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Dusty Shelves 3 Comments

Stephen King

Fiction 1999 | 262 pages

Trisha, nine years old, is on a hike with her older brother and mother, who are arguing so much and so vociferously, they do not hear her say she is stopping to pee. She goes off the trail to pee, and since she is at a Y, she decides to go cross country a bit, just to pick up the other trail. She hears voices on both trails. But she never finds the other trail.

At nine-years-old, she is resourceful and smart. She makes her tuna sandwich and Twinkies last a few days, and then she finds checkerberries, beechnuts, and fiddleheads to help sustain her. Though one of these, or drinking straight from the stream, sends her belly on a roller coaster.

She is out for a week and walks miles and miles away from the search site, well into New Hampshire and up the chimney. Of course, the mishaps are way too many to mention, but do include bug bites, falling, dead deer, torrential rain, swamps, and occasional tears.

Her passion is for Tom Gordon, pitcher for the Boston Red Sox. She has her Walkman with her and is able to listen to three Red Sox games before it dies. Tom Gordon is with her, encouraging her on, keeping her sane .... though it is all fantasy in her mind. As is the evil "thing" that she imagines is out to get her, out there in the woods.

The typical King horror is downplayed in this book. It consists of what a nine-year-old girl imagines in her mind, and the simple but challenging horrors of being lost in the woods. There is no axe murderer or rapist following her.

I love Trisha! She does not do everything perfect, but what a survivor she is, out for over a week until she finally sees a person. I wonder if I would be as strong, committed, and brilliant as she is.

This is a great Stephen King novel. He is such a good writer! If you know other novels of his that are not filled with gore and real terror, and over-zealous bad guys, please let me know. I would be glad to try another.

December 2023

The Chuckling Fingers

December 2023

Dusty Shelves 2 Comments

Mabel Seeley

Fiction 1941 | 385 pages

The Library is a restaurant in International Falls, Minnesota. The walls of the restaurant are lined with shelves filled with books ... and you can take as many as you want when you go there to enjoy lunch or dinner. This is where I acquired Chuckling Fingers. Yes, the plot summary on the back of the book intrigued me, but it was the title that caused me to place this next to my plate of fresh walleye fingers.

The Chuckling Fingers has a smart protagonist, a complicated plot, and a range of characters. Published in 1941, this book was delightful to read in part because it was written 80 years ago. The Heaton family, lumber barons, are together in their estate called "Fiddling Fingers" on Lake Superior, near the town of Grand Marais in Minnesota. Ann Gray is our protagonist and narrator. She is a stenographer in her real life, but comes to visit Jacqueline, her very good friend and cousin, when she learns something is seriously wrong. And she turns into a detective.

"Tricks" keep happening .... Bill's suit develops holes all over, when he and Jacqueline are on their honeymoon. And then there is a fire in their bed, a shredded bathrobe, a missing piece of blue chalk ... all these tricks and more are perpetrated by the villain, and the tricks soon evolve into murder.

I like this book because it is a real mystery, right from the start, with characters that intertwine, and lots of vexing action, a sense of tension in the writing, and a satisfying denouement. Seeley was a well-known mystery writer of her time.

I have finished and I still chuckle (no pun intended) at the title. You will find it refers to the noise made when dangerous waters crash against the finger-shaped rocks on Lake Superior.

I recommend this book ... it is fun and gratifying.

November 2023

The Places that Scare You

Once Upon a River

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Diane Setterfield

Fiction 2018 | 465 pages

I think the writing is superb, from a logophile's perspective ... words are beautifully and thoughtfully used by Ms. Setterfield.

And the story is unusual. It opens with a man entering the Swan Inn tavern with a young girl in his arms, who seems by all accounts to be dead, but mysteriously and miraculously awakens a few hours later. We are in a village along the Thames River, and the year is 1887.

Once Upon a River is about three families — the Vaughans, the Armstrongs and Lilly White — who have each lost a young girl from their lives, and who hope this is the daughter, sister, or granddaughter they lost.

The book begins with a lot of exposition — strong character development, explorations of towns, families and locations, backgrounds, cities, locations and families, etc. and introductions of new plot lines. Each chapter ends in a cloud of mystery and each new chapter seems to introduce a new set of characters and plot lines. There is a blurring of fantasy and reality, but it is rather muddied and unresolved, I believe.

