After learning about what East End Mama is reading, I thought I would share what I have been reading, or trying to read, lately.
By M.L. Stedman
I kept seeing this book pop up on “new and hot”-type lists, so I thought I would give it a try. It is about a post-war Australia that still relies on lighthouses to guide ships. Lonely ex-soldier meets free-spirit town girl and they decide to live together on a romantic island where they, and the lighthouse, are the only inhabitants. After they make love on every inch of said island (not gratuitously, I might add), she suffers much heartbreak and is unable to carry a baby to term. Then one day a boat washes ashore with a dead man and a living baby; what to do? Keep the baby, obviously. Her husband is very torn about this, mainly because he lives and dies by the lighthouse code, which is to write everything down in the log. But, of course, the wife NEEDS this baby and believes it is divine intervention. So here the moral dilemma begins. What to do? What to do?
I can’t say I really fully agreed with anything that either character does, but it was thought-provoking and did more than accurately capture the intense and powerful connection between parent and child. I won’t ruin the ending for you, but there is some heartbreak, to be sure. It also made me ask my husband a lot of questions about what he would have done if WE lived on the lighthouse island (cue his eye rolling).
By Paula McLain
This is loosely based on Hemingway’s relationship with his first wife and their years spent in Paris. As a wife of an intensely creative man, I felt for her as she patiently sat by his side and urged him to keep writing and keep trying. I also really felt for her when she lost his prized manuscript (in the days before email and USB keys) on a train. I have done things like this, and you are never REALLY forgiven in the eyes of the spouse. (But I digress…)
This was a quick read that gives you extra smart points because I think it is technically historical fiction, so you can whip out some Hemingway knowledge at an upcoming dinner party.
By Erin Morgenstern
(Disclaimer: I listened to this on audio — but it was unabridged, so that counts.)
This was a book unlike too many others I have come across, not only in subject matter (the full history of a truly magical circus) but also in complexity. There are many characters, and they are all fleshed out in lots of detail. No one disappears from the story and you feel really satisfied by the end of it all. There is a mysterious romance plot, but it never gets too “sexy” (maybe the one minor flaw…), and there are elaborate descriptions of the sumptuous black and white circus, with lots of attention to detail and food, in particular. This is a book to fall in with (maybe on vacation or a sick day) and let your imagination go. I am sure there must be a movie of this book in the works somewhere.
by Rohinton Mistry
This isn’t on my most-recently-read list, but whenever I talk about books people should read, this book has to be on it! HAS TO. It is a long, sprawling tale about India in the mid-70s, with a strong focus on the actual people living there, mostly in extreme poverty. If you are able to read this book without crying, you are a weird person to be sure. This is one of those books that stick in your head for years after reading it. They don’t get much better than this.
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