Book Review: My Life In France

Stats:
Author: Julia Child with Alex Prud'homme
# of pages: 303 + 3 page foreward by Alex Prud'homme
Original Publication Date: 2006
Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf
My Copy: First Edition Hardcover - from the library

Book Review: To the Field of Stars

Stats:
Author: Fr. Kevin A. Codd
# of pages: 271 + about 12 pages of introduction and a map
Original Publication Date: 2008
Publisher: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.
My Copy: Paperback

Book Review: Camino de Santiago - Practical Preparation and Background

Stats:
Author: Gerald Kelly
# of pages: 144
Original Publication Date: July 4, 2011
Publisher: Createspace (self-published)
My Copy: Second Edition April 2015

My obsession with El Camino de Santiago de Compostela continues with this fantastic little guidebook by Camino veteran Gerald Kelly. I really enjoyed it. Truly.

It should be noted that this book is self-published and has a few typos and a couple of formatting issues. This is inevitable when dealing with a self-published work (a mark of the sad state of the publishing world in my opinion) but honestly they weren't really problematic. Mr. Kelly opens the book stating that it's self-published, and that efforts have been made to correct any and all errors, so the few typos that persist weren't too irritating. The only issue that truly frustrated me consistently was the way the text ran almost all the way into the crease between pages. This made the text in those areas difficult to read and I found myself bending the spine considerably more than I like to with slim paperbacks. Otherwise, the self-publishing thing wasn't an issue.

I really loved the way the book was set up, so that you didn't need to read it cover-to-cover if you didn't want to. It's a short book to begin with, but I think the way the chapters and sections are worked makes it invaluable as a reference guide. The first (very brief) section introduces you to the Camino - what it is and why people walk it. The second section is all about preparation: what to bring, how to pack, how to prepare, and how to get to Europe if, like me, you don't live on that particular continent.

My favorite part of that section was that instead of making a comprehensive list of everything you need, Mr. Kelly broke it up into three: the essentials, things you can bring if you want to, and what to leave at home. He also doesn't really push specific items or brands, but rather offers the pros and cons of a variety of options and allowing the reader to make an educated decision about what might best work for him or her. I found that to be an intelligent and considerate format and I greatly appreciated it both as a reader and as a prospective pilgrim.

The next part was all about walking the Camino itself. Mr. Kelly wrote about what a typical day on the Camino looked like, and what the hostels are like. He wrote about what to eat and where to buy food, when to drink the wine and when to stick to water. He talked about the potential dangers people face (mostly heatstroke and heart attack) and a variety of ways to deal with blisters. It is a lot of information to digest but it's broken up into bite-sized chunks and generally well-written. He covered a lot of topics but again, all of them fit into pretty small sections and sub-categories and it's easy to bookmark the sections I want to go back to.

After the main section on the day-to-day of the Camino there are shorter sections on other pilgrim routes in Europe, nature and architecture, as well as a chapter on the history of Spain. Some people found this section unnecessary or too long and boring. While I skimmed through most of this section myself, I felt that it is important for non-Europeans to understand Spanish history in order to better understand the nature of Spain today. The history lesson is followed by a Spanish phrase guide as well as some explanation of the differences between Castilian, Galician, and Basque Spanish as well as the variety of regional dialects spoken in Spain. The phrase guide is useful and I liked that instead of trying to teach rudimentary grammar Mr. Kelly simply offered a list of common words and phrases that the pilgrim needs. I personally plan to brush up on my conversational Spanish in the next two years anyway but I like that this phrase guide is available.

I loved that this man walks the Camino every year (or close to it at least) so he actually knows what he's talking about. He's also tried and tested a variety of different walking styles and brought a variety of different equipment with him, and he's also talked to other people about their Caminos and what worked for them. Obviously I won't know what will work best for me until I actually go, but having a variety of opinions to draw upon will likely be quite helpful in two years' time.

I don't have any quotes to share because this book wasn't really the quotable kind. There were parts that made me laugh, but out of context they don't make sense.

Recommended Reading Level: Teen+ but mostly Adult. It's all about packing and walking almost 800km and exchange rates and blisters and I wouldn't give this to somebody under 18 just because unless they were getting ready to walk the Camino for their 18th birthday/high school graduation, they'd be bored to tears.

Rating: 4 of 5 stars. I have to deduct because the typos and formatting issue of the type running right into the crease were annoying. Also, while I did enjoy reading it, it didn't completely captivate me like a 5 star read would. Because it's a guidebook. Can't be helped, sorry.

Who Should Read It: People who plan on walking the Camino anytime in the future, people who plan on backpacking through Europe anytime in the near future, people who like practical guidebooks, people who like books about preparing for a very long walk, people who are considering walking the Camino for the first time.

Further reading to consider:
The author has a website where you can download a guide to a variety of Caminos for free (a donation is suggested but if you want it for free it's available but really, make a donation if you do!) at CaminoGuide.net. 

I'm already reading my next book on the Camino, this one written by a Catholic priest. I'm looking forward to a religious perspective on this crazy obsession of mine.

For more of the books I've loved, hated, and reviewed, please check out my Book Reviews tab.

Happy Reading!

Willow 





*Note: I am not now nor have ever been an associate or acquaintance of Mr. Gerald Kelly. This is an unpaid, unsolicited review of a book I genuinely liked and wished to share.*

Book Review: Off the Road

Stats:
Author: Jack Hitt
# of pages: 255
Original Publication Date: 1994
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
My Copy: First Simon & Schuster Paperbacks edition 2005


So I'm currently more than a little obsessed with the whole Camino to Santiago thing (see my post about it HERE) and as such I've taken it upon myself to read as many books on the subject as I can get my hands on (please don't look in my Amazon shopping cart...) I figured I might as well share some of my "research" with you lovely internet-dwellers out there.

Firstly, there are dozens - probably hundreds - of books about the Camino out there. From the Shirley Maclaine experience to the one written by a couple of nonfiction writers to the one written by a priest (which I've started reading!), there's no shortage of travelogues, memoirs, guidebooks and the like on the market. If you want to read an architect's experience of the Camino, or a housewife's experience of the Camino, it's available. My reasons for starting with this particular account of the road to Santiago is because it is this book that loosely inspired the Martin Sheen and Emilio Estevez film called, The Way. The author even makes a kind of cameo character appearance as feisty travel writer Jack, from Ireland. This character is much more likeable than the author himself, in my opinion. More on that later.

