Review: Reunion at Red Paint Bay by George Harrar

Reunion at Red Paint Bay has a lot going for it. There's the small town, coastal Maine setting, there are really believable characters, there's a mystery that sneaks in little by little, until the plot explodes in the final pages of the book in a finish that leaves the reader totally drained of emotion.

Sam Howe, who left Red Paint Bay  to go to the big city to work in journalism, returns to his hometown and buys the weekly newspaper. There is seldom anything exciting to report about, but his family life is solid, the town is a picturesque study in "life the way it should be," and Sam finds himself looking forward to the upcoming high school reunion.

Then he hires a recently released convicted felon to work at the paper.  When his social worker/therapist wife discovers the new hire was convicted of rape, she makes her displeasure known. At about the same time, Sam begins receiving anonymous post-cards with disturbing and often unfathomable messages.  As the story progresses and the suspense builds, the reader is led along a psychological journey of terror from an unknown stalker who seems to know a dark secret about Sam's past.

The story resolution is quite wrenching.  To say more would be to spoil a good read. It's a great read in that the mystery is there at the edges and only blossoms into full bloom at the end.  All along, the reader knows something more is going to happen, that something is missing, and must keep reading until the sudden, unexpected ending.

It's a great tale of moral consequences, ethical dilemmas, differing perspectives, secrets, guilt and absolution.  The newspaper may in fact have a very newsworthy headline next edition.

Title: Reunion at Red Paint Bay
Author: George Harrar
Publisher: Other Press (2013)  e galley - 283 pages
Genre: fiction
Subject: moral consequences
Setting: Coastal Maine
Source: ARC galley from publisher through NetGalley 
Why did I read this book now?  I was invited to review it.
Thanks to Other Press for making the review copy available.

Old series on the shelf, new series for Tutu's list

Title: Iron Lake
Author: William Kent Krueger
Publisher: Simon and Schuster/Atria Books (1999)
Genre: Police procedural mystery
Subject: merder/corruption
Setting: Iron Lake, Minnesota
Series: Cork O'Connor #1
Source: My own Nook
Why did I read this book now? It's been sitting on my Nook since Oct/2011, and my sister recommended it.

Barnes & Noble knows what it's doing when it offers the first book in a series for a free download to Nook owners.  I snagged this one back in October 2011, and it's been sitting there since then.  My sister just finished her copy and said she thought I'd enjoy it.  Besides, she and I have been challenging each other to clean out and read some of the books we already own instead of buying/borrowing new ones.

Well........yes, I can cross an old one off my list, but now I'm off to locate the next eleven in the series!  I'm not going to feel guilty about getting these.  I know Mr. Tutu is going to love these too.  They are also available in audio, and I downloaded this one to listen to in the pool, and at the dentist office while I was getting my teeth cleaned, but then I shifted back to the Nook to finish it since I can read it about twice as fast as the narrator does.

Cork O'Connor is my kind of detective/police person.  In this introduction to his character, we see a disgraced de-frocked sheriff, whose marriage is on the rocks, who adores his children, and who suspects that an apparent suicide of a local magistrate is really a murder.  He has no jurisdictional authority to investigate but pushes ahead anyway.  So far that sounds like a straight forward police story.

What sets the book apart is the setting, and the people.  O'Connor is half Irish (white) and half Anishinaabe Indian, who is married to a white attorney. He owns some land on the reservation in up-state Minnesota, and is trusted by the tribal council whose members are wary of talking to the local (white) sheriff about the whereabouts of a missing Indian boy.  Cork sets out to find the missing teen, and tries at the same time to revive his all but over marriage by disentangling himself from his affair with a local diner waitress. 

Krueger uses Anishinaabe folklore, outstanding plotting, and a spectacular setting to weave his story.  I read this during one of the coldest weeks of the year here in Maine.  It was easy for me to visualize the frozen lake, the treks through the drifts, the ice buried vehicles because they were right out my window.  But it was just as easy for me to close my eyes and visualize those elements I didn't have - the black bears, the blizzards, and the tribe's traditional buildings and transportation.

I'm totally hooked and will be reading at least 2 or 3 more of these throughout the year.  I can't wait to see how Cork's character progresses, whether he can repair his marriage, and rebuild his life.  I really enjoy discovering hidden treasure like this "oldie but goodie."

Review: Heading Out to Wonderful by Robert Goolrick

In spite of the title, this is not a "Once upon a Time.....happily ever after" fairy tale. Seldom does a book leave me speechless, but when I reluctantly closed this one I was stunned, without words and almost unable to breath.  It's slow, measured, every word carefully chosen to craft a story of a small town, of quiet ordinary people trying to live moral lives, of ingrained prejudices and  lack of education, of Bible thumping preachers and butchers, and seamstresses and secrets and dreams.  It's a story about morals, ethics, cause and effect, truth and consequences.

Goolrick tells us the story mostly through the eyes of an old man who reflects back on his town Brownsburg, a town "where no crime had ever been committed... where the terrible American wanting hadn't touched yet, where most people lived a simple life without yearning for things they couldn't have."  He tells us of an ill-fated illicit love affair between a strong minded and introverted young man Charlie, and the Hollywood obsessed beautiful young wife of the town bully.  As their affair develops, they unwittingly involve Sam, the six year old young son of the town butcher, swearing him to secrecy.  Sam has hero-worshipped Charlie from the day he arrived to work in his father's butcher shop and even now, sixty years later, still seems to be putting together the pieces of what happened as he relates the story.

There are really two stories here.  The author unfolds each slowly tantalizing the reader with possibilities. Charlie's story, which is ultimately Sam's story, is told alongside the life and dreams of Sylvan Glass, a young woman sold into marriage when she was sixteen by a father who wanted security for the rest of his family to to the town bully, a man who wanted a trophy.  Once Sylvan walks into the butcher shop, dressed in movie star finery, and once Charlie sees her, the illicit relationship marches inexorably to a conclusion worthy of the movies Sylvan is so in love with.

