Book 46 (2011): Then Came You

Then Came You is told in the voice of 4 women, all with different stories, who are joined together by infertility.

India re-makes herself and find her dream husband but the only thing lacking is their ability to have a child. Jules needs money to save her father so she sells her eggs while she's a poor college student. Annie is a young women with a family who's been beaten by the economy and she and her husband decide she can be a surrogate to bring in extra cash, and there's Bettina, India's step-daughter who is unsure of her place in her family's life after he parents divorce, and who wants to protect her beloved father from making a terrible mistake of having a late in life child.

All four women come together with unexpected twists and turns. Not only does this novel explore their own individual stories but of how these characters meld together. Great work by Jennifer Weiner! (352 pages)

B

Book 45 (2011): The Good-bye Quilt

The Goodbye Quilt is a quick little read about a mother who drives her only child, her daughter, across country, to go to college. As she and her daughter drive this journey they try to grow their relationship while the mother pieces together a memory quilt to give her daughter upon arrival at the university.

Sweet story and an easy, short read. (250 pages)

C-

Book 44 (2011): Like Dandelion Dust

It's been awhile between reading and posting so pardon my poor writing. I also didn't care enough about the book to Google info to get it right so...

Some woman gave her baby boy up for adoption because her abusive was in prison for domestic violence. She never even told him she was pregnant.

Fast forward ahead 5 years. The guy gets out of prison and the woman thinks he's changed so she confesses. He wants his son back so he starts the process, even though the boy is in a loving home with 2 parents and he doesn't know he adopted.

**SPOILER ALERT**

Due to a snafu in the adoption paperwork the judge grants the return of the 5 year old boy to his birth family. he's to visit them 3 times and on the 4 visit he's to stay permanently. His adoptive parents are crazy over the decision and decide to run away to Europe, to a country with no extradition.

Then the birth mother sees her husband be abusive to the boy and before the 4th visit she has the husband arrested again and they sign the papers saying they don't want him after all.

It's religious fiction- the boys prays to God to not have to stay with the "mean" people and the adoptive mother is a faithful Christian who tries to convert her sister who does find God by the end of the book.

It was okay, predictable, and i still felt I was being hit over the head with religion. (384 pages)

C-

Book 43 (2011) The Bird Sisters

Twiss and her sister are spinsters, living together, hobbling around in the house they grew up in. The Bird Sisters explains how they came to be a pair of single old ladies in their childhood home, told in flash backs to their summer of 1947, the summer cousin Bette came to visit, the summer their daddy lived in the barn, and the summer of first loves and heart breaks.

This is a really sweet story, nice character development, and a nice blend of flashback story telling, with just enough twist to keep interest and without the reader forgetting the "modern" story.
(pages 304)

B-

Book 42 (2011): The Postmistress

The Postmistress is 2 stories that eventually overlap into ton tale.

In a small American New England coastal town in 1941, the small town worried about the War and whether it would come to America. The postmistress dated Henry, the man who kept watch over the ocean, watching for the Germans, watching to protect the town. No one seems to believe the War will come to the States, though they do keep a close eye on the lone German man who suddenly appeared.

People all over the town listen to the reports on the radio of what's happening during battle, of the Blitz in London. They hear the horror stories as told by Ed Murrow, and of young woman reporter and journalist Frankie Bard.

The other story is of that of Frankie and her life in London as a reporter and about her trip into the Field, as she rides the trains trying to capture the voice of the Jews and other refugees.

The folks back in America listen to these report and Dr. Fitch, after a tragedy he couldn't prevent, goes to London to try and help, leaving his young wife, alone and pregnant, waiting for him. He's drawn by the stories he hears from Frankie's voice, and he's running from the horror he feels he caused.

The two stories come together.

It's a sad story and full of tragedy. It is well written, but still so sad. (336 pages)

B

Book 41 (2011): The Zookeeper's Wife

The Zookeeper's Wife: A War Story by Diane Ackerman is not my favorite wife tale, of late. It was billed as a story of a couple who ran the Warsaw, Poland Zoo before WWII and then they used the zoo grounds to hide Jews. That was the big thrust in all the blurbs written about this book. But...!

And yes, it is about that, to a certain degree. But Ackerman's writing style and tone shift and change so much throughout this book, it was hard for me to get a reading rhythm, and hard for me to read, period. She shifts from storytelling style with beautiful descriptions, choked full of emotions into a no- nonsense telling with lots of statistics and details about the war, lots of detailed history, did I mention LOTS of detailed history about all things surrounding the war, persons involved, events during and leading up to the war... Often times there was so much history interjected into this tale, that the story of Antontia and Jan (the zookeepers) seemed to be lost, or at least an after thought.

There is a grand cast of characters: people who work at the zoo, the Underground, the people being hidden, family members.

While it was interesting, it wasn't what I was expecting. (342 pages)

C

Book 40 (2011): The Paris Wife

Hemingway is a real asshole, and I've really known that, but it was more apparent in this story, this historical fiction tome, maybe because it seemed like Hadley was telling this story. And I know he's dead and I know he was a brilliant writer, and part of the Lost Generation (blah, fricking rah rah blah) but it doesn't change the fact that he was a horror to his first wife. Probably why he had 4 of them.

