#24 The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein

#24 The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein

What first drew me to this book was the cover. How adorable is this dog with his racing goggles and jaunty red scarf blowing in the breeze? 

As soon as I opened the novel and was introduced to an aging Enzo the dog acting as narrator, I knew this was going to be a different sort of book. Looking back on his life, Enzo wants to imprint on his soul everything he’s learned about life through his copious hours of TV viewing and his interactions with his people so that when he is reincarnated as a man, he’ll know how to live a good life (something he learned on a show about dogs in Mongolia which makes me ask: how much television does your dog watch and are you making sure he’s watching quality programming?). 

Enzo shares his life as a puppy on a beautiful farm run by terrible people and how Denny, his human rescues him. Denny introduces Enzo to his passion; car racing and together the two watch many races tucked away in their bachelor pad discussing turns and techniques, with Enzo soaking up as much information as he can.  Things take a drastic turn when Denny meets Eve and the family dynamic changes. Plenty of laughs are to be had as Enzo describes nighttime activities among other things. Our dogs really do see everything! 

Denny’s life changes dramatically when Eve dies and her awful parents sue Denny for custody of his daughter. I was not expecting this development and what follows captured my attention and my heart.  Through his love for his daughter and his trusty friend, Enzo, Denny must wade through his grief over losing not only his wife but his daughter and somehow find a way to fight for what he knows to be right. In the end, it is Enzo that saves the day and I balled like a baby when he finally succumbs to old-age. 

This book is truly a delight, filled with many unexpected insights often made by Enzo as he watches his people and I find myself looking at my own furry friend with fresh eyes. What I didn’t expect and was delighted by were the parallels drawn between driving and living life. Most notably this: the visible becomes the inevitable or in Denny’s driver-speak ~ the car goes where the eyes go. Such deep truths! 

From driving lessons to life lessons, this book is a wonderfully story told with heart and emotion, and all through the eyes of a dog! Until next time…have you read book today?

Julie

#23 Left Bank by Kate Muir

#23 Left Bank by Kate Muir

One thing everyone who knows me knows about me is that I have a deep love and longing of all things Paris. So anytime I find myself in a book store and stumble upon a book that is French inspired, I can’t help but pick it up and have a look, ever hopeful that I can get lost in a version of a fictional Paris when I am unable to visit the City of Lights myself.

The Left Bank follows the shallow and self-centered, unhappily married power couple Oliver and Madison Malin. Madison is an American beauty from Texas who has spent years ridding herself of any trace of her roots in favor of french refinement, becoming fluent in French by living and working as an actress in Paris.  Oliver is from a once-titled family and is a modern philosopher using his charm and good looks to his advantage, often hosting discussions in Parisian cafes on topics of the day while using his position and public image to engage in dalliances with whoever catches his eye. While on a family outing at an amusement park they begin yet another fight in front of their young daughter who decides she’s had enough and disappears.  While they frantically search for her and in the days following the disappearance, Madison has deep insights into her character, her role as a mother, her feelings about her daughter as well as her feelings towards her cheating husband. She is forced to decide what kind of person and mother she wants to be all the while worried that her living and lifestyle may be threatened if she is no longer attached publically to Oliver.  

As I was getting to know this couple, I couldn’t help but despise them.  They are simply not very likeable people. But as they become immersed in every parent’s worst nightmare, new layers of these characters are exposed; their emotions are raw and their interactions are real and I couldn’t help but sympathize with them. Ok, I’ll be honest. As a mother, I could sympathize with Madison.  Oliver strikes me as the type of man who looks good on the outside and says all the right things but never manages to evolve beyond a slime ball and sadly, that is part of his charm.  

This book is filled with little cafes, wine, delicious food and scenic streets which speak to my very soul. It also captures what the French are famous for: elegance and pretentiousness mixed with haughtiness and love affairs. It was a quick read but long enough to transport me briefly to la ville de ma coeur.  Until next time…have you read a book today?

