Review: The Christmas Quilt

The Christmas Quilt
by Thomas J. Davis

In the summer of 1942, in the mountains of North Georgia, Uncle Joe's letter arrived with the promise of a Christmas visit. That's what gave Granny the idea to make the quilt. What follows is the heartwarming tale of a young boy growing up in an idyllic setting and what happens with the family as they all await the return of Uncle Joe, who left Georgia 20 years before to make something of himself.

This book was like reading Little House on the Prairie. It was slow paced and endearing. Even the main character knows how good he's got it. The family he's from is poor but they want for nothing except their long lost relation to visit Granny. It was a little disorienting to read about sunburns under a hot August sun while I'm wrapped in my heated blanket but eventually winter arrives with all its Christmas-y fun. I was surprised that the quilt actually plays a relatively small role but not disappointed. My own Grandma bought me this book last Christmas and this year I will return it to her to read. I think she will really enjoy the reminder of bygone times. I recommend.

Review: The Fireman's Wife

The Fireman's Wife
by Jack Riggs

Though I finished reading this book over the weekend I have put off reviewing it because of the ambiguous feelings I had for it. That is not to say that the book was ambiguous but that my feelings were so stirred and rushing around that I couldn't tell exactly what I felt. After four days, I still can't.

This is the story of Peck and Cassie and the bad place that they find themselves in when 15 years of marriage are on the verge of collapse. They were married when Cassie was disowned by her father after finding out she was pregnant from a summer fling at the young age of 18. For 15 years Cassie has felt isolated and neglected in the swampy coastal South Carolina low country, the victim to her husband's demanding job and closed up personality. Now she has run off to start a new life, taking their very angry teen aged daughter with her. But being without Peck leaves her feeling even more unsettled and confused. Can their marriage be saved?

This is 300 pages of mostly introspective writing. The characters are flawed in both believable and unbelievable ways. I could never tell if I thought they were genuine or not. And I kept waiting for action but it never really delivered. Even the big action scene near the end wasn't action-packed. There were some "spiritual" elements that were open for interpretation. Was it supernatural interference or just coincidence? And the ending was a bit difficult for me to swallow. Near the end is the area filled with the most unbelievable elements but I can't give an example without giving away a major spoiler.

The book was a good example of location as a character. Though I have never been to the East Coast I could picture both the marshes and the mountains. Also, I think the way the chapters move back and forth between Peck and Cassie were an effective way of telling their story, getting both perspectives and seeing both of their vulnerable sides. I liked Peck, and I thought the daughter, Kelly, had spunk. She needed more discipline but you could understand her anger. To be fair, her parents weren't acting any better.

But to get back to the point, did I actually like it? I did, I think. Despite all of its little flaws it did feel like it could have happened, mostly. Would I recommend it? Probably only to those who, like me, love a character driven novel. Unfortunately, I'm afraid most people aren't going to stick with it long enough to get to know the characters and care what happens to them.

Buy this book at Amazon.

The Sunday Salon

It's 11:30pm on Sunday night and I am tired. I'm snuggled warm and comfy under the heated blanket I keep near my reading spot for those few days each year when the weather is not so warm and sunny in California. I'm listening to the rain and wind outside. They are predicting possible snow this week. In California! In the valley!! Well, bring it on.

I've just finished The Fireman's Wife and I'll need a few days for it to ruminate before I can post a review. Next up is supposed to be The Might Queens of Freeville, a memoir about strong women raising strong daughters, but I don't know if I can just yet. I think I need a little brain candy first. It's time to break out The Christmas Quilt, last year's Christmas present from Grandma.

Earlier this evening my daughter was baking chocolate chip cookies when we had a little bonding moment. I decided that now was the perfect time to share with her one of my favorite books, Little Women. It has always seemed like such a Christmas time book to me and I have finally figured out why. The book opens and closes with scenes of family gathered around the fire on (or just about anyway) Christmas. I am so excited to share the March family with my own daughter while she is still young enough to cuddle with me while I read. These are the moments I hope will stick with her when she looks back. What are your favorite memory building moments you have with your special someones?

Review: The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox

The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox
by Maggie O'Farrell

Iris Lockhart is an only child, the daughter of an only child, the granddaughter of an only child. At least that's what she's been told. That's why she is so careless about the notifications she's gotten about an elderly Great-Aunt that is being released from a "loony-bin" into her care. Over the course of a weekend Iris' life and identity will be turned upside down as she comes to know her "crazy" Aunt Esme and the depth of the family secrets that kept her locked away for over 60 years.

I liked it. Esme is a great character. She reminded me of Jo March from Little Women (I should read that again) but with a twist of lime. You can never really be sure if she's crazy or just misunderstood.

