The Ocean at the End of the Lane

I've just finished the most magical book. The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman perfectly captures the essence of childhood, with all of its memories and imaginings, dreams and nightmares, wonders and frustrations. It is a story like none other, and I can't possibly review it properly without ruining it for you, so I'll just reveal the following:

*To attend a funeral, a grown man returns to the place of his childhood.

*While sitting by his neighbor's pond a door to long-forgotten childhood memories opens.

*What he remembers is unbelievable, at least to a grown man.

I finished this book in a couple of hours, so plan your escape into The Ocean at the End of the Lane carefully.  No interruptions should be tolerated.

TBC

Divergent

WARNING:  If you choose to read this book, you will call in sick to work, laundry will pile up, children, husbands and pets will be forced to fend for themselves, houseplants will die...well, not really.  You'll be done with this book WAY before any real damage is done to home or career. You just might be a little sleep deprived, because once you start Divergent by Veronica Roth, you will not be able to stop.

The setting is post-apacalyptic Chicago. In order to ensure a balanced society, the people who are left have been organized into Factions according to their strengths. The Erudite seek knowledge, the Candor value truth, the Amity are peaceful, the Abnegation seek to be selfless and the Dauntless try always to be brave. It has been decided that a person can only belong to one faction, so at 16 the children are tested and must choose whether to stay in a faction that doesn't fit them, or leave their families forever to join another. For once you leave your faction you can never go back; you become factionless. But what happens if you have an aptitude for more than one faction?  What if you could fit in two or three? This is exactly what happens to Beatrice "Tris" Prior. She learns that she is considered Divergent, a skill feared by the powers that be. She must keep her test results a secret, or die. But WHY?? That is what Tris and you, dear reader, must discover.

I read a review that claimed this will be the next Hunger Games, and I completely agree.  Divergent is the first book of a trilogy, the second being Insurgent, which was also riveting! Allegiant, book #3, is available October 22nd, so read them fast before the movie comes out. Seriously, go read. Now.

TBC

A Literary Mash-Up

If you've been LOOKING FOR ME, I am under SIEGE from a MONSTROUS surplus of books I've read but not written a LETTER about.  I am living under the SHADOWS of my shirked responsibilities, so to feel carefree and YOUNG again I will say FAREWELL to my procrastination and begin with...

I ADORE D. E. Stevenson. She wrote endearing books with fascinating characters, and I think she would have been a kick to party with. But that's just a feeling I get. The Young Clementina tells the reader a story of love, betrayal and redemption in WWI England and beyond. The ending is rather abrupt, but I still loved it. Go forth and read her books.

Call the Midwife, Shadows of the Workhouse by Jennifer Worth.  I am a Call the Midwife groupie. I'm not sure why I find this subject and time period so interesting, but it probably has to do with the fact that I didn't have to experience it. So, after reading the first book in the series, I immediately ran out to buy the other two. They do not disappoint. And workhouses really sucked.

Call the Midwife, Farewell to the East End. I can hear you wailing, "Say it isn't so!!!" (Or maybe that's me.) Yes, this is the final book in the series. The PBS show has stayed pretty true to Jennifer Worth's memoirs, but I will have no problem if they expand into original material in the future. As long as they stay true to the originals. We want more Chummy and Sr. Monica Joan!!!

Mary Russell is back in Laurie R. King's A Montrous Regiment of Women. She has graduated from Oxford and is about to come into her inheritance, but the biggest development in this story is her relationship with Mr. Sherlock Holmes. Will she become more than his apprentice?? First she has to navigate the halls of the New Temple of God and discover if its charismatic and powerful leader is somehow involved in the suspicious deaths of several young heiresses. Can you spell CULT?

Which brings me to A Letter of Mary. This time Mary and Holmes are trying to deduce who killed an amateur archeologist soon after leaving an ancient scroll and mysterious box with said detectives for safekeeping. You'll never believe who wrote the letter on the scroll, so I won't tell you.  ha ha.  Anyway, I love King's books.  Read them please.

Siege and Storm by Leigh Bardugo continues the story of Alina and Mal and their fight against the Darkling and all the other creepy dudes threatening Ravka. Things aren't looking great for them at the end, but I'm sure it will all work out in the third book which had better be published sooner than later so I can find out how everything is resolved. I like happy endings.

Beth Hoffman rocks! She writes the most heartfelt books with such interesting and original characters. Looking for Me is about appreciating the beauty of life around you, whether it be furniture, people or Mother Nature, and to do it before it's too late. And you never know where a random act of kindness might lead you. Also, never give up hope. There's a lot going on in this book. Start reading!!

Phew. Back to reading, and it's a page turner! Be back soon...TBC

The Beekeeper's Apprentice

I am a Sherlock Holmes groupie. I'm hankering for the return of CBS's Elementary and BBC's Sherlock, and I've read everything that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle had to offer, but lucky for me the world of books is filled with stories of Sherlock and his crime solving capers.  So, to paraphrase the great detective, "Come, reader, come!  The game is afoot!"

