rainpebble ROOTs on in 2014

LET'S ROCK THESE ROOTS!~!


glitter-graphics.com

My ROOT goal is a minimum of 50 books which is up 2 from 2013. As per usual no books brought into my library in 2013 will count. Any book prior I can count. This isn't a requirement. Just a challenge I lay out there for myself.
I am looking forward to getting started.



Three of the fifteen bookcases in my wee two bedroom home. Let's see how many of these books I can knock back in 2014. (looks like a taco feed in progress with two of my grandkids, actually 2 1/2 as my granddaughter & her fiance are expecting our 3rd great in late March, early April. The lad in the kitchen is our Freshman all star Football player.)




January:
1. William, an Englishman by Cicely Hamilton; Persephone; GREAT WAR THEME READ; {acquired 12/25/2012}; (2 1/2*)
2. The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd; ORANGE; {acquired 8/30/2007};
(5*)
3. The Amateur Marriage by Anne Tyler; ORANGE; {acquired 9/22/2008}; (3*)
4. The Seas by Samantha Hunt; ORANGE; {acquired 7/22/2011}; (4 1/2*)
5. Gilead by Marilynne Robinson; ORANGE; {acquired 7/20/2009; (5*)
6. Home by Marilynne Robinson; ORANGE; {acquired 8/01/2009; (4*)
7. The White Woman on the Green Bicycle by Monique Roffey; ORANGE; {acquired 7/01/2011}; (4*)
8. The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters; ORANGE; {acquired 7/08/2011}; (4 1/2*)
9. Ivanhoe by Sir Walter Scott; {acquired 9/11/2007; (4 1/2*)
10. Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier; VMC; {acquired 10/06/2009}; (4 /2*)
11. The Walk by Richard Paul Evans; {acquired 4/05/2011; (4 1/2*)
12. Eden Close by Anita Shreve; {acquired 8/30/2007}; (4*)
13. Annabel by Kathleen Winter; ORANGE; {acquired 6/23/2011}; (4*)
14. If Morning Ever Comes by Anne Tyler; {acquired 8/22/2008}; (3*)
15. My Name is Memory by Ann Brashares; {acquired 7/01/2011}; (3*)
16. Plain Truth by Jodi Picoult; {acquired 9/22/2008}; (4*)

Welcome to the group.

Welcome and good luck with your challenge.

Welcome to the group. I'll be looking out for your Virago Modern Classics!

Welcome back and have fun! :)

Hello, Belva! Good to see you over here again! Good luck!

Thank you one and all. Happy New Year to you! I will be taking the time to check your reads this year and I'm looking forward to some good 'recks'.

Wish you good luck with your challenge and a happy new reading. :-)

Hi Belva!! It is great to see you in the ROOT challenge. Best of luck and Happy New Year!!

Hi You and I have similar goals for this challenge (50 culled from out own respective TBR stacks) and I'm looking forward to your posts! Good Luck!

Looking forward to seeing what you read this year.

Waving hello
Good luck with your books!
Happy reading!

Looking forward to seeing your reading again this year! Good luck with ROOTs!

Happy New Year!

Are Virago Modern Classics classic books bound by a company called Virago?

Good luck, esp w/ your added challenge!

Good luck with your challenge!

>14 Merryann::
Merryann, Virago Modern Classics are books written mainly by woman & published quite a long time ago for the most part. A great many of them went out of copyright. Virago Press (mainly a feminine press) decided that many of these books should be brought back. So yes, the VCMs are published by Virago Press of the U.K. Those of us who love them........really love them and are very true to them.
You should come & visit us on the Virago site. The home page is here:

http://www.librarything.com/groups/viragomodernclassics

You may just like what you find.
belva

Hi, Belva! We're both aiming for 50 books. Good luck to us all in the challenge!

Yes Terri. Good luck to all of us! Wouldn't it be wonderful if we all met goal this year?
We would have to celebrate. WOOT WOOT!~!

Only problem is, when LTers celebrate, we usually buy books . . . ;)

I know this one does!~! :-)

Oh how I envy your 15 bookcases. I do need a few more here as the piles are taking over. :)

Wow, I love the pictures! Nice.

>17 rainpebble: Thank you. I will check it out, as soon as I get caught up reading all the things I missed over the last few days of not being around here.

1. William, an Englishman by Cicely Hamilton.
I read it for our Great War Theme Read over on the Virago group site and I believe they are doing the same over on ClubRead 2014 as well.

And now I am getting ready to go to bed with my first Orange of Orange January & what will be my 2nd ROOT:
2. The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd. I still need to review this one.

LET'S ROCK THESE ROOTS!~!


glitter-graphics.com

Oh, great graphic! And congrats on your first ROOT.

Why, thank you MissWatson.

1. William, An Englishman by Cicely Mary Hamilton; Persephone; GREAT WAR THEME READ; {acquired 12/25/2012}; (2 1/2*); currently, though I am still mulling it over.

I've just finished William, an Englishman. I did not find it awfully engaging but am glad I read it. I must say that Hamilton's style of writing is quite different.

William & Griselda are young lovers who met at political rallies & meetings. They are against their country going to war but are innocents & unknowledgeable about the world around them. They are only focused on each other & their anti-war meetings, pamphlets, flyers & protesting the war. They attend war rallies and disrupt them, getting themselves drug outside, etc. Other than this they really have no lives.

They decide to marry and take a 3 week honeymoon in the Belgian Ardennes at the behest of a fellow revolutionist who owns a cabin there. They, neither one, speak or understand the French language. Having had a lovely honeymoon, they leave on foot to travel to the train station expecting to return home to England. But on the way the war catches up with them and they are unwittingly captured by the Germans who have taken Belgium. They are separated and both are in deep shock as they neither one know anything about actual war & warfare but only about protesting. The Germans who capture them are not interested in verbal disputing & do as they will with them.

At this point the book goes from being a genial story to becoming rather a horrendous war story about these two young persons, especially William. The couple are not prepared either mentally nor physically for the occurrences of wartime.

I was caught up in the beginning, then came a great bit of what seemed to me to be 'stream of consciousness' to wade through, then back to the war.........

Like I said I am glad I read it and it gave me a different insight into the Great War period of time. Overall I think it was just an okay read for me. I shall have to ponder it over time & see how I truly feel about it. But perhaps that is one of the marks of a good/great book.

I hope you enjoy The Secret Life of Bees - I read it a few years ago and loved it!

Appreciate your thoughtful review! Sounds like the kind of book I might not love but might also be glad I read ;)

>29 Jackie_K:;
Jackie, I am enjoying TSLOB a great deal. Am nearly finished & already know it is a 5 star read!

>30 avanders:;
ava, thank you so much for your kind words. That was precisely my take on 'William'. I didn't love it though I wanted to but I appreciated it a great deal and am glad I read it.

Thank you both for stopping by. :-)

I have been reading Orange listed books like crazy the past few days so will be throwing the eligible ones up soon. I think most of them are ROOTs; maybe 8 so YEA!~!

3. The Amateur Marriage by Anne Tyler; ORANGE; {acquired 9/22/2008}; (3*)

I like to read Anne Tyler but I don't really know why. I find all of her books, as I did this one, deeply depressing and she seems to apply a certain kind of futility to the lives of her characters. They go through their lives doing what they think they should be doing but with no zest for or real love of life, just sort of plodding along. I guess her books are too close to what life truly is for most of us and I find that rather bleak. One likes to think that the world at large is full of happy people and to think that "one day I will be there too" sort of philosophy. But is life really all happiness and light? It is not and Anne Tyler writes about those lives with a style all her own and I continue to read her so I guess I appreciate her writing. I will continue to read her for I do find her work fascinating though depressing. Perhaps I will throw in a fairy tale now and then to cheer myself up in between.

4. The Seas by Samantha Hunt; ORANGE; {acquired 7/22/2011}; (4 1/2*)

This is an enchanting little tale about a young girl who thinks that she & her father before her are mermaid/merman. The story is one of isolation both by the physicality of it and also of self isolation. The girl keeps to herself and spends a great deal of time at the beach hoping to see her father return to she and her mother. One day while there she sees a young man coming out of the ocean and he is beautiful. She immediately falls in love with him though she is at the tender age of twelve and he is much older. The story moves on from there and is mainly about their relationship.
It is a fast paced fantasy that even an old lady can love. I really liked this little book. It wasn't perfect but then what fantasy is?

5. Gilead by Marilynne Robinson; ORANGE; {acquired 7/20/2009}; (5*)

I loved Gilead. It is written as a memoir from a dying elderly (at least third generational preacher) to his seven year old son. And it is written in a manner that takes one back to about the 1950s. The father, who is narrating, writes in a very calming, soothing way and is attempting to let his son know what he thinks, why he thinks that way and about things that have occurred in his lifetime and the reactions and responses to those occurrences.
The preacher married late in life and had his son even later so he wants to share as much as he can to give his son an understanding of himself as a man. He writes of his beautiful relationship with his best friend (a preacher of another denomination) and of his wife, the boy's mother. He writes to him of his growing up years and he and his father's relationship.
The book is full of God, the Bible, prayer and of a life devoted to God. Yet it is not written in a preachy way at all. I also think it was much more contemplative than religious. If I didn't love the Lord, I think I still would have loved this book because of the way it was written. The author's words simply flow throughout the entire novel. It is one of the easiest books I have read all year and perhaps one of the best. It may not make my top ten, but it will certainly be way up there. Marilynne Robinson is a wonderful author. I highly recommend this book to people of all persuasions. The only other book I have read that I can compare feeling this way upon finishing would be Cry, the Beloved Country. There was just something about Gilead that took my breath away.
Do something really kind for yourself and read this one.

7. The White Woman on the Green Bicycle by Monique Roffey; ORANGE; {acquired 7/01/2011}; (4*)

I was ready for a 'knock your sox off' book when I began The White Woman on the Green Bicycle. I didn't find it to be so. The story takes place in the racially political years of Trinidad and is about a couple who move there from England "for three years" in a job related transfer for the husband. He falls in love with Trinidad, she....not so much.
The story is plotted out in three sections. The first section; the early days .... their move and the wife slowly realizing that chances are pretty good their three years is going to turn into more. She becomes very disillusioned with their lives, the island and her husband. But she has their children and a busy life so she accepts the situation.
The second section; the ending days .... their children are grown and the couple are now in their seventies and still in Trinidad. The wife has become complacent and yet angry at the same time with her husband. She knows they will never leave Trinidad and will die there. The end of this section is the end of the story but not the book.
The third section; the middle years is the real meat of the story and comes at the back of the book. So much happens in this part of the story. The political unrest becomes an unbearable violence toward the whites and Trinidad is now a very dangerous place to be living. The couple both have secrets from one another. He is unfaithful with many women though he adores his wife and she has a secret correspondence (which she never mails off to him) with the Prime Minister or whatever they call the leader of the country. When the husband finds this, he feels even more betrayed than she does when she realizes that he is sleeping with other women.
For me the best part of the story was the interactions of the characters with their servants and the one servant's family. I cared more about them than I did the main characters.
I would not say that this was not a good book, but I think it could have been so much better. All of the concepts are there, the characters are there....they just needed to be drawn out more clearly and be more who they were. Like I said the strong characters were the servants. I won't read this one again and I am very surprised that it got as far as it did on the Orange list. My first disappointment with an ORANGE. ;-)
I have had to reassess this book. Today, some 22 days after reading this book I have to say that it is still resonating in my brain and in my heart. I WILL read it again one day and I have had to change my rating of it from 3 1/2 stars to a 4 star read.

8. The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters; ORANGE; {acquired 7/08/2011}; (4 1/2*)

I hardly know where to start. This one took me in gently, grabbed me and held me throughout. Strangely enough, the character I cared the least about was Caroline. I simply was unable to read her and get into her. I cared about all of the other characters, even the minor ones. Thus, the 4 1/2 stars. Otherwise I would have easily rated this one a 5 star read.
And 'the little stranger', indeed, turned out to be what/whom I thought it to be. It made sense, it fit perfectly........but I didn't like it. Not that I didn't like it in the read. I think it had to be that way.
The story is one of a doctor who comes to the village and in his work, he falls for the sister of one of his patients. Eventually they plan to marry but things occur and continue to occur that keep putting the wedding at bay.
The house of his patient is one of the old 'great houses' and I think the good doctor falls in love with the house as well even though it is in ill repair. Things fall through in the end, literally..............and we are rather back where we began but with our head still in the story.
The entire book is rather a head-game with the characters and with the reader as well. I liked it a great deal and would have loved it if the character, Caroline, had been more believable to me. Still and all it was a wonderful read and I highly recommend it.

12. Eden Close by Anita Shreve; {acquired 8/30/2007}; (4*)

Eden Close like all of Shreve's works that I have read thus far kept me deeply interested throughout the novel. It was a thoroughly entertaining and engrossing book. This story like all of her others sucked me right in.
While I guessed 'the secret' early on it did not make any difference in the enjoyment of the novel. Full of twists and turns, what really makes this novel work is her character development and her unique style of writing. The reader will find this with all of Shreve's novels. She really makes you feel as though you come to know and care about her characters, even the minor ones.

That's an amzing line-up!

Wow, 8 books read! Excellent.

lots of good reviews - thanks! and Congrats on digging up so many ROOTS! Also, am intrigued by the white woman on the green bicycle... my mom's from Trinidad, so it would be interesting to read for that reason alone!

You're really flying along!

I have a copy of Gilead on Planet TBR; your review made me want to start it immediately!

Wow, eight books already!

I absolutely loved Gilead, too.

So jealous of your progress! Gilead is on my list from last year, but I may have to bump it up to January.

Gilead is a perfectly lovely story.

Thank you all for popping by. See you soon on your threads. :-)

>33 rainpebble:, You put into words beautifully what I thought about Anne Tyler's writing the couple of times I read books by her.

Congratulations on so much ROOTing!

That's very impressive! I have heard a few people rave about Gilead, I'll try and bear it in mind and see if I can get it at the library (library books don't count for the TBR pile, right?!).

Belva, that really is a great graphic.

You are leading the way for all of us.

Why, thank you miladies! And thanks for stopping by.

9. Ivanhoe by Sir Walter Scott; {acquired 9/11/2007; (4 1/2*)

I have been wanting to reread this book about medieval knights, damsels in distress, honor, chivalry, strange heroes, etc. Ivanhoe, with the dialogue written in Old English, does not disappoint. Although the characters never spoke in less than a paragraph and the author describes every single person, setting, and event to the Nth degree, these carefully fabricated words serve to make the reader feel as though they are right there cheering in the lists alongside the populace. Ivanhoe is & has been since I first read it in 2nd grade, one of my favorite historical novels.
Ivanhoe is indeed worthy of the heroism we place upon his head. He is ever gallant, true & loyal. I loved Wamba. What a funny & odd little hero this village idiot turns out to be. The Lady Rowena as the love interest of Ivanhoe is a bit disappointing and the fact that she seems a rather flat character is probably my only complaint about this book. Rebecca is a much more well rounded character and as such is more interesting as a lead female role in the book.
I am very happy that I read this again but do wish I had not waited so very long. Highly recommended for those who do not tire of the 'old English' language.

I checked it out of the library around a year or so ago, but it was a bit slow for me and it wound up having to go back before I got too far into it. Eventually I'll get there! Positive reviews help with that conviction, lol.

Just keep telling yourself that Poly & one day you will get there. I feel it in me old bones!

wow, 8 already! way to go!

Why, thank you Jean. Insomniacs tend to either clean or read. I read! :-)

13. Annabel by Kathleen Winter; {acquired 6/23/2011}; (4*)

I finished Annabel and while I liked it very much indeed......it seemed to wrap up rather quickly for me. Things seemed left unfinished and that bothered me. But I was more bothered with the parents & what was going on at home than with Wayne/Annabel. Treadway's change was rather remarkable but I knew he was a softy all along, just a rather gruff one. This book just pulls one along and keeps you for the long haul with just a couple of hiccups. I think I would give it a solid 4 stars.

6. Home by Marilynne Robinson; ORANGE; {acquired 8/01/2009; (4*)

I adored Home. Fans of Robinson's Pulitzer Prize winning novel Gilead fell in love with her gentle minister, the Rev. John Ames, and the story he was creating for his son. Set in the 1950's, Gilead is a love letter from the 77 year old Ames to his 7 year-old son. This luminous, tender book was completely outside the realm of what some might expect from a modern best-selling novel. Robinson shattered the mold with Gilead.

In Home, Robinson takes the reader back once again to this quite Iowa town. It is still the 1950's. John Ames still has a bad heart. But he's alive and enjoying life with his young wife and child. Home is not necessarily a sequel. It's more of a companion work and while reading Gilead prior would certainly enhance the reader's appreciation for Home, doing so is not essential.

Home is the story of the best friend of John Ames, the Rev. Robert Boughton and his family. John Ames is definitely part of the story but in a more peripheral sense. These two elderly ministers grew up together. They have argued scriptural fine points for the better part of a century. Rev. Boughton's health is failing now too, much faster that his friend's is declining.

Rev. Boughton's 38 year-old daughter Glory has come home to care for her father. Boughton has been a widower for 10 years. The Boughtons had seven children. Rev. Boughton's favorite child, Jack is the black sheep of the family. He hasn't been home in 20 years. As the story opens they have just heard that Jack is coming home for a visit with his ailing father.

The prodigal son finally turns up. Jack is a man with a mysterious past. He is also one of the most compelling fictional characters I have encountered in quite some time.

Robinson spins her magic as father, brother, and sister play out the drama of this homecoming. Home is rich as gold. Robinson writes with a warmth and assurance that will bring tears to your eyes. Home will resonate with readers who understand the joys and sorrows of being part of a family.

10. Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier; VMC; {acquired 10/06/2009}; (4 /2*)

"Last Night I Dreamt I Went To Manderley Again." Quite possibly one of the most famous first lines of a novel ever.
Manderley, the ancestral home of Maxim de Winter, is a large Victorian mansion that is ever dark & boding.
The protagonist of our gothic novel is a paid traveling companion to a wealthy lady in the opening of the book. She is shy, retiring and feels inept with her employment.
She meets Maxim and is enamored of him. He courts her and soon asks her to marry him. She accepts, not actually knowing anything about her new husband nor his dark past.
After the honeymoon Maxim takes his bride to Manderley to live. Mrs. Danvers, the housekeeper, easily intimidates her and she seems to always be in a fragile state. (Frankly Mrs. Danvers creeps me out as well.) She was enthralled by the first Mrs. de Winter, Rebecca, who drowned at sea, and is not happy that there is a replacement. She is rude, finds the new bride unacceptable and begins a psychological attack upon her keeping her in quite a nervous state so that she never feels up to the task of being the lady of the house nor the wife of Maxim. She always feels as if she were living in the shadow of Rebecca.
Our heroine soon learns of Maxim's great love of Rebecca, the mystery surrounding the events of her drowning and that all is not well in the house at Manderley.
Daphne du Maurier has written a great many novels as well as some nonfiction and many of them are wonderful reads. However I find Rebecca to be my favorite. It is always fresh, exciting and nerve wracking. Just what I want in a gothic romance. I don't love the characters, any of them, but I do love the book. A wonderful novel that I find to be a page turner every time I read it. I very highly recommend this one!

2. The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd; ORANGE; {acquired 8/30/2007}; (5*)

The Secret Life of Bees will grab you right from the beginning. I fell in love with most of the female characters in this book.
This is a coming of age story about Lily, a 14 year old growing up on a peach farm with an abusive father. Her mother died when she was quite young in an "accidental shooting" when attempting to leave her abusive husband. Lily saw it all and her father has convinced her that she was the one who accidentally shot her mother. We never learn the real truth about this event.
The story takes place at the time of the newly enacted Civil Rights Movement in the mid sixties. Lily and her black housekeeper Rosaleen flee when they are arrested because of Rosaleen pouring snooce juice over the feet of three white men who are harassing them.
In a series of events that can be nothing short of divine intervention Lily and Rosaleen end up in the charming South Carolina home of three sisters, May, June & August. While Rosaleen bonds with May in the kitchen cooking good old fashioned southern dishes Lily works with August learning the art of beekeeping.
Each chapter of The Secret Life of Bees begins with a charming "life of a bee" fact that relates to the chapter that follows. As the story unwinds secrets of a painful past are revealed but simultaneously a new and happy life is created. You will experience some painful endings as well as some happy and hopeful beginnings. I cried & I laughed over this book.

The Secret Life of Bees is about facing our pasts, accepting them and finding the "mother in ourselves" to move ahead with strength & love. It's about friendships that aren't bound by color or society and ultimately about love. As you read this novel by Sue Monk Kidd it will undoubtedly come to hold a special place in your heart as it does in mine.
I highly recommend it.

Oh my, at this pace you will meet your goal before the first half of the year is out. Great job!

I haven't read any Du Maurier yet (yet another that's on my lists!) but I really want to, you're not helping any! Hahaha. Eventually I will come across a copy! ...Actually, maybe my library has some I haven't noticed!
*checks*
Aww they don't have Rebecca. They do have some others though: Jamaica Inn, The Birds, The House on the Strand, Don't Look Now and Other Stories, The Birds and Other Stories, The Doll: short stories, and The Scapegoat. Are any of these ones you've read? Any you'd suggest?

I don't think I've ever actually read a description of The Secret Life of Bees even though it was pretty wildly popular the whole time I was working in a bookstore. I can see why it was such a bookclub favorite. I'll have to put it on my list for when I need something sweet (har har).

Rebecca is very good! I remember it fondly. The house on the strand was good too.

>56 rainpebble: oooh, that's one of my favorites!
I have a couple other books by du Maurier on my shelf.. maybe one of those will be a 2014 ROOT as well!

>56 rainpebble: Oooh, that's one of my favorites!
I have a few other Du Maurier's on my shelves as well.. maybe one of those will be another 2014 ROOT!

(and sorry if this posts twice... having weird internet-LT issues)

sniffsniff
LT won't let me post...

3rd try!

>56 rainpebble: Oooh, that's one of my favorites!
I have a few other Du Maurier's on my shelves as well.. maybe one of those will be another 2014 ROOT!

(and sorry if this posts twice... having weird internet-LT issues)

sniffsniff
LT won't let me post...

4th try!

>56 rainpebble: Oooh, that's one of my favorites!
I have a few other Du Maurier's on my shelves as well.. maybe one of those will be another 2014 ROOT!

(and sorry if this posts twice... having weird internet-LT issues)

oooops. Apparently they all worked. SORRY FOR THE DUPLICATES!

I had the same problem, Avanders. Really annoying.

Just a tip, but it's better to try refreshing and/or waiting a minute and seeing what happens, than continually trying to post again. :)

I know, but it took more minutes than one!

>66 avanders::
Doesn't bother me Ava. All those post just make me look wildly popular. LOL!~!

Poly;
I will check out my ratings on the ones du Mauriers I have read in recent years. 50 years ago I read them all but now it is like reading something fresh and new.
So of those you mentioned my more recent readings that I rated would be:
Jamaica Inn; 3 stars,
The House on the Strand; 5 stars, &
The Scapegoat; 4 1/2 stars.
I remember liking The Birds a lot.
Also perhaps your library would be able to get Rebecca for you on an intra-library loan.

She also has written some lovely nonfiction which I have really enjoyed.

Thank you everyone for popping over.
hugs,

11. The Walk by Richard Paul Evans; 4 1/2 stars

This is not great literature by any means but it was a very good read.
Alan grows up being raised by his father as his mother died of breast cancer.
McKale grows up in the house next door being raised by her father as her mother abandoned them.

The two become fast friends at an early age and fall in love with each other at 17. They marry young and he goes on to University to become an advertising executive with a very lucrative business of his own. A friend comes in with him to be the go-between with the client and the creative process of the business.
One day while in an important meeting with a huge perspective client Alan takes an emergency call from a neighbor. McKale was horseback riding and her horse spooked. She was thrown and it is very bad. He rushes to the hospital where he finds that his wife is indeed in bad shape. Her back is broken and they do not know if she will be paralyzed or not. They will watch & evaluate her and should know more at the 72 hour mark.

Alan will not leave his wife's side. When the 72 hours pass the specialists come in to check McKale. She indeed has no feeling from her waist down. The family, her parents, Alan & his father are devastated. The doctors take her back into surgery to repair her spine even though it won't make a difference in her ability to walk they say it must be done. McKale goes through weeks of therapy to gain the upper body strength it will take for her to move in & out of the wheelchair, etc. Alan remains with her, trusting Kyle, his friend & partner in business, to keep things running smoothly at work which he has promised to do.

The day comes when Alan can take McKale home. He gets her home and settled and begins to deal with their personal finances which she had always taken care of. The mortgage company calls & tells Alan that they are two months in arrears on the payments of their two million dollar home. Soon he is finding many, many unpaid bills. Upon calling his secretary at work to have money transferred so that he can pay all of these bills she tells him that his partner & friend has left the company taking all of the employees but her, all of the clients and of course all of the company money. Kyle has begun his own ad agency.

