I loved this book. It is a World War II book, but with a completely different angle. The book flips back and forth from 1934 to 1944 - with a few chapters at the end years later (which was very satisfying I might add - to see what happened in the long term). It also changes perspectives, from that of Marie-Laure, a blind girl living with her father in an apartment in Paris, to Werner, an orphaned boy in a small coal mining town in Germany.
Marie-Laure's father is the master of thousands of locks at Paris' Museum of Natural History. When his daughter loses her sight, he builds her a scale model of their neighbourhood in Paris, complete with every building, storm drain, and lamp post, so that she may learn her way around. She also learns her way around the Museum and becomes very comfortable amongst its artifacts. When the Nazis are about to invade Paris, Marie-Laure's father is entrusted with what may be a very valuable diamond from the museum's collection and he is asked to leave the city and keep it safe. It only might be the diamond as the original and three replicas are spread throughout France and no one is told which is the real one. They flee to live with Marie-Laure's great uncle Etienne in Saint-Malo in Brittany. Etienne has not left the house in years as he is suffering from PTSD from the first world war, which also killed Marie-Laure's grandfather.
Meanwhile, Werner is a young dreamer who wants nothing more to escape the fate of all the boys in his town - to work in the mines that killed his father as soon as he turns 15. He finds an old radio and takes it apart so he can put it back together again. When it works he and his sister pull in broadcasts from all over the continent including science lessons intended for children that fascinate him. Werner becomes well known for his skills in repairing radios, eventually repairing one for the town's most senior Nazi official who helps him get placed at a Nazi training school for boys. Werner survives the experience by immersing himself in the science lab where he must design radio tracking devices for the war effort. However, he is emotionally scarred and disillusioned, especially when his weaker bunkmate is beaten by the brutal children. At 16 he is forced to join the war effort to track partisans, eventually finding himself in Saint Melo where he crosses paths with Marie-Laure and discovers the source of the radio broadcasts he so enjoyed in childhood.
I don't want to give too much away but we learn the fates of both Werner and Marie-Laure, as well as her father, his sister, Etienne and many friends and colleagues they meet along the way. The humanity which survives in such inhumane times is fascinating.
I highly recommend this book.
Monday, August 18, 2014
Monday, August 11, 2014
Zac & Mia by A.J. Betts
After slogging through the Goldfinch, I needed something easier to read, though not necessarily lighter. This young adult novel was exactly the right remedy.
Zac and Mia are both 17 year old cancer patients, stuck for treatment on a an adult ward in Perth, Australia. Outside the hospital they are total opposites - Zac is from a farm, happy in the outdoors and playing football. Mia is a sociable, popular girl with cool friends and a boyfriend. But in the hospital they come to depend on each other.
And once they get out they discover they need each other even more as they no longer feel normal or as if they belong. They take turns pulling each other out of despair and we are left with a feeling of hope for their futures, even though, as Zac constantly points out, the odds are against them
I recommend this for a serious but easy read.
The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt
This was apparently one of the big books of the year for book clubs. I really don't know what all the fuss was about. I found it boring - it was too long, the main character was not likeable (as hard as I tried to sympathize with his tragic childhood), and though there was supposedly a lot of drama I didn't really feel I cared how it ended one way or the other.
When Theo Decker is 13 his mother is killed in a tragic explosion in a museum that he survives. Before he gets out of the building he holds the hand of a dying elderly man who gives him a signet ring and tells him about a painting. Theo makes off with both the painting and the ring. He eventually returns the ring to its owner, Hobie, who turns out to be one of the best people in his life.
Because Theo's father cannot be found immediately he is taken in by the wealthy family of a friend, the Barbours. Though the family is cold and somewhat dysfunctional, they are good to Theo until his father shows up and whisks him away to Las Vegas. He wastes his teenage years in Las Vegas, befriending a shady Russian kid and numbing himself with alcohol and drugs. Eventually he returns to New York where he lives with Hobie, learning his craft of antique restoration. All this time he holds on to the valuable painting he stole, certain he will eventually be found.
In New York he gets into more trouble, gets involved with more shady characters and reconnects with the Barbours only to discover tragedy has also befallen them. The rest of the book deals with the convoluted way in which the painting finally makes its way into the hands of its rightful owners and how Theo's life continues to spiral out of control.
I really don't recommend this unless you feel you have to keep up with what's on the best seller lists just for the sake of doing so.
When Theo Decker is 13 his mother is killed in a tragic explosion in a museum that he survives. Before he gets out of the building he holds the hand of a dying elderly man who gives him a signet ring and tells him about a painting. Theo makes off with both the painting and the ring. He eventually returns the ring to its owner, Hobie, who turns out to be one of the best people in his life.
