Chrine's 2009 Reading

Now that I've gotten Twilight out of the way, I can begin my thread on something other than trashy reading. I'm currently reading All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy. I'm about 2/3 of the way through it. I love the language and writting but am having a hard time remaining interested in the storyline. I would definitely try another book by him. Up next will prolly be a January book club read (or one of the December/November ones that I brought but didn't read due to busy-ness of the holidays).

January book club selections
Faith of My Fathers by John McCain (the main selection for one club)
War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy (a continuing side read)
Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstory (side read)
Great Expectation by Charles Dickens (side read)
Sacajawea by Anna Waldo (a continuing side read)
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak (side read)
No Country for Old Men by Cormac McCarthy (side read)
A Wolf at the Table by Augusten Burroughs (main selection for the other club)

I'm not very interested in reading Faith of My Fathers and might not start any of the long books (War and Peace, Anna Karenina, or Sacajawea) cause I probably can't finish them in the time frame the club will.

Unread Nov./Dec. book club selections
Atonement by Ian McEwan
The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway
House of Mirth by Edith Wharton
A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini

I own these four and will read them all at some point.

Oh, and here are the links to my 999 Challenge:

http://www.librarything.com/topic/52971

And my 50 Book Challenge:

http://www.librarything.com/topic/54635

I finished All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy today. It was a slow read for me. I ended up liking the book pretty well it turns out. The storylines didn't really interest me in the beginning but I found myself wanting to know what would happen as I moved forward in the book. The writing and use of language was beautiful. I have The Crossing on hold from the library to see if I will like it.

Upcoming books list:
A Wolf at the Table by Augusten Burroughs
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
The Crossing by Cormac McCarthy
A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens

Up next will be A Wolf at the Table by Augusten Burroughs, which is a book club selection. I'm not sure how interested I am in reading this. But the library has it in. I'll prolly also start A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens or The Book Thief by Markus Zusak.

A Tale of Two Cities and The Book Thief are both favorites of mine. I've not read the former since my senior year in high school, though--it's due for a reread, but I'm almost afraid to do so, as I fear losing the magic that I found there years ago.

Hola Medellia

A Tale of Two Cities will be a reread for me too. It was also a favorite of mine in high school. Some folks in one of my book clubs are reading it so I am taking the chance to revisit it.

I'm a confirmed Dickens lover, but A Tale of Two Cities is not my favorite. The Book Thief is brilliantly done. I have not often run across books for young adults as stylistically sophisticated and lovely as this one is.

Hola Urania

Which Dickens' are your favorites?

I adore David Copperfield. I learned to love Dickens after reading this novel. That said, let me also point out that I loath the social politics in the book. Only gentlemen get to be gentlemen. Characters like Little Emily aren't allowed to be ladies, to transcend their social class; neither are the Micawbers until they are exported to Australia - a lesser Britain, where social constraints are relaxed. I also really like Great Expectations and Bleak House, Hard Times and Nicholas Nickleby. Regarding Nicholas Nickleby, have you seen the film of the nine-hour stage version that was done in the early eighties? It is wonderful.

David Copperfield and Great Expectations are two of my favorites too. I'll have to check the main library branch next time I'm there and see if they have a copy of the Nicholas Nickleby film.

I read A Wolf at the Table by Augusten Burroughs in two days in a couple of sittings (it's short at 240 pages and not hard reading). I felt compelled to keep reading to get to the point of the book. This book was a book club selection and I try to give each main book club monthly selection a try unless it's something I know I'll have zero interest in and/or be unable to finish. This wasn't a book I would have picked up myself nor did it sound interesting to me. I often don't find most modern comedy funny.

A Wolf at the Table was odd. I keep waiting for it to be something. I didn't find it funny, I didn't see what was supposed to be found funny. I had a hard time believing that it was a mostly true story. I had a hard time believing a 7-11 year old thought like that. Maybe that's what was supposed to be funny.

Up next:
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
Holiday in Death by J.D. Robb

The Book Thief is being read as a side read by my main book club. Since I seems to be flying through books this month and I own it, I decided to sneak it in. As for the In Death book, I like to have something frivolous going most of the time (and I'm part of a book chain so the books are free and come on their own.) The Crossing hasn't come in at the library yet and A Tale of Two Cities has been pushed off to a mid-February start since most of the main book club is reading large novels this month which I declined to read at the time.

I started The Book Thief by Markus Zusak this weekend and am enjoying it. I'm through the first part. I am trying to decide if I hadn't known this book was labeled as a YA book, if I would have thought it was a YA book.

I've also just barely started The Crossing by Cormac McCarthy. I am thinking I might enjoy this one more than All the Pretty Horses.

Up Next:
Compiling the list of February book club reads and side reads then seeing which of those I want to plan to read next month.

Since you're enjoying The Book Thief, you may also want to consider reading I am the Messenger, another book by Zusak. Interestingly, it was The Book Thief that got me into reading YA literature for the first time (as a mature adult!). I always had the preconceived idea that YA lit would be too simple of a read. This past year, I also picked up more YA books and enjoyed them to the extent that this is a category that I'll no longer exclude from my reading. Two books I found especially good were Feed by M.T. Anderson and The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton.

Hola SqueakyChu

Thanks, I had been meaning to look into Zusak and what else he's written. LOL @ the coffee-addicted dog. There wasn't much about Zusak on his wiki. In addition to The Book Thief and I am the Messenger, he's written a series: The Underdog, Fighting Ruben Wolfe, and When Dogs Cry.

A now defunct book club I used to belong to read several YA books in the year plus that it existed. Two that I call recall off the top of my head were Jim the Boy and The Boy in the Stripped Pajamas. I didn't really like either of them.

February book club selections:
Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson (the SIGR book club selection)
War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy (a continuing RGG side read)
Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstory (a continuing RGG side read)
A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens (RGG side read)
Patty Jane's House of Curl by Lorna Landvik (RGG side read)
The Secret Life of CeeCee Wilkes by Diane Chamberlain (THBC selection)

I'm planning on reading Three Cups of Tea, The Secret Life of CeeCee Wilkes, and maybe A Tale of Two Cities. I am not reading either of the long books (War and Peace and Anna Karenina).

Other books I might read in February:
The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky (999 Challenge group read)
Eclipse by Stephanie Meyer (an easy/light read)
Midnight in Death by J.D. Robb (an easy/light read)

I want to try reading The Brothers Karamazov. It will be a challenge for me and I know I won't read it in one month.

