Book Review - Labor Day

Labor Day 

by Joyce Maynard 

Joyce Maynard is an author of nearly four decades and a teacher of writing. She tells her students that “the world of literature would be a lot less interesting if the characters in novels always behaved in a totally sensible, prudent fashion…..I remind my students that if a story is going to unfold in a compelling manner, you’d better get your characters into a challenging situation, if only to get them out of it eventually.”

Labor Day is true to the author’s words. The story begins with the agoraphobic, single parent Adele taking Henry, her shy and lonely thirteen-year-old year shopping for school clothes. While at the store, a man whose leg is bleeding and a thick line of blood clots in his hair asks Henry if he can go home with him and his mom, the “good-looking woman.” 

The man is Frank Chambers, a man with a past. In the next five days he will dramatically affect the lives of Adele, Henry, and himself in ways which alter all three lives in both the present and future. There are silk scarves, pie-making, baseball, Friday dinners at Friendly’s, and the reminder that growing up can be messy, scary, and confusing, especially if a friendship destroys other relationships.

The characters in Labor Day do not always behave in a totally sensible, prudent fashion. This reader is glad they did not as their impulsiveness creates a story which may not be likely but will engross you on a lazy summer afternoon. 

Book Review - Last Letters from Attu

by Mary Breu

There are some stories which must be told.

The true story of Etta Jones is one of those stories. In 1922, at the age of 42, Etta Schureman left a busy life in Pittsburgh to vacation just one year in Alaska. She met and married her soulmate, Charles Foster Jones. Together, for the next 20 years, they became one with the Alaskan people. Etta was a teacher and Foster was always there lending his practical skills and first-hand knowledge of Alaska.

In August, 1941, Etta and Foster accepted positions to Attu, the last island in the Aleutian chain. All 45 people-half of them children-lived in this isolated, wind-swept island continuing the life lived by their ancestors for centuries. Tensions between America and Russia were of little concern to the Attu people or to Etta and Foster.

On June 6, 1942, Attu was invaded by 2,000 Japanese soldiers and Etta became a Japanese prisoner of war. She experienced physical deprivation, mental abuse, and emotional trauma in different Japanese camps where she was supervised by those relentless in their degradation of prisoners of war.

Etta Jones was a letter-writer. For this, we are grateful because Mary Breu, the grand-niece of Etta Jones, took these letters combined them with government documents and archival pictures to make right the story of Etta Jones as a Japanese prisoner-of-war.

Hattie’s Book Club was privileged to have Mary Breu as their guest speaker for the March meeting. Writing about a family member who experienced the horrors of war was not easy, but it needed to be done. 

Book Review - The Forgotten Garden

The Forgotten Garden

by Kate Morton

There is an abundance of information about The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton. Google the title and read frequently asked questions answered by the author.

By doing so, you will find that The Forgotten Garden is based on a true event in Kate Morton’s family which determined in Ms. Morton’s own words that “…one day I would write a story about someone who experienced a similar life-changing confession.” Ms. Morton childhood readings included The Faraway Tree, Anne of Green Gables, and numerous fairy tales. She reflects that these books sparked in her “…a lifetime love of English countryside, dark, creepy woods, and hidden mysteries.”  The 19th century gothic conventions like Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights also impacted her as a writer. 

Take all these literary influences and you have a frame for The Forgotten Garden. It is a mystery of a child abandoned on a ship headed for Australia in 1913. The youngster does not know her name or why she is on the ship. Eventually “Nell” begins a journey to discover herself and her elusive past. Cassandra, her granddaughter, continues the journey to find that families have secrets which destroy some people while binding others in surprising ways. There are love stories on multiple levels with different motivations for each relationship that cause lovers to questions their feelings and ponder how to cope with their own emotions. 

It is maybe helpful to make a diagram while reading The Forgotten Garden as the character’s relationships can become a bit of a maze, both literally and figuratively. Ms. Morton takes 3 women in 3 different times and intertwines their lives in such a way that the reader wants to keep turning the pages to solve the mystery.

Book Review - True Grit (Brunswick's Big Read 2014)

True Grit is THE BIG READ for 2014

by Charles Portis

In the years following the Civil War, the American West, specifically Fort Smith, Arkansas, was a place of savagery and chaos. Hangings were public. Beyond Fort Smith was the expansive Indian Territory where those who wanted to avoid the law did so with little effort. Growing up came quickly, brutally and without sentimentality. 

