Sunday Salon - May 19th

Hope everyone is having a nice weekend. We are in NYC and have been for the last several days celebrating the Bat Mitzvah of my husband's oldest granddaughter.  Although there were (3) days of planned activities for family and friends, we did manage to have some free time to visit The Strand and The Met as well as visiting several terrific restaurants. Our time here has been fun and the weather has been awesome. We'll be heading home this evening.

How was your week in general?  It's was a busy week at work for most college employees - Commencement is this weekend, and picture perfect weather....sunny and 70 degrees all weekend. I'm off until Tuesday so happy about that.

Reading

Finished - 

• Reconstructing Amelia; Kimberly McCreight (very good)
• Looking for Me; Beth Hoffman - (liked it a lot)
  

Finishing  Up - 

• The Dinner; Herman Koch on audio --OMG...but in a good, albeit sick way.
• Flora; Gail Godwin - very good

Up Next - 

• Passing On; Penelope Lively
• Memories of a Marriage - Louis Begley

Some "cat ladies" start their obsession very young!

 

Have a Great Week Everyone - I'll Catch up on Visiting Your Blogs on Monday.

The Chosen; Chaim Potok

 















Title: The Chosen
Author: Chaim Potok
Publication Year:  1967
Publisher: Fawcett and Recorded Books
Edition: paperback and audio
Source: my shelves and library audio
Setting: NY
Date Completed: May - 2013
Rating: 4.5/5
Recommend: yes

The Chosen takes place in Brooklyn, New York in 1944-1949, beginning with (2) sixteen year old Jewish boys whose lives intersect unexpectedly. Danny Saunder's father is a Rabbi for a strict, Hasidic sect. Reuven Malter, is the son of a more modern Orthodox Jew; his father is a professor, writer and political activist. Danny and Reuven play on  opposing softball teams. During one of their games Danny hits a ball that strikes Reuven in the eye and he is taken to the hospital and later undergoes eye surgery. 

Danny is a brilliant boy who has a strong interest in psychiatry, but his father has been busy preparing him for his inherited role of succeeding him as a rabbi. Deep down, Danny has no interest in Talmudic studies. Instead, he spends his free time at the library absorbing complex books of all types, hoping to eventually fulfill his dream of becoming a psychologist. 

Reb Sanders has a strange relationship with his son Danny. There is rarely any communication unless it has to do with theTalmud. Oddly, his father does stress the importance of going to the hospital to apologize to Reuven about the accident.  Reuven is not to thrilled by the visit or the apology, but Danny persists and the two eventually end up being friends.  As their friendship progresses it is Reuven who communicates with Danny's father about his son's passion.

 

The Chosen is a book that has sat on my shelf unread for far too long. Part coming of age story, it is also a story about a deep meaningful friendship between boys through high school and college. There is also a dose of history and religion as well as talk about the modern day Israel. I thought the information about the Jewish culture as well as the differences between the Jewish sects was fascinating. Although the role of both boys seemed equally important in this story, it was Reuven who told the story, and I thought it makes sense why that happened. I haven't read a book like this one in a long time and was happy that I did.

If you haven't read this one yet; consider giving it a try. 

 

Initially, I listened to this one on audio. The reader, Jonathan Davis, did an excellent job, but there were so many terrific passages that I also marked them up in the paperback copy that I had at home as well. I thought I'd share a few quotes with you:

 

• "There were fifteen of them, and they were dressed alike in white shirts, dark pants, white sweaters, and small black skullcaps. In the fashion of the very Orthodox, their hair was closely cropped, except for the areas near their ears from which mushroomed the untouched hair that tumbled down into the long side curls. Some of them had the beginnings of beards, straggly tufts of hair that stood in isolated clumps on their chins, jawbones, and upper lips. They all wore the traditional undergarments beneath their shirts, and the tzitzit, the long fringes appended to the four corners of the garment, came out above their belts and swung against their pants a they walked. These were the very Orthodox, and they obeyed literally the Biblical commandments."
• "You must remember what the Talmud says. If a person comes to apologize for having hurt you, you must listen and forgive him...What I tried to tell you, Reuven, is that when a person comes to talk to you, you should be patient and listen."
• "From the time Danny was about six or seven until the end of his last year in college, Reb Saunders, Danny's father, had deliberately created a barrier of silence between himself and his son, except when they studied Talmud together. He was frightened of Danny's cold brilliance; he wanted to teach his son what it meant to suffer."

Looking for Me; Beth Hoffman

Title: Looking for Me
Author: Beth Hoffman
Publication Year:  2013
Publisher: Pamela Dorman Books
Edition: ARC
Source: sent by author
Setting: KY and SC
Date Completed: May - 2013
Rating: 5/5 

From the age of 10, back in 1964, Teddi Overman had an eye for beautiful furniture. One day she found an old chair in a ditch along the side of the road, and carried it down the road to her family farm.  After she finished restoring the chair, she found a small table to refinish and sold the piece for $100.00. This sale led to her being invited to meet with a Mr. Palmer, an antique's dealer in South Carolina.

