What BT is Reading...

Just read Amy Bloom's Where the God of Love Hangs Out and it is really good. 4 short stories -- and I typically do not go for a collection, but The Week featured it. Quick read. I'm kinda struggling with an 2009 Oprah's Collection Say You're One of Them.

Out Stealing Horses by Per Petterson

This book has been around a while, and for some reason (maybe the horse thing), I just never picked it up. After some nudging from a friend, I did and I'm glad. The style of the writing is difficult to follow sometimes with long rambling sentences that beg for punctuation. But the story and the relationships are fascinating. I love the way the author moves into different times so easily. Great read. -June

This is Where I Leave You by Jonathan Tropper

What a hoot! I loved this book! This is the perfect book to read after you've read something serious and intense because it will make you laugh out loud! It includes family dysfunction to the max, but it's cleverly written and somehow believable. -June

Wench by Dolen Perkins-Valdez

A very interesting read about a slave woman who maintains a relationship with her owner. Every summer she travels with him (without his wife) to a resort in the north where they meet other slave owners and their female slaves. The book focuses on Lizzie, her relationship with the other slaves, and her relationship with her owner. The book takes place during the 1850's before the Civil War. The book is only somewhat well written, but it certainly is about an interesting subject. -June

Maisie Dobbs by Jacqueline Winspear

This was a book club selection, and one that I would not have chosen on my own. And we actually read two books in the series, the first and the second. I'll admit they held my interest but there was just something predictable and almost romance-like about the writing. Now I admit I read most of the books while recuperating and under the influence of pain meds, but even the drugs didn't make me love these books. -June

The Heretic's Daughter by Kathleen Kent

Just finished "The Heretic's Daughter" by Kathleen Kent and highly recommend it. It is historical fiction about the Salem Witch Trials unlike any I've read because it is told from the perspective of the young daughter of one of the women hung for a wtich. Some of the passages were so moving and exquisitely written, I dog-eared the pages before remembering that the book wasn't mine (otherwise I would have brought it with me to Oregon). The author is descended from the protagonist. Anita Shreve (one of our favorites) says "The Heretic's Daughter is raw, honest, and completely captivating. Kent takes what would seem to be a familiar subject and gives it fresh, new perspective--moving us through a wrenching gamut of emotions as she does so. A searing look at one of the worst periods in our history." It's a winner! -BT