Devourer of Books

Time of My Life by Allison Winn Scotch

Jillian is a happy upper-middle class wife and mother.  At least that’s the persona she’s determined to portray.  She finally has to admit her unhappiness to herself when she hears that her ex-boyfriend, a man who was the opposite of her husband in so many ways, is getting married.  Stuck in her big suburban house with only her young daughter for company while her husband is away on business and feeling ever more like a stranger, Jillian begins to wonder what it would have been like if she had stayed with Jackson instead of leaving him and marrying Henry.  Would she be in a more passionate relationship?  Would she have something more to do with her days than play with the baby and take yoga, perhaps have been promoted in her job at the ad agency?  Suddenly Jillian finds herself seven years in the past, before she and Jack broke up, before she met Henry.  She’s been given the chance for a do-over, to find out what would have happened if she had not ended thing with Jack.  What if.

You don’t have to tell me that this plot sounds kind of iffy.  It is the sort of thing that could either be good, or unbelievably stupid and saccharine.  Luckily, Allison took this story and made it good.  Very good, in fact.  It was perhaps slightly odd that Jillian didn’t freak out more and consider herself completely insane when she suddenly found herself seven years in her past, but I loved the way she embraced her opportunity and tried her best to make things work out with Jackson.  She was able to employ great self-examination and try to fix the things she did wrong in their relationship with her seven years of hindsight.  It was when she started meeting Henry in her new old life, though, that things got really interesting, as she starts examining whether she made any similar mistakes in her relationship with him.

“Time of My Life” was fun, but thoughtful.  It offered great self-examination without getting too heavy.  Although I don’t personally relate to Jillian’s trapped feeling, she was written in a way that let me empathize with her easily and understand how it could have come to this.   In fact, I thought there were lessons to be learned by the reader from what Jillian went through.  Long story short?  I loved “Time of My Life.” It was definitely smart women’s fiction.

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

I read this book as part of a TLC Book Tour.  Check out some of the other tour hosts for more reviews.  Links go to the host’s site, not to their specific review.

Monday, August 17th: Hey Lady! Whatcha Readin’?

Wednesday, August 19th: Peeking Between the Pages

Thursday, August 20th: Melissa’s Bookshelf

Monday, August 24th:  Infinite Shelf

Wednesday, August 26th: Book Soulmates

Monday, August 31st:  Devourer of Books

Wednesday, September 2nd:  2 Kids and Tired Book Reviews

Tuesday, September 8th: Linus’s Blanket

Thursday, September 10th:  Literate Housewife

Monday, September 14th: Presenting Lenore

Wednesday, September 16th:  Stephanie’s Written Word

Thursday, September 17th: Diary of an Eccentric

Date TBD:  Luxury Reading

The Devil’s Queen by Jeanne Kalogridis

The Medici family must be one of the most famous in Western history, perhaps excepting the Tudors.  Aside from Lorenzo Il Magnifico and a couple of Popes, Catherine de Medici is probably the Medici people are most likely to have heard of.  Even so, I knew very little about Catherine, just that she was mother-in-law to Mary Queen of Scots and that she was one of the instigators of the St. Bartholomew’s Day massacre of the Huguenots.  I always love learning about new to me historical figures, so I jumped at the chance to review this when it was offered to me by St. Martin’s Press.

Catherine was young during a time of great unrest in her native Florence.  There were many who wanted to make Florence a republic, and they were not overly fond of the Medicis.  Catherine actually spent three years of her young life in the rebels’ captivity in one of two convents.  When finally freed and sent to her uncle Pope Clement, Catherine was promised by her uncle to Henri Valois, the second son of King Francois Valois of France – you Tudor fanatics know Francois, he is the king who called Mary Boleyn ‘The English Mare’ and wrestled Henry VIII at the Field of the Cloth of Gold.  When Francois’ oldest son dies, Catherine suddenly becomes the Dauphine and the next Queen of France.

Catherine’s story is absolutely fascinating.  According to Kalogridis’ afterword, Catherine’s “collection of talismans and interest in magic were legendary…” Based on this, Kalogridis creates a life for Catherine that is largely dependent on the magic done by and with Catherine’s court magician Ruggieri.  In “The Devil’s Queen” Ruggieri’s rituals and talismans help Catherine survive the clutch of the rebels, give Henri a longer lease on life, and help Catherine give Henri children.  I’m fairly sure that Ruggieri’s specific actions and the exact things that Catherine asked of him are not in the historical record, but since her interest in astrology is on record, I was okay with these liberties in general.  There was one twist near the end that made me scoff a bit.  I wish that Kalogridis had addressed that little gem in her author’s note, but by the time we got to that twist I was so thoroughly engrossed in the book that it didn’t bother me too much.

