Review: The Moment by Douglas Kennedy

Because I am super behind on review writing, I'm saving a bit of time on this reviewing-writing binge by using the blurb from the back of the book.  Sorry for my unorginality ;)

"When I mysterious box arrives in the mail, a solitary American writer haunted by the long shadows of Cold War Berlin is forced to grapple with a past-and an intense love affair-he has never discussed with another living soul.  Readers will lose themselvs in the richly complex moral layers of The Moment from its 'evocative prose' to its 'spellbending finish'".

So that's kind of a bad description.  Not bad persay, but it doesn't really explain what the book is about.  Basically, Thomas Nesbitt is a 50 year old travel writer, and we are introduced to him following the death of his father.  He's just come into some inheritance money and decides on a whim to buy a little house in Maine.  Without telling his wife.  He doesn't go back home.  Then he gets a package from his publicist from Germany, and suddenly Thomas finds himself lost in the memory of a few months spent in Germany when he was in his 20s.  And I basically just did my own plot summary when I just said I wasn't going to.  Ha.

The majority of the book takes place in the 1980s when Thomas is in Berlin working on a book about the city.  It was a very moving, very emotional book.  The writing was just stunning.  Even if the story doesn't grab your attention immediately, I say give this a shot because the writing is amazing.  Like, it's drool worthy.  I have some examples coming up.  This was also a very depressing read.  Like so depressing that I had to keep putting it down.  Of course I think that's in part due to the fact that I read it around the holidays, and right after my grandmother's death.  So I was feeling super emotional at the time and couldn't always take the depessing things going on in this book.

The story I loved.  There were parts where it did drag, but then there were those parts where I just could not put the book down.  The draggy parts were few and far between and the "I can't put this down to go back to work from my lunch break" parts were often.

As for the setting, I LOVED.  Kennedy was able to completely capture the feel and the scene of 1980s Berlin.  I of course wasn't even around back when the Wall was around, but I felt like I had been in Berlin and experienced it for myself while reading this book.  The Wall itself is like its own character.  It is always present, always there, and very real.  It's hard to explain because I've never really read a book where the author was so able to make a "character" out of an inatimate object.  The Wall was so oppressive, and you feel that as you are reading.  Of course there's also the world on the other side of the Wall in East Berlin, where the Wall, yes, is keeping out a lot of ideas and materials and whatnot, but it's also creating a close, tight-knit community within its borders.

The characters were super awesome.  Thomas, for example, is very likeable and I totally felt for him whenever he felt distressed.  Yet he's also super annoying at times, which totally works for him because he's a journalist and has that personality.  He is constantly asking blantant, straight foward questions, almost like he's interogating someone.  But it's who he is.  Just curious.  Petra, Thomas's love interest, was a very complicated character.  Without giving anything away, I still don't really understand why she did some of the things she did.  But then I'm not a mother, so..  Without a doubt, my favorite character was Alastair, Thomas's roommate.  He is so hilarious, but deep down he is super sensitive underneath his sarcasm.  He's also a lot wiser that Thomas originally gives him credit for.

I loved this book.  I was really routing for a happy ending to Thomas and Petra's love story.  Obviously, I knew it wouldn't happen.  Because when the book starts, Thomas is married to someone completely different.  It was depresssing.  The book's title was so fitting.  It is filled with "moments"-the moment you meet the love of your life and feel that immediate spark.  The moment the relationship ends.  Each event is just a little moment in your life, but it is still a very important and life-altering one. 

Douglas Kennedy's The Moment was such a great book that left me feeling more emotional toward any book I've read in a long time.  I definitely think you should give it a try.  Have you read any of Kennedy's other books?

Thanks a bunch to the people at Atria books for offering me a copy of the book for review!

A few favorite quotes:

Page 108: That was the curious thing about life in the West.  So many of us with the right educational and socioeconomical opportunities chose to close ourselves off into lives we didn't want, complaining how we had become enslaved by mortgages, car payments, children.  Whereas over here...well, entrapment had a rather different meaning in East Berlin.

Page 195: One of the complexities of falling in love is that you cannot help but look for subtext in everything said between the two of you.  In that very early stage of a romance-when you know you are infatuated, when you sense (but don't have definite proof) that it's mutual, and you so desperately want it all to come right-you turn into a specialist in advance semiotics, trying to decipher every meaning behind the words that pass to and fro.

Page 211-212: "You love her, don't you?"
"Is it that obvious?"
"You are a lucky man to feel that.  Me-I've never felt that.  Never once."
"And you're still single?"
"No-married to the same woman for twenty-five years.  So I envy you."
"But say it doesn't work out?"
"At least you now know what it feels to feel that."

Page 376: But isn't that always the Last Chance Saloon hope of anyone facing a terminal situation?  Tomorrow I will wake up and the tumor will be gone.  Tomorrow I will wake up and she will be in bed next to me.  How we always hope for something to contradict the most terrible truths we have to face.  How we all privately believe in anything to counter reality at its most concrete.

Page 390: I said nothing.  Getting all the subtexts behind my silence, Stan simply gripped by arm and said, "You will find a way of living with the sense of loss."

Page 427: A snowy day.  Snow-the great temporary purifier.  The world goes silent and is baptized white.

The Lantern by Deborah Lawrenson

Note to Self: Don't read Mom's library books......  Unless you want her to return the one you're reading before you write down your favorite quotes.  Seriously, because then you end up like me, who finds that the book is always checked out of the library, and then eventually forgets you have a book review to write.

This should be a review of The Lantern, a book I seriously loved, even if the main character's BF got on my nerves at times.  I read this book in August maybe?  Yeah.

Basically, it's been so long and I don't have a copy of the book, so no real review.  Just me promising that while I don't remember everything, I remember loving it :)

Review: Footsteps in the Dark by Georgette Heyer

I had never heard of Georgette Heyer until last January-ish, but when I found out she wrote British mysteries, I knew I needed to give her a try.  You see, I love a good mystery.  And when they take place in England, I love them more.  Especially when they aren't set in like, 2011.  And now I'm hooked on Ms. Heyer.  Footsteps in the Dark is about a family-3 grown siblings Peter, Celia, and Margaret, Celia's husband, an aunt, and their butler and cook-who decide to spend the summer in a country home they inherited from a distant relative.  Immediately, they hear tales from the locals about the home's ghosts, but everyone just laughs it off.  That is, until strange things start happening-noises that shouldn't be there, shadows, and a skeleton hidden in a wall.  Soon though, the party begins to unravel the mystery.  As more information is discovered, they begin to wonder if it is even a ghost at all, but a real person who is very capable of doing them harm. 

