Undomestic Goddess

So here is another fun & frothy read from Shopaholic author Sophie Kinsella. Samantha Sweeting is on the fast track to partnership at a prestigious London law firm when she makes a horrible mistake, a mistake that could cost her everything. So she walks out the door, hops on a train going anywhere, and winds up in a lovely little town in the Cotswolds. Knocking on the door of a private home in hopes of getting a glass of water, she meets Trish Geiger, who thinks she's come to apply for the housekeeper position. Samantha is so distraught and confused that she doesn't dispute the idea, and soon finds herself in a blue maids uniform in a kitchen full of state-of-the-art equipment - none of which she knows how to use.

The Geigers are rich but not that smart, and the handsome gardener, Nathaniel, has a mother who's willing to teach Samantha how to cook and clean. So begins Samantha's new life, one she comes to appreciate and even like - until she realizes that maybe she didn't make a big mistake after all, maybe someone at the law firm used her for his own nefarious purposes.

As with all of Kinsella's novels that I've read, the characters are great - I can totally see Trish and Eddie Geiger, and Samantha and Nathaniel are extremely likeable. Yes, there's a bit of farce to it, but it's fun and entertaining and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Undomestic Goddess

Mistress of Rome

So I'll admit I had a little difficulty getting into this novel about ancient (1st century AD) Rome, but after about 2 chapters I was TOTALLY hooked! It's an exciting story with vivid characters - some fictional, some historical - and I am going online in a few minutes to reserve the sequel!

Thea is a Judean slave girl purchased as the ladies maid for spoiled rich girl Lepida. When Thea catches the eye, and heart, of the gladiator Arius, whom Lepida lusts after, she is sold into a life of prostitution a hundred miles from Rome. That Thea is able to survive, even thrive, is remarkable. That she eventually catches the eye of the twisted Emperor Domitian is just another reason for Lepida to hate her, and set out to destroy her.

This is one of those novels that, while having elements of romance, is also historical (and I think pretty accurate as far as that goes). There's also enough fighting, blood, and nastiness to make it a book that both women and men would enjoy. I just loved, and I highly recommend it.

Mistress of Rome

Sense and Sensibility by Joanna Trollope

Hello all you Austenites out there - you have to read this book! I know, some of you probably think it's a travesty for modern day authors to update Jane's classic novels, but it's been happening for years - do you remember Clueless? And we can't forget Pride & Prejudice & Zombies, can we? So when a talented author like Joanna Trollope takes the lovely Dashwood sisters and brings them into the 21st century, how can we resist?

Elinor and Marianne - and all of the other characters - are basically the same people. They just have Facebook and Twitter and email accounts. Oh, and they've gone to school, and Elinor has trained as an architect (a much more useful skill than just drawing, don't you think?) and gets a job to help support the family. The best modernization has to do with Robert Ferrars, but I won't give that one away.

I think Trollope does a lovely job of keeping to Austen's story but rewriting it from a modern viewpoint. I think her update can bring a whole new group of readers to appreciate the great Jane Austen, and maybe even encourage them to have a read of the original source material. I thoroughly enjoyed it!

Sense and Sensibility

Sister

WOW! This is one of the best novels I've read in a while - I couldn't put it down, I needed to know how it ended. The novel opens when older sister Beatrice, engaged and living well in NYC, is called home to London because younger sister Tess, a 21-year-old free spirit art student, goes missing. When Tess' body is found and police rule her death a suicide, Beatrice is certain they're wrong, and sets out to prove it.

Rosamund Lupton has written the story as an open letter from Beatrice to Tess, with Beatrice writing the chronology of events as she's providing them to the prosecuting attorney on the case, supposedly after the murderer has been found and sent to jail. This format lends an intimacy to the story that drew me in, and beautifully portrayed the closeness between Tess and Beatrice. It also had me guessing right up until the end as to who the murderer actually was, and the end really caught me by surprise.

If you liked Gone Girl you will like Sister too. It's got great twists and turns and wonderful, rich characters.

Sister

Wedding Night

If you liked the Shopaholic novels, you'll love Wedding Night, which is by the same author, Sophie Kinsella. Madcap rom-coms are sort of her thing, and I can definitely see a movie coming out of this novel, maybe with Keira Knightly as Lottie.

Lottie is at lunch with her long-time boyfriend Richard, and she's sure he's going to propose. When he doesn't, she walks out on him, brokenhearted. Then her old love interest Ben calls, who she was madly in love with 15-years-ago when she was 18 and living in a guesthouse on the island of Ikanos, but whom she hasn't seen since. They have a fabulous dinner after which they decide to get married, but to not have sex until their wedding night.

Enter Lottie's older sister Fliss (you gotta love these names), who's going through a difficult divorce and doesn't want to see her sister ruin her life by marrying the wrong guy. So she decides to do everything in her power to prevent Lottie and Ben from consummating their wedding, so that Lottie can have the marriage annulled when she comes to her senses. Add Ben's friend Lorcan, Lottie's ex Richard, and Fliss' precocious son Noah to the mix and the story flies right on by.

I've read a number of Kinsella's books, and I really love her characters, they are likeable and imperfect and very real. The story became a bit trying at times (the measures taken by the resort staff at Fliss' request are a bit unbelievable), but it moves right along and is lots of fun. This is a really great beach read.

Wedding Night

The Art of Hearing Heartbeats

What a lovely story! Thanks to Rita for the recommendation. The Art of Hearing Heartbeats is a moving story about the power of love, and explores ideas about what love truly is, and how it is expressed. It starts in present day Burma, where New Yorker Julia Win has gone in search of her father, a very successful lawyer who left for work one day four years earlier and disappeared. An old letter found among his things, addressed to a woman named Mi Mi in a tiny village in Burma, send her in search of his past.

Once she arrives in the remote village of Kalaw she meets U Ba, who says he knows her father and will tell her his story, helping her to find him. U Ba proceeds to tell the story of Tin Win, whose mother abandoned him as a child because an astrologer told her he was cursed. Tin Win went blind, and was educated by the monks, and there he met Mi Mi, a young girl who cannot walk. Mi Mi and Tin Win become fast friends, and more, before Tin Win's uncle in Rangoon changes Tin Win's life forever.

This is just a beautifully written story, filled with mysticism and superstitions, but also emotional maturity and depth. It was just really heart-warming.


The Art of Hearing Heartbeats

The 100-Year-Old Man who Climbed out the Window and Disappeared

I just loved this book - thanks to Shari for the recommendation! It's a funny, fast-paced, enjoyable read.

Allan Karlsson is the 100-year-old in question - in fact, it's his birthday today, and the old folks home where he lives has a party planned with the Mayor coming and everything. But Allan wants no parts of it, so he climbs out the window. So begins on of the greatest adventures of his life. Not that Allan's life has been without adventure - the format of the novel is one chapter in the present day followed by a chapter on all the preceding years, starting when Allan was a child. In a nod to Forrest Gump, he's had some involvement in many of the important chapters - and with many of the important people - of the past hundred years (though his involvement was of much more import than teaching Elvis how to dance).

Allan is of course not alone in his current adventure, and the company he takes up with is as quirky and interesting as he is. There's a petty crook, a hot-dog-stand proprietor, a farm owner with a pet elephant, and some others. Everyone brings something unique to the story and helps Allan enjoy his final (he hopes) adventure.

The author, Jonas Jonasson, is Swedish, so I'm guessing the book is a translation. I'm not sure if that's the reason for the sort of story-telling tone of the language, or if the tone is intended to influence the reader's understanding of Allan's character (I think it's the latter). Either way, this is just a wonderful, warm, enjoyable book.

The 100-Year-Old Man