Mailbox Monday-July 15

Mailbox Monday is a great meme that has us list the books that we receive.  Different bloggers now have the opportunity to host this meme for a month at a time.  This month you can check out what everyone received over at Book Obsessed.

Here is what surprised me:

Someone Else's Love Story by Joshilyn Jackson

When I noticed that Jackson had a new novel out, I jumped at the chance to receive an ARC.  I have plenty to keep me busy, so honestly I don't need any more new books than this one right here!

Audiobook Review: The Edge of the Earth by Christina Schwarz

Title:  The Edge of the Earth

Author:  Christina Schwarz

Narrator:  Candace Thaxton

Unabridged Lgth:  8hrs, 26 mn



Here is a summary of the book from the publisher's website:

In 1898, a woman forsakes the comfort of home and family for a love that takes her to a remote lighthouse on the wild coast of California. What she finds at the edge of the earth, hidden between the sea and the fog, will change her life irrevocably.

Trudy, who can argue Kant over dinner and play a respectable portion of Mozart’s Serenade in G major, has been raised to marry her childhood friend and assume a life of bourgeois comfort in Milwaukee. She knows she should be pleased, but she’s restless instead, yearning for something she lacks even the vocabulary to articulate. When she falls in love with enigmatic and ambitious Oskar, she believes she’s found her escape from the banality of her preordained life.

But escape turns out to be more fraught than Trudy had imagined. Alienated from family and friends, the couple moves across the country to take a job at a lighthouse at Point Lucia, California—an unnervingly isolated outcropping, trapped between the ocean and hundreds of miles of inaccessible wilderness. There they meet the light station’s only inhabitants—the formidable and guarded Crawleys. In this unfamiliar place, Trudy will find that nothing is as she might have predicted, especially after she discovers what hides among the rocks.

Gorgeously detailed, swiftly paced, and anchored in the dramatic geography of the remote and eternally mesmerizing Big Sur, The Edge of the Earth is a magical story of secrets and self-transformation, ruses and rebirths. Christina Schwarz, celebrated for her rich evocation of place and vivid, unpredictable characters, has spun another haunting and unforgettable tale. 

My Review:
This was a lovely story that has us following Trudy across the country to an unknown land.  She leaves the comfort and safety of her family home in Milwaukee as she puts her trust and love in Oskar to lead her in the right direction.  Oskar is young, full of dreams and new ideas, and feels that living near the ocean in California will help him realize his dreams that much sooner.

Trudy does not expect the life that she finds in California.  It is a wild savage country and her loneliness is apparent without friends and family near her.  She finds herself missing the comforts of home when she enters the lighthouse they are to call home.  Food is scarce and all resources must be utilized, not wasting a single drop of water.

The Crawleys are basically the only neighbors Trudy has to keep her company.  For the most part, Mrs. Crawley is all business most of the time, but every now and then a side of her shines, offering friendship and refuge.  Thankfully, Mrs. Crawley is kind enough to show Trudy the ropes and offer advice for new tasks.  Since Mrs. Crawley has a few children that are always underfoot, she suggests that Trudy start teaching them on a daily basis.  The teaching lessons give Trudy something to look forward to, and even open up a new world for her.

The Crawleys, Trudy, and Oskar all develop a friendship, as there are no others around to associate with.  When Trudy makes a discovery through her lessons with the children, she finds that each of these friendships could shatter by the wrong move.  Trudy wants to support her husband, but in the end finds she must do what her heart is telling her is right.

I think Thaxton did a great job of narrating Trudy's story and I thoroughly enjoyed this novel in the audio form.  My only problem with the audiobook is that I found myself confused at the beginning and end.  Someone was telling Trudy's story and I'm not sure who it was in the beginning and how that person was associated with her.  Had I read it in book form I could flip back and figure it out.  I suppose I could just listen to the beginning on my iPod again to clarify though.  With themes of dreams, hopes, secrets, and family this book has much to offer for both book clubs and personal leisure.  I don't hesitate in recommending this novel.

