Rainpebble turns ORANGE

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FOR 2013:

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Welcome Orange January. I am excited that you are coming to visit and that you get to stay for a whole month! I read 28 Orange listed books in 2012 and hope to come close to that this year.

http://www.librarything.com/list/492/all/Favourite-books-from-the-2013-Womens-Pr....

Orange January:


1. Foreign Bodies by Cynthia Ozick; S/L 2012; (1 1/2*)
2. Painter of Silence by Georgina Harding; S/L 2012; (4*)
3. The Translation of the Bones by Francesca Kay; L/L 2012;
(3 1/2*)
4. The Sealed Letter by Emma Donoghue; L/L 2012; (2 1/2*)
5. State of Wonder by Ann Patchett; S/L 2012; (5*)
6. The Passion of Alice by Stephanie Grant; L/L 1996; (4*)
7. Half Blood Blues by Esi Edugyan; S/L 2012; (5+*)
8. Sorry by Gail Jones; L/L, 2008; (5+*)
9. The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller; Winner, 2012; (4 1/2*)

An Orange a month to meet Darryl's Challenge:

February:
10. The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold; L/L, 2003; (4*)

March:
11. The Light Between Oceans by M.L. Stedman; L/L 2013;
(4 1/2*)
12. Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn; L/L 2013; (3 1/2*)
13. The Red Book by Deborah Copaken Kogan; L/L 2013; (2 1/2*)
14. Ignorance by Michele Roberts; L/L 2013; (3 1/2*)
15. The Forrests by Emily Perkins; L/L 2013; (4*)

April:
16.The Innocents by Francesca Segal; L/L 2013; (3 1/2*)

May:
17. Where'd You Go Bernadette? by Maria Semple; S/L 2013; (3 1/2*)
18. Life after Life by Kate Atkinson; S/L 2013; (5*+)

June:
19. Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel; S/L 2010; (3 1/2*)
20. Honor: A Novel by Elif Safak; L/L 2013; (4 1/2*)

Orange July:


21. When We Were Bad by Charlotte Mendelson; S/L 2008; (4*)
22. The Solace of Leaving Early by Haven Kimmel; L/L 2003; (4 1/2*)

An Orange a month to meet Darryl's Challenge:


August:
23. The Clothes on Their Backs by Linda Grant; Orange L/L 2008; (2*)

September:
The Invisible Bridge by Julie Orringer; began in September but completed in October so in reality I missed this months Orange read. :-(

October:
24. The Invisible Bridge by Julie Orringer; Orange Prize L/L 2011; (5*)

November:
25. Girl With A Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier; (4*)

December:
26. Paradise by Toni Morrison; (2 1/2*)

75 laytonwoman3rd
Dec 14, 8:22am
Nice to see you so organized for January and the entire year, Belva! I haven't given Orange January a thought, but since I do have Song of Achilles on the shelf here, I'll start thinking about reading it this go-round. Good luck to your grandson, and safe travels to you and your family.

76 TinaValdes
Dec 14, 10:15am
Are these what you plan to read for the upcoming year or what you managed in 2012?? If the latter, CONGRATULATIONS!! If the former, good luck!! :)

77 rainpebble
Dec 14, 7:45pm
>#75;
Thank you Linda. We are very excited.
I am awaiting Song of Achilles which is on hold at the Library. It will be interesting to see what those of us who read it have to say. My experience with the Greek classics is not much so it may slog for me, but hoping not.

>#76;
Hi Tina. Yes, these are the Oranges that I plan to read for 2013. And thank you for the good luck wishes. I generally read only Oranges during January and July, so I'm thinking that 8 books for the month is not too many. We shall see.

Thank you both for popping over. The pleasure was all mine.

Hello Belva! Nice new thread. I'll have to create one of my own.

I am not a big Greek classics fan but Song of Achilles is wonderful. She writes in an easily accessible way and the story flows well.

Ah bucket, I am so happy to hear that. I am yet a babe when it comes to mythology or the Greek tragedies. Beginning to feel like I may be able to cope with this one. Thank you for your post.

Thank you Laura. I needed to begin early as I won't be in town at the end of the year.

Thank you for stopping by you two. I will be checking out your threads when up as well. :-)

Song of Achilles doesn't even feel like a myth, it's just a great story. The myth stuff is subtlely there, and them, bam! you know a bit about Greek mythology.

That's a lot of Orange books to read. I'm impressed with how many you plan to read.

I didn't realize Haven Kimmel had a book on the Orange list (longlist 2003.) I adored her memoirs and would be interested in trying one of her novels.

>raidergirl3;
I am looking forward to reading The Solace of Leaving Early. I bought it a couple of years ago for my R/L book group and didn't read it and dropped out of that particular book club. At that time I didn't know it was an Orange read. So when perusing the list this year for books that I wanted to read and came across that title something just went **bing** in my lil ole brain. And I looked at my books and sure enough, I had it. Read some of the reviews and thought I wanted to read it. So it goes up on the list. If I like it I will have to check out her memoirs, which I usually quite enjoy reading anyway. So thanks for the rec.

I have fudged a bit and read my first Orange for January. I cannot recommend it highly enough. What a way to begin my Oranges for 2013.

State of Wonder by Ann Patchett:

An amazing story of Doctors & Scientists looking for new medicines in the Amazon to help mankind and finding much more than they are seeking.
This is a fascinating story of a young Dr., Marina Singh, who studied Obstetrics and Gynecology under the foremost Dr. in this field, Dr Swenson. As an intern when doing an emergency C-section Marina accidentally blinds a baby who presents breech and face up. Unable to face what has happened she changes to the field of Pharmacology. Unbeknownst to her, her teacher and mentor has also gone into the field of Pharmacology.
Marina goes to work for Vogel, a large pharmaceutical company. She works in a lab doing research on lipids and cholesterol along with a Dr. Anders Eckman. They work together for seven years before the chief administrator of Vogel, Mr. Fox, with whom Marina has more than a business relationship, asks Dr. Eckmann to go down to the Amazon and find Dr. Swenson who has been working there for over five years and does not communicate with the company and Mr. Fox wants to know how far along she is with her research and how much longer before a solution will be found. He was to find Dr. Swenson, get the requested information and return home with or without Dr. Swenson. Dr. Eckman was an avid bird watcher and was more than willing to go. Months later, having still heard nothing from Eckman, they finally receive a brief letter from Swenson telling them that Dr. Eckman had died of a fever and had been buried there in the Amazon.
It is decided that Dr. Marina Singh will go now to attempt to locate Dr. Swenson and get the information. So Marina goes. She waits in the city of Manaus where Swenson comes to get her supplies for the labs, food stuffs and other supplies needed out in the field. She waits weeks and then in the most unlikely of places Dr. Swenson turns up. But she is not forthcoming with the information that Mr. Fox wants and needs. He cajoles Marina into going into the jungle with Swenson, who is very aggravated with this turn of events. But go, Marina does.
When they reach their destination Marina learns so much of the tribal peoples that Swenson is working with and sees that most all girls and women above the stage of menses and even into old age are pregnant or have new babies. This is something that Swenson and her team are studying. They are also close to finding a formula that would stop people from getting malaria.
Marina ends up becoming fascinated by the people, the science, the other Doctors and finds herself still enamored by Dr. Swenson and all that she does. She loves the work and learns so much about everything. I will leave it to you to read this for yourself and learn what all else is entailed in the story. You won't be sorry that you read it.
I found this book to be fascinating and a real page turner. I gave it 5 stars and highly recommend it.

