Forgive Me

Forgive Me by Amanda Eyre Ward

All of Amanda Eyre Ward's books are the kind that keep you up all night because you can't put them down. Forgive Me is no exception.

Part of the appeal is the story, but another is the quick sentences and staccato of her stories.

Forgive Me is about Nadine Morgan, an foreign correspondent who has gotten caught up in the nomad lifestyle of a journalist. After being beat up in Mexico, she returns to her hometown in Cape Cod and is forced to confront who she is and who she wants to be. She makes one last trip to South Africa to complete a story that has been following her, her entire career.

I stayed up until 2:30 reading this last night, so be forewarned. Once you start, it's hard to put down.

Loving Frank

I finished Loving Frank. It was an interesting and engrossing story, but possibly because it also described the history of Frank Lloyd Wright and was set around the Women's Movement (you know I prefer historical fiction to nonfiction).

What was interesting was that Mamah left her husband and two very young children as well as her sister to pursue this relationship. And while she talks about missing them, there almost seems something unnatural about it. The character, Mamah, seems to use the writings of a swedish feminist and her ideas of following your passion a little too literally.

The ending was shocking because I didn't realize that there was a murder and fire at Taliesin in 1914. But I do want to go visit Taliesin in Wisconsin now.

Loving Frank - Part One

What I'm reading now....

Loving Frank by Nancy Horan

This is the much talked about fictionalized story of Frank Lloyd Wright's lover, Mamah Borthwick Cheney. It was a very scandalous story especially for the early 20th century.

It's made me interested to look and learn more about Wright's homes (esp Taliesin which is a big part of the 3rd part of the book). But I may wish I hadn't been so curious...I just learned about Mamah's fate!!!

I'll write a full review after I finish.

I bought "Profiles in Courage" at the bookstore today. Why haven't I read it before now?

Special Topics in Calamity Physics

Special Topics in Calamity Physics by Marisha Pessl is such a smart book! Sarah was reading it over the holidays and gave it a good review, so we picked it for my book club.

Unfortunately, we haven't had our meeting yet, so I was holding off posting so I wouldn't give away my thoughts on the book, but I figured I'd better post something.

Blue is a high school student - but definitely not your average teenager. Her mother was killed in a car accident when she was young and since then she and her father don't stay any place for very long. For her senior year in high school, they settle in the NC mountains where she will attend St. Gallways. There she becomes part of an elite group of students, the blue bloods, who have a close relationship with one teacher, Hannah Schnieder (sometimes distrubingly close).

In that year, Blue gets the chance to be more of a "typical" teenager but also learns more about her life, her mother's death as she recounts the tale of Hannah Schneider's death.

At times, I thought the voice of Blue was a little too mature for a teenager, but then by the end it all made perfect sense.

Complete Jane Auten on PBS

Here's one benefit of the writer's strike - I've been channel surfing and found that Masterpiece Theatre on PBS is running the "Complete Jane Austen" series every Sunday night.

Tonight was Mansfield Park and next week is "Miss Austen Regrets" (a biopic) followed by "Pride and Prejudice" (3 weeks), "Emma" and "Sense and Sensibility" (A Room with A View follows the Jane Austen Series).

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/schedule/index.html

The Keep

My book club didn't select The Keep by Jennifer Egan (we read Look at Me instead), so I decided to read it myself.

In the end it was a little bizarre but it was fun to read this story about a billionare turning an old castle somewhere in eastern Europe into a hotel/retreat (yes, I did have visions of the castle I stayed at in Gloggnitz, Austria in my mind.

Great Book Club Books

Great book club books:

Are you looking for a book for your next book club? Or just want to read something juicy that you can discuss with friends? Here's my list of great book club books and what my book club is reading next.

Thirteenth Tale, Diane Setterfield
Bel Canto, Ann Pachett
Notes on a Scandal, Zoe Heller
The Inheritance of Loss, Kiran Desai
The Distant Land of My Father, Bo Caldwell
The True Story of Hansel and Gretel, Lisa Murphy
The History of Love, Nicole Krauss
The Known World, Edward P. Jones

What my book club is reading next:
Special Topics in Calamity Physics, Marisha Pessl

Away

The bookstore near my office was having their yearly 40% after holiday sale, so I picked up a couple of books that I've been wanting to read but was waiting for the paperbacks. Luckily, I didn't have to wait until spring to read Away by Amy Bloom.

I'm only half way through the book, but it's great so far. It's easy to get caught up in this book -which is great during a "snowy" weekend!