The 3 major characters of True Grit were part of that environment. First, we meet Mattie Ross, age 14, of Dardanelle, Arkansas.  Mattie leaves her home to go to Fort Smith with the mission of finding Roger Chaney who shot her unarmed father. Mattie hires Rooster Cogburn to apprehend Chaney. Her plan is complicated by the appearance of Texan LeBoeuf who is also tracking Chaney for a shooting involving a judge. Cogburn and LeBewoulf finally accept Mattie’s determination to find Roger Chaney. Together, this unlikely trio, enter the Indian Territory where true grit is survival. 

It is the tension between Mattie, a supremely confident teen-ager, and the older, male characters which provides humor in the book. Mattie is naive but smart enough to realize she needs the experience and true grit found in Rooster Cogburn. Her straight forward no-nonsense talk leaves no doubt of her intentions or her feelings. Both male characters must deal with this fearless and focused young whippersnapper who reminds them more than once who she is and from where she comes.

There is a reason True Grit was on the New York Times best seller list for 22 weeks. It is part history, part coming-of-age, and part comedy. It is just good reading.

Book Review - The Madonnas of Leningrad

By Debra Dean

In the fall of 1941, the German army begins what would become the 900 day siege of Leningrad, Russia. Leningrad, also known as St. Petersburg, is home of the Hermitage Museum. It is up to staff members of the Museum, such as a young Marina, to save the numerous masterpieces from the Nazi forces. She, along with thousands of other workers, endure incessant German bombing, constant hunger, frigid temperatures, and daily exhaustion to successfully resist Hitler’s directive No. 1601 ordering that “St. Petersburg must be erased from the face of the Earth.” 
 

Fast forward to some sixty years later when Marina is attending  her granddaughter’s wedding. Marina is confused as to the present but “Her distant past is preserved, better than preserved. Moments that occurred in Leningrad sixty-some years ago reappear, vivid, plump, and perfumed.”
 

How Marina remembers the paintings of the Madonnas of Leningrad is an integral part of the book. The juxtaposition of Marina’s confusion to the present and Marina’ vivid memory of the past is another important aspect of the book. Debra Dean’s meticulous research allows the reader to see the Hermitage’s paintings in great detail. The author’s depiction of those with Alzheimer’s is told with beauty and with unexpected humor.
 

In the end, The Madonnas of Leningrad, is a book about how we remember and how those memories serve us. Her words remind us that memory is precious and can make us cry and laugh in ways we might never predict.

Book Review - The Orchardist

by Amanda Chopin

Books can be read and then be easily forgotten. This is not the case with The Orchardist by Amanda Chopin.

Initially, we are introduced to William Talmadge. He lives a quiet life in the foothills of the Cascade Mountains where he has lived since age nine. There are four constants in his life. The first is Caroline Middey, herbalist and midwife, to whom Talmadge entrusts some of his emotions. The second is Clee, a Nez Perce and horse wrangler, whose tribe stops by the valley each year to refresh their horses being taken to auction and to help harvest the fruit trees. The third constant is his mother and sister, Elsbeth. The fourth constant is the land and the fruit orchard which are the steadfast center of Talmadge’s being.

At age forty, his peaceful life is shattered by the appearance of two young girls at the edge of his orchard. They are filthy, hungry, and pregnant. His decision to help the girls, Jane and Della, triggers unexpected events and unintended consequences.  It also brings ghosts from the past that torment Talmadge and other characters in unforeseen ways.  

Amanda Chopin is a writer who scours the English language finding those words with a toughness when needed and a tenderness when appropriate. She explores complex relationships which might make the reader ponder why people forgive some but seek revenge on others. 

The book is a rewarding read. It can be intense at time, but it is well worth the effort. 

Book Review - In the Garden of Beasts

In the Garden of Beasts
Erik Larson

A reader of books about Germany and the rise to power by Hitler could assume that there is nothing more to be written on that subject. The reader would be wrong.

Erik Larson asks readers to “put aside what we all know-now-to be true, and try instead to accompany my innocents through the world as they experienced it.” These two innocents are Frank E. Dodd, America’s first ambassador to Germany, and his daughter, Martha.

