Empire Falls by Richard Russo
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empire_Falls
http://www.litlovers.com/guide_empirefalls.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Russo
There are so many good things about living in a small town, but in spite of all the benefits, it certainly isn't all good. Having lived in a small town almost all my life, I have come to respect the genuine love and caring that people in such a place can have for one another, but I have also witnessed the emotional distruction of people by neighbors who knew, or thought they knew, everything. I have watched the village raise a child and I have seen other children who struggled with the double assignment of dealing with wretchedness and keeping that wretchedness a secret from the rest of the town. It has always amazed me that small town people can be so interested in some of its characters and deaf and blind to others.
Additionally, the distinction between the haves and havenots is so very blatant. Silk Stocking Avenue runs parallel with Wrong Side of the Tracks Side Street. With no private schools to hide in, Sally Silver Spoon sits right next to Freddy Free and Reduced Price Lunch. Such was the town of Empire Falls.
Now, add the very true and real relationships that people will find no matter where they live and the storytelling ability of Richard Russo and you have a page-turning story.
It was not the most enjoyable book I have read lately, but it did bring back memories - many of which I would just as soon forget and it proved to be a mirror for me to judge my own small town characteristics.
Read it only if you think you can look in that mirror and like what you see.
Sunday, January 4, 2009
Like Water for Chocolate
Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Like_Water_for_Chocolate
http://www.enotes.com/like-water
http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/likewater/study.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laura_EsquivelII
I have several connections to this book. First, a lovely group of women in Edinburg, Texas suggested that I might enjoy it. (I enjoy almost everything they suggest.) Second, I grew up just a few miles from the setting of this story and I actually lived in the town of Eagle Pass Texas for a year and a half as a young woman. Both of my daughters were born in Piedras Negras. Third, I love cooking and grocery shopping and recipes. Fourth, I love Mexican food especially when it is prepared by someone who really knows what they are doing. Fifth, when I read the book, I had just left Oaxaca where my husband and I had spent Christmas with friends. One of the special treats of the trip was a nightly cup of hot chocolate made with water and sweetened with cajete. Sixth, I read the book aloud on the beach at Zipolite. I had an audience of one - my husband. Even with all the lovely distractions of the playa, he actually paid attention to the reading. Seventh, I am a woman who has experienced just about everything in the book with the possible exception of setting fires with my passion.
I loved the book - enough that I purchased a copy in Spanish which I read and enjoyed just as much as the English version. It was interesting to see just how closely it had been translated.
I recommend Like Water for Chocolate to all women and to all the men who love them and want just a bit more insight into the crazy life of the feminine mind.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Like_Water_for_Chocolate
http://www.enotes.com/like-water
http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/likewater/study.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laura_EsquivelII
I have several connections to this book. First, a lovely group of women in Edinburg, Texas suggested that I might enjoy it. (I enjoy almost everything they suggest.) Second, I grew up just a few miles from the setting of this story and I actually lived in the town of Eagle Pass Texas for a year and a half as a young woman. Both of my daughters were born in Piedras Negras. Third, I love cooking and grocery shopping and recipes. Fourth, I love Mexican food especially when it is prepared by someone who really knows what they are doing. Fifth, when I read the book, I had just left Oaxaca where my husband and I had spent Christmas with friends. One of the special treats of the trip was a nightly cup of hot chocolate made with water and sweetened with cajete. Sixth, I read the book aloud on the beach at Zipolite. I had an audience of one - my husband. Even with all the lovely distractions of the playa, he actually paid attention to the reading. Seventh, I am a woman who has experienced just about everything in the book with the possible exception of setting fires with my passion.
I loved the book - enough that I purchased a copy in Spanish which I read and enjoyed just as much as the English version. It was interesting to see just how closely it had been translated.
I recommend Like Water for Chocolate to all women and to all the men who love them and want just a bit more insight into the crazy life of the feminine mind.