This book was originally published in 1994, so it's a teensy bit dated and I have a feeling that conditions along the Camino have changed and improved a bit in the last 20 years, especially given the Camino's rise in popularity after the release of Sheen and Estevez's film and the Holy Year in 2010. In any case, the idea of dropping your entire life to go for a very long walk still shines through. Because walking across northern Spain takes you "out of time" in a way, the many years since publication don't really affect the narrative experience.

I didn't care much for the beginning - he talked far too much about architecture and it really didn't feel relevant to beginning his pilgrimage. He also didn't have very positive things to say about religion, let alone Catholicism. Basically, I felt he was incredibly close-minded. He began by talking about authenticity and metaphor and literalism. He seemed to think that pilgrimage is about getting back to the truest sense of the word before religious metaphors got tangled up in politics and journalism and came to mean nothing at all. It honestly felt like a lot of pedantic backpedaling; it was like he was trying to say that he wasn't going on pilgrimage for religious reasons or to "find God," heavens no! He was purely intellectual, strictly going for a very long walk to connect with himself and unplug from CNN and see what his brain did when it wasn't inundated with media and hyper-connectivity. It felt seriously inauthentic. 

At first I didn't like the way the narrative of his walking was broken up. It's split into 11 chapters with an introduction and an afterward. Each of the chapters revolves around his experiences in a particular region or portion of the Camino: Saint-Jean Pied de Port, Torres del Rio, Leon, and Arzua to name a few. I was initially displeased because I wanted more detail, more day-to-day grind of walking the road, not the highlights version. Upon reflection, however, it makes sense. He wrote this book for commercial publication and yes, there's plenty of slogging through wheat fields in a lighting storm and blisters and lack of adequate shower facilities, but if there was much more of that the average reader would be bored to tears. He did a good job of giving you enough of the daily grind without bogging you down in it, and there were the usual small epiphanies and roadside gems described.

What I feel he did best was describing his fellow pilgrims. He painted incredibly vivid pictures of the Flemish film crew and Claudy and the donkey, Jesus the gypsy, the Welsh family, the Spanish girls, and the Italian pilgrim who spoke no language well. He illustrated the pack mentality versus "every man for himself" and how that dynamic changed over different parts of the Camino. Hostel workers, priests, Spanish widows, and Basque shepherds all came to life on the pages and both welcomed and challenged the pilgrims. All of these people were real, engaging, and complex. There were a few times when the author was unkind or reduced people to stereotypes, but more often than not he allowed the characters to develop and the reader got to see the other side of them.

My main problem with the entire book was the lack of real epiphany. All through the book I kept waiting for the author to learn something - about himself, about the world, about religion, about God - but it never happened. He even made this lack of "lesson learning" a  good thing at the end, in the afterword. He acts like St. James isn't the saint to go to if you're looking for epiphany because St. James was so much simpler than that when depicted as a pilgrim. I disagree. I feel like walking almost 500 miles on pilgrimage has to change you or all you've done is taken a really long walk through northern Spain, practically devoid of meaning. Perhaps I'm naive and still dew-eyed with the belief that God speaks to us when we can listen - on a dirt road in the middle of the Spanish Meseta - but what I felt most for this writer was pity that he was so cynical and almost actively avoiding any kind of experience of epiphany. Maybe my impression is incorrect or somehow inaccurate or even biased because of the author's largely negative view of Catholic Christianity (I'm willing to admit I could be wrong about this) but I sincerely hope that when it comes to my turn to make this journey I have a much more positive experience than he did.

I thought his redemptive moment would be when he entered the cathedral before the statue of St. James.  The Spanish philosopher Miguel de Unamuno wrote of that space, "Before this Portico, one must pray in one way or another: one cannot make literature." Here, the author drops to his knees and approaches St. James in gratitude - as is custom for all pilgrims, kings and peasants alike. He seems to be on the verge of the epiphany I waited so long for, but then... 

"Even here, minutes away from completing my pilgrimage, an air of fraudulence lingers. I had expected a purity, a clarifying wind of revelation. Instead the tourists unsheathe their cameras and illuminate my already soiled epiphany with the strobe of flashes.  This clenched face and furrowed brow now bowing before the statue of James - is this mine, a performance, or both?" (238-239)

ARGHHHHH! SO close and then the cop-out and blaming the tourists for ruining his could-be epiphany. Jackass.

His one moment of redemption, however, came on the last page. He had been in Santiago for a week and had been showered, shaved, and changed into new, clean clothes, and returned to the cathedral for the last time. Instead of being lost in his cynicism, he joined the line of people waiting to kneel at the statue of St. James to pray. So many people have placed their hands beneath the saint's feet that the marble has actually developed the indentation of a perfectly shaped human hand. Now, cleaned up and dressed as a normal person - no longer garbed and clearly marked as a pilgrim, he says, "One cannot make literature here. When my time comes, I put my hand into the stone and pray."  Not the religious epiphany or grand conclusion I had hoped for, but it's better than nothing. The closest thing we get to the lesson learned is in the afterword where he says, "In the midst of all that work, wrangling the details of life stripped down to that essence [of bare necessities], some tiny thing appears. It might be a funny line, a moment, a chance encounter, a though that gives you the power to see yourself as you really are, there in that awkward surreal place." He speaks to my dissatisfaction with his conclusions in the afterword, saying that if I want revelations or epiphanies I should read a war journal. Frankly, I think he kind of missed the point.

Some quotes I underlined:

From page 36:

The road itself is... among our oldest tropes. The obvious metaphors click by. The high road and the low, the long and winding, lonesome, royal, open, private, the road to hell, tobacco, crooked, straight and narrow.  There is the road stretching into infinity, bordered by lacy mists, favored by sentimental poets.  There is the more dignified road of Mr. Frost.  There is, every four years, the road to the White House. There is the right road. And then there is the road that concerns me most today, the wrong road.

 Immediately following on page 37:

Then again, maybe I should calm down.

 You think?

From page 43:

What the modern pilgrim is exiled from is not a place but velocity. I haven't left the world of the city; I have left the realm of the car. What distinguishes me is not that I am out of town but that I am on foot.  My predecessors were outcasts because they left the security of the village. I have left the world of technology and speed.

Are you beginning to see what I mean about his obsession with unpacking metaphors and getting back to the truest sense of the meaning of pilgrimage?

From page 182:

Is this pilgrimage a sacred task or is it trumped-up tourism?

From page 244:

A thousand years ago, from this belief [in God] but also from crude political calculation, financial desperation, and military necessity, the pilgrimage emerged as a journey to truth. What one finds on the road may not be what god wrought, but it is what man wrought, and, for a time, it was the best we could do.

