall though it was an easy quick read with lots of laughs.
Some quotes I liked from the book: "There is a blurry line between love and hate." "Sometimes it's hard to figure out what happens when your eyes are wide open." "...because women know how to survive. It's what we do. We have more inner strength, and all those years that men thought they were superior, it wasn't true. It was something we allowed them to believe, because they're weak. And then women's lib came along- and don't get me wrong, I love women's lib- but they messed up the whole charade." "Well, they say I tried to fix them or change them and that I made a promise to them, and the promise is what would make their lives better. The promises made them feel, well, safe, for example. And when I failed them or betrayed them, they ended up with two problems instead of one or I made the one problem worse. It's always complicated." "We are the stories we tell and stories we don't tell." "The difference between breaking down and breaking open is sometimes so slight it's imperceptible." "And sometimes you can be brought back to yourself, whole"
Commencement by J. Courtney Sullivan
This is a story of four women who met in college and what happens after graduation as they move forward into the "real world." It was an interesting story, with each chapter switching between one of the four main characters as narrators. The women are all very different and I'm not certain if they would have become friends anywhere other then in a fictional world. But perhaps just having a small all female college in common is enough to form a bond even among unlike characters. Throughout the book even as the characters have less and less in common as they mature into adults, they still stick by their original friendships. Through weddings and pregnancies and major life events we get to go back in the past and see how the friendships formed and we also see in the present how "bonded for life" the women are.
Some quotes I liked from the book: "With the Smithies, it was different. There was sometimes no telling where one of them began and the others left off."
"Sometimes April worried that she'd been built without some fundamental piece that everyone else had that just let them deal... But the evil in the world, everywhere you looked, was always on April's mind"
"They recognized that they were the first generation of women whose struggle with choice had nothing to do with getting it and everything to do with having too much of it- there were so many options that it felt impossible and exhausting to pick the right ones."
"It amazed her how chemical a feeling love could be, how it could take hold of you even when you had come to despise its object."
Where We Belong by Emily Giffin
This is the story of a woman in her mid 30s with a great career but still working on her love life. And the story of an almost 18 year old woman trying to figure out where she came from. The older woman has kept a secret from everyone in her life, except her mother, about having a child and giving that child away in her teens. Needless to say the 18 year old turns out to be her daughter and the story goes back and forth between the two women as narrators sharing their unique coming of age stories. I liked the mostly realistic story line of the this novel and the focus on the two main female characters. I didn't like some of the romance novelish stuff that got thrown in towards the end. Overall though I think the author did a good job sharing a storyline that hasn't been explored that much. I've read a lot of non-fiction on adoption stories and seen a bit on finding birth parents later in life, but this fictionalized story brought out real emotion in a fictional setting.
This was an interesting plot line. A woman who's husband cheated on her returns home to take care of him as he is suffering from a terminal illness. The first night she returns home she drinks too much and decides she shouldn't have to do this alone and calls all his ex girlfriends to let them know he is dying and they need to come help too. It's a really funny first few chapters as the mess gets sorted out but some of the exes do show up to say their goodbyes and get their closure. Which leads to lots of stories along the way of both ways that the husband helped and hindered their lives. The woman also realizes her husband has a grown son whom she and he have never met but that he has been sending money to all his life. He now as part of his dying wish wants to meet this son. I liked the unique story line which is what originally draw me to this light hearted book, but I didn't like the romance novel turn it took very quickly and predictably. Overall though it was an easy quick read with lots of laughs.
