The Frog Prince

Mike Klaassen has updated the classic fairy tale The Frog Prince.  He has rewritten this story of the spoiled child to make the characters more believable to the modern day reader, both the child and the parent reading this story.

He has rewritten the dialogue to sound like the pre-teenager in every one's household.  With all the empathy of the average self centered child, who feels they should be treated like a prince or princess, and have everything handed to them on a silver platter.  For the teenager who says indignantly to their parent, 'I have to have that, everyone else has one.'  So when this young prince looses his three pronged gig, a frog or fish hunting tool, and gets caught in some quick sand, you would think he would be more appreciative of the old woman who rescues him.  But showing us how being spoiled and prejudice can make a person small minded, the prince ends up cursed to live out his life as a frog.
This is, as we know, his fate unless a girl will kiss him three times.  Enter the beautiful young princess who has behavior issues of her own.  Now the frog prince must convince this intolerant, overindulged princess to kiss a repulsive creature, namely himself.

Klaassen has nothing to change the actual story line of the original fairy tale, so we all know how this story goes.  What he has done is update the dialogue and speech patterns to represent the everyday attitude and demeanor of the modern pre-teen.  It is an enjoyable read, and maybe today's kids will enjoy it because it feels more relatable, but the author did not make the moral of the story anymore clear than it has always been.

The Fifth Petal

Author, Brunonia Barry has "discovered" another fantastic plot in her newest novel The Fifth Petal.  She has written another terrific storyline about Salem Massachusetts and the memories of the women who were accused there of witchcraft and the history that has shaped that city into the modern times.

I have loved all her books about the Salem residents and historical figures both those who practiced the crafts of magic, lace reading, those with the gift of sight or the gift of listening.  Barry brings to life the history of the women who were punished for their association with witchcraft.  She does her best to absolve them of their crimes through her storytelling.

In this novel we see the story through the eyes of Callie Cahill, who came to salem as a young child with her mother.  She has witnessed a horrific murder scene, as a child,  and now as a young adult she comes back to Salem to see if she can find the answers that are hidden in her nightmares and memory to help bring the murderer to justice.   As she meets people and visits locations in Salem, slowly the memories that have been buried come to the surface.  Between the help of the current police detective and a young man she is developing feelings for , she starts to have visions that will help discover the answers no one has been able to uncover for the past twenty years.  But also linked to this modern day crime is the connection to the women accused of witchcraft  in 1629.

So many different plot lines are developed as we read about Callie, her "aunt" Rose, the police chief and his wife, Towner, and Towner's Tearoom for women who are escaping domestic abuse.  The reader becomes intrigued with the sub plot relationship between Towner and John Rafferty.  Also important to the developments of this novel are the love interest, Paul, and his parents, Finn and Emily Whiting.  We take a look back at the Callie's mother and her friends who were known in town as the Goddesses.

Barry once again brings you a fast paced novel with interesting well defined characters.  A storyline, that with a leap of faith, is a very entertaining explanation of the fate of the famous witches of Salem, Sara Good, Rebecca Nurse, Elizabeth Howe, Susannah Martin, and Sarah Wildes.

Set For Murder

When is a cruise ship like a movie set or a theatre stage?  When you set sail with Jolie Beaumont in her fun mystery novel, Set For Murder.  What a fun, light, entertaining mystery.  Sailing on a cruise ship bound for England during the 1920s.  At the beginning of the depression we set sail from New York headed for England.  The author mixes the rich and famous of American society with the royal society of England.  Actors and dukes socialize on the transatlantic journey as Inspector Travers is along for the ride to guard the famous Tarrington pearl necklace.

All the style and glamour of the wealthy society.  You are along of the ride as people are murdered while the members of this cast stroll the decks of the ship and enjoy the life at sea.  Inspector Travers unravels the crime as you learn about all the interwoven relationships of the passengers.  What at first seems like a random group of travelers soon becomes a web of deceptive passengers who are somehow all connected.  Inspector Travers spends his time interviewing the suspects and radioing back to the United States to try and find out who had motive to murder.

