A book and a movie: North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell

Posted in Book Reviews, Pop Culture by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Finally, finally, finally… after years of saying that (a) I want to read North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell and (b) I need to see the mini-series version (starring *swoon* Richard Armitage)…

I’ve done both!

This year, my online book club (the wonderful and amazing Outlander Book Club!) chose North and South as our group classic read. We started about six months ago, and have read and discussed two chapters per week from then until now, just finishing this past week. And then, to celebrate, we all decided to watch the BBC mini-series and discuss that as well. And both were glorious!

First, the book, starting with a quick synopsis (via Goodreads):

When her father leaves the Church in a crisis of conscience, Margaret Hale is uprooted from her comfortable home in Hampshire to move with her family to the north of England. Initially repulsed by the ugliness of her new surroundings in the industrial town of Milton, Margaret becomes aware of the poverty and suffering of the local mill workers and develops a passionate sense of social justice. This is intensified by her tempestuous relationship with the mill-owner and self-made man, John Thornton, as their fierce opposition over his treatment of his employees masks a deeper attraction. In North and South, Elizabeth Gaskell skillfully fuses individual feeling with social concern, and in Margaret Hale creates one of the most original heroines of Victorian literature.

North and South is is a combination of romance and social commentary. Through Margaret’s eyes, we come to see the struggle for workers’ rights, the plight of the poor, and the value of good people, no matter their social status. Margaret casts aside her class snobbery and learns to appreciate and respect a self-made man who pulled himself up from nothing, and at the same time comes to befriend and support the poor and downtrodden of the mill town where she ends up. Margaret and John start as stormy opposites, constantly antagonizing and misunderstanding one another, and evolve into the truest of soulmates. It’s a lovely, lovely book, and we found so much to discuss and ponder throughout.

And then there’s the mini-series, a four-episode production from 2004. How can I possibly describe the loveliness? It’s got passion, drama, beautiful people, lots of smolder, amazing costumes… also grimy, poverty-stricken hovels, dangerous working conditions, and angry mobs. Not to mention parents who are either clueless (Margaret’s) or kind of scary (John’s mom), plenty of tragic deaths, secrets and misunderstandings, and oodles of train rides.

What’s not to love about a tortured, broody hero?

Or a beautiful young woman with a backbone?

And talk about chemistry:

I’m thrilled to have finally experienced both versions of North and South, and I wouldn’t give up either! If you’ve never had the pleasure, I absolutely recommend starting with the book… unless you don’t have the patience and demand instant gratification, in which case, all this gorgeousness can be yours in just four short hours!

On a final note, I just read a terrific piece written last year on the 10th anniversary of the BBC production’s release. Check out the full article (“10 Years Later, ‘North & South’ Remains the Greatest Period-Drama Miniseries of All Time”) here, and I’ll leave you with this small line from it:

It’s one of the most explosive, chemistry-rich misunderstanding-laden romances that’s ever graced the small screen.

And if you want to know more about Elizabeth Gaskell’s novels, check out this terrific post over at the always great Eclectic Tales blog.

10Nov2015

Take a Peek Book Review: The Brontë Plot by Katherine Reay

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

“Take a Peek” book reviews are short and (possibly) sweet, keeping the commentary brief and providing a little peek at what the book’s about and what I thought.

Synopsis:

(via Goodreads)

Lucy Alling makes a living selling rare books, often taking suspicious measures to reach her goals. When her unorthodox methods are discovered, Lucy’s secret ruins her relationship with her boss and her boyfriend James—leaving Lucy in a heap of hurt, and trouble. Something has to change; she has to change.

In a sudden turn of events, James’s wealthy grandmother Helen hires Lucy as a consultant for a London literary and antiques excursion. Lucy reluctantly agrees and soon discovers Helen holds secrets of her own. In fact, Helen understands Lucy’s predicament better than anyone else.

As the two travel across England, Lucy benefits from Helen’s wisdom, as Helen confronts the ghosts of her own past. Everything comes to a head at Haworth, home of the Brontë sisters, where Lucy is reminded of the sisters’ beloved heroines, who, with tenacity and resolution, endured—even in the midst of change.

Now Lucy must go back into her past in order to move forward. And while it may hold mistakes and regrets, she will prevail—if only she can step into the life that’s been waiting for her all along.

My Thoughts:

I’ve enjoyed author Katherine Reay’s previous two novels, Dear Mr. Knightley and Lizzy & Jane, and I had high hopes for The Brontë Plot as well. Unfortunately, while there are some interesting elements, the overall story just doesn’t hold up.

Lucy is a flawed character, someone with obvious talent and enthusiasm, but who makes questionable choices when it comes to achieving her ends. Her actions eventually catch up to her and cause a rupture with the people she cares most about, but her trip with Helen seems to represent a second chance — even though Lucy goes right on fabricating stories to suit her needs even while trying to start fresh.

