The Piano Teacher

I'm not sure I particularly liked this first novel by Janice Y.K. Lee. I initially found it a bit hard to get into - the narrative switches back and forth between 1952/53 and 1941/42, but with most of the same characters. Once I got into the rhythm of the story I found it gripping, but I wouldn't call it enjoyable.

The Piano Teacher of the title is Claire, newly arrived with her civil-servant husband in Hong Kong in 1952. The 1940's part of the story involves British ex-pat Will and his Eurasian girlfriend Trudy, just before and during the Japanese occupation of Hong Kong during WWII. In 1952, Claire becomes the piano teacher for Locket Chen, daughter of Victor and Melody Chen, who are Will's employers, and Trudy's distant cousins. That is how Claire comes to meet Will, and to become involved in all that has gone on with him, Trudy, the Chens, and others who have been in Hong Kong since before the war.

It's a complicated story, full of intriguing twists and turns. But it's also full of questions: In a time of war, what is courage? What is honor? Is it cowardice to do what you can to keep yourself and others alive, or is it heroism? Is patriotism a valid excuse for treacherous actions? There is rich fodder for discussion here, but I'm still not sure I would call it an enjoyable read.

Day After Night

I really enjoyed this novel by Anita Diamant, which tells the story of four Jewish refugees in an internment camp in Israel just after WWII. These four women, Shayndel, Leonie, Tedi, and Zorah, all survived the Holocaust in different ways, but all are dealing with similar feelings of loss and guilt.

The characters are very real, and very likeable, and I enjoy how they relate with one another and, through their relationship, help each other deal with their feelings in order to start the healing process. Although these are four very different women, they all have their share of courage, and vulnerability, and humor - none of them is one-dimensional. The fact that they are multifaceted makes them real, and makes it that much easier for the reader to become involved in their story.

Aside from being the story of how four women help each other through a difficult time, Day After Night is also the story of the rescue of 200 detainees from the Atlit prison camp. I have to admit my ignorance, I had no idea the Brits detained Jews who immigrated to the newly-created Jewish state as “illegal,” unless they had papers or could prove they had family there. The Brits even tried to prevent non-European Jews from entering Israel: when a group of Iraqi Jews enters the state across the northern border, they are imprisoned separately from the others, with the assumption they will be sent back to Iraq.

This is a beautifully told story, well-written, and hard to put down. I highly recommend it.

The Widow's Season

I really enjoyed this first novel by Laura Brodie. It's the story of Sarah, a 39-year-old woman whose husband, David, is lost in a storm and presumed dead. It seems that David is haunting Sarah... or is he actually alive?

Brodie really takes the reader inside Sarah's head, and I think does a very good job describing the feelings that a widow goes through, coping with the loss of her husband - particularly when no body has been found. The fact that I went back and forth a few times about whether David was actually dead or alive is an indication of how well-written this novel is. She had me going right up until the very end.

This was a quick read, because I wanted to get to the end, and the truth. It was also a good story about interesting characters, and the movement of the action through the seasons of the Shenandoah Valley drew me along as well. I would definitely recommend this novel.

A Catch of Consequence

I love historical novels, and A Catch of Consequence is one of the best I've read in a long time. Diana Norman tells a page-turner of a story about the adventures of Makepeace Burke, a Boston tavern keeper who catches herself a new life when she fishes English nobleman Philip Dapifer out of Boston Harbor.

Makepeace is a very likable character, and her entourage of younger brother Aaron, former slave Betty, and Indian Tantaquidgeon are an interesting group. Philip Dapifer is really a secondary character, whose main role seems to be getting Makepeace from Boston to England, where she learns some very hard lessons about what's really important in life.

This book is not an historical romance. Yes, there is some romance, but mostly we follow Makepeace as she makes her way through the events of Boston and then England in the latter part of the 18th century. It's really a very good novel.

Nothing very exciting...

I guess they all can't be great books. I just finished reading The Diary by Eileen Goudge. It was okay, but pretty formulaic and trite. Definitely chick lit, and the characters weren't all that appealing; I just didn't care very much who Elizabeth decided to marry and why.

I also read part of The New ME Diet by Jade and Keoni Teta. Turns out I'm a muscle burner - who knew? Anyway, it's stuff I know - don't eat a lot of starches, fill up on vegetables and fruits, eat healthy protein every day, avoid alcohol. Their workout plan is that you do hybrid moves that work more than one muscle, and you work without stopping for 20 minutes. I guess it's sort of like Curves. Anyway, I will probably try the eating plan, but I like my Body Pump classes at Gold's.

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.