Beaumont does a splendid job of writing this detective plot in a colorful, period style.  You enjoy following the characters around on the ship, through lavish meals, tennis matches and bridge games. The relationships between characters are well created, though sometimes it is confusing who is related to who and is married to who.

Life is glamorous traveling first class on a transatlantic ocean liner.  Keep your jewels locked in the safe and beware the jealous traveler.

A Man Called Ove

Everyone I know has been incredibly positive about this book.  they say it is the best book they have read this year.  The movie also has gotten rave reviews.  Unfortunately once again I do not agree with the popular opinion.

A Man Called Ove, written by Fredrik Backman is a somewhat sweet tale about an elderly man who has lost his wife and is learning to negotiate life without her.  He also has an very obsessive, compulsive personality, which he had even during his marriage.  At one point he mentions that his wife,  Sonja, is the only woman can put up with his unique behaviors.  The book is written in chapters that could almost be individual essays or short stories except one does lead into the next.

The little plot lines of each chapter are interesting and give you more and more details about Ove and his personality.  He comes across like a grumpy, extremely organized with a set routine that he does not line to waver from.  A strict set of rules make him comfortable and he enjoys enforcing those rules on others.

Two of the chapters stood out for me.   One where is is teaching, Pavaneh, his Iranian pregnant neighbor how to drive.  She is flustered by the idea of learning to drive on car with a manual transmission.  Learning to use the stick shift, the clutch along with the gas and brake pedals is more than she thinks she can absorb.  Ove and Pavaneh are in the car and they are arguing about which pedal is which and how to use them.  Ove explains to her that she has overcome so many hurdles and accomplished so many important tasks. She has come from a foreign country and learned a new language.  She has fled war and persecution and gotten an education.  She is raising a family, so driving cannot be that hard.  Ove says, "I'm not asking for brain surgery, I'm asking you to drive a car.  It's got an accelerator, a brake and a clutch.  Some of the greatest twits in world history have sorted out how it works.  And you will as well."  He adds, "Because you are not a complete twit".

This was very funny and felt very real.  It was much the way I felt both when I learned to drive and while I was teaching my children to drive.  Though it can feel like you will never understand it, everyone seems to eventually figure it out, no matter the level of their IQ or their education.

Finally the most moving part of the book I felt was the when he remembering a conversation with his wife.  She compares love to living in a house.  Sonja said, "Loving someone is like moving into a house.  At first you fall in love with the new things, amazed every morning that all this belongs to you, as if fearing that someone would suddenly come rushing in through the door to explain that a terrible mistake had been made, you weren't actually supposed to to live in a wonderful place like this.  Then over the years the walls become weathered, the wood splinters here and there, and you start to love that house not so much because of all its perfection, but rather for its imperfections."  She went on to wax poetic about the little things that you get used to in the house and it is the same with your spouse.  You learn to either love or tolerate his annoying little habits.  You learn to work around the things that bother you, or how to keep the peace by not doing things you know anger the other person.  This is so true in most marriages and relationships.

So even though this will not be on my top 10 list of books this year there were so very relevant points presented that I could really relate to.

Unravelling

Unravelling, a novel written by Elizabeth Graver is the a captivating story of Aimee Slater, a young girl growing up in the rough, uncompromising world of 1840s New England.  Gentility was for the wealthy.  Hardscrabble was for the farmers, factory workers and main population.

Aimee is born into a farming family in New Hampshire.  There are five siblings and her parents living in the small house.  Her sister Anna is buried in the family plot in the church yard.  Her father keeps chickens, pigs and farms the land.  Aimee always feels different from her sisters and brothers, that her name stands out from the familiar names of her siblings, that her name was similar to her mother's but a fancier version.  She tells the reader, "I was the girl who might go bad, who needed to hear the warning bedtime stories,  right from the beginning, but my mother seemed to love me best.
Then I thought myself the most deserving of her love - I was, after all the prettiest of her children and the quickest at school."  this need for acceptance and craving for attention and love plague Aimee throughout her life.  These needs get into the trouble she finds and the frustration and anguish she can never escape.

Aimee feels trapped in her small town, stifled by life on the farm.  She feels different than the other children she is growing up with.  After her friend writes to her from the Mills she feels the tug of a life in the larger world.