Heyer's writing is just fantastic.  It is full of wit and sarcasm, and grabbed me immediately.  She developed her characters very well, and they all had distinct personalities-some very witty, some serious.  What I loved was the chemistry between them.  Peter, Celia, and Margaret are all siblings, and they act like it even though they are adults.  Celia's husband definitely acts the part too.  He's close to everyone but also gets annoyed easily at his inlaws.  They all seemed so real.  I also adored the constable of the small town.  Comic relief at its best!  I was laughing out loud while reading this at work.

The ghost story/mystery was at times creepy, which I loved.  I thought the characters did a good job of solving it.  Heyer makes them and the situation so believable.  At first, they shrug it off as nothing but an old house creaking, as I would do.  But as things progress, they can't help but start wondering.

So favorite quotes:

Page 44: But an afternoon spent by the trout stream did much to restore their spirits.  The fish were rising well, and the weather conditions were ideal.

Page 144: "Not quite," Charles said.  "We know there is something queer about this house.  I don't want to lay undue stress on all that has happened, but on the other hand I don't want to run to the other extreme of pooh-poohing undoubtedly odd proceedings."  (I wish people still used that phrase-"pooh-poohing".  It is awesome.)

Page 246: Margaret reflected gloomily on the manifold failings of the male sex, and decided that the worst of these was the appallingly blunt questions men asked.


Title: Footsteps in the Dark
Author: Georgette Heyer
Date of Publication: My copy is 2010, originally in 1932
Number of Pages: 347
Genre: Fiction, mystery
Source: Personal Copy

Review: The Book of Illumination by Mary Ann Winkowski and Maureen Foley

Mary Ann Winkowski and Maureen Foley's The Book of Illumination is the perfect book for fans of the TV show Ghost Whisperer.  After all, Winkowski was a consultant for the TV show.  This book is the first in what I hope might become a little series.  There's already a second book out, The Ice Cradle. 

This book follows Anza, a single mom who lives in Boston and works as a bookbinder (awesome, I know).  Anza also can see and talk to ghosts.  When Anza gets a temp job helping a friend rebind old books at a museum, she soon finds herself in a mystery.  What do the two monk ghosts want?  And could the answer be in a mysterious ancient text that has gone missing from the museum?  Anza will have to rely on her psychic abilities, as well as her ex-boyfriend the cop, to solve the mystery.

This was a super fun, light hearted read.  I warmed up to Anza right away.  I loved how she was so happy with her life.  So often when I read anything about a single mother, she's depressed, angrey at life and at her child's father.  Anza is the opposite.  She's friends with her son's father.  On speaking terms with the man's wife.  She even babysits her son's half-sisters.  And Anza is completely at peace with her ability to see ghosts.  It was refreshing for me to read about a character who was so comfortable in life, even if it's not the life she probably imagined she'd be living.

The mystery itself was also well done.  It wasn't super intense, but it left me hanging until the end.  A nice cozy sort of mystery with a ghostly twist.

There were some truly lovely moments in the book between Anza and the ghosts.  My favorite ghost was Johnny, who had been a butler all his life.  He asks Anza for help, which leads to some hilarious and at times touching moments.

All in all, The Book of Illumination is a great book to curl up with by the fireplace.  It's no literary masterpiece, but it is perfect if you want to get lost in a good book that leaves you feeling warm and fuzzy inside.

Title: The Book of Illumination: A Novel from the Ghost Files
Author: Mary Ann Winkowski and Maureen Foley
Date of Publication: 2009
Number of Pages: 320
Genre: Fiction
Source: Personal Copy

Review (sort of) of The Help by Kathryn Stockett

So I'm not going to do a full-fledged review of The Help because so many other people have reviewed it.  But let me just say that it definitely deserves all the hype it's gotten.  I ate this book up, I loved it so.

I LOVE the relationship between all the characters.  It feels so real.  Skeeter's friendship with Aibileen was so special, yet they were always on guard with each other because it wasn't exactly safe to let others see their friendship.  Basically, I came super close to crying at a lot of parts in this book.

The writing, also great.  I love how Stockett changes her writing style based on which character is narrating.  Each narrator has such a distinct personality, I think if I read a passage without being told who was narrating, I'd be able to say which character it was.  Stockett definitely has a way of making the reader feel what the characters are feeling.  For instance, when Skeeter, Aibileen, and Minny are waiting and waiting for the town and Hillie to read and finish the book, I was also feeling the suspense. 

So basically, read it, because it is a powerful read that will stay with you for days after you've finished it.  Have you read it?  What did you think?

Some favorite quotes:
Page 73: "Ever morning, until you dead in the ground, you gone have to make this decision."  Constantine was so close, I could see the blackness of her gums.  "You gone have to ask yourself, Am I gone believe what them fools say about me today?"
She kept her thumb pressed hard in my hand.  I nodded that I understood.  I was just smart enough to realize she meant white people.  And even though I still felt miserable, and knew that I was, most likely, ugly, it was the first time she ever talked to me like I was something besides my mother's white child.  All my life I'd been told what to believe about politics, coloreds, being a girl.  But with Constantine's thumb pressed in my hand, I realized I actually had a choice in what I could believe.

Page 303: There is undisguised hate for white women, there is inexplicable love.  Faye Bell, palsied and gray skinned, cannot remember her own age.  Her stories unfold like soft linen.  She remembers hiding in a steamer trunk with a little white girl while Yankee soldiers stomped through the house.  Twenty years ago, she held that same white girl, by then an old woman, in her arms while she died.  Each proclaimed their love as best friends.  Swore that death could not change this.  That color meant nothing.  The white woman's grandson still pays Faye Belle's rent.  When she's feeling strong, Faye Belle sometimes goes over and cleans up his kitchen.

Page 414: The Sun and Sand Bar is closed and I go by slow, stare at how dead the neon sign seems when it's turned off.  I coast past the tall Lamar Life building, through the yellow blinking streetlights.  It's only eight o'clock at night but everyone has gone to bed.  Everyone's asleep in this town in every way possible.

Title: The Help

Author: Kathryn Stockett
Date of Publication: 2009
Number of Pages: 544
Genre: Fiction
Source: Personal copy

Review: Silent in the Grave by Deanna Raybourn

Set in Victorian London, Silent in the Grave is the perfect murder mystery for a cold night by the fireplace.  Or no fireplace, if your mom is like mine and hates the thought of a draft blowing smoke all through the house....Lady Julia Grey is not really all that shocked when her husband falls ill with a seizure and dies.  He does, after all, have a heart condition.  She doesn't even faulter when a man who claims to have worked for her husband comes forward and tries to warn her that her husband may have been murdered.  She shoos Brisbane away and thinks nothing more of the subject until months later when she finds a strange note in her late husband's desk.  Together, she and Brisbane set out to find her husband's killer, even if it means opening up secrets about an unhappy marriage and why it ended the way it did.

