Fasting Feasting

The title of Anita Desai's 1999 novel uses food as a metaphor.  The first half of Fasting, Feasting takes place in India where food is celebrated. The second half takes place in America. There are two families who are primarily featured in the book.  The Indian family, which includes Mama, Papa, Uma, Aruna and Arun, use food as a way to commune with each other and with their friends. When son Arun travels to Massachusetts to attend college, he stays in a dormitory during the school year and with the Patton family during summer vacation. The Pattons are a typical American family who use food as an isolation tactic, never sharing a meal.

The theme of the novel is family relationships. The Indian family contrasts sharply with the Pattons. Their story is mainly concerned with Uma, the oldest, who is used as a servant by her parents. She has not been able to make a successful marriage so she stays at home with her parents raising her brother Arun, ordering around the cook and has plenty of house cleaning to do.  Arun, on the other hand, does not seem to fit in anywhere. He prefers to be alone, his own isolation tactic, after a lifetime of having to do whatever his family decides that he will do.  The Pattons, by contrast, have no bonds of connection.  Each member of the family does whatever they want to do and whenever they want to do it.

Fabulous reading!  5 out of 5 stars.

Ruthless

Ruthless is the story of Agata, a fourteen-year-old girl from Verona who has been forced by her father to marry Nunzio.  After a year of marriage with no child yet conceived, Agata's father-in-law, Alvino, decides to bed her himself. When he later is caught by Nunzio, Alvino defends himself by claiming that Agata is a witch. In order to avoid a witchcraft trial Agata flees to Venice where she is forced to become a prostitute in order to survive. In Venice Agata learns that in order to survive she must be ruthless in her dealings with men.

Agata's story was compelling but it did not resonate with me as much as other books that I have read by this author.  Part of the novel was about the Lord of Verona and his politics. While Agata did have a relationship with him, she was never involved with the politics of Verona or Venice.  The parts of the book concerning the Lord's political issues seemed out of place. When the story stayed on Agata's plight it was entertaining.

3 out of 5 stars.

Book of the Month: February

My best book for February is Saga: Compendium One. This comic book is a science fiction and fantasy comic strip that has been serialized for the past seven years. The compendium contains strips 1 through 54.

I just loved this book. I was hooked from the first page and had a hard time putting it down. With 1300 pages to read I did have to take breather while reading it but I still got it done in 2 days.

Rosewater and Soda Bread

Rosewater and Soda Bread is the story of three Iranian sisters who lived in a small village in Ireland. The lives of Marjan, Bahar and Layla Aminpour are continued from Pomegranate Soup, the author's first novel. Unfortunately, author Marsha Mehran died a recluse six years ago at the age of 36. The Aminpour sister novels were intended to be a seven book series but only two were published.

The book begins one year after the sisters arrival in the tiny Irish town called Ballinacroaugh. Their restaurant, The Babylon Cafe, is a huge success, offering customers the spicy, fragrant fare of their Persian heritage. Marjan, the oldest, is mainly in charge of the cafe with middle sister Bahar waiting on customers. Layla is only 14 but helps with cleanup and waiting tables. When Marjan's friend Estelle finds a young woman unconscious and bloodied, the woman's pale skin, webbed hands and awful secret send the villagers into an uproar.

I loved this story! The unfolding of the young girl's secret fit seamlessly into the setting of the cafe where food is always being prepped. Food is a big theme here. Almost every page contains mouthwatering descriptions of how to blend ingredients together into a perfect recipe. The reader always finds the sisters in the kitchen blending their magic while discussing the day's events. It took me back to a time when I was very young, spending time with my mother as she made dinner.

The characters were engaging, from the sisters to the secondary Irish characters who made the village a pleasurable place for the sisters and readers alike. Some were definitely stereotypes of Irishmen but these characters brought a sense of neighborliness to the story. Again, the author took my mind back to my youth and the small Illinois town that I grew up in. All small towns are alike with everyone knowing your business but you don't care because when you're down your neighbors will take care of you.  I laughed at the older women who participated in the weekly Bible study but gossiped about their neighbors instead. I know these church ladies well.

