Resorts Books

I always admire top authors who give nods to their contemporaries. P. D. James in this book makes a quick references to THE NO. 1 LADIES' DETECTIVE AGENCY and a more subtle reference to Stilla Remington's autobiography A nice touch there. Yet another nice touch is the importance given to the two subordinates assisting Dagleish. I hope that we'll see more of them.A large portion of the book is devoted to the introduction of characters,both those involved in the investigation and those who are suspects. Those anxious to get into the mystery puzzle may be put off by the long introduction, but it definitely got me more involved in the story. I do recommend familiarizing oneself with P.D. James and Inspector Dagleish before reading this one, but those who are familiar with the author and the principle character should very much welcome this newest book in the series.

I've been a fan of PD James for more than 30 years now and was looking forward to The Lighthouse. However, the book was completely ruined for me by a basic flaw -- the lighthouse.
It is a basic element of the plot that the island is in darkness at night, with the lighthouse shining out and away from the island itself. However, this is the only lighthouse on the island. If that is true, then the light on the lighthouse would be a rotating one. Shipping would not pass the island in just one direction, so the light would have to be visible from every direction. I live in a group of islands, including some which have just one lighthouse -- when walking home in the dark, the light sweeps across the island as it rotates, then it's pitch black until the light passes again. I'm afraid I couldn't get past this basic error and although I enjoyed the characters, the plot was ruined.

No, this is not a masterpiece ala her earlier works like The Black Tower or Death of an Expert Witness. However, it is not a washout either. Plotting never has been a particular strength of hers so it is unfair to criticize the book solely from a plot perspective. Having said that, there are several cringeworthy passages at critical junctures. Without revealing any critical spoilers, it is sufficient to state that Vasoline never should be used as a critical plotting device involving bra and panties. The setting of a remote lighthouse off the coast of England gives the Baroness a fine opportunity to display her gifts for detailing place and time in her classical fashion which is perhaps her best strength. For Dalgleish aficionados, it shows him in a supporting role relegated to the background due to circumstances which are plot sensitive and won't be detailed in this review.

There is something both lost and gained by listening to the reading of a well-written book. Lost is what you, the reader, brings to the written word; but it is sometimes awfully nice to sit back, in your lounge chair, at the beach, or on a drive that is a bit longer than you want it to be and to hear an expert reader tell a fascinating story. And make no mistake, Charles Keating does a masterful job in reading The Lighthouse, which I believe is number 13 of the Adam Dalgleish mysteries.

Having said that, I much prefer reading the crime stories of Baroness James, and I must add that this one is not my favorite, although as has been said by other reviewers, I do not think it is possible for James to write a bad book. I'll go further; I believe that every book I've read by her....and there have been many...is worth the time taken to read it. She is so much more than "just" a mystery writer. My only real problem with this book is the improbability of the situation in which she puts Dalgleish and the other characters. It does seem a bit strained, as if James had run out of more traditional settings but still had this book in her that she needed/wanted to get out there.

No one currently writing can match her. She is in there with Dashiell Hammet.
I read "The Lighthouse", then bought a copy for a gift.

John Culleton
Rowse Reviews

Let me begin by saying that I began reading Love years before I actually completed it. Recently I began again, and made the trek through Morrison's most recent novel. The inspiration this time was due to having just read Tar Baby and being taken up [again] by Morrison's genius. Intent on more I unearthed Love and 'began again'. This time the book's opening line seemed to sizzle with promise and layers of Morrison-style story-telling...Making my way through went well for a while but then I found myself re-reading sentences and flipping back to see what I might have missed, based on what was being read in the moment. Now I realize Morrison's style is one of 'telling and revealing-in time', which makes reading her work all the more satisfying. However, I found Love to be overly layered with characters and circumstances that looped, curled and frayed, leaving me frustrated at times and having to close the book and breathe before re-opening it and giving it another go. I was intent on finishing this book this time and did so. Love, is somewhat of an ironic title, for what lies within its pages tests the very fibers of Love. Had I had a whiff of that being the case, perhaps I would have been able to appreciate the goings-on in this work all the more. Still, having read several other books by Ms. Morrison, I come away with the feeling that her earlier works grab and hold and deliver in a way this book did not do for me. As another reviewer wrote, Morrison's Love is still some of the best literary work out there. And in response to someone's comments about Love and Paradise being similarly "disappointments" I disagree entirely! Paradise is genius, Morrison genius, personified. And both works are certainly worth anyone's time who loves the art of writing and its potential for illumination beyond one's own life.

