Before Versailles, by Karleen Koen

Karleen Koen is to King Louis XIV what Philippa Gregory is to King Henry VIII. I found Koen to be a masterful storyteller, equal in all ways to Gregory, from her compelling plot full of twists and dark secrets, to the realistic characters that break your heart.

We meet Louis at age twenty-two, his young wife, a Spanish princess, newly pregnant with his future heir, both of them pure-hearted and not yet tarnished with scandal. During the four months depicted in the novel, Louis is tested at every front by his family, his friends, his enemies, and his heart. Among those at court, Louise is the lady of the king's brother's wife, and unlike most others, lacks ambition. Discarded by her family and with nothing but tender memories of her father teaching her to ride horseback, she has a talent for helping animals and hurt children. She unwittingly beguiles the king when, unsure of what else to do, she tells him of having stumbled upon, while out riding, a boy in an iron mask hidden away by monks who call the boy "your highness."

As I read the novel, I longed to be the goodhearted and beautiful Louise who attracts the King's heart and helps him uncover the mystery of the masked boy at a time when his kingdom is in great peril. I'm so sad the story is over and can't wait to read another book by this author!

I highly recommend this novel.

Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail, by Cheryl Strayed

Inspired by Oprah's book club, I recently read this beautiful memoir by Cheryl Strayed about finding herself after the unexpected death of her mother and the crumbling apart of her family by turning to the wilderness. Armed with a "monster" of a bacpkack (weighing more than half of her own body weight) and with a naive understanding of what it would mean to take on such a journey, Cheryl bravely--in a "remotely vertical position"--stepped forward, one foot after the other, for three months along the Pacific Crest Trail.

Parts of the story made me laugh out loud, especially the self-deprecating passages that were so honest and so human. Among these was the moment a Texas longhorn charges her, and in a state of shock, Cheryl shouts, "Moose! Moose!" Other parts of the story made me weep with gut-wrenching, body-quavering sobs. One such moment occurred when Cheryl describes the approach of a fox, and without any intention of doing it, she cries, "Mom! Mom!"

Along with the soul-finding experiences of living and breathing the land and its elements, going weeks without showers and anything but dehydrated food and filtered lake water, the book also demonstrates the spectrum of human interactions. The majority of these are warm and hospitable, reminding readers of the prevailing love and compassion people have for their fellow beings. We also see the sensual, earthy, heady kind of interactions and the ominous, threatening, predator kind.

In spite of the scary and painful parts, the book makes me long to connect with the wilderness. I fantasize about getting book club women from all over the country together to follow in Cheryl's footsteps--maybe not for three whole months (we can't all be Cheryl), but perhaps for one month, if our husbands can manage that long without us.

I highly recommend this book.

Middlesex, by Jeffrey Eugenides

Although a synopsis somewhere on a website told me Middlesex was about a hermaphrodite's journey beginning as a girl and then, from age fourteen on, as a male, I found it to be about much more.

The narrator, Cal, is indeed a hermaphrodite, born with ambiguous genitalia, with a vagina and undescended testicles and an elongated clitoris (or short penis) he fondly calls his crocus; however, the gender and sexual issues are not as prominent, in my opinion as the panoramic view of American history throughout the twentieth century. The narrator explains that his story really begins with his Greek grandparents, a brother and sister, who immigrate to America in the early 1920's to Detroit after their village is burned down by the Turks and the British do nothing to help them and the other refugees floundering toward the sea. We follow the incestuous couple through immigration and American assimilation, through the speakeasies and ragtime roaring twenties, through the depression and post-prohibition. We see the birth of his parents, second cousins, who fall in love despite the grandmother's best effort to keep them apart. We witness the impact of WWII, the aftermath, the cold war. We see Detroit rise and fall. At the same time, we catch glimpses of the cinema and music industry, the books and the fashion, and the evolution of the Cadillac. Popular culture abounds through the decades, including the changes in language, religious attitudes, the roles of women, and views on sexual orietnation.

Calliope is born in the sixties and by the time she reaches puberty in the early seventies realizes she is attracted to girls. The narrative oscillates between that transformation in the seventies and Cal's first attempt to reveal himself to a woman with whom he is falling in love in present time. This and Calliope's transformation into Cal comprise a small percentage of the actual narrative.

The novel made me laugh and cry multiple times. I highly recommend it.

