Best Books of 2009

Here is the link to the New York Times' selection of the best 100 books of 2009. Firefly Lane wasn't among them.

Book Number 2

This time, Bec is our hostess. So, from her:

Hi, Ladies

For our next read, I am proposing four books. They are:
Gods in Alabama, by Joshilyn Jackson
Ladies of Liberty, by Cokie Roberts
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, by Stieg Larson
The Art of Racing in the Rain, by Garth Stein

There is no theme working here--a couple of these books I own and haven't gotten around to reading, and the other two just looked interesting. Please vote for the book you would like to read, via comment, by Friday, December 4th. We will plan our next "meeting" to begin on January 17th.

Firefly Lane: Review

I HATE sad books. In particular, I hate books that are sad because an important character – one you have grown to like – dies at the end of the book. I read, in part, to escape the difficulties that I face in my everyday life. If I want to cry, I’ll go work in the cancer ward of Children’s Hospital, thank you very much.

Having said this, I thought Firefly Lane was a relatively satisfactory read. I tried reading it once before, and gave up fairly early in the book. At that point, I didn’t know that a main character would die at the end of the book, though I admit that I suspected it. You could almost smell imminent sadness. (I thought it would be Kate’s mom, who was lighting up a cigarette every time she was mentioned.) At that time, I was dissatisfied with the writing style. It seemed too simple – almost like reading a teen romance novel. (Not that there’s anything wrong with that Miss Brooke!) Believe me, I am a cheap date when it comes to books. I am not very judgmental when it comes to what I read. It doesn’t have to be Hemingway. I never hesitate, however, to give up on a book I dislike. My motto is “Life is too short to read a bad book.”

This time, I was determined to finish the book no matter what, since it was our first Ethereal Reader book. As I plodded along, I guess I grew accustomed to the writing style. In fact, I almost felt that the writer’s style changed as the book went along. It seemed that Hannah wrote according to the age of Kate and Tully. As they grew up, her writing matured as well. Perhaps I just grew accustomed to the style.

One of my favorite things about the book was the sense of place and time. I think that Hannah did a great job of providing the feel for the decade in which the book was taking place. Having grown up in the 70s, it tickled me to be reminded about music and magazines and pop stars and fashions popular in the 70s and 80s. I read the same magazines as Kate and worried about the same things in high school as did she and Tully. I was parenting in the 80s, and being reminded about big hair and peg-legged pants and shoulder pads literally made me laugh out loud. Jen and Bec, remember when our kids “pegged” their pants?

Hannah chose to go back and forth, from Kate to Tully, throughout the book. I found this to be effective, particularly after Kate was married. It allowed me to really see the dichotomy between these two friends’ lives. Different choices and different ambitions led to completely different lives.

As the plot built, I thought Hannah did a good job of letting us see the ups and downs of Kate’s and Tully’s lives. Both characters were living the life of which they had dreamed. Both were rewarded, but each of them struggled with the down sides of their lives. Kate more or less lost her identity as she became more engrossed in her life as a mother. Tully found fame and fortune, but was always lonely. I never found myself wishing I had either one of their lives.

I don’t know that I believe that it’s reasonable to think that these two women could have maintained such a close friendship as their lives grew more and more separate, but I’m willing to suspend my disbelief in my hope that such a thing could happen. Having suspended that disbelief, however, made me feel even more betrayed that Hannah chose to have Kate die in the end. Hannah’s postscript at the end of the book indicated she wanted to use this book to educate women about this rare form of breast cancer. Couldn’t she have done that without killing her off? Argh. Besides, the cancer sort of seemed to come out of nowhere, sort of contrived.

And such a death. Oy vey! Did it really have to go on that long? Seriously folks. It really was so sad. I know Hannah wanted reconciliation between Kate and her daughter. Still. My heavens. Waaaay too long a death scene.

In my other book club, there is a woman who LOVES sad books. (It’s beyond me.) She would really enjoy this book. As for me, I would only recommend this book with the caveat that the reader knows she will cry her eyes out. I’ll take a happy ending any day.


Book rating: On a scale of 1 to 10 (10 being I loved it and 1 being I hated it), I would give this book an overall rating of 6.5.

Favorite character: Mrs. Mularkey. She unequivocally loved her children and Tully. She was practical and unsentimental. She didn’t die at the end.

Hosting Order

Jen and I decided that the best way to determine the order in which we will host (moderate) the book discussion is by birthday. So, next up will be Bec. Here is the order:

Bec
Sami
Josey
Jen
Brooke
Maggie
Kris

I'm looking forward to our discussion about Firefly Lane. Keep reading Ethereal Readers!

Off to the races....

A portion of the book club members met on Saturday to determine and finalize our guidelines. We decided until we have the kinks worked out, we will limit the book club to those who indicated an initial interest: Josey, Jennifer, Bec, Maggie, Sami, Brooke (when she has time), and me.

As publisher of the blog, and a co-creator, I volunteered to be the first to suggest books. Take a look at my suggestions, and vote (via comments) by Monday, October 26.

Firefly Lane, by Kristin Hannah
Velva Jean Learns to Drive, by Jennifer Niven
Henry's Sisters, by Cathy Lamb
Buster Midnight's Cafe, by Sandra Dallas

You will notice a strong "women's book" theme. I'm not sure why, but that's what I was drawn to this time.

A Virtual Book Club

For a variety of reasons, I have had to leave my book club. As a result, I no longer have the opportunity to talk to others about books I read.

Those who love reading as I do know that part of the fun of reading a good book is being able to discuss it with friends. It never fails that someone will catch something in a story that I missed, or they will have a completely different interpretation of a scene in the book. They might like a character that I dislike, and they might have a compelling reason for feeling that way. The reason there are a cajillion books available to read is that everyone's taste is unique. I can't tell you how often I have loved a book, only to find that someone else simply detested it.

One of my sisters is in the same boat as I am. Her book club disbanded, leaving her without a post-book sounding board. Since we live an hour-and-a-half from each other, we decided trying to form a book club that would include both of us was not reasonable.

But, hey! We are modern women. We know how to use the internet to our advantage. Why not, she asked me one day, start a virtual book club? We could invite some of our friends and family to participate. If by chance, anyone else found us, either through word of mouth or sheer coincidence, they can participate as well.

So, I will coordinate the blog. The founding members of the book club (whomever they might be) can finalize the guidelines, and we will be flexible.

As I see it, here are current guidelines.

Members of the Ethereal Readers' Book Club will share one book every six weeks. The members will take turns offering the book choices -- a maximum of four books, fiction or nonfiction. The member whose turn it is to provide the choices will post the names of the book choices, and the members will vote via the comment section of the book. I suggest this process take three days.

Once we have selected a book, we will have four weeks to read the book.

The person who offered the choices will be the moderator for the month. It will be her/his responsibility to provide a synopsis of the book, and to post thoughts and opinions about the book four weeks after book selection is made. Since I am coordinating the blog (at least for the time being), the synopsis and thoughts will need to be emailed to me so that I can post it. Other members will interact via the comment section of the post. This part of the process will take place the sixth week of the book club process.

We will honor everyone's opinion. Being mean is not an option.

I am open to any other thoughts about the guidelines.