Death, Dickinson and the Demented Life of Frenchie Garcia by Jenny Torres Sanchez

"And now, I'll tell you the only thing that matters. It's that you make your own future. People come here for answers, looking for something, looking for hope or promise. He came here looking for confirmation....Confirmation is something we can never give you. Warnings, perhaps, but never confirmation. I can't confirm anything. Because the future is like clay, every day you mold it, every day people leave impressions that change its form. It's never concrete, it's always changing. We might see some things, possibilities, but you are the one who decides what form your life takes."
                       -the psychic reader to Frenchie

I chose this book for our book club in support of Jenny Torres Sanchez, the author. She is a member of our church and I had heard her read an excerpt at a church event where local authors and poets were invited to share their work. I was intrigued by the premise of a young woman's coping with the suicide of a peer. I chose the book knowing it is a young adult fiction and our group is far from young! I invited the author to our meeting to discuss the book and she did.

I thought the book was very well-written and the characters were believable. There was philosophy that made me think, such as the quote above and Colin's ideas on good and bad in Chapter 24. I enjoyed the poetry by Emily Dickinson which was so appropriately placed. The setting of Orlando was particularly interesting since it is our hometown. Many locations such as Greenwood Cemetery and Lake Eola are very familiar to us.

The novel is an emotional ride, to say the least, as the main character Frenchie deals with confusion, grief, guilt and depression. The juxtaposition of THAT NIGHT and TONIGHT was an excellent technique to keep the reader engaged.

We had a rousing discussion of the novel at our meeting. It was wonderful to have the author there to tell us of her writing process and how this novel came about. We had no prepared discussion questions this time but we didn't need them; group members had so many questions to ask the author. Of course she autographed copies of our books for us, as well.

I rated Death, Dickinson and the Demented Life of Frenchie Garcia a 4 and the group's average was the same.  I had a feeling if the readers were in their teens and twenties it would have been higher! This was Jenny's second novel. I plan to read her first, The Downside of Being Charlie soon.

Stolen into Slavery, the True Story of Solomon Northup, Free Black Man by Judith and Dennis Fradin

"Think of it! For thirty years a man, with all a man's hopes, fears, and aspirations---with a wife and children to call him husband and father---with a home, humble it may be. Then for twelve years a thing, classed with mules and horses, torn from his home and family, and driven to toil in a cotton field, by the lash of an inhuman master. Oh! It is horrible. It chills the blood."
             -Frederick Douglas, writing about Solomon Northup's story
    
This was really not the book I intended to read. After seeing a preview of a movie called "Twelve Years a Slave" I thought perhaps I should read the book before seeing the film. I ordered this one from the library but perhaps the movie is based on Twelve Years a Slave, an autobiography of Solomon Northup. At any rate Stolen into Slavery is a children's biography and was a quick and easy read. I cannot say it was enjoyable because, of course, the subject matter is very intense. It has probably prepared me somewhat to see the movie, which I am sure will be quite graphic in its portrayal of Solomon's harsh treatment as a slave. I would give the book a 4 and recommend it for students ages 11 and up. There is nothing that gives you better insight into an era of history than a good historical fiction or biography of the time.

The Postmistress by Sarah Blake

"What would you think of a postmistress who chose not to deliver the mail?"
"Don't tell me anymore...I'm hooked already."
           -from a conversation at the beginning of the book

I cannot say I loved The Postmistress but I did stick with it to the end so it must have had something going for it. I cared enough to want to know how it all turned out. I'm rating it a 2+.

The story is set in the early 1940's just before the U.S. becomes directly involved in WWII.  Iris is the postmistress in Franklin, Massachusetts, and though she is the title character she seems to take a secondary role to Frankie, a news journalist and radio broadcaster in London. Both women, in their own roles, are charged with delivering the news but each one finds reason to withhold a portion. I found Frankie's story more compelling as she had to deal with the experience of what was really going on in Europe and how to inform the American public, most of whom were in serious denial.

I found Ms. Blake's writing style to be a bit tedious at times and poetic at others. When I learned she had a Phd. in Victorian literature, that made a lot of sense. I especially liked this simile "...she imagined she could pull Time like taffy, stretching it longer and longer between her hands until the finest point had been reached..."

The book does address the theme of war and its impact in a very interesting way, even without the blood and gore.

A Land Remembered by Patrick D. Smith

"Perhaps animals are smarter than men, he thought, taking only what they need to live today, leaving something for tomorrow. Even the hated wolf kills only for food and only for immediate need. Maybe it is man who will eventually perish as he destroys the land and all that it offers, taking the animals down with him."
              -Zech's thoughts, from the novel

Patrick Smith's award-winning novel, A Land Remembered, is an amazing saga of the fictional MacIvey family through just over 100 years of Florida history.  It starts with dirt-poor Tobias MacIvey from Georgia trying to eke out a living collecting scrawny wild cattle and herding them to market. I'm not sure if there could have been a more difficult way to make a living since they had to fight weather, wolves, outlaws and a forbidding natural environment. Tobias eventually begins growing citrus, successfully until the big freezes of 1894 and 1895.  Later his son, Zech, carries on the family businesses. The novel ends with filthy-rich Sol MacIvey retiring to a cabin in the woods, disillusioned with all the so-called progress in South Florida.