The way the story is laid out is interesting. There is Iris's modern perspective as she discovers from a place of ignorance, almost like the reader. She is distracted by her complicated life and unable to find any real answers. Then there is Esme's perspective from 60 years ago, sometimes coming as memories and sometimes not. Lastly there is the perspective of Iris's grandmother, Esme's sister Kitty, who is pretty far gone with Alzheimer's. Her thoughts jump from memory to memory to present. Though the reader learns some difficult truths about the Lennox family, you can never be sure that you have the correct or complete perspective.

The present tense writing took a little getting used to. So did the perspective changes and the lack of chapter breaks. But the story is so compelling that I kept going and adjusted quickly. There are only 245 pages with larger print and lots of white space in the margins so it was a fast read, or it would be for a fast reader. I would recommend reading it in one gulp if you can. I think the discovering of clues and the building of the storyline would work well all at once.

Like I said already, I liked it. The characters were real and the story was interesting. I recommend it. And it's only $6.49 at Amazon right now. What a deal!

Buy this book at Amazon.

Review: Sarah's Key

Sarah's Key

by Tatiana De Rosnay

Sarah Starzynski was only ten years old when the French police pounded on her door to take her Jewish family away in the Vel d'Hiv round up that took place in Paris in July 1942. Thousands of men, women, and children were crowded into inhumane conditions in a stadium before being shipped to a camp while they awaited the cattle cars that would take them to Auschwitz for extermination. When the police came for them she locked her brother in a hidden cupboard in their bedroom, promising to return to let him out later. She couldn't know that she wasn't returning.

But Sarah's tale doesn't end there. In 2002, Julia Jarmond, an American journalist writing an article about Vel d'Hiv, is touched personally by Sarah's story. She is unable to get it out of her head. It intertwines with her own life, now falling apart. The obsession to find Sarah to tell her that she has not been forgotten takes over her life and gives it new purpose.

I promised a one word review so here you go: MELODRAMATIC. The author can write but she tries too hard to bring the reader to tears. The key to good fiction is to make it seem effortless and this wasn't. Sarah's story was sorrowful enough on its own. It didn't need the extra shoves toward the tissue box. It distracted me from the story.

Also, other than Sarah, none of the characters are likable or believable. If the book had only been about Sarah, without the modern story intruding, it would have been a better story but it would have been much smaller, cutting the book down from it's current 300 pages to possibly only 100 or so.

Despite its flaws I liked the book, mostly(I didn't like the part dealing with abortion). It's a good story about a catastrophe that is overlooked in the annuls of history. And the author's point is Let us never forget. After reading Sarah's Key, I never will.

Buy this book at Amazon.

The Sunday Salon

So sorry. I meant to do it. Really I did but time just got away from me somehow. A whole week went by and no review for Sarah's Key. I should be slapped on the wrist and sent to bed without dessert. Well, I already ate dessert so maybe my punishment should be postponed till tomorrow. But with the stack of goodies from Sees Candies sitting on the bar I wouldn't hold your breath that I will actually not get dessert. But you can still slap my wrist.

Ow!

There. All's better now. So I will write a review of Sarah's Key this week. Promise. Then I will write a review of The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox because I just finished it five minutes ago. Look for something favorable.

Next up on the roster is The Fireman's Wife, an ARC from Library Things Early Review Program. It looks promising. I also need to get to The Might Queens of Freeville which I've heard good things about. After that my reading will take a darker turn with Breathing Out the Ghost in prep for a TLC Book Tour. I look forward to some good reading the rest of the year. Then I hope to read a few titles off my own shelves. Maybe?

An Email Funny

Some doctor on television this morning said that the way to achieve inner peace is to finish all the things you have started. So I looked around my house to see things I'd started and hadn't finished and, before leaving the house this morning, I finished off a bottle of Merlot, a bottle of shhhardonay, a bodle of Baileys, a butle of vocka, a pockage of Prunglies, tha mainder of bot Prozic and Valum scriptins, the res of the Chesescke an a box a chocolets. Yu haf no idr who gud I fel. Peas sen dis orn to dem yu fee ar in ned ov inr pece

A Winner Has Been Announced

The 2008 Literary Review Bad Sex in Fiction Prize went to Rachel Johnson for her novel Shire Hell, according to the Associated Press (via USA Today).

"All the passages this year are equally awful," said Tom Fleming, the magazine's deputy editor, "but Rachel Johnson's struck us because of the mixture of cliche and euphemism. There were a couple of really bad animal metaphors in there."

*Bad Joke Alert*
So what they're saying is sex in Shire Hell is sheer hell. (you were warned)

More Notable Books

The New York Times Book Review has come out with its 100 Notable Books of 2008 list. Glancing through the list, I have already picked out a few interesting titles.