Book Review – The Heart Goes Last by Margaret Atwood

It’s been a while since I’ve encouraged people to get me books as gifts. Too often I’d wind up with books I already had and/or had already read. A few Christmases back, however, my mom got lucky when she gifted me a copy of Margaret Atwood’s The Heart Goes Last – it was one I didn’t have, hadn’t read, AND by one of my favorite authors. It’s taken me a while to get around to actually reading it (I’m still trying to find the right balance of e-books and hard copies from my massive TBR pile), but as with so much of Atwood’s work I found it a little odd, quite enjoyable, and thoroughly thought provoking.

An economic downturn has sees many folks losing their homes and either living in their cars or migrating west in search of work, including Stan and Charmaine. While Charmaine still has a job, it’s barely enough to keep them supplied with gas and the cheapest of food. With the stress and uncertainty of their living situation straining their marriage, they jump at an unusual opportunity that promises both housing and work – an experimental project where a gated community is paired with a nearby prison and residents spend half their time as regular citizens, and half as inmates with the demands of running a prison providing constant employment for those in the community and the labor of the inmates helping produce the food for everyone. Stan and Charmaine aren’t the only ones desperate enough to sign up for the security offered by the arrangement and for the first few months things go smoothly… but it doesn’t take long for the pair to get swept up in the machinations of those pulling the strings and the rose-colored glasses fall away.

Book Preview (sort of) – Once More Upon a Time by Roshani Chokshi

I’ve been a fan of Roshani Chokshi since I first read The Star-Touched Queen, so anytime I see she has something new coming out, I try to get my hands on a preview copy (or do my best to get myself a copy as soon after it’s released as possible). Once More Upon a Time is unique because it has already been released – in fact, it was released over a year ago ­– but only as an audio novella from Audible. Now, I have a difficult time with audio books (I tend to zone out while listening to narrated stories and do much better with podcasts that are based in discussion or analysis). Now, Once More Upon a Time is being released in print and ebook versions so as far as format goes, it’s a bit more to my taste. Of course, the fact that it plays with fairy tales is also right in my wheelhouse of interests, and – simple and short though this novella may be – it proves just as entertaining and fun as I’d hoped.

Imelda and Ambrose are both overlooked characters from other fairy tales. Imelda is one of the twelve princesses who spent her nights dancing through her shoes in a fairy realm and Ambrose was the middle prince whose father set out tasks to help him choose his successor to the throne and Ambrose neither fulfilled them in the way his father preferred nor broke the curse of a princess earning him a different throne. But when they meet and fall in love, it looks like they might just get their own fairy tale ending… until tragedy strikes and the only way to avoid it is to let a witch rob them of their love for each other. Turns out, their fairy tale is actually just beginning.

Book Review – This Close to Okay by Leesa Cross-Smith

After devouring Whiskey & Ribbons back in May, I promptly went to see what else Leesa Cross-Smith has written and whether my library had any copies available. Because it was only been published back in February, I had to go on the waitlist for This Close to Okay but it was well worth the wait (though I’m definitely pre-ordering any of her future books since I’d rather not wait at all next time). As with Whiskey & Ribbons, grief and trauma very much at the heart of This Close to Okay, but unlike in Whiskey & Ribbons, the story of the central characters’ grief and trauma unfolds more gradually. Cross-Smith excels at building not just characters with inherent chemistry but narratives that explore the intimacy of healing – with all its human imperfections.

Tallulah “Tallie” Clark spots a man standing on the wrong side of the railing as she’s driving home across the bridge and, as a licensed therapist, she can’t just drive by and do nothing. Instead, she pulls manages to talk him out of jumping… by inviting him to stay with her for a few days. Telling him she’s a teacher to keep from raising his suspicions, Tallie finds herself confiding about her recent divorce and the impact her ex-husband’s betrayal has had on her to encourage the man – who tells her his name is Emmett – to open up about his pain and what in his past left him so hopeless that it sent him to that bridge. Over the course of a long weekend, Tallie and Emmett build a unique intimacy, sharing secrets and feelings they’ve barely admitted to themselves. But there are some barriers reinforced with lies that threaten to topple their carefully constructed, healing hope.

Book Review – Rule of Wolves by Leigh Bardugo

 Rule of Wolves was the first book in the Grishaverse that I had to wait for. I had it pre-ordered and had hoped to read it before the first season of Shadow and Bone dropped on Netflix, but I had a few too many other books I’d committed to previewing during those weeks so I ended up watching the show first. Luckily, getting to see Leigh Bardugo’s incredible characters brought to life so brilliantly only made me more eager to finally dive into what promises to be the last Grishaverse novel for a while. Though it left off in a thoroughly satisfying place and could easily be a final resting point for the Grishaverse, I truly hope this isn’t the last of these characters or this world because it’s been such an enjoyable ride that I’m not ready for it to end (and given the final scenes, it does leave considerable space still open for future tales).

