Book #65: Longbourn by Jo Baker

Yet another Jane Austen-related read! I heard about this in several places and was super interested. Longbourn is a look at Pride and Prejudice from the servants' perspective, but that really over-simplifies the scope of this book. Really, the story we know and love from P&P is only the bare bones of this story, the setting, while a completely individual story goes on in the downstairs section of the Bennet household. We meet a cast of characters that are mostly unnamed and unimportant in the original story--Mrs. Hill, the only servant named in the original story; Sarah, the housemaid; Polly, her younger assistant; Mr. Hill; and James, a new footman recently hired at Longbourn. Although we never hear anything about them or what they do in the original story, they have actual thoughts and lives and interesting histories, and it's really neat to see how the story plays out and how the actions of the Bennet family are received and taken by the servant class. Mostly, the servants are interested in what's going on upstairs by how it will affect them and their workloads; Elizabeth deciding to walk the three miles to Netherfield through the fields is no longer a charming independent gesture but one that will cause hours of soaking and laundering and scraping to clean her boots and petticoats. It's obvious how inconsiderate and rude it was of Mr. Bennet to invite Mr. Collins there to stay without any prior announcement of his coming, considering the work it takes for the servants to get the room/house ready for visitors. But they have their own lives and interests too; Sarah, the main voice and character for the story, is dying to get out and see the world but little aware of how innocent and naive she is. She (eventually, in her own "pride and prejudice" romantic twist) has her own love story and gets to learn a little more about the world and life by traveling a little, and we learn a little about the Bennet sisters' drama along with her own.

I loved this look at the P&P story. I thought it was a good reminder that there are so many people and points of view who are basically ignored throughout the original story (and throughout history, obviously). It's funny how in this story, you can see how Lizzie and Jane are nice to the servants but also basically ignore them and don't think about things from their points of view at all. (For example: it's raining buckets one day and Lizzie and Lydia decide they need new decorations for their shoes, but it's raining too hard for them to walk into town, so they just decide Sarah can do it for them. So she has to walk into town and get completely soaked, just for these random "shoe-roses.") So this book is not just a P&P rewrite; it's a completely individual story that's set in the exact same place, and it was really, really good.

P.S. I don't feel like I've read that much this month, but I still made it through 10 books! I've already read more books this year than I did in all of last year. So far, 2/3 of the way through this year, I'm (ALMOST) 2/3 of the way through the goal of 100 books this year. I've never read that many in the last three years I've been keeping track, but maybe I will this year! We'll see.

Book #64: The Silkworm by Robert Galbraith

I really enjoyed the first Robert Galbraith book Cuckoo's Calling, so when I heard another one was coming out I immediately got on the library waitlist (or I guess, I immediately did when we moved in to Frisco). (I just looked at the blog post I wrote for Cuckoo's Calling and I read the two books exactly a year apart. What a coincidence.) As soon as I started reading The Silkworm, I couldn't put it down. Yesterday evening was one of those where I ignored all my responsibilities and poor Tommy and just powered through this book. I was up until 1 a.m. but it was so worth it to just get through it.

I really like Galbraith's style (or, as we all know, J.K. Rowling's style) in this series. I love the character she creates for Cormoran Strike--he's the quintessential moody, mysterious (ish) detective with a very interesting past (illegitimate son of a famous rock star, crazy on-again off-again relationship with the most gorgeous woman in the world for 16 years, blew off his leg in Afghanistan). I also love the character of Robin, his assistant, who really wants to be more involved in the actual crime-solving aspects of her job, although I hate her fiance, Matthew (who hates her job and is jealous of Strike), and I don't necessarily like the hints of potential romance between Robin and Strike--I don't necessarily think they would go well together and I like how the series works with them separate as they are. And this mystery was a doozy. The wife of a temperamental novelist comes to Strike and asks him to help her find her husband, who's run away and hidden himself (which he's done before, a number of times). Strike agrees, although it's obvious she doesn't have any money to pay him, and it's not long before he finds the husband's body in a gory, unexpected murder scene. It turns out that his murder is written about in his last, unpublished novel, which only a few people have had access to. The police suspect and eventually arrest the wife, but Strike is sure it's not her--so the race is on between Strike and the police for more evidence to support their ideas. I really hadn't seen the ending coming, with how the murder was committed, although I did suspect who the murderer was (but there was still a very satisfying revelation scene of how everything happened at the end). VERY satisfying.