Throughout this novel, I laughed aloud, smiled, and though horrified at times, was also deeply touched by the love revealed.

I haven't read much Toni Morrison, so I'm sure many people will disagree with me, but this book has several flaws that distract from the story telling. It reads like a good solid, southern story, with plenty of secerts and interesting tales. However, Morrison seems too full of herself and at times writes in what I consider a "false" voice. That is, in a way that seems forced and expected of her. Her characters are different and their relationships complex, which makes the uncovering of their truths fantastic. She pushes too hard, though, to make things complex, shocking or unique. I also had a really hard time with the idea that she was setting the current day parts of the novel in the 1990s. I think this is a good summer read. But would make a FANTASTIC movie.

That's about all I could get from this tedious story. I just could not follow it, could not understand parts of it, particularly how Junior fit into the story. I have an idea, but I could be wrong. Thank goodness Morrison spelled out the relationship between Heed and Christine or I'd still be lost. I will say that Morrison has a beatiful writing style. The way she puts words on a page is really incredible, but the way this story evolved just left me confused.

I've been reading Toni Morrison's books for 15 years, since she was first a requirement in a modern literature class. I have to say that her last two books, Paradise and Love, have been huge disappointments. I understood why I found Paradise at a yard sale/ tag sale and I think Love may have the same fate I rarely put down a book and decide not to read it but I have with these two Morrison novels(although I will give it one more chance before removing it from my collection). I'm trying to find the wonderful connections that the first reviewers found but have to say I simply have come away feeling confused by the narratives, wearily trying to make sense of the plot on its intricate path to nowhere, following the action that comes in paragraphs that are too long and through words that almost seem to try too hard to be wonderful. I would prefer a narrative that was easy to follow than one that tries to lose me in wordiness. It's becoming more and more difficult to find enjoyment in this book without finding it a chore to figure it all out. I suppose I need my college lit. teacher to help me to follow and figure it all out but what fun is that? I wish that I could find the poetic genius of Morrison's earlier writings and not be continually disappointed in new publishings. I should also mention that I am an English teacher now and would never find myself trying to assign this book to students at any level. I would have to lead them through it and what fun is that?

"Love" is the first book I've read by Nobel Prize-winning author Toni Morrison. I was totally captivated and mesmerized by the emotionally electrifying beauty of her prose and the manifest reality of her characters. The book was fascinating on first reading, but the style in which the story unfolds--from first person to third person, from past to present, from several characters' differing points of view--left me confused at the end. It took me a second reading in order to put all the pieces together and finally understand and appreciate the sumptuous complexity of this tale. I understand this is typical of Morrison's style.

Reading Morrison is an engaging, delightful challenge--figuring out the puzzle is half the fun. Now, I am motivated to read all her works, but I don't plan to do this one after another. With this author, I think I would rather savor each book with a year or more in between. Every time I read one of Morrison's books, I want to be captivated, mesmerized, and fall in love with her prose all over again.

If I straightforwardly tell you the story of "Love" (like many of the reviewers here), I will ruin the pleasure of your discovering for yourself how the pieces fit together. I will say no more than that it is an intertwining story of six women, three men, and love turned upside-down. There is a lot of lust, anger, hatred, jealousy, rage, envy, self-loathing, and wisdom mixed up in this tale. Emotions erupt off the page; what causes these high emotions from the differing perspectives of each character is part of what makes the puzzle so thought-provoking and enjoyable to figure out. Throughout the text we see the same significant events happening from the varying viewpoints of the different players involved. In doing so, we learn to understand and forgive--not only the human frailty in each character, but also the human frailty in ourselves.

I highly recommend this book, but come prepared for a rollercoaster ride through some difficult and awe-inspiring emotional territory.

I have read several books by John Banville, and this one I think could have benefited heavily from some editing. The author seems to enjoy creating prose more than conveying any particular ideas or creating characters. This book seems like a scetch that leaves you with the impression that you almost see a picture, but when you stop to think about it it's just a few rough lines on a page torn out of a notebook.

the melody of this book is pure beauty; though the story of incestual love is deeply troubling. the effects of that love can be felt as they pierce through time, silently creating misery for all. though i can't shake the image when i read this book, it is still an excellent read for the images it does evoke and the aesthetic questions it does pose about adult teenage angst.

