Wordless Wednesday

Movie News

From Shelf Awareness (8/1/11):

Movies: The Hedgehog

The Hedgehog, based on The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery, opens this Friday, August 5. Garance Le Guillermic stars as a lonely little girl who befriends her apartment's seemingly irritable concierge (Josiane Balasko). Directed by Mona Achache.

I can't wait! I loved this book.

Go here for more info.

An Incomplete Revenge

An Incomplete Revenge by Jacqueline Winspear
Mystery
2008 Macmillan Audio, Unabridged edition
Reader: Orlagh Cassidy
Finished 6/23/11
Rating: 2.5/5 (Fair)



Product Description

With the country in the grip of economic malaise, and worried about her business, Maisie Dobbs is relieved to accept an apparently straightforward assignment from an old friend to investigate certain matters concerning a potential land purchase. Her inquiries take her to a picturesque village in Kent during the hop-picking season, but beneath its pastoral surface she finds evidence that something is amiss. Mysterious fires erupt in the village with alarming regularity, and a series of petty crimes suggests a darker criminal element at work. As Maisie discovers, the villagers are bitterly prejudiced against outsiders who flock to Kent at harvest-time—even more troubling, they seem possessed by the legacy of a war-time Zeppelin raid. Maisie grows increasingly suspicious of a peculiar secrecy that shrouds the village, and ultimately she must draw on all her finely honed skills of detection to solve one of her most intriguing cases.

Rich with Jacqueline Winspear’s trademark period detail, this latest installment of the bestselling series is gripping, atmospheric, and utterly enthralling.

I’ve read and enjoyed the first three novels in the Maisie Dobbs' series, but this is the second installment that has fallen flat for me. I never felt engaged in the mystery and there were very few new revelations about Maisie (or Billy Beale) that might have piqued my curiosity or added any suspense to the narrative. Unlike Winspear’s earlier books, this one lacks tension and emotion, missing its mark and making this reader wonder if it’s worth continuing with the next three books in the series.

The History of Love

The History of Love by Nicole Krauss
Fiction
2005 W. W. Norton and Company
Quit on 6/14/11
Rating: DNF





Publisher’s Blurb:

Fourteen-year-old Alma Singer is trying to find a cure for her mother’s loneliness. Believing that she might discover it in an old book her mother is lovingly translating, she sets out in search of its author. Across New York an old man named Leo Gursky is trying to survive a little bit longer. He spends his days dreaming of the lost love who, sixty years ago in Poland, inspired him to write a book. And although he doesn’t know it yet, that book also survived: crossing oceans and generations, and changing lives….

I’ve had this book on my shelf for several years and decided to give it a read when it was shortlisted for the 2011 One Book, One Lincoln. After more than a hundred pages, I decided it was time to call it quits.

Marvelous? (San Francisco Chronicle) Astonishing? (Washington Post) Ingenious? (New York Times). I beg to differ. I had a hard time following the flow of the narrative, which jumped from one topic to another, and I didn't care at all for any of the characters.

Final thoughts: Dull. Convoluted. Obscure.

Cutting For Stone

Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese
Fiction
2009 Vintage Books
2009 Random House Audio; Unabridged edition
Reader: Sunil Malhotra
Finished 6/7/11
Rating: 4.5/5 (Terrific!)



Publisher’s Blurb

Marion and Shiva Stone are twin brothers born of a secret union between a beautiful Indian nun and a brash British surgeon. Orphaned by their mother’s death and their father’s disappearance, bound together by a preternatural connection and a shared fascination with medicine, the twins come of age as Ethiopia hovers on the brink of revolution.

Moving from Addis Ababa to New York City and back again, Cutting for Stone is an unforgettable story of love and betrayal, medicine and ordinary miracles—and two brothers whose fates are forever intertwined.

I started off reading the printed version of this novel, but switched to audio after a few chapters. It took me a little over 50 pages to get hooked, but from there on, I was completely engrossed. At over 658 pages, this is quite a chunkster and it took me almost 2 months to listen to. But I fell in love with the reader’s voice and didn’t mind the length of the story one bit. From AudioFile:

Dr. Marion Stone, the Ethiopian-born, half-Indian protagonist and narrator of CUTTING FOR STONE, at one point refers to his adopted mother's voice as both lilting and singsong. The same can be said of Sunil Malhotra's expert reading of this audiobook, a moving story about twin brothers born of an Indian Catholic nun and an expatriate English doctor. Malhotra slips into the skin of Marion, a moody, bookish boy and later a talented surgeon, who, against a background of African poverty, war, and medical breakthroughs, is oddly detached but always compassionate. Malhotra's ease with the sometimes-complex medical terminology and the broad cast of Indian, African, English, and even some Bronx-accented characters makes for a fascinating listening experience.

