Wordless Wednesday

Sequim, Washington

June 2013

Click on photo to enlarge.

Wordless Wednesday

Sequim, Washington

June 2013

Eleanor & Park

Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell
Teen Fiction
2013 St. Martin’s Griffin
Finished on 6/23/13
Rating: 4.75/5 (Outstanding!)




“Eleanor & Park reminded me not just what it’s like to be young and in love with a girl, but also what it’s like to be young and in love with a book.” ~ John Green, author of The Fault in Our Stars

From the author’s website:

“Bono met his wife in high school,” Park says.

“So did Jerry Lee Lewis,” Eleanor answers.

“I’m not kidding,” he says.

“You should be,” she says, “we’re 16.”

“What about Romeo and Juliet?”

“Shallow, confused, then dead.”

“I love you,” Park says.

“Wherefore art thou,” Eleanor answers.

“I’m not kidding,” he says.

“You should be.”

Set over the course of one school year in 1986, Eleanor & Park is the story of two star-crossed misfits – smart enough to know that first love almost never lasts, but brave and desperate enough to try. When Eleanor meets Park, you’ll remember your own first love – and just how hard it pulled you under.

Yep. I remember mine. (Who doesn’t remember their first love? Even after 36 years?) His name was Kevin and he had blond hair, blue eyes and drove a Chevy El Camino. We met at the end of my freshman year (he was a junior) at a mutual friend’s baseball practice. From that day on, we spent the rest of the summer together, hanging out at the beach, going to the races (Del Mar, Where the Turf Meets the Surf!), wandering around the Del Mar Fair, hanging out at his house, watching endless hours of MLB (we preferred the Dodgers over the Padres) or listening to Boston, Styxx, Foreigner, Little River Band and Bob Seeger on vinyl albums, played on his Pioneer stereo system (which, of course, had HUGE speakers). Later that year, we saw The Doobie Brothers and Pablo Cruise in concert, went with his parents and brother to the Pasadena Rose Bowl (Huskies vs Wolverines) and danced the night away at the Christmas formal. I cheered him on at our football games (he was a wide receiver) and sunbathed on the beach while he surfed with his buddies. For Christmas, he gave me a beautiful roll-top cedar chest, which he made in woodshop. I no longer have that lovely gift, but thanks to Rainbow Rowell’s novel, I was instantly transported back to the summer of ’77 and my first high school romance. 

Teen fiction isn’t a genre I typically read, but there have been some winners over the years (The Book Thief, The Hunger Games, Twilight, and The 5th Wave, to name just a few.), so when I started hearing all the buzz about Rowell’s teen debut, I decided to give it a try. I was immediately drawn into this gem of a book and quickly came to care about Eleanor and Park. This is not your typical teenage angst-ridden story and the authentic dialogue made me laugh out loud one minute and tugged at my heartstrings the next. Although I graduated from high school in 1980, I still enjoyed all the 80’s references and was eager to listen to the music mentioned in the narrative. Click here to listen to Eleanor & Park’s playlists.

I was sorry to miss out on the author’s visit and book signing at work, but I hadn’t finished the novel and was worried someone might reveal a spoiler. I only had a few chapters remaining and was completely invested in the story. The last thing I wanted was to hear a fan to blurt out the ending before I had a chance to read it for myself.

Final Thoughts: This is going on my list for a re-read! I’ve heard the audio version is very good too, so I’ll probably go that route. I also want to read Attachments, which is general fiction (as opposed to teen fiction) written in e-epistolary format. As with Eleanor & Park, it’s received glowing reviews.


From Publisher’s Weekly:

Half-Korean sophomore Park Sheridan is getting through high school by lying low, listening to the Smiths (it’s 1986), reading Alan Moore’s Watchmen comics, never raising his hand in class, and avoiding the kids he grew up with. Then new girl Eleanor gets on the bus. Tall, with bright red hair and a dress code all her own, she’s an instant target. Too nice not to let her sit next to him, Park is alternately resentful and guilty for not being kinder to her. When he realizes she’s reading his comics over his shoulder, a silent friendship is born. And slowly, tantalizingly, something more. Adult author Rowell (Attachments), making her YA debut, has a gift for showing what Eleanor and Park, who tell the story in alternating segments, like and admire about each other. Their love is believable and thrilling, but it isn’t simple: Eleanor’s family is broke, and her stepfather abuses her mother. When the situation turns dangerous, Rowell keeps things surprising, and the solution—imperfect but believable—maintains the novel’s delicate balance of light and dark. Ages 13–up.

