I'm pretty proud of the reading I got done in September. Between the vacation and days by the pool, I was able to get 8 books at 2,554 pages read. Yay for me! So here goes....
The Summer of Katya by Trevanian (239 pages). It was billed as a thriller. And for the first half of the book, I was seriously questioning the thrill. The story takes place in France in 1938. Young Jean-Marc is fresh out of medical school and working as a small town doctor when he meets the beautiful Katya. She and her family are a little bit strange (her twin bother is super protective, her father is an absentminded academic, and her mother died in childbirth). But Jean-Marc falls head over heels. Then, the thrill started. I will NOT say what happened. But my mouth was agape for the last several pages! I really, really liked it. Way more than I expected to! It took me five days to finish (only two days of actual reading time).
The Little Paris Bookshop by Nina George (370 pages). Jean Perdu owns quite possibly the most amazing bookstore in all of Paris- the Literary Apothecary, a bookstore fashioned out of an old barge. From this floating bookstore, Jean sells books that his customers' hearts and souls truly need. But his heart and soul have been dead since the love of his life left him. Twenty years earlier. Left him with nothing but memories and an unopened letter. When he finally opens the letter, it sends him on a journey. Both literally and figuratively. He makes new friends. In the most unlikely of places. It was also one of the most poetically, literarically (yep, English major word creation rears its head) books I have ever read. I enjoyed this book like an amazing meal. I finished it in two days while sitting by the pool.
A Walk with Jane Austen by Lori Smith (218 pages). This was a memoir. The author was, like many of us, slightly obsessed with Jane Austen. So she decided to travel around England for a while, taking in everything that Jane might have experienced and learning a bit about herself as well. I saw some of myself in the author. She's in her thirties, unmarried and a strong Christian. I really wanted to like this book. But I didn't. Probably because no book was going to measure up to the one I'd just finished. I should've given myself a little more time to enjoy the after effects of The Little Paris Bookshop before I started another book. It took me six days to read (only three days of actual reading time).
The American Heiress by Daisy Goodwin (465 pages). It's 1893 and Cora Cash is the belle of the Gilded Age in New York City. As one of the wealthiest heiresses in the country, Cora's mother wants more for her than just to marry another wealthy American. She has her eye on the ultimate prize- a title. When Cora and her mother go to England, Cora manages to land herself a duke, and all the shabbiness that accompanied titled gentlemen of that time. Little does Cora realize though, the world she has married into is far stuffier and more reserved than her upbringing. But Cora is an American after all, passionate but brave. And determined to show the world that she made the perfect marriage for herself. I really enjoyed this book. An interesting combination of Downton Abbey and the Gilded Age of America. It took me three days to read (only two days of actual reading time).
Tales of the Peculiar by Tansom Riggs (160 pages). This book was referenced in Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children. It was basically like an aesop's fables or a fairy tale book of nothing but peculiars. It was 10 stories of different peculiars and the lessons you can learn from their peculiarities. It was a super easy read and as someone who loved the original trilogy, this was like a perfect cherry on the top of it. It took me two days to read.
The Postmistress by Sarah Blake (352 pages). First off, I was annoyed that she "made up" the town of Franklin, Massachusetts, as a coastal town when there is Franklin, Massachusetts, about an hour southwest of Boston and about an hour west of the Cape. Don't create a fictional town when that town actually exists! Apparently, it's supposed to be Provincetown. Oh well. Secondly, I don't like a write up on the back of a book that doesn't really do the book justice. The main character ISN'T the postmistress. The fact that she doesn't deliver one letter ISN'T the whole premise of the story. However, let's get to it. The year is 1940. The war is going on in Europe. And the new postmistress of Franklin is settling into her job. The new doctor's new wife has just arrived in town. Everyone listens to news woman Frankie Bard reporting her experiences from England. Everything seems to be perfect(ish). Until one night, when Dr Fitch loses a patient. And with that, the course of lives change. Dr Fitch goes to England, a letter is delivered to Mrs Fitch that isn't actually delivered to her, and Frankie experiences more of the war than she imagined. When the three women's lives finally intertwine in Franklin, some truths come out and some stay hidden. The book is an interesting look at how we never get the whole story. Just some of it. It took me three days to read (although I read all but 5 chapters in one day. I love vacation!)
Midwives by Chris Bohjalian (372 pages). Sibyl Danforth has been a midwife for at least a decade and successfully delivered hundreds of babies. She loves her job, she loves her husband and their fourteen year old daughter Connie and she loves her life in Vermont. But one icy night in March, Sibyl faces a difficult delivery, one that results in the death of the mother and an emergency C-section. While Sibyl is an experienced midwife, she isn't a medically licensed one. So what if the mother wasn't dead when Sibyl performed the C-section and her actions actually killed the mother? The charge of involuntary manslaughter and ensuing trial challenge Sibyl's family, Sibyl's chosen profession and even the town. I've always liked Bohjalian's writing and this one was no different. In typical Bohjalian fashion, there was a twist at the end. I read it in one day (ah, the pros of traveling)
At the Water's Edge by Sara Gruen (378 pages). Maddie Hyde was living an extraordinarily pampered life in Philadelphia in 1944. Her husband Ellis and his best friend Hank were her best friends and they were all gloriously wealthy. The war in Europe barely even effected them, other than Ellis and Hank being "medically unfit" to serve. Then, one drunken New Years Eve, Ellis decided to do what his father couldn't- prove that the Loch Ness monster was real. Off the three of them went to Scotland. Once they were ensconced in a little inn on the shores of Loch Ness, Maddie realized quite a few things about the life she thought she loved. And realized she didn't want that life anymore. One afternoon on the loch, everyone's beliefs about the monster, and themselves, are put to the test. I started reading it by the pool and four hours later, when I went inside and hadn't quite finished it yet, I went ahead and finished it. Yep- one day.
