Inferno- Dan Brown

Where to begin with this book! After reading the best seller The Da Vinci Code and absolutely loving the scholarly conversations that revolved around it for months, even years after, I eagerly read The Lost Symbol. I loved it up until the very end when Brown delivered an unsatisfying conclusion to a hunt involving the secretive group the  Freemasons. However, Brown remains a talented writer, part of my top 10 list of authors for sure and I knew that when I read Inferno I wouldn't be disappointed (if you could even call it that) again. 

Inferno follows Brown's Harvard professor Robert Langdon into the heart, mind, and world of Dante Alighieri and his gruesome, often terrifying, and always fascinating Inferno. Although the story starts off somewhat confusing for the reader and Langdon himself (the character has lost bits of his memory) the action begins almost immediately and keeps you guessing and wanting more and more. Langdon and his female companion chase after an unknown, masked vigilante from Italy and beyond (don't want to spoil it!). The hurtles and detours they must face challenge them but you will have to read it to discover whether or not they are successful.  

Just like The Da Vinci Code and Lost Symbol, I could not put this book down, constantly putting other things on hold in order to read (which to me is a sign of an amazing book). Brown has yet to fail me in the entertainment category but also continues to educate with his in depth details from obvious research in the topics he chooses to write on. I have no doubt that  Angels and Demons was just as well written and researched but I have chosen to skip it for the time being. Brown is an author I always recommend and Inferno is number 1 on this year's summer reading list and I doubt it'll be trumped (but we'll see it's only July!) 

Until next time keep reading,

kh

The Moon & More- Sarah Dessen

It has been quite a while since I last posted. I have been reading a bit more lately since I am done with school for the year. The most recent book I have finished is Sarah Dessen's newest book The Moon and More. The book, categorized as Teen Fiction, is Dessen's eleventh full length novel. Although in my opinion it isn't her best story it does trump a few others. My least favorite Keeping the Moon trails in last place. Maybe Dessen should refrain from putting "moon" in her titles. 

The story itself revolves around high school senior/college freshman Emaline who together with her stepsisters and mother work for the family rental real estate business. Emaline's life is picture perfect until her boyfriend cheats on her and she almost simultaneously begins dating "new guy in town" Theo. Emaline's father and half brother come to town and add to the mixed, confusing summer. 

As I've already said it wasn't my least favorite but it wasn't in my top 5 list either. Perhaps it's because I have outgrown the genre but after reading her books throughout high school and college I can't help but still read them. I recommend the author to any teenager and anyone looking for a good light beach read. I will almost definitely keep reading any new books she writes but I will keep rereading my favorites. 

Next I will write about the most exiting book I've read in a while and hopefully when I finish the book I've been reading for almost a year I can fill you in on that as well. 

Until next time keep reading,

kh

The Nazi Officer's Wife-Edith Hahn Beer

The Nazi Officer's Wife: How One Jewish Woman Survived the Holocaust is a memoir reflecting on Edith Hahn Beer's experience throughout the decade before, during, and after World War II. Born in Vienna to a middle class Jewish family, Hahn experienced more hardships before her 25 birthday than most people do in two lifetimes. The Nazi Officer's Wife has a unique twist obvious in the title: Edith Hahn actually married a Nazi officer and lived the duration of the war in a State owned flat, using State issued ration cards, and bearing a Jewish child in a State hospital. I personally had a knot in my stomach throughout the whole book. Even though I knew she would survive (well, she did write the book) I wasn't sure what challenges she would face next. I was attached to her from the beginning and felt her pain as she described her experience at a German work camp, being separated from her family, and falling in and out of love. As a 'character', Edith is easy to get along with and relatable. 

I have read so many Holocaust books, fiction, memoir, straight- up history, etc. and yet I still learned new things from Edith Hahn's experiences. The book reminded me of another Holocaust memoir I read in high school: All But My Life by Gerda Weissman Klein, the major difference being that Hahn was never sent to a concentration camp and continued to live in the heart of Germany. Both women were incredibly strong and have plenty to teach their readers. I will spoil them by saying they both survived, but I'm not sure if surviving was easier for them considering the losses they faced in their young lives.

Not many people would read these books let alone anything else from the genre, but I recommend them both nonetheless.

Until next time... keep reading!

kh

Maine- J. Courtney Sullivan

Maine is a generational novel by J. Courtney Sullivan. The story follows 4 women: Alice the mother/grandmother alcoholic who lost her husband 10 years ago and copes by drinking and going to daily mass, Kathleen, her middle aged daughter who picked up and moved to California with her boyfriend Arlo to live on and run a worm poop fertilizer farm, Ann Marie, Alice's son Patrick's wife, a good little stuck up Massachusetts' country clubber, obsessed with doll houses and her friend's husband, and lastly, Maggie, Kathleen's daughter, who is pregnant and has an a**hole, good for nothing boyfriend. 

My favorite character is Maggie, mostly because I can relate to her most. She's the youngest, in her early 30s, but the way the author characterizes her she seems younger. She is a writer, very indie living in NY. Her boyfriend Gabe is someone I would slap in real life and I keep egging Maggie on through the pages in hope that she won't go back to him.

Alice is aggrevating. She's grandmotherly so its hard to be angry at her but at the same time she speaks to her daughter so disrespectfully. She holds her hauty tauty daughter-in-law and son on a pedestal and could care less about her other daughter's happiness. Ann Marie is therefore equally annoying although the author doesn't spend as much time on her, thankfully. 

Kathleen is my second favorite. She seems somewhat free spirited and really loves what she does on her farm with her long-term boyfriend Arlo, who Sullivan describes as a hippie type who once followed the Grateful Dead around while smoking 3 joints a day and drinking a bottle of Whiskey. The two met in AA and hit it off despite their extremely different personalities and upbringings. 

I was very content with the ending. I wasn't sure how the author would wrap it up considering the many many events that took place between the characters and individually. Maggie's pregnancy and boyfriend troubles sorted themselves out, Ann Marie and Kathleen's issues as well. Alice's past unfolded most unpleasantly and proved to shape her into the person she became. Daniel, Alice's husband, plays such a key role even though he past away 10 years earlier. Throughout the book he is mentioned often by every character and his presence is there despite his death. It is so strange to see so many sides to a story when you most often only see one side. For Sullivan to be able to show the many facets of one family is truly remarkable. I have read books like this in the past, for example Plainsong by Kent Haruf. All the characters are interconnected but you don't see how until halfway through the book. I enjoy books like this because like I said before you don't normally see multiple sides of a story and through reading you can.

Until next time...keep reading!

kh