Book #47: The Mermaid Chair

Nothing beats the feeling of a good read. Well almost nothing. A feeling that would rival it is finding out that the author of said good read, has written another one (or two!) and you didn't even know about it!

It was how I came to add The Mermaid Chair by Sue Monk Kidd to my bookshelf. Years ago I had utterly devoured and thoroughly enjoyed - yes, the book was as sweet as honey itself - The Secret Life of Bees. In fact, it has been so long ago that I may just have to put it on the TBre-read pile. But I hadn't realised Kidd had another book to her name, and after seeing it on a fellow book blogger's site - thank you Lucy at The Secret Life of Books (how apt is the name of her blog!) - it immediately went to the top of the pile.

The Mermaid Chair is very different to The Secret Life of Bees. It's the story of Jessie Sullivan, a mother, wife, daughter, friend and woman who is desperately seeking that extra 'something'. And, as the opening line of the story reveals, she finds it in a rather unusual place:

"In the middle of my marriage, when I was above all Hugh's wife and Dee's mother, one of those unambiguous women with no desire to disturb the universe, I fell in love with a Benedictine monk."
p1, Prologue, The Mermaid Chair

Jessie finds her Benedictine monk on Egret Island, the place she grew up in and the place she returns to in order to look after her increasingly frail - and slightly disturbed - mother. But it's also here that she returns to memories of her childhood and discovers the truth about an event that shaped much of her younger years.

It's an easy read, but not one I'd place high on my list of books I've most enjoyed. I got a little frustrated with what I deemed to be the selfish acts of Jessie, but then perhaps in a voyage of self-discovery one needs to put themselves first. I just didn't enjoy the fact that in doing so she was hurting loved ones around her.

This is the only catch with finding another book written by an author who's work you've already enjoyed. Can they live up to expectations? Produce another novel that captures you in the same way their previous one did?

Which authors have done that for you?

A lesson learned... and Books #34,35 & 36: Dakota Trilogy

If ever I was going to get a lesson on the implications of picking up the first book in a trilogy, then this was it! This year's Easter Weekend was spent on the beautiful, idyllic, and rather quaint island of Salt Spring, in the Gulf Islands off the BC mainland, Canada.

Lonely Planet

 We stayed at Between the Covers, a book lovers B&B, that suited me perfectly. Shelves of books, piles of books, windowsills of books - which one was I to choose?

 It turned out, that of all the books on offer in our "Fiction Room", Dakota Born, by Debbie Macomber caught my eye, particularly when I noticed it was the first in a trilogy. [I have signed up to the 1st in a series challenge hosted by A Few More Pages, and had yet to make a start!]

It turned out to be a dangerous choice. I was instantly hooked - and when a book reels me in like that, I can't get enough of it. Nor could I get enough of book number two, or three for that matter!

Set in the North Dakota prairie town of Buffalo Valley, the Dakota Trilogy is the story of a town that is dying. Shops are boarded up, families are moving away, and very few members of the younger generation want to stay in 'small town USA', instead seeking the excitement of city lights further away.

Enter, Lyndsay Snyder. A girl from the big city, who's looking to head in the opposite direction. She wants to escape the big city, and with family ties to Buffalo Valley, takes up the position of teacher at the local high school. So begins Dakota Born, the story of Lyndsay, what she offers Buffalo Valley, and what Buffalo Valley offers her.

It's a sweet story. Relatively predictable - you know she's eventually going to end up with her handsome beau - but you can't quite work out what she's going to encounter along the way, which is why I couldn't put it down.

I was hoping the second book would continue in the same vein, however, it instead tells the story of another new Buffalo Valley resident. Although slightly disappointed to begin with, I realised that Debbie Macomber's approach worked. Lyndsay's story had already been told, so it was someone else's turn in #2: Dakota Home. Ditto in #3: Always Dakota.


I've since had my fill of Macomber's Dakota residents, which takes me back to a blogging discussion about the perfect length of a series, and I'd have to say a trilogy is it for me. So if you're looking for an easy read, one that will capture you hook, line, and sinker - then I'd definitely recommend the Dakota Trilogy.

My new favourite author... Book #22: One Sunday Morning

Amy Ephron is, without a doubt, my new favourite author! It's a wonderful feeling coming across a new author that just captures you - I can't get enough of her work! Granted there are many wonderful authors out there, and I have been fortunate enough to read their works, but every now and then, one comes along that ticks all the boxes, and for me right now - that's Ephron.

My introduction to Ephron was A Cup of Tea. The very book I was going to borrow from the library, yet managed to read before I'd even got my library card out, let alone issued the books and left the building. But One Sunday Morning I did manage to get into the library bag, home, and read... quite fittingly, on one Sunday morning.