When it rains it pours. He checks on McKale and questions her as to whether she is okay with him returning to work for a bit. She tells him of course so he goes in to see just how bad it is. Upon getting to his offices he finds out that it is much worse that he had even imagined. He returns home to find McKale half out of her head with fever. Her temperature is 104. So he calls the hospital and they tell him to bring her in immediately. By the time he gets her there her temperature has risen to 105. She has a bad infection and is septic. Alan has a difficult time understanding how this can be but soon realizes that she is in a very bad way. Soon McKale drifts away from Alan. She doesn't want to leave him but her poor tortured body simply cannot fight this.

It's hard to want to go on living when your best friend & wife has died, your business has been stolen out from under you, your home is foreclosed upon, your vehicles are repossessed and you have more medical bills than you will ever be able to pay.

Alan spends his days in deep depression and finally remembers a man who once told him that things didn't seem so bad when he went out and walked. So he got out a map and an old shoestring and measured out the furthest point on the map from Seattle that he could walk to. Turned out to be the Florida Keys. So he packed up a backpack, dressed in his hiking clothes and thus begins The Walk.

This is a quick easy read. Sad but satisfying somehow. Recommended for those in the mood for something of this nature. (it isn't as depressing as it sounds)

>70 rainpebble: Thanks, I will look into the ones you gave the best ratings! :)
Re: ILL, I don't know, but I think they charge for that stuff. Plus the people who work there always act incredibly grouchy, so I try to make sure we deal with them as little as possible. And you have to go pick up books within just a couple days of their being there and the library is on the other side of the city, so having to go there on not our "library day" (every 3wks when things are due) would be a pain, especially when Hubs has classes more days of the week this time, and there's no way I would go deal with the library workers by myself! Hahaha. I'm sure eventually I will find a used copy or whatnot. :)

>67 connie53:-70
lol. Thanks rainpebble, don't mind making you look wildly popular ;)
And agreed, Connie, annoying! Also, I did all kinds of things thinking it was a cache or cookies issue, including refreshing, clearing my cache and cookies, restarting the web browser, trying other web browsers, etc. And it appeared as if the posts were just not taking :P But next time, maybe I'll wait longer (like an hour ;) before getting impatient!

And I will have to check out The House on the Strand! Thanks for all the continued recommendations!

> 73. I did the same thing. And I will do the same with the waiting stuff.

Wow, Belva, you are just moving right along with this challenge!

Great reviews. I look forward to your review of Home when it fills the place-holder you've created. I liked it, but not as much as Gilead. Judging by your rating, you liked it a little less than Gilead, too.

Gilead was just so special.

Ooooo, you are reading some that I have loved. Little Stranger, Gilead, and I have a soft spot for Anne Tyler. Oh, and my fantasy is doing a long walk. Maybe I should borrow The Walk from the library. And I have read The House on the Strand and maybe another Du Maurier with great pleasure. Clearly I must read Rebecca.

Thanks for all the reviews!

I was so proud of my 5 ROOTs then come to see you whipping along :)
Also: GILEAD is on my TBR pile too! REBECCA is one of my all-time faves, and have been meaning over years to read more DuMaurier...pretty sure there are a couple on my shelves ;)

Have been so busy reading that I have neglected to update my ROOTs list & reviews. Am up to 14 but have now loaded some 'new old books' to my Kindle that I am dying to get to so perhaps no more this month. IDK.........

14. If Morning Ever Comes by Anne Tyler; {acquired 8/22/2008}; (3*)

I thoroughly enjoyed this quick read by Anne Tyler. I could totally relate with the main character, Ben Joe, who when away from home felt needed and wanted at home and yet, when there felt like he was still outside the group. I liked how quickly one got to know the characters and yet at times I was surprised by some of their actions and words. A good read.
The only negative thing I could find to say about it is that it reminded me too much of my upbringing and my relationship with my mother.

Congratulations!! Can't believe you're already at 14!

Reviews on:

6. Home by Marilynne Robinson; {acquired 8/01/2009; (4*); post # 55.

12. Eden Close by Anita Shreve; {acquired 8/30/2007}; (4*); post #38.

13. Annabel by Kathleen Winter; {acquired 6/23/2011}; (4*); post #54.

14. If Morning Ever Comes by Anne Tyler; {acquired 8/22/2008}; (3*); post # 79.

Thank you Ava. I have been ripping through them. But now I have downloaded to my Kindle some very old romantic mysteries that I am very keen to get to so think I **may** be done with my ROOTs for the month.
Good reading to you & thank you for popping over. I love the company.

14 ROOTs already? Wow, way to go!

#57: I remember when I read The Secret Life of Bees thinking how much it was also about forgiveness, including Lily forgiving herself over her mother's death. It has been several years since I read it, but I think remember it fondly. Not too crazy about Kidd's later work, though.

I also enjoyed your comments about Anne Tyler, although I don't know that I would refer to her books as depressing. She has the ability to take the mundane ups and downs of everyday life and create an engaging story with memorable, often quirky characters. The stories do not always have happy endings, but most of the time, I think, there's a resolution or some "justice" as they conclude. She is a treasure.

>82 rainpebble: ooh, old romantic mysteries - sounds lovely! I'd love to hear about any particularly good ones, ROOT or not!

Romantic mysteries are some of my favourite reads. Are any of them historic?

I accidentally came across an unknown (to me) author & have fallen in love with his old books. His name is Robert Nathan and he wrote such books as The Bishop's Wife, Long After Summer, The Enchanted Voyage & such. They all seem to be novellas rather than novels and have a bit of magic realism in them.
I've really pushed myself this month & have yet to read the first bit of Anthony Powell's A Dance to the Music of Time: First Movement, Spring. But I just need a bit of relaxing reading so I am going to do just that. Take time to slow down, relax, breathe and perhaps just read at bedtime for a few days or whatever.
And yes, they do appear to be historic especially as they were written between 1919 & 1975. So the older ones must be historic by now I would think. Anyway I am enjoying them.

the target is big you sure you gonna make it

>87 rainpebble: Thanks for the info! :)

I'm NOT going to look into Mr. Nathan's books, I'm NOT!

Good, Mr. Nathan has just one of his book translated and it is not avialable as far as i can see. So i'm dodging BB's again!

Ha ha Connie! You are too funny. ;-)

You are most welcome Ava. :-)

And yes, zigmarco, I think I shall make it this year. :-)

(my wrong, here I am again)

15. The title: My Name is Memory; acquired 7/01/2011; 3 stars

The author: Ann Brashares

The time period: all over the place from 541 A.D. to 2009

The place: again, all over the place but it seemed to center mainly in Africa and the U.S.

The characters: Daniel, Lucy/Sophia/Lucy/Constance/Lucy,......

The story: Daniel, our protagonist, has a gift. A gift for life and remembrances of previous lives. Many souls come back but very few have a memory of their past lives and loves. Daniel remembers and Daniel remembers Sophia, his one and only love. The story weaves through Daniel's many lives as he searches for and sometimes finds her. But it never works out. There is always a hindrance of one sort or another.
This book worked for me. I enjoyed the way it was written, I liked the characters very much except for the one I hated and he was born to be hated several lives over. I enjoy time travel books and had anticipated that this was to be one but it wasn't. Daniel didn't travel back and forth through time. He was born, lived and died only to be born again in another time and place. The book does, however, go from current back to another life and returns to current time and time again.
Daniel overdosed on heroin in one life only to be born (& abandoned) in the next life by a heroin addicted mother. I loved his constant searching of Sophia/Lucy. The name he knew her by when he first fell in love with her was Sophia but her name in today's world was Lucy.
It is a very simple little love story that spans time and lifetimes. It is enjoyable, a fast read, a good book to take on holiday. There is no real depth here but I did enjoy the book. Not all books have to be intense or have a lot of depth to be enjoyed. This little story works.

Thanks, Belva!

Wow, you are really doing great with ROOTing! :)

Hooray for 15 ROOTs already!

Wow. just wow!

16. Plain Truth by Jodi Picoult; {acquired 9/22/2008}; 4 stars

For most of us personal achievement is a goal in and of itself. For the Amish, being a member of the community is what is important. These two conflicting views collide when attorney Ellie Hathaway agrees to defend Katie Fisher, her distant 18-year-old Amish cousin, against the charge that she killed her premature newborn infant son.
Katie denies both the murder & the birth which means she is either mentally unstable or lying. Given her religious faith the latter is unbelievable and as Ellie gets to know Katie the former becomes less and less believable as well. Where does the truth lie?
Although this question is answered by the end of the book, Plain Truth is less a mystery than it is a fascinating work of fiction about the Amish life as compared to the secular life led by Ellie Hathaway. In order to keep Katie out of jail pending the trial she agrees to take custody of Katie which means living on the Fisher family's farm and integrating into some of their "Plain" ways.
This premise does not come across as contrived in the context of the story. The narrative, the main and secondary characters, and the setting of the "Plain" culture are seamlessly integrated to create a very strong work of fiction.

My January ROOTs:
1. William, an Englishman by Cicely Hamilton; Persephone; GREAT WAR THEME READ; {acquired 12/25/2012}; (2 1/2*)
2. The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd; Orange January;
{acquired 8/30/2007};
(5*)
3. The Amateur Marriage by Anne Tyler; Orange January;
{acquired 9/22/2008}; (3*)
4. The Seas by Samantha Hunt; Orange January;
{acquired 7/22/2011}; (4 1/2*)
5. Gilead by Marilynne Robinson; Orange January;
{acquired 7/20/2009; (5*)
6. Home by Marilynne Robinson; Orange January; {acquired 8/01/2009; (4*)
7. The White Woman on the Green Bicycle by Monique Roffey; Orange January; {acquired 7/01/2011}; (4*)
8. The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters; Orange January;
{acquired 7/08/2011}; (4 1/2*)
9. Ivanhoe by Sir Walter Scott; {acquired 9/11/2007; (4 1/2*)
10. Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier; VMC; {acquired 10/06/2009};
(4 /2*)
11. The Walk by Richard Paul Evans; {acquired 4/05/2011; (4 1/2*)
12. Eden Close by Anita Shreve; {acquired 8/30/2007}; (4*)
13. Annabel by Kathleen Winter; Orange January;
{acquired 6/23/2011}; (4*)
14. If Morning Ever Comes by Anne Tyler; {acquired 8/22/2008}; (3*)
15. My Name is Memory by Ann Brashares; {acquired 7/01/2011}; (3*)
16. Plain Truth by Jodi Picoult; {acquired 9/22/2008}; (4*)

I didn't complete these all in the order I began them so my reviews below will seem a bit wonky.

My ticker is updated. I've not touched the group ticker.

16 ROOTs in one month? Wow. That's all I can say. WOW!

WOW, WOW, WOW!

Sixteen!! Wow indeed! Very nice work!

I agree, that's some good reading! And Plain Truth sounds heartbreaking and fascinating.

Fabulous reading, Belva!

Thank you one and all. Just doing my part. :-)

I enjoyed Plain Truth when I read it, it is actually the only Jodi Picault book I have read. A friend said to me that once you've read one you've read them all, so although I'd happily read another they are not a priority! Plain Truth is well worth a read, in my view.

Wow rainpebble! Congrats on all your ROOTS!
I ... can't even imagine! ;)

And I've put Plain Truth in my wish list on amazon ;P

>106 avanders::
Thank you Ava.

105:
And Jackie, I feel somewhat as you do regarding Jodi Picoult, having heard others say the same thing. However sometimes I am very ready for something lighter but still with a bit of meat to it. And I have enjoyed all of hers that I have read, formulaic or not, though I don't necessarily go out of my way to read them. All that I have read belong to my granddaughter who loves her. And I do love that we can read some of the same books and discuss them. (She is preggers with our 3rd great right now & due late March/early April.)

My February ROOTs:
17. Hungry Hill by Daphne du Maurier; VMC; {acquired 10/06/2009}; (4*)
18. Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray; {acquired 11/11/2009};
(3 1/2*)
19. Margaret From Maine by Joseph Monninger; ARC/ER;
{acquired 12/12/2012}; (2 1/2*)
20. Hens and Chickens by Jennifer Wixson; ARC/ER;
{acquired 9/06/2012}; (3*)
21. The Forgiveness Solution by Philip H. Friedman; ARC/ER;
{acquired 11/15/2012}; (3 1/2*)
22. Battleborn by Claire Vaye Watkins; ARC/ER;
{acquired 10/30/2012};
(4*)
23. Consequences by Penelope Lively; {acquired 4/15/2010}; (4 1/2*)
24. Harriet Hume by Rebecca West; VMC; {acquired 8/05/2009}; (2*)
25. The Girl With the Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier; Orange/Bailey's; {acquired 1/05/2011; (4*)

I don't seem to be completing my books in the same order as I began them so my reviews may be located on my thread a bit wonky.

Amazing progress!

Why, thank you MissWatson.

18. Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray; {acquired 11/11/2009};
3 1/2 stars

This review will read a bit strangely as it was a group read and I commented on each "part" as I finished reading it.

Spoilers ahead!~!

I enjoyed this read tremendously and I found much to admire in our little Becky Sharp. She had a lot on the ball and was very quick to know what she needed to do in order to attain her wants and needs. Those who pity her need think again.
I found Jos to be a big old baby puss and thought that he needed to "man up". But his character truly suited the narration of the story. I did think that his sister, Miss Amelia's character changed too much in the story line. I quite liked her in the beginning, but throughout the middle part...................
The class levels in Vanity Fair are very much "out there" but strangely I see a lot of the same small ostracizings going on today.
Surprising things happening midway through the book.
What a wonderful hero our Captain Dobbin is turning out to be. I rooted for him the entire way through and for things to turn out nicely for him.
I must say that I found the encouragement of the courting of Miss Swartz by Mr. Crawley, the younger, quite odd for this time period and at the same time found it quite brave of the "younger" to refrain from obedience and to follow his heart.
Not only soldiers go to war during this era. Apparently people found battles to be of great entertainment as they followed them and could not get there quickly enough. Amazing that more civilians did not die at the front than did.
Miss Amelia is quickly turning to milk toast. Funny, I thought she had more spunk than that and perchance by book's end it will show it's face again.
Well, well, well, our Miss Becky is beginning to show her true colors and her adeptness at using people very much to her advantage. Not that she has not all the way through the book done this, but she does it now with a different attitude and heart.
Jos is off somewhere, most likely in India again doing whatever he does there. Miss Amelia has begun to grow a backbone which I am so glad to see.
Thackeray writes this entire work with his tongue in his cheek and I quite enjoy the result of his efforts. This third part is a bit slow going up until the last chapter. Then things begin to pick up.
My, my, my. Such happenings and carryings on as we should ever see. Things coming together to the benefit of "some". Becky getting her comeuppance and then getting her life back to the order in which she enjoys. Miss Amelia waking up to see the real order of the world, getting rid of her rose colored glasses, coming to her senses and doing what she most likely has wanted to do all along. Poor Jos; such an unknowingly sad life and such a sad demise. Do we dare to think he was poisoned? And William...... well, William is finally growing some big kahunas at last and is standing up for himself.
Thackeray has written a very enjoyable tete-a tete here and I find I quite liked it. I think it could have been compiled into perhaps 480 pages instead of 680. I loved all the little sketches throughout the book.
I am very happy to have read this book as I was previously not familiar with Thackeray in the least. I still don't know that I am but I am interested enough to try something else of his.

19. Margaret From Maine by Joseph Monninger; {acquired 12/12/2012}; an ARC/ER; 2 1/2 stars

Margaret is widowed in almost every sense of the word. Her husband lies in a nursing home in a vegetative state, having been injured in Afghanistan. She remains a very loyal wife and feels responsible for him and to him. She cares for their young son and works the family dairy farm along with her father-in-law.
In the meanwhile, she falls in love with another man but does not permit herself to pursue this relationship because her husband is still technically 'alive'. The story highlights the grief that many military families experience. Grief in all forms and not just that reserved for death.

20. Hens and Chickens by Jennifer Wixson; {acquired 9/06/2012}; an ARC/ER; 3 stars

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this story. It's a familiar fantasy; escaping from the rat race, moving to a small town in Maine and starting an egg farm. Two coworkers, who are also best friends make this move after the older woman is fired from her job. Her younger coworker leaves the job in support of her. Through an online acquaintance they decide to check out a farm for sale in rural Maine.
They fall in love with the town and with the people they meet there. And of course the town falls in love with them. Some of the characters are a little too good to be true but isn't that the way of it in an idyllic tale? And that didn't affect my enjoyment in reading about them. There are trials and tribulations of course but the main theme is one of support, friendship and love.
This is a charming little tale and told quite delightfully. If you want a light, easy, comfy read you might just give it a try.

21. The Forgiveness Solution by Philip H. Friedman; {acquired 11/15/2012}; an ARC/ER; 3 1/2 stars

I cannot say enough good things about this book. It is about the need and practice of constant forgiveness by ourselves; for ourselves and for other people. This can be extremely hard for some of us. Forgiveness opens the door to greater happiness and joy. What I liked most about the book is the exercises that can be applied to everyday life and situations so that one can see the results and take stock of growth and of areas in need of improvement.
I found the book to be helpful in recognizing even the smallest areas where I have unhealthy thoughts and feelings I was unaware of many of these until I read the book. Holding grudges, even the slightest ones, hurt us more than the intended target. That person probably doesn't know how you feel and for sure doesn't care. It has been a wonderful reminder that this is a lifelong journey. If you are open minded and put in the necessary work I think you will find this book most useful.

22. Battleborn by Claire Vaye Watkins; {acquired 10/30/2012}; an ARC/ER; 4 stars

This is one of the best debuts of a book of shorts that I have had the pleasure of read in quite some time. Watkins' level of control over her prose is stunning and reads like the work of a writer much older than 29. She writes refreshingly opting for depth over the charms of style and mode favored by many of our younger writers today. Her characters are complex and real with personal depths that often seem bottomless making them in a sense unknowable. However perhaps it is that seemingly unknowable essence which makes them come truly alive for the reader. We can't explain them but we feel them in a way that confounds easy expression. Similarly the characters are equally unable to explain themselves and their struggle to do so is what lies at the heat of the book. They are in pain. They are 'battle born'. They are not quite sure why and end up battling themselves and their surroundings in order to uncover a narrative that would explain to them and to us how they've managed to end up here and quite possibly as a result how they can escape. Through their search the characters end up creating beauty, however fleeting it may be, from misery and Watkins does the same drawing the two so closely that by the end it is difficult to clearly distinguish where one ends and the other begins. Watkins shows how the search for a clean narrative, a story, is intimately linked with the act of redemption.
I totally recommend this book of short stories.

I am finally caught up on my ARC/ERs. What a good feeling that is.

Congratulations on the ARC/ERs. Now off to pastures new?

Yea for finishing up the ER pile! I have a great desire to give my sister The Forgiveness Solution, albeit in a passive aggressive way. She's been holding a grudge against our brother and sister-in-law since they got married because she wasn't given credit for introducing them. Sigh!

Wow you're racing through them! I'm very impressed!

Congrats on the ERs! I agree... Great feeling!

Thanks guys. It is such a great feeling to get them out of the way.

And Meredith, when will we ever figure out that life is just too short to waste the time and energy on these little negativities in our lives. And most of the time they are actually self imposed. It wouldn't hurt her to read the book but I doubt she would appreciate your giving it to her.

Off to new pastures.......yes indeed. I am reading a non-root at the moment but plan to get back into the saddle soon. I feel like reading more of my old Daphne du Mauriers.

Thanks for popping by. So nice to 'see' you all. :-)

Well done, Belva!

And I totally agree with your comments on Merdith's post. There are graver things to get upthight about!

I love #2. And I just finished du Maurier's Frenchman's Creek, which my friend insisted I read. She claims it was du Maurier at her best . I thought it relatively elementary and predictable; although not terrible. I'm going to still try Rebecca to see what all the hooplah is about!

Kudos on getting the ER books done! Happy reading!

The Forgiveness Solution sounds good. Great review!

121 - Yeah, some people will just always be grudge holders, or always way too concerned about if they've ever been wronged. I wish she were different, but if she ever does change I bet it won't be until she's elderly.

>123 Tess_W::
Tess, I read all of them when I was in elementary school many, many years ago so I am rereading them now as I simply can't remember all that well what I read 55 years ago. I have actually fallen in love with her nonfiction these past few years. I love Daphne. I have 29 of her books and it is not nearly enough.

29 books by Du Maurier? That's a lot.

wow! I didn't even know she'd written that many!

Connie & Ava, I don't even have them all. But I have found over the years that she is an author that this reader can read again and again.

That's great to hear... I loved Rebecca so much... glad to hear there's more to look forward to!

>124 tymfos::
Thank you so much Terri. I appreciate your kind words.

17. Hungry Hill by Daphne du Maurier; VMC; {acquired 10/06/2009}; (4*)

Our story begins in 1820 as Copper John, patriarch of the Anglo-Irish Brodrick family, prepares to mine Hungry Hill for copper. Unfortunately he neglects to ask permission of the hill first and for the next hundred years it visits its vengeance on one generation of the family after another.

The book isn’t really long enough for a family saga of five generations. Successive family members are born and rapidly grow up only to be whisked from the scene by the latest tragic occurrence. The men, apart from Copper John, are flawed and weak. The women are stronger but are overwhelmed by the circumstances of their lives and that of their families.

There were characters within the book that drew me in but the pace of the book didn't allow for intimacy between character and reader. Du Maurier’s most powerful novels focus on a single drama played out among a small number of characters and are written in the first person. Hungry Hill has a huge cast, a wide scope and a third person narration. Towards the end of the book when the narrative concentrates on telling the story of the last days of the mine and of the impact of its closure on the community, it becomes much more compelling. This is a novel about decline and decay, a theme all too relevant to those who lived through two World Wars and the Great Depression.

Still and all this is a book that I cannot stop thinking about. I really wanted to dig into the characters and though I was unable, I still loved the story and definitely recommend it.

23. Consequences by Penelope Lively; {acquired 4/15/2010}; (4 1/2*)

This is a wonderful story from a new (to me) but excellent author. She gives us the lives of three generations of women beginning in pre-WW II England. The story begins with a young woman, Lorna, who wants to live a meaningful life and is crossed at every turn by her high minded & moneyed parents. She accidentally meets a man, Matt, in the park and they begin to see each other. They eventually fall in love and marry against the wishes of her parents who turn their back on her.
She and her husband who is a wood engraver find an inexpensive cottage in the country and live a simple life. The story of Matt's engraving work could be a story entirely unto itself. I loved all of that.
He & Lorna have a little girl, Molly, and life is wonderful for them even though they are poor as church mice. Then comes the war. Matt feels that he must enlist and begs Lorna to go to his parents but she refuses and is set on waiting at the cottage for him to return.
Molly, as she grows up, becomes the center of the story and her daughter Ruth, after her.
Each woman's story is somewhat briefly but beautifully told. And as I am sure you have guessed the main theme of the book is that one lives out the consequences of one's life choices.
I found this to be a lovely book. I want to read more of Lively's works and I recommend this one not for it's depth but rather for it's ease, comfort and readability. I have already ordered more of her books.

24. Harriet Hume by Rebecca West; VMC; {acquired 8/05/2009}; (2*)

I thought I was going to like/love this book. I failed and failed miserably. Perhaps if the book had been a mere 150 pages rather than 300, perhaps if I had found the characters even somewhat believable as fantasies, perhaps, perhaps, perhaps.........
The plot, if there is one, is that of a man with high expectations of his future drifting in and out of the life of an exquisite & mind reading sprite of a lovely but poor pianist.
He wishes to be rich and powerful at any cost and she seems content with her lot. He marries into money, compromising any ethics he may have in building his career and in the end finds himself a ruined man. Harriet remains the same.
The book is written in a sweet, flowery manner and I could have enjoyed it in a brief novella but was unable to in full book form.
I don't know that I can recommend this one and that makes me sad as I love Rebecca West.

25. Girl With the Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier; ORANGE; {acquired 1/05/2011; (4*)

Tracy Chevalier’s novel, Girl With a Pearl Earring, was a captivating story, a blend of history and fiction, inspired by a famous painting. Set in the 1600s 16 year old Griet is sent to work for a successful painter of the time, Vermeer. During the course of her apprenticeship, her master takes a romantic interest in her as she does him. Chevalier creates an amazing plot for the picture and creates a story that captures the reader although she never fully develops her characters’ feelings which detracts from the romanticism of the story.
The story that the author creates using this beautiful picture is one that shows an incredible amount of creativity. Chevalier imagines a story behind the painting that is sometimes referred to as the “Dutch Mona Lisa”. Even though no one knows who the girl in the painting is Chevalier is able to envision a romance about her. She invents a love story that crosses class lines as well as religious lines in a rigid society. The author portrays beautiful imagery for the reader. She describes the paintings making the reader feel as if they are right before them. Griet describes a woman in one of the paintings: “She wore a mantle of rich yellow satin trimmed with white ermine, and a fashionable five point ribbon in her hair.” The reader can imagine this woman’s elegant clothing with ease and can easily become mesmerized by by the descriptiveness of the novel.
Although the characters in the novel are interesting and cleverly drawn they lack depth of feeling and their motivations remain hidden from the reader. While it is easy to understand a few of the characters the two main ones, Griet and Vermeer, are never fully exposed. The reader is never told in any depth what Griet feels and thinks and Vermeer remains a mystery. At the end of the novel immediately after Vermeer finishes the painting of Griet Chevalier decides to end the story. Griet runs out of the house when Vermeer’s wife Catharina, sees the painting. There is no explanation of how Griet changes from this experience or what she truly feels. That left this reader with many unanswered questions.
Girl with a Pearl Earring was an interesting mixture of history and fiction. Chevalier is successful with her imagery and with the plot of the story. However she could have improved the novel by adding the exquisite detail that she used in the plot and imagery, applying it to the characters. The novel, even with those negative points was quite successful for this reader. I simply wanted more.

