Funny Farm

 Funny Farm by Laurie Zaleski

The uplifting, heart-wrenching story of a woman (the author's mother) who left an insanely abusive husband to find a safer life for herself and her three children. They moved into a run-down abandoned house in the middle of nowhere and for years endured the harrassment of their maniac father who did everything he could to destroy them, yet demanded the kids continue to spend weeks at his - of course - much nicer home. He had money, but once they went back to their mother he not only refused them any support, he actively worked to make their lives almost unbearable. 

Their mother, Annie, made the abandoned house as much of a home as she could and with a soft heart for any creature in need, took in stray animals until the property became a farm of sorts. Daughter Laurie, the author, grew up with her mother's compassion for animals and promised that one day she would buy them a real farm, a home for her and her mother and all the animals they could care for. 

At the end of each chapter is an Animal Tail, a brief story about some of the animals on the Funny Farm, the unusual friendships they form, health problems they've overcome, etc. These can seem a bit disconnected because they don't always relate to what's in the chapter they follow, but they do provide needed comic relief in the midst of a very heavy story.

Today the Funny Farm Rescue and Sanctuary in May's Landing, New Jersey is open to the public on Sundays and Tuesdays. They have over 600 animals and a large group of volunteers to help look after them. Pictures and animal stories can be found on their website at funnyfarmrescue.

The Giver of Stars and Eruption

 The Giver of Stars by JoJo Moyes

This book got very good reviews that I find a little baffling. 

The story is about the women of Appalachia who went on  horseback into remote areas taking books to people with otherwise no access to them. I've read about these determined librarians before and they have my deepest admiration for the difficult and dangerous job they took on, but in this book the story goes on too long and so becomes tedious. Several pages of a drawn out - and repetitive - courtroom scene left me yawning and wanting to get to the end as quickly as possible.

The main characters were mostly likeable if somewhat flat and predictable, either all good or all bad, and a little over-dramatic.

The dialogue tended toward cliches and the occasional inclusion of modern phrasing felt out of place in the 1930's setting. It went on too long and tried to tackle too many issues, but that's only one opinion. Many, many, others love it so don't let my complaints dissuade you.

Much depends on personal taste and as French author Andre Maurois said:  "In literature, as in love, we are astonished at what is chosen by others."  

Eruption by Michael Crichton and James Patterson

I was in the mood for a novel that was all plot, something to get lost in for a while and not have to think about deeper meanings and I certainly got that in Eruption. It doesn't say any more than the words you find on the page but it surely does keep you turning those pages.

On the island of Hawaii sits the world's largest volcano and it is about to blow. There are people who take the threat seriously and, of course, those who want to cash in and make a spectacle of it. Small eruptions start things rolling as the scientists and the military look for ways to prevent "the big one" or at least limit the damage it will do. 

Nothing goes as planned, and then there's more bad news: sitting in the path of the impending lava flow is a cave filled with hundreds of barrels of deadly toxic waste. If the contents are released, humanity will be faced with what could be an extinction level event. 

Tense, for sure, and maybe a little unrealistic at times. On the other hand there probably are people who would pull some of the stupid stunts they get up to here, for which they are always very, very sorry a little too late. My one complaint is that they killed off my favourite character, something that happens to me a lot lately in books, movies and tv shows. Why am I always drawn to the characters who won't make it through the story? 

It delivers what it promises - a tense few hours of escapism - and along the way you learn a bit about how volcanoes work. Exactly what I was looking for at the time.

The Jane Austen Recipe Book

 The Jane Austen Recipe Book by Robert Tuesley Anderson

A delightful read from beginning to end. A kind friend brought me this littlle book from France, stamped inside with the Shakespeare and Company logo. I'm not able to travel but a souvenir like this from a thoughtful friend lets me feel I've been a part of their adventure and I am very grateful for it.

As the title says, it is a recipe book, but each recipe comes with a charming story. It may refer to one of Austen's novels, typical meals from that era, or even thoughts on food taken from Jane's own letters to her sister, Cassandra. It's all beautifully written and put together, and the recipes are very tempting.

The book is divided into six sections: Breakfast; Picnics; Nuncheons & Other Light Meals; Dinner; Trash & Sweet Things; and Entertaining: Routs and Balls. 

To tempt you further, here a few of the recipes offered - Stuffed Tomatoes; Strawberry & Lavender Shortcakes; Netherfield White Soup; Cassandra's Lobster & Asparagus; Mrs. Austen's Spinach & Potato Gratin; Charlotte Lucas's Mince Pies; and Champagne Ice. You're bound to find something you want to try. And to make it easier, all of the recipes have been adjusted to accomodate changing times and availability of ingredients. 

For any Austen fan this book will be an inspiration in the kitchen and a joy to read.