So to summarize a long and winding post, there were things about this book that I liked, and plenty of things about it I had problems with. I found the author's voice pedantic, cynical, and generally obnoxious, but every once-in-a-while he had something interesting to say. 

Recommended Reading Level: Adult. Not in an R-rated sense but in the sense that this guy used a lot of big words (unnecessarily, too) that challenged my post-college brain a bit. Also there is talk of sex and drug use and flippant remarks that adolescents may not be able to put into context.

Rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars - I'd like to be able to give this 3 whole stars, but the author's attitude really prohibits it. I didn't find this book difficult to read, but it certainly does not have a place on my "favorite books this year" shelf. It was a good glimpse of what the daily grind on the Camino is like but I don't think I'll be recommending it to people who aren't actively planning to go on pilgrimage. Even then I'll recommend it with heavy caveats.

Who Should Read It: People who actively plan to make pilgrimage to Santiago and are unsure of their religious beliefs. People who like writers from Harper's Magazine and GQ. People who are interested in historical Spanish architecture. People who like travelogues with no particular theme. People who don't look for revelations in their everyday life.

I'm already reading more books about the Camino so hopefully I'll find one or two that are good and will have better recommendations for you.

For more of the books I've loved, hated, and reviewed, look HERE. Or check out the Book Reviews tab at the top of the page.

Happy Reading,

Willow.



*Note: All text used in quotes are from the 2005 Simon&Schuster paperback edition of Off the Road by Jack Hitt and these quotes are copyrighted by him and Simon & Schuster. These quotations are used for review purposes only. I am not now and never have been an agent of Simon & Schuster publishing or any of its imprints or affiliates, nor am I any acquaintance of Mr. Hitt. This is an unpaid, unsolicited review.*

Walking the Way

This may seem a bit random, but with my birthday tomorrow (25 is terrifying) I've been doing some re-evaluating and made some decisions about what I'd like to do with my life by the time I'm 30.  There's the usual suspects like marriage, children, and home ownership, but there's one other thing that's been on my mind in a heavy way for the last few months.

When I was about 12, my dad bought me a book from a used bookstore. He hadn't read it and didn't really know what it was about other than what he read on the back cover but that summary merely told him that his middle school aged daughter would probably like it. At the time I was obsessed with historical fiction (specifically the early English Renaissance/Tudor dynasty but I was also loving ancient Egypt and American Colonial stuff) so he made a good call. 

That was 13 years ago and I still have the book. My copy is worn and tattered and close to falling apart but I still have it. It's the story of a teenaged girl and her betrothed (just returned from the Crusades) whose parents arranged for them to join their estates in order to lend stability to their region (there was also an issue of money). In order to help them bond before their marriage, their priest sends them on Pilgrimage from their home in England, across the English Channel, through France to Paris and then west to Santiago de Compostela in northern Spain. Their journey takes them a few months and (because it is set in the year 1300) they face many obstacles including hunger, injury, injustice, and threatened kidnapping. It's an exciting story about imagining people complexly - especially people we think we know or who we've known a long time - and over the course of the story the two main characters eventually come to view their impending marriage as a way for them to unite their communities and do good for the people they will be responsible for. It's a great story even if - as a Catholic - there are moments that are a teensy bit problematic. Some comments are made that are critical of the Catholic Church which make it obvious that the author does not think highly of Her. (I just reread it and these comments don't feel obvious to me, but I may be biased because I love the story so much.)

Source: Giacomo Cantelli de Vignola, 1696 {{PD-1923}}

In any case, I've read this novel probably close to a dozen times in the years that I've possessed it. I just reread it again about 2 months ago and this is where things get a bit weird.

I finished reading it and was in this kind of book hangover (the kind you get after reading something wherein you're still living and breathing the stories and characters) and I started thinking, I wonder if people still make pilgrimage to Santiago. Spain has been on my bucket list for years anyway, maybe when I finally go someday I'll stop in Santiago... And there the train of thought ended for a while. 

Until it came back when I was babysitting and saw clearly a scallop shell in their seashell collection. This reminded me of the scallop worn by the pilgrims on the road to Santiago. The thought of someday going to Santiago became an internet search that turned into a dream on my Someday-Maybe list.

1896, Author Unknown, Public Domain Image {{PD - 1923}}

There were other little things: scallops for dinner, the feast of St. James the Less (and talk of St. James the Greater) in my Confirmation class, conversations with my mother about the book and how much I still loved it, and so on.

Then. On the drive up the mountain for my sisters' 2nd year Confirmation retreat, I rode with a young man I knew of but didn't know well. We got to talking about our families and family history and it came out that my family ancestry traces back to Spain and that I dream of going there someday. He said Spain is also on his bucket list because of a movie he'd watched recently. The film, he said, was about a man whose son (somewhat estranged) went to Spain and died on his first day there. So the man had to go to Spain to retrieve his son's body and chose to cremate the body. Then he decided to do the walk through Spain that his son had planned, all the way to -- 

Here I interrupted and asked him ecstatically if the movie is about the man walking the Pilgrim's Way to Santiago. We shared a look of awe at God's timing and bringing us together and we got very excited because yes, this film was all about the Camino, and yes, we both had been daydreaming about someday-maybe going on pilgrimage. We spent the next hour of our drive talking about the film and I told him about my book and this shared dream became a strong bonding point for us. 

After the retreat weekend I went home and found the film on Netflix. It's called The Way and stars Martin Sheen and Emilio Estevez and I've watched it 3 times since Christian told me about it and I cry every time. The film tells a complicated story about love, loss, redemption, anger, and how sometimes, grief looks like a really long walk. It is secular but shows reverence for the Pilgrimage and the people along it and the Church and isn't sappy at all. I recommend it. I plan on buying the DVD so I can watch it with my mother. The film was actually inspired - in part - by a book by a man who walked the Way, called Off the Road. I'm currently reading it. While I think the author is a pretentious jackass, the book is pretty good so far.

All of this transpired about 2 months ago and since then I've done lots of research. I've been reading lots and lots of travel sites and doing lots of math and I've been praying about it a great deal.

I think I'm going to Spain in 2 years.

Church of Santiago, Santiago de Compostela, Galicia, Spain. By Vasco Roxo.