Lucy’s relationships with James and with her boss Sid are engaging, and it’s hard not to care while she deals with the fall-out once James discovers her dishonesty. Still, it’s difficult to feel a whole lot of sympathy for a main character who takes such foolish actions, and I felt that the resolution of the various conflicts and disappointments was a bit too easy.

The pacing of the book seems to sag once Lucy sets off for England with Helen, where far too much time is spent on the details of their tourism, their hotel accommodations, and their meals. I was never particularly engaged by the family secrets that Lucy and Helen seek to come to peace with, and the literary theme, walking in the footsteps of the Brontës and their contemporaries, with constant references to Jane Eyre, Heathcliff and Catherine, and more, felt forced and not an organic part of the story.

The author creates interesting, multi-faceted characters in this book, but the plot itself didn’t really go anywhere, in my opinion. While I’ll continue to follow this author and hope to read more by her in the future, I’d say The Brontë Plot is mostly skippable.

_________________________________________

The details:

Title: The Brontë Plot
Author: Katherine Reay
Publisher: Thomas Nelson
Publication date: November 3, 2015
Length: 336 pages
Genre: Contemporary fiction
Source: Review copy courtesy of Thomas Nelson via NetGalley

9Nov2015

Book Review: Depth by Lev AC Rosen

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Some two hundred years from now, the polar ice caps have long since melted. Chicago is on the coastline of mainland United States, which is ruled by a fundamentalist Christian government. Moving east, you’ll find the Appalachian Islands, and then huge expanses of ocean covering the drowned cities, where tips of building occasionally poke up from the waves.

And then there’s New York which, Depth makes clear, can survive anything.

Water levels have risen about 20 stories — so the million or so people who still inhabit New York live on the 21st floor and above, employing newer technologies such as Glassteel to keep the above-water buildings more or less dry and waterproof. The building are connected by an intricate maze of bridges — some well-maintained, some rickety — and permanently moored boats, such as converted cruise ships and military vessels, which form everything from police stations to nursing homes to floating restaurants.

Watch your step! The waves keep churning beneath your feet, and you WILL get wet. Salt water and sea spray are everywhere, and those bridges can get pretty slippery. One big storm or moment of inattention, and you’ll end up in the water… and in general, those who go in only come out as corpses destined for the recycling plant.

Oh, it’s quite a world that author Lev AC Rosen has built here in Depth. The concept alone is worth picking up this futurist, sci-fi, noir detective story (described in the cover blurb as “Heinlein meets Hammett”) — but hey! There’s an actual plot to go with it, and it’s quite a good one.

Private investigator Simone Pierce is a tough, prickly red-head who goes her own way and sticks to her own company for the most part. Her only two trusted friends are Caroline, a highly-placed politician from a powerful family, and Danny, a young man with some unusual talents who masquerades as a psychic. Simone is out on a routine case, trying to get the goods on a client’s possibly cheating husband, when she’s pulled into something far more deadly and complicated. When the husband turns up dead, Simone finds herself embroiled in a web that includes suspicious cops, a potentially crooked pastor, an art-loving power broker, a sexy grad student, and a mysterious woman, whom Simone thinks of as The Blonde, who seems to be at the center of it all.

The author has pulled off quite a balancing act here, creating a fully fleshed-out detective story that keeps powering forward with high-level energy, and at the same time pulling us into a crazily off-balance world that delights with each water-soaked new chapter. The new environment is just fascinating, and I am full of admiration for the way the author slips in little details about the waves or the salt water or the constant dampness while there’s a chase scene underway.

The dialogue has all the wryness, and sarcasm of a traditional noir detective tale, fine-tuned for this new place and time.

“Are you asking me along to watch you interrogate someone I’m angry at in an attempt to repair our friendship?”

“That is exactly what I’m doing.”

“Will you let me hit her?”

“If the opportunity presents itself.”

Even the descriptive passages are full of some wonderful imagery:

Simone tossed what was left of her cigarette into the ocean. It cartwheeled into the water, one end leaving a trail of sparks like blood spatter.

Really, I just can’t say enough about Depth. I’ve been a fan of this talented author since his debut novel, All Men of Genius, was released in 2011. The detective part of the story is fun and engaging, but it’s this concept of New York as a drowned city that somehow has managed to survive, to thrive, and to keep its own sense of independence and defiance that’s truly a treat. I can’t get enough of the world Lev AC Rosen has created in Depth, and I just hope there will be a sequel so I can visit once again!

_________________________________________

The details:

Title: Depth
Author: Lev AC Rosen
Publisher: Regan Arts
Publication date: April 28, 2015
Length: 272 pages
Genre: Science fiction
Source: Purchased

6Nov2015

Audiobook Review: The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

The newest edition

Growing up in Connecticut, reading The Witch of Blackbird Pond was an absolute must. For years, I’ve remembered reading it back in my school days, and I know that I loved it at the time, but I couldn’t have told you much about it except for the barest of bare bones…. until now!