Ravka continues to face potential war on too many fronts. The Fjerdans are determined to attack from the north to remove Nikolai from the throne and impose a puppet ruler who will help them wipe out the Grisha. To the south, Queen Makhi of Shu Han also continues to conniving a way to both remove the threat her beloved sister, Ehri, and start a war with Ravka that will have the people’s support. But perhaps the greatest threat to Ravka comes from the failed attempt to rid Nikolai of the beast that shares his body – a failed attempt that resurrected the Darkling and reactivated some of the destructive powers of the Fold.

Book Review – King of Scars by Leigh Bardugo

While it doesn’t matter much whether you read the original Shadow and Bone Grisha trilogy before the Six of Crows duology, you absolutely need to have read both before diving into King of Scars, the first novel of her Nikolai duology. Bringing both of the other Grishaverse sub-series together, King of Scars beautifully marries the strengths of each. It’s full of the Grisha mythology and politicking that worked in Shadow and Bone and its subsequent novels but also has a little more of the heist/con story elements that made Six of Crows so much fun. And even with everything that happens in this first book, it still manages to build to a resolution that promises and even wilder ride ahead in the second of the duology (the first of the Grishaverse books that I’m actually going to have to wait to be released).

It’s been about three years since the end of Ravka’s Civil War (where Ruin and Rising left off). Nikolai has been crowned king and is still busy rebuilding the nation and strengthening its defenses with the help of his Grisha Triumvirate. But the wounds the Darkling inflicted on him haven’t entirely healed – the shadow monster that he thought had died with the Darkling has been making appearances and threatening the already tenuous stability of the Ravkan government. Meanwhile, Nina has gone undercover in Fjerda to help Grisha escape to safety in Ravka… and to finally lay Matthias to rest in his homeland. But as she works with two other members of Ravka’s Second Army to find and funnel Grisha out of Fjerda, they stumble upon something far more sinister at work.

Book Review – The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins

As a massive fan of the original The Hunger Games trilogy, I didn’t need anything more than the fact that Suzanne Collins had a new book coming out in the same universe to immediately preorder my copy. In fact, I preordered my copy so early, there wasn’t much of a description beyond it being set during an earlier Games. And I didn’t need to know any more about it to be interested, so as the release date drew closer, I felt no need to pay attention to any teasers or previews or anything. Basically, I went in to The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes completely blind and I’m actually really glad that I did because it gave me no time to speculate or form specific expectations. I was able to enjoy the story precisely as it unfolded without getting too deep in my own head about it.

It’s been ten years since the Capitol won the war over the rebellious districts and the rebuilding efforts are finally bringing things back to a recognizable place. But for eighteen-year-old Coriolanus Snow, it’s been a challenge. He, his cousin, and grandmother are scraping by while maintaining appearances… for the most part. But with their family’s fortune sunk in the completely demolished District 13, it’s going to take a minor miracle to keep themselves afloat much longer. Luckily, the Head Gamemaker has some new ideas for the 10^th annual Hunger Games – graduating students from the Academy are going to mentor the Tributes in the hopes of getting people all over Panem more invested in the Games. Doing well as a mentor could help earn Snow a prize to the University which would go a long way to keeping him and his family from sinking into open poverty and obscurity.

Book Review – Mind of My Mind by Octavia Butler

Having finished Mind of My Mind, the second of Octavia Butler’s Patternist novels within the Seed to Harvest collection, I find myself intrigued by the way Butler wrote them. This novel was the second she wrote and chronologically comes second as well, but Wild Seed, the first chronologically, was one of the last that she’d written. Having read Wild Seed, I can’t imagine the impact of the events of Mind of My Mind carrying the weight they do without knowing what happened in Wild Seed first. And yet, it was the last of the novels in the series, Patternmaster, that Butler actually wrote and published first—which makes me more excited and intrigued to see what that book holds, as Butler seems to have reached further and further back into the history of the people and the world she created with each book she wrote (it also makes me intrigued by the fifth book that Butler decided she didn’t like and which hasn’t been republished).

Doro is still experimenting with his specialized human breeding programs, getting closer and closer to the goal he hasn’t confided in anyone before. Mary, who has yet to go through her transition, will either be the next key step or just another failure. As is the case for most of Doro’s people, Mary knows she’s being manipulated and controlled by Doro—forced to live where he wants her to live and with whom, to marry (and later breed) with the man he wants her to be with, etc. But when Mary goes through her transition, it turns out Doro’s experimenting turned her into something he hadn’t quite been able to anticipate and which threatens all he’s been working toward over the centuries.

Bath: Austen, the Herschells, and Roman Britain

“Oh! Who can be ever tired of Bath?” ~ Northanger Abbey

When it comes to Jane Austen novels, my favorite tends to be a tie between Pride and Prejudice and Persuasion. So, when I had the opportunity to travel in England last summer and a family friend suggested I visit Bath if I had the chance, I didn’t take much convincing. The setting for much of Austen’s Northanger Abbey as well, Bath has a long and fascinating history to explore and I got to spend three days doing just that.