As a pre-Disney resident of Central Florida and a docent at the Orange County (Florida) Regional History Center, I had plenty of background to relate to the story. There is a whole gallery in the History Center featuring Seminoles, Pioneers, Cattle Industry and Citrus. So many facts and concepts I have mentioned in countless tours came out in the novel: marshtackies, whips, catch dogs, chickees, frolic, Jacob Summerlin, the term "Cracker," to name a few, and that doesn't begin to cover other exhibits in other galleries where one learns about mosquitoes, sternwheelers, Henry Flagler and the railroad, Henry Ford's Model T, Timucuans, egrets and more.

I was struck by the female characters, women of Tobias, Zech and Sol. They were so loyal and hardy and brave. It is a good thing that I didn't live then! I cannot picture myself on a horse, herding cattle, facing rattlesnakes, cooking on an open fire or even a wood stove.  I would have a hard time living in Florida without air conditioning! I was impressed with the MacIvey's hired hands, as well. They worked so hard and seemed to be a part of the family.

A male friend who read A Land Remembered told me it reminded him of the Zane Greys he used to read. I know he meant that as praise. I have never read anything by Zane Grey and don't plan to but I did enjoy this novel, probably since historical fiction is my favorite genre and because of my involvement in Florida history. I give it a solid 5 rating. I would especially recommend this to folks interested in history and/or new residents in Florida.

I was absent for the meeting where this August book selection was discussed. Apparently the group loved the novel since the average rating was 4.9, one of the highest in our 5+ years! The refreshments offered included corn bread, coffee, apples and hard tack. Our group is SO creative!

I would welcome your comments!

The Shadow of Your Smile by Mary Higgins Clark

"Now that I remember spring

All the joy that love can bring

I will be remembering

The shadow of your smile."

                 from "The Shadow of Your Smile" by Williams, Mandel, Jones and Webster 

 

I chose this novel at the San Francisco airport because I had nothing left to read on the long flight home. It was an author I liked, in paperback and not quite as expensive as some others. I don't really like buying books these days unless they are something REALLY special. I am a library kind of girl. I actually had just finished another Clark novel a few days before.

 

Olivia Morrow, an 82-year-old woman who is dying, has a letter that reveals a secret about a nun who is being considered for beatification, Sister Catherine.

 

Monica Farrell is a noted pediatrician who finds out that Olivia's secret may involve her family. Before Olivia can share this information, she dies in her bed. Since she had a terminal illness, it seems a natural death at first, but the more that comes to light about the wealthy Gannon family and their benevolent foundation, the more suspicious her death seems. Skeletons in the Gannon closet lead to blackmail and at least two more deaths. Monica is in danger, as well.

 

This book is quite entertaining; definitely what I call a "page turner." There are so many characters, I took notes to keep them all straight. Anyone who enjoys a good mystery would like this novel, I think. I rate it a 4.

 

 

The Lost Years by Mary Higgins Clark

"Later, Joseph of Arimathea asked Pilate for the body of Jesus. Now Joseph was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly because he feared the Jewish leaders. With Pilate’s permission, he came and took the body away."

John 19:37-39

I have read a number of murder mysteries by  Mary Higgins Clark, often called the Queen of Suspense. They always provide some great entertainment---easy and enjoyable reads. I rate it a 4.

The plot of this one has to do with the discovery of a letter that may have been written by Jesus Christ to Joseph of Arimathea. Jonathan Lyons, a renowned Biblical scholar, is the one who comes across the ancient parchment, priceless if it can be authenticated. Early in the novel, he is found shot to death and the parchment is missing . His wife, Katherine, suffering with Alzheimers, is accused of his murder. It falls to daughter, Mariah, to clear her mother and find out what happened to the ancient document.

The Lost Years was a bit more historical than others of Clark's mysteries I have read and as far as I know, the title is not part of a song. I had recently attended a lecture and seen a TV documentary on the Dead Sea Scrolls, another exciting Biblical discovery, and found I could suspend my disbelief in the founding of this "Arimathea letter," all the while knowing Clark's story is fiction.

Death Takes Passage by Sue Henry

I had good reason for choosing this book, one of Sue Henry's Alex Jensen Alaska mysteries. My husband and I are going on an Alaskan cruise so it seemed timely. I have read at least one of Henry's mysteries before and I think I enjoyed it. This one not so much. The setting is a commemorative cruise on the Inland Passage. It is a reenactment of sorts of an event of the Gold Rush days. I enjoyed the beginning but later got bogged down with so many characters and the description of localities on the ship. There was a murder, a planned highjacking of the ship with a huge payoff in gold and it just kept getting more confusing. It may have been my stop-and-start reading that kept me from enjoying it or perhaps I read it that way because I didn't like it much. I will give it a 2 and probably won't read another of this series for a while, if ever.