Thank goodness for vacation in September. It helped me get 7 books (at 2547 pages) read this month. I will admit that the month slowed down to a crawl once I landed back in Columbia in the middle of the month. Stupid having to work... :)
Roses by Leila Meacham (609 pages). I had actually read another of this author's books (Tumbleweeds) for book club and really loved it. This one was her first novel. And it was fantastic! It tells the story of four generations of the three founding families in the town of Howbutker, Texas (btw- the story of how the town got such a strange name is kind of fun). The novel really focuses on three generation and their loves, losses and lives. The Tolivers own a cotton plantation, the Warwicks are lumber magnets and the DuMonts own high end department stores. From the history of the town's beginnings and the importance of roses to the founding fathers, the families are so intertwined that their lives can barely be divided. I really, really liked this book. I don't want to give too much away, other than two of them should have gotten married and didn't. And then had to live with the mistake that they had made that nearly destroyed their families. It took me six days from start to finish (but I only had a chance to read for three of those days!)
The Maze Runner by James Dashner (374 pages). Thomas wakes up in a metal box/elevator, with no memories of his life. The box opens and he is met by a group of boys in the Glade. The Glade is a safe haven in the middle of the Maze, a maze that changes every night and from which there is no escape. The very next day after Thomas arrives, normalcy is thrown out the window. A girl arrives in the Box, with a note stating that she is the last one. There has never been a girl in the Glade before. And with her arrival, everything changes. What kind of crazy experiment are these boys being forced to participate in? The book has been turned into a movie and, I'm not going to lie, I really want to see the movie now! The book was kind of Hunger Games-esque in a way. And there are more in the series for me to go buy. It only took me two days to read. See why I love vacation?!
Tell the Wolves I'm Coming Home by Carol Rifka Brunt (355 pages). This was my book club book. June is 14 years old in the winter of 1987, the winter her beloved uncle/godfather/best friend dies of AIDS. Finn was a famous artist and he painted one last painting before he died, a painting of June and her older sister Greta. After Finn's death, June slowly befriends his boyfriend, Toby. Unbeknownst to her family, who hates Toby, without knowing him, for allegedly giving Finn AIDS. The relationships between the mother and Finn, between June and Greta, between Toby and June, between June and Finn, even between Toby and Finn, are examined. There were still some questions left unanswered (like who really gave who AIDS). Honestly, I don't really think I liked the story. It made me think and it made me feel. But I don't think I enjoyed it. I finished the book in only two days (seriously, is anything better than vacation?!)
The Au Pairs: Skinny-dipping by Melissa de la Cruz (289 pages). Total teen chick lit. It's the second in a series, but it had been a while since I read the first one. Eliza, Mara and Jacqui were au pairs for the Perry family in the first book. There was love, secrets, typical sixteen year old drama (but set in the Hamptons). This summer, Eliza is working at a hot new nightclub in the Hamptons and Mara and Jacqui are back at the Perry's. Same old drama, same designer attire. It was total fluff. And took me less than a day to read.
Whistling Past the Graveyard by Susan Crandall (308 pages). Starla Jane Claudelle is nine years old in the summer of 1963. She's living with her strict grandmother in Mississippi, missing her oil rigger daddy who is in the Gulf and her trying to be a superstar mother who is in Nashville. So one day, she's had enough and runs away to find her mother. She begins hitchhiking and is picked up by Eula, a black woman, and baby James, a white baby in the back seat. Thus begins a road trip that will forever change her life. They have adventures, meet misfortunes, and finally find what they are looking for. And learn along the way that sometimes what you think you want isn't what you need. And that family is so much more than blood. The book was pretty good. I finished it in one and a half days.
Family Pictures by Jane Green (344 pages). Sylvie has the perfect marriage out in California- a husband of eleven years who adores her, a daughter from her first marriage who is her best friend, and a wonderful group of friends. The only drawback is that her husband travels for work a lot. Maggie has the perfect life- a gorgeous home on the Connecticut Gold Coast, three wonderful children, a wealthy husband of twenty-five years who travels a lot for work. But both women's lives are turned upside down when their daughters happen to become friends and the truth comes out. To be honest, I figured out the "twist" pretty quickly. The way the two families recover was the fascinating part. Sylvie and Maggie end up okay. The children- well, it takes a little more time for them. I like Jane Green's writing style. The chapters are short and told from different characters' perspectives. It took me about a day and a half to finish.
The Invisible Woman by Claire Tomalin (268 pages, plus 47 pages of footnotes that I didn't read). Unlike the book I read last month that was based on the story of Charles Dickens and Nelly Ternan, this was their story. I found their love story kind of sad. She was the same age as one of his daughters (and younger than one of his sons) and kind of in a vulnerable position as an unmarried, fatherless actress. He was the most popular author of his time. Of course she was flattered that he paid her any attention. And kicked his wife out of the family for her (even though he couldn't publicly let that cat out of the bag). But the pregnancies that couldn't be acknowledged, the love that couldn't be acknowledged, all of it was depressing to me. Even though this book didn't focus on Dickens' wife, I still felt bad for her. You spend your life loving a man and giving birth to his 8 children, only for him to publicly humiliate you. So sweet of him. I have even less respect for Dickens after reading this book. He didn't nothing to help Nelly out. Other than make her life a lot more difficult in so many ways. I was very happy that she was able to find a man who loved her and wanted to marry her once Dickens died and she was free. I did feel bad for her children, who slowly began to find out that their mother had lied to them about so many things. This book took me two weeks to finish. But I blame that on vacation being over and only having one post-vacation pool day.
Wednesday, October 1, 2014
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