Keswick Life

Lifestyles in Keswick and its environs

Book Worm

Bookworm: Reflecting on Great Summer Pool Reads

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Written by Suzanne Nash

I am sitting at the Infinity Pool at Keswick, enjoying the breeze after a successful Farm Tour and it is the perfect time for me to reflect on great pool reads for the summer.  When I am exhausted and don’t want to do anything else, reading is my relief and my renewal and I have great new list sure to tempt you into a lazy afternoon read.

Keswick Life | June 2016 | Bookworm | Done Growed UpMary Morony is back again with her latest installment in the Apron String’s trilogy. Done Growed Up once again follows the ups and downs of the Mackey family.  The characters you fell in love with in Apron Strings are back struggling to survive the turmoil of a family torn apart. Sallee watched her parent’s painful divorce and is coping with the aftermath, while her sister has headed to college in New York and her brother has become filled with anger and resentment. Ethel still remains the constant comforting presence in the lives of the Mackeys.  She tries to hold the family together even as Sallee’s parents are discovering that being single isn’t as easy as it looks.  This is a perfect Southern book to enjoy poolside with a cool lemonade.

Keswick Life | June 2016 | Bookworm | Beneath the Lion's GazeIf you are interested in International fiction touching on political history try Beneath the Lion’s Gaze by Maaza Mengiste.  This tale takes place in Addis Ababa Ethiopia in 1974 when political upheaval threatens Hailu’s family. Hailu is a doctor whose wife is dying and whose sons Yonas and Dawit are struggling to find their way in a hotbed of rebellion.  While his mother lays dying in the hospital Dawit feel compelled to join the rest of the students protesting the Emperor’s control over the country. Thousands are starving while the Emperor enjoys a lavish lifestyle so the students feel that replacing him with another leader is necessary.  Once the overthrow takes place, however, no one is prepared for the blood bath that ensues. This is a heart rending account of the dangers of rebellion, no matter how justified. Too often the power grab after the destabilization of a government is as bad as or worse than the evils prior.

Keswick Life | June 2016 | Bookworm | Man's Search for MeaningAnother book that deals with the horrors of war and the repercussions is a classic book that I think everyone should take the time to read…..Viktor Frankl’s Man’s Search for Meaning.  The first part chronicles Frankl’s experiences in Auschwitz and then the second part of the book discusses the ideas he developed while interred. These ideas were about finding meaning for your life and his therapy based on this is search for meaning is called logo therapy.  Written in 1946, this book describes what the average prisoner experienced in Auschwitz and explains how finding purpose and meaning in life encouraged longevity among the prisoners. Imagining the outcome of hopes and dreams that support your purpose can affect how you live and survive.  This book will inspire you to look at your life and determine what you hold onto as your purpose and what provides meaning that can sustain you through tough times.

Keswick Life | June 2016 | Bookworm | Little Paris BookshopNina George’s masterpiece, The Little Paris Bookshop: A Novel will completely delight you if you dream of owning a bookshop.  I can absolutely imagine living on Monsieur Jeanne Perdu’s barge called Lulu, moored on the Seine in the heart of Paris. Perdue dispenses wisdom and books to relieve the soul ache of his customers but he is unable to diagnose or cure his own broken heart. This is a beautiful gem of a book filled with vivid imagery and wonderful literary references that will charm book lovers everywhere. So take an armchair journey to Paris and float through the canals to Province without ever having to leave home!

I hope you enjoy the beginning of summer and take time to get a stack of books to take with you as you lounge in the sun or start out on your summer holidays.  For me, nothing says summer more than a pile of books in my beach bag!

Bookworm: Reads for Cool Spring Mornings Spent In Bed with a Cup of Tea

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Written by Suzanne Nash

Keswick Life | May 2016 | Bookworm | The FireDespite the plunge back into chilly temperatures we have recently experienced, summer is quickly approaching and this month I have prepared a grand list of summer reads for your perusal.