Some quotes I liked from the book: "There is a blurry line between love and hate." "Sometimes it's hard to figure out what happens when your eyes are wide open." "...because women know how to survive. It's what we do. We have more inner strength, and all those years that men thought they were superior, it wasn't true. It was something we allowed them to believe, because they're weak. And then women's lib came along- and don't get me wrong, I love women's lib- but they messed up the whole charade." "Well, they say I tried to fix them or change them and that I made a promise to them, and the promise is what would make their lives better. The promises made them feel, well, safe, for example. And when I failed them or betrayed them, they ended up with two problems instead of one or I made the one problem worse. It's always complicated." "We are the stories we tell and stories we don't tell." "The difference between breaking down and breaking open is sometimes so slight it's imperceptible." "And sometimes you can be brought back to yourself, whole"
Commencement by J. Courtney Sullivan
This is a story of four women who met in college and what happens after graduation as they move forward into the "real world." It was an interesting story, with each chapter switching between one of the four main characters as narrators. The women are all very different and I'm not certain if they would have become friends anywhere other then in a fictional world. But perhaps just having a small all female college in common is enough to form a bond even among unlike characters. Throughout the book even as the characters have less and less in common as they mature into adults, they still stick by their original friendships. Through weddings and pregnancies and major life events we get to go back in the past and see how the friendships formed and we also see in the present how "bonded for life" the women are.
Some quotes I liked from the book: "With the Smithies, it was different. There was sometimes no telling where one of them began and the others left off."
"Sometimes April worried that she'd been built without some fundamental piece that everyone else had that just let them deal... But the evil in the world, everywhere you looked, was always on April's mind"
"They recognized that they were the first generation of women whose struggle with choice had nothing to do with getting it and everything to do with having too much of it- there were so many options that it felt impossible and exhausting to pick the right ones."
"It amazed her how chemical a feeling love could be, how it could take hold of you even when you had come to despise its object."
Where We Belong by Emily Giffin
This is the story of a woman in her mid 30s with a great career but still working on her love life. And the story of an almost 18 year old woman trying to figure out where she came from. The older woman has kept a secret from everyone in her life, except her mother, about having a child and giving that child away in her teens. Needless to say the 18 year old turns out to be her daughter and the story goes back and forth between the two women as narrators sharing their unique coming of age stories. I liked the mostly realistic story line of the this novel and the focus on the two main female characters. I didn't like some of the romance novelish stuff that got thrown in towards the end. Overall though I think the author did a good job sharing a storyline that hasn't been explored that much. I've read a lot of non-fiction on adoption stories and seen a bit on finding birth parents later in life, but this fictionalized story brought out real emotion in a fictional setting.
Sunday, November 4, 2012
October 11
Growing Up Amish by Ira Wagler
We recently got hooked on a TV show on the National Geographic Channel called Amish Out of Order. From there we heard about this book, as the author was on an episode. I, like I suppose a lot of the outside world, am fascinated with the Amish. I used to think this was unique to me since I grew up in a state that had a lot of them in it, but I think we are all fascinated with them because of how different they are and are able to remain. Recently though I keep learning all these things about them that don't really fit the picture I used to have. While I'm still torn on what to think of them as a culture, I continue to want to read and watch everything I see out there about them. This book is a true story of one man's continued struggle to leave the only community he ever knew. He first leaves at age 16 and continues to struggle with finding his identity and coming back and forth with his family/religion/community. He even gets baptized in his church but still struggles to accept that this is his faith. The book shares his journey with the reader and ends on a happy note with him finding himself after so many sad years of struggle. It wasn't quite what I expected, I thought the book would be more about after he left the amish what happened, but it was mostly telling of his upbringing and his struggle to decide what he wanted for himself in life. I appreciated the honesty though and his clearly thought out story.
Hell is Other Parents by Deborah Copaken Kogan
I really like this author, she's a newer find for me and I love her fiction books. This was an interesting non fiction look at her own life as a mother and sharing stories of interesting things that have happened as a parent. She's a great writer and I was certainly entertained with her sharing the most unique moments in her families life but collectively I'm just not sure of the audience of this book. Mothers? People who like this author? I don't know maybe I couldn't relate on some level not being a mother but while I found the chapters entertaining, I just wasn't sure of the message the book was trying to convey.