So, good writing and good plot. Why only two hearts? It was a slog to get through the 465 pages of this book. I am not exactly sure why, but I think it is because the story develops ever-so-slowly. I made it through Once Upon a River, but I cannot recommend it. The story simply plods.

November 2023

One Step too Far

Lisa Gardner

Fiction 2022/ 416 pages

Tim and his buddies go backpacking (with lots of beer!) for his bachelor party, into a remote section of the Wyoming mountains. But Tim never returns. Five years later, Tim's dad Martin is still searching for him or his body in remote wilderness areas. On this particular journey, we have Martin; Tim's three friends who were with him that fateful night; Nemeth, a local guide for this remote section; Bob, whose hobby is being a Sasquatch seeker; Luciana and her tracking dog Daisy; and our main character and narrator, Frankie, who really calls no place home, but seeks missing persons as a unpaid profession of sorts. Except Frankie has never been in the wilderness before. She has done all of her tracking in cities, especially inner cities, where she finds the bodies of people who have OD'd, or are victims of violence.

Gardner's characters have depth and personality. Unfortunately, it took the whole first half io the book to set the context and help us really get to know her characters. There are simply too, many, and some seem not necessary to the story line. Of course, Frankie is a delight right from the start, with her adventurous spirit and total lack of knowledge about how to survive a week in the woods.

Halfway in, the mystery began to take over the plot, and things became exciting until the very end, when all is discovered. Except the violence was too gruesome for me.

This is a good, solid mystery, with suspense, and terror, and humor. But it was not my cup of tea. I will not read another Lisa Gardner. She spent too much time in context setting, sacrificing a bit of the actual mystery search and discovery of clues. And I don't need her violence.

The story kept me engaged, especially the second half. I recommend this with a grain of salt ... Mystery lovers may quite appreciate it!

November 2023

The Book Woman’s Daughter

Kim Michele Richardson

Historical Fiction 2022/ 356 pages

I enjoyed this book, though it doesn't have the same complexity or depth of relationships as its predecessor, The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek. If you read that book, you will recall that near the end of that book, Bluet acquires a baby girl, who is also blue. Honey becomes her daughter.

This book is Honey's story, as she follows in her mother's footsteps, experiencing similar discrimination while becoming the new "book woman."

If you have read and enjoyed The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek, you may enjoy this as well. Otherwise, I think you will be missing too much context to find this book meaningful or interesting.

November 2023

Bridge

October 2023

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Remarkably Bright Creatures

October 2023

Shelby Van Pelt

Fiction 2022 | 360 pages

I finished this book about two hours ago and am still smiling about how the title emerges near the end of book.

Once again, a debut novel that astonishes me! The story is scrumptious! Marcellus McSwiddles is a Giant Pacific Octopus who cannot only think and feel as humans do, but also figures out how to let himself out of his tank every night. Remarkably, the information about octopuses in this novel is true. They are warm and intelligent and really do know how to unscrew a jar! (You will likely learn a few octopus facts. I did!)

Tova, our main character, cleans at the Sowell Bay Aquarium (a fictional town in Washington). She is 70, widowed, and also grieving the loss of her son Eric when he was 18. Tova and Marcellus develop a beautiful relationship, as she helps him navigate his excursions outside his tank. At the beginning of the book, Marcellus determines that he can be outside this tank for 18 minutes before he encounters "The Consequences."

The novel, however, is not only about Tova and Marcellus, but also about Cameron. The first few times we meet Cameron, who lives in California, is 30, and cannot hold onto a job or a relationship or any sense of stability, we don't know who is he is or how he will fit into the story. But eventually, all is revealed, And Cameron and his relationship with Tova are a central theme of the book. Well, perhaps THE central theme.

This book is warm-hearted, delightful, hard to put down. The characters have depth, the story line is surprisingly interesting, and the short sections written by Marcellus will tickle you! Do not hesitate to read this debut novel as soon as possible. What will she write next? I have joined her email list so that I will know!

October 2023

Attachments

October 2023