Thoughts on ”Goat Song” by Brad Kessler

Goat Song by Brad Kessler (cover)I just finished reading Brad Kessler’s new memoir, Goat Song. It is beautiful: part memoir, part history, part personal reflection. It chronicles the first few years of Kessler’s foray into raising goats in Vermont with his wife and the cheese that was the result.

Lyrical, contemplative, mouthwatering, and enlightening, this book was an absolute treat to read. It touches all the senses: the smell of the meadow, the calling of the goats, the taste of the cheese, the mountain vistas, the feel of fresh curds over fingers. The descriptions are lush and intricate.

Goat Song touches the mind and the heart as well as Kessler explores our roots as herders and his own relationship to the world around him. Mr. Kessler is also the author of Birds in Fall, which I have not yet read.

Mr. Kessler is also the author of Birds in Fall, which I have not yet read. If the writing in Birds in Fall is anything like that of Goat Song, I know I will be enthralled.

Thoughts on “The Elegance of the Hedgehog” by Muriel Barbery (Audiobook)

The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery (audiobook cover)I’m not usually an audiobook fan. My attention tends to wander, and I end up having to backtrack and listen to the same thing over and over before I actually hear it. Sometimes the narrators are bland, and sometimes they’re a bit too overly dramatic. Just not my thing.

At BEA, however, I picked up an audiobook version of Muriel Barbery’s The Elegance of the Hedgehog, and on my recent trip to Boston and back, I gave it a go.

The story is of two people living in the same Paris apartment building. Downstairs, there is Renee, the concierge, who keeps up the dull outward appearance people expect but lives a rich and cultured inner life. Upstairs, there is Paloma, a dazzlingly intelligent child who decides, quite early in the novel, that she is going to kill herself. The characters take turns narrating, and the enraptured listener beholds the story unfolding.

I must say, I am in love. Cassandra Morris and Barbara Rosenblat do such a fantastic job bringing the inner lives of their respective characters to life that what is a witty and profound novel becomes nothing short of an aural feast. I’ve been trying to find excuses to drive just so I can listen to this delightful recording.

And so I’ve been converted, though only selectively. I think what I like in an audiobook is when it’s told in the first person, so that the character is speaking to me rather than an omniscient narrator. Next up, thanks to Stanley over at Market Block: Alan Bradley’s The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie on audiobook. I can’t wait!

Thoughts on “Fire” by Kristin Cashore

Fire by Kristin Cashore (cover)Last week I finished Fire, the prequel to Kristin Cashore’s Graceling. The book officially comes out this fall. Set in a neighboring kingdom some 35 years before Graceling, Fire tells of a world where humans and monsters–startlingly beautiful creatures with the power to affect humans’ minds–live side by side. The protagonist, a girl named Fire, is the last living human monster.

I didn’t like Fire as much as Graceling, but keep in mind that I absolutely adored Graceling. Where Katsa is a doer, Fire is a thinker. Fire spends a lot of time thinking, about herself, her past, and the world around her, which got a bit slow at times. It wasn’t the heart-pounding nonstop action that kept Graceling glued to my hands for its duration. That being said, it still only took me three days to read Fire, so it definitely wasn’t boring!

I think I also liked the idea of Gracelings better than that of monsters. Monsters affect humans in pretty much the same way across the board, whereas each Graceling has a different Grace that may or may not be accurately represented to the other characters and the reader.

One thing I especially loved is that we get a glimpse of one of Graceling‘s characters as a child!

Overall, Fire is a good book — just don’t expect another Graceling! Which, I suppose, is good. Another Graceling would not have been as original and interesting. And according to Kristin Cashore’s website, Katsa and Po will appear in the third book, tentatively titled Bitterblue. So I guess I can wait!

Thoughts on “Graceling” by Kristin Cashore

Graceling by Kristin Cashore (cover)Today, two days after I brought it home from the library, I finished Kristin Cashore’s young adult novel, Graceling. Tomorrow, when I get to work, I will most likely buy a copy for myself, while it’s still out in hardcover, so I can add it to my collection of YA series I love. Yes, it was that good.

Ever read a book that draws you so completely into its world, whose characters are so very real, that you find yourself in a sort of limbo, stuck between the book and reality, for a while after you put it down? Graceling is absolutely that kind of book. As I went about my daily tasks, I would suddenly realize I was thinking about Po and Katsa, wondering what they would do next or remembering a certain moment between them. I found myself gripped by feelings they were experiencing: nail-biting fear, deep affection, overwhelming joy. I had to force myself to slow down and savor the story, because though I desperately wanted to know how it unfolded, I knew I’d regret finishing it too quickly.

I finished Graceling this morning, but I’ve actually deliberately not picked up another book today (*gasp*), just so I can savor the book and let its effects sink in. I’m not ready to replace Graceling‘s characters and landscape with those of another novel yet.

I cannot speak highly enough of this novel. I adored it.

In other, slightly related news, Ann over at Books on the Nightstand has started an interesting discussion about “young adult” fiction. Check it out!

Thoughts on “The Cupcake Queen” by Heather Hepler

The Cupcake Queen by Heather Hepler (cover)Well, I ended up abandoning Thrity Umrigar’s memoir, First Darling of the Morning. I got to about 50 pages, which is where, if a book isn’t grabbing me, I’m allowed to put it down. Not only was I not grabbed, I was also vaguely annoyed. But hey, the coworker who lent it to me loved it, so to each her own!

Instead, I picked up Heather Hepler’s forthcoming young adult novel, The Cupcake Queen, lent to me by a different coworker. It was a quick read — I finished it in two days — but a good one too.

The novel is narrated by Penny Lane (her father was a Beatles fan), a fourteen-year-old who has just moved from New York City to the tiny town of Hog’s Head with her mother while her father, as part of a trial separation, remains in NYC. As Penny negotiates her new school and works in her mother’s new cupcake bakery, she meets a cast of characters that are both quirky and familiar: the school bully, the outcast with crazy fashion sense, the cute boy, the spunky grandmother. Along the way, she works through her own problems and those of her friends and ultimately reaches the choice: does she stay in Hog’s Hollow with her mom, or does she return to New York and the life she loved with her dad?

The Cupcake Queen reminded me of Coleen Paratore’s Willa Havisham books but for a slightly older age group, with a little of Ann Brashaers’ Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants series mixed in. Overall, a good read with lots of warm moments, little triumphs, and positive lessons!

I just started Kristin Cashore’s Graceling last night. The sequel, Fire is due in September. So far, it’s great!