"The covers of this book are too far apart."  Ambrose Bierce 

 

In another time, another place, I loved the thought of a long book--anything over 500 pages was a special treat to be savored.  Somewhere along the way, I gravitated toward shorter, quicker reads, and I suspect that the internet and my computer have led to those choices, as it seem to take so much time away from reading.  Sitting on my coffee table right now is NOS4A2, a new book by Joe Hill, son of Stephen King.  A great horror story is an occasional guilty pleasure, but noting that this one numbers almost 700 pages, my first thought isn't the long leisurely hours ahead reading, but instead, is this book worth the commitment?  A quick check on Amazon (there's the computer again) tells me that out of 452 reviews, over 300 gave it five stars.  That's pretty amazing.  For book clubs, lengthy novels are often the kiss of death, and it has to be a runaway favorite to take that step to ask people to read it.  Cutting for Stone  by Abraham Verghese was a risk, but our group stuck with the choice, and it was one of the best books we've read.

Do you love the thought of a book with many pages?  Or not?  Any favorites? Any that you're determined to read? Like me, do you think it's time to decide to cut computer time for other pursuits?

52 Weeks 52 Books ~ AND THE MOUNTAINS ECHOED - Week Ending June 24, 2013

It had me at the beginning, with a spellbinding start, and then it began switching places, time periods, people and it was often difficult to puzzle out the voice, at least for me., or to even connect with some of the characters. A more gentle read than his two previous books, but I didn't find it as rich or engaging.  All of the library's copies are checked out--I'd love to hear another opinion!

 AND THE MOUNTAINS ECHOED by Khaled Hosseini

"Khaled Hosseini, the #1 New York Times–bestselling author of The Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns, has written a new novel about how we love, how we take care of one another, and how the choices we make resonate through generations.

In this tale revolving around not just parents and children but brothers and sisters, cousins and caretakers, Hosseini explores the many ways in which families nurture, wound, betray, honor, and sacrifice for one another; and how often we are surprised by the actions of those closest to us, at the times that matter most.

Following its characters and the ramifications of their lives and choices and loves around the globe—from Kabul to Paris to San Francisco to the Greek island of Tinos—the story expands gradually outward, becoming more emotionally complex and powerful with each turning page."  ~ From the Publisher

A Mystery from Suzanne

Murder with Puffins
 (Meg Langslow, Bk 2)
Author: Donna Andrews

Winner of the St. Martin's Malice Domestic Award in 1997 for her first work Murder With Peacocks, Donna Andrews brings back her zany characters and disastrous events. — In an attempt to get away from her family, Meg and her boyfriend go to a tiny island off the coast of Maine. What could have been a romantic getaway slowly turns into disaster. — Once there, they are marooned by a hurricane and that is only the beginning of their problems. Meg and her boyfriend arrive at the house only to discover that Meg's parents and siblings, along with their spouses are all there. When a murder takes place, Meg realizes that she and her boyfriend can no longer sit by a cozy fireplace, but must instead tramp around the muddy island to keep try and clear her father who is the chief suspect.

I am on the fence with this series although I do have the 3rd and 4th books waiting to be read. I like the mystery but the main character, Meg, seems to be a doormat for her family. I hope to see her character grow in the next couple of books. It seems to be a popular series with the 16th in the series coming out in 2014.

~ From Suzanne

52 Weeks 52 Books ~ ALWAYS WATCHING ~ Week Ending June 17, 2013

ALWAYS WATCHING by Chevy Stephens

"She helps people put their demons to rest. 

But she has a few of her own…

In the lock down ward of a psychiatric hospital, Dr. Nadine Lavoie is in her element. She has the tools to help people, and she has the desire—healing broken families is what she lives for. But Nadine doesn’t want to look too closely at her own past because there are whole chunks of her life that are black holes. It takes all her willpower to tamp down her recurrent claustrophobia, and her daughter, Lisa, is a runaway who has been on the streets for seven years.

When a distraught woman, Heather Simeon, is brought into the Psychiatric Intensive Care Unit after a suicide attempt, Nadine gently coaxes her story out of her—and learns of some troubling parallels with her own life. Digging deeper, Nadine is forced to confront her traumatic childhood, and the damage that began when she and her brother were brought by their mother to a remote commune on Vancouver Island.  What happened to Nadine?  Why was their family destroyed? And why does the name Aaron Quinn, the group’s leader, bring complex feelings of terror to Nadine even today? 

And then, the unthinkable happens, and Nadine realizes that danger is closer to home than she ever imagined. She has no choice but to face what terrifies her the most…and fight back.  

Sometimes you can leave the past, but you can never escape."

