From the back of the book-
Spirit Sisters illuminates the very personal ghost stories of ordinary Australian women. Journalist Karina Machado has listened to many of these stories and within these pages captures the sorrow, fear, comfort and hope that go along with them. Here she passes on their secrets and shares those incrediable moments when someone leans in to whisper their tale and the hairs on the back of your neck stand up.
Whether you believe in the afterlife or not, reading this book will lead you to question your reality and wonder...maybe?
I sought out this book after reading its follow up Where Spirits Dwell and just as expected Spirit Sisters offers more of the same. Reading them out of order didn't seem to make any difference both being simple collections of retold experiences.
The strengths and weaknesses of the book remain unchanged. The stories themselves are again related in a mundane language that requires quite a bit of imagination if the reader is to get a sense of the emotions claimed in the blurb but is no less interesting for that. Perhaps sometimes you really do need to be their if you are to truly understand.
Not bad but don't expect scary-Lynn.
Showing posts with label feminist/women-oriented. Show all posts
Showing posts with label feminist/women-oriented. Show all posts
Tuesday, May 29
Thursday, October 27
Anonymums
From the back of the book-
Once upon a time, there were three mums-Mum A, Mum B and Mum C.
Bored with their suburban existence, they decided to add some spice to their lives. For three months, they would dare each other to do things.
Mum B would find herself wearing firecracker red lipstick for a whole week (yes, even to swimming lessons); Mum C would tell her atheist husband she'd found religion; and Mum A would have a secret tryst with Santa in a shopping centre.
They also dared each other to tell the truth... The truth about motherhood. The truth about their lives. The truth about who they'd become compared to who they wanted to be.'
This book basically says what all parents, if they're being honest, know-motherhood is hard. It is exhausting, unrelenting, mind-numbing, dull, repetative work. Sure we love our children and wouldn't swap them for the world etc, etc but that doesn't mean we don't pine for the women we were Before Children or mourn the Woman We Could Have Been.
I could relate to a lot of what these women were saying about their mothering experience and sitting surrounded in the mummy-zombie suburbs even be a little jealous that they found each other.
The dares and their responses to them were fun. The truths were open, honest and at times confronting. Both are presented in an engaging, easy to read way. However the book left me with mixed feelings.
For all I knew where these women were coming from part of me (a judgemental, contemptuous part) couldn't help but want to give them a good shake and tell them to wake up to themselves. In the grand scheme of things they have it good. Their problems are most definitely first-world, middle-class ones and not even difficult first world ones. They weren't faced with the death or disability of their partners or children, poverty or abuse.
In all fairness they never claim that their lives are particularly difficult in any way other than motherhood and the book is about loss of identity and regaining self not social justice. I find it interesting that it provoked such a response in me and it has made me examine my world view.
A deceptively light read that will have many nodding in agreement and some wondering why.-Lynn
Once upon a time, there were three mums-Mum A, Mum B and Mum C.
Bored with their suburban existence, they decided to add some spice to their lives. For three months, they would dare each other to do things.
Mum B would find herself wearing firecracker red lipstick for a whole week (yes, even to swimming lessons); Mum C would tell her atheist husband she'd found religion; and Mum A would have a secret tryst with Santa in a shopping centre.
They also dared each other to tell the truth... The truth about motherhood. The truth about their lives. The truth about who they'd become compared to who they wanted to be.'
This book basically says what all parents, if they're being honest, know-motherhood is hard. It is exhausting, unrelenting, mind-numbing, dull, repetative work. Sure we love our children and wouldn't swap them for the world etc, etc but that doesn't mean we don't pine for the women we were Before Children or mourn the Woman We Could Have Been.
I could relate to a lot of what these women were saying about their mothering experience and sitting surrounded in the mummy-zombie suburbs even be a little jealous that they found each other.
The dares and their responses to them were fun. The truths were open, honest and at times confronting. Both are presented in an engaging, easy to read way. However the book left me with mixed feelings.
For all I knew where these women were coming from part of me (a judgemental, contemptuous part) couldn't help but want to give them a good shake and tell them to wake up to themselves. In the grand scheme of things they have it good. Their problems are most definitely first-world, middle-class ones and not even difficult first world ones. They weren't faced with the death or disability of their partners or children, poverty or abuse.
In all fairness they never claim that their lives are particularly difficult in any way other than motherhood and the book is about loss of identity and regaining self not social justice. I find it interesting that it provoked such a response in me and it has made me examine my world view.
A deceptively light read that will have many nodding in agreement and some wondering why.-Lynn
Saturday, July 2
Anonymums – anonymous
Subtitled Three women, the truth and a whole lot of dares, Anonymums is an account of three Australian women (Mums A, B and C) – Mum A had met one of them several times at an annual writers’ festival, and the other online. In both cases the women clicked, and she suspected that they, like her, might be diminished by their lives as suburban wives and mothers. “Most days I felt like a zombie – a mindless, animated slave to two needy, demanding kids...” The final straw came when Mum A realised she had a cleaning sponge preference. And thus was born the project – for three months each Mum would get a dare from one of her friends and have to respond truthfully to a question from the other, with twist that the last months’ truth and dare had to be self-set.
There were guidelines – no skydiving, no affairs, nothing that could wind up on Jackass, no salsa – and the dares seemed relatively mild. In December Mum A had to go to a shopping centre, line up, sit on Santa’s knee, ask him for a steam mop and buy a photo for posterity, Mum B had to wear siren-red lipstick for a week, and Mum C had to have a Brazilian wax.
The truths were a little more challenging – tell me about the worst mother you know, tell me your most used sexual fantasy, tell the truth about how you sometimes wish you’d never have children. And in all cases the women found themselves changing, expanding, and challenging aspects of lives that had been mundane.
Anonymums is a recognition of the unrelenting monotony of motherhood, the inequality of parenthood, the frustration and resentment of the stay at home parent, and a realisation that this doesn’t have to be the case – I found Mum A’s self-imposed Big Dare, to change the running of the house and reduce the resentment she felt toward her husband, possibly the most interesting.
I also found her response to the question “tell me about the worst mother you know” fascinating, because of the way it challenged her to look at the truth of this woman’s life rather than her (admittedly distressing) behaviour born of compromise.
I also liked Mum B’s observation, on day 3 of a week-long dare to abstain from both chocolate and alcohol,
I don’t need to re-read it, though, and have left it at the airport, hopefully to be picked up and perused by a mum in need of a reminder of her own identity outside the mum label. – Alex
There were guidelines – no skydiving, no affairs, nothing that could wind up on Jackass, no salsa – and the dares seemed relatively mild. In December Mum A had to go to a shopping centre, line up, sit on Santa’s knee, ask him for a steam mop and buy a photo for posterity, Mum B had to wear siren-red lipstick for a week, and Mum C had to have a Brazilian wax.
The truths were a little more challenging – tell me about the worst mother you know, tell me your most used sexual fantasy, tell the truth about how you sometimes wish you’d never have children. And in all cases the women found themselves changing, expanding, and challenging aspects of lives that had been mundane.
Anonymums is a recognition of the unrelenting monotony of motherhood, the inequality of parenthood, the frustration and resentment of the stay at home parent, and a realisation that this doesn’t have to be the case – I found Mum A’s self-imposed Big Dare, to change the running of the house and reduce the resentment she felt toward her husband, possibly the most interesting.
I also found her response to the question “tell me about the worst mother you know” fascinating, because of the way it challenged her to look at the truth of this woman’s life rather than her (admittedly distressing) behaviour born of compromise.
I also liked Mum B’s observation, on day 3 of a week-long dare to abstain from both chocolate and alcohol,
8AMI’m not a mother, though most of my friends are, and I have in my life children ranging in age from infants through to Lynn’s teens. I also remember the experience of co-parenting my younger siblings. I believe the hype about parental love being transformative and encompassing and amazing, but I also know it’s exhausting, unrelenting, consuming, never-ending and unrecognised. Anonymums redresses this somewhat, and I like the ending, where they are not only reinvigorated by vow to continue challenging themselves and each other.
I have a headache. Could it be withdrawal? And if so, from what?
More likely it’s from hearing all about episode 24 of Ben 10. What happened to the Wiggles? That’s what I’d like to know. Then, we knew where we were: a bit of Hot Potato, a rock or two of the bear, point your fingers, do the twist and jump in the Big Red Car. But now, I’ve got ‘diamond-head guy’ and 'four-arm guy’ and eight other guys to deal with. If Big Boy actually knew anything about this cartoon I wouldn’t mind so much – but he’s never even seen the actual show. Won’t let him watch it because I think he’s too young.
Instead, I was watching firsthand the power of word-of-mouth advertising. Kids, it turns out, are naturals at it. Some kid came to pre-school with an enormous plastic omitrix-watch-thingy, and voila! The Game Has Changed.
