A Gracious Plenty by Sheri Reynolds. Finished 10-12-13, rating 5/5, fiction, 205 pages, pub. 1997

I chose  to read this one for the 24 hour read-a-thon because I had it on my shelf,  it was short and the cover has always intrigued me.  Since it takes place at a cemetery that was an added facination since I love to visit old graveyards (well, I did when I had time for such things).

Finch Nobles (how’s that for a name?) takes care of the local graveyard in her small southern town.  Her face, burned when she was a child, looks like a tree so she was ostracized for that.  And then as she got older she realized that she could speak to the dead that ‘lived’ in the cemetery causing some very odd behavior, so she was ostracized for that. Not that she minded much since she had the vegetable man, the only one who would buy her home-grown varieties and Leonard, a police officer who found himself giving Finch more chances that she earned.

So, what’s with this talking to the dead business?

“I works like this,” the Mediator explained.  “The Dead coax the natural world along.  We’re responsible for weather and tides and seasons.  For rebirth and retribution.  You’re going to enjoy it, I’m sure.  But if you want to know real enlightenment, you’ve got to lose the weight.  All of it.  And we’re not just talking about blubber here, either.  We’re talking about burdens and secrets, buster.  This is critical information, so listen up.

“In this place you’ve moved beyond experience.  Now it’s your stories that keep you down.  You can’t leave until you’ve told them”

page 34

That’s the outline, but in reality you don’t need to buy into this afterlife theory to enjoy the story.  The well-worn, adamant, gritty character of Finch will keep you reading.  This is her story, but with that comes the stories of those that live in her graveyard, and that includes her parents.  It’s an odd story and I loved every page of it. (okay, there was a kitten story that troubled me, but other than that…) The dead in the graveyard were no sniveling spirits either, they wielded some major power over the living in the form of the weather, seen in all its glory for the book’s finale.

I loved the grumpy Finch and the loving way she tended to the cemetery, Reynolds painted a clear and beautiful picture of both.  Highly recommended for those of you who aren’t afraid to try something a little different.

The Girl You Left Behind. Finished 10-29-13, rating 4.75/5, fiction, 369 pages, pub. 2012

In 1916, French artist Edouard Lefevre leaves his wife Sophie to fight at the Front. When her town falls into German hands, his portrait of Sophie stirs the heart of the local Kommandant and causes her to risk everything – her family, reputation and life – in the hope of seeing her true love one last time.

Nearly a century later and Sophie’s portrait is given to Liv by her young husband shortly before his sudden death. Its beauty speaks of their short life together, but when the painting’s dark and passion-torn history is revealed, Liv discovers that the first spark of love she has felt since she lost him is threatened…

In The Girl You Left Behind two young women, separated by a century, are united in their determination to fight for the thing they love most – whatever the cost. (Goodreads)

The dueling time period story isn’t one that I seek out, but in this case I loved it.  It was told at just the right pace, switching between the past of WWI France and current day London, at all the right times to keep me invested in both stories.  We learn about Sophie first and what her family and village had to endure during the German occupation.  I loved Sophie and was so disappointed when we moved to Liv who seemed weak in comparison.  Sophie was full of spirit and strength. She was a survivor and I wanted to see how she would manage to save herself and those she loved.  Poor, sad Liv hadn’t gotten over the death of her husband four years before, no friends, no life.  Sophie’s portrait and history became the only thing that Liv cared about even when it cost her everything she had managed to find, a friend, a love.

I learned about the German destruction of WWI France, which I knew next to nothing about and I appreciated the restitution storyline.  I knew what I thought was right, but Liv’s journey with the portrait made me see the flip side of restitution issues.  I didn’t love Liv’s trial, but the way these two stories were so separate and yet so connected made this book a joy to read.  I loved the way it wrapped up and I imagine I’ll be thinking of Sophie for at least a few days.

I highly recommend this one.  It was such a thought-provoking and satisfying novel.  I know many preferred her book, Me Before You, but since I haven’t read it yet I have nothing to compare it to.  I plan to remedy that soon!

I received this book from She Reads.  Go on over and see what other bloggers think, if you hurry you can enter to win free books 🙂

The Winter Sea. Finished 7-24-13, rating 5/5, historical fiction, 544 pages, pub.2010

History has all but forgotten the spring of 1708, when an invasion fleet of French and Scottish soldiers nearly succeeded in landing the exiled James Stewart in Scotland to reclaim his crown.

Now, Carrie McClelland hopes to turn that story into her next bestselling novel. Settling herself in the shadow of Slains Castle, she creates a heroine named for one of her own ancestors, and starts to write.