I read ROOTs 17 through 25 this month and I don't think there will be any more so I will update my ticker though I won't touch the group one.
Whew! I wonder what March will bring.........

Rain, I read The Girl with the Pearl Earring also and loved it. From my perspective, I think Vermeer was an enigma. He was aloof. Maybe we weren't supposed to know him better? Just a thought! I saw the movie, also. It followed the book pretty closely and I don't think one would get a better understanding of any of the characters any better, except perhaps Vermeer's wife.

that is a crazy lot of ROOTS! Congrats to you! and 50% done!!

>137 Tess_W::
Tess, thinking about it you are probably quite right in your description of Vermeer. In fact the story most likely worked better than if he were not elusive. And I didn't realize there was a movie of the book. I will have to see if Nitflix has it. Thank you for your thoughts.

139:
WOOT WOOT!~! Thank you Ava.

Your progress is amazing! If you finish up super early will you just read more ROOTS or go on to a non-owned TBR list?

I'm happy to read your good review of the Penelope Lively book. I don't remember reading anything by her either though her name sounds familiar. I ran across her book How It All Began in a used bookstore recently and have it on the towering TBR pile. I think I'll want to read it sooner rather than later!

>143 clue::
Hello clue. I'm glad you are going to give Lively a try. I hope you enjoy her writing as much as I did. I don't have the one you mentioned nor is it one that I ordered as it wasn't listed on pbs so I will be interested in your comments on it when it's 'turn' comes around.
Thanks for popping in. :-)

>142 mabith::
Good morning Meredith. At least it's morning here. (I think you are ahead of us time-wise if I recall) Call me dumb but I don't know what a non owned TBR list is. Perhaps you could 'bersplain' to this ole broad. ;-)
hugs,

Ha, I just mean the books that you've heard of and want to read but don't own already (so they're not ROOTS). I buy very few books I've never read though (my dad gave me a lot in the last year or two, so I'm up to 55-60 ROOT-applicable books). My to-read list of things I don't own is huge, largely thanks to LT.

Oh my goodness Meredith. I think I probably have between 1500 & 2000 books in my bookcases that I've not read. And of those quite probably 1200 could easily be considered ROOTs, meaning that they came into the house prior to Jan 1, 2013. I actually have a very small wish list. Most of my 'wishes' are on my shelves. I do have a TBR list of about 30 library books. But I am not using the library much these days. This group is really helping me to read those books I have collected over the many, many years.
♥

Hoorah for making such good progress!! Way to go, RP!

Thank you Connie. I think we are all doing so well. I am going to be excited to see those numbers & percentages go up in the tally.

Today I honor my favorite author, John Steinbeck, born on this day in 1902. My favorite of all of his works is The Winter of Our Discontent. It is also the first of his novels that I read & I was in the 5th grade.

Ha, I may have one of the tiniest ROOT list lists in this community, I admit! Until recently I had absolutely no disposable income, so I wasn't even buying used books (and there's no used book store in my city). My space is so limited that it's good I'm trained not to buy so much. Probably a different story in 20 years though.

I've never heard of The winter of our discontent before. Those are lovely editions, by the way!

Now I want to read The Winter of our Discontent too!

MARCH ROOTS:

26. The Red Garden by Alice Hoffman; {acquired 2/03/2011}; (5*)
27. All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque; GREAT WAR THEME READ; {acquired 1/15/2011}; (5*)
28. 2666 by Roberto Bolano; {acquired 02/03/2010}; (4*)
29. Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys; {acquired 9/08/2011; (4*)
30. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte; VMC; {acquired 9/02/2007}; (5*)
31. Charms for the Easy Life by Kaye Gibbons; VMC;
{acquired 9/02/2007}; (3*)
32. One of Ours by Willa Cather; VMC; GREAT WAR THEME READ; {acquired 5/09/2010}; (4 1/2*)
33. Aleta Dey by Francis Marion Beynon; VMC; GREAT WAR THEME READ; {acquired 5/09/2010}; (3 1/2*)

That is a beautiful picture of your books on the shelf. Really shows how lovely books are, on the outside as well as the inside.

>154 Merryann::
Thank you Merryann. They are truly what we love, aren't they.?.

Nice looking books and WOW-a Steinbeck lover, you don't meet too many of them. I tried The Grapes of Wrath about 10 years ago but could not finish it. I shall probably have to give him a go again sometime.

>156 Tess_W::
I am so sorry about that Tess. You may have chosen the wrong one to try first. He has many small books. I have 25 of his works and more to go. I think that I would advise beginning with Tortilla Flat or Cannery Row. These two books by John Steinbeck are belly-laughers! I mean laugh-out-loud funny! He has the ability to describe the place, the people, and the era breathtakingly and achingly beautiful. Many begin with Of Mice and Men but though I love this book so much, it may be a bit dark for someone with no Steinbeck under their belt.
And yeah, I love him and admit that he is hands down my favorite author.

Thanks for the info Rain, I put on my wish list either Tortilla Flat or Cannery Row. I hope that I am not as disappointed as I was with my first (and last) Hemmingway!

>157 rainpebble: me too! I've just added Tortilla Flat to my amazon wish list :)

Oh how I hope you both enjoy it/them!

But Tess, I must tell you that I enjoy Hemingway to a degree as well. And that I read very little contemporary fiction. That being said I still think it is a possibility that you will enjoy these funny Steinbecks with such wonderful characters.

hugs to you both,
belva

>158 Tess_W: I love Steinbeck but don't really like Hemingway (not that I've read much), so you might still enjoy him. Of course Grapes of Wrath was my first Steinbeck which I adored, so it's hard to say. Classics are tricky like that.

But I love Dickens, go figure!

And Dickens & Austen are the ones that really goober my brain up! I have had trouble with them ever since my school days some 50-55 years ago when we had to study them.

And Meredith is quite right when she says that the classics are tricky. But I still always want to read them. All of them & I'm afraid I just won't live to do that. lol!~!

My favorite Hemingway is The Old Man and the Sea. I read it every year. It just feeds something in my soul.

Before reading my first Hemingway, I researched and found a letter from Hemingway to one of his friends. He claims that his best written book was The Sun Also Rises. So I thought, straight from his mouth....I read it and I only gave it one star because I could not give it anything less.

Dickens...I found doable after Bleak House, anything is easier! Over Christmas break I read Great Expectations and loved it. I also read Oliver Twist and it seemed a tad boring. I can't do Austen either, but love those Bronte sisters!

Ya' know? I read Great Expectations a few years ago: and while I started out reveling in every word, by the end, I was exhausted by them. I've listened to a few versions of A Christmas Carol over the years, but I just haven't gotten my enthusiasm up for another full-length novel of his.

I love the Bronte sisters (Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights were also part of my Beowulf on the Beach Summer Reading Challenge the year I read Great Expectations) and, I have Agnes Grey begging for my attention this year :-)

I love Jane Austen's novels. I have read: Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility and Persuasion, though not I did originally care for them. When I first read P&P, I had had the idea that it was high falutin' literature; but once I understood that it was satire and, imagined the voice of novels as being rather bitchy, I enjoyed them a lot! I have Emma sitting here on my TBR stacks too, in fact right next to Agnes Grey!

I've only read one Hemingway novel, For Whom the Bell Tolls that I can remember, and I just hated it. I read it because my interest had become peaked about the Spanish Civil War and its role as basically the testing grounds and drills for the Nazis and WWII. I was disappointed in what ended up being a romanticized and pointless adventure. Maybe one of these days, someone will provide me with the key to "getting" Hemingway (other than stylistic approach) and I'll go back.

The Classic novelist that I detest is F. Scott Fitzgerald. Yes, it's true: I hate The Great Gatsby and This Side of Paradise. Numerous friends of mine keep trying to tell me how important a writer he is, but again, they point out his stylistic innovations and turn a blind eye to his self-indulgent and egotistic tripe that they are actually being served. I guess all writers have that ego and self-indulgence to a degree more or less, but for some reason I find his particularly offensive. Maybe it's the lack of humor or that veneer of privilege that he wears. I'm not sure, but he sets my teeth on edge!

My current favorite Classic novelist though is Edith Wharton! I find her amazingly varied, prolific and accessible(despite her privileged upbringing, ahem.) I think I'll be reading her stuff for years to come :-)

I love Edith Wharton and remember what an impact Ethan Frome made on me in 5th grade. I am 66 now and still reading her.

And any book is only as good as the reader enjoys it to be, classic or not. If you don't like it then for you it is not a good book.

Loved The Great Gatsby, Tender is the Night but thought This Side of Paradise was fairly mediocre.

I too, love the Brontes.

There is also the possibility too, that somewhere along the line that I will read a bit of literary criticism or someone else's take on an author that will provide me with the "key" to fully understanding and appreciating an author's works. That's what happened to me with Austen and more recently Ian McEwan.

I admit that, while I don't often go into a book with any expectations, it's something of a double-edged sword: On one "edge," I'm totally open to whatever the author has to offer. On the other "edge," I don't know what to look for!

Tanya--Fitzgerald I don't like, either. I have read The Great Gatsby and The Last Tycoon and blech to both. I thought I really didn't get the Great Gatsby as my friends raved about them, so I watched the movie--2 versions, and I'm still saying "so what?"

LOL, Last year when I read The Great Gatsby, I was pretty underwhelmed. I asked all my bookish friends to post why they though it was so great and all I got was pretty much "Because it's so important... different from what came before..."; but only one of them admitted readily to actually liking the book and that was from someone who hadn't read it in decades - and only had a vague impression of flappers and jazz at that!

I used to not get Picasso. Then, one day when I was reading a Gertrude Stein biography, I came across a passage about the whole cubist movement and... voila! I understood what I was seeing and could appreciate Picasso more. I'm still not a huge fan of his work, but I'm not a hater either.

Maybe one day, I'll gain some insight into Fitzgerald that will resonate with me; but until then move onto somebody else and not slog through his other works :-)

Oh I do dislike the defending of a book because it's different or marked a change in literature. Well, defending isn't the right word exactly, but it's all so subjective, big deal if we don't like it. We can admit that there's value in something without enjoying it or pushing ourselves to read things we won't enjoy or feeling pressured to defend work we don't actually like, and I'm not sure why anyone would feel obliged to argue with us about it.

(I disliked The Great Gatsby myself, and have not been able to enjoy Austen. I recognize the humour, but it's not my style, unlike Elizabeth Gaskell's hilarious Cranford and My Lady Ludlow.)

Like the man said, there's no accounting for taste, and with so many books around no real reason to push ourselves to enjoy something just because it's a classic (granting I have pushed myself with Austen just because my father loves her).

What was your "key" for Ian McEwan?

28. 2666 by Robert Bolano; 4 stars

This is a very difficult book to review. There are actually five books in one and very little to link them to one another. Bolano wanted them published separately but as they were published posthumously he didn't have much say about it all.
I first checked the book out of the library and when I began to read it, I found myself reaching for a pen and highlighter as there was just so much that I wanted to follow up on. Well, you just cannot deface a public library book so I took it back to the library and went to my favorite independent bookshop and shelled out thirty bucks for my own copy so I could deface it. (but ended up taking notes on it instead)
For the book, as a whole, I have really mixed emotions and thoughts. All but one of the books I really liked, but the fourth book I did not care for at all. I think it just held too much violence for me. I loved the last book and it did kind of bring things together for me.
If you like your literature simple and your stories direct, then this most certainly is not the book for you. But if you prefer words that need to be mulled over, sentences that need to pondered (often for their relevance) and facts and figures that need to be sifted for their significance, and you're willing to commit to a heady world-encompassing tour of literary academia, sexual relations, murder, and much more besides, which at times will have you wondering where on earth it is heading (or even if it indeed it is heading anywhere at all) then 2666 may be just the ticket. Bear in mind that it makes otherwise heavyweight books -- Umberto Eco's Foucault's Pendulum, for example -- feel positively light and yet ponderous by comparison.
Although the story is often dark and complex, the text is never in any way impenetrable -- in fact just the opposite, with its light, almost conversational style making the story-telling feel very close and intimate, almost at times seeming to be written for the individual personal benefit of the reader. Its division into short blocks of text rather than chapters also give the sensation of a continuous ongoing narrative from which it is hard to disconnect for fear of being left behind if one pauses for breath! (And you may sometimes feel you do indeed need a breather; one sentence in particular, at over 2000 words, must qualify as one of the longest outside of any written by James Joyce!) This endless driving narrative, coupled with the constant inclusion of every last detail in the story's scenes and events, gives the book the same surreal and dream-like quality achieved by Alexander Sokurov in his single-take film-work, Russian Ark.
I do guardedly (because of the violence) recommend this book. It is very well written. The characters that I cared about, I cared deeply about. The ones I cared not for, I truly cared not a whit about them. But I will be looking for more Bolano books to read as well as a good bio on him. I have a feeling he was a fascinating man.

> 171 Humor! A few weeks ago, wookiebender mentioned that she had heard McEwan read an excerpt from On Chesil Beach with a sense of humor. Thinking back, I had been reading McEwan too seriously, believing that he was caught up on some sort of white male tale of anxiety that was absurd for its seriousness, not realizing that the absurdity was the point. Moreover, I was misinterpreting the tenor of his books as being weak psychological thrillers of a sort, focusing on the scenes fraught with tension as an exposition of the (male) psyche. Of course, when the utterly ridiculous thing happened, I was all like, "What?!" I'm not sure that the comic approach will work for all of McEwan's novels, but it definitely fits Saturday, On Chesil Beach and Solar :-)

>173 Tanya-dogearedcopy:: Interesting... Maybe I'll re-visit his books, I had found his work so dark and heavy.

Ah, so many kindred spirits :)
I think it's so interesting how so many readers vary so much on their enjoyment of the so-called classics! It used to be so frowned upon to admit you didn't like something that the "experts" had touted as worthwhile...

Personally, I thought Gatsby was meh. But then I LOVED Z (the novelization, recently published, of the life of Zelda Fitzgerald), and I felt it shed a LOT Of light on the whole Gatsby thing. And I thought perhaps a re-read might be worthwhile... Haven't yet done it. Though I enjoyed Baz's Gatsby :)

I've also had similar reactions to some more modern works that have been highly praised (e.g., Pulitzer), such as Tinkers... Yawn.

But I Loved Wuthering Heights, Great Expectations, Jane Eyre, Count of Monte Cristo, Catcher in the Rye, and many others...

I love reading everyone's takes on these "great authors"... and adding to my "wish list" on Amazon while I'm doing it ;)

You have I very interesting thread, Belva.

>176 connie53::
Hi Connie. It is because I have very interesting people visit my thread. I so much enjoy all of the commentary that goes on & the sharing of thoughts. Diversity, diversity, ladies & gents............... the spice of life.

>177 rainpebble: I agree! that's what I love about LT and about this group.

Yes, since I joined this group, I've probably put 2 dozen (at least) books on my wish list because of others recommendations!

Hahahaha, Tess. I know. The same thing happens here. When I'm hit by a BB I'm almost glad a book is not translated!

26. The Red Garden by Alice Hoffman; {acquired 2/03/2011}; (5*)

Alice Hoffman, my favorite contemporary author, is a quiet sort of writer, not known for showy prose, whirlwind plots, or doorstop blockbusters. However what she does she does very well. She creates memorable images and conveys moments of emotional intensity using spare prose and enviable stylistic restraint. In a single sentence, she can create a world or destroy it utterly. The simplicity of her prose belies its emotional power which often sneaks up on her audience unaware as they read her novels. For it turns out that in addition to being a talented observer and a gifted stylist Hoffman is a masterful storyteller. In fact I would say that first & foremost Alice Hoffman is a storyteller.
This is especially true of The Red Garden which is a collection of linked short stories that tell the history of fictional Blackwell, Massachusetts from its founding in 1750 to the late 20th century. This is a very small town which causes the same handful of surnames to surface from story to story and that the same handful of tall tales, gossip and legends persists from generation to generation. Careful readers will see how these myths grow out of the history of the community and how people's stories shape place as much as geography or historical events do.
Blackwell was known in its earliest years as Bearsville due to the large population of bears dotting nearby Hightop Mountain. The opening story about the earliest settlers' salvation by a young woman named Hallie Brady sums up many of the novel's themes and motifs; a plucky but melancholy young woman who longs for love and finds it only in the most surprising places, an intense but uneasy relationship between humans and the natural environment, an undercurrent of magic and mystery, a legacy of loss and sorrow. These themes rise again and again, taking on the force of myth as they repeat themselves through the generations.
Hoffman is often known as a magic realist and The Red Garden is no exception. Ghosts, whether real or imaginary, surface again and again, their stories rooted in actual history, their recurrence a reminder that stories outlive their tellers. Hoffman relies at times on familiar archetypes such as the story of the eel wife but in a way that works perfectly with the very particular western Massachusetts environment she has created. And then there's the red garden of the novel's title, where the soil is red as blood and everything that's planted there also grows blood red, a symbol of the uncomfortable but inevitable intertwining of nature and culture, of love and loss.
The emotional level of The Red Garden can sneak up on you as the author conveys awful incidents, intense passions and haunting images in the simplest, most matter of fact prose. But this seeming simplicity, this careful restraint, also highlights the truths she conveys and the wonders that inhabit each page of her marvelous stories. "A story can still entrance people even while the world is falling apart," writes Hoffman. Blackwell seems at times a town outside of history even when history arrives, as it does from time to time, on these people's doorsteps. Their stories, however, timeless yet timely, will entrance readers from all times and places.
Alice Hoffman's works always entrance me.

27. All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque; GREAT WAR THEME READ; {acquired 1/15/2011}; (5*)

(SPOILER)

"He fell in October 1918, on a day that was so quiet and still on the whole front, that the army report confined itself to the single sentence: All quiet on the Western Front.
He had fallen forward and lay on the earth as though sleeping. Turning him over one saw that he could not have suffered long; his face had an expression of calm, as though almost glad the end had come."
______________________________________________________________

The "beauty" of a war story is an intriguing thought, but I can think of no other word with which to describe this book than beautiful. Remarque has written a book of the horrors of WWI told through the eyes of an innocent young German soldier and he has written it with such a simplicity that it is overpowering in the beauty of the language.
We owe the translator a huge debt as well, for the translation can make or break a book and this is a wonderful book, deserving of all the accolades it has received.
It is the story of several young men from the same village who enter the service and the war at the same time. It tells of the horrors of the smallest nature as well as the hugely horrifying events of this war. It also tells of the remarkable little things that put smiles on the faces of these young men and gave them hope for another day.
There are many books written about The Great War but I can only think of one after reading All Quiet on the Western Front. It is a most powerful read. If you have not read this book, please do so. You will be giving yourself a wonderful gift. I highly recommend it and gave it 5 stars

29. Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys; {acquired 9/08/2011; (4*)

I think that Jean Rhys did an excellent job of creating an interesting storyline as well as boggling our minds with the beauty of Colubri. Her images were so strong that I didn't have to try to imagine the characters or settings. I could see, smell & feel them.
This brilliant novel primarily deals with contradictions and ambiguity. Written as a prelude to Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre, Rhys creates an identity for the otherwise shadowy figure of Bertha Mason, Rochester's mad creole wife, through Antoinette a beautiful lonely Creole woman. Wide Sargasso Sea deals with contradictions and not just with feminist "rag issues" as other reviewers suggest, rather tending to deal with gender reversal. Christophine, the freed black slave from another Caribbean Island, is a strong female character who displays masculine traits standing up to the bullying unnamed Englishman, Rochester, who tries to use oppressive colonialist tactics to control the inhabitants of an exotic Island which cannot be controlled. Both are wild and unruly compared to his staid English persona and as such, something which he cannot relate to. Antoinette is the weak female figure who is finally destroyed by the Enlgishman, driven to madness through a combination of his desire for her and his distaste and hate for everything that she represents. An intriguing tale full of ambiguity Wide Sargasso Sea is a sad tale of dispossession and dislocation.
But please do not attempt to compare The Wide Sargasso Sea to Jane Eyre. To do so is to do yourself & Jean Rhys a great disservice.

30. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte; VMC; {acquired 9/02/2007}; (5*)

One of THE best books I have ever read or in this case reread.

Jane is a poor orphan fobbed off at a very early age on a nice uncle & a bitchy aunt who have 3 abominable children. The uncle dies but makes his wife promise to always keep & care for Jane. That lasts a few miserable years until the aunt, through correspondence, finds a poorly run boarding school for Jane that will keep her holidays as well. She wants never to see her again.
So Jane goes to the boarding school where she works hard, learns well, is always hungry & often cold. She remains there studies hard & becomes a teacher there for an additional 2 years at which time she posts an advertisement for a position as governess.
She is hired by a Mrs Fairfax of Thornfield to become governess to a young girl, Adelle, who is a ward of the owner of Thornfield but the Master is rarely there. Jane is very happy in her new position but when the Master returns home she cannot help falling in love with him. She keeps this close to her vest. Little does she know that he has fallen in love with her as well.
In her room at night, Jane begins to hear strange cries, howls & noises from overhead. She knows that there is someone up on the 3rd floor but is told that it is a servant who keeps mainly to herself and indeed she does see Mrs. Poole occasionally going to & from that floor carrying items.
When Jane learns who is actually living in that upper abode she is heartbroken and feels she cannot remain. So the girl takes the poor things she arrived with and the few pennies she has and leaves, catching a coach that will take her as far away as her funds will allow. As she is let off the coach she forgets her little bundle and now all she has are the clothes on her back.
Jane walks & forages for food for about 3 days. She looks for work, finding only rejection. She begs food and is given bread crumbs. Finally one stormy night when she is so poorly she feels she can go no further she sees a light in the distance. She follows the light and comes upon a cottage in the wood where as she looks through the window she sees 2 young ladies that she is sure are sisters, for they look so much alike, and an elderly lady that she assumes is their mother, guardian or servant. She knocks on the door, is turned away & the door shut upon her. Jane is so ill, weak & weary that she collapses on the stoop.
The next thing she is aware of is a gentleman coming upon her, & helping her into the warm kitchen where now she is fed some warm milk & bread & is taken up to a warm bedroom, changed into dry sleeping clothes and put to bed where she remains ill & out of her head for several days. She is cared for by all of the inhabitants of the house. As she begins to get stronger she is allowed to sit up and eventually she feels well enough to get up, dressed & go downstairs where she joins the servant in the snug, warm kitchen.
She is accepted by this family and kept there for some time. The gentleman, who is a brother to the girls, finds work teaching for her along with a wee cottage of her own.
She lives thus for some time.
I will stop here, dear reader, for to go on would tell you more than you would wish to hear at this point.
This is one of the best books I have ever read and I very highly recommend it to young and old alike.

31. Charms for the Easy Life by Kaye Gibbons; VMC; {acquired 9/02/2007}; (3*)

This book is a kind and gentle read. There are no startling insights or life altering observations But it is worth reading because it does speak to the values and ethics of life.
It is a multi-generational story. The grandmother is a strong woman whose opinions are revered and who doesn't tolerate fools. She is unfailingly consistent in her outlook and her mission which is to help other people with or without their consent. Her daughter is lonely and well-meaning. The granddaughter is growing into herself and her beliefs with help from her grandmother.
This book has 'charm'.

32. One of Ours by Willa Cather; VMC; GREAT WAR THEME READ; {acquired 5/09/2010}; (4 1/2*)

This book is a beautifully written study of a sensitive, idealistic young man. But what elevates it to near masterpiece status is its extremely subtle depiction of the excesses of idealism. Trapped in a grubby, increasingly materialistic world, Claude yearns for something noble and meaningful. Unfortunately he finds it only in the patriotic fervor that swept America into The Great War, the most brutal, senseless war in history. Writing from Claude's viewpoint, Cather almost makes you think that the exhilaration of fighting for a noble cause does indeed justify the terrible toll of war, but not quite, because she occasionally drops tiny hints that Claude's newfound, heartfelt sense of purpose and engagement might be deluded and tragic. The final chapter told from his mother's viewpoint is devastating.

The independent-minded reader might keep comparing Claude's feeling about the glory of war with the fact that patriotic passion, fight and die for the homeland, has sent untold millions of soldiers to their death since nearly the dawn of time. Cather does little to help you maintain that all important perspective. I think she made it all too easy for conventional minded readers to take this story literally, as a tale of the glories of patriotism and sacrifice for home and country. It's never entirely clear whether and to what extent Cather sees through that horrendous myth. Perhaps that is the genius of the book; to force the reader to draw his own conclusions. Or perhaps as Hemingway always implied Cather herself was seduced by the romantic, tragically blind view of the nobility of war. But I doubt that. I think that she was brilliant enough to leave us all wondering about that.