Chrine,

Personally, I would not label The Book Thief as YA. In fact, in some countries it was not marketed that way. The style is far more sophisticated than any YA book I have ever read.

Hola Urania

We were just having this discussion on the SIGR book club's forum. I tried the point of view that maybe it was just labeled as YA here but wasn't really. I think it can be hard to see past the YA label once one knows the books has it. I don't read much YA, but The Book Thief does seem more sophisticated that what I have read recently.

What is the SIGR book club?

The Someday I'm Going to Read (I guess it should be SIGTR actually) book club. It's on the RGG (Reading Group Guides (we were displaced from our orginal boards by too many site changes/site not up in a short period of time)) message boards. This is my main book club and I decided to start calling it the SIGTR book club instead of main book club on here for clarity. I also belong to The Happy Booker's Club (which has it's own site). This club is not as active as the SIGTR BC. I've started calling it THBC here instead of other book club. I try to at least try out the monthly reads for each club and the SIGTR book club often has side reads going. Both clubs are online as I haven't found a face-to-face book club in my area yet. I've been with the SIGTR book club since fall 2007 and THBC since its inception in spring 2008. I loved discovering online book clubs (and subsequently LT!) since reading had primarily been a solitary experience for me before this. Neither club is highly literary (but both are fun) so I enjoy reading the LT groups and Club Read for that.

I picked up The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky at the B&N this evening. What am I getting myself into?

I also grabbed The Post-Birthday World by Lionel Shriver from the bargain selection.

>19 chrine: chrine,

The Brother Karamazov is a wonderful book! It is one of those novels one could read thousands of times and still gain new insights with each reading.

#20
I agree 100%.

Hola Urania & Kjellika

Thanks for the encouragement on tackling The Brothers K!

I read The Secret Life of CeeCee Wilkes by Diane Chamberlain for The Happy Booker's Club's February selection. THBC had a live chat online with Diane Chamberlain several months ago. I'd never read anything by her but after the chat I was looking forward to picking one of her books up at some point. So I was glad when this book was the February selection. I am even more excited that THBC is having another live chat online with Diane Chamberlain at the end of the month. (I'd never had a live chat with an author before.)

It's a bit cliche to say this book was a page turner, but I read it in three days and I'm not normally a fast reader.

Up Next:
Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson
The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky

I'll be interested to read your comments on The Brothers Karamazov. I tired it several years ago, but put it down. I think it was too much for me at the time. I'll try again eventually.

Hola Chico,
I have been reading your thread with interest. this year I have set myself the goal of reading all of Dostoevsky. I am interested in hearing how you get on with The Brothers Karamazov. It's Dostoevsky's last novel, so I probably wont get to it until December lol, but still, it will be great to read your thoughts!

I'm also a huge Dickens fan, btw, so do let us know how you get on with him!

nice cat pic on your profile!

Hola Murr

What a coincidence, I was just at your blog looking (and reading) around a bit and pondering if Murr was a female feline or male (I had thought male but then I saw something about a gyno in Tony's thread). No need to say if you don't care to.

Starting The Brothers Karamazov has been delayed by major marital problems for my little sister (bad, bad, bad, no good ones - unfixable in my opinion) but it is upcoming. Sadly, I haven't had so much reading time lately. And taxes are being done this week! *sigh*

A Tale of Two Cities is an upcoming start too. But comments will be made on both here. I am hoping to read some of his less popular novels in the future. Indeed, some are on my shelves waiting to be read. Martin Chuzzlewit (of The Eyre Affair) might be the first of them.

Thanks for looking at my blog, I hope you can find something interesting there.

I am a tomcat, but I am a firm believer in gender equality. If females can have a gyno, then I want one too. The only problem is, I think mine is a quack, he/she keeps giving me yeast infections, and I still don't know what gender he/she is, after 10 years of having him/her poke around at the base of my tail! Go figure!

Sorry to hear about your sis marital problems. Maybe, if life is tough at the moment, you should start with Dickens rather than the BIG FAT K. Chuzzlewit is really great. Sarah Gamp, midwife and layer-outer is one of my favourite Dickens characters.

Is your gyno a feline? I'm not sure what I'd want that males have, in terms of physicians.

BIN and sakai, the cats who share our apartment with us, are both tomcats. Or rather, were. They have both been neutered. sakai strongly so. His spraying of our apartment during his teenage years is most likely the worse experience we're had at this apartment. There was over a week's wait until the vet could fit him in.

I just might start the Dickens first. Or even a light read to read along with the BIG K. I've never read Dodo so I'm looking forward to it (whether I should or not - I hope it's not entirely over my head). Plus a lot of Club Read has been visiting Russia.

I meant to ask in my previous post. Okay, my question was answer by a perusal of your thread. It was about your Dodo reading, which is quite impressive.

Taiwan, wow. (I'm in your profile now - no, I'm not stalking you. It's just a Murr focused evening.) I'm not surprised that you're from the UK though.

I've got The Namesake TBR too. It features a cameo by Gogol, who I saw frequently on your recently read list in the first post on your thread.

Murr,

Do you have a proctologist as well ;-)

Yes, I think there's one around the place somewhere. I think I saw one under the sofa a few days ago. Let me check.

Is he/she/it cute?

March book club selections:
Katherine by Anya Seton (Someday BC selection)
War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy (continuing RGG side read)
A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens (continuing RGG side read)
The Terror by Dan Simmons (RGG side read)
The Stone Diaries by Carol Shields (MaryZorro's Pulitzer Challenge)
Handle with Care by Jodi Picoult (THBC selection)

I'm planning on reading Katherine and The Stone Diaries as well as continuing my slow progress through The Brothers Karamazov - my project for the year. I only finished one book in February (in addition to general busyness, there was some family stuff going on in the first half of the month) so my goal is to complete at least two books in March.

I'll be interested to see what you think of Katherine. I have it on my TBR pile, but as I'm just about 2/3 of the way through The Sunne in Splendour, I probably won't be starting another long historical novel about the War of the Roses anytime soon. :-)

I just managed to read the preface and intro this afternoon before falling asleep for a nap - I only got 5 hours last night. This will be my first Anya Seton and I'm looking forward to it. I have the second book of Sharon Kay Penman's Eleanor and Henry II trilogy, Time and Chance. I read it years ago and enjoyed it. I've been meaning to go back and read the whole trilogy. Historical fiction is something I've just gotten into in the past few years and I'm enjoying reading more and finding new authors. What do you think about The Sunne in Splendour so far?

