So many authors are writing a book that includes some aspect of the Holocaust tragedy as a theme to drive their plot forward. Terri Gerritsen has added her novel to the group. I am not complaining, this is a genre that draws me in. I personally cannot get enough of these kinds of books. And lately, some of these novels have had new different information and come at this topic from new and different angles that have not been explored before. This book, Playing With Fire, uncovers what was happening in Italy during the war years. It brings to the present day public the real event of a December evening in 1943 when the Jews of Venice were pulled from their beds and rounded up into a school which was used as a detention center for four days without food and then herded onto trains that would take them to Poland. Even as they were being loaded onto the train half starved they wrote letters to their loved ones, saying that they were alright, still thinking this was a temporary situation. This novel will help us never forget what happened during those years of horror.
This story helps the reader understand how only twenty per cent of the Jewish population of Italy perished during the Holocaust. Compared to other countries that is a small number and author Terri Gerritsen wondered why. From her research she found that Jews in Italy were well assimilated and physically indistinguishable from their neighbors. They had blended into the larger population. Almost have of the Jewish marriages were to non-Jews and before the war they held high positions in government, academics, business, law and medicine. During the war there were many who helped save the Jews at the risk of their own lives. Gerritsen's characters show you the best and the worst of human behavior.
This is the love story of Lorenzo Todesco and Laura Balboni, two young musicians who, though from different religious backgrounds at the dangerous time in 1939, are going to play a duet in a local music competition. The young musicians are also falling in love. We are invited inside the family homes of the Balboni family who will try to convince the Todesco family to leave Italy and also help others escape out of the country. The reader is also a fly on the wall in the Todesco family home and hears how it is that so many families ended up staying in their homes until it was too late to escape the Nazi's impeding takeover.
Based on true events in Venice during the war years this story unfolds in parallel with a modern day story of a violinist who finds a musical composition that intrigues her in an antiques store.
Julie Ansdell, a young mother, wife and violinist gets caught up in a plot she cannot understand after buying a book of music in an antiques store in Rome. When she comes home to practice this extraordinary composition, her three year old daughter seems to become violent. Is it the music or is there something else making little Lily do these terrible things? As Julie fights to save her life and her keep her family together she searches for the origin of the music and uncovers the tragic love story of Lorenzo and Laura.
"Incendio", the musical composition that moves this novel forward is a haunting, mournful waltz. So as an added bonus Terri Gerritsen not only has written this wonderful love story but she also actually wrote the piece of music she imagined that flows throughout book. She contracted with Yi-Ja Susanne Hou, the internatioanl concert violinist to record the music she had heard as she was writing this book. "Hou definitely has the passion to bring "Incendio" to life", wrote Gerritsen on her blog, "and she even added her own frantic cadenza to the end of the recording..."
Tuesday, December 29, 2015
Sunday, December 27, 2015
The Magic Strings of Frankie Presto
"Everyone joins a band in this life. You are born into your first one. Your mother plays the lead. She shares the stage with your father and siblings......As life goes on you will join other bands, some through friendship, some through romance, some through neighborhoods, schools, an army.....But, in each band you join you will play a distinct part, and it will affect you as much as you affect it."
Mitch Albom has written this wonderfully sweet love story into his new novel, The Magic Strings of Frankie Presto, in such a creative, fun, musical style. Since he made his writing debut with Tuesdays With Morrie, which was such a popular book, I think this is his next best publication. This is a sweet story of the love between a parent and a child and between a man and a woman. It is also about the strength of love between between a man and his musical talent and a musician and his adoring public.
This story is narrated by "Music". It is told in wonderful prose using all the terms used to create music as the elements that compose a persons life story. Frankie Presto begins life in Spain as a lost child, spending time in an orphanage and being rescued by a factory owner, Baffa Rubio. When his adoptive father wants him to have the very best in life he takes him to an old, broken guitarist. Now blind and drinking to forget his sorrows, Francisco Tarrega, who Frankie will only know as "El Maestro", the once famous guitarist teaches Frankie everything he knows.
The book is written starting at the end of Frankie's life, as people are gathering to pay their respects to the rock star, Frankie Presto, at his funeral. The story is told in flashbacks alternating with the main plot by Music, "I am Music. I am here for the soul of Frankie Presto. Not all of it. Just the rather large part he took from me when he came into the world. However well used, I am a loan, not a possession. You give me back upon departure."