Have what seems like long since completed The Translation of the Bones and will put up a review later. This was a 3 star read for me.

Am nearly finished with The Sealed Letter and finding it to be just okay.

I really liked The Sealed Letter. I especially couldn't believe it was the same author as Room. Such different books. It reminded me more of a Sarah Waters book. Hopefully your next book will be better.

I found the courtroom drama in The Sealed Letter to be fascinating. It was so interesting to see how things were done years ago. And the Author's Note was very notable. So much info gathered into so few pages, I hadn't realized that the book was based on an actual lifetime event and within the Author's Note I found several books that I will be checking my library for.
My main problem with the book was that I could not come to relate to or care about any of the characters, not even Fido. I did not dislike the book and I am glad that I read it. I liked it well enough to give it 3 stars. Glad you liked it raider. I have been putting off reading Room. Maybe next year.

#20 I'm hoping to read The Sealed Letter next month too. At this rate you'll have read most of your Oranges before January :-)

I only brought two with me on our Christmas trip and was surprised that I comleted both of them. I ended up going to the hotel gift shop and purchasing 3 books there and have begun one but they are just books. I found nothing special but I may enjoy them as well. Safe Haven, a romance, The Guardian, "a tale of betrayal and obsession (a love story) and Death Comes to Pemberley, a Jane Austen & Co. murder mystery by P.D. James.

soul, I hope you find The Sealed Letter to be a good read and you are quite correct. I did fudge and begin early. Am down my first two Oranges. The Sealed Letter and The Translation of the Bones, both 3 * reads for me.

Hey Belva -- you're off to a great start!

YAY!

Yay me and Yay you. It is going to be a good year for Vitamin C!~!

The Sealed Letter by Emma Donoghue
thoughts and comments:

This is a story about a woman suffragist who is sucked into an old friend's unhappy marriage and trysts. The effect that it has on her life is certainly not her desire.
I found the courtroom drama in The Sealed Letter to be fascinating. It was so interesting to see how things were done years ago. And the Author's Note was very 'notable'. So much info gathered into so few pages, I hadn't realized that the book was based on an actual lifetime event and within the Author's Note I found several books that I will be checking my library for. Other than that it was rather meh.
Some quotes:

"She goes up to bed, and sits reading The Small House at Allingham to bore herself to sleep." hmmm

"The knack will be, to it without saying it; anything wxplicit could rebound in our faces," the barrister goes on. "Admiral, are you by any chance familiar with the story of The Purloined Letter?"

"Four years after testifying in the trial, Fido mulled over her experiences with Helen Codrington, more in sorrow than in anger, in a bestselling novel called "Change upon Change". (wrong touchstone) The persona she adopts is that of a sober man called Wilfred, helplessly devoted and secretly engaged to his flighty cousin Tiny. "Women have so many natures," he concludes wistfully; "I think she loved me well with one." In the preface to the American edition of 1873 (renamed "A Reed Shaken in the Wind", Fido admitted."

My main problem with the book was that I could not come to relate to or care about any of the characters, not even Fido, the main character. I did not dislike the book and I am glad that I read it. I liked it well enough to give it 3 stars.

The Translation of the Bones by Francesca Kay
thoughts & comments:

This is a little gem of a book written about a dumpy little middle aged 'girl', Mary Margaret, who is a devout Catholic and in helping to clean the Church thinks that as she is cleaning a statue of Jesus, he begins weeping tears of blood down upon her. She falls in a faint and is in hospital for a few days with a nasty gash in her head.
Word gets out and the Church, much to the dismay of the priest and others, becomes a meeting place for the 'seeking'.
For me, the most interesting part of this story is the 'girl's mother, Fidelma. She is such a large lady that getting about has become impossible for her and she has not been out of their flat for fourteen years. Mary Margaret does all of the shopping and cleaning while Fidelma does the cooking and sits her huge, hulking body in her chair by the window all day and watches what goes on outside.
In Mary Margaret's mind Jesus comes to her and asks her to make a sacrifice to Him. The child she chooses lives but the child who attempts to save him dies from a knife wound inflicted by Mary Margaret.

Some quotes from the book:

"Now she wondered through the sitting room and the kitchen, wanting something, but not knowing what that was. She picked up the book that she had been reading--Elizabeth Taylor's first novel--and put it down again. She wondered about telephoning a friend. By then it was after six; she could legitimately suppose that it was time to change for dinner."

"Glory be to Jesus
Who in bitter pains
Poured for me the lifeblood
From His sacred veins!"

"You will be informed when there is information. Meanwhile you will receive a fistful of sharp words that sting like gravel hurled. Hospital. Psychiatric. Knife wound. Child. Stabbed.
And in the meantime what will you do, you murderer's mother, walled in your own flesh, sealed in your tower, unregarded by the careless world? Will you slowly starve to death, moldering in your folds of skin? Smash through the meagerly rational aperture of window with a rolling pin? Telephone for takeaways to be dropped outside your door until there is no money left to buy them? Condemned to death; well there are worse fates, surely. Except that, in the rightful way, a woman bound to die would do so in the dawn, accompanied by jailers, hangmen, a black-clad priest with a prayer book and a look of pity in his eye. Not all alone, and step by step, as she must. And Mary-Meg, your poor suffering and murderous daughter? Doomed to die as well?"

I liked all of the characters in this story and could even relate to all; even Fidelma. It is very well written and I recommend it with 3 1/2 stars.

I am currently reading Tides of War by Stella Tillyard. Have just begun it and at page 16 my head isn't really into it yet. This one was L/L in 2012. I am hoping to really like it once I am committed.

Nice review of The translation of Bones, I'll note it for a possible Orange July read. I read her An Equal Stillness a couple of years ago and enjoyed it.

T/Y and I will check to see if my Library has An Equal Stillness. It sounds good.

Belva, I already have The Translation of the Bones on my wish list or I would add it. Great review! The mention of Elizabeth Taylor's fist novel was interesting. I read my first LT last year -- Angel. It won't be my last!

She is beyond wonderful Donna, isn't she!?!

Half Blood Blues by Esi Edugyan; S/L; 2002; (5*+)

A beautiful story about a horrendous time in the history of the world. This is a story that moves from the Paris & Berlin of 1939 to the Baltimore, Berlin & Poland of 1992 and back, with Sid as our narrator. It is the story of extremely talented Black Jazz musicians playing in the ratty closed & boarded up clubs of Nazi Berlin. They have to hide and slink about to be able to play but play they must for this feeds their souls. They hang together day and night with one or the other going out to find booze, food or whatever their needs may be if it can be found.
A French woman, Delilah, comes into their lives; sent from Paris by Louis Armstrong to find them and bring them back to play with him. But the timing is very tenuous because of Nazi Germany and the "boots" (S.S.) stalking the streets of Berlin. And so they hole up and play. The 19 year old Hiero is masterful on the horn, Chip on the drums, Sid on the Bass, Fritz on alto sax, Ernst on the licorice stick (clarinet) and Paul on piano. They spend their time playing and hiding from the S.S. Then Paul is taken, not to be seen again.
As times go from bad to worse, they get their papers in order and hightail it off to Paris. But not all are able to go. Their world turns to madness when one day they waken to hear the German army marching, unhindered by the army of France, into Paris.
As I read this book I could hear their disagreements, feel their pain when they hurt one another or the world hurt them and see the ugliness of their world along with the beauty of their music.
I highly recommend Half Blood Blues and rated it a 5 star read. Oh, that my next one could be as good.