Maine by J Courtney Sullivan
I'm torn on this book. I liked the style of the writing and the concept of the plot. A summer house in Maine, four generations of women, told from different views of the women family members. I liked the strong female characters. I liked too that it was an Irish Catholic Alcoholic family, this may be a strange thing to say but I enjoy books with addiction themes. That being said the characters didn't really go anywhere. They spent the majority of the book in the same place and then at the very end took one or two tiny steps forward. The ending was also slightly confusing though I think the author strongly suggested what was happening, it wasn't entirely clear or for certain so I could be way wrong. The first character we meet is the oldest member of the family, the grandmother who's husband won the property in a bet many years ago and has been coming to the house for many many years. She has 3 adult children, 2 girls and a boy. One of the girls is another narrator. She lives in California far away from her family by choice and continues to work on who she is outside of her family. Her adult daughter is another narrator, in her early 30s living in New York and having recently found out she is pregnant after also recently breaking up with her boyfriend (the baby's father). The last narrator is the son's wife who married into the family, but never felt good enough for them. We hear from all 4 and learn about the unique things that make them them. An interesting part of the book is that with each chapter you get a different narrator and in each chapter you see the positive qualities of that character but then in the next 3 chapters before you get to hear from that character again, you hear all the negatives about them and decide to dislike the character. This was the part I didn't like. You weren't really rooting for anyone. When they were speaking they seemed strong and then when everyone else was you saw all their weaknesses and faults and in ways that you couldn't ignore by the time you got back to their voice. I've already picked up another book by this author though to give her another chance because her writing style was unique and the book was far from predictable and I did keep turning the pages.
A quote I liked from the book " "It would be a different story if you didn't let them get under your skin like you do, but they seem to make you so stressed," he'd said. "Around your family, you never act like yourself." "I know," she replied, though sometimes she feared the opposite was true, that her real self was that dark, angry one she had shoved in a box years ago, the one that emerged only when she was home." "
The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest by Stieg Larsson *sigh* I'm so sad this series is over. Especially because this isn't the last book in the trilogy because that's what the author wanted but because he died and couldn't continue the characters moving forward. These books were difficult to get into, each of the three was a struggle to start but then once you get into it there is no putting it down. I love love love the strong female main character who is so unique. In this book she finally gets resolution to the atrocities that have been committed against her since her childhood. We finally get some new characters on her side and that help her with her murder trial. She finally gets to exact the revenge she has been seeking out for such a long time. And it's done in such a clever and skillful way by the author. I liked too that although there were romantic story lines in each of the three books, they weren't the main focus and the conclusion of the series was about the characters not their love lives. Each character ended in a way unique and good to them and not about having fallen in love with someone who fixed everything. Each character really stood on their own two feet even if/when they did have others around them. I wish their were more books to read and I also wish they had been easier to get into because although I stuck with them, I'm certain many people put them down pretty easily and never got to read about such an amazing character and a really cool plot line.
The Next Best Thing by Jennifer Weiner I really like Weiner for light hearted reads that share unique stories and make me fall for and root for a usually down main character who would not normally be the character you root for. However, some of her recent work since she got some movie/tv deals has not been as good as her earlier work. I keep looking each year with her new novels for the same feelings I got curled up with her first books and each year I finish the book without really getting that same feeling anymore. This one was about an adult orphan physically scarred main character who moved to Hollywood with her grandmother in her early 20s. She and her grandmother are super close since her parents died when she was very young. She moves to Hollywood to be a screen writer and we as the reader get to follow her a few years after they've arrived when her dreams are starting to come through. Of course though Hollywood doesn't allow her to do her show her way and she learns lessons along the way about love, beauty, and having your own voice. I loved the closeness of the main character and her grandma, definitely made me miss my grandmothers. I like how Weiner never gives you a 5'8'' 100lb blond hair blued eyed female lead, always give you someone you wouldn't quite expect. I didn't like the predictability of the romance in the book. I didn't like too that the character didn't grow anywhere you didn't expect her to. She went exactly where you knew she would right from the beginning.
