In This Mountain by Jan Karon | Book Review

Continuing my re-read project... In This Mountain is the seventh Mitford book.  I already know that I LOVE LOVE LOVE these books for myriad reasons, so this is more of a recap than a review.  There will be spoilers, not only for the six books before this but also for this one.  Remember, our goal is to get reacquainted with Mitford and Father Tim before the release of the tenth book in September!

So this book is definitely the darkest Mitford book yet.  It's still wonderfully written, and there are still so very many sweet and/or funny scenes, but it's almost all against a backdrop of injury and depression.  As the book opens, Father Tim and Cynthia are preparing to join a mission in the mountains of Tennessee.  However, both of them agree that it feels just a little "off."  More seriously, Father Tim is starting to feel that his health is more than a little "off."  He ends up blacking out while driving, hitting Pastor Sprouse and his dog, and being in a coma for two days.  The trip to Tennessee is definitely off.  Dooley is spending the summer at Meadowgate rather than with him.  He probably won't even recover enough to escort his wife to NYC to receive a prestigious children's book award.  No wonder he's mired in depression.

Fortunately, it's Mitford!  While it's unrealistic for everything to come up roses, a lot of things do.  Pastor Sprouse is incredibly forgiving, and is even able to see the silver lining.  Father Tim sends Dooley as Cynthia's escort to NYC.  He's even able to get himself going again.  He fills in at Lord's Chapel two Sundays, and he welcomes the Man in the Attic (George) to live in his basement with Harley.  He and Helene get incredibly lucky and they find Dooley's brother Sammy.  Only one Barlowe left to find!  

I'm going to start the eighth book, Shepherds Abiding, today.  And I just received a copy of Light From Heaven, thanks to my outrageously awesome hubby.  :)  Speaking of the hubby... we just celebrated 5 years of marriage!  Woo hoo!  We ran away for a whole weekend to Mitford.  (Blowing Rock, NC)  While there I popped into the local library (of course) and browsed their book sale and found a new-to-me Mitford book: Patches of Godlight: Father Tim's Favorite Quotations.  I immediately began perusing it and I love it!  I'll review it more thoroughly soon.

As of today, there's officially less than a month to go for Somewhere Safe With Somebody Good!

*I own my copy of In This Mountain.

A Common Life: The Wedding Story by Jan Karon | Book Review

A Common Life is a lovely little book that was published after A New Song, but chronologically takes place in between A Light in the Window and These High, Green Hills.  This kind of drives me a little nuts, but I love this little novella enough to make up for the wrinkle in time.  

Yup; novella.  This book is short!  I read it in one day.  It opens with Father Tim watching the sunset and reflecting on how much he cares for Cynthia, and how he wants to make sure he never loses her.  He runs down the hill with Barnabas, straight in his back door, and straight down on one knee to propose to Cynthia.  She of course says yes!  

A Common Life is told from tons of different points of view!  I loved getting to know the thoughts of many of the Mitford villagers.  There's the usual suspects, like Louella and Miss Sadie and Dooley, plus Hessie Mayhew and Esther Bolick.  I had forgotten the small detail that Esther puts calla lilies on the orange marmalade wedding cake she makes.  I ended up using calla lilies for everything at my wedding; I wonder if I was subconsciously influenced by Father Tim's wedding!

Of course the wedding is lovely and perfect, and the book ends with Father Tim and Cynthia on a very rustic honeymoon in Maine.

Do I even need to say it?  Five of five stars!  Up next: In This Mountain.  It's still July as I write this review, and I only have 3 more Mitford books to re-read.  I'm going to make it!  But guess what?  I was horrified to realize this morning that I don't own nor have I ever read Book 9!  *gasp*  I sent hubby an impassioned emergency text and he responded totally appropriately, by agreeing that that was quite an oversight on my part and of course it's imperative that I own the book and that he'd already ordered it on Amazon and I'd have it no later than Monday as he selected rush shipping.  Ladies, I may have the world's best hubby.

A New Song by Jan Karon | Book Review

(Don't you just love love love this cover?!?)

