Book Review: The Sweetness of Tears by Nafisa Haji

Teaser Tuesdays asks you to choose sentences at random from your current read. Identify the author and title for readers.

"When people cry for each other, it is a good thing. Always remember that and never try to suppress the tears that flow from the love in your heart.... That is the secret we were born to learn. The secret of the sweetness of tears." (ch. 2)

Title: The Sweetness of Tears: A Novel by Nafisa Haji
400 pages. William Morrow Paperbacks; Original edition (May 17, 2011)
Source: review copy from publisher.
Objective rating: 4/5

Product description: The Sweetness of Tears is a story of forbidden love and a family story that interweaves multiple generations and cultural viewpoints.

When faith and facts collide, Jo March—a young woman born into an Evangelical Christian dynasty—wrestles with questions about who she is and how she fits into the weave of her faithful family. Chasing loose threads that she hopes will lead to the truth, Jo sets off on an unlikely quest across boundaries of language and religion, through chasms of sectarian divides in the Muslim world. Against the backdrop of the War on Terror—travelling from California to Chicago, Pakistan to Iraq—she delves deeply into the past, encountering relatives, often for the first time, whose histories are intricately intertwined with her own . . . only to learn that true spiritual devotion is a broken field riddled with doubt and that nothing is ever as it seems.
 
My comments: I like that the story is told from several different perspectives by people from different generations:  Jo, Sadiq and Angela, Deena, and Faith. Jo's doubts about herself begin when, as a student learning biology, she realizes that the blue color of both her parents' eyes mean that her eyes should also be blue.  But her eyes are brown. Her mother's confession leads Jo on a mental and emotional journey to find out the truth about her parentage.

I believe the book is an attempt to show how East and West can connect in a positive way, how different cultures and people can live together in harmony and co-exist in peace. Jo is the symbol of this co-existence.

About the author: Nafisa Haji is the author of The Writing on My Forehead, which was a finalist for the Northern California Independent Booksellers Association Book of the Year Award. She is a Californian of Indo-Pakistani descent, born and raised in Los Angeles. Her website is http://www.nafisahaji.com/

Book Review: The Art of Saying Goodbye by Ellyn Bache

Title:The Art of Saying Goodbye
Author: Ellyn Bache
Paperback: 352 pages
Publisher: William Morrow Paperbacks; Original edition (June 7, 2011)'
Source: review copy provided by publisher
Objective rating: 5/5

The author describes her book: "A woman in her midforties - the beautiful one with the beautiful children, the one who was always nice to everyone, the one whom all of us loved, admired, and even envied a little - was diagnosed with terminal cancer. The four main characters I invented have very different reactions to their neighbor's illness, but in each case it throws her life into perspective. And the sick woman turns out to have strengths and depths that most of the others never suspected she had.

Our friend handled her decline with a grace that amazed and humbled us, and forced us to appreciate the preciousness of our own healthy lives. In the stark glare of our shared mortality, we shed hurtful old habits and fears. We acknowledged what was really important to us." (from Ellyn Bache's note to readers).

My comments: Be prepared to be profoundly moved, even though this story is not maudlin or overly sentimental. The characters seem very real - the four neighbors of Paisley, the sick woman whom they envied in life for her good looks and her lively personality, and whom they now regard with remembered friendship, but also with pity and anxiety. They come through for her though, in different ways, and in the process, find something better in themselves. I can't say enough that's good about this novel. I loved every bit of it as I empathized, sympathized, and marveled at the plot, the realistic characters and their complex relationships.

Sunday Salon: Really Nice Weather

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Some really nice, sunny weather has me putting the books down and taking long drives, gardening or sitting outside watching flowers grow, chipmunks scutter, and birds hone in to the feeders or fly over my head.

I did finish The Sweetness of Tears and a couple of cozy mysteries and am now in the middle of  The Art of Saying Goodbye, a book that is surprisingly good! (Click on the links for book details). I hope to do so e reviews this coming week before our one day trip to Chicago for the Taste of Chicago Festival and the Fountain Square Art Festival. Chicago is one of my favorite cities!

Layton Green has asked me to read the ARC e-Book version of  the next in his mystery series, The Egyptian, and I hope it'll be as good as his first book, The Summoner, set in Zimbabwe.