About the author:

Rainbow earned a journalism degree from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in 1995 and at, 24, became the youngest-ever – and first female – columnist at the Omaha World-Herald. She lives in Omaha, Nebraska, with her husband and two sons. She's also the author of Attachments.

Mellow Yellow - Wordless Wednesday

Golden Lupine
Lupinus densiflorus

Strait of Juan de Fuca

Fort Worden State Park

Point Wilson

Port Townsend, WA

Click on image to enlarge.

Five Days

Five Days by Douglas Kennedy
Fiction
2013 Atria
Finished on 6/1/13
Rating: 4/5 (Very Good)




Publisher’s Blurb:

When Laura leaves her small Maine town to attend a radiography conference in Boston, she is relieved to have a few days away from the heartbreaking realities she shares with cancer patients every day. A weekend’s respite from her failing marriage and her two children who are leaving the nest finds her unexpectedly in the company of a man she has only just met. At first, Richard seems gray and uninspired, but after a second chance encounter, Laura begins to imagine a life beyond the one she has rooted herself to—and to ask herself if the ultimate sign of maturity is realizing that one always has a choice between passion and loneliness, happiness or despair. Douglas Kennedy’s powerful new novel poignantly examines the death of hope, the limitless possibilities of love, and how the entire trajectory of a life can change through one brief encounter.

I happened upon the finished copy of Five Days one day at work (sent by the publisher for review) and after glancing at the back cover blurbs by Will Schwalbe (author of The End of Your Life Book Club), Lorrie Moore (author of A Gate at the Stairs) and Colum McCann (author of Let the Great World Spin), I decided to give it a try. Not only had I not read anything by Douglas Kennedy, I’d never even heard of him.

As Schwalbe states in his blurb, Five Days is “a brilliant mediation on regret, fidelity, family, and second chances.” With the exception of “brilliant,” I concur. Kennedy’s evocative prose had me reaching for my sticky notes and I’m sure I commented (on more than one occasion) to my husband that I was quite impressed with the author's writing, as well as his ability to write from a woman’s perspective. Yes, this is a love story, but it is by no means a fluffy bodice-ripper. Serious and contemplative, Kennedy’s novel is more reminiscent of John Irving or Richard Russo than of, say, Nicholas Sparks or Richard Paul Evans.

Final Thoughts: Five Days is a compulsive read, albeit somewhat predictable, but nonetheless entertaining. I’m always happy when I discover a new writer with a large backlist. I look forward to discovering more winners by Kennedy. Have you read anything by this author? What would you recommend?

The Paris Wife

The Paris Wife by Paula McClain
Fiction
2011 Random House Audio
Reader: Carrington MacDuffie
Finished on 5/31/13
Rating: 3.5/5 (Good)





Publisher’s Blurb:

A deeply evocative story of ambition and betrayal, The Paris Wife captures a remarkable period of time—Paris in the twenties—and an extraordinary love affair between two unforgettable people: Ernest Hemingway and his wife Hadley.

In Chicago in 1920, Hadley Richardson is a quiet twenty-eight-year-old who has all but given up on love and happiness—until she meets Ernest Hemingway and finds herself captivated by his good looks, intensity, and passionate desire to write. Following a whirlwind courtship and wedding, the pair set sail for Paris, where they become the golden couple in a lively and volatile group of expatriates that includes Gertrude Stein, Ezra Pound, and F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald.

But the hard-drinking and fast-living café life does not celebrate traditional notions of family and monogamy. As Hadley struggles with jealousy and self-doubt and Ernest wrestles with his burgeoning writing career, they must confront a deception that could prove the undoing of one of the great romances in literary history.

