The Maytrees by Annie Dillard

I know I tend to read a lot of fluff, though I am sometimes influenced by what I read in the NY Times Book Review. I had never read anything by Annie Dillard, though I thought I should have, so I chose The Maytrees as my introduction to her writing. Based solely on the cover (clean & simple) and the size (slim), I thought I could handle it.

At first, I found myself needing to reread bits of the story, and then, to my horror, I had to consult the dictionary more than once. Having bought my seven year old a pocket dictionary for her bedside, I found myself sneaking off with it. I felt the need to brush up on my reading: Kafka, Plato, Aristotle, Diogenes, Galileo, Tolstoy and many others are referenced (prehistoric Aleuts, anyone?). A working knowledge of constellations is also helpful. Trying to save myself from getting out of my comfortable seat, I ask my husband once for help. When he doesn’t readily know the answer, he says, “What’s the context?” and I mutter back to him, “yes, I can do that without your help, thank you very much.”

But then, something wonderful happens. The story, which seemed to move so slowly at first (dictionary breaks), catches me up. Toby and Lou Maytree’s love affair spans the decades of their lives; through infatuation, marriage, childbirth, friendships, betrayal and the nitty gritty of dying. Cape Cod’s Provincetown, is beautifully evoked, and offers up a group of oddballs and artists perfect for this beach community. Lou, a voracious reader, and Toby, a poet and a reader himself, begin to matter to me, without my even knowing it. I say this because when their marriage falters, I am stunned to feel how heavy my heart is as I read. The fact that there is more to it than that, that we still care about Toby and Lou and their lives beyond this moment, is a tribute to the author and the characters she has given us. The simplicity with which she renders two death scenes will touch anyone who has attended to the dying of a loved one.

I can get past the dictionary thing. I double-checked before I wrote this, and even the Times’ reviewer Julia Reed had to stop and consult her dictionary more than once, so I feel much better. Reed writes that Eudora Welty, who initially reviewed Dillard’s Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, quoted a passage and then wrote, “I honestly do not know what she is talking about at such times.”

I admit I picked the shortest book on my shelf so that I could “honestly” achieve my book a week. Having realized that I am going to have to pick up the pace (I have a two year supply on my shelves), I have been angling for the best way to do it. The Maytrees, it turns out, were not as simple as they appeared. But afterwards, I felt a little bit smarter and a little bit happier, for having spent my time with them.

A Reliable Wife

Tonight I will provide no details because our book club is reading this right now and I don't want to reveal anything (and I'm really tired but wanted to post before the week got away from me!) but for those who haven't read this book, read it. Enough said.

The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton

I read this novel last summer and I haven't written about it yet because I don't know how to do it justice. It starts in the late 1800's with a little girl abandoned on a ship that travels from London to Australia. All I can tell you is that I got completely swept up in the magical story that combined romance, mystery, family saga, fairy tales, Dickensian story lines and even a little "Rebecca"-like horror. I took my kindle with me from room to room and everywhere else that I went because all I wanted to do was get back to that world. I actually became a little annoyed at the real world for interrupting and pulling me out of secluded English manors, the back streets of London (where I wouldn't have been at all suprised to find Fagin lurking nearby), scary high cliffs overlooking the sea, mysterious cottages and of course "The Forgotten Garden" which will remind you of the many parallels between this book and the Secret Garden. There were villains of every social class and sympathetic characters with deep secrets and amazingly, at least to me, Kate Morton seemed to weave the whole thing together seamlessly.

I can't figure out why I didn't immediately start reading Kate Morton's first novel, Riverton House.

The White Queen by Philippa Gregory

Jim reads NOTHING but non fiction. Before his flight to Lisbon Tuesday, while looking through our bookshelves for a good read I told him if he stuck “Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” in his bag I would personally guarantee that it would take him right through his flight, a slam dunk page turner, it’s the kind of book a reader is incapable of putting down. Lots of violence but amazing writing. Then I pleaded with him to take “The Outliers”. “Naw,” he said and instead tucked in his bag… ready for this? “Revolutionary War Battles Fought in Bergen County” I kid you not. (My guess is the time spent loading up his ITouch with “Curb Your Enthusiasm” episodes was more important than his book choice...)