Now for sitting outside under my new red patio umbrella. It's very cool for the middle of June, and great outdoor reading weather. I'll take "Dad" out for eats and whatever else he wants to do on his special day today!

Happy Father's Day to all the dads in your household!
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Teaser Tuesday: A Time for Patriots: A Novel by Dale Brown

Teaser Tuesdays asks you to choose sentences at random from your current read. Identify the author and title for readers.



"They're ordering the evacuation of one hundred thousand residents of Reno," Spara went on. "The downtown part of the city is completely empty." (ch. 2)

Title: A Time for Patriots: A Novel by Dale Brown
Hardcover: 400 pages
Publisher: William Morrow (May 10, 2011)
Source: Publisher

Publisher description: When murderous bands of militiamen begin roaming the western United States and attacking government agencies, it will take a dedicated group of the nation's finest and toughest civilian airmen to put an end to the homegrown insurgency. U.S. Air Force Lieutenant-General Patrick McLanahan vows to take to the skies to join the fight, but when his son, Bradley, also signs up, they find themselves caught in a deadly game against a shadowy opponent.

With A Time for Patriots, the New York Times bestselling author Dale Brown explores a terrifying possibility—the collapse of the American Republic.

Sunday Salon: E-Books for Charity

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I have on my side bar, two e-Books available on Kindle and Nook and others, one to benefit the Japan Relief Fund sponsored by a group from Southern California and the other to benefit cancer research. I've bought both books on my Kindle!

The short stories on Shaken which benefit the Japanese typhoon and earthquake victims are really good! I've read about 6 of the stories so far. Several of them are about travel in Japan, Japanese poets, and the history of Japanese Americans here in the U.S. Most of the stories are written by well-known mystery writers.

Last week, I reviewed Insatiable by Meg Cabot, Night on Fire by Douglas Corleone, and Island Girl by Lynda Simmons. Reading is sporadic, as the nice summer weather makes reading hard. There is gardening, walking, the outdoors that distract!

What's on your plate this week?

Book Review: Insatiable by Meg Cabot

Title: Insatiable
Author: Meg Cabot
Paperback: 464 pages
Publisher: William Morrow Paperbacks; Reprint edition (June 7, 2011)
Genre: fantasy, fiction
Source: review copy from publisher
Objective rating: 4.5/5

Summary: The main character, Meena Harper, writes dialogue for the television soap opera, Insatiable. She  becomes upset when the producers decide the story line should now include vampires, the current craze among young adult viewers. Little does Meena know that she is soon to meet and fall for a prince, the King of all vampires, Lucien Antonescu. Lucien is in New York City to hunt down rogue vampires who have broken his rules not to kill humans.

Lucien puts Meena and others he knows in danger during his hunt for these wayward vampires. An "ancient society of vampire hunters" is also determined to put a stake through the heart of  Lucien and all of his kind. Things get pretty exciting during the course of the novel!

Comments: I'm not normally a reader of fantasy or vampire books, but I found Insatiable very entertaining - the storytelling and writing, the characters and the engaging plot. There is enough romance to interest romance readers, action to please thriller readers, and a lot there to satisfy fantasy and vampire addicts. The author also pokes a little good humored fun at the traditional vampire romances as she spins her own tale of fantasy.

Book Review: Night on Fire by Douglas Corleone

Night on Fire

Night on Fire by Douglas Corleone; April 26, 2011; Minotaur Books

Location, location, location! One of the things I liked about this new legal thriller set on Oahu among lagoons, beach resorts, houses with lanai overlooking ocean and gardens, stirring sunsets. Okay, so the plot was quite good as well, and the main character, a lawyer called Kevin Corvelli, a sympathetic and kind-hearted guy, though liable to fall in love with the wrong kind of women.

A fire on the upper floors of a beach resort kills ten people. Nine die in the fire but one was found with a fatal knife wound in the stomach and gasoline accelerant in his room where the fire was started. Kevin decides to defend a woman on honeymoon who was seen and heard fighting numerous times with her new husband, the knife wound victim. All the evidence points to Erin, the young wife, as the arsonist and mass murderer. Kevin falls for her and fights for her defense, against the advice of his law partner.

Kevin also gets caught up in the life of Josh, a four year old whom he rescued from that hotel fire and whose grandmother died in the fire.

Found this four to five star read at the library. I recommend it for those who enjoy legal mysteries and thrillers and armchair travel.

Amazon link
Goodreads link