I read somewhere online that there are supposedly going to be seven Cormoran Strike novels eventually (or that Rowling supposedly has plans for at least seven) and I know I will be happy to read all of them. The only thing I didn't like about this book was the description of Owen Quine's novel that supposedly caused his murder, which was filled with gratuitous fantasy sex and violence and was pretty off-putting. . . but it was just a few pages within the whole rest of the book if you want to skip that. That part was really too "adult" for me and probably for most people.

Book #63: Bomb: The Race to Build--And Steal--the World's Most Dangerous Weapon by Steve Sheinkin

One of the book bloggers I follow gave this book such a glowing review that I didn't want to pass it up, so I ended up requesting it from the library. It's an interesting genre for me--it's a historical look at the atomic bomb race, but it's written for a younger audience, not children, but maybe young teens? But really, the only signal that this is for a younger audience is how Sheinkin explains people and events, in a way that readers who have no idea who they are or what happened would be able to understand. And, this history is much quicker to get through than it probably would be if it were for an adult audience. I could see this book being 450 dense pages if it were a normal non-fiction look at the atomic bomb race, but this was 250 pages and moved very quickly, but it still provided a ton of information and introduced all the main players and events in a really engaging way. So I kind of liked how it was shortened and thinned out, since I learned everything I wanted to about it and didn't feel like I had to be stuck in this big heavy book for days and days.

Sheinkin writes about three separate storylines in the book: how America worked to build the first atomic bomb, how America was trying to sabotage Germany's similar attempts to do the same thing, and how the USSR was trying (and succeeding) to steal all of America's secret plans for the atomic bomb. It was really neat to learn about the Norwegian rebellion groups who blew up the heavy water plant the Germans needed for their a-bomb testing, and to read about the Russian spies and collaborators who were trying to get a hold of someone in the Manhattan Project and what their techniques were. And crazy to learn about the people who gave over the a-bomb secrets to the Russians and why they did it! And, of course, devastating to read about the effects of the bomb in Japan and the psychological effects of that realization of what they'd created on the physicists who worked on the project. It's unbelievable how quickly they were able to create it, considering they only barely discovered that fission was possible in 1939, and they managed to create a working atomic bomb only six years later (with hundreds of scientists working non-stop on it for that time).

This was definitely a fascinating read, with plenty of historical information and lots of detail that kept me involved, but quick-paced and not too heavy. I'm really glad I picked it up!

Book #62: Jane's Fame: How Jane Austen Conquered the World by Claire Harman

I hadn't heard anything about this book--I just happened across it when Tommy and I were perusing at Half Price Books on our date night the other night. I saw the title and decided that I wanted it right then and there--because everything about Jane Austen is is right up my alley these days. It took me a few days to plow through it, because it wasn't fiction or a super-fast easy read that I couldn't put down, but it was definitely still interesting enough. Harman basically does a readership study of Jane Austen throughout the last two centuries and discusses how scholars have changed their views of her, how the popular culture have changed its view of her, and how the number of readers has varied over time. Her books were practically out of print around the time that she died almost 200 years ago, but through some excellent circumstances on Jane's behalf, she's still one of the most popular authors being read these days. Harman does an excellent job of compiling and translating scholarly works on the "divine Jane" and discussing how her popular persona has changed over the last two centuries, and I definitely found it interesting to see how over different decades people held different views of her. I think this was definitely an interesting read, and I would recommend it to people who've read other biographies of Jane Austen and want a deeper look into her life and writing history.

Book #61: The Care and Management of Lies by Jacqueline Winspear

I am a big fan of the Maisie Dobbs series by Jacqueline Winspear, so when my friend Loralee mentioned that Winspear had written a standalone novel about WWI, I decided I had to read it. It became available pretty quickly at the library, so I got the chance to read it faster than I thought I would. And it didn't disappoint! Winspear does a fantastic job of creating the world in which her characters live in WWI. I love how she focuses on this time in world history in all of her books. It is always mind-blowing to me how little I really know about that whole era, how little I've really learned about WWI in history classes throughout my life. The Maisie Dobbs books were some of the first to introduce me to WWI and the time period after the war, to really make me aware of how traumatizing and significant that experience was for everyone who lived at that time. Everyone, EVERYONE was affected by this war, which is so different than the wars that go on today.