If you like a good thriller, Katherine Neville’s The Fire is a wonderful smart follow up to her earlier The Eight.  Both of these novels are similar to Dan Brown’s De Vinci Code.  The Fire is filled with secret symbols and loads of history spanning from the ancient Arabic word to modern DC all linked together through the game of chess and alchemy.

Keswick Life | May 2016 | Bookworm | The Butterfly GardenIf you are more inclined to thrillers in vein of Silence of the Lambs, try The Butterfly Garden by Dot Hutchinson.  This scary thriller begins with the interrogation of a young woman who has survived a terrible ordeal.  Held in the “butterfly garden” by a villain known only as “the gardener” she along with other young women must endure being kidnapped and transformed by their captor. The authorities must decide whether she is actually involved in the running of the garden or just another of its victims.  It is a creepy poolside read sure to send chills down your back, especially once you discover the reason it is called The Butterfly Garden.

Keswick Life | May 2016 | Bookworm | Land of the Long White CloudA softer and gentler mystery, Wicked Autumn is a fun tongue in cheek mystery that will surely lead to chuckles, especially if you are a fan of English humor. Author G.M Malliet spins a lively tale that is one in a series of stories about Nether Monkslip.  Max is a vicar who was formerly MI-5 and now finds himself embroiled in the death of a thoroughly unlikable woman who tried to rule his Parish with an iron hand. Nether Monkslip is an idyllic little English village and thus the perfect backdrop for a cozy little mystery.  This charming read will hold you over until Grantchester returns for another season on PBS!

Another light read, similar to the Thornbirds saga of old, In The Land of the Long White Cloud by Sarah Lark is a romance and drama that follows two young women who decide to leave behind their homes to pursue a new life in New Zealand in the 19th century. Helen Davenport is a London governess who seeks a chance for marriage and a family and finds herself married to a surly sheep farmer far from anything resembling culture and grace. Gwyneira Silkham comes from a prominent Welsh family but finds herself promised to the son of a sheep baron due to her father’s gambling debts.  Rather than seeing this situation as a terrible fate, Gwyn looks forward to leaving her family home in Wales and seeking adventure. When neither of their husbands is quite what they expected these two women must face the future head on and find the strength to live in this harsh new world.

Wreckage, by Emily Bleeker, is part romance and part thriller. When Lillian Linden and Dave Hall find themselves the survivors of a plane crash on a deserted island in the South Pacific they have to figure out a way to keep going and hold on to hope as their families desperately search for them. Once they are found two years later they can’t tell anyone the real story of their time on the island. Genevieve Randall is the journalist who insists that they are not being honest about their ordeal.  She begins to dig into the story and both Lillian and Dave must survive yet another traumatic experience as they protect their lives and families from the truth that threatens to destroy them. This novel has a lot of plot twists and surprises for the reader so a great beach read!

While everyone enjoys light reading in the summer some prefer some meatier reading and I have just the two books to satisfy a heartier appetite.

Keswick Life | May 2016 | Bookworm | EuphoriaEuphoria is an amazing tale constructed around the true story of Margaret Mead. Intellectual and erotic this story mirror Mead’s own experiences as she studied with her husband in New Guinea.  Nell Stone has gone to this country with her husband Fen to study the tribes there.  The book opens with them disheartened and fleeing a very viscous tribe.  They head back toward civilization and meet up with Andrew Bankson, an English anthropologist.  This is a wonderful steamy intellectual foray into the depth of New Guinea and it will tempt you into learning more about the true story of Margaret Mead. There is a threat of violence which hangs over the whole story and it keeps you on the edge of your seat….yet intellectually it is very full and challenging. It is no surprise that is won awards.

