Big Stone Gap

Our book club book for the month was 'Big Stone Gap' by Adriana Trigiani. It is the story of Ave Maria, who considers herself the town spinster, never to marry. She is a pharmacist in the little town of Big Stone Gap, Virgina in the 1970's. Her mother had just died a month ago, and if grieving for her weren't enough, her mother has left a letter for her containing a family secret that she had never expected. Ave Maria struggles to juggle work, friends, relationships, and finding out the truth of her families past.

These are my thoughts on the book: It is a very simple, cute story with a small town feel to it. It was an enjoyable read. However, there are other books in this series, and I am not really compelled to read the rest of them. First of all, I like the note that it ended on. I feel closure with all of the characters, and I am not necessarily thirsty for more. Secondly, it is definitely not great literature. As I was reading this novel I could picture in my mind the author writing it at her computer, with a sticky note pasted to her monitor that read "Sex Sells!"I imagine that every so often she would look up, read the note, and then add some sexual reference that didn't really fit the context of her novel. Each one was like a thorn in a rosebush. These sexual plug-ins simply did not need to be there. I am not against sex in a novel per-say, but these were so wildly out of place I felt like the language of the book all of a sudden switched from English to Chinese. You are either writing an erotica novel or a cute romance, you can't have it both ways. My next issue with this book were the authors sporadic time frames. In one paragraph you were living in a moment in exact time and in the next paragraph you jumped ahead a few weeks and were covering time fast paced. There was not a clear break between the two types of paragraphs and I felt it baffling. The other problem with this kind of sporadic timeline writing, was that she left conversations between characters unfinished and moments unresolved. The last thing that irritated me about this novel was how overly dramatic the protagonist could be. One minute she is a completely normal person and the next you are reading her thoughts thinking it's time for a straight jacket. I suppose all of us have "crazy" thoughts every now and again, but this was a little too over the top for me.

I must mention that one thing I think the author did really, really well was write the language through her dialogue. As I was reading the words I was actually speaking them in a southern accent in my head. Each character had a  well developed language, and each was unique to it's character. I admired this quality very highly and was impressed very much with her talent.

I don't necessarily know that I would recommend this book, maybe just watch the movie and then decide for yourself. (Yes, there is a movie. I haven't watched it myself, but it looks pretty good, so who knows? It might be worth looking into.)

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children

A while back I got into a book discussion with my cousin- one of my very favorite topics of course- and she told me that I absolutely HAD to read a book called 'Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children', by Ransom Riggs. It just so happened that I had a pile of unused gift cards to Barnes and Noble sitting in my window sill, so the first chance I got I went on a book buying spree and bought this highly recommended book. When I asked customer service where to find it, the lady didn't even need to look it up on the computer, she knew exactly where it was, which is always a good sign in my opinion. When the other workers heard the title of the book I was looking for, they all started exclaiming how wonderful it was and how much I was going to love it. The excitement began to set in and I couldn't wait to crack open this new found treasure. It did not disappoint.

After a family tragedy has left Jacob believing that he has gone crazy, his psychiatrist urges him to go to a remote island where his grandfather once lived, in hopes that it will help him gain some perspective and closure. On the island Jacob delves into his families history, trying to discover the truth about his grandfather for himself. His grandfather was a Jew during WWII, the only survivor in his family, when he fled the Nazi's. Are the Nazi's the "monsters" which haunted his beloved grandfather, or is there something more sinister lurking beneath the wild stories that his grandfather used to spin? Jacob travels to the orphanage where his grandfather lived as a war refugee, hoping to find something to give him some peace of mind, but what he ends up discovering, is nothing like he ever expected!

This book combines literature with photography in such an intriguing way. This story had me on the edge of my seat the entire time. I completely devoured this novel and can not wait to read the next one. It is a thrilling, chilling, magical mystery! It is soon going to be released into a movie, and I can't quite decide if I am brave enough to see it or not haha. I don't normally like scary movies, but this one might be worth it! (I'll just have to bring along the hubby to hold my hand!)

If you like suspense, mystery, history, fantasy, romance-- this book pretty much has it all! It really is such a good read and literally  left my skin tingling!

The Rose of Winslow Street

I love when I pull up to a garage sale and see a mountain of books. My heart starts hammering as I search for a twenty-five cent treasure. I choose to be picky, for the most part. I like books that are in decent condition with an interesting plot line. Well, last week I found one such treasure. It is called 'The Rose of Winslow Street' by Elizabeth Camden. I have recently been on another  Harry Potter respite, they occur about once a year, so it has been a while since I have really read anything new. I saw this book just sitting among the stack of its forgotten fellows, looking almost brand new, mind you, and practically begging to be noticed. Ever since I read 'A Heart Revealed' I have been craving a proper romance type book, and this looked like it fit the bill. I began reading and all of a sudden I was hooked.

'The Rose of Winslow Street' is about a maiden, some might call her a spinster, who was still living with her father at the ripe age of 28. The story takes place around the late 1800's I believe, there was never a specific date mentioned, as far as I remember. It took place after the Civil War in a small town in Massachusettes. Libby and her father return from a summer vacation to find that their home had been taken over by Romanian refugees who claim that their uncle left them the home in his will. A legal battle is about to pursue and enemy lines are drawn. The town people of course side with the Sawyers, who have lived in the house for more than 20 years and have spent countless time and energy renovating it, after it was never claimed from the previous owner's death.  Libby is torn between being loyal to her aging father, and this strange family who has now moved into her childhood home. For Libby loves children and hates the thought of these two young boys kicked out on the street in a foreign land where they barely speak the language, and the people are nothing but hostile towards them. There is plenty of mystery surrounding these new strangers and everyone is wondering if they truly are who they say they are, or just a gang of gypsies.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Sure, it is not the greatest of literature, but it is endearing, captivating, and heartwarming, just like any proper romance novel should be.