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 In times of stress, there’s almost nothing better than rereading a cozy favorite book and shutting out the world. And who better to remind us of how to be the heroines of our own lives than the heroines of our favorite books? From Jane Eyre, my own personal favorite, to The Color Purple, Blakemore takes a closer look at our favorite female characters, the books they star in, and the authors who wrote them. She not only isolates a few of the greatest traits of these heroines, but explains how we can take them away and use them in our own lives.
The Heroine’s Bookshelf was everywhere in the book blogosphere last month and with all the praise it garnered, I couldn’t resist getting a copy for myself. So when it popped up on Amazon Vine, I eagerly requested it, just knowing I’d love a book about so many of my favorite female characters. It’s difficult for a book to live up to those high expectations, but this one managed just that. It’s a delightful, heartening little read, that reminds us we’re not alone and certainly made me want to go right back to these literary favorites. Perfectly written for a time when many women’s lives are getting more difficult, when the pennies have to stretch that much further, this is a book that has a place on every woman’s bookshelf.
What I really loved most about this book was that Blakemore didn’t stop at the actual heroines in the novels. No, those are the women we’re all familiar with, that we have already come to love and store within ourselves. She also talks about the fabulous female authors who created these literary heroines and their own foibles. She speculates on their motivations for creating the strong girls who still manage to inspire us today and adds them into the mix of real life – because much as we’d like it, our lives aren’t fiction with a neat conclusion. Our lives are messy, and so were these authors’, but they stood above that and created literature that transcends. Maybe our acts of heroism aren’t writing, but that doesn’t mean they can’t inspire us.
Split into sections for the trait each character epitomizes, Blakemore takes us on a literary journey of sorts, through one heroine’s capacity to love, to another’s classification of magic, to a third’s unrelenting faith. Even without having read all the books (I have never read The Color Purple or Colette’s Claudine works), I still felt I gained from those sections. As an added bonus, I’d now love to read them, and plan to do so in the very near future. The entire book felt like it was written just for me – and it reminded me of how fortunate I am to love reading and to find inspiration in it on a regular basis.
If you are a woman and love to read – if you spent much of your childhood lost in a book like me – The Heroine’s Bookshelf is simply a must read. I’m thrilled to have it on my shelf.
I am an Amazon Associate. I received this book for free for review from Amazon Vine.
 As a child and teenager, I reread books all the time. For a few years, I didn’t own a book I hadn’t read twice, as I quite speedily read and reread any new books my parents bought me. Books are, obviously, easier to come by these days. I actually have unread books left from every single month of last year, which demonstrates how drastic the problem is, and I don’t really anticipate receiving fewer books at this point. But I still want to reread books I haven’t read in years. So, I have three big rereads I’ve decided to publicly commit myself to this year.
1. A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens. I read this first in high school and Ihave always wanted to read it again. I’m reading along with Nicole and Jen on What’s Old is New for the year, and so far have been doing really well. Reading each section only takes about half an hour, and while I know this means I’ll be reading this book for a very long time, that may be the only way I finish it again. Saying that, I’m enjoying it so far and found it difficult to step away after finishing the last section, so clearly my choice to reread this was a good one.
 2. Anne of Green Gables by L. M. Montgomery – and the rest of the series. When I realized I could have all of these on my Kindle, I knew it was high time to reread these childhood favorites. I have never read all of them before, and some of the later ones I only read once, so I’m really looking forward to rediscovering them again. Anne of Green Gables has always been one of my favorite books. I’m planning on reading one book out of the series each month starting in February.
