Summer Blowout

Book No: 24
Title: Summer Blowout
Author: Clare Cook
Genre: Chick Lit
Completed: 5/26/09
No. of Pages: 242
Rating: 3/5*****

I’ve read Must Love Dogs by Ms. Cook and generally enjoyed it. This book however seemed like a re-hash of that book, although not quite as charming.

We have Bella, recently divorced, part of a rather large and slightly eccentric family with step-mothers, step-siblings, an over the top father, it all feels ‘been there, done that’. It has some appealing moments, including Bella’s dog-napping of her one true friend Precious the Chihuahua. There is a meet cute of who is obviously the soon to be new man in Bella’s life, complications with the ex who is now with her sister, but it all seems a little forced. It was an appealing little book, pure fluff and nice for a day at the beach.

As a side note I found the constant product mentions very distracting- MAC, Maybelline, Paul Mitchell, OPI - with no signs of stopping, it was kind of annoying after awhile.
Cute but forgettable.

#40 - The River Wife

Book No: 40
Title: The River Wife
Author: Jonis Agee
Genre: Fiction
Published: 2007
Obtained: 2007/Doubleday
Completed:
No. of Pages: 396
Rating: 4/5*****

It is 1930; seventeen years old, and pregnant, Hedie Rails has just married Clement Ducharme and has moved into his family estate, a remote home in rural Missouri. Hedie’s new husband seems to be involved in some shady business, going out at all hours of the night, sometimes coming up bloodied and hung over. While roaming the house at night Hedie finds the journals of Annie Lark, the first wife of Jacques Ducharme, the larger than life ancestor of Clement and the man who built the estate. Through Hedie’s reading we learn how Annie was rescued by Jacques during the New Madrid earthquake. With Annie’s’ story anchoring the early life of this saga, and Hedie’s the latter part, we also learn the stories of the other women and their children in Jacques Ducharme’s life, and how each of them struggled to find their place in a man’s world and how Jacques ruled them all with an iron fist. Throughout the book it is the spirit of Annie that inhabits everyone’s memories and her ghost that inhabits the Ducharme estate.
I was quite entranced with this book, in particular Annie’s story, but all of the ‘river wives’ had fascinating stories, except perhaps Hedie, whose story was the most uninvolving of them all. All in all I think this was a very worthwhile read and believe there is a lot here for book clubs, it’s a wonder to me this book isn’t more popular with discussion groups.

#20 - The House of the Spirits

Book No: 20
Title: The House of the Spirits
Author: Isabel Allende
Genre: Fantasy
Published: 1985
Obtained: 2007/Paperbackswap.com
Completed: 3/31/08
No. of Pages: 433
Rating: 3.5/5*****

Although this book is set in Latin America, in an unnamed country, it is clearly supposed to be Chile, home of the author Isabel Allende. One of the main portions of the book deals with the military overthrow of the government, Ms. Allende’s uncle was Salvadore Allende, who was murdered in such a coup. The story focuses on the family of Esteban Trueba, who is engaged to the beautiful Rosa, who dies before their marriage. Esteban then courts and marries Rosa’s sister Clara, a clairvoyant and telekinetic, who talks to the sprits that roam through their home. Esteban is the patron of Tres Marias, the family plantation, that he rebuilds into a wealthy estate. We follow the lives of this family through about seventy years of hard times and prosperity, viewing the lives of the children and grandchildren of Esteban, that become intertwined with the politics of the country.
Although the writing in this book was beautiful, at times the story was very uninvolving. Part of that stems from the fact that Esteban Tureba is a bullying autocrat, a character so unsympathetic that at times it was difficult to read many of the scenes he was involved in. The women alternated between spineless and strong, and although their paranormal abilities are taken for granted, there doesn’t seem to be any purpose to them throughout the book, except for foretelling future events, a practice that becomes a bit tiresome over the course of the book.
For me the story finally comes alive in the last third, when Esteban’s granddaughter is born, and the political upheavals begin to take center stage. At this point in the book I was very involved in the tale and in knowing the outcome. For that reason, and the writing this book garners a bit higher grade than I originally planned on.

#7 - Dream When you're Feeling Blue

Book No: 7
Title: Dream When You’re Feeling Blue
Author: Elizabeth Berg
Genre: Historical Fiction
Published: 2007
Obtained: 2007/Paperbackswap
Completed: 2/05/08
No. of Pages: 276
Rating: 2.5/5*****

Whenever I start a Berg book I am always a bit excited, because as an author that I have come to love, I wonder how she can always create such wonderful characters that you care so much about. I am sorry to say that did not happen here.

Dream While You’re Feeling blue centers on a little over a year in the life of the Heaney sisters. Kitty, Louise and Tish live in Chicago and when the book opens it is 1943, the height of WWII. Louise and Kitty have sent their respective boyfriends off to war, and younger sister Tish has a bevy of ‘friends’ she writes to every night, as her sisters write to their men and other boys they come to know at the weekly USO dances. Through these girls lives at home, and the letters thry write and receive we get glimpses of both the home front and the war front.

I just didn’t care for this book. It seemed like a paint by the numbers version of a WWII book. Ration Coupons, check; girls left behind while the boys go off to war, check; women taking factory jobs, check; Blue Star and Gold Star flags, check; the list goes on and on. At no time did this seem to flow through the story with any authenticity, it didn’t feel genuine. I didn’t care too much for the three main characters. Louise was too saintly in her demeanor (although she is hiding a big secret); Tish is very immature and doesn’t seem to change much and Kitty, who is the main focus of the book, is the only one who shows any growth but still seems rather a chilly personality. The one character I really liked was Margaret Heaney, the girl’s mother; unfortunately we only get small glimpses of her. Her story is one I’d really like to get to know. The biggest flaw in the book is the ending, which is delivered in a startling rush and had me re-reading three times to make sure I understood correctly. The ending left me angry and feeling very shortchanged and extremely disappointed. I truly hope Berg goes back to her more contemporary works and leaves the past to others.

Ontheporchswing Reading Challenge

I belong to a group at Yahoo called On The Porch Swing. We are doing a challenge that consists of five books over the course of the year that meet certain criteria. (Click link above for more info)

My choices are:

Color: Dream When You're Feeling Blue by Elizabeth Berg
Name: Katherine by Anya Seton
House: The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende
Family: Sister of my Heart by Chitra Divakaruni
Water: The River Wife by Jonie Agee

Alternates:

Green Darkness by Anya Seton
Sweet Dreams Irene by Jan Burke
All the Way Home by Wendy Corsi Staub
Family Tree by Barbara Delinsky
The Seduction of Water by Carol Goodman

This is my second challenge to join this year as I am also doing the TBR Challenge

I hope these challenges help me in my quest to make the TBR pile a little smaller.

Wish me luck :)