I don’t need to re-read it, though, and have left it at the airport, hopefully to be picked up and perused by a mum in need of a reminder of her own identity outside the mum label. – Alex
Monday, January 31
The Lost Quilter - Jennifer Chiaverini
Hiring newcomer Gretchen was an even better decision than the Elm Creek Quilters initially realised, for she comes with a husband adept at woodwork and repairs. When Joe tries to repair a long-abandoned desk, he uncovers a small stack of letters addressed to Sylvia's great-great-aunt, Gerda Bergstrom. The first, sent in 1868, is a response to her repeated queries for information about a servant named Joanna - the name of the author is familiar to Sylvia from her earlier reading of Gerda's diaries, it sheds no light on what happened to Joanna, a recaptured runaway slave. The remaining letters, written almost thirty years later, are enquiries about a Douglass Frederick, a name unknown to Sylvia but clearly connected with the events of 1859.
Despite Joanna's best efforts, Josiah Chester - her owner and the father of her newborn son - recaptured her. Determined she not run away again, she has only a night or two at Greenfields Plantation, Virginia, the only home she's ever known, before being sent further south to live with his brother in South Carolina, where another escape attempt would be impossible.
Set primarily in the years leading to, during and shortly after the American Civil War, The Lost Quilter is a spell-binding, horrifying, triumphant novel of trust, betrayal, cruelty, kindness, humanity, prejudice and survival. Chiaverini manages to capture the casual disregard that results from believing other human beings are inherently unequal, describing barbarism that is more striking in its contrast to the illusion of Southern gentility. I found one scene, where Joanna attempts to escape during her return to Virginia, particularly effect - the change in attitude when a woman realises she's aided not a freed woman but a slave is fascinating and horrifying. And of course, quilts and quilting bind the narratives of the past and the present together.
One of the aspects I found most interesting is the justifications for slavery,
This is a companion piece to The Runaway Quilt, where we first learned of Joanna and of the Bergstrom connection with the Underground Railway. - Alex
The Elm Creek Quilt series:
1. The Quilter's Apprentice
2. Round Robin
3. The Cross-Country Quilters
4. The Runaway Quilt
5. The Quilter's Legacy
6. The Master Quilter
7. The Sugar Camp Quilt
8. The Christmas Quilt
9. Circle of Quilters
10. The Quilter's Homecoming
11. The New Year's Quilt
12. The Winding Ways Quilt
13. The Quilter's Kitchen
14. The Lost Quilter
15. A Quilter's Holiday
16. The Aloha Quilt
Despite Joanna's best efforts, Josiah Chester - her owner and the father of her newborn son - recaptured her. Determined she not run away again, she has only a night or two at Greenfields Plantation, Virginia, the only home she's ever known, before being sent further south to live with his brother in South Carolina, where another escape attempt would be impossible.
Set primarily in the years leading to, during and shortly after the American Civil War, The Lost Quilter is a spell-binding, horrifying, triumphant novel of trust, betrayal, cruelty, kindness, humanity, prejudice and survival. Chiaverini manages to capture the casual disregard that results from believing other human beings are inherently unequal, describing barbarism that is more striking in its contrast to the illusion of Southern gentility. I found one scene, where Joanna attempts to escape during her return to Virginia, particularly effect - the change in attitude when a woman realises she's aided not a freed woman but a slave is fascinating and horrifying. And of course, quilts and quilting bind the narratives of the past and the present together.
One of the aspects I found most interesting is the justifications for slavery,
Negroes don't feel love or sadness the way [white people] do. They may give the appearance of true feeling, but they understand these sensations only in a brute, rudimentary way, such as a dog or horse might.What culturally-mediated prejudices do we similarly harbour and justify?
This is a companion piece to The Runaway Quilt, where we first learned of Joanna and of the Bergstrom connection with the Underground Railway. - Alex
The Elm Creek Quilt series:
1. The Quilter's Apprentice
2. Round Robin
3. The Cross-Country Quilters
4. The Runaway Quilt
5. The Quilter's Legacy
6. The Master Quilter
7. The Sugar Camp Quilt
8. The Christmas Quilt
9. Circle of Quilters
10. The Quilter's Homecoming
11. The New Year's Quilt
12. The Winding Ways Quilt
13. The Quilter's Kitchen
14. The Lost Quilter
15. A Quilter's Holiday
16. The Aloha Quilt
Thursday, December 30
The Aloha Quilt - Jennifer Chiaverini
Bonnie Markham has had a grim year - in the throes of an unpleasant divorce from a man she knew not nearly as well as she thought, she's also lost the quilting supplies shop she dreamed of and which was the financial and occupational centre of her life. When an old friend from college contacts her, it seems too good to be true - Claire needs her help, and her Elm Creek Quilts experience, setting up a quilter's retreat in Hawaii.
As well as learning an entirely new approach to quilting, Bonnie finds herself relaxing in the welcoming environment of America's fiftieth state - she knows little of Hawaii's history or culture, but is keen to learn, particularly after she strikes up a friendship with the brother of one of the Aloha Quilt camp's staff. But Bonnie's ex-husband hasn't finished with her yet, and he threatens not only her future but that of Elm Creek Quilts itself. Can Bonnie make a new life for herself, free of him?
Of course she can, but the journey to that point was very enjoyable and beautifully balanced. As I've written in my last few Elm creek reviews, I've been a little less involved in the last few novels, in part because of over-immersion in Chaiverini's world. In The Aloha Quilt I felt as engaged and interested as I was at the beginning.
Throughout the series the characters have been well crafted, well rounded and believable, with histories and flaws. The dialogue rings true and, with rare exceptions, actions aspring from believable motivations. There were several differences with The Aloha Quilts, though - all positive.
The first was the shift in focus - Sylvia appears as a secondary character, with most of the focus on Bonnie, a middle-aged divorcee used to putting the needs of her children and her husband ahead of her own. With the former now grown and the latter no longer her concern, Bonnie at the beginning of the book is pale and listless, with neither drive nor spirit. The novel traces her growth into a professional, with strength and attitude, a new man, a new home, and ownership of herself for the first time in her life. Threaded through this triumphant narrative is (of what I'm sure is only a hint) a history of the islands, culture and people of Hawai'i.
Events in her friend Claire's life, specifically her marriage, cause a rift that, though over-reactive, is believable in light of Bonnie's experiences. What I particularly liked, though, was Bonnie's dawning awareness of the role her own assumptions, preoccupations and lack of listening contributed to a situation that Claire would have found distressing and traumatic anyway.
There are romantic elements here, and there's certainly a happy ending, but The Aloha Quilt is only a romance in the sense that it deals with the lives of women. I think it's my favourite so far of this strong and engaging series that, until the final (for me, fourteenth for the series) chapter comes in to my branch. - Alex
The Elm Creek Quilt series:
1. The Quilter's Apprentice
2. Round Robin
3. The Cross-Country Quilters
4. The Runaway Quilt
5. The Quilter's Legacy
6. The Master Quilter
7. The Sugar Camp Quilt
8. The Christmas Quilt
9. Circle of Quilters
10. The Quilter's Homecoming
11. The New Year's Quilt
12. The Winding Ways Quilt
13. The Quilter's Kitchen
14. The Lost Quilter
15. A Quilter's Holiday
16. The Aloha Quilt
As well as learning an entirely new approach to quilting, Bonnie finds herself relaxing in the welcoming environment of America's fiftieth state - she knows little of Hawaii's history or culture, but is keen to learn, particularly after she strikes up a friendship with the brother of one of the Aloha Quilt camp's staff. But Bonnie's ex-husband hasn't finished with her yet, and he threatens not only her future but that of Elm Creek Quilts itself. Can Bonnie make a new life for herself, free of him?
Of course she can, but the journey to that point was very enjoyable and beautifully balanced. As I've written in my last few Elm creek reviews, I've been a little less involved in the last few novels, in part because of over-immersion in Chaiverini's world. In The Aloha Quilt I felt as engaged and interested as I was at the beginning.
Throughout the series the characters have been well crafted, well rounded and believable, with histories and flaws. The dialogue rings true and, with rare exceptions, actions aspring from believable motivations. There were several differences with The Aloha Quilts, though - all positive.
The first was the shift in focus - Sylvia appears as a secondary character, with most of the focus on Bonnie, a middle-aged divorcee used to putting the needs of her children and her husband ahead of her own. With the former now grown and the latter no longer her concern, Bonnie at the beginning of the book is pale and listless, with neither drive nor spirit. The novel traces her growth into a professional, with strength and attitude, a new man, a new home, and ownership of herself for the first time in her life. Threaded through this triumphant narrative is (of what I'm sure is only a hint) a history of the islands, culture and people of Hawai'i.
Events in her friend Claire's life, specifically her marriage, cause a rift that, though over-reactive, is believable in light of Bonnie's experiences. What I particularly liked, though, was Bonnie's dawning awareness of the role her own assumptions, preoccupations and lack of listening contributed to a situation that Claire would have found distressing and traumatic anyway.
There are romantic elements here, and there's certainly a happy ending, but The Aloha Quilt is only a romance in the sense that it deals with the lives of women. I think it's my favourite so far of this strong and engaging series that, until the final (for me, fourteenth for the series) chapter comes in to my branch. - Alex
The Elm Creek Quilt series:
1. The Quilter's Apprentice
2. Round Robin
3. The Cross-Country Quilters
4. The Runaway Quilt
5. The Quilter's Legacy
6. The Master Quilter
7. The Sugar Camp Quilt
8. The Christmas Quilt
9. Circle of Quilters
10. The Quilter's Homecoming
11. The New Year's Quilt
12. The Winding Ways Quilt
13. The Quilter's Kitchen
14. The Lost Quilter
15. A Quilter's Holiday
16. The Aloha Quilt
Thursday, December 23
The Quilter's Kitchen - Jennifer Chiaverini
Perhaps it's because, in the lead-up to a year without library books, I've glutted on the Elm Creek Quilts series, but I have become decreasingly enchanted by the novels, none more so than The Quilter's Kitchen. I knew going in that it was "an Elm Creek Quilters novel with recipes" because it says that right on the cover. I didn't expect, though, that it would be an account of new member Anna Del Maso's fledgling foray into life on the Bergstrom estate thinly layered between pages of recipes.