 3. The Wheel of Time. This is my biggest challenge for the year. This series was my very first foray into epic fantasy way back when. While it had its ups and downs, I have been waiting for it to be finished since I was in high school. Not as long as some people who started reading when the first book is published, but quite a while to wait for a series to end. Now, the last book, A Memory of Light, is the only one left to be published, but that leaves me with no less than 13 doorstopper volumes to read before publication date – the last three of which are completely new to me. I want to be ready to read 14 on that pub date, which is currently projected to be March 2012, leaving me with about enough time if I read one book per month, starting in February. This should also means I can remember what happened, because I’ll be reminding myself each and every month. (WoT fans will realize that I’m skipping the prequel book, but I actually remember that one fairly well since I accidentally read it twice and last, so I chose to leave that one out.)
Those are my rereading plans for the year. If they succeed, I have quite a few other series I’ll tackle in 2012, but I’ll go with these in the meantime.
Do you have any books you’re planning on rereading in 2011?
 On the eve of moving his family from England to his native US, Bill Bryson decides to take one last trip around the country he’s lived in for nearly two decades. He journeys from the south of England up to John O’Groat’s in Scotland, exploring a myriad of historic and modern cities and landmarks along the way. He does so entirely on public transport, making an effort to disprove the complaints of Brits everywhere when they protest their trains and buses – which, to an American who has to drive just to get to a bus stop, are pretty exciting – and makes quite a few observations on British character along the way.
I’ve been enjoying Bryson’s memoirs for a few months now, but I think this one has been my favorite. It’s pretty easy to see why; like Bryson, I am also an American living in England. While I can laugh at the many absurdities of English people, as Bryson does, it’s pretty clear that both of us just absolutely love the country. Criticisms abound, but they are the criticisms you make of someone you love dearly – you can see faults, but that doesn’t diminish how you feel overall.
What’s really funny about this book is how accurate it is. The part about multi-storey car parks made me laugh so hard I actually cried (which amused my British husband to no end as well), because it was just so true. They do, in fact, always smell of urine in the stairwells, no matter how nice the place you’re visiting is. So many of his observations – even years on, when British Rail no longer exists – are still completely accurate. British people will unfailingly line up in neat queues without being told where to go. They do apologize to you before they complain about something that’s completely within their rights to have. They have a complete disregard for historic buildings because they have so many of them, something which has only lately begun to change. It’s all very true, in case you wonder as you read this.
Because you should read it if you are an Anglophile, and especially if you’re an American. There is much to love about the British isles and Bryson is far from immune to their charms, at least those of England, Scotland, and Wales. In addition to exploring the England of today, he looks back at older Englands, visiting towns affected by mining, commercialism, and even Milton Keynes, which was constructed after the world wars. One of the most moving passages in the book was his trip to one northern town, where the miners formed an art society. The art produced by these men wasn’t the best, but it was remarkably good and showed more the fact that they wanted to transcend life in the mine, even if it absorbed every minute of their scant leisure time. Even sadder was the fact that the club closed; not only did the mine close but modern life and the television set began to appeal more than spending time with a paintbrush and easel.
Bill Bryson’s Notes from a Small Island is a love letter to England; it’s a careful look at what makes the people distinctive, the sense of history pervasive, and a hilarious take on modern life. If you’re an Anglophile like me, I can’t recommend this book highly enough.
I am an Amazon Associate. I purchased this book.
 Martin is a thief, but he isn’t an ordinary thief. He meticulously studies his victims – who he calls clients – before he steals from them, to ensure that they don’t have any danger factors and that he won’t get caught by a dog or a child home sick from school. He starts to feel that he knows his clients based on the items he takes from them – from one, he’ll steal some laundry detergent and a packet of nearly expired tomatoes, while from another he’ll nab toothpaste or a box of pasta. His big operations take months of planning and he does his best to take things that his clients won’t miss for long periods of time. But when he gets trapped in one of his clients’ homes and starts to believe he can help them, Martin finds that his life of crime may turn into an attempt to be a guardian angel for his clients.
