My To-Be-Read Pile Just Ate My Cat!

By Kim

Like many writers (and voracious readers) I have overflowing bookshelves. One particularly crammed shelf holds most books I own that I have yet to read. While it has not literally eaten my cat, if Sassy were to bump it wrong and start an avalanche, she would surely be flattened. This to-be-read mountain does not include those unopened novels already downloaded onto my Nook, much less a wish list long enough to make Santa faint.

I’m envious of my friends who can read freely during the summer. I am lucky to skim a few paragraphs between dance lessons, art lessons, errands, math camp and preparing for a slumber party this weekend. If I do have a brief moment to collapse into my Morris chair and open a book, I’ll be reading to the soundtrack of Teen Beach Movie blaring from another part of the house. For those of you who have not yet heard repetitive earworms like “Surf’s Up” and “Fallin’ for You,” I would be happy to loan you my eight-

year-old for an afternoon.

I’m always curious about what others are reading, or intend to read and so I thought I’d share some titles currently near the top of my list.

I am currently reading Z: A Novel of Zelda Fitzgerald by Therese Anne Fowler. I picked it up because I love artist/muse stories and that particular time period. There are two recent novels about Zelda and since I knew little about her I decided to read this one first, as it focuses on her earlier years and marriage. I’ll read Erika Robuck’s Call Me Zelda next, as it will continue the story and offer a new perspective on a fascinating woman.

Others I intend to read soon:

Becoming Josephine, a novel about Josephine and Napoleon by debut author Heather Webb. Heather wrote a guest post for us a few weeks ago and I have an ARC now. I’ll review it for our blog closer to the release date of December 31, 2013.

Heading Out to Wonderful by Robert Goolrick. Shelf Awareness calls this novel “[an] unforgettable story of lost and displaced souls in search of identity, acceptance and belonging . . . Goolrick (A Reliable Wife) masterfully ratchets up the tension, while evocative sensory detail and spiritual overtones infuse the emotional landscape of a powerful, climactic novel that seeks to define and explore the meaning of love and goodness.” Having read A Reliable Wife, I saw Robert Goolrick’s name on the cover and brought it to the checkout counter without even skimming the jacket to see what the story was about.

Orphan Train by Christina Baker Kline. Library Journal calls this one “a compelling story about loss, adaptability, and courage . . . With compassion and delicacy Kline presents a little-known chapter of American history and draws comparisons with the modern-day foster care system.”  I picked this novel up based on recommendations from other writers and my fascination with the depression era. It also didn’t hurt that part of the novel takes place in Maine, where I grew up.

So what are you reading, or intend to read soon? Please share some titles with us in the comments below  – I’m always looking to add to my stack!

Book review: Orphan Train

by Joan

Christina Baker Kline’s new novel, Orphan Train was published this spring to wide acclaim, quickly reaching the New York Times Bestseller list. 

I pre-ordered this novel and eagerly anticipated its arrival. The immigrant experience fascinates me, perhaps because my ancestors arrived in Ellis Island and dispersed to other states to forge a better life. Some families fared better than others; some stayed together, many did not.

Ann Packer wrote: “A lovely novel about the search for family that also happens to illuminate a fascinating and forgotten chapter of American history. Beautiful.”

Vivian Daly was once Niamh Power, a nine-year-old Irish girl whose "unfortunate" red hair puts off the Midwesterners choosing orphans arriving on the train from New York City’s Children’s Aid Society. 

A toddler Niamh’s bonded with is wrenched from her arms at the first stop and a troublemaker she’s befriended is snatched up right away for farm labor. Niamh travels on a heart-wrenching journey from one dire environment to another. When finally she is taken in by a family with an inside privy, air vents and ample food (“…and fruits, even exotic ones like oranges and bananas”), she feels safe for the first time in her short life.

“It is a pitiful kind of childhood, to know that no one loves you or is taking care of you, to always be on the outside looking in. I feel a decade older than my years. I know too much; I have seen people at their worst, at their most desperate and selfish, and this knowledge makes me wary. So I am learning to pretend, to smile and nod, to display empathy I do not feel. I am learning to pass, to look like everyone else, even though I feel broken inside.”

Over eighty years later, Molly Ayers is a foster child in need of community service to wipe clean her record. Her crime? She’s stolen a copy of Jane Eyre, the most beat up version on the shelf because she thought no one would miss it. 

Molly finds herself agreeing to help ninety-year-old Vivian clean out her attic, which holds remnants of the old woman’s past. These two women have more in common than either imagines and neither is prepared for the journey they will take together. 

In spare prose, Christina Baker Kline created a beautifully written novel that balances the gritty realities of orphans in the Depression era to those in present-day. The reader is never told how to feel, but is shown in nuanced action and atmospheric detail. I highly recommend this novel to not only readers of historical fiction, but to anyone looking to root for two most endearing characters.