Teddi dreamed that one day she'd have her own antique's business. Her controlling mother had other plans for Teddi. She wanted her to go to secretarial school after graduation. Her father, on the other hand, was quiet about his feelings on the subject, but deep down supported his daughter.

Without giving too many specifics about this story away, I'll just say that it isn't all about Teddi, it's about family as well. It's about losing people we love, and accepting our losses. Teddi's younger brother Josh (who Teddi got to name when he was born), is a haunting character in this novel. Teddi describes her brother as: "quiet and introspective, gentle, a loner, thoughtful". He was also was a lover of nature and animals and loved spending time in the woods.  An extremely, sad incident involving Josh at the age of 17 causes him to leave home one day while Teddi is living in South Carolina.

This is a story that full of Southern charm. I loved the characters that the author has created. They are not perfect people, but so real and memorable. The storyline goes back and forth in time, a device which seemed to work well in this novel. Although the story, for the most part, is quiet and contemplative one, it is never boring, nor does is disappoint. Acceptance is a theme that came across loud and clear to me -- there are some things that happen in life, choices we make that just can't be explained or undone.  The novel is not entirely sad, some of the quirky characters will make readers smile. The title "Looking for Me", was a perfect choice as readers will come to realize for themselves once they finish this touching story. A perfect summer choice. Be sure to read it!

First Chapter ~ First Paragraph Tuesday Intros

Every Tuesday I host First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros, where I share the first paragraph or (a few) of a book I am reading or thinking about reading soon. Care to join us?

This week I'm featuring an intro from a book that I'm currently reading.

"There are things we can't undo, but perhaps there is a kind of constructive remorse that could transform regrettable acts into something of service to life.

That summer Flora and I were together every day and night for three weeks in June, all of July, and the first six days of August.  I was ten, going on eleven, and she was twenty-two.  I thought I knew her intimately, I thought I knew everything there was to know about her, but she has since become a profound study for me, more intensely so in recent years.  Styles have come and gone in storytelling, psychologizing, theologizing, but Flora keeps providing me with something as enigmatic as it is basic to life, as timeless as it is fresh." 

What do you think? Would you keep reading or move on to something else?   - I liked the intro a lot and the first 50 pages have breezed by for me, and looking forward to reading more.  

 Please join us and add your link below.

 

Reconstructing Amelia; Kimberly McCreight

Title: Reconstructing Amelia
Author: Kimberly McCreight
Publication Year:  2013
Publisher: Harper
Edition: ARC
Source: Amazon Vine
Setting: New York
Date Completed: May - 2013
Rating: 4/5 

Part coming of age story, part mystery, Reconstructing Amelia is a story that pulled me in early on.

Amelia is the fifteen year old daughter of single mom Kate Baron, a high powered Manhattan litigation attorney.  Amelia is funny, has friends, is smart, an honors student, who attends Grace Hall, an elite private school in New York.  So naturally when Kate gets a telephone call from the school saying that Amelia has been suspended for cheating, she can't believe what she is hearing.  Kate is told to come and get her daughter. As shocking to Kate as this may seem, what happens next is every mother's worst nightmare.  When she arrives at the school a short time later, she is told her daughter is dead after jumping off the roof of a building. The police call it suicide, but that changes when Kate received an undisclosed text message which reads: "She Didn't Jump".

What really happened to Amelia?  The story is told through both the viewpoints of Amelia, before her death, and Kate after her daughter's death.  The police reopen the case and, the remainder of the novel keeps the reader guessing as to what happened to Amelia and why? Set in the present day of texts, Facebook, and blogs, the story covers the gamut of teen issues: mean spirited teens, bullying, hazing, sexuality as well as other sensitive issues.  The characters were fairly well developed, a few were ones I despised. I think I know how the term "snobby rich kids" got its bad rap.

For the most part, I liked this debut novel, but not the way it jumped around from past to present.  I think this story will be a hit with readers who enjoy YA novels, although some of the subject matter is for mature readers. 

Sunday Salon - Mother's Day Edition

Happy Mother's Day to Mom's Everywhere!

 

How was your week blog readers?   It's kinda scary the way the weeks have a way of just flying by.  I feel like I have all sorts of new energy lately. I've lost 23lbs in the last (4) months so I am pretty happy,  and also having fun building a new spring wardrobe:). Still hoping to lose some more over the summer, which with all the fresh fruit and veggies and ice cream, I'm hoping it won't be too difficult.

I've been busy reading, but have not sat down to write any reviews this week...sighhh. Here's what I've read (a few were in process from the previous week):

• The Chosen; Chaim Potok (from my bucket list) - 4.5/5 stars (this was different and rather good)
• Looking for Me; Beth Hoffman - 5/5 (loved this one)
• Magnificence; Lydia Millet - 4/5 (3rd of a trilogy, but I hadn't read #1 or 2 )
• Reconstructing Amelia; K. McCreight - 4/5

Currents reads:

• The Dinner; Herman Koch (audio)
• Flora; Gail Godwin (eGalley)

Today's plans have changed a bit, as we were off to a local winery but the weather is cloudy with rain expected.  Looking forward to relaxing, some company this afternoon and just enjoying a Mom's Day of doing as I please. Same to all of you.