Goolrick's prose is spare but poetic; it paints a vivid picture of a seemingly idyllic life resting on secrets, immune to modernity, and destined to hold the reader's attention from beginning to end. To more about the plot or the characters wrapped into it would be to spoil one of the best reading experiences available today. I haven't read Goolrick's earlier work but he is certainly going onto my list of authors to search out.

This is one of over 25 books chosen by our Maine Reader's Choice Award panel for the long list for this year's award.  I read and listened to this in tandem because I could not stop reading.  Norman Dietz has the perfect voice and inflection to tell this story in audio.  With writing this spectacular, he had an exciting script to work with.  Whatever format or medium you choose, this is a must read.

Title: Heading Out to Wonderful
Author: Robert Goolrick
Publisher: Algonquin Books (2012) 1st edition; 320 pages
Audio Publisher: Highbridge Audio, 9:27
Narrator: Norman Dietz
Genre: literary fiction
Subject: small town relationships
Setting: Appalachian Virginia, 1948-49
Source: print: publisher furnished;  audio: Overdrive download
Why did I read this book now? I'm a panelist for the Maine Peoples Choice awards, and this is on the long list.

Catching up on an "old" series by Rose Connors

Years  ago (2009)  I read "Absolute Certainty" by Rose Connors.  At that time, I wasn't writing reviews but did make a note to keep an eye out in case any more by this author appeared.  As with many good intentions, Connors slipped off my radar.  Last month, I discovered the rest of this enjoyable series was available in audio so I grabbed "Temporary Sanity" (#2) in the series.  I gobbled that one up last week while I was at home on a snowy day.  Yesterday, while "watching" the Niners go down to defeat (nuf said) and cross-stitching, I listened to the audio of "Maximum Security".   There is a 4th in the series, "False Testimony" and I'd love to jump right into that one, but I think I'll put it on hold for awhile.  Sometimes when I read too many of a series together, the story and characters begin to wear on me.  Putting some space out there helps to keep them fresh.

These are compelling courtroom drama series.  Set in Cape Cod, they portray the law career of Marty Nickerson who advances from being Assistant DA for the town of Chatham in episode #1, to being a partner in a criminal defense law firm in 2- 4.The Crime stories ring true, the reader is given various clues throughout and can usually "solve" the case a few pages before Ms. Nickerson. The tales are enhanced by a diverse caste of characters: the hard-nosed DA, Geraldine Schilling, the sane and compassionate Judge Long, and Marty's partner in law and in life, studly Harry Madigan.

It sometimes stretches the imagination to see how much crime an author can reasonably dish up for a small town, but the stories are varied enough to avoid repetition.  I notice Ms. Connors hasn't written a new one since 2006.  I wonder if she intends anymore? Or did the crime wave settle down?

The audios were narrated by Bernadette Dunne, one of my favorites.  She really nails Marty Nickerson's smart-aleck tongue-in-cheek comments.  At the same time, she is skilled at giving us just the right intonation so that the listener can differentiate between unspoken thoughts and directly voiced ideas.  A masterful performance.

If you are a fan of crime/court-room/legal mysteries, strong woman protagonists, interesting characters, and a beautiful setting, these may just be perfect for you.  Don't assume because they're "older" that they're out-of-date.

Review: Where'd You Go Bernadette by Maria Semple

Title: Where'd You Go Bernadette?
Author: Maria Semple
Publisher: AudioGo, 9 hrs. 36 min
Narrator: Kathleen Wilhoite
Genre: fiction
Subject: ??
Setting: Seattle, Antartica
Source: Library download


Often as I'm reading (or in this case listening to) a book, I make notes to help me refresh my ancient brain when it comes time to say something lucid in a review.

Let's begin by saying I absolutely loved this book!  I knew nothing about it when I started, in fact, I'd never heard of it, and the cover had caused me to pass right by, thinking it was pure chick-lit, airport quick-read air.  However, it showed up on a list of books for a group I'm participating in (more on that much later in the year) and it also showed up as available in audio on a day when I was headed to the pool.

Now the puzzle.  Here are the notes I made as I was listening (obviously I jot them down when I get OUT of the pool):

Genre - mystery? psychological character study? family drama? soap opera?
Setting - wonderful if you've been there, but confusing if not familiar with Seattle, and who on earth takes a 15 year old to Antarctica?
Characters - whacko composites? believable?  who's the hero? villains? I know that events planner!
Formats - new aged epistulary?  does it work? very innovative, not normal diary/letters
story-line - forced? or farced?

So with all those seeming conflicting and negative notes, how on earth could I love this book?  The simple answer is that Semple, using an unusual format, tells a rather outlandish but basically believable story from the points of view of several of the wackiest and most loveable and/or detestable characters every to grace the pages of a novel and she makes it all work.

Told in emails, letters, FBI reports, newspaper stories, an emergency room bill, psychiatrist notes, this could have been a mish-mash of nothing.  Instead, we are able to see a story unfold from many perspectives as Bernadette Fox - prize-winning architect, mother of Bee, wife of Microsoft gaming wonder Elgin- spins through life in a reality totally out of sync with everyone around her.  She's so phobic about everything in the world that she contracts the daily necessities of life to a virtual personal assistant in India. She does not cook, she orders out, (actually the personal assistant does the ordering) saving the take out containers for building materials to use for an eventual rehab of their rapidly deteriorating house.   She battles with her next door neighbor over blackberry vines and PTA duties, enrolls her daughter Bee in an exclusive private school but prefers to remain uninvolved in any parental activities -even removing herself from the school's email list so she doesn't have to be bothered with them.  She promises Bee a Christmas trip to Antarctica but leaves the planning up to her virtual assistant, and then begins to back out as her phobias kick into high gear. Then she disappears.

The biggest problem with this book is that the reader cannot stop laughing long enough to read it quickly, but cannot read it quickly enough to be satisfied.  Sometimes I had to go back to be sure she really said what I thought she did.   Semple takes a disparate batch of glop and weaves it into a tightly bound package of funny but somehow serious thought, that gives us a glimpse of the corporate culture of a city and a citizenry over the top.  As you can tell from my notes, it's really hard to describe, but it's way harder to put this down once you start it.  It's going to be on my best of list for 2013, and I'm betting many of my readers will love it too.  Let me know.