I was looking for a new audiobook this past week, and doing a Halloween-themed post about witches brought this children’s classic to mind. What a treat! I’m so thrilled to have revisited this terrific story.

In The Witch of Blackbird Pond, it’s 1687, and Katherine (Kit) Tyler sails into Wethersfield, Connecticut to join the household of her last remaining relatives, her Aunt Rachel and Uncle Matthew, and their two daughters, Judith and Mercy. 16-year-old Kit has lived all her life in Barbados, raised by her loving grandfather, but after his death she’s left with nothing, and leaves her beautiful island behind to start a new life among the Puritans of New England

Kit is taken in by her family, but has a hard time fitting into the rigid, restrictive life she finds in Connecticut. Her only sense of joy and freedom comes through her secret visits to the old Quaker woman, Hannah Tupper, who lives alone in a small cottage in the meadow by Blackbird Pond. Hannah is both feared and scorned by the townspeople, and despite being warned away, Kit’s visits to Hannah soon lead to danger for both of them.

I’m pretty sure this is what the book looked like when I read it eons ago!

I simply love this book! The language is incredibly descriptive, especially the depictions of autumn in Connecticut, and Kit’s first encounter with snow. But really, the entire thing is so well written. The words paint such a picture of Kit’s life, contrasting the Puritan bleakness with the lushness of the tropical islands.

The characters are distinct and memorable, from Kit’s kind-hearted cousin to the wealthy boy who courts Kit to the poor, hungry child who views Kit as a refuge and friend. Likewise, the plot is sharp and well-developed. The story moves along at a steady pace, but never rushes. The author manages to build drama and tension into the story, even while portraying simple moments like fixing a roof or teaching children to read their ABCs.

As for the audiobook, narrator Mary Beth Hurt does a lovely job bringing the story to life. Her voice is well suited to Kit, and yet she also pulls off the crackly old voice of Hannah and the childish voice of the young girl, Prudence. The pacing is quite good, and I felt so engaged by listening that I found myself taking the long way home just so I could listen a bit more while I drove.

Enough gushing. If you’ve never read The Witch of Blackbird Pond, you’re missing out! It’s never too late, though — the story feels fresh and exciting, even all these years after its publication. And if you’re like me, having read the book ages ago, give yourself a treat and re-read it or listen to the audiobook. I’m so happy that I did!

_________________________________________

The details:

Title: The Witch of Blackbird Pond
Author: Elizabeth George Speare
Narrator: Mary Beth Hurt
Publisher: Laurel Leaf
Publication date: 1958
Audiobook length: 6 hours, 24 minutes
Printed book length: 256 pages
Genre: Historical fiction (young adult)
Source: Library (Overdrive)

6Nov2015

Book Review: Until We Meet Again by Renee Collins

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

An upper class seaside retreat is the setting for this YA timeslip novel by Renee Collins. Main character Cassandra, age 17, is spending the summer with her mother, stepfather, and 3-year-old brother at a rented beachfront mansion, and she’s bored to tears. Until one day, she wanders down the path between the property’s bushes and ends up on the private beach, where she meets a (very attractive) young man named Lawrence.

The first meeting is full of suspicion: What are you doing on my family’s private beach? No, what are YOU doing on MY family’s private beach??!! But within the first couple of meetings, it becomes clear: The beach seems to be a place that’s shared by both Cassandra’s world in 2015 and Lawrence’s world… in 1925. Apparently, no one in either time seems to like the beach much, because while anyone can reach it, it’s mostly just Cassandra and Lawrence there, undisturbed for hours and days at a time.

The two connect, quickly, and soon come to realize their deep feelings for one another. But trouble looms: Lawrence is the summer guest of his wealthy uncle Ned, who plans for Lawrence to go to Harvard and then law school, then enter the family business. Ned also seems to be pushing a pretty flapper named Fay at Lawrence, and is quite insistent that Lawrence get involved with her. Something seems shady, all right — and when Cassandra hits the library microfiche to see what she can find out about Lawrence and his family, she stumbles upon a shocking news article, which reveals that Lawrence will be murdered on the beach in only a few weeks. Cassandra vows that she’ll find a way to stop it, and between her modern-day research and Lawrence’s snooping in his own time, the two race the clock to save his life… and hope to find a way to be together afterward.

The novel leaves the timeslip element mostly unexplained, although Cassandra agonizes over whether she can or should influence the events of 1925, for fear that the consequences will be devastating. And yet, she plunges right ahead once she realizes Lawrence’s life is on the line.

