A Wayside Tavern Review

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(More customer reviews)This was my first venture into a Norah Lofts novel - what a terrific find! The book begins in the 4th century as the Roman army begins to pull out of England. Wounded and unable to continue with the troops, Paulus remains behind at the "deserted" wayside tavern they had stumbled across. One act of kindness begets another and soon Paulus has unknowingly started a family and a story of a family home to reach through the centuries. Ms. Lofts brilliantly and seamlessly weaves each generation of her story into the next, culminating with a single reminder back to the days of Paulus which I think wrapped the story beautifully back to it's beginning. Along the way, however, you will enjoy stories of historical interest, religion,love, loss, and the simple human characteristics that create great human drama. I thoroughly enjoyed each step along the way and I highly recommend this book.

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A Northern Light Review

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(More customer reviews)Sometimes when authors place fictional characters in the company of real historical figures the result is laughable or strained. Too often a child figure will suddenly find his or herself in the presence of (oh say) Abraham Lincoln and will teach the great man about following his childlike instincts or some other such goo. This is not to say that historical figures and situations are at odds with children's literature. I just want to make it clear that it's rare to find a really clever and believable situation in which the real and the unreal mix. "A Northern Light" is one such rarity.
In this book, heroine Mattie Gorkey lives two different narratives. In one story, she's working at a fancy hotel in the Northern Woods in 1906. A young woman vacationing at the hotel was recently discovered drowned in a nearby lake. Weighing on Mattie's conscience is the fact that just the day before the girl had entrusted her letters to our heroine with strict instructions that they be burned. Mattie has not burned them yet. The second narrative takes place several months before the exciting events at the hotel. Here we learn far more about Mattie's background and her love of literature and writing. With a mother recently dead and a family of five to care for, Mattie's great dream is to attend Barnard College in New York. Unfortunately, her pa is anything but receptive to the idea and there's a cute boy hanging around who seems to be giving Mattie quite a bit of attention. Focusing on her own dilemmas with the caring but somewhat close minded society in which she lives, Mat must figure out who she is and what is most important to her in the end. Mixing fiction with the historical events surrounding the 1906 Grace Brown murder case, the book effortlessly combines the two stories without so much as a hitch.
Author Jennifer Donnelly has given herself a surprisingly difficult task. How do you write a historical figure, particularly a female, and make her independent without making her seem like a 21st century girl in an early 20th century world? How, in other words, do you make her believable? Make no mistake, Mattie is a very believable character. So believable, in fact, that I found myself wanting to throttle her from time to time. I mean, she's a teenager, so we have to make allowances for her behavior. If she goes all doe-eyed over the local brick-headed swain, that's only partly her fault. Just the same, I suspect readers everywhere will be sometimes screaming in their heads at this character when she tries to decide what to do with Grace's letters or her own life. As for the melding of Mattie's story with that of Grace Brown's, it's seamless. Almost as if the events told here are the hard boiled truth. Still, it's a pity that the details of Grace's life don't parallel perfectly with Mattie's. The final decision made at the book's end would make a little more sense had Grace been similar to Mattie in personality or living situation. As it is, it's not entirely clear where Mat draws her final conclusions about living and life from. But these are small potatoes. There is no doubt left in the reader's mind at the end that the book is effortlessly written.
Fans of Elizabeth Taylor's great film, "A Place In the Sun", will see definite similarities between the murder in this book and that movie. That's because both works were based on an actual trial that inspired such works as Theodore Dreiser's, "An American Tragedy". But this isn't just a younger version of an already existing tale. "A Northern Light" stands on its own as a remarkable and well-told tale of one girl and her search for (for lack of a better word) fulfillment. It's a gripping story as you read through, not certain in the least that Mattie will do the right thing at the right moment. Bound to raise a fair amount of discussion and debate. A nice new novel.