Lake People; Abi Maxwell

Title: Lake People
Author: Abi Maxwell
Publication Year:  2013
Publisher: Knopf
Edition: ARC and eGalley
Source: Amazon Vine and Edelweiss
Setting: New Hampshire
Date Completed: May - 2013
Rating: 3/5 
Recommended: ?

Lake People drew me in from the very beginning with the following opening:

1982 

 

" IN THE COLD and windy days after I was born, I was deposited into an old canoe on the big lake.  I have recently discovered this.  I like to think my birth parents believed that this lake would hold me safe, but I don't see how that could possibly be true, for it turns out I come from a long line of people swallowed by these waters.  My name is Alice, and by the time I was born, unwanted, the belief that there were places in the lake where the floor of the world either dropped out or was never put in and had settled itself deep into my blood."

but, then something happened-----

In a nutshell, Alice Thornton is a woman who is eager to learn details about her early life. She grew up in Kettleborough, New Hampshire (fictional town) with her father-- her mother had taken off early on. She later learns that it was she who was abandoned, found, and then adopted.  She is eager to find out about about her ancestors and her roots. 

The novel begins and ends in 1982 when Alice was 24 year's old, yet the story itself spans a period of over seventy-five years. Covering such a long period and so many different people from some of the town's earliest inhabitants, and trying to piece how they fit into Alice's story proved difficult for me. Thank goodness each new chapter was dated, but it was still a chore at times to stay interested and to keep everyone's story straight. 

It wasn't all negative for me, I did like the air of mystery, the setting, and most of the characters.  It wasn't even the somber tone that bothered me, it's just that before long, it started to feel like one too many short stories were being crammed into what was intended to be a novel, and the writing style just never seemed consistent.

Waiting on Wednesday ~ We are Water; Wally Lamb

"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Jill @ Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating. This week's pick is by another favorite author:

We are Water; Wally Lamb

Oct 29th-2013 - Harper Collins

Book Description Obtained HERE -

"Set in New England and New York during the first years of the Obama presidency, "We Are Water" explores America's class divisions, its changing social mores and its legacy of racial violence . . . [and] asks: where does art come from, what motivates the artist to create it, and what is creativity's relationship to madness?"

The novel follows the long marriage and break-up of half-Chinese, half-Italian university psychologist and his wife, an "outsider" artist, and the lives of their twins. When the wife plans to marry the woman who is her art dealer, it opens a "Pandora's box of toxic secrets."

First Chapter ~ First Paragraph Tuesday Intros - Looking for Me; Beth Hoffman

Every Tuesday I host First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros, where I share the first paragraph or (a few) of a book I am reading or thinking about reading soon. Care to join us?

This week I'm featuring an intro from a book that will be released this month:

Looking for Me; Beth Hoffman 

Pamela Dorman Books - May 28th, 2013

"Some people run toward life, arms flung wide in anticipation.  Others crack open the door and take a one-eyed peek to see what's out there.  Then there are those who give up on life long before their heart stops beating--all used up, worn out, and caved in, yet they wake each morning an shuffle their tired legs through another day.  Maybe they're hoping for a change --a miracle, even --but runaway dreams and lost years hang heavily on their backs.  It's the only coat they know how to wear."

What do you think? Would you keep reading or move on to something else?   - I liked the intro a lot and the first 50 pages have breezed by for me, and looking forward to reading more.  

 Please join us and add your link below.

Mailbox Monday - May 6, 2013

For those who participate in Monday Mailbox, Apple Blossom, of 4 the Love of Books is the host for May. I haven't participated for a few weeks so I have an embarrassing amount of new books to share this week.

• •  Big Brother; Lionel Shriver (Harper)
  •  Order of Darkness;Phillipa Gregory (Simon Pulse)
  • Reconstructing Amelia; Kimberly McCreight (Amazon Vine)
  • The Weight of a Human Heart; Ryan O'Neil (St Martin's Press)
  • G.I. Bride; Iris Jones Simantel (Michael Jones Pub)
  • Antonia Lively Breaks Her Silence; David Samuel Livenson
    (Algonguin)
  • If You Were Here; Alafair Burke (Harper)
  • Age of Desire; Jeanie Fields (Pamela Dorman Books)
  • The Have-Nots; Katherina Hacker (Europa Edition)
  •  The Illusion of Separateness; Simon Van Booey (Harper)
  • Don't Worry, it Get's Worst; Alida Nugent (Plume)
  • Sweet Salt Air; Barbara Delinsky (St. Martins Press)
  • Big Girl Panties; Stephanie Evanovich (William Morrow)