A new fave!

Harry and I have been watching the PBS series Victoria - and thoroughly enjoying it! 

After reading a few Wikipedia pages, I decided I needed to read the real thing, so I got the current biography of her, and it was a really great read.  It is thoroughly researched and annotated - but reads like a novel.

 

As a BYU English major, I managed to completely avoid the Victorian era - and didn't even know much about Queen Victoria - guess I avoided English history too!

 

She is a fascinating, complex woman.  I may try another bio - there are many out there - I have been reading the reviews.

 

We really love the series - but will have to wait awhile, since they haven't even started filming Season 3 yet!

 

Of particular interest to me is the information that after her death, Queen Victoria's daughter Beatrice went through and edited and transcribed her mother's letters and journals - and then destroyed the originals! It's referred to as the worst case of censorship ever.  

One reviewer, though, said that we needed to realize that Beatrice believed that she needed to do it - she had not been instructed to do so by her mother - to preserve her mother's legacy.

Questions abound about Victoria - her relationship to John Brown for starters - and those destroyed pages could probably answer them!

Will keep you posted on what I find out!!

Up all night reading once again!

It's been a busy winter - have not done much reading!! I need something compelling to read when I'm busy - because I just don't read if I'm not really into the book!  Last month's book group selection was not very compelling reading - I gave up after 42 pages!!

I did get immersed in a bio of Queen Victoria - but you can put it down - so I may be awhile.

And I am Home/Hospital teaching 3 students and have to read the core novels they are reading - they are all books I have read before - The Cay, The Book Thief, and The Great Gatsby - but I do have to review them!! But they don't count as reading books!

The book was compelling at first - bogged down past the halfway mark - I usually  enjoy Lisa See, but I think she lost her focus in this story. 

The initial narrative was very compelling and informative - I love getting my Chinese history via a good novel - but then it seemed to be trying too hard to be too many things.

And the ending was a little pat.

But last night I only had a chapter to go - so I stayed up late reading.  Was a little disappointed at the predictability of the ending  -  but there was one surprise!!

It would be good airplane fiction though.

Forever and ever and ever!!

Saw something on FB once that said, What was the number one selling book when you were born?  Seemed intriguing, so I looked it up - and it was Forever Amber by KathleenWinsor.

So I gave it a look see - and it was actually hard to find - it has been out of print for many years. The libraries I checked did not have it - and the copies on Amazon were a little trop chere, if you get my drift.

But then Harry found it on Kindle and loaded it for me.  The book is 973 pages long! And believe it or not, the first draft was 13,000 pages - and that's not a typo!!

Turns out Kathleen Winsor's first husband - she had four - was a graduate student doing a dissertation on the Restoration and the reign of King Charles II. She was helping him with the details and started reading some of the material he had researched.  She became fascinated with it and decided to write a novel - and I will say this about the book - I did some checking - and it's historically accurate, down to even minute details of fashion and room decor!!

But it's long - too long in fact.  After about page 500, I was wondering when it would all end - the action and intrigue started to be repetitive rather than compelling!

As a historical romance, the first 500 or so pages are quite entertaining and illuminating.  But it just goes on and on - and the reader gets fatigued - at least this reader did!

But the book was a smash hit bestseller - and quite controversial - was banned in Boston!  It was considered racy by the standards of 1945 - but then, Restoration England and the court of Charles the 2nd was pretty racy!! It's not graphic and exotic - everything is left to the imagination.  

It does start out as a pretty entertaining piece of historical fiction - but Ms. Winsor just didn't seem to know how to put an end to the action.  As it is, the ending is not well-planned - and not very believable.

Maybe this is the time for a Cliff Notes version if you are really interested - or watch the movie - with the heartthrob Cornell Wilde!!

P.S. The story bore many resemblances to Gone With the Wind!  Hmm - wonder what that tells us??

What is it about babies?

The doctor's office has a box of books for 50 cents each - I often pick up a couple of dollars worth for my little library - and I found this last week.

I am not familiar with this author - although her name rang a bell but none of her books did - but the cover intrigued me, so I picked it up.

It was a great read - it was written in 1993, but I wish it had been written in 1970 and that I'd read it then - because she had a colicky baby and it would have been comforting!!

Now I think I will go find one of her novels at the library!!