I absolutely love Wallace Stegner and if you have never read any of his works then you should go out and buy both Crossing to Safety and Angle of Repose. Both of these novels are worth reading any time of the year.  Stegner’s writing is incomparable.  His descriptions of landscapes and his multi layered characters will hold on to you long after you close the book.  It is no small surprise that this is the gentleman who founded the creative writing program at Stanford. His talent is unequivocal and far reaching.  He wrote poetry, biographies and novels and is considered one of the greatest American writers of the 20th century. I thought I would give a brief overview of Crossing to Safety as this is the last novel he wrote prior to his death in 1993. Published in 1987 this is a beautifully crafted story of friendship, time and loss. If follows the friendship of two married couples and they negotiate the academic life and find their support in each other.  It is not an easy journey.  Charity and Sid Lang come from moneyed families while Sally and Larry Morgan struggled to make their way through school. They find each other in the complex world of academic life and both couples are drawn to each other.  The Langs have a vacation compound in Vermont where they summer.  This is the where the families share a summer together and then return to, years later, to deal with saying goodbye to one of their group. Stegner claimed that this was a bit autobiographical and we can see his alter ego in Larry.  Larry’s ambition is only matched by Charity’s and the conflict and resentments that develop through the years causes friction between the couples and fray the marriages, but it a beautiful look at what makes a friendship and why it lasts, despite disagreements and misfortune.

So now you have a full list of books to suit every taste and I hope you grab a stack and look forward to the long summer days that are soon to come!

Bookworm: Reads for Cool Spring Mornings Spent In Bed with a Cup of Tea

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By Suzanne Nash

Keswick Life | Bookworm | On Agate HillMornings are still a bit cool so it is the perfect time to curl up in bed on my days off with a cup of tea and a few good books to start the day.

Lee Smith’s On Agate Hill is a great book to start the day and ease into the hot summer days which will quickly descend upon us. Southern literature is one of my favorite genres and Lee Smith is a master of a good Southern tale. Molly Petree, Lee’s protagonist, is a curious, funny and independent character who provides a moving glimpse into the post-Civil War South. Struggling with poverty, depression and defeat, the South had many young girls who, like Molly, were orphaned and sent to live with distant relatives.  Those relatives were often in shock after their defeat and found life after the war difficult. Once prosperous and confident families were left in tatters and that is fully realized in Molly’s relationship with the “ghosts” residing on Agate Hill. These families are constantly haunted by the life and people that are now lost to them. Molly feels so connected to these ghosts and doesn’t want to abandon them when she is sent away from Agate Hill. Molly could have lost every opportunity for a better life if she hadn’t had the patronage of Simon Black, a brooding and mysterious presence that rescues Molly and gives her the much needed opportunity for an education and eventually leads her to a teaching position in the mountains of North Carolina. The setting for the novel feels very familiar, traveling though both North Carolina and Virginia you will recognize the towns and historical places.  It has a wonderful juxtaposition of letters, diary entries and testimonies and even throws in a murder mystery to tantalize the reader. It is a stirring look at the reconstructed South and Smith does a marvelous job conveying the air of defeat, decay and impending crumbling ruin that overtook many of the old Southern plantations and families. I have always enjoyed Lee Smith’s writing and this is just one more example of why she continues to draw me into her stories.

Keswick Life | Bookworm | The NightingaleIf you are in the mood for yet another World War II novel, you can’t go wrong with the latest best-seller, The Nightingale by Kirsten Hannah. I have been listening to this as a book on tape at every available opportunity…while cooking, cleaning and driving.  All of us deal with stress and danger in different ways and this novel tells the story of two sisters who must discover their own paths to overcome adversity and survive. Set against the backdrop of a France which is reeling from the Nazi’s occupation, this family has to find a way to persevere.  Viann is the dependable older sister who adores her husband, Antoine, and daughter, Sophia.  When Antoine is captured and imprisoned, Viann faces loneliness and despair coupled with the frustration of having her home requisitioned as quarters for an enemy soldier. Meanwhile her sister, Isabelle, is eighteen and full of anger and rebellion.  Isabelle’s passion and determination lead her down a different path from her sister and places her in a dangerous position within the French resistance.  This is the story of two women’s war against occupation and dominance. Beautifully written, it captures the resilience of the human spirit. All of the full details indicate a remarkable amount of research but beyond the details there is brilliant storytelling at work here.

Next time we will explore the beach reads and get ready for a summer full of hot days and poolside adventures!

