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Friday Book Whimsy: My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She’s Sorry

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My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell you She’s Sorry, by  Swedish author Fredrik Backman, is – as I understand it – the second in a trilogy that includes A Man Called Ove and Britt-Marie Was Here. I enjoyed A Man Called Ove very much, and Britt-Marie Was Here (which I read first, not knowing at the time that it was actually the third book in a trilogy) is one of my favorite books of all-time.

So, I began reading this book with great confidence. I thought I would like it. I wanted to like it. I tried like crazy to like it. Unfortunately, I simply didn’t.

Elsa is 7 years old, and her grandmother is her best friend. Her mother and father are divorced and in new relationships. Elsa is bullied at school, but the distractions of everyday life prevent either her mother or father from handling Elsa’s problems very effectively. Only her grandmother, who doesn’t seem to care much about what others think of her, is Elsa’s true champion.

The two of them are so close that they have a secret language and a secret world – the Land of Almost Asleep. It was the great deal of time that the author devoted to this fantasy land that prevented me from enjoying the book. I tried. I skimmed over these parts, but I knew that they were probably important, and they were. My boredom and disinterest in the fantasy part of this novel prevented me from getting out of it what it seems most readers enjoyed.

Elsa’s feelings about her grandmother are best defined by Elsa herself, thusly: Having a grandmother is like having an army. This is a grandchild’s ultimate privilege: knowing that someone is on your side, always, whatever the details. Even when you are wrong. Especially then, in fact.

As a grandmother, I can attest that there are no truer words spoken. That quote is the best thing in the book, as far as this reader is concerned.

The ending tied together the many stories, but by that time I had lost interest. It was fun to see that Britt-Marie was in this book, which (as I mentioned above) was actually published before the novel devoted to her. It gave me good background for that novel.

I am definitely in the minority in my dislike of the book, so I suggest if you liked the other books, you should give this one a try.

Here is a link to the book.

 

Friday Book Whimsy: The Mitford Murders

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The author of The Mitford Murders – Jessica Fellowes — is the niece of Julian Fellowes. She has co-authored several Downton Abbey companion books alongside her uncle. So it is not surprising that the novel – which I think is her first crack at fiction – has quite a feel of Downton Abbey to it. That, of course, is not necessarily a bad thing. In fact, it’s what prompted this reader to pick up the book.

The story is based on a real-life event – the actual murder of Florence Nightingale Shore, the goddaughter of famous nurse Florence Nightingale. The murder, which took place during the middle of the day on a train in 1920, was never solved in real life. Fellowes takes a stab at solving the mystery via her fictional protagonist Louise Cannon.

Louise is on the run from her wicked uncle who has promised great harm to Louise and/or her mother should she not continue to steal for him. She takes a job as a nanny to the Mitford children. Continuing with the combination of fiction and nonfiction, the Mitfords were a real-life and controversial British family known for their style and their politics. In this novel, Louise happens to ride on the train on which the murder takes place. Her connections to the Mitford family – and particularly her relationship with Nancy Mitford – keeps her connected to the murder case, which is being worked on by two young police detectives.

The book promises to be the first in a series that will feature Louise Cannon and one of the police officers, who develop a romantic connection.

The story had a fun upstairs/downstairs feel to it, though some of the characters and situations were a bit predictable. Fellowes’ writing could have a bit more literary drive to it. I found that I wasn’t particularly compelled to pick up the novel once I had put it down. The best thing about the book is that it is a so-called locked room mystery, something I always find fun and challenging.

I think there is hope for the series with a bit of character development and creativity.

It is a book that fans of Downton Abbey and other upstairs/downstairs novels might enjoy. Very light reading.

Here is a link to the book.

 

Friday Book Whimsy: The Lost Continent: Travels in Small Town America

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Author Bill Bryson is one of the funniest writers I’ve ever read, if not the funniest. There have been times when I have been reading one of his books and have laughed so hard that I cried. A Walk in the Woods comes to mind.

I’m pretty sure I read The Lost Continent: Travels in Small Town America when it was first published in the late 1980s, because I’ve read most of his books. And since I kept the book all these years, I’m pretty sure I liked it. Perhaps my skin was thicker in those days.

Bryson was born and spent his formative years in Des Moines, Iowa. He attended Drake University – a private college in Des Moines – for a couple of years before he dropped out and began traveling abroad. He met his wife in England, and lived there until 2013 or so, when he returned to the United States.

While still living in England, he returned to Iowa for his father’s funeral, and decided to travel around the country visiting mostly small towns and writing about his observations. The idea has so much merit, but the result, unfortunately, is a mean-spirited, smug account about mostly rural America.