The book is pure genius.

33. Aleta Dey by Francis Marion Beynon; VMC; GREAT WAR THEME READ; {acquired 5/09/2010}; (3 1/2*)

I actually enjoyed this little VMC. I wasn't expecting to.
It is an autobiographical fiction piece about a Canadian girl growing up in a family relatively void of emotion. She has an older sister with whom she is not close and a baby brother that she loves dearly. Aleta also has a school friend who is a bit older than her and is a boy. They enjoy talking about all manner of things and arguing, each trying to prove their point to the other. As they grow up, her friend moves away to go to school, her baby brother dies, her sister falls in love with the local doctor and moves away, her father dies & then her mother goes to join her sister & help her with the grandchildren. Aleta is pretty much on her own.
She has a job at a magazine/paper & is very much the feminist & suffragette. This is nothing new to her. She was always a free thinker, even as a youngster, but learned at an early age to keep her opinions to herself if she didn't wish to have to answer for them. She was thought to be a radical at every point of her life.
One day while traveling home by train she meets a man who interests her in the way a man never has before. He is quite a bit older that her but when has Aleta Dey allowed anything nonconforming to get in her way? This gentleman works for the opposing magazine/paper and their thoughts and theories are definitely opposite each other. But the relationship blooms and the two of them share a platonic but romantic friendship for many years. The relationship includes the gentleman's young charge. He promised a dying friend that he would care for & raise his son as his own. Aleta Dey and the young boy become very fond of each other.
Throughout all these years Aleta Dey marches for the movement. She rallies for the vote for women and for their to think freely and speak their minds. She is a Pacifist and speaks out against The Great War that has come to Europe and is taking their young men off to fight. Even her man, McNair goes off to the war. She speaks at many rallies & is even jailed for her thoughts & positions on political lines.
The ending of the book was a total surprise to me.
Aleta Dey is well written though I thought it written in a rather juvenile manner. It is easily understood and has a completely different view on the war when compared to the other books I have been reading on The Great War. It is a very small book of only 255 pages & so is a quick read. I liked it & do recommend it to those interested in the subject matter or in books with a different take on the time surrounding The Great War.

>157 rainpebble: I shall keep Tortilla Flat and Cannery Row in mind. I like laugh-out-loud funny!

Wonderful reviews, they really invite me to go and re-read them!

>182 rainpebble: Lovely review of All Quiet on the Western Front!

Wow congrats on all your reading!
Glad to hear your take on Hoffman... I haven't read anything by her yet, but I have several of her books on my shelves and I have the sense I'm going to really enjoy them!

Also, always happy to hear from another Jane Eyre lover! Mmmmm, such a good book...

Thank you all so much for stopping by. My husband & I have both been so ill off and on since November that while I am doing quite a bit of reading I am afraid I just haven't taken the time to come & see you. I miss that. We have some evil virus that seems to come & go. We get over it for a few days & then one or the other of us begins to run that low-grade temp that goes along with. Doctors say we just need to take care of ourselves & rest a lot, with clear fluids..... You know the drill.

Anyway Ava, I love that you love 'my' Jane also. And I am happy that I have made someone curious about Hoffman. I do love her books so much. Mind you, they are not "literature" but she takes me to a different place with every single book and I have read a lot of hers.

Wabbit, thank you so much for those kind words. All Quiet on the Western Front is a beacon in the night so far as war books go; especially WW I.

MissWatson, thank you as well. They are all worth a revisit, aren't they.?.

merryann, you do that regarding the Steinbecks. If I am reading either of those in bed my hubby kindly suggests that I remove myself from said bed & read in the other room for all the laughter that bubbles up. :-)

I am on an Orange/Bailey's Prize library book tear right now so I am afraid that other than my 'Great War' books I may not be reading many ROOTs between now and May 1st. We are leaving on an extended holiday then and my motto is:
"HAVE BOOKS WILL TRAVEL"
so I am hoping that during the four months we are gone I will get quite a few ROOTs in. But I won't have access to a library so must needs take care of these while I can.
I hope you are all reading something wonderful.
hugs,

I'm sorry to hear you and your husband have been ill! I hope April brings sunshine and good health to you both! :)

>192 rainpebble: No worries on "literature"... I read all kinds, including Evanovich and other "non-literatures" ;) As long as it's a good story, I'm happy! And something that "takes you to a different place" is just my speed...

And Echo Mary Ann -- Hope Spring brings in warmth and health!

Feel better soon, both of you!

Thank you all so much. We are working on it.

**she said as the rain continued to pour down in sheets**

I hope you and your husband will feel better soon and you both can enjoy your long holiday, Belva. I must say I love Alice Hoffman too!

MARCH ROOTS:

26. The Red Garden by Alice Hoffman; {acquired 2/03/2011}; (5*)
27. All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque; GREAT WAR THEME READ; {acquired 1/15/2011}; (5*)
28. 2666 by Roberto Bolano; {acquired 22/03/2010}; (4*)
29. Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys; {acquired 9/08/2011; (4*)
30. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte; VMC; {acquired 9/02/2007}; (5*)
31. Charms for the Easy Life by Kaye Gibbons; VMC;
{acquired 9/02/2007}; (3*)
32. One of Ours by Willa Cather; VMC; GREAT WAR THEME READ; {acquired 5/09/2010}; (4 1/2*)
33. Aleta Dey by Francis Marion Beynon; VMC; GREAT WAR THEME READ; {acquired 5/09/2010}; (3 1/2*)

I am afraid that this proves to be the sum of my ROOT reading for March; a total of 7 on the month. My ticker has been updated. I've not touched the group one.

I'm sorry you and your hubby have been ill. I hope you will feel well enough to enjoy your holiday.

That's a LOT of reading for one month, of some good, heavy books! Congratulations. :)

Yeah congrats on your March ROOTs!

Looks like you had at least some wonderful books to read.

Terri, Merryann, Ava & MissWatson;
I did read some very good books in March. And thank you all for your kind & caring comments & for popping in. I appreciate it & wish that I felt up to spending the time here to return the kindness. ♥

I have 8 library books which I must read within the next 3 weeks so I will hope for at least one ROOT at the end of that time. But before I can begin them I have to finish Lost Lake, an ARC/ER which I am really enjoying.

Wow. 8 library books, plus ARC and hoped for ROOT in 3 weeks?! Sounds like you have your plate full - though you appear to be fully capable ;)
good luck!

I am currently on library book #3. This one is taking me a while. It's rather slow going. Charlotte and Emily. Not as all what I thought it would be. I was expecting a bio & it is a fairly weak novel.

Ooooh. It does *sound* interesting though, so I can see why you picked it up. Sad that it's weak :(

Did you finish the book, Belva?

Belva, I'm loving your reviews and perspectives on the books you've read. Your thread is both interesting and enlightening. It's wonderful to read about some of my old favorites and enjoy them a little bit more.

>173 Tanya-dogearedcopy: Tanya, thanks for mentioning the McEwan interview. I saw the humor right away in Saturday and as a result thoroughly enjoyed the book. I completely missed it with On Chesil Beach, which naturally left me less than impressed. Even remembering the story, I can see that with humor it would have been much more enjoyable. I learn something new every day!

>208 connie53::
I did finish it Connie. 2 1/2* by the end. It just made me hungry to read a really good book about the Brontes. And I know right where to go for that reck. Currer Bell is quite an authority on them all & especially Charlotte
Bronte of course.

>209 Matke::
Thank you bohemima. It is interesting to read other reader's takes on our books isn't it?

APRIL ROOTS:

34. Battle Cry of Freedom; the Civil War Era by James M. McPherson; {acquired 6/24/2009; a reread; (5*)
35. The Pearl by John Steinbeck; {acquired prior to joining L/T}; (5*)
36. The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks; {acquired prior to joining L/T) (4*)
37. The Wedding by Nicholas Sparks; {acquired 3/17/2009}; (1 1/2*)

34. Battle Cry of Freedom; the Civil War Era by James M. McPherson;
{acquired 6/24/2009; (5*)

This volume is one of the most comprehensive studies of the Civil War period that addresses every aspect of the war. McPherson does an excellent job of setting the context. He describes the changing demographics, economics, politics and policies of the United States in the 19th century. He covers the institution of slavery; how it developed and how southerners sought its expansion. He discusses the impact of westward growth and the war with Mexico; the series of compromises as new states became part of the union along with the increasing divisions as those compromises failed to appease both sides. And lastly the secession of the southern states after Lincoln was elected president is covered. I especially appreciated the details of the months when secession spread which includes the stated rationales of the seceding states and the maneuvers that led to the firing on Fort Sumter.
The discussion of the war covers virtually all of the major military campaigns and battles and is accompanied by maps showing Union and Confederate movements. We get to know all the important generals and follow them through their checkered or glorious careers. McPherson is stellar at using anecdotes and/or quotes to convey the character of each general. The strengths and weaknesses of the Union and Confederate armies at certain times or battles are clearly delineated. He also assesses the structures of leadership and the quality of leaders in the Federal Government and in the Confederate states. Lincoln had to contend with political rivals and war opponents, worry over whether foreign nations might recognize the Confederacy, defend his Emancipation Proclamation from critics, and agonize over whether he would ever find an effective general to break the southern army and restore the union. Jefferson Davis had the challenge of winning the cooperation of the wildly independent Confederate states to raise sufficient armies, produce enough food, clothes and armaments, and agree on strategy and tactics.
Battle Cry of Freedom is very readable for a nearly 900 page book on nonfiction. It took me nearly 10 days to read it and it is a fascinating read. It held my interest throughout. I found James McPherson to be a masterful author in this field.
I very highly recommend this work.

35. The Pearl by John Steinbeck; {acquired prior to joining L/T}; (5*)

Another wonderful Steinbeck, my absolute favorite author.
The Pearl is one Steinbeck's smaller books. It is also an intense book, but it is very fluid and easy to read. It is about an island man who, like so many others, goes diving daily with no air, down to the depths of the sea to find pearls to help them eke out a very poor living for their families. These poor people live in little shacks and eat the same gruel day after day and their lives are the same day after day. But they seem a happy people none the less. This is the story of the man who finds "the pearl" of every diver's dream and what happens to him and his family after finding the "pearl".
It is also an "if I could just" story. One always thinks that if this or that were "just to happen" in their lives, things would be wonderful. If you have just one teensy tiny bit of that rolling around in your brain (or if not), you should read this book. It is magnificent!~!~!
I highly recommend it.

36. The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks; {acquired prior to joining L/T) (4*)

Meet Noah and Allie. This is a sweet, sweet love story that gives hope to all of us. Alzheimer's Disease has taken his sweet love from him and sometimes, just sometimes when he reads to her from "the notebook" of the story of their love & their lives, she remembers and comes back to him for just moments or hours.
A quick, simple and read that just makes you feel good.
It's brain candy but you've got to get it where you can when you need it, right?
And this really is a wonderful, though not deep, story.

37. The Wedding by Nicholas Sparks; {acquired 3/17/2009}; (1 1/2*)
(the sequel to The Notebook)

I was really looking forward to this one after reading & loving The Notebook. I assumed that it had to be as good. Right? Wrong!~! Pass this one up.
This one is about the grown children and I found it, all in all, a major disappointment. I didn't think it nearly up to par with anything else I have read by Nicholas Sparks. As I read it, it felt like he was just trying to make more off The Notebook.
It was sappy, boring, predictable and I am really glad it is not the first Sparks for me or I wouldn't have read another.
Don't waste your time on The Wedding

>212 rainpebble: Great review on Battle Cry of Freedom it sounds like a very comprehensive look at the Civil War era. I will have to see if I can find a copy.

whew congrats on your ROOTS!

I enjoyed the Notebook way way way back when I read it... good notes on The Wedding... I'll be sure to pass on that one ;)

Good job, Belva!

Thanks guys.

APRIL ROOTS:

34. Battle Cry of Freedom; the Civil War Era by James M. McPherson; {acquired 6/24/2009; a reread; (5*)
35. The Pearl by John Steinbeck; {acquired prior to joining L/T}; (5*)
36. The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks; {acquired prior to joining L/T) (4*)
37. The Wedding by Nicholas Sparks; {acquired 3/17/2009}; (1 1/2*)

Rainpebble, you are a reading machine! I thought I was doing pretty good with 10 for April but you're amazing! And we share many like tastes in books, too. Very cool!

>220 rainpebble: Gorgeous graphic!

ooooooh Love that pic!! I'm always trying to find a good one and FAIL, but you totally succeeded! :D
And you're almost 3/4 done! Congrats!!!

I love the graphic -- and I'm impressed by your progress!

MAY ROOTS:

38. A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway; GREAT WAR THEME READ; {acquired 09/10/20007}; (4*)
39. Black Water Rising by Attica Locke; ORANGE; {acquired 07/01/2011}; (3 1/2*)

38. A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway; GREAT WAR THEME READ; {acquired 09/10/20007}; (4*)

I found this to be 'one' of Papa's best works. I know that it has been slandered and slammed but this reader appreciated the writing and the story lines.
The characters incorporate the desperation of youth, the insanity and traumatization of war and the strategy of day to day living rather than striving for anything like achievement or satisfaction which is the effect of the madness of war upon the human soul. It is a profoundly sexual book. But it also presents a love story between two individuals that has more depth and sensuality than one would expect from Hemingway. In addition, insights into the behavior of the military, both the allies and the axis powers, are fascinating; marked by the idiocy of human beings caught in any dramatic effort. It is a war story that touches on the humans involved and the devastating effect of battle on the individual. It is a love story that ends in tragedy because it is a passion born of war not sincerity. It is a commentary on the madness of politics and the indulgence in mass slaughter in order to accomplish nothing. A very meaningful novel from an author in his prime.
I DO recommend this one and found it to be a very satisfying read.

39. Black Water Rising by Attica Locke; ORANGE; {acquired 07/01/2011}; (3 1/2*)

Interesting and relaxing read without the intensity of my other Orange reads. I liked it.

JUNE ROOTS:

40. A Particular Place by Mary Hocking; VMC; {acquired 11/27/2012}; (4 1/2*)
41. The Penelopiad: The Myth of Penelope and Odysseus by Margaret Atwood; 1 L.T./1 Book; {acquired 04/14/2009}; (4 1/2*)
42. The Secret Lives of Baba Segi's Wives by Lola Shoneyin; Orange/Bailey's; {acquired 02/27/2012}; (2 1/2*)
43. War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy; {acquired 09/09/2007}; (4 1/2*)

>226 rainpebble: another great pic!
and >227 rainpebble: nice commentary on the book.. I've not read it yet, but I mean to one of these days!

40. A Particular Place by Mary Hocking; VMC; (4*)

"In this, her most memorable and triumphant novel to date, Mary Hocking is confirmed as the successor to Elizabeth Taylor and Barbara Pym."
~from the back of my book

I really, really liked Hocking's A Particular Place. And yes, it does bear a semblance to the Taylor's & Pym's I've read, though she has a distinct way of her own. This one sucked me right in.
When I read Pym's works, though I do enjoy them, my mind tends to wander occasionally. I did not find that so with this book.
However I don't find Mary Hocking quite in there with the nuances of the everyday, like Taylor can do while yet fascinating the reader. I think that Elizabeth Taylor is in a class of her own. But this book was very, very good.

I found there to be several small stories within the main storyline which is that of a young married vicar in a new parish becomes rather fascinated with one of his parishioners. His wife continues to help him with his work and they go on.

Michael (the vicar) to Norah (the parishioner):
"'We think too much of happiness,' he said. 'And this is not what life has to offer. Those who grasp this fact come out well. Once let life become a search for small satisfactions and you will be in all sorts of trouble. The people who seem to have been singles out for tragedy - a retarded child, an invalid husband, personal incapacity - are so often the ones who find the mystery at the heart of life.'"

Regarding the vicar's wife:
"Valentine, who had come out to work in the vicarage garden, had for some minutes been conscious of people talking quietly in the graveyard. As her weeding brought her nearer to the high dividing wall, she had recognized Michael's voice although she could not hear what he was saying. The other voice was much softer but she knew that it was a woman speaking. He really should be more careful, she thought, amused rather than displeased, because she liked this carelessness in him and would not have wished him a more cautious person. She moved away to caress the cat, who was stretched out beneath the hawthorn tree."

Michael to Norah, in the graveyard:
"Michael said to Norah, 'The way I look upon it is that if we insist on taking a wrong turning it doesn't mean we can simply break away and go back once the path becomes thorny, because by then we have begun to grow in that direction - and, of course, we involve others in our mistakes, drag them along with us, and we can't just walk away, abandoning them. As I see it, we have to live with our wrong turnings and make them into another, longer, more tortuous way to God. The interminable "short-cut" that adds weary time to a journey but brings one home at last.'"

But please do not let me make you think that this is a simple story of fascination between two people. For it is indeed much, much more than that. There are several story-lines within the framework of this novel that bring the lives of many to the surface and speak to their character, to their day to day living. And that is what made this book so special to me. That along with the main plot were so many others that were written so well that while reading them, this reader focused solely on that mini-plot and for that duration was able to put the main plot in the back of the mind.

I find Mary Hocking to be rather a brilliant writer and I very highly recommend this particular book of hers. It is quite special.

41. The Penelopiad: The Myth of Penelope and Odysseus by Margaret Atwood; {acquired 04/14/2009}; (4 1/2*)

Penelope was the daughter of Icareus of Sparta and her mother was a water nymph. Her very competitive and holier than thou cousin was the lovely Helen of Troy. Penelope is seen in this tale as the constant and faithful wife, the mother of an angst ridden teenaged son, Telemachus, who wants his "portion". She is the lonely, ever wise, wife awaiting the long (nearly twenty year) return of her adventurous husband, Odysseus, who is off saving the world and having wonderful and dangerous adventures.
Penelope tells her tale from the world of the dead to the world of the living, and wants the living to know that she is/was not as she was thought and spoken of.
During Odysseus' years of absence she is suitored by many who assume he is dead and not likely to return. They would like to have her hand and to replace him as her husband and as leader of the realm. Penelope allows the suitors to encamp outside the castle and they proceed to "eat the castle out of house and home". Her twelve favored maidens sleep with some of the suitors, at Penelope's request, to gain information about Odysseus and where and how he might be. Rumors abound. It is said that along his travels he is helped at every turn by beautiful ladies, including the lovely Helen. He also is "taken in" by goddesses who keep him for their pleasure along the way.
Penelope is left at home holding down the fort, playing the dutiful wife and taking care of business. Upon the return of Odysseus he is furious at the encampment of the "suitors" of Penelope and that so much of his wealth has gone into the feeding and caring of them. Also he finds that some of her favorite maidens have slept with the them.
He creates a bloodbath and kills the suitors; orders his son to kill the maidens whereupon the son, considering slaughtering them to be too good a death, hangs all twelve of them. Poor Penelope is left, once again, weeping and with an angry husband.
I enjoyed this book tremendously. There was quite a bit of the spoof to it, and several original poems and limericks thrown in (generally from the twelve maidens viewpoint), and a quite funny courtroom/trial segment at the end that made it all the more fun. This was my first read by Margaret Atwood but it will not be my last. It was also my first venture into mythology, again it will not be my last. I highly recommend The Penelopiad: The Myth of Penelope and Odysseus to anyone who likes Atwood, who enjoys mythology, or just wants a fun read. This book has definitely peaked my interest in the more important works of mythology and the old Greek/Roman classics.

42. The Secret Lives of Baba Segi's Wives by Lola Shoneyin; ORANGE; {acquired 02/27/2012}; (2 1/2*)

Baba Segi is obsessed with the inability of his fourth wife (just his newest acquisition; he still has the other three) to conceive. For two years he had been 'pounding' her & still she has not become pregnant. By his other wives he has three sons and four daughters.
Each wife seems to know her place within the hierarchy of the household and as long as they stick to that, things seem to run rather smoothly. But this fourth wife brought in is instantly but innocently a thorn in their sides. None of the three accept her and she is treated quite abominably. The children follow their mother's leads and are also fractious with her.
This then, is the basis for Lola Shoneyin's novel. She seems to not take enough time for the events of the story; in the mind of this reader. There is a lot of talk regarding Baba Segi's body functions which after the first couple of times could have been lightened I thought. Baba Segi rotates the nights spent with each wife with the extra night belonging to his first wife.
And as it says in the title this is indeed a story of his wives. Who does the cooking, the cleaning, the mending, etc. There seems to be no place for the newest wife.
For me, Baba Segi got what he deserved in the end when he finds the truth of events within his little family. And I guess that I didn't understand the culture within the story because it was difficult for me to wrap my head around most of the characters, adults & children alike. Had I been able to do that I may have enjoyed it more.
Though there a few laugh-out-loud occurrences in the story, all in all the effort I spent reading it didn't feel worth it at the end of the day.

43. War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy; BFB, 1424 pages; {acquired 09/09/2007}; (4 1/2*)

This book is written quite different from Tolstoy's Anna Karenina.
It is the story of the French and Russian war as told from the Russian front. At the beginning there are quite of few of the social aspects: the balls, parties, parlor visits, etc, but when it gets into the war, Tolstoy really puts you there.....in the war. The logistics of war and wartime are laid right out. The French were so not prepared for where their Napoleon took them. He didn't fight the war he had planned. And Alexander responded in kind. It very much came to the generals and commanders calling their own plays and battles. I much preferred Tolstoy's 'War' to his 'Peace'. But I also liked how he wrapped up the story.
The very wimpy Pierre turns out to be the man after all. We get to see several sides of Alexander and of Napoleon. I had never read of Napoleon and so really found all that quite interesting. All in all, this is a great novel, deserves to be read today and has it's place in today's literature. I think it has proven and will continue to be proven a timeless epic of War and Peace.

JULY ROOTS:
44. We That Were Young by Irene Rathbone; {acquired 05/09/2010};
(4 1/2*)
45. Gilgamesh by Joan London; Orange; {acquired 7/19/2011};
(4 1/2*)
46. Evangeline: A Tale of Acadia by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow; {acquired in June of 1966 from my father at my H.S. graduation. It is a 1908 edition and his father gave it to him before me.}; (5*)
47. When Crickets Cry by Charles Martin; {acquired 09/07/2007}; (5*)
48. The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver; {acquired 09/02/2007}; (4*)

>234 rainpebble: Oh, that is a wonderful picture!

44. We That Were Young by Irene Rathbone; {acquired 05/09/2010};
(5*)

This is perhaps the best book that I have read for the Great War Theme Read this year with the exception of All Quiet on the Western Front. It was so wonderful that I read & reread passages & found myself reading more & more slowly as for it not to end.

The story is a fictionalized account of Irene Rathbone's life in the war years and her war duties (working the canteens, nursing, befriending the soldiers, etc). It also includes the war time stories of several of her friends in real life for they too, were working to help the war effort.
There are passages that are difficult reading as the injuries, gassings, bombings all seem so real as indeed they were. There are also delightful passages telling about her time at home with family and the loves in the lives of these 'war working' women. But then comes the awful sadness, depression, lost time as some of the women lose family members, husbands, lovers & friends to the war.

An especially poignant passage as Irene Rathbone's character (Joan) & his beloved dog (Tam) attempt to come to grips with the loss of her young brother Jimmy:

"His clothes came home. All his field kit from the Battery. His 'flea-bag,' his tin helmet, the trench-boots at which she had laughed that day just before he went out. A tunic torn, caked in mud. Letters from home, photographs, pocket-books, and strange mathematical drawings and calculations.
Joan had spread them all out in the school-room. Quietly, and at leisure, she went through them--sorting, disposing. His three friends would want something each: Carey, Sanderson and Browne. And she thought of Wirebush--that odd little boy to whom Jimmy had always been so kind--who looked up to him with such adoration--and who had so often been a silent guest at Beechwood. Wirebush would need nothing. If souls lived on, Wirebush would be with Jimmy now. He also had died of 'flu.
Tam pushed his hairy bulk through the half-open door. He sniffed at the clothes, going from one garment to the other, uneasily. Then he curled up on a coat, his brown eyes on Joan.
'We'll keep this one, Tam,' she said, folding up the muddy tunic. 'Its got the mud of Ypres on it, and it's almost worn through. I don't think clothes matter much on the whole, but this one . . . Oh, Tam, don't look at me like that! . . .' And she stumbled across to the dog and clasped his head against her in a storm of weeping."

"Joan didn't agree with people who said that sorrow 'softened' or 'sweetened' one. She felt far less sweet now that Jimmy had gone; and she knew that as the years went by, unless she could remember him constantly, she would harden. With him she had lost a brother, a son, and half herself. That channel in which a particular set of her emotions had flowed was damned. There was no outlet for them now; they flowed back, objectless.
She believed that Jimmy's spirit somewhere, somehow, lived on; but that made no difference to the ache she felt for his physical presence---to the fact that she could no longer talk to him, or twist her fingers in his hair, or see his smile."