Set in 1920s New York - that in itself is hard to beat! - this story is of a group of women, who one Sunday morning while meeting over a game of bridge, happen to look out of the window, only to see one of the single elite in the city leaving the hotel with a fiancé of their friend. To tell or not to tell? The problem is - do they know the whole story of what really went on? Although the women make a pact not to tell what they have just seen, emotions run high, morality is tested, and a secret can no longer be kept.

I should really have used this as a Friday book beginning with an opening like this:
"She never did understand what it meant to be proper," said Betsy Owen as she turned away from the window in a sweeping motion as though her skirt alone propelled her across the floor. And there it was, in that one understated sentence, an indictment of all that Lizzy Carswell had ever hoped to be and an acknowledgement that there was a story behind the seemingly innocent act they had all witnessed."
p1: One Sunday Morning, by Amy Ephron

I just love the way Ephron captures so much in so few pages, never overwhelming the reader with too much information, nor leaving them desperate for more. She has this incredible ability to provide enough description that sets the scene, yet allows you to feel as if you're sitting there one Sunday morning holding a handful of cards.

My love affair with Ephron has only just begun, but I'm sure it's going to endure the test of time!

This one gets five stars... Book #20: A Cup of Tea

A few weeks ago, I ventured to my local library to peruse the shelves for favourite authors, interesting book jackets and something new that would tickle my fancy. Well it wasn’t hard to find!

On that day, I came across an author I had never heard of, let alone read, before – Amy Ephron. The three books of hers that were sitting on the shelves were small, dainty, and wonderfully inviting.

So much so, that only two came home with me that day – the third, I’d read before even leaving the library. Just 200 pages in length, A Cup of Tea, is set in New York (1917). The story of well-to-do socialite, Rosemary Fell, who not lacking in social privileges, money, a handsome fiancé or status in the Big Apple, takes a lone woman on the street home for a cup of tea one wet afternoon.

The story then becomes one of the street woman, Eleanor Smith, who after meeting Rosemary - and Rosemary’s fiancé (yes, such eye contact does indeed spell trouble!) – she begins working in a hat shop, the very same hat shop that is making Rosemary’s wedding attire. As war impacts on the people of New York, so too does this impromptu act of daring kindness impact on Rosemary, who finds herself caught in a love triangle that doesn’t promise a happy ending.

I was absolutely captivated by this book – hence finishing it before even getting my library card out! It was a simple, but incredibly clever story, written succinctly but without ever losing pace or plot. There was enough description of characters, feelings, environments and tension without endless details, and before I knew it I was swept up in both Rosemary and Eleanor’s lives.

I’ve since learnt that A Cup of Tea was Ephron’s national bestseller, which spent 37 weeks on the LA Times bestsellers list and has since been bought by film producer Jerry Bruckheimer. It also won the 2005 Southern California Booksellers Association award for fiction, received the Booklist Best Fiction of the Year 2005 award and was a Barnes and Noble Book Club selection – thanks Wikipedia!

I haven’t tended to rate books since blogging, but this one definitely gets 5 stars!

A nice glass of wine... and Book #15: Good in Bed

Chick lit is a bit like wine – I can only go without it for so long, then I have a desperate craving for a satisfying glass of rich velvety merlot. I’d been without some decent chick lit for a while, so as I was walking home from town one afternoon I decided to stop by my neighbourhood thrift shop to see what was on their shelves.

I have to admit, I did feel a little guilty as I ignored books by authors of repute, but then I decided I’d just make up for it another day and perhaps devour some classics (that day has yet to arrive – but I’m sure it will eventually!)

On this day, however, I walked away with Good in Bed by Jennifer Weiner. She was a new chick lit author for me, but having perused around the blog’o’sphere of late, I’ve noticed her name appearing a few times, mainly with good reviews. I was onto a winner... or so I thought.

But to be honest, it was just a bit naff. Cannie Shapiro is slightly overweight it seems, has a rather strained relationship with her mother, no relationship whatsoever with her father, has a great job as an entertainment journalist, but has just been dumped by her boyfriend who is now writing about “Loving a Larger Woman” for a national women’s magazine.

Ok – so this book wasn’t going to challenge the brain cells, but then what chick lit does? And isn’t that why we love it? For some escapism? Some guilt-free, indulgence?

