Devourer of Books

The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane by Katherine Howe

What if at least some of the women condemned in the Salem Witch Trials were actually guilty?

This is the (rhetorical) question posed to Connie during her oral exams, by her faculty advisor Manning Chilton.  Connie is a doctoral candidate in Colonial history, unsure exactly on what topic she wants to write her thesis.  Inspiration falls on her as if from the sky when she is asked by her mother to fix up her grandmother’s dilapidated old house.  While working on the house, Connie pulls an old family Bible from the bookshelf and out falls an antique key, stuffed with a piece of paper bearing the name “Deliverance Dane.”  This sets Connie off on an adventure both personal and scholarly to find Deliverance’s Physick, or Recipe Book.

This story is told primarily in the present (well, 1991, so the relative present) with flashbacks to the late 17th to mid-18th centuries.  The sections in the past begin with the first accusation against Deliverance of witchcraft, well before the Salem Witch Trials, and move briefly through the lives of her daughter Mercy and granddaughter Prudence.  It is clear from the beginning the Deliverance is what would be considered a ‘cunning woman‘ – and likely her daughter and granddaughter are as well – but was she really a witch?  This is a question explored both by Connie in her research and the reader in the book’s flashbacks.

One of the great things about this book is that there was a sense of urgency in Connie’s research due to her need to find her primary source and begin her work, but it wasn’t a clock ticking sort of situation (although some extra, shall we say ‘motivation’ is given to Connie nearer the end of the book) that felt contrived.

This was an incredibly enjoyable story, although it wasn’t as much historical fiction as I thought it would be, most of the action took place in the present with the flashbacks distributed among three generations of women.  Historical fiction or not, though, this was a book that made me really want to just stay home from work and read.  I then proceeded to take the book on my errands with me and whip it out every time I had at least a 2 minute waiting period.

“The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane” is a little spooky, a little historical, and a lot awesome.  Check it out.

Buy this book from:
Powells.
A local independent bookseller via Indiebound.
Amazon.

So this is the big month!  My little boy is due on Friday(!).  I think he’ll be late, so I’m trying to treat Friday as the first POSSIBLE day he could come, but we are getting close, and that’s exciting.  

We’re really about ready for him here, so I’ve had some time to relax and read, even though I’m still working through Wednesday.  My goal is to read a book per day this month until my little bundle of love shows up.  If I can accomplish this I should be good on review copies, so I won’t have to think about them when I am wanting to spend time with baby or sleep.  So far in June, I’ve been rocking this goal.  I actually finished 7 books in the first 6 days of June!

Interested in what I reviewed last week?  Here you go!  Book covers link to reviews.

By the way, that review of “Belong to Me” is a giveaway!

This week I also posted my May Reading Wrap-Up and announced the list of authors and a publicist who will be providing guest posts for me over the next seven weeks while I’m busy with baby.

I was going to post some pictures of the baby’s room, but this post is getting a bit long, so I think I’ll do so in a second Sunday Salon.

Just one more picture, though, before you go.  I want to acknowledge my biggest blogging and reading helper, Ellie.  Here she is right next to me as I ‘ve been writing my Sunday Salon posts this morning:

Bought by Anna David

Emma is stuck in a dead-end job that doesn’t really pay her bills – collecting quotes from B-listers at Hollywood parties was never really her idea of a dream job.  What Emma really wants is to be a real journalist, someone doing serious work.  A handsome, powerful, and wealthy boyfriend would be so bad either, perhaps someone like her ex, Matt.

Emma’s world begins to be turned upside down when she spots Matt at a party with a gorgeous girl on his arm – a gorgeous girl who she learns is a sort of kept woman/prostitute hybrid.  Jessica is smart and sexy, and trades sex for things like her credit card bills or rent being paid, but never directly for money.  This, Emma realizes, could be her big break, the story that will make her from a party reporter into a journalist.  Getting a story from Jessica without getting sucked into her world may not be so easy, however.

This was  an interesting book.  All of the characters were horribly flawed, but also very human and vulnerable.  Emma is clearly working through some serious issues – some of which, surprisingly, Jessica can help her with.  Jessica and the other girls in her set often exude confidence and happiness, but they obviously have huge issues as well.  “Bought” definitely gets you thinking about where exactly the line is drawn between using sexuality or femininity and prostitution.  Once you get to a certain point is it a slippery slope from there, or can you stay firmly on one side or the other?  Can you be, or have you been, bought?

Note: I was happily surprised to find that there really wasn’t much sex in the book, even though it was about these women who are basically prostitutes, but Jessica does have a fairly foul and sexual mouth, so you if you sensitive to things like that, you should be forewarned.

Buy this book from:
Powells.
A local independent bookseller via Indiebound.
Amazon.

In the Sanctuary of Outcasts by Neil White

Neil White has made a lot of mistakes in his life, some with serious consequences.  Consequences such as spending months in federal prison for kiting checks.  While engaging in his financial acrobatics to keep his magazines going, Neil never really considered that what he was doing was wrong, even after being caught once and losing people’s money.  He figured that if he could just juggle the money until there was enough to cover everything, nobody would get hurt and nobody would mind.  Unfortunately, things didn’t work out like that.  Neil was caught in his financial indiscretions, hurting his family, friends, and many investors in the process.