"We were all young once. "Betty and me, and all our generation---all our brothers and our friends. No other generation ever was so young or ever will be. We were the youth of the world, we were on the crest of life, and we were the war. No one above us counted, and no one below. Youth and the war were the same thing---youth and the war were us. But why us, specially? Why just us?"

A beautifully written and told story. Fact made into fiction. Very highly recommended, especially in this year of the Centenary of the breakout of the
Great War.

Irene Rathbone never married.

>235 ipsoivan::
Thank you Maggie. I have so much fun searching out oddities for this thread.
:-)

>236 rainpebble: Great review. I'm not sure I would have the strength to read this.

Thank you.
It is a heartrending story but I found it to be so very worth it. However, not everyone can handle the violence of this war nor the hideousness of the aftermath. I have had so much pain, tragedy, & loss in my life that it's (not easy for me) but possibly easier than it would be had not my life experiences helped to prepare me for more of the same.

We That Were Young sounds so lovely. Hopefully my library will agree with me that they need to order it! It made me remember I picked up The Forbidden Zone by Mary Borden though, so I can read that one at least.

Being a history teacher, I can NOT not put that on my list! Thanks for the review.

>241 Tess_W::
You are welcome Tess. I read for enlightenment, joy, & to fill my heart. My choices are limited by nothing more than myself.
You know what they say: "One man's trash is another man's treasure."

Rain, I read for 2 reasons: 1) to supplement my knowledge of history for work (teacher) 2) sheer enjoyment/enlightenment! Now that I'm near 60 years of age and have taught the same subjects for 20+ years, most of my reading is for reason #2. I have about 180 titles just from this group that has been added to my list, which I've not even purchased yet! Don't know if I will ever get to them in my lifetime.

Tess, I am 66 and I frequently wonder if I will get to my books before I pass on. I have 16 bookcases in my little 2 bedroom home and try to pass on books that I 'can give up'. I am slowly but surely adding to the books on my Kindle. It definitely helps space-wise.
And our threads do keep us up with unfulfilled wish lists, don't they?

Rain, initially I was opposed to e-readers. I LOVE books, their touch, their smell, everything about them. However, I've had to reconcile my love for them with the physical space/quantity of them. I know use my Kindle whenever I can! It is comforting to know that I have 120+ books with me everywhere I go.

Oh I have that same thought too! I sometimes calculate.... If I could average a book a week .. How many shelves can I get through, how quickly? And how many new books that I absolutely must read will be published before I pass? Etc.

And also agree re kindle... I resisted for a long time! Finally gave in for a trip, simply using an old one of a family member.. And now I can see the benefit, particularly when traveling, and have my very own paperwhite which I love. But I still prefer a real book ;)

How I would love to have a back-lit Kindle but alas, mine is the old one. But....it is great for reading in bed, for camping and on trips. However I will never prefer it over a book. I too, love the feel, smell & handling of a 'real book'. I don't think they will ever go away.

45. Gilgamesh by Joan London; Orange; {acquired 7/19/2011};

I loved this book. I came to care about all of the characters and I couldn't wait to see what was coming up around the corner with Edith and her son's travels and travails looking for 'the papa'. The writing is beautifully done and this reader did not want this one to end.
I am not going to review the book as Dee has done it so beautifully on the book page. But I too, found it to be everything I desire in a read. So well done and the characters were so interesting. Loved the part with the handicapped singer. Just so colorful. A wonderful book. Read it.

46. Evangeline by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow; {acquired in June of 1966 from my father at my H.S. graduation. It is a 1908 edition and his father gave it to him before me.}; (5*)

The beautiful, lyrical poem about the Acadians after the discovery of America.

One of the most beautiful openings in the history of literature:

"This is the forest primeval. The murmuring pines and the hemlocks,
Bearded with moss, and in garments green, indistinct in the twilight,
Stand like Druids of eld, with voices sad and prophetic,
Stand like harpers hoar, with beards that rest on their bosoms.
Loud from its rocky caverns, the deep-voiced neighboring ocean
Speaks, and in the accents disconsolate answers the wail of the forest."

I am certain that many of us here on LT know those words by memory.

Evangeline is just a beautiful, lovely poem a little over 100 pages long about love and loss; the searching and finding of it again only to realize it is too late.

My copy has been handed down in the family and is a very delicate April, 1908 edition. It was copyrighted in 1900. My grandfather gave it to my father as a young man & my father gave it to me when I graduated from H.S. in 1966. I try to make sure I read this every year.

I read this for the first time in the fifth grade and have never forgotten it. I very highly recommended Evangeline for anyone who loves poetry and beautifully written prose.

A friend of mine gave me a copy of Evangeline for my birthday years ago. I read it and have loved it ever since. I read it each summer.

I should really look for an audio recording of Evangeline. Those kinds of passed down books are so special as well. I have a complete Longfellow that first belong to my great-grandmother. I admit I am greedily waiting for the 1918 Collier Junior Classics set to be passed down to me from my father. They're just so lovely.

>248 rainpebble: wow that's quite a review! Ending a review with "read it" is always compelling to me.... may have to add that to the list ;)
>249 rainpebble: sounds like a treasure :)

47. When Crickets Cry by Charles Martin; {acquired 09/07/2007}; (5*)

I love inspirational books but I do not being preached at. When I began this book I expected it to be a good story but I got much more than I bargained for.

This book is one of the finer pieces of fiction I have read this year. It was so compellingly and beautifully written that I found it difficult to put down. This one will tug at your heart strings and make you look a little deeper into yourself; look at your life a bit differently. Perhaps make you count your blessings a bit more. I know I have.

The story is about Reese, a man with trying to get away from his past. And it is about a little girl who needs a new heart. Reece meets her as she is selling lemonade at a street stand to earn money to help pay for her new heart. The people of the community know her and her story and are good to come and buy her lemonade. They become friends. It starts out so innocent and sweetly that you are taken for a ride along through this southern community and and before you realize it you are so deep into the story that you want to remain immersed in it.

Reese lost his wife tragically and hasn't been able to find his way back to life's mainstream. His budding relationship with this little girl helps him to find his way out of the darkness in which he has been living and reminds him that life does continue on ever so sweetly and tartly just like a lemonade.

When Crickets Cry is a beautiful testimony to one man's return to the faith that things can again be good and beautiful. I am happy to have found another author to read and recommend.

48. The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver; {acquired 09/02/2007}; (4*)

Barbra Kingsolver really keeps this, her first novel, alive with her always excellent style and the strong themes that are evident throughout the book. Her weaknesses here are her character developments and a weak plot. Overall this was a very enjoyable read and it kept me entertained to the point of laughing out loud & waking my husband many times while reading it.

The book starts out with a very catching tale of a girl named Taylor preparing to go out on her own right out of high school with very little money . After that the author keeps it interesting by combining the story of Lou Ann's character with that of Taylor so that eventually their paths cross. Kingsolver throws many things into the story that both Lou Ann and Taylor have to deal with such as an abandoned baby, a one-legged rodeo husband, and illegal refugees that affect everyone's lives. This story keeps you entertained and is a joy to read.

The author uses a strong family theme throughout the story and adapts it to fit with the characters. The theme of family isn't the normal one. It shows that you don't have to be related to people to love and care for them and consider them your family. She uses two examples of this type of family in her story. First we learn of Lou Ann, Taylor, Duwayne Ray, and Turtle. They all love and depend on one another and consider themselves to be a family. We also learn of Mattie, Esperanza, Estevan, and all the other illegal refugees who live in Mattie's apartment. They care for one another and take care of each other just like a normal family would. Kingsolver uses imagination and style to keep the story entertaining and upbeat. She keeps it flowing and makes it easy to read. She uses realistic dialect to make the characters come alive and to make them seem real. She also uses figurative language like similies and extended metaphors to indirectly help the reader understand what is going on.

Then too, she uses symbolism to represent certain parts of the story that she finds important. She uses the song sparrow to represent Turtle and to show what developments she might make throughout the course of the book. Her style is her best feature through the course of this book. Most of the main characters go through major changes throughout the course of the story. Lou Ann changes from having very low self-esteem to being more confident and believing in herself. Taylor, a major character in this book, develops a sense of independence and feelings of love for her new family. Turtle is maybe the most dynamic character in the story. She goes from being completely untalkative to being like a normal little kid. Over all the characters seemed real and true. This story was entertaining and interesting.

I loved it and highly recommend it. Kingsolver is the BOMB!~!

I have read 6 ROOTs on the month:

44. We That Were Young by Irene Rathbone; GREAT WAR THEME READ; {acquired 05/09/2010}; (4 1/2*)
45. Gilgamesh by Joan London; Orange; {acquired 7/19/2011};
(4 1/2*)
46. Evangeline: A Tale of Acadia by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow; {acquired in June of 1966 from my father at my H.S. graduation. It is a 1908 edition and his father gave it to him before me.}; (5*)
47. When Crickets Cry by Charles Martin; {acquired 09/07/2007}; (5*)
48. The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver; {acquired 09/02/2007}; (4*)

I've updated my ticker but not touched the group ticker.

Onward & upward!~! Two more to meet goal. WOOT WOOT!~!

OOOPs! We road tripped yesterday to see my ill brother in hospital and I managed to finish another ROOT.

49. Brooklyn by Colm Toibin; {acquired 08/24/2009}; (4*)

Now just one away from goal and:

again, I have updated my personal ticker but not touched the group ticker.

AUGUST ROOTS:

50. In This House of Brede by Rumer Godden; {acquired prior to L.T.}; (5+*); ROOT goal met with this one.
51. My Mortal Enemy by Willa Cather; {acquired prior to L.T.}; (3*)
52. This Rough Magic by Mary Stewart; {acquired prior to L.T.}; (4*)
____________________________________________________________

It appears that I continue to dig out books I have owned for eons. I guess that is a good thing for out of the above 3, I culled 1.
____________________________________________________________

53. Not So Quiet: Step-Daughters of War by Helen Zenna Smith; {acquired 11/04/2009}; (5*)
54. Miss Pettigrew Lives For a Day by Winifred Watson; {acquired 07/03/2009}; (4 1/2*)
55. The Dud Avacado by Elaine Dundy; {acquired 8/08/2011}; (1 1/2*)
56. The Loving Spirit by Daphne du Maurier; {acquired 05/22/2009}; (5*)
57. When I Lived in Modern Times by Linda Grant; Orange Prize Winner, 2000; {acquired 09/07/2011}; (3 1/2*)

#46-Wow, what a nice "inheritance!" Evangeline is one of my top 5 favorite read of all time. I read it every summer.

And congrats on meeting your goal early!

That's another interesting graphic for August. And you are so successful with your ROOTing!

>256 rainpebble:, Very nice picture!

whew, congrats! Another great root pic :)

Thank you ladies.

>257 Tess_W::
Glad to find another Evangeline lover amongst us. And Tess, I would be very pleased to know what the other 4 'tops' are. :-)

49. Brooklyn: A Novel by Colm Toibin: {acquired 08/24/2009}; (4*)

This is a wonderful story about a young Irish lady, Eisle, who, because there is very little work to be found in her Irish village after WW II, 'is' immigrated to Brooklyn, New York. I say 'is' because it is her mother, her older sister Rose and a well intentioned and benevolent priest, Father Flood, who make the decision. The priest sponsors Eilis, finds an Irish boarding house for young ladies, finds a job for her and also finds the funds for everything. Rose buys her some new clothes, shoes, etc. Eilis has very little to say about it and if she had spoken up it would have been to tell her family, mother, sister and two brothers, that she didn't want to leave. That she wanted to remain in Ireland with her family. But her sister is well set up in her job, has friends and a busy life so it makes sense that the lonely Eilis would be the one to go.
She is horribly ill on the ship for most of the trip over and is happy to finally see America. She is met and taken round to meet her new employers and her landlady. She moves in, meets the other young ladies in her house and settles in to her job at the department store and is very good at her work.
But she cannot get over her homesickness. She makes no friends and keeps to herself excepting for mass, work and at mealtimes. Her supervisor notices that something is wrong and it is reported to Father Flood who meets with Eisle. They discuss her unhappiness and decide it would be good for her to take some night classes at Brooklyn College in Accounting, Bookkeeping and Law lectures. She attends school four evenings a week, Monday through Thursday.
Father Flood also has begun to have dances for the young folk at the parish hall in order to earn funds for the charities the parish helps to support. He expects to see Eisle attending in support of the plan. So she goes with some of the girls from the boarding house and slowly but surely between school and the dances she begins to develop some casual friendships. She even meets a young man, Tony, with whom she begins walking out.
This is just the very tip of what is in this story, just the bare 'facts', one might say. The book is written absolutely flawlessly and beautifully. The story took my heart with it. I know Brooklyn has been out for some time but if you've not yet read it you may want to. I have never read Toibin before but plan to find other books by him. I cannot recommend his writing highly enough. I would have loved to see this book continue on another 250 pages.

Great reviews, Belva! When Crickets Cry sounds especially appealing to me. I know our library has it.

#257-Rain, the other 4 tops are Wuthering Heights (I read this almost every year), The Thorn Birds (read about every other year), The Rime of the Ancient Mariner (read every year), and I have a book of Poe's selected poems, which I read most of them yearly. (A Dream Within a Dream, Anna Belle Lee, To Helen, The Raven).

Hi Belva, Happy ROOTing!

50. In This House of Brede by Rumer Godden; {acquired prior to L.T.}; (5+*); ROOT goal met with this one.

Only 376 pages in this book and I spent more than a week reading it. More than a week to read the beauty that is this novel, for I savored every word.

Philippa, who has been a wife and mother but no longer either, is called at the age of 42 to a life serving Christ. She suffers the sadness of solitary existence, exhaustion that is mental, emotional and physical, the learning of new ways, all of the things a novice must go through on the journey to becoming a nun.

The enclosed order which Philippa enters is Brede Abbey and she enters to attempt her "vocation as a Benedictine" nun. The House of Brede is located in the English countryside and near the sea above the village of Brede. It has lovely gardens and pathways for the nuns to walk in their hour of recreation.

Shortly after she entered Brede Abbey, the 'Reverend Mother' Lady Abbess Hester Cunningham Proctor, who was eighty five years of age and had served as Abbess of Brede for thirty two years became ill and lay dying. As she lay on her death bed she tried repeatedly to tell the Sisters something and they knew that she was tormented by whatever it was but she died unable to speak the truths to them.

Abbesses of Brede Abbey were elected for life and after they put Abbess Hester to rest and mourned her the elder Sisters of the house would meet to elect a new Abbess and as one can imagine there were a great many comments from the Sisters on who would be best able to meet the needs of the community in the Abbey. Simply because one is a nun doesn't negate the humanity of the Sister and there were many a squabble and snapping that went on but eventually they elected their new Abbess and in all of the remainder of Philippa's time in this house, she served under Lady Abbess Catherine Ismay.

In time as the accounting Sisters & the new Abbess went over the books and accounts of the Abbey, they came to realize that what the previous Abbess, Lady Abbess Hester, had been trying to tell them as she lay dying was that she had basically indebted the House of Brede to it's breaking point by too freely spending and mortgaging it's properties in order to have some much needed maintenance done to the buildings and in addition she met with and engaged a major sculptor to make for the Abbey new alter, crucifix, 2 side panels and a large sculpture of St. Benedict. And so dealing with the financial strain of the Abbey is how the new Abbess is broken in to her new role within the monastery.

Philippa learns and grows so much in her novice years and after. She learns and becomes as one of the House as she never thought she could.

"To Philippa the chant was the nearest thing to birdsong she had ever heard, now solo, now in chorus, rising, blending, each nun knowing exactly when she had to do her part. On feast days, it took four chantresses to sing the Gradual in the Mass, four more for the Alleluias, rising up and up, until it seemed no human voice could sustain it."

"Lauds, Prime, Terce, Sext, None, Vespers, Compline; seven times a day---and the long office of Matins, not, as its name suggests, a morning prayer but rather, with its nocturns and lessons, its twelve psalms, the great night vigil of the Church. 'Yes, one suffers for the Office,' Dame Clare said. 'The getting up, and staying up; the continual interruption to ordinary work, singing no matter how one feels, day after day. Nuns have no holidays.'"

And so Philippa led this life of a nun in the House of Brede. As she learns so does the reader. As she sees the beauty of a life stripped down to nothing but being and giving of oneself as the need of the Abbey extends to each nun so does the reader. Rumer Godden has written a perfect and perfectly lovely novel of monastic life with In This House of Brede and I envy anyone their first reading of the novel. Godden's character developments are pitch on and though there are ever so many plot lines within this novel the reader never gets lost in the going from one to another. Likewise the reader never becomes confused with the ever so many characters. I think this novel pure brilliance.

"The life of the great monastery flowed as steadily as a river, no matter what rocks and cross-currents there were; Philippa often thought of the river Rother that wound through the marshes of Kent and Sussex, oldest Christendom in England, watering the meadows whose grass fed the famous marsh sheep, then winding below the town to the estuary that flowed to the sea. Brede Abbey was like that, thought Philippa, coming from far sources to flow through days, weeks, years, towards eternity."

>264 Tess_W::
Great selections for your top five all time reads Tess. I have read and enjoyed/appreciated them all, especially Wuthering Heights and The Raven. But the others are all great as well.

>266 rainpebble: Wonderful review. I will certainly look out for this.

>266 rainpebble: wow! 5+*! mayhaps another TBR selection....

51. My Mortal Enemy by Willa Cather; {acquired prior to L.T.}; (3*)

The protagonist in this novel, Myra, is not a sympathetic character. In the beginning one thinks she is doing the right thing for the right reason but with her small minded ways she eventually ruins both she and her husband's lives and so they live out their days in misery.

Myra was an orphan raised by her very wealthy Great Uncle John and she was the apple of his eye. She had everything she wanted and then some. As she grew into her teen years she fell in love with the 'wrong' man, Oswald, according to her uncle. Oswald had put himself through University and had a promising future but there was bad blood and a grudge between Oswald's father and Myra's Great Uncle John. He and he forbade his great niece to have anything to do with Oswald.

Though it was forbidden she continued to write and to see him through her Aunt Lydia, who was their go between, and he had his letters to Myra sent there and she had hers to him posted from there.

Her uncle's will left her two thirds of his remaining fortune while one third was to go the the church. However if she married this man she would not see a penny.

The story was told at every family gathering. How Myra had fallen in love with with a man her uncle did not approve of and in eloping with him she lost a great fortune. Such a romantic story but unbeknownst to the family, as the years went on, Myra became condescending toward Oswald and was also a spendthrift. Of course the marriage soured somewhat but the couple remained together and Oswald was ever devoted to her.

As I read this small novel I wondered how Myra had come to be this way but then I realized that many marriages do indeed turn thusly. Cather has, in the writing of this novel, kept herself in check through the entirety of the book. I doubt there is a spare word throughout. It is a quick read and worthy of the reading but I was not charmed by it. I don't believe it was written to be a charming book. While it is a quick read I didn't find it an especially easy read. I don't believe it was written to be an easy read. There is so much between the lines here that I am sure I will one day need to read it again. Even now I am looking at it and thinking: Hmmm.......

52. This Rough Magic by Mary Stewart; {acquired prior to L.T.}; (4*)

Lucy's play in London had folded after two months so when her sister, Phyllida, invited her to come and stay with her for a few weeks Lucy thinks: Why not?" She deserves a vacation. So she travels to Corfu (a Greek island), across the shore from the closed borders of Communist Albania. Her sister is married with two children and is expecting a third. The family lives in Rome but owns this large bit of property on the water with a large villa and two cottages. Phyllida's family keeps one of the cottages for a vacation home, renting out the other cottage and the villa.

With the heat being so horrible in Rome and Phyllida's pregnancy causing her to feel poorly in the heat, her husband takes her to the vacation home on the island and he and the children remain in the city with the grandparents caring for the children until the school year is complete. So it is just she and Lucy at the cottage.

Lucy goes down to the cove for a swim (she loves the water) and is surprised when a dolphin comes in from the sea to swim with her She has left the water and is sitting on the rocks when she is shocked that all of a sudden someone begins to shoot at the dolphin. Lucy jumps into the water to frighten the shooter with the possibility of shooting her and then storms up the cliffside to the villa which Sir Julian Gale, a famous actor, is renting. She finds a man in the garden and bitterly accuses him. Though cold and unwelcoming he convinces her that it wasn't him.

She later hears that Sir Julian has had a breakdown and she learns that the villa is filled with weapons.

Meanwhile a Greek boy drowns while helping an Englishman photographer on his boat. The photographer wants to take photos at sea. The boy's body is swept away; a fact which they all find difficult to accept as the boy's mother and sister work for Phyllida, the photographer rents the other cottage and Sir Julian is the boy's godfather which is a very important role in Greece.

In blundering through the villa rose garden Lucy meets and gets to hear Sir Julian's theory that Corfu is the original location of The Tempest.

Another drowning thickens the plot and suddenly the reader finds themselves in the midst of a mystery involving caves, smuggling, Greek antiquities, a diamond, the dolphin again, the feast of the local saint St. Spiridon, and many more plot twists and turns.

I enjoyed this book no end and plan to read more Mary Stewart come September.

53. Not So Quiet: Step-Daughters of War by Helen Zenna Smith; {acquired 11/04/2009}; (5+*):

I loved this book. And yet I ask myself, how can one love a book which is at times torturous to read?

Helen Zenna Smith has written a novel (based upon her war service in the ambulance corp) which vividly portrays the lives of a certain number of woman who signed up to "do their bit". Their lives aren't much better than the lives of the soldiers in the trenches and their corp is stationed just back from those trenches.

The drivers get very little sleep. Their bedding is lice ridden. The food is deplorable. Their leader is quite the bitch and they are punished for the smallest of infractions. The cook is lazy and doesn't care if the girls get their rations or their teas. No one cares. At least the drivers are there to care about getting the wounded soldiers to the hospitals no matter how much mud or snow they have to drive through to get them there. Oftentimes at night they must drive the twisting, winding roads (if one can call them that) with no lights as the enemy is shelling the area.

War novels are not new to me. I have long read books, both fiction and nonfiction on World War II but I had only read a couple on The Great War until this year with a group read. My eyes have really opened to the horror of this particular war and I can readily understand why it was called "the war to end all wars" but it didn't. The girls in the book understood that all too well. Why the political wheels did not see this boggles my mind.

There were some light moments in the lives of the girls. There were romances; some lasting, some not and some broken by the killing machine that was the war. For the most part the girls enjoyed the company of one another and they depended on each other to have the back of the others.
This book is filled with character studies of girls and soldiers who have staying power and of some who break and cannot handle it. But back home their families are oh, so proud of them and seem happy enough to give up a son or daughter to the "glory of the cause".

Included in this 'novel' is one of the most emotionally packed and powerful passages I think I have ever read. Smith's character is waiting with the other drivers and stretcher bearers in the freezing night for the train that will bring its overly loaded human cargo of the wounded in from the trenches. She sits in her ambulance and has an imaginary conversation consisting of what she would like to share with two women in her life at home.

"Oh, come with me, Mother and Mrs. Evans-Mawnington. Let me show you the exhibits straight from the battle field. This will be something original to tell your committees, while they knit their endless miles of khaki scarves, . . . something to spout from the platform at your recruiting meetings. Come with me. Stand just there.
Here we have the convoy gliding into the station now, slowly, so slowly. In a minute it will disgorge its sorry cargo. My ambulance doors are open, waiting to receive. See, the train has stopped. Through the occasionally drawn blinds you will observe the trays slotted into the sides of the train. Look closely, Mother and Mrs. Evans-Mawnington, and you shall see what you shall see. Those trays each contain something that was once a whole man . . . the heroes who have done their bit for King and country . . . the heroes who marched blithely through the streets of London Town singing "Tipperary," while you cheered and waved your flags hysterically. They are not singing now, you will observe. Shut your ears, Mother and Mrs. Evans-Mawnington, lest their groans and heartrending cries linger as long in your memory as in the memory of the daughter you sent out to help win the war."

It goes on for another 6 pages, with Smith's imagined sharing of what she sees daily at the front lines with her mother and Mrs. Evans-Mawnington. She hates that these two women vie for who has given up the most for the 'glorious cause' and who has recruited the most young men to be served up to the enemy. For Smith & most of her comrades hate this war that they know will NOT end all wars as is thought at home.

This is not stuff for the faint of heart. But I do highly recommend Not So Quiet by Helen Zenna Smith. This one is right up there with All Quiet On the Western Front, perhaps on an even higher level. It seemed a more intimate read and has remained with me days after finishing the book.

54. Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day by Winifred Watson; {acquired 7/03/2009}; (4 1/2*)

Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day is rather a modern Cinderella tale that is so uplifting and fun! It's a fizzy champagne cocktail for your mind and spirit. It is a totally believable tale that is so uplifting it pulled me out of the doldrums and I know that it is one I will read again. So light, so funny, so quirky, so everything good.

When Miss Pettigrew is sent mistakenly to the wrong address on a job interview she gets caught up in a life changing day. Here she meets a glamorous night club singer, Miss LaFosse. As in the description of the book: "The sheer fun, the lightheartedness in this wonderful 1938 book feels closer to a Fred Astaire film than anything else". So true.