I loved Silent in the Grave.  I mean, strong female main character, great writing, Victorian England.  Oh, and also the mysterious Br. Brisbane, who himself has a secret he's trying to keep hidden.

Julia was a very compelling character.  In the beginning of the book, she is as her last name says-Grey.  She is living in the shadow of an unhappy marriage to a man she once loved but turned out to be a complete stranger.  Julia, however, slowly comes into her own identity and by the end is pretty much bursting with color.  It's not so much that she's changed, it's more that she's letting out the real Juilia that was pent up inside for so long.  I'm excited that this is the first book in a series because it's going to be interesting to see how Julia grows as a person. 

The mystery of the murder is in itself very intriguing and well done.  In the beginning of the investigation, Julia treats it like a game, despite Brisane's (who actually is a private detective) warnings that they may be dealing with a very dangerous person.  As the mystery deepens and they get closer to the truth, Julia realizes that her life really may be in danger.  As a reader, my feelings where similar to Julia's.  Oh, the murder happened a year ago, this won't be bad.  But as the book went on I kept thinking "OMG something bad is going to happen!"

The end of the book leaves a lot of questions unanwers, but in a good way.  The reader is left thinking about certain things, like what Julia will decide to do with her life now, or what else Brisbane might be hiding, and the awkward moments between Julia and Brisbane because of their growing attraction to each other.  I'm excited to read the next book because I'm sure a bit more will be uncovered in it.

Title: Silent in the Grave
Author: Deanna Raybourn
Date of Publication: 2007
Number of Pages: 512
Genre: Historical Fiction
Source: Personal copy

Review: Wings by Karl Friedrich

Sally Ketchum has had it tough.  Her mother died when she was very young.  Her father was abusive and an alcoholic.  And Tex, her boyfriend and the love of her life, died in a fiery plane crash that Sally somehow miraculously survived.  Hopefully though, her bad luck might be about to change.  World War II is being fought and Sally has been chosen to train as a WASP for the Army.  She can hardly believe it-she'll be able to make a living flying planes.  But Sally and her new friends at the training school soon realize that there are a lot of men who don't want women in the cockpit, and they want to shut down the WASP program.  Sally and her friends, along with Beau, a handsome flight instructor, must keep strong and hope that the program doesn't shut down.  After all, the WASP may be the only chance any of them have at a better future.

I wanted to read Wings as soon as I read the plot summary.  I am a big WWII buff, especially when it comes to the roles women played during the war.  This book didn't let me down.  It's not so much a historical fiction account of the WASP as it is a poignant description of women and their place as secondary citizens in society at the time, and I ate it up.  Sally is such a real character and is relying on her status as a WASP to help her further her career in aviation.  When that dream is threatened, Sally takes it personally, and I don't blame her.  I'm sure many women who took on mens' jobs during the war felt the same way as Sally did as the war began coming to a close.  They liked their newly found freedom and the independence that having a job gave them.  Sally was dirt poor before she began WASP training, and I could really feel her desperation.  The author doesn't just give us Sally though.  Friedrich develops a set of characters who Sally befriends who are from all walks of life.  One, Dixie, is a model, and Sally has a hard time accepting that Dixie wants to fly.  Dixie doesn't need the job, but she wants it all the same.  Twila and Geri also have different pasts and circumstances than Sally, yet everyone wants one thing in the end-to fly and to succeed as a female pilot in a world governed by men.

I thought Sally's relationship with Tex, and how she still aches from his loss years later, was touching.  It didn't seem overly dramatic, like sometimes happens in books where people are grieving.  Some might say Sally was stubborn, holding on to Tex and his memory after so long, and at such a young age herself, but I think she was just being true to her heart.  Tex was a very special person, and not only to Sally.  I thought it was extremely bold and loving of her to keep his memory so near when many women in her situation would have married someone else as a solution to being broke.

Wings is a fast paced novel, and I wasn't bored at all while reading it.  It actually reminded me of the WWII books I used to read in middle school.  I loved reading those books back in the day and the similarities with this one made me want to keep reading it.  The writing was simple but suited the story well.  I recommend Karl Friedrich's Wings to anyone interested in the different roles women played on the homefront during WWII, and I think it would be a great book for tweens and teens because it introduces them to the WASP in a way that isn't dry and right out of a history textbook.

Title: Wings: A Novel of War War II Flygirls
Author: Karl Friedrich
Date of Publication: April 1st, 2011
Number of Pages: 304
Genre: Fiction
Source: LibraryThing.com

Review: The Enchantress of Florence by Salman Rushdie

The Enchantress of Florence is set in a beautiful city in the east (India, I think?).  The emperor, who has begun to doubt religion and his role as ruler, befriends a mysterious stranger from the west who calls himself only "Mogor dell Amore".  The blond traveler has a story to tell.  Soon the emperor and his kingdom are entranced by the story of the beautiful and powerful enchantress of Florence.

So, I actually hadn't planned on reading this book.  I actually went to the library to get Salman Rushdie's Midnight's Children, but it was checked out.  This story caught my attention and I'm glad I got The Enchantress of Florence, although I was a little bit disappointed by the story. 

The story itself is interesting, though a bit hard to follow in the beginning.  It at times jumped around locations and time periods without my realizing it.  Once I realized what was going on it was easier to understand.  I loved the parts of the book that take place in the emperor's kingdom in India, and I also liked reading about the enchantress and her story, yet there were long sections that I labored through because I just wasn't drawn in to the certain parts.  Perhaps it's because right before reading this book I read The Pope's Daughter, which takes place in Renaissance Italy, just like certain parts of this book. 

I loved a lot of the characters.  Rushdie has a way of painting characters that brings out hilarious things about them.  For example, everytime I read about the emperor's mother and aunt, I had to laugh.  They are both such real characters.  I could see parts of my own family members in them.  Then there's the emperor himself.  He is a ruthless king who wins battles and isn't afraid of killing people, yet through the book, we see him beginning to doubt.  He wonders if he's really doing the right thing.  He realizes that he doesn't want to be known as ruthless and blood-thirsty like many of his ancestors before him.  He begins to doubt his religion.  Most important, I think, he starts to want to be a normal person.  The emperor plays with using "I" instead of "we" when talking about himself, and there's nothing he wants more than a friend to talk about his thoughts and philosophies with.  I felt bad for the emperor because he desperately wants to change himself and his kingdom, yet risks losing a lot if he does.

Despite some issues with the story for me, I really loved reading The Enchantress of Florence.  The reason?  Rushdie's gorgeous writing.  It is beautiful.  I love how much humor is in this book, yet the way it's written makes it seem like pretty prose.  If you read this book for anything, read it for the writing. 

Some favorite quotes:
Page 5: In the day's last light the glowing lake below the palace-city looked like a sea of molten gold.

