Toast Crumbs

I’ve recently discovered Anna McPartlin, and I can’t wait for new books.  I’ve read “Apart From the Crowd” and “Pack Up the Moon”, both of which I enjoyed very much.  “Pack Up the Moon” starts out rather depressingly, and I kept wondering when the funny bits promised on the cover were going to happen, and they did happen but later than I’d have liked.   This author is second on my favorite Irish writers list, below Maeve Binchy.   Both books get rated 5.

I didn’t set out to read a bunch of books about Nantucket life, but somehow I’ve picked out books with this theme. I wonder if Nantucket is usurping the South as the new beach-book destination?

The Beach House is a book you can read with your brain on autopilot, which is what a good beach book is.  However, the author, being British, occasionally lets slip a British word or phrase that’s jarring, since an ordinary American wouldn’t use these words or phrases.  And sometimes the author doesn’t explain things,  for example, a woman brings her art supplies, music, and a “burner”-that one made me go back three times and read more carefully, thinking I’d missed something.  I finally concluded it must be an incense burner.

The beach house of the title belongs to a 65-year-old woman who’s kept herself to herself for years, until financial difficulties lead her to find a way to keep her house, and she decides to rent rooms to tourists.  The back stories of a few renters are told in detail, and when they converge on the beach house, their messed-up lives are transformed.  If this happened in real life, I’d be on the first plane out to Nantucket.

Happy endings abound here, predictable stuff including the “surprise twist” which I guessed long before the event.  That didn’t bother me as much as the portrayal of the 65-year-old owner as initially fit and healthy, then becoming aged and ill, then perking up a bit towards the end.  I mean, 65 isn’t decrepit these days; I’d have believed it if she were 85 and not 65.  The only thing that saved this book from being treacly tripe was that two people are not paired up at the end, which is good because otherwise I’d have been forced to throw this book across the room, even though it’s a library book.  I’ll give it a 3.5.

Another Nantucket beach book. Two girls are best friends growing up on Nantucket.  Grown-up now, Clare falls in love with a hunky ne’er-do-well and has stuck with him for twelve years even though he cheats on her occasionally, while Lexi drops out of college and marries a rich property developer who’s hated by the islanders, but that doesn’t bother her because she doesn’t come back to Nantucket-having burned her bridges with Clare and her family after arguments about her choice of husband, she’s too busy traveling the world and dressing up in expensive clothes.

Then after realizing she’s unhappy, Lexi makes a shocking discovery and gets divorced and returns to Nantucket, intending to open a high-end boutique…right next door to Clare’s chocolate shop.   Clare and Lexi blow hot and cold, trying to figure out how their childhood friendship can work in their grown-up lives.   It’s a standard story, predictable, but okay.  One objection I have is the feeling I’ve picked up with reading so many other Nantucket-theme books is the contempt island residents feel for the summer tourists-they depend on the tourists for their livelihood, but they don’t like tourists.   Regardless, I’ll give this a 4.

I became hooked on the Keller series some years ago and eagerly wait for the next ones, which are too few and far between for my liking. But I’d rather Block take his time with the books, rather than dash off a sloppy one every year.

Keller is a hit man, who lives contentedly in New York City, absorbed in his hobby of stamp collecting and getting his jobs from a woman named Dot who does the coordinating.  He’s been thinking about retirement and actually declared that he was done, but Dot gets him to do one last job, which goes wrong when he’s framed for the murder of a Presidential candidate.  Keller has just spent $600 on some stamps, and doesn’t dare use any of the credit cards he has in different names, because if they have his picture, it won’t be long till they figure out the other names he’s been using.  He has to get out of town and back to New York to find out what went wrong, but he’s short on cash.

Keller’s drive across the country and how he manages to keep from being recognized-his picture was all over CNN as well as in newspapers-is fun, and impossible to predict, which is why I like the Keller books so much.  He winds up in New Orleans and starts a new life with a new identity.   Everything’s going well, until something happens to bring back the old Keller.   Terrific book, and I really hope this isn’t the last we see of Keller.  This gets a 5+, it was one of those books I couldn’t put down but didn’t want to read too fast.