This was a startlingly original and often delightful read. Who could imagine that a thief could be so lovable? It helps that he hardly ever steals anything actually worth money, and when he does he takes extra effort to ensure its owners will never miss it. Instead, he seems to consider his clients as friends. He’s a peculiar character to start; he’s obsessed with mapping out houses and following his routines. He thinks he’s gone on dates with a woman at the local diner when she’s just being friendly, and has a single friend to his name. He works at a coffee shop and tells the people that he knows that he writes technical manuals rather than divulging his real career. He seems as though he might have happily gone along continuing to steal from his clients for years, until he realizes that maybe he can use his intimate knowledge of them for good rather than for his own personal gain.
In some respects, I think making it so easy to relate to him trivializes the fact that he is actually stealing, but this is a minor note and is completely contradicted by the good he actually ends up doing. Since we spend over 100 pages following him on his travels, we get a really good idea of what he actually steals and how he goes about doing it. Still, somehow, we appreciate and start to like him even as he describes his meticulous process of removing fingerprints and approaching houses from a variety of methods. It’s after we’ve known him that the book takes off – things start to go wrong and Martin has to cope with not only dangers but unfamiliar environments he isn’t prepared for. I didn’t feel anxious for his clients as he investigated, I felt anxious for him.
Something Missing completely delivers on its unusual premise with a fantastic main character as well as an intense and addicting storyline. This sweet read is highly recommended.
I am an Amazon Associate. I received this book for free for review from the publisher.
 Life in the military is difficult, not only for the men who go off to war, but for the women and children they are forced to leave behind. This new collection of stories from Siobhan Fallon explores the lives of the men and women who are forced to endure the separation, from both perspectives. We see men who dream of nothing but home, only to find themselves strangely out of place away from the war. We meet women who are bereft without their men, but when the men return are unsure how to fit them back into their strict lives. And we witness the spouses who can’t take the separation, who cheat, from both sides of the equation.
Every tiny bit of praise you’ve heard for You Know When the Men Are Gone is true. This is an incredible collection of stories, and I say that as someone who doesn’t normally like short stories, whose loved ones are all civilians, and who is hesitant about reading books about modern day women’s emotions. Each story in this book is wonderful on its own and as part of this collection. They are all very loosely connected, some having more links than others, but with several universal themes coming through.
Many of those themes are explored through the two different perspectives. We witness just how difficult it is for women when their husbands are gone. They bond together with other mothers, have children early to have something left of their husbands, and end up coping with absolutely everything in the men’s absence. Meanwhile, the men are dreaming of home, even as they’re adjusting to Iraq. Each story in some way deals with a soldier’s return or lack of return.
Infidelity is a big concern for both the soldiers and the women who are waiting for them. After all, a year’s deployment is a very long time, and all of them can get desperate. One husband returns, convinced his wife is cheating, and hides in his own basement to catch her in the act. A wife suspects her husband of cheating, but decides to forgive him and save the love that she still has for him and, she hopes, him for her.
Each story in this collection affected me in some way, tugging on my heartstrings relentlessly. Several had me in tears, which doesn’t happen very often for me and books. I can’t imagine how difficult these lives are, but I truly feel that Fallon gave me a glimpse into the tough struggles that military families go through each and every day. There is definitely a reason this collection has earned so much buzz, and it’s so well deserved. I’m glad to add my voice to the many others who have fallen in love with this book – Fallon is unquestionably an author to watch and You Know When the Men Are Gone is an amazing read.
I am an Amazon Associate. I received this book for free for review from the publisher.
 Lady Julia Yardley would do almost anything to divorce her husband. She stops short of killing him, but only because jail would be yet another prison. Justice for an early twentieth century lady with an abusive husband is difficult to find, however, so in the end Julia realizes she has only one way out: adultery. She arranges a seduction of a friend, Aidan Carr, the duke of Trathen, so that her atrocious husband will catch her in the act, and she is granted the divorce she so craves, causing a ridiculous but necessary amount of scandal in the process. But what she doesn’t account for is the fact that Aidan will continue to be drawn to her and, as her feelings thaw from a destructive decades-long marriage, that she will be tempted by his advances.