Page 38: Bhakti Ram Jain proudly held the rank of Imperial Flatterer First Class, and was a master of the ornate, old school style known as cumulative fawning.  Only a man with an excellent memory for the baroque formulations of excessive encomia could fawn cumulatively, on account of the repetitions required and the necessary precision of the sequencing.  Bhakti Ram Jain's memory was unerring.  He could fawn for hours.

Page 73: By then, however, the knowledge was of no use to him, except to remind him of what he should never have forgotten, that witchcraft requires no potions, familiar spirits, or magic wands.  Language upon a silvered tongue affords enchantment enough.

Page 308: The sun had not yet risen, but the emperor was up and about.  Sikri in shadow seemed to embody the great mysteries of life.  It felt to him like an elusive world of questions to which he must find responses.

Title: The Enchantress of Florence
Author: Salman Rushdie
Date of Publication: May 27th, 2008 (my birthday!!)
Number of Pages: 368
Genre: Fiction
Source: Library

Review: The Hound of the Baskervilles by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

The Hound of the Baskervilles, written in 1902 by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, is one of those stories everyone knows, or at least has heard of.  I loved matching the old movies of it as a little girl, and I finally sat down to read the book.  Sherlock Holmes has been enlisted to help Sir Henry Baskerville, the new owner of Baskerville Hall following the death of Sir Charles Baskerville.  What he needs from Holmes?  Protection.  And the truth behind an old family legend about a hell hound killing off each owner of the estate.  Holmes quickly assigns Watson to accompany Sir Henry back to Baskerville Hall.  He knows that Sir Henry may face real danger, not something paranormal.  Watson reports back to Holmes how things are transpiring until Holmes can get out there himself.  Will Sir Henry fall victim to the hell hound, like many of his ancestors before hime?

I adore Sherlock Holmes, I really do.  The Hound of the Baskervilles was a great read and definitely lived up to my high expectations.  Holmes is just as irritable as always.  I loved Dr. Watson's role in this story.  He has a big part-protecting Sir Henry from whatever may be lurking out on the moors.  And Watson does his duty well.  I thought he was a great friend to Sir Henry and showed how much he values his friendship with Holmes through all the letters he wrote him.  Dr. Watson really isn't as stupid as the movies sometimes make him out to be.  He is friendly with everyone, yet is secretly recounting to his friend in London anything suspicious or out of the ordinary going on.

Holmes was as brilliant as ever.  Even though he doesn't really come into the story until near the end, his presence is felt through the whole thing because Watson is constantly talking to him through his letters.

I was surprised by how intense the story was.  I mean, I've known the story of the Baskervilles well since I was little because of the many movies, but even so I was on the edge of my seat while reading.  Sir Arthur Conan Doyle definitely has a way with words.

Have you read The Hound of the Baskervilles or seen any of the movies?  Let me know what you thought!

Title: The Hound of the Baskervilles
Author: Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Date of Publication: 1902 originally, my copy is from 2003
Number of Pages: 124
Genre: Fiction
Source: Personal Copy

Review: The ABC Murders by Agatha Christie

Hercule Poirot is enjoying retired life when he receives a startling letter in the mail.  It says that there will be a murder in Andover on a specific date, and it's signed "ABC."  The murder happens, and soon Poirot and Scotland Yard are looking for a serial killer who kills in alphabetical order.  This is his toughest case yet, and he hates that he knows more murders are coming yet cannot stop them.

I liked The ABC Murders but it wasn't as gripping as Murder on the Orient Express.  The beginning was a bit slow for me and it took a while to get into.  I think part of it was the narration.  The book is narrated by Poirot's old friend Hastings, who is in town visiting.  I liked Hastings as a character, but he just didn't do it for me as narrator. 

Once the murders and investigations got underway though, I was sucked in.  Numerous characters are introduced-relatives and friends of the victims-and Poirot uses them to help catch the culprit.

Saying much more would ruin the story, but let me just say that Poirot is just as smart and cunning in this as in Murder on the Orient Express.  I really love him as a character and felt for him when he was down and out about not having any clues.  The ending of The ABC Murders is, in true Agatha Christie fashion, shocking and unexpected.  Although I didn't like it as much as my first Poirot book, it was still a great read and I look forward to more Poirot in the future.

Title: The ABC Murders
Author: Agatha Christie
Date of Publication: 1936 (my copy is from the 1970s)
Number of Pages: 272
Genre: Fiction, Mystery
Source: Library

Review: A Cottage by the Sea by Ciji Ware

A Cottage by the Sea by Ciji Ware is an edge of your seat romance with a big mystery and a little bit of magic too.  Blythe, a big production designer in Hollywood, has just gone through nasty divorce with her husband, a super famous movie director.  Feeling the need to get away from the press and the people she thought were her friends, Blythe decides to travel to Cornwall for an indefinitely long vacation.  She finds the perfect location-a little artist's cottage on a large manor estate.  It's near the area where her grandmother always said their family was from.  Once settled in, Blythe meets the charming Lucas Teague, manor owner.  A friendship develops, but so does Blythe's curiousity.  She begins to have visions of the manor's past inhabitants.  Are these are ancestors trying to tell her the family's secret?  As Blythe struggles to find some answers, she also struggles with her growing feelings for Luke and the project they have started together.

To be honest, I thought this book was going to be one of those super lame romances.  But it's not lame, and it's so much more than just a love story.  Blythe is trying to heal after being hurt by her ex-husband and her family.  Luke is also attempting to heal from his past and build a better relationship with his son.  The story was captivating and I loved it.

The setting couldn't have been more perfect, too.  Ciji Ware paints a gorgeous countryside in Cornwall and makes you wish that you could escape from your hectic life with Blythe.  The characters who resided in Cornwall seemed to really capture life there. 

And oh the characters.  I loved Blythe because she is a famous woman who should be totally confident in herself, but she struggles with her self-image just like the rest of us.  The "smaller" characters, like the housekeeper and the gardener, reminded me of my grandparents, so it made sense when Blythe wanted to spend time with them.  And then there's Luke.  Beautiful, talkative, charming, yet flawed Luke.  So it's no secret that on occasion I fall madly in love with a character in a book (it happened last year when I read Cornelia Funke's Reckless).  And I feel head over heels for Lucas Teague.  He is a funny guy who loves to joke around and make light of things.  But he also has a tender heart and deep emotional wounds that sometimes show through.  And he has a temper too, but not a bad one.  *sigh*  Just read the book.  I'm ready to read it all over again just to read about Luke again!

So don't be ashamed of your literary crushes, and read this book.  And enjoy it.  And let me know what you think of Luke.  I'm willing to share him ;)


Title: A Cottage by the Sea
Author: Ciji Ware
Date of Publication: 1997 (my copy is from 2010)
Number of Pages: 522
Genre: Fiction
Source: Personal Copy (gift from little sister for Christmas 2010!)