I don’t think I know a writer who can turn a cleverer phrase. Some of his thoughts are so ingenious and funny that it makes me sad that I didn’t write them. But mostly, he seemed bored with small towns, tired and complaining about corn and wheat fields, and positively mean about the people who make up the bread basket of this country. He sounded like a snotty European who thinks America consists of nothing but fools.

I seriously thought that if I had to read one more word about fat women and stupid men I would throw the book across the room. I understand that America excels at commercialism, but some of the souvenir shops about which he endlessly complained are the bread and butter of many families.

Despite how funny the book was in places, I had to stop reading because I just felt mean laughing at his jokes.

I have to give this book a thumbs down, I’m afraid.

Here is a link to the book.

 

Friday Book Whimsy: The Truth According to Us

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The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society was one of my favorite reads of 2008. Author Annie Barrows, best known for writing children’s books, finished that book upon the death of her aunt, Mary Ann Schaffer, and is listed as a co-author. I liked the book so much, so when I became aware of The Truth According to Us, by the same author, I eagerly started the book. I didn’t want to put it down.

Layla Beck’s father is a United States Senator in the years of the Great Depression. In 1938, he is fed up with the antics of his spoiled daughter, and coerces a friend to get her hired as part of the New Deal jobs program called the Federal Writers’ Project. He reluctantly agrees, and she is given the job of writing the history of a small mill town in the remotest part of West Virginia. Neither her father nor her new mentor have great expectations.

Far from the high society that she is used to, Layla finds a room living with the Romeyn family, whose family founded the sock manufacturing mill that basically employs and defines the town. She is quickly drawn into the mysteries surrounding that family. What’s more, she discovers she likes her new task, and she’s quite good at it.

Willa Romeyn is a curious 12-year-old whose mother abandoned her and her sister Bird when they were very young, leaving their upbringing to her fairly unreliable father Felix. It is really his sister, their Aunt Jottie, who takes on the task of making a home for the two girls.

It isn’t long before Layla has fallen for Felix, but she is intrigued by the stories that surround the family. She is also intrigued by the fact that the powers-that-be in the community seem to want nothing to do with the Romeyns.

The characters in The Truth According to Us, are delightfully quirky and loveable, and much more complex as the story plays out. The Romeyns are characters that I grew to love, especially Willa and Jottie.

The story is told from different perspectives, including Willa’s, Layla’s, and Jottie’s. Much of Layla’s perspective is demonstrated via letters written to her best friend and her parents. Despite the different perspectives, I didn’t find the book confusing at all.

It really was a delightful story with a satisfying ending, and created a good picture of Small Town American during the post WWI – and-pre-WWII years.

I highly recommend this book.

Here is a link to the book.

Friday Book Whimsy: The Great American Read

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I consider myself to be an avid reader. There’s never a time when I’m not in process of reading a book. When I used to commute for my job, I always listened to unabridged books on tape. So at that time, I always had at least two books going at all times.

I’m also a fan of PBS, particularly their mysteries. I believe I’ve watched nearly all of the detectives solve hundreds of murders. Inspector Lynch. Inspector Morse. Inspector Lewis.  Inspector  Foyle. Every Agatha Christie from Miss Marple to Hercule Poirot.

And yet. AND YET. I knew nothing about the fact that PBS is sponsoring The Great American Read. Thank goodness for Facebook. It seems when they aren’t busy prying into our private lives, they actually can deliver some worthwhile information. A feed from which I learned about The Great American Read is an example of worthwhile information.

Kicked off late in May, PBS is giving readers the opportunity to vote for what they consider to be America’s Favorite Novel . There was a process out of which came a list of 100 novels. Readers are allowed to vote once each day through October 18, for a book from this list. Ultimately, readers will choose America’s Favorite Book. Ta da!

I enjoyed going down the list to see which books were selected as the top 100. I was surprised by some (50 Shades of Grey?) and nodded my approval of others (Rebecca, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, The Grapes of Wrath, Little Women). I wondered how certain books could not have been selected (Plainsong, The Good Earth, My Antonia).

Criteria included: only works of fiction, must have been published in English, and only one per author.

Perhaps my biggest surprise was the number of books on the list that I had NOT read. In fact, a quick count told me out of the 100 books, I have only read 37. And I read a lot. I was comforted somewhat by the fact that I had heard of all of the books, and most of the books I haven’t read were by choice. For example, while The Hunger Game series and the Twilight series are undoubtedly good, I have no interest. And Left Behind? Nope.