It’s been close to 40 years since I’ve read a Hemingway novel. The Sun Also Rises, which I believe I read for a high school American Lit. class, was my first (and only) encounter with this renowned author’s works. Other than a vague recollection of the bullfights, I have no lasting impression of the book and until recently, no desire to try anything else by Hemingway. However, after watching Midnight in Paris last summer, I downloaded a sample of A Moveable Feast and am toying with the idea of reading it for this year’s Paris in July challenge. I also downloaded the audio version of The Paris Wife from my library. It’s been such a popular choice among book clubs and I was eager to see what everyone was raving about.

Paula McClain’s historical novel drew me in from the opening lines and held my attention from beginning to end. Other than a few random bits of gossipy information, I was quite ignorant with regard to any details of Hemingway’s life, so I went into the book completely blind. In reading historical fiction, one places a fair amount of trust in the author to get the facts straight and I have to admit that I wouldn’t recognize any inaccuracies in this particular novel. I was pleased when I discovered the following on the author’s website:

I'm hoping my novel will work to illuminate not just the facts of Ernest and Hadley's years in Paris, but the essence of that time and of their profound connection by weaving both the fully imagined and undeniably real.

When I began to research my book, beginning with biographies of Hemingway and Hadley, and with their delicious correspondence, I knew the actual story of the Hemingway's marriage was near perfect; it was a ready-made novel, ripe for the picking. I didn't have to invent a plot for them, nor did I want to. My work would be to use the framework of historical documentation to push into these characters' hearts and minds, discovering their motivations, their deepest wishes.

The most important step for me was getting Hadley's voice. She has very little dialogue in A Moveable Feast, but what's there is so evocative. It led me to seek out the letters she wrote to Ernest during their courtship, and that's when I knew I could write the book. Her speech rhythms, her intelligence and charm and sense of humor all come through with clarity and effervescence. I simply fell in love with her, with them both.

Final Thoughts:

All in all, The Paris Wife was a good read, but not an outstanding one. Singer/songwriter Carrington MacDuffie does a fine job narrating the audio version and I quickly became engrossed in the narrative, happy to find any excuse to listen to another chapter. However, it’s been a month since I finished the novel and the details are beginning to fade. I’m almost finished with The Aviator’s Wife (another historical novel) and would recommend it over McClain’s effort. What do you think? Have you read either of these books? Did you like one better than the other? I’d love to hear your thoughts.

A Day at the Beach

Point No Point

Hainsville, Washington

Wordless Wednesday

Seattle, Washington

June 2013

Click on image to enlarge

Under the Dome

From Shelf Awareness:

Under the Dome, a 13-part series based on Stephen King's novel (media tie-in edition available from Gallery Books), premieres tonight on CBS at 10 p.m. In a positive review, the New York Times wrote: "You can say goodbye to your next two Monday nights, and possibly--if past for once is not precedent--the whole summer's worth."

From Steven Spielberg's Amblin Television, the series "has a cinematic pedigree that gives it a good shot at transcending superficiality," the Times added, praising screenwriter Brian K. Vaughan (Lost) and a "pretty appealing" cast that includes Mike Vogel, Britt Robertson, Alexander Koch, Rachelle Lefevre (A Gifted Man) and Dean Norris (Breaking Bad).


I'm not a fan of mini-series (and I plan to wait to watch this on dvd), but I decided to join several blogger friends and read Under the Dome this summer. The official start date of the readalong (aka #DomeAlong Readalong) was May 25th. I began on the 26th and I'm not even halfway through the novel. The readalong ends on July 27th, so I think I can manage to meet that goal!

If you're a fan of King's or want to give this book a try, it's certainly not too late to sign up. Natalie, of Coffee and a Book Chick, is our readalong hostess, so stop over and check out all the details!

Nat asks us a few questions...

Show us your copy! Audio or print?

Ebook, although I really wish I had it on audio, as well. 

Have you read Uncle Stevie before?

Oh, yeah! I even posted a list of my favorites (as of 2007), which you can find here.

What are you familiar with about Under the Dome or Stephen King?

I wasn't familiar with anything prior to beginning the book. Since I don't watch TV (we watch a lot of our favorite shows on Netflix), I haven't even seen the trailer.

What are you looking forward to?