After Lillian's entire family was brutally murdered in Russia, she ends up in New York living as a seamstress and mistress. She is told that her daughter, Sophie, isn't actually dead so she heads to Siberia to find her. Lillian has just made her journey across the US and is in Seattle, trying to get back the money that was stolen from her so that she can continue her journey....I'm hooked :)

Gift from the Sea

I've been meaning to write about Gift from the Sea by Anne Morrow Linbergh for a while now. It is such an amazing gift of a novel. It was written many years ago but it is filled with timeless wisdom. A different chapter will probably resonate with you with each reading, which is what makes it so breathtakingly beautiful. I want to read it everyday to remind myself of the beauty of words and to be reassured that I am not alone in my feelings or fears.

2007 List of Books

2007 books (my favorites are at the top):

The Thirteenth Tale, Diane Setterfield
The Distant Land of My Father, Bo Caldwell
Gift from the Sea, Anne Morrow Lindbergh
The True Story of Hansel and Gretel, Lisa Murphy
Inheritance of Loss, Kiran Desai
A Thousand Splendid Suns, Khaled Hosseni
On Chesil Beach, Ian McEwan
Suite Francaise, Irene Nemirovsky
Intuition, Allegra Goodman
View from Castle Rock, Alice Munro
Not on Our Watch, Don Cheadle/John Prendergast
The Keep, Jennifer Egan
Talk, Talk, TC Boyle
Passage to India, EM Forrester
A Breath of Fresh Air, Amulya Malladi
Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, Michael Chabon
Sisters Keeper, Jodi Picoult
People's Act of Love, James Meek
Little Children, Tom Perrota
Look at Me, Jennifer Egan
Bastard of Istanbul, Elif Shafak
Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows, JK Rowling
Love Walked In, Marisa de los Santos
Monique & the Mango rains, Kris Halloway
A Hole in the Universe, Mary McGarry Morris
Accidental Tourist, Anne Tyler
Amateur Marriage, Anne Tyler
Digging to America, Anne Tyler
Something Borrowed, Emily Griffin
Blue Shoes & Happiness, Alexander McCall Smith
The Almost Moon, Alice Sebold
Missing Joseph, Elizabeth George
Playing for Ashes, Elizabeth George
A Place of Hiding, Elizabeth George
The Lost Art of Keeping Secrets,

Distant Land of My Father, The True Story of Hansel and Gretel, Suite Francaise

Wow, it's been a while since I posted anything and that means it's doubtful that anyone is reading, since no one noticed.

Some great books I've read lately and would highly recommend:
The Distant Land of My Father by Bo Caldwell
The True Story of Hansel and Gretel by Lisa Murphy
Suite Francaise by Irene Nemirovsky

I've had to pick up some books with lighter subject matter after all these stories of strife and struggle, but they are all amazingly told.

2006 List of Books

Books I read in 2006

I realized I don't have my list of 2006 books on here.
I tried to start a "staring" system of my recommendations but everything was ending up with 2 or 3 stars, so I only highlighted my highly recommended books.

Julie and Julia, Julie Powell
Hotel due Lac, Anita Brooker
The Space Between Us, Thrity Umrigar
Truth and Beauty, Ann Patchett
A Year of Magical Thinking, Joan Didion
On Beauty, Zadie Smith
Snow, Orhan Pamuk
Rapture of Canaan, Sheri Reynolds
Freakonomics, Levitt and Dubner
Dogs of Babel, Carolyn Parkhurst
The Things They Carried, Tim O'Brien
Haunted, Chuck Palachiuk
The History of Love, Nicole Krause
Halfway House, Katherine Noel
The Sea, John Banville
Brokeback Mountain, Annie Proux
Vince & Joy, Lisa Jewell
Spot of Bother, Mark Haddon
Keys to the Kingdom, AJ Cronin
The Last Days of Dogtown, Anita Diamant
Alejento Blue, Monica Ali
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, Betty Smith
In Cold Blood, Truman Capote
Bloody Shame, Carolina Garcia-Aguilera
In the Company of Cheerful Ladies, Alexander McCall Smith
For the Sake of Elena, Elizabeth George
Lipstick Jungle, Candace Bushnell
The Memory Keeper's Daughter, Kim Edwards
Running with Scissors, Augusten Burroughs
In the Cut, Susanna Moore
The Girls Who Went Away, Ann Fessler

2005 List of Books

Full list of books I read in 2005:

Great Failure, Natalie Goldberg

All the Fishers Come Home to Roost, Rachel Brown

The Fourth Hand, John Irving

Blindness, Jose Saramgo

The Optimisist's Daughter, Eudora Welty

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Ken Kesey

Wild Mind, Natalie Goldberg

Mermaid Chair, Sue Monk Kidd

Devil in the White City, Erik Larsen

The Bee Season, Myla Goldberg

Matilda, Roald Dahl

Writer's Life, Ellen Gilchrist

Forever, Pete Hamill

What Was She Thinking, Zoe Heller

Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, JK Rowling

A Long Way Down, Nick Hornby

The Drowning Tree, Carol Goldman

Diary of Anne Frank

The Jane Austen Book Club, Karen Joy Fowler

Crossing California, Adam Leger

The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini

Mr Maybe, Jane Green

Portuguese Irregular Verbs, Alexander McCall Smith

Stiff, Mary Roach

A Suitable Vengence, Elizabeth George

Sleep Toward Heaven, Amanda Eyre Ward

Emperor of Scent, Chandler Burr (AWFUL)

