This month's book group selection -

When the book group chose this last November - we are "dark" in December - I was sure it would be some fluffy romance that I would have to wade through.

I was pleasantly surprised that it wasn't. It's a pretty well-wrought mystery tale with historical overtones. I thought I had it "figured out" several times - and was off a bit each time. It's nice to be "off the mark" now and then so that you want to keep reading.

The story is really 3 stories going one in a parallel fashion - 1909-1913, 1975, and 2005. I wonder how the author keeps track of all those details??

Latest read

My book group selected this for November - I had not even heard of it.

It is historical fiction based on some facts uncovered by the author. She has researched some of the events portrayed too. It deals with slavery in the 1700's - and an Irish girl who joins them as an indentured servant.

The quality of the book is uneven, but the story is compelling. My biggest complaint was that there were some obvious threads that were introduced - and then just left hanging!!

Maybe we are just supposed to make up an ending for ourselves!!

But it's a pretty good read.

Latest Grisham Read

I really have no patience I guess!! I was in the market, and the newest Grisham was there for my reading pleasure. So I bought it - figured it would be good for the plane ride to D.C. this month.

Trouble is, I went ahead and started - and finished it!! Not the best - but not the worst either. It was entertaining and diverting - just what I needed!!

A good read

In the midst of all that has been going on, I did have a good book I was engrossed in. I usually fell asleep when I finally found a moment to read however!! Finally finished it.

It's about one of the first Native Americans to matriculate at Harvard. It's fiction, but based on a lot of historical fact. I like the way the author used archaic dialogue to add to the authenticity.

Give it a look see and let me know what you think.

My book group is reading The Kitchen House by Katherine Grissom for next month. Anybody read it??

Finished it -

While I was at Eliza's, I ran out of things to read. I found this on her shelf and started reading it. I asked her about it - and she told me that I had given it to her one year for Christmas!! I need to start writing down the gifts I give people - because I truly had no memory of the event or the title!

It's an odd kind of book - some very quirky characters, lots of agricultural references that have no familiar ring to them - but the story line emerges. You feel an affinity for the characters - and I wished I could know more about them.

Maybe she writes about them in her other stuff.

A Movie Weekend

In a last hurrah for summer, I went and saw two movies this weekend. They were both based on books I had read, and I actually had not planned to go see them. Generally speaking, I like the book better than the movie. For this reason, I find that seeing the movies is usually disappointing. There are some exceptions - I love Gone With the Wind - book and movie. And I loved Giant - book and movie.

I read The Help and enjoyed it while I was reading it. After I had finished, though, I found myself feeling like the story was not truly a depiction of the civil rights movement, and in fact had been somewhat disingenuous. There is lots of current controversy on both sides - especially since the movie has been such a big hit. But it was not quite "gritty" enough as a book. The movie, on the other hand, focused more on the individuals and their relationships with one another. I think this factor helped the movie succeed where the book did not.

A couple of years ago, we decided to read this as a kind of family "book group" reading - and to compare it to Suite Francaise - since it covers the same time period in France. After reading the book - which was compelling in its own way - I felt manipulated by the author. The ending was "pat," the story was a little hackneyed, and you knew how it would end after you read the first chapter.

Suite Francaise, on the other hand, was a much more nuanced depiction. You were caught up in the events as they unfolded, the writing was excellent, and the story rang true.

That being said, the film version of Sarah's Key was much better than the book. The filmmakers took the story line and gave it substance and meaning. The parts added up to more than the whole. The acting was good and the back and forth with subtitles was handled well.

I'd recommend both movies. And one book!

Sunday Night at the Movies

A lazy Sunday - we ate dinner in front of the TV while watching A Place in the Sun, the movie version of An American Tragedy by Theodore Dreiser.

It's another from the list I got from the LA Times about great movies that didn't win Oscars. You can tell it's from the 50's, but Elizabeth Taylor is gorgeous. And Montgomery Clift ain't so bad either!!

And Raymond Burr played the District Attorney!!

(But the novel was better.)