Kalogridis is clearly a skilled writer.  I am not sure that many other authors could have had me so into a book where magical rituals are undertaken to successfully give a queen children.  Perhaps the best proof of her skill, though, is the fact that she made Catherine so sympathetic.  A woman who practices dark magic and orders the slaughter of so many people with different beliefs really shouldn’t be sympathetic, as a general rule.  Catherine approaches this magic with a very practical attitude, she is simply doing what she must to protect her family and nothing more.  But what really made me love her is that she is not without regret and guilt for her actions.  She believes that she is damned for her actions of self-preservation and mourns that fact (although not enough to stop protecting her family).

I really enjoyed “The Devil’s Queen.”  It has me anxious to read more about Catherine and more from Kalogridis.

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

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press for sending me “The Devil’s Queen” to review.

The Mom’s Guide To Growing Your Family Green: Saving The Earth Begins At Home by Terra Wellington

I’m so ridiculous about books like this.  First, I get really excited about them.  Then they arrive, and I worry that they will be boring and dry and put off reading them for far too long.  Finally, I read them and find that they are not at all dry and in fact quite helpful.  I think the fact that I so recently read “The Smart Mama’s Green Guide” contributed to me not wanting to read this one, I thought they would be too similar.  Luckily, though, both books took very different approaches to the concept of ‘green.’

“The Mom’s Guide to Growing Your Family Green” takes a more traditional view of the word ‘green,’ talking about increasing a family’s quality of life by living a green lifestyle.  Topics included reducing water and energy consumption, eco-friendly disposal and consumption, and green travel.  What I appreciated is that Wellington didn’t list things that one should do, she gave specific, concrete reasons as to WHY doing these things would improve a family’s life.

If you’re looking for specific steps to take to reduce your footprint, whether or not you’re a mom, “The Mom’s Guide to Growing Your Family Green” offers simple actionable items and would be a good resource.

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

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J.K. Rowling

I’m not going to do a proper review of “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone,” or any of the Harry Potter books for the Harry Potter Reading Challenge because, really, I don’t think there’s anything really new to say about them that hasn’t been said a million times.  Instead, I’m planning to just record a few of my impressions as I reread these books for the umpteenth times.

It has been quite some time since I read “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone,” probably not since well before the 6th book was released, so it was almost like coming in again for the first time, except with foreknowledge of what would happen.  What really struck me was how much more juvenile “The Sorcerer’s Stone” is than the books I’ve read more recently.  I don’t think I’ve read or watched anything before book 3 for quite some time.  I suppose I’d forgotten just how much Rowling’s writing and style grew up with Harry, Ron, and Hermione.

It was fun going all the way back to the beginning, but I think I’m going to enjoy my rereads of the later books more, as the series moves to more of a young adult feel from the original elementary school style.

In The Wake Of The Boatman by Jonathon Scott Fuqua

“On this oppressive Norfolk evening, the notion came to him so calmly it almsot made sense.  He should crack his little boy’s neck as gently as possible.  It would be like saving two lives.” -p. 1

So begins Puttnam Steward’s relationship with his father Carl.  The two never get along, nothing Puttnam can do is good enough for Carl, and eventually Puttnam stops wanting to please his father and resents him isntead.  The dysfunction of Putt’s family doesn’t simply stop with his father, either.  Putt’s mother is an alcoholic and his brother-in-law is cruel and paranoid and hates Putt.  In the midst of this Putt is struggling with gender identity, serving three tours of duty in Vietnam, and worrying that he has never accomplished anything in his life.

“In The Wake Of The Boatman” is a lyrical, complex character-driven novel.  The writing was incredibly descriptive and beautiful, and I really got the feeling that I was inside Puttnam’s head.  That being said, I had a really difficult time getting into this book.  It took me twice as long to get through the first 1/3 of the book than it did to get through the remainder.  I think my problem was that the book was just far more psychological than my brain can handle right now, reading primarily while feeding the baby.  When I finally carved out an hour to read nonstop, the book began flowing better for me and I started to enjoy it much more.

Although it was a tough start for me, I ended up enjoying “In The Wake Of The Boatman” for Fuqua’s skill in characterization and turn of phrase.  Just make sure if you read it you’re in the mood to concentrate on a book!

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

Thank you to Harrison from Bancroft Press for sending me this book to review!