~ From the Publisher

Chevy Stevens writes a good thriller, but I didn't find this one as compelling, or as suspenseful as her two previous books, Still Missing and  Never Knowing.  The edge of your seat feeling just wasn't there for me and  the  main character, Dr. Nadine Lavoie,  was hard to connect with and didn't always ring true, at least for me. I'm still a fan though, and look forward to her next book. If you haven't read her, check out her first book, Still Missing--although if you sell houses for a living, you might want to pass on this one!  ~~ Katherine

Happy Father's Day!

Who are your favorite fathers in literature?  I had a hard time remembering great fathers, and it shouldn't be that hard, should it?  Can you recommend some fictional dads that do the best they can?  I know they must be out there, right?

Atticus Finch in To Kill a Mockingbird

Arthur Weasley in the Harry Potter Series

Matthew Cuthbert in Anne of Green Gables

Pa Ingalls in the Little House in the Prairie Series

Jean Valjean in Les Miserables

Book Bucket List

Do you have a book bucket list?  You know, those books that you have decided you just have to read--but usually not today?  Mine range from classics to books I bought, but keep setting aside because there's a library book calling my name, and well, that library book has an expiration date on it and someone else who wants to read it.

"Book Riot" (always interesting, never boring), did a survey and 358 readers responded with 383 unique titles.  Check out the link and find nineteen of the books that came up a lot.  One interesting fact is that fifteen of their nineteen books were on a list they compiled awhile back, of Riot readers’ 50 favorite novels. Hmmm, do you think people list books that they think they should, rather than books that were truly their favorites?

Checking out the Riot's list, there are several that I'm embarrassed to say I haven't read, but have always meant to: Anna Karenina  by Leo Tolstoy,I nfinite Jest  by David Foster, Pride and Prejudice  by Jane Austen, and Jane Eyre  by Charlotte Bronte. How could I have gotten this far in life and not read at least three of these classic, must reads novels?  I bought a copy of SHADOW OF NIGHT by Deborah Harkness almost a year ago because I loved the first book in the series, and I'm pledging to read it before the end of summer, this summer. I'm going to go out on a limb, and pledge to read at least one of the classics before summer's end.

What books are on your book bucket list? 

52 WEEKS 52 BOOKS ~ THE SUNSHINE WHEN SHE'S GONE ~ Week Ending June 10, 2013

THE SUNSHINE WHEN SHE'S GONE by Thea Goodman

THE SUNSHINE WHEN SHE'S GONE takes a realistic view of what new parents often feel: love and joy, but also exhaustion, disinterest in sex, guilt over not paying as much attention to the spouse, and postpartum depression.  So when husband John takes an unplanned, and ill-conceived trip to the Caribbean with baby Clara, Veronica enjoys the unexpected break, believing they are staying with her in-laws a train ride away. This book has some very good writing, but if you have to like--or love--the characters to enjoy the book, this one is probably not for you. ~ Katherine

"When Veronica Reed wakes up one frigid January morning, two things are “off”—first of all, she has had a good night’s sleep, which hasn’t happened in months, and second, both her husband and her baby are gone. Grateful for the much-needed rest, Veronica doesn’t, at first, seriously question her husband’s trip out to breakfast with baby Clara. Little does she know, her spouse has fled lower Manhattan, with Clara, for some R&R in the Caribbean.

Told through alternating points of view, The Sunshine When She's Gone explores the life-changing impact of parenthood on a couple as individuals and as partners. Thea Goodman brings us into intimacies made tense by sleep-deprivation and to losses and gains made more real by acknowledging them. Here is the story of a couple pushed to the edge and a desperate father’s attempt give them both space to breathe." ~ from the publisher

 

A Great Thriller from Jaclyn

The Redeemer by Jo Nesbo

The Harry Hole series--I love these books. The books are translated into English from Norwegian. Harry is a detective in Norway. He is not a perfect cop, though. He is a recovering alcoholic (who lapses often). He is also not well liked in the department. He is, however, very good at his job, which is of course solving the murder. If you have not read these books, I highly recommend the entire series!!  -- Jaclyn

"A fantastically gripping thriller from the best-selling author of The Snowman.

Christmas shoppers stop to hear a Salvation Army concert on a crowded Oslo street. A gunshot cuts through the music and the bitter cold: one of the singers falls dead, shot in the head at point-blank range. Harry Hole, the Oslo Police Department’s best investigator and worst civil servant, has little to work with: no suspect, no weapon, and no motive. But Harry’s troubles will multiply. As the search closes in, the killer becomes increasingly desperate, and Harry’s chase takes him to the most forbidden corners of the former Yugoslavia.

Yet it’s when he returns to Oslo that he encounters true darkness: among the homeless junkies and Salvationists, eagerly awaiting a savior to deliver them from misery, whether he brings new life or immediate death.

