Another double review!

Wow, where does the time go?  I apologize for another "double month" review this month.  I am planning on getting back on track after this.  I hope that everyone had a wonderful holiday break and has returned fresh and ready to read!  Here are the review for December and January.

The Paris Wife

History often neglects to tell the story of the "supporting players" in a persons life, but thankfully we have fiction to fill in the gaps.  Paula Mclain beautifully tells the tale of Ernest Hemingway and his wife Hadley.  Maclain does and excellent job of blending fact and fiction, and it left me wanting to learn more of the "true" history of this amazing marriage.  This is an excellent read, and one that I would recommend for your next vacation!


From the Publisher: A deeply evocative story of ambition and betrayal,The Paris Wifecaptures a remarkable period of time and a love affair between two unforgettable people: Ernest Hemingway and his wife Hadley.  Chicago, 1920: Hadley Richardson is a quiet twenty-eight-year-old who has all but given up on love and happiness—until she meets Ernest Hemingway and her life changes forever. Following a whirlwind courtship and wedding, the pair set sail for Paris, where they become the golden couple in a lively and volatile group—the fabled “Lost Generation”—that includes Gertrude Stein, Ezra Pound, and F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald.  Though deeply in love, the Hemingways are ill prepared for the hard-drinking and fast-living life of Jazz Age Paris, which hardly values traditional notions of family and monogamy. Surrounded by beautiful women and competing egos, Ernest struggles to find the voice that will earn him a place in history, pouring all the richness and intensity of his life with Hadley and their circle of friends into the novel that will becomeThe Sun Also Rises. Hadley, meanwhile, strives to hold on to her sense of self as the demands of life with Ernest grow costly and her roles as wife, friend, and muse become more challenging. Despite their extraordinary bond, they eventually find themselves facing the ultimate crisis of their marriage—a deception that will lead to the unraveling of everything they’ve fought so hard for.  A heartbreaking portrayal of love and torn loyalty,The Paris Wifeis all the more poignant because we know that, in the end, Hemingway wrote that he would rather have died than fallen in love with anyone but Hadley.

The Art of Fielding

While using baseball as a plot devise, this isn't really a sports fiction book.  The story isn't driven by whether the team wins or losses the "big game," but rather it sets up the frame work for how the 5 main characters in this work of fiction interact.   A full summary can be found below.  I found this book to be interesting, bu perhaps not the best I have read.  The characters were not easy to relate to, and yet you found yourself caring for each of them in the hopes that all would be well in the end. 

From the Publisher: At Westish College, a small school on the shore of Lake Michigan, baseball star Henry Skrimshander seems destined for big league stardom. But when a routine throw goes disastrously off course, the fates of five people are upended. Henry's fight against self-doubt threatens to ruin his future. College president Guert Affenlight, a longtime bachelor, has fallen unexpectedly and helplessly in love. Owen Dunne, Henry's gay roommate and teammate, becomes caught up in a dangerous affair. Mike Schwartz, the Harpooners' team captain and Henry's best friend, realizes he has guided Henry's career at the expense of his own. And Pella Affenlight, Guert's daughter, returns to Westish after escaping an ill-fated marriage, determined to start a new life. As the season counts down to its climactic final game, these five are forced to confront their deepest hopes, anxieties, and secrets. In the process they forge new bonds, and help one another find their true paths. Written with boundless intelligence and filled with the tenderness of youth, The Art of Fielding is an expansive, warmhearted novel about ambition and its limits, about family and friendship and love, and about commitment--to oneself and to others.