#12: The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah

My husband and I used to make weekly trips to Barnes and Noble that I always looked forward to each week. We'd spend about an hour browsing the shelves, finding new reads, and this is how I really built my book collection (a collection filled with both read and unread books).  Lately, we have not had time for one reason or another to actually step foot into a read brick and mortar store, so I have been reading about the newest books in either my People magazine (my guilty pleasure) or in our local newspaper.  It was in one of those two places that I learned that one of my favorite authors, Kristin Hannah, had written a new book called The Nightingale.  Thanks to amazon.com, I had the book in two days.  

I love Kristin Hannah's style of writing.  She is descriptive to the perfect amount--you feel as though you truly know and understand the characters, but you are not given so much detail that you are wading through it trying to get to the most important information.  The Nightingale, a book about two sisters (Vianne and Isabelle) and their lives during WW2, is told exactly in this rich, descriptive way that I have come to love and appreciate about Kristin Hannah.  I left the story feeling attached to each character, feeling bit exhausted (of course, so were the characters), and feeling so grateful for the life I lead.  

Vianne and Isabelle's story is set in France during the onset of WW2, although the first chapter opens the story in 1995 and returns to that year every so often,  leading readers to understand that someone is recalling the details we read as a flashback.  Vianne is married with a child, Sophie; Isabelle has been removed from yet another boarding school for her wild behavior.  As the war progresses, we find Vianne's husband being send off to fight, her (and Isabelle's) father closing his bookshop and getting a job, and Isabelle yearning to fight against this war.  It is this desire that leads her to become The Nightingale, a woman who leads over 100 servicemen back to their homes and back to fighting against the Germans.  Neither her father nor her sister know that she has taken on this very dangerous job. 

Unfortunately, since Isabelle chooses this path for her life, Vianne is left behind with her daughter Sophie, trying to make the best of a very bad situation.  A German soldier takes residence in her home and actually is very kind to both her and Sophie, but one bad thing after another happens to Vianne and Sophie and their neighboring family anyway, making it a hard life to live for quite a while.  When the second German comes to take up residence in the home, Vianne's life gets even more difficult.  It is then that I had a hard time reading the book.  It broke my heart and made me sick to my stomach all at the same time.  

I won't tell you what happens in the story, although we all know how WW2 ended, so that won't be a huge surprise.  What impacted me the most about this story was Vianne's story.  Isabelle's work for the resistance was foreign enough for me that I could distance myself from her struggles and not become too emotionally involved.  I could only imagine how scary her life was at times as she snuck from place to place, trying to escape the Germans, lying to get from one country to another.  I was proud of her and fearful for her as I turned every page.  But Vianne, the sister left behind who was just simply trying to be a teacher and a mother was the character I most related to in this book.  And because in history classes you rarely get a glimpse into the lives of the ordinary women who were left to resume life as best as they could, Vianne's story was a new one for me.  Her days of trying to find food and clothing, trying to teach children who wondered why they were in school at all, trying to help our friends who were French, but also Jewish, trying to stay strong when German soldiers lived in her home, ate her food, slept in her bed, and searched for The Nightingale was the storyline that most touched my heart and reminded me of how very lucky I am to be the woman I am in the years in which I have been blessed to live.  Vianne's story was the one that left me in tears.  Her story was the one that I could not imagine having to live.  She was stronger than strong in so many ways.  She was a nightingale of her very own.  I doubt I could ever be that strong, if faced with a similar situation (which I hope to God never happens). 

The more and more stories that I read that are set in the times of WW2 have impacted me more than I thought possible.  As I have mentioned in post after post, I really did not learn much about WW1 or 2 in high school.  We simply ran out of time to get more than just the basics.  I am so glad that social studies curriculum has changed over the years and my girls are getting a much more in-depth view of this war and the people whose lives it ultimately changed forever.  I am also beyond words happy that we live in a world that is much more tolerant and understanding than the one Vianne and Isabelle had to live in.  

The Nightingale is an amazing story of the strength of two women at a time when strength was hard to come by.  Read it.  You won't be disappointed.  

Happy reading, everyone! 

:) Dodie

#11: The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel by Deborah Moggach

The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel was such a great book to read over two snow days.  While it left me wondering what will really happen to me as I age, it also made me really want to visit India.  Or, to be an Indian parent, as children there respect their aging parents and take care of them with love and dignity.  This is certainly one way in which the the Indian culture is more advanced than here in America.

The novel's plot is simple and extremely entertaining and endearing: aging men and women, mostly women, from England, whose pensions are running out or running thin, find themselves traveling to Bangalore, India to live in The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, a retirement community of sorts created by Ravi Kapoor and his cousin as a way to get Ravi's irritating father-in-law (Norman) out of his house.  It doesn't take long to fall in love with the characters, even Norman, as they realize that this is what they have to do in order to continue on with their lives.  They must move to India and they make the best of a bad situation--they become each other's new family.

