Casual Vacancy by J. K. Rowling

Synopsis from Goodreads:
When Barry Fairbrother dies in his early forties, the town of Pagford is left in shock.

Pagford is, seemingly, an English idyll, with a cobbled market square and an ancient abbey, but what lies behind the pretty façade is a town at war.

Rich at war with poor, teenagers at war with their parents, wives at war with their husbands, teachers at war with their pupils ... Pagford is not what it first seems.

And the empty seat left by Barry on the parish council soon becomes the catalyst for the biggest war the town has yet seen. Who will triumph in an election fraught with passion, duplicity and unexpected revelations?


My Thoughts:
Wow. Hot tea and razor blades are the images that come to mind. I had heard mixed reviews of this book from customers at the bookstore, but I'm glad I still read it. If you are reading this because you loved Harry Potter and you want it to be just like that then...you irritate me. I wouldn't be surprised if most of those customers were expecting something as epic as the Boy Who Lived. I think it takes guts to keep writing after writing something that TREMENDOUS. Talk about pressure. And, of course, what winds up happening is the author lets people down. Those people irritate me. 

This is an amazing book. And not for the reasons that Harry Potter was amazing. Remove the fantastical background, the mythological creatures and the magic as the author shines a light on a regular town with regular people. This could easily be boring in anyone else's hands, but Rowling delivers. Yet this story isn't action-packed like her previous books. Instead it's driven forward solely by the depth or shallowness of its characters; their fears and shortcomings, their hopes. But more than anything, by their secrets. Rowling has a jarring insight into human nature and what makes us tick.

Her language is simple but precise with unexpected passages that leave you open-mouthed. She speaks with brutal sincerity. Her characters are people you pass on the street everyday and, while reading about their lives, you feel almost ashamed for spying yet have to read more. And Rowling weaves each character's life into the next character's with effortless skill- the final spider web building into disaster. 

Read this book, but forget Harry Potter. That's hard for me to say because I LOVE Harry Potter. But this book is not kid-friendly. It's written for adults and there are some difficult scenes. Authors get the short end of the stick after they write a bestseller. Especially when it's a bestselling series turned into movies turned into theme park. Expectations are high and people expect that author to deliver the same great amazing masterpiece again and again and again. This book is a much more subtle masterpiece and I'm grateful she took the time to flex her muscles when it comes to plain old character development. A+ Rowling, I don't care what anyone else says!

Oh and (my absolute favorite part) the main character is a dead guy. Not a ghost. Just a guy that recently bit the dust and you get to see how that dust falls on all of the people around him. Enjoy.

The Author

Author Tidbit: Like many others, J. K. Rowling suffered from clinical depression. This inspired the soul-sucking Dementors from her Harry Potter series. 

The Secret of Excalibur by Andy McDermott

Book Synopsis from Goodreads:
Excalibur . . . Legend has it that he who carries King Arthur’s mighty sword into battle will be invincible. But for more than a thousand years, the secret to the whereabouts of this powerful weapon has been lost . . . until now.

Archaeologist Nina Wilde is hoping for a little R&R with her fiancé, former SAS bodyguard Eddie Chase. But the couple’s plans are dashed when a meeting with an old acquaintance propels Nina and Eddie into a razor’s-edge hunt across the globe—battling a team of elite mercenaries who will stop at nothing in order to claim a prize every treasure hunter has coveted since the final days of Camelot. Nina and Eddie must do everything they can to keep the legendary blade from falling into the wrong hands. Because the truth behind the sword’s power—and those who seek it—will not only shock the world but plunge it into a new and more devastating era of war.

My Thoughts:
Soooooo....I couldn't finish this book. I tried, I really did. I don't usually read books like this but I gave it a try in hopes that the Arthurian legend/history would keep my attention. Unfortunately, half way through and there wasn't that much legend or history. But there was action sequence after action sequence! So much that it started to drown out any chance of character development. Oh well. I think the chips were stacked against me because I don't read much from this genre. I think someone who does read a lot of books in this genre would probably enjoy it. So if you like books where action scenes dominate give it a try. 

Broken by Lisa Jones

Book Synopsis from Goodreads:
Writer Lisa Jones went to Wyoming for a four-day magazine assignment and came home four years later with a new life.

At a dusty corral on the Wind River Indian Reservation, she met Stanford Addison, a Northern Arapaho who seemed to transform everything around him. He gentled horses rather than breaking them by force. It was said that he could heal people of everything from cancer to Êbipolar disorder. He did all this from a wheelchair; he had been a quadriplegic for more than twenty years.

