Book Chatter

Friday Finds is hosted by Should Be Reading. Here’s my find for the week:

The blurb from Powell’s:

Woodsburner springs from a little-known event in the life of one of America’s most iconic figures, Henry David Thoreau. On April 30, 1844, a year before he built his cabin on Walden Pond, Thoreau accidentally started a forest fire that destroyed three hundred acres of the Concord woods—an event that altered the landscape of American thought in a single day.

Against the background of Thoreau’s fire, Pipkin’s ambitious debut penetrates the mind of the young philosopher while also painting a panorama of the young nation at a formative moment. Pipkin’s Thoreau is a lost soul, plagued by indecision, resigned to a career designing pencils for his father’s factory while dreaming of better things. On the day of the fire, his path will intersect with three very different local citizens, each of whom also harbors a secret dream. Oddmund Hus, a lovable Norwegian farmhand, pines for the wife of his brutal employer. Elliott Calvert, a prosperous bookseller, is also a hilariously inept aspiring playwright. And Caleb Dowdy preaches fire and brimstone to his congregation through an opium haze. Each of their lives, like Thoreau’s, is changed forever by the fire.

Doesn’t it look good?

The other day I posted my review of The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society and as I mentioned in my review, I didn’t care for it too much. Although it was not an official pick for the book group that I belong to, many of us wanted to read it and so we met tonight to discuss it.

Of the members that came for the discussion, I would have to say that most were very pleased with the book. They found it to be a charming, pleasant read and they found the format to be very readable. Some agreed somewhat with my take on Juliet but they all agreed that the story pulled them in. However, there was one member who didn’t like the book at all but she didn’t come for the discussion so I have no idea why!

It is hard to be the only one who didn’t like it though. I ended up being “the hater” and really, my reaction to the book was not like that. It was just sort of …eh (insert shoulder shrug). Thanks to all that commented on the review. You all had such wonderful comments and I was so worried about getting slammed for not liking it.

Chatting with friends about books and life…