The Girl Who Smiled Beads: A Story of War and What Comes After
by Elizabeth Weil, Clemantine Wamariya
Interesting But Confusing (2/12/2018)
Clementine Wamariya tells an interesting story but because her experiences left her confused, her book is rather confusing, Her horrible experiences for six years has made her very angry and rightly so but good things happened too. Her inability to recognize this fact left me confused about the ultimate message of her story. She and her sister were very strong and very brave. I consider them both heroines. However, their horrible experiences, even though they survived them, damaged them both.
The Tudor Secret: The Elizabeth I Spymaster Chronicles
by C. W. Gortner
What a Wonderful Read! (3/25/2011)
Mystery, lies and deceit keep the reader captivated while eagerly turning pages. One spy, decides to spy for another purpose and finally becomes very interested in finding his own origins which are all tied up in the the plot. It is difficult to put this book down. While reading, you actually learn some of the history of England, which I always find fascinating.
Learning to Lose: A Novel
by David Trueba
What A Book! (5/1/2010)
You are introduced to Aurora at the very beginning of the book. She injures her hip while dressing. Her husband, Leandro feels a strange compulsion to visit a house of ill repute and gives in to his lusting. Their 40 something son commits a murder. And his 16 year old daughter is hit by a car driven by a rich soccer player late one night.
These all work together to force you to keep reading to find out how all of these circumstances work themselves out.
While reading, I wanted so much to be part of a book club so that I could engage in a good discussion about motivations, life as experienced by the characters and fairness.
The ending is not expected, yet it satisfies. This is the first time I have read anything by Trueba, a Spanish writer who was translated by Mara Faye Lethem, but I will read his future books. Although translated, it reads very well. This book is a good read.
Pearl of China: A Novel
by Anchee Min
Pearl of China (1/25/2010)
What a wonderful story! As a lover of Pearl S. Buck, I truly enjoyed the imagined story of her life. Anchee Min, the author, was made to renounce the writings of Pearl S. Buck because she grew up in China during Mao's Cultural Revolution. She was told that Buck's writings denounced China and her people. Later she was able to read The Good Earth and realized that the statement was not true and became fascinated by Pearl S. Buck and her stories of China. She began to imagine the experiences Buck must have had growing up in China that would inspire her to write as she did. Out of her imaginings grew this book.
The story is believable. At times, I found myself responding to it as if the events really happened. The words are beautiful, especially the poetry that is interspersed throughout the book. Pearl and her friendship with Willow Yee seemed very real to me as did all of the characters. Anchee Min developed the personalities of each character to make them very real and believable.
I highly recommend this book, especially anyone who has enjoyed the stories developed by Buck about the people of China.
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