Domestic Violets
by Matthew Norman

Domestic Violets, by Matthew Norman, is one of the funniest books I have read in a long time. It is the first novel Norman has written and is filled with wit and humor while giving us great characters and a poignant plot.

Tom Violet is thirty-five years old, has marital problems, hates his job and can’t finish the novel he’s been working on for years. Maybe that’s because his father is a Pulitzer Prize winning author. Tom always thought he had it all but the reality is quite different. However, he decides to make some changes and take control of his own happiness. This is where the reader becomes hooked with quick humor and endless fun and surprises. Norman captures many emotions we’ve all felt at some point in our lives, or have asked ourselves. How did I get this kind of life? It is easy to laugh quite often while enjoying this book, but don’t be fooled. There are circumstances where your heart is touched, and you may shed a tear as well. Everyone can relate to many experiences in this book as Matthew Norman so genuinely and thoroughly pulls us into characters we root for and come to love. Domestic Violets is fast paced, fun and hard to put down!

The Marriage Plot
by Jeffrey Eugenides

I decided to read The Marriage Plot, by Jeffrey Eugenides, because I loved his former novels The Virgin Suicides and the Pulitzer Prize winning Middlesex. This book is unlike the previous ones but definitely a winner for people who love to read.

The three protagonists are seniors at Brown University in the ’80s; the country is in a recession, and life for those entering the real world may be harder than ever before. Madeline, an English major, is writing her thesis on Jane Austen and George Eliot. She is a beautiful intellectual that believes books and ideas will answer the questions of how to live her life and how to seek true love. Mitchell, religious studies major from the Midwest, begins a journey around the world to get Madeline out of his mind as he tries to find the meaning of life while questioning the existence of God. Leonard, a manic, exotic, charismatic loner from the Pacific Northwest completes the love triangle as the three take their steps to adulthood.

This novel is lengthy, but well worth the time. The literary references throughout the book are astounding and fulfilling as we ask – are the old better than the new?

Boomsday
by Christopher Buckley

Boomsday, by Christopher Buckley is a book that will appeal to all, especially Baby Boomers and their offspring. It is extremely witty, well written and quite timely to say the least. Boomsday is the day that the majority of the Baby Boomers will begin retiring, pushing the United States into economic trouble and forcing tax raises to support Social Security. When Social Security began there were 15 workers to support 1 retiree; now the ratio is about 3 to 1. This book swears you can run from that kind of math, but you can’t hide.

Cassandra Divine is the novel’s heroine, she’s a twenty-nine year old intellectually and morally superior PR blogger who purposes tax incentives for people who, at age seventy years old, “voluntarily transition” themselves. (commit suicide). Of course she doesn’t truly believe in this, but she certainly makes a good case for it with her political ally and lover, a certain wealthy, handsome Senator from Massachusetts. Christopher Buckley once again proves his prowess for political satires by adding plenty of twists and turns, and fast-paced characters with great dialogue. This book is outrageous, hilarious and highly entertaining.

The Strangers on Montagu Street
by Karen White

Several years ago, I read Memory of Water, by Karen White and enjoyed the twists and turns of a mystery/romance set in the Lowcountry. Just out this month, her latest book, The Strangers on Montagu Street, is the third in a series of books featuring Melanie Middleton, a psychic realtor who lives in downtown Charleston. Not having read the others, I wasn’t sure about reading this one first, but thoroughly enjoyed it. The story line has some interesting twists and turns that are just eerie enough to keep the reader interested, but not so scary that you can’t read it at night by yourself. A psychic from birth, Melanie tries to hide her ability to talk to troubled spirits, but the appearance of a haunted dollhouse and a dark secret from the past force her to confront some very unhappy ghosts. Meanwhile, her obvious-to-everyone love for Jack Trenholm provides the romantic tension that comes together to make this a thoroughly fun read.

Trust Your Life
by Noelle Sterne, Ph.D.

On a more serious note, one of our Sasee contributors, Noelle Sterne, has just written a lovely, uplifting book, Trust Your Life. The author encourages her readers to act on their dreams and forgive themselves for past mistakes – and accomplishes this with a kindness that jumps off the page and into the reader’s heart. We all have dreams that we hold close, and many of us never act on them, ignoring the wisdom of our “inner voice.” Noelle guides the reader with gentle steps to a higher possibility, with a special emphasis on believing that it is never too late to begin again.

Editor’s Note: Lisa will be back next month!