Source

I've calculated that it will cost me (at a very rough estimate) about $7,200 to get there, complete my pilgrimage, and get home. Airfare is going to be the most costly part of this adventure and there is also the issue of having at least 1 month's worth of rent and things covered ahead of time because walking the Way (all 500 miles of it) takes about 5 weeks. I'm budgeting 6 because I'll want to spend a couple of days in France getting used to the time difference and then I'll need a few days once home to take care of tidying my house and sleeping and generally recovering.  

All in all, I'm going to have to save about $300-$320 each month if I'm going to head to Spain in May of 2017.  That's my goal: 2 years. Two years to save the money, work out the logistics, dream, plan, and train. Yes, train. My intended path goes from St. Jean-Pied-de-Port in France through northern Spain to Santiago in Galicia. That's just shy of 500 miles. To do that in 35 days (with rest days, of course) I will need to practice walking up to 25 miles each day while carrying a 15 pound backpack. It's a lot more likely that I'll be doing 15-20 miles each day but I'd like to get comfortable walking up to 25 miles a day. I imagine the next two years will be good for my health, as well.

So that's my dream as I turn 25: spend the next 2 years saving and preparing so that within days of my 27th birthday I will be on a plane to Spain (more likely to France then a bus and a train to the Franco-Spanish border but you get the idea). I've made out 24 little envelopes which I intend to fill with cash earned babysitting, house sitting, dog walking, and parts of my paychecks and each will be put into a jar. I've used the image below to decorate the jar as a bit of motivation.  24 months, almost $7,500, and 500 miles. 

I think maybe part of not being afraid of getting older involves taking a very, very long walk.

Some European pilgrims on the road to Santiago de Compostela
by Oula Lehtinen (cropped by me)
Source

Happy birthday to me!

See you in Santiago,

*Author's Note: All the images in this post - with the exception of the purple one - are from Wikimedia Commons and are either in the public domain or used under the GNU Free Documentation License. The original authors have been credited as requested and the Wikimedia source page has been linked to. I have no legal claim to them and make no money from them.*

 

Book Review - Hemingway's Girl

I'm on vacation in New Orleans so you get a book review while I'm gone!!! Isn't that exciting? You know you're excited.

Please excuse the chipped nail polish in the photo
 

 Stats:
Author: Erika Robuck
# of pages: 321 (plus 15 page Reader's Guide including acknowledgements, bibliography, conversation with the author, and questions for discussion)
Publication Date: September, 2012
Publisher: New American Library, a division of Penguin Group
My Copy: First Edition paperback with reader's guide

The book I read in March (of 2013 - shhhh) was Hemingway's Girl by Erika Robuck.

It's another Target find. (Seriously, I find so many interesting things when I casually wander through Target's book aisles, it's crazy.) It sat atop my dresser for several weeks and then I started reading it for March. But I did what I seem to have been doing a lot this last year and a half: I took my time.

When I was younger, I would race through books because I wanted to know the story and be in that world and didn't want to come out of it until I was done with it but something changed sometime two  years ago when I stopped reading as voraciously. I started having a hard time staying focused, and I started having a really hard time remembering what I had read. Even now, the details are fuzzy on some of the things I've read this year and that's never happened before. I can remember details of Harry Potter and the Pendragon series and books I loved as a child but the things I've been reading lately don't seem to stick. I don't know if that's because I'm not reading as much, if it's because my life has devolved to 9-5 clerical silliness and I'm not learning anything new so my brain isn't retaining information or if it's just because I'm getting older, but things don't seem to stick as well anymore. And I don't like it.

Anyway, back to Hemingway's Girl. It's fiction - the main character and her family and the events of the book are drawn from the author's imagination. The hurricane and the fact that the Hemingway family lived in Key West during the Great Depression is all factual, and the author did a great deal of research on Hemingway, his family life, and general personality/habits because he absolutely came alive in these pages. I don't usually read historical fiction set anytime after the Victorian Era, and even then, I don't like stuff set in the U.S. or the American Civil War and prefer it to be British. Usually the historical fiction I get excited about is Tudor/Elizabethan/Shakespearean Europe or even ancient Greek and Roman stories. But the 20s? The Great Depression? World War I and II? Boring. (This is why I studied Classic Civilizations in college instead of just being an English/History double major. I would've had to write essays on stuff I could talk about with people still living. That's not history, that's current events in my book.)

But this one captivated me. Mariella's struggle to help her family survive the Great Depression was reminiscent of Katniss from The Hunger Games: younger siblings dependent on her, mother despondent and depressed after the death of their father, doing things and going places that were dangerous or rough out of desperation to make some extra money, a community of sad, hungry people wondering when things (specifically, the economy) were going to get better. There were no intense political overtones, though, just setting the scene that made it logical that a young woman such as Mariella would want to improve her family's situation by getting a job as a maid in the Hemingways's house.

Then there's Gavin. Gavin is a young veteran with a friend living in the Keys while he works on the Overseas Highway.  He makes no secret of his attraction to and affection for Mariella, but he really can't compete with wealthy, charismatic Hemingway - or can he?

The "love triangle" here was really, really convincing and it was - mercifully - brief.  What I know - historically speaking - about Hemingway is that he was extremely charismatic and could be the definition of charming when he felt like it. He was also prone to mood swings and losing his temper when he didn't get his way, and all of these characteristics were expertly portrayed. Gavin was real, flawed, and tries to get to know Mariella and get in with her family, but also has the issues that go with being a veteran - some symptoms of PTSD and being responsible for other vets who are in worse shape than he is.

There's also a bit of a mystery in this story. When Mariella's father died, there was some question about the circumstances, especially because his boat was never found. Mariella grew up on the water with her father, fishing and taking out the tourists, so his death is a bit suspicious. It lingers in the background and really isn't central to the main storyline, but it adds depth to the characters and the situation they're in.

The one real criticism I have with this book is after the climax. I wanted to see a bit more of Mariella's life after the hurricane and the events that came after. Also, the very last paragraph of the book is kind of sappy, like it's trying to do that misty-eyed thing to the reader. The epilogue was really well done and I thought it made a lot of sense and felt very real. The whole ending just worked and successfully conveyed a lot of information to wrap up the story from the first few pages, but I still wanted a bit more denouement before the epilogue.

This author also wrote Call Me Zelda, a novel about Zelda Fitzgerald's time in a psychiatric hospital and the (fictional) nurse she develops a friendship with.  It's got some good reviews, despite how many other books about the Fitzgeralds and that time period came out at the time. I got a Kindle version for Christmas so hopefully I'll get to it soon and review here.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars. This book wasn't bad, but it wasn't brilliant. I'm tempted to give it 4 just for the color and the way the setting and the period absolutely come to life, but the void between the ending and the epilogue was such that I can't give it that last half a star.