This novel follows the love story of Kezia and Tom Brissenden, a brand-new married couple who settle in on Tom's family farm to live before the war breaks out and Tom leaves to fight in France. They are an adorable, wonderful couple, who are sweet and deeply in love with each other despite the fact that they have different backgrounds (town girl, country boy). When Tom leaves, Kezia is left in charge of the farm and has to learn to take care of it on her own, and she and Tom write each other long letters, in which what's left out is almost as important as what is left in. I loved the look at how Kezia and Tom both write their letters and self-edit to take out things that will worry the other or make them upset. (I almost want to use it as an example in my class; it's a fantastic look at how the rhetorical situation--the purpose of a letter and the audience of that letter--affects what you write and how you write it!) I loved also how Kezia would write long, detailed letters about imaginary meals she would make for Tom and how she prepared them, and how he would daydream about her food after reading her letters. There is also the side story of Tom's sister, or Kezia's best friend, Thea, and how she ended up at the front driving ambulances at the same time.

The one thing I didn't like about the book is the ending. No spoilers here--just in case--but it's not too difficult to imagine that it's not a fairy-tale happy ending (it's WWI, for heaven's sake). I don't know what I wanted to happen for the end, but it seemed a little sudden and not detailed enough to explain what really happened to everyone--and it wasn't the fairy-tale happy ending I wanted! But all in all, it was definitely a good read and I loved the angle Winspear took with this book.

Book #60: Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine

I know I've said this before on this blog, but I was a HUUUUUUGE re-reader when I was a kid. I would get on a kick and read a book hundreds of times with a few new books thrown in. Harry Potter was one of those re-readings, and Ella Enchanted was definitely another. I read this book so many times as a kid, but I haven't read it in over ten years, at least. But last night we were skimming Netflix and happened upon the movie, and I may or may not have made Tommy watch it with me--and that made me interested in revisiting the book. Luckily, our library had an e-copy I could download--which was actually the very first time I'd ever bothered to figure out how to download e-books to our Kindle, can you believe it?--and I read it today during Dane's nap. It reminded me of several things: 1) how much worse the movie is than the book (so cheesy! So silly!) and 2) how much I loved this book.

So anyways, I know this is a kid's book (or middle grades--not sure what genre/age group to throw it in here) and I don't usually write about them on here (again, other than Harry Potter) but I have such an affinity for this book that I didn't want to forget about it. I love how this is a re-telling of the Cinderella story with the added twist of Ella's spell of obedience that has been placed on her. I think it's so creative and it perfectly pleases the audience that Levine is writing for. Reading the book as an adult, there are elements that seem somewhat unbelievable (why do she and the prince run into each other so many times? Why does her father not care that she's being forced to work as a servant?) but it's still a great book that I fully intend to read with my kids (especially any girls if I ever have any).

Book #59: Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walter

I've finally gotten around to reading this book. I've been thinking about it for months now, because once you see this cover, how can you not want to read it? (Also--how can you not want to go there?) I've even checked it out from the library once or twice, but I let it run out and had to return it before getting around to it. So this time I was determined to actually read it. I picked it up last night and couldn't help but getting right into it, and powered through it in just yesterday evening and today during Dane's nap. It shouldn't have been such a fast read, but once I got invested in the story, I just couldn't help myself but to read it so fast. (I kind of hate it when I do that, because I tend to miss some beautiful long paragraphs that I just skip over in my haste to get to the action and to find out what comes next. It just happens naturally; I don't even mean to do it. When I catch myself doing it, I try to go back and make sure I don't miss anything, but I guess that means the author did a good job getting me into the story.)

This book had such a random, almost unbelievable storyline that mixed history with fiction and jumped into any number of characters living lives in such different areas of the world, in different eras the 20th century, in different industries. There was the unbelievably-surgically-altered movie executive, the rural Italian hotel owner, the Hollywood actress turned small-town theater owner, the trashed and run-down old band singer, the down-on-his-luck MFA/screenwriter trying to pitch a movie about the Donner Party, Richard Burton, etc. They were all introduced as narrators and major parts of the story, even though in the end, only two of them were the real main characters and their decades-long long-lost love story was the real linchpin of the whole novel. I loved how the chapters switch between narrator and format and time period, some of them back in the sixties in Italy, some in the modern day in Hollywood, etc. Some of the chapters were random chapters from other books written by the characters, etc. But it all worked together to help you figure out what happened to these people in Italy sixty years ago, and how the resolution is coming together now. I absolutely loved the story. I felt like all of the characters were compelling, and I liked how the author included some crossover between "real life" (with Richard Burton appearing during his filming of Cleopatra) and the fictional characters who are affected by him. I do feel like the resolution, the final chapter, wasn't as thorough and clear-cut and clean as I'd like it to be, although I'm sure that was a stylistic choice by the author. But this was definitely a satisfying escapist read that I'm super glad I picked up.