Julie

#22 The Lake House by Kate Morton

#22 The Lake House by Kate Morton

Dearest Reader,

I must begin by informing you that I am, unapologetically, a fan of Kate Morton. I have read her other novels and have thoroughly enjoyed them: from the descriptions of secret gardens and old ruins in England to how she weaves a mystery together, often spanning generations, and how she shifts with finesse through past and present. 

In 1933, Alice Edevane is the daughter of a privileged family who own a country estate deep in the heart of England. As the story unfolds, we learn of her parents past: her father’s service in the war and subsequent shell shock; her mother’s upbringing and their courtship, all which inform future events.  

As a budding young novelist, Alice develops a crush on Ben Munro, a drifter hired by the Edevane family to tend to the gardens. After her baby brother and Ben go missing the night of a grand party, Alice feels guilty because she shared with Ben a story idea with striking similarities to baby Theo’s abduction and she suspects Ben is the culprit. Keeping quiet about her suspicions, Theo’s disappearance is never solved and the family, who abandon the property shortly thereafter, are destroyed. Decades later Sadie, a police detective on sabbatical in the country, discovers the abandoned property while wandering the country lanes and stumbles upon the still unsolved mystery of Theo’s disappearance. Still tormented by a case that she’s escaped from, Sadie distracts herself with the hunt for clues in the long forgotten mystery finally uncovering the truth behind Theo’s disappearance and sheds light on Alice’s misconceptions which have burdened her thoughts and her life since. 

The Lake House is a suspenseful and intricately woven mystery which is expertly unfolded by the author. Ms. Morton creates vivid imagery of long ago days and the lives of the privileged English, their secrets and shame wrapped in a captivating plot and driven to an unpredictable conclusion. Like I said, I love Kate Morton’s writing and I know that this book will immediately draw you in as it did me and keep you intrigued well past the time you should turn out your light! Until next time…have you read a book today?

Julie 

#21 The Light Between Oceans by M.L. Stedman

#21 The Light Between Oceans by M.L. Stedman

Let me start, dear reader, by saying that this would make a wonderful movie! I imagine it would be one of those sweeping epics filled with panoramic shots of sea and sky, beautiful scenery and heart-wrenching emotion. But until the movie is made, you must read the book first. And anyway, reading a book before the movie is a good habit to get into and also just plain good sense!  

This is truly a lovely novel filled with heartache and reconciliation. We are introduced to Tom Sherbourne who signs up to become a lighthouse keeper following his service during WWI. After the horrors of war and without family, Tom needs to be alone so he can wrestle the demons of his past and what better place to do that than from a lighthouse off the coast of Australia.  Before taking his post on Janus, which is the last sight ships see when heading out to sea, Tom meets Isabel with whom he spends his remaining weeks before leaving civilization for the remote island.  After a lengthy courtship which occurs through letters and another brief visit, they decide to marry and Isabel becomes a lighthouse keeper’s wife.   Despite being raised in a family of means, Isabel takes to life on Janus and their marriage is very strong as a result. After the heartbreak of miscarriages, Isabel and Tom find a boat crashed upon the rocks with a dead man and baby girl inside.  Tom goes against his strong moral ethics by not recording the incident in the keepers log and reluctantly agrees to raise the baby as their own. What follows is a harrowing tale of loss, grief and guilt. Where one mother is made whole by this baby girl, another is filled with despair. We learn to care for these characters and for their circumstances and we understand their choices, despite one characters decisions causing another’s heartache.  

This is a moving novel filled with characters that are complex yet fragile at the same time. It gives the reader a real sense of the isolation felt as the characters immerse themselves in island life as well as the personal isolation felt when a difficult choice must be made and we are given just enough backstory to inform us of their true nature which informs their lives and decisions. We are treated to marvelous descriptions of Australia’s rocky coastline as well as fascinating detail on the workings of a lighthouse which had the very small science geek in me fascinated!  Overall, this is a great book to escape with and a great beginning for a fellow debut author. Until next time…have you read a book today?

Julie