Guest House: A Novel by Barbara K. Richardson

Taken from the back of the book:

Driving home from work on a summer afternoon, Melba Burns witnesses a nightmare collision.  She abandons her car, quits her job, and stops driving.  The wreck ends Melba's desire for success at any cost; she retreats into her beloved old farmhouse yearning for a simpler peace.  But peace has never met Melba's stunning new roommate JoLee Garry, a magnet for messes and trouble.  JoLee brings a series of unexpected guests who transform Melba's solo life into something different, darker, and richer.

Why I didn't finish reading the book:

I put down the book after page 50, which truthfully I was surprised I'd even gotten that far into the novel.  From the first few pages I knew that this book was not for me, but I thought that I should push ahead to at least page 50 just to make sure.  And I was right - Guest House was not my cup of tea.  I found myself annoyed by the characters - Melba was dull and JoLee was a caricature of a bad cliche.  The story itself was unmoving and boring.  There was just something lacking from the book that made it difficult for me to connect with on any level.  I found some characters to be superfluous and the tone to be depressing.  The editing should have been tighter.  Overall, those 50 pages were ones that did not leave a positive impression on me, which is precisely why I chose not to finish reading Guest House.  Oh well. Not every book is for everyone, right?

Just so you know:

Guest House did get some rave reviews over on Amazon - people rated it 5 stars!  So, there are people out there loving this book and you may be one of them.  Different strokes and all that. If you are interested in reading Guest House, I'm willing to give up my copy of it. Its barely been read - so its like new.  So, if you would like to win it - just leave a comment with your email address and I'll let the random number generator choose the winner and email that person by Tuesday (June 1st).  Sorry, but this is only for US residents. Good luck!!

P.S. Thanks Anne (from The Book Report Network) for providing me with a copy of Guest House to review!

The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley

Finally! I'm done! The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie has been read and crossed off of my TBR list.  And now I must ask you not to hate me, because truthfully, though I did enjoy aspects of the book, I did not love it. I found it to be rather predictable, long-winded and slightly dull at times.  There were moments when I had to put the book down or just rush ahead in order to avoid a passage that went on about something or other that just didn't hold my interest.  I can understand why this book would be a bestseller and how so many people fell under its spell, but I just wasn't one of those people.  Don't get me wrong, Flavia de Luce is ace. I loved her character's carefree spirit; her love of chemistry and potions; her experiments on her rotten sisters; and her faithful bike Gladys.  What I didn't care for was everything else. 

It is the summer of 1950 - and at the once-grand mansion of Buckshaw, young Flavia de Luce, an aspiring chemist with a passion for poison, is intrigued by a series of inexplicable events: A dead bird is found on the doorstep, a postage stamp bizarrely pinned to its beak.  Then hours later, Flavia finds a man lying in the cucumber patch and watches him as he takes his last breath.

For Flavia, who is both appalled and delighted, life begins in earnest when murder comes to Buckshaw. "I wish I could say I was afraid, but I wasn't.  Quite the contrary.  This was by far the most interesting thing that had ever happened to me in my entire life."

From that summary (found on back of book) alone, I was positive that I was in for a treat. But I wasn't.  I just don't think that the book was my cup of tea. Perhaps if I was a kid reading about Flavia, I would have enjoyed the book more. The sneaking out of the house, magic tricks, and intriguing mystery behind the stamp pinned to the bird's beak - all of these things would have caught my attention once upon a time.  However, in the now, I just wasn't as enthralled by it all as I had hoped.  Oh well, different strokes for different folks - in this case, books.

The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown

Dan Brown has done it again. He has written another suspense filled novel starring, famed symbologist and Harvard professor, Robert Langdon. Except this time, the novel is not set in Europe, but in America - D.C. to be exact.  And, that is the only exception.  True to form, Brown has focused his novel on another secret society whose secrets, if revealed, will rock the nation's core.  We have the usual morning call/fax regarding the request of Langdon's presence; there is the horrific realization that things are not what they seem; the predictable reveal at the end that is supposed to shock the reader, but merely disappoints; and the usual romantic tinged relationship between Langdon and the female version of himself.  Overall, another one of Brown's light reads.  Don't get me wrong, I did enjoy reading this book, because it allowed me the freedom to dip in and out at intervals (the fact that the chapters were 2-3 pages long helped).  What I liked was the familiarity of the character and tone of the novel, but I do wish that Brown had jazzed up his plot devices a bit more instead of relying on the usual ones that he has utilized in each of his novels. In the beginning I found myself getting involved in the story and excited at the prospect of a new adventure for Langdon, but soon enough  I became bored when I realized what direction the book was going and who the true culprit really was.  At the end of the day, it was a good escape from watching reruns on t.v.. 

As far as what the book was about, well, here's the text from the book jacket's flap:
           ...Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon is summoned unexpectedly to deliver an evening lecture in the U.S. Capitol Building.  Within minutes of his arrival, however, the night takes a bizarre turn.  A disturbing object- artfully encoded with five symbols - is discovered in the Capitol Building.  Langdon recognizes the object as an ancient invitation...one meant to usher its recipient into a long-lost world of esoteric wisdom.
          When Langdon's beloved mentor, Peter Solomon - a prominent Mason and philanthropist - is brutally kidnapped, Langdon realizes his only hope of saving Peter is to accept this mystical invitation and follow wherever it leads him.  Langdon is instantly plunged into a clandestine world of Masonic secrets, hidden history, and never-before-seen locations - all of which seem to be dragging him toward a single, inconceivable truth.

Wow! That does sound like an exciting story - too bad it wasn't. I wouldn't recommend that anyone rush out to buy this book, but at the same time I wouldn't say, don't read it. I think it would make for a good vacation read - fun, light and easy to read.  Something that you could take with you and wouldn't mind if you forgot it at your hotel.  The type of book that you lend a friend and aren't even bothered if they never give it back. All in all, another typical Dan Brown creation - overly hyped and too much of nothing.

Random Monday

Today's number was 26. The book: Eating People is Wrong by Malcolm Bradbury.

I read this book a number of years ago. I found it on the shelf at an Oxfam bookstore in Lancaster and thought that it sounded rather interesting and so I bought it on a whim. I'd never heard of Malcolm Bradbury and so I had no idea what to expect. Well, lo and behold, this was his debut novel that I had picked up and let me tell you what a treat it was to read.

Stuart Treece is an English college professor at a provincial British university.  He is a liberal minded humanist who is discovering that his ideas are no longer fitting in with the times and is struggling with figuring out a way to make them fit.  We follow Stuart as he navigates the twists and turns of life during the academic school year.  He deals with his students on all different levels: academic, romantic, and rivalrous.  Oh, and he is a bit of  counselor to the student who keeps locking himself in the bathrooms all over campus.  Plus, there are the academic/social functions which he throws together: a tea for the undergrads and a sherry party at his house for the postgrads - both are complete failures.   And there is that pesky driving test which he just can't seem to pass.  All in all, not quite the year that Treece had hoped for.

This book by Bradbury was such a great read, that I still find myself chuckling at the thought of Treece and his bungled efforts to romance his postgraduate student, Emma.  As far as describing this book, I would have to say that it's a satirical take on campus life - its both amusing and witty.  The writing is strong and the cast of characters are easy to sympathize with and laugh at.  Overall, one of my favorite reads during my time in grad school.  I even went out and bought the rest of Bradbury's works, because I enjoyed Eating People is Wrong so much.  I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who likes to read farcical accounts of life in academia. Oh, and I do believe that the title refers to a song (which unfortunately I do not remember - sorry). 

Happy Reading! I'm off to finish The Lost Symbol.