I read the book at a particularly dark time in life, and thus found the author's own sense of self-loathing darkness almost of comfort. I also, suffering from a chronic disease (but no death in sight) am familiar with his expertly described sensation of being alien to the person you love and care for the most: years of togetherness until "news" of death do us apart... But the flashbacks to his earlier love and the sense of both reverence and revilement of his dying cancerous wife left me wanting at times. I was sympathetic then at some point began to feel she needs more development in the book: how she feels, the actions she's taking against this inevitably entirely self-absorbed man. While he says as some point it was her who died, he clearly plunges into the experience as if it's his own leaving her very little breathing room and then finally, none.

John Banville is a crying out loud genius. I am a writer, and this book will carry me through several of my own books on inspiration alone. I have read it four times friom front to back.
Only a consummate genius of spirit, language, and craft could possibly have written this. Reading it requires, I think, an inveterate reader, for its structure is complex. His description of place will take you there and leave you to inhabit the place.
I found it common to read and re-read passages, pages, and, as I said, the entire book it is so beautifully rendered.
The story is touching and real to my inner self, and he is able to paint me, my innermost thoughts, my love for exquisite detail, scene, memories, and people with such solid and true foundation that humanity within me was discovered, illuminated, and honored.
Blue? Lost? Afraid? Grieving? Satisfied with your lot? Think humanity has gone sadly astray? Read this book. I swear you will never forget it.

This is a very rewarding book that requires patience and close attention because of the narrative shifts in time and place.

The story revolves around middle aged Max. In the present, Max is grappling with the recent death of his wife. Clearly the pair had long been a "unit" and Max is quite at loss as to what to do next in her absence. Although he loves his adult daughter Claire, she is no substitute in his affection. So Max is drawn back to a place by the shore that he hadn't been for 50 years, a place where he has a typical early adolesent experience with the opposite sex and an untypical experience with tragedy. The past and present are expertly interwoven by Mr. Banville, who deservedly won his Booker for this effort.

Banville does an incredibly good job showing us the power and limits of memory and how things are remembered (or disremembered) lucidly or poorly.

I think only Ian McEwan today writes with quite the same degree of elegance. And actually, as I think about it, I could make an argument that there are interesting similarities between McEwan's "Atonement" and "The Sea". In each case, the narrator sees or thinks they see something that turns out not to be the case and, in each instance, with terrible consequences; although more obviously so in "Atonement".

Read it "The Sea" and see for yourself.

I discovered Diane Mott Davidson with this book and was so glad I did. I immediately went backward and read the rest of the series, and I'm still reading forward, moving toward her latest PB release Dark Tort. I highly recommend this series. Goldy is a caterer and a sleuth. Each mystery tale comes with a delicious list of recipes (prepared by Goldy during the course of the story). In Tough Cookie, Goldy is temporarily hosting a local TV cooking show when so much goes wrong! Cooking disasters on the set, a blizzard, and then a dead body. She finds it herself and unfortunately for her, it turns out to be her ex-boyfriend. Goldy begins to investigate to determine whether her ex was murdered or not. And it leads to real danger for her. Goldy is married to police investigator Tom in this outing, but in her earlier books, we get a nice build up of their relationship, starting with how they met in her first book, Catering to Nobody. I suggest you start with #1 Catering to Nobody and work your way up to this one and beyond. You'll be glad you did. Delicious!

I love this series of Goldie mysteries...a good combination of great receipes and a good mystery in each

Love these books. Have read them all to date. Arrived as promised.

While not the first book of the series, this is the first one I read. And it stood pretty much on its own, though I'm sure reading the series in order would give you better context as far as some of the character's actions are concerned. And I admit, I picked this one because it had a picture of a "cutesy" chef (but with a scowl) cookie jar holding a gun on the cover. And, unlike choosing Nerd in Shining Armour by its title, this gamble wasn't half bad. It was an enjoyable story with some decent characters, and every time you thought you really, really had it figured out there was a twist. It really kept you guessing, which is a pleasant surprise in a mystery novel these days. Though the characters weren't the greatest, the mystery portion was well written and the overall story drew you in - enough that I'll probably read another in the series.

I picked up this book in a used booked store in Powell River, British Columbia, while waiting for a ferry to Vancouver. I didn't know that culinary murder mysteries was a genre and this book was part of a series of similar mishaps. Where was the warning label?

The author sets up her heroine as a gourmet-wannabe Nancy Drew running after inept murderers while strewing recipe cards along her trail. She dishes out food descriptions ad nauseam and then raves over them until you want to gag her with a kitchen towel. All the while, she insults her readers' intelligence by serving up as novelty that age old recipe of suspecting the evil looking guy first, and then making her model character the evil culprit!

