Scones and Bones by Laura Childs is the first of the Tea Shop Mystery novels that I have read. I was simply drawn in by the cover and always love a book about a good cup of tea-and Childs knows her tea, that's for sure!
Like Alexander McCall Smith, Childs has written several different series of books. This is book #12 in her Tea Shop Mystery series, but each one stands alone.
Filled with mystery and intrigue, pirate lore and Charelston history, and many, many good cups of tea, this book was simply a lot of fun.
Friday, September 30, 2011
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
The Uncoupling
When The Ten Year Nap by Meg Wolitzer came out, there was so much hype about it, I finally read it. I didn't like it at all. However, I thought I would give her new book, The Uncoupling a try. Though I am still not a Wolitzer fan, I did like it more than The Ten Year Nap.
Set in the suburbs in New Jersey at a small high school, we find out what happens when a new Drama teacher is hired and stages the play Lysistrata. Suddenly, a spell is cast on all the females in the town and they find themselves no longer wanting sex with their men. You can imagine all the problems that follow.
Wolitzer's writing is certainly witty and she is a true observer of modern culture and how we all react to it and to each other. For some reason though, I always find her books mildly depressing more than humorous. Still, this was an interesting read.
Set in the suburbs in New Jersey at a small high school, we find out what happens when a new Drama teacher is hired and stages the play Lysistrata. Suddenly, a spell is cast on all the females in the town and they find themselves no longer wanting sex with their men. You can imagine all the problems that follow.
Wolitzer's writing is certainly witty and she is a true observer of modern culture and how we all react to it and to each other. For some reason though, I always find her books mildly depressing more than humorous. Still, this was an interesting read.
Sunday, September 25, 2011
The Peach Keeper
I usually really enjoy Sarah Addison Allen's novels for the magic realism they are filled with. However, her latest, The Peach Keeper, is not my favorite.
The book never really delved deep enough into the characters, especially the character of the myserious travelling salesman Tucker Devlin, who is at the heart of this story. I never really understood him at all, there just wasn't much to go on.
The novel is set in the South and follows two women into an unlikely friendship like their grandmothers 75 years before them. There was a lot of potential here, but the book lacked the magic of Allen's earlier novels. I really wanted to like it, but it just fell short of the mark this time. I recommend reading any of her 3 earlier novels, and skipping this one.
The book never really delved deep enough into the characters, especially the character of the myserious travelling salesman Tucker Devlin, who is at the heart of this story. I never really understood him at all, there just wasn't much to go on.
The novel is set in the South and follows two women into an unlikely friendship like their grandmothers 75 years before them. There was a lot of potential here, but the book lacked the magic of Allen's earlier novels. I really wanted to like it, but it just fell short of the mark this time. I recommend reading any of her 3 earlier novels, and skipping this one.
Thursday, September 22, 2011
The Forgotten Garden
The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton is a wonderful book to get lost in. A big, thick, well drawn out mystery starting with a little girl arriving alone by boat in Australia in 1913 and not knowing her name or where she came from.
It's such a delicious mystery that I don't want to spoil the fun by telling too much here. Only that the little girl returns to Cornwall as a much older woman and searches for the truth about her origins.
We are taken from hot days in Brisbane to cold foggy nights in the English countryside; through overgrown mazes and into hidden gardens, in a realm filled with fairies and ghosts.
Morton had me hooked from the very first page, and kept me up late at night trying to find out what would happen next. I loved this book and I didn't want it to end.
It's such a delicious mystery that I don't want to spoil the fun by telling too much here. Only that the little girl returns to Cornwall as a much older woman and searches for the truth about her origins.
We are taken from hot days in Brisbane to cold foggy nights in the English countryside; through overgrown mazes and into hidden gardens, in a realm filled with fairies and ghosts.
Morton had me hooked from the very first page, and kept me up late at night trying to find out what would happen next. I loved this book and I didn't want it to end.
Monday, September 19, 2011
Friendship Bread
Friendship Bread is a lovely, feel good novel from Hawaiian author Darien Gee. Set in the small town of Avalon, we meet 3 very different women, each healing from their own personal tragedies. They come together to share a cup tea and some Amish Friendshp Bread. Before long the whole town is involved.
I loved the characters and the town that Gee has created and I wanted to bake right along with them. Recipes are given at the back of the book for those who want to try. This is a book about loss and love, family and friendship. I enjoyed every delicious minute of it.
I loved the characters and the town that Gee has created and I wanted to bake right along with them. Recipes are given at the back of the book for those who want to try. This is a book about loss and love, family and friendship. I enjoyed every delicious minute of it.
Wednesday, September 14, 2011
Once Upon a Time, There Was You
The lastest offering from Elizabeth Berg, Once Upon a Time, There Was You, is not my favorite book by her.
It is the story of John and Irene, long divorced whose only common interest is their 18 year old daughter Sadie. There were some very distubring events in this book which I was not expecting in a Berg novel. She used these, I think unecessarily, to bring John and Irene back together again to protect Sadie, and through the process, re-evaluate their feelings for each other.
One of the problems I had with the novel was that I didn't like Irene-the main character. This makes it hard to care much about what is happening to her.
I still think Berg is a great writer and she usually develops wonderful characters, so I will continue to read her books. This one I could have skipped.
It is the story of John and Irene, long divorced whose only common interest is their 18 year old daughter Sadie. There were some very distubring events in this book which I was not expecting in a Berg novel. She used these, I think unecessarily, to bring John and Irene back together again to protect Sadie, and through the process, re-evaluate their feelings for each other.
One of the problems I had with the novel was that I didn't like Irene-the main character. This makes it hard to care much about what is happening to her.
I still think Berg is a great writer and she usually develops wonderful characters, so I will continue to read her books. This one I could have skipped.
Friday, September 9, 2011
East Wind, Rain
The first book I read after just moving back to Hawaii is East Wind, Rain by Caroline Paul. This is a wonderful novel that takes place on the Hawaiian Island of Niihau.
This is historic fiction based on the little known event of a Japanese fighter pilot crash landing on Niihau on Dec. 7th 194, after attacking Pearl Harbor.
The Niihauans were completely unaware of the war, and this is a portrait of how this event changed their way of life and even had much farther reaching repercussions than anyone could have imagined.
Paul gives us a wonderful portrait of life on Niihau, a portrait of the land, its people, its isolation and also the religous conflicts, and rascism that was going on at the time.
It is beautifully written book that I thouroughly enjoyed reading.
This is historic fiction based on the little known event of a Japanese fighter pilot crash landing on Niihau on Dec. 7th 194, after attacking Pearl Harbor.
The Niihauans were completely unaware of the war, and this is a portrait of how this event changed their way of life and even had much farther reaching repercussions than anyone could have imagined.
Paul gives us a wonderful portrait of life on Niihau, a portrait of the land, its people, its isolation and also the religous conflicts, and rascism that was going on at the time.
It is beautifully written book that I thouroughly enjoyed reading.
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