Up High in Trees by Kiara Brinkman
Hmm I'm not sure where to start on this one. The story was told all in very very short sections that were to be linked together. It's the story of a young (autistic?) boy who's mother tragically and suddenly dies and how he and his father struggle to get through the loss. He has two older siblings that are much more independent but he struggles with their loss in unique ways. The story was published in 2007 but takes place in the 90s and has lots of conversation of the political times then and election going on. The reader is never told if main character Sebastian is autistic but we are given signs pointing that way and clues to make us believe that's a part of the story. I read the book in an afternoon because it did suck you in and make you want to see what happened, but after putting it down I just wasn't all that sure what I had just read. What was the author trying to share with the reader?
Diary of a Wombat by Jackie French
Okay I'm not sure if I should count this or not but I'm gonna. I read this book and a bookstore/bar. Yes you read that right, my new city has a bookstore that has a bar in the back how awesome is that! So as we were standing there drinking surrounded by books (a pretty cool combination for me) I saw this picture book on the shelf. I immediately thought it was a new book by the same author as Diary of a Worm I quickly realized it was not but still read through it and found it to be a cute story. I loved Diary of a Worm, first reading it to a little girl I babysat for many years ago. I loved it so much that whenever we had story time I tried to convince her it was one she wanted to hear. It was such a cute story. Wombat was more or less similar in taking you through some funny moments in the Wombat's life. I also think kids would just get a kick out of continuing to say the word "wombat" it's a fun word to say. Cute children's book, and since leaving a job at the library a few years ago, I don't get nearly enough chances to read children's books anymore so I was thrilled just to have read one.
Love Walked In by Marisa de los Santos
Okay so last month I read the book Belong to Me by this same author. It turned out after I read it that there was a book before that one with some of the same characters. Belong to Me was about main character Cornelia and her life with her husband in suburbia. Love Walked In was about how Cornelia met Clare and also wound up with her husband. The story is told alternately from Cornelia and Clare's perspectives. Cornelia meets and falls for a handsome man that is a look a like for Cary Grant, and as a film buff that seems to be a huge factor of her falling for him. Clare is 11 years old and sees her mom start to unravel but isn't sure what to do about it. She calls her father, who is not with her mother or really much a part of their lives, for help but he more or less ignores her call for help. She then has to take care of herself and try hard not to let anyone know that anything is wrong with her mother. Then her mother disappears and Clare is unsure what to do. Meanwhile Cornelia is working on her new relationship and continuing to try to decide what she wants from life in general. Their paths connect and both lives are changed forever. I really like this author and was sad this was the last book of hers I haven't read. I liked this story although there were a few parts of the story that disappointed me, don't want to give away the surprises though. And even though I was originally upset to be reading this "out of order" there were enough surprises about the characters and how they came to be the people they were in the next book that I got over the fact that I hadn't read this one first pretty quickly.
The Beach House by Jane Green
I like this author because you can count on a good story with characters the reader easily falls for and gets invested in. That being said this particular book of hers was not one of my favorites. I did get invested in the characters but a lot of what happened was pretty predictable and then the stuff that wasn't, was very unrealistic. This is the story of a beach house in Nantucket that becomes one of the main characters year round house. She starts to run out of money and rents out rooms in her home for the summer. We meet the characters who will end up in the rooms much before the summer they arrive and get invested in their stories as well. Nan, the main character who owns the house, lost her husband when her son was only a small child and raised him as a single parent. She is a quirky 65 year old woman who lives on the island year round. Her son Michael is in his early 40s and has yet to settle down, never able to find the right woman. He ends up in an affair with his married boss and quits his job and returns to Nantucket for the summer. There is also a married couple with two small girls who have a major struggle going on in their marriage as each of them works on figuring out who they are individually and where they come from. Lastly there is a family of a recently divorced couple with a troubled teenage daughter who is struggling with her parents divorce. The father cheated on the mother but the daughter does not know this. She wants to move in with her father to get away from her mother, who she blames for the divorce, and so her mother takes off for the island for the month of August to rediscover herself. This book has a good enough plot and had some good potential but it just never really went anywhere that interesting. Still this author is good for light hearted reads.