Next up: Foreign Bodies by Cynthia Ozick. S/L 2012; (1 1/2 *)

If you wish to read a book filled with adjectives this is the one for you.
We have Bea, a high school teacher of literature, her exhusband Leo who is a composer of music, her estranged brother Marvin, a 'very important' business man, her nephew Julian, who has skipped out on Uni and gone to Paris, (whereabouts unknown), & her niece Iris.
Bea has never met her nephew and has seen her niece only once and very briefly at that. She lives and works in New York and her brother's family lives in Southern California. She is contacted by Marvin who demands that she take time off from her teaching and go to Paris to find Julian and bring him home. She really doesn't want to satisfy her demanding and demeaning brother, but finds herself making arrangements for someone to take over her classes and making travel arrangements as well.
When she arrives in Paris it takes her some time to find Julian and when she does she learns that he is with a woman whom he is in love with and while the young lady works in Social Services, Julian waits tables part time. She is unable to talk him into returning home. Bea returns to New York and apprises her brother Marvin of Julian's resistance to leaving Paris. This angers Marvin greatly and he blames Bea for the boy's decision.
Later Marvin decides to send Iris to Bea to fill Bea in on all of the details of Julian's life and what he is like, hoping that with this knowledge if Bea were to return to Paris she would have a much better chance of enticing the young man to return to home and school. Iris stays one day and skips out leaving a note for Bea telling her that she is going to Paris to find her brother and attempt to bring him home. Iris thinks she would have better luck than her Aunt Bea. When brother Marvin finds this out he again blames his sister Bea and is very angry.
Things go from boring to more boring to most boring. This book was either over my head or I just didn't get it. It just seemed half azzed to me. When I finished it, I thought to myself what a waste of 4 or 5 hours. I rated this one 1 1/2 stars just because I found the characters rather interesting but I didn't care for the writing nor the storyline and I do not recommend it. I am so surprised that it made the Orange Prize listing.

edited to admit that apparently I am the only one that this book did nothing for. Therefore I am claiming the old 'head in the wrong place at the wrong time' excuse.

Next up: Painter of Silence by Georgina Harding; S/L; 2012;

You weren't the only one who was not impressed with Foreign Bodies. Not at all.

33/34 - It got a 2 1/2 star from me. Painter of Silence, on the other hand got a much higher rating. And Half Blood Blues... even higher still. Loved that book!

I liked Foreign Bodies a bit better than you and Elizabeth and Danielle, but not a whole lot if I remember correctly. I wasn't all that impressed by Painter of Silence either. In fact, I keep looking for a winner in last year's nominees and haven't found it yet except for Lord of Misrule, which I loved.

Painter of Silence by Georgina Harding

A beautiful title for a beautiful story.

The backdrop of this story is pre & post war Romania and tells the tale of a deaf-mute stable boy, Tinu, who is the son of a house cook and his friend and defender, Safta, the daughter of the house. They live in the countryside and as described in the book, it is very lovely and peaceful there. Then comes the war. The family all leave for safer parts of Europe except for Safta and her mother, who eventually leaves as well. Safta soon leaves also and goes to live with her father, attending university and becomes a nurse.
She goes to work in a hospital and after some time she notices a young gentleman patient who doesn't speak and soon realizes that he is her childhood friend Tinu. Tinu has a horrible pulmonary illness and coughs incessantly. She pays special attention to him in her hours & days off and after a long period of recovery, though yet ill, she and a fellow nurse are allowed to take him to her fellow nurse's home to complete his recovery.
Because Tinu could never communicate naturally, he has learned to draw and to draw beautifully. But he doesn't just draw images and pretty pictures. He draws the world around him. Things he has seen, loved; things that were part of his life.
This story was written in the form of past tense, present tense, past tense, present tense. etc. A form of writing that doesn't always work but in this book it does so beautifully. The main part of this storyline is Tinu telling of he and Safta's time apart in pictures.
I liked this book very much indeed, rated it 4 stars and highly recommend it. I know that it will not leave my mind for some time to come.

Next up: The Passion of Alice by Stephanie Grant

The Passion of Alice by Stephanie Grant

This could be an important little book if you or a loved one suffers from an eating disorder. The protagonist, Alice, a 25 year old suffers from anorexia which her separated parents do not realize. They know but can't admit it until one day she suffers a heart attack. Then along with her doctors, they & she agree that she needs acute care and she goes into a rehab facility that works with addicts, alcoholics, persons with all types of disorders. They are separated by 'disease'.
Alice weighs just over 90 pounds and is 5 ft, 10 & 3/4 inches tall. While in the facility she meets girls suffering from bulimia as well as anorexia. She becomes acquaintances with a few of them and they go through their days having meals together, therapy groups together, exercise classes specifically based on their needs,etc. Alice is only allowed to do yoga, stretching, the warm up & cool down parts of the aerobics sessions and she is allowed to swim but not allowed to do laps. Their days are kept very full.
After a time she begins to eat her meals or part of them and eventually she edges over the 100 pound mark. One of her friends, Gwen who has been engaged for 10 years but has not married yet as she and her fiance want to have children. Her menses has stopped (as it does with most anorexics) and her fiance wants her to be stable before they wed. Anyway while Alice, Gwen and 2 other girls are taken on a supervised mall shopping trip Gwen collapses when she suffers a dramatic bone disintegration. A few days later she passes. Alice is devastated. She refuses to eat anything and her weight drops dramatically once again. They put her in the hospital there and tube or I.V. feed her. They weigh her in a hammock/sling like get up as they do not want her to know her weight. But the doctors are concerned as one cannot continue indefinitely being fed this way. The body is unable to process all the glucose. They put her on insulin to help her pancreas along. Every six hours they would check her blood and depending on her sugar levels, they would give her shots of insulin.
There is so much more to this small book than just the story of Alice's illness. There is the complicated story of her family life. The complicated story of an early friendship with a young man and the parting of their ways when they went off to Uni. The very complicated stories of her relationships with the other girls and workers at the rehab. One friendship in particular with one specific girl/woman on her floor. I found this friendship to be very fascinating and I can see this book one day becoming a Virago.
This one is written as a memoir and I liked the read very much and gave it 4 stars. I highly recommend it to those interested in the subject matter. I can see so easily why it ranked so well on the Orange Prize listing.

Next up: Island of Wings by Karin Altenberg

I was quite behind on your thread, so here's my comments:

Can't wait to read The Sealed Letter based on your review and that I LOVED Room!

I also LOVEDDDDD Half Blood Blues. Excellent review there too!

I found Translation of the Bones to be just okay for me...

