The Jane Austen Book Club, Karen Joy Fowler

I was browsing the library and discovered this book. It has two lovely, familiar words in the title: Jane, and Austen. So I decided to read it. And I'm very glad I did.

The novel allows us a glimpse into the lives of six "Austenites" of varying degrees. There's Jocelyn, who breeds dogs and matchmakes and generally controls the world she lives in, the creator of the club. And Sylvia, her best friend currently seperating from her husband of thirty-two years, and her daughter Allegra, adrenaline-addict and lovelorn lesbian. Bernadette is the crazy-kooky one of the bunch, with flyaway grey hair and and refreshing ignorance of time. Prudie is a quiet French teacher, unaware of her own value and desperately seeking something. Last of the all is Grigg, the only male in their group, whose Austen is one the others can't quite grasp, and whose connection with Jocelyn is charged with something.

These six individuals all believe in a different Austen; a dignified Austen and a playful one, an idealist and a pragmatist. Through their takes on Austen's novels and their lives during the year of the club, we are granted a glimpse into humanity and delighted by what we find.

This book? This book, everyone should read.

"There were days when just the sight of fresh, bright acne or badly applied mascara or the raw, infected skin around a brand-new piercing touched Prudie deeply. Most of the students were far more beautiful than they would ever realize." -- Karen Joy Fowler

The Wives of King Henry VIII Jean Plaidy

Ok, I will admit that this isn't a book, but a serries of books. Actually they are several serries of books and they are all amazing. ('The Tudor Queens' is about King Henry's sisters, Margaret and Mary, and there is another serries that I can't remember.)

The book that I just finished is called "The Rose Without a Thorn" and it is about King Henry's fourth wife,Katherine Howard. It's amazing! It goes through the life of Katherine Howard from the time she is a small child, to her death. The whole serries is historically accurate, which makes it so much more amazing. I really love how descriptive the author is. She does a really excelent job of getting all the facts into her novels. It is the sixth book by Jean Plaidy that I have read and I already have two more out of the library. I love how she uses the language that was used at the time, and how every book is done from the point of view of the person that the book is being written about. They are all written in first person. It's great! I think that I like it even more because I have been to a lot of the places that they are talking about. It's nice too that the books aren't little punny books. They're nice and thick and they're taking me a while to get through! It's not difficult reading by any streach but it's deffinantly the first history book that I have found written about people in that time peroid that is written for people my age! I love it.

Highly recomend reading them. (They are also nice to read because if you're like me and you watch the Tudors, then it's easier to see what's going on in the show because you have a bit more background information on the charactors.)

Middlesex, Jeffrey Eugenides

Well ladies, this offering is an interesting one. E. (the last aupair) took this book out from the library before she left. So, being me, I read it.

This book isn't for the squeamish. In fact, it's not for the prudish either.

Middlesex is the self-told story of Calliope Stephanides, a third generation Greek immigrant. Callie, or Cal as she spends the latter half of her life, is a hermaphrodite. The story tells of her family, her grandparents and parents, and explains how her gene mutation was passed down for generations. It also journeys with Callie as she discovers her sexuality and her attraction to women. It details the medical testing and examinations she undergoes when, at the age of fourteen, her gender-confusion is discovered. The story is interspersed with Cal's current confusion with the world of dating as he meets Julie, an Asian woman he wants more than his usual shag-and-leave with.

Did I like it? Yes. I found it really interesting and rather enlightening. It was well-written and remarkably engaging. Callie/Cal became someone I was invested in, and that is an important requirement for any book to succeed. I could have done without some of the awkward sex, and to a point I didn't think it was all required. Obviously this book is sexual in nature, and as such I didn't have an issue, but my squick button was definitely pushed when Callie loses her virginity. (I suppose it would have been better if I'd liked the guy she was with. And if she wasn't so wasted.) I think the reason I liked this book so much is because the people, the situations, are all so very human in their conception and realization.

So overall: I'm very impressed. This is going on my list of books to put on my bookshelf when I come home.

(Ems, I love you, but you'd hate this book. You'd like Callie, maybe, but you'd put it down pretty much right away.)

"I was born twice: first, as a baby girl, on a remakably smogless Detroit day in January of 1960; and then again, as a teenage boy, in an emergency room near Petoskey, Michigan, in August of 1974." -- Jeffrey Eugenides

Twilight, New Moon, Eclipse

My favorite Vampire, Wherewolf books of all TIME. I read these books at camp in the evenings because my room mate was large and smelly and refused to say basically anything to me and I got compleatly hooked! It follows the ill fated love story of Bella (a mortal) and Edward (a vampire.) Bella seams to be a magnet for trouble, and Edward's devotion to his one true love is amazing. The three books each go through a struggle agains a difforent enemy. They aren't exactly 'My Name is Asher Lev' but they will get you hooked! I won't say anything more about the plot lines of the storys... it's so much better to figure that sort of thing out for yourself!

The Madonnas of Leningrad

This book is definitely worth the read, especially if you like history.
We follow the heartbreaking progression of Marina's alzheimers as the memories of her past overtake the reality of her present. Her devastating disease allows us a window into the experiences of those trapped in Lenigrad during the siege of 1941. Grippingly realistic, "The Madonnas of Leningrad is a searing portrait of war and remembrance, of the power of love, memory, and art to offer beauty, grace, and hope in the face of overwhelming despair."I liked this book because it describes the trials of alzheimers in a way that is neither cliche nor depressing. Also, it centers around an area of the 2nd World War that is less typical for writers to focus on. It was very well written and the characters and deep and believable. A very good book.(Thanks for lending it to me Ebeth:))

My Name is Asher Lev, Chaim Potok

Ah, ladies: what would our little nook be without a review of Asher Lev?

My Name is Asher Lev is, quite simply, as brilliant and beautiful as the creations of the character himself. Asher is a young practicing Hasidic Jew with a remarkable talent for art. Naturally, this talent proves both a blessing and a curse, as Asher struggles with reconciling his personal desires and his inner talent with his religion.

This book is a work of art in and of itself: the portrayal of Asher through the ages, as he grows in awareness of his talent, himself, and the world around him, is remarkable and poignant. It is insightful and brings forward rare moments of absolute, transcendant, beauty.

If I was stranded on a desert island, and could only bring one book? This is the book I'd bring.

"I saw my mythic ancestor. Come with me, my precious Asher. You and I will walk together through the centuries, each of us for our separate deeds which unbalanced the world." -- Chaim Potok

White Oleander by Janet Fitch

This is by far and away one of the best books that I have read in a long time. It's deffinantly a must read for you, your boyfriend your mom and your uncle willie! It follows Astrid, the teenage daughter of a convicted murderer. Her mother murdered her estranged lover because he left her. (The book has a very difforent ending then the movie, although both are amazing!) We see Astrid move through a variaty of foster homes finally running away to live in Europe with her boyfriend. The charactors are all amazingly realistic and wonderful. Janet Finch is an amazing author with a wonderful sence of imagery... and it's wonderful to see the world through the eyes of someone so artistic! The book is jammed full of poetry and metaphors, and no cliches (which is rare to find in a book like this.) It is increadiably moving and at times very funny. It also has a well deserved place in Oprah's book club!! A deffinate favorite of mine.