I'm now on an Ian McEwan kick...

As mentioned before, I LOVED Atonement. Browsing through Tar-jay the other day with Meghan, I stumbled across this McEwan novel. WOW. Loved loved loved it. So poignant and heartbreaking! The cover blurb reads, "In 1962, Florence and Edward celebrate their wedding in a hotel on the Dorset coast. Yet as they dine, the expectation of their marital duties weighs over them. And unbeknownst to both, the decisions they make this night will resonate through their lives. With exquiste prose, Ian McEwan creates a story of lives transformed by a gesture not made or a word not spoken." I fly through his books so quickly, I think a trip to the library is in order. Almost seems a waste to buy them as I devour them within a matter of hours. Ian McEwan certainly has an amazing talent. His descriptions are incredible and bring me right to the place his imagination was while writing. I can taste the salt air in the breeze, and feel the sand between my toes. I'll bring this tomorrow night for the underground. :)

Child 44

This is Tom Rob Smith's first book and hopefully just the first of many terrific books. Incredible! It was a book I couldn't put down. He draws you right in with the first sentence: "Since Maria had decided to die, her cat would have to fend for itself." He describes the loss of food and total loss of hope in the 1933 Soviet Union so vividly. And then brings you to the despair and ruthlessness of the post World War II struggles.
It's a thriller with an original plot: The main character is an officer in the State Security force who only wants to serve his country. He does whatever he's told without any questions. But when a serial killer of children is on the loose, and the paranoid Soviet system refuses to recognize that there is one, he finds himself torn between the search, the truth and his possible death sentence for disloyalty. The filmmaker Ridley Scott ("Alien", "Black Hawk Down") has already bought the rights and plans to direct a film version.

Some light (predictable) beach reading

So I seriously didn't intend to finish reading "Atonement" in one day. Tuesday found me very sick of reading months-old People magazines, and utterly overwhelmed by various Orange County property listings and over-the-top high-end design magazines. Eclectic readers, the owners of this beach house. Meghan had a friend with her, so I was the sole adult during the day. I came across this book and one other ... Danielle Steele ... it was an easy choice. I absorbed this one in one day also!! Can't say it was deep or inspiring in any way but it helped to while away my day in the sun. Besides, after my last two flops ("Rant" and "As I Lay Dying") perhaps some seriously light reading was what I needed. The plot, about three-year old twins that are separated following a kidnapping - and commence to communicate by telepathy, leading to the capture and conviction of the kidnappers - seemed a bit pat for me, but then I did say this was "light" reading. :) Plus, it could be this wasn't the best read to follow "Atonement" - everything about which I loved.

Sin in the Second City

The NYT Book Review called this book "a lush love letter to the underworld." Well...kinda sorta, yes and no. The book centers around the Everleigh Club in Chicago, a famous brothel run by two sisters, Minna and Ada Everleigh. They ran their brothel as a high class resort, turning away unsavory types at the door and had a waiting list of harlots wanting to work for them. The first half of the book is a good fun read, focusing in on the sisters, their past both real and made up, their clients and the girls they employed. The second half is more about the war against the houses of ill repute by the ministers, polititians (at least the ones who weren't getting paid on the side by the vice lords), and civic leaders.

Not that I have anything against Truth, Justice and the American Way...I just wish the book focused more on the sisters. They are true characters, adorning themselves with $100,000 worth of diamonds, driving around in a bright yellow car with a bouquet of fake flowers as a hood ornament, the way they decorated their brothel the author calls them "an early century cross between Martha Stewart and Madonna."

I'll bring this to the next meeting and put it up for grabs.

A Biography It Is!

You all overwhelmingly voted for a Biography as our next book pick. Comment on this post with ideas and we will vote online for the September Book.