Blink, Malcolm Gladwell

How to Be Lost, Amanda Eyre Ward

The Ha-Ha, Dave King

The Reader, Bernard Schlink

Early Leaving, Judy Goldman

The Tipping Point, Malcolm Gladwell

Rebecca, Daphne DuMaurier

The Mango Season, Amulya Malladi

I am Charlotte Simmons, Tom Wolffe

Inner Circle, TC Boyle

Favorite Books of 2005

Favorite books from 2005:

Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseni: I can't say enough about this book. It rips your heart open and touches you to the core. I read this on a plane and had to finish before we arrived because I knew I couldn't put it down.

Shadow of the Wind, Carlos Ruiz Zafon : A great story that is dramatic, mysterious and adventurous. For anyone who loves books, it is a great ride into the world of fiction.

Bee Season, Myla Goldberg: This book had been recommended to me many times and I finally had the opportunity to pick it up. Goldberg crafts an amazing story about the dysfunctional Naumann family -- Eliza's success in spelling bees, her brother Aaron's religious search and their mother's kleptomania. In the end, you get a peek inside each characters thoughts and fears.

The Ha-Ha, Dave King: The story of Howie, a Vietnam vet who can't speak, write or read and Ryan, the 9 year old son of an ex-girlfriend, who ends up in Howie's care when Ryan's mother goes into rehab. It's a touching and engrossing story, making you laugh and cry.

Sleep Toward Heaven and How to be Lost, Amanda Eyre Ward: Both of Ward's books suck you in and you don't want to put them down. Both center around 3 main characters and how their lives intersect. Ward focuses on the relationships between women and family and touches you deeply.

Inner Circle, TC Boyle: A fictional account of sex researcher Alfred Kinsey's work and world. A great example of Boyle's work, though Drop City is still my favorite.

Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers, Mary Roach: Exactly what the title says, Mary Roach entertainingly follows the different routes human cadavers can take. It may seem surprising that this subject matter can be called "entertaining" but Roach provides color commentary that is laugh out loud funny.

All the Fishes Come Home to Roost

I just finished All the Fishes Come Home to Roost by Rachel Manija Brown for one of my book clubs.

All the Fishes Come Home to Roost is a memoir about a young American growing up in India. Her parents decide to live in an ashram to worship Baba, the God they believe in. Some of the stories were entertaining and it seems that the author has come to terms with the abuses she suffered while growing up. Overall, it felt a little juvenile - almost like it was written for elementary schoolers. But I guess that's the place she is writing from.

Some of my favorite books

Some of my favorites:










The Lovely Bones, Alice Sebold
Middlesex, Jeffrey Eugenides
Rebecca, Daphne DuMaurier
Lucky, Alice Sebold
Drop City, TC Boyle
In the Time of Butterflies, Julia Alvarez
The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down, Anne Fadiman
Interpreter of Maladies, Jhumpa Lahiri
The Bean Trees, Barbara Kingsolver
84 Charing Cross Road, Helene Hanff
Atonement, Ian McEwan
Possession, AS Byatt
She's Come Undone, Wally Lamb
Collected Stories, Ellen Gilchrist
The Red Tent, Anita Diamant

About Mrs. Sherman

Mrs. Sherman was the librarian in my elementary school. She took her job and her library very seriously. I can remember her instilling in us as kindergarteners that books had feelings and that we should treat them well, not write in them and keep them dry and safe. If you neglected to follow one of these rules, she warned shaking her index finger, we would hear them cry in pain.

Fast forward to a fall afternoon. I'm in first grade. I am carrying my Strawberry Shortcake lunch box whose handle had broken off earlier in the day. On top of that I have balanced the two library books I had carefully selected during our weekly visit to Mrs. Sherman's sanctuary.

It had been raining for several days and though the rain had stopped, puddles still dotted the sidewalks. As I hurried to the bus home, my carefully constructed pile began to tilt. With horror I watched as one of my library books slid from the pile.

In slow motion, the book flipped end over end. I imagined all the possible outcomes - landing in a puddle, pages folded or torn, the loud cry that would be emitted when it finally reached the ground. By some miracle the book managed to land softly, standing on its long edges.

As I bent down to retrieve the book, I was relieved to hear only silence.

What began as a little bit of fear has become a deeply ingrained appreciation for books. To this day I hate to make marks in books and I always use a bookmark. And for this, I thank Mrs. Sherman.