The Ten-Year Nap tells the stories of 4 New Yorkers who chose to be stay at home moms, and how, 10 years later, they are faced with needing to decide what to do with the rest of their lives now that their children are in school and no longer needing them the way they used to.

Most central of the women is Amy, who once worked as a lawyer before the birth of her son. She and her husband Leo decided she would stay at home and raise their son in his most formative years, rather than paying someone else to do it. Now that her son is 10 years old, she’s finding that she’s not as essential to him as she once was, and that staying home has become a financial strain on the family.

Amy’s friend Jill once worked in the film industry, but was let go from her job right around the time she and her husband decided to start a family. After years of fertility problems, they decided to adopt a baby girl from Romania, and that Jill would stay home and raise her. But Jill finds that she doesn’t really like being a SAHM, especially now that she senses her daughter has some special needs that will require extra time and attention.

Roberta was once an “artist”, but her work never got the recognition she wanted. She ends up turning to puppetry and crafts to make some money, though she thinks it is beneath her. When she and her husband start a family, she decides to stay home and raise them because child care would be too expensive to pay for on her small earnings. Now, as her children are needing her less, she’s feeling like a failure because she not only has lost her artistic drive, but she no longer has the desire or motivation to find something she’d be interested in doing.

Karen is a brilliant mathematician married to a successful banker. Growing up, she watched her parents work so hard at low-paying jobs to provide a life for their family. While Karen loves math and enjoys going to job interviews where companies offer her large salaries to work for them, she always turns down the offers so she can stay at home with her sons because her financial situation is one where she doesn’t have to work, so she won’t. (more…)

Jeez, it took me forever to read a book! I read this one in bits and pieces, a few pages at a time before going to bed. It’s a long book, so it took a while, and there was a week or two when my 7 month old son decided he didn’t want to sleep well and would cry and cry to be held and rocked to sleep, so I’d spend time soothing him to sleep in the rocker only to have him wake up and start screaming again the moment I transferred him to his crib. And it would go on for a couple of hours like that. Ah, children.

But finally, finally, finally… I finished this book. Not that I minded it taking me so long, as it was a very nice story to escape into for a half hour at a time. This is the kind of story that makes you feel like you’ve struck up friendships with its characters, and are happy to sit back and hear a little about their lives. I’ve said it before: Maeve Binchy novels are character-driven stories about everyday, ordinary people living everyday, ordinary lives, and it just goes to show you what a wonderful writer Binchy is that she can make you care about them and stick through 432 pages of their everyday, ordinary happenings that somehow seem so interesting and comfortable in the hands of a gifted story teller.

I love Maeve Binchy. And I loved Heart and Soul. The story centers around employees of a heart clinic run by a cardiologist named Clara Casey. The novel follows these people and their family and friends through their lives as they connect to each other. Some of the people are characters we have met before in other Binchy novels, which is always fun. That’s another testament to what a great character writer Binchy is — when you get so attached to a character that discovering they’ve “lived on” in another novel is such a treat.

A must read for Binchy fans, and well worth a read for those who have yet to have the pleasure. (more…)

Happy Halloween! I think it’s only fitting I review a book about monsters :)

Meyer’s Twilight saga ends with Breaking Dawn, the best of the 4 novels she’s written about the mortal Bella Swan and her vampire boyfriend, Edward Cullen. I was pleased with this novel, as I didn’t particularly think the first three (Twilight, New Moon and Eclipse) were anything special in terms of writing talent. But Meyer surprised me with the last novel of this saga. It was unpredictable (in some ways), enjoyable and well-written.

The novel opens where the last one ended, as Bella and Edward get ready for their nuptials. This was the first surprise of the novel. I expected Meyer to take her time getting these two married, but it comes quickly. It is then followed just as quickly with surprise number two: Bella’s transformation. Probably the greatest source of unpredictability in this novel comes from how it happened and why: Bella’s pregnancy. Meyer really didn’t hold back with it. The pregnancy was brutal, the birth was even more brutal, and then Bella’s transformation into a vampire was extremely unpleasant. Just the way a novel about monsters should be. I am impressed that Meyer didn’t sugar coat it.

I was also happy with the way the novel wrapped up the loose threads — the Volturi coming to make sure Bella has been transformed, and the twist in Jacob’s love life (though, can I just say that I saw that one coming the moment Bella became pregnant?). I thought the novel was a fitting ending to the saga, though it’s clearly left open to the possibility of more to come in the future should Meyer decide she wants to revisit Bella and Edward (and considering how successful her novels are and how popular they’ve become, particularly now with the first movie about to be released, why wouldn’t she want to? Cha-ching!).

I’m a mommy! My son, Alexander, came into the world last Wednesday, July 9th, weighing 7 lbs, 2 oz. and measuring 19 inches. He’s healthy, happy, and he lets me get some sleep. What a wonderful gift to give his mommy!

I never really believed in love at first sight, but I do now. I loved the idea of my child before I was even pregnant, but I can’t even describe the love I felt for my adorable baby boy the second I laid my eyes on him. Stronger than the idea, stronger than the bond we formed when I grew him. Stronger than anything I could imagine. My life has changed completely.