Reading this in close succession with Wedding of the Season was, I think, a great idea. Both Julia and Aidan are introduced in that book, and therein they absolutely can’t stand each other. Julia is constantly needling upright, proper Aidan, who was engaged to her cousin Beatrix (the heroine of that book). There was clearly something there, but I was genuinely shocked when I realized that these two were actually the stars of this particular book. I shouldn’t have been, though; everyone knows that strong antagonism can be much more than it appears on the surface, and here it’s jealousy and longing in their most potent forms. Scandal of the Year fleshes out the back story of these two characters, so we learn just why Julia is out to irritate Aidan and, simultaneously, why he is the one she chooses to seduce when her situation gets desperate.
I loved the way this series revolves around scandal. None of these events would be anything close to scandalous in our society, unless a celebrity was the one committing them; a woman like Julia would have divorced her husband and had legal protection, no less. But for Victorians, desperate times call for desperate measures, and Julia suffers in a way she never would have done in our world. This isn’t just virgins hopping into bed with dukes without a thought for the consequences, as happens in so very many romances; Julia does think about and suffer the consequences of her decisions. She’s cut in society, she only gets invited to balls by her friends (some of whom abandon her), and she is a proper divorcee. Her previous scandalous behavior is quickly hushed up and she’s speedily married off to prevent gossip. Julia knows that, were she to have children, they will suffer even more. Aidan’s association with her damages his prospects and means his search to find a suitable heiress is vastly more difficult. It doesn’t stop them falling in love with one another, but they are firmly planted within the society of their time.
The romance itself was at times frustrating; I felt Julia clung too closely to her stubbornness, but this was ingrained in her character from the beginning. I could understand why it was happening, but rather strangely I was always on Aidan’s side. I’ve been wondering if that is simply due to my own fortunate experience in the romantic department, and I’ll be very interested to read other reviews and see how other women viewed these two characters.
Scandal of the Year is another wonderful romance from Laura Lee Guhrke; I am definitely eager to read more of her work after these two books and I’m glad to have discovered another good romance author (especially when a few of my favorites seem to have gone downhill these days). I would definitely recommend it to other romance readers.
I am an Amazon Associate. I received this book for free for review from Netgalley.
 When Eddie’s father killed himself, her life fell apart. She can’t figure out how he could have left her, left her mother, when they all seemed so happy. Now her mother can’t get out of her bathrobe, her mother’s best friend Beth is constantly in the house and invading Eddie’s life, and there are ever-growing boundaries between her and her own best friend Milo. When Eddie meets her father’s last student, Culler Evans, she begins to hope that he can finally answer the question “why?”, even at the expense of everyone and everything she thinks she knows.
I don’t think I can do this book justice in a review. It was such an all-consuming experience, a complete cascade of grief, hope, and love, that I genuinely don’t think I can express the effect this book had on me. Needless to say, I was totally wrapped up in Eddie’s experiences. At times, I wished she could have been more forthcoming – that all of the people in the novel could say what they really wanted to – but conversations in real life are difficult, too, and I didn’t think the author could have done a better job portraying real people suffering.
When Culler comes into the picture, I could completely understand Eddie’s desire to know, to understand. A death, especially a suicide, makes us question what happened, and in our grief, it can be so easy to get lost in that question. I was worried for her, dealing with an older boy who could hurt her so easily, and at that moment I realized just how wrapped up I was in this book. I didn’t want to put it down for anything, I just wanted to see what happened and whether Eddie managed to find the meaning she so craved.
Amidst all of this are the usual teenage dramas – because at the heart of it these characters are distinctly teenage even when their lives are turned upside down. Eddie still wants to be with her friend, Milo, even though he won’t tell her essential facts about the night her father died. His ex-girlfriend still manages to get in the way of their friendship. And she still sometimes goes out to parties, where occasionally she feels a spark of normality. She’s changed but she’s still recognizably a teenage girl, which gives us hope that she will find answers and return to enjoying her life eventually.