Madapple by Christina Meldrum I really like this author, I hope she writes more. This book was marketed as young adult but I'm not entirely certain why, it read more or less like an adult novel. It had similar themes to the first book of her's I read, Amaryllis in Blueberry, religion, non traditional beliefs, family secrets, legal systems, etc. It took a minute to get into the novel as she has such a unique writing style but she does instantly grab your attention you just have to wait a few chapters to keep your attention. This one was written also in future/past tense as each chapter was from the past events that occurred but between the chapters, and at the very start of the book, readers got to read a transcript of the court trial taking place. The story is of a young girl who's mother dies and leaves behind many secrets for her to discover after having been sheltered all her life. She turns to the only family she knows and thinks she can trust but very quickly learns her situation has gotten much worse and not better. As a reader reading the court transcripts in between chapters it is very easy to side immediately with the young main character. Since we aren't actually in the courtroom and just given court room scenes it's much harder to not have an opinion very quickly on her innocence in everything she is charged with and to hope that everything will get resolved as it should. The thing this book made me think about too was that in a court case there is a lot of objecting going on and then the jury is supposed to "strike" from memory questions or answers or whatever. I started getting confused and in the early parts of the story went back and forth a little on what had happened, even though I had just read in a narrative about what had happened and knew what the truth was unlike the jury. Meldrum seems to be very educated on various religions and seems to struggle to connect truths and also involve spirituality. As a reader she takes us on a fun journey of discovery and education that makes it hard to put the book down. Really wish she had more novels for me to devour as quickly as I did these two.
The Private Lives of Pippa Lee by Rebecca Miller Perhaps I should be waiting a few more days to write this as I just finished this one last night, and it might need some time to be digested. I don't know though, this write is well liked by many and now she has some films and what not. I just don't always get her I guess. Maybe she and I just don't click but for some reason I keep feeling this need to read her books... This book was about the main character, Pippa Lee. Pippa is in her 50s and recently moved into a retirement village with her octogenarian husband. The book is divided into four parts, the first part explains the move and what is currently happening. The second part goes back into her childhood and shows themes of mother daughter relationships, addictions, etc. The third part goes back to the present day but as a reader you now have new info on the character. The last part concludes the book. I really liked the very very ending but the chapters leading to the end I did not like. And maybe that's not the right way to say it, I might more so mean I just didn't understand the choices the author made. I will say that to the authors credit what you expect to get from her books you usually do not, but in a good way. You get surprise story changes and themes you did not expect perhaps. I think this book was about the aging process and life choices we make, about being true to yourself (though that constantly changes throughout the life process), and about family relationships (especially mother daughter) A quote I really liked:
"Poor girl, she didn't know what sickness had been passed to her through the women in her family. Mother to daughter in a line as long as Pippa had lived, and maybe farther, maybe past Grandma Sally, to Sally's mother, and her mother before her; the chain of misunderstandings and adjustments, each daughter trying to make up for her mother's lacks and getting it wrong the opposite way. Some families were cursed like that."
We recently got hooked on a TV show on the National Geographic Channel called Amish Out of Order. From there we heard about this book, as the author was on an episode. I, like I suppose a lot of the outside world, am fascinated with the Amish. I used to think this was unique to me since I grew up in a state that had a lot of them in it, but I think we are all fascinated with them because of how different they are and are able to remain. Recently though I keep learning all these things about them that don't really fit the picture I used to have. While I'm still torn on what to think of them as a culture, I continue to want to read and watch everything I see out there about them. This book is a true story of one man's continued struggle to leave the only community he ever knew. He first leaves at age 16 and continues to struggle with finding his identity and coming back and forth with his family/religion/community. He even gets baptized in his church but still struggles to accept that this is his faith. The book shares his journey with the reader and ends on a happy note with him finding himself after so many sad years of struggle. It wasn't quite what I expected, I thought the book would be more about after he left the amish what happened, but it was mostly telling of his upbringing and his struggle to decide what he wanted for himself in life. I appreciated the honesty though and his clearly thought out story.