Good in Bed however, was like a tart shiraz, rather than a rich merlot. A little bitter, not all that enjoyable, but you’ve just bought a glass that’s now sitting in front of you, so you’re going to get through it anyway. I thought Weiner could have made Cannie a stronger character, given her a bit more life, a bit more colour – she was just rather bland. I guess the story was relatively realistic (apart from meeting a Hollywood star crying in the toilets then becoming BFF), but I don’t want realistic in chick lit – I want love, romance, fantasy and dreams coming true. I want to be swept away with my glass of merlot in hand to savour every mouthful.

That will teach me – next time, perhaps I’d better reach for the classics after all!

One for a challenge... or two, and Book #13: Four Wives

Not quite sure why I added this book to my bookshelf. I’d picked Four Wives up from the bargain book table in Chapters on numerous visits and always put it back down again. But on this particular day it was the best of the bunch. (I’ve since learnt to only take a look at said bargain table once a week – that allows a few good bargains to stockpile between visits).

An easy plot – four wives, living in beautiful homes, with successful, financially secure husbands, manicured lawns – and nails - superb shoe collections, delightful children, and the time to devote to good causes (while the maid does the washing, the laundry, the cleaning ... you get the picture). The twist here is that life isn’t always what it seems, but isn’t that always the case!

However, I found Four Wives to be a bit weak in delivering these twists. None of the “crises” each woman faced seemed to be particularly earth-shattering (at least not for a storyline anyway), but by having four central characters each with their own exposé to bring to a close, it meant I had to keep reading chapter after chapter to see what happened to each of them. That could be misinterpreted as being a real page-turner, but in fact, it was a book I just wanted to get to the end of – and to know the conclusion of. Once reached, job was done, and book number 13 was ticked off the list.


But it hasn’t all been a waste of time. Cover Love’s February cover colour was Blue so Four Wives has been added to one of my many challenges! That's now two months down, ten to go! Next colour is sour mandarin (orange) for March.

It was also my "something blue" for LazyGirl Reads Mini Challenge.

My favourite flavour of ice cream and Book #12: The Vineyard

You know that feeling when you walk into an ice cream shop, confronted with all those new and delicious flavours, only to walk out again with your tried and true favourite? (It’s caramel ripple for me by the way!). Well, the same can be said about me and books. I can walk into a library, a bookstore, or a thrift shop and almost always walk out with an author I know, leaving behind so many new, unread, authors awaiting me on the shelves.

Couldn't decide which flavour!

However, on this particular day, I broke tradition, stepped out of my comfort zone, and reached for a new author – Barbara Delinksy! Why had I not sampled her goods earlier? She is fantastic! In The Vineyard, Delinksy gave me a love story, history, family saga, and a happy ending. The perfect combination!

Olivia is the focal point of this novel, a single mother to dyslexic daughter Tess, struggling to make ends meet and looking for a new job as a photo restorer. As summer approaches, Olivia finds herself writing the story of Natalie, a 70-year-old woman and matriarch of a vineyard on Rhode Island. No mean feat as Olivia overcame dyslexia herself. Yet, as Olivia uncovers Natalie’s family secrets, childhood love, and bridges the relationship between mother and daughter, she herself finds love and a new life for her and Tess.

It’s a simple story and could so easily have been rather dull, but Delinsky has added enough twists and turns, characters and plots within the book itself that it holds its own, and although the ending may be rather predictable, it’s what I was hoping for – so I wasn’t disappointed!

Now I know, that each time I step inside a bookshop or library I’ll be looking for work by an extra author, surname beginning with D.

Friday favourite: Open, by Andre Agassi

I don’t tend to read much non-fiction. I excuse it by saying my addiction to news sites around the globe is non-fiction enough, so a book allows me to escape into another world entirely. When it comes to (auto)biographies, I could probably count the number I have read on one hand, but that’s not to say I don’t enjoy them.

Andre Agassi’s biography was one such read. Recommended to me by a friend who said “It’s surprisingly good”, Open suddenly became passed around family members, friends, and neighbours. The title of his autobiography is very apt, for throughout the book, Agassi is completely and utterly open. He recounts his childhood, his relationship with his parents and siblings; tennis games, coaches, camps, and academies; travel, international competitions and family.

He recalls a time when his father was looking to buy a new house. It seemed his only criterion was that there was space in the backyard for a tennis court. Measuring tape in hand, he would walk through the house to the back garden to determine how much space – or lack of – there was. No viewing of the kitchen, lounge or bedrooms would take place if the backyard was too small.

Agassi also spoke of his time on the tennis circuit. At times, crippled with pain, he would spend his nights on the floor - the only way he could get a decent sleep in preparation for the game ahead. He talks about his evaluation and strategies of opponents, and his own mental challenges he had to fight so hard against in his head.