Interwoven are interludes by all the famous musicians who crossed paths with Frankie during his career. Such greats as Burt Bacharach, Lyle Lovett, Wynton Marsalis and Tony Bennett. Each has a chance as they are coming into the funeral pallor to talk about their relationship and connection with Frankie.
And of course we cannot forget the love of his life, Aurora. They met as children and their on and off again relationship spans their entire lives. They are members of a band that can never really break up. Their band comes together and pulls apart and then regroups in different configurations all through the book. It is the musical composition that flows throughout the book. In the book love stories are described as a symphonies, with an Allegro beginning, quick and spirited, an Adagio section, a Minuet/Scherzo part and the Rondo, which is the repeating theme.
Once you pick up this novel to read you will not want to put it down till the music ends.
Mitch Albom has written this wonderfully sweet love story into his new novel, The Magic Strings of Frankie Presto, in such a creative, fun, musical style. Since he made his writing debut with Tuesdays With Morrie, which was such a popular book, I think this is his next best publication. This is a sweet story of the love between a parent and a child and between a man and a woman. It is also about the strength of love between between a man and his musical talent and a musician and his adoring public.
This story is narrated by "Music". It is told in wonderful prose using all the terms used to create music as the elements that compose a persons life story. Frankie Presto begins life in Spain as a lost child, spending time in an orphanage and being rescued by a factory owner, Baffa Rubio. When his adoptive father wants him to have the very best in life he takes him to an old, broken guitarist. Now blind and drinking to forget his sorrows, Francisco Tarrega, who Frankie will only know as "El Maestro", the once famous guitarist teaches Frankie everything he knows.
The book is written starting at the end of Frankie's life, as people are gathering to pay their respects to the rock star, Frankie Presto, at his funeral. The story is told in flashbacks alternating with the main plot by Music, "I am Music. I am here for the soul of Frankie Presto. Not all of it. Just the rather large part he took from me when he came into the world. However well used, I am a loan, not a possession. You give me back upon departure."
Interwoven are interludes by all the famous musicians who crossed paths with Frankie during his career. Such greats as Burt Bacharach, Lyle Lovett, Wynton Marsalis and Tony Bennett. Each has a chance as they are coming into the funeral pallor to talk about their relationship and connection with Frankie.
And of course we cannot forget the love of his life, Aurora. They met as children and their on and off again relationship spans their entire lives. They are members of a band that can never really break up. Their band comes together and pulls apart and then regroups in different configurations all through the book. It is the musical composition that flows throughout the book. In the book love stories are described as a symphonies, with an Allegro beginning, quick and spirited, an Adagio section, a Minuet/Scherzo part and the Rondo, which is the repeating theme.
Once you pick up this novel to read you will not want to put it down till the music ends.
Wednesday, December 23, 2015
Recipes for Love and Murder
The title of this book caught my eye on the library shelf. There is nothing I like better than a book with recipes and a good mystery, so when you put both together....it is like eating a delicious meal with good company. Nothing is better. I can safely say that about this book also. It is sweet like a good dessert with enough spice thrown in like a delicious serving of your favorite meal.
This mystery novel written by Sally Andrew that takes place in South Africa, which for me is not a place I have read much about. The descriptions of the heat and dry climate are palpable. Andrew paints a picture of life in the Klein Karoo, a semi desert region of South Africa with extreme heat and cold, with low rainfall and cloudless skies. Each day the main character and heroine of our story Tannie Marie, (auntie, the respectful Afrikaans address for a woman older than you) eats her meals on her stoep. The author, Andrews uses words beautifully to paint a picture in the reader's mind, "I made some coffee and went and sat on the stoep to watch the day arrive. It happens all of a sudden in the Karoo. one minute the light is soft and full of the night's shadows, and then the sun is blasting everything awake. The Rooiberg changes from red to orange to ochre yellow before you can finish your cup of coffee." Throughout the book there are descriptions that wow the tastebuds and fill you heart with love.