My Rating:  4/5

Disclosure:  This book was provided to me by the publisher in exchange for an honest review. 

Mailbox Monday-July 8

Mailbox Monday is a great meme that has us list the books that we receive.  Different bloggers now have the opportunity to host this meme for a month at a time.  This month you can check out what everyone received over at Book Obsessed.

Here is what I found in my mailbox:

Songs of Willow Frost by Jamie Ford

Looking for Me by Beth Hoffman

The Silver Star by Jeannette Walls (audiobook)

This will be enough to keep me busy for awhile.  As much fun as it is to find books in my mailbox it does overwhelm me at times.  So I think it's time to take a break from requesting review copies.  If only these new books would quit tempting me!

Review: The Sisters by Nancy Jensen

Here is a summary of the book from the Goodreads website: 

In the tradition of Marilynne Robinson’s Housekeeping and Elizabeth Strout’s Olive Kitteridge, a dazzling debut novel about the family bonds that remain even when they seem irretrievably torn apart.
 

Growing up in hardscrabble Kentucky in the 1920s, with their mother dead and their stepfather an ever-present threat, Bertie Fischer and her older sister Mabel have no one but each other—with perhaps a sweetheart for Bertie waiting in the wings. But on the day that Bertie receives her eighth-grade diploma, good intentions go terribly wrong. A choice made in desperate haste sets off a chain of misunderstandings that will divide the sisters and reverberate through three generations of women.

What happens when nothing turns out as you planned? From the Depression through World War II and Vietnam, and smaller events both tragic and joyful, Bertie and Mabel forge unexpected identities that are shaped by unspeakable secrets. As the sisters have daughters and granddaughters of their own, they discover that both love and betrayal are even more complicated than they seem.  

My Review:
I love stories that follow women's lives over not only their lifetimes, but even the lifetimes of their children.  Not only does Jensen accomplish this within the pages of this book, but she also brings to life a third generation of the family.  The story opens in Juniper, Kentucky, and the year is 1927.  Bertie and Mabel are left living with their stepfather after their mother's passing and the sisters plan to get as far away from there as possible when the opportunity arises.

The stories alternate between perspectives of Bertie and Mabel, until their children become main characters and we see things from a whole new light.  And then when these ladies grandchildren are introduced we are given a whole new set of problems.

Early on in the novel the girls are separated from most unfortunate circumstances sending their lives in different directions.  They make the best of their lives, raising their families the best way they know how.  Unfortunately, Bertie has harbored her anger for so long, this attitude seeps through her everyday life, and eventually rubbing off onto her children.

I really don't want to give too much of this book away, as it was enjoyable the way events unfolded.  My main complaint about this book was the multiple characters we were introduced to.  Between Bertie and Mabels' children and grandchildren it was tough to keep them all straight.  The author did include a family tree in the beginning that was quite helpful, but while reading the Kindle version I probably didn't use this tool as much as others may have.  I think I would have enjoyed knowing more about Bertie and Mabel, rather than having little snippets of multiple characters.

I did enjoy the novel overall and most of my book club did also.  With themes of family, resentment, and truth, you may enjoy this book also.  I don't hesitate in recommending this novel for either personal leisure or as a book club discussion.

My Rating:  4/5

Disclosure:   This book is from my personal library and I read it for my own entertainment and as a book club discussion. 

Teaser Tuesday-July 2

Check out Teaser Tuesdays from Should Be Reading. TEASER TUESDAYS asks you to:

Grab your current read.

Let the book fall open to a random page.

Share with us two “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page.

You also need to share the title of the book that you’re getting your “teaser” from … that way people can have some great book recommendations if they like the teaser you’ve given!

This week my teaser is from The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald:
The telephone rang inside, startlingly, and as Daisy shook her head decisively at Tom the subject of the stables, in fact all subjects, vanished into air.  Among the broken fragments of the last five minutes at table I remember the candles being lit again, pointlessly, and I was conscious of wanting to look squarely at every one, and yet to avoid all eyes.

pg. 15

This is my first time reading The Great Gatsby and I'm sure enjoying it so far?  Have you read this treasure?