Frank E. Dodd is not President Roosevelt’s first pick for the America’s ambassador to Germany, but time is running out and America needs a representative. A historian known for his work on the American South and Woodrow Wilson, Dodd enters Germany in 1933 when President Hindenburg is the remaining “counterbalance” to Hitler’s power and in-fighting between Hitler and his subordinates contributes to the precariousness of being an Ambassador. Dodd’s “sober” temperament runs contrary to the diplomatic flurry of late-night dinners and living beyond one’s means. He is uncomfortable in the world of diplomacy where Hitler power brokers mix freely and frequently with foreign dignitaries and expectations are that America will stay out of the internal German conflicts.

Although Frank Dodd views his job as Ambassador seriously, his flirtatious twenty-four year old daughter does not. Martha takes full advantage of the many social opportunities inherent in his father’s position without regard to the consequences of her behavior for herself, her family, or her father. Eventually, Martha pays a price for her blindness to the everyday world of Germany, 1933. 

It is the everyday living of Ambassador Dodd and Martha Dodd which makes this book stand out in a crowded field of non-fiction reads. It also raises the often-discussed question, “What makes a hero? Is Frank E. Dodd a hero? Did his actions which did not ingratiate himself to the powerful or elite make him a hero”? 

Read In the Garden of Beasts so you can answer this question for yourself.

Book Review - The Forgotten Garden

The Forgotten Garden

By Kate Morton

 

 

The Forgotten Garden is a beautifully written book, a must read for anyone who loves fairytales. Like all fairytales it includes a beautiful castle, a few Princesses, an evil Queen, a kindly village couple, an Ogre and of course a handsome Prince. In 1913 a tiny girl is left alone on a ship that is sailing to Australia and so begins a story that will take us through many years as Nell searches for her true identity. Nell has in her possession a lovely book of fairy tales written by the lady she only knows as the authoress. This book will eventually lead her on a great adventure in Cornwall and years later her granddaughter Cassandra to the truth. The Forgotten Garden shows us the damage that can come from secrets and also how love and faith can show us the way.

Submitted by Diane Vaughn

Book Review - Hotel du Lac by Anita Brookner

 

Winner of the 1984 Booker Prize for Fiction

Hotel du Lac tells the story of Edith Hope, a romance novelist, who "for her own good" is sent away for a respite vacation outside Geneva at a hotel by a lake. In many ways, this is a wonderful book club selection because of the interesting (but not necessarily likeable) characters, and their motivations which are not always obvious. The ending left our members differing significantly over what choice Edith has made as she plans to return to England.

Brookner's Hotel du Lac is not for the reader looking for action. Most of our members felt that "little happened" in the course of the story. However, this IS a book for readers who enjoy elegant, astutely observed prose with meticulously drawn characters.

Book Review - The Second Messiah

The Second Messiah
By Glenn Meade

An Afternoon Book Club Selection

A new Pope has been chosen, a Pope who has a mission that threatens the church and its vast wealth.  A  Dead Sea Scroll has been discovered in the desert near Jerusalem, a scroll that could shake the faith of both the Christian and Jewish communities.  Add to the mixture a hunky archaeologist. Two beautiful women, a very wealthy man with his own agenda and you have a page turning conspiracy.

The afternoon book group had a very interesting and divided discussion on this book and its premise of a second Messiah.  Many felt that the book did not cover the scroll and its revelations thoroughly enough while the other half could not find any fault with the author’s coverage.  I would suggest that you read the Second Messiah and come to your own conclusion.

Submitted by Diane Vaughn

Book Review - One Was A Soldier

The evening book club inadvertently started with the sixth book in the Clare Fergusson/Russ Van Alstyne Mystery series. The members who had read all the books in the series (and loved them) were concerned we wouldn't have the full picture of the characters picking up so late in the series, and they may have been right. But, having said that, I found One Was a Soldier by Julie Spencer-Fleming to be an enjoyable read. And, although I think I might have benefited from reading previous novels, Spencer-Fleming filled in the background details needed. 

Clare Fergusson is in distress, she has just returned from combat, and in many ways is behaving erratically. She is suffering with flashbacks and other PTSD symptoms. Being a minister, she is unwilling to let anyone, even her lover, Russ, see the pain that is consuming her.

While the military service and its consequent problems are the backdrop of the story and an important theme, the mystery drives the story forward. 

Another returning soldier in Clare's support group has been found dead. It looks like suicide, but Clare and the other members of the group are suspicious.