Tannie Marie is a middle aged-widow who likes to eat and cook. She has a job at the local newspaper, the Karoo Gazette, writing a advice column that gives relationship advice along with recipes to feed the soul. She describes herself, "My mother was Afrikaans and my father was English and the languages are mixed up inside me. I taste in Afrikaans and argue in English, but if I swear I go back to Afrikaans again." In my mind she is a warm, cuddly, courageous and clever character. She works alongside the editor of the paper, Hattie Christie and Jessica, the young investigative reporter. The dialog is tight, quick and witty.
When a letter comes to the paper from a woman who writes that her husband is abusive, Tannie Marie sends her some advice and a recipe for slow cooked lamb curry. When the woman turns up dead, Marie and Jessica start to make inquires and snoop around the crime scene. They seem to keep getting in the way of the police investigation and that leads to relationships with the Detective Lieutenant Henk Kannemeyer and police officer, Reghardt Snyman. There are many twist and turns as the ladies at the newspaper happen to turn up every time there is new evidence in the murder case. Intermixed in the murder plot are the lovelorn letters and recipe advice that Tannie Marie continues to dole out in large portions as she learns to let go of her painful past and open up just like she is counseling the writers who seek her assistance in their relationships.
This book is infused with mouthwatering descriptions of both the South African landscape and the foods of the people living in the Karoo. The story flows even more musically with its mix of English, Afrikaan and South African terminology. There is a glossary in the back of the book to help with the translations.
This book took me to a new world that I have never traveled in before. I am transported to the Karoo, joining Tannie Marie, Jessie and Hattie both at the newspaper office and after a long day at work sitting on the stoep drinking lemonade and sharing rusks.
Reading some of the reviews of Recipes for Love and Murder, it looks like this is the beginning of a new series. If so, I will be watching closely for the next one. Tannie Marie could join my list of favorite detectives.
This mystery novel written by Sally Andrew that takes place in South Africa, which for me is not a place I have read much about. The descriptions of the heat and dry climate are palpable. Andrew paints a picture of life in the Klein Karoo, a semi desert region of South Africa with extreme heat and cold, with low rainfall and cloudless skies. Each day the main character and heroine of our story Tannie Marie, (auntie, the respectful Afrikaans address for a woman older than you) eats her meals on her stoep. The author, Andrews uses words beautifully to paint a picture in the reader's mind, "I made some coffee and went and sat on the stoep to watch the day arrive. It happens all of a sudden in the Karoo. one minute the light is soft and full of the night's shadows, and then the sun is blasting everything awake. The Rooiberg changes from red to orange to ochre yellow before you can finish your cup of coffee." Throughout the book there are descriptions that wow the tastebuds and fill you heart with love.
Tannie Marie is a middle aged-widow who likes to eat and cook. She has a job at the local newspaper, the Karoo Gazette, writing a advice column that gives relationship advice along with recipes to feed the soul. She describes herself, "My mother was Afrikaans and my father was English and the languages are mixed up inside me. I taste in Afrikaans and argue in English, but if I swear I go back to Afrikaans again." In my mind she is a warm, cuddly, courageous and clever character. She works alongside the editor of the paper, Hattie Christie and Jessica, the young investigative reporter. The dialog is tight, quick and witty.
When a letter comes to the paper from a woman who writes that her husband is abusive, Tannie Marie sends her some advice and a recipe for slow cooked lamb curry. When the woman turns up dead, Marie and Jessica start to make inquires and snoop around the crime scene. They seem to keep getting in the way of the police investigation and that leads to relationships with the Detective Lieutenant Henk Kannemeyer and police officer, Reghardt Snyman. There are many twist and turns as the ladies at the newspaper happen to turn up every time there is new evidence in the murder case. Intermixed in the murder plot are the lovelorn letters and recipe advice that Tannie Marie continues to dole out in large portions as she learns to let go of her painful past and open up just like she is counseling the writers who seek her assistance in their relationships.
This book is infused with mouthwatering descriptions of both the South African landscape and the foods of the people living in the Karoo. The story flows even more musically with its mix of English, Afrikaan and South African terminology. There is a glossary in the back of the book to help with the translations.
This book took me to a new world that I have never traveled in before. I am transported to the Karoo, joining Tannie Marie, Jessie and Hattie both at the newspaper office and after a long day at work sitting on the stoep drinking lemonade and sharing rusks.
