2010 Book 25 1/3 - The Heart is a Lonely Hunter

Yes, the title of this blog is Book 25 1/3 because I only managed to get through a third of this book. The book is Carson McCullers' book The Heart is a Lonely Hunter first published in 1940. The book cover describes it as:

Carson McCullers was all of twenty-three when she published her first novel, The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter. She became an overnight literary sensation, and soon such authors as Tennessee Williams were calling her "the greatest prose writer that the South [has] produced." Available now for the first time in trade paperback, The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter tells an unforgettable tale of moral isolation in a small southern mill town in the 1930s.

Richard Wright was astonished by McCullers's ability "to rise above the pressures of her environment and embrace white and black humanity in one sweep of apprehension and tenderness." Hers is humanity that touches all who come to her work, whether for the first time or, as so many do, time and time again. The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter is Carson McCullers at her most compassionate, most enduring.

I originally picked this book up many, many years ago and it has moved with me back and forth across the country and I finally picked it up and started reading it. Unfortunately, after I started reading it, it just didn't grab me and pull me in. Perhaps I've become jaded in my reading by the more recently published works that are all plot and movement. This is more of a character study and not a lot of action. I know I should read such classics as this, but I've made up my mind that I'm not going to read something just because "I should". I've also decided that I'm not going to continue reading something if it doesn't grab me within the first 100 pages or so AND if when I read the last chapter I don't have the desire to find out how the book got there.

I'm sure this is a great book for somebody, but when I have a gagillion books on my shelf that I want to read, I'm not going to continue spinning my wheels on one that just doesn't grab me.

Kathleen

I don't often ask for people to pray for or send positive vibes my way, but I'm doing so this week. My niece, Kathleen is having surgery on Wednesday at Texas Scottish Rite Hospital to correct two curves in her back caused by scoliosis. She is 16 and has been in a brace since she was just a wee little thing. This girl was born with an old soul and is the most amazing person I know. From the time she started wearing her brace to now, she has accepted her plight with grace and strength...stronger than most of us "grown-ups". It breaks my heart that she has had to go through this but I know that she is a survivor and is surrounded with love.

So, please, keep her in your thoughts. Send strength to my sister and brother-in-law so that they can take care of her. And send patience to my parents because I know they will be anxious the whole time.

And, Kathleen, know that we all love and admire and with only the best for you.

PS. If you have young kids, don't wait to have their backs checked. My sister thought she saw a curve in Kathleen at an early age and hopefully catching it early helped to reduce some of the curvature.
PSS. Support the Scottish Rite Hospital. They have been lifesavers to my family and to so many others throughout the years.

2010 Book 25 - The Forgotten Garden

I just finished Kate Morton's novel The Forgotten Garden and loved it. But, before I get into the reasons why I loved this book let's take a look at the back-cover write-up.

A tiny girl is abandoned on a ship headed for Australia in 1913. She arrives completely alone with nothing but a small suitcase containing a few clothes and a single book - a beautiful volume of fairy tales. She is taken in by the dockmaster and his wife and raised as their own. On her twenty-first birthday, they tell her the truth, and with her sense of self shattered and very little to go on, "Nell" sets out to trace her real identity. Her quest leads her to Blackhurst Manor on the Cornish coast and the secrets of the doomed Mountrachet family. But it is not until her granddaughter, Cassandra, takes up the search after Nell's death that all the pieces of the puzzle are assembled. A spellbinding tale of mystery and self-discovery. The Forgotten Garden will take hold of your imagination and never let go.

First and foremost, this book is really a mystery, what really happened way back when and while I had a really good idea of what really happened about 2/3 of the way through, it was really intriguing to learn the bits and pieces and how Kate Morton fleshed out the story. (Oh and there was the relationship of the generations of women and I'm all about enjoying tales that weave in the mother/daughter dynamic.) AND, on top of the whole story-line there was the locale and how it was described...beautiful!!!

Admittedly, this isn't a book for everybody. The intrigue that is in this mystery is of a very subtle, romantic flavor and not shoot-em-up-who-dunnit. It is a mystery of why, which I love. Enjoy!!

Oh, and I've hit my goal for the year of 25 books and I still have time to probably get at least one more book in and then I can claim averaging a book every other week.