In terms of plot, there are pros and cons. Pro-wise, the concept of the beach as a portal between the times is interesting. It’s not that either Lawrence or Cassandra has a special ability, but rather, it’s the place that’s powerful. Anyone who passes through the bushes onto the beach can see whoever’s there, from either time — so the beach isn’t some sort of special protected bubble, it’s just that very few people actually go there and so no one else has discovered the odd time disconnect. Also strong is the portrayal of Cassandra as a girl ready for something to happen, throwing herself headfirst into a crazy, emotion-fueled adventure that really should be beyond her belief. I liked the sense of Cassandra’s drive and devotion, and how determined she became to do whatever she needed to do.

In the middle ground for me are the 1920s-era standards — flappers, mobsters, crooked businessmen, hints of Prohibition-defying smuggling. I suppose this may be newer in the realm of young adult fiction, but lately it seems to be done almost to death. While Lawrence’s side of the story is interesting, it’s a pretty surface-level glide through that world, and I didn’t feel that it really explored the setting in a deep enough way.

I could also go either way on the insta-love aspect of the story. Cassandra and Lawrence seem to fall head over heels in love from one moment to the next, but I know that mainly because I was told that’s how they felt, not because I saw it developing organically. Still, I do give the author some credit on this issue, because a teen romance in an exotic setting really could convincingly blossom from casual acquaintance to love-of-my-life status, given a dramatic or extreme enough set of circumstances.

Pieces that didn’t really work for me related to Cassie’s family life. I didn’t get her mother’s issues with Cassandra: She seemed to always be suspicious, very demanding of Cassandra’s time, and then, weirdly, pretty insistent on Cassandra dating some random boy. Why would she be pushing her to date this guy? It just didn’t make sense to me. Cassandra also had this habit of lying about her trips to the beach by announcing she was going running, but half the time she seemed to be in a sundress when she said this, so again, a little hard to believe.

Still, I don’t want to give the impression that I didn’t enjoy the book as a whole. Once the race-against-the-clock element merges with the intense love story, the plot begins zooming forward, and has a great sense of drama that gives a high-stakes feel to the whole thing.

In a way, this book is a metaphor for the quintessential summer romance. Two teens, dragged by their families to a summer vacation spot, meet and fall in love, but have the awful end-of-summer separation looming over them, giving the romance a super-heightened sense of intensity and passion. They’re from two different worlds, their time together is brief, and not being adults yet, they don’t have the control over their futures or lives to prolong the relationship beyond the summer. Take out the timeslip element, and that’s what we have here: Cassandra and Lawrence are flung into each other’s lives because they just happen to have been brought to the same place; they immediately fall in love, but they know they’ll be forced apart when the vacation ends. How glorious for teens in that extra-dramatic period of life, to get the star-crossed lovers experience!

Until We Meet Again combines the best elements of a summer romance with the dramatic build-up of a tragic, doomed love story. In some ways, the ending of the story reminded me of one of my very favorite Doctor Who episodes… although I won’t go into spoiler territory by saying which one. While some pieces of the plot rang a little hollow for me, overall I’d say that Until We Meet Again is an exciting, engaging, quick read that’s worth checking out. And while the timeslip plotline felt a bit thinly developed in places, I also need to recognize that I’m an adult who’s read a LOT of timey-wimey fiction over the years, and for a reader in the target young adult audience, this may be a first encounter with the concept of time travel and its consequences — which could make it a really new and exciting reading experience.

On a final note, this was a very fun read for a chilly week in November! There’s nothing like reading about sunny beach days to chase the cold away.

_________________________________________

The details:

Title: Until We Meet Again
Author: Renee Collins
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Publication date: November 3, 2015
Length: 336 pages
Genre: Young adult fiction
Source: Review copy courtesy of the publisher via NetGalley

31Oct2015

Audiobook Review: The Call of the Wild by Jack London

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

I’m so glad Audible featured The Call of the Wild as a daily deal recently; otherwise, I might have gone through life never having read this powerful, beautifully written book.

Shocking, I know, but I’d never read anything by Jack London, except for the short story “To Build A Fire” which I think pops up in pretty much everyone’s high school English anthology sooner or later.

The Call of the Wild is the story of Buck, a huge dog of Saint Bernard mixed descent. When we first meet Buck, he’s literally the top dog on a farm in Santa Clara, California. But a deceitful farm hand out for money steals Buck and sells him one night, and Buck ends up passed from hand to hand until he ends up in the snowy north. With his size and strength, Buck is sought after as a sled dog by the adventurous men heading off to the Yukon during the gold rush. Buck’s domesticity is left far behind, as he learns to heed his instincts and allow his inner fearless predator to take over.

The use of language in The Call of the Wild is outstanding. The descriptions of the rugged land, the struggles of men to survive without resources, and their foolhearty, often fatal journeys are intensely vivid. Best of all is Buck’s inner life. It’s not at all cutesy, and it’s not presented as though Buck himself is telling his story.

Instead, the omniscient narrator takes us through the evolving thought processes and emerging instincts that transform Buck over time from a tame farm animal into a true beast of the wild.

