Review: Dream House

Dream House
by Valerie Laken

Kate always had an eye for the broken and unwanted. That was what made this house her dream house: it's potential to be more than it appeared. And maybe it was a symbol of her marriage that had turned out to be not all that she thought it would. Maybe fixing up this old place would fix something at the heart of her and Stuart. Until they hear about the brutal murder that took place in their home 15 years prior.

Walker also views this house symbolically, as a place of happiness before the incident that would lock him away in prison for so long. This house was part of himself, a vital part that he cannot ignore.

*shiver*
Each character is struggling with where they belong. Each person is bumping abrasively into everyone else, all in a search for completeness. All are looking for it in this one inanimate object that can grant no peace and can return no love. I read with a sense of doom. Where is this going to end? How bad is the damage going to be?

I had a strong remembrance of House of Sand and Fog while I was reading. I don't think it was executed at effectively, which is good in this case since I thoroughly detested House of Fog. In Dream House, I liked the characters. I wanted them to find a resolution that would leave them as little torn up as possible. It lost some depth but that was fine with me. I always wanted to continue on to find out what would happen next. I enjoyed the process of following the story. It was a good story with not too much tension. I'd certainly recommend it.

Thank you TLC Book Tours for providing me with a copy of Dream House for review. Once again it has been a pleasure to work with you. And readers can visit Valerie Laken's web site for more info. about Dream House.

Review: My Life in France

My Life in France
by Julia Child with Alex Prud'homme

I was not planning to read Julia Child's memoir of her time in France. It was enough for me to have seen the movie and to cook my way through MtAoFC. But Mom bought the book and couldn't get through it. She thought I'd probably like it. And I did need a French themed book for the Four Month Challenge. What the hell. I read it.

Starting with her marriage to Paul Child, Julia tells her readers about her time in France, falling in love with it's food and it's people. She calls it her spiritual homeland. She explains how she got into cooking. Julia had a driven and scientific mind. She wasn't satisfied to cook a good meal; she had to know how and why it worked the way it did. When she was brought into collaboration for the now famous cook book, she worked each recipe multiple times to make sure it worked every time. Then, when she was brought back to live in the States, she had to work them all over again because American ingredients were much different. We also learn a little about her TV career and her 2 other cook books.

It was a great memoir. It made me want to live in 1950s France. Though they loved France, the Childs lived a cosmopolitan lifestyle. They took road trips, enjoyed art and photography, local cuisine where ever they went. They had no trouble finding like minded friends. They were not interested in an Americanised version of France but in the real deal. The same was true when they lived in England and in Germany. It was always about experiencing the culture and local color.

The ghost(?) writer of Julia's memoir is a family member. Alex is the grandson of Paul Child's twin brother. Using Paul's multitude of letters written to his brother, Alex was able to interview Julia and get a very accurate account of events as they took place and the impressions they left on Julia. This gave the memoir a voice that was a mix of both Paul and Julia that is playful and expressive. I loved the use of funky words throughout, like cookery bookery, that were totally Julia.

While she didn't live to see the book published, I think she would have been very proud of how it turned out. Thank you Mom for passing your copy to me. I highly recommend it.

My Life in France counts for the Four Month Challenge and the 2010 Challenge.