But when she discovers her novel is more fact than fiction, Carrie wonders if she might be dealing with ancestral memory…making her the only living person who can know the truth of what did happen all those years ago – a tale of love and loyalty…and ultimate betrayal.

from Susanna Kearsley website

Satisfied. I finished this book tonight and I am completely satisfied.  I was drawn into the story right away.  Scotland, both now and in 1908, is an appealing setting and the idea of a successful woman being able to pick up and move anywhere in the world to world is exciting.  I admit to being a little confused in the earlier chapters by all of the people and politics of 1708, but I got a handle on most of them and dismissed the others until they became useful in the story 😉

I was rooting for Carrie and Sophia to find love and happiness. I was sure of Carrie’s fate and hopeful for Sophia, but I did get nervous.  I also kind of love that Sophia’s happy ending did not include everything she wanted.  I shed tears and that’s not something I do often when reading a novel.

My love of genealogy was celebrated and Carrie’s discovery of ancestral memory was a fun one to consider.  We all know we share DNA with our ancestors, why not the memories of them too?  It’s safe to say that we won’t come close to this romantic notion in our own experience, but it is fun to dream.

A book full of love, political intrigue, strong women, strong men, mystery, and both storylines were good.   I wish there’d been more of Carrie’s story but that’s because I’m greedy.  I didn’t want it to end!

I will definitely be reading Kearsley again.  I bought this for my Nook.

This isn’t Slains Castle or even Scotland, but it is a French castlethat’s close enough, right?  .(courtesy of Bookbath)

The Corpse Reader. Finished 5-28-13, rating 4.75/5, historical fiction, 494 pages, pub. 2011 (Spain) 2013 (US)

After his grandfather dies, avid scholar and budding forensic investigator Cí Song begrudgingly gives up his studies to help his family. But when another tragedy strikes, he’s forced to run and also deemed a fugitive. Dishonored, he has no choice but to accept work as a lowly gravedigger, a position that allows him to sharpen his corpse-reading skills. Soon, he can deduce whether a person killed himself—or was murdered.
His prowess earns him notoriety, and Cí receives orders to unearth the perpetrator of a horrific series of mutilations and deaths at the Imperial Court. Cí’s gruesome investigation quickly grows complicated thanks to old loyalties and the presence of an alluring, enigmatic woman. But he remains driven by his passion for truth—especially once the killings threaten to take down the Emperor himself.

Inspired by Song Cí, considered to be the founding father of CSI-style forensic science, this harrowing novel set during the thirteenth-century Tsong Dynasty draws readers into a multilayered, ingenious plot as disturbing as it is fascinating.  -from Goodreads

In 2012 this book received the Zaragoza International Prize for best historical novel published in Spain.  When I was offered the book from Wunderkind PR, I resisted at first.  I love books and shows about forensic science but am not much of a historical fiction reader.  And 13th century China is not a period I’m very familiar with.  So, it is with great surprise that I can tell you that I loved this book.

In some ways Ci’s life story arc reminded me just a little bit of Lin from Shantaram.  Yes, a different country and centuries apart, but in both there is this feeling that things cannot possible get any worse…until they do.  That book too was loosely based on real life.  Ci Song is based on the first forensic scientist, the one who literally wrote the books on the field.  Since there are only about 5 paragraphs to be found about the man, Aontonio Garrido had license to make a great story.  And he did.

This book was full of Chinese tradition, heartache, death, friendship, loss, opportunity, I feel like I could go on for quite a while so I’ll resort to the cliché that it had it all.  Not only was this about Ci having to rely on his wits and smarts to stay alive there is also a great mystery that gets him into the Imperial Palace.  I learned about the culture and found myself scratching my head often wondering if I would have gone mad with some of the customs back then.  Probably.

I thoroughly enjoyed this saga and found myself reading when I should have been sleeping and that is high praise from this sleep deprived mama.  The only thing keeping it from a 5 is that the translation felt very current.  It did not feel like I was reading a book set in the 13th century, immensely readable but not really true to the period of the book.  Common phrases did take me out of China and into today but I didn’t hold that against the story since I assume that much of that came from the translation.  That may bother some of you more than me.

It was just released here this week and I recommend you take a look.

Blogging from A-Z

The Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett. Finished 4-22-13, rating 5/5, novella, 120 pages, pub. 2007

My to-read list is small this year.  I started with only 9 books and this is the fourth I’ve read so far.  It made my list because Carol (Carol’s Notebook) had it on her end of 2012 survey as having the greatest impact, and it was even a reread!  So I need to thank Carol because this is my favorite book so far this year – thanks 🙂

What she was finding also was how one book led to another, doors kept opening wherever she turned and the days weren’t long enough for the reading she wanted to do. (p.21)

The Queen is out with her dogs one day when she discovers the bookmobile parked by the palace.  So begins her discovery of the joys of reading for pleasure.  Always one to take her duties seriously, reading somehow begins to creep into her schedule, making her mundane duties most unpleasant since she must leave her book behind.  And as the staff becomes more put-off by the reading, the Queen takes a hard look at her obsession.  She is a doer, and ultimately, a choice must be made.