The Jane Austen connections were the ones I was most excited about while I was planning my trip. It was easy to locate the Jane Austen Centre and join a tour. They’re not located in any of the houses Jane Austen lived in during her years in Bath, but they do give a wonderfully thorough accounting of Jane Austen’s personal biography, emphasizing her years as a resident of the city and how it influenced her work (most notably how much the city and its reputation had changed from her youth to her adulthood and the ways that can be seen in how it’s portrayed in Northanger Abbey compared to Persuasion).

The Great Octagon connects the Ball Room and the Tea Room at the Assembly Rooms.

Once the presentation introducing the museum ends and we were released into the exhibit itself, it was more than a bit underwhelming (especially for the cost of admission). It proved to be less museum and more recreation. There was a lot of emphasis on the different film adaptations of Austen’s works that were filmed in Bath, which is interesting but not what I was expecting. The centre is aimed more at a specific type of Austen fan—those who enjoy submersing themselves in period costumes and recreating the atmosphere. They boast a Regency tea room (which is separate from the exhibition/museum) and as with the tour hosts, all the staff are in period costume. That particular fan experience is not my cup of tea (I think I’d enjoy myself more at the Jane Austen House Museum in Hampshire so that’s on my list for future visits to the UK).

I enjoyed the actual places mentioned in Austen’s Bath-set novels much more. The Assembly Rooms are impressive and grand to stroll through, but they have more than just the ball rooms. Having skipped the tea room at the Jane Austen Centre earlier in my visit, I indulged myself with a piece of delicious chocolate cake courtesy of the on-site café. The Fashion Museum of Bath is housed in the lower levels of the Assembly Rooms and takes visitors on a self-guided, chronological tour through several hundred years of fashion (I was able to see the special Royal Women exhibit as well, but that won’t be there much longer).

I recommend opting for the self-guided tour of the Roman Baths if you get the chance.

I might not have even realized the Fashion Museum was there were it not for its being included as part of the online saver combo that I purchased when looking to book a tour of the Roman Baths. While the baths themselves don’t feature in Austen’s work, the therapeutic associations of the city and how those came to be, are referenced… Plus I’m a history nerd so of course I was going to tour the baths. Having recently read The Silver Pigs, it made me even more appreciative of having seen the baths in person (even if there was only a brief reference to Bath in that novel). I didn’t have much Roman history in school, and what little I did have didn’t cover the Roman Empire in Britain beyond, “they went there.” Between the Roman Baths and the exhibit at the Museum of London, I had a much better frame of reference for enjoying The Silver Pigs.

A statue of William and Caroline Herschel sits in the garden where they spent their nights mapping the stars.

One last place I visited in Bath that had literary ties for me was one of my favorites: the Herschel Museum of Astronomy. The actual home of William and Caroline Herschel, this small museum was worth every penny. History and science and the history of science fill every nook and cranny of the house and spill into the small garden where the siblings observed and noted the movements of the stars—and where the discovery of Uranus occurred. A few years ago, I read and enjoyed The Stargazer’s Sister, a novelization of the life of Caroline Herschel, much of which took place at that very house.

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Book Review – Bloodchild and Other Stories by Octavia Butler

I’m always consciously aware that I really enjoy Octavia Butler’s work, but as soon as I start reading something by her that I haven’t read before, I’m reminded of just how deep that enjoyment actually goes. I’ve reached a point where there are fewer of her books and stories left that haven’t read (though I do have the entirety of her Patternist series saved for an upcoming work trip), so I almost feel like I’m hoarding the remaining stories and essays, pacing myself so I don’t lose the amazement of those first few pages. Bloodchild and Other Stories is the first collection of short stories I’ve read by Butler and, as I expected, each one left me wishing there was more, that it was just the intro to a full-fledged novel. The essays and afterwords included in the collection provided incredible insight into Butler’s process and the experiences that shaped her career and the way she told her stories.

The first story in the collection, “Bloodchild,” and one of the later stories, “Amnesty,” both reminded me strongly of Butler’s Xenogenesis trilogy in the approaches they take to exploring what happens when an established community comes into contact with a new community that is Other. Using the freedom of science fiction to put the examples of her imagined alien visitors alongside humankind, some of Butler’s most interesting characters (to me, at least) are those humans who end up serving as ambassadors between the alien beings and their fellow humans. She shows the ways that two seemingly unified communities fracture when they collide. The humans who cooperate with the alien beings are treated as poorly or even worse by their fellow humans—even when those fellow humans can no longer resist or fight back against the alien beings. These stories highlight how much secrecy and the unknown contribute to the fear of each other and how important communication—and developing new systems of communication where existing systems fail—are to the continued survival of all.