To become a World Number 1 in a sport, you have to be a certain kind of person – and Agassi’s own personality certainly comes through here. He’s open and frank, tells the reader what he thinks and makes no excuses for his behaviour. He’s arrogant yet admirable, stubborn yet sensitive – and despite at times being left frustrated by his seemingly carefree approach to those around him, I am left with a sense of wonder at what this man has achieved.

Friday favourite: Tuesdays with Morrie

Whether surprisingly or not, my younger brother and I have similar tastes:  we both have a sweet tooth, like travelling, hunting and watching Top Gear, listening to Tom Petty (although that’s where our musical similarities end) and we have been known to take to the road on two wheel bikes, training for various levels of endurance races.  There’s a difference of two years and about six inches between us, but despite the advantage he has over me in height, he will always remain my little brother.

When it comes to literary tastes – we don’t necessarily read the same books. I’ve yet to see him pick up a Jackie Collins or a Marian Keyes, and I in turn haven’t quite managed to make my way through Nelson Mandela’s extensive biography or Bill Bryson’s Down Under (although chances of me reading these before little bro reads Marian Keyes is probably much higher!). Yet, without fail, a birthday or Christmas present in the mail is in the shape of a book – and to be on the safe side, it’s usually a Lonely Planet Guidebook.

But for my 28^th birthday – as I was jetsetting off to celebrate it in the 28^th country I had visited (that was a challenge in itself!) – stowed away in my hand luggage was little bro’s birthday present to me: Tuesdays with Morrie, by Mitch Albom.

“It’s pretty good,” was all he had said of this book, and yes I had heard much about it, but never knowingly understood what it was all about. I can only say that for once I was incredibly grateful for an uncivilised, early morning Easyjet flight from Gatwick where it was guaranteed that every other passenger would be fast asleep – because while reading Tuesdays with Morrie I was crying my eyes out. The tears couldn’t seem to fall fast enough down my cheeks as I turned page after page as we flew across the English Channel and over Europe, enroute to Copenhagen.

As such, Tuesdays with Morrie, in which Albom shares life’s lessons he has learned from his dying professor, is now firmly cemented on my most favourite of bookshelves and there it will stay until I have the strength and the supply of tissues I need to pick it up again.

Book #8: Tinkers

I am never again going to feel guilty about picking up a little book – if Tinkers is anything to go by, it’s the little ones that take the longest. Not a bad thing when one is enjoying it. Unfortunately, my head just wasn’t in the right space for this one. As I daydreamed about shopping lists, what I was going to cook for dinner and who I must remember to email, several pages had been turned and I hadn’t taken a word in.

Just as one can be in the right place at the wrong time, I guess the same can be said about the right book being read at the wrong time. But it’s happened to me before. I remember picking up a Philippa Gregory book, recommended by a friend of mine – and her mother – who both thoroughly enjoyed it. No matter how many times I picked it up and put it down, I couldn’t get into it. Almost ten years later and I couldn’t put it down, reading it from cover to cover in an afternoon!

In between my daydreams, I realised Tinkers was quite a lovely story – sad, but beautiful. As a man lies dying with friends and family around him, and the tick tock of clocks he’s repaired over the years, he hallucinates and experiences memories of his father’s childhood, centred around the dark world of epilepsy. It provided an interesting insight into this condition, and the “madness” so many families tried to keep hidden.

Tinkers will definitely go on my bookshelf, to be read again in years to come, and truly appreciated for what it’s worth. For now though, it's on husband's bedside table to see if he can make more sense of it!

Book #7: Snow Falling on Cedars

When one reads book reviews, words such as “compelling”, “truly remarkable”, “heartstopping” and “flawless” can often be a dime a dozen. I have to admit, that despite my love of such reading material, I don’t follow any reviewers, nor do I seek out recommendations. Rather my books are chosen off the shelf for the colour of their spine, the look and feel of them, the author’s name or – dare I say it – the picture on the front cover. Rarely do I buy a new book – and those that I do, tend to be Lonely Planet Guidebooks!

I’d picked up “Snow Falling on Cedars” in a thrift store in Canada. My first thrift store that I had ever stepped into – Canada style that is. I’d walked past the sign that told me it was “Seniors 20% off day”, past the racks of winter coats, the shelves of 2^nd hand shoes, and the cabinets laden with china, cake stands and dishracks. The bookshelves were at the back of this store and it was to be my first Canadian book purchase...ever!