When Neil was sentenced to 18 months in prison, he accepted his fate, although he never really seemed to consider that he was on the same level as the ‘criminals’.  Because of his acceptance of his punishment, prison in and of itself didn’t seem to be a huge shock to him, what DID surprise him is that federal inmates were not the only ones housed at Carville penitentiary – Carville was also America’s last leprosarium (leper colony).

As one of the inmates who seemed the most open to befriending and talking with the ‘patients’ (as those with leprosy or Hansen’s Disease were called), Neil learned quite a bit of history of leprosy in the United States and about the fascinating and sometimes horrifying circumstances that had brought people to the leprosarium at Carville.  Originally, still in his journalism-oriented mindset, White planned to engage in some participatory journalism to write a sort of expose about the state of leprosy in America and the fact that federal inmates were being held in the same institution as a population of people with leprosy.

An expose is not what White ended up writing, however.  Instead, “In the Sanctuary of Outcasts” is his personal memoir of growth through his time at Carville.  Okay, if I read the line “personal memoir of growth,” that would probably stop me from picking up a book, because those sorts of things usually turn out cheesy in my opinion.  That is not “In the Sanctuary of Outcasts” at all.  White was very open and straightforward about his thoughts, feelings, and attitudes as he described the events of his year or so in prison.  The growth he experienced seemed very genuine and very real and he seemed to be honest about how he arrived at it, he was never flashy or melodramatic.

This was a fantastic book.  One might expect that a memoir of this nature would be more about the story than the writing, but as a former journalist Neil got everything right: the pacing, the storytelling, and the writing.  In addition to White’s personal story and experience as a federal inmate, which was interesting in itself, I was fascinated to read about Carville as a leprosarium and about the lives of the patients there.  I must admit that I’ve never given much (any?) thought sufferers of leprosy in American and definitely had my eyes opened by this book.

This was a great read and one that I would definitely recommend.

Buy this book from:
Powells.
A local independent bookseller via Indiebound.
Amazon.

My reading was down slightly from last month, 20 books in May as opposed to 23 in April, but I’m still rocking and rolling as far as my goal for the year goes.  That brings my projected number of books for the from 185 at the end of April to 198 at the end of May.  As of right now I can still be on track for my goal of 150 if I don’t finish a single book until the last third of July.  That’s really good, since my baby could be coming any day now (he’s due June 12th) and I have no idea how much reading I’ll get done once he arrives.  Of my 20 books read, 2 were audiobooks, for a little over 1 day’s worth of audio.

All but five of the books I read this month were also reviewed this month.  I reviewed an additional 8 books, 6 of which I read earlier this year, one of which my husband read and I interviewed him for the review (Work Hard. Be Nice.), and one of which I decided not to finish at this time, for reasons unrelated to the quality of the book.  After my list of what I read this month, you’ll find a list of the other reviews I posted, as well as some other posts from this month that might be of interest:

What I Read:

Fiction
The Brightest Moon of the Century by Christopher Meeks
Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese (audio)
Every Last Cuckoo by Kate Maloy
Serendipity by Louise Shaffer
The Lost Hours by Karen White – review pending
Mating Rituals of the North American WASP by Laura Lipton
Rooftops of Tehran by Mahbod Seraji
Frenchman’s Creek by Daphne Du Maurier
In the Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon – review pending

Young Adult Fiction
Extras by Scott Westerfeld
Wicked Lovely by Melissa Marr
Bad Girls Don’t Die by Katie Alender
The Luxe by Anna Godbersen – review pending
Ink Exchange by Melissa Marr – review pending

Historical Fiction
Twilight of Avalon by Anna Elliot
The Last Prince of the Mexican Empire by C.M. Mayo
Palace Circle by Rebecca Dean
Shanghai Girls by Lisa See
Far Bright Star by Robert Olmstead

Memoir
When You Are Engulfed in Flames by David Sedaris (audio)

Pick of the Month:

I LOVED “Twilight of Avalon,” a historical fiction (with a little fantasy) retelling of the Tristan and Isolde legend.  Instead of being a romantic, idealized story, Elliott tried to root the story firmly into the realities of 6th century Britain.  The book was so well written I didn’t even realize I was turning the pages.  Even more exciting?  “Twilight of Avalon” is the first book in a trilogy, and you can already get a sneak peek of the next book!

What I Reviewed:

Fiction
The Help by Kathryn Stockett
The Nonesuch by Georgette Heyer
The Story of a Marriage by Andrew Sean Greer

Young Adult Fiction
Specials by Scott Westerfeld
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

Nonfiction
Your Best Birth by Ricki Lake and Abby Epstein
Work Hard. Be Nice. by Jay Mathews

Memoir/Travel
Roads to Quoz by William Least-Heat Moon

Other Posts of Interest:

The Biggest Thing in Publishing Since Gutenberg?
Not Going to BEA This Weekend? Feel Left Out? We Say, “No BEA? Books Anyway!”
My Massive “No BEA? Books Anyway!” Haul
Fabulous Authors and Others! - The list of who will be writing guests post when I’m out with the baby and when