Book Review – A Court of Frost and Starlight by Sarah J. Maas

As much as I was looking forward to the release of Sarah J. Maas’ A Court of Frost and Starlight, I did everything I could to keep my hopes down, and I’m so glad I did. Occupying an odd and understandably uncomfortable space between a true novella and a novel, A Court of Frost and Starlight addresses few of the questions still up in the air at the end of A Court of Wings and Ruin, which is unsatisfying. But it was never the purpose of A Court of Frost and Starlight to answer those questions. What this book needed to accomplish was transitioning the main narrative focus of this series away from Feyre (and Rhysand) directly, to the new focus(es) of the series (or at least of the next full novel)—Nesta and Cassian. I thought it accomplished that emotional and narrative transition fairly well, though the implications for the series’ timeline have me scratching my head a bit.

It’s been several months since the war with Hybern ended and the rebuilding of Prythian is moving along at a seemingly glacial pace. But the approaching winter solstice promises to bring everyone together… along with many of the lingering emotional and practical issues they’ve been avoiding. Elain still avoids Lucien. Lucien still finds himself an uncomfortable fit in the Inner Circle and so splits his time in several different places. Nesta has withdrawn from just about everyone, which seems to be a key factor to Cassian’s own unsettled demeanor—though he won’t exactly speak about it. Feyre is eager to help everyone else heal before tending to her own needs. As she comes to realize how broken everyone and everything in Prythian still are, there are some things about her future she decides she doesn’t want to put off till things are more convenient; circumstances will never be convenient so there is only the now.

Book Review – A Court of Wings and Ruin by Sarah J. Maas

I moved immediately into A Court of Wings and Ruin on the heels of finishing A Court of Mist and Fury; the ending of the second book in Maas’ A Court of Thorns and Roses series demanded it. And while the characters, their relationships, the themes, and the content are all as compelling as the first two novels in the series, A Court of Wings and Ruin suffers tremendously in pacing and organization, leaving this initial trilogy arc with a satisfying if roughly executed conclusion.

Feyre begins the novel back at Tamlin’s Spring Court pretending that her relationship with Rhys was all a delusion he’d forced on her and that she had really been in love with Tamlin all along. Not everyone buys Feyre’s cover though. When Feyre’s sisters were forced into the Cauldron and turned fae, Lucien felt the deep pull of a mating bond with Elain. Unable to escape his concern and curiosity for her, he keeps a close eye of Feyre, which feeds into her own plans for undermining Tamlin’s hold over his Court and accumulating knowledge about the Hybern forces. From the crumbling Spring Court, Feyre eventually rejoins her mate and family at the Night Court where their preparations for the coming war with Hybern are well under way. Her sisters are adjusting to fae life with varying degrees of success; allies are few and far between; and any possible alliance between the Courts of Prythian will be fragile and tenuous at best. But war is coming and they must do what they can in the face of annihilation.

Book Review – A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J. Maas

After finishing A Court of Thorns and Roses, I immediately put myself on the waitlist for the second novel in the series, A Court of Mist and Fury. But waiting for a copy through the library became too tedious so I caved and bought a copy instead and have rarely been happier with the decision (I went ahead and bought the third novel, A Court of Wings and Ruin before finishing the second so the review for that book won’t be too far behind this one). Though A Court of Thorns and Roses is a wonderful well-contained novel in its own right, A Court of Mist and Fury expands on Sarah J. Maas’ universe beautifully, taking the foundational elements of the first novel and building the characters, their back stories, and their relationships with incredible skill and detail. The trauma of the first novel’s final act is central to where the characters find themselves at the start of this second book and its harsh realities force a new perspective onto everything and everyone.

Though months have passed since Feyre’s trials Under the Mountain and having been remade as High Fae, Feyre still has stomach churning nightmares and her life at the Spring Court hasn’t been as restorative as she might have hoped. So far the High Lord of the Night Court, Rhysand, hasn’t bothered her or Tamlin regarding the bargain she made with him during her trials, but with her wedding to Tamlin approaching and Tamlin clearly worried with diplomatic matters he’s not telling her about, Feyre continues to stall in moving past her trauma. When Rhysand finally calls in his half of the bargain she struck, Feyre’s time away from Tamlin and the Spring Court help to open her eyes to how much she has changed since her human days Under the Mountain. Perhaps the love she gave her human life for isn’t enough for her fae life.

Book Review – A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas

For me, the best way to find new books and series that I love is through recommendations from friends; they know enough of what I like, and I know enough of what they like, plus there’s the added fun of having someone already there to talk about it. A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas was a friend recommendation and I can’t wait to dive into the next book of the series in anticipation of the third novel’s release in early May. Incredible fantasy world building with plot elements that echo (and occasionally invert) classic fairy tales, myths, and legends and engaging characters and pacing are some of the fastest ways to capture my attention.