Hell is Other Parents by Deborah Copaken Kogan
I really like this author, she's a newer find for me and I love her fiction books. This was an interesting non fiction look at her own life as a mother and sharing stories of interesting things that have happened as a parent. She's a great writer and I was certainly entertained with her sharing the most unique moments in her families life but collectively I'm just not sure of the audience of this book. Mothers? People who like this author? I don't know maybe I couldn't relate on some level not being a mother but while I found the chapters entertaining, I just wasn't sure of the message the book was trying to convey.
Maine by J Courtney Sullivan
I'm torn on this book. I liked the style of the writing and the concept of the plot. A summer house in Maine, four generations of women, told from different views of the women family members. I liked the strong female characters. I liked too that it was an Irish Catholic Alcoholic family, this may be a strange thing to say but I enjoy books with addiction themes. That being said the characters didn't really go anywhere. They spent the majority of the book in the same place and then at the very end took one or two tiny steps forward. The ending was also slightly confusing though I think the author strongly suggested what was happening, it wasn't entirely clear or for certain so I could be way wrong. The first character we meet is the oldest member of the family, the grandmother who's husband won the property in a bet many years ago and has been coming to the house for many many years. She has 3 adult children, 2 girls and a boy. One of the girls is another narrator. She lives in California far away from her family by choice and continues to work on who she is outside of her family. Her adult daughter is another narrator, in her early 30s living in New York and having recently found out she is pregnant after also recently breaking up with her boyfriend (the baby's father). The last narrator is the son's wife who married into the family, but never felt good enough for them. We hear from all 4 and learn about the unique things that make them them. An interesting part of the book is that with each chapter you get a different narrator and in each chapter you see the positive qualities of that character but then in the next 3 chapters before you get to hear from that character again, you hear all the negatives about them and decide to dislike the character. This was the part I didn't like. You weren't really rooting for anyone. When they were speaking they seemed strong and then when everyone else was you saw all their weaknesses and faults and in ways that you couldn't ignore by the time you got back to their voice. I've already picked up another book by this author though to give her another chance because her writing style was unique and the book was far from predictable and I did keep turning the pages.
A quote I liked from the book " "It would be a different story if you didn't let them get under your skin like you do, but they seem to make you so stressed," he'd said. "Around your family, you never act like yourself." "I know," she replied, though sometimes she feared the opposite was true, that her real self was that dark, angry one she had shoved in a box years ago, the one that emerged only when she was home." "
The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest by Stieg Larsson *sigh* I'm so sad this series is over. Especially because this isn't the last book in the trilogy because that's what the author wanted but because he died and couldn't continue the characters moving forward. These books were difficult to get into, each of the three was a struggle to start but then once you get into it there is no putting it down. I love love love the strong female main character who is so unique. In this book she finally gets resolution to the atrocities that have been committed against her since her childhood. We finally get some new characters on her side and that help her with her murder trial. She finally gets to exact the revenge she has been seeking out for such a long time. And it's done in such a clever and skillful way by the author. I liked too that although there were romantic story lines in each of the three books, they weren't the main focus and the conclusion of the series was about the characters not their love lives. Each character ended in a way unique and good to them and not about having fallen in love with someone who fixed everything. Each character really stood on their own two feet even if/when they did have others around them. I wish their were more books to read and I also wish they had been easier to get into because although I stuck with them, I'm certain many people put them down pretty easily and never got to read about such an amazing character and a really cool plot line.
