Hello from another grey day in the Hinterland. We had our annual community yard sale yesterday which meant we had car/pedestrian madness everywhere with the added addition of pouring rain. My injured finger added a lot of complications to my life this week as it cannot bend and must not have any pressure on it. At first I was pretty happy it was my left hand (I am right handed) but it is amazing just how much we do with the index finger of our opposing hand. I can’t tie my shoes or button my jeans. WHat is really bad is I have had to limit my computer use and reading (gasp!) has been problematic. I had to turn in Andres Neuman’s Traveller of the Century
with only a few pages read. It was too heavy to hold and too new to just lay on my lap.
I did mange to finish The Secret Intensity of Everyday Life and look forward to the quasi-sequal I Could Love You. I also finished the first Cazlet novel by Elizabeth Jane Howard and I am part way through the second, The Light Years. Finally I read The Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh. Youngest is deep into John Dean’s Blind Ambition coming up for air occasionally saying, “Wow.” Eldest is eagerly awaiting the end of his class because his grandmother gave him some book money and he has the first three books of The Game of Throne Series.
Here is what caught my interest this week:
I found a book that combines my current interest in the British home front and a cozy Golden Age British mystery. Reviewed at His Futile Preoccupations, Green For Danger by Christianna Brand seems right up my alley. And, strangely enough, I have never read anything by her. Set in a rural army hospital, “Inspector Cockrill, wearing a ‘disreputable old mackintosh,’ is summoned to Heron’s Park and so begins his investigation. Cockrill, an easy man to underestimate, knows that another murder will soon follow the first….” The murders can only have been committed by six people (three doctors and three nurses) and the Inspector must find out the murderer with no motives readily apparent. This sounds like a wonderful mixture of Agatha Christie, John Dickson Carr, and Columbo.
Kim of Reading Matters host a post where different bloggers answer three questions: favorite book, book that changed your world, and a book that deserves wider notice. Jessica of Park Benches and Bookends says that In the Memory of the Forest by Charles T. Powers deserves wider notice:
Proof that a dead author does not mean a novel published posthumously will gain instant bestseller status — although, in this case at least, it really should have. Set in a tiny village in Poland in 1994 just after the iron-curtain has fallen, a body is found in the nearby woods. What you think is then going to be a murder mystery involving some dodgy Russians instead becomes something much bigger. The murder of the man fades into the background as the community confront long-suppressed memories and shameful secrets involving their once thriving pre-WWII Jewish population. It’s also about a hundred other things and it all comes together in one fantastic ending.
This book also gets rave reviews at Amazon so it is definitely going on my list.
My husband and I have spent a lot of time in Tuolumne Meadows in Yosemite National Park – we prefer it to the valley floor as it has beautiful terrain and wonderful hikes. When we hiked we also talked about the Hetch Hetchy Valley which lies in the northwest corner of the park. This is the valley that was flooded by a dam in the 1920’s. Muir said of the flooding of a valley described by many as more beautiful than Yosemite, “Dam Hetch Hetchy! As well dam for water-tanks the people’s cathedrals and churches, for no holier temple has ever been consecrated by the heart of man. ” What happens to the land that is covered. Ivan Doig explores this notion in Bucking The Sun – the story of the Duff family and the building of a dam. Anthony Doerr’s O’Henry Prize winning story Village 113 (Memory Wall: Stories) is the story of the drowning of a town in with building of the Three Gorges Dam. His words are haunting as he describes the water slowly encroaching on the village. Chris, of Chrisbookarama reviews a coming of age story centered on the drowning of a town that also seems to capture the desolation of both landscape and emotion – The Town That Drowned by Riel Nason. Chris describes it well, writing:
The Town That Drowned is Riel Nason’s debut novel and she did a fantastic job finding a voice for Ruby. I loved this clever teen. I’m reluctant to let her and her family go. Ruby’s dad reminds me a bit of Atticus Finch. He’s a good man. The Town That Drowned is a quiet little novel, a coming of age story. There are triumphs and tragedies. I had such an emotional reaction to the events that happen to the characters. They were so real to me. And the ending is so hopeful and uplifting.
This book, published last September, doesn’t seem to have much buzz – only three reviews on Amazon. Perhaps we can create some.
Happy Reading!
How awkward that you have problems holding books and using the computer. Hopefully it doesn’t last too long. It’s not nice being dependent on other people for your shoe laces either!
Did you enjoy The Language of Flowers? I liked it a lot but when I think back on it, it wasn’t really all that great a story.
I am finding I have to read books that lay open in my lap although I am about to tackle The Lonely Polygamist. I thought The Language of Flowers had an interesting concept and a less that satisfactory execution. I had particular problems with the voice in the chapters from the past. I am bummed I missed my book group discussion of the book, I would like to know their reaction.
Thanks for the mention.
Suddenly you’re thinking of all the helpful ways in which you could incorporate velcro into your daily life?! Heh. Hope it’s on the mend soon.
I saw Nason at a literary festival last autumn and found it quite interesting, the way that she described the process of sinking into her narrator’s voice. The book really does sound wonderful!
Thanks, I actually think I can see the end of the tunnel now. I am also looking froward to the Nason book.