This is all leading me to “The White Queen” which is sort of like reading non fiction but cheating at the same time. The writer, a bona fide historian, has tapped into the vicious and tumultuous times of kings and queens in England during the 15th century with this book and many others including “The Other Boleyn Girl”. The (literal and figurative) back stabbings, beheadings, confinements in the mysterious Tower of London and overall opulence of those times makes for very fast reading. (The future Queen)Elizabeth met King Edward on the side of the road as he was passing by, they fell instantly in love and secretly married. Bringing her to London to be his queen resulted in battles pitting brother against brother, to the death. The great mystery explored in this book is a real one: Whatever happened to her two young princes who were taken from her and kept in the Tower? It is a mystery which has never been solved, they simply disappeared. I enjoyed this one, it kept me up reading until I got to its tragic conclusion.

The Lace Reader by Brunonia Barry

Towner Whitney started out her story telling me she was a liar; that she was crazy. I believed her for a moment, and I was cautious in what I trusted in her words. But as I read, I fell into her trap, and completely forgot her warning. There were other people helping to tell her story, and I had no reason not to believe them, so I did. I fell for them all, and I was glad. They showed me a world full of magic and love and old-world women in a setting that is at once modern and archaic.

Towner’s return home (yes, my second book in a row where a character returns to her touristy hometown) to Salem, MA is fraught with anxiety. She has been gone 15 uneventful years, but returned during her recovery from major surgery in the hopes of helping to find her Great Aunt Eva, who has gone missing. To say she comes home reluctantly would be an understatement. Towner has a tragic history in this town, and never planned on returning. Once her aunt is found dead, she is pretty certain she shouldn’t have come.

The Whitney women are an odd, yet kind, assortment of characters. They are bound together by blood, and by purpose. In this town of witches, Lace Reading is a tradition that has been passed down for generations. Eva believes Towner has the gift to read, but Towner wants nothing to do with it. The Lace is usually read for the good things life holds, but it has shown a share of horror to the Whitney women. Towner’s mother May lives in the only house still open on Yellow Dog Island, with a group of women who form an old fashioned Circle to make lace. In the lingo of Salem, they are seen as a coven. In truth, they are a hapless band of women and young children who have fled to the island to escape abusive relationships. May, an agoraphobic, has become the leader in this movement, offering them safety, and, often a chance to move on and away. She knows all about their pain.

The chapters are set up a little bit like The Friday Night Knitting Club, with paragraphs from “The Lace Reader’s Guide” beginning most of them. I was really sad to hear that the whole concept of Lace Reading was completely made up by the author, who says it came to her in a dream.

I really enjoyed this book, despite some predictable plot setups and romantic storylines. There are merciless bad guys, and guys just too good to be true. There are cults and witches, and poor young women who just can’t seem to figure out which side to be on in this narrowly divided town.

When it came to the end, I realized I had not heeded Towner’s warning, and so I was stunned by the final twist. In my own defense, it did seem to come out of nowhere. I found myself rereading parts just to make sure what she said was actually possible. The twist has been compared to the Sixth Sense, which is pretty accurate. If you are going to read it – and I still recommend it – go into it forgetting this, or you will be so busy picking out unimportant details that you will miss the point of the lush and engaging story. Salem has always been an intriguing place to me, and the author does not disappoint in her attention to detail. Step aside vampires, these witches will charm you.

The Monsters of Templeton by Lauren Groff

Ever since we read The Water Horse with my daughters, (loved the book, hated the movie) I seem to have developed a fondness for stories about mythical creatures that live undersea. This is one of the many reasons I wanted to read The Monsters of Templeton. That, and the cover is just really cool – and I do sometimes judge a book by its cover.

Willie Upton has returned to her hometown of Templeton, NY in disgrace. She is pregnant by her married graduate school professor, attempted to run over his wife with an airplane, and has returned home on the day that the corpse of a giant prehistoric monster has mysteriously surfaced on Lake Glimmerglass. And that, as they say, is just the beginning.