It's very good, I'm really enjoying it. So far, highly recommended! I have about 1/4 left to go.

I read Katherine about 30 years ago in Senior High School, and it totally turned me on to historical fiction and history in general. It's a great read. Look out for a super portrait of Chaucer.

I read The Canterbury Tales in high school and college. I don't know much about Chaucer though.

I've only been reading historical fictions for a few years. I've enjoy the majority of those that I've read. What are some of your favorite historical fiction books and/or authors, Murr?

* jumping up and down with great excitement*

The Queen Empress and High Priestess of historical fiction is... Dorothy Dunnet. She is fantastic. Warning, though, she is SERIOUSLY addictive.

Here is my review of her Niccolo series to whet your appetite.

http://thelectern.blogspot.com/2008/09/house-of-niccolo-dorothy-dunnett.html

Jean Plaidy is also good on the Plantaganets and the Tudors.

Chaucer was married to Katherine Seward's sister Blanche.

I've actually heard of both of those authors! But read neither. Still, an accomplishment for me here in Club Read where the majority of authors read and discussed are new to me. I added Dorothy Dunnet to my TBR list (now on computer since I have a computer of my own again (since this Friday)), Jean Plaidy is already on it.

Embarrassingly, I don't know who Katherine Seward is. I took no history in college and not very much in high school - the joys of largely making one's own schedule by being an honors/AP student. But that is what google and wikipedia are for and I use both liberally.

Katherine Seward has stumped google and wikipedia, which suggested Katherine Howard.

On the Niccolo series review: Nostalgia of a wonderful art history course in college. Loved the painting analysis for an opening and how that segwayed into discussion of the books. Love me a richly detailed story. Wonders if lack of background - history, politics, etc. - will leave confused. Might be a learning experience otherwise.* Love long books and series. Anachronisms in historical fiction is a major pet peeve. Great review. Just jotted down my thoughts as I read it - pretty unorganized, ungrammarized.

* One thing I love about historical fictions is that I'm caught up reading a good story and learning is being snuck in.

Katherine Swynford (I got the name wrong, my apologies) is the heroine of Katherine by Anya Seton.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katherine_Swynford

No biggie. I know who she is. I feel smarter now! This also explains what Chaucer is doing in Katherine.

So many books, so little time. tomcatMurr - I'm happy to hear that someone with your high literary standards can recommend some good historical fiction! I have Katherine in my TBR pile at home, and Dorothy Dunnet and Jean Plaidy on my wishlist.

As someone who really didn't like history in high school and college, I'm finding that well-done historical fiction can fill in the gaps. Plus, it seems it's the only way I can tolerate reading about history - the standard history-type books that my sister the history teacher reads just don't do it for me.

chrine - I've finished The Sunne in Splendour. It's excellent - I highly recommend it. It has everything - war, politics, love, betrayal.

I love historical fiction for the same reason you do, Talbin: it allows me to imaginatively enter the past, which is where I like to be. I'm a terrible old Ludite at heart.

Also, (I hardly need to tell you this, Talbin) some of the greatest canonical literature is historical fiction: War and Peace, A Tale of Two Cities, even Middlemarch, it can conceivably be argued, is historical fiction as Eliot consciously set it in 1832, 40 years before the period she was writing in.

Chrine, have you read Middlemarch?

So many books, so little time. sigh. tell me about it.

I forgot to push vigorously in your direction this huge pile of Dorothy Dunnetts. She is really incredibly good.

Hola Murr

No, I have not read Middlemarch. Indeed, I'll admit to not having even heard of it before. It does sound interesting. I'm adding it to the TBR list.

And, I'm in 1365 with Katherine by Anya Seton. I've met Geoffrey Chaucer with his betrothed Philippa de Roet and Sir Swynford, assumed to be future husband of Katherine de Roet, in the court of King Edward and Queen Philippa, who is currently ill.

Starting to get sick can really free up a bit of reading time for you. I got to read a few chapters this afternoon. I'm really enjoying so far. I have a feeling this might lead to a Plantagenet period historical fiction binge.

oh jolly good, then you need lots of Jean Plaidy for that.

I look forward to finding out how you like Katherine when you're finished. I'm taking a bit of a break from the distant past this week (just started Philip Roth's The Plot Against America), but Katherine is still staring down at me from my TBR shelf.

I think the husband read that this year, Talbin. I'd go check but it's in the bedroom and he's in there asleep.

Murr,

Please tell me that you don't read Jean Plaidy, that I am temporarily hallucinating, that you are not bandying about her name favorably. I know whereof I speak. I read her work in grade school and middle school. Do you know she she was also Victoria Holt, Phillipa Carr, Eleanor Burford, Elbur Ford, plus a few others? Her real(?) name was Eleanor Hibbert. Talk about multiple personalities. And yes I also read the Victoria Holt and Phillipa Carr stuff too. The Elbur Ford personality wrote crime fiction, which I haven't read although it sounds interesting. Apparently all were based on famous (and grisly) murders that rocked 19th-century Britain. They include the following: Flesh and the Devil featuring Dr. Edward Mercer, Poison in Pimlico with Adelaide Bartlett, The Bed Disturbed (ooh lala) Euphrasie Mercier, and Such Bitter Business about Constance Kent.

yes yes yes that's the one! I read her in high school, I think. I enjoyed it! I read all her Plantaganet series along with Shakespeare's history plays, and a history of the period, which I can no longer remember.

my history teacher in high school was sooooo criminally boring, that I turned to self education instead. I remember he was very snooty when he saw me reading Katherine. I told him it was much more interesting than his classes, and that he should read it. He might learn something from it.

I was a cheeky bugger in high school. I think it was all the henna.

I finished Handle with Care by Jodi Picoult this morning. This was the March selection for The Happy Bookers Club. It was a very fast read. But I'm not sure how I feel about the ending. I'm leaning towards disliking the ending. But I just finished the book today and might need to see how I feel about it after I think about it for awhile. I also wondered about the inclusion of Charlotte's lawyer's, Marin, personal story. I get that it was included necessarily to present a certain point of view and aspect of the dilemma. But it did not feel like it was a part of the main story like the rest of the book. I did like the inclusion of recipes and baking terms which illustrated the character's state in the sections which followed (Charlotte is a pastry chef). I also liked that a different font was used for each character's chapters making it easy to know who we were reading.

