The Kitchen House

The Kitchen House by Kathleen Grissom is a powerful and disturbing novel. Set in the South at the end of the 18th century, a seven year old Irish girl, Lavinia is orphaned during the sea crossing to America. She is taken in by the Captain and given to his slaves in the kitchen house to raise her and serve their family. Boundaries get confused as she grows into the white woman she becomes and can no longer live with the black family who raised her.

This is a painful and tragic novel, well researched and based on actual events. Grissom does a wonderful job of bringing the story to life so we can bear witness to one of the most shameful periods of our history. However, there is so much love and hope, courage and loyalty in these pages, amidst all the tragedy, that through it all, this novel shines.

If You Could See Me Now

Cecelia Ahern writes lighthearted, feel-good novels full of just a little bit of magic. If You Could See Me Now is no different. Ahern lives in Ireland, and this novel, as her previous novels, is set in the charming Irish countryside. P.S. I Love You (one of her earlier novels) was made into a movie starring Hilary Swank, and If You Could See Me Now is soon to be a movie as well.

It tells the story of six year old Luke and his Aunt Elizabeth who has adopted him, although she has never wanted children and prefers a life of strict order and control. Luke's mother is an alchoholic, like Elizabeth's mother before her, and Elizabeth has always worked hard to be the responsible one. But along the way she forgot how to have fun. Enter invisible friend Ivan, and the magic begins......

If you're in the mood for a little playful, light reading with happy endings for all, Ahern's novels are sure to please.

The Life and Opinions of Maf the Dog, and of His Friend Marilyn Monroe

The Life and Opinions of Maf the Dog, and of His Friend Marilyn Monroe by Andrew O'Hagan, certainly has a catchy title, which seems to be what drew so many people to this rather tiresome book.

It is narrated by Marilyn Monroe's highly intelligent, and well read little dog Maf. A gift to her from Frank Sinatra, Maf went everywhere with Marilyn in the last two years of her life. The book is more a commentary of the times, than a biography of  Monroe's last days.

The fifties are just ending, the sixties have begun, along with the civil rights movement. JFK is elected president and the nation is hopeful. Monroe travels from LA to New York, Mexico and back to LA, always in the circle of artists, intellectuals, singers, musicians, playwrites, movie stars and directors.

Sinatra comes across as a real jerk, and Monroe seems destined to repeat the sadness, lonliness, and mental instability that claimed her mother.

There are some interesting insights in the book, but for the most part I found the writing style tedious and couldn't wait to be done with this book.

A Grown-Up Kind of Pretty

A Grown-Up Kind of Pretty by Joshilyn Jackson is a wild roller coaster of a ride through the deep South. We follow three generations of Slocumb women aged 45, 30, and 15 in small town Mississippi as they try to uncover the truth about the bones found underneath the old willow tree in the backyard.

Jackson writes like no other, and this novel kept me up half the night trying to unravel all the plot twists and turns to figure out what was really going on. The book takes you to many places in the deep South you'd never like to return to, but this is the place young Mosey, the books heroine, comes from.

I liked Jackson's earlier novel, Gods in Alabama, but I like A Grown-Up Kind of Pretty even better. It grabs you and won't let go.

Dreaming in Chinese

Dreaming in Chinese, Mandarin Lessons in Life, Love and Language by Deborah Fallows is a book about Fallow's attempt to learn Mandarin while living in China for three years with her husband.

Fallows has a PhD in linguistics, and this small, deceptively simple book is full of penetrating insights into Chinese culture, thinking, body language, and much more. A captivating look into the heart of the Chinese people. Fallows writes with understanding, humor and honesty. This is a wonderful little book.

While in China, Fallows reads the novel A Concise Chinese-English Dictionary for Lovers by Xiaolu Guo. This is novel I read several years ago and really enjoyed as well. It would be great companion reading with Dreaming in Chinese.

Songs Without Words

Songs Without Words by Ann Packer is a beautiful, sometimes heartbreaking novel. It tells the story of the lifelong friendship between Liz and Sarabeth, two women now in their 40's living in the Bay Area.

