Ugh…another snow day. This year has been harsh in terms of weather. First we had Sandy- two weeks of no power and no school. Now the never ending snow. Don’t get me wrong- more snow means more skiing, and as a newbie, I need all the practice I can get. BUT, before I skied, the hubby and kids would head off to the slopes and I would curl up with a good book and my chocolate Lab on my lap-that’s pretty much gone! Oh well, good with the bad and all that. Hope everyone here in the Northeast enjoys the snow! 
100 Books in a Year!!
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I have joined the 100 Books in a Year hosted by Book Chick City! I am so looking forward to this!
The Rules are simple- you have to read 100 books from Jan.1-Dec.31 of 2012. You can read any genre, but only fiction counts toward the challenge.
So far, here is where I am at as of March 7th-
January
1. Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
2.Black Dahlia by James Ellroy
3. Reversal by Michael Connelly
4. The Sandcastle Girls by Chris Bohjalian
5. The Bookseller by Mark Pryor
6. The Prisoner of Heaven by Carlos Ruiz Zafon
February
7. The Husband List by Janet Evanovich
8. An Ex to Grind by Jane Heller
9. When in Doubt Add Butter by Beth Harbison
10. The Time Keeper by Mitch Albom
11. Touch and Go by Lisa Gardner
12. The Lost Wife by Alyson Richman
13. Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan
March
14. The History of Us by Leah Stewart
The Sandcastle Girls
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published by Random House
2012
Summary
Over the course of his career, New York Times bestselling novelist Chris Bohjalian has taken readers on a spectacular array of journeys. Midwivesbrought us to an isolated Vermont farmhouse on an icy winter’s night and a home birth gone tragically wrong. The Double Bind perfectly conjured the Roaring Twenties on Long Island—and a young social worker’s descent into madness. And Skeletons at the Feast chronicled the last six months of World War Two in Poland and Germany with nail-biting authenticity. As The Washington Post Book World has noted, Bohjalian writes “the sorts of books people stay awake all night to finish.”
In his fifteenth book, The Sandcastle Girls, he brings us on a very different kind of journey. This spellbinding tale travels between Aleppo, Syria, in 1915 and Bronxville, New York, in 2012—a sweeping historical love story steeped in the author’s Armenian heritage, making it his most personal novel to date.
When Elizabeth Endicott arrives in Syria, she has a diploma from Mount Holyoke College, a crash course in nursing, and only the most basic grasp of the Armenian language. The First World War is spreading across Europe, and she has volunteered on behalf of the Boston-based Friends of Armenia to deliver food and medical aid to refugees of the Armenian genocide. There, Elizabeth becomes friendly with Armen, a young Armenian engineer who has already lost his wife and infant daughter. When Armen leaves Aleppo to join the British Army in Egypt, he begins to write Elizabeth letters, and comes to realize that he has fallen in love with the wealthy, young American woman who is so different from the wife he lost.Flash forward to the present, where we meet Laura Petrosian, a novelist living in suburban New York. Although her grandparents’ ornate Pelham home was affectionately nicknamed the “Ottoman Annex,” Laura has never really given her Armenian heritage much thought. But when an old friend calls, claiming to have seen a newspaper photo of Laura’s grandmother promoting an exhibit at a Boston museum, Laura embarks on a journey back through her family’s history that reveals love, loss—and a wrenching secret that has been buried for generations.
(from Goodreads)
My Review
This story taught me something that as a student and teacher of history, I had very little knowledge of- the Armenian genocide. I was amazed by the depth of information and description the author brought forward in this novel. I have been a fan of Chris Bohjalian since I first read Midwives. He is a wonderful writer and I alsway look forward to his next novel. I think this might be his best. It is not a feel good story- but it is powerful and leaves a lasting impression.
“When it seems you have nothing at all to live for, death is not especially frightening.”
