Summer Reading

Summer is flying by, but we still have a few weeks left for a leisurely read. A good thing too, since I've been remiss in posting Wendy's review, which was sent in just as I left for the US a few weeks ago.

—Kathy

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Anticipating the long lazy days of summer, I optimistically downloaded eight books onto my Kindle before heading west to the Island of Noirmoutier in the French Atlantic. Of the eight, there are three which I would recommend as great summer reading: good writing, interesting plot, not too heavy.


If you enjoyed Joanne Harris’s Chocolat as much as I did, then you will also enjoy her sequel Peaches for Monsieur le Curé. The same interesting characters are again in the same French village, but they have matured and moved on. The repetition of setting is like returning to a favorite holiday spot—revisiting a beloved location and trying to adjust the exaggerated memories to reality, as well as rediscovering forgotten treasures. I found the first few chapters lacking as Harris reset the scene for new readers, but I soon fell into the charm of her blending of the sacred with the secular, the mysterious with the mundane. A current theme is the integration of the Muslim and Christian worlds,  taken at a very human, social level rather than a political or religious one. The story is intertwined with descriptions of the local fresh produce and delicious French pastries, which reawaken the holiday spirit in anyone who has experienced them.

Amusing in its truthfulness, The Red House, by Mark Haddon, was a pleasure to read. Two families with teenagers meet at a rented house in the Welsh countryside and, inevitably, the personal relationships between the family members clash and clang like an orchestra tuning up. I was surprised at the insights Haddon managed to achieve with frustrated teenage girls, immature boys, a depressive mother, and a haughty doctor. The book has a lot of depth, as each character develops over the short week they are all forced to be together in the red house. The novel is a study of personalities, which we can all relate to one way or another, sometimes sad, sometimes funny.

Shelter, by Frances Greenslade, attracted me at first because it is set in British Columbia, and I am a fan of all things Canadian! But the story transcends all borders and will appeal to anyone who enjoys the flavor of any small town or the backwoods. Written with a raw edge, which does not romanticize the tough life of loggers, trappers or farmers, the story follows the lives of two girls who first lose their father to a logging accident and then are abandoned by their mother. Expected to “grin and bear it,” the two girls face life head-on and make the most of their situation, without ever forgetting—or forgiving—their mother. Yet they never give up on her and believe that their love for her will reunite them in the end, despite all the odds. It is the style of writing that drew me into the story and made the story vibrant and plausible.

—Wendy de Feydeau. July 2012