I think your above review of The Passion of Alice is amazing! It's now on my WL - thank you! :)

Heading off now to add thumbs up! :)

You are very sweet Tina. Thank you. So happy to hear that you loved Room. That one has been off-putting for me as well. I think the subject matter.......... Perhaps will give that one a go in July as well or maybe for one of Darryl's An Orange A Month reads to meet his challenge.
I noted quite early on that the Orange, more than any other prize title, has rarely failed to move, impress, or otherwise wow me. I find that really amazing, given the Pulitzer, the Man Booker, and all other prize winning notables out there.

I hope you will enjoy it if you try. It is a difficult subject, but I really enjoyed how the story was told.

I just LOVED Island of Wings, but then again, I very much enjoyed The Translation of the Bones. Currently I am about 3/4 of the way through Sorry by Gail Jones. What a heartrendingly beautiful novel, in it's way.

Wonderful review of The Passion of Alice

Sorry you didn't enjoy The Sealed Letter more Belva. I was quite taken with it although I agree the characters are not really likeable.

The Translation of the Bones is wishlisted and I have Half Blood Blues to read so hopefully lots to look forward to there.

And you're definitely not the only person Foreign Bodies did nothing for - I really didn't get that book.

#39 Excellent review of The Passion of Alice - I'm not exactly sure if I want to read it but I'll bear it in mind.

#42 "the Orange, more than any other prize title, has rarely failed to move, impress, or otherwise wow me. 100% agree with you - I look at the books longlisted for other prizes but I find the Orange nominees interest me much more.

I loved Room and found it a lot less disturbing than I feared it might be from the subject matter. It's actually quite a hopeful book.

Thank you ladies. I do intend to attempt Room and have Island of Wings waiting on my nightstand & Sorry awaiting my pickup at the library. I thank you for your encouragement and thank you for popping over. Nice to have such charming company. (((*)))

Sorry by Gail Jones is a beautifully written novel about horrific events that take place within a totally dysfunctional family in the 1930s Australian outback. Perdita, our protagonist, is a young girl whose father is distant and seemingly uncaring with a streak of cruelty. Her mother, Stella, seems unable to relate on any emotional level and suffers also from a mental disability. During those bleak times when Stella is drawn inside herself she lives within the world of Shakespeare's works, from which she continuously quotes complete passages, entire sonnets, and even names their daughter after one of his characters.
Perdita's father is killed during the very first part of the book. Throughout the remainder, we watch Stella, Perdita, Mary, (the Aboriginal help girl), & Billy (the deaf mute neighboring boy who has befriended Perdita and Mary), as they cope with what is left of a sad and dreary life. However dreary life in the household is, the three children, Mary, Billy & Perdita are content & even happy while playing outdoors and spending time together.
Mary confesses to the killing of Perdita's father and is sent away to a reformatory until she is twenty when she will be moved to a women's prison. Perdita is so lonely without her friend whom she has slept side by side with since Mary came to be with them. She and Billy must learn to be a friendship of two rather than of three.
Then comes the deep depression of Stella where she cannot perform the most menial tasks, keep herself clean or speak other than to quote from the Bard. She is taken to hospital and Perdita must go and live at the convent for a time and attend school. Perdita has developed a deep stutter and rarely speaks because of the way people react to her when she attempts to talk.

"In the life of every child there are times in which the symbolic gains more weight and magnitude, when childish things, and their comforts, are put away, and there form the intuitions and understandings that ground the later adult. These are known only in retrospect, just as the gist of any tragedy is apparent only at its conclusion. The meaning of one's parents-the remote father, the unstable mother-is likewise discovered when they cease to have authority over us, in death, or in the mind's demented retreat, or in the distances we manage to create as adults. But at seven, or eight, or nine years old, we may nevertheless glimpse them, sense in a hunch what will later unfold, know in the briefest presentiment their true specificity, and the claims they will have on us. When I saw my mother searching for the cards, disregarding me, and the busted house, and the storm-wrack all around, when I guessed she was acting out Lear, tormented, believing herself infirm, weak and despised, I realised in a wave of pity that I was stronger than she and would be called upon some day to act my part and protect her. Her wet hair hung in rats' tails beside her face, her thin cotton dress was spattered with red mud, she was bedraggled and lost. And she was searching in desperation, as if she had misplaced her own heart."

"There are forms of loneliness children endure that adults have no inkling of: stern seclusions, lives of quiet desperation. Now that her childhood was a spoiled thing, compounded by an inefficient tongue and garbled speech, Perdita entered the dreary territory of the truly alone."

"What remains is broken as my speech once was. But I see now what my tongue-tied misery could not: the shape that affections make, the patterns that love upholds in the face of any shattering. It is not sentimentality that drives me to claim this, but the need-more explicitly self-serving, perhaps--to imagine something venerable and illustrious beneath such waste."

Such beauty here. There is so much within the covers of this book. So much to take in and to assimilate. Although I know that those readers who had an upbringing similar to mine probably related to parts of this story much better that they would have liked.
I loved this book, thought it beautifully written and though many of the characters had just little bits in the book, I found myself drawn to them as well as to Perdita, Mary & Billy. I understood Perdita's parents only too well but was unsympathetic to either of them. I am sorry that I have completed this book, for I would like to begin it again with fresh eyes and I envy those who will come to it for the first time. I very highly recommend it and rated it 5+ stars.

Ooh, I am trying to stay away from library books, but this sounds very good.

It was so very good raider. Why are you trying to stay away from library books? I find that using the library often times will keep me from purchasing a book that would add to my overflowing bookcases. I do need to read what I already have on my shelves and I have read a lot of them. But I am attempting not to buy books for the challenges that I do unless they are Virago.

I'm trying to read my own books that I have already bought, at least for a few months. There is a Read Our Own Tomes challenge here at LT, and I'm making an effort to put a dent in my pile. I'm usually a big library user! But I should be reading the ones I have before I start grabbing shiny new books at the library. At least for a few months!

I'll 'buy' that raidergirl! I need to do that as well. But the remaining unread Oranges on my shelf just haven't grabbed my interest this month. I joined a challenge to rid my shelves of books. I have forgotten the name of the challenge but it is really working for me. Thus far, I have purged some 70 to 90 already read books (that I don't think I will ever read again or already have) from my shelves. Makes me feel really good and someone else is getting to read them which is even better.
I will be trying to read owned Oranges for Darryl's monthly challenge but will probably be back to Library books come July.
Good luck with the last few days of Orange January. I have certainly enjoyed it. Read some really good books and just began another last evening.

Sorry is already on my reading list but I wanted to stop by and say how great your review is! Thumb!

Thumb up for your wonderful review of Sorry . It was a wonderful but heartbreaking read for me this January. I did not review it though -but you did a wonderful job of that!

Thank you so much lkernagh & Deb. I really appreciate your comments. And your thumbs, of course. Sorry was a huge heartbreaker of a read but so very, very good. I am amazed that it wasn't listed higher for the Orange Prize than it was.

My number finally came up in the library queue for The Song of Achilles. I picked it up on Saturday and began it that night. It is very engaging. I will most likely complete it tonight but I think this will be my last Orange for January as I have yet to finish my read of Henry and Cato for the Iris Murdoch group.