Currently Reading:
Katherine by Anya Seton - nearly done with this one
The Stone Diaries by Carol Shields
A House for Mr. Biswas by V.S. Naipaul

I finished Katherine yesterday and thoroughly enjoyed it. It's been awhile since I've read a well-written historical fiction. The book was richly detail as to the time period and locations as well as including descriptions of the beautiful countryside. A compelling and unlikely love story occurred. Although at times, the characters behavior seemed too modern for the time. Such as Katherine deciding she didn't believe or follow the religious beliefs of the times in the middle of the book. The story slowed down for me around Ch 25 but I think that's because to veered into the history of the country at the time and away from the personal stories. I slowed down my reading speed and my enjoyment picked up again. The ending seemed unlikely given the times, which made it all the better that is was based on real history.

I look forward to reading the real history of the people in the story and more historical fiction of that time period and country.

Currently reading:
The Stone Diaries by Carol Shields
A House for Mr. Biswas by V.S. Naipaul - slowly with the husband

April book club selections:
Oystercatchers by Susan Fletcher (Someday BC selection)
Family Tree by Barbara Delinsky (RGG side read)
Empire Falls by Richard Russo (MaryZorro's Pulitzer Challenge)
A Separate Peace by John Knowles (THBC selection)

Nice review of Katherine. I wonder whether her disillusion with religion was based on evidence? Or whether it was a 'fiction' invented by the writer, and therefore and anachronism, as you say.
Either way, she was a remarkable woman, by all accounts. Have you seen the Beaufort family (which sprang from her loins) tree on Wikipedia?

Thanks Murr. I haven't seen the Beaufort family tree yet. But I plan on reading about Katherine, John, and their families online this weekend.

I also want to mention that I received an Early Reviewer book from the March batch. This is the first time I signed up to try for them. And it was the book that caused me to sign up that I won. (I had selected several cause I figured I'd have better odds that way.) I'm pretty excited about it.

>56 chrine: I have Katherine on my TBR shelf. Thanks for your review - I should push it up the list a bit.

An update:

I have to say that I totally wasn't interested in reading Oystercatchers. But since I give all the main selections of my book clubs at least a try, I got it from the library. I'm now nearly finished and finding the writing so beautiful and not enough time to read.

Oystercatchers by Susan Fletcher
(Someday Book Club's April selection)

The story is told within the framework of Moira filling in Amy, her sister, on her life while Amy is in a coma. Amy has been in a coma for over four years. For most of the book, one isn't sure how her fall on to the rocks occurred but I leaned towards thinking it was intentional instead of accidental. We're never really told exactly what happens or how it happens. When we get up to the time in Moira's telling of the fall, the fall seemed decidedly accidental to me then. Reading the book, I didn't keep waiting for Amy to wake from her coma because the story is more in Moira's reflecting on her life than the story of what happened to Amy.

So why is Moira telling Amy, who is her sister, the story of her life? Amy was born when Moira was 11 years old and Moira views Amy as a betrayal of her already completed family unit. Moira goes away to boarding school, which changes the course of her life, and rarely writes, talks to, or sees her family. She cannot stand her sister. The coma brings about change.

Moira sees herself as so different, in a bad way, a wrong way, from the others. She is shocked at someone falling in love with her. In the end, she finds she can answer to herself how someone could love her as she is.

The writing is detail worded and picture-able. I think I read somewhere that the author was still in her 20s when she wrote this, which increased my view of the book in some ways. A major theme is water and it's imagery. And water and light. Also, imagery of nature and the country side.

I did not expect to like this book but I did. There was one flaw for me. Something occurred in the last part of the book which I didn't like. But thinking about it as I moved on in the book, I could see it was in character of Moira and it furthered her. Fletcher wrote one other book before this one and I plan on reading it.

What I'm reading next:
A Separate Peace by John Knowles - The Happy Booker's Club's April selection

Chrine,

You description of the Oystercatchers makes it sound interesting. It is not the kind of book I would normally read but now I am intrigued.

Hi Urania

I didn't think so either. I thought it would be one of those women together touchy-feely books and I would just read it with the book club. It IS about a woman coming to terms with herself. But it's less "chick-ish" than I thought it would be. The writing is better, pretty. BUT I don't know if it was just me making the book into being about things I could reflect on too. Moira, the narrator, is geeky, loves science and math, feels out of place with the "normal" girls, and doesn't understand why her husband's love for her is exactly. I don't know if the book is literary. I think so maybe. Or if I just liked it because it was different from what I expected and I could relate in some ways. I'd say try it and let me know.

A Separate Peace by John Knowles
(The Happy Booker's Club's April selection)

"One of the most starkly moving parables ever written of the dark forces that brood over the tortured world of adolescence" states the copy on the back copy of the book. I get each of the boys is a different type of personality with a different world view and view of the war. But I don't think I'd call this book one of the most anything. I didn't particularly like any of the characters. They seemed flat and a bit false. I didn't dislike the book, it just didn't hold my interest.

What I'm reading next:
Family Tree by Barbara Delinsky - a group read on RGG

I think this is similar to the writings of Jodi Picoult and Diane Chamberlain. It should make for a quick read after this one's dragging.

Family Tree by Barbara Delinsky
(RGG side read)

Dana and Hugh Clarke's, a Caucasian couple, new baby has African American physical traits. Hugh is from a prominent New England family who can trace their roots back to the Mayflower. Dana doesn't know who her father is, other than a photo of a Caucasian-looking man and a name. How the family deals with this turn of events is the subject of this book.

Delinsky crafts a range of characters to display the different views people might have of the situation. For the most part, these characters are more realistic as individual people than they are stereotypes of different viewpoints. The biggest qualm I had with a character's actions was Hugh's maintaining that he was 100% certain that he was the father of the baby, Lizzie, and he wanted a paternity test only to prove to his family what he already knew while also making statements to his family, friends, and Dena that it could indeed be possible that she had cheated. I understand why he could have doubts, but later in the book he maintains that he never did despite his remarks previously.

The twist in the story was an evident possibility from the beginning, even if the characters didn't see it coming. The book continues another 100 pages from the reveal of the source of the baby's ancestry to show how the characters deal with the information. This was unexpected as usually books end shortly after the central story is resolved and I liked that Delinsky choose to extend the story.

I saw that the side story of Hugh's case against a powerful senator who fathered an illegitimate child now in need of medical case was included to show Hugh that he was still the same man, good and capable, but it also seemed added on and distracted from the main story. Similar points were made from Hugh's musing on past cases and his past, which felt natural to the story.