Past Imperfect

 Past Imperfect by Julian Fellowes

The story's narrator, a middle-aged writer of moderate success, is contacted by Damien Baxter, a friend from youth, to help locate his heir. Immensely wealthy, bed-ridden and dying, Damien wants to know if any of his old flames may have had a child by him, someone to whom he can leave all that he's accumulated.

The narrator, who remains unnamed - I will call him N - visits each of the women in their old crowd to learn who has children and when they were born. It seems the outwardly charming Damien had been intimate with a number of them dispite his dislike of most people and their dislike of him. He's a complicated character whose treatment of others kept me from any real sympathy for him even as his condition worsened, though his final act just before dying tempered my opinion somewhat.

N's conversations with Serena, Candida, Dagmar, Joanna, Lucy, and Terry take us back to the 1960's world of debutante balls and high society parents who hold very firm opinions about who their daughters should be befriending. Now, years later, most are settled into lives that, falling short of their youthful dreams, nevertheless provide a certain stability they don't want upended by old secrets coming to light.

Unlike Damien, N developed into a sympathetic character I liked better and better as the book went on. The others we come to know in succession as they talk with N about their shared history - especially one ghastly night they all refer to - and what they've done with their lives since. You don't find out exactly what took place until all their stories finally merge in a climactic scene that forever blows apart this group of friends, though I'm not sure 'friends' is quite the right word for this group.

What kept me going through the first part of the audio book, which I didn't find particularly interesting, was the reading by Richard Morant. His easy-on-the-ears voice, kindly with a lovely English accent, perfectly created the refined, but down-to-earth, world of this story. 

I had my doubts in the beginning, but now, having finished it, I wish there was more. 

The Candy House

 The Candy House by Jennifer Egan

What an unusual and interesting novel. 

It's told in interconnecting stories narrated by different characters in different times. I got a bit lost trying to figure out who was talking and how they were connected to the person in the previous chapter, so I made a sort of character map to help keep them all straight. It wasn't pretty with criss-crossing lines and arrows showing who each one was to the other, but it helped me see the overall picture so I could concentrate on the story. 

The setting is the near future, when a new development in software enables people to upload their consciousness to an online server, then download it onto a piece of personal hardware called a cube. You could use it to regain lost memories, to re-live your best - or worst - days. Everything you've ever done, said, or thought, the good and the bad, all readily available.

With further development came the opportunity to upload the contents of your cube to a collective consciousness that everyone would have access to. As ominous as that sounds there were some benefits in areas like law enforcement and medicine. No one was required to join the collective, but if you didn't you wouldn't have access to those of others. People in favour of this data sharing were called counters, those opposed, eluders. 

The stories, some narrated in the first person, some in the third person, one in the second person "you", and one that's simply a list of text messages, examine how the technology affected different people at different times. It looks at connection and what we give up when we trade privacy for information. 

The software program - called Own Your Own Conscious - provides the basis for the story, but the book is much more about the people who designed and used it than it is about the tech itself, and that's what makes this such a compelling story. These characters came to life in a way that made me forget they're words on a page and that none of this really happened.  

Once I figured out who was who and where it was going, I loved it. 

News From Thrush Green/The Silmarillion

 News From Thrush Green by Miss Read

This third book in the lovely Thrush Green series takes us into the schoolroom of the infinitely patient Miss Watson and Miss Fogarty; the welcoming kitchen of kind Winnie Bailey, retired Dr. Bailey's wife; the parsonage of vicar Charles Henstock and his wife, Dimity; and Tulliver's, a house that long sat empty, now being being enlivened again by Phil (Phyllida), a writer of stories, and her young son. 

The arrival of an attractive young woman in the village is a topic for much speculation, more so as Phil's husband does not arrive with her. Is she married? Where is this husband she speaks of? Separated? Divorced?  Her neighbour, Harold, who becomes her good friend, is particularly interested to know.

The daily doings of gentle people in a small Cotswold village make up the story and create a world that is always comfortable to fall back into. They are a gift I give myself when I grow weary of the world we're living in today. 

The Silmarillion by J.R.R. Tolkien

With over 200 named characters and a timespan covering what must be thousands of years, this is a book that requires some commitment. But I love Tolkien's writing and I wanted to learn the histories referred to in The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, so I dove in, just hoping to get through it eventually. 

I finished it a few days ago and have to say I loved it. I'd get bogged down in all the names, places, and battles occasionally, then take a break and come back to it later, but I didn't at any point feel like giving up. It's beautiful. 

And talk about world building! With wonderfully lyrical language Tolkien builds a world that once entered, I never want to leave. Learning about the origins of that world gives The Lord of the Rings story and characters more depth and has even made watching the movies better.

My favourite part of The Silmarillion is the creation story at the beginning - absolutely stunning and worth reading again and again. Loved it!