Fall for Anything was simply an incredible book. Beautifully written, with realistic characters and an absolutely gut-wrenching storyline, don’t miss this if you enjoy contemporary YA. And let me tell you, I have Some Girls Are on my shelf and I cannot wait to get to it now.
I am an Amazon Associate. Many thanks to the author and publisher for sending me this review copy!
 Margaret of Anjou has no idea what’s in store for her when she travels as a seasick French fifteen-year-old to marry the English king Henry VI. Not fluent in English and, due to her nationality, viewed as an enemy by many English people, Margaret doesn’t have the easiest time of it, particularly when her marriage fails to bring peace between England and France and takes years to produce an heir to the throne. Amidst suspicions over his illegitimacy, challenges to her husband’s throne, and eventual war between her suspects, Margaret struggles to retain the birthrights of herself, her husband, and her son.
Susan Higginbotham is a historical fiction writer who never fails to deliver the books that I personally want to read. Well-written, historically accurate, and meticulously detailed, she is an expert at transporting me back in history while never really throwing me out of the story with something I obviously know to be wrong. Even when she does change something to suit her purposes, I know that it will be logical and fully explained at the end, as everything is here. With this latest book, I got all of this and wasn’t disappointed at all. If anyone can make me enjoy a book set during a period about which I know entirely too much, Higginbotham is unquestionably that author.
And I did enjoy The Queen of Last Hopes. At its heart it is a good depiction of Margaret’s life and a more careful examination of the motivations that this so often vilified woman had for the actions she took over the course of her life. She’s not dismissed as a villain, for once, but instead rehabilitated. Unfortunately, though, I think in this case Higginbotham went a little further towards good than I really would have preferred. I would agree that she was made to seem excessively cruel because she was a woman, a crime perpetuated over the centuries, simply because she took a role most people would rather envision a man having. But that doesn’t mean she had to be so very good; I think creating an affair for her went some way towards mitigating this, but not entirely.
Still, I related to Margaret, and for the first time I felt I could understand what the real woman must have gone through as everyone turned against her and everything she cared about was at risk. I’d find it difficult not to. The book is told through differing viewpoints and I found hers to be by far the most appealing, even though she was on the sidelines of almost all the events. Those other characters give us the perspective on her that we need to remain balanced throughout the course of the novel; they save the book from excessive telling by giving us a way to see the events through those characters’ eyes.
Overall, The Queen of Last Hopes was an engaging historical novel for me that suited my expectations perfectly. I would have preferred a more balanced version of Margaret, but I could still relate to her and was still wrapped up in her story. Though not my favorite of Higginbotham’s books, this is still a good move towards looking more realistically at Margaret of Anjou.
I am an Amazon Associate. I received this book for free from the publisher for review.
 On one cold winter in Wisconsin, 1907, Ralph Truitt awaits his mail-order bride at the train station. All he has are a photo, of a plain innocent-looking woman, and letters from her. The woman who steps off the train is too beautiful, instantly causing Ralph to be suspicious, but he’s been unloved for far too long, and in any case has a mission for his new wife. He wants Catherine Land to persuade his son, Antonio, to return to him, for a final chance at forgiveness. But he has no idea how complex the ties are truly between him and his new wife, nor the conspiracies which soon crop up amongst these three very different people.
This book, while bleak, is surprisingly addictive. Goolrick’s tone throughout is contemplative, which perfectly fits the winter atmosphere and the secret, devious plots that the characters harbor and then keep from each other. It’s well-paced, with everything revealed at just the right moment, enough to keep me stuck to the page while I waited for the next revelation, the next step in the plan. I couldn’t say I liked any of the characters, but I did appreciate the story itself very much.
