Me Talk Pretty One Day (migrated from Bookblogger)

Posted on by marjorieseidenfeld

Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris

Fun book!  When my family asked me what this book was about, I had to answer, “Nothing, really.”  It is sort of the Seinfeld of books…  David Sedaris, in his sardonic, laugh-out-loud style, describes vignettes from his childhood, his experiences living in Paris, and his various work experiences.  While he is sometimes outrageous in his tone, he describes some scenarios that any reader can relate to and in that he draws the reader in and thoroughly entertains.

In short, it’s hard not to have a great time reading this book!

 

Me Before You (migrated from bookblogger)

Posted on by marjorieseidenfeld

Me Before You by Jojo Moyes

I accepted this book from a friend a little reluctantly…  who really wants to read a book about a woman who, desperately seeking a new job after her job at the coffee shop was terminated, is hired to care for a 35-year old quadriplegic?  I imagined it would be terribly depressing and predictable.  I was pleasantly surprised at how wrong I was.  This book was solidly written, delved into issues of class and love and the value of living life to its fullest, whatever that means.

The main character, Louisa Clark, is refreshingly unique and strong and struggles with her ward, Will, even as she is determined to push him to want to live in spite of his devastating injury.  In fact, each of the characters is sympathetic in his or her own way.  We briefly hear from the voices of each of the other main characters in the book, with the noted exception of that of Will.  Everyone is trying to read Will and understand his thinking and through the story we get to know him and what he struggles with on a day to day basis.  But the story is more about the development and growth of Louisa as she is exposed to him and this makes it more interesting, actually.

What I loved about this book is the juxtaposition of one who is limited in how he can live with those who are near him who, as he sees it, do not take advantage of living and do not live to their fullest potential.  I think there is a lesson for all of us AB’s (able-bodied) to think about…

 

Can You Keep a Secret?

Posted on by marjorieseidenfeld

Can You Keep a Secret? by Sophie Kinsella

After reading The Storyteller, this is just what I needed!  I think Kinsella’s books are my secret (although not anymore!) vice.  They are light and a little predictable but they are cute, a little outlandish and really fun to read.  In this one, the main character, Emma, is a young, ambitious marketing assistant who is sent on a business trip to represent her company.  She has had a dismal experience and on her flight home, after a few drinks and some extreme turbulence, confesses all her deepest, darkest secrets to a complete stranger.  Unfortunately, or fortunately as the case turns out to be, this stranger shows up again at her office — because he’s the founder of her company.

It’s quirky and contrived but makes for a fun read.  Perfect beach reading — unfortunately for me, it’s snowing out!

The Confidant (migrated from bookblogger)

Posted on by marjorieseidenfeld

The Confidant by Helene Gremillon

When Camille, an editor in Paris whose mother has just died, opens what she anticipates is another condolence letter and instead finds the beginning of a story of romance and intrigue.  Each week she receives another installment, each with a new hint that suggests this story is not fiction but rather a message linking her to the main characters.  And with each installment comes a new perspective on the events that occur, enlightening both Camille and the reader to a different layer of the story.

Mainly, the story is about a lie that leads to another and another.  And each character has to fabricate his or her own version in order to survive what becomes a tangle of lies.

The book is a quick read that is very hard to put down.  It’s the kind of book that you can’t get your head out of until you reach the end.  Even when you are not reading, you are still thinking about the characters and feeling their struggles and their pain and trying to understand what is, indeed, the truth.  For each of the characters lives their own truth.  It is heartbreaking and tragic and there are many casualties of the lies.   But there is hope, too, in the untangling.

I’d love to hear what others think of this book.  It would be a great book club book!

The Chaperone (migrated from Bookblogger)

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The Chaperone by Laura Moriarty

More than the beautiful writing and the wonderful character portraits drawn in this book, I loved the message contained in these pages.  In the telling of this story about Cora, a woman with grown children who volunteers to chaperone a bratty teenager, Louise Brooks, to New York City in her quest for stardom, the author so articulately writes the wisdom that the generations can learn from each other.  Cora begins as a fairly stodgy and righteous old coot who is very concerned about maintaining her charge’s reputation.  Louise, on the other hand, is determined to act out and rebel against all of this and does not care at all what anyone thinks.  As the story progresses, however, they both learn that they need to do what they can to make themselves happy and that staying with the status quo does not always accomplish that.

The reader cannot help loving Cora, who is very human and very wise.  There are dilemmas and difficulties in her life that are not what she ever anticipates, but she finds a way to cope and find happiness.  She, in her own way, becomes something of a rebellious one, and she accepts change more than even she would have ever imagined.

The book is also historical fiction, giving the reader a close-up of the small town perspective on the 1920’s through the second world war and beyond.  The social evolution that Cora is a part of is very reflective of the changes occurring during these radical times.  And while Cora is a victim of some of the early prejudices, she becomes something of an instrument of change in her later years.  Her understanding of the urgency for this change to occur is so beautifully summed up by my favorite quote in the book, “she would owe this understanding to her time in New York, and even more to Louise.  That’s what spending time with the young can do — it’s the big payoff for all the pain.  the young can exasperate, of course, and frighten, and condescend, and insult, and cut you with their still unrounded edges.  But they can also drag you, as you protest and scold and try to pull away, right up the the window of the future, and even push you through.”