Paint It Black by Janet Fitch

While I was playing Guitar Hero with my kids this weekend, including the song Paint it Black by The Rolling Stones, I was reminded of this book that I read by Janet Fitch also called Paint it Black. She is the author of White Oleander. Janet Fitch has so far proven herself to be an amazing author. She has a way with language that is so insightful and artistic. Her subject matter in both White Oleander and Paint it Black is not uplifting but the writing is phenomenal. Here is the blurb from BN.com about Paint it Black:

Josie Tyrell, art model, runaway, and denizen of LA's rock scene finds a chance at real love with Michael Faraday, a Harvard dropout and son of a renowned pianist. But when she receives a call from the coroner, asking her to identify her lover's body, her bright dreams all turn to black.

As Josie struggles to understand Michael's death and to hold onto the world they shared, she is both attracted to and repelled by his pianist mother, Meredith, who blames Josie for her son's torment. Soon the two women are drawn into a twisted relationship that reflects equal parts distrust and blind need.

The only thing I did not love about this book was the ending, I thought the author stretched it out a bit too far. I thought there was a better ending point. However, I still highly recommend this book, but as I said before it is NOT uplifting.

The Russian Concubine

This book by Kate Furnivall was a good read, good but not great. I would characterize it as a gritty historical romance. I say gritty because it contained quite a bit of graphic violence. Otherwise it was an historical romance. It followed the basic formula: boy meets girl, boy loves girl, girl loves boy, some kind of turmoil, boy and girl are happily back together... BUT it did add a few twists and a decent ending. It was worth the read. I'll bring it to the next meeting to share.

Enemy Women

Enemy Women by Paulette Jiles is a story that she bases on the rarely noted chapter of Civil
War history about the incarceration of women. This is Jiles' first novel and she does a good job of telling about the war from the perspective of southeast Missouri. Each chapter is prefaced with historical personal letters and facts of events. The comparison to Frazier's Cold Mountain is inevitable: and so I have to say, far less of a page turner but, still a good read.

Hanna's Daughters

This book was a different read for me. Hanna's Daughters by Marianne Fredrikson was actually the English translation of a Swedish book written about three generations of women from the late 1800's to the 1900's. It seemed to me that a few things get lost in the translation but, the book is not so much about the women as it was about the culture, their behaviors, and their values. Having grown up with a grandmother who's parents came from this back ground gave me a little more insight to both her and her family. It also made the personality traits of these women in the book seem very familiar to me.
Not an easy book to follow when the author goes back and forth between characters. But, I stuck with it and felt like it was worth my time.

OK! OK!

I'm gonna give this 'blog thing' a try. Don't generally spend much time on the computer but, here goes. Needed something to do yesterday while waiting at the hospital so, read Dean Koontz's new book "The Good Guy". Nice change from several of his other recent books. It's not a horror story. No paranormal stuff and no government conspiracies. Actually created a hero who is defined by his actions. Nice positive quick read.

Atonement

I sent out an email, but just in case...I have a spare copy. Somehow I ended up with 2.
Take one of mine before you go out and buy one.

OOOOPS!!

That would be reading! Duh!

OK! OK! OK!!!!

Our bossy buddy got on me at lunch today about not posting to the blog. In catching up on what's happening and what everyone is ready, I see you all got chewed too! Ha! Ha! Gotta love it! I threw a couple of steamy romance novels into the mix since Molakai. Not usually my thing, but has certainly helped hubby get his mind off work and sleep a little better at night!!! Yipppeeeeee! Oh yea, I also read some family saga vampire thing. It was ok. I just started She's Come Undone by Wally Lamb. So far, I am really enjoying it but I'm not quite 100 pages into it yet. I so hope it doesn't take a turn like Taco Bell tomatoes in my tummy! As we all know, so many start out good and end really bad! At this point, I have no thoughts of abandonment. Any comments on this book would be greatly appreciated. I agree that the time I can spend reading is too precious to waste on bad books. Can't wait for our next gathering. I miss you all so much after missing the May meeting. Love ya!
Q

OK! OK! OK!!!!

I made it to page 152. A strange and not altogether pleasant journey. Reading, to me, has always been a source of pleasure as time found to partake is generally limited. I have found my new mantra.

"Life is too short to read bad books."

