Skip to main content

A cup of tea and bit of book chat - August with Barbara Kingsolver and plum cake

Oh, why am I being such a slow reader?! I still haven't finished my book chat book. It is still good though, and I soooo look forward to sharing it with you. In the meantime, for August's book chat here is one of my favourite books by one of my all-time favourite authors. Prodigal Summer by Barbara Kingsolver.

Prodigal Summer by Barbara Kingsolver
I'd like to read this one again this winter. It's so beautifully written, and the characters and relationships so real, that the book demands to be read more than once so you can check in again with the place (the Appalachian mountains) and th characters to whom you become so attached.

This book came out around the same time as Kingsolver's highly acclaimed The Poisonwood Bible, and it strikes me as an antidote for the intensity and dark desperation of that amazing book, because there is a real lightness to Prodigal Summer that is both uplifting and very beautiful.

And, before I go any further I must say a great big WELCOME to all the new followers of Library Girl. I am so glad to have you here. I really hope that you will add in your book chat selections this month, I absolutely love hearing what people are reading! And, thanks Stella *waves* for the little plug - you're so lovely!

Plum and cardamon cake 
Our delicious book-chat baking this month is Plum and Cardamon Cake made by Ginny for Bake Club.
Labels:

Comments

  1. StellaAugust 4, 2011 at 2:56 PM

    Just finished Mister Pip... Everyone told me it was good, but I was still so surprised by how good it was! Not the story I imagined that it would tell... Lovely, sad, beautiful... You know I love Prodigal Summer too!

    ReplyDelete
  2. ChristinaAugust 4, 2011 at 4:25 PM

    I love Prodigal Summer too. I've read it about 3 times I think, and every time I discover more great little details that I somehow missed before. I especially love the relationship between the grumpy old man and his free-spirited neighbour. :)

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A cup of tea and a bit of book chat - September with The Conductor and Yoghurt Banana Muffins

Every quite often it seems a New Zealand author writes a book that I love so much that I can't stop talking about it. In the last few years there was Let Me Sing You Gentle Songs, then Mr Pip , and this time it is..... The Conductor by Sarah Quigley. The Conductor by Sarah Quigley It's cold, it's spare and it's very stark, but Sarah Quigley has created something powerfully beautiful in this book that follows the story of the composition and first performance of Shostakovich's 7th symphony amidst the seige on Leningrad by the Nazi's in 1941. Based around the story of Shostakovich’s single-minded endeavour to write his 7 th Symphony, and see it performed, the book shows the lengths that an artist will go to to express himself. While most people are fleeing the city, and others starving and dying, Shostakovich determinedly writes his piece of music, and it falls upon conductor Karl Eliasberg to rise above his own starvation and grief to bring toget...
24 comments
Read more

This month's music

I'm unashamedly soft when it comes to 'music moments'. Nothing gets me in the same way as the right song, in the right place, at the right moment. Nothing. I've got a stockpile of memories, magical spots of time, when music has got me. Those moments can't be manufactured - it's the show of human qualities that make the magic. I like that - a lot. So, I take my hat off to people who commit themselves to making music. Who work at their craft even when it's going badly, who commit themselves to daily practice, who turn up for the weekly band practice. I've never been one of those people - a proper musician - so I can only imagine that it's not always a picnic, but that perhaps the lure of being part of (or the cause of) one of those special moments can go a long way. Here's my pick for this month's top three hard working New Zealand bands, bringing the magic. (Click on their names to check out their video)        1. Nightchoir - who are a...
Post a Comment
Read more

And then this one comes along ....Pia Jane Bijkerk

In my last post, I commented on the plethora of books about antipodean renovating adventures in France. I think, despite my never-ceasing love of all things french, my interest in books chronicling other people's experiences was starting to wane.  And then this amazing book arrived at the library for me - My Heart Wanders by Pia Jane Bijkerk. It's soooo beautiful. I read it over a couple of nights, (despite its size and weight I couldn't put it down), and now I can't stop thinking about it.  Pia, a successful interior stylist and blogger , takes a brave step into the unknown when she gives up her life in Australia to follow her heart to Paris, and then on to a houseboat in Amsterdam.  It is such a tender, heartfelt memoir. It has the feel of a personal journal, enhanced by a wonderfully crafted dynamic: the reader joins her on her journey, and watches as her new love, new life, and career beautifully unfold.  Not only is it an insp...
1 comment
Read more