Book Review: Bel Canto

November 11, 2006

In this novel by Ann Patchett, terrorists in a South American country storm a birthday dinner in search of the country's president. Instead of the president, they take hostage a group of 38 businessmen and diplomats from various countries, a famous opera singer whom everyone is in love with, and a translator. Over the course of several months, hostages and terrorists live together in their own world, forgetting the outside world and at times wishing that captivity would last forever. An excellent read. I'm adding Patchett's other novels to my reading list!

Book Review: The Memory Keeper's Daughter

November 5, 2006

My friend Caroline told me she had an absolutely wonderful book for me to read and gave me 6 days in which to read it before she had to return it to her sister. Now, 6 days doesn't seem an unreasonable amount of time to read a book, but lately I seem to have developed narcolepsy, and I usually manage about 10 pages per night. But The Memory Keeper's Daughter (by Kim Edwards) definitely kept me awake and mesmerized. This is the story of a doctor who delivers his own twins on a winter night. His firstborn, a son, is perfectly healthy, but the girl is born with Down's syndrome. Neither he nor his wife knew that they were expecting twins, and he makes a split-second decision to "spare" his wife by giving the baby girl to the nurse. And the story goes from there...(and yes, I finished it in 6 days!)

Book Review: The Portuguese Irregular Verbs series

October 18, 2006


I have finally, finally finished reading this series of incredibly short novels by Alexander McCall Smith which includes Portuguese Irregular Verbs, The Finer Points of Sausage Dogs, and At the Villa of Reduced Circumstances. I don't know why it took me so long to get through these books. I guess I'd have to say that, as much as I like McCall Smith, these books just weren't riveting enough to keep me from falling asleep during my allotted evening reading time. The middle one was definitely the best and had some hilarious, laugh-outloud scenes; but on the whole, I just couldn't quite bond with a German professor of philology as much as I could Mme Ramotswe in the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series.

Book Review: Celia's House

September 27, 2006


Back in January when I compiled my annual "Books to Read" list, Tia suggested this book by D. E. Stevenson. I believe she said that the book was the inspiration for naming her daughter Celia (and I know she'll put me straight if I'm recalling that mistakenly). And she is so right. This is an absolutely wonderful book (please ignore the sappy cover on the amazon.com link--it makes the book look like a cheesy romance novel, which it is not). It's been a long time since I've read something so darn happy (but not happy in a goofy sort of way). I used to read novels like this all the time but have drifted toward more contemporary works in the past decade. This was a happy return, and I know I'll check out more of Stevenson's novels. Thanks, Tia!

Book Review: A Murder for Her Majesty

September 14, 2006

This book by Beth Hilgartner is our first Sonlight 7 (World History, Part 2) read-aloud, and, as usual with Sonlight's reading list, was phenomenal. This was one of those many books that the kids screamed, "NO! Read more!" when I finished a chapter and closed the book. The story takes place during the Elizabethan era in York and centers on a young girl who, having witnessed the murder of her father, flees to York and ends up disguised as a boy in the cathedral choir. The mystery itself is surrounded by details of life in York during this time period. I love starting the year off with a book like this; it leaves the kids hungry for the next one.

Book Review: Portrait in Sepia

September 11, 2006

Portrait in Sepia is the third book by Isabel Allende that spans a few generations of a Chilean family. (Apparently and unknowingly, I skipped over the middle book, House of Spirits, but I did read the first one, Daughter of Fortune. I didn't know that I was reading a continuation of Daughter of Fortune when I picked this up; I just had Allende on my "to-read" list. I wish I'd read the middle book before this one.) Allende is an excellent writer. Her characters are extremely well-formed and compelling. Some of the subject matter is tough at times, but the whole time period is fascinating to me. I know very little about Chilean history or about the experience of Chilean immigrants in California in the 1800s, so the book intrigued me from a historical perspective as well. I will go back and read the middle one for sure.

Book Review: 44 Scotland Street

September 11, 2006

I think I would enjoy anything by Alexander McCall-Smith. While waiting for the first book in his Sunday Philosophy Club series to come available at our library, I picked up 44 Scotland Street. This is very different than the Ladies' No. 1 Detective Series, but very enjoyable. I absolutely liked the Ladies' No. 1 series better, but I did find the characters in 44 Scotland Street very compelling and funny. I had a funny dream during the weekend in which I was reading this book. In the dream I was accused of being an intellectual snob, and I totally attribute this dream to a character in the book, who forces her 5-year-old son to learn Italian and play the saxophone because she considers him an intellectual genius. I look forward to reading the next one in the series, Espresso Cafe (I think), to find out what happens with this child prodigy and his horrible mother!