Life has treated Miss Pettigrew badly but this book describes the day when a change has come her way. I liked that none of the characters in the book are mean or cruel towards her other than the man who wishes Miss LaFosse to be at his beck and call and Miss Pettigrew makes quick work of him. The rather clueless beautiful young people are eager to be taken in hand by someone like Miss Pettigrew even though she isn't one to force herself on one.

I love that the reader is in the head of Miss Pettigrew and as such is privy to the funny thoughts and the all too real emotions that pass through her mind. They are refreshingly human and easy to relate to. In fact this entire book is easy to relate to.

Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day is a delightful and charming story and I highly recommend it.

>272 rainpebble: wow, sounds intense and like it really made an impact! If I'm looking for something along those lines, I think this will be the one I pick up :)

And >273 rainpebble:... been meaning to look into one of the Pettigrew books.... (aren't there several?)

>274 avanders::
Ava, there is a Major Pettigrew's Last Stand by Helen Simonson which is a lovely book. But I believe there is only the one Miss Pettigrew, at least by Winifred Watson.
Regarding Not So Quiet: Step-Daughters of War, I don't think I truly realized that it was such a powerful novel/memoir until I had finished it, closed to covers & just sat a attempted to process it all. This is a great book that truly stands the test of time. Anytime one can take a book and stand it up against All Quiet on the Western Front, one knows they have really read something amazing.

55. The Dud Avocado by Elaine Dundy; {acquired 08/08/2011}; (1 1/2*)

I don't think I can really review this book. There are those who have compared the protagonist to Miss Holly Golightly of Truman Copote's Breakfast at Tiffany's (which I loved) but I did not find her so. It is quirky and funny but I think I would have to be in a different mind-set to enjoy it. Suffice it to say that as of this reading, I found the title to be quite an appropriate description for my thoughts and feelings on this one.

>275 rainpebble: oh! Every time I read either of those titles I kind of always just put them in the same box in my head! How funny! Well I bought the last stand one recently...now I'll have to keep an eye out for the lives for a day one!

Wow, Not So Quiet sounds amazing!

It is an amazing book Terri. I am so glad that I read it and am sure that I will read it again one day.

56. The Loving Spirit by Daphne du Maurier; {acquired 05/22/2009}; (5*)

I fell in love with this book just pages into it. The Loving Spirit was Daphne Du Maurier's first novel and amazingly enough I liked it better than quite a few of her later ones.
The story is a very romantic tale told through four generations of the Coombe family. And the author has thusly broken it into four books to offset each generation. It's all about the sea and the land and what draws one to the sea and how it can be or become generational. She quotes Emily Bronte several times throughout the book and one can definitely see the influence of that author within this one.

Book 1: Janet Coombe; the main character wishes she had been born a lad and wants the freedom to do all the things that are acceptable to lads but not lasses. She wants desperately to go to sea and only menfolk can go to sea. In this book she also tells of Janet and a much older male cousin becoming intimate friends, which is frowned upon by her father. Janet marries Thomas, a shipbuilder and as they have their family she develops a strange relationship with one of her sons, Joseph right from birth. It is as if they are tele-connected in some way that she is not with her other children.

Book 2: Joseph Coombe; the main character in this book is the intimate son of Janet. He does what his mother wanted to do and could not. He becomes a sea faring man. He sails the seas in a family built ship named after his mother and called the "Janet Coombe". The figurehead is also a likeness of his mother. Joseph seems to feel his mother's presence with him as he is sailing.

Book 3: Christopher Coombe; the main character in this book is the son of Joseph Coombe and desires, as his father wishes for him, to become a seafaring man and take over skippering the "Janet Coombe". However he finds it not to his liking and jumps ship in London. He works, marries, has children, and writes home about his life but his father cannot forgive him for abandoning the sealife and disowns him to self and family. His sister, after some many years writes to him of his father's sickness and Christopher decides to take his family and return home to Plyn, Cornwall.

Book 4: Jennifer Coombe; the main character in this book, Jenny, is the daughter of Christopher Coombe and was only six years old when her father died. And yet it falls to her to bring the family back together to a productive life and to finish the "Coombe" saga.

This is a romantic, adventure of the highest kind. There is something for everyone in this book. I loved it and cannot wait to read it again one day soon.

57. When I Lived in Modern Times by Linda Grant; {acquired 09/07/2011}; (3 1/2*)

I really liked but didn't love this book. Read it in one sitting. I loved the story; thought the writing could have been a bit better. Some of the characters I quite liked; others I wondered why they were even there. I liked the main character and could understand, at times, her wishi-washi-ness. I did not, however, understand why she allowed that couple to basically abduct her and remove her from Tel Aviv and take her back to England or wherever. I liked the description of her marriage and think a lot of marriages are actually like that. I also loved that she returned to Tel Aviv when she was able to upon the death of her husband. I will most likely read it again because I loved the story-line so much. And I definitely am going to creep into clueless's library and see what books they followed this one up with. I recommend When I Lived in Modern Times to those (like myself) who are truly interested in the cause of Israel becoming a nation in it's own right and I gave it 3 1/2 stars.

>280 rainpebble: oh I love hearing about more du Maurier books.. I loved Rebecca and am eagerly anticipating reading more of hers!

>281 rainpebble: interesting... recommended to those interested in the cause of Israel becoming a nation... not a recommendation you often read!

>282 avanders::
Hi Ava. Thanks for popping in.
I worded my reck that way because Israel IS a nation but countries are ALWAYS attempting to take whatever they can from them and in all manner of ways.

Too, I want to thank you for the gif you placed on the progress thread. I love it. You made my morning, my friend.
:-)

>283 rainpebble: true! And good reason :)

And you're quite welcome! Glad you liked it :)

SEPTEMBER ROOTS:
58. The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox by Maggie O'Farrell;
{acquired 12/05/2007}; (4*)
59. Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons; {acquired 12/27/2010};
(4 1/2*)
60. Young Man With a Horn by Dorothy Baker; {acquired 11/10/2011};
(5*)
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(& read in August for the Read-a-Thing but was so busy reading that I neglected to list them for that month, so will list them with this month's ROOTs):
61. Blackbird House by Alice Hoffman; {acquired 09/23/2008}; (5*)
62. Molly Fox's Birthday by Deirdre Madden; {acquired 07/08/2011}; (5*)
63. In Cold Blood by Truman Capote; {acquired 05/25/2009}; (3 1/2*)
____________________________________________________________
Back to September:
64. This Rough Magic by Mary Stewart; {acquired 06/18/2010}; (4*)
65. Wildfire At Midnight by Mary Stewart; {acquired 06/18/2010}; (4*)
66. Dream When You're Feeling Blue by Elizabeth Berg;
{acquired 09/22/2008}; (5*)
____________________________________________________________
For Banned Books Week:
67. The Color Purple by Alice Walker; {acquired prior to L.T.}; (5+*)

Outlander by Diana Gabaldon; {acquired pre L/T}; currently reading

58. The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox by Maggie O'Farrell; {acquired 12/05/2007}; (4*)

In the middle of tending to the everyday business at her vintage clothing shop and sidestepping her married boyfriend's attempts at commitment, Iris Lockhart receives a stunning phone call: Her great-aunt Esme, whom she never knew existed, is being released from Cauldstone Hospital—where she has been locked away for over sixty years.

Iris’s grandmother Kitty always claimed to be an only child. But Esme’s papers prove that she is Kitty’s sister Iris can see the shadow of her dead father in Esme’s face. Esme has been labeled harmless, sane enough to coexist with the rest of the world. But Esme is still basically a stranger. She remains a family member never mentioned by the family and one who is sure to bring life altering secrets with her when she leaves the ward. If Iris takes her in, what dangerous truths might she inherit?

Maggie O’Farrell’s intricate tale of family secrets, lost lives, and the freedom brought by truth will haunt readers long past its final page. An absolutely wonderful story. I loved it.

59. Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons; {acquired 12/27/2010}; (4 1/2*)

This story is such a hoot. I can't believe that I put off the reading of it for so very long.
It's the story of a young British lady, Flora, whose parents have died and she only has one hundred pounds a year so she must find a relative to take her in. She sends out letters of entreaty and amongst the responses she only finds one that does not seem tiresome to her; her relation at Cold Comfort Farm. So she goes to the country.
When she arrives at the farm she finds the house sitting in the midst of a muddy yard. In fact no one uses the front door because of all the mud. One must use the back door. Here at the farm Flora finds a great many Aunts, Uncles and cousins.
Her Great Aunt Ada Doom, the matriarch, has remained in her room for twenty years and rules the farm with an iron hand. She comes downstairs twice yearly to count the family and make certain that no one has left/escaped. There is a cousin Seth, who wants to be in pictures, a cousin Amos who preaches wildly, a Cousin Reuben who wants to run the farm, an exquisite cousin who is a fairy girl and runs wild round the countryside & the hills quoting poetry & writing it as well. Frankly, the entire family is a mess.
But Flora takes it all neatly in hand and within a short time she has everyone neatly in their niche, including seeing Great Aunt Ada off to Paris, and she is neatly returning to London herself.
This is a rollicking, laugh out loud tale and it was great therapy for me as I laughed & giggled my way through. I very highly recommend this book & look forward to finding more like it. If any of you out there have any titles similar to Cold Comfort Farm, I should certainly like to entertain them.

60. Young Man With a Horn by Dorothy Baker; {acquired 11/10/2011}; (5*)

I just completed Young Man With a Horn by Dorothy Baker and loved the way it was written, the storyline; just everything about this book. I found it to be quite marvelous. I do think that one would possibly have to like music and understand obsessions to perhaps not be bored. Reading it is rather like listening to Miles Davis, Gorden Dexter, Chet Baker & others of their caliber. I absolutely loved it.
The storyline is about a youngster named Rick Martin, who in just passing by pawn shops and seeing the instruments becomes enamoured by them and he stops daily and looks by the hour at these instruments and imagines playing them. He pulls a tune out of his head and imagines playing; what notes he would pull, how long he would hold them, etc. He teaches himself to play the trumpet and the piano in this manner. The book is only biographical to his music. The remainder of his story is fictional. He becomes a wonderful musician and is quite recognized by like musicians.
I know my description of this book does it nowhere the credit it deserves. It is a wonderful, humorous & yet sad story with extraordinary characters.
This was a five star read for me and I KNOW that I will read it again and probably again, as I have the fascinating Of Lena Geyer. Young Man With a Horn is a wonderful book and I truly loved it. This could possibly be one of my best reads of the year.

>287 rainpebble: I loved Cold Comfort Farm, glad you also liked it!

>285 rainpebble: love the pic!
And looks like you've hit the reading jackpot! Three in a row ;). Sound interesting! I'll have to check at least one of those out...

>290 avanders::
Ava, I read them on the last day of the Read-a-Things. I love those!~! I plan ahead to ward off any grandbaby/kid sitting, prepare my foodies & have my drinks readily available (teas & decaf) and go through my shelves to see what I really want to read. Then when it begins, I just tuck in & read. It's good for me. The hubby knows I will be unavailable for those days.

These three are all so very different one from another. Will be interesting to see which one you pick, if any.

>289 karspeak::
kar; How could anyone not love Cold Comfort Farm. So interesting and also really funny. Yup, I loved it.

Wow. Sounds lovely! How many days do you take? It's sort of a tag team effort isn't it?

>292 avanders::
Ava; It is. This one was scheduled from (depending on what time zone you live in) 5:00 P.M. Friday to 4:00 P.M. Monday. That is Pacific Time.

Here is the link:

http://www.librarything.com/groups/readathing

So you can check it out and see how they set it up and how it goes. They are lovely to participate in.

I 'signed up' for 2 three hour sessions per day but also signed up for the free-time reading in case I wanted to read at other times as well. I found only one time period other than my scheduled reading times that I wanted to read. But I am already looking forward to the next one.
They usually show up on the 75 book gig so I often don't know that one is going on unless it is mentioned on the 100 book gig or in the Virago group as that is usually where I hang besides here.
Check it out.......you may enjoy taking part in one.
:-)

Still plodding through Outlander. Perhaps I have read it enough times by now. IDK; seems to be taking forever.

Awesome, thanks for the info!
It's cool to think about an international simultaneous reading effort :)

How many times have you read outlander so far?? Been meaning to read that one for a while..

>295 avanders::
I know Ava, right? I will message you when I hear of the next one if you would like.

This is my 8th read of Outlander. I had to go to the bookcase and count. I reread the entire series each time a new one comes out so I am right back in the frame of the whole storyline. Gabaldon's 9th one of the series came out earlier this year so it's time again. They are all tomes so I can count them for my Big Fat Book challenge as well. There is also one entitled The Outlandish Companion which explains all of the Gaelic terminology and the plant life that was used back then in the highlands for medicinal purposes (along with drawings) and weaponry (again with drawings) but I don't read that one each time. I just look in it for any help I may need.
Even though it is slow going for me this time round, I really enjoy this series as I do most all time travel stories and am always anxiously awaiting the next in the series.

>296 rainpebble: do they do them once a year? sure, message me! :)
Wow! I think the only book I've read that many times is Harry Potter 1 ;)
I guess I should really get on it if it merits 8 reads!

>297 avanders::
I think they actually have them 2 or 3 times a year but I don't always catch them in time. They will probably have another over the Christmas/New Year holiday season or in the spring. It would be fun if you could join in especially if your family is as understanding as mine is. Hubby doesn't count on my for much during those few days but you can read as much or as little as you wish.

(& these next 3 were read in August for the Read-a-Thing but was so busy reading that I neglected to list them for that month)
____________________________________________________________

61. Blackbird House by Alice Hoffman; {acquired 09/23/2008}; (5*)

An absolute favorite of mine. I thought 'how strange' when I first started it but it might be one of my very favorites of hers and I am SUCH an Alice Hoffman fan. Anything I read of hers becomes my 'bible' while I am reading it.
This is a book of short stories. Each story is about someone who lived in the Blackbird House in a different time and era. And as with most of Hoffman's books there is a bit or a lot of the mystique about it.
It is an absolute wonderful book!~!

62. Molly Fox's Birthday by Deirdre Madden; {acquired 07/08/2011}; (5*)

I didn't realize how much I loved this little book nor how well written and important it was until I finished it and sat there without a word to say. Because what does one say when they have read perfection? And it is not the story although it is a good story. It is not the characterization although I related to the them all from the beginning. It was simply the writing. This author writes exquisitely and with such subtlety that one is not even aware of it until it is done. At least this reader was not. Deirdre Madden.............an author of contemporary fiction to be reckoned with.

63. In Cold Blood by Truman Capote; {acquired 05/25/2009}; (3 1/2*)

In Cold Blood was, for me, not quite the book I expected it to be. It was very well researched, critically and wonderfully written, but it never really grabbed me like Capote's short stories have. Perhaps I just 'wasn't there' in the moment while reading the book.
I never really felt like I got a handle on the characters. I wasn't even able to wrap myself around the two killers and that seemed strange to me.
The book itself is a true story about a chilling homicide that took the lives of four family members in Kansas in 1959. From the very few clues found and the many interviews conducted over time, the police eventually track down the murderers. The two killers who, thinking the family had a great deal of money hidden in the house, planned to rob them and leave no witnesses. But there was no money and the family died for naught.
The most memorable part of the book for me was that, while incarcerated, Perry (one of the two murderers) befriended a squirrel that he named Red. He lured Red off a tree branch onto the window sill of his cell. He would feed him leftover scraps and he taught him to play with a paper ball, to beg, and to ride on his shoulder. The lady who cooked for the inmates said afterward that she attempted to befriend the little squirrel, but all he wanted was Perry.
Most of the hardened material of the book has already left me. I think my psyche didn't really allow it in. Hopefully one day in the future I will read this gifted book again and be able to appreciate what Capote's brilliance had to offer through it.
I think that I just wasn't mentally in a place to 'get into' In Cold Blood at this space in time.

>298 rainpebble: we'll have to see where life is during the next one, but I'll definitely check it out!

>299 rainpebble: and >300 rainpebble: both sound lovely! Been meaning to read a Hoffman ...

#300...I read In Cold Blood some time ago and I felt the same as you. To me, it was sort of ho-hum. But I'm wondering if that isn't because we have become desensitized by violence and that 50's stuff was milder than what we see on TV today?

Could be Tess. I do love Capote's short stories however.

BOOKS THAT I READ FOR MARY STEWART READING WEEK . . . . but was so busy reading that I neglected copy the reviews to this page but I did update my ticker.

64. This Rough Magic by Mary Stewart; {acquired 06/18/2010}; (4*)
65. Wildfire At Midnight by Mary Stewart; {acquired 06/18/2010}; (4*)
____________________________________________________________
66. Dream When You're Feeling Blue by Elizabeth Berg;
{acquired 09/22/2008}; (5*)
__________________________________________________​__________
For Banned Books Week:
67. The Color Purple by Alice Walker; {acquired prior to L.T.}; (5+*)

64. This Rough Magic by Mary Stewart; (4*)

Lucy's play in London had folded after two months so when her sister, Phyllida, invited her to come and stay with her for a few weeks Lucy thinks: Why not?" She deserves a vacation. So she travels to Corfu (a Greek island), across the shore from the closed borders of Communist Albania. Her sister is married with two children and is expecting a third. The family lives in Rome but owns this large bit of property on the water with a large villa and two cottages. Phyllida's family keeps one of the cottages for a vacation home, renting out the other cottage and the villa.

With the heat being so horrible in Rome and Phyllida's pregnancy causing her to feel poorly in the heat, her husband takes her to the vacation home on the island and he and the children remain in the city with the grandparents caring for the children until the school year is complete. So it is just she and Lucy at the cottage.

Lucy goes down to the cove for a swim (she loves the water) and is surprised when a dolphin comes in from the sea to swim with her She has left the water and is sitting on the rocks when she is shocked that all of a sudden someone begins to shoot at the dolphin. Lucy jumps into the water to frighten the shooter with the possibility of shooting her and then storms up the cliffside to the villa which Sir Julian Gale, a famous actor, is renting. She finds a man in the garden and bitterly accuses him. Though cold and unwelcoming he convinces her that it wasn't him.

She later hears that Sir Julian has had a breakdown and she learns that the villa is filled with weapons.

Meanwhile a Greek boy drowns while helping an Englishman photographer on his boat. The photographer wants to take photos at sea. The boy's body is swept away; a fact which they all find difficult to accept as the boy's mother and sister work for Phyllida, the photographer rents the other cottage and Sir Julian is the boy's godfather which is a very important role in Greece.

In blundering through the villa rose garden Lucy meets and gets to hear Sir Julian's theory that Corfu is the original location of The Tempest.

Another drowning thickens the plot and suddenly the reader finds themselves in the midst of a mystery involving caves, smuggling, Greek antiquities, a diamond, the dolphin again, the feast of the local saint St. Spiridon, and many more plot twists and turns.

Another enjoyable Stewart.

65. Wildfire at Midnight by Mary Stewart; (4*)

Wildfire at Midnight is a very well written taut little suspense story about a model, Gianetta, who decides to take a vacation in the remote Isle of Skye region of Scotland. Little does she know that it will be anything but relaxing. She steps into a situation filled with tension as a murder has occurred just prior to her arrival. The investigation is still ongoing. So every man staying at her hotel, one of whom just happens to be her ex-husband, is a suspect. Adding to the tension are the undercurrents between various men and women staying at the hotel. Gianetta's feels much dismay at seeing her ex again after four years and with the additional murders that occur while she is there.
The suspense in this book is nicely done if somewhat mild, though that is the style of Stewart. It is far from obvious at the onset who the murderer is. However by the time the culprit is revealed it isn't at all surprising due to the clues that have been dropped along the way.
Stewart is a different kind of suspense writer. Hers is a blend of suspense, literature, lyrical prose with just a wee bit of romance. thrown in.
If you, like me, appreciate suspense stories that are a beautiful blend of mystery with wonderful descriptive prose that transports you to another time and place then this Mary Stewart is one for you.

66. Dream When You're Feeling Blue by Elizabeth Berg; {acquired 09/22/2008}; (5*)

I think that perhaps this is my favorite Berg. I loved this book.

Kitty lives with her five brothers and sisters in a small house in Chicago in the 1940's. She is waiting for the day her boyfriend, Julian, comes home from the war. But other things are happening in their lives. Her sister's unexpected announcement, one of her brothers does something drastic for the war effort, and Kitty meets another man that could change her destiny forever.

Although some people have complained that the book is slow I savored the slowness. It took me back to another time when people weren't in such a hurry and did the best they could with what they had. Also I noticed in the acknowledgments that Berg had talked to her relatives and other WWII veterans so I felt the book was well researched. This is a lovely glimpse of days gone by.

67. The Color Purple by Alice Walker; {acquired prior to L.T.}; (5+*)

I find The Color Purple to be as beautifully written today as it was when I read it for the first time upon it's release. Alice Walker was given a gift to put onto paper and share with the rest of the world.

"I think it pisses God off if you walk by the color purple in a field somewhere and don't notice it."
(Shug to Celie)

"What I love best bout Shug is what she been through, I say. When you look in Shug's eyes you know she been where she been, seen what she seen, did what she did. And now she know."
(Celie to Mr.)

The Color Purple is an example of pure greatness and of wonderful literature. Alice Walker proves the hardship of life for those less fortunate. The painful and hard things that Celie had to go through made this reader feel total compassion for the character.

One of the best qualities of a writer is being able to make the reader feel what the characters are feeling and in writing this book Alice Walker did just that and did it superbly.

I very highly recommend this book.

OCTOBER ROOTS:
68. Outlander by Diana Gabaldon; {acquired prior to L/T}; (5*)
____________________________________________________________
For the October Horror Rat:
(And I did read a few that did not fit into that genre)
69. The Turn of the Screw by Henry James; {acquired prior to L/T}; (4*)
70. The Very Thought of You by Rosie Alison; {acquired 10/24/2011};
(3*)
71. Carrington: A Life by Gretchen Holbrook Gerzina; {acquired 07/10/2009}; (5*)
72. East of the Mountains by David Guterson; {acquired prior to L/T}; (5*)
73. House of Sand and Fog by Andre Dubus III; {acquired prior to L/T}; (3 1/2*)
74. Rosemary's Baby by Ira Levin; {acquired prior to L/T}; (2 1/2*)
75. The Other by Thomas Tryon; {acquired prior to L/T}; (4*)
76. Christine by Stephen King; {acquired prior to L/T}; (3*);
77. The Boys from Brazil by Ira Levin; {acquired prior to L/T}; (4*)
78. And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie; {acquired prior to L/T}; (4*)
79. Night Shift/ Night Shadow/ Nightshade/ Night Smoke by Nora Roberts; {acquired prior to L/T}; (3*)
80. Mistresses of the Dark by Stefan R. Dziemianowicz; {acquired prior to L/T}; (4 1/2*)
81. 50 Great Ghost Stories by John Canning; {acquired prior to L/T}; (4*)
82. Uncle Silas by J. Sheridan Le Fanu; {acquired prior to L/T}; (5*)
83. Dragonfly in Amber by Diana Gabaldon; {acquired prior to L/T}; (4*)

68. Outlander by Diana Gabaldon; {acquired prior to L/T}; (5*); (a reread several times over for me)

Wouldn't most of us love a chance to go back in time and change something or be able to decide not to make a choice that we have lived to regret? In Diana Gabaldon's Outlander the heroine gets that second chance.
Claire Randall, our protagonist, is a combat nurse in the 1940s, reunited with her husband of 8 years. They are having a second honeymoon in Scotland when Claire is transported back in time through the stone circle to the 1700s by forces she does not understand.
1743 Scotland is torn by war and Claire has trouble believing what is happening to her. Then she is forced to marry the breathtakingly handsome and ethical (for the 1700s) Jamie Fraser. He introduces her to a love so absolute that it can withstand torture, war, and hate. But will these star crossed lovers be able to defy the laws of time?
Claire is a most wonderful heroine. It was lovely to see historical Scotland from a more modern point of view and from the past also as the subject matter has been well researched. When Claire's 'second chance' comes she grasps it with both hands and holds tight. It is fabulous to see that kind of strength in a heroine. And young Jamie is a nice change from the normal hero. In this novel he is the virgin and Claire is the one with experience and I was delighted that Jamie was a virgin on his wedding night.
The secondary characters of this novel are deftly woven throughout the story and some of them are downright loveable. Others are despicable. But they all add to the ebb and flow of the narrative.
Because Outlander is written in first person this reader felt very connected to Claire. I laughed and wept right along with her. I was thrilled that this is part of a series. Readers of the book seem either to love or to hate it. I belong to the former. When I got to the end of the book I couldn't wait to read the next in the series.
I am looking forward to rereading the second in the series: Dragonfly in Amber

A keeper.

>305 rainpebble: ... can't wait to read something by her!
>310 rainpebble: lovely picture!
>311 rainpebble: someday I'll read that one.....

Ok, so tell me how do I create the >305 rainpebble: rainpebble .....I've looked around and I can't find it.!