A fortuitous goof?

A couple weeks ago, I got an early egalley of The Names of our Tears by P. L. Gaus when I thought I was downloading Margaret from Maine by John Monninger. Both are Penguin Group/Plume publications, but obviously the files got misnamed when they were posted on NetGalley, so I got this instead of that. What a lucky break for me! I was unfamiliar with this series, and would probably not have picked this up. I usually avoid anything labeled Christian lit, not because I'm anti-Christian (quite the contrary) but because the genre tends to be too gooey sweet for me.

The Names of Our Tears is a first rate murder mystery, evidently part of a series (Ohio Amish Mysteries). The religious connection comes from its setting and its characters. The victim is a young Amish girl who appears to have become somehow involved in drug-running between Florida and Ohio. How the local sheriff goes about solving the who and why makes for a riveting story. Gaus holds the reader's interest, adds plots twists and new elements, all the while weaving in a respectful description of Amish mores and precepts.

I've gone back (via the NetGalley feedback button) and asked Penguin for some publicity files (cover shots etc) for the Gaus book, and if I get it, I'll publish a more formal review closer to the pub date in May. In the meantime, put it on your radar screen....it's not the first in the series, but can easily stand alone. A solid 3 1/2 stars.

Snowy Sunday Sound-off

Merriam Webster: 
 Sound off: to voice one's opinions freely with force;
Synonyms: pipe up, shoot, sound off, speak out, spout (off), talk up 
Related Words:  bawl, bay, bellow, call, cry, holler, roar, shout, sing (out), thunder, vociferate, yell; articulate, enunciate

Welcome to Sunday Sound-Off, a regular weekly posting about my reading life, my other than reading life, and life in general in Maine. I also encourage you to drop a comment sounding off about your week, your gripes, your reading life, etc.

Wow...we are still hunkered down enjoying the beauty of mother nature. As of late Saturday, we still have power, we have plenty of food and firewood and we have auxiliary heat/cooking with propane gas, so we're spending a lovely weekend cut off from the world, sitting in front of the fire, cat-lapped and reading.

I spent a very productive book week getting caught up on reviews. Later this week you'll see reviews for a great 2012 Book ("Where'd You Go Bernadette"), and a couple of older (pre 2012)series by Rose Connors and William Kent Krueger I recently re/discovered. I also wrote and saved for later, reviews for books with upcoming pub dates in March and April. The publishers have requested that we hold reviews until we're closer to the pub date.

It's hard to believe that Ash Wednesday is this week. I usually try to focus my reading during Lent on at least one more spiritual book than my normal diet of cozies, mysteries, fiction and bios. This year I'm going the history route.  Two years ago I discovered Diarmaid MacCullough's chunkster Christianity: The First Three Thousand Years.  I downloaded a sample on my Nook, really liked it, but just felt like I didn't have the time to devote to the 1138 pages!  Then audible had a sale, I had some extra credits, so I bought the audio but at 46 hours and 35 minutes, I didn't want to start it until I had some serious listening time to devote.  Now Amazon has made the e-book available in Whisper-Sync with the audible version.  So, although I detest the Kindle's lack of page numbering (my mind doesn't work in "locations"), I think I'm going to spring for the full e-book and work my way through at least the 1st thousand years.  Before I commit to that next $18.99, I'm trying out the e-book as a library download.  I listened to and read along the Introduction - the first 48 pages - and it's really well done, easy to understand but not dumbed down, thoroughly fascinating, and as far from a proselytizing religious tome as one can get. It's serious history and I'm looking forward to this one.


At the same time, I really want to make a dent in another fascinating history book I purchased for our Nooks last year: In the Shadow of the Sword: The Birth of Islam and the Rise of the Global Arab Empire by Tom Holland.  I started this one last fall, and also got through the introduction (part I), but put it aside waiting for a period when I have more time to digest it.  I'm going to take some time to read at least another 170 pages to take me through part II.  This one has only 547 pages so I can probably finish it by summer.

I'm going to try to put a separate widget in my sidebar featuring what I call "on-going" reads-- books I don't want to finish in one swoop because they need time to be digested but if I don't keep at them, they'll languish forever.  Stephen King's 11-22-63 is one such, as well as 1Q84 by Haruki Murakami.

And finally this week, I'm lazing through two ARC from Net Galley, both set in Maine:  Reunion at Red Paint Bay by George Harrar and Out of Nowhere - a strong and deep YA book by Maria Padian that is grabbing this adult.  I'm enjoying both and should have some reviews coming up in the next couple weeks.  Red Paint Bay published last week, and Out of Nowhere comes out next week. 

Snowing and Blowing

While most of my blogging is usually about books, Tutu likes to keep everyone up to date on life in Maine. Unless you have not turned on any communication device in the past 48 hours, you probably know that here in Maine we are experiencing an historic blizzard. We live on the coast, just about a mile upriver from the ocean, so this area (near Rockland on your map) is getting swacked. My kitty is really confused because all of his favorite looking out on the world spots are blocked by snow. The most incredible part has not been the 25+ inches of snow, but the very gusty, gutsy winds. The snow is falling at 2-3" per hour and the wind is gusting over 40 mph. We are safe, warm, and well-fed. Gorgeous views are distracting us from our reading, but we're making a dent. I hope you are all safe and secure, warm and dry. Reviews later.........

 On the river......
Thursday before the storm...........................Saturday during the storm

The driveway....................
Before.....................................................After

Review: Cover of Snow by Jenny Milchman

 

I love to discover a new author to rave about. Jenny Milchman is one such writer. Her debut novel grabbed me from the opening sentence, and kept me involved until the very end.  In fact, I hadn't intended to finish it as quickly as I did, but it quickly became apparent that I was not going to be able to put this one down.

Set in the frigid winter of the Adirondacks, the story is about the mystery surrounding the suicide of Brendan Hamilton.  His wife Nora awakes one January morning to find her husband - a member of the Wedeskyul police force - missing, and a sense of foreboding hanging in the air.  When she discovers his body, she immediately calls on his partner and other policemen to help.