2010 Book 24 - The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

I just finished The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon over the weekend. I thought this was great!! Here is what the back says:

Christopher John Francis Boone knows all the countries of the world and their capitals and every prime number up to 7, 057. He relates well to animals but has no understanding of human emotions. He cannot stand to be touched. And he detests the color yellow.

This improbable story of Christopher's quest to investigate the suspicious death of a neighborhood dog makes for one of the most captivating, unusual, and widely heralded novels in recent years.

It is a story about a boy with what I'm assuming is Asbergers. This would be another in a series where I've come across characters with this. I recently watched the movie Adam, which is a very sweet movie about a man with Asbergers; and there is a little boy in the series Parenthood, which I've taken to watching, who also has this. With watching these shows and reading the book, I am really amazed at the care-takers of these people (of course I'm amazed at any care-takers).

Okay, so back to the book.... It is a really fast read and very insightful. AND, the chapters are numbered in prime numbers (because the narrator, Christopher, is a math genius and he thinks in primes). I admit that I love prime numbers and at times when I'm working out or doing something repetitive I like to see how far I can count in prime numbers...is that weird?

Anyway, I would highly recommend this book to pretty much anybody.

(I think next year I'll come up with a rating system for my book reviews.....)

2010 Book 23 - The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

I told you...I am on a roll. I'm addicted to reading at the moment....Can't get enough....

I just finished Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows' book The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, and loved it. As always, let me give you the back of the book blurb first:

January 1946: Writer Juliet Ashton receives a letter from a stranger, a founding member of the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. And so begins a remarkable tale of the island of Guernsey during the German occupation, and of a society as extraordinary as its name.

Let me first say that I wasn't initially drawn to purchase this book. I had seen it on the shelves of many a bookstore and never even picked it up. But then, I recently put in an order of books at Amazon.com and for some reason decided to include this in my order. Amazon seemed to think I would enjoy it as he/she/it kept including it in my "recommendations", which by the way I check almost daily and seemed to flag at least a couple to go into wish list. I thought this book was going to run along the lines of Fannie Flagg and her Fried Green Tomatoes book, and that is probably only due to the strange foods mentioned in the titles. However, I was pleasantly surprised when I picked this book up, looking for a short tome from my shelf, and found that the entire tail is told through a series of letters. I thought "what a great idea to convey a story" and as you can tell completely ate this book up (although not sure I would do the same for a potato peel pie). In my opinion, this is a feel-good, hopeless/hopeful romantic, warm fuzzy, sad and poignant tale that is a totally flipped coin from the last book that I read (The Last Child). This book I give a big two-thumbs-up and hope that if any of you out there want a little cupcake for your mind, you will pick this book up and enjoy it as I did.

(By the way, I call this a cupcake for the mind as it isn't necessarily empty calories like brain-candy but it also isn't a full meal for the mind, either.)

(Also, I've never read any Fannie Flagg, although I have now included FGT on my wish list.)

2010 Book 22 - The Last Child

I know, I'm on quite a reading streak at the moment. The reason is that I did some math in my head and figured that I'm so close to getting 25 books in before the end of the year and thought "wow, that would be a really good achievement for you, ABBA." So, I'm plowing through books and not watching television, which is, I'm sure we'll all agree, probably a really good thing.

So, I just finished reading The Last Child by John Hart. Here is what is on the back cover:

Johnny Merrimon was thirteen when his twin sister disappeared. Now, one year later, she is presumed dead. His mother is devastated, his father gone, and life will never be the same. But Johnny has a map, a bike, and a plan. He's going to find his sister, even if he has to track down every dangerous character in the county - a do-or-die mission that troubles police detective Clyde Hunt. He's also been searching for Johnny's sister, and he knows to what dark places a case like this can lead. But even Hunt can't imagine how far Johnny will go to learn the truth - or what he will find when he gets there.

I have to say that I originally picked this book up last spring while in an airport bookstore and just never could get myself into the mood to read it. I now wish that I had picked it up and read it much sooner. It is a really good book and I can see them making it into a movie some time....maybe I'll start working on the screenplay myself and try to get Spielberg to make it for me (since he and I go so far back...) Okay, enough of my dreams of being a great play-write and back to the book. This is one that I highly recommend...it has everything that a good book should have: well written and thought out plot, intriguing characters, twists and turns, good and evil, peanut butter and grape soda, cats and dogs, violence, abuse, and love.

I'll be adding it to my pile of read books, just let me know who wants to borrow it from me!!