Take a gander at the links I have included, particularly the link to the 100 novels. How many have you read? I would love to hear your feedback on books chosen, books not chosen, and your personal favorites.

As for me, I have already put a couple of the books I haven’t read on hold at the library!

Friday Book Whimsy: The Book of Polly

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Having (thankfully) not had the angst so typical between teenage girls and their mothers, I generally have little interest in reading coming-of-age books. There have been a few exceptions. For example, Tell the Wolves I’m Home, by Carol Rifka Brunt, was one of the best books I read in 2013. (That reminds me; I should reread.)

I made an exception also for The Book of Polly, by Kathy Hepinstall, quite simply (I’m somewhat embarrassed to say) because of its title. How can that title not intrigue a reader? The book was wonderful, even beyond its title.

When the book begins, Willow is 10 years old. Her mother, Polly, gave birth to her when she was in her late 50s – a miracle birth of sorts. Willow’s father died while Polly was pregnant, so she never knew him. But with an older mother and no father, Willow lives in fear that her mother will die and leave her all alone.

As for Polly, she is a feisty southern woman who lives for gardening, her margaritas, and her daughter. Despite her love for Willow, she is tough as nails, recognizing that she has to prepare her for a world without her in it for much of Willow’s life.

Willow’s fear of losing her mother leads to her beginning to search for clues about her mother’s past, a search that takes several years. Polly has no interest in sharing her secrets with her daughter, leaving Willow to wonder why her mother left her small town in Louisiana and why she refuses to talk about it. It isn’t until tragedy strikes that she agrees to take Willow back to her home town.

The Book of Polly is sad in parts, and laugh-out-loud in other parts. Its characters are likeable and mostly believable, if somewhat bigger than life. Polly quickly became one of my favorite book characters in recent memory.

The ending was satisfying, something that can make or break a book for this reader.

Treat yourself to this poignant story of love.

Here is a link to the book.

Friday Book Whimsy: The Autobiography of Mrs. Tom Thumb: A Novel

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I will be completely honest here. I didn’t even know that Tom Thumb was a real person. As far as I knew, Tom Thumb was no more than the character in a book of old fairy tales that was on the bottom shelf of our bookshelf when I was growing up. So I certainly didn’t know that there was a Mrs. Tom Thumb.

Author Melanie Benjamin has fictionalized the life stories of a number of famous people, including Anne Morrow Lindbergh (the wife of famed aviator Charles Lindbergh, and herself an author and aviator) in The Aviator’s Wife;  and Hollywood legends Mary Pickford and Frances Marion in The Girls in the Picture. Benjamin seems to do a very good job of researching her characters, at least based on the information I gleaned from Wikipedia as a read The Autobiography of Mrs. Tom Thumb: A Novel.

Mercy Lavinia Warren Bump was born in Massachusetts in 1841. She was one of two daughters born to loving parents. She was exceptional in that she was 2.66 feet tall and weighed 29 lbs. as an adult. She was what is referred to as a proportionate dwarf, meaning that while extremely small, her extremities were proportionate to her size. Her sister Minnie was even tinier.

It being the mid-1800s, opportunities for all women were scarce, and for a woman the size of a large doll, the prospects would seem to be even direr. Nevertheless, she became a teacher, and was quite successful. And yet, she was bored with her life. Her desire to travel took her down an unfortunate road until she met the famed showman P.T. Barnum. Barnum had already made a very successful career for Charles Sherwood Stratton, better known as General Tom Thumb, and also a proportionate dwarf.

The two eventually fell in love and married, in what was the wedding of the year in New York City. The story of their fame, their career, their relationship to Barnum, and their life in the spotlight was ABSOLUTELY FASCINATING. I simply couldn’t put the book down. I was grateful to be reading the novel as an e-book because I can’t even begin to tell you how many times I stopped to look up some information about Lavinia Warren (which became her stage name), Gen. Tom Thumb, P.T. Barnum, and the other performers who they loved like family. The most amazing thing about their lives was how their fame allowed them to rub shoulders with high society in 1900 New York City.

I read the book just before seeing the The Greatest Showman – the movie about P.T. Barnum – and it was fun to be familiar with some of the characters in that movie.

I heartily recommend The Autobiography of Mrs. Tom Thumb: A Novel. While it is important to keep in mind that it is fiction, the book was wonderfully researched and incredibly readable.

Here is a link to the book.

Friday Book Whimsy: The Tuscan Child

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I will admit to being a fan of the lighthearted Her Royal Spyness mystery series by author Rhys Bowen. The novels are easy reading and somewhat quirky. And I won’t hesitate to be intrigued by any novel that takes place in Italy, particularly Tuscany. So The Tuscan Child, by Rhys Bowen, caught my eye immediately.

