EveryRose's 75 book challenge for 2011

[Every Rose]

Re-read. I love this book.

It's told as two stories, The Husband's Story and The Wife's Story and it's up to you which you read first. They both start from one side of the book and you read to the middle, then flip the book over and start again from the other front back to the middle.

They tell the story of the same five days in Chicago of the 1970's when Brenda Bowman leaves her husband Jack to care for their two children, Rob and Laurie, so she can go to Philadelphia to a craft workers convention.

Although Jack has taken a number of business trips and family life has carried on as normal Brenda feels that her trip has taken on something of a holiday quality that annoys her (for example when her well-meaning in-laws give her a bon voyage card).

In Brenda's half of the book we see her reflecting on her marriage and family life and realising that she isn't just a wife and mother but a woman with a life of her own (or, as she as described at one point, "a quilter in her own right") while experiencing her first taste of freedom.

In Jack's half of the book we see him agonise over the book he is writing, a book that seems to be a long time coming but also one that his ex girlfriend seems to have pipped him to the post to write. He also struggles with the children, his fourteen year old son being silent and uncommunicative, his twelve year old daughter living in a vague and muddled innocence, relishing her chance to be lady of the house. He also reflects on his marriage and his relationship with his parents while also struggling with his friend Bernie and his affluent but unhappy neighbours and their tragedy of a poor review in the local paper following an amateur dramatics play.

The writing is wonderful, the characters are wonderful, I liked them and I wanted good things to happen to them. This book always leaves me feeling happy and comforted and with an almost uncontrollable urge to start making a quilt

 

[Every Rose]

This book is beautiful. Everything about it is a delight.

Laid out as a series of letters, plans and photographs which document the building of the Pauson house by Frank Lloyd Wright this book is as much a work of art as a source of information.

Some of the letters are a little hard to read because of the hand writing but they are charming and well worth the effort of deciphering the odd word or two.

It's wonderful to follow the progression of the relationship between client and architect and the letters show a fondness for each other (progressing from Dear Mr Wright and Dear Miss Pauson to My dear Mr Wright and My dear Miss Rose). Sadly, as so often happens when business and friendship are mixed, things turn sour with both sides feeling slighted by the other. And just one year from the completion of the house, with the correspondence still ongoing, a tragedy strikes which makes these letters and photographs all the more precious.

To view them as characters Frank Lloyd Wright and Rose Pauson are charming, fascinating people yet more than able to hold their own against the other when the relationship soured.

It's impossible to review this book without turning back to how beautifully presented this hardback copy is. It would make a beautiful 'coffee table book' and on my own bookshelves it's going to be one that I take down and gloat over because it is so lovely. It would make a beautiful gift for anyone interested in FLW, architecture or design or even someone interested in collections of correspondance between two very strong willed and delightful people.

I'm giving this one full marks and not just to the book. As publishers go Pomegranate are in a class of their own, the support literature and beautiful bookmark that came with my copy were outstanding and the book was so well packaged and presented that I felt it was almost a shame to open it all. This really is a treasure in my library now.

I gave this book: 5 stars

 

[Every Rose]

Reread of an LTER book. Loved it just as much this time around.

Meg is a writer of varying success. Her serious literary novel as a wordcount in minus figures, her sci-fi Newtopia series has ground to a halt and her work as a ghostwriter on a fiction factory team publishing under the pen name of Zeb Ross leaves her feeling disheartened. Occasional book reviews provide her with a low income.

Living unhappily with her boyfriend Christopher in a house that is making her ill, Meg is dismayed to read a book by American author Kelsey Newman which claims people will live forever. Worse, we already are living forever in the same life, we just don't know it.

With a collection of unhappy friends and relatives living complicated lives Meg takes up the challenge to change her own and although she is sceptical at first, being given the brief by her newspaper editor to use self-help books to change her life, she is more shocked to realise that the advice in them seems to be working.

With the possible suicide of an old friend, a older love interest, a mythical beast, a quest for the storyless story and the perfect pair of home knitted socks the story sounds bizarre but works really well.

 

[Every Rose]

I ordered this from the bookshop because Stephen King recommended it (not personally to me, just in one of his books) and I thought you can't get much of a better recommendation than from him. The one that arrived had Catherine Zita Jones on the cover and that put me off for a minute because I realised I'd seen the end of the film and didn't like it.
Anyway, it turned out that the end of the film was very different to the end of the book and the book was very creepy and well worth reading.