2010 Book 21 - Murderous Urges of Ordinary Women - A Novel

I just picked up and inhaled this book. Murderous Urges of Ordinary Women - A Novel by Lois Meltzer is fantastic!! First, the back cover:

Meet: Best friends Sandi, Janet, Ellie, and Carole - four ordinary women confronting the ordinary angst of being middle-aged and female.

"All of a sudden," Ellie says, "it's as if we've become invisible."
It makes them angry.
And that isn't all that makes them angry.
More and more the routine irritations of modern life - the tailgating trucker, the parking-spot thief - seem to fill them with this fierce, impotent rage.
Then one day, at a trendy seafood restaurant, Sandi tosses an obnoxious jerk's cellphone in the lobster tank, and nobody notices. Invisibility, the friends realize, may have its uses: A middle-aged woman might be able to get away with anything, absolutely anything....
Soon they take up Vengeance as their mid-life hobby, the way other women might take up the auto harp or learn Portuguese...

Meet: The Book Group from Hell.....

I picked up this book partially because of the title and partially because of the cover (I'm a sucker for the cover of a book). The cover has a bastardized picture of Grant Wood's painting American Gothic. This is one of my mother's favorite artists and paintings and I am therefore very susceptible to the image and the many forms that it has taken over the years.

However, once I got past the title and the cover art and started reading, I could not put this book down. It isn't a lengthy tome by any stretch of the imagination, a short 200+ pages, and it isn't very complicated, but it is a fast read and actually has a bit of "hmm, maybe we should think on this more" flavor to it. I would highly recommend this book to anybody out there and intend to put it into the hands of my mother the next time I see her.

My only concern in giving this to my mom to read is that she may just decide to introduce these ideas to her Creative Crones quilting group and then there is no telling where things might end up.

And once you've read this you'll understand that I intend to some day start my own Book Group from Hell as I approach middle age.....

2010 Book 20 - The Rose Labyrinth

I just finished Titania Hardie's book The Rose Labyrinth and have to say right off that I loved this book. It was hard putting it down!! Here is the back cover write up:

Nearly four hundred years ago, brilliant Elizabethan spy, astrologer, and mathematician John Dee hid evidence of his shocking ideas in three precious boxes, the only clue to their whereabouts locked in a series of intricate riddles passed down through his female descendants. Now, the ancient puzzle and a tiny silver key have unexpectedly landed in the hands of beautiful young London-based documentary producer Lucy King. Compelled by a strange connection to the mystery and to handsome doctor Alex Stafford - whose family is inextricably linked to the legacy - Lucy embarks on an international adventure to unlock the hidden treasure of the Rose Labyrinth. Each new secret she unearths from Alex's long-buried family history reveals a bizarre coincidence that draws them together. But a dangerous force is on her trail, and the closer she gets to the end of the maze, the deadlier her quest becomes.

This was reminiscent of The DaVinci Code, Foucault's Pendulum, and other books of that ilk where there is a mystery found in ancient texts, good guys who don't necessarily agree philosophically and bad guys that are crazy fanatics of some philosophy or belief system all racing to find the "truth". I read these books and wish that I was smarter to really grasp all the references to Shakespeare, Greek/Roman/Christian mythology, and so much more...luckily for me the author provides a conundrum and then provides the answers. I would highly recommend this book, even though the ending was a little predictable...getting there was fun.
Personally, I picked this book up because of the reference to the labyrinth. I am currently going through a fascination with labyrinths and walking them. In fact, they do refer to the labyrinth at Grace Cathedral as a way to enhance your reading group. I've been to Grace Cathedral when I lived out in San Francisco. So, I'm given two recommendations. 1. This book and 2. Grace Cathedral. Enjoy!!

2010 Book 19 - Mennonite in a Little Black Dress

I just finished Rhoda Janzen's book Mennonite in a Little Black Dress while hanging out in San Francisco this past weekend. Here is what is on the back of the book:

Not long after Rhoda Janzen turned forty, her world turned upside down. It was bad enough that her husband of fifteen years left her for Bob, a guy he met on Gay.com, but that same week a car accident left her seriously injured. Needing a place to rest and pick up the pieces of her life, Rhoda packed her bags, crossed the country; and returned to her quirky Mennonite family's home, where she was welcomed back with open arms and offbeat advice. (Rhoda's good-natured mother suggested she get over her heartbreak by dating her first cousin - he owned a tractor, see.)

