The Land of Decoration

by Grace McCleen

I want to discuss the cover before talking about the book.  The first image is of the US cover.  It's okay, and if I hadn't seen the Canadian/English version, I wouldn't have given it a second thought.  As I just now searched for an image for this post I saw the Canadian/English version and thought how cute and appropriate to the story it was.  Why do they (whoever THEY is) have to make a different, and only so-so cover for the US?    The cute cover has a picture of the main character, 10-yr old Judith, siting in her home and yet too big for her home.  Quite Alice-in-Wonderlandish.  The homemade clouds, planet and sun hang from strings as they do in Judith's room.  And all the snow falling represent a major pivot point in Judith's young, lonely life.


Am I wrong?  Which cover do you like best?

I wanted to like this book because I watched the video sent along with the invitation to receive an ARC of this book.  I've included the video at the end of this post.  It's mesmerizing and created a desire to learn more about Judith and the little world she had created in her bedroom.

Judith's father is a radical evangelical.  Actually, he's lost and lonely after the loss of his wife and he tries to fill that with an unwholesome religious fervor that he questions and struggles with in his alone time.

Ten-year-old, bullied, friendless Judith is also trying to deal with the loss of her mother.  She follows her father, much like a bewildered puppy, to and from meetings, visiting homes, handing out flyers, and teaching religion from the street corners.  She spends too many hours alone, thinking, creating her private landscape and integrating her father's religious views to solve her own personal problems.  She becomes an innocent victim of the narrow range of her life.

This is a powerful, well-written book but it was not a pleasant experience for me to read it.  I found my anger near boiling at the stupidity of the radical, non-rational thinking of the father and his small group of devout evangelicals and the effects of "religion" on young Judith.  It wasn't a stretch to think about all the people who hold radical beliefs of any kind and the effects that has on their children - religious, political, educational, health-related, etc.  In my neck of the world, there isn't a healthy regard for education so I hear a lot of ignorant comments about non-Caucasian races, Democrats, women, the wealthy and so on and so forth.  My little valley is a field ripe with potential when it comes to propaganda.  

The message is powerful and hits you right in the gut.  The ending will leave you reeling.  When I started writing my review I planned on saying that I did not like this book, but after writing my thoughts I realize the book did what it set out to do.  It warns of the danger of radical thinking.  It creates strong feelings of anger and disgust in it's readers while watching the effects of radicalism on the fertile soil of a young child's mind.

** I received a free copy of The Land of Decoration in exchange for my honest review. No other compensation was received.

Promise Me Eternity

by Ian Fox

Dr. Simon Patterson is a successful and well-respected neurosurgeon at Central Hospital in the town of Medford. Married, though without children, he keeps himself so busy that one day is not much different from another. Until, that is, he saves the life of the powerful mobster Carlo Vucci. At a dinner in honor of Dr. Patterson, Carlo Vucci introduces him to his alluring wife Christine. Simon is entranced by her beauty. Three weeks later, Christine shows up at the hospital, complaining of terrible headaches. Dr. Patterson offers to help her, but Christine did not come to see him just because of her health. A series of shocking events follows that transforms Simon’s life into a nightmare. Among other things, he finds himself in court being accused of first degree murder…

There are a number of characters to keep track of and at times I got a little confused, but that only lasted a little while.  The main character, Dr. Patterson, is self-absorbed and quite clueless at times even though he is a competent surgeon.  Now that I think of it, most of the characters are not very likable and yet, I still really liked the book.  There were a few twists and turns to keep you guessing, but I was pretty sure how things were going to end.  That said, there was a delightful little twist to finish things off.

I received an e-copy of Promise Me Eternity from the author through Smashwords, an ebook online store.  I just checked and you can buy this book from Smashwords or amazon.com for 99 cents.  It's definitely worth buying.  If you are interested Fox has a 2nd ebook, Only the Strongest Survive available for 99 cents on amazon.  I'm interested!  See links in right column.  I kept thinking as I read that I would like to read another book by Ian Fox so I'm happy to discover there's another one available and at such a wonderful cost.

** I received a free copy of Promise Me Eternity in exchange for my honest review. No other compensation was received.

Winter Garden

by Kristin Hannah

Again I find my talents lacking.  I am unable to transform my feelings about this book into satisfactory words.  Why is it that when I really like a book all I can come up with is, "I really like this book."?  (I know the punctuation is wrong in that last sentence, but I punctuated it the way I thought it should be for what I was saying.)

Maybe if I ask myself some probing questions I'll be able to better define my thoughts and feelings.  Who was the book about?  Who did I identify with?  Who did I like and who did I not like? 

The story starts out being about Meredith, one of 2 sisters of a cold, insensitive mother but then it expands to include her mother's & sister's stories, as well.   The setting is an apple orchard located on the Columbia River.  The father's death brings the sisters and their mother together to confront their differences and buried pains.  Before the father died he pleaded with the youngest daughter, Nina, to make their mother tell them her story.

I didn't really identify with any of the characters but I grew to like them and sympathize with their journeys.  Early on in the book I contemplated quitting because I didn't want to drudge through sibling rivalries and Meredith's tough exterior but I wanted to know the mother's story.  Why was she so cold and hurtful to her daughters both in the present and when they were younger. 