 

[Every Rose]

This is another book Stephen King has recommended to his readers and I'm so glad I managed to track it down.

It's a haunted house story with a twist in that the house is a new build rather than a spooky old one and there is no one ghost doing the haunting. The ending is inevitable but no less creepy for that and Anne Rivers Siddons leaves the worst to your imagination.

Having read some of the other reviews for this book I have to agree that Colquitt and Walter do seem to live in a world that doesn't exist anymore and they and their friends do seem to have led sheltered and charmed lives. I think though that this is a device the author uses to fully exploit the unfolding horror. These people have good jobs and nice homes, healthy families and expectations for the future. They have the opinions and attitudes of the reasonably wealthy middle class in the seventies but what they don't know is that they also have everything to lose.

This is why the events in the house are so horrific, so catastrophic and so shocking. Alone, each event would be upsetting or awful but put together they are a disaster, exploding the lives of everyone on the street. And to really show that properly the author had to first show how safe and secure and priviledged these people were.

I think this works really well and this book is one of the best horror books I have read. I agree with one of the other reviewers, it is a shame the author didn't write more of this style.

SANDS friends might want to avoid this one.

 

[Every Rose]

It's very difficult to review this wonderful book.

In July 1915 Private Ken Hoskins is detailed to a firing squad to execute a deserter from his own company. Ken is badly affected by the experience and after the war he joins the Communist party as a way of atonement.

His children, Pam and Bill are raised with the party values and Pam grows up to become a secretary to the party leader, Harry Pollitt. Eventually his grandchildren are also raised to follow the same path and it is Roy and Margaret that we follow right through from their 1940's childhood to the 1990s, where Margaret is a defence analyst and Roy a talented and famous photographer.

And it is only then, so many years later, that we discover the full repercussions of that day in 1915 and what it really means to their family.

I loved the book, the writing was wonderful and the characters were real. I turned every page desperate to know what happened but reluctant to come to the end.

Although the war and the communist party are big influences on the characters and events they are not so much a part of the book, it's more about the ordinariness of the characters and their day to day lives. The author makes this ordinariness seem effortless and in that way it becomes very real and special.

I gave this book: 5 stars

 

[Every Rose]

I guessed whodunnit. But it was still a good read.

Bonnie Graham had planned a summer of relaxing and some DIY on her new flat but is instead hijacked and cajoled by an old friend to reform her old college band to play at her wedding.

Reluctant to take part but feeling unable to say no, Bonnie finds herself putting together a band that comprises of her ex boyfriend, her best friend, a man who has a crush on Bonnie, an ex school pupil and his father and a new acquaintance with too much charm and a talent for stirring up trouble.

As the weeks progress and the group comes together for the practice sessions feelings run high. And soon Bonnie finds herself standing in a friends flat, alone except for a dead body lying in a pool of blood, deciding what she must do next.

It wasn't a bad read, things moved quite well, I felt a couple of loose ends weren't properly tied up and it was hard to feel too much sympathy for Bonnie at times. A key point of the plot took quite a leap of imagination to believe and the ending does leave you wanting to know just that little bit more (in a good way).

 

[Every Rose]

Not quite what I expected but very good.

Laura's nine year old daughter is killed in a hit and run accident and her life is turned upside down. The aftermath of losing Betty reignites some of the hostilities she faced during her divorce from Betty's father and tears her life, family and sanity apart. When the death is ruled to be an accident Laura decides to take revenge on the man who killed her child by taking away the things he loves. But nothing goes quite to plan.

I was expecting a more typical revenge story but as it turns out it is more a study of grief and of the breakdown of a family. The actual revenge angle doesn't feature until close to the end of the book and is ultimately very different to what Laura has allowed herself to imagine. The book is very well written and has some moments of absolute clarity that show the author perfectly understands the subjects she is tackling

 

[Every Rose]

Hated it. Hatehatehate.

I've found that Lisa Jewell's books have been getting steadly worse for me and had decided I probably wouldn't read any more of them before this one came out. I only bought this one because it is a follow up to her first book, which I remember liking. It's some of the same characters as the first book but set twelve years after that one finished.