She goes off to the Lowell Mills at a time when young girls were convinced to go to work in the harshest of elements and work conditions.  She is young and alone trying to negotiate a world beyond her experience.  When things go wrong, her family, who she desperately needs to reach out to her, pushes her away.  This was a typical reaction of families at this time period .  This novel is written in the very stylized vocabulary of the time period and is very realistic to the behavior of the people at that time to the circumstances of a young girl in trouble.

Graver writes so wonderfully capturing the dialog and conversation style of the period and also the feelings of the townspeople and the parents toward anyone who was different. the descriptions were so vivid that you feel like you are in Aimee's shoes and living the experiences with her.  Or sometimes I felt like I was there with her as her friend and wanted to shout; don't go down that path.

Told in the first person as an account of her life looking back from the end to how it all happened, Aimee is trying to come to terms with where she has ended up and make peace with herself , her mother and the make the best of the life she has been dealt.

Dark, Witch & Creamy

This book is simply delicious.  H.Y. Hanna is an author who is writing veraciously.  She already has one very delightful mystery series, Oxford Tearoom Mysteries,  about a tea shop in a small village where the owner and her employees keep running into murder investigations that they help solve.  Now she is starting this second series, Bewitched By Chocolate, with a twenty something year old Caitlyn, is looking to discover her birth family after the loss of her adoptive mother.  She stumbles across a small village in the Cotswolds and of course a murder that the locals are having trouble solving.

This is a fun plot line where if you let go of your need for reality you can get lost in the world of witches and witchcraft.  Living in this community is the old angry woman who owns the dark, dusty chocolate shop at the end of the lane.  There are the nosy, gossipy ladies who hang out at the post office.  Don't forget the old woman's daughter and granddaughter who run herbal shop.  And no cozy mystery series would be complete without the handsome love interest who lives in the mansion on the other side of the woods.

The recipe is for murder is set.  Caitlyn is intrigued with the village, the chocolate shop especially, where you can smell and taste the delicious chocolates that taste so good they may be enchanted.
Even Bertha, the woman who owns the herbal shop explains to Caitlyn the potency of cacao, "The ancient Mayans and the Aztecs knew about this.  They called it xocolatl - 'food of the gods'.  Cacao beans were associated with wisdom and magical power, and the ancient witches and shamans used it in the spell working rituals."

So settle down with one of H.Y. Hanna books and dig your teeth into a delicious, melt in your mouth plot that will fill you up with feelings of satisfaction as you try to figure out who the murder is and if the romance will blossom.

The Library Paradox

Catherine Shaw has written a very dense and meaty mystery novel that you will just sink your teeth into to find out who done it.  This is more of a puzzle to solve than anything else.  The well known, hated, anti -Semitic Professor at King's College in London is dead of a gunshot wound in his study.  Two students heard him yelling at someone right before the gun went off.  When they entered the room there was no one there and they saw no one running out.

The year is 1896 and Vanessa Weatherburn is a new young mother of twins, who has given up her career as a teacher.  She talks of how hard it is to stay home and be responsible for the domestic commitments.  Her husband seems supportive or at least does not hold her back.  When the Professors come to see her about helping to solve what looks like a clear case of murder, she takes the case.  Because she thinks to herself, "Certainly I am neither experienced nor famous nor brilliant, and yet, there was a period, after I married and stopped teaching, where if some interesting problems did not come my way, I should have fallen into gloom out of sheer boredom - indeed there is quite simply a part of my brain that is not fulfilled by the plain enjoyment of domestic pleasures and yearns to touch the rougher spots of life's texture."

Shaw is careful to write the story in the style of speech of this earlier century and to follow the mores, styles and customs of this time period.  So that even though Vanessa is stepping out of conventional behavior of a women of 1896, she is careful to not behave in a manner that would be unacceptable at that time.