Fifty Shades Darker and Fifty Shades Freed, by E.L. James

I finished the Fifty Shades of Grey trilogy and must admit I loved it. Yes, I was curious to read more about what Ana calls "kinky fuckery," silver balls and all, but what was most compelling was the character of Christian Grey and the many layers of his personality E.L. James so deftly--yes, deftly--crafts.

So what if she uses the same phrases over and over. I suppose I stopped whincing after the millionth time she used the phrase "his mouth pressed into a hard line" because I was enamored with her characters. Language may not be this woman's forte, but character building certainly is. While these characters may have originated from fan fiction inspired by Bella and Edward from Stephenie Meyer's Twilight saga, they grow into different individuals entirely, individuals I come to care for deeply.

The trilogy begins with a sex slavemaster hoping to subdue an innocent, smart-mouthed college girl into his next submissive and becomes, instead, a story of how the young college girl subdues the beast in him--the beast created by his dark, troubled past with a crack-whore mother and then later a pedophiliac dominatrix Ana calls "Mrs. Robinson." It's empowering to vicariously experience the power Ana ultimately wields over this hot, wealthy, troubled, emotionally bereft man through her compassion and through her ability to stand up for herself and for him when he can't. I admire Ana's courage, delight in her ecstasy, and long to understand what makes Christian Grey tick. E.L. James doesn't disappoint.

I highly recommend this trilogy, and so does my husband, who has benefited immensely from my reading it.

The Poisonwood Bible, by Barbara Kingsolver

I wish everyone would read this novel about a missionary family moving to the Congo back in the early sixties and the effect it had on both the family and the natives. Maybe people would be less eager to push their beliefs onto others and be more more willing to accept and appreciate cultural differences. I loved learning new things about Africa--its history and culture and language. I especially loved the four sisters and mother, who took turns narrating the story, and others, like Anatol and his intricately carved facial tatooes and Mama Lawanza. I didn't love all the characters. I wanted to jump into the book and strangle Nathan Price, the missionary bent on baptizing Congolese babies in the shallow, crocodile-infested river and neglecting his own babies and their suffering.

I will encourage my children to read this novel, because it is full of so many good things.

I highly recommend this novel. 

Fifty Shades of Grey, by E.L. James

As you know, I only post about books I love, and, as surprised as I was by this, I loved this book. I didn't love it for the writing. For example, each time, after the first ten times, the narrator said, "My breath hitches," I wanted to hurl the book across the room; but I could not pull my eyes away from the titillating plot.

Two worlds collide when a virgin about to graduate from college meets a wealthy, handsome sex slave master. The novelty of learning, through Ana's eyes, about this deviant other world is what most compelled me to keep reading. Along with Ana, I'd never heard of breast clamps and butt plugs and had no knowledge of the ways other props, like a riding crop, were used to create sexual pleasure. My curiosity about this world was greater than my frustration with the repeated words and sentence structure.

The characters, too, became endearing. Christian Grey's hard, cold, domineering cruelty is coupled with an emerging humanity and vulnerability I wanted to know more about by the end of the novel. I especially wanted to see Ana happy.

I recommend this novel.

The Tiger's Wife, by Tea Obreht

Although I sometimes felt frustrated by the narrative structure of The Tiger's Wife, overall it was a satisfying read with its interesting characters, fantastical tales, and engaging voice.

The novel depicts the aftermath of a worn-torn Balkan region where Natalia, a young doctor, and her family feel affinities to both sides of the new border. Natalia journeys across it to help immunize the children of an orphanage, and, while there, searches for details surrounding her grandfather's mysterious death. The narrative oscillates from her childhood memories of her grandfather, to the legends her grandfather and other townspeople have told her, to her present job of innoculating and searching for answers. It took me a while to realize that the region itself, or its mythology, was the primary protagonist of the story and that Natalia's grandfather, the tiger's wife, the deathless man, Luca, Dursa the Bear, and even Natalia are secondary protagonists. Once I figured that out, I came to enjoy the novel; but in the first half, I kept asking myself, "Whose story is this?"

There were many moments when I could not put the book down. There were other times when I had to force myself to read on. With each new tale, I went through a "warming up" period in which it took a while for me to get into it, like with a collection of short stories that have different protagonists. By the last third of the novel, however, the individual stories started coming together into one satisfying, rich whole that surpassed the investment.

I would recommend this novel.