The narration of the audiobook is slow and steady, giving the words a stately, dignified feeling. There’s not much dialogue, and yet the narrator’s use of tone and inflection keeps the narrative from sagging or bogging down.

I found The Call of the Wild to be an engaging, enjoyable listen, and would like to either read or listen to some of London’s other adventure tales in the future.

A final word: Those who find animals-in-peril stories too painful to read should be warned that you may have a hard time with this book. Bad things do happen to Buck and many of the other dogs in the story, and it’s not pretty. I’m glad to have read it, but it won’t be for everyone.

_________________________________________

The details:

Title: The Call of the Wild
Author: Jack London
Narrator: John Lee
Publisher: Varied (many different editions in print)
Publication date: 1903
Audiobook length: 3 hours, 28 minutes
Printed book length: 208 pages
Genre: Fiction
Source: Audible

30Oct2015

Book Review: After You by Jojo Moyes

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

I’m normally really diligent about keeping my reviews spoiler-free, but this one will be an exception.

After You is the sequel to the author’s huge bestseller, Me Before You. I don’t think I can talk about After You without referring to the events of the first book.

So — fair warning. IF YOU DO NOT WANT TO SEE SPOILERS FOR ME BEFORE YOU, DO NOT READ THIS REVIEW!

Seriously.

Walk away now.

You’ve been warned.

… end of psychotic spoiler warnings…

Moving on –

After You picks up the story of Louisa Clark two years after the tragic events which conclude Me Before You. In Me Before You, Louisa takes a job as a caregiver/companion to a quadriplegic man named Will Traynor, basically for the sake of a steady paycheck. Will is an angry young man, stuck in a wheelchair after a devastating accident, and he initially treats Louisa abominably.

Eventually, the two crack each others’ tough shells. Will delights in teaching Louisa about life outside the confines of her small town and in showing her how smart and talented she really can be. Louisa is horrified to learn that Will intends to take his own life rather than continue to live as a quadriplegic, and makes it her mission to convince him that life can still be wonderful. The two fall in love — but sadly, it’s just not enough to keep Will from the path he’s determined to take.

(See, I said there’d be spoilers.)

Two years later, Louisa is aimless, sad, and just going through the motions. Thanks to a bequest from Will, she traveled all across Europe, but came home when she realized it all meant nothing to her. Now she lives in a flat in London (also thanks to Will’s generosity), attends a grief support group, and works in a depressingly awful Irish-themed bar (complete with a ringlet-y wig) at the airport.

Louisa’s life takes a surprising turn when one night, in a drunken funk, she slips off the roof of her building, surviving the fall with broken bones and other injuries, none permanent. Two unexpected people enter Louisa’s life due to the fall — a hunky paramedic named Sam and a difficult, prickly teen girl named Lily… who announces to Louisa that she’s Will’s daughter.

Turns out that Will’s college girlfriend never told him she was pregnant, so he never had the chance to be a part of Lily’s life. Would Will have made different decisions if he knew about Lily?

Louisa takes Lily under her wing out of love for Will, both wanting to protect her for Will’s sake and, for her own sake, to hold onto the last little bit of Will left in the world. Lily’s entry into Louisa’s tightly controlled, dull, unfulfilling life basically rocks her world, and changes begin, slowly at first, until Louisa’s outlook and future are completely transformed.

Okay, enough synopsis. That’s the gist of After You. The real question readers will want to have answered is: Does After You live up to Me Before You?

In my opinion, the answer is yes… but adjust your expectations.

After You is a much quieter book than Me Before You. Me Before You was intensely dramatic, with life and death on the line, passionate love with everything at stake, and characters in absolutely extreme circumstances. I don’t know anyone who walked away from Me Before You with dry eyes.

After You is not that book. Instead, it’s thoughtful and serious, examining the life that’s left after the drama and tragedy have already gone by. Will’s dying wish was for Louisa to go out and live life to the fullest, and she really did try. But as we see in After You, the intention isn’t enough. Louisa took off for Paris to escape her grief, but life and grieving don’t work that way. She carried the pain with her wherever she went, so eventually there was no point in continuing to run.

What we see in After You is what loneliness and sorrow look like. There’s nothing sexy or glamorous about it. Louisa is living a very sad life when we first meet her in this book, and her lack of hope and disconnect from anyone who might actually care about her is distressing to see. And yet, I felt like it was all so real. Grief takes time. There’s no magic cure. Even meeting someone new doesn’t fix everything. It was so sad to see vibrant, rambunctious Louisa dressed in dull grey clothing and going through the motions, day after day.

Just as Louisa’s life picks up when Lily and Sam make their entrances, so too the tone of the novel picks up as well. The energy of the narrative reflects the slow return to life and purpose that Louisa goes through, building up steam and gaining more ups and downs, breaking out of the sad sameness of a depressed existence.

