The Gathering

The Gathering by Anne Enright

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


Irish families, particularly large ones, are often rife with illicit secrets. I should know, I hail from one. An Irish family that is, not an illicit secret.

While the premise of this book is a good one that captured my interest and the nature of loss and family connections is explored in an intriguing way, through the wake of a brother lost too soon, the writing itself I found to be dry and a bit off-putting. Which may be why it took me three months, off and on, to finish this book.



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The Disappearance

The Disappearance by Bentley Little

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Horror novels are, to me, what trashy romance novels are to some women. They're my little bit of escapism in an ordinary day. What really lights my fire is a horror novelist who can tell a campy story with an articulate turn of phrase, which is why I love Bentley Little.

The Disappearance, as with all of his books, is satisfying in a spine-tingling, chilling way, with plenty of action and a relatable protagonist that you can root for with an honest heart.



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The Summerhouse

The Summerhouse by Jude Deveraux

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


The title seemed fitting to take on as a vacation read, and so this was number two in my bag that was toted along on our trip north this year, tucked away to be read under the summer sunshine.

The Summerhouse is a light read about second chances. What would you do differently if you could have a "re-do" on the most pivotal time in your life? Could you choose a particular two weeks where your life could be altered for the better by a few different steps? And even if you could live a different life, would you trade what you have now, or who you are now, for a different you on a different path? Three friends who haven't seen one another in twenty years come together at a friend's summer house for a reunion and a run-in with a local psychic who gives them the opportunity to have a second shot at one short interval in their lives, and the choice to live the lives they have, or with the consequences of their hindsight-is-twenty-twenty choices.

This is a fun book, lighthearted, and an easy read.



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Everyone Is Beautiful

Everyone Is Beautiful by Katherine Center

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


This book had been on my to-read list on the library website for quite a while. I have over 100 books on there, like ripe, juicy cherries waiting to be plucked and enjoyed, and sometimes I forget why one is there. I couldn't remember when or why this one made it's way onto the list, which convinced me it'd been there too long and needed picking before it soured on the tree.

Oh, I was so glad I picked it.

Everyone is Beautiful is a story of women and how we view ourselves and one another. Have you ever made the dreadful mistake of asking a non-pregnant woman when she's due, or wondered why your gorgeous girlfriend is so hard on herself about her looks? Have you puzzled over why one friend chose a less-attractive mate or why your own mate chose you? Have you learned yet, to see the beauty in yourself that is yours to embrace not despite the flaws, but because your flaws make you real and human and beautiful on their face?

Protagonist Lanie has become lost in her family life. She cares for her husband who is chasing his own career dreams. She cares for her children, growing up in their own personalites despite her best efforts to corrall their little-boy wildness. She depends on her aging parents and the undependability of her two brothers. Her life is thrown into turmoil when she is moved across the country to a new city where she is unfamiliar with the parks, the streets, the other moms, and even with herself. In discovering where she fits into this new life, she finds a way to reinvent herself and come to terms with accepting herself as she is, even while bettering herself for her own happiness.

This is a lovely, enchanting read with one of the most poignant and "real" love stories involved that I've read in a long time. Marriage can be complicated and difficult, but choosing the love that you know can be monumentally rewarding, as the author points out when Lanie and her husband reconnect through their own growth as individuals. I recommend this book highly.



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Vanishing Acts

Vanishing Acts by Jodi Picoult

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I recently grabbed this book from the library as I needed something to start just then. We had returned from vacation and I was out of reading material at the moment. Since this has been out for a few years, it was in at the library, and by a new favorite author of mine, so I decided to give it a go.

I wasn't disappointed. I only discovered Jodi Picoult recently (about two years ago), and have been reading back through many of her earlier novels. One of my favourite things about her writing is that, being based on relationships and interactions, it is fairly timeless.

Vanishing Acts focuses on missing persons cases and memory. Are we who we were "meant" to be, who we were constructed to be, or who we invented ourselves as? What is the most valid self; the self our parents imagined or that we grew into? It asks some questions about the nature of our lives that apply to everyone, whether they grew up in a stable household, suffered with a parent who wasn't always ideal, or perhaps even were taken away from their parents at a young age. The plot follows the plight of Andrew, who kidnapped his young daughter from an alcoholic custodial mother when she was barely more than a toddler, as the law catches up to him, his grown child, and his grandchild, who is now only slightly older than his daughter was when he ran with her.

Filled with emotional upheaval and courtroom intrigue, I wouldn't call this a "light" book by any means, but it isn't one you have to suffer through, either. There are plenty of light hearted and funny moments, from the making of "alternative" barbie dolls, (white trash barbie or voodoo ken anyone?) to the perils of living in a pepto-bismol tinted rental trailer, but with enough depth to the storyline and characters to satisfy the reader with an emotional give and take on par with some of the best books I've read.



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An Embarrassment of Mangoes: A Caribbean Interlude

An Embarrassment of Mangoes: A Caribbean Interlude by Ann Vanderhoof

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


My good friend Jill recommended this book to me a while ago, and I had great plans for it. Since it was a Caribbean travel memoir, it had to be read in the summertime (so I wasn't too consumed with jealousy over the wonderful time the author was having) and preferably, it would be read on vacation.

This July finally fit the bill, and I toted An Embarrassment of Mangoes along with me on our northern camping vacation. While I was in the deep woods and the author and her husband were sailing on deep water, I still felt a kinship with them, based somewhat on my own experiences in the Carribean, and somewhat on my love of traveling with your spouse.

If you've ever wanted to leave your life behind and sail away to a tropical island where you can forget about work, stress, home ownership woes, and obligations to friends and family for a little while, you aren't alone. Ann Vanderhoof and her husband, publishing big-wigs from Toronto, felt similarly about their lives. They were tired of pollution, of a nine to five workday that got them home after dark, of Canadian cold and winter skies. They made great money but were searching for a different kind of richness in their life, which they discovered on a used sailboat and a squirreled-away savings account as they travelled together.

The book is peppered with enticing recipes, though most require items that are hard to find, if not impossibly expensive here in Canada. Still, it doesn't keep you from fantasizing about cooking your own fresh lobster and having fresh mango salsa on your plate. The book is bittersweet, and tells of their triumphs and pitfalls as first time sailors in a nostalgic memoir that takes you along their journey through the golden glow of memory, clearly seeing things as they do in their fondest thoughts of their trip. The writing style is concise, but with enough drama to keep you interested in their story. Overall, it is a perfect vacation book, best read under a bright sun on a drowsy, relaxed afternoon.



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Innocent As Sin

Innocent as Sin by Elizabeth Lowell

My rating: 2 of 5 stars


This was my third pick for vacation novels this year, and while the back cover and the first few lines of the first chapter intrigued me when I first picked it up, it didn't quite live up to my expectations.

Innocent as Sin is touted as a suspense novel, and it does open with a whodunit question - who killed the photographer? Unfortunately, from there it delves into the world of international banking with a different protagonist that is hard to get to know, not easy to like, and boring in her hobbies and reaction to threat and intimidation. I had to drag myself through the first three quarters of the book, waiting for the payoff of seeing the bad guy from the very first few lines of the book get his due. In retrospect, I should have put the book down. Unfortunately for me, I was on vacation at the time, and when you're camping and on your last book, it isn't so easy to toss it aside and head to the nearest bookstore or library for something fresh and new!

I found this book to drag a bit. Okay, a lot. I didn't feel compelled by the characters, I rooted for the bad guy at some points because I found the female protagonist so annoyingly boring. I wouldn't recommend it, but hey, you may have a different take; maybe I've just read so many great books this year that mediocre doesn't cut it any more!



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