Written with wry humor and huge personality - and tackling faith, love, family, and aging - Mennonite in a Little Black Dress is an immensely moving memoir of healing, certain to touch anyone who has ever had to look homeward in order to move ahead.

While I didn't find this as an "immensely moving memoir", I DID find it to be poignant in a couple of places and really funny throughout. Rhoda's relationship with her mother is truly funny and in a little way reminds me of my relationship with my own mom. I would highly recommend this book to any of the girls out there. It really is a fun book with a number of thought-provoking moments.

2010 Book 18 - Her Fearful Symmetry

The latest book that I've completed is Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger. Before I start on my review here is what is written on the back cover:

Julia and Valentina Poole are twenty-year-old sisters with an intense attachment to each other. One morning the mailman delivers a thick envelope to their house in the suburbs of Chicago. Their English aunt Elspeth Noblin has died of cancer and left them her London apartment. There are two conditions for this inheritance: that they live in the flat for a year before they sell it and that their parents not enter it. Julia and Valentina are twins. So were the girls' aunt Elspeth and their mother, Edie.

The girls move to Elspeth's flat, which borders the vast Highgate Cemetery, where Christina Rossetti, George Eliot, Stella Gibbons, and other luminaries are buried. Julia and Valentina become involved with their living neighbors: Martin, a composer of crossword puzzles who suffers from crippling OCD, and Robert, Elspeth's elusive lover, a scholar of the cemetery. They also discover that much is still alive in Highgate, including - perhaps - their aunt.

I found this to be a great novel. I really enjoyed it, especially at this time of year as we approach Halloween. Admittedly, there are parts that were disturbing to me and I found the way things wrapped up to be a little off-putting. But, all in all, great book and a very easy read. This is one that I would certainly recommend to others to read, if you are looking for a unique look at the relationship between sisters.

By the way, Audrey Niffenegger is the author of The Time Traveler's Wife, which I also really enjoyed even though if I recall correctly, it also wrapped up strangely and a little off-putting.

2010 Book 17 - Full Dark House

I just finished Christopher Fowler's book Full Dark House, which is the first in a series of "Peculiar Crime Unit" books. Here is the back cover description:

A bomb rips through present-day London, tragically ending the crime-fighting partnership of Arthur Bryant and John May begun more than a half-century ago during another infamous bombing: the Blitz of World War II. Desperately searching for clues to the saboteur's identity, May finds the notes his old friend kept of their very first case and a past that may have returned...with murderous vengeance. It was an investigation that began with the grisly murder of a pretty young dancer. In a city shaken by war, a faceless killer stalked London's theater row, creating his own sinister drama. And it would take Bryant's unorthodox techniques and May's dogged police work to catch a fiend whose ability to escape detection seemed almost supernatural - a murderer who decades later may have returned to kill one of them...and won't stop until he kills the other.

Really enjoyed this book. It had interesting plot twists; some red herrings; humor.... Fun book that I would recommend. And, I'm going to invest in the other books in this series (or at least one more of them to give a second try). There were some plodding parts, but worth getting through to the twist in the end. Definitely, a book that I would recommend to anybody who wants a light-hearted mystery.

Book 16 - Jane Austen Book Club

I actually finished reading The Jane Austen Book Club by Karen Joy Fowler on the flight back from camping. Here is the back cover:

In California's Central Valley, five women and one man join to discuss Jane Austen's novels. Over the six months they get together, marriages are tested, affairs begin, unsuitable arrangements become suitable, and love happens. With an eye for the frailties of human behavior and an ear for the absurdities of social intercourse, Karen Joy Fowler has never been wittier nor her characters more appealing. The result is a delicious dissection of modern relationships.

All in all, this was a pleasant book. There wasn't a lot of plot to it. It didn't require a whole lot of thought while reading it. I'd seen the last 30 minutes of the movie they made out of it so I didn't really have any great expectations (in fact, the movie seemed to be a little better than the book). Not a book that I would highly recommend, but since I paid the Barnes & Noble bargain bin price for it I'm not really discouraged over the waste of money. If anybody wants to borrow it, let me know. It is now in my Half-Priced Books stack.

2010 Book 22 - The Last Child

I know, I'm on quite a reading streak at the moment. The reason is that I did some math in my head and figured that I'm so close to getting 25 books in before the end of the year and thought "wow, that would be a really good achievement for you, ABBA." So, I'm plowing through books and not watching television, which is, I'm sure we'll all agree, probably a really good thing.