Rosewater was an enjoyable read. 5 out of 5 stars!

The Spymaster's Brother

The final book in the Francis Bacon Mystery series by Anna Castle centers around the protagonist's brother, Anthony Bacon.  When the story opens Anthony has returned to England after living in France for 13 years. While he was in France Anthony built a huge intelligence network throughout Europe. He and Francis are seeking a wealthy patron and offer Anthony's services to the highest bidder. Since he is suffering with severe symptoms of gout, Anthony has trouble walking unassisted and with his self care. When a dead body is found next to Anthony's coach, Francis thinks his brother killed someone because the dead man had been spreading vicious rumors about Anthony that could ruin his reputation and the value of his network. Francis's sidekick Tom Claraday believes Anthony's secretary committed the murder and the two of them set out to find the killer.

This series has been highly entertaining. I love the two sleuths, Francis and Tom. They work well together and their different personalities do not hinder their investigations. It actually helps them determine the identity of killers. While reading the Spymaster's Brother, I became so intrigued about Anthony Bacon's life that Internet research into his life occasionally interrupted my reading of the book. His life story is fascinating. It was intriguing enough to overshadow my enjoyment of the book. I feel my independent research was more interesting than the plot. Had I not checked out Anthony's life story, the story probably would have been another entertaining read for me.

The period details are another enjoyable part of the series. The author wrote the setting descriptions well enough for me to want to visit England, especially Cambridge where Tom Claraday was at school in the early books in the series. Ms. Castle's knowledge about the Elizabethan time period shined throughout the series. I hope she continues to write historical fiction.

4 out of 5 stars. Anna Castle take note, a series based on Anthony Bacon and his assistant living in France building that spy network would be great reading. 

Year of the Rabbit

Year of the Rabbit is Tian Veasna's graphic memoir about life growing up under the bloody reign of the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia. He was born three days after the Khmer Rouge came into power and escaped with his family into a Thai refugee camp at age five. They eventually settled in France. The story covers the experiences of his mother Lina, father Khim, the baby Chan and their extended families.  After he became an adult the author interviewed his relatives to obtain information for the book.

The book opens with the families leaving their homes in Phnom Penh for safety. They expected to return in a few days but along their route they learned that the city was being permanently evacuated by the Khmer Rouge. The author, Chan, was born while his parents walked for months seeking safety. A bad decision to use forged travel permits gets them sent to a re-education camp where, for the next five years, they witness firsthand the regime's brutality.

Year of the Rabbit is first and foremost a well told story. The artwork enhances it by bringing passion into the pages. The overwhelming fear and hopelessness felt by the refugees is drawn on each page. What was interesting to me was that as Chan's family ran into old friends during these years, these friends did not stop being their friends. They offered spare food or helpful information. I expected that people would behave the opposite. The capacity of the Cambodian people for good is the amazing part of this story.

Sugar and Spite

After reading two steamy historical fiction novels this month I thought it best to switch to a cozy mystery. Sugar and Spite is the 22nd installment of the Ettie Smith Amish Cozy Mystery series by Samantha Price. This is the first book in the series that I have read.

Amish sisters Ettie Smith and Elsa-Mae Lutz decide to bring a cake as a peace offering to Brunhilde Hoffman whom Elsa-Mae believes is angry with her. Upon entering Brunhilde's candy shop they find her dead body. The cake is accidentally dropped on the floor. Thinking that the cake contaminates the crime scene, they clean it up. Since the Amish people don't like speaking to outsiders, the police ask the sisters to talk to their Amish neighbors about what they know about Brunhilde. Ettie and Elsa-Mae then begin to interview their suspects and gather evidence.

This book is a traditional cozy with no violence or sex described within its pages. The main characters are an amusing set of sisters whose back and forth commentary on everything imaginable will make the reader chuckle. There is no sibling rivalry here. Etta and Elsa-Mae get along well, sweetly nudging each other when their habits annoy the other sister. The plot was more complicated than I expected for a cozy. The sisters find plenty of people who had bad experiences dealing with Brunhilde, both personally and in business, and these issues needed to be fleshed out by them in order to solve the crime.