Had she been asked if reading had enriched her life she would have had to say yes, undoubtedly, though adding with equal certainty, that it had at the same time drained her life of all purpose.  Once she had been a self-assured single-minded woman knowing where her duty lay and intent on doing it for as long as she was able.  Now all too often she was in two minds.  Reading was not doing, and that had always been the trouble.  And old though she was, she was still a doer.

She switched the light on again and reached for her notebook and wrote: ‘You don’t put your life into  your books.  You find it there.’  (p.100-101)

This delightful story enticed me with its lightness, but captured me with its unabashed love of reading books.  As the Queen notes, reading is a generally solitary pursuit and many of her thoughts on this stuck with me, especially as I was passing out books to strangers for World Book Night.  Thankfully, we can and do find ways to connect through reading.  This will make you take a look at your own reading life, and most likely, you’ll identify with the Queen’s discovery of the new worlds books open and her eagerness to share what she’s read.  I don’t think the general public is as unread as this author seems to think, but maybe they are and I just don’t want to see it.

This is a must read for all book lovers. I plan on gifting this lovely novella to the readers in my life.  I had this one on my shelves (and waited way too long to read it).

Finished 7-18-12, rating 5/5, literature, 324 pages, pub. 1987

In Ohio seasons are theatrical.  Each one enters like a prima donna, convinced its performance is the reason the world has people in it. (p.136)

This is my fifth stop on my summer Ohio tour.  Toni Morrison was born in Ohio and this Pulitzer Prize winning novel takes place in Cincinnati.    I chose to read this because it was on my shelf, it was an Ohio book, and I could participate in Molly’s The Classic Bribe 2012.  Molly over at Quirky Girls Read is hosting this challenge to read a classic this summer.  If you do you can enter to win a $35 Amazon gift card.  Since I loved this book this challenge was a win-win for me.

This is the story of Sethe and the many people in her life.  Raised as a slave, she escaped with her children to Cincinnati where her mother-in-law was waiting and they all waited for Halle, Sethe’s husband and Baby Suggs son.  One day, Paul D from Sweet Home, came knocking at the door and brought with him unwelcome news. The story actually takes place in the years after the Civil War, but the flashbacks cover the years of slavery in the south.

I didn’t know anything before I started and I think the less you know the better.  This story about the black experience is told so perfectly as the many layers and years are slowly revealed.  All of the characters have their own story and their own contribution to the overall narrative.  A narrative that I loved.  Some was told in stream of consciousness that only enhanced the otherworldly quality of the book, a much-needed offset to the ugly subjects of slavery, bestiality, rape, torture and worse.

Sethe was my least favorite character and while that would normally doom a book for me in this case it didn’t.  The story revolved around Sethe, but it was the story of everyone around her too.  Baby Suggs, Denver, Paul D and others all contributed their experiences to the captivating tapestry.

I loved the prose and found it so rich and vivid that I only wanted to take my time reading it.  This is not one to rush through.  The story got off to a bit of a slow start, but the writing was so poetic that I didn’t care.  For me, it was a beautifully told story of heartbreak and triumph and I am so glad that I read it.  My words cannot do this book justice, so I’ll have to rely on Morrison herself.

Paul D had only begun, what he was telling her was only the beginning when her fingers on his knee, soft and reassuring, stopped him.  Just as well.  Just as well.  Saying more might push them both to a place they couldn’t get back from.  He would keep the rest where it belonged: in that tobacco tin buried in his chest where a red heart used to be.  Its lid rusted shut.  He would not pry it loose now in front of this sweet sturdy woman, for if she got a whiff of the contents it would shame him.  (p. 86)

Whitepeople believed that whatever the manners, under every dark skin was a jungle.  Swift unnavigable waters, swinging screaming baboons, sleeping snakes, red gums ready for their sweet white blood.  In a way, he thought, they were right.  The more coloredpeople spent their strength trying to convince them how gentle they were, how clever and loving, how human, the more they used themselves up to persuade white of something Negroes believed could not be questioned, the deeper and more tangled the jungle grew inside.  (p.234)

“A man ain’t nothing but a man,” said Baby Suggs.  “But a son?  Well now, that’s somebody.”  (p.27)  In honor of my Gage 🙂