The old characters aren't that likable now and the new ones are hard work because the author can't seem to make her own mind up about them. One character seems to undergo an almost schizophrenic personality change halfway through the book and then switches rapidly back and forth each time we see him. Another goes from being comfortably well off to being in financial crisis over a packet of blueberries and then seemingly back to rich and happy again.

And there is one piece of absolutely disgraceful and appallingly written bit of rubbishy nonsense that could not and would not possibly happen in a professional medical environment. A doctor was able to diagnose something within 30 seconds of the patient being in the room and without any sign of tests being done or examinations being made. The subject was handled with all the sensitivity of a brick in the face and nobody seemed to question how this doctor could magically know the things he did. There was certainly no reference to him doing tests or examinations in the book.

It was this part of the book that affirmed my decision to give up on this author once and for all and also made me decide to cart all the other books I have by her to the charity shop the first chance I get.

Awful, awful book, don't bother with it.

SANDS friends especially might want to avoid this one.

 

[Every Rose]

This is another author I keep swearing I will never read again but I saw her speaking about this book and it made me interested.

The interview I saw tried to put a big spin on the vaccination debate that runs around Autism and Aspergers but there isn't a great deal of that in the book once you read it.

Jacob Hunt is 18 years old and has Aspergers. His mother, Emma, has fought hard all his life to help him fit in and be accepted and his younger brother Theo has struggled betweel loyalty to his brother and a need to belong in his own right. When Jacob becomes involved in a murder case and swiftly becomes the number one suspect the traits of his Aspergers are suddenly exposed as the same traits as guilt and Emma and Theo struggle to help Jacob as they can't be sure of his innocence.

Mostly this is a typical Picoult book, she has the differing POV's from the various characters, things are hinted at but only slowly revealled, there's the unique selling point/big media issue plot and some of the characters have the "what's in this for me" feelings of guilt (this time when Theo thinks his own life would be easier if his brother went to prison).

What's not here this time is the Picoult twist or a straightforward ending (unless the information kept from the reader was the twist this time or unless it was the thing that was so obvious to me that I'm sure she actually explains it to the reader if not to most of the characters until close to the end).

And I liked the lack of twist. I'd have prefered the information though.

This one gets a passable 3 stars and has me considering that I might have been a tad harsh to say never again after the last one I read (whose name I forget but it had the little girl, Willow, with the brittle bones).

 

[Chris77]

While Anne Boleyn is incarcerated in the Tower awaiting execution on phony charges of adultery because King Henry needs to rid himself of his queen to marry Jane Seymour, she scribes her memoirs so her daughter Princess Elizabeth will never forget her mother. It's Anne's personal account of her quick rise from commoner to Queen and collapse to death row prisoner.

I gave the book 2 stars. While it was an entertaining read, I felt that the her accounts were tainted in order to look good in her daughter's eyes.

 

[Every Rose]

That sounds really good. I love this type of story.

Sorry, I should have said, you need to start your own thread for your challenge or we might get a bit out of hand.

 

[Chris77]

This is the story of Elizabeth of York, daughter of Edward IV and her journey from royaltyto insignificance and to the true Queen of England at the side of Henry Tudor. The uncertain fate of her younger brothers, the princes in the Tower haunts Elizabeth, especially after the princes Protector take the throne for himself.

It took a while for me to get into this. There are tons of characters and found myself almost needing a notebook to keep it all straight! It started getting better as I kept reading though.

 

[Chris77]

While Anne Boleyn is incarcerated in the Tower awaiting execution on phony charges of adultery because King Henry needs to rid himself of his queen to marry Jane Seymour, she scribes her memoirs so her daughter Princess Elizabeth will never forget her mother. It's Anne's personal account of her quick rise from commoner to Queen and collapse to death row prisoner.

I gave the book 2 stars. While it was an entertaining read, I felt that the her accounts were tainted in order to look good in her daughter's eyes.

That sounds really good. I love this type of story.

Sorry, I should have said, you need to start your own thread for your challenge or we might get a bit out of hand.

Oh gotcha!! Okay, I'll start it with my next book.

 

[Jo]

Chris use your powers and merge them

Wow EveryRose you have got through a lot of books in 4 months!!

 

[Every Rose]

I hope the film is better. This wasn't bad, the idea being that the wolf in the story is actually a werewolf tormenting a village and Red Riding Hood is actually a girl named Valerie whose sister was the wolf's most recent victim. But it could have been a lot better than it was.