Continuing my summer re-read project with the 5th book in "the Beloved Mitford Series!" (The publisher uses that exact phrase on the covers of the books. Yup; they're beloved by me, at least!) Same as with the last four Mitford books, there will be spoilers in this "review;" it's more a recap to get to get us ready for the new book in September!

A New Song takes place entirely on Whitecap Island, where Father Tim is filling in as interim priest at St. John in the Grove. While understandably homesick for Mitford, Tim & Cynthia waste no time settling in at Dove Cottage and making friends. 

They take in a boy again. Jonathan, age 3, who's mother is hospitalized with an especially severe bout of depression. Cynthia falls in love with him, but praise God: by the end of the book his mother is able to care for him again. 

Father Tim finds a new "Grill;" Mona's Diner for food & Ernie's Bait, Tackle, & Books for fellowship with the guys. They share a building, and Ernie & Mona are married, but there's a yellow line down the middle between the two businesses. This helps keep their marriage intact!

Father Tim hires a new organist, Ella Bridgewater, who is a CHARACTER! She's a hoot. We could call her the Whitecap Miss Sadie. 

Tim & Cynthia have a neighbor who's a complete hermit/recluse. He's disabled, and has Tourrettes. He hides behind a tall wall. But you know Cynthia... She and Father Tim worm their way into his home and heart. 

Father Tim goes deep sea fishing and spends nearly the whole trip horribly seasick. Fortunately he recovers near the end and helps pull in a big fish. 

A HUGE storm hits and destroys a lot of property on Whitecap, including St. John in the Grove and Dove Cottage. Father Tim doesn't want to desert his new parish in this situation, so Paulina, Buck, Dooley, Poo, Jessie, and Harley get flown in by Omer so that Father Tim can marry Buck & Paulina. 

Jan Karon is so freaking talented. Even though this book takes place far from Mitford, it still felt like Mitford. If that makes sense. I loved it, of course!

Out to Canaan by Jan Karon | Book Review

Out to Canaan is the fourth Mitford book by Jan Karon.  Remember my summer re-read project?  I'm getting down to the wire!  When this review is published I'll have just four short weeks to finish the first nine books of the series prior to the release of the tenth!

These books are pretty old and this is a re-read project, so there will be spoilers.  These "reviews" are more summaries.  I'm re-reading the whole series, so that should be a good indication that these are definitely excellent books!

In Out to Canaan:

*Mack Stroup challenges Esther Cunningham for the mayorship.  This is a major tension through the whole book, all the way to the last few pages.  Esther wins, but only by a coin toss!

*Dooley comes home for the whole summer!  He works at The Local with Tommy and has two girls potentially interested: Jenny and Lace.

*Father Tim helps Lace bring Harley out of the Creek when he gets a bleeding ulcer.  Harley does his convalescing in their guest room and then moves into their basement mini-apartment.  Turns out he used to be a mechanic for a race car driver, so he gives both their vehicles tune-ups.

*The vestry nearly sells the rectory out from under Father Tim and Cynthia, but they purchase it just in the nick of time.  Fernbank is sold to Andrew Gregory and his new Italian bride.  Sweet Stuff Bakery is on the market, but then Winnie Ivey decides to keep it and run it with her new beau.  Turns out the realty company interested in all three properties is owned by Edith Mallory.

*Barnabas is hit by a car, but Dooley and Hal Own save him.  He's gone for a month out at Meadowgate, healing.  When he comes home, he and Violet carefully coexist.

*Father Tim, Cynthia, and Pauline drive to FL and back over the course of just two days to get Jessie back.  Now Pauline has three of her five children back in Mitford.  She's staying sober and working at Hope House.

*Buck Leeper is back in town to turn the Lord's Chapel attic into Sunday School rooms, and while there he meets and gets interested in Pauline.

*The Bane & Blessing sale raises $22,000, but puts Esther Bolick in the hospital with two broken arms and a broken jaw.  She uses two fingers and eye blinks to communicate her famous orange marmalade cake recipe to Bane & Blessing volunteers.