Sugar and Spite is a relaxing read. I rate it 4 out of 5 stars.

The Stolen Girl

The Stolen Girl is part one of The Veil and the Crown series featuring Aimee de Rivery as the heroine. Aimee is a young French convent girl who is kidnapped by pirates and given as a gift to the Sultan of Turkey for his harem.

Aimee Dubucq de Rivery and her best friend and cousin Rose Tascher de la Pagerie are born on the French island of Martinique in 1763. Their story in the book begins when they are 14 and on their way to visit an African witch in order to have their fortunes told. Both are told that they will be queens.  When Aimee is 18, she sails for France to enter a convent but also to spend a month with relatives in Paris who can help her find an aristocratic husband. Rose follows her one year later to marry an aristocrat. They both believe that they are on the path to be queens until life stops working out so well for them.

With a title promising a stolen girl, I thought the girl would be stolen early in the book. Aimee isn't "stolen" until 2/3 into the story. However, this anomaly did not affect the readability of the book. The author packed her novel with interesting historical facts such as the prediction of Euphemia David. Euphemia was the African witch who told Aimee and Rose's fortune. The prediction was published in France in 1820 because Rose eventually became Empress Josephine. The latter third of the book is erotic as Aimee gives up her Catholic training to pursue riches as a concubine. Her eyes are on the clothes and the jewels and she will do anything to get them but the truth is that she really likes sex.

The story abruptly ends at awkward place. There is no denouement. The reader is supposed to automatically begin reading Part 2 of the series, The French Sultana. I felt uncomfortable with the ending and it affected my rating of the book. As far as the sexual content is concerned, if I paid attention to the publisher's warning I probably would not have purchased the book. I am not interested in reading explicit sex but it's not the author's fault that I missed the warning. However, when I am searching for books on Amazon I only look at the listed genre. Why should I have to do an Internet search to determine if the book is X rated?

4 out of 5 stars. 

Saga: Compendium One

Saga is a science fiction and fantasy comic book that is based on Star Wars. Compendium One contains serialized comic strips 1 through 54 in a gigantic, 1,328 page, 5 pound book.  Saga was written by Brian K. Vaughn, with Fiona Davis creating the artwork. Vaughn stated in an interview with Entertainment Weekly that Issue 54 was the halfway point for the comic strip and that 108 total issues were planned for this story. It took him seven years to write these initial 54 issues.

This romance story opens with the birth of Hazel, who narrates the book as an adult character. Saga centers around her life. She is the child of Alana and Marko. Alana was born on the planet Landfall, has black skin and wings. Marko was born on Wreath, Landfall's moon, has white skin and horns. Wreath and Landfall have been at war for a long time as has the entire galaxy. Both Marko and Alana are considered AWOL from their military assignments and are being hunted by their respective militias not only because they are AWOL but because they breeded together. However, it is difficult to run with an infant and this new family runs across a few unusual characters while on the run to find a safe place to live.

Saga covers a few social issues such as interracial marriages, racism, gender identity, and violence. Marko and Alana are not the only soldiers to leave their military posts. The main reason they are being sought is because they broke society's rule against having sex with someone who is not like themselves and having the audacity to have a child together. If they are found, they will be killed but both sides want possession of Hazel. Several of the characters they come across while on the lam have gender identity issues. Some are gay. It seemed bizarre to be discussing this issue concerning nonhuman characters. Fiona Davis did a fabulous job drawing these creatures. They were entertaining to look at but to think of them as transgender, gay or something else was more humorous to me than being social commentary by the author.  There was alot of violence in the book but as far as the illustrations were concerned, this was science fiction violence. The social commentary on violence comes into the plot with Marko grappling with his military past. He hates that he has been violent and wants to promote peace. His problem is that to protect his family he may have to be violent.

I LOVED Saga. I am not a science fiction or fantasy fan but this story gripped me from the beginning and I binge read it this weekend. Unfortunately, Issue 55 is not out yet. The author and illustrator took a year sabbatical on writing this comic and nothing new has been published yet. It's killing me because Issue 54 ended with a cliffhanger. 

Definitely 5 out of 5 stars!