So, I just finished reading this The Last Child by John Hart. Here is what is on the back cover:

Johnny Merrimon was thirteen when his twin sister disappeared. Now, one year later, she is presumed dead. His mother is devastated, his father gone, and life will never be the same. But Johnny has a map, a bike, and a plan. He's going to find his sister, even if he has to track down every dangerous character in the county - a do-or-die mission that troubles police detective Clyde Hunt. He's also been searching for Johnny's sister, and he knows to what dark places a case like this can lead. But even Hunt can't imagine how far Johnny will go to learn the truth - or what he will find when he gets there.

I have to say that I originally picked this book up last spring while in an airport bookstore and just never could get myself into the mood to read it. I now wish that I had picked it up and read it much sooner. It is a really good book and I can see them making it into a movie at some time....maybe I'll start work on the screenplay myself and try to get Spielberg to make it for me (since he and I go so far back...). Okay, enough of my dreams of being a great play-write and back to the book. This is one that I highly recommend it has everything that a good book should have: well written and thought out plot, intriguing characters, twists and turns, good and evil, peanut butter and grape soda, cats and dogs, violence, abuse, and love.

I'll be adding it to my pile of read books, just let me know who wants to borrow it from me!!

2010 Book 15 - Fool

I recently finished Christopher Moore's book Fool. As I've mentioned before, I am a big fan of Christopher Moore and have read everything he has put out (except for his latest one as I'm waiting for it to be in paperback). Here is the back cover write up of this book:

"This is a bawdy tale. Herein you will find gratuitous shagging, murder, spaking, maiming, treason, and heretofore unexplored heights of vulgarity and profanity, as well as nontraditional grammar, split infinitives, and the odd wank."

Verily speaks Christopher Moore, much-beloved scrivener and peerless literary jester, who hath writteneth much that is of grand wit and belly-busting mirth, including such laureled bestsellers of the Times of Olde Newe Yorke as Lamb, A Dirty Job, and You Suck: A Love Story. Now he takes on no less than the legendary Bard himself (with the utmost humility and respect) in a twisted and insanely funny tale of a moronic monarch and his deceitful daughters - a rousing story of plots, subplots, counterplots, betrayals, war, revenge, bared bosoms, unbridled lust...and a ghost (there's always a bloody ghost), as seen through the eyes of a man wearing a codpiece and bells on his head.

Now, as I've stated, I'm a huge fan of Christopher Moore. This offering, however, sorely missed its mark with me. It did not draw me in. I didn't like the characters (of course I didn't like the characters in Shakespeare's play either). The writing wasn't as witty and engaging as previous books. I have to agree with Lois when she commented on a precious Christopher Moore book that I reviewed here. This is NOT a book that I would recommend to MY gentle readers.

2010 Book 14 - The Late, Lamented Molly Marx

It has been awhile since I've actually finished a book. I've started about 5 books, but haven't managed to get through any of them...until now. This latest book The Late, Lamented Molly Marx by Sally Koslow was entertaining and light and pretty much empty calories for the brain, but I admit I liked it. Here is what is on the back of the book:

The circumstances of Molly Marx's death may be suspicious, but she hasn't lost her sense of humor. Newly arrived in the hereafter, aka the Duration, Molly discovers that she can still keep tabs on those she left behind: Annabel, her beloved four-year-old daughter; Lucy, her combustible twin sister; Kitty, her piece-of-work mother-in-law; Brie, her beautiful and steadfast best friend; and of course her husband, Barry, a plastic surgeon with more than a professional interest in many of his female patients. As the police question Molly's circle of intimates about the circumstances of her death, Molly relives the years and days that led up to her sudden end - and takes responsibility for her choices in life.

Exploring the bonds of motherhood, marriage, and friendship, and narrated by a memorable and endearing character, The Late, Lamented Molly Marx is a hilarious, deeply moving, and thought-provoking novel that is part mystery, part love story, and all heart.

I would take this book to the beach or the pool as a total relaxer book. Fun but that is about it. Enjoy!

Books on Tape

I have found that listening to books on tape is a great way for me to multi-task while I'm sewing. This past week I managed to get through a lot of quilting (pictures to come soon) by listening to Steig Larsson books.