I also enjoyed that knitting and yarn were incorporated in the story.

What I'm Reading Next:
Empire Falls by Richard Russo - MaryZorro's Pulitzer Challenge

Peace Breaks Out by John Knowles

After World War II, Pete Hallam returns to his alma mater, the Devon School, to teach American History and Physical Education. The story follows his reintroduction into civilian life after the war and the lives of several boys in their senior year at the Devon School, including two boys at odd with each other and most of the school, Wexford and Hochschwender.

The book was slightly less flat than A Separate Peace, perhaps, because there seemed to be a bit more depth to the characters and story but not by much. The exposition contained more details but there was overall too much exposition. I felt like I was being told what to think.

It seemed that several of the boys at the Devon School felt left out and guilty for missing war. They talking and thought about the war as some grand adventure and a way to make their marks. Pete Hallam offered the counter balance as to the realities of war. I wonder with less media available at the time and only certain people telling the stories, if the war was idealized to the youth at home in the US.

I also wonder about the purpose of Pete Hallam's ex-wife and chapter about Wexford's weekend in Boston. They seemed like out of the main story inclusions used just to make a point about the characters.

Currently reading:
Empire Falls by Richard Russo

Thursday Next in First Among Sequels by Jasper Fforde

Thursday Next and crew saves the bookworld and the outland once again.

The same usually Thursday Next stuff happens in this book and while I still liked the concept and enjoyed the read, I enjoyed it somewhat less than the previous four books. All are different in plot but the style of the book remains the same. What was novel and interesting in the first book is not quite as novel and interesting as it was the first time. That said, I still liked the book and will continue to read all the Jasper Fforde puts out. The husband really likes the quirkiness and humor so they make good gifts for him and good reads for me while taking a bath.

Currently reading:
Empire Falls by Richard Russo
Peony in Love by Lisa See - I'm about to start this one for book club.

The previous post reminded me that I forgot to post my:

May book club selections:
Peony in Love by Lisa See (Someday BC selection)
Travels with Charlie by John Steinbeck (CT/RGG side read)
Killer Angels by Michael Shaara (MaryZorro's Pulitzer Challenge)
The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger (THBC selection) - read in OCT 08 with the Someday BC

Currently, my reading plan for the month is to finish Empire Falls while reading Peony in Love. Then read The Cellist of Sarajevo, which I got as an ER book and need to review. Followed by The Reader, which I'm leading in July for book club and want to read ahead to time to make notes and whatnot. After that I might read Killer Angels if I have time and inclination. A fluffy book or two might be filled in. I don't normally have a short-term set reading plan so I'm not sure I'll like having one, but one is necessary currently.

I am lurking here, but I have never heard of any of the books you are reading, much less read them or have anything intelligent to say about them. Nonetheless, I am enjoying your reviews!

Chrine, just out of curiosity, how does one lead a book club read? I have never attended a book club so I'm curious about what people's expectations are.

#68 there was a rather lengthy thread on literary snobs suggesting replacement required HighSchool books that could be subbed for a separate peace. Biased against the book, and as per usual wandered off into different directions. I know the required HS readings in the mid 60s that i most strongly disliked were a separate peace and Salinger. The thread was started by a HS English teacher who was well and truly tired of the book.

http://www.librarything.com/topic/62634

Hola Murr

Well, I'm glad your lurking and enjoying the reviews. Writing them has gotten easier the more I do it. Joining LT Talk has definitely improved my short, causal book review writing skills.

I am always lurking on your thread. I mean, plentiful vodka and dark, brooding art, what's not to like?

The two books clubs I belong to are online. In one, the three moderators select the book each month and announce it on the first of the month. There is a discussion thread for that book and discussion questions are posted. Members are can read and discuss the book in their own time frame during the month.

In the other club, we rotate leaders each month among the members. The leader for that month selects the book and leads the discussion. There is usually a reading schedule in this club. How much the leader does is up to the person. Some just post discussion questions. I usually will post reviews, background info, etc. on the book and topics related to the book about a week before my month starts. This time I want to try something new and schedule 1-2 chapters or a short number of pages for every 2-3 days. Then have a question, quote, or creative activity to post to increase discussion.

*Here the post dissolves into complaining about my past lead and my upcoming one.*

Last time I lead (Jan 08), I picked Special Topics in Calamity Physics as my selection. I owned the book but hadn't read it before. I put some posts out about which books I might select among a few I owned and wanted to read. But was ultimately told that the choice was up to me and to pick what I wanted to read most. End result is that few decided to read the book. Some of those didn't finish it. And there wasn't much discussion.

Back in Feb of this year, there was some talk of multiple members wanting to read The Reader, which I've already read, so I offered to lead it as a side read in a few weeks. Somehow that turned into why don't you just take the next available month (July) and lead it. Okay, fine by me. Come May, we are discussing the upcoming reads and I post a thread to see who all is going to read The Reader in July. Turns out most of the people wanting to read it back in Feb have already read it in the meantime. So I have one or two people reading the book for the first time and a couple who said they might reread it. I polled if I should switch the book and was told that it was ultimately up to me but most member wanted me to keep The Reader as my selection. So... while I will read and plan a discussion, I am a bit put off knowing that there might not be much discussion since practically no one is reading the book that month. And I feel like I'm losing my chance to lead since this wouldn't have been my month in rotation and I didn't really get to select the book. Okay. I think I needed to vent on this. Sorry to write so much. I am just frustrated. My last book lead didn't go well and I wanted my next one to but it doesn't look like it's going to and I am fairly good at this sort of stuff.

Hola Bob

I did not read A Separate Peace in high school, thankfully, nor did I read any Salinger. I feel that A Separate Peace was overly simplified and obvious. I don't remember reading anything that bad in high school. The books I remember not particularly enjoying back then were Steinbeck and Zora Neal Hurston.

I'm going to go check out that thread now.

Thanks for your long reply Chrine. I think people have such different expectations of a group read/book club that managing them all is actually quite difficult. Also, it seems to me that reading is such a solitary activity, that making it a social one is also quite difficult. Your approach, though, does sound very attractive and interesting. If only your club members would also play ball!

I'm intrigued by this:

Then have a question, quote, or creative activity to post to increase discussion.

and would like to know more, if you wouldn't mind sharing.