― Chris Bohjalian, The Sandcastle Girls
This is a powerful historical novel about the Armenian Genocide. It takes place in two time periods- 1915 and the present. During 1915, we learn the story of Elizabeth Endicott, who has traveled from America to Aleppo with her father to administer humanitarian aid on behalf of the Friends of Armenia. There she meets and befriends Armen Petrosian, an Armenia who has lost his entire family, and is planning on fighting with the British forces against the Germans. The two fall in love and exchange of the genocide from both of their perspectives.
The Sandcastle Girls is excellent depiction of this tragedy. Immediately after I finished, I went onto my computer to learn as much as I could about this event. I am thinking of reading it again, after I learn more.
This is an article published first in the newspaper, New York Times on December 15, 1915. It is on the Armenian Genocide. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
The Bookseller
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The Bookseller
by Mark Pryor
published by Seventh Street Books
2012
Max—an elderly Paris bookstall owner—is abducted at gunpoint. His friend, Hugo Marston, head of security at the US embassy, looks on helplessly, powerless to do anything to stop the kidnapper. Marston launches a search, enlisting the help of semiretired CIA agent Tom Green. Their investigation reveals that Max was a Holocaust survivor and later became a Nazi hunter. Is his disappearance somehow tied to his grim history, or even to the mysterious old books he sold?
On the streets of Paris, tensions are rising as rival drug gangs engage in violent turf wars. Before long, other booksellers start to disappear, their bodies found floating in the Seine. Though the police are not interested in his opinion, Marston is convinced the hostilities have something to do with the murders of these bouquinistes.
Then he himself becomes a target of the unknown assassins.
With Tom by his side, Marston finally puts the pieces of the puzzle together, connecting the past with the present and leading the two men, quite literally, to the enemy’s lair.
Just as the killer intended.
(from Goodreads)
My Review
This debut novel by Mark Pryor has been my favorite book of 2013 so far. This is a captivating mystery set in Paris that centers on books and world of the bouquinistes, the booksellers with stalls around the Seine. Hugo Marston work at the U.S. Embassy in Paris. During a day off, he stops at the stall of a friend, the elderly Max Koche. As he is returning to purchase something from Max, he witnesses his abduction and off we go on an amazing adventure. I can not believe this is a debut novel. I thought the writing was very good, and was impressed with the descriptions of Paris. I enjoyed learning about the history of the booksellers. The characters were nicely developed and I am really looking forward to knowing more about them. I definitely would recommend this book.
Rating- 4.5
a “bouquiniste” by the Seine, in Paris, France (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
The History of Us
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The History of US
by Leah Stewart
Published by Touchstone
2013
Summary
In The History of Us, the newest novel by the celebrated author of The Myth of You and Me, three grown siblings return to their childhood home and face a family secret that forces them to reexamine their relationships to each other—and to the aunt who took them in as children.
Eloise Hempel is on her way to teach a class at Harvard when she receives devastating news. Her sister and her husband have been killed in a tragic accident, and Eloise must return home to Cincinnati to take her sister’s three children, Theodora, Josh, and Claire, out of the hands of her own incapable mother. She moves back into her mother’s ancient house and, after her mother leaves, pours her own money into its upkeep.
Nearly two decades later, Eloise is still in that house, still thinking about what she left behind. With Claire leaving for New York City for a promising ballet career, Eloise has plans to finally embark on a life that’s hers alone. But when her mother makes a competition out of who inherits the house, and Claire reveals a life-changing secret, their makeshift family begins to fall apart.
A “perceptive writer with a keen grasp of contemporary culture and domestic life” (Booklist), Leah Stewart creates a deeply moving story of love, loss, sibling relationships, and the paths not taken.
(from Goodreads)
My Review
I enjoyed Leah Stewart’s previous novel The Myth of You and I very much and looked forward to reading her new novel. I got into the story quickly, but unfortunately started to dislike the main characters half way through the book, in spite of the very fine writing. Eloise gives up everything- her teaching career at Harvard, her new found life and freedom in Boston, to take care of her deceased sister’s three young children, when her mother does not want the responsibility. Along with moving to Cincinnati, she also moves into her childhood home, a vast “mansion”. Seventeen years later, when the youngest child moves out, Eloise wants her mother to sign over the house to her so she can sell it and move on with her life. The problem is the two older children have moved back home, and are in no hurry to go anywhere. The oldest,Theo, fights with Eloise, going behind her back to the distant grandmother, and asks for the house herself, despite the glaringly obvious fact that there is no way she can possible afford to pay for the whole thing since she cannot even pay rent, having no job, nor much desire to get one. The character of Theo was the one I had the hardest time with. She seemed so self centered, not once did I get the sense that she had been the responsible, reliable eldest child. I did enjoy the other characters, and the writing as I said was very good. Maybe the idea of grown children returning home indefinitely scares me a bit, having two teens at home. A good book, but not a favorite.