The Confederacy of Dunces
A Confederacy of Dunces
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Confederacy_of_Dunces
http://www.curledup.com/dunces.htm
http://www.gradesaver.com/a-confederacy-of-dunces/
by John Kennedy Toole
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Kennedy_Toole
What an interesting book. A friend who borrowed the book after I finished it helped me find the words that best described my own feelings - Original, wild, hilarious in parts, brilliant in parts, but… I don’t know… I’ll have to think on it. I certainly enjoyed it though, especially the dialogue and dialects.
Reading it right on the heels of a visit to New Orleans with Ken and Ivy, good friends and former residents of the Big Easy, I enjoyed seeing familiar place names, references to places I had visited, and bits of dialogue that I actually overheard on the streets. The story was intriguing and the characters who peopled the many subplots were so well drawn that I thought I could recognize them should I see them outside the covers of the book. It was laugh out loud funny and thought provoking. As my friend said, ¨I´ll have to think on it.¨
The two things I liked best about the book were 1)Ken gave it to me as a momento of our visit to New Orleans and 2) the origin of the title: a sentence in Jonathan Swift's "Thoughts on Various Subjects, Moral and Diverting":
"When a true genius appears in the world, you may know him by this sign, that the dunces are all in confederacy against him."
Now, honey chile, ain´t that jest the way of it?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Confederacy_of_Dunces
http://www.curledup.com/dunces.htm
http://www.gradesaver.com/a-confederacy-of-dunces/
by John Kennedy Toole
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Kennedy_Toole
What an interesting book. A friend who borrowed the book after I finished it helped me find the words that best described my own feelings - Original, wild, hilarious in parts, brilliant in parts, but… I don’t know… I’ll have to think on it. I certainly enjoyed it though, especially the dialogue and dialects.
Reading it right on the heels of a visit to New Orleans with Ken and Ivy, good friends and former residents of the Big Easy, I enjoyed seeing familiar place names, references to places I had visited, and bits of dialogue that I actually overheard on the streets. The story was intriguing and the characters who peopled the many subplots were so well drawn that I thought I could recognize them should I see them outside the covers of the book. It was laugh out loud funny and thought provoking. As my friend said, ¨I´ll have to think on it.¨
The two things I liked best about the book were 1)Ken gave it to me as a momento of our visit to New Orleans and 2) the origin of the title: a sentence in Jonathan Swift's "Thoughts on Various Subjects, Moral and Diverting":
"When a true genius appears in the world, you may know him by this sign, that the dunces are all in confederacy against him."
Now, honey chile, ain´t that jest the way of it?
Sunday, December 7, 2008
The Monster of Florence
The Monster of Florence by Douglas Preston with Mario Spezi
http://www.chicagotribune.com/features/books/chi-monster-of-florence-review-080612-ht,0,6714696.story
Nonfiction
Mario Spezi is a reporter for La Nazione, one of the most respected newspapers in Florence, Italy. In 1981, he became intrigued with the brutal murder of two young people. Soon this murder was connected to an earlier crime. Murders in 1982, 1983, 1984, and 1985 made the Monster of Florence THE topic of conversation and the most notorious criminal of the day. Although many lives were ruined by scandal and rumor and several people were put on trial and even imprisoned, the murders were never solved and the Monster of Florence is still among us.
What I didn’t like:
I wish the author had waited just a little while before publishing the book so that the reader would know the outcome of the final accusations against Mario Spezi.
What I liked:
The book has the feel of a novel. It’s hard to believe that this could have really happened – especially the comedy of errors created by the Italian justice system. I liked knowing a bit about the city and the surrounding country-side. I wish I had known about the Monster when I visited Italy. I would have paid more attention to the various sites where the vicious murders occurred.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/features/books/chi-monster-of-florence-review-080612-ht,0,6714696.story
Nonfiction
Mario Spezi is a reporter for La Nazione, one of the most respected newspapers in Florence, Italy. In 1981, he became intrigued with the brutal murder of two young people. Soon this murder was connected to an earlier crime. Murders in 1982, 1983, 1984, and 1985 made the Monster of Florence THE topic of conversation and the most notorious criminal of the day. Although many lives were ruined by scandal and rumor and several people were put on trial and even imprisoned, the murders were never solved and the Monster of Florence is still among us.