I was so inspired by the positivity of these older folks and their determination that their life, while not the same as it was in England, could be just as good as it once was.  I was so inspired that as soon as I finished the book, I downloaded the movie version and watched it on my iPad.  ("The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel" begins playing in theaters today so I was anxious to see the first one before watching the second one).  I have to admit that the book was so much better (SO MUCH BETTER) than the movie that I almost wished I hadn't watched the movie and I will probably wait for the second movie to come to HBO/Showtime before watching it. I do wish that the sequel had been a book first so I could read it instead of watching it, but sadly, it's only a movie.

I think this story, while seemingly covering a heavy topic, is presented in such a light way that this would be a good book to devour at the beach or the pool over the summer.  The characters are so sweet and adorable and just plain good.  They are the sort of people you wish you knew.

The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel is a feel-good read.

Happy reading, everyone!
-Dodie

#10: Different Seasons by Stephen King ("Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption"

I read Stephen King voraciously in college.  I think it was perhaps because I was reading so much Chaucer and Shakespeare and that I needed, almost craved, to read something entirely different--something straightforward.  Stephen King filled that hole for me.  I remember being terrified as I read his works, jumping at every little sound, wondering what was on the other side of every door.  I eventually grew tired of being scared and moved on, but imagine my surprise when I learned a few weeks ago that my 2nd favorite movie of all time actually began it's life as a Stephen King short story.

I could watch "The Shawshank Redemption" every day of my life and never grow tired of it.  I think it is a brilliant story of courage, perseverance, intelligence, and positivity but I never had any idea, until watching through to the very end and watching the credits, that the story was a Stephen King original.  I immediately searched Amazon and found Different Seasons, a collection of 4 of King's stories--3 became films--and I read "Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption."  (I must confess at this point that I did not read the other 3 stories.  I will at some point...maybe in the bright light of the beach or by the pool.  I just can't handle being scared like I could 25 years ago.)

Reading "Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption" made me just as happy as watching the movie, although I do think the movie was more cleverly created than the book.  The basic story line is the same in both the book and in the movie: Andy Dufresne goes to prison for double murders that he did not commit.  He makes the best of a terrible situation by getting on the good side of the prison administration by providing them with free financial advice and doing their taxes.  He spends his prison days creating and leading the prison library and then one day he escapes in a way that will makes readers/movie watchers both cringe and feel amazingly proud all at the same time.

What I always thought was so clever about the movie was how Andy swindled the crooked prison warden.  While working as the warden's accountant, Andy managed to create a second set of accounting books and, after escaping, walked away with a load of money to begin his new life--money that the warden "earned" in dishonest ways.  I always felt that Andy was entitled to this money because of the years and years that he worked for these men for free--and because he didn't really murder his wife and her lover and never deserved to be in prison in the first place.  (We learn in both the movie and in the book that an inmate shares the story of the real events of this murder and that he knows who the real killer is but when Andy goes to the warden to ask him for help in getting a new trial, the warden has the inmate killed.  Andy stood no chance of every leaving Shawshank.) The Stephen King story differs from this a bit.  Andy's friend outside of prison creates a new persona for Andy as soon as the murders took place and while Andy awaits trial in hopes of Andy being able to keep his money and being able to use it when he leaves prison.  While still clever, and while certainly a springboard for the movie version of the hoax, I did not think this story line was as clever as Andy creating a new life for himself from behind prison bars.  It just adds so much to both Andy's character and to our perception of him being so different than the other prisoners.

I will continue to watch "The Shawshank Redemption" whenever it is on TV and I will continue to love this story.  I am sure that some of you are surprised that I could feel so strongly about a story like this one because it doesn't seem like something I'd typically like.

Maybe it would also surprise you to know that my favorite movie is "Rudy."  Yes...a movie about football.  SURPRISE!

Happy reading, everyone!
-Dodie

#8 and #9: Rose Harbor in Bloom and Love Letters by Debbie Macomber

We had just a little snow (HA!) over the past two weeks which gave me some unexpected reading time that I hadn't planned on.  To pass the time inside with two teenagers at home, since the last book I read was rather upsetting, I turned instead to Debbie Macomber, a lady who writes books that always make me feel good.  These two are no exceptions.

Rose Harbor in Bloom and Love Letters are #2 and #3 in Macomber's new series of books about the Rose Harbor Inn in Cedar Cove, Washington.  This new series was created in response to saddened readers who could not believe that Macomber ended her Cedar Cove series of books (although she did write 12 of them and if you haven't read these books, drop everything and go find them!).  The main character of this new series is Jo Marie Rose, a widow who moved to Cedar Cove to start her life again when her husband was killed in battle in Afghanistan.  In addition to Jo Marie, the characters we meet in these books are often running from something or trying to figure out something and while I initially thought the first book to be just plain sad and depressing, the two subsequent books have been very uplifting and reassuring.  I thought as I was reading that these stories are a bit like chicken soup.  They just make you feel good..