I’ve made no secret of the fact that I’m a big fan of Jojo Moyes’s books. I’m happy to find that After You is quite as good as some of her strongest works. It won’t “wow” people the way Me Before You did, but it does carry true emotion within its pages. This is the story of picking up the pieces, and that’s never going to be as stunning as the story of how the pieces broke in the first place (if that makes any sense).

People responded very, very strongly to Me Before You, and rightly so. Many readers cherished the idea of Louisa’s life being enriched by her short time with Will and being able to imagine her going on from there to having a life full of amazing experiences. For some, the realities of Louisa’s life in After You will be a letdown, bursting the bubble of a tragically romantic illusion. Before reading After You, I probably would have had the same vision of Louisa’s life, but I’m so pleased that After You set me straight.

Grief isn’t easy. Money and adventure can’t fix it. Recovery takes time, and a lost love can never be forgotten or replaced. In After You, Louisa gets the time to grieve, to rediscover her inner self and strength, and to finally start moving forward again. I’m so glad that I read this lovely book.

After reading After You, I felt such a strong connection to Louisa and to Lily, and I walked away feeling good, knowing that they’d found not only each other, but also a path pointing the way toward future happiness and hope.

✻✻✻✻✻

Interested in this author? Check out my reviews of other books by Jojo Moyes:
The Girl You Left Behind
One Plus One
The Ship of Brides
The Last Letter From Your Lover
Me Before You
Silver Bay

_________________________________________

The details:

Title: After You
Author: Jojo Moyes
Publisher: Pamela Dorman Books
Publication date: September 29, 2015
Length: 352 pages
Genre: Adult contemporary fiction
Source: Library

24Oct2015

Book Review: Sense & Sensibility by Joanne Trollope

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Another Austen Project book… read!

As I discussed in my review of Val McDermid’s Northanger Abbey, The Austen Project is a publishing concept that pairs up bestselling contemporary authors with the works of Jane Austen, with the goal of creating six reimagined versions of the classic novels. So far, three have been published, with the next projected for release in 2016.

This new version of Sense and Sensibility is written by bestselling author Joanna Trollope, who imagines the Dashwood family in almost familiar terms — finding themselves displaced from their lovely home by their half-brother and his money-hungry wife, having to rely on the kindness of distant relatives to start fresh, and figuring out the ups and downs of love, infatuation, and everything in between.

But this Sense & Sensibility is set in the 21st century, and of course, there are changes from the original. Elinor, practical as ever, is an architecture student. Marianne, frail and subject to the whims of passionate feeling, is severely asthmatic and must always be looked after. The often overlooked youngest, Margaret (or here, Mags), petulant and whiny, always plugged into her headphones, appreciates any cute boyfriend of her sisters’ — so long as he drives an awesome car.

The cast of characters is much the same as in the Austen version, with Marianne’s love interest Willoughby portrayed here as gorgeous but shiftless Wills, all too ready to throw Marianne over for the sake of romancing a millionaire’s daughter. We also have Bill Brandon, an utterly good guy running a non-profit home for mentally challenged individuals at his Delaford estate, and hapless Edward Ferrars, whose controlling mother has bullied him into utter dependence. The awful characters — especially Fanny Dashwood and the Steele sisters — are every bit as awful here. After all, selfishness, emotional manipulation, and obsessions with money are timeless!

The essential storyline follows the familiar path, but with elements changed to make more sense in the modern setting. There are hospital visits and interior decorators, school carpools and even a job for Elinor. But the sisters’ defining characteristics are what we know from Austen: Elinor is steady and logical, steering the family through hard times through her practical management when everyone else in her family is busy feeling all the feels — and Marianne, throwing herself headlong into love with no regard for anything but listening to her heart and relying 100% on her emotions to lead the way.

Start to finish, I was pretty charmed by this version of Sense & Sensibility. It’s no replacement for the classic Austen novel, and I’m not convinced that it would work as a stand-alone. But as a companion piece to the classic, it’s quite endearing. While the rush to marriage may feel a bit forced at times in a modern setting, as framed in the context of status-hungry social climbers and defiantly old school, old money families, it makes a sad sort of sense. Throw in social media, and you have Marianne devastated not just by a broken heart, but by public humiliation via YouTube.

The writing is light in tone, with just enough winking acknowledgement that this is a retelling:

“Hasn’t she got a boyfriend yet? She’s old enough.”

“She’s fourteen. Honestly, Abi, it’s all you ever think about. You’re like those nineteenth-century novels where marriage is the only career option for a middle class girl.”

Joanna Trollope’s Sense & Sensibility is a fun read that’s sure to amuse anyone who loves the Jane Austen classic and is open to seeing the story retold with a modernized twist. It doesn’t require a whole lot of concentration, but it should at least make you smile!

