Saving CeeCee Honeycutt

 Saving CeeCee Honeycutt by Beth Hoffman

It's been a couple of months since I read this and now I've forgotten the details. I try to organize my thoughts about a book as soon as I've finished it, but have been plagued with interruptions and distractions lately. What I do remember is enjoying reading it.

CeeCee is 7 yrs old as the story opens, and living with her unstable mother and uninvolved father. When her mother is hit and killed by an ice-cream truck, her father decides CeeCee is too much for him and hands her off to Great Aunt Tootie. This turns out to be the kind of fairytale-come-true that only happens in books. Tootie is kind, gentle, loving, generous, and wealthy. She has a cook, Oletta, and wonderful neighbours who come to love and be a family to CeeCee. 

I wouldn't call it fluff as it does touch on more serious themes - family dysfunction, racism and mental health - but with lots of down-home wisdom and a few life lessons sprinkled throughout, it is a sweet story. 

A little unrealistic but very pleasant reading. 

North And South

 North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell

When Margaret Hale's father gives up his post as Vicar in a quiet English village, she and her parents move to a factory town where he hopes to find work as a tutor. His first student is John Thornton, the owner of a local mill where there is unrest among workers dissatisfied with inadequate pay and poor living conditions.

Note - if you haven't read North and South yet, it would be best to stop here as the ending will be mentioned.

Margaret, taking the side of the workers, at first finds Mr. Thornton arrogant and unlikeable,  She befriends the family of a disgruntled mill worker whose daughter's health is failing, but then becomes an unexpected advocate for Mr. Thornton when a strike mob threatens him. 

The more she gets to know Mr. Thornton the more her feelings toward him soften, but a series of devasting losses in Margaret's life seem to put more distance between them. We don't find out if they'll get together until the final pages of the book but there's so much else going on that you almost don't mind the wait. Almost.

I did wish there were a few more chapters. By the end of the book their circumstances have been reversed, Margaret having come into money and property and John having lost everything, and it would be nice to read more about their life together, how they handled those changes, etc.

I listened to an audio version of this book narrated beautifully by Juliet Stevenson, who gave each character a distinct, authentic voice and brought this book to vibrant life. Her reading - performing, really - made these people so real that I missed them terribly after I finished. A week later, I still miss them, their world, and her perfectly modulated voice and lovely English accent. I'd listen to her read anything. 

I loved North and South and highly recommend it, in print or this audio version. Then watch the mini-series with Richard Armitage as John Thornton. They are all wonderful. 

The Music Shop

 The Music Shop by Rachel Joyce

Frank owns a rundown music shop on a back street lined with a few more old businesses and dilapidated houses. His suppliers are beginning to avoid him because he refuses to stock CDs, believing the truest sound can only be heard on vinyl. They tell him he soon won't be able to get records and will have to switch to CDs, but Frank is adamant.

Blessed with an uncanny ability to sense what people are feeling and which record would meet their need at that moment in time, he suggests Aretha Franklin to one, something classical for another, or maybe jazz, and he's never wrong. He doesn't make much money, but he likes that he's able to help people 

Also in Frank's out-of-the-way neighbourhood are a funeral parlour run by the Williams Brothers, Mr. Novak's Bakery, Maud's Tattoo Parlour, and the gift shop of ex-priest Father Anthony. Rounding out the cast is Mrs. Roussos, who owns a home on the street and is a frequent visitor to the shop, and Kit, Frank's clumsily enthusiastic young assistant. In flashbacks we are introduced to Peg, Frank's eccentric mother, and learn something of the upbringing that gave him his love for music and explains why he has trouble opening up to people.  

Into this declining neighbourhood comes Ilse, a beautiful woman recently arrived from Germany, who faints outside the music shop window and is taken inside to recover. Once she does, she departs quickly, leaving everyone wondering who she is, where she lives, and why she's here. Though she returns and they get to know her a little, her hesitancy to speak about herself keeps them wondering. and conjecturing. 