I was very glad that I could read them back to back and not have to wait for another book in the series to come out, which I now have to do since Love Letters is the last book until August.  You can bet that I will be getting #4 as soon as possible and reading with delight!

Macomber does it again!

Happy reading, everyone!
:) Dodie

#7: Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn

Because I liked Gone Girl so much I thought I'd try reading Flynn's other works, too.  I finished reading Sharp Objects this morning and have just felt weird ever since I closed the book. I am a bit scared to pick up her other book, Dark Places, just yet.

Sharp Objects is the story of Camille Preaker, a newspaper write, who returns home to Wind Gap, Missouri from Chicago to try to uncover the story behind the recent murders of two little girls.  What she uncovers while she digs for the truth is a truth she never even considered.

After both reading Gone Girl and seeing the movie version, I knew that any story by Flynn will be unexpected.  Even in this, her first novel, she did not disappoint.  However, this story, unlike Gone Girl, scares me.  Gone Girl reminded me that there are truly crazy people in the world.  Truly crazy.  But Sharp Objects, with its subject matter of mother daughter relationships and how these can make or break you, is just plain scary.  Because I think this story, unlike Gone Girl, could really happen. All of the girls and women in this book are carefully crafted, but yet could easily be the women and girls who live next door or down the block.  Their personalities and behaviors are so bold and brazen, it's hard not to be a little freaked out by them.

I have truly felt a bit off all morning and think I need a good light-hearted books after this one.  This one is just plain scary.

Happy reading, everyone!
:) Dodie

#6: Wild by Cheryl Strayed

Wild is a beautiful story told by Cheryl Strayed.  It is her account of her time spent hiking the Pacific Crest Trail.  While I could never do what she did in a million years, I was overwhelmed by her sense of direction and need to hike in order to find her way in the world.  Her story, while real, reminded me a bit of The Walk series by Richard Paul Evans, as she is yet another soul devastated by real life who finds comfort and healing in walking. 

I found a bit of comfort in the story myself, especially in Cheryl's need to have books with her on the trail.  Now, she often ripped them apart and burned them, rather than have to carry them along with her (as I now know every ounce in the backpack counts when you are a hiker) and I found that to be a bit bothersome, but it seems as though Cheryl and I have something in common: 

They (her books) were the world I could lose myself in when the one I was actually in became too lonely or harsh or difficult to bear. (p.105)

I get it.  That's why I started reading as a child.  Loneliness.  Books were my friends.  They continue to be a source of constant comfort for me.  I guess that's why you won't find me somewhere without a book in my bag. 

There was one other passage in Cheryl's account that got me thinking about my own life.  It's actually something her mother once told her: 

I never got to be in the driver's seat of my own life.  I always did what someone else wanted me to do.  I've always been someone's daughter or mother or wife.  I've never just been me. (p. 273) 

Her mother's words hit home for me, as I realize that I am about be be 43 in the spring and I have never lived alone, never supported myself, and have never made decisions without thinking about how they would impact my family.  This begs the question...Am I strong enough to ever live alone?  Or does it matter...will I always be defined in terms of other people?  I suspect the latter.  Living alone terrifies me.  I need my family and am quite content being defined by them.  I think, honestly, it was the life I was meant to lead.  

I'll leave the hiking to Cheryl.  :)

Happy reading, everyone! 
-Dodie   

#5: Still Alice by Lisa Genova

Still Alice is a book that was actually recommended to me by a colleague several years ago.  I truthfully thought I was reading it when I read What Alice Forgot (a fabulous book!) and didn't realize my mistake until recently when Still Alice starting getting airtime after the Golden Globes.  Still Alice is, in fact, a must-read and I am anxiously awaiting the movie.  I can't even imagine how touching this movie will be.

Still Alice is the story of Dr. Alice Howland.  She is a cognitive psychology professor at Harvard and she learns not long after her 50th birthday that she has early-onset Alzheimer's Disease. Still Alice is the story of her life and her struggles as she tries to cope with losing her memory, her language, and her life.

This was a very difficult book to read for many reasons, most of which you can imagine just by knowing what the book is about.  It was hard to read about a woman, who was once so brilliant and knowledgeable, forgetting her life, her way home, her life's work.  It was hard to read about her and her husband making decisions about their lives once she forgot.  It was more than hard to read, it was heart-breaking.  As a reader, what was the hardest for me was the ending of the book because it provided me with no closure.  I am sure that the author did this intentionally, but I want to know what happened to Alice--Did she die?  Did she live for years?  Did she forget her children and her husband? Did she have to live in an assisted-living facility?  I guess I just have to have faith that her family took care of her as she required and that her life was as good as it could be under the circumstances.  I am also now very curious to know if the movie will end in the same manner as the book, or if the director take a bit of artistic license and change things up.  I guess I will have to wait and see.

This is a beautiful book.  A truly touching story.

Happy reading, everyone!
-Dodie