I've read several books that include recipes in the narrative, of which perhaps the best are Greenwood's Corinna Chapman novels, and have yet to cook a single dish from one. In Greenwood's version the recipes are few, packaged at the end of a section and easily skimmed over before returning to the narrative. In Chiaverini's version the recipes are the narrative, while the story serves the purpose of light flavouring. Each recipe is related to the text and to the characters, though I almost always had the sense that this was a slight stretch rather than an organic sequel to events. Although food plays a part in the rest of the series, there's a dwelling on it here that's laboured.
This isn't to say I didn't find sections of the Quilter's Kitchen interesting, though predominantly for reasons other than those I suspect Chiaverini intended. I noted, for example, the insistence in almost every recipe on kosher salt, something that I don't remember coming across in any of my wide collection of recipes, garnered from books, online and through friends and family. I had to Google it to discover what makes this kind of salt so special, and must confess that, despite reading a couple of descriptions (like this one), I don't really get how it's different from sea salt or Victoria's Murray River salt. Most of the things that caught my eye were contrasts with Australia cuisine, like canned pumpkin (unknown here outside specialist grocers, in contrast with what my Colorado-based sister tells me is a dearth of edible pumpkins in the US)
The Elm Creek Quilt series:
1. The Quilter's Apprentice
2. Round Robin
3. The Cross-Country Quilters
4. The Runaway Quilt
5. The Quilter's Legacy
6. The Master Quilter
7. The Sugar Camp Quilt
8. The Christmas Quilt
9. Circle of Quilters
10. The Quilter's Homecoming
11. The New Year's Quilt
12. The Winding Ways Quilt
13. The Quilter's Kitchen
14. The Lost Quilter
15. A Quilter's Holiday
16. The Aloha Quilt
I've read several books that include recipes in the narrative, of which perhaps the best are Greenwood's Corinna Chapman novels, and have yet to cook a single dish from one. In Greenwood's version the recipes are few, packaged at the end of a section and easily skimmed over before returning to the narrative. In Chiaverini's version the recipes are the narrative, while the story serves the purpose of light flavouring. Each recipe is related to the text and to the characters, though I almost always had the sense that this was a slight stretch rather than an organic sequel to events. Although food plays a part in the rest of the series, there's a dwelling on it here that's laboured.
This isn't to say I didn't find sections of the Quilter's Kitchen interesting, though predominantly for reasons other than those I suspect Chiaverini intended. I noted, for example, the insistence in almost every recipe on kosher salt, something that I don't remember coming across in any of my wide collection of recipes, garnered from books, online and through friends and family. I had to Google it to discover what makes this kind of salt so special, and must confess that, despite reading a couple of descriptions (like this one), I don't really get how it's different from sea salt or Victoria's Murray River salt. Most of the things that caught my eye were contrasts with Australia cuisine, like canned pumpkin (unknown here outside specialist grocers, in contrast with what my Colorado-based sister tells me is a dearth of edible pumpkins in the US)
The Elm Creek Quilt series:
1. The Quilter's Apprentice
2. Round Robin
3. The Cross-Country Quilters
4. The Runaway Quilt
5. The Quilter's Legacy
6. The Master Quilter
7. The Sugar Camp Quilt
8. The Christmas Quilt
9. Circle of Quilters
10. The Quilter's Homecoming
11. The New Year's Quilt
12. The Winding Ways Quilt
13. The Quilter's Kitchen
14. The Lost Quilter
15. A Quilter's Holiday
16. The Aloha Quilt
Tuesday, December 21
The Winding Ways Quilt - Jennifer Chiaverini
As the composition of the Elm Creek Quilters changes, founder Sylvia searches for a way to represent, honour and welcome the departing and arriving members of Pennsylvania's most loved quilting camp. She decided to create a winding ways quilt, because of its symbolic meaning and its pattern of interconnecting curves and overlapping circles, representing the connectedness between the women.
In common with the rest of the series, quilting is representative of and a metaphor for life, particularly the lives of women in domestic occupations and with domestic preoccupations. As the group reflect on their time together we learn a little about their lives to this point, including how they met and where they're heading. For those familiar with the series this combines known information with new aspects, well enough integrated to be interesting, and written clearly enough for readers new to the series.
Also common to the series is the familiar theme of forgiveness and moving past significant events (loss, grief, betrayal, and just the changes of life) to continue the journey of life, as whole and self-realised as possible.
The Winding Ways Quilt was a pleasant read, but I'm also ready to take a break from the series, and have only two more novels to go. - Alex
The Elm Creek Quilt series:
1. The Quilter's Apprentice
2. Round Robin
3. The Cross-Country Quilters
4. The Runaway Quilt
5. The Quilter's Legacy
6. The Master Quilter
7. The Sugar Camp Quilt
8. The Christmas Quilt
9. Circle of Quilters
10. The Quilter's Homecoming
11. The New Year's Quilt
12. The Winding Ways Quilt
13. The Quilter's Kitchen
14. The Lost Quilter
15. A Quilter's Holiday
16. The Aloha Quilt
In common with the rest of the series, quilting is representative of and a metaphor for life, particularly the lives of women in domestic occupations and with domestic preoccupations. As the group reflect on their time together we learn a little about their lives to this point, including how they met and where they're heading. For those familiar with the series this combines known information with new aspects, well enough integrated to be interesting, and written clearly enough for readers new to the series.
Also common to the series is the familiar theme of forgiveness and moving past significant events (loss, grief, betrayal, and just the changes of life) to continue the journey of life, as whole and self-realised as possible.
The Winding Ways Quilt was a pleasant read, but I'm also ready to take a break from the series, and have only two more novels to go. - Alex
The Elm Creek Quilt series:
1. The Quilter's Apprentice
2. Round Robin
3. The Cross-Country Quilters
4. The Runaway Quilt
5. The Quilter's Legacy
6. The Master Quilter
7. The Sugar Camp Quilt
8. The Christmas Quilt
9. Circle of Quilters
10. The Quilter's Homecoming
11. The New Year's Quilt
12. The Winding Ways Quilt
13. The Quilter's Kitchen
14. The Lost Quilter
15. A Quilter's Holiday
16. The Aloha Quilt
Saturday, December 18
The New Year's Quilt - Jennifer Chiaverini
In keeping with the first holiday-themed novel, and really with the series as a whole, The New Year's Quilt uses events from the past to direct activity int he present. In this case, newly-wed Sylvia tackles the distance of her new daughter-in-law, Amy. Amy has opposed the re-marriage of her elderly, widowed father since the idea was first mentioned, and the couple's impetuous Christmas wedding did little to allay her misgivings. With the memory of how her estrangement from her sister Claudia only ended with her death, Sylvia works harder than she's inclined to in order to get to the bottom of Amy's opposition and help her see that together she and Andrew are happier and safer than they are apart.
The writing's good, the characters are well crafted and three dimensional, and the plot is strong, but I'm losing a little interest in the series. I had two main issues with The New Year's Quilt: the first is that I'm starting to get heartily sick of the Sylvia/Claudia thing. I understand that the relationship itself, as well as the rift, was hugely significant and tells us a lot about Sylvia as a character, but it was a long time ago and she has other relationships, so make peace already.
The other, bigger, issue is Amy - I don't buy that her opposition to the marriage is because she's concerned Andrew will get hurt again, or will be lumbered with a dependent wife to nurse should Sylvia fall ill (with, the implication is, a degenerative age-related condition like Alzheimer's). I appreciate that one's first reaction may be a knee jerk of concern, sadness over one's mother being replaced in one's father's affection, or something similar. But to think your surviving parent would be better off alone than with someone he clearly loves, who gives every indication of loving him, and who's fit, well, emotionally stable and financially secure seems bizarre.
this, fairly sizable, quibble aside, The New Year's Quilt does what it ought to. Were I not caught between a need for completeism and a dawning ban on library borrowings I think I'd space this series out more widely, and no doubt increase my enjoyment similarly. - Alex
The Elm Creek Quilt series:
1. The Quilter's Apprentice
2. Round Robin
3. The Cross-Country Quilters
4. The Runaway Quilt
5. The Quilter's Legacy
6. The Master Quilter
7. The Sugar Camp Quilt
8. The Christmas Quilt
9. Circle of Quilters
10. The Quilter's Homecoming
11. The New Year's Quilt
12. The Winding Ways Quilt
13. The Quilter's Kitchen
14. The Lost Quilter
15. A Quilter's Holiday
16. The Aloha Quilt
The writing's good, the characters are well crafted and three dimensional, and the plot is strong, but I'm losing a little interest in the series. I had two main issues with The New Year's Quilt: the first is that I'm starting to get heartily sick of the Sylvia/Claudia thing. I understand that the relationship itself, as well as the rift, was hugely significant and tells us a lot about Sylvia as a character, but it was a long time ago and she has other relationships, so make peace already.
