Book Review: The Violets of March

I wish I knew whom to credit with suggesting this novel by Sarah Jio. I absolutely loved it! It isn't anything earth-shattering nor headed for classic lit status, but The Violets of March was beautifully written and mesmerizing.

In her 20s, Emily Wilson was a best-selling author with a husband formerly on the "most desirable bachelors" list. Now in her 30s, she is a one-hit wonder author who is about to sign divorce papers. She has no idea what to do to reclaim her life until she receives a postcard from her Aunt Bee, requesting that she come to Bainbridge Island in Washington. Emily hasn't been to the family's summer spot in years, but she is hit with memories of the idyllic times she spent on the island with her aunt.

Emily commits to spending a month on the island, and on her first night, she finds an old diary. She doesn't know who wrote it, but the story captivates her. In the evenings she reads the diary, but during the day she finds that the island people, including her own family, hold a trove of secrets. She also meets and old love and possibly finds a new one.

This is just a lovely little book with all the right ingredients: family secrets, a mystery, romance, and great writing. I added several Sarah Jio books to my TBR list after reading this!

Book Review: Tea-Olive Bird-Watching Society

I once read a post by a blogger listing all the things on his no-no list about posting reviews, and one of them was: "Starting a review with 'I really wanted to like this book.'" He went on to say that we all want to like a book—that's why we read them, right?

But here's the thing: some books we want to like more than others. Some books we have some kind of personal relationship with before reading—it's on all the best-seller lists, your friend recommended it with highest praise, etc. Or, in this case, it's your book club's next book.

So, I really wanted to like  Tea-Olive Bird-Watching Society by Augusta Trobaugh. I want to either love a book club book, or I want to hate it. Either way makes for great discussion. But this one? I don't really have a lot to say about it, certainly nothing passionate.

Tea-Olive is the tiny southern town. The bird-watching society party, a group of widowed or never-married women, was never developed much beyond the first couple of chapters and the mention of a bird sanctuary. It is in this sanctuary where the ladies spy on their newly married friend, who is in a terrible, abusive relationship with her thieving new husband. Right off the bat, I had a hard time identifying with the characters, who were all named from hymnals: Sweet Bye-and-Bye, Beulah Land, Marching to Zion. They automatically seemed goofy with such names.

I predict, however, that this book will be a big hit with my book club. It's cute. It's portrayal of domestic violence is polite—enough to make the reader sympathize with Sweet, but not so graphic that we feel outraged or contaminated. In fact, the whole book is too polite for my taste, too unrealistic.

If you liked the Miss Julia books by Ann Ross, I recommend this one for sure.

The Sunday Salon: August and September in Review

Books Read in August or September
The Invisible Bridge by Julie Orringer: "This novel is simply brilliant, although there is nothing simple about it."
The Healing by Jonathan O'Dell: "If you liked such novels as The Help and The Kitchen House, you'll love The Healing!"
Blue Diary by Alice Hoffman: "if you can handle a grisly murder and the frightening possibility that we aren't who we say we are, you should read it."
The Lost Saints of Tennessee by Amy Franklin-Willis: "Author Amy Franklin-Willis knows tiny towns in Tennessee, but rather than make her characters fat, dumb, and full of snappy comebacks—which happens all too often in books about the south (as opposed to Southern Lit), she made them real."
Imperfect Birds by Anne Lamott: "Some books are so hard to read, not because they are poorly written or tedious but because the subject matter is just plain frightening."
The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne: Multiple re-read. Taught this to my American Lit class in September.
The Midwife of Hope River by Patricia Harmon (not yet reviewed)

Best Books of the Months
August: The Invisible Bridge by Julie Orringer
September:  Imperfect Birds by Anne Lamott 

Currently Reading:
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (multiple re-read for American Lit class)
Tea-Olive Bird-Watching Society by Augusta Trobaugh

Movies-from-Books Watched:
The Scarlet Letter: Excellent movie version of the book! My students found it hilarious in some ways, but they had a great time watching it.


Added to My Ever-Growing TBR List
The Casual Vacancy by JK Rowling
The Quilt Walk by Sandra Dallas
Love Anthony by Lisa Genova
Slaves, Women & Homosexuals by William J. Webb

Book Review: Imperfect Birds

Some books are so hard to read, not because they are poorly written or tedious but because the subject matter is just plain frightening. David Sheff's Beautiful Boy —a memoir of his son's meth addition—comes to mind. Anne Lamott's Imperfect Birds, though a novel rather than a memoir, had the same effect on me, that uneasy mix of "there but for the grace of God" and "what do I really know?" (And, to be honest in full realization that this is illogical thinking, "whew! I'm glad I am not raising kids in California!")