With Frank falling for Ilse and a development firm using shady tactics to buy up local properties, things get complicated. Ilse is supposed to have a fiancée back in Germany, but won't talk about him. Some of the shop owners, faced with harassment and even violence, are getting scared and selling out. Frank's shop could be the next target.

This was a touching story with authentic, relatable characters you'd want for friends. Frank and Ilse could be frustratingly reticent - just SAY it for Pete's sake! - but I loved the parts where he spoke about various pieces of music and how to listen to them properly. I want to play some of the ones mentioned and try to hear what he said to listen for. I'm afraid it will be on CDs though. Don't tell Frank. 

Attribution

 Attribution by Linda Moore

Cate, art history student, finds an old and possibly valuable painting in a storeroom at the university. She thinks she recognizes a Spanish artist's style but can't find any mention of it in lists of his works. Telling no one of her discovery, she disappoints her parents who wanted her to come home for Christmas, and instead takes an impromptu trip to Spain to do some research. There, in an apparently serendipitous moment, she meets Antonio, who will become a romantic interest and in whose family home Cate's painting once hung. To begin her research she contacts a local professor who seems willing to help but in fact has her own agenda for the painting. 

I love a book that immerses me in a place, time or culture not my own. Living in the art world of this book for a few days and learning a little about artists and their paintings made this a great reading experience for me. The story is good as well, though I thought it a bit too much of a coincidence that the man she just happened to sit beside on the train also just happened to be the one who's family had a history with her painting. Still, it made for an intriguing story and I very much enjoyed it. 

Close Enough To Touch

 Close Enough to Touch by Colleen Oakley

The story begins "I kissed a boy once and almost died." And she's not kidding. Jubilee Jenkins has an allergy to all skin cells but her own and kissing that boy almost killed her. She swelled up, went into anaphylactic shock and ended up in the hospital. 

She's been a recluse now for the past seven years, but when her mother (who has been supporting her) dies, Jubilee has no choice but to brave the outside and look for a job, which she finds at the local library. There she meets harried single father, Eric, and his quirky son, Aja, who has a sometimes disastrous (but really interesting) fascination with telekinesis. Jubilee and Aja form a connection, but because of her condition they cannot touch. She likes Eric once she gets to know him, but understands she can't get into a relationship with him or with anyone. She's given up hope for a cure, the only possibility left being an experimental treatment she has already considered and rejected.

It's a unique plot with affecting characters and it's only timing that kept it from having the impact on me that other recent reads have had. North and South, Haven, and Fellowship Point are outstanding novels and hard acts to follow. Even a good story like Close Enough to Touch is bound to pale a little in comparison, but it is good and I do recommend it.     

Indians on Vacation

 Indians on Vacation by Thomas King

Mimi and Bird, a middle-aged indigenous couple, are on vacation in Prague. This is one of many trips they've taken in an attempt to discover something about Mimi's uncle Leroy, who left home when he was young, taking the family's sacred medicine bundle with him. He sent postcards home from various locations around the world and Mimi, following his path, hopes to find out more about his life after he left or maybe even find the bundle itself. 

Mimi is an enthusiastic traveler who loves to explore the cities they visit; Bird just wants be home. His grousing about it wore a little thin but the story was interesting otherwise with alternating chapters about other trips they've taken, Bird's youth, and Mimi's mother. And then there are the demons Bird fights continually: catastrophizing, self-loathing, depression, despair, and touchiness. Mimi names them all - Kitty, Eugene, twins Didi and Desi, and Chip - which starts Bird seeing them as actual (though invisible to anyone else) people. His encounters with them are the funniest parts of the book. 

I liked the book's off-beat feeling but didn't find it as hilarious as other reviewers have. Indeed it was quite sad, but Mimi's endearing character and Bird's demons made it real and relatable. 

Not too dark and not too funny, just a good story.