If you're a fan of this author's work you'll probably enjoy it. But if this is your first time try, be aware that it is definitely an acquired taste. I'll pass on seconds.

I was thrilled to read a novel devoted to one of my favorite parts of the world, but Steve Amick's debut novel was an extreme disappointment.

The novel starts off promising, with interesting characters in a quirky tourist town, but it soon derails. At the end it completely falls apart.

Amick seems to have taken several separate stories and just stuck them all together. Several of the major story lines have no connection to one another and it seems very disjointed.

When I finished the book, I thought had hallucinated. It just...ends. Several plots are never finished, several mysteries never explained or revisited. I even examined the binding to make sure that pages hadn't been torn out of it.

This was our monthly book club recommendation since the person thought it would be comical and similar other literary essays. This was a total waste of my time. If you are into explicit, sexual writing, this is your book. Would be embarrassed to recommend it to others.

Pros: The introduction of the quirky characters in the first 10 chapters was amusing and well-written.

Cons: I found myself increasingly troubled by all the praise the author is receiving for creating a "fictional" town, when his town is, in fact, a thinly veiled version of Elk Rapids, Michigan. The author's map of his fictional town of Weneshkeen (featured on the cover, no less) is a virtual overlay of the map of Elk Rapids, right down to the names of key streets (US-31, River Street, Bridge Street) and landmarks (water tower, welcome center, Spartan Store, "old hall", high school -- almost everything but the VFW Hall and the characters' houses).

The author then adds a signpost indicating that Weneshkeen is south of Traverse City, when Elk Rapids is north of Traverse City. Why? Is this to throw people off the scent from realizing that he essentially cribbed the entire map of an actual town to use as his "fictional" town?

Granted, this is a character-driven book, not a book driven by the town's layout or names of the streets. (Then again, the very name of the book DOES derive from the natural layout of the town, on a river between two lakes.) Furthermore, I have no problem with the idea of a piece of fiction being based on an actual place or a slightly modified version of such a place -- that happens all the time.

But why not just say as much? In interviews, the author has claimed that Weneshkeen is an amalgam of Charlevoix, Elk Rapids, Leland, and some other small cities of Michigan. Why not just state that it's Elk Rapids, with Charlevoix's VFW Hall and drawbridge thrown in?

Am I overreacting? Perhaps. But in my eyes to author is accepting a little too much credit for creating something that already existed.

As a lifelong Michigan resident, I am pleased with the way Steve's book rings true to northwestern lower Michigan, though the terrain he creates could be drawn from several in-coast lakes along the Lake Michigan coast. As a narrative, it is a "hoot"; the implausibilities are really part of the fun, the politics of the deputy sheriff's position is well-drawn, as is the earthy pathos of the retired minister's discoveries about life. In 36 years of college teaching I could well imagine the aggressive "girl fatale" and the outcome of her story. Nice work by an author from whom we can expect much in the future.

This book included great characterizations, quirky twists and turns and a lot of funny scenes. I can't wait for Steve Amick's next book to hit the shelves. Do yourself a favor and get this one!

I didn't find this funny, satirical or humourous in any way. Poor drivel and a waste of time and brain matter.

John Harvey Kellogg, founder of the Battle Creek Sanitarium and developer of the corn flake, is committed to improving the health and well-being of his devoted disciples by promoting a life free of meat, alcohol, tobacco, and sex. In 1907, people flock to the San for lengthy stays to cleanse their bodies of impurities and improve their lives. Will Lightbody has stomach problems, and, encouraged by his wife Eleanor, a Kellogg believer, he agrees to accompany her for several months with Dr. Kellogg.

On the train they meet Charlie Ossining, a young man who wants to set up a rival company to Kellogg's to make corn flakes and to take advantage of the growing health industry. Charlie, who has a sleazy partner, is raising money for the manufacture of Perfo breakfast food, and when he and his partner team up with George Kellogg, one of John Kellogg's many adopted sons, the attempt to capitalize on John Kellogg's pioneering work becomes personal.

Charlie and the Lightbodys go their separate ways in Battle Creek and then reconnect throughout the novel, as Boyle shows Dr. Kellogg's excesses in the name of health--husbands and wives separated to prevent sex, grasses used for food, and regular enemas administered to rid the body of impurities. At the same time, he shows how easy it may be for fly-by-night operators, like Charlie and his partners, to capitalize on the natural desire of people to lead healthier lives. Will Lightbody, enrolled at the clinic, remains skeptical about the doctor's methods and frequently rebels against the most egregious practices, and through him Doyle is able to show the arguments made for and against particular health practices and the willingness of ordinary people to be duped.