Sarabeth's mother committed suicide when Sarabeth was only 16. She then moved in with Liz's family, and their bond as sisters was forever formed. Now decades later, Liz has a teenage daughter of her own in crisis, and Liz and Sarabeth's friendship is put to the test.

Packer writes so convincingly and with such introspection about the relationships we have with our family, our friends, and even with ourselves. She also writes of the harrowing descent into depression. She uncovers our deepest emotions and fears, our frailties, and  ultimately our humanity. Songs Without Words is a thoughful and moving novel.

I Never Fancied Him Anyway

I Never Fancied Him Anyway by Claudia Carroll is a lighthearted, funny novel about a 28 year old psychic named Cassandra who has her own magazine column and eventually TV show in Dublin, helping mostly single women looking for their perfect mate.

Cassandra is likable, but the novel is pretty silly. If you're in the mood for some chick-lit light it might just hit the spot. Supposedly it's being made into a movie. Maybe it will be more entertaining on the big screen.

The Postmistress

I tend to avoid novels set during WWII, as there have just been way too many of them. However, I picked up The Postmistress by Sarah Blake at my local library and found it quite interesting. Iris James, the postmistress of the novel's title, tells us in no uncertain terms that there is no such thing as a postmistress, it is simply postmaster for a man or a woman, so I do have to question the title of the novel.

Set in a small coastal town on Cape Cod, life goes on much the same as usual during the onset of WWII, while over in London, Frankie Bard makes her radio broadcasts with Edward Murrow during the Blitz.

It is a tale of two very different worlds colliding and how we tell and hear and react to the stories of what is really happening. It's a wonderfully written novel, woven together beautifully. It hooked me from the beginning.

I only wish some of the characters had been better developed, especially the doctor's wife Emma, who is central to the novel, yet she was never fully developed and I felt like we were left hanging trying to figure out what happened to her. This is true for Iris, the postmistress, as well. Frankie's character was my favorite of the three women the novel centered on.

The Birth of Venus

The Birth of Venus by Sarah Dunant is historical fiction set in Medici Florence at the time of the fanatical monk Savonarola in the late fifteenth century. It is a time when art flourished and Botticelli's Venus was born.

Our story follows the life of fifteen year old Alessandra Cecchi, a young artist and daughter of a cloth merchant. Although her character is fictional, she could have been real, and the events and people all around her are taken from history. This story is about her own birth into womanhood and her stuggles against the conventions of the times.

Dunant weaves a captivating story of art and sin, decadence and piety, at a time when everyone was struggling to understand man's place in relation to God, and art was at once widely revered by many and actively denounced as decadent by others.

Although there are some flaws in the novel, (I didn't quite believe the ending) I found it captivating nonetheless, and it does a great job of bringing fifteenth century Florence alive.

The Good Mother

I have read and enjoyed several of Sue Miller's novels. The Good Mother is her first novel.

It tells the story of Anna Dulap. A recently divorced mother of a 3 year old little girl. After the divorce, Anna finds a new lover that she loses herself in.  This keeps her from always having the best judgement.

I tried to sympathize with Anna, but I found it hard to understand some of the choices that she made. I actually found the novel mildly disturbing, not to mention out of date. Not my favorite of Millers.

Islands, The Universe, Home

Gretel Ehrlich has spent countless hours in solitude in the observation of nature and how we fit into the big picture. Her observations cut so deep and are so heartwrenching, sometimes I just need to stop reading and let her words sink in.

Islands, The Universe, Home is a book of 10 essays that take us through the seasons on her Wyoming ranch and on pilgrimage to Japan and other places.

At times I am reminded of Robinson Jeffers, Gary Snyder, Matsuo Basho, yet Ehrlich's prose is so original and personal, and at the same time universal, it is truly breathtaking.

Her earlier book of essays, The Solace of Open Spaces is fantastic as well. If you're not familiar with Ehrlich's writing, you're in for a rare treat.