I don't mind sharing at all. However, I read The Reader several years ago so I don't know exactly what I'm going to ask or say. I'm okay with posting my notes for this once I made them after I reread the book sometime later this month. But to give you an example of the type of thing I'm thinking of, aside from questions relating to the text of the book. Maybe, have you ever loved someone you shouldn't have, had an illicit love affair, or cheating in a relationship? Harry Potter inspired: What would you see in the mirror in book 1 if you looked? That type of thing, relating the book in some way to people's lives and thoughts.

Reading had always been a very solitary experience to me before I found the online book clubs I belong to and LT. My mom and grandma read avidly but they read "popular" books only. My husband reads a lot too but mostly non-fiction and statistics. One of my BFFs read way more than I do but she's a romance junkie. So I rarely had anyone reading that read the same books and authors as I did. I am still thoroughly enjoying the experience of shared reads and discussions in the book clubs, even if the books aren't always ones I'd choose to read on my own, as well as reviewing, conversing, and reading posts on books on LT. I will admit that I'm extremely addicted to reading about what everyone else is reading on LT. When I'm off and studying or doing house stuff, I'll often be on here reading the Groups/Talk between stuff. I enjoy the thinking and studying of reading so much. It's such a pleasure to be around others who feel the same way.

yes, I agree!
:)

Empire Falls by Richard Russo
MaryZorro's Pulitzer Challenge

The story of Miles Roby and his daughter, Tick, the Whiting family, and the decline of the town of Empire Falls.

After finishing the book, I thought it would make an excellent book for a compare and contrast paper for school. Nearly any two people in the book could be taken together and compared or contrasted or both on their points of view, personalities, and themes in the book. Another paper could be written on the power each character has and how it affects their positions relative to one another. One could also write about the town of Empire Falls, which is almost a character itself in the book. The descriptions decline of the structures and characters during their slowly detailed lives were immersive. I felted like I could stand in Empire Falls as much the same as any abandoned mill town on a river in New England.

79 - I love when books make me feel that way! Did you see the mini-series on HBO? It was quite wonderful - Paul Newman being my favorite. I have been meaning to pick up the book since I saw it. Your review has pushed it up the list.

Hola Jane

Do read it! It was worth the read. I'd read it along with a faster paced book or two as it was a nice slow read. It took me about a month to read it in between other books but I picked it up regularly.

I didn't know there was a mini-series. I'll look at Hollywood Video for it.

Sundays at Tiffany's by James Patterson

Jane meets her childhood imaginary friend, Micheal, again as an adult.

I read this book easily in an afternoon while recuperating at my mama's. It was an enjoyable read while reading it but after I had finished, I felt dissatisfied by the ending and the story as a whole. It could have been more detailed, less stereotypical characters, and better written. It was not the enjoyable, light read that Patterson's previous two romances were.

What I'm reading next:
The Reader by Bernhard Schlink
The Cellist of Sarajevo by Steven Galloway

Chrine,

I had resisted The Reader since it was first published. I finally read it a couple of weeks ago. It is quite good.

The Cellist of Sarajevo by Steven Galloway
March 2009 Early Reviewer book

In May 1992 during the Siege of Sarajevo, mortar shells struck a market where people were waiting in line to buy bread. 22 people were killed. Each day for 22 days, a cellist who lives across from the market played Albinoni's Adagio at the time the mortars hit to honor the dead. This true event inspires Galloway's novel of four people struggling to come to terms with the life they lead during the Siege. Along with the cellist, there is Arrow, a university student turned sniper; Kenan, a husband and father who risks his life weekly to get the cleanest water he can for his family; and Dragan, a man whose family has escaped the city and is on his way to get a meal from the place where he works when he is waylaid at a street crossing under sniper's fire.

There were two major flaws in this book for me. One was the heavy use of street names, areas of the city, and their direction in relation to one another. This was, I suppose, to give us a layout of the city and the distances between things. For someone not familiar with Sarajevo, it is confusing. I think a map would have been highly beneficial here and enhanced the reading of the book.

Related to this, an introduction with similar but expanded information found in the afterword would have also been helpful to a reader unfamiliar with the history and politics of the region and the Siege. Who attackers were and the reason for the attack wasn't clear in the book. The book could be read as an everybook about people living in a city besieged by war but I found I wanted more information.

The second flaw is that the characters of Kenan and Dragan read very similar to me. I found myself having to look back to their last chapter (the book is written in alternating chapters for each character) to remember which was which and where they left off. Arrow is written quite distinctively and her chapters were my favorites to read.

Complaints aside, I thought this was a thoughtful and informative book about what it is like to live in a city under a long-term siege. Each character reaching the conclusion in their own way that living true to themselves, not ruled solely by fear, is the way to keep hope alive for the future of the city, the community, and themselves one day.

Also aesthetically, I liked the offset list of names with the character leading the chapter having their name in bold and that the pages separating the parts of the book were black, perhaps to show the bleakness of the city and the character's lives.

What I'm reading next:
Forbidden Bread by Erica Johnson Debeljak - April ER book
Methland by Nick Reding - May ER book

Chrine, this book sounds really good. you should try to see the movie, Ulysses' Gaze directed by Theo Angelopoulous which is also set partly in the siege of Sarajevo. Your review reminded me of the film.

Thanks Murr. I didn't know much about the Siege of Sarajevo before reading this book and doing some background reading online while reading the book.

I doubt the local video store will have Ulysses' Gaze but I'll look. I've been pushing to get Netflicks lately to no avail.

84 - You may be interested in this Sarajevo Survival Map which gives a spatial representation of the siege. I don't know nearly enough of the history as I should, but it is quite a fascinating art piece.

The jpg alone is here.

Thanks Jane. It is an interesting art piece.

My August TBR Pile:
Runaway by Alice Munro (SBC selection)
Girl with a Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevelier (THBC selection)
A Wedding in December by Anita Shreve (RGG side read)
The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton (Pulitzer Challenge)
The Red Pony by John Steinbeck (RGG side read)
The Pearl by John Steinbeck (RGG side read)

I will finish reading Forbidden Bread as well. I'm also making my way through The Atlantic's 2009 Fiction Issue and plan to read this month's Cooking Light and Fine Cooking.

Runaway by Alice Munro
August Someday Book Club selection

A dreary short story collection about women in odd situations, set in Canada.

I'll confess that I didn't really enjoy this book. I didn't read more than one story per day and in between stories, I did think about them when I wasn't reading. Because they were odd? Because I couldn't related to them much? Perhaps I found the book more interesting as I read it than I did at the end as a whole.