On Ethiopia:

My greatest consolation, Ghosh thought, for only the hundredth time since his arrival in Ethiopia, has been the women of this land. The country had completely surprised him. Despite pictures he’d seen in National Geographic, he’d been unprepared for this mountain empire shrouded in mist. The cold, the altitude, the wild roses, the towering trees, reminded him of Coonoor, a hill station in India he’d visited as a boy. His Imperial Majesty, Emperor of Ethiopia, may have been exceptional in his bearing and dignity, but Ghosh discovered that His Majesty’s people shared his physical features. Their sharp, sculpted noses and soulful eyes set them between Persians and Africans, with the kinky hair of the latter, and the lighter skin of the former. Reserved, excessively formal, and often morose, they were quick to anger, quick to imagine insults to their pride. As for theories of conspiracy and the most terrible pessimism, surely they’d corned the world market on those. But get past all those superficial attributes, and you found people who were supremely intelligent, loving, hospitable, and generous.

The Dallas Morning News says, Grand enough for the movies and I’d have to agree. What a marvelous film this richly textured saga would make! Cutting for Stone is one of the best books I’ve read this year. The characters, both major and minor, are so well-drawn and unique, they’ll remain with me for years to come.

Caribousmom says, Cutting for Stone is one of those books which is impossible to put down. Here is a lush, emotional, intelligent and compelling novel written by an accomplished story teller. I loved that Verghese, a physician himself, wrote a novel about two generations of doctors and was able to capture the passion of medicine. By placing the story mostly in a small African village, Verghese is able to show that the physician’s greatest gift is not found in technology, but in his or her ability to provide comfort.

I loved this book and its characters (who felt like living, breathing people to me). I loved the journey. Abraham Verghese has written a gorgeous novel which deserves to be savored. Readers who love hefty family sagas in the style of John Irving, and are drawn to literary fiction will enjoy this book.

Go here to read her entire review.

My good friend, Kay, also loved this novel. She says, this was a tremendous book with a wonderfully talented author. It was epic in scope and gave me so much to think about. It was a not a fast read for me. However, I wanted to be sure that I kept up with all the characters and events that packed the narrative.

You can read her complete review here.

Final thoughts: I loved this beautiful, provocative debut novel. Don’t be put off by its size; you won’t want it to end.

Family Reunion

We're heading out to one of my favorite locations for a mini-family reunion/belated 80th birthday celebration. See you in a week.

The Pioneer Woman: Black Heels to Tractor Wheels

The Pioneer Woman: Black Heels to Tractor Wheels--A Love Story
by Ree Drummond
Nonfiction – Memoir
2011 HarperAudio, Unabridged
Read by Ree Drummond
Finished on 5/31/2011
Rating: 4.5/5 (Terrific!)



Product Description

"That's when I saw him—the cowboy—across the smoky room."

I'll never forget that night. It was like a romance novel, an old Broadway musical, and a John Wayne western rolled into one. Out for a quick drink with friends, I wasn't looking to meet anyone, let alone a tall, rugged cowboy who lived on a cattle ranch miles away from my cultured, corporate hometown. But before I knew it, I'd been struck with a lightning bolt . . . and I was completely powerless to stop it.

Read along as I recount the rip-roaring details of my unlikely romance with a chaps-wearing cowboy, from the early days of our courtship (complete with cows, horses, prairie fire, and passion) all the way through the first year of our marriage, which would be filled with more challenge and strife—and manure—than I ever could have expected.

This isn't just my love story; it's a universal tale of passion, romance, and all-encompassing love that sweeps us off our feet.

It's the story of a cowboy.

And Wranglers.

And chaps.

And the girl who fell in love with them.

About the Author

Ree Drummond began blogging in 2006 and has built an award-winning website, where she shares recipes, showcases her photography, and documents her hilarious transition from city life to ranch wife. She is the author of the #1 New York Times bestselling cookbook The Pioneer Woman Cooks. Ree lives on a working cattle ranch near Pawhuska, Oklahoma, with her husband, Ladd; their four kids; their beloved basset hound; and lots of other animals.

I’d never heard of Ree Drummond, aka PW (The Pioneer Woman), until two years ago when her cookbook hit the shelves. We had a few copies on our holiday cookbook display and one day I overheard a woman telling her friend about Ree’s hilarious blog. My interest piqued, I came home from work and spent several hours reading some of PW’s archived posts. Drummond is not only a witty writer, but she has a great eye, capturing life on the ranch through the lens of her camera. The hilarious commentary makes for great reading. I was thoroughly entertained, laughing out loud as I read, calling my husband into my office to take a look at the wonderful photographs and listen to the comical anecdotes about Charlie, the family’s Basset hound (who now has his own memoir entitled, Charlie the Ranch Dog!).


The following day, I thumbed through The Pioneer Woman Cooks and knew it was a winner. I ordered in more copies and made it my #1 hand sell for the Christmas season. And, of course, I had to buy a copy for myself, but my husband didn’t mind one bit (in spite of the huge stack of recently purchased cookbooks already on my shelves). This cookbook rocks! I’ve tried many of the recipes and almost every single one is a winner. We especially love the Migas (scrambled egg dish with onions, tomatoes, peppers, cheese, cilantro and fried, chopped corn tortillas), Marlboro Man’s Favorite Sandwich (cube steak with onions and butter on a crusty roll), Onion Strings, and Penne Alla Betsy (shrimp in a tomato-cream pasta dish). Rod can’t wait for me to try the cinnamon rolls and fried chicken. Who am I kidding? I can’t wait, either!