Lauren Groff makes her debut with a wild tale of monsters of all sorts, some hidden in the lake, and others walking all around it. Willie’s return home is plagued with shocks. Her former hippie mother has found religion and taken up with a very chaste minister. In her newfound religion, she has found the strength to tell Willie that, contrary to what she was previously led to believe, her father is known, and, in fact, resides in her hometown. This leads to a kind of Mamma Mia-esque storyline, but on a much larger scale. All the men in town, some mentors, some friends, and a whole group of jogging buddies, all become suspect. Her mother gives a clue about her father, but Willie must solve the mystery on her own. Her story after this relies on a complex map of her ever-changing family tree, and there are diagrams and photos that are sometimes helpful and other times just hilarious.

The story is set in the imaginary town of Templeton; borrowed from James Fenimore Cooper, who wrote his series The Leatherstocking Tales based on his hometown of Cooperstown. Groff, also from Cooperstown, borrows the character of Marmaduke Temple for her story’s beginning (JFC’s character based on his father, the town’s founder). The path from Marmaduke Temple to Willie Upton is long and convoluted, but you will want to read it anyway. The town of Templeton is itself a strong character, with a seeming will and point of view all it’s own. There are a lot of bunny trails here, and many of them serve no purpose to the plot, but Groff’s writing is so good that you will follow her down them and, in the end, be very glad you did.

Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri

Just a quickie review as we're on the slopes in Vermont (again!..see pic above..) but this wonderful book has changed my previous aversion to short stories. Lahiri won the Pulitzer for this collection (her FIRST book) of tales of various Indian folks, young and old, male and female, living in the US and abroad, told from various viewpoints. I'm cheating here because I've got to go skating with Annie :).. so here's a brief part of the NYT review in 1999:

In this accomplished collection of stories, Jhumpa Lahiri traces the lives of people on two continents -- North America and India -- and in doing so announces herself as a wonderfully distinctive new voice. Indeed, Ms. Lahiri's prose is so eloquent and assured that the reader easily forgets that ''Interpreter of Maladies'' is a young writer's first book.

Many of Ms. Lahiri's people are Indian immigrants trying to adjust to a new life in the United States, and their cultural displacement is a kind of index of a more existential sense of dislocation. One couple living near a small New England campus ''used to trail their fingers, at the start of each new semester, through the columns of the university directory, circling surnames familiar to their part of the world'' in search of new friends. Another faculty wife, who has taken a baby-sitting job to fill her empty afternoons, tells her young charge that everything she cares about remains in India in the home she left behind. ''Here, in this place where Mr. Sen has brought me,'' she complains, ''I cannot sometimes sleep in so much silence.''

What Mrs. Sen misses in America is the close sense of community she knew in India. ''Not everybody has a telephone,'' she explains. ''But just raise your voice a bit, or express grief or joy of any kind, and one whole neighborhood and half of another has come to share the news, to help with arrangements.'' In America, she worries, she could scream at the top of her lungs and not a single person would come to her aid.

This is one of the best books I've read in a long time...

Secrets of Eden

From Midwives to Double Bind, I have always loved Chris Bohjalian's writing. When I learned he was coming to our local Barnes and Noble a few weeks ago, I immediately sent an e-mail to my writing and book groups encouraging everyone to join me. And then, my day got busy and I missed the event. One of my friends who did see Bohjalian speak reported that he was just as funny, self-deprecating and smart as one would expect after reading his novels.

Secrets of Eden does not disappoint. A story of domestic abuse told from multiple points of view, the novel opened my eyes to the terror that is an abusive husband. Having read many of his books, I couldn't wait to get to the end. While the beginning and middle were well worth reading, I knew that what I thought would be the ending would not be. As with all his books, Bohjalian left my mouth hanging open as I read the last page. Set aside a few days and enjoy!

The Magicians by Lev Grossman

Introduction: Wishing I was a magician and could just get rid of this cough, I decided to read this adult fantasy novel hoping for an escape from my reality. It worked!