Towards the end of World War II, British pilot Hugo Langley is shot down by the Germans, but survives the crash of his airplane by parachuting into the grounds of an abandoned monastery just outside of a German-occupied Italian village in the heart of Tuscany. He would have died except that he was discovered by a young Italian woman named Sofia Bartoli as she gathers food for her starving family. She secretly bandages his wounds and keeps him fed, risking her life and the lives of her family. Days pass, and in the easy manner of many novels, love ensues. When the village is liberated, the British army takes Langley back to Great Britain to heal from his accident. Rumor has it that Sofia is seen driving away with a German officer. So, with great sadness, he puts Sofia in the past, and eventually he marries and has a daughter.

Fast forward to contemporary times, and his daughter Joanna, who has never been close to her father, returns to bury him following his death. As she is going through his things, she stumbles upon a letter he wrote to a mysterious woman named Sofia. It is clear that he loved her very much. What’s more, he talks in his letter about “their golden child” being safe.

What? Joanna knows nothing about a love affair prior to her mother, or a sibling. So, in the way of many novels, she puts her life on hold and travels to the Tuscan village to try and discover her father’s secrets. Perhaps the mysterious Sofia is still alive.

The Tuscan Child is not the Great American Novel. The plot is familiar and the characters are somewhat one-dimensional. But what makes The Tuscan Child a book to be read is the imageries of the countryside of Tuscan Italy, and the mouthwatering discriptions of the food. It is simply a book that nearly DEMANDS a glass of wine and a plate of spaghetti while being read.

Lovers of All Things Italian: This is a novel for you.

Here is a link to the book.

Friday Book Whimsy: The Broken Girls

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Simone St. James is the author of a series of books, all ghost stories. Ghost stories have never been my cup of tea, but The Broken Girls intrigued me. I decided to turn on the lights to keep the ghosts at bay and give the book a try.

It’s been 20 years since Fiona Sheridan’s sister Deb was found dead on the grounds of a boarding school called Idlewild in a small Vermont town.  Despite the fact that a man was arrested and has been imprisoned for the murder, Fiona hasn’t come to grips with her sister’s death. Something doesn’t seem right. Now, as part of her job as a journalist, she learns that the school—long closed and reportedly haunted—is about to be rehabilitated and reopened.

What Fiona doesn’t know is that 20 years before her sister was killed, another girl went missing from Idlewild, which at that time was a boarding school for throw-away girls: illegitimate, unloved, without parents. So when a body is dug up during the reconstruction, Fiona throws herself into learning the secrets of Idlewild and the truth about her sister’s death.

Part mystery, part thriller, part ghost story, I couldn’t stop reading this book. I’m generally not fond of ghost stories, generally finding them somewhat silly, but Mary Hand—the unsettled ghost who can’t find rest at Idlewild—seemed to enhance the story rather than distract. I found all of the female characters to be strong and interesting. I especially loved the four roommates who kept each other strong in the 1950 story line.

The ending was delivered with a twist, and was quite satisfying. All in all, I enjoyed The Broken Girls very much.

Here is a link to the book.

Friday Book Whimsy: The Other Daughter

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Author Lauren Willig is perhaps best known for her Pink Carnation series, of which I’ve read exactly none. But given that I’ve liked her writing in other stand-alone books, I decided to give The Other Daughter a try.

Rachel Woodly has been tutored, loved, and taught genteel manners by her hard-working mother after her father doesn’t return from a trip. Rachel was told that he died, and because he died so far away (and it was the 1920s), he was buried where he passed away.

She takes a job as a governess for a wealthy society family. She is traveling with the family in France when her mother takes ill. Rachel doesn’t receive word of her mother’s illness until it’s too late. By time she gets home, her mother has passed away.

While cleaning up her mother’s house, she comes across a newspaper clipping that shows a recent photo of her father – not dead, but instead, quite alive, and an Earl with an entire separate family. Rachel is unable to come to grips with this shocking information, and decides to pass herself off as a society woman with the help of a wealthy acquaintance in order to confront her father.

Her plan works, but she unexpectedly grows to like the woman who is her half-sister. Drama ensues as Rachel learns the truth about what happened between her mother and father, and why he has a whole new life. The story is quite compelling.

Willig is a very good writer, and her story kept me turning pages. The Other Daughter is one of her few attempts at writing a novel with a single perspective instead of the back-and-forth-in-time perspectives that have become so popular. I think that was one of the things I liked best about this book.

I enthusiastically recommend The Other Daughter.

Here is a link to the book.