Review: Lord of the Far Island by Victoria Holt

Ellen Kellaway has lived her whole life through the charity of others and her aunt never lets her forget it.  Her mother is dead and she hasn't seen her father since she was a baby.  Ellen is spunky, smart, and talkative, so when she realizes that she's going to be forced to be a governess, she feels like her freedom is running out.  Then as luck would have it, she finds a way out through marriage to a wealthy young man she has known all her life.  However, Ellen starts to feel doubtful about her choice in a husband.  Then Ellen gets a letter from her father's family.  They want her to come live with them on a remote island off of England's coast.  Ellen jumps at the chance.  Once there though, she can't shake the feeling that something terrible is going to happen.  Someone wants her dead, but who?

While I enjoyed the first Victoria Holt novel I read, The Bride of Pendorric, I really enjoyed Lord of the Far Island.  I got into the story right away and read it quickly.  I felt that the relationship that Ellen developes in this book is so much more believable than Favel's relationship with Roc.  She knows the man for a while and can really develope feelings for him.  It feels more real.  The story was a bit predictable and ran a bit like the Pendorric book, but the development of the relationship as well as the main character herself made the story so much better.  This story, and even its ending, seemed so much more natural.  I also prefered Ellen over Favel.  She is more likeable.  She doesn't just fall in love with the first man who swoons over her.  Ellen is intelligent, witty, and opinionated, and likes it to be known.  She is very adventurous and can stand on her own two feet.  My kind of gal if you know what I mean.  I liked Favel in the Pendorric book, but she got on my nerves at times because of her dependence on her husband.

I loved the characters and the setting.  Holt is able to mesh a scary gothic-esque setting with a beautiful setting.  Ellen loves the house and the island because of its beauty but it can also seem foreboding at times because of its isolation.  The characters were extremely well written.  Slack was my personal favorite.  The villagers call him "dumb", but he is so kind and actually very smart.  He is brilliant with birds and soon becomes a close friend of Ellen.  Holt makes certain characters suspicious to both Ellen and the reader because of subtle little details.  The way a person responds to a question or comment, or certain circumstances that are hinted at before something bad happens, makes you start suspecting characters that you thought were good.  Unlike the Pendorric book, I had no idea in Lord of the Far Island what was going on or who was up to no good.  Bride of Pendorric was suspenseful, but this book was even more so. 

I definitely recommend this book.  If you read the Pendorric book and weren't super fond of it, you should read Lord of the Far Island.  It can be predictable if you've read the other one, but not so predictable that you can't enjoy it and guess what's going to happen. 

And now some favorite quotes to showcase Victoria Holt's fabulous writing:
Page 40: I tried not to think about it, but my habit of thrusting aside the unpleasant and deluding myself into the belief that it would never happen was not quite so successful as usual.
Page 156: When a house has stood for seven hundred years much must have happened within its walls.  If those stones could speak what tales they would have to tell!  And in houses such as this there would have been gaiety and sorrow, comedy and tragedy.  I have the feeling sometimes that these emotions have been captured and held within stone walls and that there are times when they cannot keep them secret.

Title: Lord of the Far Island
Author: Victoria Holt
Date of Publication: 1975 (original)
Number of Pages: 336
Genre: Fiction, Mystery, Romance
Source: Personal Copy

Mini Review: What is Left the Daughter by Howard Norman

Not much time for writing my usual long reviews because I've been caring a lot for my grandma on the weekends, so this is kind of a mini review with a summary and quick review.

Howard Norman's What is Left the Daughter takes place during World War II in Canada.  Wyatt's parents have just commited suicide.  Same day, different locations.  He goes to live with his aunt, uncle, and their adopted daughter Tilda.  There in a small town named Middle Economy, he meets a young German student who will end up changing Wyatt's life for forever.  This is a really moving book with a fantastic setting.

I love all things U-boats.  It's a weird obsession, but it is what it is.  So I adored all the U-boat aspects of this book.  During WWII, their were U-boats (German submarines) right off the east coast of Canada and the USA, and this book pretty much revolves around that. 

Wyatt is a great narrator.  He is awkward and stupid at times, and at others he is very vulnerable.  I can't say I liked his character, but I was able to simpathize with him, even after he makes some really awful decisions. 

The setting of the book, to me, was awesome.  I live right on the border of Canada and the USA and I loved reading a book set in Canada.  I also adored all the references to my city, Buffalo.  What's better is that my grandmothers both remember the exact radio show that was broadcast out of Buffalo and mentioned numerous times in this book.  I thought Norman did a really great job of setting the scene of small town Canada during the war.  His writing is really good and descriptive.

Honestly, while I was reading this book, I just liked it.  I was enjoying it a lot, but I didn't really know what to think through most of it.  After I finished it, though, I realized just how awesome it is.  I thought this would be one of those books that you read and then forget about.  Instead, I found myself thinking back on this book and it's story and characters weeks after I'd finished it.  I'm still a bit "haunted" by certain parts of it, and it's things like this that make a book really great in my opinion.  I definitely recommend you read What is Left the Daughter.  It might seem slow at times, but it's a very powerful story.

Some favorite quotes (which there were a lot of.  I've tried narrowing it down!):
Page 72: At one point, not looking up from the sweater she was folding, she said, "Donald's moved to the shed.  Outwardly, I'm trying to be poised about it."
Page 75: "It's a work of art, your packing," I said.
"I've left a little extra room," she said.  "One should always leave a little room for a new purchase.  I don't count on making a new purchase, but just in case."
Page 81: "Don't sell yourself short," she said.  "The way I see it?  A poem reaches out exactly halfway, then you reach out halfway, then see what happens."
"Provisional, eh?"
"I only mean if you're thinking willful and generous toward a poem, the poem'll be equally those things back.  As for meaning, it'll mean something different to each person.  That's all you have to know."
Page 202 (I threw in the Buffalo line following this quote because I wanted to.): Life went along, Marlais.  Life just goes along.  I'm never late for work.  Never late, that's one thing.  The other is that every Sunday I listen to the Cavalcade of Radio programs.  I tune it in from Buffalo.

Title: What is Left the Daughter
Author: Howard Norman
Date of Publication: 2010
Number of Pages: 264
Genre: Fiction
Source: Personal Copy

Review: Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie

Murder on the Orient Express is a gripping murder mystery with a surprising ending.  Belgian detective Hercule Poirot is traveling by train through Europe.  It is snowing hard, and the train has to stop on the tracks for a few days in the middle of nowhere until it can get past the snow.  While stopped, a gruesome murder takes place.  Who stabbed wealthy American Mr. Ratchett twelve times?  It has to be someone in the same car, yet no witnesses have come forward.  Poirot takes it upon himself to solve the murder and interviews and studies all of the passengers.  Will he catch the murderer?