Recommended Reading Level: 16+ for some super brief sensuality, sexual references, alcohol abuse and violence. I gave it to my almost-16 year old sister to read because she doesn't read too much into things and probably missed most of the sexual references but is mature enough to discuss the things she was concerned about. I'm still waiting to hear what my mom thought about it.  **UPDATE: My mom enjoyed it! She liked the story and the characters and thought the relationships were all well-written.*

Who Should Read It: people who loved Katniss and want to read historical fiction featuring a really strong, female, young adult character; people who live in (or want to visit) Key West; people who really like Hemingway; people who like fishing; people who like books set during the Great Depression; people who love the ocean; people who like colorful stories about growing and carrying on after a difficult loss; people who like a tiny bit of mystery and drama in their historical fiction. I realize I don't really fit into many of these categories but I did really enjoy this book.


Further Reading to Consider:
The Old Man and the Sea, by Ernest Hemingway
also by this author, Call Me Zelda
www.erikarobuck.com 


**DISCLAIMER: I am not now and never have been an agent of Penguin Group, Inc. or any of its imprints and am no acquaintance of Ms. Robuck. This is an unpaid, unsolicited review of a novel I genuinely enjoyed and wished to share. The photo above is property of Whitney Miller as is all text in this review with the exception of those excerpts used for review purposes.**

Book Review: Tell the Wolves I'm Home

Stats:

# of pages: 355

Publication Date: 2012

Publisher: Originally published in hardcover in the United States by The Dial Press, an imprint of The Random House Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc., in 2012

My Copy: 2013 Dial Press Trade Paperback Edition - Target Book Club Pick with Reading Group Guide (6 pages)

 

My January pick was Tell the Wolves I'm Home, the debut novel by Carol Rifka Brunt.

Book Review and Introductory Post: The Catholic Home

When I first started paying attention to the liturgical year (around the time I started teaching Catechism, so September of 2012), it was because I realized that there was a wealth of Catholic feasts and traditions that I didn't know about.  As a child, we only did the major holy days: All Saint's Day, Ash Wednesday, Good Friday, Easter and Christmas.  Of course we observed Lent and Advent, but things like Michaelmas and Pentecost and the Feast of the Immaculate Conception were celebrated only by pre-Vatican II Catholics - the ones who still wore chapel veils and attended mass in Latin. (Not that there's anything wrong with that, trust me. I have developed a deep love of the doily-wearers and the beauty of Latin. I'm talking about me as a high school student who had no desire to be Confirmed. More on that later.)  But in preparation for my new role as a Catechist, I sought advice and information from the great thinkers of our day: Bloggers. I cruised the Internet looking for Catholic blogs, and found a treasure-trove. But the one that really got me going was Carrots for Michaelmas, and I discovered it from this post which I re-blogged here. Anyway, Carrots was a gateway blog for me. I kept reading and reading and Googling things and going into Wikipedia and Catholic.org black holes for hours digging up information.

From Barnes&Noble.com

Eventually all of my searching led me to Amazon where I wanted a book that offered the basics on practicing Catholic traditions in the home. I knew how to do an Advent wreath, but I knew from my Internet reading that there was so much more. I finally stumbled upon this lovely little book, and ordered 3 copies - for my mother, myself, and the host mom of my Catechism class. While it is by no means completely comprehensive (and not nearly long or detailed enough), this little book offers a great beginner's guide.  It offers not only the historical context of many Catholic celebrations, but it explains a variety of ways to celebrate them. That was a big selling point to me. Not just what our traditions are, but how we can bring them into our modern lives on a daily basis.  It also has info on ways to celebrate the various sacraments as a family.

I also really like that it includes recipe ideas for what to eat and how to decorate. There's so much going on in this book, I love it. I've only had it for about 2 months and my copy is pretty well loved.

There are a few things I wish this book included, like more information on how to dress a home altar on different saints' days or how to observe some more obscure holy days (like Corpus Christi or the Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus), but it serves as an excellent base.  The appendices are also very helpful, including places to go seeking other information.


Other places I went:

Better Than Eden
Fish Eaters
Catholic Online (I especially like their A-Z Saints & Angels)
2013 Liturgical Calendar (*Note: This is a 43 page .pdf but totally worth the download and printout.)

So basically, there is tons of information available on Catholic home traditions and ways to celebrate feasts and holy days. Really, though, it's about realizing and acting upon the realization that our feast days are more than their commercial counterparts.

This post is acting as a spring board for a few new features on this blog.
- This Week in Liturgy, where I will keep you updated on what kinds of feasts/holy days/liturgical seasons we're celebrating
- This Week in Saints, where I will *TRY my hardest* to update weekly with saints' days and feasts of saints. This feature is primarily for my Confirmation students, who need to pick a saint, but I love researching and sharing about the heroes of our faith, so I'm generally really excited about it.
- The Little Blue Box. This feature is also primarily for my students. When they have questions (related to our faith or not) that are not immediately relevant to class discussion, rather than let them forget a probably-interesting question, I have them write it on a slip of paper and submit it to my Blue Box (I'll share a picture of it later). These can be anonymous or not, but I do my best to answer them at some point during the year. The ones I don't get to (or the ones I feel should be shared with all of you), get posted here.


That's all for now - post on Corpus Christi (The Body of Christ) on Sunday.

love,
Willow

February Reading - The Life of Pi

(If you are on the e-mail list and are receiving this a second time, apologies. I accidentally hit "Publish" when I meant to hit "Save" while drafting this, and you received an incomplete version.)

Image from Indie*Reader. It's got a great article on this book.

The image shows what my cover looks like.

STATS:
# of pages: 319
Publication date: 2001
Publisher: Harcourt (Originally published in Canada by Random House)

This one was in a bag of books my bff V------- got me for my 19th or 20th birthday, all from some lovely secondhand bookshop.  I never read it - never thought I would. I'd heard a lot of great things about it, but I hated the cover (before you people jump all over me on it, this strategy has worked zillions of times for me) and it just didn't look interesting at all. Nothing about it said, "Brilliant story about a boy and a tiger but it's also about faith and the perseverance of the human spirit." That was nowhere on the back cover. I looked.

But one day back in January while I was cleaning, I picked it up.

When I clean - particularly when I'm dusting or vacuuming in the living room - I drift over to my bookcase and have a conversation with my books. Some I haven't read in ages, some I haven't read at all or haven't finished, etc. I run my fingers over them to say hello, see how they're doing; I pick them up and flip through them and see if anything jumps out at me.