The Next Best Thing by Jennifer Weiner I really like Weiner for light hearted reads that share unique stories and make me fall for and root for a usually down main character who would not normally be the character you root for. However, some of her recent work since she got some movie/tv deals has not been as good as her earlier work. I keep looking each year with her new novels for the same feelings I got curled up with her first books and each year I finish the book without really getting that same feeling anymore. This one was about an adult orphan physically scarred main character who moved to Hollywood with her grandmother in her early 20s. She and her grandmother are super close since her parents died when she was very young. She moves to Hollywood to be a screen writer and we as the reader get to follow her a few years after they've arrived when her dreams are starting to come through. Of course though Hollywood doesn't allow her to do her show her way and she learns lessons along the way about love, beauty, and having your own voice. I loved the closeness of the main character and her grandma, definitely made me miss my grandmothers. I like how Weiner never gives you a 5'8'' 100lb blond hair blued eyed female lead, always give you someone you wouldn't quite expect. I didn't like the predictability of the romance in the book. I didn't like too that the character didn't grow anywhere you didn't expect her to. She went exactly where you knew she would right from the beginning.
Up High in Trees by Kiara Brinkman
Hmm I'm not sure where to start on this one. The story was told all in very very short sections that were to be linked together. It's the story of a young (autistic?) boy who's mother tragically and suddenly dies and how he and his father struggle to get through the loss. He has two older siblings that are much more independent but he struggles with their loss in unique ways. The story was published in 2007 but takes place in the 90s and has lots of conversation of the political times then and election going on. The reader is never told if main character Sebastian is autistic but we are given signs pointing that way and clues to make us believe that's a part of the story. I read the book in an afternoon because it did suck you in and make you want to see what happened, but after putting it down I just wasn't all that sure what I had just read. What was the author trying to share with the reader?
Diary of a Wombat by Jackie French
Okay I'm not sure if I should count this or not but I'm gonna. I read this book and a bookstore/bar. Yes you read that right, my new city has a bookstore that has a bar in the back how awesome is that! So as we were standing there drinking surrounded by books (a pretty cool combination for me) I saw this picture book on the shelf. I immediately thought it was a new book by the same author as Diary of a Worm I quickly realized it was not but still read through it and found it to be a cute story. I loved Diary of a Worm, first reading it to a little girl I babysat for many years ago. I loved it so much that whenever we had story time I tried to convince her it was one she wanted to hear. It was such a cute story. Wombat was more or less similar in taking you through some funny moments in the Wombat's life. I also think kids would just get a kick out of continuing to say the word "wombat" it's a fun word to say. Cute children's book, and since leaving a job at the library a few years ago, I don't get nearly enough chances to read children's books anymore so I was thrilled just to have read one.
Love Walked In by Marisa de los Santos
Okay so last month I read the book Belong to Me by this same author. It turned out after I read it that there was a book before that one with some of the same characters. Belong to Me was about main character Cornelia and her life with her husband in suburbia. Love Walked In was about how Cornelia met Clare and also wound up with her husband. The story is told alternately from Cornelia and Clare's perspectives. Cornelia meets and falls for a handsome man that is a look a like for Cary Grant, and as a film buff that seems to be a huge factor of her falling for him. Clare is 11 years old and sees her mom start to unravel but isn't sure what to do about it. She calls her father, who is not with her mother or really much a part of their lives, for help but he more or less ignores her call for help. She then has to take care of herself and try hard not to let anyone know that anything is wrong with her mother. Then her mother disappears and Clare is unsure what to do. Meanwhile Cornelia is working on her new relationship and continuing to try to decide what she wants from life in general. Their paths connect and both lives are changed forever. I really like this author and was sad this was the last book of hers I haven't read. I liked this story although there were a few parts of the story that disappointed me, don't want to give away the surprises though. And even though I was originally upset to be reading this "out of order" there were enough surprises about the characters and how they came to be the people they were in the next book that I got over the fact that I hadn't read this one first pretty quickly.