Feyre may be the youngest of three sisters but when it comes to providing for her family in their relatively recently acquired destitute state, she is the one who can be counted on to keep them all alive. Having taught herself hunting, she has a deer in her sights when a monstrously large wolf enters the scene—a wolf so large, Feyre believes it might be fairy in nature. Given everything that the fairies have done and continue to do to humans, even with the treaty in place, she decides to use her precious ash arrow to be sure she kills it dead. But a few days later an even larger beast appears at her family’s door demanding repayment for the slain fairy—a life for a life—and Feyre must either go to live in the fairy realm of Prythian for the rest of her days or die before her family’s eyes.

Book Review – The Glimpses of the Moon by Edith Wharton, 1001 Books to Read Before You Die #167

Anyone who’s read my blog for a while should know by now that I’m a fan of Edith Wharton. In working my way through the 1001 Books to Read Before You Die list, I love that I have an excuse to discover the less-famous works of authors I already love. This works out better for my opinions of some authors rather than others—Edith Wharton is one of the former. The Glimpses of the Moon is not a novel of hers that I have heard discussed much as far as what gets recommended when Wharton’s work is brought up—but it should be.

Susy Branch, like many Wharton heroines, has been born and raised in the wealthiest circles of society and struggles to maintain her place there though much of her family’s fortune is gone. She sustains herself through the kindness—and favors—of her female friends. Accepting their castoffs and presents comes with a price and while Susy may occasionally despise her position, she doesn’t see any way out of it. When she meets Nick Lansing, he shares a similar place in their circle and they are able to commiserate and find themselves drawn each other. With the way their set sees marriage, Susy proposes that they go ahead and marry each other using the generosity of their friends’ gifts—checks, jewelry, offers of a few weeks or a month at various vacation houses around Europe—to sustain themselves for a year. At the end of that year when their funds dry up, they would release each other (a.k.a. divorce) so that they could then make more profitable though less personally desirable matches. They embark on marriage in agreement over the theory but putting it into practice proves a greater challenge as personal feelings, principles, and simply being around their “set” begins to affect how they each view themselves, each other, and the dictates of their arrangement.

Book Review – Tar Baby by Toni Morrison

Every time I read a novel by Toni Morrison—or anything by Toni Morrison, really—I’m struck all over again by how quotable her style is. I find myself underlying massive passages. Her subjects always pierce deeply to the heart of race and gender relations and Tar Baby is no exception, exploring the concept of ignorance versus knowledge in relationships.

After retiring and selling off the family candy company, Valerian Street built an elaborate home on a Caribbean island where he spends his days in his green house. His wife, Margaret, periodically returns to their home in Philadelphia in the hopes of luring her husband back—since the Caribbean home is supposed to be a winter home. Sydney and Ondine, the couple’s longtime African-American servants, are often relegated to the role of referee when their employers get into arguments over whether or not their son, Michael, will or won’t visit for the holidays. Sydney and Ondine’s niece, Jadine, serves as a social secretary for Margaret while taking a break from her globetrotting, modeling career. The balance they’ve reached is drastically upset when Margaret returns to her room one night to find a runaway, thieving, and starving black man who calls himself Son hiding in her closet. Marched downstairs to the dining room, rather than calling for the authorities, a quite-drunk Valerian invites the man to stay, offending everyone.

Cavendish Cemetery, Avonlea Village, and Cavendish Beach

“Nothing is ever really lost to us so long as we remember it.” – L.M. Montgomery The Story Girl

There is a small cemetery along the path that connects Green Gables house to the MacNeill house site. Despite the fact that L. M. Montgomery left Prince Edward Island after marrying and never lived there again, when she died in 1942 she was buried in Cavendish on the island she loved so thoroughly – all but one of her books was set on Prince Edward Island. An elegant arch over the entrance displays, not the name of the cemetery, but rather that it is the resting place of L. M. Montgomery. A few rows from the graves of her grandparents at the end of a slightly overgrown stone path, the plot Montgomery shares with her minister husband, Ewen MacDonald is carefully marked and maintained. Within the cemetery – which still has a great deal of space – it’s possible to see several generations of the same families from Cavendish.

We did not make it to New London to see the house where Montgomery was born but we did take a ride over to see the Avonlea village where several period structures have been surrounded with recreations from the period to form an interactive homage to the fictional village. Unfortunately, we were just far enough ahead of the season for only a few of the buildings (mostly food shops and restaurants) to be open. We were unable to do more than peek into the windows at the church (built in 1872) and chocolate shop to see the various employees preparing for the official opening of the season a week later. The main gift shop and Red Island Goodness Baked Potato restaurant were open and I can honestly say I’ve never enjoyed a better baked potato than the one I enjoyed that afternoon.

Since our main plans for the afternoon were cut short, we wandered a ways up the road to the Cavendish beach to walk along the dunes that are mentioned in several of Montgomery’s novels and stories. It’s impossible to grasp the vivid colors of Prince Edward Island without seeing them in person; they refuse to be captured accurately on film – the red sandstone along the coast and the red clay of the fields; the lush green of the grass and trees; the surprising carpets of dandelions; the complementary blues of sea and sky bleeding into one another as they approach the horizon. It’s easy to understand Montgomery’s devotion to the island and how she was able to write about the landscape at such length.