A quick read

My Tuesday/Thursday walking buddy Rene loaned me this book.  It was a quick read - and a good one.  About the Armenian genocide - which I confess I know little about.

It's a novel, but it is based on the recollections of the author's great uncle - who survived the genocide and came to America in 1920.

Lots of food for thought here.

A Time to Read!

Phoebe was mentioning this book - and then I saw it at Target and went ahead and bought it.  It was 20% off at least (I have been known to advocate not buying more books - easier said than done!)

Turns out I'm way behind - everyone I have mentioned it to seems to have read it! I need to keep up a little better I guess.

This was a charming story to read. It is not great art - but it is well-told. And I frankly felt that the characters - though definitely one-dimensional - were true to life.  I could think of someone I know to match everyone of them!

If you are like me and are behind the times, give this one a look-see - and let me know what you think!

I am a pretty dyed-in-the-wool Anne Tyler fan, so when I saw a new book by her, I got it to read.  I did not even notice that it was part of the Hogarth Series - a series I know little about, but one that attempts to re-write Shakespeare in modern times and terms.

The story starts out slowly, and it is a little stilted - not the usual Anne Tyler style that I love so much.  But I persevered - it is summer after all, and I do need something to read with my lunch! And I was rewarded for my efforts - the story got better.  The premise always seemed strange, but that faded as other events came forward.

The characters of Aunt Thelma, Uncle Theron, and Uncle Barclay helped the story get some flavor and color.  And a strange plot twist sent it into the arena of "I don't know what's going on but I think I want to find out" and then it all ended just like you thought it would! (Like you thought it would if you were familiar with Taming of the Shrew that is!)

A good summer read - or fall read curled up on the couch with a fire going in case you have to wait that long!

Give it a try - you will probably be glad you did!

Latest read -

Chris Cleave wrote Little Bee - a book I enjoyed reading - and found thought-provoking and well-written.  So when I read that he had a new book out, I thought I'd give it a read!

It was a slow starter - I picked away at it for a couple of weeks or more before I really got engaged in the story line.  Not sure it that was the fault of the story, the writing, or me! But it did become compelling about halfway through, and I sat up late one night reading!

The story revolves around London and the beginning of the bombing siege there in World Wart II.  There is a sub-plot revolving around the treatment of blacks during the bombing - apparently a fairly large number of black minstrel performers had come to London just before the war and they were the victims of some racial persecution.

The main story revolves around Tom, Alistair, Mary, and to a lesser degree, Hilda, and their experiences and personal growth as they face the escalating pressures of war. Once it got going, the story was fast-paced, and was gripping at many points.

The afterward by the author was a great story in itself - I'd not recommend reading it first - save it for the end!!

A good story - war stories usually are!

"A book set in Europe"

Ara sent me a 2016 Reading Challenge that looks a little more extensive than the one I have - this one fits the category "A book set in Europe."  (I haven't done as much reading this year as I usually do - not sure what that says about my life!)

Anyway, Hannah recommended this one, and it is a good read.  The premise is that what would happen if your life ended - but then the scenario changed and you didn't die?

Ursula Todd dies at birth - at least at the beginning of the book - but then the scenario is replayed - and she doesn't die!  Her life continues on in this vein through World War I and World War II and goes up to 1967.  It might sound like it's pretty confusing, but it's not - you actually start wondering how each new life or scenario is going to play out.

There are some interesting and intriguing episodes involving Hitler and Eva Braun.  It is also a story about a family - the Todds - and how their lives intertwine and influence each other.

And apparently the novel after this, A God In Ruins, is kind of a sequel.  One I will undoubtedly get and read!!

Not sure what category to put this in!

My reading challenge for 2016 is a good one - and it may take me all year to fill the categories - but what about books that fill a category I've already filled?

This is one of them - and I'm liable to have lots of books for this category - a book recommended by a family member or friend!!

Leslie told me I had to read it - and I'm glad she did!  It's a great read - not sure why I'd never heard of it - it was written in 1924 and it's been made into a movie and PBS series a few years ago.

Mary Webb is a contemporary - almost - of Thomas Hardy - and this story has many Hardy-like elements.  But it is its own story and a good one too!

When you Google it, you find out everything - you'd think they'd be spoilers - but the reading of the book - even when you know what will happen - is where the joy lies.