The other, bigger, issue is Amy - I don't buy that her opposition to the marriage is because she's concerned Andrew will get hurt again, or will be lumbered with a dependent wife to nurse should Sylvia fall ill (with, the implication is, a degenerative age-related condition like Alzheimer's). I appreciate that one's first reaction may be a knee jerk of concern, sadness over one's mother being replaced in one's father's affection, or something similar. But to think your surviving parent would be better off alone than with someone he clearly loves, who gives every indication of loving him, and who's fit, well, emotionally stable and financially secure seems bizarre.
this, fairly sizable, quibble aside, The New Year's Quilt does what it ought to. Were I not caught between a need for completeism and a dawning ban on library borrowings I think I'd space this series out more widely, and no doubt increase my enjoyment similarly. - Alex
The Elm Creek Quilt series:
1. The Quilter's Apprentice
2. Round Robin
3. The Cross-Country Quilters
4. The Runaway Quilt
5. The Quilter's Legacy
6. The Master Quilter
7. The Sugar Camp Quilt
8. The Christmas Quilt
9. Circle of Quilters
10. The Quilter's Homecoming
11. The New Year's Quilt
12. The Winding Ways Quilt
13. The Quilter's Kitchen
14. The Lost Quilter
15. A Quilter's Holiday
16. The Aloha Quilt
Wednesday, December 15
The Quilter's Homecoming - Jennifer Chiaverini
Elizabeth Nelson left Pennsylvania with no little sadness - with one exceptiong she was leaving everyone she knew and loved behind her, from the security of her family's wealth to her adorable and stubborn young cousin Sylvia. It was that one exception, however, that made the leaving worthwhile, for Elizabeth was leaving home with her best friend and brand new husband, Henry.
Securely packed in their trunks are the quilts Elizabeth has made, lovingly and meticulously stitched together. As she packed, and as they make the long journey to California, Elizabeth imagines the first night in their new home, on the 120 acres of Triumph Ranch. but when the newly-weds arrive in the Arboles Valley they discover they are just the most recent of several couples duped by unscrupulous con men - there is no Triumph Ranch and their deed is a forgery. Penniless and dejected, Elizabeth and Henry have only their love for one another and their work ethic to support themselves.
I know next to nothing about the era (mid-nineteen twenties) or the region (America's west coast), but the historical details ring true, without being overt or forced. I really enjoyed reading The Quilter's Homecoming, in no small part because the mystery of Sylvia Bergstrom Compton's favourite cousin has been dangled before us in several previous novels. The biggest unanswered question - why she lost contact with the rest of the family - is answered, and having a new cast relieved a little of the ennui I've been feeling with the series, more due to my immersion in it that a decrease in creative quality, I suspect. - Alex
The Elm Creek Quilt series:
1. The Quilter's Apprentice
2. Round Robin
3. The Cross-Country Quilters
4. The Runaway Quilt
5. The Quilter's Legacy
6. The Master Quilter
7. The Sugar Camp Quilt
8. The Christmas Quilt
9. Circle of Quilters
10. The Quilter's Homecoming
11. The New Year's Quilt
12. The Winding Ways Quilt
13. The Quilter's Kitchen
14. The Lost Quilter
15. A Quilter's Holiday
16. The Aloha Quilt
Securely packed in their trunks are the quilts Elizabeth has made, lovingly and meticulously stitched together. As she packed, and as they make the long journey to California, Elizabeth imagines the first night in their new home, on the 120 acres of Triumph Ranch. but when the newly-weds arrive in the Arboles Valley they discover they are just the most recent of several couples duped by unscrupulous con men - there is no Triumph Ranch and their deed is a forgery. Penniless and dejected, Elizabeth and Henry have only their love for one another and their work ethic to support themselves.
I know next to nothing about the era (mid-nineteen twenties) or the region (America's west coast), but the historical details ring true, without being overt or forced. I really enjoyed reading The Quilter's Homecoming, in no small part because the mystery of Sylvia Bergstrom Compton's favourite cousin has been dangled before us in several previous novels. The biggest unanswered question - why she lost contact with the rest of the family - is answered, and having a new cast relieved a little of the ennui I've been feeling with the series, more due to my immersion in it that a decrease in creative quality, I suspect. - Alex
The Elm Creek Quilt series:
1. The Quilter's Apprentice
2. Round Robin
3. The Cross-Country Quilters
4. The Runaway Quilt
5. The Quilter's Legacy
6. The Master Quilter
7. The Sugar Camp Quilt
8. The Christmas Quilt
9. Circle of Quilters
10. The Quilter's Homecoming
11. The New Year's Quilt
12. The Winding Ways Quilt
13. The Quilter's Kitchen
14. The Lost Quilter
15. A Quilter's Holiday
16. The Aloha Quilt
Monday, December 13
A Quilter's Holiday - Jennifer Chiaverini
Elm Creek Quilts has new faces, and as Thanksgiving approaches the final touches to the Manor are being made, in anticipation of the unofficial beginning of quilting season, which starts the day after Thanksgiving.
When Sylvia and her sister Claudia were children, Claudia's less meticulous basketwork became the focal point of a Bergstrom Thanksgiving ceremony - each family member would put something in the wicker cornucopia and, over dinner, as each item was withdrawn its owner would tell the story of how their object represented what they were grateful for that year.
While clearing out cupboards on the century-plus old kitchen, new chef Anna discovers an openwork basket, and another Elm creek tradition is reborn. The quilters have much for which to be thankful, and in A Quilter's Holiday they share their stories.
In this third holiday-themed Quilt novel, Chiaverini's technique is as adept as always, and her palette of well-rounded, flawed but good-hearted women is as rich as usual. However, most likely because I've been rushing before year's end to make my way through the series before our self-imposed ban/drastic reduction of library books takes place, I'm feeling a little tired of the characters and the stories. Some of the elements - like Sylvia and Claudia's childhood antagonism - feel like they should be resolved already. And, to be wholly contrary, I also felt faintly irritated by the neat wrapping up of other aspects, like Diane's relationship with her sons, and Gretchen's charity work.
There are certainly some lovely moments, including the resolution for Sylvia of some of her curiosity about her favourite cousin Elizabeth's life after leaving Pennsylvania (revealed in the novel before this, The Quilter's Homecoming). And, as I say, I suspect much of the dissatisfaction comes from the reader rather than a fault with the author. I have only one more Quilt novel to go, and I think a break will be the best thing for my connection witht he series. - Alex
The Elm Creek Quilt series:
1. The Quilter's Apprentice
2. Round Robin
3. The Cross-Country Quilters
4. The Runaway Quilt
5. The Quilter's Legacy
6. The Master Quilter
7. The Sugar Camp Quilt
8. The Christmas Quilt
9. Circle of Quilters
10. The Quilter's Homecoming
11. The New Year's Quilt
12. The Winding Ways Quilt
13. The Quilter's Kitchen
14. The Lost Quilter
15. A Quilter's Holiday
16. The Aloha Quilt
When Sylvia and her sister Claudia were children, Claudia's less meticulous basketwork became the focal point of a Bergstrom Thanksgiving ceremony - each family member would put something in the wicker cornucopia and, over dinner, as each item was withdrawn its owner would tell the story of how their object represented what they were grateful for that year.
While clearing out cupboards on the century-plus old kitchen, new chef Anna discovers an openwork basket, and another Elm creek tradition is reborn. The quilters have much for which to be thankful, and in A Quilter's Holiday they share their stories.
In this third holiday-themed Quilt novel, Chiaverini's technique is as adept as always, and her palette of well-rounded, flawed but good-hearted women is as rich as usual. However, most likely because I've been rushing before year's end to make my way through the series before our self-imposed ban/drastic reduction of library books takes place, I'm feeling a little tired of the characters and the stories. Some of the elements - like Sylvia and Claudia's childhood antagonism - feel like they should be resolved already. And, to be wholly contrary, I also felt faintly irritated by the neat wrapping up of other aspects, like Diane's relationship with her sons, and Gretchen's charity work.
There are certainly some lovely moments, including the resolution for Sylvia of some of her curiosity about her favourite cousin Elizabeth's life after leaving Pennsylvania (revealed in the novel before this, The Quilter's Homecoming). And, as I say, I suspect much of the dissatisfaction comes from the reader rather than a fault with the author. I have only one more Quilt novel to go, and I think a break will be the best thing for my connection witht he series. - Alex
The Elm Creek Quilt series:
1. The Quilter's Apprentice
2. Round Robin
3. The Cross-Country Quilters
4. The Runaway Quilt
5. The Quilter's Legacy
6. The Master Quilter
7. The Sugar Camp Quilt
8. The Christmas Quilt
9. Circle of Quilters
10. The Quilter's Homecoming
11. The New Year's Quilt
12. The Winding Ways Quilt
13. The Quilter's Kitchen
14. The Lost Quilter
15. A Quilter's Holiday
16. The Aloha Quilt
Circle of Quilters - Jennifer Chiaverini
As two of the Elm Creek Quilters leave for new journeys, a significant gap has opened in the groups’ teaching roster. The Quilters agree that they need to hire people whose skills complement those of the remaining members, and whose personalities and priorities fit the culture of Elm Creek. The response to their advertisement is promising, with applicants from across the country, promising a broad range of teaching experience and quilting skills. As those on the short list visit Elm Creek for interview, tensions within the group emerge.