But enough about food. Let’s talk about PW’s memoir, which quite honestly I was a little hesitant to read. It sounded sappy and I already knew the basic story of how she came to meet and marry her husband (aka Marlboro Man) since a large chunk of it is mentioned on her blog. But a couple of customers told me how much they enjoyed the book, so I decided to give the audio version a try. Let me tell you, I was pleasantly surprised! I’m not sure why my expectations were set for something trivial and possibly poorly written, but I was very impressed and entertained. Read by the author, the story feels like a chatty conversation with a friend, tugging at my heartstrings and making me laugh out loud.

My only complaint was the overabundant usage of “Marlboro Man” (used in lieu of her husband’s actual name). I suppose if I were reading the book, as opposed to listening to the audio, I would have skimmed over those two words and not given it a second thought. However, hearing her say them over and over began to bother me ever so slightly. But in spite of this minor annoyance, I was sorry when I reached the final chapter of the book. I hope she’ll write more about her life on the ranch with her kiddos and critters, and of course, Marlboro Man. But, if there's no written sequel to this love story, there’s always her blog. It will take me years to read through all the archives!

Unbroken

Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption by Laura Hillenbrand
Nonfiction
2010 Random House Audio; Unabridged Edition
Reader: Edward Herrmann
Finished 5/17/11
Rating: 3.5/5 (Good)



Product Description

On a May afternoon in 1943, an Army Air Forces bomber crashed into the Pacific Ocean and disappeared, leaving only a spray of debris and a slick of oil, gasoline, and blood. Then, on the ocean surface, a face appeared. It was that of a young lieutenant, the plane’s bombardier, who was struggling to a life raft and pulling himself aboard. So began one of the most extraordinary odysseys of the Second World War.

The lieutenant’s name was Louis Zamperini. In boyhood, he’d been a cunning and incorrigible delinquent, breaking into houses, brawling, and fleeing his home to ride the rails. As a teenager, he had channeled his defiance into running, discovering a prodigious talent that had carried him to the Berlin Olympics and within sight of the four-minute mile. But when war had come, the athlete had become an airman, embarking on a journey that led to his doomed flight, a tiny raft, and a drift into the unknown.

Ahead of Zamperini lay thousands of miles of open ocean, leaping sharks, a foundering raft, thirst and starvation, enemy aircraft, and, beyond, a trial even greater. Driven to the limits of endurance, Zamperini would answer desperation with ingenuity; suffering with hope, resolve, and humor; brutality with rebellion. His fate, whether triumph or tragedy, would be suspended on the fraying wire of his will.

In her long-awaited new book, Laura Hillenbrand writes with the same rich and vivid narrative voice she displayed in Seabiscuit. Telling an unforgettable story of a man’s journey into extremity, Unbroken is a testament to the resilience of the human mind, body, and spirit.

I tend to read more fiction than nonfiction, but after hearing such high praise for Hillenbrand’s latest book, I decided to give it a try. Listening to the audio version worked out well, since I tend to read history books with a highlighter in hand, studying the book rather than simply reading for enjoyment. I have no complaints about the reader (Edward Herrmann), but there were several instances in which I felt the story was beginning to sound repetitious and drawn out. I began to get impatient for Zamperini’s rescue from the POW camps and, had I been reading the book rather than listening to the audio version, I’m not sure if I would have bothered to finish. And yet one sentence has remained with me since I finished listening to the book. After relating his entire saga to a journalist, Louie said, “If I knew I had to go through those experiences again” he finally said, “I’d kill myself.” And who could blame him? War alone must be the most terrifying for those fighting for their countries. But then to be lost at sea for 47 days, fighting off sharks and watching as the enemy approaches, strafing the raft with gunfire, followed by capture and a horrific experience in a Japanese POW camp, in which starvation, beatings and torture (under the watch of the sadistic Corp. Mutsuhiro Watanabe) were routine experiences, it’s a wonder he and his fellow POWs didn’t commit suicide. I’m pretty sure at that point, I would’ve been beyond broken!

I read Seabiscuit back in 2002 and while I enjoyed parts of it, I wasn’t terribly impressed, giving it a somewhat average rating of 6/10. Judging from the reviews for both Seabiscuit and Unbroken, I’m in the minority.

The Elegance of the Hedgehog

The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery
Translated from the French by Alison Anderson
Fiction
Audio version: HighBridge Company, Unabridged (2009)
Readers: Barbara Rosenblat and Cassandra Morris
Finished on 4/28/11
Rating: 4.5/5 (Terrific!)



Madame Michel has the elegance of the hedgehog: on the outside, she’s covered in quills, a real fortress, but my gut feeling is that on the inside, she has the same simple refinement as the hedgehog: a deceptively indolent little creature, fiercely solitary—and terribly elegant.