Green Gables House

MacNeill House and Bookstore

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MacNeill House and Bookstore: Site of the Childhood Home of L.M. Montgomery

“I am simply a ‘book drunkard.’ Books have the same irresistible temptation for me that liquor has for its devotee. I cannot withstand them.” – L.M. Montgomery

While L.M. Montgomery did not live in the house that inspired Green Gables, visiting would have been quite easy given how close it was to the farm where she grew up in the care of her maternal grandparents. Visitors who purchase the bundle at the Visitor Center can drive or walk along the Haunted Wood Trail to the site of the MacNeill house and farmland (trail walkers also pass the overgrown and less-than-impressive site of the school she attended).

The property is still in the MacNeill family. Passing into the possession of Montgomery’s uncle after the deaths of her grandparents, the old farmhouse fell into disrepair and proved an unexpected attraction for fans of Montgomery’s. To prevent further “souvenir” taking (and probably the legal issues should uninvited guests injure themselves) the old farmhouse was demolished many decades ago. Montgomery’s uncle’s grandson and his wife (John and Jennie MacNeill) have since gone to great lengths to restore the site and make it available to those who are interested. The publication of L.M. Montgomery’s journals in the 1980s made public her thoughts and reflections during the years she lived and wrote at her grandparents’ home (she wrote four of her novels while living there before her marriage and removal to Toronto; Anne of Green Gables, Anne of Avonlea, The Story Girl, and Kilmeny of the Orchard).

The foundation for the old farmhouse has been cleared and plaques dot the path past the original well and on towards an on-site bookstore where members of the MacNeill family tend to make appearances and speak to the property’s history and Montgomery’s life while there. With a few family artifacts on display (including postal items from when the MacNeill’s kitchen served as the post office for the area), the bookstore is charmingly intimate and serves as a welcome, homey contrast to the main gift shop at the Green Gables house. The bookstore on the MacNeill property is almost exclusively books, including almost all of Montgomery’s published works, from her journals and memoirs through her novels and collections of short stories (just not the three that are missing from my personal collection). The gift shop at the Green Gables house has a few of the books – mostly those in the Anne series – but they also have a lot more of the commercialized Anne of Green Gables souvenirs (many of which are available at gift shops and stores throughout not only Prince Edward Island, but much of Canada).
During our visit to the site, we were able to meet Jennie MacNeill who was only too happy to share stories about the house, family histories, and Montgomery herself, including what she meant to the people of the island. Though Montgomery did not live on Prince Edward Island after her marriage, she and her husband are both buried there… but more on that in my last post about the trip.

Cavendish Cemetery, Avonlea Village, Cavendish Beach

Green Gables House

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Book Review – Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood, 1001 Books to Read Before You Die #163

The more I read of Margaret Atwood the higher she climbs on my list of favorite writers. Some of this is because she writes in two of my favorite genres (science/speculative fiction and historic fiction). Though I had mixed feelings about The Blind Assassin, I thoroughly enjoyed the next of her works to appear on the 1001 Books to Read Before You Die list, Alias Grace. Inspired by a true story, the questions of truth, justice, and how to define either as a woman in the nineteenth century are at the heart of Alias Grace.

Grace Marks was only a teenager when she was working as a servant in the household of Mr. Thomas Kinnear. When her fellow servant, James McDermott, murdered the housekeeper, Nancy Montgomery, as well as Mr. Kinnear, Grace was caught up in the storm, the only question was in what capacity. McDermott claimed she not only egged him on but that the whole thing was her idea and that she had promised herself to him in exchange for his doing the deed. Grace claimed little or no memory of events at various points during that fateful day and there were many who believed her to be either too dimwitted or too young to have actively participated, that she might have gone along with McDermott because she was too scared to do otherwise. While both were convicted of murder and sentenced to death, Grace’s sentence was commuted to life imprisonment. Almost twenty years later, a committee working to petition the government for her release engages the services of Dr. Simon Jordan who specializes in mental illness to meet with Grace, evaluate her condition, and determine her likely guilt or innocence at the time of the murders.

Book Review – Cranford by Elizabeth Gaskell, 1001 Books to Read Before You Die (Sort of) Reading Challenge #156

Few of the famous female writers of the nineteenth century demonstrated the range that Elizabeth Gaskell did in their body of work. In Mary Barton and North and South, the plight of industrial workers and the politics of manufacturing are front and center with hints of family drama and the sense of community that can evolve in densely packed cities. With Wives and Daughters, Gaskell created a compelling family drama among the lower nobility of the country and the relationships between parents, children, and step-relationships. Cranford is more along the lines of Wives and Daughters, taking place in the country among those who are well to do but still look in awe upon the proper nobility. But while Wives and Daughters looks at second marriages and blended families, Cranford focuses on the old maids of a small town, the spinsters who spend their days paying calls and passing judgment.