The Beach House by Jane Green
I like this author because you can count on a good story with characters the reader easily falls for and gets invested in. That being said this particular book of hers was not one of my favorites. I did get invested in the characters but a lot of what happened was pretty predictable and then the stuff that wasn't, was very unrealistic. This is the story of a beach house in Nantucket that becomes one of the main characters year round house. She starts to run out of money and rents out rooms in her home for the summer. We meet the characters who will end up in the rooms much before the summer they arrive and get invested in their stories as well. Nan, the main character who owns the house, lost her husband when her son was only a small child and raised him as a single parent. She is a quirky 65 year old woman who lives on the island year round. Her son Michael is in his early 40s and has yet to settle down, never able to find the right woman. He ends up in an affair with his married boss and quits his job and returns to Nantucket for the summer. There is also a married couple with two small girls who have a major struggle going on in their marriage as each of them works on figuring out who they are individually and where they come from. Lastly there is a family of a recently divorced couple with a troubled teenage daughter who is struggling with her parents divorce. The father cheated on the mother but the daughter does not know this. She wants to move in with her father to get away from her mother, who she blames for the divorce, and so her mother takes off for the island for the month of August to rediscover herself. This book has a good enough plot and had some good potential but it just never really went anywhere that interesting. Still this author is good for light hearted reads.
Madapple by Christina Meldrum I really like this author, I hope she writes more. This book was marketed as young adult but I'm not entirely certain why, it read more or less like an adult novel. It had similar themes to the first book of her's I read, Amaryllis in Blueberry, religion, non traditional beliefs, family secrets, legal systems, etc. It took a minute to get into the novel as she has such a unique writing style but she does instantly grab your attention you just have to wait a few chapters to keep your attention. This one was written also in future/past tense as each chapter was from the past events that occurred but between the chapters, and at the very start of the book, readers got to read a transcript of the court trial taking place. The story is of a young girl who's mother dies and leaves behind many secrets for her to discover after having been sheltered all her life. She turns to the only family she knows and thinks she can trust but very quickly learns her situation has gotten much worse and not better. As a reader reading the court transcripts in between chapters it is very easy to side immediately with the young main character. Since we aren't actually in the courtroom and just given court room scenes it's much harder to not have an opinion very quickly on her innocence in everything she is charged with and to hope that everything will get resolved as it should. The thing this book made me think about too was that in a court case there is a lot of objecting going on and then the jury is supposed to "strike" from memory questions or answers or whatever. I started getting confused and in the early parts of the story went back and forth a little on what had happened, even though I had just read in a narrative about what had happened and knew what the truth was unlike the jury. Meldrum seems to be very educated on various religions and seems to struggle to connect truths and also involve spirituality. As a reader she takes us on a fun journey of discovery and education that makes it hard to put the book down. Really wish she had more novels for me to devour as quickly as I did these two.
The Private Lives of Pippa Lee by Rebecca Miller Perhaps I should be waiting a few more days to write this as I just finished this one last night, and it might need some time to be digested. I don't know though, this write is well liked by many and now she has some films and what not. I just don't always get her I guess. Maybe she and I just don't click but for some reason I keep feeling this need to read her books... This book was about the main character, Pippa Lee. Pippa is in her 50s and recently moved into a retirement village with her octogenarian husband. The book is divided into four parts, the first part explains the move and what is currently happening. The second part goes back into her childhood and shows themes of mother daughter relationships, addictions, etc. The third part goes back to the present day but as a reader you now have new info on the character. The last part concludes the book. I really liked the very very ending but the chapters leading to the end I did not like. And maybe that's not the right way to say it, I might more so mean I just didn't understand the choices the author made. I will say that to the authors credit what you expect to get from her books you usually do not, but in a good way. You get surprise story changes and themes you did not expect perhaps. I think this book was about the aging process and life choices we make, about being true to yourself (though that constantly changes throughout the life process), and about family relationships (especially mother daughter) A quote I really liked:
"Poor girl, she didn't know what sickness had been passed to her through the women in her family. Mother to daughter in a line as long as Pippa had lived, and maybe farther, maybe past Grandma Sally, to Sally's mother, and her mother before her; the chain of misunderstandings and adjustments, each daughter trying to make up for her mother's lacks and getting it wrong the opposite way. Some families were cursed like that."
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