As she struggles to deal with Brendan's death, she searches for reasons, all the while facing a stone-wall of hatred from her mother-in-law, and another solid wall of non-cooperation from the police chief and several of his minions. As more and more "accidents" begin to happen to her and her friends, she begins to suspect that something vital is being kept from her.

The reader quickly grasps that there are hidden secrets, there is corruption, that something is rotten here in this small town, but Milchman's skillful writing keeps the suspense building until the very end.  That makes it hard to tell you about the book without spoiling it for you, but it also makes it very easy for me to recommend it highly, and to hope that Ms. Milchman is hard at work on another book. She certainly has shown she has what it takes to give us a good story.

Many thanks to Random House/Ballantine for making the egalley available.

Title: Cover of Snow
Author: Jenny Milchman
Publisher: Random House/Ballantine, (2012) 324 pages
Genre: mystery
Subject: police corruption; family secrets
Setting: fictional town of Wedeskyul  NY
Source: egalley from the publisher via Net Galley
Why did I read this book now?  It was offered to me in the hopes that I would read and review it.

The Goddaughter - TLC Blog Tour & Giveaway

From the Folks at RAPID READ....and they're not kidding - just over 1 hour.

Title: The Goddaughter
Author: Melodie Campbell
Publisher: Raven Books (2012) 146 pages
Genre: romance, chick-lit
Subject: crime, stolen gems, evading the mafia
Setting: various cities along the New York/Canadian border
Source: e-galley from TLC Book tours
Why did I read this book now? I agreed to do a review for TLC Book tours.

Ok, I'll admit it, it's pure chick-lit but IT'S FUN! It has a handsome stud, some behind the scenes sex, a rather contrived but ultimately almost believable plot, and some FUN characters. It's perfect as an airplane read, or for waiting in the doctor's office, or standing in line at the DMV, or even for snuggling under the covers with a bout of flu (like I did).  At 146  pages with plenty of white space it's just pure FUN.

I'm one of the last stops on this blog tour, so by now the actual plot is well known.  It's a simple story...Gina Gallo (goddaughter of mafia person) is recruited to deliver some stolen gems which are hidden in the heels of her super stilettos. Distracted by an extremely handsome stud, she takes the shoes off because her feet hurt. The shoes are stolen. Stud and girl begin frantic chase across international borders, and to three or four different cities to retrieve shoes.  Mafia relatives show up to "help".  Throw in some drop-dead, laugh out loud funny hotel room and restaurant scenes, and some smart-ass Italian girl remarks (she's a mafia goddaughter don't forget). Bottom line: you find yourself quickly finishing one of the fun-est and funniest books I've enjoyed in years!

I'll add that I don't normally read much chick-lit, and I almost turned down the invitation to participate in this tour. I'm so glad I didn't. Did I mention this book is FUN?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

About Melodie Campbell 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Melodie Campbell has been a bank manager, marketing director, college instructor, comedy writer, and possibly the worst runway model ever.

Melodie got her start writing comedy (stand-up and columns). In 1999, she opened the Canadian Humour Conference in Hamilton. She has over 200 publications, including 40 short stories, and has won 6 awards for short fiction. Her third novel, The Goddaughter (Orca Books), is a comic mob caper. Melodie was a finalist for the 2012 Derringer Award (US) and Arthur Ellis Award (Can), and is the Executive Director of Crime Writers of Canada.< Melodie was invited into the Toronto Press Club in 1994. There is no truth to the rumor that she once did a somersault off the Press Club billiard table. Connect with Melodie on her website, www.melodiecampbell.com, her blog, Funny Girl Melodie, on Facebook, or on Twitter.  

Now for the best part....if you're dying to read this one, and you should be, TLC books is offering a freebie to one lucky reader. It's an ebook, in your preferred format. Drop me a comment with your email address, and I'll pick a winner on Valentine's Day!

Sunday Sound-Off

Sound off: to voice one's opinions freely with force;
Synonyms: pipe up, shoot, sound off, speak out, spout (off), talk up 
Related Words:  bawl, bay, bellow, call, cry, holler, roar, shout, sing (out), thunder, vociferate, yell; articulate, enunciate 

Welcome to Sunday Sound-Off, a regular weekly posting about my reading life, my other than reading life, and life in general in Maine. I also encourage you to drop a comment sounding off about your week, your gripes, your reading life, etc.