This book is very difficult to follow. Written as an oral history, it shimmies back and forth between multiple voices, with different tones and different purposes. Pieces are fragmented and surreal. At one point I told myself, "Keep going, you started it, so finish it!" And this morning, I decided to throw in the towel. I like to feel that I am gaining something from the books I read - something at all - but this just felt like too much work and too little reward.

I'll bring it to the next meeting for someone to borrow - nay, keep. Someone else may have a different perspective on the book. Just not for me. Could it be that Faulkner is beckoning, hence my lack of stamina on "Rant?"

A Sumptuous Experience

There is a certain experience, when you have just finished a delicious meal. Not an ordinary weekday dinner, but a special one, with well prepared food, shared with interesting people. At the end of the meal you are full, but not uncomfortably so. You are delighted to have found some new food to love, and the conversation around the table is so wonderful, that nothing is as important as sitting at the table to prolong the experience. Your mouth, mind and stomach have been sated. We have all had this experience (I hope). That was the exact feeling I had after finishing Ruth Reichl's memoir, "Tender at the Bone". When I finished the book, I sat on the chair and hugged it to my chest, trying to avoid my re-entry into real life.

The story was Ruth Reichl's life from early childhood to early twenties. She went on to become a celebrated food writer; a restaurant critic for the New York Times and editor of Gourmet Magazine. Her writing is exquisite! It is funny, and sad, and descriptive. She recounts her life with her manic-depressive mother but never accepts pity. She carefully chronicles how life funneled her into food. I was jealous of some of her experiences, like her extensive traveling and identified closely with others like trying to heal the world, and myself, by cooking. I too was raised by a terrible cook, and I too understand the power of food. My only complaint, and it is slight, is the food descriptions didn't always match the tone of the book. I loved the recipes, though, and I may have to buy the book so I can have copies of them. I was so delighted with this book, borrowed from the library, that I immediately got on Amazon.com to order her next book"Comfort me With Apples". It covers the next twenty or so years in Ruth Reichl's life. I can barely wait. I believe I will read "The Onivore's Dilemna" next.

Love in the time of Taj Mahal

I have to say I was expecting a bit more from this book. It was one of those where you read the back and say to yourself, "Oh cool. I'm gonna like this."

This is what bn.com says: Journey to dazzling seventeenth-century Hindustan, where the reigning emperor, consumed with grief over the tragic death of his beloved wife, commissions the building of the Taj Mahal as a testament to the marvel of their love. Princess Jahanara, their courageous daughter, recounts their mesmerizing tale, while sharing her own parallel tale of forbidden love with the celebrated architect of the Taj Mahal. This impressive novel sweeps readers away to a historical Hindustan brimming with action and intrigue in an era when, alongside the brutalities of war and oppression, architecture and the art of love and passion reached a pinnacle of perfection.

Sounds great, right? Can't wait to devour this book? Eh, it was alright. I think maybe, for whatever reason, I was expecting too much and ended up a bit disappointed (I hate it when that happens!). But somebody else may love this story. The reviews on bn.com were glowing. I'll bring it to our next meeting unless my mom wants to read it, sorry girls, but mom gets first priority.

See, the way it works is...

HELLO!....hello....hello... (those are echoes) Burr-naise? Laurie? Anyone!?!

Really bookies, I can only read so fast! If we want this site to be/stay interesting, I need you all to talk about what you're reading too. See, the way it works is you sign up to be an author on the site and then YOU post entries too. Or at the very least comment on what I write. Really! I need some help here!

Make sure you check out the recipes link!

There are already lots of good recipes from our Moloka'i meeting on the recipes website. Just click the link to the left of the posts.

Moloka'i by Alan Brennert

It wasn't hard to choose the theme of this month's meeting, after briefly considering another tribute to grossness in the Heartsick style i.e. lady fingers or something equally tasteless and disgusting, we decided to have a huge Hawaiian Luau. Bethany and I both wished we could really go big and dig a pit to roast a pig but we decided to be happy with something smaller. We ended up with a smorgasbord of authentic dishes including: a Cheese Tray with Sour Baguette and Honeycomb, Maui Onion Dip, cut fresh papaya, pineapple and coconut, fresh veggies, Hawaiian Style Pulled Pork Sandwiches with grilled pineapple, Huli Huli Chicken, Poi, Fresh Green Salad with Plums and Pecans, Fresh Fruit Salad, Haupia with Pineapple, and Blue Hawaii to drink. For dessert we had white cake with pineapple filling and coconut frosting and Orange Coconut Bread Pudding with Macadamia Nuts.