The story I liked best was "Tricks", which features Shakespeare's plays and has a Shakespearean end, and contains superstition versus psychology on the matter of fate. The story I liked the least was "Trespasses". I felt so sad for the young girl, burdened with so much knowledge.

What I'm reading next:
Forbidden Bread by Erica Johnson Debeljak - April ER book
The Red Pony by Steinbeck - RGG Side Read

Chrine, what is a Shakespearian end?

Hola Murr. It has an ending that seems like a Shakespeare play. Not everything is what it seems and an odd occurrence is explained neatly.

gotcha.

lol I wasn't quite sure how to explain it without telling the ending.

lol, you did well!

Clearly, Murr is on at the same time as me. =) What time is it there in Taiwan? It's the middle of the night here in South Carolina, 1am. I tried to convert the timezones quickly using the internets, but I needed to know what zone Taiwan was in off hand.

oh god, you've got me there, Chrine. I'm so hopeless at working out time zones.

Now it's 16.06 in the afternoon of August 27th, hot and sultry. Does that help?

lol

Okay, so it was 4am here when you posted that and 4pm there on the same day. I conclude that you're 12 hours ahead of me. Unless my math is really bad or my interpretation of military time.

The Red Pony by John Steinbeck
August RGG Side Read

Jody Tiftin is a 10 year old boy growing up on a ranch in the west many years ago. The book is four short stories featuring Jody. In "The Red Pony", Jody's father brings home a pony from town for Jody. In "The Great Mountains", an old Indian turns up on the ranch. In "The Promise", Jody cares for a mare in hopes of raising her colt. In "The Leader of the People", Jody's grandfather comes to visit and tells stories of leading a wagon train west to the sea.

The simple stories are well-written and truly give the feel of what it was like to be a 10 year old living on a ranch back then. The theme of death is present throughout. I thought the first three stories made a better whole but appreciate the compassion in Jody that the fourth story demonstrates.

What I'm reading next:
Forbidden Bread by Erica Johnson Debeljak - April ER book
The Pearl by Steinbeck - RGG Side Read

September book club books TBR:
The Second Virgin Birth by Tommy Taylor (SBC selection)
The Heart is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers (THBC selection)
American Pastoral by Philip Roth (MaryZorro's Pulitzer Challenge)
As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner (RGG Side Read)
Dracula by Bram Stoker (RGG Side Read)
The Far Pavillions by M.M. Kaye (RGG Side Read)
Zorro by Isabel Allende (RGG Side Read)

I'm not going to read The Second Virgin Birth as I am not interested in it at all but I do plan on reading The Heart is a Lonely Hunter and American Pastoral. After that, I'm not sure yet.

100 - The Heart is a Lonely Hunter is one of my favorite things I read last year. I'm looking forward to your thoughts.

Forbidden Bread by Erica Johnson Debeljak
April ER book

A memoir. Erica falls in love with Ales (pronounced Alesh) while he is in American studying and moves to Slovenia to marry him. Life in Slovenia is very different from life in America.

I kept picking up and putting down this books in between other reads. I'm still not sure if it was the book or I just wasn't in the mood for this book at this time. I did like the book well enough. But I started reading it just before I got seriously sick and the resulting testing to try to find out what it was, which put me out of commission for about two months and had me not reading much at all. So I can't say that might not have factored in. Perhaps if I'd started the book without all that going on, I'd have read it straight through and formed a different opinion of it. All that said, it took me over a month to read the bulk of the book post-illness so it might well have been the book. I just wanted to be sure to disclaim.

More so in the beginning of the book, the chapters seem to follow the following format. Erica would begin a chapter by relating an event in her life briefly, then digress into related but unnecessary information about the topic and Slovenian life. Sometimes this was just a couple of paragraphs. Sometimes it was pages of details. Then she would return to the incident and related it in greater detail. I found the digressions a distraction from her story and sometimes hard to follow if one wasn't up-to-date on the recent past history of that geographical area. I would have much rather she just gave more depth and details about these experiences and her feelings on living in a new and very foreign country. The book was drifting there towards the end.

I feel the book could have also benefited from a map or maps of the area and maybe the area as it was in the recent past as well as a map of the city she lived in. There were often mentions of geographical details, cities, and other locations. Seeing it in map form would have made reading it clearer to me. It felt like the book would read easier to someone familiar with the area.

There was also a lot of information about the recent history of Slovenia. It was not simple explanations to increase understanding of the story. It was detailed information that seemed hard keep up with without a decent prior knowledge of recent Slovenian history. It felt unneeded.

I should add that I hated the author's use of the term poet-lover. She seemed to intend it as endearing and cute but it came off as pretentious. This purely my opinion though.

Overall, I did find the parts of the book that were just the memoir interesting and wish she had just stuck to that. I found myself wishing that she'd written in more detail about her experiences and feelings. It felt like just the surface at times. I think if she'd given the level detail on those that she did on the geographical, historical, and cultural information, it would have been a better book.

One of the parts I enjoyed was Erica's explanations of the section headings: Singular, Dual, and Plural. Taken straight forwardly, these are Erica herself, as a couple, and as a family. But she relates a story about attending langauge classes. She has been in Slovenia for a little while by this time and she was finally beginning to feel like she was getting the hang of the language at last. Then the teacher teaches her class about the words for the singular, the dual, and the plural. But the plural only applies to three to five items then the singular use is used again, implying six or more items is a single group. Erica is frustrated by the continuing complexity of the language and the culture, especially when it doesn't make much logical sense. When she is ranting on the topic to Ales that evening, he talks about the beauty of using all the words for dual in writing poetry. The language takes on an aspect of beauty to her then and the section titles take on more meaning. I wish the book had contained more of the connection, complexity, depth of emotions, and detail of experience that this incident had.

What I'm reading next:
The Pearl by Steinbeck - RGG Side Read
Methland by Nick Reding - May ER book

Chrine,

Do not, I repeat DO NOT read The Far Pavillions.

Hey, I really loved The Far Pavilions when I read it. Of course, I was thirteen and intensely interested in doomed love.

Well RidgewayGirl, I, too, have a confession to make. I read it when I was sixteen and intensely interested in doomed love. But do you think Chrine will share this fascination?

lol I would have heeded Mary's warning but Alison's contradiction of it intrigues. Does Chrine find doomed love fascinating seems to be the question? Hmmm... I'm not sure I would actively pursue it as a theme of interest. But I do like books without the traditional happy ending.