Next up:  A New Song!

*I own my copy of Out to Canaan.

Drink the Harvest: Making and Preserving Juices, Wines, Meads, Teas, and Ciders by Nan K. Chase with DeNeice C. Guest | Cookbook Review

(This isn't the full cover, but it's the best picture I could find.  All the photos in this book are so lovely!)

This cookbook was so beautiful and so informative, I'm giving it 4 of 5 stars even though I'm not going to try a single recipe out of it!

The authors of Drink the Harvest really know their stuff!  I was impressed, reading this cookbook.  I was also excited to see that they're rather near to me geographically; they hail from Asheville, NC.  That is a fun city to visit if you ever get the chance.  While the ladies certainly know their way around a garden and a kitchen, I never felt intimidated while reading.  I kind of got the feeling that if I were talking to them in person, they'd be helpful and kind without ever making me feel silly or stupid.  

However, I do not have a chance to hang out with the authors in person, and I do feel a little intimidated at how much work goes into a kitchen garden.  Gardening is covered in the first part of the book, and I love how honest the authors are about different plants' yields and time to maturation.  They don't discourage you from trying to grow any of the fruits/veggies/herbs yourself, but they do let you know that some things are more cost/time efficient to purchase at a farmers' market.  I've never grown a thing in my life.  In fact, the hubby still hasn't let me forget about the cactus that I managed to kill during our first year of marriage.  Yup, you read that correctly:  I have killed a cactus.  

I had requested this cookbook from my library so that I could start researching homemade wines.  I love wine, and I enjoy cooking (most of the time) so I thought it only made sense to try my hand at homemade wine.  I was in a for a little bit of a shock to find out how much work it takes!  I have a whole new appreciation for vintners now.  Even if I started with fruit from the farmers' market, it'd still be years before I had wine to drink!  The start-up (equipment that you'd need to purchase to get started) is actually relatively low; definitely not prohibitive, but still more than I'd like to buy for an "experiment."  (It might not be an experiment to everyone, but it would be for me.  I tend to not get things quite right at first.  Not so big a deal with trying a new cookie recipe; months of hard work to waste in winemaking.)  The good news is that nearly all of the work is done over the course of a few hours over the course of two or three days at the front end, and then you're letting it ferment.  So I really don't want to discourage anyone else from trying their hand at winemaking!

This cookbook is definitely more than just wine.  Part 1 is all about gardening and Part 2 is about all different kinds of beverages and then Part 3 is syrups and teas.  The winemaking is actually a pretty small part of the book as a whole.  For my purposes, I was interested in the winemaking, but I read the entire book.  It would be hard not to!  So many tips and tricks and advice, and loads and loads of gorgeous color photographs!

Which will be my final point: the loads and loads of gorgeous color photographs.  This book is beautiful!  I really really really want to taste test all of the drinks/meads/wines featured within, and I wish I could have a garden half as pretty as the authors'.  So if anyone else goes and reads this cookbook and makes any of the beverages, let me know.  I'm more than willing to volunteer as taster!

*I received my copy of Drink the Harvest from my public library.

Blue Christmas by Mary Kay Andrews | Book Review

Throwback Review!

I originally read this book in October 2011, according to Goodreads, and I gave it 4 of 5 stars and no written review.  

Here's the summary from Goodreads:

The popular Mary Kay Andrews delivers a tasty holiday treat as she brings back the winning characters from Savannah Blues and Savannah Breeze for a little Southern cheer. It's the week before Christmas, and antiques dealer Weezie Foley is in a frenzy to do up her shop for the Savannah historical district window decorating contest--which she intends to win. She throws herself into putting up a Graceland/Blue Christmas motif, with lots of tinsel, an aluminum tree, and all kinds of tacky retro stuff. The project takes up so much time that Weezie is ready to shoot herself with her glue gun by the time she's done, but the results are stunning. She's sure she's one-upped the owners of the trendy shop around the corner. But suddenly, things go missing from Weezie's display, and there seems to be a mysterious midnight visitor to her shop.