What I didn’t like:
I wish the author had waited just a little while before publishing the book so that the reader would know the outcome of the final accusations against Mario Spezi.
What I liked:
The book has the feel of a novel. It’s hard to believe that this could have really happened – especially the comedy of errors created by the Italian justice system. I liked knowing a bit about the city and the surrounding country-side. I wish I had known about the Monster when I visited Italy. I would have paid more attention to the various sites where the vicious murders occurred.
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
Charming Billy
Charming Billy by Alice McDermott
http://www.readinggroupguides.com/guides_C/charming_billy1.asp
Contemporary Fiction New York The years following World War II with insights and flashbacks two generations before the war.
Billy and Dennis, cousins and close friends, return from the war, meet two sisters and fall in love. Billy’s girlfriend becomes an obsession for him. The entire family and his circle of friends are told over and over again how wonderful Eva is and how much in love they are with each other and how happy they will be once they can be married. However, before the wedding can take place, Eva must return to Ireland to visit her family.
Dennis, knowing Billy’s desperation to send her money for a return ticket, arranges a loan with his step-father which Billy agrees to repay by working in the step-father’s shoe store at the rate of $1.00 per hour. The money is sent along with shoes for her and her mother and sisters. Billy receives no acknowledgement of the money or the shoes and is beside himself with worry.
Meanwhile, Eva’s sister, Mary and Dennis are still dating. Mary receives a letter from her sister telling her that she has married Tom, her old flame in Ireland. Mary tells Dennis knowing how devastated Billy will be when he hears the news. Dennis is left to tell Billy.
Thinking of the shame and humiliation that Billy will face when his friends and family discover Eva’s disloyalty, Dennis decides to protect Billy by telling him that Eva has died. Of course, the moment the words are out of his mouth, he realizes how fraught with disaster his lie is. There are so many ways to be found out, but the lie has been told and there is nothing to do but carry on, fleshing out the story as new details are required.
Billy is never able to put Eva’s death to rest. His drinking problem escalates into full blown alcoholism. He eventually marries, but he is never able to develop a true marriage with Maeve. The rest of his life is stained with tears shed over a love that could have been, should have been, would have been had it not been for her untimely death.
You may think that I have told the entire story, but actually, the reader learns all this within the first twenty-four pages. The rest of the book is the story of Dennis and how he came to be the kind of person who could tell such a lie; the story of Billy and how he came to be the kind of person who could never let go; and the story of their families and the kind of interdependence that was so much a part of their lives.
What I didn’t like:
It was impossible for me to believe that Billy would not have followed Eva to Ireland. I know times were hard, but in real life, he would have gone.
What I liked:
I enjoyed this compelling insight into life in Irish Catholic families. The book certainly provides an opportunity for some soul searching into the value of friends, relatives to say nothing of the value of truth in relationships. How much misery do we create when we fail to tell the truth?
http://www.readinggroupguides.com/guides_C/charming_billy1.asp
Contemporary Fiction New York The years following World War II with insights and flashbacks two generations before the war.
Billy and Dennis, cousins and close friends, return from the war, meet two sisters and fall in love. Billy’s girlfriend becomes an obsession for him. The entire family and his circle of friends are told over and over again how wonderful Eva is and how much in love they are with each other and how happy they will be once they can be married. However, before the wedding can take place, Eva must return to Ireland to visit her family.