City of Thieves
by David Benioff

City of Thieves, by David Benioff is a novel everyone will enjoy and not be able to put down. It is humorous, sentimental, thrilling and contains engaging and unforgettable characters. Set during the 900-Day Seige as the Nazis invade Leningrad, two unlikely young men are thrown together on an impossible adventure.

Lev Beniov is a 17 year old boy living in a bombed out apartment building with what is left of the neighborhood and is arrested for trying to salvage food from a dead German paratrooper. He shares a cell with a handsome and charismatic young soldier, Kolya, who has been detained for desertion charges. To escape from the bullet-to-the-head ritual faced by most prisoners, the colonel in charge gives the pair a shot at securing a dozen eggs for a wedding cake for his daughter’s upcoming nuptials. In a city cut off from supplies and suffering horrible deprivations, Lev and Kolya begin a journey of unspeakable horrors into the devastated countryside. The two form an unlikely pair, but manage to form a bond of tenderness and friendship through encounters with cannibals, peasant women kept by Nazi officers, a life or death chess match and a deadly female sniper. These are two characters you will always remember in a novel you will be so glad you read!

Caleb’s Crossing
by Geraldine Brooks

I was compelled to read Caleb’s Crossing, by Geraldine Brooks, because my son spent the summer off the coast of Massachusetts where the majority of the novel takes place. Like many, I enjoy historical fiction, and Brooks writes about early America with wit and wisdom as she tells the story of Caleb Cheeshahteaumauk, the first Native American to graduate from Harvard College.

The narrator of Caleb’s Crossing is Bethia Mayfield, a minister’s daughter who has the spirit and determination to embrace knowledge and adventure while growing up in this small settlement among puritans and natives. Bethia meets Caleb, the son of a Wampanoag chieftain, while exploring the beautiful island and its secrets. Their relationship remains a secret as their friendship is forged, and their lives travel a path of love, loss and heartache. Bethia’s father takes Caleb into their home to tutor him while Caleb’s own father struggles to lead his people against the ways of the new colonists.

Bethia is an engaging and entertaining narrator as she confesses her darkest secrets and deepest fears. It is through her that we learn the great bits of history and the hard and fast religious beliefs of the time and area. Geraldine Brooks has delivered another enjoyable novel that I genuinely liked and recommend.

The Tiger's Wife
by Tea Obreht

Twenty-five year old Tea Obreht has been named by The New Yorker as one of the twenty best American fiction writers under forty and been included in the National Book Foundation’s list of “5 under 35.” Obreht was born in Belgrade, in the former Yugoslavia, and has lived in the United States since the age of 12. The Tiger’s Wife (absolutely NOT about Tiger Woods), her first novel, is a beautifully written story about family, superstitions, war and death.

Natalia is a doctor in the war-torn Balkans where she travels to clinics and orphanages in the area where her grandfather recently died. This story is mainly about the life and stories of her grandfather who loved to visit the tigers at the zoo with his granddaughter. As Natalia seeks to find the answers about her grandfather’s death, she actually begins to unravel the stories of his life. We know our histories because of the stories told to us over time by our families and elders, some fact, some fiction, some purely magical and beautiful. This tale is a little bit of everything, from the deathless man to the tiger’s wife. Layers upon layers of tragedy and horror, as it must have been for Obreht and her family, unfold in this country’s legacy that gives us an insight into storytelling at its finest.

Doc
by Mary Doria Russell

Mary Doria Russell is the author of a favorite book of mine titled The Sparrow. It is a religious, science fiction-type novel that explores the Jesuit Society traveling in space to pursue and learn about the frontiers of exploration. Jesuits universally never went anywhere to proselytize, they only explored so they may come to know all God’s children. Hence, what a surprise to learn of Ms. Russell’s new novel about John Henry Holliday and the Wild West. Many men read Sasee (and I know they do because they talk to me about the reviews and articles), and they may enjoy the gambling and the gunfights, but there is much more to this novel than the story of a cowboy.

John Henry Holliday was born to the South Carolina McKeys, the third child of eleven. His family took him to Georgia where he came into the world with a cleft palate and was almost dismissed to the grave. Mary Alice McKey Holliday was an educated, well bred woman who refused to give up on her child. Her brother in law was a dentist who promised he could save this child, and he did. This uncle was not only a savior but a lifelong mentor and guide. As J.J.H. grew and progressed, he followed in his uncle’s footsteps as a dentist and a devoted son who lived a good, young life. Sadly, John Henry’s mother contracted tuberculosis and passed it onto her son before she died when he was a very young man.