69. The Turn of the Screw by Henry James; {acquired prior to L/T}; (4*)

I certainly enjoyed this mildly spooky Victorian gothic tale. And I found that I quite like the writing style of Henry James.
The story is about an orphaned brother & sister taken in by an uncle or some such male relation. He is a very minor player withing the scheme of the book as he hires a governess/tutor to care for the children at his country manse. The one stipulation upon her hiring is that she not bother him with anything to do with the children.
When the governess arrives she finds that the male child is away at boarding school so she just has the girl child at first. She finds the little girl beautiful & angelic in every way. She is bright and quick to learn, has lovely manners, is obedient and the governess enjoys her very much.
But soon the little boy is returned to the home, having been quitted from the school never to return and the governess & housekeeper (who have become friends) are never to know specifically why. The child never speaks of it so all they can do is wonder. He has the same positive traits as his sister and in the beginning all is well and everyone appears to be happy. "Appears to be" are the key words here.
For we find that the owner of the manse & their employer had a houseman who has died and that the previous governess has died as well. There begin to appear apparitions of both of these persons: The governess to the little girl albeit the new governess can also see her and the houseman to the little boy with the governess able to see his apparition as well.
Thus begins the tug of war between the governess & the housekeeper against the two apparitions who want the children.
I thought this a very good though short novella & I can highly recommend it. It is my first Henry James and I found myself seeking out others of his work immediately upon finishing this one.

Definitely a keeper.

>313 Tess_W: and >314 rainpebble: it's funny bc I think Tess created what she meant to create, simply by asking the question ;)

70. The Very Thought of You by Rosie Alison; {acquired 10/24/2011};
(3*)

This book, while good, did not meet my expectations but I am a romantic at heart and the story was thwarted at every love line in the book. Perhaps that is as the author meant it; that nothing is forever and that while we have it we should appreciate it even if it is the hope of love.
The story begins as the children of London are being evacuated to the countrysides about London prior to and during the blitz. Our main character, Anna, is one of these children and is removed to an estate called Ashton Park, a lovely estate with ponds, wooded areas and lots of greens for the children to run and play. The estate is owned by Thomas (whose legs are paralyzed from contracting polio) and Elizabeth Ashton. It is turned into a school with dormitories for the children. Once over their homesickness, the children come to love Ashton Park. The owners, teachers and staff are all very nice and accommodating.
As the story moves on our Anna becomes privy to some of the secrets of the house. One being the true relationship of the owners. This follows Anna throughout her life, affecting her own marriage and life. This is the part of the book that did not ring true for me.
Although we all pine for what may have been usually we get on with our lives. Anna seems to have gone through some of the motions but forever lived with that emptiness.
Like I said, I did enjoy the book. I would not have ended it as Ms. Allison did and I am very surprised that this book was short listed for the Orange Prize in 2010. I gave it 3 stars.

ROOTed out of here.

oh! Didn't think about that ;)

LOL, I don't know how I did that! But I think I know what to do now! Thanks!

71. Carrington: A Life by Gretchen Holbrook Gerzina; {acquired 07/10/2009}; (5*)

My thoughts and comments:

I just read a beautiful biography on Dora Carrington entitled Carrington: A Life by Gretchen Holbrook Gerzina. This book was a wonderful study of a fascinating woman who lived on the cusp of the Bloomsbury Group; not quite within but not quite without. She was a painter and did mainly stills that are quite different but beautiful. She spent her adult life loving and in love with Lytton Strachey, who was a homosexual. He loved her madly as well, but not romantically. And they continued those feelings right to the end.
She did marry but felt very coerced into it. And she had affairs; one of which was with another woman. But I don't believe that she was a lesbian. She just loved Strachey so much and couldn't have him romantically. They did share a house and it was quite an open house with other artists & most of the Bloomsbury group coming and going at all times.
If you like bios of artists of any kind and are not turned off by the homosexual aspect (which I was not), I think you would like/love this book.

A keeper.

72. East of the Mountains by David Guterson; {acquired prior to L/T}; (5*)

Like the author's Snow Falling on Cedars, I enjoyed this book tremendously. I have read many books in which I have become immersed and this is definitely one of them. It is not to be quickly forgotten. This story is so real and so profound that I became surrounded by the novel and found it interesting for many reasons. One of which is that I am from the state of Washington which is the locale of this tale. I found so many of the places in the book to be very familiar to me.
Ben Givens' past memories of the simple but hard life, however loved and valued by him, reminded me somewhat of my own. I found the war and his feelings and experiences of it horrifyingly graphic and real. His nonjudmental attitude of other people and his physical vulnerability was also very realistic. As a human being, this story depicts the soul that does not age even as our bodies do. The eternal questions about death and dying were achingly apparent in this story. For a young author to understand humanity in this way, that life is fragile but the human spirit inherently courageous, is refreshing.
David Guterson is a treat to read. His writing is simply beautiful. The story is so sad and contains all of the elements of life along with being realistic on the points of dying. His prose brings to the reader some wonderfully vivid mental pictures and the feel of apple country in the eastern part of Washington State. The horrors of the transient fruit pickers and the protagonist's illness I did find very distressing but necessary to the narrative and I felt more hopeful at the end of the book than at the beginning.
This book is one that will be read by me many times.

A ROOT read but back on the shelves to be read another time.

73. House of Sand and Fog by Andre Dubus III; {acquired prior to L/T};
(3 1/2*)

Before coming to America, Genob Sarhang Massoud Amir Behrani was a colonel in the Iranian Air Force. Forced to flee when the Shah fell, he escaped with his wife and two children and a couple hundred thousand dollars. Now resettled in the San Francisco area, but thus far unable to find work in the aerospace industry, Behrani works two full time jobs, on a road crew and as a convenience store clerk. This labor is necessary because the family's money is dwindling quickly, thanks to his wife's insistence on maintaining their old standard of living and the need to put on a sufficiently opulent facade to get his daughter safely married off--for instance, their apartment costs $3000 per month. Then one day, noticing an announcement of a tax auction in the newspaper, he decides to use their remaining savings to buy a house and then try to turn it around quickly for a profit.
Meanwhile, the house had previously belonged to Kathy Niccolo, a recovering alcoholic whose addict husband has run out on her. She works as an independent house cleaner, barely making ends meet and has ignored the county tax bill because it should not have been assessed against her house. But now she has been evicted and though Legal Aid lawyers help her to win a judgment from the county they can not make Behrani give up the house but only compensate her. She also receives help from Sheriff Lester Burdon, whose marriage has lost it's passion and the two become lovers. Together and separately they begin to take steps to force the Behranis out of their new home. This is when things get ugly.
The book is a page turner which enveloped me in such a cloud of dread that I just kept reading faster and faster because I couldn't stand the thought of what was to come.
Colonel Behrani is a perfect example of why anti-immigration policies are insane. He works very hard to provide a better life for his family and wants nothing from anyone except to be left alone to pursue the American Dream. He resembles a tragic hero whose stubborn pride and unshakable faith in his dreams collude to help destroy him.
Kathy on the other hand even setting aside her addiction problems has irresponsibly allowed legal events to get out of hand and now burns with a sense of false entitlement. Her benign approach to her job stands in stark contrast to Behrani's willingness to humble himself to take virtually any job. Her relationship with Lester results in his leaving a wife and two young children. His wife whose only failure is that Lester feels for her as he would towards a sister which is hardly a reason to destroy a family. And this step is merely Lester's first in a chain which becomes increasingly dubious. Eventually his behavior can only be defined as pathological.
Andre Dubus III is the son of one of America's greatest short story writers. As his father has passed on I find it heartening that he has picked up the reigns.
I found this to be a very intense and taut tale.

ROOTed out of here.

74. Rosemary's Baby by Ira Levin; {acquired prior to L/T}; (2 1/2*)

The entire first half of this book was slow for me. The couple move in, meet the neighbors, and try to have a baby. It also becomes immediately apparent that Rosemary is an idiot. Her refusal to see reason makes her scenes frustrating to read. The suspense is there and it comes in subtle drops along the way.
When Hutch begins to suspect Rosemary's neighbors of being more than what they claim, the plot speeds up considerably. I found myself reading what I thought would turn out to be a pretty good book by the time it was all over. However I did not find the conclusion to be well thought or I just didn't get it which was unsatisfying to this reader. Perhaps it was simply outdated for me. The subject matter and the midsection were so good that if the ending had been better handled and had Rosemary had some sense, I could have excused the slow start and jumped the rating up the rating but as it was; meh.

It has been ROOTed out, never to be returned to my shelves! :-)

75. The Other by Thomas Tryon; {acquired prior to L/T}; (4*)

What a classically creepy book! This, the story of twins, Niles and Holland, fascinated me & horrified me. It had such an ominous atmosphere.
Despite the fact that it was written in 1971 it did not read that way for me. I did not find it to be too predictable but with Tryon's writing he foreshadowed events to come. The twins aspect was really creepy for me. I found that the plot, the characters & the atmosphere all stand out so much in this novel and I think that this book can hold it's own among today's psychological thrillers.
In this story the twins have a rapport which is very much similiar to telepathy, a phenomena which is common in the real world and easily understood by behavioral science. However that rapport also extends to the twin's aunt, the sister of their mother who is from the old country and teaches the boys a game. An innocent game, a fun game, a game that certainly can't warp the minds of children in to committing wrongful acts? Or not............
There is a mild vein of the supernatural which rises and sinks into and out of focus throughout the novel such as the act of becoming other things (plants, animals) through acts which go beyond mere hypnopompic or hypnagogic hallucinations, and becoming becomes a game so strong that the twins and their aunt manage to extent the reach of their hallucinations to outside of the human mind which is important to recognize when one reaches the stunning ending acts of the drama.
Tryon made considerable effort to use foreshadowing and symbology throughout the book. There is the significance of the green clover which is the family's flower. There is the significance of that patch of clover outside the mother's window which she longs to embrace if only she could summon the strength to overcome her fears and step outside her bedroom. Then there is the root beer............
Yup, I found this one definitely worth the time I spent on it.

76. Christine by Stephen King; {acquired prior to L/T}; (3*)

Ever wondered about those guys who say: "I love my car", and look like they really mean it? Have you ever sympathized with wives and girlfriends who had a pained expression on their face as they complained: "He loves that car more than me"?
Christine is a 1958 Plymouth Fury, as red as the blood spilt during every term of ownership, in one of author Stephen King's best horror stories about man's abiding passion for cars, the need for speed, a greedy jealous love, and an obsession that turns into possession.
Arnie Cunningham is a lonely dork, bullied and rejected at school because of his looks and demeanor, in a plot thread reminiscent of King's earlier book, Carrie, with the tormented being pushed to breaking point and taking bloody revenge on their tormentors. In Christine, the bullies are rebel Buddy Repperton and his gang, who torture weaker kids whenever they get the chance. Arnie's only friend is football playing jock, Dennis Guilder, who narrates the story as a witness to the unfolding horror and ensuing tragedy. Arnie's talent and passion is for auto-mechanics and he yearns for his own set of wheels. When he sees Christine, rusting and rotting away, in caustic old timer Roland D. Lebay's driveway, it's love at first sight.
Unknown to Arnie, Christine is possessed by a malign evil force that at first seduces and then destroys every owner.
Arnie's attitude changes with his taste in clothes. His mood becomes darker and belligerent as he fixes up Christine, wins the most lusted-after girl in school, Leigh Cabot, and then alienates both his parents and Dennis.
For a while, Christine becomes the only good thing in Arnie's life. She makes him feel invincible. But, like some bad people in society; the narcissistic, the sociopathic, those with no conscience who use, discard when there's nothing left, then move on to the next victim, Christine is spiteful, seductively evil and relentless in her quest to take her owners on a fast ride straight to hell.
It was filmed and directed by John Carpenter in 1983 and still stands as one of the most memorable movies of that decade, with an effective soundtrack and some great moments, particularly in the scene where the car rebuilds itself as Arnie watches on, and other scenes where the car communicates via the lyrics of rock `n' roll songs from the era it was built.
Like Arnie points out: the thing about love ... it eats ... it has a voracious, all-consuming appetite, leaving no room for anything or anyone else.
How far will you go for your love?
When you look at that prized possession in your life, that which Stephen King might have referred to in another of his stories as a "needful thing", ask yourself a question: do you own it, or does it own you?

77. The Boys from Brazil by Ira Levin; {acquired prior to L/T}; (3*)

Ira Levin's mid-70's thriller about a Nazi plan to repopulate the world through cloning and assassination certainly keeps the reader's interest. The story is well-paced and the thought of such a plan is chilling. It begins with Josef Mengele and 'the boys from brazil' planning the 4th Reich. At the time the book was written the concept seemed to be science fiction but yet terrifying in the 'what if' category.
But by today's standards the concept is almost a cliche. At the time it was a thoroughly provocative concept. And Levin does a good job backing it up with the genetics vs. the environment debate which probably was not as self-evident then as it seems today. I will also say that Levin's choice of a protagonist is refreshing compared to the heroes that end up in our chillers & thrillers today. I found the ending to be interesting and humorous in political terms.
The book held my interest. It was not boring in the least. I found it easy to read and quite suspenseful.

78. And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie; {acquired prior to L/T}; (4*)

Mystery at its very finest; taut, compelling, absorbing. Ten people are brought to an island under rather odd circumstances. They're welcomed in the absence of owner, U.K. Owen, and after their shock at the playing of an audio recording accusing each of them of murder, one of them dies. Then another. Then another. The remaining survivors do their best to defend themselves and identify the person killing them by addressing the issue of whether it's one of them or someone hidden on the island. The rapid fire beginning introduction of characters is supplemented well by their words and actions on the island so they become clear. The clues are there but this reader found them subtle enough to miss sometimes and only obvious in the retrospect of the ending revelations. It is different than the modern mysteries I enjoy but is simply shines as the epitome of the mystery genre. Yes, I found it a bit unnerving, but it is amazingly well constructed. A complete pleasure to read and this one works as well today as when it was written.

79. Night Tales II: Nightshade & Night Smoke by Nora Roberts; {acquired prior to L/T}; (3*)

Some of Nora Roberts early works, The Night Tales are hard to find. You find them in secondary bookstores sometimes and for very high prices. Here you have all four tales in one volume: Night Shift, Night Shadow, Nightshade and Night Smoke. They are some of the best of her early works and it's great to get them all under one cover.

Night Shift has Detective Boyd Fletcher assigned to protect Cilla O'Roarke. She is a nighttime talk D J at a local Denver radio station whose life has been threatened. Cilla is a tough cookie but even she knows she needs Boyd's help. While being her bodyguard, Boyd falls for her which jeopardizes his objectivity. He needs to catch the psycho. But he cannot deny the attraction.

Night Shadow is Cilla's sister's story. Deborah O'Roarke is an assistant D.A. and she gets into danger because of the case she's involved in. Gage and his alter ego Nemisis see it as their duty to protect the gutsy D.A. The fantasy element in this is outstanding and I loved the strong leads.

Nightshade is the story of Boyd's ex-partner Althea Grayson. (we met her as she helped Boyd protect Cilla in Night Shift) She is an early Eve Dallas, a very independent lass who is a by-the-book cop. Sexy Colt Nightshade is a Private Dick who disdains rules unless he makes them up. They are both strong willed detectives with their own methods and naturally they clash; on the streets and in bed as they are forced to work together to stalk a killer.

Night Smoke sees Natalie Fletcher, Boyd's sister, clash with an arson investigator, Ryan Piasecki. When several of the buildings Natalie owns go up in smoke she and Ryan clash. But soon they are proving where there is smoke, there is fire.

These were just a fun series of lightweight stories and I enjoyed them for what they were.

80. Mistresses of the Dark by Stefan R. Dziemianowicz; {acquired prior to L/T}; (4 1/2*)

This is gothic horror at it's best from the likes of Margaret Atwood, A.S.Byatt, Angela Carter, Daphne du Maurier, Louise Erdich, Mavis Gallant, Nadine Gordimer, Patricia Highsmith, A.M. Homes, Shirley Jackson, Jamaica Kincaid, Madeleine L'Engle, Ursula K. le Guin, Doris Lessing Alison Lurie, Valerie Martin, Edna O'Brien, Flannery O'Connor, Joyce Carol Oates, Ruth Rendell, Jean Rhys, Susan Sontag, Muriel Spark, Fay Weldon, and last but definitely not least Eudora Welty.

These are tales of the macabre. And not just any tales but wonderfully structured, filled with beautiful descriptive prose and with characters that the reader can relate with even if they do not wish to.

"His wedding gift, clasped round my throat. A choker of rubies, two inches wide, like an extraordinary precious slit throat."

That is just one of the passages that the reader will find in this anthology of tales which has the ability to spellbind one.

I hope that there are more out there like this one for I found it quite wonderful and wonderfully creepy.

81. 50 Great Ghost Stories by John Canning; {acquired prior to L/T}; (4*)

50 Great Ghost Stories by John Canning explores a number of legends and accounts involving ghosts and other supernatural and paranormal phenomena.

Much of what is written seems indeed to be taken from eyewitness accounts and carefully recorded historical documentation, and does indeed put forward the case that ghosts do exist.
The stories are mainly set in Britain but also involve accounts of ghosts in Egypt, India, China, Germany, France, Iceland, the United States, Canada and Australia.
These stories are rich in history, and we can learn a lot from them, as well as being entertained.
We read about the hauntings and mysterious deaths of those involved in unearthing Tutenkhamen's tomb, and other Ancient Egyptian burial sites; the accounts of the ghosts of Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard, executed on the orders of the brutal Henry VIII;The White Lady of Berlin; the tragic tales of the ghosts of children who met tragic and untimely ends, which excite pity as well as frightening people; the very different nature of ghosts in China, which are often indistinguishable from the living, and are frequently beautiful maidens who return from the other world, not to frighten man, but to play with him, tease him, make love to him, or help him in his tasks; and ghosts in India, spirits of those cruelly murdered during the 1957 Sepoy Rebellion, as well as the malignant demons known as the ayah.
These tales are both intricate and entertaining, and while all are eery and haunting, the circumstances, times and places vary as to the natures of the ghosts, who can be beautiful or hideous, playful, melancholy, spiteful, vicious and frigthening or simply fulfilling a quest unfulfilled in life.
Many are the ghosts of young people, whose lives have been cruelly cut short. Often these ghosts in these stories resent the living and set out to terrify them, sometimes even ending the lives of their victims.
Many of the stories in this volume involve such ghosts, and often their victims die, or flee the haunted abodes.
In short they will excite a large variation of feelings and emotions in the reader.
In reading these stories , we also learn much of the customs and life of the people during the times examined. For example the cruel punishment for nuns who fell in love or lost their chastity, of being left to die of hunger and thirst, in an enclosed walled up space.
Many of these accounts are taken from the archives of The Society of Psychical Research.
Other records were destroyed during the 1940 German Blitz of Britain.
What follows is a gripping and entertaining, if haunting and eery set of narratives.

82. Uncle Silas by J. Sheridan Le Fanu; {acquired prior to L/T}; (5*)

Uncle Silas is both J. Sheridan Le Fanu's greatest novel and also his most celebrated and widely known which is a rare combination. It is a thorough reworking of the Radcliffean mode and of the Female Gothic in general, but it is also something entirely fresh, at least for a novel published in 1864, concerning as it does elements as diverse as Swedenborgian mysticism, Collins-esque sensationalism, and .. a rarity for its time and genre the first person retrospective narration of a young female protagonist. A classic work of 19th century Gothic, it is also generally considered one of the first examples of the 'locked room mystery' and it contains many motifs that have now become common stock of detective fiction and of the mystery genre in general.

Written with the kind of lush and yet curiously straight forward prose that characterizes all of Le Fanu's fictionUncle Silas concerns for the most part three extremely well written characters. The first, its titular hero/villain is an impressive revision of the Byronic hero in all its complexity of characterization and is one of the most successful of these 'stock types' in all of Gothic literature; the second our narrator Maud Ruthyn is fleshed out to a degree that is much more three dimensional than the typical 'Emily St Aubert' of most of these kinds of fictions; and the third and perhaps most remarkable of Uncle Silas's cast, is the insidious, revolting and utterly outrageous Madame de la Rougierre who is worth the price in and of herself. With these characters Le Fanu takes the familiar mechanisms of the gothic novel and twists and turns them about into fabulously crisp and colorful new shapes that are as enjoyable and darkly fascinating today as they were to Victorian audiences one hundred and fifty years ago.

The plot itself concerns the isolation of our young protagonist at the decaying rural estate of her rumour haunted Uncle Silas after the death of her father. She may or may not be the target of a plot that is still capable of chilling the blood. Silas whose decades old association with a ghastly crime which he may or may not have committed and which continues to plague him has been entrusted with Maud's guardianship. It becomes apparent however that this circumstance contains more of self interest than devotion to his late brother. Madame de la Rougierre whose early appearance in the novel is interrupted by the shift in action from Maud's ancestral home to Silas's Bartram Haugh reappears as the novel begins to plunge towards its shockingly violent climax and brings with her a final word on the mysteries of Uncle Silas and its brilliant compelling expansion of Mrs. Radcliffe's tropes. I won't reveal much more in the way of story but Le Fanu is successful in that many times we can see exactly where Uncle Silas is heading and yet we are still surprised with exactly where we have wound up.

Of all the foundational works of the gothic, Uncle Silas remains one of the most accessible for modern audiences and one of the most intriguing. One can see its influence on everything from The Turn of the Screw to Rebecca and it is perhaps fitting that Le Fanu's greatest novel is a variation on a theme and on an entire genre and has itself been reimagined and reworked by modern practitioners of the Gothic tale to this very day.

83. Dragonfly in Amber by Diana Gabaldon; {acquired prior to L/T}; (4*)

For twenty years Claire Randall has kept her secrets. But now she is returning to Inverness, Scotland with her grown daughter, Brianna, to the majestic mist shrouded hills. Here Claire plans to reveal to her daughter a truth as unbelievable as the events which led up to it. In Gabaldon's first book, Outlander, we learned about the mystery of an ancient circle of standing stones near Inverness and about a love that transcends the boundaries of time. We learned about the young James Fraser, a Scottish warrior, whose gallantry once drew a young Claire from the security of her century to the dangers of his, the 1700s of Scotland
Now a legacy of blood and desire will test her beautiful copper haired daughter as Claire’s spellbinding journey of self discovery continues in the intrigue ridden Paris court of Charles Stuart (the Bonnie Prince Charlie) in a race to thwart a doomed Highlands uprising and in a desperate fight to save both the child and the man she loves along with the others of the clans.
Following on the heels of Outlander which introduced readers to Claire Randall and her journey through time Dragonfly in Amber returns us to the heroine 20 years after her fantastic voyage back through the stones from the 1700s Scotland to the Scotland of the 1960s.
I truly enjoy this series. It just kind of sweeps me away with the pages and allows me to forget my mundane world. And I appreciate the research which Diana Gabaldon has done in order that her books have a more realistic, though not perfect, background in history. I love all of the descriptions of the economic & agricultural times, the plant life with which Claire makes her healing potions & pastes, the way she takes things from that time and fashions implements of the time from which she came, the differences in weaponry, and I especially love how she grows her characters and how they pop in and out of the weave of her story lines.

Sounds like wonderful reads!

You are just a reading, reviewing machine!

>332 Tess_W:: I have been reading some wonderful works Tess. I hope you have as well. Need to get over to your thread.

333: Well, you know Ava, when one is retired and the hubby does most of the cooking, all of the vacuuming & the washing of his own laundry, what DOES one do? Why read, of course. lol!~! Plus during the October Horror Read-a-
thing I read over 68 hours. A lot of that reading was done then. (and she slept for 3 days) But thank you my dear.

NOVEMBER ROOTS:
84. Moonraker by F.Tennyson Jesse; {acquired 07/13/2009}; VMC; (4*)
85. The Knight of Cheerful Countenance by Molly Keane; {acquired 07/08/2011}; VMC; (5*)
86. The Return of the Soldier by Rebecca West; {acquired 08/24/2009}; VMC; (5*)
87. Bel Canto by Ann Patchett; {acquired 09/09/2011}; Orange Prize Winner, 2002; (4*)

Can I borrow your husband?

>334 rainpebble: wow, sounds like a lovely set-up! ;) And sounds nice to have the read-a-thon to give you a little leg up ;)

>336 connie53: lol!

Connie, you are too funny. lol!~! And yet.........NO!