As the mystery is unraveled by amateur Clare and professional Russ, we see the effects that military service has on each of the members of Clare's support group. Although this book deals with the painful difficulties veterans have returning to "normal" life, I would still describe this novel as an easy read. I started and finished it in less than a weekend, and it kept me going until the last page.

Book Review - State of Wonder

State of Wonder

by Ann Patchett

Pulitzer Prize winner Robert Olen Butler says Ann Patchett "is a genius of the human condition, I can't think of many other writers, ever, who get anywhere near her ability to comprehend the vastness and diversity of humanity, and to articulate our deepest heart." 

The third Tuesday book club couldn't agree more. This book was almost universally enjoyed by our members. There are characters to care about, an unfolding mystery and an exotic location. And, there is also beautifully evocative imagery. 

I read the book a second time in preparation for our discussion and enjoyed it just as much as I had the first time, perhaps a bit more, because I was less concerned with the story and more attentive to the descriptions.

State of Wonder truly has a deep heart and is a pleasure to read.

Book Review - Lottery

Lottery

By Patricia Wood

Meet Perry L. (the L is for lucky) Crandall who will immediately tell you that he is not retarded.  You have to have an IQ of 75 to be considered retarded and his IQ is 76.  He is just not as fast as some people.  Enter Perry’s world and discover love, loss, deceit, friendship, honesty, ruthlessness and good old common sense.  You will laugh out loud one moment and reach for a box of tissues the next.  When Perry wins the Lottery it changes everyone around him except Perry himself.  From Perry we learn that it is not what you have in your life but who and that keeping something for yourself is very important.  
The book is well written and the characters so richly developed it is hard to believe that this is Ms. Wood’s first novel.  I look forward to reading her second.

Diane Vaughn 

Book Review - a single thread

a single thread
by Marie Bostwick

“Having written three works of historical fiction, the prospect of penning my first full-length contemporary novel was somewhat daunting. My biggest concern was this: could a plot involving ordinary people, living in ordinary times make for compelling reading?” asks Maria Bostwick in the Author’s Note of a single thread.

The only answer to this question is a definite, “Yes.” a single thread introduces the reader to unpretentious Evelyn Dixon who is reeling from a divorce. She impulsively moves from Texas, rents a dilapidated building, and opens the Cobbled Court Quilt store in fictional New Bern, Connecticut. Soon after, she receives news from her doctor which changes everything. Evelyn encounters local philanthropist, Abigail Burgess Wynne, whose scheduled life is shattered by her niece, Liza. An angry Liza is trying to sort out her life and finds solace in unexpected challenges. Evelyn is befriended by Margot who is bored and unemployed but always the optimistic organizer. This patch quilt of four characters plus other delightful personalities each become “part of a bigger design, bound by a single thread.”

a single thread is the first in the Cobbled Court Quilt series. It is a heart warming story whose characters will remain dear to the reader’s heart long after the book is finished. It is also a story which will tug at your heart and pull you into the remaining Cobbled Court Quilt books.

Book Review - An Embarrassment of Mangoes

By Ann Vanderhoof

Hatties’ Daytime Book Group
December 4, 2012

If you've ever had the desire to leave the everyday world behind and sail away to the lush life of the Caribbean then this is a must read book for you. Vanderhoof details how to plan and work, very hard, to make this endeavor happen.  Ann and Steve invite you along on their journey of physical hardship and self- discovery. An Embarrassment of Mangoes is a well written novel that steps out of the ordinary and shows what can happen when you let wonderful people enter your life and your heart.

Plus, this book offers an added bonus! Lots of yummy recipes...

Book Review - The Language of Flowers

The Language of Flowers
By Vanessa Diffenbaugh
Discussed On November 6, 2012
Hattie’s Afternoon Book Group

"The Language of Flowers" is the story of Victoria, a young woman who has spent her life in the Foster Care system, and what she does with her life upon her emancipation on her eighteenth birthday. Victoria has such a love for flowers that she will uproot them from public and private places to re-plant them where they will bloom and flourish.

Flowers and their meanings become her way of communicating, dealing and negotiating with the relationships in her life. This book is very well written and deals with the consequences of a life spent in the foster care system, and the difficulties learning to trust and feel worthy of love.

After reading this book you will never look at your favorite flowers in the same way.