At this point, I'm looking forward to that moment when I get sucked in and can't put the book down. I think I'm close, but it hasn't quite happened. Yet. At least I'm to the point where I feel like I've got a handle on the cast of characters.

Thanks, Natalie, for organizing this event! I'm sorry it's taken me so long to write my kick-off post. Let's blame it on my early summer travels, shall we? I also want to thank Trish & SuzieQ for their ongoing encouragement on Twitter. :) Y'all are the best readalong pals!

Benediction

Benediction by Kent Haruf
Fiction
2013 Alfred A. Knopf
Finished on 5/22/13
Rating: 4/5 (Very Good)




Publisher’s Blurb:

From the beloved and best-selling author of Plainsong and Eventide comes a story of life and death, and the ties that bind, once again set out on the High Plains in Holt, Colorado.

When Dad Lewis is diagnosed with terminal cancer, he and his wife, Mary, must work together to make his final days as comfortable as possible. Their daughter, Lorraine, hastens back from Denver to help look after him; her devotion softens the bitter absence of their estranged son, Frank, but this cannot be willed away and remains a palpable presence for all three of them. Next door, a young girl named Alice moves in with her grandmother and contends with the painful memories that Dad's condition stirs up of her own mother's death. Meanwhile, the town’s newly arrived preacher attempts to mend his strained relationships with his wife and teenaged son, a task that proves all the more challenging when he faces the disdain of his congregation after offering more than they are accustomed to getting on a Sunday morning. And throughout, an elderly widow and her middle-aged daughter do everything they can to ease the pain of their friends and neighbors.

Despite the travails that each of these families faces, together they form bonds strong enough to carry them through the most difficult of times. Bracing, sad and deeply illuminating, Benediction captures the fullness of life by representing every stage of it, including its extinction, as well as the hopes and dreams that sustain us along the way. Here Kent Haruf gives us his most indelible portrait yet of this small town and reveals, with grace and insight, the compassion, the suffering and, above all, the humanity of its inhabitants.

I’ve read all of Kent Haruf’s novels, beginning with Plainsong (which I thought was wonderful) and ending with Eventide (which I loved, even though it broke my heart). I wasn’t terribly impressed with his earlier works (Where You Once Belonged and The Tie That Binds), which I read later, but that didn’t stop me from feeling excited when I discovered he had a new novel this year. As with his previous works, Benediction is set in Holt, Colorado, and as with all of these novels, Benediction is a quiet, thoughtful story. One might call it spare. And yet it’s not simple, but rather rich and languid and quite mesmerizing.

And yet, in spite of the beautiful prose, Haruf’s new novel failed to knock Eventide from its place of honor as my favorite. I enjoyed the novel, but I never really came to care about any of the characters. Early on, I found it a bit confusing and wound up going back to the beginning in order to take note of the names and relationships between each of the characters. I even set it aside, waiting to devote more time to reading, hoping to be swept away. I packed the book in my carry-on bag and started reading (actually, re-reading) from the first page, as my plane took off for Oregon, and I wound up reading the entire book, finishing just as the plane began its descent into Portland.

Haruf, who was born in eastern Colorado, writes what he knows. Holt is based loosely on Yuma, Colorado, where Haruf once resided.

On the land:

They drove out from Denver away from the mountains, back onto the high plains: sagebrush and soapweed and blue grama and buffalo grass in the pastures, wheat and corn in the planted fields. On both sides of the highway were the gravel county roads going out away under the pure blue sky, all the roads straight as the lines ruled in a book, with only a few small isolated towns spread across the open country.

On death and dying:

He sat and drank the beer and held his wife’s hand sitting out on the front porch. So the truth was he was dying. That’s what they were saying. He would be dead before the end of summer. By the beginning of September the dirt would be piled over what was left of him out at the cemetery three miles east of town. Someone would cut his name into the face of a tombstone and it would be as if he never was.

Final Thoughts:

I’m not sorry I read Benediction, but I am a little disappointed that it didn’t turn out to be one I could gush about. It’s an absorbing and satisfying read, and one which tugged at my heartstrings as the finale drew close, but it didn’t have the same magic I discovered in Plainsong and Eventide. Having said that, I do believe it’s time for a reread of those novels. I’d love to listen to them on audio, but unfortunately, they’re not available through my library. Perhaps it’s time to join Audible.com…

Wordless Wednesday

Bloggy break...