84. Moonraker by F.Tennyson Jesse; {acquired 07/13/2009}; VMC; (4*)

This is a wonderful yarn about a young lad, Jacky, who comes from a seafaring family. One particularly bad day for him he decided to hire himself on a merchant ship. And so begins the very interesting tale of our Jacky.
He enjoyed working on the ship and liked the crew who treated him decently. But one day they are come upon by a pirate ship and no matter how the captain tried to shake it he was unable. The pirate ship fired upon and boarded them. Some of the sailors were killed, some were, as was Jacky, taken onto the Mookraker, the pirate ship and others were left to go down with the ship as it began to sink soon upon the completion of the looting.
Now the tale really begins. The pirate ship's Captain Lovel desired our Jacky to be his cabin boy and Jacky was right happy to accommodate him. He was particularly happy that one of the sailors from his previous ship was on this ship with him. The sailor named Raul was one that Jacky looked up to. Raul was a supporter of Mounseer Toussaint I'Ouverture (he was not a fictional character) who was the Governor-General of San Domingo who wanted very badly to stop the warring, fighting and hatred on the Isle which was later to become Haiti. Raul and the Captain had many talks about this and the Captain was finally convinced to leave off his pirating long enough to sail to San Domingo to enable Raul to find Toussaint and warn him of the impending doom to be brought about by the French.
I really enjoyed Moonraker and it was nice to return to the writing of
F. Tennyson Jesse. I highly recommend this work. I only wish it had been longer.
____________________________________________________________
In an aside:


Toussaint L'Ouverture Biography
Military Leader (c. 1743–1803)

Name: Toussaint L'Ouverture

Occupation: Military Leader

Birth Date: c. 1743

Death Date: April 7, 1803

Place of Birth: Breda, Haiti

Place of Death: Fort-de-Joux, France

AKA: Toussaint L'Ouverture
Full Name: François Dominique Toussaint

Toussaint L'Ouverture was a leader of the Haitian independence movement during the French Revolution.
IN THESE GROUPS

Famous Catholics
Famous Government
Famous Movement
Famous People Born in Breda

Toussaint L'Ouverture was the son of an educated slave, and in a sudden slave revolt (August 1791), he discerned the ineptitude of the rebel leaders and scorned their willingness to compromise with European radicals. Collecting an army of his own, L'Ouverture trained his followers in the tactics of guerrilla warfare, and by 1795, he was widely renowned for ending slavery on the island.

85. The Knight of Cheerful Countenance by Molly Keane; (5*)

I found this book to be a delightful read what with all of the dogs, horses, rollicking and frolicking friends coming and going along with some very youthful romantic interests. It quite took me back to my teen & early twenties years. Not that I rode to hounds, mind you, but just the temper of the story and the attitudes of the youth. I loved this one so very much!
I can't imagine having written a book at the age of seventeen. And yet Molly Keane was just seventeen when she wrote this book. Amazingly I find that I can still enjoy it at the ripe old age of sixty seven. The storyline sucked me right in and I read it straight through, not wanting it to end. The world which Keane wrote about is now long gone. But the reader doesn't feel that loss while reading this work.
For the youth in this story, being young, having a good time enjoying life, the horses, dogs and friendships were what mattered. They did not yet know the difficulties of life and what it can bring.
Keane's story is simply this: One Allan Hillingdon has come to Ireland from India, traveling through England. Although his relatives in England liked him he isn't quite rich enough and they feared one of the young ladies of the family would fall for him. Much better to send him off to his Irish relation. He arrives at Bungarvin to visit with his cousin Major Hillngdon who has two beautiful daughters and a few younger sons.
But it is the daughters Allan is drawn to. Ann Hillingdon, beautiful yet practical, is a good judge of horses and an excellent horsewoman. Allan instantly falls for her when she meets him at the station. However it is Captain Dennys Saint Lawrence who owns Ann's heart. Dennys is the Master of Hounds and he and Ann have been good friends for some time. Unfortunately Ann's father doesn't approve and isn't likely to agree to a marriage between Ann and someone of a slightly lower station in life. Dennys may be respected for his savvy with horses and dogs but his father is an unscrupulous horse dealer who manages to throw doubt on Dennys' integrity. Because of questionable doings Ann finds herself in turmoil, uncertain how she should feel about what she's heard about Dennys.
To complicate matters Ann's younger sister Sybil is instantly as smitten with Allan as Allan is with Ann. Ann may be beautiful in a classical manner but Sybil's beauty is something more. She exudes charm. It's obvious from Allan's demeanor how he feels about Ann but that doesn't stop Sybil from using her wiles to attract him. Events will conspire against the lovers from pairing up properly. Of course the story is about how the relationships are worked out and it's all set against a backdrop of the late 1920s Irish country high society.
Along with the sportier scenes there are also tennis parties, dances and life in general in a grand old country house.
This story is quite the frolic and I loved it for what it was. I definitely need to dig into Keane's books for I found something here that I've not come across for a very long time.

86. The Return of the Soldier by Rebecca West; {acquired 08/24/2009}; VMC; (5*)

The Return of the Soldier is the first WW I novel to be written by a woman and is written in lovely prose.
Chris Baldry, a wealthy soldier, returns from the front suffering from amnesia and having forgotten the past fifteen years of his life. He has forgotten his marriage to Kitty along with the birth and subsequent death of their son, Oliver. He believes himself to be yet romantically involved with the daughter of an innkeeper, Margaret, who is now married to William Grey.
Jenny, our narrator, is Chris's unmarried cousin and childhood playmate who now lives with Chris and Kitty. It appears that she feels romantically inclined toward Chris. Chris asks to see Margaret and Kitty agrees that would be the best thing as Margaret is who he remembers being close to. Margaret whose love for Chris coexists with her tenderness toward her husband, then begins to visit Baldry Court regularly to spend time with the amnesiac.
The novel traces the reactions of Jenny and Kitty to Chris's forgetting them and to his undiminished love for Margaret. They grieve, they are filled with anger, but Jenny cultivates a bond with Margaret in order to rekindle her relationship with Chris. They call in doctors to attempt to cure him. Finally a Dr. Anderson arrives. He talks to Kitty and Margaret and learns of the death of Chris and Kitty's son. Margaret suggests that giving Chris some objects loved by his son might shock Chris back to his memory of the last fifteen years. This proposal is put forward. Margaret goes to Chris on the grounds of Baldry Court with the child's ball and jersey. Kitty and Jenny wait watching from the window as Margaret sacrifices her own happiness and Chris' in order to bring him back to a sane and current reality.
In spite of portraying this cure as a sacrifice of Chris and Margaret's happiness and at a risk to Chris's life, for he will now have to return to the front, the doctor moves ahead with what he sees as a possible cure for the young soldier. Chris is repeatedly described as ill, a term which helps make curing him seem the only sensible thing to do.
I find this to be a wonderful book. It is written beautifully and I highly recommend it.

Place of Birth: Breda, Haiti

Breda! I read that word and thought: WOW a Dutchman!
Never knew there was a town called Breda on Haiti.

Such a small world, eh Connie? And now we know.
Happy Thanksgiving dear.

Happy Thanksgiving, Belva! I hope you had a nice holiday.

Thank you Terri. I hope that yours was lovely as well.

87. Bel Canto by Ann Patchett; {acquired 09/09/2011}; Orange Prize Winner, 2002; (4*)

A novel of love, intrigue, an attempted coup, a massive taking of hostages by terrorists who planned to kidnap the President of this South American country at this event but he did not attend. So they took all of the guests hostage.
The book is beautifully written, the characters are grown well, the story is good; all things that make a good book possibly great.
There are important people at this party. One of them a premier Opera Soprano. As time goes by she begins singing for the group of hostages and terrorists daily. Things change the longer the hostages are held. They lose much of their fear and animosity toward the terrorists. The terrorists relax in their vigil but no one attempts to escape. There is much interaction between the hostages and the terrorists. And when the end comes, as it must, the hostages are overcome by the carnage and weep for their kidnappers.
It does end on a surprisingly high note which left me with raised eyebrows but this is a very good book and is deserving of the Orange Prize. I rated it 4 stars and highly recommend it.

Glad you enjoyed Patchett, Rain. I read her State of Wonder and was under impressed! Not sure if I would want to read another, but you do write a tempting review.

Ooooh Bel Canto was so good....

I read four ROOTs for November which brings my 2014 total to 87.

ROOT ON!~!

DECEMBER ROOTS:
88. The Victorian Chaise-Longue by Marghanita Laski; Persephone; {acquired 09/01/2009}; (4 1/2*)
89. Five Little Peppers and How They Grew by Margaret Sydney; {acquired in my childhood}; Y/A; (4*)
90. Flush: A Biography by Virginia Woolf; {acquired 10/29/2009}; Persephone;
91. The Boy Next Door by Irene Sabatini; {acquired 06/20/2011}; Orange Award for New Writers, (2009 or 2010); about Africa; (4*)
92. The Ordinary Princess by M.M. Kaye; {acquired prior to L/T}; (5*)
93. Cheerful Weather for the Wedding by Julia Strachey; {acquired 02/03/2010}; Persephone; (2*)
94. The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett; {acquired in my youth}; Y/A; (5*)
95. The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint Exupery; {acquired in my youth}; Y/A; (4*)
96. A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett; {acquired in my childhood}; Y/A; (5*)
97. Briar Rose by Jane Yolen; {acquired 02/25/2010}; Y/A; (5*)
98. Strawberry Girl by Lois Lenski; {acquired 10/12/2007}; (4*)
99. The Kitchen Madonna by Rumer Godden; {acquired 09/19/2011}; (5*)
100. An Episode of Sparrows by Rumer Godden; {acquired 11/25/2011}; (4*)

I know you can do it! What a year!

It's been a good one. That's for sure Tess. But I have been much more vigilant about the books I have pulled from my shelves. It has worked well for me to plan a bit ahead. Thank you.

88. The Victorian Chaise-Longue by Marghanita Laski; Persephone;
(4 1/2*)

I found The Victorian Chaise-Longue to be a horribly disturbing & even terrifying novella.
Our protagonist is ill with TB. She has just given birth & is bed ridden. After several weeks she is allowed by her physician to be carried into an adjoining room and to lay upon the chaise lounge there where she will get sun and be able to watch the birds and have a bit of a change in scenery.
She falls asleep and when she awakens it is to find that she is in a strange room with a strange woman in another time and place but is lying on the same chaise lounge. Eventually she comes to realize that this woman is her sister.
I expected that the plot would move from fairly contemporary days to Victorian days in a back & forth flow but this book is not written in such a manner. You will need to be of stouter heart than this reader to read this book and not find your heart beating faster as you turn the pages.
A very well written book, I highly recommend it. I am so glad that I have now read it for I will not be so frightened when I turn to it for a reread.

89. The Five Little Peppers and How They Grew by Margaret Sydney; Y/A; (4*)

Going back to my youth to read this again, I enjoyed it every bit as much as I did then or perhaps even more. With 7 children in our family there was a great deal I could relate to.
This is the story of a poor household consisting of mammsie, who takes in sewing for a living along with her 5 youngsters, a couple of which work outside the home to help support the family.
The story is wholesome but not boring for very much happens to and with these lovely children. I love the concept of the family pulling together for the good of all and think that if more families were of this nature today (as mine was growing up in the 40s, 50s & 60s) the world would be a much better place.
Highly recommended & 4 stars.

90. Flush: A Biography by Virginia Woolf; {acquired 10/29/2009}; Persephone; (5*)

Flush is a first person fictional narrative about the Cocker Spaniel owned by Elizabeth Barrett/Elizabeth Barrett Browning. The real dog was stolen three times but in the novella it is capsulized into a story of one theft.

Virginia Woolf opens the novel writing as if the book is non-fiction. After a few pages, she slips into the narrative form with the dog describing his life. She explores the dog's relation to the owner and tells us what it is like to be a dog. The dog is very sensitive to the moods of his owner and is protective, even becoming jealous on an occasion or two. One could say that Woolf gives Flush a soul.

This story is light hearted and avoids the heavy cloud of despair usually portrayed in books about the Barretts of Wimpole Street, though Wimpole Street is the setting of the first part of the book.

I loved how Woolf described Flush running through the parks, chasing birds & whatnot; lying soaking up the sun, etc. Her descriptiveness of a 'dog's life' is pretty spot on. This story allows Woolf to be more playful than any of the other pieces she has written. The mix of fiction and fact allows her to tell a story filled with heroes and villains which make the book quite captivating like an adult fairy tale. By the end I was fully engaged and completely consumed by Flush and his life. I didn't want it to end but sadly it had to. This is a must for any fan of Woolf or even anyone who has a love for animals. The deeper meaning of the narrative is the telling of loyalty and love. We can all take a lesson from that.

I fell in love with this little book and highly recommend it. It boggles my mind just how timeless Virginia Woolf's works are.

91. The Boy Next Door by Irene Sabatini; Orange Award for New Writers; (2009 or 2010); (4*)

After completing The Boy Next Door I was totally awe-struck. I liked and enjoyed parts of the book but I appreciated the entire book. For the most part it is a rather harrowing story of a family during the eighties through the late nineties in Rodesia/Zimbabwe. I recommend it to some of you but not all. It is not an easy book to read but once into it, the story moves along very quickly and I found myself unable to put it down except when I had to, as when we had company. Even then I found myself sneaking away to get just a couple more paragraphs read. It kept me awake and not just to read. It literally kept my mind whirling and unable to rest. I cannot imagine living through anything even similar to this.
It is a novel so it is fiction, of course. But we know that things of this nature literally happened there and are yet happening. My heart goes out to the people of Africa so often and I ache for them. This is Irene Sabatini's debut novel and while it wasn't perfect, it was an unstoppable read. I predict Sabatini to be a literary force to be reckoned with one day.

>353 rainpebble:. Whoa. Sounds v intriguing!!

92. The Ordinary Princess by M.M. Kaye; {acquired prior to L/T}; (5*)

I found this little book to be very sweet and enchanting. A princess is born and not just any princess but the seventh princess which makes her very special. At her christening one of her fairy godmothers, feeling very cranky at the time, gives her the gift of being "ordinary". As the child grows up she realizes the differences between herself and her six extraordinarily beautiful sisters and sees them married off to the princes of the land one by one. But she doesn't mind for she is allowed a much freer rein than them and enjoys life playing in the wood and such.
Later when her parents feel it is time for Princess Amy to marry, the eligible princes come one by one, hopefully to propose marriage. But when they see the ordinariness of Princess Amy, they run for the hills. Eventually the King and Queen become so desperate that they attempt to hire a dragon to entice the princes to attempt the dragon quest in order to win Princess Amy's hand. When Amy hears of this she runs away from the castle & her home to live in the wood and make her own way. She hopes that by being so ordinary anyone who spots her will not realize that she is the Princess Amy and tell her parents.
Thus, the story begins. And a very lovely & fun story The Ordinary Princess is. Of course we know that eventually the Princess Amy will find her one true love but I will leave the finding up to the next readers to discover.
Suffice it to say that this reader was enchanted by The Ordinary Princess and the writing of M.M. Kaye & hopes you will be as well.

93. Cheerful Weather for the Wedding by Julia Strachey; (2*)

I found this to be a bit disappointing. Yes, it was cleverly written. Yes, there are lovely bits of humor. Yes, I wanted to like it. I wanted to like it very much indeed, for this is my first disappointment in the many Persephone that I have read. I just wanted to reach into the book, pull the characters out one by one and stretch them before returning them to the story.
The story is about the family & friends of a young lady who is to marry that afternoon and is having second thoughts about it. She is thinking that perhaps she is making the mistake of her life. Characters meander in and out of the rooms of the house as they meander throughout the story. One old sweetheart attempts all the day through to find the courage to talk to the bride and tell her that he cares for her and to attempt her to bust up the marriage before it begins but he just cannot manage at all and when he does catch her alone just before the wedding, it is only to find her in a dither with spilled ink on the front of her wedding gown. You see, she has been in such a state that she has been tippling from the rum bottle the day long.
No, I can't say that I liked much about this one. The characters were flat and the story dull. But I hope when I come back to it one day my brain or the book will somehow have magically changed and I will find a substance in the book to accommodate me.

Thank you Ava and to you as well, dear.

94. The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett; {acquired in my youth}; Y/A; (5*)

I loved this book as a child, and it was so nice to revisit it as an adult. A perfect book to read on a cold, windy winter afternoon when nobody else is home. Your mind can escape to a lovely garden coming to life in the early spring. It inspired me to go for more walks no matter what the weather is like. I've read it to my children, to my grandchildren and hope to read it to my great grandchildren one day.
The story is set in the early 1900’s in India and England. Mary's parents have both died so she must move to England to live with her uncle who mainly travels or lives as a recluse. There are quite a few characters to become accustomed to in this book. There is Mary, of course and Dickon who becomes her special friend. Then there is Colin, Martha, Ben Weatherstaff, Mr. Craven, Mrs. Medlock, Dr Craven and Susan Sowerby. I believe my favorite was Dickon because I found him so interesting and he had such a sweet nature.
Mary finds a 'secret garden' that has been hidden away on the estate of her uncle for many, many years. Not having been cared for, it was quite overgrown and not very pretty. Mary wants to work in the garden caring for the plants and bringing it back to it's days of glory.
This tale is a story for children of all ages from younger than school age to ninety. If you've not yet read it, I highly recommend it to you. It is a tale, that once read, you will hold close to your heart.

95. The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint Exupery; {acquired in my youth}; Y/A; (4*)

I first read this sweet fable as a little girl and loved it. I just reread it and fell in love all over again. The core message is still one we must keep reminding ourselves of---that grown-ups don't know everything and often don't understand what is truly important in life.

The book is tiny and one might think it to be a children's book. And point in fact, many children do read The Little Prince. But I think it is more for adults. The author turns each adult who reads it into someone who probes his own mind gently to grasp the philosophy of the author in each instance or occurrence within the book.

The story contains the beautiful, eloquent poetry of the rose, the prince and the haunting tragedy of the un-muzzled sheep. It is a timeless story; one that can be read time and time again. Each time you read this story a different part of you will connect to The Little Prince. The story is complex and captivating. When I was a child I heard the story about the boy Prince and his rose and it was only later as an adult that I rediscovered the book. Reading it again as an adult I really appreciate the commentary on human behavior and the exploration of what it means to be 'tame'. I suppose it's hard to put into words the beautiful complexities of this book. It is especially difficult to explain when I know there's no way my reading experience can be half as good as the book. If you're a literature buff, a book lover or just someone who appreciates a good story then please buy this book. Perhaps it will change your life as it did mine.

After reading it, we feel (at least this reader did) that the whole world is larger than we thought and yet smaller at the same time. It is truly a better world for many of us because of this author's ability to make us see everything differently than ever before.

>362 rainpebble: and >363 rainpebble: two books I've never read! But I bought the secret garden last year so maybe I'll finally get to it one of these days ;) and I think the little prince was one of my sister's favorites.. Will definitely have to check it out!

A very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, Belva.

96. A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett; {acquired in my childhood}; (5*)

This tale has ever been a favorite of mine. I read it for the first time in 2nd grade, checking it out of the school library. I read it 2 or 3 times a year until I reached my teens and then cut back to once a year over the Christmas holidays. By that time I had my own copy and what a treasure that book was to me. As an adult I have continued to read it every few years. This book just fills up some empty space in my heart & soul.
It is a story about a different kind of princess than one might imagine; an orphaned girl, Sara Crewe, whose father always called her his little princess. When he was called away to fight in the Crimean War he took her to an elite girl's school run by one arrogant Miss Minchin & her cowardly sister. She was their most exclusive student and most all of the girls wanted to be her friend including one very timid scullery maid, Becky, for Sarah was the only girl there to befriend her.
When her papa dies penniless, having lost all of his wealth, Sara is forced to give up her schooling, clean & run errands for the Miss Minchins, (throwing her out in the streets would put their school in a very bad light) & scuttle coal as Becky did. They took all of her pretty clothes & dolls away from her and made her live in a cold, leaky attic room under the eaves of the house. She and Becky soon made up a code whereby they could communicate with each other by knocking on the wall between their rooms. Even though Sara is always cold, never has enough to eat and is friendless except for Becky, she remains the same sweet little girl who was her father's 'little princess'.
The man in the neighboring house took a great interest in the girls, especially Sara, and his rooms looked right into hers. It is very interesting how, in the book, his life becomes engaged with hers.
The Little Princess is a beloved story tale as are all of the writings of Frances Hodgson Burnett and it happens to be my favorite. This is a wonderful story even for adults and for those of us nearing or going into our 'second' childhood.
I very highly recommend it.

97. Briar Rose by Jane Yolen; {acquired 02/25/2010}; Y/A; (5*)

I just finished reading Briar Rose by Jane Yolen. This one is a take on Sleeping Beauty & is like nothing I have ever read before. It is quite different from the Sleeping Beauty with which we are so familiar.
The grandmother tells her three granddaughters the same fairy tale over & over again. They love it & can not hear it often enough. As the girls grow up and the grandmother becomes quite aged she leaves reality behind and becomes the 'sleeping beauty' of the tale, continuing to tell the tale even in the nursing home.
The youngest granddaughter swears to the grandmother that she will go 'back' & find the truth & this truth literally becomes believable.

"He smiled. "Your own American writer Emerson said: 'The hero is not fed on sweets but daily his own heart he eats.' If that is a definition you can accept, then I will tell you I have dined long and hard on my own heart. And it is bitter."

This is another short, easily studied, but heartrending quick read. And apparently there is a whole series of these fairy tales out there somewhere just waiting for me to find them. This is also one I highly recommend.

I just love childhood re-reads! Also, I read 2 Yolen's in the last couple of weeks, she is a great YA writer and the books were so beautifully illustrated. Mine were 2 in her history mystery series. Happy New Year!

>368 Tess_W::
Which two did you read Tess? Inquiring minds & all that.
Happy New Year to you as well.

98. Strawberry Girl by Lois Lenski; {acquired 10/12/2007}; (4*)

This one is a Newbery Award-winning classic. (Umm humm. Says so right on the cover.) Anyway I enjoyed it tremendously.

It was copyrighted in 1945 and tells the story of two neighboring families living in the lake region of Florida in the early 1900s after the Seminole War. Most of the people in this region had moved down from the Carolinas and were known as the Florida Crackers. They had wonderfully colorful speech patterns, a wealth of idioms, and brought with them many a folk song, superstition and integrity of character (or not, as in the case on one of the neighbors).
This is a cross section of America. An American way of life not known to a great many of us, a poor but very colorful way of life.
The main character is a 10 year old girl named Birdie Boyer and the story is told through her eyes. Her family is a farming family attempting to grow strawberries, orange groves, and sweet potatoes among other produce.
The neighboring family, the Slaters, raise cattle and pigs. Or to be more precise, they have cattle and pigs. They pretty much just let them free range and raise themselves until it is time to round them up and take them to be sold.
The cattle and pigs continue to get into the crop fields of the Boyer family and trample the berries, eat the fruit trees down to nubbins and wreak all kinds of havoc. This does not sit well with Mr. Boyer and he speaks to Mr. Slater, who cares not one whit. So Mr. Boyer decides to fence in his property. Mr. Slater threatens him that if he does, something bad will happen. And so it goes.
The book was a quick read and it was easy to relate to and to get to know and care about the characters. I quite liked it and think that anyone else picking it up would like it as well. I will be looking for more of Linski's books.

99. The Kitchen Madonna by Rumer Godden; {acquired09 19/2011 /}; (5*)

The Kitchen Madonna by Rumer Godden is a lovely story about a couple with a little boy and girl and a Ukranian housekeeper. The children realize one day that the housekeeper, Marta, is unhappy when in the kitchen and they ask her about it. She shares with them in her broken translation that there is no happy place in their kitchen; no Holy place. And that where she comes from they have a special place in the kitchens, a shelf or such, where upon there is placed a picture of Madonna and Child, decorated with lovely fabrics and beautiful jewels and special candlelight to show the picture. This makes a 'happy kitchen'.
The little boy is quite troubled by this; that Marta is unhappy, missing a 'Kitchen Madonna'. He decides that he will make her one and this is the story of how one little boy with the help of his sister goes about doing something wonderful and beautiful for someone he cares about.
The story is beautifully drawn out, the characters are open to you.
Rumer Godden is something really special. A 5 star read and highly recommended.

100. An Episode of Sparrows by Rumer Godden;
{acquired 12/07/2011}; (4*)

This tiny little book is an absolute gem of simplicity, love and hope. A precociously aware, yet innocent little girl has been left with the owner of a struggling restuarant and his wife to raise. She was left by her mother, a woman on the fringes of show business who cares for no one but herself. The child becomes obsessed with the idea of creating a garden in the ruins of a bombed out church, and enlists the aid of a local tough boy. When they remove earth from a nearby enclosed garden, they are prosecuted by an opinionated, domineering woman who can see no other path in life except her own, and who rules even her elder & more compassionate sister with the iron fist of mockery. It's a short story but one which made me laugh and cry because I could feel the sheer frustration as well as the determination of the little girl as she battles the inexorable might of the adult world. A world which can not or will not see things from a child's perspective. I'm sorry that I've missed this beautiful book until recently but am grateful to have found it in a used book shop.

Oh, I do love Rumer Godden, and I must look these two up. Thanks.

You are so more than welcome ipsoivan. I love her works as well. I have not read many of her adult books but do so love her children's stories.

>>366 rainpebble: I picked up this book for my Kindle - it was FREE and I remembered the story from growing and watching a Shirley Temple movie. I loved it. So I wanted the book too.

Apparently I am not the only one that likes this story.

>369 rainpebble: I read 3 books in the History Mysteries category: Roanoke: The Lost Colony--An Unsolved Mystery from History, The Wolf Girls: An Unsolved Mystery from History, and The Mary Celeste: An Unsolved Mystery from History. I actually thought the illustrations were better than the books. They were all hardback and I read them and then gave them to grandchildren for Christmas!