4 stars Archives - Page 29 of 39

Mr. Rosenblum Dreams In English by Natasha Solomons: Book Review

Jack Rosenblum and his young family were some of the fortunate Jews who escaped Berlin before WWII started. When they disembarked in Great Britain, they were given a pamphlet entitled While you are in England: Helpful Information and Friendly Guidance for every Refugee. Mr. Rosenblum becomes obsessed with the idea of living his life according to these rules and becoming a perfect English gentleman. As time goes by, he realizes that the list is incomplete. He begins to add to it and to cross items off the list. The original list states that only English should be spoken. Mr. Rosenblum thinks that every English gentleman owns a suit that was tailored for him on Savile Row. He crosses both items off his list. Things proceed swimmingly for a few years, then Jack hits a snag. Every English gentleman must belong to a golf club. Mr. Rosenblum tries and tries and tries again to join one. No golf clubs are admitting Jews. Jack, being an eternal optimist, decides to buy a place in the country and build his own. It shouldn't be too hard. I'll admit that I was a little nervous about this book as I got a good start on it. I was really liking optimistic Jack and there seemed to be so much room for heartbreak in his story. I don't generally like heart-breaking books. There are heart-breaking moments, but the overall tone is one of hope. Much more my style. I just couldn't help but like and root for Mr. Rosenblum. I wished that he could be comfortable in his own skin and with his own identity, but I understood where he was coming from. He felt that he could only be safe if he became a proper English gentleman. He came from such a hard time…

Dissolution by C. J. Sansom: Book Review

Vicar General Thomas Cromwell is sending his man, Matthew Shardlake, to investigate a brutal murder. As he brings Reformation to England, Cromwell is trying to subtly force monasteries to "voluntarily" dissolve, and the man he sent to the monastery in Scarnsea has been killed. Shardlake needs to find the killer--and try to convince the abbot to close the monastery. This was really good historical fiction. I was drawn into the story immediately. I can't claim to know much about the period, so I don't know how accurate it is. What I do know is that every time I picked this book back up, I was immediately transported to sixteenth-century England. I don't know how Sansom did it, but his descriptions left me feeling that I had just visited a cold, snowy, monastery on the coast, where the monks live a little too well and know more than they are telling. Shardlake was hugely likable. He's a jaded, acerbic, lonely, humpback lawyer who is still somewhat naive. He fervently believes in Reformation, but he can't see that the road Cromwell is taking isn't necessarily in the best interests of the country. The mystery was solid. I never had any idea what was going on until the very end. But once I found out, it all made sense and fit together. My biggest complaint? The color puce is mentioned five times in the book. Who ever says "puce?" It really stood out to me and got on my nerves. Does the fact that I counted them give that away? But that's a tiny thing to complain about. I will definitely be reading the rest of this series. I recommend this one to readers interested in Reformation England, fans of Umberto Eco's The Name of the Rose (although I've only seen the movie),…

Leaving Gee’s Bend by Irene Latham: Book Review

Ludelphia Bennett is worried about her mom. After several miscarriages, Mama finally seems to be carrying a baby to term. But she is coughing a lot and looking weaker every day. When the baby comes early, Ludelphia doesn't know what to do. She asks their neighbor, Etta Mae, for help. But Etta Mae has a bad reputation since she came back to the little town of Gee's Bend, and everyone thinks she made things worse instead of better. When Mama gets sicker and sicker after the birth, Etta Mae challenges ten-year-old Ludelphia to go for help--in the next town over. Does Ludelphia have what it takes to leave Gee's Bend and make it back? There is more to little Ludelphia than you would think at first glance. She has lived in the microscopic town of Gee's Bend all her life, but out of love for her mother she is willing to journey alone to the next town. Of course she meets unforeseen obstacles along the way, but she ultimately meets them head-on with all the grace she can muster. She must be a beautiful quilter as well. Her quilting is what helps her to think clearly. She accumulates little pieces of cloth along the way to make a quilt for Mama when she gets better. Each piece will tell a part of the story of her journey. I really liked the sense of community that the people of Gee's Bend shared. Of course they didn't all get along, but they looked out for each other and shared the little they had. My one complaint isn't even about the book itself. I read the Author's Note as well, and apparently this book is loosely based around some true events in the town's history. I would have liked a little more of…

