Rise and Shine

I've loved Anna Quindlen's essay writing for a long time, but somehow I'd never read any of her novels.  I picked up Rise and Shine at the last library used-book sale, and read it over the last few days.  And I loved it, absolutely loved it.

It's the story of two sisters in New York city, one a famous morning television journalist in the Katie Couric/Diane Sawyer mode, the other a social worker whose days are spent working with mothers and children in crisis.  Narrated by the social worker sister, the story explores the sisters' relationship, life in NYC, motherhood, celebrity, and the roles we take on in our families.  There isn't a complex plot, more of a series of unfolding events that shows each woman evolving and revealing more of who she is at her core.

From the reviews of this book on Amazon.com I see that a lot of readers thought it was mediocre.  That surprised me because I thoroughly enjoyed this book.  Maybe it was a matter of finding the right book at the right time -- sometimes that confluence can make a book feel perfect and delightful it might not have if read at another time -- and I think it has something to do with the fact that I like Quindlen's smart writing and her sense of strong women.

I give it four stars out of five.  

 

Vanity Fare

I'm a sucker for those novels about women who chuck their careers to open a restaurant, or who go to visit their ailing grandmothers and end up taking over the town bakery, or who start making bread to release anger after a divorce, and end up as successful bakery owners.  And when I picked up Vanity Fare by Megan Caldwell after spotting it in a local book shop, it sounded to me like it'd be in that vein.   The subtitle is "a novel of lattes, literature, and love."  So what's not to like?

As a quick, light read this was okay.  I think I was expecting more of a woman's journey of discovery, and what this turned out to be was a bit more of a traditional romance novel.  It had its charm, and it was written well. 

The plot? Heroine Molly has been left by her husband, is low on funds, and takes a job doing copywriting for a bakery owned by a handsome chef whose plan is to tie the bakery in with the nearby public library.  The literature tie-in is mainly that Molly write literature-related description of baked goods ... you know, naming menu items things like The Bun Also Rises. A Room of Ones Scone. Of Mousse and Men. Much Ado About Muffins. And the best? Tart of Darkness. 

It was a fun book, in a minor sort of way. 

The Twelve Clues of Christmas

I like to read Christmas-y books at Christmastime, and so when Amazon's book recommendation genies told me that I might like "The Twelve Clues of Christmas" by Rhys Bowen, I decided to give it a try.  I'd not read any mysteries by this author, but I found myself charmed right away.  "Her royal spyness" is Lady Georgianna Rannoch, a distant relative of the queen's (34th in line for the throne, she reports) and an accidental amateur detective.  (What can one do, when one keeps stumbling across murders?!)  All of this series is set in the 1940's in England, and Georgianna narrates with a tone that reminded me of the breezy charm of Myrna Loy in the Thin Man and the Topper movies. 

In this one, Georgianna is desperate to escape the prospect of spending the holidays with her brother and sister-in-law in the drafty ancestral Scottish castle, and takes a job as a social activities leader at a country house in a small village where the house's owner is taking in paying guests to provide them the proper English country experience.  Meanwhile, a series of seemingly unrelated and accidental deaths to local villagers starts up -- one a day -- and Georgianna sets out to sort out why. There is much amusing commentary on the different classes of guests and their reactions to the holiday traditions, and of course reading about the Christmas activities is quite entertaining. 

This wasn't a particularly twisty plot but it had a lot of amusing turns.  It was the perfect enjoyable and well-written story for post-Christmas light reading.  I'll be hunting down others by this author.

No Mark Upon Her

Hello! And welcome to 2013!  I fell down rather heavily last year on doing book reviews -- but one of my goals for the coming year is to return to blogging more regularly, so I'm trying to get off to a fresh start.  I read incessantly, as well, so the issue isn't not having books to talk about -- it's the taking the time to do the review.  Well, here goes a fresh try.

I finished "No Mark Upon Her" by Deborah Crombie on New Year's Day, sitting on my friend's couch (where I was staying for a few days) and sipping my morning coffee.  So I can't call this the first book read in the new year, as I started it in 2012.  But as a year end book, it was a good one.

I quite like Deborah Crombie's mystery series with British detectives Duncan Kincaid and Gemma James.  This is number 14 in the series, and it finds Duncan and Gemma newly married, balancing family life and a newly adopted child, with a murder case that requires poking some of the Scotland Yard highers-up and threatens their careers.  The murder arises in the elite world of rowing, so there's that angle that is fascinating and novel (at least to me).  And of course, there is the pure delight of Crombie's excellent writing, clever plotting, and strong characterizations.  This book was no exception to her usual skill.

If you've not read any of the series, I'd recommend starting with the first one, A Share in Death.  While the mystery plots each stand alone, the relationship between Duncan and Gemma evolves through the series, and I think understanding the history makes each book more enjoyable.  That's just me, though -- I like to read things in order.