So I picked up Life of Pi and generally didn't like the back cover or front cover or inside covers. Started reading the prologue/preface and became intrigued with the author's story of how he was in India working on a novel that didn't work out and then started looking for another story to tell. This search led him to Canada and a man named Pi Patel, who grew up in the Pondicherry Zoo in India. Dusting forgotten, I sat in my great-great-grandmother's rocking chair and started reading. Then I had to get up and find a pen so I could basically underline the entire first 10 pages.

I don't often read books with religious themes, overtones, undertones, etc. I kind of quit that after my first year of high school. (I have recently gotten back into religious literature, but with a more discerning taste.) But there was something about the clarity, the honesty, the simplicity of Pi's religious experience that was so poignant to me.

Here are a few of my favorite passages:

From page 6:

"The reason death sticks so closely to life...it's envy. Life is so beautiful that death has fallen in love with it, a jealous, possessive love that grabs at what it can.  but life leaps over oblivion lightly, losing only a thing or two of no importance, and gloom is but the passing shadow of a cloud."

From page 12, talking about the zoo:

"It was a huge zoo...though it seemed to get smaller as I got older... Now it's so small it fits in my head."   

See the hint of magical realism there? SEE IT!?

From page 28:

"I was more afraid that in a few words thrown out he might destroy something that I loved. ... What a terrible disease that must be if it could kill God in a man."

From page 47:

"We are all born like Catholics, aren't we -  in limbo, without religion, until some figure introduces us to God?"

From page 50:

"Hindus, in their capacity for love, are indeed hairless Christians, just as Muslims, in the way they see God in everything, are bearded Hindus, and Christians, in their devotion to God, are hat-wearing Muslims. ... First wonder goes deepest; wonder after that fits in the impression made by the first.  i owe to Hinduism the original landscape of my religious imagination, those towns and rivers, battlefields and forests, holy mountains and deep seas where gods, saints, villains and ordinary people rub shoulders, and, in doing so, define who and why we are."

I truly wish I could hand you my copy and let you flip through the pages and see all the beautiful imagery I underlined, more passages about his understanding of God in the universe and the world and nature and the ocean. I'd love to share with you all the illegible little things I scrawled in the margins and all the dog-eared pages of my well-loved copy. You'll have to make do with this slap dash review instead. Sorry. 

The ocean at night. From this review.

The stories of Pi growing up in India were definitely my favorite part of the novel. Unfortunately, they were also only at the beginning. I'm not the world's greatest fan of survival, man-vs-nature adventures. I really enjoyed the beginning of this one, though. Granted, the narrative of the shipwreck was a bit rushed - the pacing gave me whiplash and I had to read it several times to fully understand it. But the rest of it, the tidbits about the nature of wild animals in a lifeboat, the attempts at training Richard Parker, the survival information about water, the details about the fish and sharks and sea turtles and currents... All of that was extremely well-written and some of it even incorporated aspects of magical realism which made my inner lit theory nerd squeal in delight. 

But after a few (hundred) pages that got a bit dull. And in a way I understand that maybe he was trying to convey the absolute never-ending boredom of being lost at sea in a lifeboat with a tiger, I dunno.

The island, though. The cannibal island. Just, wow. WOW. I loved that part. I actually accidentally flipped ahead and read that whole section after I read the first 3 pages, but when I got there in "real time" (reading all the way through like a proper person), it was still brilliant and fresh and incredible. And terrifying.

But then it got boring. Or I lost interest. I'm not really sure. I just remember he was in the ocean for a long time and then washed ashore in Mexico, was taken to a hospital, then to Canada.

The part with the Japanese investigators, though. Where he changed the story. It broke my brain. On the one hand I loved it, but on the other...It devastated me to think of what kind of mental state he must have been in to believe he was with a full grown Bengal tiger if he wasn't. Or was he?

The theme driven home by that part is the idea of our lives being stories, and we should make them good ones. Pi asks the Japanese investigators (this is fiction, folks, he was using an interview as a plot device to structure a frame narrative) which story was true: the story with people, or the story with the tiger. They chose the story with the tiger. "And so it goes with God," he replies. Because our stories are good. Stories with God are better. 

Pi sees the Universe. From Empires and Mangers

The movie: The movie was actually a really, really well done adaptation. There were things in the beginning that were different, and a few things toward the end that were left out, but all the main stuff was there. All the things that made it such a great story. The cinematography was great, and the part where he sees the entire universe in the ocean... The way they portrayed that on film was so beautiful - just the way I imagined it when I read it.






Recommended Reading Level: 14+ (Only because some of the religious themes might be difficult to grasp for younger readers.)

3.5 out of 5 Stars - The beginning was brilliant and most of the imagery is fantastic. It loses points because after a while the ocean was boring and the author's voice is incredibly annoying. The narration by Pi is perfect and wonderful, but when the author starts talking or doing his little side narrations, I wanted to smack him. He comes off as pompous, arrogant, pedantic, and irritating. Like Draco Malfoy in the first 3 HP books - just a snotty toerag. But his narration as Pi... It saves him.

Who I Recommend it To: People who like stories about faith, people who like stories about human beings surviving nature's brutality, people who like a bit of magical realism, people who like fantasy adventure stories, people who like stories about India or even Canada, people who like stories about animals, people who have stronger stomachs than me and can handle reading about a tiger almost drowning without crying thinking about their silly house cat because I'm pitiful like that.



Overall, read it. The rich imagery alone is worth it, and I dare you not to get caught up in Pi's mind, in his history. Let him light a match in your dark head.

Cheers,

Willow

10 Books for Daughters

I was bopping around on Pinterest earlier and stumbled across this. It's brilliant. Truly genius. (Not mine, not stealing. Please please please go look at this woman's blog - it's brilliant.)