For starters, it's written in dialect - and she does a great job with that and you feel like you are there in time!!  Also, the characters are well-drawn and compelling.  Also, there are elements of witchcraft and legend and history and culture which add a richness to the tale.

But above all else, it is a beautiful love story.  And who doesn't love a good romance??

A book published this year??

The various categories for my current reading challenge are not vast and inclusive I fear.  When Breath Becomes Air was going to count for a book published this year, but I'm going to have it be the category a book recommended by your child - since Hannah recommended it to me - and I will have this be the book published this year!!

I enjoyed Olive Kitteridge a lot, so that is what attracted this book to me, since it is by the same author.  However, it was quite a different book - and in fact I went to the library today to get earlier books by this author just to get more familiar with her.  Will let you know what I think.

My Name is Lucy Barton is very reflective - reflective in the sense that the woman - Lucy Barton - is reflecting on many different parts of her life.  Although the time frames jump around, it is easy to keep the thread.  The story is basically that of a woman who is in the hospital for 9 weeks - we never know exactly why - and her mother comes to visit her after a very long absence.  The story is very spare - but full anyway.  The richness of language is apparent in its sparseness.

I do wish I knew more about the woman and her life though.  Maybe that was the author's intent.

It might not appeal to everyone, but I found it compelling. 

Number 38 - and it's a movie too - didn't know that!!

So I swore off buying books, and then started getting inordinate numbers of Kindle books.  So I swore off those for a while - and went to the library - and our Monrovia Library does not have a huge selection!!  So I went to the Arcadia Library and got a couple more Anna Quindlen books - I quite like her style, and she's been prolific, so I may be set for the summer!!

This is a story of a woman dying of cancer - not for everyone maybe - but it's well-written and a compelling narrative.

The character in the story - the mother with cancer - was born in 1945 - maybe that's why I could identify with her.

Turns out this is a movie too - one with Meryl Streep - I may have to find it and see it!!

I'm open to suggestions too, by the way!!

Another title from Eliza's stack!

This was also on Eliza's stack - and Hannah had read the book and seen the movie and thought both were quite good.  She and Eliza found them both amusing - I'm not sure I found the book amusing - but it was charming in an offbeat kind of way.

The story line is convoluted but intriguing - a good read!!

Nothing a little Maisie Dobbs can't fix!

It's been a few years since I was introduced to the Maisie Dobbs series by Jacqueline Winspear, but it's mostly been a good relationship.  After the first 4 or 5, I thought she was getting stagnant and the stories were not very compelling anymore.  And actually she wrote a non-Maisie novel that I enjoyed, but not everyone liked it.

But her newest is a nice change of pace - and she seems to have her story-telling back in stride!

A Dangerous Place occurs in Gibraltor in 1934 - the Spanish Civil War.  There's a backstory that comes about with some letters and newspaper accounts, and then the story really gets going.

It was vintage Jacqueline Winspear - and I am delighted to see it.

Hopefully the trend will continue!!

Now on to number 18 in my "Read 52 Books This Year" campaign!!

Just finished number 12 of my "Read 52 Books a Year" quest!  I read the first few Flavia de Luce novels and quite loved them.  Then it felt like they'd gotten a little tedious and I left them alone for awhile.

I was at loose ends looking for something to read, though, and happened upon them - I think I'm getting them out of order but went ahead.

So now I'll have to fill in a few blanks.

A good way to fill an afternoon!

This one was a bit slow at first, but the humor and the mystery keeps you going.

Book number 11 checked off!

I'm not sure how I originally was introduced to Jhumpa Lahiri, but I have enjoyed every book of hers that I have read - which would be 2 novels and 2 collections of short stories.

She is Indian but was raised in London.  She must have traveled to India often, however, because she is able to evoke the many complex aspects of the country.  This is part of the appeal of her novels and stories - it is very easy to be transported to another world.

This story is complex and covers a large span of years.  Perhaps one of the draws for me was the fact that the main character was my age - and he had struggled with many of the same social and political issues that bombarded us in our young adult years.

The story is told in flashback and intersecting story lines - always an ingredient that can keep me glued to the story line.

If you aren't sure if you would like her or not, try one of the short story collections first.

I'm thinking you will like her style of writing.

Another good read!

Once again I was subbing at Clifton and hanging out in the library.  I found this little gem.  It's a bio of Harper Lee, and I loved reading it - finished it in a week of occasional reading.