For some reason “Snow Falling on Cedars” caught my attention. Perhaps it was the quality of the paperback, still shiny and new without dog-earred corners, or pages that smelt like the inside of your nana’s handbag. The description on the back located the story near Seattle, across the water from my new home on Vancouver Island. That alone, cemented it as my purchase of the day, and book number seven for the year.

That was last week – I’ve now reached the end of a “compelling”, “truly remarkable”, “heartstopping” and “flawlessly written” book. A book that contains a number of stories within its pages, intertwined and so cleverly written by author David Guterson. “Snow Falling on Cedars”, a murder-mystery, is set in the courtroom, in a cedar forest, and in the memories of its characters. It involves a local fisherman, a Japanese-American, and a harmonious community that harbours resentment as thick as the fog that surrounds the island during this week in 1954. It’s a story of love, honour, and prejudice; childhood dreams, family feuds, and war. Gently written, it carries the reader in its arms right through to the very last page.

Now how’s that for a review!

Book #6: On Beauty

I’d heard so much about this book, and seen it on a number of friends’ bookshelves, but had never got around to reading it myself. I’m not sure why I hadn’t picked it up before now – after all, it ticks all the boxes: attractive cover, shortlisted and winner of prestigious prizes, set in a favourite part of the world (New England), and a description that leads one to believe the story is filled with love, feuding families, personal emotions, political issues and high ideals. Almost sounds like a modern day Romeo & Juliet – in a language one can easily read and understand!

Finally On Beauty, by Zadie Smith, was top of the pile on my bedside table – it helped that all the other books underneath it I’d already read, so choices were slim. As I worked my way through the pages, reading about a son’s love of a girl he can’t have, a father and husband’s cheating ways, a provocative female student flirting with her professor, and a friendship between women that broke family boundaries, I can’t say I was all that captured. I persevered, I daydreamed, I put it down, picked it up, and continued to read yet another couple of pages – but for all its accolades “wonderfully funny” (Observer)  – I never laughed out loud; “exceptional grace and wit” (Sunday Telegraph) – I was ever so slightly bored; “the year’s most enjoyable literary novel” (Daily Telegraph) –I’ve enjoyed reading OK magazine more!

Yet despite it all – I really want to read Zadie Smith’s other novel, White Teeth. Now how does that work I wonder?!

Book #5: One Red Paperclip

(and January's Wild Cherry (Red) cover love challenge book)

Whenever I visit someone’s house I inevitably end up at their bookshelf, scouring the shelves to see what their bookshelf says about them. Do we have similar reading tastes? Is there anything I can borrow? Ideas for my next book purchase? And how many of their books have I already read!

When we visited friends in south London, sure enough, I was found standing next to their fireplace, perusing their bookshelf – and that’s when I noticed One Red Paperclip. It immediately caught my interest, so I filed it away as a book to add to my own bookshelf.

But, one week later I received an email from said friend, saying he’d like to buy us One Red Paperclip  and did we already have it on our bookshelf – meant to be or what?!

And that’s how One Red Paperclip ended up as book number five for my 2011 reading challenge. The story of Kyle MacDonald himself, who began by trading one red paperclip and worked his way up to eventually being able to trade a house – trading on the way a snowmobile, a date with Alice Cooper, a camping stove, and a fish pen – among other such items.

A quirky story, a great idea, but unfortunately a rather boring read. I’d recommend cheating this one and going to his blog instead: http://oneredpaperclip.blogspot.com/

A Friday Favourite: The Tea Rose

This book should come with a health warning – you will not be able to get out of bed, nor will you be able to converse with others around you. Reading this book will make you very unsociable, unaware of happenings around you, and you will lose a week of your life – but it’s worth it. Every minute of it!

The Tea Rose is, without a doubt, my absolute favourite book. I first read it years ago while house sitting for my now mother-in-law. She’d jetsetted off to the Mediterranean on a six week cruise – a birthday present from her son, now my husband – dishing out presents like that I wasn’t going to let him get away! Her house was on a farm under the shadows of Mt Pirongia, a beautiful mountain in the heart of the Waikato region of New Zealand. But as beautiful as it was, I quickly found out that country living is not for me. I lasted all of about 26 hours of those six weeks on the farm, before leaving the house sitting duties to husband and returning to my childhood home – in the city!

Yet, I would escape back to the countryside on weekends, and it was one of those days that I spent immersed in The Tea Rose. A captivating historical novel with its beginnings in a Jack the Ripper era of London. A cast of well-developed characters that each has a story of its own, and a perfect mix of danger, intrigue, romance and sorrow. I disappeared for days into the pages of The Tea Rose and several years later, when I’d moved to the magical city of London, I discovered the sequel, The Winter Rose. There went another week of my life!