This has been a good summer for reading. If you’ve kept an eye on my Shelfari, you’ve seen a variety of books cross the shelf. Two from the past month are books that, for some reason, I originally had no intention of reading.
Jan Karon started the "Mitford" series in the mid-90s with At Home in Mitford. The series continued with eight additional novels and several “companion” books. I was hooked by the simplicity of life in the books… a welcome escape from the real world. As with any books where I’ve grown to love the characters, I hated to see the series end. Still, when it was announced that there would be a new, related series entitled the “Father Tim” books, I balked. I had no desire to go back in time to the childhood of the main character. This summer I noticed Home to Holly Springs lying on a table at my aunt’s house. With her encouragement I decided to give it a try. I can’t imagine now why I was so opposed to reading it! It was wonderful! Set in present day, it followed Father Tim’s journey to his hometown and, with the help of flashbacks, resolved many of the issues that plagued him from his childhood throughout the original series. I’m not sure where the new series will go from here, but I’m certainly willing to go along for the ride.
I first remember Sue Monk Kidd from Guideposts Magazine. I always enjoyed her writing style and didn’t hesitate to buy her first novel, The Secret Life of Bees. It was very good and I looked forward to more from her. When The Mermaid Chair was released in 2005 I must have read something in a review that made me decide I didn’t want to read it. That persisted until I ran across it on the bargain shelf at Barnes & Noble last month and was able to thumb through a copy. Different from her first novel, I thought it was quite good, despite the poor reviews it received at Amazon.
Just think of the pleasure I would have missed out on if I’d stuck with my belligerent ways!
- Kelly
- Making my way through the ups and downs of life, holding fast to my favorite Bible verse: "For we walk by faith, not by sight." ~2 Corinthians 5:7. I began blogging in earnest at Yahoo360 on October 24, 2005. (briefly using LiveJournal and blog-city prior to that) In June 2008 I moved to Blogger. I'm now at WordPress where I hope to remain.
3 comments:
I had to go back in time to see what I thought about the Mermaid Chair. I thought it was flawed, but enjoyable:
http://www.amazon.com/review/product/0670033944/ref=cm_cr_pr_viewpnt_sr_4?%5Fencoding=UTF8&filterBy=addFourStar
I haven't been keeping up with my Shelfari. Sigh. So much to do, so little time to spend in front of the computer!
Didn't read, but saw The Mermaid Chair on Lifetime. Loved it!
Yeah, me too on not having time for my Shelfari. *Sigh*
Life is overflowing at the moment. Not a moment to spare.
I love, love, love the Mitford series. I was so addicted that I would read them slowly so I wouldn't be finished and then miss all those delightful people. I could not imagine she could continue the wonderful journey with Home to Holly Springs but she did. Can't wait for more.
Susan won't read them -- I think there is just not enough action for her. She liked Secret Life of Bees (as I did) but was so-so on The Mermaid Chair which I have note yet read.
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