In a departure from Chiaverini’s usual style, Circle of Quilters opens with the story of the first prospective addiction to the group, care worker Maggie Flynn, from her arrival at Ocean View Hills Retirement Community and Convalescent Center to her post-interview departure, certain her performance was woeful. As Maggie leaves she bumps into a young woman dressed in a suit, dragging two small children along, which is how we meet Karen.
In each section the narrative starts with an applicant, tracing her or (in one case) his journey through quilting and through life to the point of interview, through the interview and transitions to the next. It was well done, surprisingly effective, and left me having trouble deciding which of the five very different applicants – Maggie, Karen, Anna, Russell and Gretchen – should get the two available places.
Each character has a compelling story and a strong, but different, reason for wanting to move to Pennsylvania and focus on quilting. And the novel also portrays how taking a decisive move, regardless of its success, can impel change in different areas – the process of application and interview changes all five people’s lives.
Chiaverini creates novels that have a balanced mix of character and plot, with both elements finely tuned. The characters are complex, flawed, capable of change, and real. The plots are primarily domestically based, as is the life of most of us, and Chiaverini explores the drama and power of ordinary lives, particularly in traditionally female arenas. I was on occasion reminded of Berg’s novels which, though quite different in tenor, similarly highlight the extraordinary in the lives of ordinary women. I know nothing at all of quilting, but that has in no way diminished my interest in this series. - Alex
The Elm Creek Quilt series:
1. The Quilter's Apprentice
2. Round Robin
3. The Cross-Country Quilters
4. The Runaway Quilt
5. The Quilter's Legacy
6. The Master Quilter
7. The Sugar Camp Quilt
8. The Christmas Quilt
9. Circle of Quilters
10. The Quilter's Homecoming
11. The New Year's Quilt
12. The Winding Ways Quilt
13. The Quilter's Kitchen
14. The Lost Quilter
15. A Quilter's Holiday
16. The Aloha Quilt
In a departure from Chiaverini’s usual style, Circle of Quilters opens with the story of the first prospective addiction to the group, care worker Maggie Flynn, from her arrival at Ocean View Hills Retirement Community and Convalescent Center to her post-interview departure, certain her performance was woeful. As Maggie leaves she bumps into a young woman dressed in a suit, dragging two small children along, which is how we meet Karen.
In each section the narrative starts with an applicant, tracing her or (in one case) his journey through quilting and through life to the point of interview, through the interview and transitions to the next. It was well done, surprisingly effective, and left me having trouble deciding which of the five very different applicants – Maggie, Karen, Anna, Russell and Gretchen – should get the two available places.
Each character has a compelling story and a strong, but different, reason for wanting to move to Pennsylvania and focus on quilting. And the novel also portrays how taking a decisive move, regardless of its success, can impel change in different areas – the process of application and interview changes all five people’s lives.
Chiaverini creates novels that have a balanced mix of character and plot, with both elements finely tuned. The characters are complex, flawed, capable of change, and real. The plots are primarily domestically based, as is the life of most of us, and Chiaverini explores the drama and power of ordinary lives, particularly in traditionally female arenas. I was on occasion reminded of Berg’s novels which, though quite different in tenor, similarly highlight the extraordinary in the lives of ordinary women. I know nothing at all of quilting, but that has in no way diminished my interest in this series. - Alex
The Elm Creek Quilt series:
1. The Quilter's Apprentice
2. Round Robin
3. The Cross-Country Quilters
4. The Runaway Quilt
5. The Quilter's Legacy
6. The Master Quilter
7. The Sugar Camp Quilt
8. The Christmas Quilt
9. Circle of Quilters
10. The Quilter's Homecoming
11. The New Year's Quilt
12. The Winding Ways Quilt
13. The Quilter's Kitchen
14. The Lost Quilter
15. A Quilter's Holiday
16. The Aloha Quilt
Saturday, December 11
The Christmas Quilt - Jennifer Chiaverini
The first of the holiday-themed Elm Creek Quilt novels, The Christmas Quilt combines events from Sylvia Bergstrom's childhood with a contemporary Christmas. Sylvia's young partner Sarah is trying to introduce a little holiday spirit in to the manor, despite Sylvia's rather bah-humbug response to her every suggestion. Sylvia thinks Sarah should spend the day with her mother, Carol
with whom she's perpetually at odds. Sarah has abundant reason for her estrangement, chief of which is Carol's inability to accept Sarah's husband Matt as a fit life-partner for her (in part because she sees his degree in landscaping as him being 'just a gardener').
When Sarah unearths a half-finished but obviously Christmas-themed quilt amongst a box of long-neglected Christmas ornaments, Sylvia is reminded of events of a Christmas long ago. That Christmas marked the beginning of a year of change and growth, much of it bitter, for Sylvia. The Great Depression was beginning to bite, and for the first time its effects were felt in Elm Creek Manor. Sylvia's mother, unwell since childhood, seemed oblivious and was intent of recreating her locally famous apple strudel, not only for the Bergstroms but for their friends and neighbours, despite the growing price of luxuries. Unable to complete the baking, this Christmas was the first that Sylvia and her older sister Claudia were entrusted with the task.
It was a year of loss for Sylvia, and the first of these came at Christmas, when her favourite cousin, Elizabeth, announces her engagement to a young man. Already jealous that Elizabeth seems more interested in this boring man than her, Sylvia is distraught when the couple reveal they'll be moving east, to a ranch Henry's bought in California. Sylvia knows she'll never see her cousin again, and tries valiantly to make Elizabeth stay.
This long-ago experience, combined with the death of her own mother not long after that Christmas, informs Sylvia's decision to more strongly encourage Sarah to make peace with Carol. In turn, Sylvia finally makes peace with her now-dead sister, Claudia.
Like the rest of the series, The Christmas Quilt uses the art of quilting to piece together a portrait of feminine lives and values - the setting is domestic, the relationships are most complicated among kin, and the writing is meticulous and almost invisible. There are a couple of dangling threads, including the tantalising question of what happened to Elizabeth, and I finished the novel with a sense of quiet satisfaction. - Alex
The Elm Creek Quilt series:
1. The Quilter's Apprentice
2. Round Robin
3. The Cross-Country Quilters
4. The Runaway Quilt
5. The Quilter's Legacy
6. The Master Quilter
7. The Sugar Camp Quilt
8. The Christmas Quilt
9. Circle of Quilters
10. The Quilter's Homecoming
11. The New Year's Quilt
12. The Winding Ways Quilt
13. The Quilter's Kitchen
14. The Lost Quilter
15. A Quilter's Holiday
16. The Aloha Quilt
with whom she's perpetually at odds. Sarah has abundant reason for her estrangement, chief of which is Carol's inability to accept Sarah's husband Matt as a fit life-partner for her (in part because she sees his degree in landscaping as him being 'just a gardener').
When Sarah unearths a half-finished but obviously Christmas-themed quilt amongst a box of long-neglected Christmas ornaments, Sylvia is reminded of events of a Christmas long ago. That Christmas marked the beginning of a year of change and growth, much of it bitter, for Sylvia. The Great Depression was beginning to bite, and for the first time its effects were felt in Elm Creek Manor. Sylvia's mother, unwell since childhood, seemed oblivious and was intent of recreating her locally famous apple strudel, not only for the Bergstroms but for their friends and neighbours, despite the growing price of luxuries. Unable to complete the baking, this Christmas was the first that Sylvia and her older sister Claudia were entrusted with the task.
It was a year of loss for Sylvia, and the first of these came at Christmas, when her favourite cousin, Elizabeth, announces her engagement to a young man. Already jealous that Elizabeth seems more interested in this boring man than her, Sylvia is distraught when the couple reveal they'll be moving east, to a ranch Henry's bought in California. Sylvia knows she'll never see her cousin again, and tries valiantly to make Elizabeth stay.
This long-ago experience, combined with the death of her own mother not long after that Christmas, informs Sylvia's decision to more strongly encourage Sarah to make peace with Carol. In turn, Sylvia finally makes peace with her now-dead sister, Claudia.