Still, Weezie has high hopes for the holiday--maybe in the form of an engagement ring from her chef boyfriend. But Daniel, always moody at the holidays, seems more distant than usual.

Throw in Weezie's decidedly odd family, a 1950s Christmas tree pin, and even a little help from the King himself, and maybe there will be a pocketful of miracles for Weezie this Christmas eve.

I may not remember all the details, but I do remember loving this book!  In late October, I was already able to see Christmas on my horizon and this was just a perfect read.  There were a couple of different storylines going at once, but it never felt like the book (or the author) was trying too hard.  It all flowed so well.  And as I've said before, I just absolutely love books set in the south!  Savannah at Christmastime... I'd love to see that in person someday.  This is Book 3 in a series by Mary Kay Andrews.  The fourth book in this series is Christmas Bliss.  This is also the latest book in the series, published in 2013.  We're only halfway through 2014... not too late for Mary Kay Andrews to announce a fifth book featuring the dynamic duo of Weezie and Bebe!  Please?

Falling Together by Marisa de los Santos | Book Review

My sister-in-love recommended this author to me, and we read this particular book nearly concurrently.  As I write this, I have just finished the book and she has just begun and it's driving me INSANE because I want to talk talk talk about it with her but she's not done yet and I don't want to give her any spoilers!  Such an absolutely fantastic book.  I'm fangirling pretty hard over this new-to-me author and have already recommended her to my mother-in-love.

Falling Together is about Pen, Cat, and Will.  In college, they were a totally dynamic trio.  They were all the same major and they went nearly everywhere together and they just clicked together so perfectly that it was almost off-putting to others.  At one point the author describes, through another character, their mode of communication: they were were so in-sync with each other that shortened phrases, words, would ricochet between them.  It was like listening to conversational bumper cars.  When college ends and Cat gets engaged, the three break off their friendship 100%, cold turkey.  Pen and Will agree that they wouldn't know how to be friends with just each other, without Cat, and for reasons explained in the book, they know that they can't expand their friendship to include Cat's husband.  Fast forward six years.  A lot has changed in each of their lives, but Cat has just emailed Pen and Will for the first time since college.  She wants them all to meet up at their college reunion, and she desperately needs their help.  From the book jacket: "But instead of happy reconciliation, what awaits is a collision of past and present that sends Pen and Will, with Pen's five-year-old daughter and Cat's hostile husband in tow, on a journey across the world."  Literally!  No spoilers, but they really do literally travel across the world.  I love books that take me on a trip!  

Falling Together has so much going for it.  The author is a great writer; the sentences flow very naturally and easily, and convey so much emotion in so few words.  I tore through this book in just a few days.  I also totally identified with multiple characters, in different ways.  Occasionally a character would make an observation or have an epiphany and I'd go "Oh! Me too!  I hadn't ever thought of it that way..."  All of the characters were very human, quite imperfect, but you will love them all the more for that.  At one point Pen, Will, and Jason are asked whether or not Cat would want them to find her and they have to actually think about it.  I don't blame them.  They're not bad people, but are they good enough?  

A slight tangent, but I wonder if this book resonated with me a little more than it might for others, because I was also part of a tight trio in college.  My roommate, Ali, and I had a close friend, Sean, with whom we did nearly all of the freshman "things."  We were all the same major, we all lived in the same dorm building, we went to our first frat party together, we studied together, we ate together.  Sean and I were from the same hometown, and a couple of times he drove me to and from.  However, when Sean and I changed majors and Ali became a resident advisor for a different building, we all fell apart.  I wonder if it'd be easy to fall back together, like the characters in this book.

Back to the book, to the ending (no spoilers):  I liked the ending.  I think it's one of those endings that could make some readers really frustrated, or that some people may not like, but I agreed with it.  There was one last rollercoaster ride in the last three chapters, but then we sailed smoothly out the other side.  It is a decently tidy wrap-up, but not so tidy as to be unbelievable.  

*I received my copy of Falling Together from my public library.