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Troubles (New York Review Books Classics) Review

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(More customer reviews)Originally published in 1970 and newly reprinted, Troubles, the story of Ireland's fight for independence from 1919 - 1922, illuminates the attitudes and insensitivities which made revolution a necessity for the Irish people. Farrell also, however, focuses on the personal, human costs to the residential Anglo-Irish aristocracy as they find themselves being driven out of their "homes."
Edward Spencer, a conservative Protestant loyalist, runs a decaying 300-room hotel on the coast of County Wexford. Regarding himself as a benevolent landowner, he nevertheless demands total submission of his tenants and the signing of a loyalty oath to the King. His ironically named Majestic Hotel, lacking maintenance during the war and its aftermath, is now too costly to repair. When British Major Brendan Archer, newly released from hospital, arrives at the Majestic to reintroduce himself to his fiancée Angela, daughter of the proprietor, the reader quickly sees the Majestic as the symbol of a faded aristocracy which has outlived its usefulness. The windows are broken, the roof is leaking, and decorative gewgaws and balconies are hanging loosely, threatening to crash. Walls, floors, and even ceilings, are swelling and cracking from vegetation run wild, and the hotel's ironically named Imperial Bar is "boiling with cats," some of which live inside upholstered chairs and all of which subsist on a diet of rats and mice. Irish rebels live just outside the hotel's perimeter.
With wry humor and a formidable talent for description, Farrell conjures up nightmarish images of life in the hotel, selecting small, vivid details to make the larger thematic picture more real. Homely details enlarge his canvas and bring his symbolism home to the reader as the rebellion by the Irish poor continues to grow and affect life within the microcosm of the Majestic. The reader's feeling of claustrophobia and the need to escape builds, and one is not surprised when violence strikes.
By injecting small news stories throughout the narrative, Farrell informs the reader about the progress of the rebellion. He also sets up global parallels, widening his scope by reporting problems in India, South Africa, and other parts of the Empire, along with the Chicago Riots and the Bolshevist attacks in Kiev. Humor and sometimes satire leaven even the most emotional moments, and Farrell paints his characters with a broad brush which makes one constantly aware of their absurdity. Clearly delineating the emotional issues behind the drive for Irish independence, Farrell makes the reader see both sides with empathy. When Edward and the Major finally begin to shoot the Majestic's cats in preparation for a large ball, the reader is prepared for a final round of violence at the Majestic and almost welcomes it. Mary Whipple

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Major Brendan Archer returns from the Great War to claim his fiancee, whose family owns the Majestic Hotel in Kilnalough, Ireland. She is strangely altered, however, along with the hotel, which is in spectacular decline — cats roam its upper stories, the Palm Court is a jungle, and the last guests are little old ladies with nowhere else to go. Outside the formerly grand hotel, the British Empire also totters. There is unrest in the East, and Ireland itself senses the mounting violence of its "troubles." J.G. Farrell is the author of The Siege of Krishnapur, winner of the Booker Prize. "Remarkable.... Mr. Farrell deserves high praise for this novel. It is subtly modulated, richly textured, sad, funny, and altogether memorable." — The Times Literary Supplement

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Bachelor Brothers' Bed & Breakfast Review

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(More customer reviews)This is a charming little book that centers around twin brothers, Hector and Virgil, 50-something bachelors who run a Bed & Breakfast in a remote island location. Though word-of-mouth, they have attracted a customer base consisting entirely of fellow bibliophiles, and thus reading is a central theme throughout the novel.

The book is written as a series of reflections: each chapter is narrated by either Hector, Virgil, or one of their guests, whose musings make up the B&B's unique guest book. The brothers relate stories of their unconventional childhood with their single mother and MIA father as well as offer present day anecdotes about their entertaining guests, neighbors, and pets. Also interspersed throughout the book are recommended reading lists such as "Hector's List of Favorite Authors for the Bath."

This quirky, whimsical novel is ideally suited to be a reading group selection and likely to be enjoyed by any book lover.

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Frommer's 25 Great Drives in Scotland (Best Loved Driving Tours) Review

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(More customer reviews)I checked all of the guides for Scotland out of the library and reviewed them for a self driving tour of two weeks duration. This was the best of them along with Fodor's "See It Scotland

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Everything you need to see the best of Scotland by car
25 distinctive itineraries with full color maps and photographs
Highlights of scenic routes, special events, crafts and customs
Easy-to-use map at the beginning of each tour
Divided into 4 regions with 5-7 tours in each which start and finish in major towns and cities considered to be the best for exploration
Regions include: southern Scotland; central Scotland; the Northeast; and the Highlands & Islands

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Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet (An Unabridged Production) Review