So see you next month for Darryl's An Orange A Month challenge.
Cheers.

The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller is one that I had put off reading for some time. I am very weak in the Greek mythologies and tragedies so I feared it would be over my head. However I was only into the book by sentences when I became so taken with it that I could hardly stir from it and read it in less than 2 days.
It is the retelling of the story of Achilles, son of a kindly Greek King and a sea goddess who hates and despises mortals. The story's protagonist, Achilles childhood & forever friend Patroclus, is the teller of our tale and tells it beautifully. He is also the son of a Greek King but at the age of 9 or 10 he accidentally kills another boy and must be put to death or exiled. His father chooses to send him into exile and sends him to the father of Achilles. There he is treated kindly by Achilles father and ignored by the other exiled boys who live there. Over time Achilles becomes interested in Patroclus and requests of his father that Patroclus be allowed to become his companion. From that time forth the two are inseparable.
As the boys grow Achilles comes to fulfill the prophecy that he will be the best and most famous warrior of all time. Patroclus does not have the gift of a warrior but learns healing methods and doctoring. When the boys are grown, comes the Trojan War. And while Achilles does not want to go, all of the able Greek kings & sons are bound by oath to fight for and support the husband of Helen (of Troy) and he feels bound to go also. Patroclus accompanies him on this 10 year battle.

At one point during their sail to Troy, Odysseus questions Lycomedes about his wife the Lady Penelope, cousin to Lady Helen, and Odysseus tells him that:
"in the course of our conversation, when it became clear that the Lady Penelope favored me--"
"Not for your looks, certainly," Diomedes commented.
"Certainly not," Odysseus agreed. "She asked me what wedding present I would make to my bride. A wedding bed, I said, rather gallantly, of finest holm-oak. But this answer did not please her. 'A wedding bed should not be made of dead, dry wood, but something green and living,' she told me. 'And what if I can make such a bed?' I said. 'Will you have me?' And she said---'
The king of Argos made a noise of disgust. "I'm sick to death of this tale about your marriage bed."
"Then perhaps you shouldn't have suggested I tell it."
"And perhaps you should get some new stories, so I don't fucking kill myself of boredom."

Another time aboard the ship:
"The kings were inclined to talk and lingered by the rail with us. They passed stories back and forth: of other sea voyages, of wars, of contests won in games long past. Achilles was an eager audience, with question after question.
"Where did you get this?" He was pointing to the scar on Odysseus' leg.
"Ah," Odysseus rubbed his hands together. "That is a tale worth telling. Though I should speak to the captain first." He gestured to the sun, hanging ripe and low over the horizon. "We'll need to stop soon for camp."
"I'll go." Diomedes stood from where he leaned against the rail. "I've heard this one almost as many times as that sickening bed story."
"Your loss," Odysseus called after him. "Don't mind him. His wife's a hellhound bitch, and that would sour anyone's temper. Now, my wife--"
"I swear." Diomedes' voice carried back up the length of the ship. "If you finish that sentence, I will throw you over the side and you can swim to Troy."
"See?" Odysseus shook his head. "Sour."

Funny stuff and I found myself laughing aloud several times during this read as well as weeping.

There came a time just before the battle of Troy ended that Achilles finds it within himself that he could no longer fight under King Agamemnon, the head general of all of the Kings' warriors. The battle of Troy rages on without Achilles and many warriors of the Greek armies fall daily, unlike before when most had returned to tell of the day's battle.

I won't go on with the story but to say that the moments within the story can change dramatically and the reader's emotions along with those changes. There are some lovely, sweet passages within the book as well as some moments that are very harsh.
I liked this book very much and yearn to pick up another like it. To think that this is the author's first novel is amazing even given the fact that she has a bachelor's and master's in Latin and Ancient Greek. I highly recommend it and gave it 4 1/2 stars.

I'm glad you enjoyed it! SoA was a 5 star read for me in 2012.

We are so psycho together in the book rating dept Tina.
I am already looking forward to Orange July.

:)

At least we're in good company!

;-)

Last night I began my February 'AN ORANGE A MONTH' read: The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold and am really liking it so far. Getting ready to take some nice chocolates and the book and crawl back into bed for a nice Saturday read.

Sounds like a lovely way to spend a day. I too grabbed chocolate and my blanket and hunkered down to read the day away. Gotta love days like this!

They are the best aren't they?

I ordered The Light Between Oceans (L/L 2013) for my Kindle last night and got half way through it before I fell asleep. I am really enjoying it and the only negative thing I could say about it is that the author writes in the present tense at times and in the past tense at times. But it isn't distracting from the story. One simply notices it. I like the storyline but somewhere in my brain a little voice is telling me: 'This isn't going to end well.'

The Light Between Oceans by M.L. Stedman

I am weeping having just finished this book, one of the longlisted for the Women's Prize. (still the Orange Prize to me)

Tom, a Veteran of WWI & guilt ridden that he lived through the war when so many did not, has found that he is unable to cope in the world he has returned to. And so he has put in for a post on lighthouses where he will have solitude to ease his mind and soul. He works several relief 'Lights' before being sent to Janus Rock Lighthouse off Partageuse, Australia. The job requires him to be there 24/7 with supply boats coming out every three months and every three years he will have a leave.

"For the first time he took in the scale of the view. Hundreds of feet above sea level, he was mesmerized by the drop to the ocean crashing against the cliffs directly below. The water sloshed like white paint, milky-thick, the foam occasionally scraped off long enough to reveal a deep blue undercoat. At the other end of the island, a row of immense boulders created a break against the surf and left the water inside it as calm as a bath. He had the impression he was hanging from the sky, not rising from the earth. Very slowly, he turned a full circle, taking in the nothingness of it all. It seemed his lungs could never be large enough to breathe in this much air, his eyes could never see this much space, nor could he hear the full extent of the rolling, roaring ocean. For the briefest moment, he had no edges."

While in Partageuse before heading out to Janus Rock he meets a young lady and they are taken with each other and write back and forth as the supply boats come and go. Within a short time they decide to marry and Isabel joins him out at the lighthouse. She quickly fell in love with the rocky island and all of it's little inlets and coves.
Beginning their family, Tom and Izz were so excited but then to be horribly disappointed when she miscarried the child. The babe was buried up on the high cliff and a rosemary bush was planted at the grave. But they didn't give up and soon Isabel was expecting again. It couldn't happen again but sadly it did. The second babe was buried near the first and another rosemary bush planted.

They went on, Tom lighting the lamp at night and shutting it off in the morn and keeping the lighthouse and all of it's workings sparkling clean and shiny. Isabel gardened, kept a few chickens and kept busy with the house. Then they found that she was pregnant again. Happy and yet frightening news for Isabel mourned her babes so & wanted one so very badly. This little boy babe she carried for much longer but in the end he was stillborn. She raged at God and tore at her hair, she mourned so. Again the infant son was buried beside his two siblings and another rosemary bush was planted. They tried to go back to life as they knew it but this time it was so different and so much more difficult.