The first in the series is Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. In this book, we are first introduced to the characters. Here is the write up:

Cases rarely come much colder than the decades-old disappearance of teen heiress Harriet Vanger from her family's remote island retreat north of Stockholm, nor do fiction debuts hotter than this European bestseller by muckraking Swedish journalist Larsson. At once a strikingly original thriller and a vivisection of Sweden's dirty not-so-little secrets (as suggested by its original title Men Who Hate Women), this first of a trilogy introduces a provocatively odd couple: disgraced financial journalist Mikael Blomkvist, freshly sentenced to jail libeling a shady businessman, and the multi-pierced and tattooed Lisbeth Salander, a feral but vulnerable super hacker. Hired by octogenarian industrialist Henrik Vanger, who wants to find out what happened to his beloved great-niece before he dies, the duo gradually uncover a festering morass of familial corruption - at the same time, Larsson skillfully bares some of the similar horrors that have left Salander such a marked woman.

That one I "read" earlier in the year when I was still living at the castle. Great book, at first a little slow, but once you get into it it is hard to put down.

This only enticed me to download the next in the series to keep me "company" while I worked this past week. Here is the write up on the second in the series:

Fans of the intelligent page-turners will be more than satisfied by Larssons' second thriller, even though it falls short of the high standard set by its predecessor, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, which introduced crusading journalist Mikael Blomkvist and punk hacker savant Lisbeth Salander. A few weeks before Dag Svensson, a freelance journalist, plans to publish a story that exposes important people involved in Sweden's sex trafficking business based on research conducted by his girlfriend, Mia Johansson, a criminologist and gender studies scholar, the couple are shot to death in their Stockholm apartment. Salander, who has a history of violent tendencies, becomes the prime suspect after the police find her fingerprints on the murder weapon. While Blomkvist strives to clear Salander of the crime, some far-fetched twists help ensure her survival. Powerful prose and intriguing lead characters will carry most readers along.

This is a great second in the series and really kept me intrigued during my work. Larsson is really good at writing about despicable men and their stupidity. I won't spoil any of the book, but can I just say that the way he has some of the men in these books written really, really angers me because I know that there are people out there that really do think this way.

I've now downloaded the third in the series:

The exhilarating conclusion to bestseller Larsson's Millennium trilogy (after The Girl who Played with Fire) finds Lisbeth Salander, the brilliant computer hacker who was shot in the head in the final pages of Fire, alive, though still the prime suspect in three murders in Stockholm. While she convalesces under armed guard, journalist Mikael Blomkvist works to unravel the decades-old cover up surrounding the man who shot Salander: her father, Alexander Zalachenko, a Soviet intelligence defector and longtime secret asset to Sapo, Sweden's security police. Estranged throughout Fire, Blomkvist and Salander communicate primarily online, but their lack of physical interaction in no way diminishes the intensity of their unconventional relationship.

I've just started "reading" this one and it already has me hooked.

2010 Book 13 - Prodigal Summer

I just finished Barbara Kingsolver's book Prodigal Summer. Here is the back flap write-up:

Barbara Kingsolver's fifth novel is a hymn to wildness that celebrates the prodigal spirit of human nature, and of nature itself. It weaves together three stories of human love within a larger tapestry of lives amid the mountains and farms of southern Appalachia. Over the course of one humid summer, this novel's intriguing protagonists face disparate predicaments but find connections to one another and to the flora and fauna with which they necessarily share a place.

This was a GREAT book. It got me thinking about nature and humans and the interconnections between the two. It definitely hit a chord with me and made me want to get back to the basics of life and live clean and enjoy the simple things in the world like the sound of rain on the roof and birds singing in the trees.

I want to vacation in the mountains now....

2010 Book 12 - About Face

The most recent book that I've finished is About Face by Donna Leon. This author has a whole series of Guido Brunetti mysteries and this is the first (and probably only) one that I've read. Here is the synopsis:

As the son-in-law of the Conte and Contessa Falier, Commissario Guido Brunetti is accustomed to mingling with Italy's rich and powerful. But never has one of their friends captivated him like Franca Marinello, the infamous La Superliftata, whose once-beautiful face has been disfigured by excessive plastic surgery. Soon after meeting her at a dinner party - where he is charmed by her love of Virgil and Cicero - Franca visits him at the Questura with a request that seems eerily connected to his current murder investigation.

