Bookticipation

The Violets of March by Sarah Jio

In bookstores Tuesday, April 26

December 31, 2010

The last day of the last month of 2010, a day of reflection.

I spent hours today visiting various blogs and jotting down book titles that appear on "best of" or "top [insert number here]" reads of 2010.  Then I looked at my list, and all in all, felt pretty good about my Year in Reading--the 2010 version.  While I didn't blog on each and every book, I managed to finish 75 books this year, an all-time high number for me.  Of course, reaching that number is far easier when that pesky little thing called a 9-5 job doesn't interfere (probably the only plus of being unemployed).  Lack of that "little thing" allowed me to become much more familiar with my local public library, and that reacquaintance was one of the highlights of the year.  Inter-Library loan rocks!

Favorite reads of the year include The Postmistress by Sarah Blake, Every Last One by Anna Quindlen, The Search by Norah Roberts, A Homemade Life by Molly Wizenberg, and How to Bake a Perfect Life by Barbara O'Neal.  The biggest surprise of the year was finally reading--and liking!--Naked in Death by J.D. Robb, first in her In Death series.  With 32 waiting in the queue, catching up on this series and the uber-couple, Eve and Roarke, will be fun!

The year in numbers:
Total Books:  75

Category:
13 Non-Fiction
16 Romance
19 Mystery
27 Fiction

Source:
 6  Mt. TBR
32 New
37 Library

Format:
 5  Trade Paperback
 8  Mass Market Paperback
14 Kindle
48 Hardcover

Total Pages:  23,978

Looking ahead to 2011, my library request list already has sixteen books listed including Pictures of You by Caroline Leavitt, Clara and Mr. Tiffany by Susan Vreeland, and Call Me Irresistible by Susan Elizabeth Phillips.  Heading into the new year, my reading resolution, as always, is to read whatever I want whenever I want with no apologies for my selections.  Added to that this year will be the resolution to spend more time reading and less time writing about what I read.  To that end, I'll post a monthly reading summary here at Owlsfeathers and perhaps a separate post now and then on a book that particularly captures my reading fancy or on an event of note.  (And, of course, any post-worthy pictures of the extended family of dogs and cats.)  My booknotes will also be updated at Shelfari as well as at Goodreads.

Wishing everyone health, happiness, and unending pages of reading joy in 2011.

What I've Been Reading

I've come to the decision that while I want to keep my reading history current here at Owl's Feathers, not every book merits a unique posting.  Going forward, I'll post these cumulative updates and, every now and then, post on a book that has been an especially rewarding reading experience.  So, here's what's been keeping me reading lately...



MAYBE THIS TIME by Jennifer Crusie

3.5/5 (Fiction Scale)

Hero and heroine were vintage Crusie.  Just enough of a woo-woo element to be interesting and not put the book into the fantasy category.  All in all, a good afternoon's read.

PAINTED LADIES by Robert B. Parker

4.5/5 (Mystery Scale)

Reading Painted Ladies after a long stretch of no Spenser/Robert B. Parker reminded me how much I love Parker's writing style.  Or, perhaps more specifically, how much I love Parker's writing Spenser and Susan Silverman.  In interviews upon the release of Painted Ladies, Joan Parker indicated that there is still one more Spenser to be published next year.  So we readers get to stay the inevitable last Spenser just a little while longer.

LEGACY by Danielle Steel

3/5 (Fiction Scale)

You know what you are getting when you open a Danielle Steel novel to page 1.  Sometimes, the reading experience is exactly what you need at the time.  This time, however, the details fell in place a little too obviously and tidy.  Not sure why I keep reading her books--maybe just the comfort of the known.

INFAMOUS by Suzanne Brockman

3.5/5 (Romance Scale)

This was the November selection for the local Barnes & Noble Romance Readers group.  Take one legendary U.S Marshal and an historic shootout in a saloon and mix well with a wronged descendant (our hero), a historian (our heroine), then toss in a ghost who knows the story behind the story, read 'til done, and you have Infamous.  Some obvious social opinion preaching from the author; otherwise, a fun read.