Indiscretion

Indiscretion by Charles Dubow
Fiction
2013 HarperCollins Audio
Reader: Robert Petkoff
Finished on 5/12/13
Rating: 4/5 (Very Good)





Publisher’s Blurb:

With the evocative power of The Paris Wife and the aching vulnerability of John Irving’s books, Indiscretion is a heady and addictive debut novel, set in the present day, in which the idyllic lives of a wealthy and glamorous husband and wife are upended when they meet an impressionable and ambitious young woman.

Harry and Madeleine Winslow have been blessed with talent, money, and charm. Harry is a National Book Award-winning author on the cusp of greatness. Madeleine is a woman of sublime beauty and grace whose elemental goodness and serenity belie a privileged upbringing. Bonded by deep devotion, they share a love that is both envied and adored. The Winslows play host to a coterie of close friends and acolytes eager to bask in their golden radiance, whether they are in their bucolic East Hampton cottage, living abroad in Rome thanks to Harry’s writing grant, or in their comfortable Manhattan brownstone.

One weekend at the start of the summer season, Harry and Maddy, who are in their early forties, meet Claire and cannot help but be enchanted by her winsome youth, quiet intelligence, and disarming naivete. Drawn by the Winslows’ indescribable magnetism, Claire eagerly falls into their welcoming orbit. But over the course of the summer, reverence transforms into dangerous desire. By Labor Day, it is no longer enough to just be one of their hangers-on.

A story of love, lust, deception, and betrayal told through the omniscient eyes of Maddy’s childhood friend Walter, a narrator akin to Nick Carraway in The Great Gatsby, Indiscretion is a juicy, deeply textured novel filled with fascinating true-to-life characters—an irresistibly sensual page-turner that explores having it all, and the consequences of wanting more.

I first discovered this book after reading Bellezza’s post last autumn. A few weeks later, the ARC arrived (unsolicited!) in my mailbox. As usual, it wound up on a stack of recently acquired ARCs where it sat for half a year. Meanwhile, the audio book appeared on my library listing, so I downloaded the book and finally decided to give it a try even though I had the ARC. I’ve come to realize that I do this quite often: I wind up with a book in which I’m mildly interested, but pass it over for others until the audio version comes along. With that said, I was happy to have both formats, as I found myself wanting to mark passages as I listened.

Bellezza was quite accurate in her assessment of this debut novel. She says,

Charles Dubow explores what happens when we find ourselves discontent with what we have, and pursuing what we think we want, through his novel Indiscretion. It is a visceral novel, compelling from start to finish, as we are unable to pull ourselves away from the relationships between the youthful Claire, the Botticelli-like Maddy and National Book Award winning writer Harry which is told through the point of view of Walt, Maddy's childhood friend.

and

The novel is steamy, and sexy, but not in a meaningless Shades of Grey sort of way. Every word is intentional, put there to show us the effect of our choices not only on ourselves but on those we love. As my mother has said to me more than once, "Often our lives spin on a hair." She means that one chance encounter, one swift decision, can irrevocably change our lives forever. This novel shows us just that.

Reading (or rather listening to) this novel was like watching the proverbial train-wreck. I could see what coming (or so I thought) and yet I couldn’t pull my eyes (well, ears) away from the impending disaster. I typically spend several weeks listening to a single audio book, but I couldn’t keep from grabbing my Nano, listening at every possible opportunity, and I wound up finishing this book in less than a week! The reader, Robert Petkoff, isn’t one of my favorites and his “whispery” voice for the female characters bothered me early on. Dubow’s compelling narrative, however, was able to keep me fully engaged and I was quickly able to ignore Petkoff’s flaws.

On memory:

The poet A. E. Housman wrote of the “land of lost content,” and how he can never return to the place where he had once been so happy.

When I was younger, I greatly admired the poem’s sentiment because I was not old enough to realize how banal it was. The young invariably cherish their youth, incapable of imagining life past thirty. The notion that the past is more idyllic is absurd, however. What we remember is our innocence, strong limbs, physical desire. Many people are shackled by their past and are unable to look ahead with any degree of confidence because they not only don’t believe in the future, they don’t really believe in themselves.