"10 Books You Must Read to Your Daughter (Or How to Keep Your Daughter From Ending Up Like That Horrid Girl in Twilight)

January 29, 2012, 5:31 pm

So now we have a baby daughter. Look how she slumbers. She doesn’t even know that I stay up at night worrying about her self-image. And, oh horrors! What if someday she wants to read Stephanie Meyer’s literary atrocity, the Twilight series? You know the one, the books featuring a non-descript female protagonist who, in addition to having no interests or talents of any kind (other than smelling delicious to a sparkly 100-year-old vampire), is helpless, boring, and basically suicidal when her 100-year-old sparkly vampire boyfriend breaks up with her? Yeah, those books. So, I’m coming up with a reading list containing female characters that could put a smack down on Bella Swan any day of the week and reveal what a real woman looks like.
1. The Anne Books by Lucy Maud Montgomery: Anne of Green Gables and the 7 sequels that complete the series were a staple of my childhood. Anne is fantastic. She’s clever, charming, resourceful, imaginative (to a fault), and hysterically funny. And she goes to college and gets a BA during the Edwardian era. So that’s impressive. I actually saw the miniseries first and read the books later. IMPORTANT: Anne of Green Gables the film and Anne of Green Gables the sequel (Anne of Avonlea) are wonderful but for Pete’s sake DO NOT watch Anne the Continuing Story. Pretend it doesn’t exist. It’s an absurd and wretched thing that dishonors the very name of Anne. Really. Part of you will die.
I agree completely. I read the Anne books as a girl and adored how vivacious, independent, and utterly extraordinary she was. She didn't necessarily fit in with the other girls but pursued her own dreams and set her own goals.
2. The Little House Series by Laura Ingalls Wilder: I was probably a little too obsessed with the Little House books in my day. I may or may not have worn lace-up black boots, braids, and read under an old-timey quilt next to an antique hurricane lamp most of the time between the ages of 6 and 8. File this one under the category of “capable women doing cool stuff.” Laura Ingalls is awesome, obvi.
I learned to read by age 4 when my father went through this whole series with me. I loved the fact that we were reading a fabulous story that actually happened to a real person. It blew me away to think that a little girl just like me wrote down her adventures. These books inspired me to be a writer myself. Not to mention how totally badass Laura's mom was...
3. Little Women by Louisa May Alcott: I have a distinct memory of finishing the last pages of Louisa May Alcott’s finest mere minutes before heading to the theatre to see the 1994 film on Christmas Day with my mom. What girl doesn’t adore the awkward and gutsy Jo March? I have to confess though that when I read it last year I realized I’m probably more like Amy—not because I have the slightest visual artistic talent but because we’re both selfish. I love that each of the four sisters are so different and yet each one exudes a positive kind of femininity, although, to be fair, Meg’s “I-don’t-worry-my-pretty-little-head-about-it” attitude isn’t quite what I have in mind for my daughter. Warning: after reading this I was rather bitter that I didn’t have sisters. Just a heads up.
I actually have not read Little Women. I know this is bad of me, but I have sisters so I don't think I'm missing much, and the movie really bugged me. However, I will concede that as female protagonists, they are pretty good. And I definitely remember trying to be a bit more of a tomboy to be like Jo...
4. The Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling: You’d be hard pressed to find a book series with better female characters. There’s a quote swimming around the internet attributed to Stephen King: “Harry Potter is about confronting fears, finding inner strength and doing what is right in the face of adversity. Twilight is about how important it is to have a boyfriend.” I concur. I love that Rowling can depict a strong, brave, capable, intelligent, and compassionate woman in such a variety of characters: a middle-aged stay-at-home mom of seven, a pink-haired dark wizard catcher, an elderly spinster teacher, and an overachieving teenaged student, to name a few. If my girl emulates Hermione Granger, Luna Lovegood, Ginny Weasley, Nymphadora Tonks, Minerva McGonagal, or, of course, my beloved Molly Weasley, I’ll be a happy mama. And it doesn’t hurt that the whole plot pivots around the sacrifice of one amazing mother (Lily Potter) for her son. Anyone who’s down on these books can’t have read them.
Yes, yes, yes and YES. I love this. Harry Potter is so full of very real characters, both good and bad (Rita Skeeter, Bellatrix Lestrange or Dolores Umbridge, anyone?). I adore that Stephen King quote (SO true), and there is also one from Emma Watson on her character, Hermione Granger. To paraphrase: "Girls are told they have to be the princess. Hermione taught them they can be a warrior." Someone else said of Hermione, "She, unlike so many other modern heroines, did not give up her femininity in order to be brave, to be 'one of the boys.' She maintained her emotional depth but was quite talented and stood out from the crowd as a powerful figure." Basically, almost all the women in this series are total badasses.
5. Till We Have Faces by C.S. Lewis: This complex book is a retelling of the Cupid and Psyche myth and Orual, the main character (Psyche’s older unattractive sister), is an incredibly complex character. It’s not so much that Orual should be a role model, but her spiritual journey is worth reading and the book is sure to lead to some good discussions about what a good woman should be. It’s notable that Lewis had lots of help from his wife, Joy Davidman, when writing this book. Otherwise, it’s hard to imagine how a man could be so amazingly insightful about a woman’s mind.
C.S. Lewis. Can't go wrong. I would add Chronicles of Narnia and Lucy Pevensie to this. Lucy was the one brave enough, sure enough in her convictions to lead her siblings (older and more influential than she!) to a world of magic, wonder, and learning. Way to go, Lucy.
6. The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien: OK, so definitely not a girlie book (not that any book in this list has an exclusively female audience), and there’s very few female characters. However, the ones it depicts are fantastic. Galadriel? Eowyn? Yes, please. The book also exudes so many virtues that it seems hardly possible that having completed it your daughter will care two cents about Stephanie Whats-Her-Name. See? I can’t even remember because I’ve read Lord of the Rings. Also, it’s full of real men which is an important thing for a girl to be able to recognize. I’ll take Faramir, thanks.
Yup. This series is just awesome. I'll say my favorite thing about this series is that the characters are real - yes, they are virtuous, but they are also flawed. And that's real.
7. Anything Jane Austen wrote: Want your daughter to know a thing or two about interesting women? Read all six of these novels to her. After reading them, one should know exactly what kind of woman to be and what kind of woman to avoid. Elizabeth Bennet has more clever things to say in one page of P&P than Bella Swan could mumble in her entire miserable existence. And none of Austen’s heroine’s decide to curl up and die when they’re “crossed in love.” Philosopher Alasdair McIntyre supposedly said, “I don’t trust anyone who doesn’t like Jane Austen.” I quite agree.
Even Emma, which has Jane's most unforgivable female character, has strong female characters who are educated, brave, passionate, and driven. Even when Elizabeth Bennet's pride hurts her relationship, she learns from it and carries on. She is a strong contrast to her mother and youngest sisters' silliness and vanity. Way to go, Jane.
8. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte: A plain little orphan stands up to terrible relatives, survives a childhood of neglect and abuse, strengthens her mind with education, is the intellectual match of one of the most imposing and fascinating male characters in British literature, and makes the prettiest girl in the county look like a spineless nothing in comparison, among other impressive exploits. Supposedly, Charlotte Bronte bet her sisters (and fellow authoresses) that she could write a successful novel around a female character that was neither pretty nor charming. She won, obvi.
No. I cannot agree with this (no matter how much I agree with the others). While Jane was quite accomplished, in the end she goes crawling back to a man who lied to her, locked his first wife in the attic, and sends his adopted daughter to a horrible boarding school where she is taught to be quiet and look pretty. Why did Jane go back to this kind of monster!? That's not being a strong woman, that's ignoring your strengths as an independent woman and giving all that up for a man who doesn't deserve you! I'd much prefer my daughters were single, independent, and secure than married to men like that, even despite the slant of forgiveness at the end. I don't like it at all.
9. A Girl of the Limberlost by Gene Stratton Porter: Lesser-known book published in 1909, but a real treat. Stratton-Porter’s main character, Elnora Comstock, is so wonderful and endearing. Also she collects moths, so that’s cool (or at least Phillip Ammon thinks so). The prequel, Freckles, is also charming and delightful.
Hmmmm, I've heard a lot of negative things about this book so until I read it for myself, the jury is out. Sorry.
10. Kristin Lavransdatter by Sigrid Undset: This three-part saga by Norwegian author Sigrid Undset won the Nobel prize for literature and is one of the finest works you will ever read with a female protagonist rarely paralleled. Kristin is an amazingly human character with as much depth as any female literary character I have encountered. Her spiritual journey is fascinating and the saga is set in 11^th century Scandanavia which makes it way more awesome to my medieval-loving heart. However, there are some sexual themes which might make it inappropriate for younger girls. Absolutely worth reading and discussing.
Yessssss. Kristin is wonderful! Definitely not appropriate for children but great for adolescent girls and a great book for discussion.

