Park Lane

Park Lane 
Frances Osborne 2012
Vintage; A division of Random House Pub.

Summary:

The bestselling author of The Bolter returns with a delicious novel about two determined women whose lives collide in the halls of a pedigreed London town home.

When eighteen-year-old Grace Campbell arrives in London in 1914, she’s unable to fulfill her family’s ambitions and find a position as an office secretary. Lying to her parents and her brother, Michael, she takes a job as a housemaid at Number 35, Park Lane, where she is quickly caught up in lives of its inhabitants—in particular, those of its privileged son, Edward, and daughter, Beatrice, who is recovering from a failed relationship that would have taken her away from an increasingly stifling life. Desperate to find a new purpose, Bea joins a group of radical suffragettes and strikes up an intriguing romance with an impassioned young lawyer. Unbeknownst to each of the young women, the choices they make amid the rapidly changing world of WWI will connect their chances at future happiness in dramatic and inevitable ways.

Personal Reflection:
I really liked this book. I had trouble with the tense of it though. It was written in present tense. At the same time though it was in a past tense. The whole fact that it's written in present tense was really hard to get used to. Especially because this book is historical fiction.  The characters are quite hard to relate to. They are not necessarily the most relatable. Sure they have flaws but because of the time setting their flaws aren't one that you would find yourself going, "I know what that's like!" The book is fast paced and a speedy read. It kept me interested throughout. There is some swearing that's out of place. It adds a strange air to the book. Bea seems distant from most of her family. And Grace lies to hers making her even more distant. A pretty good read.

Grade: +++ 
Book to Read This Week: The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde

-Maggie

Below Stairs

Below Stairs
Margaret Powell 2011
Pan Publishing


Summary:

 Brilliantly evoking the long-vanished world of masters and servants portrayed in Downton Abbey and Upstairs, Downstairs, Margaret Powell’s classic memoir of her time in service, Below Stairs, is the remarkable true story of an indomitable woman who, though she served in the great houses of England, never stopped aiming high. Powell first arrived at the servants' entrance of one of those great houses in the 1920s.  As a kitchen maid – the lowest of the low – she entered an entirely new world; one of stoves to be blacked, vegetables to be scrubbed, mistresses to be appeased, and bootlaces to be ironed. Work started at 5.30am and went on until after dark. It was a far cry from her childhood on the beaches of Hove, where money and food were scarce, but warmth and laughter never were. Yet from the gentleman with a penchant for stroking the housemaids’ curlers, to raucous tea-dances with errand boys, to the heartbreaking story of Agnes the pregnant under-parlormaid, fired for being seduced by her mistress’s nephew, Margaret’s tales of her time in service are told with wit, warmth, and a sharp eye for the prejudices of her situation. Margaret Powell's true story of a life spent in service is a fascinating “downstairs” portrait of the glittering, long-gone worlds behind the closed doors of Downton Abbey and 165 Eaton Place

 Personal Review:
I love Downton Abbey and I thought I should give this book a try. I was fascinating, it was written in such a way that it kept moving at a great pace. Not pausing too long at one thing. It noted how different life was then and now. It also talked about how different employers could be. Anywhere between kind and very strict. She talks about how necessary it was then for women to have multiple talents. She left her house at thirteen for the service. She became a cook st eighteen. More than I could hope to achieve. She talked about fleeting work and friends. It's quite sad about how hard it was too keep a friend when moving from house to house. She also talks about how your employers would guilt trip you into staying. Overall I really liked it.

Grade:++++
Book To Read This Week: Park Lane by Frances Osborne 

P.S. Sorry, internet down couldn't post.

-Maggie

Hello, Gorgeous: Becoming Barbra Streisand

Hello, Gorgeous: Becoming Barbra Streisand
William J. Mann 2012
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt



Summary:

 In 1960, she was a seventeen-year-old Brooklyn kid with plenty of talent but no connections and certainly no money; her mother brought her soup to make sure she stayed fed as she took acting classes and scraped out a living. Just four years later, Barbra Streisand was the top-selling female recording artist in America and the star of one of Broadway’s biggest hits. Now the acclaimed Hollywood biographer William Mann chronicles that dizzying ascent, telling the riveting behind-the-scenes story of how Streisand and her team transformed her from an unknown dreamer into a worldwide superstar. 

Personal Review:
I thought the book was really quite good. But it dragged on. The book itself was over 500 pages. And was repiticious quite often. While it painted a really good picture of Barbra's emotions and ideas it also shared those of the people she knew. It caused me to have great sympathy for her at some points and at others to be like "get over it!" She thinks her mother doesn't love her but that is not the case. While I had a hard time appreciating what her mother did at first I came to really like Barbra's mother. Some of her flames were sort of.... distant and self centered. But the writing was really good. I quite enjoyed reading it. It really made me understand why Streisand is the way she is.