The narrator, Mary Smith, is the daughter of a family friend for the Misses Jenkyns of Cranford and visits the two older sisters frequently over the years. Through Mary Smith the reader gets a glimpse at the hierarchy of widows, spinsters, and matrons in the country town as they evaluate visitors, relationships, and each other. They support and encourage one another through hardships both financial and familial, as the echoes of their youth come back to bring unexpected life to their old age.

Book Review – Home by Toni Morrison

I was lucky enough to get to hear Toni Morrison give a reading as well as a brief question and answer session at Northeastern University just over a year ago as part of the university’s celebration of Martin Luther King Day. The selection she chose to read was from her then recently released, Home, which found its way into my To Read pile only a week or two later, though, given that she’s one of my favorite writers and I’ve read almost all of her novels, it’s hardly surprising. What is surprising is how long it’s taken me to actually read it, especially since I found the reading she gave so compelling.

Frank Money returns from the war in Korea understandably haunted by the experience. Losing two close friends from childhood, he struggles to readjust to civilian life while suffering from the then unrecognized PTSD. News that his sister is in danger and might die sends Frank on a journey back down south to Georgia and the hometown he hasn’t seen since coming back from the war.

Book Review – MaddAddam by Margaret Atwood

Back in May I pre-ordered my copy of Margaret Atwood’s MaddAddam and had to wait for a little over three months until it was finally released last week. I don’t know exactly why I love post-apocalyptic and dystopic fiction so much, but there’s no question that Margaret Atwood is one of the best when it comes to creating it. The final installment of her MaddAddam trilogy is no exception. Providing a degree of closure for many of the characters, the biggest questions remain unanswered while an aura of hope somehow manages to filter through the final pages.

In many ways, the novels of the MaddAddam trilogy ripple out from the epicenter that is Oryx and Crake. With each successive novel, the scope broadens and more of the picture gets filled in as new voices and perspectives are added. Looking back on Oryx and Crake, it is remarkably isolated as Jimmy/Snowman’s post-plague interactions are limited to the Crakers. It isn’t until The Year of the Floodand MaddAddam that the reader realizes just how young he is and just how far back the seeds of Crake’s actions were planted. The Year of the Flood provided insights into life in the pleeblands prior to the plague and also showed that there were more who survived than just Jimmy and the Crakers.

The Mount: Edith Wharton’s Summer Home

“The world is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page.” – Saint Augustine

I like traveling and I’m a huge nerd. As much fun as I had when I spent a week in Bermuda, I had just as much fun (if not more) when I spent three days at Gettysburg last summer. Many of the places on my traveling bucket list are literary related. Either they’re where famous writers lived and/or wrote or they are places where my favorite literary scenes took place. I will never stop checking wardrobes to see if I can find my way to Narnia or hoping that a random looking glass will let me through to Wonderland.

Luckily, there are plenty of places that I can get to through more traditional means of transportation. Growing up in Massachusetts, I’ve been spoiled to have so many sites, bothliterary and historic, right in my backyard. I’m now setting out to visit and document as many of them as I can, and not just those in Massachusetts (though those will probably get done first and feature most prominently since my backyard is so conveniently located on the other side of the door).

First up, The Mount in Lenox MA, better known as Edith Wharton’s summer home of ten years. Designed and decorated largely by Wharton herself, her good friend Henry James was one of The Mount’s frequent guests. Falling into disrepair during the twentieth century, by the late 1990s interest in restoring the estate led to massive fundraising and by 2002 most of the large house and its extensive grounds had been repaired and renovated,bringing them back to the glory of a hundred years earlier.

The house and gardens are now open from May through October with a number of events and shows in the evenings during the summer. The Mount can be booked for weddings and other events as well. Some of the rooms, like Edith Wharton’s bedroom and library, have been refurbished with period furniture while others, many of the guest rooms upstairs included, contain exhibits about her life (especially the time she spent in France and her contributions to supporting the troops during the first world war). The wooded walk from the stables to the main house, aside from just being gorgeous, is also spotted with modern art sculptures. I could have spent the whole day wandering through the forest trails with their myrtle carpets and the sun streaming through the leaves.

 Additional photos

Kurt Vonnegut: A writer who had plenty to say

“Who is more to be pitied, a writer bound and gagged by policemen or one living in perfect freedom who has nothing more to say?” – Kurt Vonnegut

I’m a fan of The Daily Show and in September 2005, they had a guest who is my favorite to date: Kurt Vonnegut. It’s a fantastic interview that I go back and watch every so often, including four or five times the week he died in 2007, (watch it HERE). In many ways, he was the way I have always imagined Mark Twain would have been if he had been born about a hundred years later.

Vonnegut was one of the greatest satirists with a sense of humor that is hard to find and impossible to replicate. His novels contain a number of my favorites in literature.