The satire here is broad and universal, but Doyle is far more interested in telling a good story than in mounting an attack. When some of the "disciples," especially Eleanor Lightbody, begin to experiment with techniques of "manipulation therapy, " advocated by a rival of Kellogg, the humor enters the realm of the absurd, and when George Kellogg confronts his estranged father, it reaches its peak. Great fun to read and filled with amusing comments on our preoccupation with health, Boyle reminds us that the health industry can ultimately provide "the 'open sesame' to the sucker's purse." n Mary Whipple

The Road to Wellville takes the reader to Battle Creek Michigan at the beginning of the 20th century, a place and time where the modern health food and breakfast food industries were born. Two men arrive on a train and we follow their experiences in Battle Creek. Will Lightbody arrives with his wife Eleanor to go to the famous Sanitorium run by John Harvey Kellogg seeking a cure to his digestive problems. Charlie Ossining wants to make it rich quick in the breakfast cereal industry started by Dr. Kellogg's brother William and his competitor C. W. Post.

Although the novel is written in the third person, the reader sees the story evolve through the perspective of these two men. Other characters suffer from this approach, especially the women like Eleanor Lightbody, whom Will and Charlie never seem to understand.

The novel differs from the movie, which remains true to the plot and characterization, in that the novel portrays the inner longings and motivations of these two men, while the movie stresses the visual aspects of what they see and do. This makes the movie both funnier and a bit more removed than the novel.

The historicity of the book is well developed. Most of the people, places and events can be confirmed from the record. This is a great book to read if one is interested in healthy living and wants to know the background of today's health movement.

You will never eat Corn Flakes the same way anymore.
I had no idea that something so simple as a cereal box had such an interesting story. I loved this book, because it describes an era of American history that many people don't even know. It recalls a time when medicine was truly a miraculous science, and cures, not remedies, were something attainable through rigorous regimes, diets or just plain therapy.

Through a cast of hilarious characters, T. Coraghessan Boyle describes some of the therapies that contributed to the success of the Sanatorium with unique humor and plenty of curious details. Green Ms. Muntz undergoes Radon Therapy, Mr. Praetz takes sinusoidal baths, Mrs. Lightbody, who suffers from neurasthenia, brings her husband Will, to the "Temple of Health" to recover from his chronic dyspepsia. There are laughing exercises, mandatory sunbaths, and of course, the all necessary enemas, administered by no other than Nurse Bloethal. (Let's not forget Dr. Spitzvogel and his manipulations of the womb!)

I wonder how Mr. Kellogg would feel now in the 21st century, when there are no cures for anything anymore, and people with ailments are forced to take medications for life. I wonder how would he feel when a medical breakthrough is announced in meek words as "may alleviate such condition" or "may help avoid certain cancers," or "results will vary," or worse: having the FDA recalling medications so frequently (the same medications patients take for life to stay healthy).

In resume, great book, you will have a good laugh about the whole story, hilarious, gullible characters, and a curious insight of something truly American.

P.S. Don't read this book without a dictionary. This book will expand your vocabulary!

5 "enematic" stars

This is an historical novel about John Kellog, Battle Creek, Michigan, and the wacky health institute he ran there. Kellog comes across as a martinette advocating risky diets and enemas to patients. Boyle can be pretty funny at times as he skewers Kellog and his shinanigans, and, of course, the arm of his satire reaches right up to today and the health fad industry, much of which is just as nutty as anything Kellog was advocating. Besides this novel, other books by Boyle I've read are RIVEN ROCK and WORLD'S END, and I've found that of the three this is the only one that actually tells a story. I did not care for the other two much at all.

This debut novel is so incredibly lyrical and poetic that I keep going back to it and just opening it up at a random page and reading a passage here and there. It's so evocative of Charlotte Bronte that I'm sure the author must have been influenced heavily by her, which would make sense anyway because Blake has a degree in Victorian literature. Indeed I believe her intent is to reinvent the classic Victorian novel in the tradition of Bronte or Radcliffe, and she really does an admirable job.

This story is set in 19th century America, on the wind-swept coast of Maine, as 17-year old Maisie Thomas and her parents return to Grange House for their usual summer holiday. Although Maisie has been coming with her parents to Grange House every year all of her life, this is the year that the secrets of Grange House and of her own family begin to emerge, and Maisie makes some truly earth-shaking discoveries about herself and her family. On top of all that she must struggle mightily with her own conflicting desires as she approaches womanhood and tries to find a balance between the intellectual stimulation and experiences she craves and the conventions of the times in which she lives.