The Lost Wife
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The Lost Wife
By Alyson Richman
Published by Berkley Books
2011
In pre-war Prague, the dreams of two young lovers are shattered when they are separated by the Nazi invasion. Then, decades later, thousands of miles away in New York, there’s an inescapable glance of recognition between two strangers. Providence is giving Lenka and Josef one more chance. From the glamorous ease of life in Prague before the Occupation, to the horrors of Nazi Europe, The Lost Wife explores the power of first love, the resilience of the human spirit- and the strength of memory.
(from Goodreads)
My Review-
This book was wonderful. This is a love story in every sense- first loves, second loves, the love of family, the passion for art. The writing seemed a bit flowery at time, but would then deliver a line that stopped me in my tracks. My favorite passage by far is the following from the main character, Lenka-“In my old age, I have come to believe that love is not a noun but a verb. Like water, it flows to its own current. If you were to corner it in a dam, true love is so bountiful it would flow over. Even in separation, even in death, it moves and changes. It lives within memory, in the haunting of a touch, the transience of a smell, or the nuance of a sigh.”
The author is very descriptive and thought provoking. I was fascinated to learn more about the relocation camp Terezin. I had heard a little about this ghetto over the years, but did not know much. The writing was very descriptive – sight, sounds and smells all seemed very real.
Over all, I loved this book, though it definitely left me a little sad.
Rating- 4
Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore
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Mr. Penumbra’s 24 Hour Bookstore
Robin Sloan
Published by-Farrar, Strauss, and Giroux
2012
The Great Recession has shuffled Clay Jannon out of his life as a San Francisco Web-design drone—and serendipity, sheer curiosity, and the ability to climb a ladder like a monkey has landed him a new gig working the night shift at Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore. But after just a few days on the job, Clay begins to realize that this store is even more curious than the name suggests. There are only a few customers, but they come in repeatedly and never seem to actually buy anything, instead “checking out” impossibly obscure volumes from strange corners of the store, all according to some elaborate, long-standing arrangement with the gnomic Mr. Penumbra. The store must be a front for something larger, Clay concludes, and soon he’s embarked on a complex analysis of the customers’ behavior and roped his friends into helping to figure out just what’s going on. But once they bring their findings to Mr. Penumbra, it turns out the secrets extend far outside the walls of the bookstore.
With irresistible brio and dazzling intelligence, Robin Sloan has crafted a literary adventure story for the twenty-first century, evoking both the fairy-tale charm of Haruki Murakami and the enthusiastic novel-of-ideas wizardry of Neal Stephenson or a young Umberto Eco, but with a unique and feisty sensibility that’s rare to the world of literary fiction. Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore is exactly what it sounds like: an establishment you have to enter and will never want to leave, a modern-day cabinet of wonders ready to give a jolt of energy to every curious reader, no matter the time of day
(from Goodreads)
My Review
I loved this book, plain and simple. The moment Clay climbs the ladder, his arm outstretched, looking for the for the right book, I was hooked. This is a story that talks about the smell of books, the bound versus the electronic, the way the right book can hook you and never let you go- for Clay it was the The Dragon Song Chronicles. Clay is on a quest to discover the secrets of Mr. Penumbra’s bookstore. Why do odd people come in at all hours of the night? Why is there a special section of encoded books? Why don’t they stock normal books-no Harry Potters in sight?!? What Clay discovers sends him on a mission that leads him into the true meaning of what books are really about. This is a book lover’s book.
Rating- 4
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