Keswick Life | Bookworm | Most Blessed of the PatriarchsA groundbreaking work of history that explicates Thomas Jefferson’s vision of himself, the American Revolution, Christianity, slavery, and race.

Thomas Jefferson is often portrayed as a hopelessly enigmatic figure—a riddle—a man so riven with contradictions that he is almost impossible to know. Lauded as the most articulate voice of American freedom and equality, even as he held people—including his own family—in bondage, Jefferson is variably described as a hypocrite, an atheist, or a simple-minded proponent of limited government who expected all Americans to be farmers forever.

Now, Annette Gordon-Reed teams up with America’s leading Jefferson scholar, Peter S. Onuf, to present an absorbing and revealing character study that dispels the many clichés that have accrued over the years about our third president. Challenging the widely prevalent belief that Jefferson remains so opaque as to be unknowable, the authors—through their careful analysis, painstaking research, and vivid prose—create a portrait of Jefferson, as he might have painted himself, one “comprised of equal parts sun and shadow” (Jane Kamensky).

Tracing Jefferson’s philosophical development from youth to old age, the authors explore what they call the “empire” of Jefferson’s imagination—an expansive state of mind born of his origins in a slave society, his intellectual influences, and the vaulting ambition that propelled him into public life as a modern avatar of the Enlightenment who, at the same time, likened himself to a figure of old—”the most blessed of the patriarchs.” Indeed, Jefferson saw himself as a “patriarch,” not just to his country and mountain-like home at Monticello but also to his family, the white half that he loved so publicly, as well as to the black side that he claimed to love, a contradiction of extraordinary historical magnitude.

Divided into three sections, “Most Blessed of the Patriarchs” reveals a striking personal dimension to his life. Part I, “Patriarch,” explores Jeffersons’s origins in Virgina; Part II, ” ‘Traveller,’ ” covers his five-year sojourn to Paris; and Part III, “Enthusiast,” delves insightfully into the Virginian’s views on Christianity, slavery, and race. We see not just his ideas and vision of America but come to know him in an almost familial way, such as through the importance of music in his life.

“Most Blessed of the Patriarchs” fundamentally challenges much of what we’ve come to accept about Jefferson, neither hypocrite nor saint, atheist nor fundamentalist. Gordon-Reed and Onuf, through a close reading of Jefferson’s own words, reintroduce us all to our most influential founding father: a man more gifted than most, but complicated in just the ways we all are.

Bookworm: Stormy Weather — Perfect Time for a Great Book

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By Suzanne Nash

A winter storm is the perfect excuse to hunker down with a good book in front of a roaring fire and that is just what I did during the snowfall that dumped nearly two feet in Keswick. I hope you were all able to do the same and enjoyed a little down time at your home.

The first book I would recommend reading comes with a suggestion: Do NOT read the back cover or anything that might prove a spoiler to this story. I was completely taken unaware by this remarkable novel and it’s twists and I really believe that is the best way to enjoy it, so I am going to try and review it without giving away the particulars. We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves: A Novel by Karen Joy Fowler. The book begins with Rosemary Cooke who explains that she is going to have to start her story in the middle. Quite the little chatterbox when she was younger, Rosemary grows up to be a very different child who doesn’t say a great deal. All of this is due to an unusual childhood and a loss that affected her and her family deeply. Fowler looks at memories, those we hang on to, those memories we search for and those we aren’t completely sure of. This novel touches on perspectives, especially when dealing with parental responsibility and choices parents sometimes make to the detriment of the child. The Cooke family (Mom, Dad, Lowell, sister Fern and Rosemary) is a “typical” middle class family, except for a strange twist. When sister Fern is removed from the equation the family falls apart: Lowell disappears, Mother becomes depressed and Rosemary withdraws and realizes she is not like other children. This novel is a study of well-intentioned actions that lead to heartrending consequences.