The Paris Wife (migrated from Bookblogger)

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The Paris Wife: A Novel by Paula McLain

This very elegant book is written from the fictional perspective of Ernest Hemingway’s first wife, Hadley.  McLain, in the voice of Hadley, tells of their brief courtship and their young marriage.  Early on, they moved to Paris and lived a very French life in the 1920’s, drinking and socializing with the artists and intellectual elite of the day.  Gradually, as Ernest becomes caught up in his upward climb to notoriety, he alienates his friends and eventually his own true love, Hadley herself.  And while the story is ultimately quite sad, it is also very beautiful in so many ways that the reader is left with a sense that things had to be as they were.

The story is told so smoothly that this reader felt she was reading the diary of a close friend.  It is hard not to love Hadley and have compassion for her and yet, at the same time, there is compassion for Ernest as well.  Even while the reader watches the demise of the relationship, each character in his/her own way is real and multidimensional and therefore sympathetic as well.

It also is a beautiful piece of historical fiction, with insight into the very real “roaring” that went on in the 1920’s.  Intellectual ideas and the search for beauty and truth seemed to have frequently been drowned in alcohol and lust.  The loneliness and emotionality of the artist personality was almost cliche, but was depicted very realistically.

It inspired me to want to read some of Hemingway’s novels.  I just might do that…

Motherland (migrated from Bookblogger)

Posted on by marjorieseidenfeld

Motherland by Amy Sohn

This book is to literature what All My Children is to television…  pure soap!  It centers around the yuppie neighborhood of Park Slope in Brooklyn, where apparently no one really likes their kids, their spouses or their lives.  Every character is either cheating or being cheated on by their spouse, and the kids are resented for their mere existence.  The children are responsibilities and chores and not redeeming in any way.  And all that everyone really thinks about is having sex.  All the time.

The book also reads like a few stories combined into one with the characters intersecting at different points.  There are few actually likeable characters, which makes the book hard to connect with.  And the choppiness of the story leaves many threads dangling without resolution.

I have to confess, the only character I found truly amusing was the stroller stealer in the neighborhood!  Fed up with the yuppie moms who left strollers all over the neighborhood, this thief made what I considered quite the statement.  I kind of respected that…

Anyway, as you might have guessed, while this held my attention, it was not a great literature.

Beautiful Ruins (migrated from Bookblogger)

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Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walter

What a beautiful book, written so beautifully!  When a stunning American actress arrives at a tiny pension on a tinier island off the coast of Italy, Pasquale, the owner of the pension, cannot believe his luck.  Not only does he believe his father’s dream of their hotel becoming a hot spot for Americans may actually materialize, but he is also entranced by the beauty of this American.  As it happens, the American actress, Dee, of course has a story as does the naive but sincere Pasquale, but their lives are forever bound by this chance encounter.  The story is told in parts, bouncing back and forth between the time they meet in Italy, in 1962, and today, when Pasquale searches for her in America.  It also bounces from each of their stories to other characters that are woven into their tale, but it all works to keep the story moving and engaging.

The characters in this book are distinctive and each has a unique voice.  Each of them has been affected in some way by the 2nd world war and this shadows over some of their personalities.  In addition, the stories and the language of 1962 in the tiny village contrast so strikingly with those of the fast-paced action of the contemporary parts — and both are written with wit and an almost poetic rhythm.  I loved the writing in this book.

And it is one of the few books that give resolution and don’t leave you hanging at the end.  Thank you, Mr. Walter!

Safe Haven (migrated from Bookblogger)

Posted on by marjorieseidenfeld

Safe Haven by Nicholas Sparks

I believe I saw a trailer for this upcoming movie, which got me interested in reading this book.  It is very. very suspenseful and I can see it being a suspenseful movie as well.

Katie is a mysterious woman who comes to a small town in South Carolina, setting herself up in a small cottage and working at a local restaurant.  She quickly develops a friendship (and then of course, more than a friendship) with a man who owns the local general store.  He is a widow with 2 young children and gracefully accepts that she has a past she is running from.

The past becomes clear as she gradually sheds her terror of her past coming back to haunt her, in the form of her abusive husband from whom she has escaped.  The story flashes back and forth from her perspective to her husband’s as it builds into a very nail-bitingly scary crescendo.  Even while you can guess at some of the story, there are twists and turns and the writing really does have you on the edge of your seat all the way up to the end.  And while some of the details are somewhat gruesome, I imagine that this is the tragic reality of those who really do experience domestic violence.

Now the question is:  do I see the movie or not??

The Art of Fielding (migrated from Bookblogger)

Posted on by marjorieseidenfeld

The Art of Fielding by Chad Harbach

Here’s a novel for all you sportspeople out there, for anyone who understands the pressure of the game and the importance of concentration/confidence.  It is the story of a boy, Henry, who is recruited to a college baseball team because he’s a shortstop who has broken a record of sorts of games in a row with no errors.  His captain, known as Schwartz, drives him hard and builds him up to achieve a degree of notoriety and he begins to attract scouts from the majors.  Meanwhile, the daughter of the president of the college, whose life has fallen apart forcing her to return to her father and the college campus, develops a relationship with Schwartz.  At the same time, her father has an affair with Henry’s roommate and good friend, Owen.  This sounds convoluted and it is to a degree, but it actually works for this story.

The writing is crisp and fresh and the characters become people you want to know.  You really care when Henry’s confidence wilts and throws his game.  You are really happy for Pella (the daughter) when she falls for Schwartz, giving her a second chance at love.  And you really want Owen and the President to get together, although the ethics there are both questionable and questioned.

As a prior softball player and a mom of a baseball player, I also understood the analogy of the baseball game to life and how hard work and perseverance pays off  but confidence is essential.

Good book!