I gave this book: 2 stars

 

[Sarahkka]

Great idea!
I think I may start my list thread with my book list so that people can do a quick reference just off the first post.
Not sure I'll start with 75, either! I used to be a voracious reader, but I'm finding it harder to get through stuff with my babies at the ages they are. It's the Age of Disruptions for me!
Interesting selection, so far, too.

 

[Every Rose]

This is a reread this year and below is my review from when I first read it (in blue). This book will not be for everyone, it has abuse of many sorts, the terrible death of a child through neglect and also features a cot death, stillbirth and miscarriages.

This book has me almost speechless with shock but was so gripping that I read it in one sitting. Just when you think it cannot possibly get any more shocking or distressing it somehow does.

Brendan and Sherilyn have everything but all they want is each other. By the time they meet at work they have already abandoned their unsatisfactory families and carved out high-flying careers but their meeting starts an obsessive love. All they want and need is each other, to the point that when they have their daughter Samantha they resent her intrusion into their lives and a spiral of abuse and neglect ends in the telling of this shocking, distressing story by those who played their part in it. From a concerned neighbour to a harrassed social worker, a police officer driven to breaking point and the disbelieving families of Sherilyn and Brendon we get every point of view, including theirs.

Everyone but Samantha has a say in this story, perhaps because she had no voice herself throughout her life.

It's rare to find this sort of abominable coldness in a character and yet here it is in two. With no perception of what they have done, no acceptance that they have abused and killed their own child and at one point this terrible proud happiness when the policeman's discovery of her body is described in court (their reaction is noted with shock by the court usher) they truly are two of the most cold, unfeeling and quietly psychopathic people ever to appear in a book I have read. They are frightening, and yet at the end of the book Brendan has this one moment of humanity that makes you wonder why he can empathise with a strangers child but not his own.

This book is not for the faint-hearted and it is not just the death of Samantha that some readers might find distressing. Sherilyn's mother is mentally fragile following the loss of four other children and those losses and her feelings about them are described.

I don't think anyone can read this book and not end it feeling shaken and upset but I would still recommend it as being the first book by an author with amazing insight and talent. It's well written and well thought out, designed to make everyone think that this could happen behind the closed doors in their street and makes the reader wonder how much responsibility they might bear if it did. This book took hold of me from the minute I started it and did not let me go even after I finished it. It's going to be on my mind for a long time and although I can't say I 'enjoyed' it with it being such a terrible subject, enjoyment isn't the only criteria for great book and that's what this was. A great book that shook me out of my comfortable reading habits and kept me gripped right until the end.

Second time around I found myself holding my breath for the parts I remembered which upset me last time and found myself rocked by other bits I hadn't prepared for instead. Still a very well written book that deserves the five stars I gave it first time around.

 

[Every Rose]

Josey Cirrini is startled to find a woman hiding in her closet, not least because that's where she keeps her secret supplies of sweet foods, travel magazines and romance novels hidden from her disapproving mother.

When Della Lee Baker refuses to leave the closet, claiming she needs to hide out for a few weeks before she heads north, Josey reluctantly agrees to let her stay. What's one more secret hidden in the closet after all?

But Della Lee has a curious effect on Josey and her household. With maid Helena trying to track down the "bad thing" she feels has arrived in the house and her mother Margaret determined to keep Josey in her place, more servant than daughter, Josey finds herself making her first real friends. First Della Lee, then Chloe Finley who works at the courthouse and makes the best grilled cheese and tomato sandwiches ever, and finally Adam, the mailman Josey has had a crush on for three years.

Josey suddenly finds that it isn't to late to change your life and that magic can happen to everyone, every single day, if only you are prepared to let it.

The characters are mostly lovely, although one are two are not quite so charming.

I really enjoyed this book and I wish that some of Chloe's magic would rub off on me. Having books magically appear when I need them would be a lot of fun and save me a fortune.

I gave this book: 4 stars

 

[twinkle1975]

I hope the film is better. This wasn't bad, the idea being that the wolf in the story is actually a werewolf tormenting a village and Red Riding Hood is actually a girl named Valerie whose sister was the wolf's most recent victim. But it could have been a lot better than it was.

I gave this book: 2 stars

It's not!!