If you are looking for lighter fare, then may I suggest Her Royal Spyness by Rhys Bowen. A prolific writer, Bowen, has created another fun mystery series about the crazy life of Lady Victoria Georgianna Charlotte Eugenie, a very minor British royal. Unmarried and broke, she is saddled with the burden of being 34th in line for the throne. With the family name to uphold, “Georgie” must figure out how to pay her bills without offending her cousin, the Queen. When a man who is blackmailing her brother is found dead in her bathtub, this heroine must do a bit of sleuthing to protect the family name. A complete klutz and not at all a part of the “smart set,” she manages to figure out a way to pay the bills, live without servants, bypass the amorous attentions of an Irish bounder, avoid marriage to a prince she nicknames “fish-face” and still solve the murder and save her rather vacuous brother. I have always enjoyed Bowen’s stories. Her characters are clever and the dialogue is funny and fast paced. She always serves up a delightful “cozy mystery,” perfect for a bathtub read!

Another piece of fiction that is sure to keep you curled up by the fire is Mistress Shakespeare by Karen Harper. The author of over 60 books, this is one of my favorites. First of all, I love anything having to do with Shakespeare, but add to that the real life mystery surrounding his marriage license to a woman named Anne Whateley just days before his marriage to Anne Hathaway was announced and you have a wonderful plot for a historical fiction piece. In this tale woven by Harper, Anne Whateley is a dark haired beauty who grew up with William Shakespeare. They played together and fell in love and planned to marry, but fate intervened and Will was forced to marry another. Brokenhearted Anne leaves for London to find another life there but she never forgets her first love. A story of love and literature, Harper does a beautiful job creating a fiction around the mysterious woman who may have inspired the greatest heroines of Shakespeare.

I hope you enjoy a few good books if we happen to have just one more snowstorm before spring comes to Keswick. These are the perfect stories to keep you company as we wait for the crocus to appear!

Book Worm: Take a Journey – Transport Yourself to Another Time

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By Suzanne Nash

Nash-November-BookWormI have always loved Ann Patchett’s writing and The Patron Saint of Liars is just one more masterpiece in her repertoire.  It’s the 1960’s and St. Elizabeth’s stands in a field welcoming a stream of unwed mothers through its doors.  Unhappy with her life and expecting a baby that she does not really want, Rose lands on the doorstep of St. Elizabeth’s and instead of giving away her child she finds a home and a life. The unwed girls and the nuns who care for them are all wonderful opportunities for character development and Patchett will not let you down. While the story is built around Rose and her choices, the way that the author constructs the tale gives the reader a greater insight into the feelings and emotions of everyone involved. The story is broken up into three sections.  The first section is written from the perspective of Rose as she struggles to find her path and the second section is narrated by Son, the man who looks after St. Elizabeth’s. The final section is Cecelia’s perspective and through her eyes the reader comes full circle.

Heart of Deception by M.L. Malcolm was written in 2008 but this sequel to Heart of Lies continues to be a wonderful novel that will carry you through World War II and into the 1960s. War forces families apart and requires decisions to be made that often remain hidden until much later. Leo Hoffman is a complicated man with a complicated life.  He really has no home and struggles to find a way to stay connected to his daughter once he sends her away from him for protection. In order to find a way back to his daughter, Leo must become a spy once more. Meanwhile his daughter, Maddy, believes she has been abandoned by her father. She is told half-truths and lies that change her life and direction.

All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr is another tale that takes place during World War II.  The protagonist is a blind young girl named Marie Laure who grew up exploring the Museum of Natural History in Paris where her father worked as the keeper of the keys.  In another country a young orphaned boy named Werner struggles to survive with his sister in a poor mining town.  Werner has a brilliant mind and once he finds an abandoned radio he begins to learn how it works, taking it apart and rebuilding it.  This skill soon becomes useful as Hitler takes control and Werner is recruited to locate resistance fighters. Eventually Marie Laure and Werner cross paths and the fact that they are on the opposite sides of the war cannot diminish their connection.

All of these books are about journeys of one type or another.  They will take you back in time and transport you to other lands but they all also explore the parent child relationship and what a parent will do to protect their child. I hope you enjoy them and remember to be thankful as we get ready for November and Thanksgiving!