With its shrewdly vertiginous narrative, acid-etched characters, and white-hot pace, The Redeemer is resounding proof of Jo Nesbø’s standing as one of the best crime writers of our time."  ~ from Amazon

Knit One, Purl One

Our second annual "World Wide Knit in Public Day" was held at The Brookfield Library this afternoon.  Many thanks to the Candlewood Valley Knitting Guild for coming and hosting this event, and bringing some beautiful and fun examples of their knitting.  It was a gorgeous afternoon to sit out on the lawn, and knit or crochet, and visit with others!

Knitting books aren't just found in the nonfiction section.  One of my favorite "knitting fiction" books (even though I can't knit), is The Knitting Circle by Ann Hood.

"After the sudden loss of her only child, Mary Baxter joins a knitting circle in Providence, Rhode Island, as a way to fill the empty hours and lonely days. The women welcome her, each teaching Mary a new knitting technique and, as they do, revealing their own personal stories of loss, love, and hope. Eventually Mary is able to tell her own story of grief and in so doing reclaims her love for her husband, faces the hard truths about her relationship with her mother, and finds the spark of life again." ~ from the Publisher

The Beach Street Knitting Society and Yarn Club by Gil McNeil is a story of true love and motherhood.   

Jo Mackenzie needs a fresh start. Newly widowed with two young sons and a perilous bank balance, she leaves the bustle of London to take over her beloved Gran's wool shop in her sleepy seaside hometown. There, she finds unexpected comfort in a "Stitch and Bitch" knitting group that meets every week to trade gossip and, occasionally, a new stitch. When a new man enters Jo's life, the knitting club has even more trouble confining the conversation to knit one, purl two. The Beach Street Knitting Society and Yarn Club is an uplifting, winning tale about the healing power of friendship and new beginnings." ~ From the Publisher

Do you have a favorite fiction book--or mystery--that incorporates knitting?

2013 Women's Prize for Fiction

AND THE WINNER IS:  MAY WE BE FORGIVEN by A. M. Homes

 
A.M. Homes is the author of two collections of short stories, Things You Should Know and The Safety of Objects, the novels Music for Torching, The End of Alice, In a Country of Mothers, Jack and the bestselling This Book Will Save Your Life, and the highly acclaimed memoir, The Mistress’s Daughter, all published by Granta Books. She is a contributing editor to Vanity Fair  and writes frequently on arts and culture for numerous magazines and newspapers. She lives in New York City.

From Women's Prize for Fiction 2013, formerly "The Orange Prize for Fiction."

Have you read any of these? Do you have any favorites? Check out the Longlist, there are more great titles that were nominated.


The shortlist nominees:

"The year is 1535 and Thomas Cromwell, Chief Minister to Henry VIII, must work both to please the king and keep the nation safe. Anne Boleyn, for whose sake Henry has broken with Rome and created his own church, has failed to do what she promised: bear a son to secure the Tudor line. As Henry develops a dangerous attraction to Wolf Hall’s Jane Seymour, Thomas must negotiate a ‘truth’ that will satisfy Henry and secure his own career. But neither minister nor king will emerge undamaged from the bloody theatre of Anne’s final days."

"This is the story of a city. The north-west corner of a city. Here you’ll find guests and hosts, those with power and those without it, people who live somewhere special and others who live nowhere at all. And many people in between. Every city is like this. Cheek-by-jowl living. Separate worlds. And then there are the visitations: the rare times a stranger crosses a threshold without permission or warning, causing a disruption in the whole system. Like the April afternoon a woman came to Leah Hanwell’s door, seeking help, disturbing the peace, forcing Leah out of her isolation. NW follows four Londoners: Leah, Natalie, Felix and Nathan as they try to make adult lives outside Caldwell....."

"Harry has spent a lifetime watching his younger brother, George, a taller, smarter and more successful high-flying TV executive, acquire a covetable wife, two kids and a beautiful home. But Harry, a historian and Nixon scholar, also knows George has a murderous temper, and when George loses control the result is an act so shocking that both brothers are hurled into entirely new lives, in which they both must seek absolution."




"During a snowstorm in England in 1910, a baby is born and dies before she can take her first breath. During a snowstorm in England in 1910, the same baby is born and lives to tell the tale. What if there were second chances? And third chances?

In fact, an infinite number of chances to live your life? Would you eventually be able to save the world from its own inevitable destiny? And would you even want to?"