To preserve his health, John Henry Holliday set out to live the rest of his life in dryer air with less humidity than the beautiful South that he loved. He headed west to Texas, without a means to practice dentistry but a resolve to survive and succeed in any way possible. J.H.H., aka Doc, learned to fend for himself, gamble and count cards, and quickly rose to fame and fortune, even as his health struggled. His partner in life was a prostitute he never married, but spent most of his good years with when he settled in Dodge City. As Doc unfolds, the reader is taken back in time and given a feel for life as our country grew and settled. It was a hard time for most, but they survived by hard work, strong will and determination. This novel definitely gets a tip of the hat.

The Midewife’s Confession
by Diane Chamberlain

Diane Chamberlain is a bestselling author of 19 novels; her latest is The Midwife’s Confession. Set in North Carolina, Tara, Emerson and Noelle are lifelong friends from high school and college and spend their lives together with their growing families at home, at work and everywhere in between. At the beginning of the novel, Noelle, a midwife, commits suicide. Noelle normally embraced life as she brought it into the world almost daily. The only hint Tara and Emerson find to unraveling Noelle’s mysteries is a letter found in her belongings. Chamberlain writes a beautiful novel about friendships and family ties and love and loss. The reader will be intrigued to the bitter end trying to follow the twists and turns of this bittersweet story.

The Paris Wife
by Paula McLain

The Paris Wife, by Paula McLain, is a compelling tale of Earnest Hemingway and his first wife, Hadley Richardson in the 1920s. Hemingway struggled early in his career and was a moody, yet exciting, man who took Hadley to Paris to begin their lives. There, they socialize with the likes of Gertrude Stein, Erza Pound and F. Scott Fitzgerald. A once sheltered and introverted woman, Hadley comes into her own as Hemingway’s wife. The Hemingways’ extraordinary bond is tested and a deception is revealed that will lead to the “unraveling of everything.” The Paris Wife is all the more poignant because we know that, in the end, Hemingway wrote that he would have “rather died than fallen in love with anyone but Hadley.”

Silver Girl
by Elin Hilderbrand

Everyone knows the story of the man who cheated investors out of billions of dollars, but not many may have considered the circumstances and the devastation he brought to his own family. Silver Girl, by Elin Hilderbrand, delivers a heartbreaking and suspenseful story of Meredith Delin who lost everything when her husband was convicted and charged with scamming the fortunes of families and friends. Practically homeless, Meredith escapes to a friend’s beautiful home on Nantucket to hideout and rebuild relationships of long ago. Hilderbrand gives an accurate description of the pain and humiliation a wife might feel when betrayed in so many ways by the man she thought she knew and loved.

Book lovers alert! The First Presbyterian Church Summer Book Club will be reading Nowhere Else on Earth by Josephine Humphreys. The author will be at FPC Tuesday, June 7 for a book signing, discussion and lunch beginning at 11:30 am. Call 843-448-4496 for reservations.

The Weird Sisters
by Eleanor Brown

I always wanted a sister and was quite envious of friends who had one. I had brothers, and after reading Eleanor Brown’s The Weird Sisters, I retain the same wish. I have friends as close as a sister could be, and I love them dearly. There must be something so special about the world of sisters, which you truly get a glimpse of in this novel. One origin of the word weird is “wyrd,” meaning fate. The fate of the sisters Rosalind, Bianca and Cordelia, all names of heroines in Shakespearian Literature, take us on a journey infused with tragedy, truth and triumph.

The Andreas family is a family of readers, the father a renowned Shakespeare professor at a local college. When the mother of the sisters is diagnosed with breast cancer, everyone returns home to care for her and care for themselves. Each is dealing with their own troubles and secrets; their stories are revealed with the good, the bad and the ugly. Rose, the eldest, is in constant conflict between her heart and her brain. Bean, the middle sister, is beautiful, selfish and a party girl. Cordy, the baby, is a peace-loving, free spirit who returns home alone and pregnant. As the women care for and tend to their mother, the daughters rediscover their love for home and family.

Brown weaves Shakespeare into almost every situation imaginable. You will be reminded and entertained at every turn by, not only tragedy, but wit and humor. The characters of this book are real and interesting; you will find yourself intrigued by their trials and discoveries. The Weird Sisters isn’t weird at all, just a good read whether you have sisters or not.