_________________________________________

The details:

Title: Sense & Sensibility
Author: Joanne Trollope
Publisher: Harper
Publication date: January 1, 2013
Length: 362 pages
Genre: Fiction
Source: Purchased

11Oct2015

Audiobook Review: Maisie Dobbs by Jacqueline Winspear

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

When we first meet Maisie Dobbs, it is 1929, and she is opening up her London office for the very first time. Maisie, a young woman of about 30, is going into business as a private investigator, thanks to the tutelage of her mentor, Maurice Blanche, and the sponsorship of her patroness, Lady Rowan.

Maisie is an extremely intelligent woman, reserved by nature, strikingly attractive — and it’s immediately apparent that this is a person who has been hurt deeply in her lifetime. That doesn’t stop Maisie, though. She is more than ready when her first client walks through her door, hiring her to investigate his wife’s long afternoons away from home and to determine if she’s being unfaithful.

What Maisie discovers is not infidelity, but yet another lost soul still bearing the wounds of the Great War that ended ten years earlier. As Maisie pursues the trail of clues, her memories of her own wartime experiences come flooding back, demanding to be faced after all this time.

Maisie Dobbs is constructed around a mystery — who is the man whose grave the client’s wife cries over, and why does his gravestone list only his first name? The solution to this case leads Maisie back into the world of wounded soldiers and the terrible sacrifices and pain suffered by those who made it back home.

At the heart of the book lies Maisie’s own story. As her investigation begins to relate to the war, the center third of the book shifts scene and time and takes us back to Maisie’s teen years, when she works as a housemaid in Lady Rowan’s home. Maisie’s eagerness to learn leads her to an education sponsored by Lady Rowan, eventually entering college at Cambridge before the harsh reality of war causes her to change path.

Maisie abandons her college studies and enrolls in nursing school, ultimately training as a battlefield nurse and getting sent to a field hospital on the frontlines in France. I won’t go into too much detail, other than to say that Maisie’s experiences there lead to a tragic loss that has haunted her ever since. And in investigating the case of the soldier’s grave, Maisie is finally forced into confronting her sad, painful history.

I picked up this book not knowing what to expect. I had heard of the Maisie Dobbs series, and thought this first book would be a more or less straightforward detective story. What really impressed me about Maisie Dobbs is how deep and layered the story is. While Maisie is indeed an investigator, the setting and the time period are gateways into an examination of the horrors and tragedies of the terrible losses suffered during World War I — and the ongoing pain and suffering experienced by those who came home to face a lifetime of disfigurement and isolation.

Through Maisie’s thoughts, we come to feel the terrible depth of the tragedy as experienced on a very personal level, and yet there’s also hope. While Maisie carries emotional wounds that will always be with her, she’s also creating a new life in a new era, using her brains and her inner strength to face life on her own terms.

The audiobook narrator, Rita Barrington, does a lovely job of capturing Maisie’s inner dialogue, as well as voicing the people in her life. She does an excellent older, aristocratic voice for Lady Rowan, and a cheeky, working class voice for Maisie’s assistant Billy. Even while narrating conversations between multiple characters, it wasn’t hard to follow or to figure out who was talking at any given time. I liked the clarity and sweetness of Maisie’s voice, and the gentleness with which she speaks to all, especially to wounded soldiers and others in need of her care.

According to Goodreads, there are 11 Maisie Dobbs novels currently in print, with a 12th scheduled for release in 2016. I don’t really know where the series will go from here: Will it be a more traditional mystery series, with a new case forming the focal point of each book? Will Maisie’s connections to the war continue to inform the storylines? I suppose I could read the synopses of the next few books in the series, but really, I’d rather just wait and find out for myself.

I’m quite sure that I’ll continue with this series, which has such a well-written start in this first book. The emotional depths of this novel make it an affecting and throught-provoking read. There’s something about WWI fiction that is utterly compelling and tragic, and I found myself very much enthralled by the character of Maisie Dobbs and her fascinating life. Hearing the voices of Maisie and the other characters, as portrayed in the audiobook, made the experience even richer, and I look forward to listening to the 2nd book as soon as possible.

_________________________________________

The details:

Title: Maisie Dobbs
Author: Jacqueline Winspear
Narrator: Rita Barrington
Publisher: Penguin
Publication date: January 1, 2003
Audiobook length: 10 hours, 1 minute
Printed book length: 309 pages
Genre: Historical fiction; crime/mystery series
Source: Audible

9Oct2015

Book Review: Northanger Abbey by Val McDermid

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

This is my first Austen Project book, and I definitely want more!

For those not familiar with it, The Austen Project is a publishing concept that pairs up bestselling contemporary authors with the works of Jane Austen, with the goal of creating six reimagined versions of the classic novels.

Sense and Sensibility, written by Joanna Trollope, was published in 2013; Northanger Abbey by Val McDermid followed in 2014, and in June 2015, Emma by Alexander McCall Smith was released. Supposedly next will be a Pride and Prejudice reimagining by Curtis Sittenfeld, although it looks as though she may be departing from the formula a bit and publishing a novel with a different name (Eligible, to be released 2016).