Abundance by Sena Jeter Naslund: Book Review

What I knew about Marie Antoinette before reading this book (spoilers ahead if you don't know anything at all about her): She was married to Louis XVI, she said "Let them eat cake," she was queen during the French Revolution, and (possible spoiler here)-------------------------she was beheaded. That was it. Three out of four isn't bad. She never actually said "Let them eat cake." According to the author, it was the wife of Louis XIV, two generations earlier, who said that. So, if you ever win tons of money on Jeopardy for knowing the correct question to this answer, I expect a small slice of the pie for enlightening you on that point. :-) Okay, seriously, I'm avoiding writing this review, because I'm not going to do the book justice. The whole appeal is how Marie Antoinette just came to life in these pages for me. So she was a real person--it's hard to make characters seem this real, whether they're historical figures or not. In fact, it might be harder when most people just have a vision of a thoughtless queen who wasted money while her people starved. But she was so complex, I just can't even begin to spell it out. I didn't always like her, but she was always real, and I could see how some of what happened was her fault, but some things were beyond her control. I got to the last section, during the revolution, and found myself wanting to drag my feet through it and avoid the unavoidable. But I wanted to see exactly what happened, and Sena Jeter Naslund's writing style is just beautiful to me, so I found myself actually racing through it. And she handled the ending beautifully. I should never have doubted her. The wild emotions going through Marie Antoinette,…

Seabiscuit by Laura Hillenbrand: Book Review

Seabiscuit. An American Legend. I think the only reason I even know the horse's name is because of the movie they filmed a few years ago. I'm obviously not a horse-racing fan, right? I don't even remember why I grabbed this at a library book sale. A friend here on GR must have given it a good review. But I am so glad I read this. I've gotten much better about reading non-fiction over the past six months, but I was amazed at what a page-turner this was for me. I've been reading non-fiction before bed, thinking that would be a good time to squeeze it in because I wouldn't have to worry too much about getting caught up in the story and staying up all night. Bad move with this book. I was doing the "one more chapter" thing quite a bit. It was just a perfect mix of an underdog story and excellent writing. Hillenbrand has a gift for putting you right into the action. Not knowing if Seabiscuit was going to win or lose any given race, my stomach would knot up and I would start reading faster as he came out of the gates. I was worried about injuries. I was furious with jockeys whom I thought were cheating. My heart pounded as Seabiscuit came down the home stretch and I read ahead to find out if he pulled it off this time. What the heck has happened to me?!? Where did the woman who thought "Non-fiction is boring" go? This horse and his team are truly all-American legends. It seems that we love underdog stories and Seabiscuit, owner Charles Howard, trainer Tom Smith, and jockey Red Pollard were all underdogs at some point. Reading about their struggles and triumphs and, yes, even failures, was inspiring.…

The Last Olympian by Rick Riordan: Book Review

It's show time. The battle between the Olympians and the Titans, thousands of years in the making, is finally here. Kronos has had ample time to prepare his plans while Zeus and company have been having their own quarrels and parties. He strikes at multiple fronts, almost simultaneously, and no one knows what his true objective is. Percy knows that it can only be Olympus, the seat of the gods' powers. No one will really listen to him though, so it falls to the Half-Bloods to guard Olympus against the worst that Kronos can throw at them. This book takes a decidedly darker turn than the others. It begins with a death and doesn't get much brighter from there. That's not to say that it's depressing, exactly, but it's definitely more serious. The campers are injured and killed right and left and it seems that there's no possible way they can withstand Kronos. Percy himself makes a choice near the beginning that had me worried for him throughout the book. This move didn't work out so well in classical mythology, so I was worried about its impact on Percy as well. Annabeth is still insanely jealous, but she's doing her best to move past it and support Percy. And she's just Annabeth with all her mad skillz and plans. Love. Her. But, while I'm talking about them, they definitely felt older than 14 or so. Maybe Harry Potter conditioned me to think that the last book should be about 18-year-olds, but everyone feels a little too grown up and mature and serious. I never read series books back-to-back because I tend to get a little sick of the characters, and the small explanations of what went on in earlier books drive me crazy because they feel repetitious. I made an…

