I’ll admit it — I read The Da Vinci Code, in hardback, and I LOVED IT! Sure it was like reading a Hollywood script and the timeline (among other things) was completely ridiculous. But I dig religious conspiracy theories, and grail legends are well…legendary…for a reason. Plus, it was Summer, so why not read something that has a cliffhanger at the end of every chapter?

But even better than a fun read, is a fun read that’s also well crafted. Those, dear friends, are hard to find. So here’s a little list for you all — a brand new carousel full of great reads for road trips, backyard hammocks, and days at the lake. I hope you find something you love amongst these treasures I love. And remember, anything you purchased by clicking on a link helps support this blog. Tak, and good reading!

The Monk Downstairs
(This paperback version include book group discussion questions and the first chapter of the sequel.)

Recently I requested all of my medical records to lug with me to Denmark in my continued quest to stay out of status migranosis. There were two manila envelopes full of them — and that was just from one neurologist. The beginning of every office visit summary starts out like this:

“The patient is a pleasant middle aged woman….”

Excuse me? But how did that happen?

Perhaps the reality that at 38 I am, apparently both ‘pleasant’ and ‘middle aged’, is what led me to enjoy The Monk Downstairs so much. The New York Times Book Review describes it as such:

“A tender, witty novel in which a former monk, after twenty years in his order, rents an apartment from a 38 year old single mother; the ensuing relationship grows cautiously, taking account the prudence required of struggling people who aren’t going to get that many more chances.”

See anything that might appeal to moi? Monks, motherhood, spiritual crisis, being 38…

Even if you have less in common with this characters than I do, you will still find this to be a well executed novel with real, flawed, loveable characters and everyday life experiences that just might help you feel companioned for a journey. I’m especially fond of Mike’s struggle to rebuild his spiritual practices after a crisis of religion. (Gee Rachelle, really?) And I was equally touched by Rebecca’s final acceptance that she must experience grief over the crisis moments in her life (ex husbands, bad dates, aging parents.) Author Tim Farrington writes of Rebecca:

She had never allowed herself to grieve wholly before, she realized now. … some pragmatic, self-protective sense had told her that grief was bottomless. Skirting this sea, she had dipped her toes in; she’d wondered what would happen if she crossed the line, but it had always seemed that it could only be a kind of defeat, a drowning, a death. And so it was. But maybe it was not the end, to be defeated by life. Maybe that is even part of what it meant to be a human being; to recognize ways in which death had come, to stop looking away from the failures of love, and to grieve.

Then there is also this great bit from Mike, in which he spots a little bit of wisdom at his first-time-out-of-the-cloister job and records it in a letter to a former brother monk:

..or as my colleagues at McDonald’s put it, “My bad.” I’m sorry I dissed you….The ritual response to a penitential “My bad,” incidentally, is a benevolent, “It’s all good.” The drama of Christ’s forgiveness is reenacted a dozen times a day over the deep fryer and the grill, by teenagers, with refreshing succinctness.

Lest you think this novel is all heaviness, be not afraid! Mike is funny, Rebecca is droll, her daughter is sweet and hilarious, and the sex…we’ll the NY Times Book review is a bit off there because it is neither cautious nor prudent, but pretty damn hot. (Not for the prudish of heart.)

Special kudos to Tim Farrington for writing the character of Rebecca so well. About half way through the novel I thought “Wow. This female character is really spot-on. Who wrote this?” When I turned the book cover over I was surprised to see it was written by a man–so convinced was I that a sister must have created Rebecca’s reality. Props, Tim!

Today’s Flavor: Bittersweet, romantic, and real.

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One Thousand White Women: The Journals of May Dodd
Jim Fergus

I’ve been caught up in historical fiction lately and find myself reading novel after novel of life in another era. It started with the life of Mary Todd Lincoln (reviewed here), segued into the guilty-pleasure of The Other Boleyn Girl, and recently landed in Indian Territory with One Thousand White Women.

Set in the late 1800’s One Thousand White Women is told in the voice of Mary Dodd, a woman from the Chicago business class who is unjustly committed to an insane asylum for living in a common law marriage with a working-class man. To escape the torturous life of the asylum, she agrees to be married to an Indian chief as part of a massive wedding-cum-peace treaty between the American government and the Cheyenne nation. The bulk of the book follows her experience living with the tribe in the final year of Cheyenne independence.

Although author Jim Fergus insists quite clearly in the prologue that this is almost entirely a work of fiction, his characters are so finely realized that readers continue to believe that Mary Dodd’s story is historically true. From the first pages of Mary’s journal, you are swept up into the story of a woman you’d like to know, and a life you can hardly imagine. Politically clever, spiritually astute, and carefully told, One Thousand White Women is an adventurous and inspiring tale of marginalized people working hard to find a place of freedom. Today’s Flavor: A history lesson from a creative mind.

Every book purchased by clicking on an image or title above supports this site. Find more great reads, music and other lovely loot at Magpie Suggest. Tak! Thanks!

Janis Cooke Newman

I’ve been enamored of late by good historical fiction, and this novel about Mary Todd Lincoln doesn’t fail to satisfy. Told in the voice of Mr. Lincoln, her story moves back and forth through time, alternating between her life with the President and her post-presidential stay in a mental institution. Author Janis Cooke Newman used letters penned by Mrs. Lincoln during her stay in the sanatorium to piece together the dire and dramatic story of her life and the life of her family.

The first woman to be referred to as “The First Lady,” Mary Todd Lincoln moved from poverty to prominence, and single-handedly made the White House (then referred to as “The President’s House”) the national symbol it is today. As a woman with a keen political mind, Mary Todd Lincoln had little place to exercise her passions. If she assisted her husband in his campaigning she was criticized for “unsexing” herself. Not content to live within the confines of housewife and mother, Mary struggled to carve out a place of her own in an unforgiving cultural landscape.

In one of my favorite scenes Mary, having helped her husband prepare for a campaign speech, then proceeds to make a cake “requiring no less than twelve steps” as penance for moving outside her feminine boundaries. It’s strangely comforting to know that even the First Lady struggled to create a balance between two much loved vocations—motherhood and _______________. (Insert your career of choice here.)

Although Mary is at times quite melancholy, the historical setting and underlying themes of feminism, mental health, and sexuality provide the novel with enough revitalizing energy to counterpoint the sadder moments. This is historical fiction that is both education and entertaining.

Once upon a time there was a girl named Zoë.

Zoë looked like an ordinary girl.
Zoë did ordinary girl things.
But Zoë was not an ordinary girl.

Zoë had a secret superpower. Read the rest of this entry »

Once upon a time there was a girl named Zoë.
Zoë looked like an ordinary girl.
Zoë did ordinary girl things.
But Zoë was not an ordinary girl.

Zoë had a secret superpower. Read the rest of this entry »