Reading some of the reviews of Recipes for Love and Murder, it looks like this is the beginning of a new series. If so, I will be watching closely for the next one. Tannie Marie could join my list of favorite detectives.
Thursday, December 17, 2015
Twain's End
What an incredible story. I just finished reading, Twain's End, by Lynn Cullen. This is a wonderful historical novel about Samuel Clemens, better known to the world as Mark Twain. The plot of this book follows his relationship with his secretary of almost seven years, Isabel Lyon.
This is a story that you can get lost in. The character development here is so wonderful that you really feel like you are Isabel's friend and you are hearing about her life with Twain from her. Though the story alternates chapters between Isabel's voice, her mother's viewpoint and Clara Clemens voice, you really feel like you are right there at the family table. Based on the real people in Samuel Clemens life, you are learning about the man behind the character, Mark Twain. Twain is the author of such classic works as, Huckleberry Finn, and Tom Sawyer. He was a master storyteller, but his personal life was filled with anger, regret and insecurity. He created the persona he wanted to present to the outside world in Mark Twain. Only those closest to him knew his real personality. His wife Livy, who was an invalid and died young, helped create the character he wanted to be. His secretary Isabel helped him continue to present that image to the public for the rest of his life.
Even at her own expense, she was always true to the man Clemens wanted to be.
The book brings the reader into the intriguing though complicated world of the Clemens family. He has a strained relationship with his wife, who cannot get out of bed. He and Livy have lost a daughter, Suzy, to meningitis which has taken a toll on all the family interactions. He and his daughter, Clara, will have a difficult relationship throughout their entire lives and his daughter, Jean, is an epileptic, which Clemens never knows how to be around, so she will be sent away to an institution for many years. Then there is the jealous maid, Katy, who tries at every turn to make Isabel's life miserable. Isabel will be Sam's personal secretary for six years, managing all the household accounts and taking care of all the bills and Jean's healthcare.
Though she waits for him to propose marriage, she loves him unconditionally, and stands by him even though he does not ask for her hand in marriage. Isabel tells Sam in a heated moment, "You know that I am committed to you. Though you won't take me to your bed anymore, though you throw young women in my face, though you reject me at every given chance, I'm committed to you and I always have been. I have never given you a reason to think otherwise."
Such raw passion. Yet, Twain, maybe because he does love her, pushes her away. He says many times throughout the book and I think really believes, " I kill the people I love with words."
An amazing story about Mark Twain and some of the people he interacted with during his life time.
One of the interesting families also interwoven in this story is Helen Keller and her patrons, Ann Sullivan Macy and husband, John Macy. This is also an eye opening realistic interlude when Helen and the Macys come to visit the Clemens home. Also we travel with Twain and his family to Italy and then with Isabel and Twain to Bermuda and also along with Isabel and Clara to Nova Scotia.
Intriguing and surprising, Cullen has written a wonderful love story that keeps the reader entangled all the way to the end. We become voyeurs looking through the window at the tragic but beautiful love story of Isabel Lyon and Samuel Clemens.
This is a story that you can get lost in. The character development here is so wonderful that you really feel like you are Isabel's friend and you are hearing about her life with Twain from her. Though the story alternates chapters between Isabel's voice, her mother's viewpoint and Clara Clemens voice, you really feel like you are right there at the family table. Based on the real people in Samuel Clemens life, you are learning about the man behind the character, Mark Twain. Twain is the author of such classic works as, Huckleberry Finn, and Tom Sawyer. He was a master storyteller, but his personal life was filled with anger, regret and insecurity. He created the persona he wanted to present to the outside world in Mark Twain. Only those closest to him knew his real personality. His wife Livy, who was an invalid and died young, helped create the character he wanted to be. His secretary Isabel helped him continue to present that image to the public for the rest of his life.
Even at her own expense, she was always true to the man Clemens wanted to be.
The book brings the reader into the intriguing though complicated world of the Clemens family. He has a strained relationship with his wife, who cannot get out of bed. He and Livy have lost a daughter, Suzy, to meningitis which has taken a toll on all the family interactions. He and his daughter, Clara, will have a difficult relationship throughout their entire lives and his daughter, Jean, is an epileptic, which Clemens never knows how to be around, so she will be sent away to an institution for many years. Then there is the jealous maid, Katy, who tries at every turn to make Isabel's life miserable. Isabel will be Sam's personal secretary for six years, managing all the household accounts and taking care of all the bills and Jean's healthcare.
