The Kitchen House

I really enjoyed this novel by Kathleen Grissom, about a young Irish girl brought as an indentured servant to a Virginia plantation in the late 1700's, who is sent to work in the kitchen house with the plantation's slaves. It's a thoughtful, beautifully written, and at times disturbing story of an all-too-real era of our country's history.

Lavinia is only 7-years-old when she arrives at Tall Oaks plantation in southern Virginia, an orphan after both her parents die on the crossing from Ireland. Because her parents were to be indentured to Captain Pyke, he takes her home and sends her to work in the kitchen house with his illegitimate half-white daughter Belle. There, over time, Lavinia comes to view Belle, Mama Mae, Beattie, and Fanny as her family. Soon, however, Lavinia develops a relationship with Ms. Martha, the Captain's wife, and her life is altered dramatically.

By telling the story from both Lavinia's and Belle's perspectives, Grissom deftly shows us how two people can see the same events in different ways. I did find some of the events and action trite - several times I knew what was going to happen before it did. But this novel is really about the characters, and they really do drive the story forward. I wanted to know what was going to happen to them, and I couldn't put the book down until I found out.

The Kitchen House

Mockingjay

I have now completed the Hunger Games trilogy and I have to say, I'm glad it's over. This third book in the series takes us away from the arena of the games into a world at war. But the people making the war are the same people who made the games, so who better to know how to fight it than Katniss and the other remaining tributes?

After her dramatic rescue from the arena at the end of book two (and you definitely need to read the first two books to make sense of this one), Katniss finds herself in District 13, the district that supposedly was destroyed by the Capitol. There she finds an active group of rebels, including Haymitch and Gale, who need her as the symbol of the rebellion. But Katniss is so emotionally destroyed by her experiences in the games that she's not much interested in anything, let alone fighting a war, until something happens that changes her mind.

I don't want to give too much away. I will say that this book is hard - it's about war, and it's not pretty. Katniss learns the hard way that not all of the "good guys" are totally good, and that war makes good people do bad things.

Mockingjay

Death Comes to Pemberly

Okay all you Janites.... erm, Austenians? This book is a MUST read! PD James takes us six years into the future after Elizabeth Bennet marries Fitzwilliam Darcy, and they are now living happily at Pemberly with their two young sons. Then on the eve of their annual ball, a carriage carrying Lydia Wickham comes careering up the lane, with Lydia screaming that Mr. Wickham has been murdered, and the trouble begins.

I don't want to give anything away. I'll say that there is a dead body, and there is a trial. I had some ideas of who was involved but wasn't really sure, and I had no idea about the reasons, so as a murder mystery the book doesn't disappoint.

But as a tribute to Jane Austen - and to her best-loved characters - the novel is a true masterpiece. James must be a true fan, and has obviously read most of Austen's work, because she really captures the Austen voice. She also does a wonderful job of giving histories and back stories to the important characters of Pride and Prejudice. And, she weaves in the mention of a few characters from other Austen novels as well (I won't name names and ruin the smile those will bring).

I have to say it again - a MUST read for any Jane Austen fan. I loved it!

Death Comes to Pemberly

Catherine the Great: Portrait of a Woman

I have long been a fan of Catherine the Great - as an adopted kid I used to fantasize that I was a Romanov (go ahead, laugh - I always thought I looked more Russian than Irish). Of course Catherine herself wasn't a Romanov, but she was a smart, strong, and charming woman who became one of Russia's greatest rulers through intelligence and force of personality.

Catherine starts her life as a minor German princess named Sophia, who is brought to Russia by Empress Elizabeth as a wife for her nephew and heir, Peter III (who's also German). We all know this story, right? Peter's loony-tunes, possibly unable to have sex (certainly unwilling to have it with his wife), and he hates all things Russian and loves all things Prussian. Catherine, on the other hand, embraces Russia and it's people, and uses her natural charm and intelligence to create alliances with important and powerful people. When Elizabeth dies, Peter is not on the throne for long.

I admit that I stopped reading the book a little over half-way through. It's a long book, nearly 600 pages, and once Catherine became empress it got a little tedious for me. I enjoyed much more the intrigues prior to her becoming empress, and how she actually came to be ruler in a country where she had no legitimate claim to the throne.

Robert Massie is a really great writer, he tells the story like he knows Catherine very well (and I daresay the amount of research he's done makes him more knowledgeable than almost anyone). It may have been just a little too detailed for me, but I would still recommend it to anyone who wants to know more about the little German princess who brought the Enlightenment to Russia.

Catherine the Great: Portrait of a Woman

Captive Queen: A Novel of Eleanor of Aquitane

Once I got into it, I very much enjoyed this novel by Alison Weir about Eleanor of Aquitane. I did have a hard time warming to the characters - they initially seemed a bit too bodice-ripper and not enough historical fiction, but that was remedied after the first few chapters.

Eleanor was a pretty powerful woman for the 12th century. She was married to King Louis of France (Louis VII I think), but when they didn't produce any male heirs the marriage was annulled and she married Henry of Anjou, who would go on to become King Henry II of England. With Henry she had a slew of children, including two future kings of England. But this novel focuses most on the passionate and volatile relationship between Eleanor and Henry.

There's a lot going on in this novel, and we meet some historical heavyweights like Thomas Beckett and Richard the Lionheart. And it's a long novel - 500 pages or so. But I felt like I learned a lot about historical figures that I'm not really familiar with - I tend to focus more on British history a couple hundred years after this. And Weir writes a great afterword that nicely wraps up the novel. I'll definitely look for more of her work.

Captive Queen

Catching Fire

This is the second book in the Hunger Games series, and I honestly think it's better than the first. I plowed through it in two days or so, I just had to know what happened next.

Katniss and Peeta won the Hunger Games in the first book, so now they're supposed to be happy and well-fed and never have to work again. But on their victory tour they see signs of unrest in some of the districts - and signs of the Capitol clamping down on that unrest. Most disturbing to Katniss is that it seems that she (and her mockingjay symbol) has been the spark that ignited the unrest.

The next Hunger Games is the Quarter Quell, a special version that happens every 25 years. When the announcement is made that this year the tributes from each district will be picked from the previous winners, Katniss knows that she and Peeta will be headed back to the arena. What happens then had me riveted.

I just put book three on reserve - can't wait to see how everything works out.

Catching Fire

A Fierce Radiance

Sorry I have been off the grid. With the holidays and all, and I started reading The Art of Choosing but just couldn't get into it - though I think the author is one of the most amazing people ever - and I had a little family thing, but anyway. I loved, loved, loved this book! I admit it took me a bit to get into it - maybe a chapter or so - but once I did I couldn't stop pressing the button...  er, turning the pages (sorry, read it on my nook). I had initially thought it was a non-fiction account of the development of penicillin but was pleased to find it was a novel centering on penicillin, and with a bit of romance and intrigue thrown in to keep the story moving

Claire Shipley is a photographer with Life magazine who is sent to do a story on a new medicine being tested at the Rockefeller Institute at the beginning of the American involvement in WWII. She meets the handsome doctor James Stanton and her life is never the same again. Both Claire and Jamie become intimately involved with the development of penicillin as they become more intimate with each other.

This isn't just a romance novel. There is murder, science, war, really a little something for everyone. The characters (fictional) are believable and likeable. And the non-fictional characters - Henry Luce, Clare Booth Luce, and New York City - are beautifully drawn, deeply detailed, and just wonderfully rendered. This is a great book, and I'm thinking it will make a great movie....maybe with Claire Danes as Claire Shipley???


A Fierce Radiance