"The Lotus Eaters" by Tatjana Soli

The Lotus Eaters by first time novelist Tatjana Soli is a surprisingly good read.  It is about Vietnam which is a hard sell to some.  Several book club members did not read it which truly is their loss.  

The story revolves around Helen, a naive college student, who drops out to go to Vietnam when the war is in its beginning stages. Over several years she becomes an award-winning photojournalist.  Sam Darrow, her mentor/competitor is also her lover and draws her more and more into the darkness of this beautiful and mysterious country.  Their friend and co-worker eventually becomes her lover after Sam is killed and Saigon is falling.

The author is never heavy handed in her descriptions of the war but evokes the changing atmosphere as the war escalates. Her research is extensive but the reader is swept up in the story and never feels this is a history lesson.  The author has said that she based Helen on a compilation of several actual women.  For additional information the reader may be interested in learning more about Dickey Chapelle, one of the first female war correspondents in Vietnam.

Goodreads says "Tatjana Soli paints a searing portrait of an American woman's struggle and triumph in Vietnam, a stirring canvas contrasting the wrenching horror of war and the treacherous narcotic of obsession with the redemptive power of love.  Readers will be transfixed by this stunning novel of passion, duty and ambition among the ruins of war."  Well said.

The Lotus Eaters is definitely a fine selection for book clubs and others wanting an alternative to light summer reading.

 

"The Kitchen House" by Kathleen Grissom

 

Our recent book club selection was The Kitchen House by Kathleen Grissom.

The author has taken the long route to her first novel.  She was born in Canada, became a nurse, then an ad executive at a graphics company in Manhattan.  She eventually relocated with her husband to an old plantation in rural Virginia.  Her website recounts "As we restored our old plantation home, I began to research the history of our home and the land that surrounded it.  Then I discovered the notation "Negro Hill" on an old map.  Unable to determine the story of its origin, local historians suggested that it most likely represented a tragedy.  To this day I am uncertain why the notation captured me so, but fascinated, I gradually set aside everything else to pursue the research and writing of the story that is now The Kitchen House.  

The book tells a fascinating story of an 18th century orphaned Irish girl who becomes an indentured servant in a plantation's kitchen house. The slaves become her loving adopted family but her color sets her apart.  She eventually goes to work in the big house where circumstances lead to tragedy.  The book details daily life on the plantation for the slaves and owners as well as creating a fast-paced emotional story.  This is an excellent choice for book clubs as it created lots of lively discussion.

"Juliet, Naked" by Nick Hornby

No, there aren't any naked women in "Juliet, Naked" by British author, essayist, songwriter and screenwriter Nick Hornby.  Annie is 39 years old living in a small village with Duncan, a nerdy professor. They've been in a 15 year relationship that has fallen into boring platonic sameness.  Then there's the reclusive Tucker Crowe, an aging Dylanesque rocker whose real life doesn't live up to or deserve Duncan's obsessive adoration.  

Hornby creates honest, flawed but likable characters and is funny with a slightly sardonic wit.  As a reviewer on Goodreads said, Juliet, Naked is a reflective follow-up to one of Hornby's most famous novels, High Fidelity.  

There is something deceptively simple about Hornby's prose.  He captures his characters emotions so you feel you know these people and can relate to them (even though sometimes they seem a little eccentric). 

Annie is telling her therapist, Malcolm, that she doesn't want to "be quite content with my unhappy, boring, frustrating marriage.  I want more....Malcolm stared hard at the carpet, which was presumably where this conundrum had ended up somehow.  "Well" he said. "I'm not sure that's it."  "So what is it? If it's not that?"  "You said you don't want to be quite content."  "Yes. With. A. Rubbish. Life."  She said it as if he were deaf...." "But people who are quite content don't have a rubbish life," he said."

Get to know these characters and all their idiosyncrasies.  Find out what happens to Annie when she decides to leave Duncan. You will find yourself engrossed.  Then try Nick Hornby's other books which include High Fidelity, About A Boy, Fever Pitch and Slam.


 

"Winter Garden" by Kristin Hannah

 

Winter Garden - what a wonderful surprise.  

Southern California lawyer turned author Kristin Hannah has written over 20 books in the last two decades.  She started with historical romance in the early 1990s and graduated to contemporary romance with the publication of Home Again in 1996.  As her career progressed she has moved on to more complex character-driven novels.

Our library picked Winter Garden as the January selection for our 12 Months 12 Books Challenge.  It seemed an easy pick for our Thursdays With Maureen book club since readers were returning the book with glowing reviews. 

Winter Garden has turned out to be one of our favorite books in the five years of our club.  When asked who her favorite character is from all her books Kristin Hannah responded with Anya Whitson, the subject of Winter Garden.  

The book introduces us to two adult sisters as their father is dying.  Their relationship with their mother is strained and without their father to smooth the way things deteriorate rapidly.  Admittedly, setting the scene in the first half of the book starts to drag.  But this is one of those books where the less said the better.  Just know that as the mother starts to tell her daughters a "fairy tale" that her dying husband made her promise to do, the book becomes impossible to put down. 