I decided to start with Northanger Abbey because it’s fresh in my mind. I’d read the Austen version years ago, and listened to the audiobook while on vacation this summer. (As a result, I associate Northanger Abbey with a hike in the woods in the Canadian Rockies, which is really not a bad association at all!) Last week, I watched the 2007 Masterpiece version of Northanger Abbey, starring Felicity Jones (which is very good – check it out!).

Northanger Abbey is written by Val McDermid, a Scottish-born author best known for writing crime novels. I’d heard her name before, but had never read any of her works, since crime novels aren’t usually my thing. The book gets off to a promising start:

It was a source of constant disappointment to Catherine Morland that her life did not more closely resemble her books.

In this new version of NA, heroine Catherine Morland is now Cat Morland, a 17-year-old with a somewhat sheltered upbringing who’s invited to accompany the family’s wealthy friends, the Allens, not to Bath as in the original, but to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Cat’s a typical teen, living life out loud on Facebook and Twitter, and absolutely devoted to YA fiction, especially Twilight and anything supernatural, scary, and dramatic. Like, for instance, the (made-up) Hebridean Harpies series, which includes hot titles such as Kelpies of Kerrera, Shapeshifters of Shuna, and Banshees of Berneray.

In Edinburgh, Cat soon is befriended by Bella Thorpe, and develops a mad crush on Henry Tilney, her dancing partner at a Highland Ball. In the original, there’s talk of a country walk and an outing in the carriage; here, the young folks go for a hike or for a drive in John Thorpe’s convertible. Eventually, Cat is invited to spend time at the Tilney’s estate of Northanger Abbey, and Cat is completely enamored with the gothic romance of a creaky old mansion and its secrets (although she’s dismayed to discover that the family’s interior decorating mostly runs toward Swedish modernity).

As with the original, Cat’s fiction-influenced flights of fancy lead her to give free rein to her imagination. She gets shivery pleasure from her suspicions that the family is hiding deep, dark secrets… although it’s perhaps a bit surprising that here she imagines not just murder or family members being held captive in secret cells, but that there are vampires afoot!

I was surprised by just how well Northanger Abbey translates into the modern day, with this new edition reading like a particularly larky YA novel. The core elements — female friendship, people using each other for the sake of money and supposed connections, emotional manipulation, and parental interference — all work in a more modern setting. Likewise, the true friendship and romance that Cat finds with the Tilneys make sense here as well, and Val McDermid finds a way to portray the characters in a way that’s true to their origins while coming across as belonging in the contemporary setting. Even the isolation Cat feels at Northanger makes sense — there’s no wifi or cell signal! And if that’s not cause for fear and anxiety, especially for a 17-year-old girl, I don’t know what is.

Yes, Cat’s belief in vampires is quite silly, but in context, given Cat’s youth and her naivete, as well as her passion for supernatural romances, I was willing to accept it as a plot point.

I liked the writing style, although occasionally the texting and teen slang seemed a bit over the top. Then again, who am I to judge how British teens talk these days? The teen dialogue gives the book a fun, upbeat tone for the most part, although I thought I might throw something if Bella used the word “totes” one more time. (“But I bet you’re so busy having a totes lush time…”)

[Minor spoiler ahead!]

The only thing that seemed like too big a departure for me comes toward the end of the book. In the original, General Tilney abruptly kicks Catherine out of Northanger when he discovers that she’s not an heiress after all. I’d anticipated something similar here, as he constantly asks Cat about her connection to the Allens — so why wouldn’t finding out that her family isn’t wealthy and that she doesn’t have money connections have the same impact in this version? But no — what sets the General off in the new NA is gossip provided by John Thorpe, who whispers to the General that Cat is a lesbian, and rather than being a potential match for Henry, she’s actually interested in Eleanor. Okay, fine, the General is an uptight and old-fashioned dude, but throwing this into the mix seems a bit out of place/out of the blue. Given the narrative up to this point as well as the source material, having it still be all about the money would have been a better fit, in my humble opinion.

[End of spoilers]

Overall, I thought this reimagining of Northanger Abbey was quite fun. Would this work on its own for readers who haven’t read or aren’t familiar with the original? That I’m not sure of. It’s cute and quirky, but some of the plot developments might strike a reader as quite odd without knowing the framework provided by Jane Austen.

But for anyone who knows the original Northanger Abbey, this new tale is a fun, fluffy, diversion. I certainly had a good time with it, and I think it’s worth checking out!

_________________________________________

The details:

Title: Northanger Abbey
Author: Val McDermid
Publisher: HarperFiction
Publication date: March 27, 2014
Length: 358 pages
Genre: Fiction (adult/young adult)
Source: Purchased