Bethany's backyard was the perfect setting for our little soiree with the sparkling pool, swaying palm trees and woven palapas. The night was mild and breezy with tropical colored lanterns hanging in the trees. Bethany had tropical plates and napkins with a pretty hibiscus print and fruity colored goblets complete with little umbrellas piercing maraschino cherries and chunks of pineapple. Everyone got to choose a lei upon entering the party. So, the ambiance was perfect and the mood was set for a fun evening. This meeting was different because the husbands had been invited to mingle and play poker. We also welcomed back some charter members for the evening.

The bookies segregated for dinner to talk about the book. We chuckled over the irony that this was our most festive book club yet and it was dealing with some of the most depressing subject matter we have read so far this year. The book was generally well-liked and the conversation was lively.

IF YOU HAVEN'T READ MOLOKA'I, READ NO FURTHER - I AM GOING TO SPOIL THE END.

Everyone was glad to have read this book. The subject matter was interesting and the characters were well written. Each of us was heartbroken over Rachel's separation from her family. Then to add insult to injury, she wasn't even allowed to stay with her Uncle who already lived on Moloka'i. Rachel's life, however, turned out to be the best of the worst so to speak. We were happy she had found love and was able to bear and love a child however briefly. While she lived a long life it was hard to know that she outlived the other leprosy patients she had grown up with. Bethany thought it was interesting that the man Rachel ended up marrying was so different from the joking, fun loving men (her father and her uncle) she had known as a child. We all hated the part of the book where Rachel's husband was killed and thought that it was overkill on the "white man is bad" theme. We didn't object to the tragedy, only the way he died. We thought any other way would have been more acceptable. I thought it was obvious foreshadowing when Rachel tells the children the legend about Maui and how he gauged out the huge bat's eight eyes and then she gauged out the eye of Crossen during the fight between him and her husband, Kenji. We loved that Kenji told Rachel that both of their skin tests had come back positive, even when his hadn't, so that he could stay with her. We wished Rachel would have learned about her husband's lie after he died, so that she would know how much he loved her.

We all loved Catherine the nun and wished we had learned more of what happened to her after Rachel left Moloka'i. Diane said that she understood why Catherine had come back to the island from her visit with her family in New York. It was to be with Rachel, the daughter she never had. We liked that the author showed Catherine's struggle with her religion and God. It made her so much more human than if she had been a pious nun throughout the whole story.

We talked about Rachel's belief that her mother had abandoned her. We were glad when her sister Sarah told her that her mother had thought Rachel died quickly because leprosy had taken her son Kimo so quickly and that she had grieved for her loss until the day she died and even asked to be buried facing Moloka'i so she could see her baby Rachel everyday. We were glad Rachel contacted her daughter Ruth in California and built a relationship with her. Most of us thought it was an unnecessary tangent for the author to have written about the Japanese internment camps.

One of the questions at the back of the book asked whether we thought of Leilani as a man or a woman. We all agreed that we viewed that character as a woman. It was ironic that in the end it was the leprosy that truly made her so. She said it best when she said,"I asked God to make me a woman and He gave me leprosy".

On a personal note: I admit that I went into this book with a bias toward liking it because I knew that my mom had liked it so well. I would recommend reading this book, it was definitely worth the read. I found it to be heartbreaking, informative, interesting and inspirational. It challenged what I thought I knew about leprosy and the fear and stigma that went along with it. It made me consider what I would do as a mother if I was faced with similar circumstances. All around it turned out to be a great Book Club book for both food and discussion.

If I missed anything, chime right in! I can only remember so much after 2 or 3 (okay 4 or 5!) Blue Hawaiis...