Eileen’s Comments (group member since Aug 13, 2019)

Eileen’s comments from the Windsor Locks Library BookBuggs group.

It's kind of funny that lately I've been reading quite a few books recommended by my BookBuggs friends. I am usually interested, but don't get around to it because of the big to-be-read list I already have in my head. I did just finish The Art Forger, though. I was kind of prepared NOT to like it that much because of some of the extraneous reviews I had read, but I loved it!

Despite growing up in Massachusetts (western), I have never been to the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, but now I NEED to go. This whole novel inspired me from start to finish. The description of painting techniques, the history of the Gardner Museum robbery, the different contemporaries of Degas, and the life if Belle Gardner all made me want to learn more. I've already spent some time researching and I do intend to do more.

I enjoy fiction featuring real historical figures as characters, but I know that some people don't. This one was a winner for me.

This thriller was suggested by one of our BookBuggs at our August meeting, so I decided that maybe I was in the mood for a thriller. The interesting thing about this one is that, much like Gillian Flynn's Gone Girl, there were no likable characters at all, no one you were rooting for to come out on top and overcome the odds at the end.

Stephanie is a widowed Mommy Blogger, Emily has a successful career in PR at a fashion company, and Sean, Emily's British husband, is a businessman whose actual job I have forgotten. Stephanie and Emily bond over their small son's friendship. One day Emily asks Stephanie to pick up her son, Nikky, at school and says she will be a few hours late. Hours stretch to days and weeks. It is obvious from the start that Stephanie is seriously whacko as she copes with Emily's disappearance.

I liked the way Bell developed her characters. Although Stephanie definitely operates off the beaten path, her true personality is revealed gradually. Is she misguided? Is she evil? Is she just nuts? She seems genuinely bewildered and worried about what happened to Emily, but this doesn't make her any more appealing. Sean and Emily will raise similar questions.

I guess my question here is, how do you feel about novels without a guiding light, where there is virtually no one that makes you feel warm and fuzzy and grateful that they are there? I really enjoyed A Simple Favor AND Gone Girl, but I don't think I could make a steady diet of stories where you end up praying that you never meet people like this (unless you already know them)!

The subject matter of this one is too gross for me, but I only have 110 pages to go and it will certainly make for an interesting discussion at our first John Irving book club meeting!

This is actually my first John Irving book. I like his writing, but I don't like The Water Method Man as a story. Maybe I'll change my mind. Part of it may be that I never have time to sit down and read a good chunk at one time. Life has just been too busy this summer and the book isn't exactly relaxing!

Our new author book club will meet for the first time (we will be meeting 4 times over 8 months) on Tuesday, September 17 at 2:00 p.m. and will feature John Irving. If you are interested in joining, please sign up at www.windsorlockslibrary.org so I have an idea of how many participants there will be.

I have to admit that I am not especially enjoying our first selection, The Water-Method Man, Irving's 2nd novel, but I don't hate it, either. I believe that it is important to start at the beginning to really get a good feel for how the author's work develops over time and how it relates to events in his life. If you are familiar with Irving's personal history you will notice references to his own young adult years interspersed through the life of Bogus, his main character.

Have you read it? Are you reading it? What do you think of The Water Method Man?

I ordered Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day. I didn't realize that it was such an old book (1938), but I do remember the movie coming out. I think the book (by Winifred Watson) was re-released in 2008, which is probably why I thought it was newer. Thanks for the suggestion!

I am currently in the middle of listening to "The Summer Before the War" by Helen Simonson during my drives up to Massachusetts. The main character, Beatrice Nash, is very independent and well-traveled young woman forced to earn a living as a Latin teacher in England after the death of her widowed father. Despite the fact that Beatrice took care of all of her father's household accounts and traveled extensively with him, he chose to leave his estate in trust for her until she marries, which she has vowed never to do. Imagine the frustration of an educated, self-sufficient young woman forced to beg for every dollar from her old-fashioned trustees! Against the backdrop of WWI as it begins, the sexism and class prejudice are even more pronounced. Beatrice is told that her most promising student will not be allowed to sit for a scholarship exam because he, who is poor and half gypsy, could not represent the school well and should never rise above his station in life.

Class and racial prejudice are also the themes of Simonson's other novel (and one of my favorites of all time), "Major Pettigrew's Last Stand." Major Pettigrew is a lonely widower, a retired military officer of proper manners and bearing, living alone in the village of Edgecomb St. Mary. He is also the most adorable character I have ever encountered in a novel. As his friendship with Mrs. Jasmina Ali develops slowly into a romance the Major displays a true understanding of what is really important in life.

Have any of you read either of these novels? What did you think? I would welcome recommendations of books with similar themes and settings. I'm anxious to finish "The Summer Before the War" to find out if Beatrice ever gains control of her trust and decides that perhaps marriage is not as bad as she thinks.