Though she waits for him to propose marriage, she loves him unconditionally, and stands by him even though he does not ask for her hand in marriage. Isabel tells Sam in a heated moment, "You know that I am committed to you. Though you won't take me to your bed anymore, though you throw young women in my face, though you reject me at every given chance, I'm committed to you and I always have been. I have never given you a reason to think otherwise."
Such raw passion. Yet, Twain, maybe because he does love her, pushes her away. He says many times throughout the book and I think really believes, " I kill the people I love with words."
An amazing story about Mark Twain and some of the people he interacted with during his life time.
One of the interesting families also interwoven in this story is Helen Keller and her patrons, Ann Sullivan Macy and husband, John Macy. This is also an eye opening realistic interlude when Helen and the Macys come to visit the Clemens home. Also we travel with Twain and his family to Italy and then with Isabel and Twain to Bermuda and also along with Isabel and Clara to Nova Scotia.
Intriguing and surprising, Cullen has written a wonderful love story that keeps the reader entangled all the way to the end. We become voyeurs looking through the window at the tragic but beautiful love story of Isabel Lyon and Samuel Clemens.
Friday, December 11, 2015
Plus One
Plus One by Christopher Noxon is what I might refer to as the modern art version of literature. TO me this is almost a non story. Yes there is a plot about a young couple, Alex and Figgy Sherman-Zicklin who find themselves in Hollywood, living the life on the fast track. But the plot is thin and the story is funny in that sad way that shows how unhappy the people are who live this fast paced lifestyle.
Alex Sherman-Zicklin has married his best friend, Figgy and they have hyphenated their last names and now have two children. Figgy's career takes off as a writer for a television show when her show wins an Emmy. Alex becomes the plus one on the Emmy invitation and in all aspects of their lives.
He decides house husband does not do him justice so he takes on the title "domestic first responder" and stays home to take care of the children, cook the meals and manage the household.
This story looks at the issues, in a funny sarcastic way, of being the stay at home dad, the kept husband, whose wife is the major bread winner and the unknown, unseen, plus one at parties and functions. As Figgy moves ahead we watch Alex work to figure out his role and his place in their relationship and to build his own self-esteem. Of course there is the so called friend leading him down the wrong path, Huck, who introduces Alex to all the wild side of being a plus one and makes Alex question who he really is and wants. Huck, who in the end shows Alex how to save himself and his marriage.
A cute quirky book that portrays what it is like to live above your means and always be trying to keep up with beautiful people. This is a story of being yourself and staying true to the morals and ideals that made you the family and couple you always were.
Alex Sherman-Zicklin has married his best friend, Figgy and they have hyphenated their last names and now have two children. Figgy's career takes off as a writer for a television show when her show wins an Emmy. Alex becomes the plus one on the Emmy invitation and in all aspects of their lives.
He decides house husband does not do him justice so he takes on the title "domestic first responder" and stays home to take care of the children, cook the meals and manage the household.
This story looks at the issues, in a funny sarcastic way, of being the stay at home dad, the kept husband, whose wife is the major bread winner and the unknown, unseen, plus one at parties and functions. As Figgy moves ahead we watch Alex work to figure out his role and his place in their relationship and to build his own self-esteem. Of course there is the so called friend leading him down the wrong path, Huck, who introduces Alex to all the wild side of being a plus one and makes Alex question who he really is and wants. Huck, who in the end shows Alex how to save himself and his marriage.
A cute quirky book that portrays what it is like to live above your means and always be trying to keep up with beautiful people. This is a story of being yourself and staying true to the morals and ideals that made you the family and couple you always were.
Saturday, December 5, 2015
Nature of the Beast
Louise Penny is one of my favorite mystery authors. She writes a novel that contains a mystery within it. Her prose are beautiful and her character development over the course of the series has been in depth and personal. Reading each of the books that are published is getting back in touch with a group of friends and catching up on what has been happening in your lives since you last met.
