Very sweet.

Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See

My second Lisa See novel, I am finding I like her writing. I believe this novel has more renown that Peony in Love, however, as sweet as this story is I think Peony in Love was a much more complicated, and for me, interesting story.

This story was a relatively simple one of great friends and a rift in the friendship. A classic betrayal and redemption tale. A heart wrenching story but one I've read before albeit with less beautiful detail.

Again I loved the detail into Chinese life and times, the foot binding was torturous to read. I still cannot figure out how or why this was such a common practice for so long. But that's just me not seeing history & being caught up in my own opinions and emotions

This was very nicely written, easy to follow, beautiful and sweet, I would recommend it to others.

Random Family: Love, Drugs, Trouble and Coming of Age in the Bronx by Adrian Nicole LeBlanc.

My oh my. This non-fiction story of several interconnected Latin American young people growing up in the Bronx was at times frustrating and at other times so sad it made my heart hurt.

These young people lost their innocence at a very young age, most of the young women were sexually abused at a very young age, I counted 9 girls that were noted as having been sexually abused, some as early as 2 by family members such as their fathers. Most, if not all and including the young men, had lost their innocence even earlier by experiencing physical or mental abuse by their parents or loved ones, watching a parent be abused by a loved one or by living with a drug abusing loved one.

This is the second time I read this book. My thoughts are more clear about it this time around. Someone asked me why I chose this book for our book club and I couldn't answer. All I knew was that it moved me. This time around I put effort into answering that question.

There was something about these women, no girls, that moved me, I have decided it was the tradegy of their lives.

I found that the men, again change that to boys, in this story would train their daughters to expect men to hold the power in their relationships, in fact they trained them to accept powerlessness at a very young age. The fathers or male figures would give love with strings, handing out "I Love You's" after being unkind or even cruel. The father figures controlled the pleasure and pain in their relationships creating girls that were literally desperate for kindness, love and attention.

Women teach their daughters submissiveness by attaching themselves to their dreams of these cruel men, the dreams were often very different than the reality - often overlooking their cruelty, accepting humiliating circumstances out of a determination to win the battle of who would or could love more...between couples or between a woman and her rivals.

These women are desperate for attention which stems from their relationships with their own fathers. They are children without the skills or role models to become responsible adults or parents

What goes around...

The Infinite Plan, Isabel Allende.

Gregory is a lonely man, he doesn't know it for most of the novel but he is lonely and running from himself and his losses.As someone who has been this person I could entirely relate to the premise if not the individual circumstances behind this.

The Infinite Plan itself preaches of Karma-like experiences, what goes around comes around. You will see this reflected in the story. While the copyright for the English translation is 1993, you see much of this story reflected in our times, now. Gregory's story could be ours, the United States, story. In the way we don't always learn from our mistakes nor self regulate enough. We seem to overlook fundamental values for monetary values/ We could benefit from entertaining life as if we were humble peasants instead of facing life as if we were rulers of all kingdoms.

While staged in the U. S., this is an Isabel Allende novel. I would highly recommend it.

Again!

The Girl Who Played with Fire, Stieg Larsson.

Yes! Another fantastic read by Stieg Larsson, why o why did he have to die? My original thoughts were that because of occurrences in the first novel I already had this second novel figured out. How wrong I was!

Again, this novel had me guessing until the end with many layered twists and turns between the first page and the last.

The main characters are the same, Lisbeth, the girl with the dragon tattoo, and Michael, the political journalist with the heart of gold. This time the mystery had more to do with Lisbeth. Was she a multiple murderess or being framed? Who is Zala, a Kaiser Soze type character?

For much of the story Lisbeth is absent, leaving the reader to question her innocence. Then she uses her prodigious hacking skills to infiltrate Michael's computer with messages leaving just enough information to keep him searching while she is also conducting her own investigation.

Kudos to Stieg Larsson for another drug-like, well written suspenseful novel. Now bring the third in this series to the U.S.!

Really? Asperger's Syndrome?

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Stieg Larsson.

Shortly after I finally decided to read this book I learned that the author had had a fatal heart attack a couple of years ago. I was immediately disappointed, I had already read enough to know that I loved these characters and this style.

The main character, the girl with the dragon tattoo, is a tragic, stoic, antisocial creature or her upbringing. I believe I've heard terms such as asperger's syndrome and autistic used to describe her. Since some of this is written first person, it's easy to avoid those terms, being in her mind vs. judging her from outside. I have some sympathy for the character you can see.

The other main character is a womanizing, loyal, political journalist. A man true to his word but just a little mixed up personally. A likable character, I think.

With many layered twists and turns the bulk of the story lies in solving a thirty - forty year old family mystery. This mystery wasn't nearly as straightforward as I expected, which I always admire in a mystery. If I figure them out too quickly they are a bit disappointing no matter how well written & interesting the rest of the story is.

I found this story so intriguing that I immediately reserved the second book in this series and read it just as quickly.

I would strongly recommend this to any fan of mysteries and will probably bring it up as my next book club choice.

I am excited for the release in the U.S. of the third book and hear that there is a fourth book on Stieg Larsson's laptop, but his estate may hold that one up for a while.

Dead again.

I have another review to write beford this one but I wrote this one first so here goes. My latest read in The Southern Vampire Series/Sookie Stackhouse books was Dead to the World by Charlaine Harris. I have trouble with these but I still keep on reading them. I think because they are fun & quirky & easy reads. The stories are crazy & there's something new every time. With that said, I STILL don't understand what all these supernatural dudes see in Sookie Stackhouse. I can acknowledge that my opinion is influenced by Anna Paquin and the other characters from True Blood. I can't read the books without seeing Anna Paquin etc. & I'm not sure I like some of the actors/actresses in their roles.

But back to my issues with these dudes craving some Sookie. There's a very powerful Werewolf, a Lead WerePanther, the Sheriff of Area 5 Vampire, an everyday shifter, and Bill, the very old & powerful vampire...all craving Sookie. I don't get it. Someone please help me, she's just a somewhat ordinary southern girl with a little power & these men HAVE to have her. What's it all about?

Back to the main part of this review... In this story I loved Eric without a memory & I really loved Sookie & Eric without a memory hooking up. So sensitive & caring, Eric. Yum! Bill's arrival back from Peru was a surprise that drew my interest & had me exclaim out loud, even though it was a bit anticlimatic since Bill never confronted Sookie with her relationship with Eric. In this story as in the others I was bored with the continued references to information previously mentioned in the other books or previously in this story. Charlaine could really tone this down. There was a bit of predictability to the story as well & this tends to frustrate me.

In end, it looks as if I'm going to keep reading this series for whatever reason, so it continues to hold my interest but there are these things that get on my darn nerves...so take that with you & try the stories out for yourselves. You may have a better or worse experience than I.

Delicate flowers

Ahhhh, It's been a little while & I have a few posts to write. This last read was Peony in Love by Lisa See. Lately I've been finding reads that pull me right in and make me feel a part of the story and this on is no exception. I felt I was in China and the afterworld with Peony, in her struggle to grow and be the woman she was meant to be. I learned a bit about ancient China and the expectations of women in the world that Peony lived.

There were unforseen twists and unexpected surprises, I always love this.

This, my first read by Lisa See has opened up a new world and a new curiousity for me. It led me to research bound feet and created pictures in my mind that I won't forget for a long time.

Reading this was like sitting in front of and reviewing a beautiful Chinese painting for a few hours. Your eye following the story on the painting around and around because you can't seem to take it all in and you keep finding little gems for your eye to follow.