The period the fairy tale evokes is so beautifully and hauntingly told that it will stay with the reader.  Anya Whitson will indeed become one of your favorite characters.

 

"Clara and Mr. Tiffany"

One of our book clubs just finished reading the engrossing historical novel Clara and Mr. Tiffany by Susan Vreeland.  She is the author of other historical books including Girl in Hyacinth Blue and Luncheon of the Boating Party.  Her writing centers around art related themes.

Clara Driscoll (b.1861 - d.1944) refers to a long forgotten worker in Louis Comfort Tiffany's stained glass studio in New York City.  Clara was in charge of the women workers and in the novel seeks artistic recognition from Mr. Tiffany.  It is said Clara was one of the highest paid women workers in the country during her time at the studio. Tiffany had a policy of only hiring unmarried women so once a worker was married she had to quit.  Clara anguishes over this and ultimately must decide what is most important to her.

Long forgotten letters between Clara and her mother and sisters and just one mention in a old booklet about a stained glass exhibit brought Clara Driscoll to the attention of art scholars and this author.  The letters indicate that Clara was directly responsible for the famous Tiffany dragonfly and wisteria lamps as well as some of the bronze bases to the lamps.  The Tiffany studio did not give credit to individual workers and it is particularly noteworthy that a woman was actually responsible for these beautiful pieces.

The book is an absorbing account of the artistic life in New York City in the early 1900s as well as piquing an interest in Tiffany and his beautiful creations.  The studio went out of business in the early 1930s and Clara died in obscurity having tried to continue her art but never achieving the glory of these masterpieces she had helped to create. 

the real Clara Driscoll at work

wisteria lamp

dragonfly lamp

 

"Fall of Giants" - A Hefty Companion to Downton Abbey

It seems that almost everyone in our book clubs and for that matter everyone everywhere is mesmerized by the PBS series Downton Abbey.  If you are under a certain age; however, you may not know that much about that time period.  Many things lead up to World War I.  It was one of the most troubled times in modern history and all you may remember is just bits and pieces as told by your grandparents.

A very readable historical novel that attempts to explain the period from 1911 - 1924 is Ken Follett's Fall of Giants, Book One of the Century Trilogy. It is a fascinating novel journeying through the Russian Revolution, the fight for women's vote, World War I and its aftermath.  It follows five families from different countries and social classes as political events unfold.  The New York Times has an excellent review at http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/03/books/review/Boylan-t.html.

Winter of the World, Book Two of the Century Trilogy, takes the reader on a journey with the children of the same families through the rise of the Third Reich, the Great Depression and World War II.  A third novel is planned for release in 2014 with the families' third generation during the Cold War.

Internationally famous Welsh author Ken Follett was only 27 when he wrote the spy thriller Eye of the Needle.  His later works include Pillars of the Earth and its sequel World Without End about 12th century England.  

If you want to learn fascinating historical details about the 20th century along with a good family saga check out Ken Follett's Century Trilogy. 

Remembering Willie Sutton and Our Troubled Past

Sutton's Law is taught in medical schools and states that when diagnosing you should first consider the obvious.  That sounds almost too obvious to state but in this age of  healthcare reform and upheaval you might need that simple reminder.  The Sutton of Sutton's Law is Willie Sutton (a/k/a Slick Willie, a/k/a Willie The Actor), a famous bank robber born in a tough Irish Brooklyn neighborhood in 1901.  He died in 1980.   That doesn't seem long ago but he is not the household name that he once was.

J.R. Moehringer has written a fictionalized account of Willie's life entitled Sutton.  During his sprees he stole almost two million dollars from 100 banks and spent more than half his life behind bars.  He prided himself on his disguises (hence "The Actor") and the fact that he never killed anyone.  The book takes the reader on a New York City tour with Sutton, "Reporter" and "Photographer" on Christmas Day, 1969, when the sickly con is released due to good behavior and ill health. As they drive, Sutton relates his life story.  

The writing is fast paced and well researched.  The contrast between the early 20th century and 1969 is fascinating. The reader can't help but like Willie who was a folk hero to many during his lifetime.  He lived during a time when the "cycle of panics, depressions and soaring unemployment" turned people against banks and many rooted for him as a modern day Robin Hood.

Moehringer is the Pulitzer Prize winning writer for the Los Angeles Times whose first book The Tender Bar:  A Memoir was named one of the 100 Most Notable Books of 2005 by The New York Times. That book is a poignant account of the author's fatherless childhood whose role models were cohorts of his uncle's at the local watering holes.

Getting back to Sutton's Law and other musings of Sutton's -

On why he robbed banks Willie stated the obvious - "That's where the money is" (although Willie claims he never said that).

On why he carried a gun - "You can't rob a bank on charm and personality".

On his "career" success - "Success in any endeavor requires single-minded attention to detail and total concentration".  How true.

For a look into another troubled time check out Sutton.  

Willie Sutton