Fabulous February

This month was very successful. I finished 5 books at 1696 pages. Not too shabby!  So here we go

The Fifth Mountain by Paulo Coelho (245 pages). This is my seventh Coelho novel. And so far, I haven't experienced a bad one.  I have always thought of Coelho as more of a spiritual author than a religious one, but religion does play an important role in almost all of his writing. For anyone who knows their Bible, they know the story of Elijah. After he told Ahab and Jezebel that no rain would fall while the land worshipped Baal, he flees to the brook, where ravens keep him fed. The LORD then tells Elijah to go to Zarephath, where a widow woman will care for him.  After three years of drought, Elijah returns to confront Ahab. This story covers those three years with the widow woman (obviously it does go into the background that leads him to Zarephath). According to the widow, who was not a Christian, Baal and the other gods lived on the Fifth Mountain (hence the name of the book). While Coelho liberally uses verses from the Bible, the rest of the story isn't even remotely Biblical. Kind of like The Red Tent. Sure, it's based on a story from the Bible. But it's so loosely based.  To the point that I found myself a little sad that Elijah's story was so changed. And his faith so weak. This might have been the first Coelho novel that I wasn't a super fan of. His writing is still phenomenal. But the story bothered me. It took 5 days to read.

The Night Sister by Jennifer McMahon (319 pages). The story centers around the Tower Motel in London, Vermont. It covers three generations of a family and their friends. In the 19060's, sisters Sylvie and Rose are nothing alike. Their family runs the Tower Motel, which is quickly falling into disrepair now that the new highway has taken most of the traffic away. Rose is convinced that her sister has a big secret. Little does Rose know that she herself is the one with the secret. In the 1980's, Rose's granddaughter Amy and her friends, sisters Piper and Margot, investigate some of the secrets of the Motel. What they learn drives a wedge between the friends. In 2013, Piper comes home to London when Margot tells her that Amy killed her husband, son and self, leaving only her daughter Lou alive. But Amy left a cryptic note for the sisters. As Piper starts investigating what really happens, she uncovers a secret about Amy's family that changes everything. The book was AMAZING!  Dark, scary, intriguing. I absolutely loved it!  It took 6 days to read.

The Shining by Stephen King (659 pages). Seemed like a natural progression- one creepy hotel into another. I've seen two movie versions of this book. Stanley Kubrick's (which King apparently didn't like) and a made for tv (which King did like, probably because he penned the screenplay). So I was excited to finally read the book. Creepy. That's the only word I can think of to describe the book. I knew it was going to be creepy before I picked it up. My mom commented that when she read it, she hide in the corner of the den, as far away from the windows as she could get!  In the book, Danny is only 5. He's very precocious, thanks to the shining. His dad is just a normal guy with a major alcohol problem.  And his mom is NOT Shelley Duvall. She's a little more plucky than that!  There are no twins. There is no maze. There was no "All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy" or "here's Johnny". Tony doesn't speak through Danny. He just speaks to Danny. Heck, the ending isn't even the same. Which is a little weird to me.  But the Overlook itself was all the craziness that I wanted it to be. It was literally its own entity, taking over Jack's mind and driving him to a desperate attack on his family. The made for TV movie was much more faithful to the book, just as an FYI. I definitely see why King wasn't thrilled with Kubrick's version, however amazing and creepy that version was. It took 10 days to read (yes, I read more than 50 pages a day again).

The All-Girl Filling Station's Last Reunion by Fannie Flagg (347 pages). I knew I had 7 days left in February, so needed to find a 350 page book. This one was perfect!  The book is basically two stories- that of Sookie, a 59 year old married mother of 4 in Alabama, and of Fritzi, a young WASP during the War from Wisconsin. Skokie finds out some family history that completely changes her life. Fritzi, on the other hand, lived a fantastical life. She was a wing walker and pilot, ran her father's Phillips 66 with only her three sisters during the War (hence the nationally famous All Girls Filling Station), and lived an extraordinary life. The family connections were strong in this book. And the history lesson about the WASPs, the all female pilots who ferried planes during the War, was amazing. What made this book even more amazing for me is that we have a family friend who was a WASP. To know what she did- training pilots, ferrying planes, all to help the War effort. And then to have their efforts be stricken from the history books. To not be given the GI bill benefits. To not be given veteran's benefits to the families of the 39 women who died. Heartbreaking. Heartbreaking and awe inspiring. I finished the book in only 5 days (I planned poorly).

Forest Acres by Warner M. Montgomery, Ph.D (126 pages). Only two days left in the month and I didn't want to start a long book. I've had this on the shelf for years. As someone who grew up FA adjacent, but has been living in FA proper for nearly 15 years, I thought it was high time to read a little about my town's history. It was a ridiculously easy read- not a lot of reading, a LOT of photos!  I found it quite interesting that my high school and my town are both connected to the James H Hammond family. Just not the same James H. It was so interesting to learn about my town, and to see some of the things I remember. I read it over 2 days. So boom- month done!