The Crimson Petal and the White

Every time I travel I take advantage of my free time and get back into the reading habit.  Unfortunately, I also underestimate how much I can read in that time.  Which usually leaves me half way through the week without a book.  This time my best friend searched his shelves for something for me to read.  I turned down the first couple but then settled on an enormous book.

The Crimson Petal and the White, by Michel Faber is an interesting 900 page adventure which takes place in the underbelly of Victorian era England.  There are three story lines that eventually run all together.  Sugar the smart and unusual prostitute who is writing her own novel.  William Rackham, a heir to a perfume business and his mentally ill wife Agnes.  Lastly, is the story of the pious brother Henry Rackham and the widow he loves Emmeline Fox.

The book does start in an unusual way, Faber speaks directly to you and has you follow smaller characters to set the tone.  Eventually you are introduced to Sugar and William, each of who are living in different strata of England.   William is a down-trodden, broken-down man, who is just looking for someone to give him the support he needs to take over the company he never wanted and to merely survive his life with his ailing wife.  This is where Sugar the scaly skinned prostitute with mind of  a man begins to change everything.

I can't quite explain why I loved this book, but I could not put it down.  Every character changes over the course of the story.  Sugar is one of the most identifiable characters and she makes you want to root for her even though she is not the protagonist that you would expect to support.

I would tell more but then your journey would not be what Michel Faber would have wanted.  If you have the time to read the voluminous pages you will enjoy this period piece.

The Wild Unknown

A mysterious tube arrived in the mail for my mother, I am normally notified to watch for packages but not this time.  When she saw the tube she was visibly excited, and opened it up to the most beautiful silk screened print.

This artist creates amazing silk screen prints, but this one is very important.  Her sister and her fiancée's house burned to the ground.  All proceeds of this project are helping to build their life again.  You can buy the print for $50 or choose the $50 print plus a donation.

After purchasing the print my mother received a hand written thank you card for the support and donation.  Please take a look at the link and I am sure you will want to purchase the aptly named "home" print.

http://www.thewildunknown.com/print_details/home_print.html

Hooked

When I go on vacation I am a voracious reader.  I will admit I like to read fluff most of time during vacation though.  I guess it is a kind of way of unwinding.

On my latest trip I searched the house for a paperback I had not yet read.  Unfortunately to my dismay most of my books were hardcover.  I don't know why but I hate to travel with them.  I finally found the one right before the bags were finished being packed, Hooked, by Jane May.


Hooked has a bright cheerful cover, with a happy little fish.  I figured what's not fluffy about that?

Jane May took the classic story of the Fisherman's Wife and wrote it with a modern twist.  Clarence "Woody" Woods, the main character, loves his job, boats and the water in general.  What he doesn't have is someone to love.  Woody is a character I fell instantly in love with myself.  He is sweet, shy and a little bumbling at times, but a genuinely well-rounded protagonist.  

On a fateful day he meets and is instantly smitten by Madalina a waitress at the yacht club he works for.  The story unfolds showing how he wins her with the help of a talking fish.  All along the way I was hoping Woody would get what he wanted.  However, I am not sure what he wanted was what I wanted for him.

I read this book in two and a half days.  It is a super quick read, and will make you smile and think about life in a fanciful way.  

The Hotel at the Corner of Bitter & Sweet

I love to read and was convinced to join a book club last year.  Needless to say it didn't last long since the club consisted of more than 50% retired teachers and their choices tended to be the same themes.  Doom and gloom, if I read any more of that I would have put my head in an oven.

At the last meeting we pull names from a hat and buy a gift book for that person.  I was scared to see what I would be given.  When I first received the book The Hotel at the Corner of Bitter & Sweet, by Jamie Ford, I was thinking I am never going to read this.  It is a book about internment camps.  More doom, or so I thought.

The book takes place in two time periods in a Chinese American's life.  In the 1940's the main character at the age of 12 falls in love when a Japanese American girl.  It later tells of all they go through to stay together despite their age.  The other time period is 1984, shortly after the same character's wife passes away.  During this time he has become obsessed with finding a record from the 1940's that has a special meaning and where that adventure leads.

I know sounds like something you would read if you wanted to be miserable, but this book is uplifting and sweet.  I could not believe the beautiful message it conveys.  It is a quick read and definitely worth your time.