Then one day when Isabel was up on the cliffs she thought she heard a baby crying, but surely not. It must be the wind or sea. But then she saw Tom come running out of the Lighthouse and heard him calling for her: A boat, Isabel, a boat! She ran down to him and he helped her as they climbed down the steep path to the sea where there was a small row boat. They could indeed hear a baby crying and could see a man lying in the boat. Tom checked the man for signs of life but he was quite dead. However tucked under the bow he could see a bit of color and there wrapped in a woman's cardigan was a little baby girl crying and very much alive. Isabel took the baby from Tom and it was love at first sight. Tom needed to report the boat, dead man & baby but Izz begged him to wait until morning. His heart sank but he felt so horribly sad for his wife, having just lost their third child two weeks prior, that he gave in. By the next morning she had convinced him that they should bury the man and keep the baby. Obviously the mother had fallen overboard and drowned beings the baby was wrapper in her sweater.

No one would know because the supply boat hadn't been since she had lost this last little one.

I found this to be an excellent story. I highly recommend it and I rated it 4 1/2 stars.

Up next: Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn; L/L 2013;

I just got a few from the library and since hubby is away this weekend, I think I just might snuggle up with a book or two.

Good thinking bucket! Which book or two?

I just picked up 10 off the 2013 Orange L/L from the library yesterday. Need to read them by the 4th. Plus I picked up one that I want to read before I go to the "Author Speaks" to hear him talk on it on the 30th.

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

Gone Girl is a taut suspenseful psychological thriller wherein both partners of a marriage are so into mind-*uc* games with the other that I can't tell if either of them really knew when the game went South. This book is fascinating.
Nick, the tall handsome husband, in the beginning does and tries to do everything he can to make his more than perfectly beautiful in every way wife, Amy, happy. He is the perfect husband. If he isn't sure about what to do to accomplish her happiness then he asks her. And for her part, Amy, just by being with him is the perfect wife. This seems to work until both of them, writers, are laid off from their jobs in New York City where Amy was raised by wealthy writers of children's books whose stories were based on their precious little Amy.
Nick takes Amy back to his hometown where his mother is dying of cancer, his father is in a home with Alzheimer's and his sister still resides. This makes Amy very angry and an angry Amy is not someone to mess around with. So there they are, neither one with jobs and Nick stops trying in the marriage. This makes Amy even more angry. She begins to plot and when Amy plots she doesn't mess around. This woman is brilliant! Before we know it, Amy has gone missing and the clues all point to you guessed it: the husband Nick.
The book is written in a very different format. Our author has taken it chapter by chapter and alternated the telling of the story from the POV of Amy, then Nick, back to Amy, etc. Strangely enough it works.
I lost sleep in the reading of this book. I can't say that it was a great book, though I gave it 3 1/2 stars, but I will say it is a fascinating read and it definitely held my interest. However I did find the ending strangely unsatisfying even though it rang true to the story . I don't think that all will like this book but the ones who do like it will really like it. There is not anything boring about it.

next up: The Red Book by Deborah Copaken Kogan.

I am halfway through Red Book so I am curious to see how you find it.

>68 Yells::
Danielle; I am I am just getting well into Saturday, June 9, 2009; pp 231 and I am finding parts of the book quite interesting and others a bit boring. It, to me, is turning more into character studies than a story. And I am finding some of the characters way more interesting than others. I find that I really enjoy Mia, while Addison disenchants me, etc.
I am also finding that it is a book that is taking more concentration than usual to hold my interest and that I am looking ahead to my next read, whatever that will be. And I'm not even halfway through. How are you finding it?

The Red Book by Deborah Copaken Kogan

I am still attempting to decide if the author was telling a story/stories or doing character studies. To me it felt & worked more like a character study of these four women who graduated Harvard in 1989 & their spouses, partners, friends, children, co-grads. They have returned for a reunion and as they meet up with each other the reader learns their thoughts and expectations for each one as we also learn the accomplishments of each one.
'The Red Book' signifies the book that comes out to the alumni every five years and each alumni is encouraged to write their personal contact information, what they are now doing with their lives, what their spouses are doing with theirs, their children by name and year of birth, etc. Some complete these questionnaires, some do not, but most of 'ours' do. They are compiled into 'The Red Book' and then sent out. Then when at their 20 year reunion each alumni will have an idea of what their previous classmate's lives have turned out to be.
Of our ladies:
Mia is married to film director Jonathan, is a stay at home mom of 4; Max-17, Eli-14, Joshua-10, and infant Zoe-7 months. Mia wanted to be an actress but it just never worked out for her. However she has taken to wedded life and motherhood quite naturally and is content and happy in this role.
Clover is the managing director & leader of a team focused on mortgage-backed securities. Her partner in life, Danny is a Legal Aid Attorney, doing a lot of pro-bono work. They have no children.
Jane is a reporter for the Boston Globe and was married to a journalist Herve, who was murdered while on a story. Her current partner Bruno, knew them when they were a them. He is an editor and Jane has a daughter, Sophie-6, by her first husband. They have no other children.
Addison is an artist married to a writer, Gunner. Both seem to be rather non-productive and live off a family inheritance which seems to support most of the family. They have three children; daughter Trilby-13, Houghton-11 and Thatcher-10. All three of them go by their middle names.
The girls all get together annually at Mia & John's vacation home in Antibes and a couple of them get together more frequently as they are able.
At this twenty year reunion they come back to Harvard bringing with them their children and significant others. We get to know them all and Kogan has compiled some well rounded characters. There is growth and/or regression within all of their lives. I enjoyed the characters, their thoughts, lives and I thought that the book worked very well on that level. However as a novel, I was left feeling that something was lacking. I liked it well enough to give it 2 1/2 stars and I guess would have to say that I guardedly recommend it.

Next up: Ignorance by Michele Roberts

I must admit that looking at The Red Book by Deborah Copaken Kogan it did not appeal to me. Thanks for reading it and an excellent review! Thumb up from me!

Thank you Deb. I will be over on your thread shortly.

Ignorance by Michele Roberts

Basically a home front story of WWII in a French village, Ignorance is a story told about two young girls who are friends of a sort and who both, for different reasons, are sent to live for a time at the convent. Marie-Angele is the daughter of a grocer and Jeanne is the daughter of their laundress. It takes them from this age through to middle age and tells of the differences in their lives.
This tale is told in a beautifully descriptive manner but it is not a beautiful story. It is the story of what people are driven to do to stay safe and alive when living in wartime and during a Nazi German occupation.
As I read this book I was at times enthralled and at times appalled. While good, I didn't find it to be consistently good. It was told from the POV of several different characters and that didn't endear it to me. I found myself floundering several times while reading the book. But still I found it very interesting and when I wasn't lost in the book I thought it quite good.
I rated it 3 1/2 stars and guardedly recommend it.

Next up is: The Forrests by Emily Perkins.

belva, you are doing a great job keeping the Orange Group active - thank you for that!

I have The Forrests out from the library, and am glad to hear you are liking it. Ignorance sounds like a lot of WW2 books - good, but disturbing. I like different POVs in books, so I may like it more than you did.

I managed to get my hands on Life After Life a little early, so have started it. Looks really good so far, but I am a huge Kate Atkinson fan, so am biased to like it already!

>#74;
raidergirl3; thank you for your kind words. I just have a passion for the Oranges.