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(More customer reviews)Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford is one of those novels that I've heard a lot of good buzz about. Everyone that I know who has read it seems to love it. So when I saw an audio sitting on the shelf of my local library I thought that I would give it a go. Wondering all the while if it would live up to the hype that I'd heard. Well, hype is the wrong word but I can't think of one that will fit. This isn't a book in which I hear people screaming about from the rooftops but its got this quiet and growing following that is harder to ignore then those who scream to be read. When you pick up Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet know that there are no big bangs or earth shattering revelations. Instead there is just this rich story about a boy and a girl and the cruel realities of living in a world during a time of war. The story is told in two parts, there is 10 year old Henry living in Chinatown in the 1940's war is raging in Europe and there is an ever growing disdain for people of Japanese decent. The other is through Henry's eyes as a fully grown man still living in the same area of Seattle but in a world that is far far different from his youth. This story is also about a Japanese girl named Keiko who Henry meets at the white school that his father insists on sending him to and that of Henry's son, a modern boy who thinks that his father is stuck in the past and old ways.
Words can't describe just how amazing this story was. Jamie Ford has such a gift with words and story telling that I often thought that I was right there in the story standing next to Henry and seeing the world through his eyes. My heart leapt when his did and it broke when Henry suffered. I would sometimes find myself talking over the narrator of the audio - speaking to Henry's son telling him that he didn't understand, that if he knew all that his father had gone through he'd be in awe of him.
Speaking of the narrator, can I just say that I loved Feodor Chin's voice? He did an amazing job with this book and the accents. There were never any issues in trying to determine who was speaking as he had such distinct twists for all the different characters. I really enjoyed listening to this audio, not just because it was a great story but because the narrator was just so good. This is definitely a narrator that I am going to be on the look out for later on. Just as Jamie Ford is an author to watch. His words are pure poetry and his words are so amazingly drawn. I know I keep saying that but its true. Just as its equally true that I really can't find the words to fully express just how wonderful this story is. So rather than hear me gush fantastic about it I strongly suggest that you go and discover it for yourself.
As originally posted on my blog Ticket to Anywhere

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"Sentimental, heartfelt....the exploration of Henry's changing relationship with his family and with Keiko will keep most readers turning pages...A timely debut that not only reminds readers of a shameful episode in American history, but cautions us to examine the present and take heed we don't repeat those injustices."-- Kirkus Reviews"A tender and satisfying novel set in a time and a place lost forever, Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet gives us a glimpse of the damage that is caused by war--not the sweeping damage of the battlefield, but the cold, cruel damage to the hearts and humanity of individual people. Especially relevant in today's world, this is a beautifully written book that will make you think. And, more importantly, it will make you feel."-- Garth Stein, New York Times bestselling author of The Art of Racing in the Rain

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The Hotel Lincoln Review

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(More customer reviews)This book is just what the doctor prescribed at this opportunistic time of questions about the Castro regime in Cuba. The storyline keeps you constantly wondering "what is going to happen next". It was a well written fictional account with obvious attention to detail in communist Cuba. Fidel would enjoy reading this. Some bright enterprising soul will make this into an award winning movie. The book or the movie would make an interesting subject of conversation throughout Cuba as those people assess where they stand with the government and each other.

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With Cuba on the cusp of change, a young American arrives. Gabrel Sourdough looks like a turista, but behaves like a man with more than souvenirs on his mind.His suspicious timing rejuvenates the ailing, paranoid Comandante. His odd movements launch rusty spies back into opposition. His desires expose the shady lives of a crafty old boxer and a desperate young girl, threatening their fragile survival.As the islanders search for clues to the mysterious traveler's purpose, questions about their own motivations emerge.

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Tulagi Hotel Review

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(More customer reviews)Tulagi hotel is an excellent read. Heikki Hietala has definitely put a lot of work into the book. The level of details and historic accuracy is amazing. But beyond the technical details lies a wonderful story with beautifully written characters full of personality and charm. Reading Tulagi hotel, I found myself constantly smiling. Not many a book has had the same effect. Wonderful work indeed, Heikki!

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World War II has given Jack McGuire the chance to escape the confines of the Midwest and the family farm. An ace U.S. Navy fighter pilot, he risks his life each day with his squadron in the South Pacific theatre. For him, there's calm and camaraderie up there in the cockpit. But when the war ends, Jack struggles to find his place in civilian society. Turning his back on his home, family and inheritance, he returns to the Solomon Islands. Here he builds a hotel on the same island paradise he flew over in his years of combat. But when Kay Wheeler, the widow of his wartime best friend and wingman, comes to visit the island, Jack's orderly world is disrupted. He is forced to consider whether there's room enough for two in his reinvented life.

