Novels

Body Surfing – Anita Shreve

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One of the hallmarks of a good novel is that you cannot put it down; and for me, that was the case with Body Surfing by Anita Shreve.

In this novel, Shreve writes in current day with the New Hampshire shore as the backdrop. She studies the lives of her characters falling in love, in treacherous family rivalries, in kindness and resentment, in being lost.  Shreve’s writing is to the point. Nothing is wasted, and her pacing is flawless. She gives you exactly the details that are needed, but the depiction of her characters and their interrelation are what drives the story forward. She’s a writer that many of us could learn from.

In brief, this is the story of a young woman, Sydney, once married, once widowed, who takes on the summer job of tutoring Julie, the daughter of a fairly wealthy couple with a cottage at the shore. She hopes the experience will offer her some healing from her recent loss. Family gatherings soon introduce the couple’s sons, Jeff and Ben, both of whom seem to take an interest in Sydney. The mother, Mrs. Edwards, is immediately resentful; Mr. Edwards, eminently kind and caring, always wants what’s best for everyone. It doesn’t take long before events start to spiral out of control, and Sydney is caught in the intricacies of family relationships which are both hidden and destructive.

I really enjoyed the rapid pace of Body Surfing and how easily I was pulled in to the characters and their complicity. And I appreciated that while Shreve had me emotionally invested in Sydney, Ben, Jeff, Julie and the family, she did so without ripping my heart out. A perfect read for me right now.

J. K. Rowling – Her First Novel for Adults

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Did you know that J. K. Rowling has written her first novel for adults? The Casual Vacancy, published by Little Brown and Co. is making it’s debut tomorrow, September 27.

A member of the town council of Pagford, Barry Fairbrother, dies unexpectedly in his early forties. The competition for his seat is fierce, and further exemplifies that the quaint town with cobbled streets is not at all what it seems. In fact, everyone is at war with one another and nothing is as it seems.

Want to read more? Here’s J. K. Rowling’s web site with more detail.

A Balance of Fiction and Non-Fiction

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Here’s what I’ve found … I really do like reading a balance of fiction and non-fiction. I usually am reading one novel, be it adult, MG or YA, and also one non-fiction book (generally) of a metaphysical nature.

Recently, after finishing my last novel, I started reading Dying to Be Me by Anita Moorjani. I have been slowly working my way through Wayne Dyer’s Wishes Fulfilled a second time because it is so spot on, but I  found I miss the thrill … the immersion in  a story that I can’t put down. I want a book that nurtures my heart and soul as well as one that calls upon my mind and emotions and takes me places I’ve never been.

So I am going to Paris with the vampire Pandora by Anne Rice, a selection I’d made at The county library’s annual book sale. If you’ve never read Anne Rice, you will find her riveting. I read Interview with a Vampire, The Mummy and several others, but I loved the New Orleans Mayfair witches trilogy the best – The Witching Hour, Lasher and Taltos. They remain on my bookshelf as worth keeping and reading again. I’m looking forward to sitting with Pandora in a Paris café where she recounts her history; she was once a highborn woman in Augustan Rome who later named herself after the Pandora of mythology and in time, came to pursue Lestat.

Balance restored. How about you? Are you a one-book-at-a-time reader or do you multi-read, too?

Lost when the Story Ended

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How you know a book is truly fabulous is when you finish it and feel a bit lost. That’s how I felt after reading The Help. I was done the story, but I didn’t want to leave that world where Miss Skeeter was writing her novel with Aibileen and Minny. I wanted to keep cheering them on and holding my breath when Skeeter finds Hilly’s been in her satchel and wish that Minny would leave Leroy. And now it’s over.

It’s a wonderful author who can so thoroughly engross you in the world she’s created that you just sit and stare a while. The Help was not only a brilliant story but also a stark look into a time in the deep South when racism was sharp, but the edges were being chafed by the likes of Martin Luther King, Medgar Evers and Rosa Parks in the growing civil rights movement. It’s a portrait of whites and the “coloreds” who served them, and how the maids fared depending on the inclinations of their missus.  What a read!

I saw the movie before I read the book, and now am going to watch it again. Apparently, I’m not done quite yet.

But what do you choose to read after you’ve finished a novel that held you in thrall? I’m thinking something as far from it as I can get. Despite my many selections from the annual library book sale, I admit I did purchase a few new ones that I’ve been wanting to read, and The Camino is one of them. What a joy reading is.

 

Another Reason I Love Summer

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Reading.

One of the wonderful things about summer is that the light lasts so much longer. OK, that can mean more time to get things done, but it also lends itself to sitting outside and reading for awhile after one is done those very things. Another wonderful reason to love summer? NOTHING on television. Repeats, silly reality shows, (except Master Chef), not one thing to make one want to curl up and engage with some characters on a good drama or have a good chuckle. All that adds up to?

Reading.

I just finished Snow Falling on Cedars by David Guterson, another excellent book. And, like The Last Templar, it’s a novel which offers insight into an historic period/series of events I’ve known little about, the internment of the Japanese during World War II. This is a beautifully written novel. It is, all at the same time, a story about the cultural differences of an American and Japanese who fall in young love, a murder mystery told through a courtroom drama, aspects of life on San Piedro island – the men who make their living fishing on the ocean and those who cultivate the land on strawberry farms, the experience of some of the islanders who fought in the war and the aftereffects, and the rounding up and shipping off of the island’s Japanese residents and the conditions they were forced to endure.

Sounds like a pretty tall order, but Guterson is a wonderful writer and he captures it all. The snow, the cedars, the ocean, strawberries – all are practically characters in their own right. I’ll be holding my breath, but am going to get the movie.

And now I’ m reading a children’s book, Holes by Louis Sacher. Holes was the American Library Association’s 1999 Newbery winner. Awhile back, I decided to start reading what is considered the best in children’s literature and made a list – those that I wanted to read selected from among the Newbery winners. However, I  prefer this list – the ALA Newbery medal winners AND the Honor books chosen – many not-to-be-missed books were right behind the medal winners.

Hoping you’re finding some time to read whatever you love while the daylight lingers ….