What was the mother's story? What could possibly have happened to her that could make her daughters forgive and love her?  It was this question that kept me reading and I'm so glad I did. 

That's all the questions I'm going to answer because I want you to read this book as I did - without knowing too much about it.  Learning about the mother without knowing ahead of time was a good thing, I think.  That's not to say if you know where the story's heading that you shouldn't read it.  You should.

I like books that entertain as well as educate.  This one did both.  And it made me count my blessings on many different fronts.  I read Winter Garden for my church's f2f reading group even though I knew I wouldn't be able to attend the discussion. 

No One You Know

by Michelle Richmond

I probably read a review much like the following that intrigued me to read this book:

“Heartbreaking and compelling…A thoroughly riveting literary thriller.” Booklist, starred review

Sad - yes; compelling - sort of; thoroughly riveting - not so much; thriller - not by any stretch of the imagination.

Here's the write-up of the story (on Michelle Richmond's web page).

All her life Ellie Enderlin had been known as Lila’s sister. Until one day, without warning, the shape of their family changed forever. Twenty years ago, Lila, a top math student at Stanford, was murdered in a crime that was never solved. In the aftermath of her sister’s death, Ellie entrusted her most intimate feelings to a man who turned the story into a bestselling true crime book—a book that both devastated her family and identified one of Lila’s professors as the killer.
Decades later, two Americans meet in a remote village in Nicaragua. Ellie is now a professional coffee buyer, an inveterate traveler and incapable of trust. Peter is a ruined academic. And their meeting is not by chance. As rain beats down on the steaming rooftops of the village, Peter leaves Ellie with a gift—the notebook that Lila carried everywhere, a piece of evidence not found with her body. Stunned, Ellie will return home to San Francisco to explore the mysteries of Lila’s notebook, filled with mathematical equations, and begin a search that has been waiting for her all these years. It will lead her to a hundred-year-old mathematical puzzle, to a lover no one knew Lila had, to the motives and fate of the man who profited from their family’s anguish—and to the deepest secrets even sisters keep from each other. As she connects with people whose lives unknowingly swirled around her own, Ellie will confront a series of startling revelations—from the eloquent truths of numbers to confessions of love, pain and loss.
A novel about the stories and lies that strangers, lovers and families tell—and the secrets we keep even from ourselves.

I don't think this book was a waste of time and there were subtle messages that were worthwhile, but I don't highly recommend it.

Six Year Blog-iversary

I've been blogging about books for over six years.  I can still picture the day I started.  I had stayed late at school to grade papers, enter scores and work on lesson plans.  My youngest daughter was in high school and often stayed after to socialize.  When she was ready to go she would come to my room and get me, most of the time having to busy herself while I finished up my projects.  On this day I asked her to show me some of the new things she was learning in her computer class.  That's when she talked me into starting a blog.

Two daughters had blogs as well as several nieces and I thought it would be fun to read what they were writing  but I had no idea what I could possibly blog about. Katie was the one to suggest a book blog.  I felt pretty safe with that idea because I didn't think anyone would ever read my blog.  Plus it would be a great way to record all those wonderful passages that cramped my hand when I recorded them in longhand.

So that evening, in my classroom, Katie walked me through the steps to setting up a blog on Blogger.  It was hard thinking up an address and even harder to come up with a, what did she call it back then, a tag?  In hindsight, I wish I would have made my address the same as my blog title, but I didn't really understand what I was doing.  I have been pleased with my tag - booklogged.  It seemed to fit and grew more comfortable with the passage of time.

My earliest entries were about my favorite books in sci/fi, Nobel Prize winners, and 3 books I would like to reread.  I wrote a post about several books I didn't like and two posts about favorite authors.  Reading over these posts reminds me that I had not yet been introduced to the works of Louise Penny, Andrea Barrett, David Baldacci, Jacqueline Winspear, Lisa Scottoline, Laurie King and so many other authors that I now love.  And the glorious books suggested by fellow bloggers - Guernsey Literary & Potato Peel Pie Society, The Book Thief, Anne Perry's WWI series, The History of Love, and all those reading challenges and fun memes. I've had so much fun over the years writing TBR lists and making spreadsheets to keep track of the reading challenges.

 I like that Blogger provides an archive so I can look back and reread my impressions about books.  As I look at some of the book titles I draw a blank as to what they were about but my little short snippet about it usually brings it back to mind.  Last year I only made 14 entries even though I know I read more books than that, though probably not many.  My mother died of cancer in Oct 2010 and I lost interest in reading for several months, almost a year.  I feel like some of that old yearning is coming back so I hope I will read more and record each book I read.  I have never been good at keeping a daily journal but I find that my book journal provides some record of my life.  As I read the entries I can sometimes remember other pertinent things that were happening in addition to the book I was reading.

One thing I would like to do is to print my blog.  I'm just not sure if I should print it all or edit it first.  Have any of you saved your blog in a more concrete way than on the internet?  What have learned from doing so?  Do you have any suggestions or advice?

The best part of this blogging experience has been making friends with other readers and sharing our love for the printed word.  I have loved discussing books with you.