"Dellarobia Turnbow is a restless farm wife who gave up her own plans when she accidently became pregnant at seventeen. Now, after a decade of domestic disharmony on a failing farm, she has settled for permanent disappointment but seeks momentary escape through an obsessive flirtation with a younger man. She hikes up a mountain road behind towards a secret tryst, but instead encounters a shocking sight: a silent, forested valley filled with what looks like a lake of fire. She can only understand it as a cautionary miracle, but it sparks a raft of other explanations from scientists, religious leaders and the media. The bewildering emergency draws rural farmers into unexpected acquaintance with urbane journalists, opportunists, sightseers, and a striking biologist with his own stake in the outcome. As the community lines up to judge the woman and her miracle, Dellarobia confronts her family, her church, her town and a larger world, in a flight towards truth that could undo all she has ever believed."

"Bernadette Fox is notorious. To her Microsoft-guru husband, she’s a fearlessly opinionated partner; to fellow private-school mothers in Seattle, she’s a disgrace; to design mavens, she’s a revolutionary architect, and to 15-year-old Bee, she is a best friend and, simply, Mum. Then Bernadette disappears. It began when Bee aced her report card and claimed her promised reward: a family trip to Antarctica. But Bernadette’s intensifying allergy to Seattle and people in general has made her so agoraphobic that a virtual assistant in India now runs her most basic errands. A trip to the end of the earth is problematic. To find her mother, Bee compiles email messages, official documents, secret correspondence creating a compulsively readable and touching novel about misplaced genius and a mother and daughter’s role in an absurd world."

52 Weeks 52 Books / Week Ending June 2, 2013

THE ENGAGEMENTS by J. Courtney Sullivan

"A Diamond is Forever" was coined by Frances Gerety, an advertising copywriter, and she also was part of the team that marketed the four "C's" of diamonds--color, cut, clarity and carat--that brides hold as their standard for the value of their diamond engagement ring.  Frances Gerety, who spent much of her life working on the De Beers account, never married, and she's just one character in THE ENGAGEMENTS, a novel that studies marriage and weddings and how they've both changed and stayed the same in the past one hundred years.  There are traditional couples, poor couples and wealthy couples, faithful couples, and not so faithful couples, and one character, Kate, who like Frances Gerety, had no intention or interest in marriage.  

J. Courtney Sullivan writes brilliant characters--ones that you admire and others that are very unlikeable, and she weaves their stories together, alternating between the different characters and time periods, ending the book in a surprising twist. Add in the tidbits about diamonds, and the diamond industry, and how advertising entices us to purchase--and you've got a great story.

~ Katherine

Ah, Sunday. What are you reading?

Cook Books

Some of us love to cook, some of us love cookbooks, and some of us love both cooking and cookbooks!  There are quite a few cookbook authors out there who got their start by writing a food blog, and then made the transition to published author.  

Dinner: A Love Story: It All Begins at the Family Table by Jenny Rosenstrach

 The family dinner, the time to get together at the end of the day, slow down a bit, share news, enjoy a meal, learn manners, debate/argue/discuss what's going on in the world--it's hard with everyone's schedule to make time to share a meal at the end of the day.  Jenny Rosenstrach's book inspires you to take time to put together dinner and includes great tips and recipes.  Her blog currently has a very yummy looking chicken salad, just perfect for a hot weekend.
 
The Homesick Texan Cookbook by Lisa Fain

Always on the search for Mexican food, I found Lisa's blog quite a few years ago, and she always helps satisfy my craving for southwestern fare.  An expat Texan who lives in New York City, she's constantly on the lookout for good mexican/texmex fare in NYC, but believes the best can be found in her own kitchen.  Lisa loves cooking and photography, and started the blog as a way to share her recipe with family and friends.  Years later, voila, she has this excellent cookbook. 


The Pioneer Woman Cooks: Recipes From an Accidental Ranch Wife  and The Pioneer Woman Cooks: Food From My Frontier by Ree Drummond
  

Ree Drummond has gone from food blogger to author to Food Network chef--quite a success story.   She's a would-be city girl who is a wife of an honest-to-goodness cowboy and mother of four living on a working cattle ranch in Oklahoma. Don't miss the Pioneer Girl blog, it's funny, delicious, romantic and touching and  and always illustrated by a number of photographs that chronicle her food, her life with her husband and family, and all the critters on her ranch. 

A Homemade Life: Stories and Recipes From My Kitchen Table by Molly Wizenberg

More memoir than cookbook, A Homemade Life brings together food and memories from her childhood in Oklahoma, to life after the death of her father, when she traveled to Paris, a city that held vivid memories of a childhood trip with her father.  She took early morning walks on the cobbled streets of the Latin Quarter and had the taste of her first pain au chocolat. She was supposed to be studying, but found herself entranced by the foods of Paris, and began blogging on "Orangette."  An international following also led Molly to romance, and marriage to one of her readers.   

Chickens in the Road by Suzanne McMinn
 

Here's one I can't wait for, coming out in October of this year.  Her blog, Chickens in the Road, always brightens my day.  Her book will have stories of life on the farm along with crafts and recipes.