Boy, Snow, Bird by Helen Oyeyemi

A step-daughter who is coddled so much that she may end up never knowing or be allowed to develop into herself.  A woman who ran away from home and abuse.  A daughter who shatters a secret.  A grandmother who isn't biological but acts like a grandma, another who is biological and doesn't acknowledge her grand-daughter.  Girlfriends who have your best interests at heart.  Fathers who aren't what they seem and husbands who love their wives. 

All this and more is beautifully intertwined in Boy, Snow, Bird by Helen Oyeyemi.  Set in the 1950s to 1960s this is the story of three women. Boy who runs away from home and becomes mother to Bird.  Snow, Boy's step-daughter, whose own mother is dead and her relationship to the women in her life.  And finally, Bird, Boy's daughter, and how her birth shatters a secret and sets everyone free from lies and secrets that they have kept.

This book presented such an interesting premises and was so beautifully written I read it fairly quickly.  I wanted to know what was going to happen. This is the first book I've read written by Helen Oyeyemi and I plan on reading her other books based on how much I enjoyed reading Boy, Snow, Bird.  A beautifully written deep story about love, kept secrets and truth. 

It has been two years since I've written about what I am reading.  Since then I've read two new Flavia De Luce mysteries and am awaiting another one to come out in paperback.  Six books were originally to be in the series.  Since a TV series is now in production for British TV Allen Bradley has decided to write a total of 10, or so I've heard.  Which is a plus for readers who love Flavia!  If you haven't read the series your missing out on some fun reading.  I don't want to give anything away regarding the books due to enjoying them so much.  I want other readers to discover the wonderful writing and be as enthralled with Flavia as everyone else who has read these books.  There is a Flavia de Luce fan club if that is any indication of how much this character touches readers.

So dear readers of this blog, go to your local bookstore, find Allen Bradley's books on the shelf, curl up this summer and travel to the English country side.

Hand Me Down World

Lloyd Jones has written another novel that captured my reading heart as much as Mister Pip did.  Lloyd Jones's characters are so utterly human that one expects them to walk out of the pages and into reality.

Hand Me Down World is about a woman, a mother looking for her child, and all the people she encounters on her journey.  These people in turn report their impressions of the woman they met and tell their stories to create the tale of this woman's search for her child.  It is only near the end that we hear the woman's story, or rather the story of both the woman in this novel.  Beautifully written, full of compassion, emotional depth and tender insight into how a mother would feel at losing her child and the great lengths she would go to to find that child.

I couldn't put this book down and I couldn't stop thinking about it afterwards. 

Let's Pretend this Never Happened

Jenny Lawson's almost true memoir is hilarious!  If you even think your life was disfuntional, you were a weird kid or thought your parents were strange you need to read Let's Pretend this Never Happened.  Even if you don't think any of those things and just need to rest assured your life was normal, you need to read this book.  Need a really good laugh and don't care if people stare at you on the bus, then read this book.  If you don't care about mascara running down your face, want to try to read to your partner while laughing so he/she can't understand a word you are saying or have a warped sense of humour, well then read this book.

I now visit Jenny Lawson's blog page The Bloggess -- I'm a fan!  Thank you Jenny Lawson for being the almost crazy cat lady and for having a crazy childhood which makes mine seem overly normal.

PS: Lila, you need to read this book.

Loving Frank

Loving Frank is about Frank Lloyd Wright's affair with Martha (Mamah) Borthwick the woman he left his wife Catherine for in the early 1900s.  Frank Lloyd Wrigth met Martha Borthwick when he designed the house for her and her husband Edwin Cheney. The two fell in love during the designing of the house and eventually moved to Europe. Martha leaving behind her two children and Frank Lloyd Wright leaving behind his six children, as well as their respective spouses.  The affair caused a huge scandal at the time with reprecussions for both families.

Frank Lloyd Wright is one of my favourite architects and I already knew he was considered arrogant. I also knew a bit about his affair from documentaries I've seen on his life.  So this novel was of interest to me as I wanted to know more about his relationship with Martha Borthwick.  This novel is a mix of fact and fiction providing a picture of what loving Frank Lloyd Wright must of been like, the famous architect of Oak Park - ego and all.  I can't say I liked or disliked this novel especially when I already knew the outcome.

If you are wondering why I haven't posted...

I'm reading the hardcover of

Weights too much.  Unless I wish to see my chiropractor more than once a month this book stays at home. Attempting to read a chapter or more a night....

And I finally finished!!  I also confess to reading some novels since that I was itching to get to.  Review of those are coming. 

Enjoyed this completely, much more than Feast of Crows in which nothing happened except a bunch of people went in various directions while I the reader had to try to keep track of them all. Luckily in A Dance with Dragons some people die and I was thinking "good I won't have to keep track of so many damned people."  Not so fast...George R.R. Martin may kill off a few but he's gone and replaced them and I think added a few more characters too. No worries, Tywin fans can rest assured the dwarf carries on, and the additional characters only add exciting twists and turns to the saga.  Can't wait for the next one.  In the meantime, awaiting Season Two of the TV adaptation on DVD.

Happy Hunger Games! And may the odds be ever in your favor.

With a coupon and a deal on all three e-books of the Hunger Games my Kobo was set to embark on a reading  marathon.  In less than one month I finished all the books just before the movie was released in Victoria area theatres.  I'm finding young adult novels are well written and offer up some great characters, thought provoking plots and interesting science fiction.  Katniss Everdeen is not comparable to Bella of Twilight and if I had a daughter making a choice of reading material, I'd like her to choose the Hunger Games based on Katniss's ultimate decisions.  For Katniss her family bonds were close, she cared for her home village and she had some decisions to make about her life.  Those decisions were not presented in an easy manner and this is what made me like the book so much.  I even enjoyed all three books, although there have been comments about just cleaning up loose ends, I didn't find that distracting from the overall enjoyment of each book.  I'm also glad I had all three to read as one larger book and maybe that made the story flow better than those who read each book separately.

Enjoyed the movie too.  Was glad to see the book was followed with minor changes that didn't change the basis of the story.