THE HEALER by Carol Cassella

3.5/5 (Fiction Scale)

Healer tells the story of Claire and Addison Boehning and their daughter Jory and what happens when their lives fall apart around them--how each of them adjusts to the new financial reality facing them, but better still, how each of them opens up to new opportunities.  A short, quick read that takes you into the core of this family in transition.

BUSY BODY by M.C. Beaton

3.5/5 (Mystery Scale)

Another visit with Agatha Raisin and her detective crew--a visit much more rewarding than the last (There Goes the Bride).  And, what's this?  Agatha pondering a la Stephanie?  Camp James or Camp Charles?

STILTSVILLE by Susanna Daniel

4/5 (Fiction Scale)

This is a book where nothing happens and everything happens.  It is the simple, complex story of Frances Ellerby and Dennis DuVal, their marriage, their families, their friends, the lives--all set against the vividly written background of Miami, South Florida, and Biscayne Bay.  My favorite passage from the book:  This is what it means to be part of a family.  There are no maps and the territory is continually changing.  We are explorers, traveling in groups.  And how's this for a word picture:  She'd done more packing after getting home: there was a row of three suitcases just inside the room, facing the door like eager dogs waiting for it to open.  Les of Lesley's Book Nook has written a wonderful review of Stiltsville.  Click here to enjoy her review.

YOU HAD ME AT WOOF: HOW DOGS TAUGHT ME THE SECRETS OF HAPPINESS by Julie Klam

3.5/5 (Non-fiction Scale)

I can't help myself.  As soon as I hear about a new dog or "amazing" animal book, it immediately goes on my library reserve list.  And I know I will have to read it with a box of tissues handy because no matter how upbeat and happy the owner and [insert animal name here] are, there always is that inevitable sadness.  But, as in most animal books, when things are good in You Had Me at Woof, they are very, very good.  If you've been around dogs at all, you'll laugh and giggle your way through Ms. Klam's experiences with her not always well-behaved pack.

THE BLESSINGS OF THE ANIMALS by Katrina Kittle

4/5 (Fiction Scale)

Another family in transition spun into motion by a sad man.  A large Italian family ("the Sopranos without the guns"), a small Indian family, assorted relatives and friends, and best of all a home and barn filled with an ever-changing assortment of animals--each bringing special blessings.  A favorite character for me was Muriel, the goat.

I STILL DREAM ABOUT YOU by Fannie Flagg

4/5 (Fiction Scale)

Well, bless her heart.  Maggie Fortenberry has the weight of her world on her shoulders and is contemplating very drastic action to alleviate that weight.  Then there's the pressure of being a former Miss Alabama--the crown and that sash, you know.  Oh, and don't forget the other characters:  Brenda Peoples, Maggie's best friend; Hazel Whisenknott, founder of Red Mountain Realty (who died five years before the story begins); and Ethel Clipp, Red Mountain realty's purple-haired, of-a-certain-age office manager.  Why did I like this book?  Because, like watching It's a Wonderful Life every year, it just felt good.

DAYS OF GOLD by Jude Deveraux

3/5 (Romance Scale)

This was the December selection for the local Barnes & Noble Romance Readers. Days of Gold, Book 2 in Jude Deveraux's Edilean Series, takes us to Scotland 1766 where we meet the ancestors and founders of Edilean, VA, featured in the contemporary romance, Lavender Morning. The story of Angus McTern and Edilean Talbot is told with a humor that easily carries you through the many pages where the lovers at first sight waste so much time saying, "I hate you" countered with "I hate you more."  Convenient and somewhat obvious plot devices lead us to the inevitable happily ever after ending.