Publisher’s Blurb:

We are in an elegant hotel particulier in the center of Paris. Renée, the building’s concierge, is short, ugly, and plump. She has bunions on her feet. She is cantankerous and addicted to television soaps. Her only genuine attachment is to her cat, Leo. In short, she is everything society expects from a concierge at a bourgeois building in a posh Parisian neighborhood. But Renée has a secret: she is a ferocious autodidact who furtively devours art, philosophy, music, and Japanese culture. With biting humor she scrutinizes the lives of the building’s tenants—her inferiors in every way except that of material wealth.

Then there’s Paloma, a super-smart twelve-year-old and the youngest daughter of the Josses, who live on the fifth floor. Talented, precocious, and startling lucid, she has come to terms with life’s seeming futility and has decided to end her own on the day of her thirteenth birthday. Until then she will continue hiding her extraordinary intelligence behind a mask of mediocrity, acting the part of an average pre-teen high on pop subculture, a good but not an outstanding student, an obedient if obstinate daughter.

Paloma and Renée hide both their true talents and their finest quality from a world they suspect cannot or will not appreciate them. They discover their kindred souls when a new tenant arrives, a wealthy Japanese man named Ozu. He befriends Paloma and is able to see through Renée’s timeworn disguise to the mysterious event that has haunted her since childhood. This is a moving, witty, and redemptive novel that exalts the quiet victories of the inconspicuous among us.

One of the things I love most about my job as a book seller is chatting about my favorite books with customers and co-workers. Occasionally, I meet someone who shares my taste in books and offers their recommendations to me. Such was the case with The Elegance of the Hedgehog. The customer was so enthusiastic about the novel that I promptly bought a copy.

That was three years ago.

Even after the book was nominated for our local One Book, One Lincoln read, I wasn’t inspired to pick it up. It wasn’t until I came upon the audio edition that I decided it was time to give it a try. I’m so glad I did, as it turned out to be an excellent novel. I thoroughly enjoyed the alternating voices, performed so well by Barbara Rosenblat (Renée) and Cassandra Morris (Paloma). And, it’s probably a good thing I decided to listen rather than read. There are a few philosophical passages that became a bit tedious, even while listening, and I can guarantee you that I would’ve have wound up heaving the book at a wall if I’d been reading it. Apparently, Publishers Weekly noted this, as well:

This audio version of the surprise French bestseller hits the mark as both performance and story. The leisurely pace of the novel, which explores the upstairs-downstairs goings-on of a posh Parisian apartment building, lends itself well to audio, and those who might have been tempted to skip through the novel's more laborious philosophical passages (the author is a professor of philosophy) will savor these ruminations when read aloud. Tony Award–winning actress Barbara Rosenblat positively embodies the concierge, Renée Michel, who deliberately hides her radiant intelligence from the upper-crust residents of 7 rue de Grenelle, and the performance of Cassandra Morris as the precocious girl who recognizes Renée as a kindred spirit is nothing short of a revelation. Morris's voice, inflection and timbre all conspire to make the performance entirely believable.

With that said, I still plan to re-read the printed version someday. This is a charming novel that made me both laugh and cry. I wonder if the film will have the same effect. So much of the narrative is focused on the internal thoughts of Renée and Paloma and I wonder how (or if) the producer is able to capture their quirky personalities.

Paloma on grammar:

“What’s the point of grammar?” asked Achille Grand-Fernet. “You ought to know by now,” replied Madame Never-mind-that-I-am-paid-to-teach-you. “Well I don’t,” replied Achille, sincerely for once, “no one ever bothered to explain it to us.” Madame Fine let out a long sigh, of the “do I really have to put up with such stupid questions” variety, and said, “The point is to make us speak and write well.”

I thought I would have a heart attack there and then. I have never heard anything so grossly inept. And by that, I don’t mean it’s wrong, just that it is grossly inept. To tell a group of adolescents who already know how to speak and write that that is the purpose of grammar is like telling someone that they need to read a history of toilets through the ages in order to pee and poop. It is utterly devoid of meaning! If she had shown us some concrete examples of things we need to know about language in order to use it properly, well, okay, why not, that would be a start. She could tell us, for example, that knowing how to conjugate a verb in all its tenses helps you avoid making the kind of major mistakes that would put you to shame at a dinner party (“I would of came to the party earlier but I tooked the wrong road”). Or, for example, that to write a proper invitation in English to a little divertissement at the chateau of Versailles, knowing the rules governing spelling and the use of apostrophes in la langue de Shakespeare can come in very useful: it would save you from embarrassment such as: “Deer friend, may we have the pleasure of you’re company at Versaille’s this evening? The Marquise de Grand-Fernet.” But if Madame Fine thinks that’s all grammar is for… We already know how to use and conjugate a verb long before we knew it was a verb. And even if knowing can help, I still don’t think it’s something decisive.