Mother Night: My favorite closing line(s). An amazing look at the handling of war crimes justice after World War II, Mother Night is wonderfully poetic in its irony, but in no scene is it more pronounced than the novel’s closing scene.

“Harrison Bergeron”: My favorite short story. There are many great short stories out there and Vonnegut wrote many of my favorites. Welcome to the Monkey House includes most of these stories, including “Harrison Bergeron”, a look at the need to create equality at all costs.

Breakfast of Champions: My favorite instance of playing with narrative perspective and the author. Though Ian McEwan’s Atonement is my favorite examination of perception and perspective, no one plays with them the way Vonnegut does. It’s not something that can easily be explained, but it is amazing to read.

Kilgore Trout: Favorite recurring character. There are writers that generate series around certain characters and then there are writers like Vonnegut. There are few characters in literature like Vonnegut’s Kilgore Trout, the science fiction writer who appears in a number of his works including Breakfast of Champions and Slaughterhouse-Five.

Mother Night is my favorite Vonnegut book, and, though I couldn’t think of where in my great list of favorites it fits, Cat’s Cradle comes in at a close second. Oh wait, I thought of one: Favorite “I’ve never thought of it that way before” moment for pointing out the confusion caused in children by naming the game Cat’s Cradle when there are no cats and no cradles involved. It is only the first of many, “I’ve never thought of it that way before” moments that novel and his others possess (and I absolutely love it when books make me do that, make me think about things differently).

Book Review – The Year of the Flood by Margaret Atwood

Providing an alternate view of the years leading up to the Waterless Flood, Margaret Atwood’s latest novel The Year of the Flood is an intriguing follow-up to Oryx and Crake. While it isn’t absolutely necessary to have read Oryx and Crake first, I would advise reading them around the same time (I only read Oryx and Crake about four months ago and I feel like I need to reread it). Order isn’t important but the two are really two sides of the same coin.

Told from two characters’ perspectives along with sermons and hymns from the God’s Gardeners, The Year of the Flood doesn’t exactly pick up where Oryx and Crake left off. Instead, it gives the reader alternate views of events leading up to the Waterless Flood, more of a simultaneous narrative. Toby finds and remains with the God’s Gardeners through necessity while Ren’s mother brought her into their midst for very different reasons. Each supplies her own perspective on the Gardeners as well as the world where they are outcasts.

There is a great deal of overlap in the timelines of The Year of the Flood and Oryx and Crake, far more than I had anticipated. It was satisfying to have the opportunity to find out more about some favorite background characters from Oryx and Crake, to get a different view of that novel’s narrator, Jimmy/Snowman, and to have an entirely new character in Toby.

Though Jimmy makes several appearances, The Year of the Flood’s narrators work to fill in details and further round out the story that he first told. The difference between his self-centered, self-chastising view and the two female perspectives is incredible. They’re each tainted with their own ideas and prejudices, but through the combination, a clearer picture begins to emerge. The biggest change in narrative between the two books comes in the main location of the narrators. Jimmy and his Oryx and Crake narrative spend most of their time on the compounds run by the CorpSeCorp where the God’s Gardeners occupy the pleeblands.

One of my favorite aspects of both these books is the way Atwood plays with language. The origins of words and what they’re used for were a favorite subject of Jimmy’s. In The Year of the Flood, the focus is more on the physicality of words, the meaning of a written tradition versus an oral one. With each of the sermons provided, there is an accompanying hymn (there is even a CD available Hymns of the God’s Gardeners). I’ve also heard the audio book edition of The Year of the Flood highly recommended, even by those who had already purchased and read a hardcopy.

Even with two novels, it’s clear at the end of The Year of the Flood that there is still a lot of the story that hasn’t been told. Luckily, Atwood has already admitted that there is another book in the works, currently titled MaddAddam. I’m definitely looking forward to this next promised installment as each book adds to the complexity of the story as a whole. Though Jimmy felt responsible and blamed himself for what happened in Oryx and Crake, The Year of the Flood shows that there’s a lot of responsibility and blame to go around.

When writers and their readers come together

“The fact is that all writers create their precursors. Their work modifies our conception of the past, just as it is bound to modify the future.” – Jorge Luis Borges

This past week I finally joined Goodreads.com. It wasn’t because of any friends recommending it to me (though they can have the credit if they really want it), but rather because of their Goodreads authors. Specifically, I was drawn in by the Q&A going on with Margaret Atwood. There’s something completely inspiring about having a chance to ask questions of someone you admire and who inspires you, someone you would almost never have the opportunity to me face-to-face, and to have that person take the time to answer your questions is amazing.

The Q&A with Margaret Atwood is the first that I’ve taken part in,  but it isn’t the only Q&A featuring a writer on the site, so I definitely recommend looking into your favorite authors on the site. Check back tomorrow for my review of Margaret Atwood’s The Year of the Flood.