Book Review: The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows

Read this for book club (3/2011) and it was very enjoyable! The letter format is not bothersome once you read a few pages into it and get used it, it's actually kind of refreshing to see people write letters instead of just IM. We (the book club) thought it had a way of mentioning the horrors of war without depressing you horribly because it was charming and funny...kind of like "Life is Beautiful."

I would recommend this to fans of historical fiction. It is a different take on WWII that gives you insight into how people dealt with issues and how brave they could be without constantly mentioning gas chambers or trains of death. I also had no idea what happened on these little islands and smaller places during WWII so it educated me a little bit as well.

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Book Review: Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout

Read for book club (10/2011). I would say it was an interesting and quick read (two evenings for a few hours), I loved it! As one of our book club members mentioned, it is about "the human condition." This novel is character driven NOT plot driven. There is no connecting plot; but, strongly at times and quite loosely in other chapters (which have clever titles) Olive is the common factor. It is an interesting insight into the mind of an elderly woman from a small town in Maine, a normally very tight-lipped group, so it is great to read her thoughts and then see how little she actually verbalizes them because of generation/culture. It is about age, love, sickness, death, children, and much more (hence "the human condition"). I recommend this highly if you want to contemplate life and its trials and tribulations (from often odd but often funny situations/points of view); but, I urge you to run for the hills if you are looking for a neat and clean beginning/middle/end.

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Book Review: Breakfast with Buddha by Roland Merullo

Book Club read (1/2011). It was a fun novel; but, not earth-shattering for me I think because I already read non-fiction that I think was more powerful about the Dalai Lama that I am convinced this author tried to turn into fiction with this novel. "The Art of Happiness" with Howard C. Cutler and the Dalai Lama (reviewed on blog 6/26/2009) is your non-fiction option for this. Although, if you want spiritual journey, mid-life crisis, and road trip in fiction form than this is your book :)

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Book Review: Cry, the Beloved Country by Alan Paton

Read for book club (2/2011). Pre-Apartheid South Africa where the lives of two fathers intertwine, tragically. I probably did not find this as moving as a lot of others because I have read so much about the Civil Rights movement in the U.S. and read other books that address similar issues earlier in my life, so those books stuck with me and affected me more than this one. Given when it was written and the issues it addresses though I can definitely see why it is classified as a classic novel. Also, the dashes for dialogue drove me bonkers.

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Book Review: My Abandonment by Peter Rock

Read for book club (4/2011). I liked the book but it is not a happy-go-lucky read. You feel bad for her living conditions yet can see positive things that her life has at the same time, essentially homeless in a forest area/park. Some disturbing things definitely happen in the novel and it had a twist I was not expecting because I did not know it was based off a true story when I read it (found out when we discussed it). Frightens any parent to the core.

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Book Review: The Faith Club by Ranya Idliby, Priscilla Warner, and Suzanne Oliver

Read for book club (5/2011). With this one the title says it "The Faith Club: A Muslim, A Christian, A Jew--Three Women Search for Understanding." That is the book in a nutshell. I found it very interesting and definitely both learned a good deal and could identify with each woman in different ways. I think in absence of women of different faiths that one can chat candidly with, the book is a fun substitute. They talk about their doubts, the strengths and weaknesses they perceive in each others religions and their own, the varying degrees they do and don't want religion and faith in their lives, and how modern women of all three respective traditions draw a difference between faith and religion. They express how one can have faith but not necessarily be thrilled with every aspect of their religions. My only regret with this is that all the people in my book club who attended that day were from a Christian background; however, it was still interesting to discuss because we came from different sects of Christianity and had varying amounts of knowledge about different world religions, as well as different experiences and impressions of other religions than Christianity.

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Book Review: Niagra Falls All Over Again by Elizabeth McCracken

Read for book club (6/2011). From the point of view of "the straight man" (not referring to sexuality) Mose Sharp (follows the pair of Carter Sharp) from small stages to Hollywood films and television. The novel shows how both men approach relationships and fame differently. This book lead to a lot of fun discussion of other duos like this in real life and it was interesting as a younger member of the book group to hear from people who remembered the Vaudeville days first hand and could relate to the changes in culture that are traced throughout the book via this pair of men. The book was well-written with fully realized characters that gave you the flavor of each era they lived through, showing both their positive attributes and their flaws.

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Book Review: Kaaterskill Falls by Allegra Goodman

Read for book club (7/2011). I enjoyed this novel and felt that I learned a bit as well. It was interesting to see how a tight-knit group of Orthodox Jews related to each other in this summer vacation setting. The question of allegiance to a particular rabbi and the struggle to remain a good and faithful woman to this group while yearning for a small gesture of independence and something to have as her own was really touching (a store). Despite having zero in common with Elizabeth Shulman, I could still identify with her and felt that I could understand her, which to me, shows that the author wrote quite well. There is also a bit of revelation to be had here about small-town life and how "summer people," no matter how good they are, will never be totally welcomed by the locals.

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Book Review: One Amazing Thing by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni

Read for book club (9/2011). This book is a twist on "The Canterbury Tales" by Chaucer, the connection is made obvious because the character Uma (a college student) has brought a copy along with her to the Indian consulate. While bored in the waiting room there is an earthquake, and Uma suggests as a way to pass the time while waiting for rescue or death, they each share a story about their lives. For me, most of the stories were not terribly flushed out and seemed unfinished. The author apparently left them intentionally unfinished but, it did not feel like this was cleverly thought of; rather, it felt as if she ran out of ideas most of the time. It seemed as though she thought of each story individually as short stories but couldn't be bothered to fully develop them and so she placed people into neat little stereotypes (especially the young Muslim man Tariq) and just didn't finish their tales because she ran out of ideas, not because she was clever. It was an O.K. read but it did not change the way I feel about anything nor do I think it will be remembered for generations to come. The novel is a nice quick read though so if you need something for a short train/bus/airplane trip it could fill the time pleasantly enough.

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