The summer starts off inauspiciously when a pair of runaway lovers are found drowned in the sea nearby, one of them a serving girl from Grange House, and Maisie is drawn into the veiled, convoluted ramblings of Nell Grange, the woman to whose family the house once belonged and who still resides in the upper rooms of the house, roaming above the guests' heads like a restless shadow. A lone, sad grave in the woods hints at a history still untold, and Maisie soon learns that, willing or not, she will be the one to tell it.

Don't let the young age of the protagonist put you off. This is not a young adult novel, although it would be perfectly appropriate for teens (in fact, if teens want to get a taste of what true, talented writing is (I won't revisit my unkind thoughts on certain people in the YA market calling themselves `writers' *cough cough*), I highly recommend it. At any rate, it is definitely a mainstream adult novel and I would compare it most closely to a modernized Jane Eyre in style and feel. Blake certainly has the gothic Victorian atmosphere nailed, complete with fog, rambling old houses, secrets and muttering old ladies in attics, but without the more overwrought, eye-rolling dramatics. Maisie is a protagonist any woman can be proud of, too - and that's saying something coming from me, because I generally dislike more female protagonists than I like!

The sheer beauty of the language is more than worth the read, as well. It was like reading poetry in long form, or listening to a perfect melody. Blake spins out the story slowly, almost tortuously, and I was on tenterhooks until the very last page. Ask my husband! For the last 10 pages I literally had to get up and walk around the house, reading as I walked, because I was just so tensed up and tormented about how it was going to end! I'm such a sucker, but that only speaks to the talent of this new voice in fiction. I'm all over this Sarah Blake now and will be watching closely for her follow-up.

I cannot recommend GRANGE HOUSE enough! What a wonderful story, so well written. I savored every paragraph, and as someone else mentioned, I enjoyed reading it slowly, because of the style in which it was written. The most well written book I've read in ages, despite the fact that I almost put it away after the first 5 pages because it didn't grab me immediately. I'm so glad I stuck with it for one more page! So rewarding an experience would have been missed, indeed. This book is not a love story, not a ghost story, and certainly not your typical fare. It is many things; it is a story of growing up, of fear, of decisions, of loss, of joy, and discovery. I hope you enjoy it was much as I did.

I could not wait to pick up this book, a story of love and ghosts. Grange House sat forever on my shelf until the right moment... Wow. Not sure why I waited so long. My expectations were high. I was mildly disappointed.

Grange House was a little slow to get into. The beginning seemed to drag, in both content and writing. I will admit that I am not a huge fan of victorian writing; Grange House was written in the victorian writing style.

The parts of the book that I absolutely loved was the relationship between Maisie and Ms. Nell Grange. The setting, along the coast of Maine, was breath-taking in description. If you have ever been to the coast of ME, you too, will love this book for that alone. The mystery and ghost stories of visions is also enough to hold the interest. The story line picked up about 1/4 of the way into the reading, and it was enough to keep me wanting to find out what was on the next page, yet, still once completed I was not left with a feeling of "wanting to tell someone about this book". So...
I'd say 3.5 out of 5

This book has so many great plots and surprises! There wasn't a day that went by without me addicted to this book. It's about a girl named Maisie who every year travels to Grange House. She loves it there. This year is very different than any other. Maisie finds herself falling in love with two handsome young men. She discovers that the owner, Ms. Nell, is very ill. Ms. Nell is suddenly very interested into conversing with Maisie and sharing her secrets with her. Suddenly, a mystery comes into plot through Ms. Nell's diary and ghostly happenings at Grange House. Many people die and Maisie soon finds out that she's not who she thinks she is. I loved this book. It had everything, romance, adventure, horror, and a little history, though I don't know how true it is. I found this book looking for historical fiction, I got a little of that but so much more. I would definitely reccomend this book. Let me warn you though it has high vocabulary, and some mature subject matter. Yet, I still loved it greatly.

I picked up this novel to read during October, feeling in the mood for a little ghost tale. I didn't expect the fun bit of romance, the touching family story line, and good plot developement.

While I was hoping for a good ghost story, this isn't exactly that. It has 'ghosts' and other strange things which Maisie is 'gifted' enough to see, but it is not exactly scary. If you know this going in to it, you will make a better choice. Like I said earlier, it is touched with romance, eerie plot routes, sad deaths, and family issues as well, so it is much more then a simple 'spooky novel'.