She has created such a wonderful cast of characters living both in the village and the police officers who always come to Three Pines to solve the crimes there. I love everyone from retired Chief Superintendent, Armand Gamache to his assistant and now son-in-law, Jean-Guy Beauvoir, to the new Chief Inspector, Isabelle Lacoste. Then there are the townspeople, Olivier and Gabri, who run the Bed and Breakfast and the Bistro, Ruth Zardo, with her pet duck, the resident poet, Clara, the artist, Myrna, who owns the bookstore and others who come and go through the series when needed to push forward the plot.
Also her descriptions of the village of Three Pines is so wonderful that while I am reading the book I can almost feel like I am there. Then when I finish I feel bad that the town I live in is not that small and tight knit. Sitting in my cold living room on a winter day reading about Reine-Marie and Armand Gamache I wish there was a bistro to walk across the common to and sit by the warm fire my friends and share news and drinks and lunch.
In this story a family living off more isolated in the forest of Three Pines comes to the forefront of the story when their son is killed in the woods. Penny for the first time in the book, brings in a real life historical case about Gerald Bull, a real man and scientist who was a arms designer. Bull with the help of some other scientists who worked on creating "Baby Babylon" a massive gun, built on the border of the Unites States and Canada in Quebec's Eastern Township. It was built to be the biggest missile launcher in the world. It was pointed at the United States.
Penny takes the facts of the case and builds it into the fabric of her characters in Three Pines, She dredges up the history of the case and ties it into the history of the town and the citizens who would have lived in the town at that time. As Gamache and his colleagues look into the murder many secrets are uncovered, feelings are explored and friendships are tested.
Once again Louise Penny has used her way with words to really dig deep and explore the human condition. " It feels like my bones are dissolving," said Evelyn. And Clara nodded. She knew the feeling. "Tell me," said Clara. She didn't ask, "Of what?" Clara knew what she was afraid of . And she knew the only reason Evelyn had allowed her past the threshold wasn't because of the casseroles she carried in her arms, but because of something else Clara carried. The hole in her own heart."
The words so descriptive you can picture not only the conversation but the feelings involved. Penny is a master story teller.
She has created such a wonderful cast of characters living both in the village and the police officers who always come to Three Pines to solve the crimes there. I love everyone from retired Chief Superintendent, Armand Gamache to his assistant and now son-in-law, Jean-Guy Beauvoir, to the new Chief Inspector, Isabelle Lacoste. Then there are the townspeople, Olivier and Gabri, who run the Bed and Breakfast and the Bistro, Ruth Zardo, with her pet duck, the resident poet, Clara, the artist, Myrna, who owns the bookstore and others who come and go through the series when needed to push forward the plot.
Also her descriptions of the village of Three Pines is so wonderful that while I am reading the book I can almost feel like I am there. Then when I finish I feel bad that the town I live in is not that small and tight knit. Sitting in my cold living room on a winter day reading about Reine-Marie and Armand Gamache I wish there was a bistro to walk across the common to and sit by the warm fire my friends and share news and drinks and lunch.
In this story a family living off more isolated in the forest of Three Pines comes to the forefront of the story when their son is killed in the woods. Penny for the first time in the book, brings in a real life historical case about Gerald Bull, a real man and scientist who was a arms designer. Bull with the help of some other scientists who worked on creating "Baby Babylon" a massive gun, built on the border of the Unites States and Canada in Quebec's Eastern Township. It was built to be the biggest missile launcher in the world. It was pointed at the United States.
Penny takes the facts of the case and builds it into the fabric of her characters in Three Pines, She dredges up the history of the case and ties it into the history of the town and the citizens who would have lived in the town at that time. As Gamache and his colleagues look into the murder many secrets are uncovered, feelings are explored and friendships are tested.
Once again Louise Penny has used her way with words to really dig deep and explore the human condition. " It feels like my bones are dissolving," said Evelyn. And Clara nodded. She knew the feeling. "Tell me," said Clara. She didn't ask, "Of what?" Clara knew what she was afraid of . And she knew the only reason Evelyn had allowed her past the threshold wasn't because of the casseroles she carried in her arms, but because of something else Clara carried. The hole in her own heart."
The words so descriptive you can picture not only the conversation but the feelings involved. Penny is a master story teller.
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