Grade: +++
Book to Read This Week: Below Stairs by Margaret Powell

-MaggieG

The Girl In The Gatehouse

 The Girl In The Gatehouse
Julie Klassen 2011
Bethany House Publishers

Summary:

Miss Mariah Aubrey, banished after a scandal, hides herself away in a long-abandoned gatehouse on the far edge of a distant relative's estate. There, she supports herself and her loyal servant the only way she knows how--by writing novels in secret.

Captain Matthew Bryant, returning to England successful and wealthy after the Napoleonic wars, leases an impressive estate from a cash-poor nobleman, determined to show the society beauty who once rejected him what a colossal mistake she made. When he discovers an old gatehouse on the property, he is immediately intrigued by its striking young inhabitant and sets out to uncover her identity, and her past. But the more he learns about her, the more he realizes he must distance himself. Falling in love with an outcast would ruin his well-laid plans.

The old gatehouse holds secrets of its own. Can Mariah and Captain Bryant uncover them before the cunning heir to the estate buries them forever?

Personal Review:

 The book took 80 pages to become mildly interesting. Too long in my opinion.   While the summary sounds very interesting it's less mysterious than that. I can not feel bad for the main character because she is too full of self pity. Throughout the book she is constantly complaining about her ruin. I do not sympathize with those who don't get over it. I assume that Matthew is supposed to be a Bryonic hero. This does not have that effect. the book had many "jump cuts" that were poorly executed. Instead of a smooth transfer from one chapter to another it is rough and poorly done. I mean she would end the chapter with an unfinished conversation or a meeting but then she just drops it. The chapters could even be weeks apart but she never tells you that until almost halfway through the chapter. This is supposed to be romantic but it's not. I mean Matthew makes Mr. Rochester look like a romantic. And that's saying a lot. And while it was better by the end I still found it 391 pages almost too long. Many Improvements could have been made.

Grade: ++
Book to Read This Week:  Hello, Gorgeous: Becoming Barbra Streisand by William J. Mann

 - See You Next Tuesday, MaggieG. (Not This Tuesday this week but next week.)

P.S. Sorry I broke my Tuesday policy but I finished so I thought, "What the heck"

Kisses From Katie

Kisses From Katie: A Story of Relentless Love and Redemption.
Katie J. Davis 2011
Howard Publishing

Summary:

What would cause an eighteen-year-old senior class president and homecoming queen from Nashville, Tennessee, to disobey and disappoint her parents by forgoing college, break her little brother’s heart, lose all but a handful of her friends (because they think she has gone off the deep end), and break up with the love of her life, all so she could move to Uganda, where she knew only one person and didn’t even speak the language?
A passion to follow Jesus.
Katie Davis left over Christmas break of her senior year for a short mission trip to Uganda and her life was turned completely inside out. She found herself so moved by the people of Uganda and the needs she saw that she knew her calling was to return and care for them. Katie, a charismatic and articulate young woman, is in the process of adopting thirteen children in Uganda and has established a ministry, Amazima, that feeds and sends hundreds more to school while teaching them the Word of Jesus Christ.
Kisses from Katie invites readers on a journey of radical love down the red dirt roads of Uganda. You’ll laugh and cry with Katie as she follows Jesus into the impossible and finds joy and beauty beneath the dust. Katie and her children delight in saying yes to the people God places in front of them and challenge readers to do the same, changing the world one person at a time.

 Personal Review:

I found the book to be very spiritual. Katie, or Mommy, as her children call her. Has done amazing things with her life. She has adopted 13 children and she's only 22. I wish I could affect people the way she affects others. She talks about how the experience has helped her take nothing for granted. She loves everything and is constantly thankful to God for everything. The book really deals with her realization that God has helped and prepared her for everything she'd gone through. She gave up her life of material things for a life of spiritual fulness. She would rather have the fulness of the soul than living in a world that takes things for granted. When she went back to the states to fundraise she found that she had a harder time living with people who took life for granted. The books had tear prick my eyes, by the happiness she had brought so many. Several times children have told her "Thank you for the food to keep me alive." It really made me feel that God was the reason she did this. The books was very wonderful. A very spiritual read, reenforcing my belief in human kindness, compassion, and love.

Grade:++++

Book to read this week: The Girl In The Gatehouse by Julie Klassen. Will review next Tuesday.

-MaggieG.

How This Works

So if you ant to participate feel free comments are welcome. Join this discussion. Once a week on Tuesdays I'll post. This blog is inspired by my resolution to read 52 books by the end of the year. Every week I'll review a book and will tell what the next book to read is. If you want, read the book and then read what I have to say on it. OR read my posts for books to read. I've already read ththe book for this week so I'll review it.

MaggieG.