I haven’t had much sleep in the last while, and I’m too tired and overloaded with new feelings and experiences to formulate a coherent post, so I will leave it at that for now and get back to my sweet boy and my wonderful, thoughtful, super helpful husband. Life is good :)

Vida Winter is a famous, bestselling author with a background as mysterious as any novel she’s ever written. Many have tried to get her story, but all have come away with different versions, and none of them the truth. But Vida is dying, and she’s decided the last story she’ll tell is the story of her life before she was famous. She summons an unknown hobby biographer named Margaret Lea to come stay with her as she tells the story of her youth. It’s a story of mystery and violence — shocking and hard to believe. Margaret has to wonder as she listens — is Vida Winter telling the truth, or just telling one last great story?

I loved this book. The language is amazing and beautiful. What I like about Setterfield’s storytelling is that it’s not complicated, but it’s complex. She doesn’t use big words, but her words have big meaning. This story is smart, and I enjoyed every page.
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The story of Lennie and George, two laborers traveling through California on their way to yet another job at yet another ranch where they’ll spend long hours working for little money and not much else to show for it. Lennie is a big, childlike man with a clear mental disability — all he cares about is petting soft things and is dream of taking care of the rabbits on the land he thinks he and George will buy one day if they can make enough money. George is Lennie’s protector, taking care of him and finding them work wherever he can because they can never stay in one place long enough before Lennie does something in his naive way that gets them fired or run out of town.

When Lennie and George find work at a ranch in Salinas Valley, they meet up with a man named Candy. Having lost his hand in an accident on the ranch years ago, Candy is getting old and the work is getting harder. He knows there’s just a matter of time before he’ll be let go from the ranch, and  he has no idea what will become of him. When he overhears George and Lennie talking about their plans to buy their own land, Candy offers up the money he’s been saving for years. With Candy’s money and another couple months’ worth of work, they may just have enough to make the dream a reality and be their own bosses — until Lennie does something that causes everything to turn upside down.

This was a quick read, and a great story about two decent men who can’t seem to outrun tragedies. It can be a bit of a downer read, but the relationship between these men, and the great characters represented within its short pages, makes it one of those great “thinking” stories that I love. As I read it, I could see how it would belong on the stage, because it has those strong, dramatic themes that would make for memorable theatre, the settings are minimal, and the dialogue is something that would be better heard than read. I’m going to have to rent the movie now.

When my friend picked this novel for our book club’s next read, I initially thought it was going to be a chick lit novel about a guy named Astrid and a girl named Veronika. Was I ever wrong!

This is the lovely and beautifully-written story about two lonely, grieving women who come into each other’s lives at a time when the other was needed the most. Astrid is an old woman, living alone in the same small village in Sweden she has lived in her entire life. She is known as the reclusive village “witch” who shuts herself away from the rest of the villagers.

Veronika is a thirty-year old woman, come back to her native Sweden to grieve the loss of her fiance and work on her novel. She rents the house next door to Astrid’s and settles in to write, though she can not seem to make any progress.

Every day, Veronika wakes up early to take a daily walk before sitting down to work on her novel, and while she has never seen Astrid, she always waves to her as she passes the old woman’s house, certain she must be watching from her darkened windows. When a few days pass and Veronika hasn’t taken her usual morning walk, Astrid finds that she has become concerned that something may have happened to her. She goes over to check on her and finds a feverish and grief-stricken Veronika holed up in her house. Astrid invites herself in and makes them pancakes and tea, and from that day on, the two women form a friendship that allows them to tell each other their stories and heal in the process.

I loved this book. The language is beautiful, the writing is poetic and the women and their stories are so emotionally stirring. Their stories are sad, and the novel is certainly melancholic and dismal at times, but it is also a satisfying read precisely because it is so sad. It’s what makes it memorable.

I also liked that it was set in Sweden. I have never been to Sweden and the extent of my knowledge about the country and its culture is sadly limited to what I’ve gleaned while browsing through the products in IKEA’s food shop. But Olsson’s writing is so rich and descriptive that I felt as if I could taste the food and see the nature in the countryside and the houses of the little village as well as if I’d been there myself.

Lovely book, engrossing read, highly recommended.

For all those lovers of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, Jane Dawkins has written an excellent continuation of the story in the epistolary form. Comprised of a series of letters Elizabeth writes to her sister, Jane, the reader gains some insight into what life as the new mistress of Pemberley must be like for newlywed Elizabeth Darcy.

Elizabeth tells Jane of her integration into the society of Derbyshire, addressing such things as how she is received by those who think Mr Darcy married beneath him, and the new responsibilities of running the massive household and its numerous servants. (more…)

I can’t believe this is the final novel in J.K. Rowling’s series. And yet, after reading it, there can be no doubt that this is the end of the series. I was worried about this book — mainly that it wouldn’t live up to the hype. But J.K. Rowling has had the entire series, from beginning to end, mapped out since she first started writing about Harry Potter and his friends, and I’d say that the 17 years of planning that went into this book should have allayed any concerns I had about the ending of this series, because I needn’t have worried: the ending works and is satisfying. Disturbing, but satisfying.