While my posted reviews make it look like I'm not doing much reading, I've actually been quite immersed in the world of books for the first month of 2013. During January I finished 13 books, even though the  breakdowns don't always add to 13 because some were in two different categories.  For instance, I both listened to and read Bring up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel.  So here's the January recap:

```````````````````````````````````````````````` 

Books Completed in January

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♪♪= audio
** = ROOT (Read Our Own Tomes)--AKA Books off my shelves (whether electronic, print, or audio- in my possession before 1/1/2013).
Links are to the book page in LibraryThing where you'll see my review if I did one.

1.** Testament of Youth by Vera Brittain .★★★★★
2.**The Invisible Ones by Stef Penney. ★★★ ½ ♪♪
3. Agatha Raisin and the Quiche of Death by M.C. Beaton ★★★ ♪♪
4.**The Richest Woman in the World by Janet Wallach ★★★ (really more like a 2.8) ♪♪and print
5. Dinner with Churchill by Cita Stelzer. ★★★★
6. **44 Scotland Street by Alexander McCall Smith ★★★ ½ ♪♪
7. **The Goddaughter by Melodie Campbell ★★★ ½
8. Agatha Raisin and the Potted Gardener by M.C. Beaton ★★★ ♪♪
9. The Burgess Boys by Elizabeth Strout ★★★★½
10. Crawl Space by Sarah Graves ★★★ ½ ♪♪
11.**Bring Up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel ★★★★★ ♪♪ print and audio (audio is the ROOT)
12. The Names of Our Tears by P. L. Gaus ★★★ ½ ♪♪
13. Where'd You Go Bernadette? by Maria Semple ★★★★ ♪♪
14. Temporary Sanity by Rose Connors ★★★ ½ ♪♪

Last Sunday, I spent 4 1/2 hours working on my Great Blue Heron cross-stitch, and I plan to do the same today.  I can easily do this while I listen to an audio book, so I can indulge in two guilty pleasures at once.  Our Maine weather has been decidedly wicked this week, temps all over the place, and snow, ice, mud, sun, rain, power outages, and trees down.  Thank goodness nothing lasts longer than a day, so we just sit back and enjoy the variety and the excuse to remain curled up with a good book.

For those of you who will be glued to the tube watching the Super Bowl, best wishes to your team.  Our family is divided right down the middle:  the west coast branch obviously is routing for the Niners (as are Mr. and Mrs. Tutu) but the Baltimore branch of course is cheering on the Ravens.  Whoever wins, it's bound to be a great game.  And yes, I CAN listen to an audio, do my cross stitch and keep an eye on the game at the same time.!!  Happy Sunday.

Mini Review: Bring Up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel

Title: Bring Up the Bodies
Winner of the 2012 Man Booker Prize

Author: Hilary Mantel
Publisher: Henry Holt and Company (2012) 432 pages
Alternate format: Macmillan Audio 14hr, 35 min
Narrator: Simon Vance
Genre: Historical Fiction
Subject: Oliver Cromwell
Setting: England in the reign of Henvy VIII
Series: second book in Wolf Hall trilogy 
Source: personal purchase of audio -through Audible, contest win of Wolf Hall and Bring up the Bodies from Henry Holt
Why did I read this book now? arrival of the winning hard copies made them too appealing to resist

I really enjoyed Wolf Hall, the first of Hilary Mantel's trilogy about Oliver Cromwell, but this one is even better.  I can't possibly say anything in a review that hasn't been said by the hundreds of reviews posted.  Continuing the technique she employed in Wolf Hall, Mantel has the story told from the point of view of Cromwell, as he threads his way through the intrigues of Henry VIII's court, the maneuverings of rival families to maintain control through the women closest to Henry, and the ultimate downfall of Anne Boleyn.

The historical detail and the dialogue ring so true to the period.  Mantel shows us Cromwell as he manipulates people and opportunities to advance Henry and himself.  She does not spare the sensitivities of her readers, giving us an unvarnished glimpse of the brutal, bloody, and traitorous mores of the Tudor Court.  It is historical fiction at its best.

If you haven't had the chance yet to read these books, run out and grab them. 

Sunday Shout-out - January's abandoned books

As I get older and have more time to read, I am also finding it easier to abandon books that are not holding my interest. I used to feel that I was morally responsible for completing every book I started.  However, there are just too many good to outstanding books on the shelves (both physical and virtual) for me to feel anyway obligated to complete something that I'm going to end up labeling a big "MEH."  So far this month, I've completed 11 books ( 5 audio, 6 print) and am more than 1/2 way through another three.  The ones I've completed have all been fun to read, and two of them are going onto my definite keeper shelf. The others I'd describe as "glad I read them", and I wouldn't be uncomfortable recommending any of them to the right person to read, but none were jumping out screaming "Pulitzer!"

And then there were those that got "Pearled" - after Nancy Pearl's rule that says read the first 50 pages if you're under the age of 50, but as you get older you may subtract your age from 100 to find the number of pages you must plod through before abandoning your reading.  I always try to read 50-75 pages, so I can be sure that I'm truly not enraptured.  Here are two that didn't make the cut for me this month.



1. The Solitude of Prime Numbers by Paolo Giordano. I suspect this is one of those books not meant for me to read in the dead of the dark dark cold cold winter. It's very dark, very depressing story of two different children with troubled (very troubled) childhoods, who, if I read the reviews correctly meet up in adulthood and >>>>>blah, blah, blah. I gave it 65 pages and it wasn't working for me. I confess I picked it up at the library because of the interesting title (remember I was a math major). Maybe later.....

2. The Master Butchers Singing Club by Louise Erdrich. This may be one worth pursuing, but not until I have time and can find it in print. I downloaded the audio from the library and while I normally like this format, the author chose to do her own narration, and I suspect she does a great injustice to the story. I wish authors who are not trained readers/actors would stick to writing and let the pros do the talking. It was painful for me to listen, so I decided to stop after just one disc (about 40-50 pages) and keep my eyes open for a print/e copy.

Perhaps I should, like Will Schwalbe's mom in The End of Your Life Reading Club" jump to the end of these about to be Pearled books to see if the ending is OK enough for me to push through. What do you think? Do you ever read the ending first to see if it's going to be worth your while? Does that make reading the book (particularly a mystery) less inviting?

There was another book I abandoned mainly because of a formatting and file problem with a Net Galley download.  When I complained and filed my non-review with the publisher, the author was as distressed as I was, and has offered to send me a copy so I can read it and do a decent review.  As we used to say in my family: "The squeaky door gets the oil."  I always say it does no good to be irked at someone or something if the person with the problem isn't given a chance to correct it.

