The Thirteenth Tale

For anyone who has ever had any aspiration to be a novelist, THIS is the book that will make you say, “That’s the kind of novel I want to write.” Mystery, romance, crazy relatives, windswept moors, creepy old houses – this book has everything and then some. And the fact that it’s a novel about a biographer/bookstore employee/avid reader invited to write the biography of a best-selling author makes it that much more appealing to booklovers like me.

I think the aspects of the book I like best are the ambiguities. The narrator, Margaret Lea, is an unmarried adult woman who works for her father in his bookstore, but I am not quite sure how old she is. Is she 25? 30? A 40-year-old spinster? It’s never clear to me. And the era is unclear as well. There are telephones and trains, but not a computer or cell phone in sight, and the author, Diane Setterfield, gives us no historical markers like wars to judge by. Margaret could be writing Miss Winter’s biography anytime between 1960 and 2010.

But those ambiguities serve to enhance the eternal nature of Miss Winter’s story of the Angelfield family, and I believe that is the point. It doesn’t matter when it happened, what matters is that this is a timeless mystery of family secrets and half-told tales, one I found almost impossible to put down.

Women, Work & the Art of Savoir Faire

I am admittedly not much of a nonfiction reader, but the title of this book by Mireille Giuliano caught my eye, and it has been a while since school ended, so I thought I would give it a read. It's a nice book. No, there is nothing really new here, but Giuliano has an easy writing style and she tells some good stories. I would recommend this book to new college graduates, both women and men, for an accessible and not-so-dry introduction to what the business world expects from them. And when is the last time you read a how-to-succeed book that had recipes in it? It's worth reading for that reason alone.

The Wild Things

This book was interesting; I can't really say that I loved it or would even recommend it, but it was interesting. I picked it up because I enjoyed the only other book of Dave Eggers' that I have read, A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius. I admit to having never read Maurice Sendak, and to not having seen the movie version of Where the Wild Things Are.

I didn't really like the main character, Max, who has a very vivid imagination and who doesn't seem capable of thinking before he acts (granted, he is about 8 years old, but would an 8-year-old REALLY dump 7 buckets of water all over his sister's room without even thinking about it before - or during?). When he winds up on the island of the wild things he finds a bunch of big hairy animals who have a similar problem of acting before thinking, along with other problems like fear of "the void." And none of the animals were that likeable either - they all seemed to be one-note adult problems.

I understand that the story is about Max dealing with his parents' divorce and his sister's entry into adolescence; I would have to be an idiot NOT to. There is nothing subtle about Eggers' writing, and that's what kept me from liking this book. If he had not bopped me over the head with who/what everything represented, I would have enjoyed the book a lot more.

Commencement

It rained all weekend, so I finished this book in less than 48 hours. Definitely chick lit, definitely light reading, but a satisfying way to spend a rainy weekend just the same. J. Courtney Sullivan tells the story of four housemates from Smith College, as they start their adult lives and deal with all the stuff that entails.

The women are likable enough - though I didn't really care for April. But I don't think I was necessarily supposed to, and that may speak to the quality of Sullivan's writing. I enjoyed Sullivan's descriptions of the lifestyle and traditions at Smith. I went to an all-girls high school, so I have some idea of the weirdness of an all-female environment, but what she described at Smith was beyond any of my experiences (you may infer from that whatever you like).

She tosses in a mystery near the end, and I admit that I figured it out pretty easily, but it was still a nice plot twist. Overall, I thought it was a nice book. Perfect for the beach, or a plane, or a rainy weekend in March.

Infinity in the Palm of Her Hand

This was a really cool novel in which Gioconda Belli imagines the real story of Adam and Eve. I think she does a wonderful job of describing the Garden of Eden, the TREES, their experiences with the serpent, and all the other stuff in the Bible. However, she also describes what Adam and Eve (mostly Eve) think and feel about what is happening to them and around them.

Aside from the Bible story, this was a good read about people who are trying to figure out their world. I mean, think about it: they had no one to tell them anything. They had to figure out that when the sky went dark at night it wasn't going to stay that way forever; they had to figure out that when the temperature dropped and the plants died that they better have enough food to last awhile. Sure, God (called Elokim) gave them fire, but they had to figure out how to control it. And Belli does a nice job of describing all of that.

I think what I like best is that Belli gives Adam and Eve sons AND daughters. Because, you know, you need both to populate the whole world... yes, a little icky with brothers and sisters, but she figures out a way to make it work in the end.

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

I wasn't sure I would like this novel - the title is just a little too cute, and I've never been a big fan of epistolary novels. I am glad to say I was wrong. What a charming story! The characters are all likable, warm, and accessible, especially the main character, Juliet, a celebrated author. And all of the personal stories are believable and interesting.

I had no idea that Guernsey Island - supposedly so close to France that you can see the cars on a clear day - was occupied by the Germans during WWII. This novel takes place just after WWII, when the Germans have left and the evacuated children have returned. One of the members of the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society finds Juliet's name in a used book, and impulsively sends her a letter. She is so charmed by him that she responds, and soon develops a correspondence with all of the members of the Society (and some of the other Islanders). Deciding this is wonderful material for an article, or even a book, Juliet moves temporarily to Guernsey to get to know everyone a little better.

This book spoke to me on a number of levels. First, the experiences during the occupation are touching and sometimes sad. Second, the relationships between the Society members, and those Juliet develops with them, feel genuine and loving. And last, the relationship of everyone to the books they read are so personal and deep, just like the relationships many of us have to the books we love the most. And the surprise appearance of one Oscar Wilde make this a not-to-be-missed novel for all lovers of great British literature.