Because Theo's father cannot be found immediately he is taken in by the wealthy family of a friend, the Barbours. Though the family is cold and somewhat dysfunctional, they are good to Theo until his father shows up and whisks him away to Las Vegas. He wastes his teenage years in Las Vegas, befriending a shady Russian kid and numbing himself with alcohol and drugs. Eventually he returns to New York where he lives with Hobie, learning his craft of antique restoration. All this time he holds on to the valuable painting he stole, certain he will eventually be found.
In New York he gets into more trouble, gets involved with more shady characters and reconnects with the Barbours only to discover tragedy has also befallen them. The rest of the book deals with the convoluted way in which the painting finally makes its way into the hands of its rightful owners and how Theo's life continues to spiral out of control.
I really don't recommend this unless you feel you have to keep up with what's on the best seller lists just for the sake of doing so.
Friday, August 1, 2014
Delicious! by Ruth Reichl
I can't remember where I heard about this book, but I'm so glad I did. It really was a "delicious" read. This is the first novel for the former cookbook author, food critic and editor in chief of Gourmet magazine. Not surprisingly, a lot of the narrative revolved around food and the descriptions of recipes, meals and food shops were fabulous.
The novel starts with Billie Breslin who has just dropped out of university and moved to New York from her native Santa Barbara to take a job as an administrative assistant for the editor of the food magazine, Delicious. Her real dream is to make it through her trial period and become a food writer. We learn early on that Billie has a talent for identifying obscure flavours, creating recipes and cooking, but for reasons that are slowly revealed she has given up on cooking.
At first Billie is lonely and her main interaction is through e-mails to her sister, Genie. There is clearly a rift between the sisters now but the reason for that is also only revealed over time. Eventually Genie befriends others at the magazine, especially the cook Diana and the eccentric travel writer, Sammy. She also impresses a local cheese merchant, Sal, so much that he hires her to work on weekends - the first person outside his family who has been given that honour. There she becomes an honorary member of his family and meets the "Complainer", a frequent shopper who she also gets to know better as the book progresses.
When Billie is finally feeling settled, the magazine is closed by its parent for financial reasons and everyone is let go, except Billie who is retained to continue to honour the magazine's guarantee to its readers. It has always refunded the cost of ingredients to anyone who is dissatisfied with its recipes and wants to maintain the guarantee for the reputation of the magazine empire. In this lonely job Billie befriends the lonely, Mrs. Cloverly whose complaints get more and more bizarre each day. But more importantly she discovers a secret room in the magazine's mansion offices which contain letters written during World War II by a 12 year old girl in Ohio to the magazine's most famous chef at the time, James Beard. Slowly Billie and Sammy piece together the history of this girl, with help from the clues left by the magazine's former librarian, and realize she may be alive so set on a quest to find her and see how her story ended.
This is well written, intriguing and a pleasure to read!
The novel starts with Billie Breslin who has just dropped out of university and moved to New York from her native Santa Barbara to take a job as an administrative assistant for the editor of the food magazine, Delicious. Her real dream is to make it through her trial period and become a food writer. We learn early on that Billie has a talent for identifying obscure flavours, creating recipes and cooking, but for reasons that are slowly revealed she has given up on cooking.
At first Billie is lonely and her main interaction is through e-mails to her sister, Genie. There is clearly a rift between the sisters now but the reason for that is also only revealed over time. Eventually Genie befriends others at the magazine, especially the cook Diana and the eccentric travel writer, Sammy. She also impresses a local cheese merchant, Sal, so much that he hires her to work on weekends - the first person outside his family who has been given that honour. There she becomes an honorary member of his family and meets the "Complainer", a frequent shopper who she also gets to know better as the book progresses.
When Billie is finally feeling settled, the magazine is closed by its parent for financial reasons and everyone is let go, except Billie who is retained to continue to honour the magazine's guarantee to its readers. It has always refunded the cost of ingredients to anyone who is dissatisfied with its recipes and wants to maintain the guarantee for the reputation of the magazine empire. In this lonely job Billie befriends the lonely, Mrs. Cloverly whose complaints get more and more bizarre each day. But more importantly she discovers a secret room in the magazine's mansion offices which contain letters written during World War II by a 12 year old girl in Ohio to the magazine's most famous chef at the time, James Beard. Slowly Billie and Sammy piece together the history of this girl, with help from the clues left by the magazine's former librarian, and realize she may be alive so set on a quest to find her and see how her story ended.
This is well written, intriguing and a pleasure to read!