Personally I think that grammar is a way to attain beauty. When you speak, or read, or write, you can tell if you’ve said or read or written a fine sentence. You can recognize a well-turned phrase or an elegant style. But when you are applying the rules of grammar skillfully, you ascend to another level of the beauty of language. When you use grammar you peel back the layers, to see how it is all put together, see it quite naked, in a way. And that’s where it becomes wonderful, because you say to yourself, “Look how well-made this is, how well-constructed it is! How solid and ingenious, rich and subtle!” I get completely carried away just knowing there are words of all different natures, and that you have to know them in order to be able to infer their potential usage and compatibility. I find there is nothing more beautiful, for example, than the very basic components of language, nouns and verbs. When you’ve grasped this, you’ve grasped the core of any statement. It’s magnificent, don’t you think? Nouns, verbs…

Renée on reading:

I have read so many books…

And yet, like most autodidacts, I am never quite sure of what I have gained from them. There are days when I feel I have been able to grasp all there is to know in one single gaze, as if invisible branches suddenly spring out of nowhere, weaving together all the disparate strands of my readings—and then suddenly the meaning escapes, the essence evaporates, and no matter how often I reread the same lines, they seem to flee ever further with each subsequent reading, and I see myself as some mad old fool who thinks her stomach is full because she’s been attentively reading the menu. Apparently this combination of ability and blindness is a symptom exclusive to the autodidact. Deprived of the steady guiding hand that any good education provides, the autodidact possesses nonetheless the gift of freedom and conciseness of thought, where official discourse would put up barriers and prohibit adventure.

As much as I enjoyed the audio version of The Elegance of the Hedgehog, I’m very anxious to actually read Barbery’s Gourmet Rhapsody. A friend loaned me his copy… three years ago!

If I haven’t convinced you to read this book, perhaps NPR’s praise will help:

Despite the topic of suicide and many philosophical ponderings, the Renée and Paloma’s narrations are delightfully colorful, idealistic and witty. They are written as if the two are communicating with us in personal journals, speaking with confessional intimacy. The author uses these lovable characters to express enduring messages about assumptions we make that distort relationships… These are the very things you will find in this engaging story that ends surprisingly but with a final message of what life is about. It includes the music of Satie, despair and beauty, and an ‘always’ within ‘never.’ (NPR’s Day to Day)

Go here to view a trailer for the film and here to read more about the cast.

Go here to read Wendy's excellent review for the novel over at Caribousmom.

Major Pettigrew's Last Stand

Major Pettigrew's Last Stand by Helen Simonson
Fiction
2010 Random House Audio, Unabridged Edition
Reader: Peter Altschuler
Finished on 4/23/11
Rating: 4/5 (Very Good)




When depicted by the right storyteller, the thrill of falling in love is funnier and sweeter at 60 than at 16…With her crisp wit and gentle insight, Simonson is still far from her golden years…but somehow in her first novel she already knows just what delicious disruption romance can introduce to a well-settled life. –Washington Post


Product Description

You are about to travel to Edgecombe St. Mary, a small village in the English countryside filled with rolling hills, thatched cottages, and a cast of characters both hilariously original and as familiar as the members of your own family. Among them is Major Ernest Pettigrew (retired), the unlikely hero of Helen Simonson's wondrous debut. Wry, courtly, opinionated, and completely endearing, Major Pettigrew is one of the most indelible characters in contemporary fiction, and from the very first page of this remarkable novel he will steal your heart.

The Major leads a quiet life valuing the proper things that Englishmen have lived by for generations: honor, duty, decorum, and a properly brewed cup of tea. But then his brother's death sparks an unexpected friendship with Mrs. Jasmina Ali, the Pakistani shopkeeper from the village. Drawn together by their shared love of literature and the loss of their respective spouses, the Major and Mrs. Ali soon find their friendship blossoming into something more. But village society insists on embracing him as the quintessential local and her as the permanent foreigner. Can their relationship survive the risks one takes when pursuing happiness in the face of culture and tradition?

My mom is a voracious reader, which makes gift-giving very easy for me. Her birthday and Mother’s Day fall within the same week and I typically give her the latest best-seller along with a few other treats. Unfortunately, I have a terrible memory and can’t always remember what I’ve given her! However, I’m fairly certain I gave her a copy of Major Pettigrew's Last Stand last May since I do remember that she was visiting the week after Mother’s Day and I have a vivid memory of her sitting on our sofa, laughing out loud as she read while I was busy fixing dinner. I value my mom’s opinion, so when she told me that she loved Helen Simonson’s debut novel, I knew I could recommend it to customers in spite of the fact that I hadn’t had a chance to read it myself. And so I did. For almost an entire year, when customers came to me asking for a book that they could give to their aunt or mother-in-law or neighbor, I handed them a copy of Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand with complete confidence that it was just the perfect gift. And now that I’ve listened to the audio version of the book, I am quite certain that those recipients were just as pleased with their gifts as my mother was.

In a word, Major Pettigrew's Last Stand is charming. Reminiscent of The Guernsey Literary Potato Peel Pie Society and Mr. Rosenblum Dreams in English, it’s a delightful book with memorable characters that spring to life, particularly in the audio version, thanks to the marvelous reader, Peter Altschuler. I quickly envisioned The Major (Ernest) as Lyle (Geoffery Palmer) in As Time Goes By. I also pictured Ernest’s son, Roger, as Alistair (Philip Bretherton), also in As Time Goes By.

While slightly slow to start, I wound up loving this gentle novel. So much so that I’d like to own my own copy for a future reread. I’d also love to see someone make a movie of it. I know just the cast!