Also there is the explanation of the title, The Library Paradox.  A paradox is a statement that is contradictory, because it contains two statements that are both true but cannot be true at the same time.  The contradictory elements of this murder are the statements of the witnesses.  Though the facts they present are all true, there is still a dead body that could not have been killed if the witness are all telling the truth, thus a paradox.  Because it happens in a library, Shaw brings in the famous logical paradox about the Catalog of Catalogs.  This gives the reader something to sink their teeth into as they try to understand the complicated circular points of this paradox

Also central to this mystery novel is the notorious "Dreyfus Affair".  There is so much historical evidence and evidence in this novel about the atmosphere in England during this time period.  This also plays apart in the anti-semitism of the murdered Professor, who was involved in writing articles about the Dreyfus conviction and other "blood libel" cases in history.

This is a book packed with history, mathematics, logic along with the intrigue and relationships.
A history lesson, logistics challenge and a who done it all wrapped up in one fun read.

The Curious Charms of Arthur Pepper

Unless you have married your high school sweetheart, most people have had more than one relationship before they settle down and marry.  You probably had many adventures in your life also before you met you spouse.  As you and your loved one are getting to know each other, you spend time sharing stories about your past.  But, do you tell everything or leave secrets between you. Should there be an air of mystery or should every little adventure be divulged?  Author, Phaedra Patrick plays with just that theme in her novel, The Curious Charms of Arthur Pepper.

Arthur Pepper became a widower a year ago.  He is still trying to cope with living alone, missing his wife, Miriam terribly.  On the anniversary of her death he finally decides to clean out the closet and donate her things to charity.  As he goes through her pockets and things checking for loose change before putting them in the donation pile, he comes across a charm bracelet he never remembers seeing Miriam wear.  He becomes aware that she may have had an adventurous life before they met. He heads off to find out what each of the charms on the bracelet represent, following the path his
wife took through life on her way to marry him.

Arthur meets all kinds of interesting people along the way and learns not only about Miriam's life before she met him, but also learns quite a bit about himself also.  Arthur and Miriam have two grown children, Lucy and Dan, who have gone off and created their own lives.  As Arthur looks back on his marriage and family life when the children were young, he sees things he would have handled differently.  As Arthur tells one of the people he meets along the way about the bracelet and how he is tracing the story behind the charms, he explains that his reasoning is because he wants to know Miriam better, but also he says, "I am learning more about myself, too.  With each person I encounter, with each story I hear, I feel as if I am changing and growing.  And maybe others will benefit a little from meeting me also.  It's a strange feeling."

This is a sweet story. The main characters are nicely developed.  It is a story of love, old ad new, and standing up for and defending love no matter what.  It is a story of finding out how to make the most of life and the cards you are dealt. It about learning how to listen, to be there for other people. It is a lesson in reaching out and letting other people in.  There are a few instances where the reader needs to suspend belief and go with the flow.  There were some points where this reader was skeptical that some events were really realistic.  But, to make the lessons work you are willing to take the leap and let the story take you along for the ride.

Casting Lots

Susan Silverman also grew up in NH.  Sister to well known comedian Sarah stands out in the family of Silverman sisters as becoming the most observant of the Jewish religion of the family.  She has become a Rabbi, marrying a Jewish activist and moving with their family of five children to live in Israel.

Again it is fun to read about a family growing up and living in a town near your own, knowing the schools and stores mentioned in the book.  There is a kind of camaraderie where you feel close to the author even though you never actually met them in person.  Of course then reading about their personal family life the object brings you in to their private world and you know feel like you are almost living in their neighborhood.

Interestingly both Susan in this book, Casting Lots and Sarah in her book, Bedwetter tell the same stories about their childhoods.  They describe their parents and the life of growing up with divorced parents in exactly the same way.  Sarah writes, "When I was seven years old my parents did what was fashionable and got divorced.  In addition to creating me, it's something they did for which I'm eternally grateful.  their divorce should be a model for us all; they both remarried happily, and all four spouses became good friends. "

In Casting Lots, Susan describes it a bit differently but also feels that their family is much happier the way it turned out than it was when her parents were married to each other.  "The family I have today was not made in our blood, but felt in our bones.  Not a whole cloth, but patches and seams.  Only after we stopped holding our nuclear family together, desperately smearing ourselves in some sort of emotional superglue, only when we let the pieces fall apart, were we able to  build something real. We were a mosaic - or perhaps, Mosaic."

