Books, Winter 2011/2012

Cutting for Stone, by Abraham Verghese. This is a novel about twin boys growing up in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, during the 1960s and 70s when there were several attempts to overthrow Emporer Haile Selassie. It is also about the twins becoming doctors, one in Ethiopia and the other in the U.S. I liked the book a lot and would recommend it.

Drums of Autumn, by Diana Gabaldon, the fourth book in the Outlander series. I like this series about people who time travel from the 1900s back to the 1700s. In this installment, Claire’s daughter Brianna and her friend Roger go back in time to find Claire and meet Brianna’s father Jamie, who have left Scotland and gone to America. Life was pretty brutal then, so there’s lots of adventure with pirates, Indians, and various other nefarious characters.

Floor Sample, by Julia Cameron. She calls this “a creative memoir.” It is a book about a dysfunctional sober-alcoholic woman who moves around across the country on a whim, without thinking anything through. Julia Cameron wrote the best-seller The Artist’s Way. She also had numerous breakdowns, and lots of life-drama before finally admitting that she needed psychiatric drugs to function normally. I don’t know why I continued to read the book, maybe that train-wreck phenomenon where one can’t turn away. I don’t recommend this book to anyone who isn’t suffering from similar problems.

Something Dangerous, by Penny Vincenzi. This is the second in a three-book series. I did not read the first book but was able to figure out enough not to feel lost. It is about an English family that owns a publishing house and this second book takes place between 1928 and 1946, so it covers the Depression (which wasn’t so severe in Great Britain) and WWII years. I liked the book and will be reading the third installment soon.

American Bloomsbury, by Susan Cheever. Louisa May Alcott, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Margaret Fuller, Nathaniel Hawthrone, and Henry David Thoreau: Their Lives, Their Loves, Their Work. An interesting book about the American writers who lived in Concord, Massachusetts, during the 1840s – 1860s. An interesting book, but a bit confusing as the stories are not covered chronologically. At the end there is a Chronological section that sorts it all out. Ms. Cheever is clearly much more familiar with the work of the covered authors than I am. I guess you need to have a major(or maybe a minor) in American Literature to really appreciate the nuances of the book. Interesting, yes; a great read, maybe not.

The Fiery Cross, by Diana Gabaldon. This is the fifth book in the Outlander series. What can I say? I really get into these books. They give me something to think about when I’m awake in the middle of the night. In this one, it is the early 1770s with the American Revolution looming just around the corner. Jamie and the other characters are walking a tightrope trying to stay in the good graces of the English governor as other colonists show their displeasure with the corruption of the British government. Again, lots of excitement and adventure, and a nice ending.

Scarlet Feather, by Maeve Binchy. A nice read. Maeve Binchy creates interesting characters and tells their stories well. This one is about a young man and woman who open a catering company. It follows their first year in business. I believe Scarlet Feather is related to Quentins which was written later and has some of the same characters.

Into Temptation, by Penny Vincenzi. This is the third in a three book series. I read the second book, Something Dangerous, not long ago. This third book takes place between 1953 and 1959, both in England (mostly London) and the U.S. (New York). Like the second book, this one is a sweeping story with lots of characters – just the kind of book I like. I recommend the series. (The first book is called No Angel.)

The Last Days of Dogtown, by Anita Diamant. A novel about a real place in Massachusetts commonly called Dogtown, where in the early 1800s the last residents gradually died or left the place. It was a sad place with poor soil and lots of rocks, finally a place for people with nowhere else to go. The story winds around among a handful of characters, some fictional and a few apparently real people. I found it interesting, fortunately not a long book which might have brought me down. There were several characters who ended up making good lives for themselves away from Dogtown, so reading it was worthwhile.

The Butterfly House, by Marcia Preston. This is an interesting novel about two girls who are longtime friends and the mother of one of the girls who raises butterflies in her home for research purposes. The story moves along on two tracks, one during the girls’ youth and the other as young adults in their mid-20s. If I have any criticism about the book it would be that only one of the characters, Bobbie, is very well developed. Although the story is not a first-person narrative, the other characters are really only seen from Bobbie’s perspective.

Post of Honor, by R. F. Delderfield. This is the second of a two-book series; I did not read the first book. Last year I read a book by Delderfield that I enjoyed, so I thought I’d give him another try. Post of Honor is about a group of people living in a small English valley between 1914 (just before WWI) until 1940 (the beginning of WWII). The book has entirely too much detail, especially about WWI, and so many characters with the same last names it was difficult to keep them all straight. (The one I read last year was called The Avenue Goes to War, about WWII.)