At three months, I don’t think Baby Lucy is ready to dive into these, yet. In the mean time, this mama will be praying lots of rosaries. Anybody else have so many more worries about raising a girl?
Did I leave anything out? What are your recommendations? Any advice on how to raise strong, capable, intelligent, compassionate, confident women? I’m all ears…
If you enjoyed this post you might also be interested in 10 Books You Must Read to Your Son."

You can read more from this fine literate lady here: Carrots for Michaelmas.
To access the original post to read some (admittedly) really interesting comments, click the title and it'll take you there.
To this list I would add the following:
Ella Enchanted: Ella is such a strong, vivacious girl who reminds me strongly of Anne of Green Gables. She handles a troubled family life, the loss of her mother, and the complications of loving someone while cursed with such grace and strength; I loved Ella as a girl - my paperback is battered and well-loved.
The Hunger Games: Not the series, just the first one (I have certain issues with the second and third books). Katniss is a wonderful protagonist who puts her family before everything. She's a tomboy out of necessity, but is still a very strong maternal figure to her sister. Most refreshing, this is not a love story. There is romance involved, but is not the main plot of the books. For once.

There were others I would add, but I'm tired now. This is a great list (except for Jane Eyre, sorry) and I'm excited to read through more of this blog and see what other great things I find!

Peace,
Willow

Tuesday Reviews: "The Ranger's Apprentice"

Tuesday Review: The Ranger's Apprentice, by John Flanagan

Summary:
Short, slight, 15-yr old Will, an orphan with no clues as to his true identity, dreams of entering Battleschool and becoming a knight of the realm. Those dreams are dashed, however, when he is instead apprenticed to to the mysterious Ranger Corps. The Rangers are a secretive group that protects the kingdom from danger - but only ever in the shadows. As Will progresses through his training, he is tested in ways he never could have imagined - ways which bring out his true strength and character.

Review:
I love this entire series, from Will's first adventure in The Ruins of Gorlan to his most recent in The Emperor of Nihon-Ja. Each character has depth and complexity, and the individual stories are intense without exceeding the maturity level of the intended reader. This is my go-to series for kids getting into their first fantasy series around age 10, because it's so approachable and Will is such an easy character to relate to. This is an engaging fantasy series middle-schoolers can grow with as they enjoy watching Will grow from a shy young boy into a strong, self-assured Ranger in his own right. I love this series.

For more information, visit John Flanagan at his website: http://www.rangersapprentice.com/.

Also, coming October 4, 2011, his newest (and final?) book about the Rangers, Ranger's Apprentice: The Lost Stories, in hardcover.






Happy Reading!!! ~Willow

"All the secrets of the world are contained in books. Read at your own risk."
--Lemony Snicket

Tuesday Reviews: "The Courtesan's Guide to Getting Your Man"

Ophelia Harrington has no desire to wed stuffy and arrogant Lord Malcolm Ashford. Stifled intellectually, socially and sexually by her family and gender role, she seeks out the only truly independent woman in London: a beautiful courtesan known only as the Swan. With some convincing and lots of training, Ophelia transforms into the most desired courtesan of her time: the Blackbird.
.....................................................................................
Piper Chase-Pierpont is a 30 year old, plain, boring senior curator at the Boston Museum of History and Culture. When her position is threatened by funding cuts, she realizes her last chance to secure her job is by creating an outstanding exhibit on the great Civil War abolitionist, Ophelia Harrington. But when Piper discovers Ophelia's secret diaries in a hidden compartment of a truck in the museum basement, her plans for the exhibit - and the recent return of an old flame - get turned upside down. Using the diaries as a guide to seduction, Piper unlocks her own independence and sexuality while unlocking the secrets of a woman long before her time.

Review: As a borderline addict of trashy romance novels, I expected this to be an Anglicized version of The Rosetti Letter. It was very similar, though far more explicit than academic, but still enjoyable. The stereotypical dowdy-academic main character was a bit frustrating, and I found it rather difficult to believe that a woman of Ophelia's social class would run away to be a professional prostitute. However, Piper's use of Ophelia's diaries was creative and her plan of seduction was refreshing after eons of novels in which the woman is the seduced.
The ending twist in both stories is both somewhat predictable while at the same time riveting (and at a point, inspiring in the gutsy-ness displayed). I give this one - for a dual-period, dual-author romance I picked up at the airport - 3.5 out of 5 stars. Be warned: there are large chunks of this books that are extremely sexually explicit - not for the faint of heart or prudish mind, i.e. I loved it.

To read up on the author's, visit their websites!
Susan Donovan
Celeste Bradley

Happy Reading!!!

~Willow

“All the secrets of the world are contained in books. Read at your own risk.” -- Lemony Snicket