I really enjoyed Murder on the Orient Express.  It's been years since I've read anything by Agatha Christie, and this was my first Poirot story.  I couldn't put the book down because I was so engrossed.  I was worried when I picked it up that I might get bored.  After all, the entire story takes place on a train.  However, Poirot is such an intriguing character and asks the suspects really interesting questions.  I could not for the life of me discover who murdered Mr. Ratchett until Poirot revealed it.

I really love Christie's writing.  I love a good mystery and crime novel, but often I find that the story undermines the writing.  I can let this slide sometimes if the story is really awesome, but thankfully Christie didn't allow that to happen.  Even though the story is really what makes the book, the writing is excellent and isn't just tossed on the wayside.

Agatha Christie really is one of a kind.  I've never read a story like hers by another author.  She is able to weave a web of characters, lies, and half-truths that create the ultimate murder mystery.  Murder on the Orient Express was genius in my opinion and I adore Poirot.  I'll be reviewing another Poirot mystery in a few weeks.  I can't wait to read more from the queen of murder mysteries :)

Title: Murder on the Orient Express
Author: Agatha Christie
Date of Publication: First Publication was 1934, my copy is 2011
Number of Pages: 315
Genre: Fiction, Mystery
Source: Personal Copy

Review: Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri

I rarely ever read short story collections, which is probably why this review is so hard for me to write.  I can't possible summarize and review every story in it.  So I will try and do a basic "this is the general jist of it" sort of thing.  I absolutely adored Jhumpa Lahiri's Interpreter of Maladies and all the stories in it.  But I want to review it without telling too much about each story..

Interpreter of Maladies contains nine stories that have one thing in common: love.  The kind of love is different though.  Lost love, forbidden love, the loss of love, growing to love someone.  And each story is powerful yet subtle in its own way.  These are quiet stories about relationships, their beginnings, and their ends.

Most of the characters are either from India or have parents from India.  In many of the stories, I got a strong sense of homesickness.  The characters live for the most part in the United States, far from the country they or their families were born and raised in.  The characters were living in a different culture from what they or their parents were raised in.  However, thhose characters were also trying to hold on to what they could of their culture.

Lahiri's writing flowed beautifully and left me wanting more.  It's understated yet eloquent, and I constantly found myself rereading passages becase of th way they were written. 

So that's my first ever attempt at reviewing a short story collection (I think..).  I hope I expressed why I loved Interpreter of Maladies so much and why i can't wait to read more of Lahiri.  I'm so glad I signed up for the South Asian Challenge this year because otherwise I may have put off reading this gem for years.

A few favorite passages:
Page 19: Something happened when the house was dark.  they were able to talk to each other again.  The third night after supper they'd sat together on the sofa, and once it was dark he began kissing her awkwardly on her forehead and her face, and though it was dark he closed his eyes, and he knew that she did, too.
Page 127: In November came a series of days when Mrs. Sen refused to practice driving.  The blade never emerged from the cupboard, newspapers were not spread on the floor.  She did not call the fish store, nor did she thaw chicken.  In silence she prepared crackers with peanut butter for Eliot, then sat reading old aerograms from a shoebox.  When it was time for Eliot to leave she gathered together his things without inviting his mother to sit on the sofa and eat something first.  When, eventually, his mother asked him in the car if he'd noticed a change in Mrs. Sen's behavior, he said he hadn't.  He didn't tell her that Mrs. Sen paced the apartment, staring at the plastic lampshades as if noticing them for the first time....

Title: Interpreter of Maladies
Author: Jhumpa Lahiri
Date of Publication: 1999
Number of Pages: 198
Genre: Fiction, short stories
Source: Personal Copy

Review: Before Ever After by Samantha Sotto

Samantha Sotto's Before Ever After is a magical story about love, loss, and making the ultimate sacrifice for the person you love.  Shelley is still devastated by the sudden death of her husband Max three years earlier when she has an unexpected visitor.  A young Italian man named Paolo shows her photos of his grandfather, and when Shelley looks at the photos, it's Max she sees.  The catch?  There's no way Max could have been Paolo's grandpa because her Max was not that old.  But why then does the man in the photos never seem to age?  When Shelley and Paolo set off on a journey to try to solve the puzzle, Shelley reminisces about how she and Max met and the stories he told that might unveil the truth about her husband.  Is Max still alive and immortal?  Shelley hopes (and fears) that she might find him and finally know the truth.

Before Ever After is a beautiful love story.  It flips between the present and Shelley's memories of the group tour she took through Europe where she met Max.  The stories he told the group at the time seemed like just that, but now Shelley is picking up pieces of who Max really is by remembering the stories.  The book was really easy to follow and the flipflopping flowed well.

Sotto is a great writer.  She captures Shelley's emotions so well that I could really feel her grief when Max died.  I could also feel her disbelief and later her acceptance when she was shown Paolo's photos and started wondering who Max really was. 

The flashbacks to Max's stories were my favorite part because they are so vivid and the history of each location and time are really brought to life by Sotto's descriptions.  I also learned a little about French history.  I looked it up, and "The Bloody Week" of Paris in 1871 that is described in the book really did happen.  Info is here.  I can't believe that I never heard of this major event in French history, having a French degree and taking countless numbers of French history classes and all that.  You learn something new every day! 

I'd recommend Before Ever After to anyone who loves a good timeless love story that makes you feel all warm and happy inside, and to anyone who also loves good writing.  Let me know your thoughts if you've read it, or if you plan on reading it!  It is a truly enchanting story and it made me want to go back to Europe!

Before Ever After by Samantha Sotto is out today, August 2nd, through the Crown Publishing Group!  Get your copy today :)

Now some favorite quotes:
Page 83: Shelley had first come to the conclusion that age was a sound when she went hunting for a place after she first moved to London....
Page 230: "I know there's no magical potion to preserve my life or Sheila's," Dex said, still holding on to Shelley's hand.  "And I know that the time will come when her voice won't be as crystal clear in my head.  But even when every detail has dulled, I know that I'll always have something that not even time can take away.  Pain."
Shelley's hand stiffened against Dex's palm.  "And that's a good thing?"
"Yes, because when I've forgotten everything else, I'll feel that ache...that tightness in my throat...that heaviness in my chest...and know that I loved a woman once and she loved me back.  It's proof that I existed and so did she."