I REMEMBER NOTHING by Nora Ephron
3/5 (Non-fiction Scale)
Not as good for me as I Feel Bad About My Neck…maybe because of the "inside baseball" presentation of some of the essays. However, the more general essays hit the mark--especially the closing lists of "What I Won't Miss" and "What I Will Miss" or "Twenty-five Things People Have a Shocking Capacity to Be Surprised by Over and Over Again" (e.g., 16. Mary Matalin and James Carville are married). This passage sums up my current state of mind: I have been forgetting things for years, but now I forget in a new way. I used to believe I could eventually retrieve whatever was lost and the commit it to memory. Now I know I can't possibly. Whatever's gone is hopelessly gone. And what's new doesn't stick.

Pink Martini!

Tonight -  The Orpheum Theater, Boston

You'll find my daughter and me in Row L in the Balcony.

Tuesday, November 16

Release date for new holiday album!

29: A Novel by Adena Halpern

Did you ever wonder what would happen if a birthday wish really came true?  That is the question answered in 29: A Novel by Adena Halpern.

From Publishers Weekly (via amazon.com)
The proverbial search for youth's fountain manifests itself in Ellie Jerome, a 75-year-old woman who has employed every available artifice to remain young. Identifying more with her stylish young granddaughter, Lucy, than with her abrasive middle-aged daughter, Barbara, Ellie's 75th birthday wish is to be 29 again, for just one day. When her wish comes true, hilarious problems arise, as the young Ellie must create a new persona in order to enter and leave her apartment in a neighborhood where everyone knows the old Ellie. Choosing to let Lucy in on her secret, Ellie persuades her to be her guide on a youthful adventure in pursuit of stylish looks and a trendy life. While the dynamic duo romp through Ellie's magical day, Ellie's daughter and her dearest friend, Frida, a 75-year-old worry wart, having decided that Ellie was kidnapped, embark upon their own misguided adventure before the old (now wiser) Ellie returns at the end of her big day. With this rollicking, if familiar, offering, Halpern...sets out to prove that you're only young twice.

Passages
On Gershwin
Whenever I hear Gershwin in my head it means I'm having a good time.  (By the way, if you're too young to be familiar with Gershwin, plese get yourself some CDs.  You'll thank me later.)
 
On that "moment"
A moment comes in everyone's life when they realize they're old.  I'm not talking about the day you see your first gray hair or the day you see the hint of a crow's foot.  What I'm talking about is the day when you realize you've grown out of being able to adapt to something new.
 
On lipstick (Hello, Lancome?  Why did you discontinue Risque?)
I almost had a heart attack when Lancome stopped making my favorite lipstick.  I was on the phone with Lancome for three hours, with four different operators, trying to get to the bottom of why they discontinued my color, when the last person finally said, "No one wears that color anymore, ma'am."  "I do!" I said.
 
On using your "stuff" 
I walk into the kitchen to make myself a cup of tea.  I put some water in the kettle, turn on the stove, and grab some tea bags.  I go into the cabinet and take out a cup and saucer.  I use my good bone china every day.  You should, too, if you don't have small children.  It's a lesson I've learned: enjoy the things you have.
 
In her acknowledgements at the end of the book, Ms. Halpern thanks, first and foremost, "...the amazing seventy-something women I interviewed for this book.  Your generosity, honesty, and frankness were more than I could ever have asked for.  I hope I've done you proud in creating a character that captures the best of who you are."  I think the author accompished this.  The dialog between Ellie and Frida as well as incidents in the story are all spot on.
 
Most of the wisdom passed on by Ellie Jerome was obvious, but it never hurts to be reminded again and again about the value of family and friends.
 
20th Century Fox has obtained the movie rights to 29, so let's play the "Who Would You Cast in the Movie" game.  Here are my choices:

• Ellie Jerome - Florence Henderson
• Young Ellie Jerome - Cameron Diaz 
• Lucy Jerome (Ellie's granddaughter) - Anne Hathaway
• Barbara Sustamorn (Ellie's daughter) - Susan Sarandon
• Frida Freedberg (Ellie's best friend) - Olympia Dukakis
• Zachary - Chris O'Donnell 

If you read 29, please come back and let me know your dream cast!
 
