Duck's Cottage Newsletter

Between the Lines
Reading Recommendations from the Cottage Shelves

All too often, I pick up an author's latest follow-up to a bestselling paperback and am dissappointed. I could mention more than a few names at this point, but for decorum's sake, I will refrain. With this in mind, I hesitantly approached Lisa See's new novel, Peony in Love. See's last book, Snow Flower and the Secret Fan is still on the paperback bestseller list and continues to be a book club favorite. I am very pleased to report that Peony is every bit the equal of Snow Flower and more. The fascinating story of a lovesick girl in 17th century China and a well-known opera which seems to inspire lovesickness captivated me and kept me up way too late several nights. I am sure that comparisons to Lovely Bones, The Five People You Meet in Heaven and A Brief History of the Dead will attach themselves to this book, but it stands on its own as a haunting story of love and longing. My top pick for July!
Here is a title climbing up the paperback charts- Whistling in the Dark, by Lesley Kagan. This tale of two young sisters takes place in Milwaukee in 1959 and, while I haven't read it yet, I'm recommending it to our reading group and have it on my personal summer reading list. Another great read from the Cottage Reading Group list is The Highest Tide, by Jim Lynch. I loved the Pacific Coast setting of this book and the young boy whose fascination for the natural world surrounding him puts him in the middle of a strange series of events. A young adult version of this novel just appeared on shelves as well and will be sitting on my son's nightstand soon. Hot in hardback at the store right now- The Diana Chronicles (Tina Brown); The Assault On Reason (Al Gore), On Chesil Beach (Ian McEwan), A Thousand Splendid Suns (Hosseini), A Woman in Charge (Carl Bernstein) and Life's A Beach (Claire Cook). Hot in paperback- Water For Elephants (Sara Gruen), The Inheritance of Loss (Kiran Desai), The Road (Cormac McCarthy), Astrid & Veronika, (Linda Olsson), Eat, Pray, Love (Elizabeth Gilbert), and Abundance by Sena Jeter Naslund (if you recall I fairly gushed about this book when it was released last Fall).
I have to pass on two great books my kids (and I) recently enjoyed. Sarah just finished Moxy Maxwell Does Not Love Stuart Little by Peggy Gifford. Gifford tells the tale of Moxy Maxwell, a rising fourth grader who has but one summer reading assignment- to read Stuart Little. Of course, the last day of vacation arrives and, despite toting the book around all summer, she has yet to crack it. My daughter is not a big reader and could really relate to Moxy. I knew a breakthrough was nearing when Sarah begged to stay up reading!!! Awesome!
For the middle school (and adult crowd!) don't miss The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick. Don't let the size (544 pages) fool you- this thick book is half tradtional novel in type, the other half is in graphic novel form with wordless pen and ink drawings that tie the written sections together. The format is fascinating. The story of Hugo, an orphan who lives in the walls of a Paris train station in the early 1900's, and his unstoppable drive to restore a mechanical device left behind by his father in hopes that it holds one last message from Dad is unique in its own rite; when combined with the graphics it has no equal on current bookshelves. Charlie (12) whipped through this and loved it. Lisa, myself and a few other parents I know have also thoroughly enjoyed this latest youth fiction cross over.

Check out my review of Peony in Love...