Warnings: there are some plot details ahead (though nothing that will really spoil the surprises in store for you), so stop reading if you don’t want to know anything before reading the book yourself! (more…)

Twenty years ago, seventeen-year-old Paul Copeland was a summer camp counselor making out with his girlfriend Lucy in the woods behind their coed camp when he should have been keeping watch. Only a short distance away, four teenagers, including Paul’s sister Camille, sneak into the woods together. Two of them are never seen again, including Camille, and the bodies of the other two are found brutally murdered, one tied up, the other buried in a shallow grave.

Today, Paul is the county prosecutor in Essex, New Jersey. He’s successful, respected and on the path to great things. But he’s had a lot of tragedy in his life: his sister’s body has never been found, and his mother, having never recovered from Camille’s death, abandoned Paul and his father shortly after that night in the woods and never returned. His father, gone crazy from searching the woods for Camille’s body over the last twenty years, recently died. And to top it all off, Paul has also become a widower in the last year, left to raise his six-year old daughter on his own after his wife loses the battle with a long illness. (more…)

It seems to everyone that it’s unfortunate little Star Sullivan was born into the family she got. So friendly, easy-going and full of hope and optimism, she is nothing like the rest of her family: her gambling father, Shay, her overworked and oblivious mother, Molly, her sister Lilly with the eating disorder, her selfish brother Kevin, and her other brother Michael, who prefers to operate on the wrong side of the law.

With so many problems in the family, Star is full of worry and tries to be nothing but easy for everyone to get along with. She listens to her father talk about the next race he’ll lose all their money on, but won’t chastise him because he already knows he has a problem. She helps her mother, who works so many long hours to support the family, and doesn’t say anything when Molly can’t find it in her to muster up the energy to push her other children in the right directions. Star won’t tattle on her sister for refusing to eat because Lilly promised her she’s fine and doesn’t want to make a fuss when the family has enough problems. She won’t deflate her overly ambitious brother Kevin’s hopes and dreams because it’s better for him to have them than to not. And she’ll lie for her brother Michael when the police come looking for him because he’s too young to go to jail and she’s confident that he’ll set himself straight sooner or later.

So to everyone, Star is the sweet, trustworthy Sullivan girl. They all think there is little more in store for Star than to grow up and work in a meaningless job and be a good wife someday to someone that hopefully won’t take advantage of her simpleness and easy ways. But all these people are about to learn there’s more to Star Sullivan than they thought, and it starts the day Owen Hale and his son Laddy move in next door. (more…)

As my husband delicately pointed out to me a few days ago, it’s been a while since I reviewed a book (literally, he pointed to the date of my last post and said something like, “What’s up with that?”). It’s not that I haven’t been reading. I have. I’ve started Ann Brashares’ new book for adults, The Last Summer (of You & Me). I’m a third of the way through Karen Joy Fowler’s The Jane Austen Book Club. I was a couple of chapters short of finishing Brian Wansink’s Mindless Eating before I had to return it to the library (I’m the type that can’t write a review unless I’ve completely finished a book, so I’m waiting to get it back). I’ve also been reading a bunch of nonfiction lately: gardening books, health books, and cookbooks, which I like because I can easily peck through a few pages at a time when I don’t have the time or energy to commit to reading more than a half hour at a time, and I don’t have to reacquaint myself with a lot of plot when I come back to them. (more…)

I started this book blog so I could have a record of the books I’ve been reading and so that if I ever forget what a book was about, or the names of its characters, I could reread my review to trigger the memories. I am that unfortunate sort of person who tends to forget those kinds of details and mix up the plots of books if it’s been a while since I read them.

But every once in a while, a book comes along that is in no danger of my forgetting the characters or the plot because it makes such a strong impression on me, rendering it impossible to forget. This is one of those books. Such a sad, sad book. I can’t remember the last time I bawled my eyes out so much over a book. (more…)

Sigh… this is the final installment in the Fitzwilliam Darcy, Gentleman trilogy and the one that truly gets your swoon on. All the best scenes are played out in here: Darcy and Elizabeth’s reunion at Rosings Park when he thought he’d never see her again, her rejection of his first horrible proposal ( “I had not known you a month before I felt that you were the last man in the world whom I could ever be prevailed on to marry”), his transformation into the sort of gentleman she deserved ( “You are mistaken, Mr. Darcy, if you suppose that the mode of your declaration affected me in any other way than as it spared me the concern which I might have felt in refusing you, had you behaved in a more gentlemanlike manner”), their chance meeting at Pemberley, his rescuing of Lydia Bennet and the Bennet family name, and Darcy and Elizabeth finally understanding each other so they can be together. I think I sighed already, didn’t I? (more…)

This story is a favorite among storytellers in my library system, and the kids just LOVE it.

It’s the story of a monster named Frank who loves to dance, even if his body isn’t quite up for the task. One of the people I work with at the library came across this short film of the story created by Vanguard films, and it’s just as fun as the story itself. This is a great story to read to kids at Halloween, or just because.

Click on the image of the book to take you to the video. Be patient while the video is loading, and make sure your volume is turned up.