Final thoughts: Highly enjoyable and I hope there’s a sequel!

From AudioFile:

… Narrator Peter Altschuler is stuffy, gruff, and completely endearing as the Major wrestles with his grief over losing his brother, his conflicted responses to his clueless son, his covetousness for a pair of valuable guns, and his unexpected feelings for his neighbor, Mrs. Jasmina Ali. Helen Simonson's droll comments on family, religion, small-town small-mindedness, and intercultural romance combined with Altschuler's wry, amusing performance transports listeners directly into the English countryside.

Be sure to visit Nan and Bellezza's blogs for their most exceptional reviews of this lovely book.

Unplugged

Not that I post with any regularity, but I thought I should let y'all know that I'm going to be unplugged for the holiday weekend. We're off to Colorado (Red Feather Lakes) and won't have access to the Internet until Wednesday morning. This is always a rough weekend for us, so it will be nice to get away with some good friends. If the weather cooperates, we'll go for long hikes (just us and the bears & mountain lions!), cook delicious meals, play board games, and drink lots of wine. Hmmm, at 9,000 feet, maybe I should be careful with the wine...

I'll be back next week with several book reviews. April and May were good reading months.

I hope everyone has a relaxing (and safe) holiday weekend!

Once Upon a Time, There Was You

Once Upon a Time, There Was You by Elizabeth Berg
Fiction
2011 Random House
Finished 4/22/11
Rating: 2.5/5 (Average)



Product Description

From the beloved New York Times bestselling author of Home Safe and The Last Time I Saw You comes a beautiful and moving novel about a man and woman, long divorced, who rediscover the power of love and family in the midst of an unthinkable crisis.

Even on their wedding day, John and Irene sensed that they were about to make a mistake. Years later, divorced, dating other people, and living in different parts of the country, they seem to have nothing in common—nothing except the most important person in each of their lives: Sadie, their spirited eighteen-year-old daughter. Feeling smothered by Irene and distanced from John, Sadie is growing more and more attached to her new boyfriend, Ron. When tragedy strikes, Irene and John come together to support the daughter they love so dearly. What takes longer is to remember how they really feel about each other.

Elizabeth Berg has once again created characters who embody the many shades of the human spirit. Reading Berg’s fiction allows us to reflect on our deepest emotions, and her gifts as a writer make Once Upon a Time, There Was You a wonderful novel about the power of love, the unshakeable bonds of family, and the beauty of second chances.


Elizabeth Berg is one of the few authors I’ve continued to read for decades. Yes, decades. I first read Talk Before Sleep back in the ‘90s and since then, I’ve read almost every single one of her novels, typically the week it’s published. Her most recent books have either fallen flat or left me craving something a bit more substantial, but I keep going back, trying the latest release, hoping for something like her earlier works. Something that gives me the feeling that she’s peeked into my life and written about my thoughts and feelings. Something that describes a meal that makes my mouth water or tugs at my heartstrings, bringing a lump to my throat. Something like what Erica Bauermeister, Lisa Genova, Marisa de los Santos or Anna Quindlen have done recently with their novels. Unfortunately, this is not the case with Once Upon a Time, There Was You.

Once Upon a Time, There Was You is quite a departure from Berg’s previous novels. There’s a strong element of suspense and mystery, which I enjoyed, and the pages flew, making for a quick read. But once again, I was disappointed, wishing for something more.

Oh, dear. Perhaps I’ve outgrown Ms. Berg.

I’ve come to a point where I borrow rather than buy her novels, and I wonder if I’ll get to the point where I give up completely and simply read her blog (which is lovely and reminiscent of her earlier writing style). After five years, I know I have a difficult time writing a fresh book review, so I can imagine how tough it must be to keep writing entertaining novels.

So, I keep hoping and remain optimistic that the next book will be just the one to once again win me over.

Booklist says:

An enchanting and empathic storyteller, Berg delights in the eccentricities that shape complex personalities and excels in decoding the chemistry and paradoxes of relationships. She is also an avid appreciator of the pleasures of food, funny and assuring on the subject of age, and an advocate for kindness. All these elements are at work in her latest comedy of marriage. . . . All is droll and intriguing until Berg swerves, briefly, into the realm of terror, thus dramatically deepening questions about fear, love, family, and what one makes of one’s life. Berg’s tender and wise novels are oases in a harsh world.

Hmm, I’m not so sure I saw the comedy of marriage in this recent work.

I wrote the following in my last review for a book by Berg:

While lacking substance and peopled with forgettable characters, I still managed to zip through this fluffy read in a day or so. With 20 novels under her belt, perhaps it's time to take a break.

I could have written the exact same words for this new novel.

Hmmm.