Sarah Blake studied victorian literature, and to me this is the strong point of the book. Her writing is true to a style long forgotten, and she does it well. She takes you to the grange house, to the graveyard and hillsides, and weaves her story in a beautiful way. If you enjoy classic books this one is a modern version that will not let you down. If you like those coming of age tales where a young woman looks for love but really finds herself, with a twist of a haunting tale, this will be a great journey for you.

I loved reading this book. It explores the lives and secrets of several people at the beach club. The real drama starts when these peoples lives become intertwined; it shakes up the entire beach club and staff as well. A few characters find themselves at crossroads and have to make decisions that will change the course of their lives. But the author does a good job in making the novel a fun, exciting read rather than a tear jerker.

This book was my first read by Ms. Hilderbrand, and I am hooked! I love her writing style, her story kept me captivated the entire story, I even stayed up until 1am finishing The Beach Club, wanting to find out what happens between Mack and Maribel, Jem, Love and Vance. I loved all the characters equally, and was happy to see Maribel find happiness in the end, as well as Mack find his place. The book was a great read! I'm already started on Hilderbrand's Nantucket Nights!

This is yet another good book by this author. I really love her books!

I really enjoyed "Barefoot" and "Summer People". This book, I did NOT like. The characters were uninteresting and annoying. The were characters that had nothing to do with the story, yet it dragged on and on (Lacey). The story drifted off too many times. There was no purpose. I had to struggle to finish this one.

Pure beach read. Nice sense of summer life at a Nantucket resort. Not nearly as well crafted as her newest book (The Love Season) but worthy as the perfect tonic for a relaxing summer day.

I enjoyed this book because of Jewett's turn-of-the-century language and simply accurate descriptions of the people living in a fishing town. Although some may wish for a more detailed plot (or any plot at all), "Pointed Firs" is an escape to a seemingly more innocent time. The characters struggle with many of the same issues we do: relationships, war, disease, and death. However, their sense of community, faith, and attitudes toward the sea form and strengthen their relationships with each other. Jewett is worth a read, merely for the beautiful way she creates a picture with the English language.

This book is full of timeless short stories that can either be read as a whole story or separately.

Sarah Orne Jewett's THE COUNTRY OF POINTED FIRS is a visitor's tale. Set in the fictional Maine coast town of Dunnet Landing where the author/narrator has settled for the summer to write. As a visitor, the narrator inevitably recounts only the pieces of history she comes in contact with through her landlady and the people she meets in the community. The stories are portraits, bits and pieces, of lives that exist outside the narrator's brief visit. As a result, the reader feels like a companion on this holiday. The novella moves at the pace of a quiet seacoast village, and is refreshing to read for that very reason. Like a vacation, outside cares fade while focusing on the lives, habits and landscape of this place. The writing is finely wrought. A real affection for a place and people one knows briefly shines through the work and makes one wish for a time and place when travel, life and writing unfolded at a the speed of a long walk.

Some editions incorporate other stories written about Dunnet Landing into the body of the novella. This can lead to a change in the narrator's voice that is incongruous with the rest of the work. Look for a version that preserves the order of one of the early publications with other short works in a separate section.

Jewett's Country of the Pointed Firs seemed like a good choice for reading while summering in Maine. Indeed her character who narrates the book is a woman author spending the summer in a small seaside Maine town.
Sara Orne Jewett gets a mention in American literature classes as a local color writer. This book demonstates her style with its descriptions of the Maine countryside, village life in the 1890s, and insight into the lives of island dwellers and retired fishermen and sea captains.
There's not much that would be considered a plot, just casual meetings with interesting characters in the area. To glimpse life in coastal Maine more than a centruy ago, this is the book for you.
I look forward to visiting the author's home in South Berwick. It's a national historic site.

This is a beautifully written story. The author provides the reader with words that one can sink his teeth into. The characters are so well described that I would know them if they walked in my door. A beautiful escape from everyday life !!

I enjoyed the book, but the last chapter was kind of a dumping ground for everything. Somehow the author of the last chapter threw it all together to end the story --- but it was a mish mosh that I didn't follow very well. I read it because a couple of my favorite writers were in the "pack" --- Mary Jane Clark, particularly. The last chapter was too long and just a mess, in my opinion.