Like the rest of the series, The Christmas Quilt uses the art of quilting to piece together a portrait of feminine lives and values - the setting is domestic, the relationships are most complicated among kin, and the writing is meticulous and almost invisible. There are a couple of dangling threads, including the tantalising question of what happened to Elizabeth, and I finished the novel with a sense of quiet satisfaction. - Alex
The Elm Creek Quilt series:
1. The Quilter's Apprentice
2. Round Robin
3. The Cross-Country Quilters
4. The Runaway Quilt
5. The Quilter's Legacy
6. The Master Quilter
7. The Sugar Camp Quilt
8. The Christmas Quilt
9. Circle of Quilters
10. The Quilter's Homecoming
11. The New Year's Quilt
12. The Winding Ways Quilt
13. The Quilter's Kitchen
14. The Lost Quilter
15. A Quilter's Holiday
16. The Aloha Quilt
Tuesday, December 7
The Sugar Camp Quilt - Jennifer Chiaverini
Dorothea Granger has known for as long as she can remember that her family are dependent on the kindness and support of her cantankerous Uncle Jacob, a strict man who seems to see the good in none. While his heir, her younger brother Jonathan, is studying in Baltimore, Dorothea and her parents live in his home and are dependent on his support. Dorothea’s wages as school marm go to her uncle, and her parents work under his direction on the farm, a galling step down for a couple who once co-owned a Transcendentalist commune with a group of like-minded Christians, until Thrift Farm flooded and the group disbanded. Uncle Jacob was apparently once a gentle and loving soul, but the deaths of his young abolitionist wife and their infant sons changed that. Now his only family is his younger brother Robert, sister-in-law Lorena, and niece; he appears to take no pleasure in their company or pride in their accomplishments, choosing to spend most of his time alone in his barn or tending the maple trees that are their source of support. But things are not always as they seem, and in the space of only a few months Dorothea’s life changes profoundly – she loses her position at the local school house to a man rumoured to have once been in jail, is shunned by a young man she thought shared her tendresse, and becomes involved in the underground railway, smuggling run-away slaves from the south through Pennsylvania to the safe haven of Canada. Though technically part of the Elm Creek Quilt series, The Sugar Camp Quilt stands alone, taking place wholly in the mid-nineteenth century. Quilts and quilting, of course, play a significant role in this story that is compelling and interesting. I’ve long had an interest in the abolitionist movement, at a remove, of course. Chiaverini’s usual attention to detail is present in The Sugar Camp Quilt, with perhaps more research than in the contemporary novels but at no time to I feel hit over the head with the Stick of I researched This. There’s romance, of a discreet nature appropriate to the time, the revelation of secrets, and some very nice character development. I suspect I’m starting to overdo the series, in an effort to get them all read before my self-imposed library diet for 2011, but The Sugar Camp Quilt was a very pleasant way of staying in Chiaverini’s well-crafted world while taking a break from her more familiar characters. – Alex
The Elm Creek Quilt series:
1. The Quilter's Apprentice
2. Round Robin
3. The Cross-Country Quilters
4. The Runaway Quilt
5. The Quilter's Legacy
6. The Master Quilter
7. The Sugar Camp Quilt
8. The Christmas Quilt
9. Circle of Quilters
10. The Quilter's Homecoming
11. The New Year's Quilt
12. The Winding Ways Quilt
13. The Quilter's Kitchen
14. The Lost Quilter
15. A Quilter's Holiday
16. The Aloha Quilt
The Elm Creek Quilt series:
1. The Quilter's Apprentice
2. Round Robin
3. The Cross-Country Quilters
4. The Runaway Quilt
5. The Quilter's Legacy
6. The Master Quilter
7. The Sugar Camp Quilt
8. The Christmas Quilt
9. Circle of Quilters
10. The Quilter's Homecoming
11. The New Year's Quilt
12. The Winding Ways Quilt
13. The Quilter's Kitchen
14. The Lost Quilter
15. A Quilter's Holiday
16. The Aloha Quilt
Tuesday, September 28
Jacqueline Winspear: Maisie Dobbs
In post war London an ex-army nurse sets herself up as a private detective. Her first case is a husband who suspects his wife of being unfaithful. Investigation proves the wife’s innocence but opens up a greater mystery-what is really happening at a rest home for disfigured war veterans?
The more she uncovers, the greater her worry about her old comrades-in-arms becomes. With her worst fears confirmed it is up to her to save the lives of these men who have lost so much, facing her own demons in the process.
With a little help from her mentor and the local constabulary she manages to set things to rights and put her fledgling business on the map.
It took me quite a long time to read this because I kept comparing Maisie Dobbs with antipodean counterpart Phryne Fisher and Maisie came off a decided second best. The writing I associate with 1920s female detectives is much stronger and more subtle than this author’s, who has a 'tell rather than show' style. However, I eventually managed to give Maisie her due and ended up enjoying the story.
The initial case is simply a lead in to the greater mystery and is solved in the first quarter of the book. The story then regresses to tell us of the main character’s history from her early childhood through to the present day and while it gives great insight into her motivation, it makes the entire book feel like a prequel/prologue.
There is, however, a most satisfying conclusion to the many story threads.
I can’t say I’m sold on this series. Although it has many elements that I like in a story the author’s voice just misses the mark for me. I would consider giving another book in this highly successful series a go simply because, as I said earlier, this one felt like a prelude (or, to borrow TV terminology, a pilot episode) and I’d like to read a story dedicated entirely to a case.-Lynn
The more she uncovers, the greater her worry about her old comrades-in-arms becomes. With her worst fears confirmed it is up to her to save the lives of these men who have lost so much, facing her own demons in the process.
With a little help from her mentor and the local constabulary she manages to set things to rights and put her fledgling business on the map.
It took me quite a long time to read this because I kept comparing Maisie Dobbs with antipodean counterpart Phryne Fisher and Maisie came off a decided second best. The writing I associate with 1920s female detectives is much stronger and more subtle than this author’s, who has a 'tell rather than show' style. However, I eventually managed to give Maisie her due and ended up enjoying the story.
The initial case is simply a lead in to the greater mystery and is solved in the first quarter of the book. The story then regresses to tell us of the main character’s history from her early childhood through to the present day and while it gives great insight into her motivation, it makes the entire book feel like a prequel/prologue.
There is, however, a most satisfying conclusion to the many story threads.
I can’t say I’m sold on this series. Although it has many elements that I like in a story the author’s voice just misses the mark for me. I would consider giving another book in this highly successful series a go simply because, as I said earlier, this one felt like a prelude (or, to borrow TV terminology, a pilot episode) and I’d like to read a story dedicated entirely to a case.-Lynn
Wednesday, May 19
Eat Cake - Jeanne Ray
Ruth has always sought refuge in baking - something about the alchemy and fragrance brought her peace and clarity. Between the sulky teenage stranger who was once her daughter, and her perpetually worried mother, who moved in a year ago when her home was robbed, Ruth thought her life was complicated and stressed. When her beloved hospital administrator husband, Sam, came home and told her that a company restructuring meant he was now redundant, it seemed less important than Camille's latest obsession or her mother's fretting about medical bills - he was great at what he did, and would surely have no trouble finding a new job.
Life was a little less rosy the next day, though, and just as the realities of his unemployment were beginning to hit Sam and Ruth, she received a call from her peripatetic musician father, Guy. He'd fallen, breaking both wrists, and has nowhere to go, no way to pay his medical bills. And even though her home is now home to her mother, the woman who raised her alone when Guy took off for greener pastures, Ruth has no choice but to bring her father home from Iowa to stay, at least until his wrists healed.
of course, as her life becomes more complicated Ruth turns even increasingly to baking - her cakes become more intricate and complex. For not only does she has the increasingly strained relationship between her invalid father, unable to do much of anything for himself, and her justifiably pissed off mother to deal with, Guy's influence filters through the household. Most notably affected is Sam, who looses all impetus to seek stable work and instead focuses on his lifelong dream to sail.
Eat Cake is a chick lit novel for the older reader - there's a little romance, but the main narrative is about Ruth's changing life and how she responds to the series of significant but not devastating events. It's about empowerment, as Ruth takes charge of her the family income, turning her hobby into a career, and about taking a new look at what you think you know - most significantly your family.
I enjoyed the ride, but nothing particularly stood out, though that comment's a little unfair as I'm writing this review at least a month after reading the book. - Alex
Life was a little less rosy the next day, though, and just as the realities of his unemployment were beginning to hit Sam and Ruth, she received a call from her peripatetic musician father, Guy. He'd fallen, breaking both wrists, and has nowhere to go, no way to pay his medical bills. And even though her home is now home to her mother, the woman who raised her alone when Guy took off for greener pastures, Ruth has no choice but to bring her father home from Iowa to stay, at least until his wrists healed.
of course, as her life becomes more complicated Ruth turns even increasingly to baking - her cakes become more intricate and complex. For not only does she has the increasingly strained relationship between her invalid father, unable to do much of anything for himself, and her justifiably pissed off mother to deal with, Guy's influence filters through the household. Most notably affected is Sam, who looses all impetus to seek stable work and instead focuses on his lifelong dream to sail.
Eat Cake is a chick lit novel for the older reader - there's a little romance, but the main narrative is about Ruth's changing life and how she responds to the series of significant but not devastating events. It's about empowerment, as Ruth takes charge of her the family income, turning her hobby into a career, and about taking a new look at what you think you know - most significantly your family.
I enjoyed the ride, but nothing particularly stood out, though that comment's a little unfair as I'm writing this review at least a month after reading the book. - Alex
Sunday, May 16
The Master Quilter - Jennifer Chiaverini
When Sylvia Compton wed Andrew in a quiet service on New Year's Eve, without the fanfare they'd planned, the Elm Creek Quilters feel cheated of their opportunity to show their founder how much she meant to them. That is until they have the brilliant idea of making her a wedding quilt, with pieces from quilting friends and students past and present. The Quilters secretly send out letters to everyone on their mailing list and Sylvia's address book, inviting them to contribute a block in green, rose, cream, gold and/or blue cotton, in a pattern that reflects "how Sylvia had influenced you as an artist, teacher, or friend." Their plan is that the incoming blocks, which they hope with approximate a hundred and forty, into a queen-sized memory and tribute.