Joy for Beginners

Joy For Beginners by Erica Bauermeister
Fiction
2011 G.P. Putnam’s Sons
Finished on 2/27/11
Rating: 4.5/5 (Terrific!)
FTC Disclosure: Received ARC via publicity agent
Available on June 9, 2011



Promise me you'll always remember: You're braver than you believe, and stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think.
~ Christopher Robin to Pooh”

Publisher’s Blurb:

At an intimate, festive dinner party in Seattle, six women gather to celebrate their friend Kate’s recovery from cancer. Wineglass in hand, Kate strikes a bargain with them: to celebrate her new lease on life, she’ll do the one thing that’s always terrified her: white-water rafting. But if she goes, all of them will also do something they always swore they’d never do—and Kate is going to choose their adventures.

Shimmering with warmth, wit, and insight, Joy for Beginners is a celebration of life; unexpected, lyrical, and deeply satisfying.

The other night, as we were driving home from a lovely evening spent with new friends, my husband and I began chatting about our community and our circle of friends. We’ve lived in Lincoln since 1992 (with a brief stint in Texas in the late ‘90s) and have lived on an acreage just outside of the city limits, as well as in town in a lovely old neighborhood where front porches, hundred-year-old trees and a corner market (where one can still sign for groceries and receive a monthly bill!) are commonplace. We have friends that we met that very first year, thanks to our daughter’s outgoing nature on and off the soccer field, folks we’ve met through both of our jobs, and friends we were introduced to by mutual friends. When we moved back to Lincoln in 2000, we were amazed to meet well over a dozen people in our beautiful new neighborhood even as the movers unloaded our possessions into our new home. Some of those neighbors have since moved away, but all the new folks have been just as friendly and neighborly as their predecessors.

And so our circle of friends continues to widen. We gather for coffee and scones at a neighborhood café on Saturday mornings. We host progressive dinner parties and cookouts or meet up at our favorite restaurants. We discuss books, play board games, float in pools, play tennis, ride bikes, or shoot guns (!) with these friends. We support their children’s fundraising ventures, rub their dogs’ bellies, watch out for their homes when they go out of town, and admire their gardens.

We rejoice over births, graduations, marriages, job promotions, and new puppies.

And, we comfort each other through divorces, illnesses and deaths.

We are very blessed to know the friends we’ve met (both in person and via the Internet) over the years. They have brought us joy, filled us with laughter, held us when we needed to cry, and taught us how to be better friends ourselves.

Joy For Beginners is a book about the loyalty and love of friends, about taking risks and believing in oneself, and about being present in one’s life.

Stephanie Kallos (Sing Them Home) writes, “This book is a joy to read. Bauermeister gives us characters who revel in the best of what life has to offer—loving relationships, fine food, good books, and travel—and she writes with keen observance and a wry wit.”

My copy of Joy for Beginners is littered with dozens of Post-It flags, but I’ve decided to let you discover those passages on your own. Well, maybe I'll share just one...

It was almost midnight. The tables were cluttered with napkins and used silverware, tablecloths rumpled like bed-sheets. The diners reclined in their chairs, hands drifting leisurely back and forth between espresso cups and the last sips of port. Tips of fingers caressed the surface of white plates, snaring the last flakes of chocolate left from cinnamon-dusted truffles. Smells lingered in the air, sliding across bare shoulders, nestling into the curls of hair—risotto and chanterelle mushrooms, sweet and rich and buttery, the bite of Parmesan, the rosemary and white wine and garlic of a slow-cooked pork roast. And bread, of course, the long loaves having been passed hand to hand, chunks pulled off, dipped in small white dishes of green olive oil with dark, molten drops of balsamic vinegar floating in its midst. Wine bottles had long ago lost their ownership, traveling up and down the tables like porters on a train. Artists had met book dealers had met plumbers had met research scientists, people getting up between courses and changing places. Over in the corner, a couple was forming, their heads bending slowly toward each other like candles melting.

I read this novel almost three months ago and I have been so eager to share it with all of you. I was tempted to read it in one sitting, but enjoyed it so much, and not wanting to see it end, set it aside for an entire week before returning to read the final chapter. I loved Erica’s first novel, The School of Essential Ingredients, and Joy for Beginners is just as beautifully written, peopled with characters you’ll wish you had in your own circle of friends.

Final thoughts: I can think of a few challenges for some of my friends, but I wonder what challenge my friends would give me? Tattoo? Sky-diving?

The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid

The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid: A Memoir by Bill Bryson
Nonfiction – Memoir
2006 Random House Audio, Unabridged Edition
Read by the author
Finished on 4/13/11
Rating: 3.5/5 (Enjoyable)



Product Description

From one of the most beloved and bestselling authors in the English language, a vivid, nostalgic, and utterly hilarious memoir of growing up in the 1950s

Bill Bryson was born in the middle of the American century—1951—in the middle of the United States—Des Moines, Iowa—in the middle of the largest generation in American history—the baby boomers. As one of the best and funniest writers alive, he is perfectly positioned to mine his memories of a totally all-American childhood for 24-carat memoir gold. Like millions of his generational peers, Bill Bryson grew up with a rich fantasy life as a superhero. In his case, he ran around his house and neighborhood with an old football jersey with a thunderbolt on it and a towel about his neck that served as his cape, leaping tall buildings in a single bound and vanquishing awful evildoers (and morons)—in his head—as "The Thunderbolt Kid."