That said, I wasn't planning on reading The Far Pavilions this month anyways. I list my book club reads here so I can have them all in one place to refer to. Rarely do I manage or want to read them all.

Lately, due to shortness of reading time, I've been finding myself frustrated at the fact that I seem to be only reading book club reads. When I found my two online book clubs several years ago, I was excited and loved enjoying reading books and discussing them with others. I still do. But since I've been becoming increasingly more active in Talk on LT and my wishlist has been increasing, I've been wanting to read more helter skelter with where my interests are at the moment. I've a wonderful library system and I've just discovered The Book Depository and its free shipping anywhere.

So, I've decided I will always have one because-I-want-to-read-this-now books going. I usually read two to four books at a time so this shouldn't be too hard. I've decided to restart The Brothers Karamazov either when I finished reading the last ER books I have to review or on my birthday as a present to me to take my reading back. I started it for the 999 Challenge group read back in February but life got in the way of a difficult book at that time. I'd been thinking about restarting it in the fall, which seemed like the time for it. It did not seem like a summer book. It's been living in prime real estate on my desk since then, looking quite fetching in its red paperback cover.

So, that's the plan. Okay, I'm hoping that if I put it in writing on the internets for everyone to see that I'll stick to it. It seems somewhat selfish to me to ignore reading commitments or plans.

Hey, there's plenty of doomed love in The Brothers Karamazov, as well as much, much more bad behavior generally.

The Pearl by John Steinbeck
August RGG Side Read

I finished this mid-month and just hadn't put the review up yet.

Kino, his wife Juana, and their son Coyotito live in the poor outskirts of a town on the seaside. Kino is a pearl diver. One day he finds a large beautiful pearl, which he knows he will get much money for and better his family's life. The pearl buyer's in the town offer him little so he sets off with his family to a big city followed by people who want to steal his pearl.

I read The Red Pony right before this book. I was more interested while reading this story but I enjoyed reading The Red Pony more.

What I'm reading next:
The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers
Dracula by Bram Stoker

I'm halfway through The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter and I am liking it more than I expected to.

The Heart is a Lonely Hunter is one of my favorites, though sad, and I liked Dracula too (in a different way)

I'm with solla. The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter is a lovely book.

Chrine, I am terribly impressed that you have monthly TBR lists. Terribly impressed indeed. Meanwhile I wander the labyrinthine TBR "pile" that is my home until I find what I am looking for or what I need at the moment. A literary form of chaos theory, I suppose.

I'll third the excitement over The Heart is a Lonely Hunter. It is one of my favorites. I'm also going to try to hit Dracula before Halloween.

Lois ~~ Well, I have monthly What My Book Clubs are Reading lists. I post them here so I can refer to them when selecting my next book. Last month, I made a list of all the books and periodicals I was currently reading or planning to start across the top of a piece of paper. Then I made lists down the page under each one of what I thought I might want to read after it. I've been picking and choosing down the rows as I finish and start books and magazines, staying in order but not always reading from each column. It was oddly exciting to make this.

Jane ~~ I'm enjoying Dracula and encourage you to try to get to it. I'm reading it on DailyLit (website that emails you bits of books each day for free) so I can squeeze another book in.

The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers
THBC September selection

Mute John Singer lived with his mute friend, Antonapoulos, until Antonapoulos was committed to a mental institution. Once he is living alone, four other lonely people come to visit with him weekly, each imposing on the mute their own impressions of him. Mick Kelly is a poor girl whose family owns the boarding house Singer lives in and who dreams of writing music. Biff Brannon runs the New York Cafe. Jake Blount believes he is one of the people who knows the truth about things. Doctor Benedict Mady Copeland is a negro physician who wants to advance the standing of his race.

I've been thinking about this book since I've read it and thinking about what to say about it. I still don't know. But a book that sticks in my mind once I'm finished is a good thing. I liked that it is just a short slice in these characters lives, without a finite wrapped-up ending, during which they knew John Singer. Yet during that time events happen and they change, but life for them remains more of the same that they had all along. I found my reading slowed in the middle as the characters lingered more on introspection of their lives. I feel like there is more I should say about this book.

What I'm reading next:
Dracula by Bram Stoker
Elephant Song by Wilbur Smith (TBN November selection)

Slowly making my way through Dracula on DailyLit. Elephant Song is a book club selection and so far its so-so.

What my book groups are reading in November:
Elephant Song by Wilbur Smith (TBN selection)
The Christmas List by Richard Paul Evans (TBN side read)
The Magnificent Ambersons by Booth Tarkington (MaryZorro's Pulitzer Challenge)
Magic Hour by Kristin Hannah (THBC selection)

The Magnificent Ambersons by Booth Tarkington
MaryZorro's Pulitzer Challenge - November book

Georgie Amberson Minafer gets his comeuppance and learns his lesson along the way.

I think Georgie Amberson Minafer is a thoroughly unlikeable character. What Lucy Morgan, his love interest, saw in him is beyond me. She did not need his money, perhaps it was his charm and good looks. I did not enjoy this book, though it was an easy read. Around where Georgie and Lucy parted ways, it started to become blatantly obvious that the author was writing a commentary on how the old ways and new ways co-mingled using the story's characters to set forth different examples.

What I'm reading next
The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein
San Francisco Panorama

What my book groups are reading in December
The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein (TBN selection)
Knit the Season by Kate Jacobs (THBC selection)

The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein
TBN December selection

Enzo the dog is dying of old age and poor hips. He loves his master - Denny, Denny's wife - Eve, and their daughter - Zoe; and he loves racing cars.

This is not a book for shocking twists and turns of story. This is a book where the story plays out as it should. This is a book that touches the emotions where it should, like a Hallmark movie or one of Mitch Albom's stories. It is the kind of book that is what it is and is not trying to be more and it is good at what it is: touching, sentimental, and ending as it should.

I read this book quickly while being sick, which is perhaps a good time for the reading of it. It is perhaps not the best time for the writing of reviews though. I can say I teared up at the part about Denny's mother. I can compare it to Marley and Me, which I liked better but read before it was so popular that I wasn't expecting something built up to be so much more than it was. I can say that I liked that the book had a finite ending, whether it truly happened or only happened for Enzo's soul.

Enzo learned to be in the current moment, acting instinctively to do what is needed, and he learned to look ahead to future events with victory.