The Quilters expect that life will get in the way of creation for at least some of their potential contributors. They don't expect the same to be true for themselves. But as each member of the group tries to work on her own block - selecting the most appropriate pattern, seekinga out the perfect fabric - her life intrudes. As relationships shift, financial pressures mount, and the tensions between the want and expectations of loved ones war with the artists' own needs, creating their pieces becomes harder work than any of them anticipated.
Chiaverini's characteristic elements are present - her women are strong, intelligent, focused but flawed, coloured by their experiences and with lives sometimes unexamined. She interweaves social commentary with the plot, creating an unobtrusive but strong message. For example, she presents the male domination of academia, as Gwen is passed by for department chair in favour of a woman whose work concentrates on topics more 'hard and substantial' than quilting, while countering the claim with evidence that quilts are both art and relevant to social historians.
And when Summer, who has accepted her mother's attitude about relationships and self-worth without examination, she hides the changing status of her latest relationship, Chiaverini beautifully depicts the tension between private thought and public display.
I'm pacing myself a little better with this series than with my devouring of Ms Shinn's work, but it's a struggle. And now I know an author I can turn to when I need writing that soothes, satisfies, challenges and engages. - Alex
The Elm Creek Quilt series:
1. The Quilter's Apprentice
2. Round Robin
3. The Cross-Country Quilters
4. The Runaway Quilt
5. The Quilter's Legacy
6. The Master Quilter
7. The Sugar Camp Quilt
8. The Christmas Quilt
9. Circle of Quilters
10. The Quilter's Homecoming
11. The New Year's Quilt
12. The Winding Ways Quilt
13. The Quilter's Kitchen
14. The Lost Quilter
15. A Quilter's Holiday
16. The Aloha Quilt
The Quilters expect that life will get in the way of creation for at least some of their potential contributors. They don't expect the same to be true for themselves. But as each member of the group tries to work on her own block - selecting the most appropriate pattern, seekinga out the perfect fabric - her life intrudes. As relationships shift, financial pressures mount, and the tensions between the want and expectations of loved ones war with the artists' own needs, creating their pieces becomes harder work than any of them anticipated.
Chiaverini's characteristic elements are present - her women are strong, intelligent, focused but flawed, coloured by their experiences and with lives sometimes unexamined. She interweaves social commentary with the plot, creating an unobtrusive but strong message. For example, she presents the male domination of academia, as Gwen is passed by for department chair in favour of a woman whose work concentrates on topics more 'hard and substantial' than quilting, while countering the claim with evidence that quilts are both art and relevant to social historians.
And when Summer, who has accepted her mother's attitude about relationships and self-worth without examination, she hides the changing status of her latest relationship, Chiaverini beautifully depicts the tension between private thought and public display.
I'm pacing myself a little better with this series than with my devouring of Ms Shinn's work, but it's a struggle. And now I know an author I can turn to when I need writing that soothes, satisfies, challenges and engages. - Alex
The Elm Creek Quilt series:
1. The Quilter's Apprentice
2. Round Robin
3. The Cross-Country Quilters
4. The Runaway Quilt
5. The Quilter's Legacy
6. The Master Quilter
7. The Sugar Camp Quilt
8. The Christmas Quilt
9. Circle of Quilters
10. The Quilter's Homecoming
11. The New Year's Quilt
12. The Winding Ways Quilt
13. The Quilter's Kitchen
14. The Lost Quilter
15. A Quilter's Holiday
16. The Aloha Quilt
Sunday, May 2
The Quilter's Legacy - Jennifer Chiaverini
Sylvia Compton is looking forward to marrying Andrew, the beau from her past who unexpectedly reappeared in her present, long past the time she thought she could expect love to find her again. She's looking forward to marriage, but exhausted by the wedding planning process - and her Elm Creek Quilts friends seem determined to turn what ought to be a quiet, garden ceremony into a major performance.
When Sylvia realises that her mother's quilts aren't safely stored in Elm Creek Manor's attic, as she supposed, but were instead sold off by her sister, Sylvia finds something else to focus on. With the assistance of the youngest Elm Creek Quilter, Summer, Sylvia and Andrew launch a hunt for the missing quilts - first online and then in person. They drive across America, quilt hunting en route to visiting Andrew's children, to let them know about the forthcoming wedding.
The Elm Creek Quilt series:
1. The Quilter's Apprentice
2. Round Robin
3. The Cross-Country Quilters
4. The Runaway Quilt
5. The Quilter's Legacy
6. The Master Quilter
7. The Sugar Camp Quilt
8. The Christmas Quilt
9. Circle of Quilters
10. The Quilter's Homecoming
11. The New Year's Quilt
12. The Winding Ways Quilt
13. The Quilter's Kitchen
14. The Lost Quilter
15. A Quilter's Holiday
16. The Aloha Quilt
When Sylvia realises that her mother's quilts aren't safely stored in Elm Creek Manor's attic, as she supposed, but were instead sold off by her sister, Sylvia finds something else to focus on. With the assistance of the youngest Elm Creek Quilter, Summer, Sylvia and Andrew launch a hunt for the missing quilts - first online and then in person. They drive across America, quilt hunting en route to visiting Andrew's children, to let them know about the forthcoming wedding.
Using the stories of the missing quilts, Chiaverini launches into an unexplored past and a secondary plot - we visit 1899 and meet Eleanor, the protected younger daughter of a self-made businessman. Eleanor was never expected to survive childhood, and the doctor's grim diagnoses serve as obstacles to overcome rather than limitations. With the tacit encouragement of her governess, Miss Langley, Eleanor develops into a woman capable of thinking for herself, rather than a meek and mild miss, subservient to her family's needs.
Chiaverini has clearly researched the era, as details subtly rise through the text, but there's never even a hint of leaden exposition. Instead the reader learns about suffrage in the US at the turn of the last century, alongside changing mores and the tight grasp of tradition.
The rounded, developed characters, strong but believable women, crisp dialogue, involving plot and satisfying ending are a given. The Quilter's Legacy also incorporating all my favourite elements of Chiaverini's writing - a neat marriage of past and present, the way family lore and assumption can contort, depictions of the way events of the past trickle into the present, crystalline portrayals of the complexity of family relationships, and the tension between pleasing others and pleasing oneself. It's been almost month between reading The Quilter's Legacy and reviewing it, and revisiting this lovely book makes me want to read it again. Just lovely. - AlexThe Elm Creek Quilt series:
1. The Quilter's Apprentice
2. Round Robin
3. The Cross-Country Quilters
4. The Runaway Quilt
5. The Quilter's Legacy
6. The Master Quilter
7. The Sugar Camp Quilt
8. The Christmas Quilt
9. Circle of Quilters
10. The Quilter's Homecoming
11. The New Year's Quilt
12. The Winding Ways Quilt
13. The Quilter's Kitchen
14. The Lost Quilter
15. A Quilter's Holiday
16. The Aloha Quilt
Sunday, March 28
The Runaway Quilt - Jennifer Chiaverini
When Sylvia Compton, owner of Elm Creek Manor and lifelong quilter, is shown a quilt that may have been part of the Underground Railway, she's spurred to search through the vast attic for evidence that, as family legend suggests, her family were part of the anti-slavery journey. Though evidence suggests that the Log Cabin pattern, long believed to signal willingness to harbour runaway slaves, actually evolved after the Civil War, Sylvia's keen to find a quilt supporting her more romantic beliefs.
When she finds not only a couple of truly old quilts but also the diary of Gerda, Elm Creek patriarch Hans' spinster sister, Sylvia's a little disappointed - she had hoped for something from his wife Anneke who, according to family lore, played an integral part. Instead Sylvia learns some painful truths about her family, and is more immersed in and connected to the past than she realised.
The fourth book in the Elm Creek Quilts series takes us back to the Manor, and once again shows how domestic work both binds women and families together, and pushes them apart. The writing is as crisp and evocative as previously, while the plot is unique and textured - both Gerda's journals and Sylvia's responses are genuine and involving, and the layering of truths with family lore, a natural preference to project oneself in the best light, and the blurring distortion of history are well depicted, so that the contrast between Sylvia's certain knowledge and Gerda's near-contemporaneous recollections is interesting and believable.
Since reading about Harriet Tubman when a child, I've been interested in this time in American history, and I really liked the mingling of past with present, as the work of women speaks to them over time. Runaway Quilt is a powerful, absorbing novel that I thoroughly enjoyed. The Lost Quilter (book fourteen in the series) is a companion piece to The Runway Quilt - Alex
The Elm Creek Quilt series:
1. The Quilter's Apprentice
2. Round Robin
3. The Cross-Country Quilters
4. The Runaway Quilt
5. The Quilter's Legacy
6. The Master Quilter
7. The Sugar Camp Quilt
8. The Christmas Quilt
9. Circle of Quilters
10. The Quilter's Homecoming
11. The New Year's Quilt
12. The Winding Ways Quilt
13. The Quilter's Kitchen
14. The Lost Quilter
15. A Quilter's Holiday
16. The Aloha Quilt
When she finds not only a couple of truly old quilts but also the diary of Gerda, Elm Creek patriarch Hans' spinster sister, Sylvia's a little disappointed - she had hoped for something from his wife Anneke who, according to family lore, played an integral part. Instead Sylvia learns some painful truths about her family, and is more immersed in and connected to the past than she realised.