Title & Author: The Magicians by Lev Grossman
Genre: Science/Fantasy Fiction Thriller
Time Period: Modern Day
Location: New York & Fillory (Narnia-like world)
Main Characters: Quentin Coldwater, Penny, Alice, and Eliot

Characters: these are people you want to know, they are complicated, smart, and charismatic
Writing Style: lyrical, descriptive, powerful imagery
Opening: grabs you from the start
Plot/Story: the place where the magic of children’s fantasy stories (Narnia, Harry Potter, etc.) meets with the very adult world of sex, drugs, and rock-n-roll. Great story!
Action: adventurous, spellbinding, fast moving, dark, urban fantasy
Dialogue: not remarkable but okay
Humor: clever humor, a very fun read
Believability: its fantasy so on most levels not believable
Relatable: the characters are very real and relatable
Originality: imaginative, strange, fanciful, extravagant, and eccentric
Enjoyable: not a light read – complex and compelling though. I liked it.
Ending: thank goodness it wasn’t left open to endless sequels, somewhat unsatisfying but it worked
Recommendation: A good read ***

5 stars = Excellent read – you don’t want to miss this one!
4 stars = Very good – you should add this to your reading list.
3 stars = Good – you could go either way here.
2 stars = Fair - it’s a tolerable read but you should probably skip it.
1 star = Poor – don’t waste your time.

A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle and When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead

I feel the pain of fellow ‘book a week’ bloggers who are loving the reading but hatin’ the posting.. So if that’s holding anyone back, fear not, a brief recount of the book and a thumbs up or down review is all that’s needed!

Stacey picked these 2 books for our book group this month and I’m sort of ashamed to admit that I’d never heard of ‘A Wrinkle in Time’. How did this classic pass me by in my ‘tween years. Was I too busy reading about Beezus, Ramona and Ribsy? Had my head been stuck in Charlotte’s Web and Trumpet of the Swan and let this one pass me by? Reading ‘Wrinkle’ about 32 years too late was still worth the effort. It’s a magical book, pre Harry Potter, of kids setting out to save the earth, seemingly normal, average kids, determined to rescue their father, a secret scientist, who had been missing for a couple of years. When 3 witches show up one day and take them on their journey through planets, space and time to find him, the reader’s imagination goes with them. Love and their strength saved the day, once again. A fun read that I will now keep for my future ‘tweens.

‘When You Reach Me’ references ‘Wrinkle’ frequently as the favorite book of it’s main character Miranda, growing up in Manhattan in the mid 1970s. Hints of time travel and magic are seen throughout this book which focuses primarily on a 12 year old girl’s angst of living with a single mother, making and losing friends and navigating through life as a citiy kid. The surprise ending was fun and brought the ‘Wrinkle’ references full circle. Thanks Stacey for choosing 2 fun books.

Cheating

I love the concept of this blog for many reasons. I love reading all the posts and adding to my ever growing list of books to be read. I love being held accountable for the books I read. I love having a way to look back later at what I have read over the year. Apparently what I don't love is writing my posts on time. I will now cheat by simply listing what I have read since I last posted.

The White Queen by Phillippa Gregory- Historical fiction that is an easy, fun and slightly educational read.

The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznik- A recent Caldecott winner that everyone (and I mean everyone) should read. It is a novel and picture book combined. The story and the pictures are absolutely devine.

When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead- This year's Newberry winner. I really love young adult literature and this is another good one.

A Wrinkle in Time by Madeliene L'Engle- A classic that is referenced a ton in this year's Newberry. All I remember from my childhood is loving this book but had no memory of it. It was great, again.

Lark and Termite by Jayne Anne Phillips

I have to admit that this book-a-week challenge is tougher than I thought it would be. It’s not the reading I find hard, it’s writing the review. I have begun to read differently, in a more critical way; and this changes the dynamic of reading for me. I’m not sure I like that. Maybe this is a good thing but, like any change, it’s difficult to accept.

I’m going to shift my review format – go with something a bit unconventional. I’m skipping the plot summary (which you can find on the web in many places); and instead I’m giving you the basic information: title, author, genre, characters, time period, and location. I’ve developed my own book review system, which may change as this idea evolves, that incorporates what I find compelling about reading and my recommendation. I will use this same format for every book so patterns will begin to develop. I think it might be an interesting and innovative experiment. Let’s see! Let me know what you think.

Introduction: Since I had a cold this week, I was really looking for something strong and fresh, but yet not too cryptic for my Dayquil brain to wrap itself around. This book was it.