Book #58: Lots of Candles, Plenty of Cake by Anna Quindlen

I don't remember where I originally heard about this book, but one of the book bloggers I follow wrote about it and gave a high recommendation for it, but then months (years?) passed and I never got around to it until now. I don't know why memoirs are so fascinating to me, but I especially liked this one (and Truth and Beauty) because they both seemed very thoughtful and honest, and not gimmicky in any way. This book seems to be Quindlen's reflection on her life as she ages, on the actual process of aging and what she's learned in her life and how she loves where she is now. I've never actually read anything else by Quindlen, although now I kind of want to, because her writing style was very easy to follow and filled with sweet anecdotes about friends and family that illustrated the points she was trying to make--although there wasn't really a specific POINT she was ever trying to drive at while she was writing (which I kind of enjoyed!). She just seemed to be meandering through her thoughts, generally about everything she's learned about life now that she's in her sixties (and what she expects to learn in the next few decades). It felt relaxed and relaxing to read.

I really liked how Quindlen seems so content with her life and so happy with her family. So often you read bad things about getting older and all of these unfortunate predictions about what it's like to get old, but she talks about how she wouldn't go back to being younger, how she's happy with her newfound wisdom, how her life is sweet and full of meaning. I also like how she wrote about her mother, who died when she was nineteen, and what she learned after her death (and since). The whole book felt pretty reassuring and uplifting.

Book #57: Truth and Beauty: A Friendship by Ann Patchett

Officially, this book is listed as a memoir, but it feels more heavy-duty than that. That's probably because Patchett is such a skillful novelist, and her prose is just naturally more beautiful than many writers out there on the market. (Bel Canto is one of my favorite books that I've read in the last few years.) Her writing feels more Literature than a quickie read, but I really just buzzed through this book in just a few hours.

It seems like many memoirs these days have a very shticky, specific angle that the author is working on, like The Happiness Project or confessionals about a year with no sugar, etc., etc. This one feels more all-encompassing and with more depth than those. Patchett details her lifelong friendship with writer Lucy Grealy, up until Lucy's death from overdosing on heroin in 2002. Not only did Lucy have a significant physical disability (she had lost her lower jaw after extreme radiation for cancer when she was young), she also had a larger-than-life interesting and overwhelming personality and ability to show affection and demand it. Patchett does a wonderful job of capturing Lucy for the reader and getting you to see how their relationship grew and changed (and didn't change) over the decades they knew and loved each other. Lucy seems like she was a very difficult person to love--always demanding things and never taking care of herself, but she had many, many people who loved her. It was interesting to get to know Patchett herself too through this book. I really liked her comparison throughout the book of pairing herself to the ant and Lucy to the grasshopper: one always drudging away to save up for the winter and the other throwing everything to the wind to have a wonderful summer. I felt like I got a good sense of who they both were and loved reading about their relationship and how they cared for each other.

Book #56: The Little Bookstore of Big Stone Gap by Wendy Welch

I saw this book on a book blog that someone mentioned and it immediately sounded like it was right up my alley--and, since the book even exists at all, probably up a lot of book-lovers' alleys. I've always told Tommy that if I had to pick any random job that I could be dropped into and would love, it would be running or owning a little bookstore. And this book gives you a good look into the nitty-gritty of opening and running a used bookstore. Welch and her husband decided to move to western Virginia (not West Virginia) and open their own bookstore in a tiny little town in the Appalachians, and she talks about how they started and what the process was like. She goes into a lot of detail about how they acquired their books (mostly from garage sales, at first), how they learned how to price books and items, and how they interact with customers and help them to find books they might like. It was really interesting how she and her husband, and their store, became these members of a very small, very insular community and how they worked really hard to create a space that people would want to visit and come back to.

This was a fun memoir for someone who's a reader and a book-lover, and I liked learning about the process they went through to build their store into this community center. Welch says many times throughout the book how naive she and her husband were when they made their decision to open a bookstore, and how little idea they had about how much work it would take to own such a business. I know exactly what she means--when I think about owning a bookstore, I imagine the pleasure of organizing and selling books and helping people find things that they like, but not the difficulty of getting books to the shop and pricing tons of romance novels that you already have a billion of. So like any business, there are good things and bad things that come along with it--but for Welch and her husband, they have made a good life in a little town and have improved the community with the things they offer. And that sounds really good.