But that doesn’t prevent us from casting a roseate glow over our memories. Some memories burn brighter, whether because they meant more or because they have assumed greater importance in our minds. Holidays blur together, snowstorms, swimming in the ocean, acts of love, holding our parents’ hands when we are very small, great sadnesses. But there is much we forget too. I have forgotten so much—names, faces, brilliant conversations, days and weeks and months, things I vowed never to forget, and to fill in the gaps, I conflate the past or make it up entirely. Did that happen to me or to someone else? Was that me who broke his leg skiing in Lech? Did I run from the carabinieri after a drunken night in Venice? Places and actions that seem so real can be entirely false, based purely on impressions of a story told at the time and then somehow subconsciously woven into the fabric of our lives.

After a while it becomes real.

On the beach:

I know most people find the beach restful and restorative, but some beaches have special healing powers. For me, this is that beach. It is a place I have explored since childhood, and I feel as comfortable here as I would in my own house. I tolerate the occasional intruder the way any host would but am always secretly glad to have the place to myself again. Put me down on a stretch of sand in the Caribbean or Maine, and I will certainly appreciate it, but it’s not quite the same thing. In some places the water’s too cold, or too warm, or too green. The shells are alien to me, the smells unfamiliar. But here it is perfect, and I will come here as happily in January as in August. There are few days I look forward to more than that first warm day when I feel brave and resolved enough to withstand the still-frigid temperatures and the only other creatures in the water are neoprene-clad surfers and the fish, and I dive into numbing, cleansing cold.

Final Thoughts:

I’m surprised this novel hasn’t received as much attention as say, Gone Girl. It’s an addictive read, with a skillfully crafted plot and fully realized characters. The pacing is even, the writing is vivid, and the tension is taut. Although I thought I knew what was about to happen, I was often surprised. I am eager to see what Charles Dubow has next to share with his readers and certainly know I won’t wait so long to pick up his next endeavor. Heading to the beach? Grab a copy of Indiscretion. You won’t be disappointed.

The 5th Wave

The 5th Wave by Rick Yancey
Fiction – YA Post-Apocalyptic
2013 G.P. Putnam’s Sons
Finished on 5/5/13
Rating: 4.75/5 (Outstanding!)





If aliens ever visit us, I think the outcome would be much as when Christopher Columbus first landed in America, which didn’t turn out very well for the Native Americans. ~ Stephen Hawking

Publisher’s Blurb:

After the 1st wave, only darkness remains. After the 2nd, only the lucky escape. And after the 3rd, only the unlucky survive. After the 4th wave, just one rule applies: TRUST NO ONE.

Now it’s the dawn of the 5th wave, and on a lonely stretch of highway, Cassie runs from Them. The beings who only look human, who roam the countryside killing anyone they see. Who have scattered Earth’s last survivors. To stay alone is to stay alive, Cassie believes, until she meets Evan Walker. Beguiling and mysterious, Evan Walker may be Cassie’s only hope for rescuing her brother—or even saving herself. But Cassie must choose: between trust and despair, between defiance and surrender, between life and death. To give up or to get up.

From award-winning author Rick Yancey comes a gripping epic of catastrophic loss, unthinkable odds, and unflinching courage.

I don’t read a lot of teen fiction. Other than The Book Thief (which became a widely popular cross-over novel with adult readers and is one of my all-time favorite reads ever), there have been less than a handful of teen novels that have piqued my interest. While I enjoyed The Hunger Games and Twilight, the sequels were disappointing and I quickly grew tired of all the teenage angst. However, I love a good post-apocalyptic story (The Stand, Swan Song, The Road, and The Passage, are just a few of my favorites), so when the ARC of The 5th Wave arrived I knew I wanted to read it, but decided to let my husband have first dibs. I figured he could save me some valuable time, if he felt it was poorly written or not compelling enough. Well, surprisingly (as he rarely ever reads teen fiction), not only did he finish the book, he thought it was very good. And, much to my relief, not filled with a lot of angst.