One important warning; if you’re a bit squeamish about sex, this is not the book for you. The characters are very explicit in their thoughts and actions and much of their relationships are actually based on sex. I’d argue that it’s got more in there than many romance novels I’ve read, and certainly more than the ones I prefer. The whole book is charged through with it. It’s a dark gothic romance without any little details actually left out, and in my opinion it’s best approached that way. But the beauty of the story is truly that both characters learn that sex and desire aren’t love, that marriage isn’t easy, and without so much emphasis on the physical side of things, I’m not sure it would have the same impact.
To make it all that much better, Catherine, despite being a prostitute and very uneducated, adores books and knowledge, and her time spent in the library is some of the happiest of her life. Though I never really cared all that much about the characters, this one little thing did help quite a bit towards making me like her. It’s just one of those little signs that she hasn’t let the circumstances of her life destroy her spirit, and as a result I kept hoping for a good chance for her and a bit of redemption by the end.
A Reliable Wife was an intoxicating read; suspenseful plot, moving emotions, and fantastic setting. It may be a little bit too racy for some, and I never quite fell in love with the characters, so I can’t recommend it whole-heartedly, but it was nevertheless for me an excellent book.
I am an Amazon Associate. I purchased this book.
 Miles has lived a fairly lonely life throughout school when he decides to go to the same boarding school his dad went to, Culver Creek, to finish out his high school years. Rather than spending all of his time researching the last words of dead people, Miles wants to live, to experience his “Great Perhaps”. And on arrival, he almost immediately starts to, as his roommate instantly befriends him and introduces him to a friend, Alaska Young. Miles has never met a girl like Alaska – a clever, funny, beautiful girl, always living on the edge and taking risks. Starting out on a countdown to a mysterious event, Looking For Alaska is suspenseful, heart-breaking, and completely real.
John Green is famous around the blogosphere for writing real teenagers with real emotions, and I found nothing less than that in this book. At the very beginning, I found myself immediately drawn in; we start off at Miles’s going-away party, which no one but his parents and two awkward acquaintances attend. How could I not relate to a geeky boy that loves history and struggles to make friends? He’s pragmatic, clever, and funny, and when he met people at his new school right away, I was already his enthusiastic cheerleader.
The story only got better. I’m a big fan of boarding school and even house party stories. When you get lots of characters living together at once, fireworks happen, and they quite literally do so here. There are so many interesting dynamics going on, from pranks to friendships to the traditional high school hierarchy. Each character was quirky and distinct in some way, so I never lost Miles’s friends amongst the crowds. Miles is speedily renamed “Pudgy”, which quite effectively marks his separation as a kid with only adults for friends and a kid who is ready to be a teenager.
And now we get to the point where we talk about spoilers, albeit vaguely, so look away if you haven’t read this book. This is one that I believe is given away on the American cover, but not on my British one. I have one notable incident later in the book that struck me as incredibly true to life and, I think, illustrates very well why John Green is so beloved for writing real teenagers. After a death occurs, a peripheral character comes to Miles, convinced that she’s had “a sign” from said person. Miles doesn’t want to hear it. This character had never related to the one who died in real life, and while he was really suffering, he just wasn’t interested. Instead, he’s annoyed.
This is something which has always bothered me about other people’s reactions to my brother’s death. People who wouldn’t have given him the time of day in real life were torn up about his death, and it’s always bugged me that it wasn’t him they were upset about, it was the confrontation of their own mortality. I always felt that they should have shown something when he was alive. And here John Green has illustrated precisely this. The other characters don’t care about the person who died. They’ve just realized that they themselves will die, and are reaching out for signs that it’s not so bad. What a uniquely teenage experience this is, that realization of death, and what a magnificent job Green did depicting it.
Anyway, to sum up, Looking For Alaska was a fantastic contemporary YA read, a true look at what it feels like to be a teenager, with a suspenseful, emotional plot. Highly recommended, and I’m looking forward to reading more.
I am an Amazon Associate. I purchased this book.
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