Plant Life by Pamela Duncan: Book Review

Laurel Granger lived for her husband, Scott, then he left her for another woman. Depressed, rootless, and alone in Vegas, Laurel decides to head back home to Russell, North Carolina. Without telling her parents what happened, she moves in with them. Well, it becomes obvious that Laurel isn't going back to Vegas and she needs a job. The only place that will hire her is the plant (factory) where her mother has worked for umpteen years. Laurel isn't happy to be going to work there, but at least it's a desk job. She finds herself a part of a group of women who have been friends and helped and hated each other for years. With their help, she starts to finally heal and move on. I had never even heard of author Pamela Duncan until I saw her speak at a book festival I attended last year. I loved her. I agreed with everything she said and felt like she could be me talking. Plus, Lee Smith, who wrote one of my favorite books ever, was her teacher. I bought all three of Ms. Duncan's books, had her sign them, and actually had a delightful, short conversation with her. (Me at most signings: "How are you? My name is Jennifer. Yes, it's spelled the normal way. Thank you.") I couldn't really justify buying three books for myself, so I gave this one to my mom. She has worked in a plant for about as long as I remember. I need to ask her more about what she thought of it, but from the outside looking in, this book looked like it was spot on. My mom has spoken of the same women for years and years. They mostly love each other. Some days, they do get on each other's nerves.…

Scones and Sensibility by Lindsay Eland: Book Review

At the tender age of 12, Polly Madassa has discovered Jane Austen and fallen hopelessly in love. Convinced that she's an Austen heroine born in the wrong time, Polly walks around her modern town speaking in Austen's flowery prose. She's only read Pride and Prejudice, and so has not learned Emma's lesson about meddling. Polly goes about delivering baked goods from her family's bakery and trying to spread happiness and love among her neighbors by matchmaking. Of course, as we all know, the course of true love is never smooth, and neither is this summer an easy one for Polly. A-dor-a-ble. That's all there really is to say about this. It's nothing terribly original for an older Austenite, but it's cute for the younger set. Polly is well-intentioned if misguided, and more than a few of us can probably relate to her. Who wouldn't be upset if her older sister neglected her for a boring boy? It's much better to set her up with the new boy in town who is not only handsome but also has a British accent! Right? Polly is an Emma, and so it was a little hard to feel sorry for her when everything comes crashing down on her, but she's plucky and she's a reader. This will be perfect for girls who might be a little too romantic for their own good. Moms will probably enjoy reading it with them. Find author Lindsay Eland on her website, her blog, and Twitter. Buy Scones and Sensibility at Malaprop’s | Better World Books I have an affiliate relationship with Malaprop's, my local independent bookstore, and Better World Books. I will receive a small commission at no cost to you if you purchase books through links on my site.

The Fixer Upper by Mary Kay Andrews: Book Review

Dempsey Killebrew is having a very bad day. She and her handsome boss, Alex, are all over the evening news, smack in the center of a political scandal. They're lobbyists accused of buying a Congressman's votes with a vacation to the Bahamas and, um, hookers. Not the situation that a rising young lawyer wants to find herself in. Injury is added to insult when Alex fires her. With no other options, Dempsey reluctantly accepts the deal her father offers--she can fix up the family mansion back in the tiny town of Guthrie, Georgia, and he'll give her part of the proceeds from the sale. Life in a small town is more interesting than Dempsey expects, especially when she realizes that the "mansion" is a dump, a belligerent old lady has decided the house is hers, FBI agents are sniffing around, and there are some very eligible men in town. I had a ball listening to this! I'll admit that this isn't really any new ground for Mary Kay Andrews, but she does this so well that I just don't care. Old houses/antiques, spunky heroines, and handsome men are a winning combination in her hands. Dempsey herself is a little whiney at first, but if I'm being honest, I would whine much more if I found myself in a similar situation. And then to go running home to Daddy! I just wanted to tell the girl to grow up. But when she gets to the house and she has to start dealing with contractors and Ella Kate, the mean old lady, and the FBI, she has to learn to stand on her own feet. And she handles it beautifully. I'm pretty sure I was cheering by the end. Speaking of Ella Kate, she is mean as a rattlesnake. I wanted to…

Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi: Book Review

4 Stars. I just read Art Spiegelman’s Maus about a month ago and loved it. I thought I would go ahead and give this other highly-acclaimed graphic novel/memoir a try. I enjoyed it, if that’s the correct word, but it didn’t affect me quite the same way Maus did. I’m not too sure why. Maybe it’s because I know more about WWII than [...]