Rating:  3.5/5 (Fiction Scale)
Dedication:  This book is lovingly dedicated to my mother, Arlene Rudney Halpern
First Line:  I'm jealous of my granddaughter.
 
Book Extras
Visit the author's website here.
Visit the publisher's page here.
Read a review at Musings of a Bookish Kitty here and another at Book Addiction here.

Three September Also Reads

A Homemade Life by Molly Wizenberg This was a reread for the September book discussion at On the Porch Swing (Yahoo group). I liked this culinary memoir even more the second time around and have flagged several receipes to try out now that the fall cooking season has arrived. Click here to check out some of Molly Wizenberg's recipes and writings at her blog, Orangette.
Rating: 4.5/5 (Non-fiction Scale)

Most Eagerly Yours by Allison Chase
This was the September selection for the local Barnes and Noble Romance Readers group. Most Eagerly Yours is the first in a new series about four sisters who have the confidence of young Princess Victoria to carry out investigations with the utmost discretion. Nothing in this book tempted me to seek out/eagerly await the next installments.
Rating: 2/5 (Romance Scale)

Death on Demand by Carolyn Hart
After reading the 19th and 20th installment in the Death on Demand series, I thought it was time to go back, start at the beginning, and read forward. It was fun meeting Annie Laurance and Max Darling at the outset of their crime solving capers. Several of the recurring Broward's Rock regulars were introduced here, too. I read Death on Demand on my Kindle and appreciated very much not having to chase around the used bookstores or haunting inter-library loan to get this book. One click and I was good to read!
Rating: 3.5/5 (Mystery Scale)

An Impartial Witness by Charles Todd

An Impartial Witness by Charles Todd is the second installment in the Bess Crawford series. Readers first met Bess, a WWI army nurse, in A Duty to the Dead; and if you're a fan of the Masie Dobbs series by Jacqueline Winspear, you will probably like Bess as well.

From Publisher's Weekly (via amazon.com)
Starred Review. Set in the summer of 1917, Todd's excellent second mystery featuring British nurse Bess Crawford (after 2009's A Duty to the Dead) smoothly blends realistic characters with an intricate plot. When Bess accompanies Lt. Meriwether Evanson, a severe burn victim, from the Continent to England, she's surprised to spot the pilot's supposedly devoted wife, Marjorie, crying on another man's shoulder at a train station. After returning to saving lives under German fire in France, Bess is stunned to read in a newspaper that Marjorie has been stabbed to death in London. Soon after, the depressed lieutenant commits suicide by cutting his own throat. Unable to resist involving herself in the murder investigation, Bess seeks to identify Marjorie's unknown companion, the possible killer. In addition to supplying a challenging puzzle, Todd (a mother-son writing team) does a superb job of capturing the feel of the battlefield and the emotional toll taken on those waiting back home for a loved one's return.

When reading a mystery, I'm not obsessed with trying to outsmart the author's revelation of events and am content to wait to see the whodunit it play out. I did, however, have some inkings when reading An Impartial Witness; and I was almost right! :) The only thing I really wondered about was all the traveling around that Bess and her cohorts did. Driving up to London and back again and up again and back. To the battlefield in France and back to Portsmouth and back to France and back again. Would petrol have been so easily available for all these trips? Were the trips back and forth to France convenient to the plot or the reality of WWI nurse assignments?

I like my mysteries gentle and readily admit that I avoid any mysteries with the words "chilling," "sinister," or "dark and violent" in plot descriptions. Both the Masie Dobbs and Bess Crawford series fit my comfort zone. I'm looking forward to the third Bess Crawford and also want to check out Charles Todd's other series about Inspector Ian Rutledge.

Rating: 3.5/5 (Mystery Scale)
Dedication: In remembrance...Samantha June 1995 5o September 2007 and Crystal November 1995 to March 2008 who gave so much to those who loved them.
First Line: As my train pulled into London, I looked out at the early summer rain and was glad to see the dreary day had followed me from Hampshire.