The fourth book in the Elm Creek Quilts series takes us back to the Manor, and once again shows how domestic work both binds women and families together, and pushes them apart. The writing is as crisp and evocative as previously, while the plot is unique and textured - both Gerda's journals and Sylvia's responses are genuine and involving, and the layering of truths with family lore, a natural preference to project oneself in the best light, and the blurring distortion of history are well depicted, so that the contrast between Sylvia's certain knowledge and Gerda's near-contemporaneous recollections is interesting and believable.
Since reading about Harriet Tubman when a child, I've been interested in this time in American history, and I really liked the mingling of past with present, as the work of women speaks to them over time. Runaway Quilt is a powerful, absorbing novel that I thoroughly enjoyed. The Lost Quilter (book fourteen in the series) is a companion piece to The Runway Quilt - Alex
The Elm Creek Quilt series:
1. The Quilter's Apprentice
2. Round Robin
3. The Cross-Country Quilters
4. The Runaway Quilt
5. The Quilter's Legacy
6. The Master Quilter
7. The Sugar Camp Quilt
8. The Christmas Quilt
9. Circle of Quilters
10. The Quilter's Homecoming
11. The New Year's Quilt
12. The Winding Ways Quilt
13. The Quilter's Kitchen
14. The Lost Quilter
15. A Quilter's Holiday
16. The Aloha Quilt
Wednesday, March 24
The Mammoth Book of Women’s Erotic Fantasies – Sonia Florens (Ed)
In 1973 Nancy Friday published a groundbreaking text, My Secret Garden, a collection of women’s sexual fantasies that revealed women could be as daring, surprising and explicit as men. Over the next two decades she followed this up with three more collections, two of women's fantasies and one of men's. In all four cases the fantasies were presented thematically, biographical data was provided (including age), there was often an attempt by the narrators to explain or analyse their fantasies, and sections were interspersed with Friday’s analysis of the fantasies and fantasists.
This noughties revisit to the ground explored by Nancy Friday’s groundbreaking books skips straight over the clinical, objective phsychological analysis and interpretation of the writing and goes straight to the good stuff. The women represented come from Canada, the US, England, Scotland, Ireland, Australia, Germany and Puerto Rico, with no further biographical information given.
Rather than the somewhat brief and fragmented scenes narrated by Friday’s research participants, that sometimes included more than one scenario, or which described an outline of the fantasy rather than the scene itself, these women also seem less compelled to explain or justify their fantasies, and the scenarios are lovingly and completely described. In most cases each entry runs over eight pages, with one as few as six, and a few going for more than a dozen pages.
While themes including light sadomasochism, domination, lesbianism, power play, men with men, exhibitionism, and group sex are present, the more taboos elements present in Friday’s collections (including bestiality, rape, underage and incest fantasies) are absent from this more mainstream work. There is, however, likely to be something for most people, and I certainly found a few of the works particularly well written, well imagined and effective. – Alex
This noughties revisit to the ground explored by Nancy Friday’s groundbreaking books skips straight over the clinical, objective phsychological analysis and interpretation of the writing and goes straight to the good stuff. The women represented come from Canada, the US, England, Scotland, Ireland, Australia, Germany and Puerto Rico, with no further biographical information given.
Rather than the somewhat brief and fragmented scenes narrated by Friday’s research participants, that sometimes included more than one scenario, or which described an outline of the fantasy rather than the scene itself, these women also seem less compelled to explain or justify their fantasies, and the scenarios are lovingly and completely described. In most cases each entry runs over eight pages, with one as few as six, and a few going for more than a dozen pages.
While themes including light sadomasochism, domination, lesbianism, power play, men with men, exhibitionism, and group sex are present, the more taboos elements present in Friday’s collections (including bestiality, rape, underage and incest fantasies) are absent from this more mainstream work. There is, however, likely to be something for most people, and I certainly found a few of the works particularly well written, well imagined and effective. – Alex
Sunday, March 21
The Cross-Country Quilters – Jennifer Chiaverini
When five women meet for the first time at Elm Creek Manor they anticipate a week of quilting - consolidation for some of them, a new learning experience for others. What they don't expect is that over the next twelve months they'll make lasting friendships, co-create a work of art, and all change their lives.
Julia is an aging actor in a world where age spells the end of her career. Used to the backstabbing and gossip of Hollywood, Julia cannot let anyone know her agent misled the producers of her only forthcoming project - a last ditch role in the promising project of a new writer means she has to learn how to quilt, and look as though she's been doing it all her life.
Megan has long loved quilting, though not as much as she loved her husband. His abandonment of her has been less painful that its affects on their son, and she's sworn off love for good.
Donna first met Megan through an online quilting group - now close confidants, she's both excited and anxious to meet her friend for the first time. But her anticipation of this week at Elm Creek Manor has been tempered by her fears for the daughter she raised to be independent and self-sufficient - nineteen year old Lindsay has gone from being one of the promising students of her freshman class to deciding to drop out in favour of marrying her boyfriend. Donna doesn't know him very well, but judging by his affect of her daughter, combined with her age and willingness to abandon a future of her own, she had grave concerns.
Grace is a noted quilter, interested in the history of the craft and renown for her own work. But she hasn't created anything new in over a year and a half - she says that her muse has fled, but the truth is far more sinister and, to Grace, too shameful to share even with her friends.
Vinnie has attended Elm Creek Manor every year, for a week around her birthday. The grand matriarch of a large family, she enjoys the time away from her beloved family, but is too used to meddling in the lives of her kin to abandon the habit on holiday.
The third in the Elm Creek Quilts series, The Cross-Country Quilters takes us a little away from the women running the Manor. The new characters and the interlaced plot are just as rewarding, however, and though a couple of the twists were unsurprising the journey itself is no less enjoyable for that.
I really like this series, and have to confess that I've already read the fourth in the series, which will be reviewed about a week from this entry - the domestic setting encompasses big themes and strong women, with meticulously crafted characters. The year is early but Chiaverini's already looking promising for my favourite newly encountered author of the year - Alex
The Elm Creek Quilt series:
1. The Quilter's Apprentice
2. Round Robin
3. The Cross-Country Quilters
4. The Runaway Quilt
5. The Quilter's Legacy
6. The Master Quilter
7. The Sugar Camp Quilt
8. The Christmas Quilt
9. Circle of Quilters
10. The Quilter's Homecoming
11. The New Year's Quilt
12. The Winding Ways Quilt
13. The Quilter's Kitchen
14. The Lost Quilter
15. A Quilter's Holiday
16. The Aloha Quilt
Julia is an aging actor in a world where age spells the end of her career. Used to the backstabbing and gossip of Hollywood, Julia cannot let anyone know her agent misled the producers of her only forthcoming project - a last ditch role in the promising project of a new writer means she has to learn how to quilt, and look as though she's been doing it all her life.
Megan has long loved quilting, though not as much as she loved her husband. His abandonment of her has been less painful that its affects on their son, and she's sworn off love for good.
Donna first met Megan through an online quilting group - now close confidants, she's both excited and anxious to meet her friend for the first time. But her anticipation of this week at Elm Creek Manor has been tempered by her fears for the daughter she raised to be independent and self-sufficient - nineteen year old Lindsay has gone from being one of the promising students of her freshman class to deciding to drop out in favour of marrying her boyfriend. Donna doesn't know him very well, but judging by his affect of her daughter, combined with her age and willingness to abandon a future of her own, she had grave concerns.
Grace is a noted quilter, interested in the history of the craft and renown for her own work. But she hasn't created anything new in over a year and a half - she says that her muse has fled, but the truth is far more sinister and, to Grace, too shameful to share even with her friends.
Vinnie has attended Elm Creek Manor every year, for a week around her birthday. The grand matriarch of a large family, she enjoys the time away from her beloved family, but is too used to meddling in the lives of her kin to abandon the habit on holiday.
The third in the Elm Creek Quilts series, The Cross-Country Quilters takes us a little away from the women running the Manor. The new characters and the interlaced plot are just as rewarding, however, and though a couple of the twists were unsurprising the journey itself is no less enjoyable for that.
I really like this series, and have to confess that I've already read the fourth in the series, which will be reviewed about a week from this entry - the domestic setting encompasses big themes and strong women, with meticulously crafted characters. The year is early but Chiaverini's already looking promising for my favourite newly encountered author of the year - Alex
The Elm Creek Quilt series:
1. The Quilter's Apprentice
2. Round Robin
3. The Cross-Country Quilters
4. The Runaway Quilt
5. The Quilter's Legacy
6. The Master Quilter
7. The Sugar Camp Quilt
8. The Christmas Quilt
9. Circle of Quilters
10. The Quilter's Homecoming
11. The New Year's Quilt
12. The Winding Ways Quilt
13. The Quilter's Kitchen
14. The Lost Quilter
15. A Quilter's Holiday
16. The Aloha Quilt
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