It's been wicked cold up here in Maine for the past week, so I've not been going out much.  However, those projects I mentioned at the beginning of the year, particularly the High School reunion project, have really eaten into my reading time.  I'm hoping to settle in today and finish "Bring up the Bodies" by Hilary Mantel.  I am really loving this one (it will most certainly go onto the keep it shelf) and want to finish this part of the trilogy.  Next week I hope to have a few reviews for you of some of the Net galley ARCs I've been leafing through.

Stay warm friends.

A Missing Piece to the Puzzle? Crawlspace by Sarah Graves

During the week I've been listening to audio books while I was scanning photos for our high school reunion memory book. I really enjoy Sarah Grave's Home Repair is Homicide series set in Eastport Maine, so I settled in to listen to this one.  It was a bit scary for me since it involves people being trapped in small dark spaces, and I'm extremely claustrophobic, but it's still well done enough and  just cozy enough that one knows it will all work out in the end, so I soldiered on.  Sarah Graves not only knows her old houses, she is also well-versed in boating, tides, and off-shores islands.

HOWEVER,.....there is one small item that doesn't make sense to me, and I had to go get a print copy to make sure I hadn't missed something while I was listening to this.  In fact, one of my on line fellow Mainers over on LibraryThing, looked it up for me and reported that yep!  There is a huge discrepancy about the rescue of one of the characters who is captured and restrained by the bad guys.  I really can't go into it without posting a HUGE spoiler and I don't want to do that, but Sarah Graves,  if you're listening,  could you post a comment on how I can ask you what happened?


Title: Crawlspace
Author: Sarah Graves
Publisher: Bantam -hardcover, 288 pages, 2009: Audio - Audio Go
Genre: Cozy mystery, amateur sleuth
Subject: psychotic killlers
Setting: Eastport Maine
Series: Home Repair is Homicide Mysteries
Source: Public library download
Why did I read this book now?  I am a fan of this series and was in the mood for a cozy.

Sunday Shout-out - some great reads off the shelves.

It was a quiet week, started with lots of fog as the temperatures really warmed up and melted some of the snow but the warm air meeting the cold ground always causes lots of fog for us.  HOWEVER, by Wednesday, the temperature plummeted and the snow fell again....all day.  It was glorious.  A heavy snow that prettied up all the ugly car-exhausted snow banks and made driving just iffy enough to postpone our book club and close the library early, so we could all go home and read.

Then I got hit by the nasty flu bug, although the case I had was is probably considered  fairly mild...I'll spare you the details.  Just felt "icky" and off my feed for several days. I'd had a flu shot back in early November, so I'm sure that helped keep the really bad symptoms down. I did choose to stay home for a few days so I didn't spread it to anyone else, and that gave me a good chance to do some wonderful fun reading from my own shelves.

I finished my ARC of Elizabeth Strout's newest book, The Burgess Boys and enjoyed it immensely. She so captures the ethos of living in Maine, her characters are so believable, and her prose is stark and descriptive. I just can't get enough of her.  Like her earlier Olive Kitteridge, this one will make a wonderful discussion book for our book club.  Watch for my review in the coming weeks.  Publication date is March 26, 2013.

I'm a huge fan of Alexander McCall Smith's 1st Ladies Detective Agency series and have read and listened to every one of the books in the series.  On the other hand, I never really got bitten by the bug to read some of his other series, but decided last fall to have another go at two of his series.  So I loaded the first of each of these onto my MP3, intending to listen to them while we were at the beach.  As time would have it, I just never got to them.

While I was lying in bed, not wanting to open my eyes for fear I'd get dizzy and nauseous again, I tuned into 44 Scotland Street, and reacquainted myself with all the delightful characters living in that flat. I'd forgotten how delightful McCall Smith's writing is.  The gentle, slow pace of his writing is perfect for a slow afternoon when nothing else is going to happen.  He develops his characters slowly, tantalizing us with the psyches of a very disparate group of residents.  I'm particularly fond of little Bertie, the precocious saxophone playing, train loving 5 year old with an absolutely obnoxious mother. Bertie just wants to find another 5 year old friend, and detach from his momma - not learn Italian and all the other silly things his mom has in store for him.  I definitely want to follow these adventures to see what happens to Bertie.   I finished this in two afternoons, and am now anxiously awaiting my next trip to the library to pick up the second in the series.

In the meantime,  I've started listening to another series of his, the Sunday Philosophy Club.  I'm not sure this bunch is ever going to "click" with me, but I'm determined to finish the first book, and then take a stab at the second before declaring them "not for me."  McCall Smith is just too good a writer to give up too soon.

To top off the week, I  finished a short Chick-lit book for TLC book tours (review to be posted on Feb 6th) - The GodDaughter by Melodie Campbell,  and a wonderful Maine cozy, Crawl Space from Sarah Graves' Home Repair is Homicide series

Finally, I spent a few hours looking through a preliminary list of 2012 books to be featured in a Maine library program later this year.  It was a fun project, even if it did add another 15 books to my reading pile for the spring!!  More to come on this one.

In the meantime, I'm settled in for a winter of good reading.

Review: Dinner with Churchill by Cita Stelzer

Title: Dinner with Churchill
Author: Cita Selzer
Publisher: Pegasus Books, 2013, 336 pages
Genre: Biographical sketch 
Setting: various locations, mid 20th century
Source: Net-galley, ARC from publisher
Why did I read this book now? Interest in Churchill and the period

Dinner with Churchill, published last week, is a delightful look at one of the world's most powerful figures.  Volumes have been written about Winston Churchill: his official biography with all the relatives, his education, his life adventures in the military, as a journalist and as a politician; his philosophy; his politics, etc.  In this book, Cita Stelzer chooses to present Churchill in one of his most eloquent and oft experienced roles - at the dinner table.  In fact, the sub-title, Policy Making at the Dinner Table explains her focus perfectly. 

Spotlighting Churchill's diplomatic conferences and meals during the World War II period, she takes us to the sight of  many meetings of Churchill, Roosevelt, and Stalin as they planned and executed their countries' responses to Germany's ongoing military attacks.  Many of these gatherings included the top military and diplomatic minds of the day.  She quotes heavily from notes made by personal secretaries and aides, by translators, and then gives us even more insight from butlers, cooks and housekeepers.

We are shown the elegant printed menus from events such as the secret meeting of Churchill and Roosevelt on the USS Augusta off the coast of Newfoundland in August 1941; we catch glimpses of personal railroad cars, small intimate dining rooms, large dining tables both circular and rectangular.  We visit the White House where Churchill stayed for several weeks after Pearl Harbor, spending Christmas with the Roosevelts (somewhat to Eleanor''s chagrin I suspect), meeting Stalin in Moscow in August 1942, traveling and dining in Adana, Tehren, Potsdam, Yalta, and Bermuda.  In each visit, Selzer shows us the preparations, the meal, and the personalities attending.