Title: Before Ever After
Author: Samantha Sotto (@samanthasotto on twitter)
Date of Publication: August 2nd, 2011
Number of Pages: 294
Genre: Fiction
Source: ARC from Publisher

Review: Flight by Sherman Alexie

Flight is a book by Native American author Sherman Alexie, whose writing I was introduced to through the Native American Literature class I took about two years ago at Buffalo State College.  I decided to read Flight for my Native American Literature Challenge, which I created to introduce myself to more works by Native American authors.  It is the story of Zits, a loner teenage boy.  His mom died when he was young, and his dad hasn't been around since Zits was born.  Zits hates being in foster care and constantly runs away or does things to get away from his foster families.  One day, Zits takes things too far and suddenly finds himself traveling through the past, seeing the history of his family and his people.

I bought Flight about a year ago and I cannot believe I waited so long to pick it up.  I connected with Zits and the story immediately and read the book in one sitting.  It's the sort of book I could reread over and over and never get sick of.  The writing is excellent.  It is narrated by Zits, and you'd think that a teenage boy really wrote it.  Even so, the writing is deep in its simplicity.  A lot of what Zits has to say he says in a very harsh, simple, and mocking way, but underneath is a boy who feels lost and is angry and the world because of what it has dealt him.

Flight seems like your average novel about a teenager trying to find his way, but it really covers so much more than that.  A key issue in this novel is one present in a lot of Native American Literature, like in N. Scott Momaday's House Made of Dawn, which I reviewed last year (click title for review).  Zits knows he is different from other teens because of his Native American background, yet he also feels far away from his family's roots.  He doesn't feel like he belongs anywhere.  Another issue that was tackled in this novel is revenge.  Is revenge really worth it?  When Zits goes back in time, he witnesses many heartless acts that make him want to quickly exact revenge, yet he also sees beautiful acts of kindness for the human race, no matter what the ethnicity.  The problems that Zits faces throughout Flight are not uncommon, and I feel that this book could be a favorite among younger readers (and older readers too!).  Other kids going through similar situations can read it and think about how Zits handles himself in different situations, whether or not he does the right thing. 

I absolutely adored the time travel aspect.  It doesn't seem out of place at all in the story, especially because of Zits' reaction to what is happening.  He seems just as bewildered as the reader.  Zits learns so much about himself, about other people, and about revenge and its effects through the time traveling, and his adventures in the past were my favorite part of the story.  I also have a soft spot in my heart for the police officer who tries throughout the book to connect with Zits and get him to realize that he's actually on his side.  Zits just sees him as a bad guy, when in reality he feels bad for the kid.

This is a beautiful story and I highly recommend it.  So many people can relate to Zits, whether they are Native American or not.  Alexie has earned an honored place on my bookshelf because he is able to write a story that tackles tough issues yet is filled with a ton of humor that will leave your stomach sore from laughing.  I can't wait to read more from him.

Now for some of my favorite passages:
Page 22: This guy probably thinks I'm just another stupid street kid.  A dyslexic drone in the social welfare system.  But I'm smart.  Really smart.  Well, okay, maybe not that smart.  I am currently sitting in a jail cell.

People go to jail for a reason.  Well, for a couple of reasons.  They're in jail because they're stupid enough to commit crimes.  And because they're stupid enough to get caught.  And so, yeah, maybe I'm smart but I'm also double-stuff dumb.  Adults are always telling me I don't live up to my potential.

Page 88: -This is what revenge can do to you.
-I lead those one hundred soldiers down the hill toward the Indian camp.
-We are killers.
-As we ride to the bottom of the hill and race the short distance across the flats toward camp, I can feel Gus's rage and grief leaving my body with each hoof-beat, I lose pieces of my rage, until I am left with only my fear.
-I had wanted to kill, but now I just want to stop.
-I throw away my rifle.  I don't want to use it.  But I keep riding.  I am unarmed.  I think I want to die.  I think I want Gus to die.
-I think I want to lose this fight.



Title: Flight
Author: Sherman Alexie
Date of Publication: 2007
Number of Pages: 181
Genre: Fiction
Source: Personal Copy

Review: La traversée by Philippe Labro

La traversée is a beautifully told story by French author Philippe Labro. I read it in French, and it was my first experience reading anything by Labro. I often feel like I shouldn't praise writing when it's in French, because I'm obviously not a native French speaker and therefore feel like I might not be "feeling" the language quite as well as a native speaker….but I feel the need right now to praise Labro. I LOVED his writing. It was gorgeous. This is sort of an autobiographical novel. The main character (we never get a name, but I pretty much assumed it was the author speaking himself, since he also had an "out of body experience" while in the hospital), retells of his time spent in a semi-coma in a French hospital. While doctors around him are testing him to try to find out what is causing him to be so sick, the main character is left to his dreams and thoughts, and finds himself back in situations he experienced years ago as a young man. He also is fighting for his life, trying to keep at bay the voices telling him that he is going to die. Throughout his struggle in the semi-coma, the main character discovers certain things that give him strength and keep him going. This is a fascinating story about a man who, through illness, discovers what really is important to him and how to keep those things (and people) close to him.

I thought it made total sense that this book was based on the author's own experiences. It truly seems to come from the heart. Sure, some things within the story might be fiction, but the concepts and the things the main character goes through seem so authentic. You just can't make that stuff up. The entire book really is a journey. A physical journey? Well, yes. The narrator finds himself remembering past travels in his youth. But it's also a mental and emotional journey. He is stuck within himself for weeks and is pretty much forced to face facts, and the experience really leaves him humbled. The title of the book itself represents the narrator's journey: "la traversée" in English is "the crossing". This could relate to a lot of things. The narrator crosses continents in his journeys. The narrator comes very close to crossing into the afterlife in the worst days of his illness. And the narrator also crosses over to a better self because of his illness. There is a beautiful passage at the end of the book where the main character is sitting by a fire, just enjoying life and all that it has given him. The fire is so much more than a fire now that he is healed. It represents LIFE. As Labro puts in (though in a much prettier manner), the fire is beautiful, multicolored, irregular, sharp-all the different things that are life. It's not all black and white. It's not all happy. But it is alive, and you've just got to live it.

I was so enamored with La traversée that it left me contemplating it for days. I especially loved the things the narrator discussed as life-savers for him: first, the will to live and resistance. Second, laughing. Third and most important, love and the people who you love and who love you. There are times when the main character is close to giving in and letting go, and then he realizes how selfish he is. After all, he has a wife who adores him, children, friends. As long as he has a say, he won't let himself leave them. I think that's just beautiful.

One of my favorite passages in right in the beginning, at the very start of the narrator's struggle with life and death. He describes hearing two voices in his head: one tells him that death is near, the other that there is so much more life to live.

I believe the translation of La traversée in English is Dark Tunnel White Light. It might be different in different English-speaking countries though?