The Beekeeper's Apprentice by Laurie R. King takes up the story of a retired Sherlock Holmes living quietly with his bees in the country.  When a teen-aged neighbor girl literally stumbles upon him as he's studying his pollen-laden friends, he is intrigued by her obvious intelligence and eccentricity.  (She was dressed as a boy, after all.)  Against all the social norms of 1915 England, he takes young Mary Russell under his wing and proceeds to teach her everything he can about his unique methods of detection. She is a quick study, and is soon off to Oxford University.  But Sherlock has many enemies with long memories, and both he and Mary find themselves in mortal peril.  Can they solve the puzzle and uncover their devious adversary, or will said foe succeed in putting Sherlock Holmes in permanent retirement?

The Beekeeper's Apprentice was published in 1994.  Laurie R. King is my new best friend, because 11 more Mary Russell books follow the first!!!  I love it when I find a great series.

And now for a little bit of "Holmes Humor":

“Holmes and Watson are on a camping trip. In the middle of the night Holmes wakes up and gives Dr. Watson a nudge. "Watson" he says, "look up in the sky and tell me what you see."

"I see millions of stars, Holmes," says Watson.

"And what do you conclude from that, Watson?"

Watson thinks for a moment. "Well," he says, "astronomically, it tells me that there are millions of galaxies and potentially billions of planets. Astrologically, I observe that Saturn is in Leo. Horologically, I deduce that the time is approximately a quarter past three. Meterologically, I suspect that we will have a beautiful day tomorrow. Theologically, I see that God is all-powerful, and we are small and insignficant. Uh, what does it tell you, Holmes?"

"Watson, you idiot! Someone has stolen our tent!” 
― Thomas Cathcart, Daniel Klein

The Distant Hours

A deteriorating castle protecting one family's secrets.  Elderly spinster twins and their demented little sister.  A letter lost for 50 years finally delivered.  These are just a few of the threads that make up the gothic tapestry of The Distant Hours by Kate Morton.

Edie Burchill and her mother Meredith did not have what could be considered a warm and fuzzy relationship.  Meredith didn't encourage shared confidences, and Edie was reluctant to disrupt the fragile orderliness of her parent's household. When a letter to Meredith is finally delivered half a century after it was posted, cracks in the wall of her self-protection begin to appear, and Edie begins to understand her mother's past. But it is the unexpected discovery of Milderhurst Castle that sets Edie on a shadowy and twisted path back to the events of 1941, a path which leads to mystery, mayhem and redemption.

Deliciously descriptive and delightfully ghoulish,  The Distant Hours pulses with an undercurrent of physical and mental decay. I loved the combination of mystery, romance and history all wrapped up in a gothic package.  So, read The Distant Hours.  It's a creepy treat!

TBC

Call the Midwife

Depressed over the finale of Downton Abbey?  Seaching for something uniquely British to fill the gap until next January?  Look no further than your local PBS station for Call the Midwife.

Yes, Call the Midwife is a show on PBS, but it started out as a series of books by Jennifer Worth.  Call the Midwife,  Shadows of the Workhouse, and Farewell to the East End chronicle Jennifer's own experiences as a midwife in 1950's London.  But she didn't work in any old part of London, she worked in the poor and war-torn East End.  I don't think any of us could imagine the conditions in which most families lived at this time and in this place.  Populated with dock workers, laborers and their extended families, many of the worst tenements had no running water, and everyone in the building shared an outhouse.  The newer terraced homes had their own bathrooms, but every home was jam-packed with adults and children. Just twenty-two when she started, Jennifer Worth and her fellow midwives rode their bikes all over the East End sharing the joys and heartbreaks of their grateful patients.  Oh, I forgot to mention that she lived in a convent of Episcopalian nuns who were also midwives.  They tend to steal the show and the stories in the book. Oh, Sister Monica Joan, how I love thee!

I have seen all of the episodes of Call the Midwife on either pbs.org or Netflix.  I have only read the first book in the trilogy, but look forward to the next two.  The series follows the stories and characters in the books very well, with some interesting embellishments. I love it all, and can't wait for the next season.  Hope you agree...TBC

I Suck at Girls

Justin Halpern is at it again!  I Suck at Girls is the sequel to the brilliant Sh*t My Dad Says, and if you haven't read THAT you are missing out on mucho hilarity.  Now, you must be prepared for a certain amount of colorful language and junior high humor, so, if that is not your thing I completely understand.  However, if you are willing to temporarily suspend your high-falutin' standards read them both TODAY!!

Justin Halpern grew up in San Diego.  His dad is a brilliant scientist with little patience for moronic behavior, especially in his son.  Being prone to said behavior, Justin grew up with regular words of wisdom from his no-nonsense dad.  After he graduated from San Diego State, worked as a struggling screenwriter/waiter in LA, got dumped by his girlfriend and moved back home, he started sharing his dad's sage words on a twitter account.  Before he knew it he had 500,000 followers, a book and a TV deal. That he was lucky is an understatement, and he owes it all to the crazy things his dad says.  For example:

     "I was nine years old and crouching in the corner of the bathroom with my pants around my
      ankles, trying to pee into a water balloon. The idea was to throw the pee-filled balloon at my
      brothers in revenge for their merciless bouts of picking on me.  Then, suddenly, the door
      opened revealing my father.  I froze in fear, the water balloon attached to my privates.  My
      dad stared in silence for a moment, then said, 'First of all, you can't fill up a water balloon
      like that, dumb*!#!.  Secondly, life is f@#$%*# long, especially if you're stupid.'"

No truer words were ever said. Don't be stupid. Read I Suck at Girls. TBC