Monday, July 28, 2014
Landing Gear by Kate Pullinger
This is a really well written book based on an interesting historical event. The book starts in 2010 during a period when European air travel is grounded due to ash being spewed from an Icelandic volcano. Harriet lives in a London suburb near Heathrow - she is a radio newsreader who uses the opportunity to go back to her reporting routes and interview people stranded at Heathrow and those in nearby neighbourhoods who find the quiet eerie, being used to living under a heavily travelled flight path. Harriet's husband, Michael, is in New York and unable to return home. He is also unable to find a decent hotel room in New York so decides to take the train to Toronto to visit his first love. Their son, Jack, left to his own devices finds himself getting in trouble with his friends by attending a wild party where the host dies under mysterious circumstances.
At the same time we also meet Yacub, a Pakistani migrant worker in Dubai who misses a transport home and is stuck without work or money in a labour camp, and Emily, a TV researcher in England who buries her father on the quiet day when no planes are flying overhead. Her adoptive father's death prompts her to restart looking for her birth mother - something she had avoided out of respect for him.
The rest of the action takes place in 2012 when Yacub, trying to escape Pakistan yet again stows away in the landing gear of a London bound plane and falls on to Harriet's car in the parking lot of a supermarket. Miraculously he survives and Harriet takes him in, at first hiding him from her family. Emily witnesses the falling man and in fact records it from her apartment window.
Over time the connections between all five characters are revealed - and not in the way I initially expected which was an interesting twist. I really liked all of the characters who are flawed but very human. I also enjoyed the brief sections which took place in Toronto since the characters frequented familiar places like the Boulevard Cafe and Pho Hung. I really recommend this book.
At the same time we also meet Yacub, a Pakistani migrant worker in Dubai who misses a transport home and is stuck without work or money in a labour camp, and Emily, a TV researcher in England who buries her father on the quiet day when no planes are flying overhead. Her adoptive father's death prompts her to restart looking for her birth mother - something she had avoided out of respect for him.
The rest of the action takes place in 2012 when Yacub, trying to escape Pakistan yet again stows away in the landing gear of a London bound plane and falls on to Harriet's car in the parking lot of a supermarket. Miraculously he survives and Harriet takes him in, at first hiding him from her family. Emily witnesses the falling man and in fact records it from her apartment window.
Over time the connections between all five characters are revealed - and not in the way I initially expected which was an interesting twist. I really liked all of the characters who are flawed but very human. I also enjoyed the brief sections which took place in Toronto since the characters frequented familiar places like the Boulevard Cafe and Pho Hung. I really recommend this book.
Thursday, July 24, 2014
Girl You Left Behind by JoJo Moyes
Though some of the plot lines were rather far fetched, I still enjoyed this book. It centres around a painting, "The Girl you Left Behind". The painting was a portrait by the artist, Edouard Lefevre, of his wife Sophie. It was painted just prior to World War I in Paris. When war breaks out, Edouard is drafted and Sophie returns to her home town to help her sister, whose husband has also gone to war, run their deceased parents inn and tavern. She also looks after her teenaged brother and her sister's small children.
The town has been occupied by the Germans who eventually commandeer the hotel, and Sophie, to prepare their nightly meals. The new Kommandant takes a particular interest in the painting and its subject. Desperate, she comes to trust him and offers up the painting, and herself, for a chance to see her husband one last time. Branded a traitor by the townspeople she is ferried away in a German truck and we do not find out what happened to her until the end of the book. Though she remains hopeful the Kommandant has arranged for her to see her husband, it seems more likely he is punishing her and sending her to a prison camp.
Almost a hundred years later Sophie's painting hangs in Liv Halston's home. She is the widow of a young and promising architect who had purchased it for her for a pittance in Barcelona shortly before he died. By chance she encounters Paul, a former police officer who now locates artwork stolen in wartime (primarily World War II) on behalf of the descendants of the original owners. And of course, coincidentally, he has been hired by Lefevre's descendants to locate and recover "The Girl you Left Behind" now that they are aware it is very valuable.
Liv risks everything to hold on to the painting - both because of the emotional attachment to her husband and because the more she finds out about Sophie the more she relates to her. Much of the book centres around Liv's efforts to prove she is the lawful owner of the painting and Paul's company's efforts (at first with his help and then without it) to show it belongs to the Lefevres. As they unearth the history of the painting there are flashbacks to what happened to Sophie after she was loaded into that transport truck. And people who knew her, or knew of her, tell their sides of the story.
The story comes to a very neat, though somewhat far fetched ending, but I still couldn't wait to find out more about Sophie's fate as the story unwound. I really liked both Sophie and Liv, and can't help but think they would have liked each other, and was very drawn into their stories.
The town has been occupied by the Germans who eventually commandeer the hotel, and Sophie, to prepare their nightly meals. The new Kommandant takes a particular interest in the painting and its subject. Desperate, she comes to trust him and offers up the painting, and herself, for a chance to see her husband one last time. Branded a traitor by the townspeople she is ferried away in a German truck and we do not find out what happened to her until the end of the book. Though she remains hopeful the Kommandant has arranged for her to see her husband, it seems more likely he is punishing her and sending her to a prison camp.