Book Extras
Charles Todd is the mother/son writing team of David Todd Watjen and Carolyn L.T. Watjen. Click here to visit the author's website or click here to see a listing of books in both the Ian Rutledge and Bess Crawford series.

For more information on An Impartial Witness, visit the publisher's page here.

Fly Away Home by Jennifer Weiner

Several years ago I tried to read In Her Shoes by Jennifer Weiner. Perhaps being the mother of a single, out-on-her-own daughter colored my reaction, but I just couldn't bring myself to read past the opening sequence of events. So, I stayed away from Jennifer Weiner until I read the description of Fly Away Home. Granted, the pulled from the headlines plotline of the disgraced politician may have made this another pass; however, I put it on my library reserve list and did find the story good enough to keep me reading on a Saturday afternoon despite the less than enthusiastic editorial review from Publishers Weekly.

From Publishers Weekly (via bn.com)
Weiner weaves a forgettable family drama with three weakly connected storylines: mother Sylvie Woodruff long ago sacrificed herself to become the perfect politician's wife, but the revelation of her husband's infidelity sends her off to reconnect with her old self. Her daughters aren't faring any better: recovering addict Lizzie is pursuing an interest in photography, but a childhood incident continues to trouble her; and dutiful older daughter Diana, an ER doctor, is escaping her blandly offensive husband via her own affair. The three women's crises function in parallel, and Weiner is unable to keep the narrative tension going when she hops from one character to another, largely because their issues are so tidily resolved and the women are never in real emotional danger--Sylvie's husband's affair is a "one-day story," Lizzie's narcotic slip is to take a couple of Advil PM (and an apology resolves the unresolved past), and the breakdown of Diana's marriage is dispatched as easily as Diana making a resolution to change her life. The lack of conflict and strong characters, and the heavy dose of brand names and ripped-from-the-headlines references, make this disappointingly disposable.


When all was said and read, it was wrapped a little too nicely. I'm much more intrigued with watching the tensions in The Good Wife. How will Alicia Florrick handle things this year?

Rating: 3/5 (Fiction Scale)
Dedication: For Joanna Pulcini and Greer Hendricks
First Line: Breakfast in five-star hotels was always the same.

Book Extras
Visit the author's website here.
Visit the publisher's page here.

Les at Lesley's Book Nook has written a review of Fly Away Home which pretty much echoes my experience. Please click here to read her review. While you're there, be sure to check out Les's new wheels!

Wordless (Workless) Wednesday

A Summer in Sonoma by Robyn Carr

After reading all of Robyn Carr's Virgin River books, I was looking forward to this stand alone, A Summer in Sonoma. 

From Publishers Weekly (via amazon)
Carr (the Virgin River series) brings four high school friends together in a slow-moving but charming story set in beautiful Northern California. Cassie is sick of searching for Mr. Right and ending up with Mr. Very Wrong. Julie wishes she didn't worry about money all the time. Marty misses romance to the point that she's considering cheating on her husband. Stoic Beth quietly struggles with health problems. Cassie tries to understand her feelings for a ponytailed biker, Julie deals with an unexpected pregnancy, Marty attempts to save her marriage, and Beth realizes breast cancer is not something she can hide. Though the leading ladies are not terribly well developed, their stories will strike a chord with readers. Male supporting characters add spark and help propel the plot to a predictable yet satisfying happy ending.


In retrospect, I should have let more time elapse between bidding farewell to Virgin River and welcoming another group of slightly flawed characters looking to find the perfect life.  Don't get me wrong, A Summer in Sonoma was a good story and true to Ms. Carr's form.  I have The House on Olive Street waiting in Mt. TBR, but I think I'll let some time pass before pushing it nearer the peak of the mountain.

Rating:  3/5 (Romance Scale)
First Line:  Cassie and Ken walked out of the bar together at seven-thirty.

Book Extras
Read Frech Fiction's review of A Summer in Sonoma here.
Visit the author's website here.