So reading these two book side by side is interesting.  The two sisters grew up together in the same house and yet they describe the same situations in such different styles.  The facts are the same but Sarah uses comedy to relate the events and Susan retells the events and then finds a biblical or Talmudic interpretation to explain them.

The other major differences is that Susan has created her life around family and Judaism.  She was ordained as a reform Rabbi.   She married Yosef Abrahamowitz and together they have three biological daughters and two adopted sons from Ethiopia.

Again I ask myself while reading this what makes a person want to share so many intimate details of their life and those around them with the strangers who will read your book?  Susan talks about the everyday trials and tribulations of bringing up children.  They cry and throw tantrum.  They won't do their homework.  She shares about how she has adopted two sons from Ethiopia.  Her first son, Adar, as he grows up and realizes in Newton, Massachusetts Jewish Day school, he stands out as different from the other students and by the color of his skin even from his family.  Adar is throwing clean laundry off the bed and yelling, "I want a brown family, I don't want to be in this family.  I hate this family."  After trying to quiet her child, explaining that their family won't be complete without him.   Susan writes her thoughts as she was picking up and refolding the laundry, "He was like Adam in the Garden of Eden; he was suddenly ashamed and self-conscience, no longer part of an organic, perfect world."

Susan it seems is looking to create the perfect universe through her family.  "creating a family of many skin colors," Susan writes, "is a result of my earliest imaginings about the world and about my family someday."

Susan goes into more detail about her childhood, her relationship with her sisters, and different family encounters.  There are three Silverman sisters, Laura, Susan and Sarah.  Along with half sister, Jodyne.  They grow up in Manchester, NH in a working class, Jewish family.

Beth Ann Silverman, who gave up her french and theatre major from Tufts University to marry and work alongside, Donald Silverman who was taking over the family business, The Variety Shop, a clothing store on Main Street in Concord, NH.  On a buying trip to NYC, Beth Ann won the Tournament of Champions on the TV show, Concentration.  After selling most of the prizes she won, (they need the money) Beth Ann and Donald go on the cruise and then back to NYC for the 1968 World Fair.  On phone call to home they get disastrous news and rush back.  Both Sarah and Susan describe this event in the same detail in each of their books.  Their lives do not really go in such different directions until Susan goes off to college and meets Yosef.

Laura, though mentioned by both sisters in their respective books,  remains the most unknown and quiet of the Silverman family.

Reading each of the books, is quite interesting especially if you were curious about why they each went in the direction they have.  It is interesting to look into other people's lives.  You can find ideas you agree with and find validation.  You can see faults of your own and find acceptance.

Bedwetter

Sarah Silverman is a Manchester NH native.  Living currently in NH, it is fun to read about someone famous who had their start here.  Also knowing the places she mentions in her book gives you a feeling of closeness to the author.

Silverman has made her career in comedy based on a outspokenness to say, it seems, anything that comes into her head.  Reading the book  makes me feel like maybe I understand her a little bit better.
She grew up with a father who freely uses unpleasant language.  It was acceptable in the house and she found out from a very young age, that if when she said something unpleasant it got laughs.

Silverman writes about her personal embarrassment with bed wetting as a child.  She has made it a large part of her comedy routine.  What I wonder, because as I have mentioned before, I have toyed with the idea of writing a memoir about my life and have though about all the people I would mention and the personal situations that would come to light for strangers to read and had second thoughts about sharing those private moments, I wonder, does using comedy make sharing all these personal encounters and intimate experiences an easier way to share them with strangers?

Not being quite sure how much of what Silverman writes in the book is fact or embellishment of her real life, she says that she knew when she was very young that she wanted a life in comedy.  When asked by a third grade teacher what she wanted to be when she grew up, she writes, "A comedian, an actor or masseuse."

Also long with bed wetting, Silverman talks quite a bit about years of drug use.  The one pearl of wisdom that I really came away from this book with was a conversation she describes having with her friend, Kerry, from high school.  Kerry had gone off to Howard College and was visiting Sarah at NYU their freshman year.  When Sarah offers her some drugs Kerry explains that her new mantra is "Make It a Treat".