My Thoughts:
For me, this book was another eye-opener. And not just in the way it portrays the current condition of some Native American tribes but also because it reminds us how one person can become the source of strength for many. I think that's what spoke the loudest. The central figure of the book is an Arapaho horse gentler, Stanford Addison, who continued his father's work on the Wind River Indian Reservation...but in a very different way. When he was a boy learning from his father, they broke in horses sometimes using aggressive techniques and intimidation to get the results the horse owners needed. Stanford lived a similarly wild life with little regard to the consequences of being reckless. This resulted in a car wreck that left him broken and a quadriplegic for life. It was after this that he began to see the world differently. Hard moments coupled with the new and unsettling presence of ghosts led Stanford to approach his work in a more compassionate way. He developed new methods of taming wild horses without using fear. He passed these techniques on to the younger generations of the tribe, but his reach didn't end there.
                   Stanford, without meaning to or even wanting to, became a magnet for the sick and the broken. People from all over the country and the world came to his home for guidance or to take part in one of his famous sweat lodges. Some people even wound up staying with him or his family for an extended period of time. The author, Lisa Jones, who became one of these people recounts these moments. Despite his own struggles, he never seemed to turn anyone away.
                   That, to me, is the pivotal message behind the book. The author does have her own epiphanies as a result of being around the horse trainer, but that becomes secondary as you start to realize the reach this man had. His offer of help and guidance, opening his home that, to many, became a sanctuary although it was falling apart; these life-changing gestures are done in such a nonchalant and unassuming way. It's a lesson in humility. 
                  Lisa Jones relates this humility in a refreshing and biting form of honesty. She is sincere in her love of Stanford, but she doesn't hold back any punches. Her writing is lyrical and on point.

My Favorite Quotes: "To begin a scary task is to be close to finishing it. In fact, beginning takes more courage than anything else, because once you make contact with the forces of nature, your most practical and clear-eyed self emerges."

The Author

Stanford Addison

Homestead by Rosina Lippi

Book Synopsis from Goodreads:
Each life has its place, and every variation ripples the surface of the tiny alpine village called Rosenau. Be it a mysteriously misaddressed love letter or a girl's careless delivery of two helpless relatives into Nazi hands, the town's balance is ever tested, and ever tender. Here is a novel spanning eighty years -- years that bring factories and wars, store-bought cheese and city-trained teachers -- weaving the fates of the wives, mothers, and daughters in this remote corner of Austria. To quote Rosellen Brown, "the women in this haunting book are deeply and uniquely of their place, yet they speak (often wordlessly) of women's longings and satisfactions everywhere."

My Thoughts:
Rosina Lippi weaves a story the way Bob Ross throws a landscape onto canvas; masterfully and without hesitation. This is a collection of moments, of memories both sweet and painful for several women who live in the same alpine village. Some of them are family, but all are connected in one way or another. The imagery is haunting and delicate fueled by words that have a razor sharpness beneath them. Her descriptions will stick with you. This is what I want in a book when I'm looking for something of substance. Since the narrations change from woman to woman it can become difficult to keep track of the different perspectives, but the author does provide family trees that you can refer to. Any woman who reads this will find a piece of herself in it and that's what makes this book magic.

The Author

Author Tidbit: Rosina Lippi won the 1999 Hemingway Foundation/PEN Award for "Homestead." She also has a degree in linguistics and is a fiber artist.

Lythande by Marion Zimmer Bradley

Synopsis from Goodreads:
A Pilgrim Adept of the Blue Star, Lythande had mastered all the true magics of the world. But the power of an Adept was always bound to a Secret, and whoever discovered this sorcerer's Secret could steal away the Blue Star power, leaving the Adept defenseless, fit only for death.

And Lythande's secret was perhaps the most dangerous of all, setting the mage apart from all humanity, forcing Lythande to war against spell beast, sorcerer, thief, swordsman, and the magic of the gods themselves.…


My Thoughts:
Just a headsup, this is not a novel but a collection of short stories. I have a harder time getting into short stories, but these were engaging enough for me to get past that. I also enjoyed the short description before each story where Bradley goes into her thought process or the reason for writing it. She was criticized by some feminists for the character she created and the world she travels in and it was a treat to hear Bradley's response to some of these criticisms. 

The character of Lythande (pronounced Lee-THOND) is really interesting. She became a sorcerer in a school that only teaches men their secrets. Only when she has learned their secrets and become a Pilgrim Adept does she reveal her gender. But from then on she must travel from city to city under the guise of a man and if anyone discovers her secret they can then use it to take away her power. While Lythande is mostly stoic and pragmatic, you get a really intriguing perspective during her vulnerable moments. Especially when she's around other women who think she's a man.

While my favorite work of Bradley's is "The Mists of Avalon," I think she did a good job rounding out this very unique character and giving her an endearing balance of strength and fragility.

The Author

Author Tidbit: In 1966, Bradley helped found the Society of Creative Anachronism (a living history group that studies and recreates mostly Medieval European traditions).

Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolfo Anaya

Synopsis from Goodreads: 
Antonio Marez is six years old when Ultima enters his life. She is a curandera, one who heals with herbs and magic. 'We cannot let her live her last days in loneliness,' says Antonio's mother. 'It is not the way of our people,' agrees his father. And so Ultima comes to live with Antonio's family in New Mexico. Soon Tony will journey to the threshold of manhood. Always, Ultima watches over him. She graces him with the courage to face childhood bigotry, diabolical possession, the moral collapse of his brother, and too many violent deaths. Under her wise guidance, Tony will probe the family ties that bind him, and he will find in himself the magical secrets of the pagan past—a mythic legacy equally as palpable as the Catholicism of Latin America in which he has been schooled. At each turn in his life there is Ultima who will nurture the birth of his soul.

My Thoughts: 
Bless me, Rudolfo. I tried. I really tried. But after forcing myself to finish the 5th chapter, I just couldn't justify making myself read a book I couldn't get into. Life's too short! Now that being said, I appreciated Anaya's language and imagery. He writes with a fierce connection to nature which is why I'm so bummed I couldn't get into the story. What made me put this book down was the slow-moving story and the lack of connection I felt with the characters. Ultima was the most colorful and interesting of the bunch, but it still wasn't enough to make me keep reading. 

         Who knows, maybe this book gets REALLY good in chapter 6. If so, then I missed out on it. Give the book a try and maybe it will be different for you. Just because it didn't grab me doesn't mean it's not worth reading. Rudolfo Anaya is praised in the Chicano literature canon so it can't be for nothing. 

The Author

The Help by Kathryn Stockett

Book Synopsis from Goodreads:
Twenty-two-year-old Skeeter has just returned home after graduating from Ole Miss. She may have a degree, but it is 1962, Mississippi, and her mother will not be happy till Skeeter has a ring on her finger...
Aibileen is a black maid, a wise, regal woman raising her seventeenth white child. Something has shifted inside her after the loss of her own son, who died while his bosses looked the other way...
Minny, Aibileen's best friend, is short, fat, and perhaps the sassiest woman in Mississippi. She can cook like nobody's business, but she can't mind her tongue, so she's lost yet another job...

In pitch-perfect voices, Kathryn Stockett creates three extraordinary women whose determination to start a movement of their own forever changes a town, and the way women--mothers, daughters, caregivers, friends--view one another. A deeply moving novel filled with poignancy, humor, and hope, The Help is a timeless and universal story about the lines we abide by, and the ones we don't.

My Thoughts:
So I'm a little late on the take with this one. This book was all the rage at my bookstore awhile back. Working in a bookstore, I try to also read the titles that are crazy popular with customers so that I can stay in the loop. But there have been a few duds that have made it to the bestseller list. I read "Twilight", "50 Shades of Grey", "Water for Elephants" and others....and by the end of each book I couldn't figure out what all the hype was about. Don't get me wrong, "Water for Elephants" was a good book but the hype it received swelled my expectations of it and I was left a bit disappointed. Finally, I found one that deserved every ounce of hype it got! 

I finished this book in 3 days which, for me, is an endorsement right there. I like to take time with each book I read but sometimes the book leaves me no option but to DEVOUR it. I give this book the highest rating I can because of 3 reasons:

1. the characters grab you and don't let go
2. the language is not flowery but it is full of emotion
3. the subject matter is RELEVANT & IMPORTANT

So the characters. Can I just give a shout out to Aibileen?! Minny was hilarious and Skeeter played an important role but Aibileen was hands down my favorite. If she doesn't grip your soul then you better check to see if you have one. Her determination to build the self-esteem of the little girl she takes care of is something that sticks with you even when the book is over. Despite all of the crap she has to go through every day she still worries about that little girl not being loved. Add to that the bravery of recounting her experiences as a maid to white people at a time when that would have easily been met with violence. Although Aibileen was my favorite, when the book switched to Skeeter's narrative or Minny's, I became just as absorbed in their stories as I did Aibileen's. And that's a sign of good writing. 

The language, like I said, is not flowery but there is something about the way Kathryn Stockett writes this that makes it special. It's almost as if she bypasses the lyrical side of writing and gets straight to the heart of what she wants you to feel. It's the type of writing style that could appeal to both readers and non-readers. And she does a remarkable job shifting her tone from one narrator to another without it sounding like it's just the same person.

And, of course, the subject matter is why this book should be read. It gives you a unique perspective of a critical time in American history. One that probably won't show up in high school textbooks. I think this sort of perspective gets lost because the women telling the story weren't marching or rioting. What these characters were doing was behind the scenes, but it was just as important. And the issues they faced (silently) and the relationships they had with the families they worked for ought to be known. I think this book will always be relevant....plus how can you top Minny's famous chocolate pie???

The Author

Author Tidbit (and hope for all unpublished authors out there): "The Help" was rejected by 60 literary agents before agent Susan Ramer agreed to represent Kathryn Stockett. Oops.