Dennis, knowing Billy’s desperation to send her money for a return ticket, arranges a loan with his step-father which Billy agrees to repay by working in the step-father’s shoe store at the rate of $1.00 per hour. The money is sent along with shoes for her and her mother and sisters. Billy receives no acknowledgement of the money or the shoes and is beside himself with worry.
Meanwhile, Eva’s sister, Mary and Dennis are still dating. Mary receives a letter from her sister telling her that she has married Tom, her old flame in Ireland. Mary tells Dennis knowing how devastated Billy will be when he hears the news. Dennis is left to tell Billy.
Thinking of the shame and humiliation that Billy will face when his friends and family discover Eva’s disloyalty, Dennis decides to protect Billy by telling him that Eva has died. Of course, the moment the words are out of his mouth, he realizes how fraught with disaster his lie is. There are so many ways to be found out, but the lie has been told and there is nothing to do but carry on, fleshing out the story as new details are required.
Billy is never able to put Eva’s death to rest. His drinking problem escalates into full blown alcoholism. He eventually marries, but he is never able to develop a true marriage with Maeve. The rest of his life is stained with tears shed over a love that could have been, should have been, would have been had it not been for her untimely death.
You may think that I have told the entire story, but actually, the reader learns all this within the first twenty-four pages. The rest of the book is the story of Dennis and how he came to be the kind of person who could tell such a lie; the story of Billy and how he came to be the kind of person who could never let go; and the story of their families and the kind of interdependence that was so much a part of their lives.
What I didn’t like:
It was impossible for me to believe that Billy would not have followed Eva to Ireland. I know times were hard, but in real life, he would have gone.
What I liked:
I enjoyed this compelling insight into life in Irish Catholic families. The book certainly provides an opportunity for some soul searching into the value of friends, relatives to say nothing of the value of truth in relationships. How much misery do we create when we fail to tell the truth?
The Gargoyle
The Gargoyle by Andrew Davidson
http://doubleday.com/thegargoyle/praise.html
Contemporary Fiction with Strange and Wonderful Insights to the Past
A horrible wreck. Savage burning. A recovery that seemingly has no end. A bitter, bitter man who has, among other interesting characteristics, a snake living in his spine – a snake who loves to tell him repeatedly that his past was not redeemable, his present is too grotesque to endure and he has absolutely no future.
Enter the lovely, mysterious woman with fanciful stories of a past life and an unforgettable love. The reader must decide for herself how much of her story is the product of schizophrenia and how much is the truth as only she would know it.
No matter what judgments the reader makes, she must see that this is a powerful love story. Even if Marianne’s modern-day relationship with our burn victim is the only part of this story that is true, she gets my vote for “Most Passionate Lover.” And if she made up all the rest, she certainly gets my vote for “Most Creative Lover.”
As the author introduces us to spirits from around the world, we see love in the context of various cultures over a period of several centuries – always unashamedly pure and total.
What I didn’t like:
There was nothing about this book that I found wanting.
What I liked:
Marianne is a master storyteller. I loved each of her stories and every one of her characters was better than the one before. I was amazed at the end of the book when I could not think of one loose thread in this complex tale.
I have developed a new compassion for burn victims and a new level of respect for the medical staff who treat them. The research required to create this part of the story must have been massive.
I loved the parts of the story that occurred in medieval times. It reminded me of Name of the Rose.
I liked the diversity of Mr. Davidson’s characters in the present day.
I liked the story flow. The transition from present day to the past was seamless.
What a delight!
http://doubleday.com/thegargoyle/praise.html
Contemporary Fiction with Strange and Wonderful Insights to the Past
A horrible wreck. Savage burning. A recovery that seemingly has no end. A bitter, bitter man who has, among other interesting characteristics, a snake living in his spine – a snake who loves to tell him repeatedly that his past was not redeemable, his present is too grotesque to endure and he has absolutely no future.
Enter the lovely, mysterious woman with fanciful stories of a past life and an unforgettable love. The reader must decide for herself how much of her story is the product of schizophrenia and how much is the truth as only she would know it.