Elizabeth knows her 17-year-old daughter, Rosie, isn't perfect. Rosie has toyed with all kinds of typical teenage things: drugs, drinking, partying, sex. But Rosie's grades are fantastic and she always reassures Elizabeth that those were things she "tried once," but never again. Rosie convinces her parents that they are way off track whenever they express suspicions about her behavior. Elizabeth believes that she herself is way too suspicious and even borderline crazy. She tells herself that her own battle with alcohol and prescription meds makes her an ultra-vigilant, overprotective, suspicious parent.

Elizabeth doesn't trust her own instincts and continues to bury her fears, and Rosie's drug use continues to escalate. This isn't a shocking, "that could never happen to us" novel. Elizabeth and James are regular parents, trying to figure out the balance between being authoritative and permissive. Rosie is a master manipulator, and yet the reader always really likes her and is even lured into believing her—just as her parents do.

Lamott is a beautiful, insightful writer and a wonderful storyteller. If you have teenagers, this book will probably scare you and leave you wondering what kind of secret life your own teens have. Highly recommended.

Book Review: The Lost Saints of Tennessee

This was one of those books I pulled off the "to be shelved" shelves in the library—the first place I always check at the library. Living in Tennessee, I was attracted by the title. Books about Southerners can go either way: they can be unbelievably beautiful, or unbelievably stereotypical and tacky.

The Lost Saints of Tennessee definitely is not on the tacky end of the scale. Author Amy Franklin-Willis knows tiny towns in Tennessee, but rather than make her characters fat, dumb, and full of snappy comebacks—which happens all too often in books about the south (as opposed to Southern Lit), she made them real.

Zeke Cooper is a sad middle-aged man who had never recovered from his twin brother's death. His ex-wife recently remarried, his daughters are drifting away from him, he is utterly estranged from his mother, and he feels like an utter failure. He just can't figure out why he should go on living. But his suicide attempt is thwarted, and he tries a different angle.

After his failed suicide, Zeke drives from Tennessee to his cousin's house in Virginia, where he spent a happy semester while he was in college. It is there that Zeke finds healing, reconciliation, and redemption.

Much of the story takes place in flashbacks to Zeke's high school years, through both his mother's eyes and through Zeke's point of view. I loved the whole story of Zeke and his brother Carter and how different the stories are from the two points of view.

This is the author's first novel, and I look forward to what she has next.

Book Review: Blue Diary

Why haven't I read more Alice Hoffman? She's a prolific writer, and I have loved everything I have read so far, but somehow she just isn't on my radar. I need to change that.

Recently a friend said that I must read Hoffman's The Dovekeepers. It was checked out at the library, so I pulled  Blue Diary off the shelf instead. And wow! Alice Hoffman can tell a story. First off, this is a slightly gory and pretty disturbing book; but if you can handle a grisly murder and the frightening possibility that we aren't who we say we are, you should read it.

Ethan Ford is the town's sweetheart. Everyone loves him. He rescues kids from burning houses, coaches Little League like no one else, is incredibly handsome, and is madly in love with his wife and son. And then his face shows up on America's Most Wanted one evening, and everything changes instantly. Who is Ethan Ford? And did he really do it?

The novel mainly focuses on Jori and Collie, his wife and son, as they try to figure out the truth—and if there can possibly be two truths. Or one Ethan. Or  no Ethan. And can you—must you—keep loving someone who may or may not exist?

Highly recommended but definitely a bit grisly.

Book Review: The Healing

My friend Julie, who ranks high on the coolness factor, said I must read this book ASAP. Amazingly, I had "go to library" on my to-do list for that day, went to the library, and actually found the book on the shelf! It was a very good library day.

Jonathan O'Dell's The Healing is a can't-put-it-down kind of book. The story flashes between old Granny Satterfield and an orphan girl she inherits, and Granny's life as a slave, first as a pet to the grief-stricken, crazed landowner's wife and then as the plantation's reluctant healer.


Old Granny tells the traumatized orphan girl the story of her life in bits and pieces, hoping to bring healing to her through words and connections. Old Granny was torn from her mother's arms as a newborn at the demand of her mistress, whose own daughter had just died. Mistress dresses the girl, whom she names Granada, in her dead daughter's outfits and keeps her by her side. She doesn't love Granada but needs her as some sort of comfort item or plaything. The mistress also insists on keeping a monkey as a pet, and she becomes a laughingstock of the community, with her slave girl dressed in frills and her pet monkey climbing on her shoulders.

The young Granada, however, is convinced that the mistress sees her as a daughter. She is bewildered and horrified when she is yanked from her comfortable life in the big house to become the new healer's apprentice. The master purchases Polly Shine to cure his slaves of a terrible disease, and Polly immediately sees a kindred spirit in Granada. She insist on having her as a helper, and Granada's life becomes a nightmare. She does learn from Polly, in spite of herself, but her obstinate nature causes more than one disaster.

As Granny narrates her stories to the orphan girl, she finds healing in herself and release from the burden of the poor choices she made during her days as Polly Shine's apprentice.

If you liked such novels as The Help and The Kitchen House, you'll love The Healing! Highly recommended.