Reading Lately

The Boston Girl by Anita Diamant
If you read the book The Red Tent that was all the rage a couple of decades ago, then you know what an amazing writer Anita Diamant is.  This book starts out in 1985 with Addie Baum telling her life story to her granddaughter.  It is a well written historical fiction novel.  If you can relate at all to Boston in the mid-1900's, Jewish immigrants, or young girls finding their voice, you will love this book. The girls would go to Rockport Lodge every summer and I was wondering if that was a real place.  It turns out that Rockport Lodge is totally real, and was the inspiration for the author to write this book. Anyway, Addie's parents were not the most nurturing people, but I found reading about their dysfunctional home life to be quite entertaining.  Eventually Addie finds mentors outside the home - and true love of course! The book was not as emotionally gripping as The Red Tent but I still recommend.

Well-worn library copy

The Curious Charms of Arthur Pepper by Phaedra Patrick
My husband made me read - I mean strongly suggested I read - this book, which I did while we were in Clearwater last month.  At first I was cringing at this boring awful 69 year old widower who never left the house.  He wore the same old man sweater vest every day and didn't do anything. While finally cleaning out his late wife's closet, he finds a charm bracelet tucked away in the toe of her rain boot. Each charm has a clue about an aspect of his wife's life before they married. Mr. Pepper goes on both emotional trips and real life adventure trips to discover the story behind each charm. The book grew on me as Arthur Pepper blossomed.  He questioned his life with his wife, but the quest helps to bring out his good qualities and improves his relationships with his children and neighbors. I never quite understood why he loved those crazy clown pants though! All in all, it was a good read.

The Book of Lost Things by John Connolly
I picked this book up because it is the fantasy type book I enjoy reading.  David is a 12 year old boy whose mother passed away.  His father remarries Rose who gives birth to his half brother Georgie.  Rose and his dad are wonderful, but David has a chip on his shoulder. The story takes place just outside of London during WW2. To escape the bombing, they move to Rose's family's estate where it turns out a great uncle and his adopted little sister disappeared as children 60 years ago. The books in David's room murmur and talk to him. They lead him to a passage in the garden where David is transported to another world.  But this is not a good world; there are the half man / half wolf Loups, for example. There are several charismatic good guys - all men. I disliked the intimation that Roland - one of these good guys - was homosexual.  It was completely unnecessary to the storyline.  I kept waiting for this so-called "book of lost things" to turn up, and some resolution to the mystery of the missing children.  It was a loooong wait, but my questions were answered.  The middle 100 pages of this book could have been omitted. Skip it.

Thanks for reading!