Eat Pray Love

Under the Dome

Five Quarters of the Orange
by: Joanne Harris

Challenges: What's in a Name?

Published: 2001

# of pages: 307


I randomly chose this from a recommended books list on librarything.com because it has a food in its title and works for the What's in a Name? 3 challenges. It wasn't until I started reading it that I noticed it's by the "New York Times bestselling author of Chocolat." I read Chocolat a couple of years ago and enjoyed it. Once I noticed Five Quarters of the Orange is by the same author, I saw the similarities between this novel and Chocolat. The similarities are very obvious at the beginning (single mother who loves to cook - especially desserts, opens her own cafe in a small French town, is mysterious, befriends an "outcast" man....). However, the story quickly becomes its own and the reader is soon wrapped up in the mystery that the main character, Framboise, tells.

The story is about Framboise, a woman in her 60s who returns to the town of her childhood. The only thing is - no one knows its her. She keeps her identity a secret as she lives in the house she grew up in, restores the farm, and opens her own cafe in town. Framboise tells the story of her childhood and the story of her more recent past after she returns to her childhood home. The reader begins to see how the two time lines connect and exactly why Framboise is keeping her name and personal history a secret.

Framboise grew up with her widowed mother (Framboise's father was killed in WWII), her brother Cassis, and her sister Reine-Claude. Framboise's mother loves cooking. And that may just be the only thing she loves in Framboise's childish eyes. The mother suffers debilitating headaches that are preceded by the smell of oranges. Oranges are the one thing she fears and Framboise picks up on this and uses it against her mother at the age of 9.

The child Framboise is feisty, wild, confused, and bitter. She's starting to grow up and doesn't have any help. She turns to a German man, one of many soldiers occupying the town. She is influenced and guided by him to help spy on the residents of the town. She receives gifts for her work (such as oranges), but the most valuable gift he gives her is what she perceives as friendship.

The woman Framboise is hard working and open minded. She is afraid the past will take over, but is determined to stay in control. Her daughters no longer live with her and she wants more than anything to protect them from the dark secrets of her past. One of the things later in the book that is similar to Chocolat is the threat of her cafe's business being taken away. Not because she is a "heathen," but because someone has found out her secret...

I didn't think I'd enjoy this at first, even though it seemed similar to Chocolat. It actually frustrates me to read books that are really similar. However, this had more "action" in it. More mystery. It's darker than Chocolat. I recommend this to adults who are fans of Harris' other novels, who enjoy "dramatic mysteries," WWII novels, historical fiction.... There's some bad language, so it may not be appropriate for young adults, but it isn't enough to ruin the novel and make it unenjoyable for adults.



Have you reviewed this? Let me know and I'd be happy to post yours as well.

Mystic and Rider
by: Sharon Shinn

Ender's Game
by: Orson Scott Card

I told myself I wouldn't enter any other challenges this year (except the R.I.P. in the Fall), but I couldn't resist this one!

Quest the Third: Fulfill the requirements for Quest the First (at least 5 books that fit somewhere within the criteria) or AND top it off with a June reading of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream OR a viewing of one of the many theatrical versions of the play.


1. Wildwood Dancing by: Juliet Marillier
2. The Blue Sword by: Robin McKinley
3. The Hero and the Crown by: Robin McKinley
4.
5.

I plan to watch A Midsummer Night's Dream on DVD since I own THIS version already.

Sunshine by: Robin McKinley

Published: 2003

# of pages: 416



I read this in 2007 and it became one of my all time favorite books. I put it on my Christmas list this past year and someone gave it to me. I decided it was about time to re-read it!

Unfortunately, I was disappointed the second time around. I remember the first time I read it it took me awhile to get into it. I was a little confused about the world it was set in since it differs so much from the other books I read by McKinley. But I loved it by the time it was over. The second time I read it it seemed to drag so much. Like Chalice, there was so much rambling and little dialogue. I can't think why I didn't notice that the first time I read it. To be fair, I don't read so much these days and when I do read it's in bits and pieces. I read while I nurse Evan, during commercials, in the bathroom, and maybe (just maybe) I will sit and actually give my attention to a book for awhile in the evenings. So it's really hard to "get into" a novel and I think that Sunshine is one of those that you have to read all at once to really appreciate the characters and story.

What's good about this book??? There's a lot of great stuff! I can still see why I loved this book so much the first time I read it. It's a great story that has flavoring from one of my favorite fairy tales (and, I suspect, one of McKinley's favorites as well), "Beauty and the Beast." It's about a human (well, we think she's human anyway) who meets a vampire, the most feared creature of the Others.

The world is an alternate Earth which has been transformed by the Voodoo Wars and in which magic and "Others" (vampires, weres, demons, etc) exist. Sunshine is the main character and she works at a coffee shop that is owned by her stepfather. She is abducted by vampires at the beginning of the novel and ends up meeting Constantine (Con), a different kind of vampire. The two form an alliance, one that forms a lasting bond between them. Sunshine spends the novel trying to balance her life as a low key baker with her family and boyfriend, Mel, and as a friend to a vampire and a magic handler.