Submitted by Diane Vaughn

Book Review - The Reservoir

The Reservoir By John Milliken Thompson 

Although some members of the Third Tuesday Book Club felt that The Reservoir bogged down a bit in the middle, most everyone wanted to finish this novel, based on a true story of the drowning death of a young pregnant woman is post-civil war Richmond. Is it suicide or foul play?

The truth turns out to be very difficult to determine.

The author unravels the story through flashbacks, “confessions” and the trial itself which is firmly based in the historical record. As you would expect of characters involved in shady circumstances, they are not terribly likeable. Tommie, accused of Lillian’s murder, certainly has motive and has, at the very least, been a self-serving cad. Lillian’s inconvenient pregnancy is in the way of his social-climbing marriage plans to his boss’s daughter. Lillian seems to have been a victim all of her life, first at the hands of her father, and now finally Tommie. Willie, Tommie’s brother is a decent man, and although he can’t determine the truth anymore than we can, he is bound by blood ties to stand by his brother.

(Spoiler Alert, don’t read further if you don’t want to know!!!)

One of the strength’s of the novel is that we never really know what happened. The reader may find Tommie guilty along with the jury, but, the author lets us decide. He lays out a plausible story and leaves it to us to draw our own conclusions.

Wolf Hall - Book Review

Wolf Hall - Book Review
by Hilary Mantel



Wolf Hall was a challenging read for the 3rd Tuesday Evening Book Club. First, it is 600 pages long. Second, it takes a serious run at rewriting the history of Thomas Cromwell and his nemisis Sir Thomas More (St. Thomas More). Third, it is written in a somewhat unusual style -- Thomas Cromwell is referred to as "he" so often as to be somewhat confusing. Fourth, unless you are a student of Tudor England, the characters can be difficult to keep up with (there are far too many Thomas' and Stephens for example!).

However, I like a challenging read and Wolf Hall certainly fits into that category. Uniformly acclaimed by critics and the winner of the Man Booker Prize in England, Hilary Mantel's first book in a trilogy turns much of what we "know" about Thomas Cromwell on it's head. Wolf Hall visits some of the same territory as The Other Boleyn Girl by Phillipa Gregory, but with much more style, wit and scholarship.

Mantel's Cromwell is witty, kind to his family and supremely loyal. He continues to serve Cardinal Woolsey long after he has lost Henry VIII's favor. After Woolsey's death, Cromwell manages to gain a seat in the Parliment and into Henry's court, where he loyally serves the king. Cromwell works tirelessly to help Henry gain his anulment from Katherine of Aragon so that he has a chance to bear a legitimate son in wedlock with Anne Boleyn.

This Cromwell is compellingly re-imagined by Mantel. While many in our club found this book hard to finish, those who did were rewarded with inspired writing, vividly portrayed characters and an absolutely brutal sense of the times.

Mantel gives an interview after receiving the Man Booker Prize here. Scroll down to Media to see the interview.

Bloodroot Book Review
By Amy Greene

 

 The flower of the Bloodroot can heal or poison depending on how it is used. The characters in this book have the same characteristic. 

Bloodroot tells of a generational cycle of love and true evil with sheer meanness having the winning hand. Set in Appalachia the book tends to pull out all of the stereotypes which are at times associated with this beautiful area. We experience the devastation of domestic violence, alcoholism and the lack of understanding between the Townies and the Mountain people. Social services are shown to be callous and unmindful of the consequences of taking children from their natural mountain environment and throwing them into the chaos of group homes.

Amy Greene is a skilled writer and we all felt that we should have liked the book more than we did.

Submitted by Diane Vaughn

Nothing Daunted - Book Review

Nothing Daunted
By Dorothy Wilkerson

Everything was there to make this book a really good read. Two wealthy young women from Auburn, New York give up a very comfortable life and head west to teach school in the wilds of northwestern Colorado in the rural town of Hayden. They’re embraced by the community, find romance and have many challenges to face. One challenge is during the winter when they ride horses to school in snow that is as high as the horses’ withers. So why doesn’t this story grab you? To start it is stilted, reads like a textbook and goes off on so many tangents that it is hard to remember where you are in the story. The characters are never really brought to life and so you care for very few of them. Even the lead characters Dorothy and Roz seem peripheral to the history lessons that the author Dorothy Wickerson seems intent on delivering.

Nothing Daunted is not a book this group would recommend.

Submitted by Diane Vaughn