Sunday Salon: A Reading Retrospective, June 2004

June will be behind us in just another couple of days. I haven't even finished with May yet, but there you have it.

With the end of the month comes a look back to my reading five years ago. Grab a snack and drink and settle in for a trip down memory lane. Let's see where June of 2004 took me.

I began that June with a mystery, which turned out to be more a romance, and that proved disappointing. It was not what I had expected--or wanted--at that moment in time. The novel was called Death Warmed Over . . . Coming Soon by Cindy Daniel. I can't remember exactly where I heard about the book. I seem to think the author had been a member of one of my reading groups at the time, and I decided to give her book a try. I could be completely remembering that wrong though, so don't hold me to it. I thought the book was okay but was not encouraged to pick up the next in the series.

Needing something intense and suspenseful, I turned to an old favorite, Jonathan Kellerman. I gobbled up two of his novels that month, A Cold Heart and Therapy. A Cold Heart, the 17th book in the series fit the bill perfectly. Therapy, not so much. Both books featured child psychologist and police consultant Alex Delaware and his sidekick, homicide detective Milo Sturgis. What I found a little off putting about Therapy was the amount of dialogue and the lack of forward movement in the story. They characters seemed to sit around and hash things out over and over again. It got old fast.

In between those two I read my first Keith Ablow book, Denial, another crime fiction novel, which had come highly recommended. I had been warned ahead of time about the main character, Frank. Frank, a forensic pyschologist with a drug problem, was anything but likeable at first. But he grew on me as the book went along. Not to mention the story itself was quite good. It seemed like a promising start to a new series.

And then it was time for some laughs. Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum series had certainly kept me in stitches before and when I read Big Ten it was no different. This was back in the day when the release of a Stephanie Plum book meant I was at the bookstore as soon as I could get there. I didn't even wait to get home to start on this one. Grandma Mazur can do no wrong in my book.

I followed that up with the first in a series that would soon become a favorite, Summon the Keeper by Tanya Huff. The novel features, Claire Hansen, a Keeper, whose job it is to help keep the universe in one piece, sealing off the evil holes that open up along the seams of the universe when evil is perpetrated. I instantly fell in love with her talking cat. The novel had a colorful cast of characters, including a romantic ghost, a vampire, werewolves, Olympian gods, and a nosy neighbor. I have yet to try Tanya Huff's Blood series, but it's on my must read list.

Somewhere in between all the more entertaining novels, I also read a more serious one, Louise Murphy's The True Story of Hansel and Gretal. For those of you who like books about the Holocaust or World War II, this is definitely one you should read it you have not already. It is a book that still lingers with me today.

Here is my journal entry about the book from five years ago:

So much went into this novel that it is hard to describe succinctly, at least for me. Although the book got a slow start, it was hard to put it down after awhile. The characters found their way into my heart and I wanted to see how the story would play out. The story takes place in the Bialowieza Forest, one of the last untouched forests in Europe. This is a fairy tale taken in a different direction, set in Poland during the final months of the Nazi Occupation during the Second World War. Hansel and Gretel are two young Jewish children who are abandoned by their father and stepmother on the edge of the forest in an effort to save all of their lives. Although we never know the true names of the two children, they take on different identities in the book in order to stay alive. A kind gypsy woman known as the village witch takes the children in and the reader is introduced to her family, a fallen priest who is the witch’s brother, and her grand-niece who is in love with a mysterious woodsman. The village in which they live is controlled by a German Major who had been maimed on the Russian front and then later an SS officer who strikes terror wherever he goes.

Much like the original fairy tale of Hansel and Gretel, characteristics from the original tale could be seen in Ms. Murphy’s version throughout: the dropping of the breadcrumbs so their father could find them, Hansel eating bread on a stick outside the house of the witch (candy from the house of the witch in the original version), Gretel being locked in a cage, and the children being stuffed into the oven, for example. However, the two tales differed greatly in many respects and a completely different tale was told in this book. The author left no detail out about the terrors the villagers and the main characters faced. The evilness of the SS officer darkened every scene he was in. Louise Murphy did her research in recreating the horrors, including the gas chambers, the science experiments, the kidnappings, rapes, and the extermination of those who were not “pure.” Ms. Murphy also described openly the mutilation and sacrifices made to protect the children out of desperation and fear. The author wrote about the resistance effort, taking us into the minds of those hiding in the forest doing what they could to further the ousting of the German forces from Poland. The prejudices were clearly shown among even the victims toward each other. And while the hope was that the Soviets would save them, there was also the fear that the Soviets, a long time enemy of Poland, would not let them free once the Germans were gone.

This is a story about survival, sacrifice, the power of memories and love. It is a heart-wrenching story that gives new meaning to an old fairy tale and brings to life the horrors of a terrible time in our world’s history. [excerpt from reading journal, June 2004]

I think that sums it up well.

Returning to the present, this past June I traveled across Europe and North Africa, searching for a journalist fleeing for her life from terrorists. I spent time in Montreal after a brief stint in New York, hoping to find a wanderer who was running from a past she did not remember. I went back in time to Kentucky during the late 1930's. I learned the meaning of friendship and love and stood up to those whose hearts were full of hate. Then I found myself in the middle of a major investigation into a dangerous drug ring, tracing dealers, distributors, suppliers, and on up the food chain. I have also spent some time this month with immigrants from the country of Georgia, as they try to make their way in the world, one who is separated from her son and another who is still searching for love. And who would pass up a chance to visit Las Vegas and hang out with a tattoo artist while tracking down a killer? Whether I was laughing to myself, shedding tears, or holding my breath in fear or anticipation, it was an exciting month. I look forward to seeing what July has to offer. I hope you will join me!

Reading Mews:

Book reviews posted this past week:
Sweeping Up Glass by Carolyn Glass
Chemical Cowboys by Lisa Sweetingham
Short Story Saturday: "Champion" and "Maia in Yonkers" by Sana Krasikov

Currently Reading:
One More Year by Sana Krasikov
The Welsh Girl by Peter Ho Davies

New Additions to my TBR collection:
Sacred Hearts by Sarah Dunant (I liked Birth of Venus by the same author very much. I couldn't pass this one up.)
The Good Fairies of New York by Martin Millar (a couple of you recommended this one and the description of the book was just too good to pass this one up again. I had to have it. And I couldn't very well leave Barnes and Noble empty handy, now could I?)


Other Posts of Interest This Week:
Movie Mondays: I'd Rather Be Pretending
Wordless Wednesday: Riding the Highway (Part 3)
A Page in the Life of Teddy Rose from So Many Precious Books, So Little Time


(Many thanks to Florinda of The 3 R's: Reading, 'Riting, and Randomness for allowing me to copy her status report idea. And an added thank you to Anya who helped my husband and I come up with the title of my status review report.)