Memphis Reads

Deborah Stevens shares an e-audio book review of THE GUERNSEY LITERARY AND POTATO PEEL PIE SOCIETY by Mary Ann Schaffer and Annie Barrows (Books on Tape, 2008)

We have been getting many requests at my library for this book, and I had intended to read it one of these days. While browsing through the e-audio books, I happily noted that The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society was listed – yay for me! I downloaded it and have absolutely loved listening to it.

The book was written as a series of letters – with all sorts of letter-writers. This would probably be a confusing read but is a delightful listen, because the many narrators give life to the various characters. I am almost finished and hate the thought of saying good-bye to lovely Guernsey and its unforgettable inhabitants.

Thanks for getting that for the e-collection.

Deborah Stevens, East Shelby Branch Library

(MP3 format e-audio books are now available on the e-audio web page.)

Learn more about the library's E-Audio Books Collection

Labels: E-Audio Books, Reviews by Deborah Stevens

Fiction

Beth reviews HOTHOUSE FLOWER AND THE NINE PLANTS OF DESIRE by Margot Berwin (Pantheon, 2009)

As you may remember I am often drawn to books by their covers and this one was no exception—the bold colors, the gold printed title. It drew me to it, and once I read the jacket flap, I was sold. (My interest in plants didn’t hurt either.)

Ad executive Lila Nova is recently divorced and living in an all-white box of a studio apartment with large windows. She is trying to understand how her life came to this—living alone with “no pets, no plants, no people, no problems.” Deciding that adding some greenery wouldn’t hurt, she heads out and meets David Exley, a guy who sells plants.

Exley is everything an outdoorsman should be—streaky blonde hair, a dirt-colored tan, and sexy. After a short-sell, Lila is the proud owner of a bird-of-paradise plant. She won’t have this plant die like her marriage died, and as the plant flourishes under her careful care, so does her interest in tropical plants.

After a troubling day at work Lila heads to her favorite bar, and on the way there she spies an amazing tropical plant hanging in the window of a Laundromat. Drawn inside, she enters a new world. The floor is soft moss, grass grows from the tops of machines, and best of all are the tropical plants. The heat and humidity of the Laundromat makes it the perfect home for these plants.

Armand, the Laundromat’s owner, is as mystical and strange as his business. Armand gives Lila a cutting from the fire fern that originally brought her in, and he encourages her to grow it. If the fern grows he will show her the “nine plants of desire” he keeps secretly in the back of the Laundromat.

With the fire fern in her apartment, Lila realizes that her place is still bare and needs more plants. Exley is happy to sell her two more. When Exley delivers them to her apartment, Lila invites him to dinner the next week. He cancels on the same night that her fire fern grows roots.

Lila is overcome with joy and makes plans to visit Armand, but suddenly, she grows suspicious of him. Instead of going to Armand she visits Exley, and asks him if the fern is authentic. Exley craves the exotic plant and all the money it could potentially bring him. Lila is now suspicious of Exley, but she also wants a share of the money. She agrees to be Exley’s go-between, with the goal of bringing him more of Armand’s exotic plants.

Lila takes a new plant cutting to Exley and he invites her to dinner. He wines and dines her into showing him the Laundromat. A few days later, Lila discovers that the Laundromat plants are gone--along with Exley. Lila feels responsible for the theft, and Armand easily talks her into a crazy trip to the Yucatan to hunt for replacements. In Mexico, Lila finds more than she bargained for with Armand—adventure, romance and much more!

Beth, Highland Branch Library

Labels: Adventure, Reviews by Beth, Romance

Fiction/African-American Historical

Darletha Matthews reviews WENCH by Dolen Perkins-Valdez (Amistad, 2010)

This story takes place in the early 1840s and 1850s.

Tawawa House is a resort located in the free state of Ohio, where Northern and Southern whites spend summer vacation. Four slave women--Lizzie, Mawu, Rennie, and Sweet--accompany their respective masters each summer to the resort. They reside in private cottages with their masters, away from the disapproving eyes of Northern guests in the main hotel. The wives stay at home. The resort is located in an area surrounded by anti-slavery residents, but the Southern men are confident that their slaves will not run away.

Lizzie, Mawu, Rennie, and Sweet look forward to reuniting each summer at Tawawa, where they find reprieve from the plantation's confinement. They explore the area between work duties and share stories about their lives and families. Each woman has endured some form of abuse and heartbreak because, as slaves, they have no control over their bodies or the fates of their loved ones.

Mawu is the newest and most outspoken woman in the group. Suffering endless abuse, Mawu resents "being made to feel no different than a cow or a goat or a chicken." The other women don't discuss being slaves but Mawu's questions force them confront their feelings.

Lizzie has mixed feelings for her master, Drayle. She feels she should hate him because she is a slave, but Drayle has favored Lizzie since she was young. Lizzie is allowed to read and speak freely in his presence, hoping that in her submission, he will one day free the son and daughter she has given him. When Mawu tries to persuade the others to escape, dire consequences follow.

Slavery is known as the “Peculiar Institution” and this novel depicts the complexities of male-master/female-slave relationships. Through Mawu and Lizzie, Wench explores the extremes of these forced relationships on a slave woman’s psyche. This novel is filled with shocking and redeeming moments, all described in simple, elegant language. I recommend it to fans of African-American historical fiction.

Darletha Matthews, South Branch Library

Labels: African-American Fiction, Historical Fiction, Reviews by Darletha Matthews

Fiction

Andrea King reviews GOING COASTAL, by Wendy French (Forge Books, 2005)

This work of fiction is about karma--the simple belief that “what goes around will come around.”

Jody Rogers, a 27-year-old waitress, has had enough. Tired of customers sexually harassing her and not having a future at what feels like a dead-end job at Dean’s Ocean Galley Restaurant, she finally snaps after seven years. Abruptly quitting in the middle of her lunch shift, Jody trudges home to tell the news to Chris, her live-in boyfriend of two years.

Not expecting Jody home for a few more hours, Chris is busted, literally, with his pants down. To add another fly in the ointment, Jody finds Chris in the shower with her cousin, Beth! So, on top of a horrible day at work, Jody has found her longtime boyfriend cheating on her--with her cousin! Jody attempts to move back home with her parents, after hastily deciding to move out of Chris' house.

Strike three! Her parents have converted her old childhood bedroom into their arts and crafts room, leaving Jody virtually homeless.

In the course of 24 hours, Jody is jobless, boyfriend-less, and homeless. What could be the icing on this proverbial cake? Of course, it would be the invitation to her ten year class reunion!

All of these unfortunate events would harden anyone else, but Jody’s spunk and determination keep her afloat. Jody is no “Pollyanna” but she is a resourceful and sympathetic character.

In the end, anyone who has wronged Jody sees the errors of their ways. (Spoiler alerts: Chris gets cheated on, the harasser from Dean’s moves out of town, and Jody gets re-hired with a promotion!)

I liked Jody because she has a good heart and tries to make the best of her situation. Going Coastal is a lighthearted, end of the summer read that this reviewer finished in one day!

Andrea King, Poplar-White Station

Labels: Chick Lit, Reviews by Andrea King