I dove into the book as soon as I finished The Light Between Oceans (something I rarely do, as I like to have a little break between books, if only a few hours) and was immediately drawn into Cassie and Evan’s stories. Other than a few instances in which I thought that Cassie’s internal monologues depicting her romantic attraction toward another character were beginning to feel overly saccharine, I loved the book. While not as intricate or sophisticated as The Stand or Swan Song, it was highly entertaining and much better than I had anticipated. With that said, I will continue to hold out hope that the second installment (yes, this is the first in a trilogy) doesn’t follow the trend of disappointing sequels.

Final Thoughts:

The 5th Wave is a tautly written page-turner, sure to satisfy readers of all ages and appeal to fans of Ender’s Game and The Hunger Games. I look forward to the next novel in this trilogy, but meanwhile, I plan to check out Rick Yancey’s backlist. Any recommendations?

Go here to read Justin Cronin’s (best-selling author of The Passage and The Twelve) review of The 5th Wave.

Still Life

Still Life by Louise Penny
Armand Gamache Series #1
Mystery
2006 Blackstone Audio, Inc.
Reader: Ralph Cosham
Finished on 5/2/13
Rating: 3.5/5 (Good)




Publisher’s Blurb:

Chief Inspector Armand Gamache of the Sûreté du Québec and his team of investigators are called in to the scene of a suspicious death in a rural village south of Montreal. Jane Neal, a local fixture in the tiny hamlet of Three Pines, just north of the U.S. border, has been found dead in the woods. The locals are certain it’s a tragic hunting accident and nothing more, but Gamache smells something foul in these remote woods, and is soon certain that Jane Neal died at the hands of someone much more sinister than a careless bowhunter.

Still Life introduces not only an engaging series hero in Inspector Gamache, who commands his forces – and this series – with integrity and quiet courage, but also a winning and talented new writer of traditional mysteries in the person of Louise Penny.

I’ve been meaning to return to this series for several years. In all, there are now eight books, with the ninth (How the Light Gets In) due out in August. Since it’s been well over six years since I first encountered Louise Penny’s debut novel, I decided to listen to the audio of Still Life to reacquaint myself with the characters before moving on to A Fatal Grace. Looking back on my original review, I see that my initial reaction was a bit more positive than this second encounter. I gave it an 8/10 (very good) rating and wrote:

It took me a few chapters to settle into this debut novel, but once I got a handle on all the various characters (many of whom were possible suspects in the death of Ms. Neal), I couldn’t put it down, anxious to get back to my reading and trying to solve the crime as I went about my daily activities.

Still Life is not a hard-boiled thriller, but rather a gentle “drawing room” mystery in which the chief investigator relishes a warm café au lait and flaky croissant as he ponders the details of the crime, while enjoying the peacefulness of the village as dawn breaks.

Gamache is a likeable character, reminding me a little bit of John Sandford’s Lucas Davenport (although, not quite the womanizer and much more well-read). I have a feeling Gamache and Inspector Jean Guy Beauvoir will become another favorite duo and I look forward to Penny’s next installment (Dead Cold), due out next spring.

Final Thoughts:

I have a couple of books that I’m anxious to read in the next few weeks, but I won’t let much more time elapse before I pick up A Fatal Grace (aka Dead Cold). I’m eager to see why this series has become so popular among mystery lovers.

Have you read any of Louise Penny’s mysteries? Which is your favorite?

Wordless Wednesday

Little Whale Cove

Depoe Bay, Oregon

Me with my nieces (Maddie & Emily)

 and nephew (Caymon).

Photobombed by a zombie. ;)

Hello, Oregon!

Last week I was in Oregon helping my mom celebrate (belatedly) her 80th birthday. It was a wonderful trip and I thoroughly enjoyed spending time with my parents, as well as catching up with my three brothers and their families. Unfortunately, my husband (who rarely ever gets sick!) came down with a killer head cold and wound up staying home. We were all disappointed that he couldn't join us, but we managed to enjoy ourselves, in spite of his absence.

Little Whale Cove

Depoe Bay

McMinnville

Golden Valley Brew Pub

McMinnville

Domaine Serene Vineyards

Dayton

Nye Beach

Newport

Little Whale Cove

Next up, Seattle!