And I did like Ignorance, just didn't love it, but I hope you do. :-)

I just finished The Forrests this morning and loved it! Am just now getting ready to put my review up.

I have heard this from other Kate Atkinson lovers; that if you enjoy one of her books, you will most likely love them all. I think I preordered Life After Life on my Kindle. I should begin checking daily to see if it has hit.

hugs,

The Forrests by Emily Perkins

The story of a family, parents Frank & Lee along with children Evelyn, Dorothy, Michael, & Ruthie, made their way from New York, where Frank has attempted to get into show business to Auckland,
New Zealand where Frank tries to break into show business as well. However he is a dismal failure
at it and the family is left to attempt to live off Franks trust fund. Lee goes to work in a store and Frank comes and goes at will. The children are often left to their own devices.
Frank decides to return alone to New York as his family there has come into some money and he
would like to get his share. After he leaves the family has a rough time financially and well, face it. They had a tough time making it when he was there. At any rate one day a van pulls up in front of the house and Lee and the kids along with Daniel, a seemingly homeless boy or one whose mother doesn't take care of & who has adopted the Forrest family as his own, clamber into it and off they go with Rena, the driver and owner of a property turned into a self supporting commune. They live there for some time. At the commune they raise vegetables and have an orchard, some make craft items and they sell these items to help provide for the people who live within the commune. It is very casual
living here, a bit of free love goes on but the children seem to flourish in this atmosphere.
When Frank returns to New Zealand he tries to make Lee and the kids return to the family life they
had before. And they return with him but things get no better and eventually Frank and Lee split up.
The storyline after this is mainly the 2nd daughter Dorothy's story but there are still some chapters filled with the stories of Frank, Lee, Michael & Ruthie briefly until near the book's end but there is quite a bit of Eve (or Evelyn) as well as Daniel throughout the book. The Dorothy, Daniel, Eve story was a bit painful to read from beginning to end in this book. I felt the book could have as easily been a memoir as a novel.
In reading posts of the book throughout L.T., it doesn't seem to be very well received but I loved it. I saw a great deal of my years wrapped up in this story and I identified with a lot of it. I also loved the writing whereas some did not. But I thought it beautifully written. It seemed to me to be a book that I drifted or floated through. There were some beautifully described scenes, some that made me laugh aloud, some that made me weep and at the end of the book, I found myself looking within myself and questioning how am I going to go through that when the time comes. I checked this book out of the library but having finished it, I truly wish that I had purchased it so that I can reread it. I highly recommend it and rated it 4 stars.

Next up: The Innocents by Francesca Segal.

Thanks for the interesting review, Belva. I'm happy to drift or float through a novel and may well give this one a go!

You just might like it Dee.

Life After Life was delivered to my Kindle one hour and fifteen minutes ago. I cannot wait to begin it. So as I have been reading The Innocents at night in bed for the past few days and am still less than a third of the way into it I think I will begin this one tonight. I have been very keen to get it.
And the Mariners won their first game of the season tonight so we are looking good. WOOT WOOT!~! MY OH MY!~!

I'm looking forward to Life after life, too.. Can I wait for a paperback or will I succumb to a Kindle edition to get it more quickly?

Ha ha; I think you will go for the Kindle edition genny. Can't see you waiting for the paperback. :-)

I've just about finished Life After Life and I am just LOVING IT!!!! It's my favourite read this year so far. It's one of those once in a year wonderful books! It will take me a while to ponder on a review for it, but personally I just LOVE IT!!!!!! Definitely 5 stars. I think it will be a challenge to review. I'll let you know when I've got my review done. Oh wonderful wonderful read!

Wow Deb. That is high praise indeed. I have a few more from the library that I must get back in a timely manner so I will read those first. At least as many as I can. Life After Life I have on my Kindle so no time restraints there. But I can't wait to get to it.
I needed a wee break from the L/L so I took a 'time-out' and read a lovely Virago: Family History by Vita Sackville-West, one of my favorite Virago authors. It was a lovely read and now I am immersed in The Innocents which I am finding really interesting thus far.
Thanks for popping by and I will try to drop in after church although I don't know if I will have time for L.T. Our granddaughter, Rachel, (she is pictured in my photo gallery--she Viragoed her photo and it is very cool), is bringing her 4 month old baby girl whom we've not yet seen. Can't wait to get my hands on our newest great granddaughter, MacK. (for MacKenzie)
hugs,
b

P.S. Very nice review. Gave you a big fat thumb for it. Well done my friend! Looks like a HOT one to me.

Still reading The Innocents. I began it March 29th. I have been so exhausted lately that instead of reading a couple of hours before I go to sleep I read a couple of pages and am out. I only read when laying on my bed or in bed, so I think I just need more sleep/rest. Having the grands before and after school must be wearing me out. IDK. Anyway I want to finish this and move on to my Barbara Pym for the month. :-)
**heavy sigh**

I could have written the same post, but it's The Forrests that I was trying to read. It never takes me 2 weeks to read a book. Sometimes it is life that is tiring, but I also blame the book when this happens, because it isn't engaging enough to hold my interest. Even exhausted, I can fly through other books (Maeve Binchy, Stephen King, suspenseful books,etc)

Sorry that you are feeling so exhausted, Belva. Take it easy! You have done a wonderful job reading the Oranges this year! I don't doubt that having the grands before and after school wears you out. Heck, I'm tired just looking after my dog and having my husband go to work. My sons are fairly self sufficient, but even so they take " emotional energy" aka worrying a bit about them! :)

The Innocents by Francesca Segal

The Innocents, the story of a group of young Jewish friends, offshoot acquaintances and their families living in London, is at times quirky, funny, sad and quite humorous. Even through the sadness of parts of the story one can see the selfishness yet also the redeeming qualities of most of the characters in this book.
Adam, our protagonist is in his late twenties and has been seeing & dating Rachel since their mid-teens. When they finally get engaged, which everyone had been waiting for, all of the Jewish community around them celebrate the event and are very happy that it has finally come about.
Adam is an attorney who works for and with Lawrence, Rachel's father who loves Adam like a son. Rachel works as a teacher if my recollection is correct. They have a tight knit group of very good friends with whom they go out, have intellectual conversations with and enjoy spending time with.
Into their lives comes Ellie, the American cousin of Rachel. Orphaned at a young age she was raised by family members. Ellie is the girl whom everyone wants to think of as 'the bad girl'. And matters do indeed get into a twist upon her arrival. The young men all think she is hot and the women all can't wait to gossip about her and her past and what they think will happen now that she is here.
Adam becomes very confused in what/who he wants and there is a pulling back and forth within himself throughout most of the book. He agonizes over decisions that he cannot make. Also in the story there are events that were all consuming to me as I read them; some of them very intense.
Almost all the reviews I have read about this book compare it to Edith Wharton's The Age of Innocence but I have to admit that though I have read the Wharton twice, I didn't give it a thought while reading The Innocents. I loved how Segal grew her characters so simply and easily that one knew them before one realized the character had gone from A to B and we didn't see the changing until we had that realization. I found all of her characters to be very interesting and well suited to the story. Also I loved the writing in this book. It flowed very nicely. I quite enjoyed this read though due to R/L it took me over two weeks to read it. :-(
I do recommend The Innocents and rated it a 3 1/2 out of 5 stars.

