Keeping a Watercolor Sketchbook by Brenda Swenson

After working on Brenda Swenson's 75 Day Sketch Challenge for a couple of months, I realized that I had this book of hers sitting on my shelf, so I pulled it out to read it.  I really enjoyed all of her artwork in the book.  It has fairly basic information, so I can't say that I learned a lot of new things, but it was still a worthwhile read.  I rated it 4 out of 5.

1984 by George Orwell

I recently re-read 1984 by George Orwell.  I had read it in high school, but that was, well, shall we say more than a few years ago.  I wanted to read it again because I didn't remember details of the story, and it is truly a classic.  This is where familiar terms such as Big Brother, Thought Police, Newspeak, Doublespeak, and Thoughtcrime originated.  It's a rare book that can introduce so many new words into the common vocabulary.  It's a frightening look into a totalitarian future, made all the more frightening as it becomes more and more real.  It was published in 1949.  It was my 8th book for the Off the Shelf Reading Challenge 2011 and I rate it 4 out of 5.

Lost in the City by Edward P. Jones

I had told my son about listening to an audio book, The Known World, by this author, so he loaned my this collection of short stories.  He knows that I'm not too fond of short stories, but he thought that since I'd enjoyed Jones's other book, I might enjoy this one (plus, since he writes short stories, he's trying to convert me).  I had read several of the stories last year when he loaned it to me, and then put it aside.  I kept thinking I'd get back to it and didn't.  But since my son and daughter-in-law are coming for a visit next month, I finally had an incentive to finish it.  I'm still not too fond of short stories.  And modern short stories seem to be just a snippet in time with no definitive ending.  That was true of these stories.  I rate it 2 out of 5.  It was my seventh book for the Off the Shelf Reading Challenge (my goal was five books, but I'm not going to stop).

Abundance - A Novel of Marie Antoinette by Sena Jeter Naslund

I didn't know a lot about Marie Antoinette before reading this book.  I knew she was the queen of France during the French Revolution, and I knew that when she was told her people were starving, she supposedly said, "If they have no bread, then let them eat cake."  It turns out that Marie Antoinette never said that - it was said a hundred years earlier by the wife of Louis XIV rather than Louis XVI.

Marie Antoinette was the fifteenth child of Empress Maria Theresa of Austria, and she was fourteen years old when she was sent to France to marry fifteen year old Louis Auguste, who became Louis XVI four years later (in 1774).  It was interesting to read about the extravagant lifestyle of the royalty (financed primarily by taxes on the poor); it was easy to see why the people were starving.  But over time, as Marie Antoinette matured, she became much more sensitive to the plight of her people and actually tried to economize.  This was a sympathetic portrait of the woman behind the legend, and I enjoyed it very much.  It was my 3rd book for the 2nds Reading Challenge 2011 (the first book by this author that I read was Ahab's Wife; my review of it is here) and my 6th book for the Off the Shelf Reading Challenge 2011.  I rate this book 4 out of 5.

The Book of Ruth by Jane Hamilton

This is Jane Hamilton's first book, but the second book of hers that I've read.  Her first book that I read was A Map of the World, which I reviewed here.  This is the story of Ruth Grey, a neglected child who is trying to make sense of the mysteries of her life and the meanness in people's hearts.  An adult Ruth is the narrator, and she describes growing up in a dysfunctional family, marrying an unemployed crazy man, and continuing to live with her emotionally abusive mother.  It is a very difficult story to read, but it was well written (although I thought A Map of the World was better).  It was my first book for the 2nds Reading Challenge and my fifth book for the Off the Shelf Reading Challenge.  I rate this book 3 out of 5.

Coventry by Helen Humphreys

Harriet Marsh is standing on top of Coventry Cathedral, filling in for a neighbor in the nightly fire watch on November 14, 1940, when the town is attacked by German planes.  During the chaos that follows the bombing, Harriet befriends Jeremy, a young man who reminds Harriet of her late husband, Owen, who was killed in World War I.  Jeremy turns out to be the son of Maeve, a woman Harriet met on the day Owen left for the war in 1914.  It is a short novel (177 pages), and while it portrays the terrible night that Coventry was destroyed, the character development was a bit weak.  It was good, but not great.  I rate it 3 out of 5.  It was my 3rd book for the New Author Challenge and my 4th for the Off the Shelf Challenge.

The Memory Keeper's Daughter by Kim Edwards

This was my book club's current month's selection.  I've also had the book on my shelf awhile, waiting to be read.  I really enjoyed it, and I think it will generate good discussion at our meeting.

During an unusual blizzard in Lexington Kentucky in 1964, Norah Henry goes into labor a bit early.  Her husband David, an orthopedic doctor, drives her to the clinic he shares with an obstetrician, who has unfortunately driven his car off the road and doesn't make it to the clinic.  This leaves David to attend his wife with the help of his nurse, Caroline Gill.  He delivers a healthy baby boy, and is then surprised to deliver a second baby, a girl with Down's Syndrome.  He asks Caroline to take the baby girl to an institution (a common practice in 1964).  Caroline agrees, but when she sees the institution, she can't leave the baby there; instead she takes the baby, leaves town, and raises her as her own child.  Meanwhile, when Norah wakes up from anesthesia (another common practice of the time), David tells her that she had a second baby who died at birth.  He believes he will spare Norah grief and heartache, but this lie haunts him the rest of his life and creates a wall between him and his family.  It was well written and I rate it 4 out of 5.  It was my second book for the New Author Challenge 2011 and my third book for the Off the Shelf Reading Challenge 2011.

March by Geraldine Brooks

This is the story of Mr. March, the father in Little Women, who was a chaplain for the North during the Civil War.  He was a very idealistic man, and went to war to support his anti-slavery convictions.  Once he got to war, he became disillusioned, not about the cause, but about how blurred the lines were between right and wrong, good and evil.  I enjoyed this book much more than Little Women, in large part because the characters felt more real to me (ie, not perfect but flawed, with real feelings and emotions).  Most of the book is narrated by March, but part of it is narrated by Marmee, March's wife and the mother of their four "little women."  March had a very small part to play in Little Women, so most of the story is completely new.  But the parts that overlap Little Women remained true to the original.  Now I'm glad I read Little Women first, as I knew the characters, even if I didn't enjoy it that much.  I rate this book 4 out of 5.  It is the second book for two of my reading challenges this year:  US Civil War Reading Challenge and Off the Shelf Reading Challenge.  And it is the first book for another of my reading challenges:  I Want More Reading Challenge.

Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

I've said here several times that I haven't read very many classics.  I actually read Little Women many MANY years ago, but I didn't remember it at all.  Because I wanted to read March by Geraldine Brooks, which is the story of the father in Little Women (by a contemporary author), I thought it would be a good idea to reread Little Women.

It is the story of the March women:  mother (Marmee) and 4 daughters (Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy) while father is a chaplain for the North during the Civil War.  I really struggled to get through it.  It was too syrupy sweet for my taste, with way too much moralizing to be enjoyable.   If I had remembered it, I certainly would not have read it again.  I rate it 2 out of 5.  It was the first book for two of my reading challenges this year:  US Civil War Reading Challenge and Off the Shelf Reading Challenge.