The book isn't really a very challenging read and the mystery just wasn't there for me. There was a lot of character building but not a lot of substance, in my opinion. I like a mystery to be something that is going to be shocking and has a surprise twist at the end or one where I have it figured out in the very beginning and then need to learn how we get from point A to point Z. This just didn't have that. I was disappointed.

The best thing about reading this book, for me, was that whenever there is dialog I get a very bad Italian accent going through my head and that makes me laugh internally...

2010 Book 11 - Sepulchre

I'm slowly getting caught up on documenting my 2010 reading synopsis that I'd planned. I guess I got ahead of reading stuff and then jumping into the next book without opening up the computer....I know CRAZY!!

So, I finished reading Kate Mosse's Sepulchre about a month ago, just as I was moving into the house, which may have been another reason why I didn't get it documented. Here is what is written on the inside flap:

October 1891: Seventeen-year-old Leonie Vernier and her brother, Anatole, abandon the gaslit streets of Paris for the sleepy mountain town of Rennes-les-Bains in southwest France. They've come at the invitation of their widowed aunt, whose estate, the Domaine de la Cade, is famous in the region. But their aunt, and the Domaine, are not what Leonie had imagined. Aunt Isolde is young, willowy, and beautiful, yet with a melancholy air that suits the slightly sinister Comaine. Leonie discovers that the isolated country house and its ancient forests have long been the subject of local superstition; when she stumbles across a ruined Visigoth sepulchre, she unwittingly involves herself with the timeless mystery of this eerie place, which may be spelled out in a strange pack of tarot cards that is rumored to hold the power of life and death. While Leonie delves deeper into the secrets of the Domaine, a different evil stalks her family - one that may explain why Leonie and Anatole were invited to Rennes-les-Bains in the first place.

October 2007: More than a century later, Meredith Martin, an American graduate student, arrives in Rennes-les-Bains. She checks into a grand old hotel - the Domaine de la Cade - and almost instantly, strange dreams and visions begin to haunt her waking hours. A chance encounter leads her to a pack of tarot cards painted by Leonie Vernier, which may hold the key to this twenty-first-century American's fate...and explain the ties that bind the two women together.

As the Feast of All Saints approaches - when the veil between life and death is thinnest - Meredith is drawn inexorably to a secluded forest glade where the secrets of the past are far from buried.

I found this book to be a pretty light, mind-candy sort of read. There wasn't a whole lot of plot points to try and follow, even though the book does shift between the past and the present. I do like a historical novel, if you hadn't figured that out yet, and this one intrigued me and made me want to find out more about the time period. Some of the characters are a little tedious and if I could have, I would have given one of them a really good slap in the face, but since I couldn't do that I just kept calling her stupid. Anyway, I would probably not recommend this book to most people. I liked it, but would not be something that I would push onto somebody else.

2010 Book 9 - You Suck

I cannot say enough great things about Christopher Moore. He one of my all time favorite authors, even though I know there will be a lot of people out there that probably won't appreciate his works, but I love him. I purchased this book early on when I moved out to California because I found a signed copy of it in one of the smaller bookstores out there. (Christopher Moore is from San Francisco and many of his books are actually based there or the surrounding area, and his characters will oftentimes show up in minor roles in another book.) You Suck is a sequel to Bloodsucking Fiends: A Love Story. Here is what is written on the inside cover:

Being dead sucks. Make that being undead sucks. Literally. Just ask Thomas C. Flood. Waking up after a fantastic night unlike anything he's ever experienced, he discovers that his girlfriend, Jody - the woman of his dreams - is a vampire. And surprise! Now he's one, too.

For some couples, the whole biting-and-blood thing would have been a deal breaker. But Tommy and Jody are in love, and they vow to work through their issues. Like how much Jody should teach Tommy about his new superpowers (and how much he needs to learn on his own). Plus there's Tommy's cute new minion, sixteen-year-old goth girl Abby Normal. (Well, someone has to run errands during daylight hours!)

Making the relationship work, however, is the least of Jody and Tommy's problems. Word has it that the vampire who nibbled on Jody wasn't supposed to be recruiting any new member into the club. Even worse, Tommy's erstwhile turkey-bowling pals are out to get him, at the urging of a blue-dyed Las Vegas call girl named (duh) Blue.

And that really sucks.

And, I just realized that there is a third one in this series released less than a month ago, but before I can get to that one I have to read my most recent Christopher Moore purchase Fool: A Novel. I'll let you know what that one is about soon....