Audiobook Review: The Dinner by Herman Koch

Title:  The Dinner

Author:  Herman Koch

Narrator:  Clive Mantle

Unabridged Length:  8hrs, 59 mn


Here is a summary of the book from the AudioGO website:

It's a summer's evening in Amsterdam, and two couples meet at a fashionable restaurant for dinner. Between mouthfuls of food and over the polite scrapings of cutlery, the conversation remains a gentle hum of polite discourse--the banality of work, the triviality of the holidays. But behind the empty words, terrible things need to be said, and with every forced smile and every new course, the knives are being sharpened. Each couple has a fifteen-year-old son. The two boys are united by their accountability for a single horrific act; an act that has triggered a police investigation and shattered the comfortable, insulated worlds of their families. As the dinner reaches its culinary climax, the conversation finally touches on their children. As civility and friendship disintegrate, each couple shows just how far they are prepared to go to protect those they love. Tautly written, incredibly gripping, and told by an unforgettable narrator, The Dinner promises to be the topic of countless dinner party debates. Skewering everything from parenting values to pretentious menus to political convictions, this novel reveals the dark side of genteel society and asks what each of us would do in the face of unimaginable tragedy.

My Review:

This is my first experience with Herman Koch's work, and I can tell you it won't be my last.  Koch made me stop and think about the simple act of going out to dinner with your family.  To think when you are sitting in a restaurant with maybe 30 tables filled with guests, how many of those tables have serious discussions where life changing decisions are being made right there?  Although we are given a front row seat as events unfold for two couples dining together, the story is being told from the perspective of one diner.

Two couples meet at the high-end restaurant where the meal is served in several courses.  Paul and Serge are brothers and they both have their wives with them.  They both have teenage sons and it is revealed after the first couple of courses that their boys have gotten themselves into some pretty serious trouble.  They planned to discuss the problem at hand so they can plan their next step, hopefully not destroying their young sons' lives.

I loved how events unfolded through each course of their meal together.  Secrets are revealed and Paul comes to his own conclusions as old memories come to light.  Assumptions are made about other dinner guests surprising Paul when he learns the truth later.  But I enjoyed how over the course of this dinner, Paul went through his memory bank bringing to light all activities that could have led them to this moment, right now.

I thoroughly enjoyed this audiobook that was narrated so well by Clive Mantle.  Mantle did a great job of bringing Paul's character to life for me and sharing his story.  This novel came down to a story of human instinct for me.  Just how far would one go to protect the one's he love?  With themes of family and secrets this was a beautifully written novel and I think many of you would enjoy it as much as I did.  I don't hesitate in recommending this book for either personal leisure or as a book club discussion.

My Rating:  4/5

Disclosure:  This book was provided to me by the publisher through the Audio Jukebox program in exchange for an honest review.

Wondrous Words Wednesday-June 26

Bermudaonion asks you to share new words that you have learned during your reading adventures in the last week. Feel free to join in the fun!

So here are a couple of words I learned while reading A Thousand Pardons by Jonathon Dee:

Acumen:  The ability to make good judgements and quick decisions.

Here is how acumen was used at Kindle location 1599 of 3878:
It was part of her lack of business acumen that she wouldn't have considered it worth a cent to anybody but her.

Dogmatist:  a person who asserts his or her opinions in an unduly positive or arrogant manner.

Here is how dogmatist was used at Kindle location 2029 of 3878:
Poor Ashok, on a cold streak as it was, had been battling all week with a roomful of unsmiling dogmatists who handled in-house PR for Pepsi.

Excoriate: to denounce or berate severely; flay verbally.

Here is how excoriate was used at Kindle locatio 2127 of 3878:
But Helen was the parent who stayed, the one who was always right there, so naturally she was the one who got excoriated.

***Please note that this is from an Advanced Reading Copy so the final printing may change.

I have to tell you this is a great book so far!