Firefly

Firefly is book 1 of the Warrior Woman of the Samurai series featuring Keiko, the female samurai.  The summary from the publisher reads "There are some who believe that the honor of a samurai is reserved for men.  But they are wrong.  Keiko was born the daughter of a samurai.  But as a mere younger sister, her future was to run errands for her lovely elder sister and obey her father.  Until the day it fell to her to defend the honor of her sister and her family..."

Let me just come right out and say it. I hated this book.  I would call it porn. I bought a kindle copy of the book as it was advertised as being a historical fiction novel but it isn't.  It contains basically one trashy sex scene after another that just happens to take place in ancient Japan. While the heroine trains to become a samurai and falls in love with a ninja, every scene in between these plot actions is sexual, whether is be gay sex, paid sex, or rape and all in glorious detail for your reading displeasure.

Can I rate this -10 stars?  OK.  I will.

Old Bones

Old Bones is the first book in a new series by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child. It is the Nora Kelly Book 1 with character Nora Kelly being the curator at the Santa Fe Archaeological Institute. Nora is approached by historian Clive Benton for help in putting together an archeological expedition to locate the Lost Camp of the ill-fated Donner Party. The Donner Party were headed west in 1847 to California but got lost and starved to death. They killed and ate their horses, dogs and then each other. Benton has just found a diary of one of the victims that has clues to the location of the Lost Camp.  He needs the assistance of Nora and her team of explorers and scientists to find the camp as well as a possible treasure grove of gold coins worth twenty million dollars. Nora agrees to lead the expedition. Her team soon discovers that finding the camp and uncovering what the Donners experienced has modern-day repercussions.

Old Bones was an enjoyable read. The pace was steady and the intricate plot gradually unveiled its mysteries. What I find exceptional is that there are two strong female characters that will most likely be working together in future novels.  They make a great pair. Nora Kelly is an archeologist and Corrie Swanson is a rookie FBI agent. Both characters have been in previous Preston and Child books but not together. These two worked side by side in Old Bones after one of Nora's team died unexpectedly. What is unusual is that two male authors are writing about two female protagonists. Usually women write about women and vice versa. It's exciting to see two intelligent women in authoritative positions working in tandem on cases.

While the wild west setting of the book is not something I care for, Old Bones had enough archeology, history and crime to keep me happy. I rate this book 5 out of 5 stars.

Allegra

Allegra is the sequel to Christine De Melo's Sabina. Allegra Castagno is Sabina Rossi's granddaughter. She learns basic goldsmithing in her father's workshop but has a special talent for jewelry. Her father decides to allow her to be apprenticed to a friend of his, Domenico, even though the guilds, clergy and magistrates forbid women from working in the trade. After completing her training Allegra begins designing a few pieces. Her work becomes in demand but her father cannot tell anyone who the designer is. He decides to say that "La Castagna" is the designer. Allegra works tirelessly in the business, spurning many wealthy suitors over the years because marriage would mean having to give up her goldsmithing. One day a man returns to her life that challenges her desire for both a work and family life in 16th century Florence.

Allegra was an enchanting novel but it is impossible not to compare it to Sabina. Sabina was better. However, I must say that Sabina was so good that nothing could probably come close to being as good as it was. Allegra did not have the lavish setting descriptions that the earlier novel had. Instead, it was action driven. Most of the characters were less developed than those in Sabina except for Bianca Cappello. She led an extravagant life which the author wrote about in detail. This detail was something I expected after reading Sabina where each character's sinful behavior was generously recounted. Allegra, however, seemed to me to be a 16th century version of how can a woman have it all, both job and marriage. Does she get it all? Read the book!

4 out of 5 stars!

Book of the Month: January

I read 9 books in January. It was a great month for reading. The book that I enjoyed the most was Sabina by C. DeMelo. It is a historical fiction novel that takes place in 15th century Florence. I was captivated by Sabina's life story but more than that I loved the author's luscious setting descriptions. They made the book come alive. From the clothes that the ladies wore to the architecture and the bucolic surroundings, the setting was a big part of the story. The characters were amazing as well, particularly the men that Sabina loved. I loved them too. Sabina is a must read for historical fiction fans.