Using this persona as a springboard, Bill Bryson re-creates the life of his family and his native city in the 1950s in all its transcendent normality—a life at once completely familiar to us all and as far away and unreachable as another galaxy. It was, he reminds us, a happy time, when automobiles and televisions and appliances (not to mention nuclear weapons) grew larger and more numerous with each passing year, and DDT, cigarettes, and the fallout from atmospheric testing were considered harmless or even good for you. He brings us into the life of his loving but eccentric family, including affectionate portraits of his father, a gifted sportswriter for the local paper and dedicated practitioner of isometric exercises, and of his mother, whose job as the home furnishing editor for the same paper left her little time for practicing the domestic arts at home. The many readers of Bill Bryson’s earlier classic, A Walk in the Woods, will greet the reappearance in these pages of the immortal Stephen Katz, seen hijacking literally boxcar loads of beer. He is joined in the Bryson gallery of immortal characters by the demonically clever Willoughby brothers, who apply their scientific skills and can-do attitude to gleefully destructive ends.

Warm and laugh-out-loud funny, and full of his inimitable, pitch-perfect observations, The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid is as wondrous a book as Bill Bryson has ever written. It will enchant anyone who has ever been young.

Last summer I attended my 30th high school reunion. This year I’ll turn 50. So, maybe it’s no wonder that I’m beginning to look back on my youth with wistful longing for what seems from this vantage point a more simple and carefree time. I was born in 1961, but in spite of the age difference, I could certainly appreciate Bryson’s memoir describing growing up in the ‘50s.

I can’t imagine there has ever been a more gratifying time or place to be alive than America in the 1950s. No country had ever known such prosperity. When the war ended the United States had $26 billion worth of factories that hadn’t existed before the war, $140 billion in savings and war bonds just waiting to be spent, no bomb damage, and practically no competition. All that American companies had to do was stop making tanks and battleships and start making Buicks and Frigidaires—and boy did they.

No wonder people were happy. Suddenly they were able to have things they had never dreamed of having, and they couldn’t believe their luck. There was, too, a wonderful simplicity of desire. It was the last time that people would be thrilled to own a toaster or waffle iron. If you bought a major appliance, you invited the neighbors around to have a look at it.

America in 1951 had a population of 150 million, slightly more than half as much as today, no interstate highways, and only about a quarter as many cars. Men wore hats and ties almost everywhere. Women prepared every meal more or less from scratch. Milk came in bottles. The mailman came on foot. Total government spending was $50 billion a year, compared with $2.5 trillion now.

I Love Lucy made its television debut on October 15, and Roy Rogers, the singing cowboy, followed in December. In Oak Ridge, Tennessee, that autumn police seized a youth on suspicion of possessing narcotics when he was found with some suspicious brown powder, but he was released when it was shown that it was a new product called instant coffee. Also new, or not quite yet invented, were ballpoint pens, fast foods, TV dinners, electric can openers, shopping malls, freeways, supermarkets, suburban sprawl, domestic air-conditioning, power steering, automatic transmissions, contact lenses, credit cards, tape recorders, garbage disposals, dishwashers, long-playing records, portable record players, baseball teams west of St. Louis, and the hydrogen bomb. Microwave ovens were available, but weighed seven hundred pounds. Jet travel, Velcro, transistor radios, and computers smaller than a small building were all still some years off.

After reading one of Bryson’s books (A Walk in the Woods) and listening to this and one other (I'm a Stranger Here Myself), I have to say I prefer the audio books. He’s a delightful reader and I zipped through all six discs in no time. I found myself chuckling here and there, but I wouldn’t say that this book is laugh-out-loud funny. As a matter of fact, there were times when the narrative was actually pretty silly. The historical aspects of the memoir were informative and enlightening, but the tales of Bryson’s childhood superhero persona ("The Thunderbolt Kid") were distracting and seemed contrived.

Nostalgic, yet not overly sentimental, The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid is definitely a worthwhile read. Do yourself a favor, though, and listen to the audio. You’ll appreciate hearing Bryson narrate his own childhood vignettes and if you’re a Baby Boomer, more than likely you’ll find yourself nodding your head in agreement. I know I did, especially as I listened to him recall TV dinners, Dick & Jane books, and electric football, all of which I also remember, though dimly!

Coming Attractions

Joy For Beginners
by Erica Bauermeister
Coming June 9, 2011

Advance Praise for Joy For Beginners:


“Moving, touching, wonderfully written; inspiring to read.”
–Garth Stein, author of The Art of Racing in the Rain

“A literary confirmation of the power of friendship.”
–Carol Cassella, author of Oxygen

“This book is a joy to read. Bauermeister gives us characters who revel in the best of what life has to offer--loving relationships, fine food, good books, and travel--and she writes with keen observance and a wry wit.”
–Stephanie Kallos, author of Broken for You

“A warm and elegant portrayal of what makes women, well, women: strength, succor, healing, forgiveness, and ultimately, connection.”
–Jennie Shortridge, author of When She Flew
Erica Bauermeister is the author of the national bestseller The School of Essential Ingredients. Click here to read my review.

Click here to pre-order Joy for Beginners.