No matter what judgments the reader makes, she must see that this is a powerful love story. Even if Marianne’s modern-day relationship with our burn victim is the only part of this story that is true, she gets my vote for “Most Passionate Lover.” And if she made up all the rest, she certainly gets my vote for “Most Creative Lover.”
As the author introduces us to spirits from around the world, we see love in the context of various cultures over a period of several centuries – always unashamedly pure and total.
What I didn’t like:
There was nothing about this book that I found wanting.
What I liked:
Marianne is a master storyteller. I loved each of her stories and every one of her characters was better than the one before. I was amazed at the end of the book when I could not think of one loose thread in this complex tale.
I have developed a new compassion for burn victims and a new level of respect for the medical staff who treat them. The research required to create this part of the story must have been massive.
I loved the parts of the story that occurred in medieval times. It reminded me of Name of the Rose.
I liked the diversity of Mr. Davidson’s characters in the present day.
I liked the story flow. The transition from present day to the past was seamless.
What a delight!
Friday, November 7, 2008
The Tenderness of Wolves
The Tenderness of Wolves
http://www.bookbrowse.com/reading_guides/detail/index.cfm?book_number=1992
by Stef Penney
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stef_Penney
Historical Fiction Fall, 1867 Canada
A man is dead. An adolescent child is missing. A mother comes to the realization of her many failures as a parent and she is ravished with pain. A father faces his shortcomings and turns his pain into anger. The community is atwitter with suspicion. Enter the intrigues of the fur trade complete with enough corruption for several men. Add the loneliness and cold of the artic, a dash of secret homosexuality, a seventeen year old unsolved murder, and rumors of an ancient civilization. What a tale!
As the mother braves the frozen north in the company of men she doesn’t know, she learns about herself, her relationship with her husband and the complexities of motherhood. She learns trust under the most cruel of circumstances. In many ways, this is her story.
What I didn’t like:
I can’t think of a thing that I didn’t like. It was an intense page-turner for me.
What I liked:
I was intrigued by the story format. The story was told in turns from various points of view, but only the mother was allowed first person status.
I enjoyed the subplot of the ancient American Indian civilization.
I thought the homosexuality theme was handled with grace. It was not an add-on; it was central to the story.
The author made the setting and time come alive. Although she says that she has never visited Canada, she certainly understands cold and loneliness on a deep level.
http://faculty.marianopolis.edu/c.belanger/quebechistory/encyclopedia/FurTradeCanada.htm
http://www.bookbrowse.com/reading_guides/detail/index.cfm?book_number=1992
by Stef Penney
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stef_Penney
Historical Fiction Fall, 1867 Canada
A man is dead. An adolescent child is missing. A mother comes to the realization of her many failures as a parent and she is ravished with pain. A father faces his shortcomings and turns his pain into anger. The community is atwitter with suspicion. Enter the intrigues of the fur trade complete with enough corruption for several men. Add the loneliness and cold of the artic, a dash of secret homosexuality, a seventeen year old unsolved murder, and rumors of an ancient civilization. What a tale!
As the mother braves the frozen north in the company of men she doesn’t know, she learns about herself, her relationship with her husband and the complexities of motherhood. She learns trust under the most cruel of circumstances. In many ways, this is her story.
What I didn’t like:
I can’t think of a thing that I didn’t like. It was an intense page-turner for me.
What I liked:
I was intrigued by the story format. The story was told in turns from various points of view, but only the mother was allowed first person status.
I enjoyed the subplot of the ancient American Indian civilization.
I thought the homosexuality theme was handled with grace. It was not an add-on; it was central to the story.
The author made the setting and time come alive. Although she says that she has never visited Canada, she certainly understands cold and loneliness on a deep level.
http://faculty.marianopolis.edu/c.belanger/quebechistory/encyclopedia/FurTradeCanada.htm
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