Village Books by Craig McLay

Village Books

by

Craig McLay

Since my last several titles were all  pretty heavy I decided to search out a more light hearted read.  And because I had purchased a few books in a row rather quickly I decided to browse through titles I had put on my kindle from the free list over the last couple years.  I discovered  Craig McLay's Village Books in my archives and decided to give it a try.  I found it a delightful read!  It is full of amusing one liners and has a cast of very funny characters.  The story takes place in Toronto in the setting of an independently owned book store.  It made me a little home sick for a used book store located about a half hour from where I used to live called Hyde Brother's Books,  which was always an interesting place to browse.  The written voice which is telling the story in Village Books is one of the managers who has an interesting point of view of each of the employees.  While it will never be a classic of great literature,  if anyone is interested in a light read that is a belly laugher,  I recommend they pick up a copy of Village Books.  Follow the links above to learn more and enjoy the video that follows.  

Saturday Night At The Movies - Philomena

Over a year ago,  when watching the Academy Awards,  I put Philomena on my list of movies that I wanted to watch.  Last pm I got my wish and was it ever worth the wait!  It is the best movie I have seen for awhile.  As with many movies,  it was first a book,  that can be found HERE.  I have put it on my wish list because I think there are usually more details of a story in the book that a movie is based on.  Philomena is a true story of a woman who has a baby out of wedlock when she is a young woman and is forced to give up her child for adoption.  She is Irish and the nuns sell her baby to a wealthy American family.  After 50 years of trying to secretly find him herself she confesses about the child to her daughter who is able to find a journalist that is willing to help Philomena find her son.  Out of the story becoming public a campaign has been started to help those victims of these illegal adoptions.  The website about it can be found HERE.  The implicated homes for unwed mothers or workhouses were actually still operating as recently as the late 1990s.  More information about the movie can be found at its website HERE.  And I did some searching and found Philomena's son and his adoptive parents at Find A Grave HERE.    Please follow the links provide through out this blog for the additional information available and enjoy the videos that follow.

The Dinner by Herman Koch

The Dinner

by

Herman Koch

This book was recommended to me by a friend whom I met at the local library book club over a year ago.  I finally moved it from my wish list onto my iPod a couple of weeks ago and just finished listening to it this morning.   The performance by the reader is wonderful and the book is well written.   The topic is an important one to contemplate.  Nevertheless,  I am very glad to be finished with the book and it will not make my top ten list this year.  In fact I would not recommend it to others to read.  It is an upsetting book.  The novel takes place in a restaurant.  Two brothers and their wives are eating a meal at a very upscale establishment.  They are upper middle class couples and both have teen aged boys.  As the book progresses it is apparent that the boys have gotten into some very bad trouble and the point of the meal is to decide how to handle the situation.  The question in the readers mind is how far should a parent go to protect their kids from their actions and at what point does a young person have to deal with the consequences of their behavior.  While it would probably make a great book for a reading group to discuss the book gave me the creeps.  I am glad to be finished with it.  Click on the title and the author's name above to learn more and enjoy the video that follows.  They must have made a movie of the book in Europe.  

Movie Night

Saturday evening Bruce and I sat down and watched a movie that I had seen parts of and wanted to watch entirely.  It was a Brad Pitt movie called World War Z.  Bruce didn't like it much but I did.  It is a zombie movie but it isn't like the zombie shows that consist of one zombie  fight after another and not much other plot.  In World War Z they are actually working toward a solution of the problem.  I liked the movie and found it exciting.  Of course, as all zombie movies go,  it is pretty gruesome.  Enjoy the trailer and watch the movie if you are into that sort of thing.  It is on Netflix.

The Invention Of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd

The Invention

Of

Wings

by

Sue Monk Kidd

There is no doubt in my mind that this book will make my top ten this year and will very likely be either number one or close to it.  It contains every element that makes a book especially interesting to me.  Although a fiction novel,  there are historical facts and people in it.  It is about Sarah Grimke,  a abolitionist and advocator of women's rights way before her time.  The story takes place in the first half of the 1800s.  She grew up in Charleston in a well to do family that owned slaves.  I listened to this book on audio and it was very well presented.  Sarah's voice was the same reader as Skeeter's voice in The Help.  The book is written and read in two voices,  that of Sarah and her slave friend Handful.  It is the character of Handful that is partially made up.  Sarah was presented with a slave on her eleventh birthday and she did teach her to read as put forth in the story.  And both girls were punished for it.  But the real life Hattie died in childhood where as the author of this book depicted a life long friendship between the Sarah and Handful.  There are some other fictional parts to the book  but included is a lot of accurate history.  Also brought into the story are some specific foods that I was able to find the recipe's for online. The punch that Sarah spills during one of her disaster filled southern social parties can be found HERE.   And Sarah smells THIS  wafting from the slave's kitchen house.  One of her birthday cakes is called an Election Cake.  Besides the art of cooking,  Sue Monk Kidd also weaves the art of sewing into the novel.  The factual history of Story Quilts was inspired by the admiration of the author for the quilts of Harriet Powers.  I highly recommend this novel.  Please find the seven links interspersed in this blog and enjoy the video that follows.