The Paris Wife is the fictional account of his first marriage, to Hadley, to his one true love, she being 9 years old than he. They married and moved to Paris where he wrote and they lived, and they "experienced" where they hung out with the likes of Ezra Pound, Gertrude Stein, F. Scott, and many others. It seemed like a wonderful and true romance. Until, of course, Hemingway, screwed it all up.

It's an obvious testament to the powerful writing of author Paula McLain that though this is historical fiction, she wove such a grand and moving tale. I did a bit of research myself to see what I could discern fact from fiction and of course the emotions, the tone, the voice are works of fiction, from the creative and innovative author's mind, but the story is that of Hemingway and Hadley- the love, the happiness, the tears, the betrayal- warts and all, are true.

And while I love the lives of real people, especially my beloved authors, taken into a fictional setting, and I loved this book, I still think Hemingway was an ass. (314 pages)

B+

Book 39 (2011): A Reliable Wife

I'm not sure what to make of this story. There's lots and lots of sex, in act and deed, in word and thought, almost as an obsession. And the story of rich Ralph getting a mail order bride, and the twist of her past and the sadness of Ralph's past intertwining is really a good story.

Set against the stark, cold, desolate Wisconsin winter of 1908 adds to the darkness of the story; there's no happiness and light in this novel.

I do recommend it, if for nothing else than I'd like to hear what others think. (293 pages)

C-

Book 38 (2011): Gatsby's Girl

I have a fondness for novels about real people. I LOVE them. Lucy, about Lucy Mercer and FDR is one of my favorite books, for example! So, I was very excited about Gatsby's Girl because 1) it's a fictional story about real people; 2) it's about F. Scott who is one of my all time favorite authors; 3) and it's tied to The Great Gatsby, one of my favorite books (though I have a love- hate relationship with this novel. In 2011, Year of our Lord, I have a "love" relationship, apparently!)


This novel chronicles the romance between young Scott, age 19 and struggling his way through Princeton, and young boarding school girl Ginevra Perry (who is based on the real life love interest Ginevra King). Ginevra is spoiled and self- centered. Scott is intense and brooding.

They meet at a party one Christmas and the relationship blooms through letters. Then there's a secret meeting in the City to see a play and then more letters, around which time that Ginevra is becoming board with the young F. Scott. Then he arrives at her home for a visit- she a wealth spoiled girl with snobby parents and he a poor lad who aspires to be a writer.

Ginevra casts him off and burns his letters. The latter part of the novel then focuses on Ginevra's marriage and her adult life, how boring it is and how tired she is. Then, through several unexpected twists, Ginevra meets Scott again, later in life, hoping to romance again, but to no avail.

This is, loosely, based on real events. Many of the details of the love affair, if you can call it that, between these two took place mostly through letters, and the ones that survived were Ginevra's, but Scott has always claimed she was his greatest love and most of his central female characters are based on her, especially that of the infamous Daisy Buchanan.

And since this the year I have a love affair of my own, with all things Gatsby, I'm also pleased to say it's the second fictional Gatsby tie in; I read The Double Bind earlier this year and LOVED it as well!

A good book, fun, lots of speculation! (320 pages)

B+

Book 37 (2011): Life Sentences

Sort of a drama/ mystery thing going here, with lots of character development... but I really wasn't a fan of Life Sentences by Laura Lippman. I really, really wanted to like this book because I heard great things about it and about author Lippman but I just didn't enjoy it. And I can't put my finger on exactly why.

Almost 50 year old writer Cassandra Fallows garnered quite a bit of success with her memoirs of growing up in Baltimore in the 1960s and a second book that dealt with her marriages and affairs and her lovers. She then dives into fiction, without much success.

She decides to explore her childhood friends and goes back to Baltimore to examine these friendships and a possible book idea- back into her successful fiction realm- when she learns of a childhood classmate's legal issues. Calliope Jenkins is accused of murdering her infant son. Jenkins spent seven years in prison refusing to answer any questions about the disappearance and possible death of her child. Fallows tries to reconnect with three of her former friends to compare memories of. She used this as research for her story but to also help her re-asses her own childhood memories and the true-ness of such.

This book weaves the complex stories of race (Cassandra is white and her friends, including Calliope, were black), relationships, love and allowed for lots of self examination.

I think I'm the only person who wasn't personally thrilled with this novel and again, I can't quite place my finger on why. Too real? Should be a memoir itself but it's really a work of fiction? Lack of likable characters? I'm not sure of why it garnered such displeasure from me, but it did. And because I feel like I'm trained to say something positive- well, I like her use of vocabulary. (352 pages)

C-

Book 36 (2011): Red Hook Road

I think I liked this book. I liked the premise, most certainly, and I'm not giving anything away here: a young couple dies in a car wreck after leaving their wedding ceremony and are en-route to the reception. The rest of the novel is how the families are left to cope. What a morbid yet fascinating story!

The other thing that makes me say I think I liked it is that I didn't really like many of the characters, certainly not the mothers of the deceased and that's who this story primarily focuses. It does shift from character to character: the groom's brother, the bride's father, sister and grandfather, a prodigy niece... the story goes between all these but the central focus is on the moms, neither whom I liked.

But I do like that the story takes place over 5 summers, in Maine, and I like to see the evolution of the characters, or at least the evolution of their private grief.

Not what you would call light reading, but it certainly does move along. I hate to say it, but I found it to be a page turner. (343 pages)

B