Great review Belva, and now I finally understand the Age of Innocence connection - with the American cousin etc.

Thank you Dee. And I did get the connection but was not distracted a bit by Wharton during the read. The Age of Innocence is a much better novel and was a 4 1/2 star read for me whereas this one was a 3 1/2. I think that I appreciated 'Age' more but enjoyed this one more if that makes any sense.

Thumbed your review, even though I so disliked the book! :) Great review!

I am sorry that you dislike it so Deb. Thanx for the thumb and the kind words. Got to get back over to your thread and see what's going on. :-)

I leave tomorrow night at 10:05 on the red-eye out of SeaTac for Philly arriving at 6:30 A.M. I am so excited to be attending my first Meet-Up. I have prepared well. I have all of the S/L Oranges loaded onto my Kindle and with these long flights, I am thinking I should be able to get 2 or 3 of them under my belt. I am currently reading Where'd You Go, Bernadette? and am really enjoying it. I don't know that it is Orange worthy but it is a darned good read. I do have to wait until I get home to read Bring Up the Bodies as I must read the hardcover edition of Wolf Hall first. Looking forward to those two especially and Life After Life which I will most likely read on the plane.
Cheers,

Have a great trip, Belva!

Thank you Jane. I know it will be great meeting people I have been talking with on L.T. since mid 2007 when I joined. Sooo excited.
hugs,

So Orange July coming up right around the corner and I am so excited!

Honor by Elif Shafak; Orange L/L 2013
(unable to find the correct touchstone for this book)

This is a beautifully written book of a Turkish family that comes to be separated by those going off to England & other places in an attempt to make a better life for themselves. One daughter, one of a pair of twins, remains behind and eventually grows into becoming a midwife. Her twin lives in England with her family.
This is a difficult book for me to review for there are so many story lines within these covers. But they were all easy to follow and very interesting. The book contains many incidents of great beauty and also many of horrific events. I learned about the Turkish/Kurdish cultures and appreciated the knowledge & sharing of this author.
I rated the book 4 1/2 stars and fully intend to read more by her. She is a beautiful writer. I highly recommend Honor to any who are interested in reading about cultures other than their own or indeed just wish to read a really good book.

My plan for Orange July is to read the remainder of the short list for this year which includes most of the S/L & the winner.

NW by Zadie Smith; S/L 2013;
Flight Behavior by Barbara Kingsolver; S/L 2013;
Bring Up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel; S/L 2013;
May We Be Forgiven by A.M. Homes; Orange Winner 2013;

I hope I enjoy them more than I think I am going to. I reserve the right to apply the Pearl Rule here!

I liked NW (much moreso after the first section - don't give up in the first section) and Flight Behaviour is a good solid read. Enjoy!

I do intend to finish Bring Up the Bodies and have a few other Oranges on the shelf. Will have to make a list soon!

I see we'll both be reading the 2013 winner, Belva. Huzzah!

Yeppers Laura. HUZZAH!~!

When We Were Bad by Charlotte Mendelson: S/L, 2008

While I found the very first part of this book boring, about 1/8th of the way in it sucked me in and I read the rest in a fervor. Hopefully I have my reading 'mojo' back now.
The story of a very dysfunctional family with 4 questionably adult children, this book is all about the need of all to 'feed the queen bee'. The 'queen bee' being in this case the mother of the family, Claudia Rubin, who is a beautiful woman and a Rabbi.
Her husband and the father of her children, Norman, a secretly would-be author, writes articles and essays, etc. from home....in their house which is badly need of repair.
The eldest daughter, Frances, has no self confidence, no feelings of self worth and has married a man her mother chose for her who is the father of two young daughters and together the couple have an infant son. They have their own flat & she works outside the home while her husband plays house-husband but does it well. She is uninvolved with the children, and husband. At least as much as she can be.
The eldest son, Leo, works, lives at home, is engaged to be married to a nice Jewish girl but has fallen in love with a Rabbi's middle aged wife, the mother of grown children. Much to the chagrin & embarrassment of the families & congregations involved, he leaves his bride at the alter and runs off with the lady.
The younger son, Simeon, does not work, lives at home, is nocturnal eating only at night & leaves the kitchen a mess. He does drugs in the home of his parents and brings friends and girlfriends home as well.
The youngest daughter, Emily, has her own flat, but in general lives at home. She occasionally attempts to get parts in plays & that sort of thing but in general does not work either.
These are 'children' in their late twenties & early thirties. At the onset of the book, other than the indiscretion of Leo, the children & husband live only to make the Rabbi and matriarch look good.
Claudia goes all out at Passover time and for all the Jewish feasts. She prepares all of the Jewish kosher foods and all of the family is there plus many from the congregation and community. She and her family are much the focus of this bunch.
So this story is of the good deeds & of the failings of family members and the reaction of all, or more so the fear of the reaction to all to these events. The book is laugh out loud funny at times and tearfully sad at others. I enjoyed this read so much and hope to find other works by this same author. I rated When We Were Bad 4 stars and recommend it.

I'm glad you enjoyed it, Belva. That's pretty much how it struck me too.
So how are you doing with Flight Behavior? I just finished, and I pretty much agree with most of the Orange readers, I think that it's good but not extraordinary. Too bad. Kingsolver can do extraordinary.

Oh, I loved When we were bad as well, she has a new book out soon, Almost English.

The Solace of Leaving Early by Haven Kimmel; L/L 2003; (4 1/2*)

Langston is an angry young woman. She has abandoned her PhD and a meaningless love-affair. Financial circumstances force her to move back in with her parents in the small middle American town in which they live. Here, self-absorbed and irritated by everything, even the death of a childhood friend fails to snap her out of it.
But the death causes ripples within the community & in her life via the two traumatised children left behind. Under the ever watchful eye of her mother & the local preacher, Amos, Langston is saddled with their care and through them eventually learns to value life again.
The Solace of Leaving Early is a moving and thought provoking story about discovering how other people can change your life when you least expect it. With gentle humour, beautiful prose and much empathy this is one of those books that I will read and reread and tell all of my reading friends about. I loved this story and gave it 4 1/2 stars.

I didn't read any of my planned reads for Orange July but instead read what spoke to me and those were:
The Solace of Leaving Early,
When We Were Bad,
and now I am reading The Secret Lives of Baba Segi's Wives.
Hopefully I will complete it by the month's end.

Shamefully I bailed on The Secret Lives of Baba Segi's Wives and will get back to it another day. Since my Orange July reading I have read The Clothes on Their Backs by Linda Grant, The Invisible Bridge by Julie Orringer and I am now reading Girl With A Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier.

I found The Clothes on Their Backs to be just an okay read for me though do I love Grant's writing and I have loved other works by her so I would still recommend it as I think it was simply a 'time & mental place' for me. The Invisible Bridge I did love very much and The Girl With A Pearl Earring as well.

For December my Orange read was Paradise by Toni Morrison. I can't say that I cared a lot for this one either. It left me wanting something more & was not a satisfying read at all.

So out of 26 Orange reads over the year:
5 that I rated under 3 stars but 21 that were 3 star reads & above.
All in all a very good year of Orange reading for this little rock. :-)