Back in 2005, my first son was born. Finding myself sitting in a rocking chair tending a baby for large portions of a the day, I happily rocked the baby while reading every novel in Laurie King's Mary Russell series. At the time, I think I read the seven novels that King published in that series to that date. The baby and I were both blissfully happy with this arrangement.
A few years later, second kid was born and I was too busy watching kid one to be able to read and rock with kid two. Years passed, and here came kid three and then kid four and I forgot to pay attention to what King was publishing.
So now kid four is 2 years old and my mommy brain is starting to un-blur. To blissfully find that in my King reading hiatus, King has published more books.
In the past three weeks, I have read four of these novels I didn't even know had been published. Because all my kids are sleeping at night and still "need" early bedtimes so I put them to bed and then I can stay up and read. (My kids aren't stupid---they are going to figure this out sooner or later. It's summer. They have no school. It's still light at bedtime. Yet: Oh Look! 8 o'clock! Time for bed!)
I've read The Murder of Mary Rusell, The Language of Bees, The God of the Hive, and I'm almost done with Pirate King.
Bliss. Good writing, great characters, marvelous plots. I'm totally hooked.
Pirate King has been fun for me as well because in my early 20's, I spent seven months in Lisbon, where Pirate King is partially set. King's descriptions of the Portuguese persona and Lisbon winter weather has been delightful---alternating between poignantly perceptive and so-funny-it-makes-me-snort.
If you are looking for a summer read, or any read, discover or re-discover this series.
Sunday, June 26, 2016
Brooklyn by Colm Toibin
One summer read I'd recommend for your summer 2016 list is Brooklyn by Colm Toibin. I recommended it to a friend of mine who told me she was going to see the movie but someone told her "Read the book first!"
Purist.
I saw the movie first and then read the book, and no literary sand shifted under my feet. But, hey, to each her own.
Brooklyn is the story of a Eilis, a young Irish immigrant who comes to Brooklyn in the 1950's. In the movie, I adored the genre viewing: the clothes, the shoes, the music, the 50's depiction of New York. The actors were all chosen well and the movie was adapted from the novel quite nicely.
The book was well written and the dialogue and characters are well done.
A great tale, in either format, of an immigrant and the long term consequences of her choices.
My only warning is that there's adult content in both the movie and the book. I just skip through it, but I passed my copy of the book along so my voracious reader kid wouldn't stumble upon it. My guess is that will be a book club read for my book club eventually, and I'll just borrow another copy.
Worth reading? Yes.
Good characters, writing, plot, and historical value? Yes, yes, and yes.
Purist.
I saw the movie first and then read the book, and no literary sand shifted under my feet. But, hey, to each her own.
Brooklyn is the story of a Eilis, a young Irish immigrant who comes to Brooklyn in the 1950's. In the movie, I adored the genre viewing: the clothes, the shoes, the music, the 50's depiction of New York. The actors were all chosen well and the movie was adapted from the novel quite nicely.
The book was well written and the dialogue and characters are well done.
A great tale, in either format, of an immigrant and the long term consequences of her choices.
My only warning is that there's adult content in both the movie and the book. I just skip through it, but I passed my copy of the book along so my voracious reader kid wouldn't stumble upon it. My guess is that will be a book club read for my book club eventually, and I'll just borrow another copy.
Worth reading? Yes.
Good characters, writing, plot, and historical value? Yes, yes, and yes.
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