Reading Wrap-Up - Five Books I read in February

Reading Wrap-Up for February

If you read my post, TBR Mix & Mingle for February, where I planned out what I was going to read in this short month then you know I was being a tad bit idealistic!  Not only did I have high hopes to read books that I owned, but I checked out a few from the library, AND I got some more from my book swap.  Needless to say, I didn’t get to everything!  Here is what I read, and decided to skip, this month.  Look out for my TBR Mix & Mingle for March for what I’m reading next.

 

Eligible by Curtis Sittenfeld

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An easily readable rewrite of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice set in present-day Cincinnati.  While the characters and basic plot are exactly the same as the original, it does not disappoint.  The ST (As Charlotte and Liz would say) between Liz and Darcy was palpable.  The ending felt like it arrived a little too abruptly, but the tension in the middle was pulling and compelling. 

Going deeper than simply rewriting a magnificent classic, Sittenfeld presented an exploration of modern prejudices.  Not only is it a modern setting, with modern occupations, but the pride and prejudices the characters hold are timely and relevant.  

Read if….you love Jane Austen

 

Kitchen Yarns by Ann Hood

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Food has something to say about tragedy and loss, about the wonderful, happy moments, and even about the mundane, everyday cooking.  Like when you come home after a long day and realize nothing is in your pantry except rice. Ann Hood takes us through her life as she remembers the food that surrounded it.  From her Italian grandma who cooked massive amounts of gravy and meatballs, to her dad who loved cooking for his loved ones, but was terrible at it, to her days as a young mom figuring life out, to her present marriage to a cook and a writer, savoring both.

The chapters were short and the recipes detailed.  Something about hearing the personal backstory of each dish has made me want to try them out, so I’ve been trying my hand at several of her recipes.  They have been delicious, if I say so myself!

Read if…you love (or aspire) to be great in the kitchen

Silence of the Girls by Pat Barker

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In the most glorified war of all time, The Trojan War, the men are worshiped and lifted high, even still today…while the story of the women is shrouded in silence.  Pat Barker brought a voice and a narrative to the women of the Iliad and to the horrors of war and gruesome realities of a slave’s life in a war camp.  Reading Briseis’ story, the women’s story, was enlightening and emotional, yet not too graphic to make it all unbearable.  Pat Barker expertly weaves together the narrative, incorporating Greek myth and reliance on the gods, as she makes a commentary on how we only remember what history tells us.

Read if…you believe in the women’s side of history

 

The Wife Between Us by Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen

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A physiological thriller that will keep you guessing until the very end.  An ex-wife is jealous of her replacement.  The narrative switches back and forth,  building up a situation, until you discover…that is not what is going on at all.  While I did end up figuring out the first twist, there were so many more that it was worth it. 

Read if…you like to be kept guessing.

Read NEXT…An Anonymous Girl by Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen (find it on Amazon here)

 

Educated by Tara Westover

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This memoir has been celebrated since its release last year, and it is readily apparent why as you read it.  Educated is expertly written, telling the story of her childhood, using small anecdotes as an allegory for what was happening to her, and sifting through all the memories, to build an understanding of her life.

This was much more than a story about a girl beating the odds to go to college.  It was an emotional, spiritual, mental upheaval to right herself in a world where she didn’t belong.  But she would be safe.  It was incredibly moving.

Read if…you ever question your surroundings.

Read if…you value education and thinking for yourself.

Read if…you enjoy hearing how someone overcame a difficult childhood.

DNF (did not finish)

The Dust that Falls From Dreams by Louis de Bernières

I had one DNF this month.  The plot sounds interesting, and I want to learn more about the first World War… but I couldn’t get lost in this one.  Perhaps I could if I wasn’t surrounded by a myriad of other appealing novels and memoirs.  My excitement for this one each time I picked it up was just a little bit less than Educated or Kitchen Yarns or The Wife Between Us.  I’ll keep it on the back burner of my TBR, maybe for a rainy day. 

What did you read in February?  Let me know in the comments!

Look out for my TBR Mix & Mingle to see what I’m reading in March!

Happy Reading!

Hannah

Pin to remember these books!

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Reading Wrap-up January

TBR Mix & Mingle February

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Book Review - The Forgotten Garden

Book Review of The Forgotten Garden 

The Perfect Book Club Book

Have you read any books by Kate Morton? The House at Riverton (my review) was my launching pad into her work, and everyone kept telling me to read The Forgotten Garden next.  And I can see why - how she chooses her words on the page, what thoughts her character’s think, how she describes the landscape, emotions, and passing of time.  Here, Kate Morton was masterful. 

