OK, So I read one, But I have forgotten...

Ok, so sometimes I forget the titles of what I have just read. This time, I know I have read it, but I can't remember the title, and I can't remember what the book was about.

Usually, it's a sign that I wasn't much keen on the book to start. Knowing my short memory, I try to blog about the book as soon as I have finished it. In this case, I was so excited to get onto reading the October selection for my book club, that I put the finished novel down (somewhere) and now I can't find it, and I can't remember much about it. (In my defence, I am reorganizing my home office, so I have an excuse as I have just packed all my books up into boxes for a week.)

Hold on now...I remember it was about a man, who is a real estate agent in New Jersey, and he is divorced and struggling to maintain a relationship with his son. During the course of the story, his son is hit in the head with a baseball in a batting cage accident in Cooperstown.

What was it called again: One Ball Too Many?...No that isn't it.

Tell you what, when I find it, I'll fill in the blanks and we'll call it a blog entry. (Wonder if I can google a book just with short description?) Oh well.

OK. I FOUND IT. IT'S CALLED INDEPENDENCE DAY BY RICHARD FORD. Don't rush out and buy it. I'll lend you a copy!

Listen, I don't purport to know much about literature, but this is one of the reasons I wouldn't recommend it. David Louis Edelman sums up why I found it boring:

"No one could accuse Richard Ford of rushing things in Independence Day. (Bascombe spends fifty pages alone narrating his house tour with the Markhams.) But those who can float with the tide will find a brilliant and absorbing underbelly to Independence Day that makes it one of the most accomplished novels of the year."

No thanks to underbelly!!!
 

What Stinks Around Here?!? Day Late and a Dollar Short...OH YAHHHH!!!!!

What a drag...

Well, it pains me to say that this book was a real disappointment. Talk about perpetuating stereotypes, with little attempt to create a portrait of a real life family. "Well, you're reading fiction Claire!" you say. Ok, I realise that this is fiction, but Dollar Short just seems to be painfullly predictable.

This is a summary of the novel by Book Reporter: "Through the literary device of the talk story, we explore the ups and downs of "the Price family." At the opening, everyone is at odds with each other. Viola and her husband Cecil have separated after a tumultuous, 38-year marriage. Viola's second oldest daughter Charlotte and she are not speaking. Viola is troubled by a situation with her youngest daughter Janel. The only son, Lewis, is an alcoholic, in and out of jail and alienated from the family because he feels he is the "failure" among his middle-class sisters. Paris, who admittedly is living out her mother's dream, is the only one at peace with Viola. But even Paris is harboring secrets. Meanwhile, Charlotte is not speaking to Paris because she feels Viola and Paris triangulate against her. The whole family is in turmoil."

Here's my overview of the dysfunctional characters:

-Overbearing fat black mother who's on her deathbed and needs to fix everyone's problems
-Four siblings who are fighting in lumps;
-One daughter is constantly popping pills and abusing prescription drugs
-One daughter married to a man who is sexually abusing her daughter...and she is in denial about it
-One daughter who's husband has a secret child with another woman and is paying child support behind her back
-One alcoholic brother who has a son that he never parents

Needless to say, it's grim. So painfully grim and predictable in some ways.

This was my book club's September read, and it was chosen from the local library's Book Club collection set. We try to use this moving collection at least 50% of the time, so that we don't have to buy a new book every month.

This month's selection was really disappointing though, and I question how it could have been included in the library's collection.

Oh well, onwards and upwards. October's read will be much better, I am quite sure!

Great Summer Read: The Red Tent

No summer is complete without a great story while laying in the sun or sitting by the pool. This year, my summer relaxation was perfected by Anita Diamant's The Red Tent.

Although my book club read this novel last year, I missed that month and put The Red Tent on my long list of "must reads". I am so glad I came back to it this month, as I will remember it as the summer vacation book of 2012. 

Arrowhead Provincial Park

Ironically, while it's call The Red Tent, I found myself reading inside a green and white tent in Arrowhead Provincial Park during a family camping trip. Our days were busy with hiking trails, kayaking on fresh water lakes and exploring the creatures of slow moving rivers. But at night, after the kids had roasted marshmallows on the camp fire and finally gone to sleep, I would pull out the bottle of Amarone and a flashlight so that I could enjoy Diamant's story under the northern Canadian stars. Reading by flashlight in the middle of the woods is absorbing...no disturbances (other than the occasional scratching from the nearby bushes.

Here's how Amazon.com summarizes the book:

"Her name is Dinah. In the Bible, her life is only hinted at in a brief and violent detour within the more familiar chapters of the Book of Genesis that are about her father, Jacob, and his dozen sons. Told in Dinah's voice, this novel reveals the traditions and turmoils of ancient womanhood--the world of the red tent. It begins with the story of her mothers--Leah, Rachel, Zilpah, and Bilhah--the four wives of Jacob. They love Dinah and give her gifts that sustain her through a hard-working youth, a calling to midwifery, and a new home in a foreign land. Dinah's story reaches out from a remarkable period of early history and creates an intimate connection with the past. Deeply affecting, The Red Tent combines rich storytelling with a valuable achievement in modern fiction."

Hands down, I loved this book. I would highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys reading rich stories about strong women. Two bid thumbs up!!!