The Phonenix, contrary to the one located on Gay Street, is an upscale spa for the rich and famous. The scene of five murders, this time the characters are all interrelated, which is uncovered in the final chapter. It was all rather convoluted, being the artistic endeavors of thirteen prominent writers, each for one chapter. This is the result of a project to copy the serial novels of the Thirties in which Agatha Cristie was involved. In 'Agatha,' the movie, she was incognito "shadowing" her nemesis in a steam room in England about the same time she was writing such (living a dream). Our Phoenix building downtown has been renovated into high priced condos for strange folks who moved here and think it is novel to live on the main street of this town. No Spa there, however, you have to go to Powell to the Fitness Center to find the hot tub and steam room.

The Phoenix in this story in segments is a place of myster with drugs, adoptions, murders all involved until the Chapter 13 which explains all in detail to the survivors who are all family, interrelated in a weird way. "A family, rising phoenixlike from the ashes." Caroline thanked God for bringint this man into her life; Tennessee congressman Doug Blessing with some secrets of his own. She hadd not "forced her way to freedom" because of an anticipated "need for Doug's more delicate plumbing." This written by a mystery writer as opposed to a romance novelist who would be more explicit. Just a slightly different way of phrasing, which I always used in the book reviews I gave to the literary club -- it was fun to confuse those who weren't napping. The Phoenix had a mud room with its own secret stash.

Some of the gathering of strong personalities include the beautiful made model (Adonis), the kinky actress, the green-haired rock star who went through N.A., the detective Toscana who sometimes acted like God ("and Toscana saw that it was good."), Dante, t he masseur, and Geoff, the assitant pastry chef. The sociopathic personality responsible for the deaths had no conscience, and was evil with no sense of honor. Knowledge was her weapon. A person can only ask, to be granted a wish for anything.

Led by Nevada Barr based this confusing story showing how a character can be killed in a spa. I review another book wherin the pivotal chatacter was killed in the steam room of the notel spa shortly before his scheduled assignation with the main person. So, this premise is nothing new, nor the format. What is different is t he freedom of each of these authors to develop their own characters and circumstances leading to the next sequence of unusual, never-thought-of-before things a client could do at this exclusive Phoenix Spa. This serial format started in 1931 with 'The Floating Admiral' which was serialized in England. Marcia Talley, editor, discovers a link with that first collaboration and declares, "We have come full circle."

Two more recent such workings are 'Naked Came the Stranger ' (1969) by "Newsday" and 'Naked Came the Manatee' serialized in the "Miami Herald."

Nice idea, nice effort, but with a blah outcome. These writers, who are superstars in their own write, had to suppress too much of their natural talent to weave a seamless story. Don't buy, go to the library.

This is a readable tale for a rainy evening, but using thirteen authhors for the thirteen chapters resulted in some extreme changes of direction. It sounded like a cast of characters with multiple personality disorders. Some chapters are better than others. Caroline's raid on the kitchen is really funny. But other chapters don't seem to come across as well. A few situations are transparent, and others are a bit of a stretch. Perhaps it ended up with too many twists and turns.

First of all, to enjoy this sort of novel, you have to be able to appreciate what's going on behind the scenes: backstabbing; plot-twisting; character reinventions. And I'm not talking about the story itself. I'm talking about what the 13 authors are trying to do to each other!
The genre originated wonderfully with the august members of the British Detection Club way back in 1931, in a "serial" novel in which the various authors contrived ways to skullduggle not only the reader but each other and try to make it almost impossible for the final writer to wrap everything up neatly and tie it with a bowknot. That effort, "The Floating Admiral," is still the very best of its type. More recently, it's been done with sparkling wit by the Miami bunch including Carl Hiassen and Dave Barry in a delicious romp entitled "Naked Came the Manatee."
Now it's been tackled by a baker's dozen of America's female mystery writers. Yes, the plot is silly. Yes, the characters aren't all that fully developed. But who cares? The enjoyment of this book, as the others, is in seeing what each successive writer is doing to skewer what has already been written (without, however, contradicting it) and send the story reeling in a provocatively new direction. New openings are abruptly cut off at the knees. (Is she dead? Or is she only concussive?) Contrasting scenarios challenge what you think you've already assuredly figured out.
It doesn't really matter who winds up having done what to whom. If you're enjoying the wicked twists being perpetrated not by the characters but by their creators, then what you're looking for is how the final writer responds to the challenge of wrapping everything up with no loose ends and no plot spins left twisting in the wind--not even the yellow polkadot bikini! And in this regard, Laurie King shines splendidly.
As I closed the book, I was imagining the final dinner party those naughty thirteen were having after they all got to read King's inventive closure, and what a laugh they were enjoying. But the laughter is not at our expense. We share in it.