I’ve read all of Fossum’s books I could get my hands on, I think there are one or two that are out of print and hard to get unless you’re willing to shell out more than you normally would for a hardback book.   I eagerly awaited the release of Black Seconds, and I wasn’t disappointed; however, it seemed like this one lacks the sharpness of Fossum’s earlier books-in previous books, it was hard to guess who the real murderer was, and I found that even after the book ended, I was still wondering whether Sejer, the detective, had really gotten the right person.   And Fossum’s habit of having mentally challenged people be the most obvious suspect is getting a little old, not to mention a tiny bit offensive.   But it’s still an absorbing read, as Fossum has an extraordinary talent for characters, especially quirky ones.  I’ll give this a 5.

This book is a delight, if you’ve read Garden Spells (reviewed below), or even if you haven’t,  I bet you’ll love this.

Josey is a lonely, introverted young woman, under her mother’s thumb in a big house in a ski resort town in North Carolina. Her father founded the area’s ski resort and sold it, so Josey’s mother is rich.  Josey’s mother is also elderly and has hip problems, so she needs Josey to drive her places, and generally be at her beck and call all the time.  Josey has a secret space behind her closet where she keeps a stash of candy and romance novels, indulging away from the eagle eye of her once-beautiful mother, who is chagrined that Josey is “plump” and unstylish.    One day, however, Josey finds a woman in her closet.  Della Lee is an unsavory woman who Josey only knows from sight, but they soon form a friendship, which leads Josey to make a friend of Chloe, a young woman who runs a sandwich shop in the courthouse, and gather the courage to let the young mailman know that she’s interested in him.

The most delightful part of the book is Chloe’s relationship with books-i wont’ say any more because it would spoil the surprise.  I suppose you’ll figure out the reason Della Lee sought refuge in Josey’s closet, but I chose not to puzzle it out, preferring instead to just enjoy the ride.  I’ll give this one a 5+ because I had a hard time putting it down, while at the same time trying not to read too fast so as to prolong the pleasure.

I’ve read most of Marian Keyes’ books, and was champing at the bit to get my hands on this one at the library, and was pleasantly surprised when it arrived a relatively short time after I put a hold on it.   I started reading it as soon as I got home with it, and sometime in the first chapter I felt dismay-was this going to be another run-of-the-mill, he-dun-her-wrong chick lit pity fest?  But I kept on with it, and was soon wrapped up in it. I knew this was gonna be a rare one-a good story that had me torn between racing to see how it ended and forcing myself to put it down to stretch out the pleasure.  Racing won out.

The story is about Paddy, a good-looking charmer, and a politician, who’s run through a string of women.  You’d think that a man in politics with an eye to getting to the top would be careful about the number of women he’s been with, but apparently Paddy isn’t worried.  The book focuses on four of them-Lola, a stylist with purple streaks in her hair,  who is shattered when she finds out that Paddy is marrying a “proper politician’s wife”, when she thought they were still hot and heavy.  Her world falls apart and she retreats to lick her wounds.  Grace is a journalist, is in a long-term relationship with another journalist-she’s come close to falling under Paddy’s spell but has resisted.  Marnie is Grace’s twin sister, was Paddy’s first girlfriend and when he dumped her after graduating from college she went off the deep end, but seems to have recovered, having married a nice guy and has two little girls.  Alicia, chosen to be Paddy’s bride, is a dark horse, a mysterious presence.   All these women eventually converge, with consequences for Paddy, who up till that convergence has been untouchable.  I haven’t made it sound too compelling, but I didn’t want to give anything away.  The characters are believable, and there’s comic relief to keep the drama from bogging down the story.   I’ll give this one a 5+ since it’s the best book I’ve read in a long time and that’s saying a lot coming from me, the pickiest reader I know.