After these chapters, she then focuses on the food itself (and Churchill's predilection for beef), the wines (particularly Churchill's love of champagne,) the signature cigars, and the whole subject of rationing.  She also gives the reader a clear understanding of Churchill's background so that we come to see how Winston viewed good food and camaraderie as a part of the diplomatic life.  At the same time, we see a Prime Minister who is emphatic about making sure that he is gathering and using ration coupons to obtain needed items, making substitutions if the course he wants is not available, and making sure that the ordinary people of Great Britain share equally in the food that is available.  Of course, he accepts gifts from friends and admirers (even the King sent him some birds shot on his estate).  In the end, however, Churchill never allows his preferences for good food and wine to interfere with the main emphasis of his dinner parties: that of good conversation, bonhommie, and choosing the correct mix of people to meet and become better acquainted.  The food and wine acted simply as the fuel to stoke the engine of his hospitality.

This is a short, enjoyable book that gives the reader a touch of history, an insight into a fascinating giant of public life, and some interesting menus not normally seen by Americans in this day and age.  It's certainly worth the read.  The photographs of the dining scenes, the menus, and the historic figures add much to the enjoyment of the read.

Many thanks to Pegasus books for making the e-galley available through the Net Galley program.

Sunday Sound-off: World War I Challenge Wrap-Up

Merriam Webster: 
 Sound off: to voice one's opinions freely with force;
Synonyms: pipe up, shoot, sound off, speak out, spout (off), talk up 
Related Words:  bawl, bay, bellow, call, cry, holler, roar, shout, sing (out), thunder, vociferate, yell; articulate, enunciate  Did they forget my favorite "Bloviate"?  

Welcome to Sunday Sound-Off, a regular weekly posting about my reading life, my other than reading life, and life in general in Maine. I also encourage you to drop a comment sounding off about your week, your gripes, your reading life, etc.

As many of you know, last year I participated in a very challenging read sponsored by the wonderful owners of the War Through the Generations blog, Anna Horner of Diary of an Eccentric and Serena of Savvy Verse and Wit : the World War I reading challenge.  I had just gotten started reading the Maisie Dobbs books by Jacqueline Winspear and those books had piqued my interest in the period, so I accepted the challenge and embarked on one of the most gratifying years of reading in my lifetime.  History has always interested me and having the incentive to delve into a period about which I knew all too little was too good to pass up.  I ended my challenge  last week when I finished Vera Brittain's glorious memoir Testament of Youth.

Here's the list of what I read (links are to my  previously posted reviews).  Items marked with an * also made by Best of the Year list.
 
Non-Fiction
*The Guns of August by Barbara Tuchman
*The Beauty and the Sorrow by Peter Englund
*To End All Wars by Adam Hochschild
World War I: History in an Hour by Rupert Colley
Singled Out: by Virginia Nicholson
George, Nicholas and Wilhelm by Miranda Carter
***Testament of Youth (finished in 2013)

Fiction:
 The Paris Wife by Paula McClain (in my mind not necessarily a WWI read, but good for period setting)
Messenger of Truth by Jacqueline Winspear               
Among the Mad by Jacqueline Winspear               
Mapping of Love and Death by Jacqueline Winspear               
Elegy for Eddie by Jacqueline Winspear               
Incomplete Revenge By Jacqueline Winspear               
A Lesson in Secrets by Jacqueline Winspear       
An Unmarked Grave by Charles Todd               
*Fall of Giants by Ken Follett
*Light Between Oceans by M. L. Stedman

I will be continuing my reading this year by looking at some books that cover the period between the two World Wars.  

Review: The Invisible Ones - Stef Penney

 Finally!!!   this is another one I've been listening to for two weeks.  It was interesting enough, but slow on the uptake.  I kept "getting lost" and having to rewind and listen again.  This is one of the few books I suspect I'd have preferred in print.

I originally was notified that I had won this from the Early Reviewers program back in Nov 2011, but never received my copy.  I loved Penney's earlier book The Tenderness of Wolves and was really anxious to read this one.

Invisible Ones is about gypsies, their peripatetic life style, and the myths and prejudices that have built up around this ancient group of people.  It's fiction, there's a mystery (and a rather good one at that) that had me guessing until the end when I discovered I had figured it out all wrong.  It is difficult to tell how much research Penney did before writing this, so one doesn't know whether to take on board any of the issues, traditions, life styles portrayed, etc as the way things really were.

The story is told by two voices - Ray Lovell is a private detective who is hired by a father to find his missing daughter.  The daughter had married a gypsy.  Lovell's mother was from 'the family' so he had an entrè into the trailer court of the family where the missing girl had lived.  The other narrator is "JJ" a young teen living with all his extended family in the trailors.  There are many secrets, many many characters each with a story that is often told from both narrator's perspectives.  I think the huge number of characters and the telling /re=telling was what made it difficult to follow in audio, a format I normally like. 

Finally, not only do we have two different voices giving us the story, we have Ray Lovell's recollections wavering between a drug-induced coma in the hospital and the pre and post events of his hospitalization.  The book clearly indicates at the beginning of each chapter who is talking and where they are, but it required some real mental gymnastics to keep up with what was happening.

I'd love to read this in print later when I have more time.  The mystery in the story is really a good one, so I would recommend it, just not in audio unless you have 11 1/2 straight hours to sit and listen.

Title: The Invisible Ones
Author:Stef Penney
Publisher: Penguin Audio 2012
Narrator: Dan Stevens
Genre: Mystery
Subject: gypsies, missing persons
Setting: England
Source: Audible audio books (my own files)
Why did I read this book now? I liked the author's first book and was interested in the subject matter.
Rating ★★★ 1/2

Review: Testament of Youth by Vera Brittain

A staggering work of beauty, sadness, insight, introspection, and intelligence, Vera Brittain's memoir, Testament of Youth, ended my year of World War I reading on a pinnacle. As a relatively privileged member of pre-war Society (her parents had servants, she had lovely clothes and the opportunity to advance her studies), she still had to win a battle with her parents to allow her to attend Oxford and study English Literature.

While I didn't quite understand all the different ins and outs of the British educational system, it was still clear enough that this entailed quite a bit of extra study and effort on her part to be accepted into the program.  She settled in to her studies, and to a world of philosophical explorations with her brother Edward and his cronies.