 

A few years ago, I was in an airport bookstore and bought this bio of Harper Lee because I needed something to read.  I think I read two or three chapters and then started re-reading To Kill a Mockingbird instead.

 

The author of both bios is Charles Shields - and I have since discovered that the book I found in the library at Clifton is the simplified version of the bio Mockingbird and the author wrote it for "young people."

 

I can't find my copy of the "adult" bio, but the kids' version was plenty informative and entertaining.  I would recommend it - especially in light of the news flash this week that Harper Lee will be publishing a 2nd novel in July.

This second novel is actually the first - and only - novel she wrote.  When it was submitted to a publisher, they felt that the flashback sequences had more merit as a story - and those flashback sequences became To Kill a Mockingbird.

But I'm excited to read the heretofore unpublished pages of her first novel.

"The very willing suspension of disbelief!"

After enjoying Moon Over Manifest so much, and finding out that the author had written another book, I promptly put it on my Kindle - and then started reading it!!

It's a little on the "fantastic" side - that is, you have to "suspend your disbelief" as you dive into the story.

But it's worth the journey to a place of imagination and adventure.

And it's a pretty good demonstration of the mind and nature of autism.  The author says that since the story was set in 1945, she purposely didn't use the word "autism."  But her sensitive depictions of Early's odd behaviors are very enlightening and evocative.

I hope she has some more stories up the proverbial sleeve!!

Newberry Winner - a real winner!!

I am currently subbing at my old school - hope to get 5 or 6 jobs a month - and just started last week and had 3 jobs and turned down one - and have another one this week - and had to turn down one this week.  So much for worrying about not getting jobs!  (I only do pre-arranged at Clifton, so I was concerned that maybe there would not be enough calls!)

But one of the assignments required me to take the classes to the library for the students to pick up their latest "mandated read" and check them out.  Then they were supposed to sit and read for 20 minutes.  Except for the 2 Honors classes, I had to really work hard to get the kids to read.  In one class, about a half dozen kids hunkered down and literally refused to read - wouldn't even stare at the pages and pretend to read!  I was flabbergasted.  

I taught Special Education for 18 years, and actually didn't have much mandated reading time - unless I was reading to them while they followed along.  I did have some students who expressed disdain for reading, but never had  students who didn't enjoy having me read to them.  I did choose carefully, and tried to use emotion and expression in my reading.  I did a lot of explaining too - I know that helped kids get more meaning, and I'm convinced those who don't read well appreciate the help at understanding the story and the details!

But I would have thought I'd died and gone to heaven if a teacher said, "Okay, I want everyone to read for 20 minutes!!"  Perhaps I should have offered to read to the students - but they all had different books based on their individual reading levels.  If I'm going to keep subbing, and mandated reading is a part of it, I will have to come up with some solutions!

At any rate, Mrs. Gray, the librarian, saw me looking at the above book and told me it was great - she'd listened to it on tape last summer as she was traveling.

And she was right!  What a great story.  It's a first novel, too, and won the Newbery Award in 2011.  If you haven't read it - read it!  And if you have kids who love to read, have them read it too!!  It goes back and forth between 1917/18 and 1936 in rural Kansas.  And there are issues with mining and moonshine too!

The story is part history, part mystery,  part "story-telling" at its finest!

Let me know what you think!!

If you liked Seabiscuit, or Unbroken, you'll probably like this!

Hannah and Robbie gave Harry this book for Christmas.  He made the mistake of telling me I could read it too!  Once I started, I couldn't put it down!

It is a very compelling story about the 1936 Olympics and the University of Washington rowing team.  But it is also about the rise of Hitler in Germany, the Depression in the United States, the Dust Bowl, and the importance of a mother and family in a young boy's life.

I enjoyed the way the story was intertwined with history.  I have always said that stories are the best way to teach history!  The story is told from the point of view of a young rower named Joe Rantz, who took up rowing as a way to get himself through college.  As we learn Joe's story, we also learn about the effects of the Great Depression on life in the United States, and especially Seattle.  Later we learn about Joe's early life and the tragedies he endured as a boy.

As we see the development of Joe's rowing career, we also learn about the rise of Hitler in Germany.  All of these elements combine to make for a great read.  I commented to Harry that even though I knew throughout how the story ended, it was still exciting to read.  

And the ending is a real nail-biter!!