Synopsis

Mini summary: Cassandra’s grandmother dies in 2005 leaving her to deal, not only with her death, but with the secrets she left behind. Her grandmother, Nell, showed up in a port in Australia all alone, having sailed from England, in 1913.  The dock master and his wife keep her as their own.  But on her twenty-first birthday, her parents break the news to her that they aren’t her real parents.  Dealing with abandonment, in 1975 she decides to try to figure out her past using the only things she has from that life: a small suitcase containing a book of fairy tales.  Life gets in the way, and she never figures out her mystery, but Cassandra is determined to find the truth.

To make matters even more intriguing, we don’t see the mystery unfold only from Cassandra and Nell’s perspective.  Kate Morton takes us back in time to 1900 and 1913 to the Blackhurst Estate where the Mountrachet family are living out their slippery lives. 

Why is it that a story being told from different perspectives is more interesting than a cohesive narrator?  And why is it even more interesting to have the story jump back and forth throughout time?  This novel has both.  Time and characters are tools by which Kate Morton slowly unravels the mystery.

Themes

But, being Kate Morton, she also uses houses as characters.  And these silent characters, made of stone, reveal so much about the inhabitants.  The rich, pristine estate is dark, with obsessions hidden behind closed doors.  But, like the family, it gives the outward appearance of a perfect dwelling.  At the same time they think they are keeping their biggest secret hidden away in a little cottage by the sea the garden a secret, closed off space surrounded by a wall and protected by a maze.  Yet, this is the place where life flourished.

To make it even more interesting, there are little stories with in the story.  The only link to Nell’s past is a book of fairy tales that are sprinkled throughout the novel.  What seems to, at first, be a children’s story suddenly begins to have parallels to the rest of the novel.  The fairy tales are an added element to unravel the mystery, deepen the character’s development, and to understand their motives.

Family 

With all the themes and symbolism, it all comes back to family. 

The bonds of family aren’t easily broken.  Linus’ bond with Georgianna, however inappropriate, brought Eliza back to the home.  Then Eliza’s bond with Rose caused her to act in an unimaginably sacrificial way.  And her bond with her baby, led Nell back to the “scene of the crime” even though she could only pull vague memories of it to mind.  And Nell’s bond with Cassandra pushed her into finishing Nell’s search, and, ultimately, solving the mystery.  Families cause secrets, and families unravel them. 

What does it mean to be a family?  Can your family really abandon you, or will you always be drawn back to some part of your past?  How can a mother’s love be unhealthy when they hold their daughter too smotheringly close, and how is it equally unhealthy when they let their daughter go completely, abandoning her to someone else?

 

How things felt for me 

As I was reading, I was pulled completely inside The Forgotten Garden as if I was lost in the secret garden walls myself.  Noise and things around me were completely blocked out and time stopped.  Even though I wouldn’t call this a suspense novel or thriller, it held me in suspense until the end.

Do you ever reach a point in a book where you just know you are going to finish it tonight?  It doesn’t matter that you need to wake up extra early tomorrow, or that your baby will cry in the middle of the night.  You’ve reached the point of no return.

The last 100 pages of the Forgotten Garden was that for me.  I was so close to the end I could almost taste it.  I could feel the mystery coming into focus, and I had to know how it played out.

But then I woke up the next morning a little bit sad. (Ok, bleary-eyed from lack of sleep) But I was also mourning the loss of the characters.  I wanted to crawl right back inside of the book and live there (preferably in the cottage behind the forgotten garden).

The Perfect Book Club Book

I want to keep discussing the themes and symbols and characters and settings with you…but I don’t want to give everything away!  This would be the perfect book to read in a book club because there’s so much to discuss!  Mothers losing daughters, and daughters being abandoned by their mothers.  Gardens representing life and wellness, and houses representing cold, lonely, sadness wrapped up in a prestigious front.  How time is a factor.  How the stories within the story affect your understanding of the plot.  Oh my gosh, there’s so much!  Somebody come to my house and have coffee with me so I can keep talking about it!

Get The Forgotten Garden on Amazon here

Happy Reading!

Hannah

Read if…

You love history, family, mysteries… or all three!

You might also be interested in:

The House at Riverton

Nonfiction November

The Women in the Castle