Silverman explains it with a few examples which a clever, like only wearing make-up for special occasions so it stands out when you do.  She writes, "'Make It a Treat' is similar in spirit to 'everything in moderation', but still very distinct.  'Moderation' suggests a regular. low-level intake of something.  MIAT asks for more austerity; it encourages you to keep the special things in life special."

So in a sea of crudeness and personal sadness, I  found MIAT the most uplifting and positive point in the book.  I am glad Sarah has made a successful career and seems to have found some happiness.  It is hard to know while reading the book how much is embellished for the comedic effect and how much is honest truth.  But it all makes for interesting reading.

French Kiss

James Patterson working with Richard DiLallo have started a new detective series starring French Police Detective Luc Moncreif. It is written as a short novella style book.  The idea being that you can read it completely through in an hour or two.

Short quick read.  A novella style book that introduces us to French Detective Luc Moncrief.  He has left the Paris police at the height of his career to become a detective in New York City.  The plot is written in a light breezy style sometimes first person and sometimes not.   Moncrief is a young, handsome, happy go lucky cop who figures out who did by instinct.  He is late for work and not really meticulous but in the end he solves the case anyway.   He is working with a new partner who does things by the book.  She wants to follow procedure.  Accumulate information,  put the facts in order, assembling the puzzle fitting each of the pieces.  Moncreif explains, "Absolutely not, you sink into the case as if it were a warn bath,  You sense the situation.  You for the fingerprint of the crime itself."   Moncreif feels that solutions come from listening and seeing small surprises.  He believes in looking in the most unlikely places and talking to the least likely observers.

Of course in this mystery novel, though a few do get killed, in the end Moncrief solves the crime.  It is a fun read that I was able to finish quickly.  It has accomplished what it set out to do, give me a entertaining few hours and the feeling of accomplishment without leaving me in suspense because, Moncreif and I solved the case in an afternoon.

Patterson and DiLallo seem to have incredible imaginations, because of the volume of novels they turn out in record time on a very consistent basis.  Amazing.

the book that matters most

As I was reading this book I kept trying to think what book I would recommend if I was asked what book mattered has mattered most to me.  Even now, after finishing the book, I cannot think of a book that could fit that description.

This book has a number of plot lines working at the same time.  We follow Ava, a teacher, daughter, mother and now ex-wife.  She is trying to find herself after her husband leaves her for another woman.  Her children are grown and off in foreign countries living their own lives.  Of course, Ava, at the behest of her best friend joins the bookclub. Through the books they read and the friends she makes comes to some understanding about who she is so she can move on with her life.  Ava has become stuck, reliving in her mind, a tragedy from her childhood, that she also never really resolved.

We also follow the story of Ava's daughter, Maggie, a twenty-something, also lost, traveling in Paris, getting to into bad relationships and working through a drug addiction.  As Ava tries to communicate with her daughter and find both the book that has always matted most to her, From Clare to Here, and its author, she reexamines the mysterious secrets from her childhood that have lead to this point in her life.

At one point in the novel, as each book club member leads the discussion about the book they have picked as the most important in their life, the leader say explains; "The idea of the book that matters most," Kiki said.  "Because I think its like impossible to pick such a book.  When you read a book, who you are when you read it, makes it matter or not.  I don't know, if you read On The Road or The Three Musketeers, and that book changes how you feel or how you think, then it matters most.  At that time."   That really in the end is the crux of the issue.  I have loved so many books over the years, some because I read them at a critical junction that was serendipitous.  Some books I just felt I could relate to but were not live changing.  Some authors have written so well that I feel some connection to their work even if does not relate directly to my personal life.

This is one of the books that leaves you thinking at the end.  It is one of those books that you do not want to put down until the end.  Some will I think feel that they can relate to some of the characters that presented here.  A woman going through breast cancer treatments, a man who has lost his wife, a young man in search of love, a mother with six children looking for adult conversation.  Ten book club members one for each month's book selection.  Though I did not find each of the character's and their book selections quite as well developed as I would have like, I do see how the author, Ann Hood, tried to use each of their book selections to bring Ava forward out of her despair and back to a world that she could make her own.  How to leave behind her childhood loss and the loss of her marriage and move forward to find happiness or at least contentment.