Title & Author: Lark and Termite by Jayne Anne Phillips
Genre: Literary Fiction
Time Period: 1950 and 1959
Location: Korea and West Virginia
Main Characters: Lark, Termite, Nonie, Lola, and Robert

Characters: strong, well developed, visceral, indelible, sensual
Writing Style: lyrically descriptive, poetic, powerful imagery, emotionally piercing
Opening: takes several pages to appreciate the flow of the novel
Plot/Story: suspenseful, emphasis on familial love, devotion and abandonment
Action: page-turner, several exciting twists and turns, riveting and moving
Dialogue: wonderful narrative voice
Humor: little, this is a serious, emotional story
Believability: mystical, improbable yet interesting
Relatable: not for me but still a fabulous book! Time period was before I was born and couldn’t directly relate to the characters.
Originality: very unique in its perspective and plot line.
Enjoyable: an excellent read, troubling at times but in the end enjoyable
Ending: felt rushed and somewhat unsatisfying (but I like when everything is all tied up)
Recommendation: Excellent book – highly recommend this book for true lover of literary fiction! *****

5 stars = Excellent read – you don’t want to miss this one!
4 stars = Very good – you should add this to your reading list.
3 stars = Good – you could go either way here.
2 stars = Fair - it’s a tolerable read but you should probably skip it.

1 star = Poor – don’t waste your time.

Erased by Jim Krusoe

Have you ever read a book and just loved it, and then, after it was over, thought about it and said, “What exactly happened there?” That’s how I felt about Jim Krusoe’s Erased. His sense of humor carries you through the book, which is described in many reviews (very accurately) as a dreamlike sequence of events. There are times you want to laugh out loud, and others when you’re not so sure if the joke is on you. It is intriguing, unsettling, and hilarious at the same time.

Theodore’s mother left him as a child in the care of a neighbor. It was so long ago that now, as an adult, he barely remembers her at all. She reappears in his life and he, unsurprisingly, is not very moved by this event. But, he is trying. One night, on the phone, she has an odd conversation with him about life and death, and the fine line between the two. He is concerned that she is not herself, but not worried enough to check on her for a couple of days. When he finally gets around to it, she is gone again. Not long after this, Theodore gets a newspaper clipping in the mail about her death in Cleveland, by drowning. This seems odd for a fisher of her abilities, but perfectly normal compared to the events to come. When the first postcard arrives from his now-dead mother, “I need to see you”, he finds it odd, but not extraordinary. After the next postcards arrive, Theodore heads to Cleveland to search for her himself. He leaves his lucrative garden implement business in the care of his shady seeming (at least to me) assistant, and heads off to Cleveland, land of the very odd postcard.

There is pretty much nothing normal that happens after this: a city-wide rodent hunt, the all-girl Satan’s Samaritans biker club, questionably taught art classes, bowling leagues, and of course, fishing. Even more than the long list of odd characters Krusoe assembles to tell this tale, the city of Cleveland itself looms large as a character in this book. So yes, it was definitely odd, but for some reason, I wanted to pack my bags and head to Cleveland, Land of the strange and wonderful story.

Too Much Happiness by Alice Munro

I don’t usually reach for short story books when choosing my next read but Alice Munro (“master of the short story form”) has gotten good reviews for “Too Much Happiness” and as we’re working on writing them for our anthology it seemed like a good time to give her a try. The stories range from one in which a woman visits her husband in jail while agonizing over the unspeakable crime he has committed, to a young student who visits her roommate’s older lover and ends up at his table dining nude (at his insistence), to a dying widow serving tea (and sympathy) to a murderer who has broken into her home, to a woman, on in age, visiting a childhood friend with whom she drowned a little girl at camp when they were young. There are more stories but these are a few of the memorable ones. I didn’t come out of the end of the book wanting to read more short stories, each of these left me wanting to know more about the characters, more than just a chapter. My fault, not Munro’s, that I enjoy digging deep into a book, enjoying hundreds of pages of thought, character development and plot. Nonetheless she is an excellent writer and if short stories are your thing, this one would be worth the read. (And if anyone wants to borrow this, let me know)