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The White Rhino Hotel: A Novel Review

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(More customer reviews)I came to this book after reading and immensely enjoying its sequel, A CAFE ON THE NILE. Since I like rip-roaring adventures in faraway places, and the sequel proved so enjoyable, I grabbed this one up as soon as I found it in a used bookstore. And it was enjoyable, creating a world for me which constantly drew me back each time I'd put the book down. Yet there was something lacking in this tale of new settlers and broken souls cast up on the shores of British East Africa (the future Kenya). Here were all the characters who play such a significant role in the subsequent book and we get to see how they found their way to become what we later encounter there. The English gypsy boy, Anton Rider, lost and adrift in England will find his moorings in the African bush -- a hunter and adventurer with a touch of the farmer in him. The dwarf from Goa, Olivio Fonseca Alavedo, a man who will gradually change from the cold-hearted schemer who cares for nothing but himself to the cold-hearted schemer who also, by the way, happens to care for a few friends. Gwenn Llywellen, wife of a broken World War I soldier, will endure the wilds of the new country and the sadness of loss while becoming a stronger person. Lord Penfold, hotel proprietor and down and out English gentleman, will sink further into ineffectualness but never, quite, inactivity. And the German ex-soldier, Ernst von Decken, will demonstrate why he can be relied upon despite his cold and ruthless ways. All of these are here in a tale of wandering and land-grabbing and lust in colonial Africa. And yes, there's lots of lust. In fact the sex is rather prominent in this tale, and frequently quite strange. Besides the usual sort, we are treated to Olivio's kinkiness and a brutal rape. And Mr. Bull has a thing for recurring motifs: The twin Somali courtesans here, the "Black Tulips", vs. the sexually assertive and promiscuous American twins in the sequel. Olivio bound and trapped in both books facing imminent destruction through immolation. The loss of a beloved African sidekick in both. I could go on. But suffice it to say that the sexuality has an oddly abstract quality to it (it does not kindle and smolder in the reader's mind as, I think, it should) while Mr. Bull seems to be fixated on a number of recurring motifs and situations. Yet, this said, I must add that while the book did not surprise as I'd hoped, the tale did not keep me guessing, it once again kept me coming back and wanting more of the wild world which Bull portrayed. For a big book, I thought the end rather rushed and almost anti-climactic. And somewhat predictable. But it was an experience to be reading it. (I put several others aside just to see it through.) Perhaps if I'd read this one before its sequel I wouldn't have been so disappointed. But, on balance, I liked the second one better.The King of Vinland's Saga

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Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet Review

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(More customer reviews)I was excited to read this book because I knew it was set in Seattle during the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II, and that's a time period that has always interested me. I expected an interesting trip through history, but what I got was so, so much more than that.
Henry Lee is still mourning the death of his wife when he learns that the belongings of Japanese Americans hidden in the basement of Seattle's Panama Hotel for decades have been discovered. Henry is drawn to the basement, and what he's searching for there opens a door he thought he had closed forever. The story switches back and forth between 1986 and the 1940s, when a 12-year-old Henry attending an American school (he's "scholarshipping" as his father likes to say) meets another international student working in the school kitchen. Keiko is Japanese American, the enemy according to Henry's father, but the two become best friends before her family is imprisoned in one of the relocation camps.
This book does a phenomenal job exploring the history and attitudes of this time period, and Ford's portrayal of Seattle's ethnic neighborhoods is amazing. But really, the thing that pulled me into this novel the most was the richness of the relationships -- Henry and Keiko, Henry and his father, Henry's mother and his father, and Henry and his own son. HOTEL ON THE CORNER OF BITTER AND SWEET looks at the best and worst of human relationships, the way we regard others, the way we find ourselves reenacting our relationships with our parents with our own children, the choices we make along the way. Mostly, though, this book reminds us that there is always room -- and time -- for forgiveness and redemption.
I finished this book in tears, moved by the people who came to life so vividly in this story and sad that it had to end at all. HOTEL ON THE CORNER OF BITTER AND SWEET is a perfect, perfect choice for book clubs or for anyone craving a compelling story about human nature at its worst and at its best. An amazing, amazing book. It will be one of your favorites, I can almost promise.

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