Almost a hundred years later Sophie's painting hangs in Liv Halston's home. She is the widow of a young and promising architect who had purchased it for her for a pittance in Barcelona shortly before he died. By chance she encounters Paul, a former police officer who now locates artwork stolen in wartime (primarily World War II) on behalf of the descendants of the original owners. And of course, coincidentally, he has been hired by Lefevre's descendants to locate and recover "The Girl you Left Behind" now that they are aware it is very valuable.
Liv risks everything to hold on to the painting - both because of the emotional attachment to her husband and because the more she finds out about Sophie the more she relates to her. Much of the book centres around Liv's efforts to prove she is the lawful owner of the painting and Paul's company's efforts (at first with his help and then without it) to show it belongs to the Lefevres. As they unearth the history of the painting there are flashbacks to what happened to Sophie after she was loaded into that transport truck. And people who knew her, or knew of her, tell their sides of the story.
The story comes to a very neat, though somewhat far fetched ending, but I still couldn't wait to find out more about Sophie's fate as the story unwound. I really liked both Sophie and Liv, and can't help but think they would have liked each other, and was very drawn into their stories.
Tuesday, July 22, 2014
Summer at the lake by Erica James
This is one of the most entertaining books I've read in a long time - by no means classic literature, but a good intriguing read. I think it was so enjoyable because the characters were flawed but really likeable.
The book starts when Floriana, a woman in her early thirties, gets a save the date card for her best friend Sebastian's wedding. The problem is Floriana has not seen Seb in two years - ever since she accused his fiancee of cheating on him and then declared that she loved him as more than a friend. He pulled away from her kiss and asked never to contact him again. Then he makes the first move - sending this hand written note.
Floriana is so distracted by it that she steps out on the street without looking and is hit by a car that then leaves the scene. The only witnesses to the scene are Adam, a property developer in his late 30s who has just purchased a house in the neighbourhood, and Esme, an eighty-two year old spinster who lives next door to the house Adam has just purchased. At Esme's insistence, the two follow Floriana to the hospital to ensure she is okay which becomes just the start of a strong, though unlikely, friendship.
At first Adam, who is very serious and somewhat depressed due to a recent break up, does not know what to make of either Floriana, a free spirited, easy going tour guide in Oxford, or Esme, who he at first mistakenly believes to be just a bored busy body. Over time he grows to respect both of them and they help him move on. More importantly, when Sebastian insists Floriana attend his wedding at Lake Como Adam is invited as her plus one. But the invitation is first proffered by Esme who anxious curious to return to Como where she went with her father as a teenager and fell in love for the first and only time with Marco, who as far as she knows followed his dream of becoming a priest.
Most of the interesting drama takes place in Como as Floriana must deal with her relationship with Sebastian, a verbal attack by his fiancee and her growing feelings for Adam, and all three search for Marco in the hopes that Esme will be able to see him one more time. I don't want to give away the end as it is not necessarily predictable and it is worth the read to find out.
The book starts when Floriana, a woman in her early thirties, gets a save the date card for her best friend Sebastian's wedding. The problem is Floriana has not seen Seb in two years - ever since she accused his fiancee of cheating on him and then declared that she loved him as more than a friend. He pulled away from her kiss and asked never to contact him again. Then he makes the first move - sending this hand written note.
Floriana is so distracted by it that she steps out on the street without looking and is hit by a car that then leaves the scene. The only witnesses to the scene are Adam, a property developer in his late 30s who has just purchased a house in the neighbourhood, and Esme, an eighty-two year old spinster who lives next door to the house Adam has just purchased. At Esme's insistence, the two follow Floriana to the hospital to ensure she is okay which becomes just the start of a strong, though unlikely, friendship.
At first Adam, who is very serious and somewhat depressed due to a recent break up, does not know what to make of either Floriana, a free spirited, easy going tour guide in Oxford, or Esme, who he at first mistakenly believes to be just a bored busy body. Over time he grows to respect both of them and they help him move on. More importantly, when Sebastian insists Floriana attend his wedding at Lake Como Adam is invited as her plus one. But the invitation is first proffered by Esme who anxious curious to return to Como where she went with her father as a teenager and fell in love for the first and only time with Marco, who as far as she knows followed his dream of becoming a priest.
Most of the interesting drama takes place in Como as Floriana must deal with her relationship with Sebastian, a verbal attack by his fiancee and her growing feelings for Adam, and all three search for Marco in the hopes that Esme will be able to see him one more time. I don't want to give away the end as it is not necessarily predictable and it is worth the read to find out.
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