When war broke out, Vera's generation was caught up in the emotional hysteria of the time.  Those like herself, her brother ( a talented musician) and Roland Leighton, her about to become fiancè, suddenly faced decisions that would affect not only their own lives, but the lives of their loved ones, and ultimately their nation.  Edward and Roland immediately presented themselves for service.  Vera was left behind, wondering if she would ever see them again, and whether her studies of English literature were really what the world needed.

Ultimately, she left school, joined the V.A.D. nursing corps and worked overseas in field hospitals as a nurse. Her sense of accomplishment and achievement as a female in a still very constricted society was immense. After Roland is killed early in the war, she stoically continued her nursing, and in her descriptions of that life she offers us some of the most poignant and descriptive writing of the era. When her mother is no longer able to cope at home because of war shortages and a lack of servants, Vera's father insists she return to the family home to take over running the household. While that move may not have been the seed of her later support of the women's movement, it certainly provided the impetus to make it grow. Shortly thereafter, Edward's death in Italy was the final blow to her emotional balance.

Brittain published this memoir of those war years (and those immediately before and after) in 1933, after she'd had the opportunity to reflect and process her feelings about the events she writes about, and after she'd become very active in the peace movement (speaking often on behalf of the League of Nations) and in the drive for women's rights.  The book is so powerful  because she kept very detailed diaries and had access to letters of the principles, thereby giving us a look into her soul at the moment the thoughts were captured.  She did not need to try to re-create the feelings.  As she writes this, she is still young enough, and wounded enough to give us a raw glimpse inside her psyche. She writes from her soul, and includes lyrical passages of poems from her own, her brother's and her fiancè's writings.

After the war, she returns to school and studies History in an attempt to come to grips with the cataclysm that has befallen her world. She finds herself in the generation of single women not necessarily interested in marriage, but still being pushed by family and tradition to aspire to a "normal family".  Her poem, "The Superflous Woman" is a masterpiece.  In fact, the whole book is.  It's a must read for anyone wanting to understand war and the havoc it wreaks on human beings.

 The Superfluous Woman
Ghosts crying down the vistas of the years,
Recalling words
Whose echoes have long died,
And kind moss grown
Over the sharp and blood-bespattered stones
Which cut our feet upon the ancient ways.

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *   *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *
But who will look for my coming?

Long busy days where many meet and part ;
Crowded aside
Remembered hours of hope ;
And city streets
Grown Dark and hot with eager multitudes
Hurrying homeward whither respite waits.

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *   *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *
But who will seek me at nightfall?

Light fading where the chimneys cut the sky;
Footsteps that pass,
Nor tarry at my door.
And far away,
Behind the row of crosses, shadows black
Stretch out long arms before the smouldering sun.

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *   *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *
But who will give me my children?
V.B. July 1920
pg. 535

There are hundreds of quotable thoughts in this book.  I have over 7 pages of notes to remind me of the beauty and the sorrow of her experience.  Many thanks to my daughter for lending me her copy of this best of the best books.  It was a great way to end my World War I reading, and an even better way to post the first book of the New Year.

Author: Vera Brittain
Publisher: Penguin Books, 1989,  661 pages
Orig publisher: Victor Gallancz, London, 1933
Genre: Memoir
Subject: personal reflections on war and women's roles/rights
Setting: Europe 1914-1925
Source: borrowed from my daughter
Why did I read this book now? part of my War Through the Generations challenge.

Sunday Sound-Off - Jan 6th- The Reading Life

Merriam Webster:  Sound off: to voice one's opinions freely with force  
Synonyms:pipe up, shoot, sound off, speak out, spout (off), talk up

Related Words:  bawl, bay, bellow, call, cry, holler, roar, shout, sing (out), thunder, vociferate, yell; articulate, enunciate

Did they forget my favorite "Bloviate"?

Welcome to Sunday Sound-Off, a series of  regular weekly postings about my reading life, my other than reading life, and life in general in Maine. I still plan to post reviews for much of my reading but will probably confine that function to books provided by publishers, or those I find so compelling that I must shout out.  I also encourage you to drop a comment sounding off about your week, your gripes, your reading life, etc.

To help me in organizing my life, this year my family decided NOT to get me any more books or gift certificates for Christmas.  Instead I got tools.   There were new nibs for my favorite fountain pen.  I'm still a fan of fountain pens, and must confess that it's really the only writing instrument I feel physically comfortable with if ink is required.  I'm a mechanical pencil addict for crosswords, sudokus, and plain old notes (not to mention the occasional sinful 'tick' in a book that I may own).

My darling daughter--she who inherited my reading lust and tastes--also gave me some refills on my book checkout kit, so I have actual date due cards and pockets to keep track of books I loan to friends and family,  and two packs of Levenger's wonderful bookmark note cards.  I'll be going through these by the time Mother's Day rolls around I'm sure (hint, hint family). Not sure if you can see all the topics, but there's even a row across the bottom to select a rating.  I filled four of these for the Vera Brittain book.

Since we returned,  I've gotten the library's annual budget submitted, got the template set up for my HS reunion booklet, and spent an exasperating 4-6 hours trying to get my Nook re-linked with the Adobe Digital Editions(ADE) on my computer.  It wasn't a NOOK problem. Somehow ADE got "unauthorized" and after trying everything suggested on Adobe's distinctly UN-user friendly web page "help", I bit the bullet and clicked on the "live-chat" button where a very helpful Adobe person got my logon reset within half an hour.  Of course, I then had to reload all those Net Galley and library books still available for download,  thus my actual reading time was almost non-existent this week.

So today I'm luxuriating in a slow day off.  I finally finished my first book of the New Year (although I started it way back on December 1st) and will get you all a review of Testament of Youth by Vera Brittain sometime later this week. I'm determined this afternoon to finish the 2 hours I have left on the audio of Stef Penney's The Invisible Ones while I sit in front of the fire, smell a nice stew bubbling away on the stove and finally get to some cross-stitching all the while watching the pretty snow fluffies provide some comfy gorgeous scenery. And I'll get a chance to try out the awesome clip on magnifying glasses I got in the Christmas stocking.

Enjoy your Sunday......and don't forget to "sound off" about anything that floats your boat.