Here are some fave quotes (believe me, there were a ton! It was hard to narrow them down to post here!). These are rough translations by the way. I can't find my copy of the book at the moment to verify, but I think when I took notes I did just rough translations? Maybe not, I can't remember ha!:
Page 76: The pieces of your life that you see aren't always the most important events of it.
-This quote was really beautiful in context, because the narrator is discussing the images he saw in his out of body experiences. He didn't see himself receiving writing awards. He didn't see himself being praised for directing great movies. He saw himself living daily life, and made him realize what really was important to him.
Page 277: La vie n'est pas un mot. (Life is not a word.)
-As in, you need to LIVE life. It’s not just a word. It's an action. Powerful stuff.
Page 286: La traversee est la vie. (The crossing is life.)
-This refers back to that scene with the fire. Life can be tough, sad, happy, fun. But it's life and you need to take it as it is and live it.

So, I highly recommend La traversée, and I would love to know what you have to say about it if you've read it! Have you read any other books by Philippe Labro?



Title: La traversée
Author: Philippe Labro
Date of Publication: 1998
Number of Pages: 286
Genre: Fiction
Source: Personal Copy

Review: 13, rue Therese by Elena Mauli Shapiro

Here is a quick summary taken from the author's website.  I know I usually summarize books myself, but I can't put it into words quite so nicely:
"Trevor Stratton is an American professor and translator, newly arrived at a Paris university. There, in his office, he discovers a box filled with letters, photographs, and antique objects—a beautiful pair of gloves, a rosary, a silk scarf. Whose life is preserved here? And who has left this mystery for him to find?


The artifacts tell the story of the box’s owner, Louise Brunet, who lived in Paris through both world wars. Trevor is captivated by her tale; her unruly love for a cousin who died in WWI, her comfortable marriage to a man who works for her father, and her passionate attraction to a neighbor in her building at 13, rue Thérèse. But the artifacts tell just a part of the story. Trevor almost deliriously envisions the rest, consumed by thoughts of Louise. Or is it Josianne, his alluring assistant, who rules his imagination?


Memory, passion, and the mysteries of time are entwined in this enthralling novel, a book that transports us not just to Paris but into the mysteries of the past. Elena Mauli Shapiro’s first novel is a masterly exploration, intimate and dramatic, of the stories we imagine about others’ lives and the truths those stories reveal about ourselves."

Basically, I loved this book SO MUCH that there isn't anything I can say about it that will do it any justice whatsoever.  I am telling you now, JUST READ IT.  I adored it.  I read it in like 2 sittings.  What I really loved was the writing and how there are actual photos (yes!) of the items in the box.  It was great.  Elena Mauli Shapiro has such a unique writing style, and she is hilarious a lot of the time too.  What was even better was that after finishing the book, while reading the author information, I found out that all the items in the box were real items. 

So read the book because it is just SO beautiful.  And then read the bit at the end about the author.  I was so emotional, let me tell you.

I know I sound crazy because I'm so excited (still after finishing it like a month ago!) about this amazing book, but I definitely say you NEED to read it.

Now for a few fave quotes:
Pages 60 and 107 both contain proper French business lines to end letters with.  I know they are boring to most, but I took a French business class and had to painstakingly memorize these bad boys.  And let me tell you, they are a lot harder and longer than the typical English "sincerely...". 
-60: Je vous prie d'accepter, Cher Monsieur, l'expression de mes sentiments les plus distingues.
-107: En vous remerciant d'avance et dans l'attente et l'espoir de vous lire, veuillez agreer mes salutations les plus chaleureuses.
-79: Our shell shock and our thousand-yard stare-we are stunned into quiet by the images that cannot be erased and thus erase all else-our gaze so still and so quiet that it can be ignored, if you wish, you do not have to
listen to our silence.
Digging this trench so hard, the muscle fibers in our backs bursting with the hurt of this: our last ditch effort.
Our shell shock and our thousand-yard stare-
I gaze ever farther than that.
For miles and miles I stare, through everything and straight to you.  As I fight, I keep my eyes always on you: I cannot bear the stricken look on your face should you be told that I have died-
Your face-
it is the only reason I am still alive.

Can I also say real quick that I also loved the Moliere references.
Title: 13, rue Therese
Author: Elena Mauli Shapiro
Date of Publication: February 2nd, 2011
Number of Pages: 273
Genre: Fiction
Source: Personal Copy

Review: French Lessons by Ellen Sussman

This review is part of Paris in July :)

French Lessons by Ellen Sussman follows three French tutors and their "students" through one day in Paris.  The tutors basically walk around Paris with the Americans assigned to them and teach them the French language while showing them architecture and culture.  Each individual has some sort of inner turmoil that they can't keep their minds off of during their sessions, and the lessons are in a way a sort of therapy for everyone. 

The book is separated into sections by tutor and student, and we follow each pair throughout their day.  I wasn't really sure how I was going to like the format, but I think it worked out well.  Each pair does their own thing but eventually everyone ends up at the same spot in the end.  Each section also flipflopped from the present time in Paris to something from each individual's past.  For example, the first American we meet is a woman named Josie who has just lost her lover.  While she's on the tour/lesson, she keeps being reminded of things she did with her lover.  I thought the book started off pretty slow, but that may be because I didn't connect as well with Josie and her tutor.  The other sections I enjoyed a lot more. 
I loved the setting of the book.  Sussman captured Paris beautifully, and if you read this book for no other purpose than that, then I think you'll be happy.  I was reminded quite often of my favorite food and beverages from France.  The characters drink cafe creme (jealous!!!) and eat pain au chocolat (whyyyyy the temptation??!). 

One thing I really enjoyed about French Lessons is how each character seems to be having just an ordinary day in Paris, but this day ends up being sort of a turning point for everyone.  Their problems aren't solved, but they all realize something that they need to change, or find some hope for the future and strength to start overcoming their problems.  It also seemed to me like each pair (tutor/student) seemed to help each other unknowingly.  Just being with a stranger who knows nothing about the other's plight seemed to be good for everyone.  The book seems like it's going to be very lighthearted, but once to start reading you realize it's about much more serious emotions like love, loss, grief, and hope. 

I did have some qualms with the book.  It was by no means perfect.  The writing for example wasn't anything exceptional.  There were times when things seemed a little bit unclear.  I also wish that the author had elaborated a bit more on certain things.  The whole premise of book seems a bit "fairytale-esque" at times too.  It's not likely that 3 tutors with problems will get 3 students with problems and sort of solve things on the same exact day.  But this is fiction, so if you don't think too hard about it, it's okay.  I also thought that the writing was a little bit choppy.  Scenes and thoughts seemed to jump around a lot.

I think this is a great summer beach read, especially if you want something a bit more "fluffy" where everything is straightforward.  Like I said above, the setting alone made me want to read this and it didn't disappoint in that respect.  All in all, not a bad book, but definitely not for everyone.

Title: French Lessons
Author: Ellen Sussman
Date of Publication: July 5th, 2011
Number of Pages: 256
Genre: Fiction
Source: ARC from Publisher