Con and Sunshine form a plan to strike back at the vampire who abducted Sunshine and although she is scared, she makes preparations and strengthens her relationship with Con before they take action. The last part of the novel is my favorite part. Even after not enjoying the book the second time around, I still loved this last part! Con is one of my favorite characters, I just love him! He actually reminds me a lot of the master in Chalice and from what I can remember, the beast in Beauty. I guess I just all around love McKinley's male characters!

Anyway, I definitely recommend this to lovers of fantasy and fans of McKinley! I wish I could say I loved this book just as much as I did before, but that wouldn't be the truth. However, I hope it's because of my bad reading habits these days. There's some bad language and sexual content, but it doesn't overwhelm the novel. However, I wouldn't say it's appropriate for young adults.



Have you reviewed this? Let me know and I'd be happy to post yours as well.

The county has announced that 12 branches of our local library system will be closing in a couple of weeks. That's half of the total number of branches we have in our county!! I'm shocked that this is happening. Not only will 12 branches be closing, but 148 employees will be laid off.

Now I'm thankful that the branch I visit regularly will remain open, but I'm still upset about the other closings. I have joined the library's facebook fan group and read some of the discussions about the closings. Someone made the point that the branches that are closing are in lower income sections of the city. They pointed out that the branches in the most affluent sections of the city are ALL safe.

People are trying to raise awareness and hopefully receive enough money in donations to save the branches. However, I don't think it's organized enough and I'm afraid it won't help in such a short amount of time. I wish that they could post "if this much money is raised, this branch will be saved" and let people see where the money is going and that they are making a difference. I feel that people could donate and donate and then the county could claim it wasn't enough to save the branches or the employees' jobs and then where would the money go?

HERE is a link to our library's announcement about the closings. I actually wrote an email to the Board of County Commissioners!! I never do things like that, but I feel very strongly about this. Charlotte is a city that has progressed so much the past several years. We experienced growth even in the midst of an economic recession. People have been pouring into the county from all over the nation. The closing of so many libraries seems like the opposite of positive progression.

Last Light
by: Terri Blackstock

Series: Restoration Series, Book 1

Challenges: 1st in a Series Challenge

Published: 2005

# of pages: 381



My grandma gave me this series when I visited her for Christmas. Like I mentioned in a previous post, I rarely read Christian fiction these days. However, this series looked like it would be easy to read, so I decided to give it a try.

However, I wasn't terribly impressed with the first book. I'll go ahead and mention what bothered me about the book and then what I liked. Last Light follows a family of 6 who live in the suburbs of Birmingham, Alabama. I can't remember all of their names, but the mom is Kay and the 21 year old daughter (the oldest of the 4 kids) is named Deni. The story begins with a city-wide electrical and power outage. Planes fall from the sky, cars stall, watches stop, and mayhem ensues. The family struggles to survive as they realize that the power won't be returning anytime soon.

What I didn't like was the repetitive sermons that are (unfortunately) all too common in many Christian fiction novels. Also, the characters aren't well written. They aren't consistent or realistic. The parents are Christians and yet they are unwilling to help their neighbor, a young single mom of 3 toddlers. Seriously, what kind of "good" people (people who wouldn't automatically prey on others in these circumstances) would be that selfish that they couldn't even spend a little time helping out or spare something that they weren't even using to begin with? I mean, I can see that some people would act like that in a life threatening situation, but I don't know too many people who would behave that way in the situation this family is in. I believe Blackstock was going a little too far with the selfish stereotype and that she should have either found another downfall for the family to be involved in, should have made the progression to selfishness more natural, or had the situations be more dire (like the family having to give up their last bottle of medicine or the rest of their food, etc). She wants to show that the family changes for the better and so makes them unnaturally selfish to begin with.

The thing I liked about this novel - the concept of the storyline. It was neat to think about what I would do if put in that situation. How would the world be if all of our power went out? Also, the story was very suspenseful. I kept reading to find out what would happen next. I plan on reading the next book in the series. Even if I didn't already own it, I'd probably go out of my way to get it because I am interested to see how the story continues.

I recommend this to Christian readers or people who don't mind Christian fiction. I would like to say this is a book non-Christians could enjoy, but I think there are too many sermons and vague Christian phrases.



Have you reviewed this? Let me know and I'd be happy to post yours as well.

As you have probably noticed if you regularly read the Book Nook, I'm making yet another change to the template! I changed from the first template because the images were having problems. Then the last template I chose had a lot of Spanish in the code which made it hard for me to edit (but it was 3 columns!). So this is a different version of the first template, which seems to "go" with this blog. Hopefully the images won't have problems.

So bear with me as the blog is under construction, hopefully I'll have it good as new in a few days!