THE BOOK THAT MATTERS MOST (Ann Hood)

I wouldn't say that The Book That Matters Most would qualify as a life-changing novel, but it certainly is one that will stay in your mind for days after you finish reading it.  It's the kind of novel that you wish were longer.

Ava Tucker's 25-year marriage ends when her husband reconnects with Delia, an old girlfriend, now a yarn bomber.  With both of her children living overseas, Ava is desperate for companionship, so when a spot opens up in her librarian friend's book club, Ava is thrilled to join.  Although she doesn't seem particularly interested in actually reading the books at first, she is getting out and meeting new people, being a part of something.  Each year the book club chooses a theme and this year each of the members is asked to choose for discussion the book that has mattered most in their lives, made a significant difference or changed their way of thinking, helped them deal with a situation. Most in the group make expected choices like The Great Gatsby, To Kill a  Mockingbird, or Pride and Prejudice.  Ava chooses an obscure book that helped her to cope with the death of her younger sister years ago and to deal with the subsequent suicide of her mother.  She also promises the group that she has contacted the author and that she has agreed to meet with the group.

As a young girl, Ava witnessed her young sister, Lily, falling to her death form a tree while Ava sat in the shade reading a book.  Their mother, guilty because of the extra-marital affair in which she was engaging when her beloved daughter died, finally abandons her lover and her family, leaving her car at a local bridge and disappearing forever.  Although her body is never found, she is presumed to have committed suicide, and Ava and her father are left to grieve as a family of two.  Ava finds comfort in a novel given to her by her neighbor, reading it over and over again after the loss of her other,.  This is the same novel that she suggests for the book group.

While Ava is adjusting to being part of the book group, her daughter Maggie, supposedly studying art in Italy, follows a boy to France and ends up alone and vulnerable, finally meeting and falling in love with an older, manipulative man who introduces her to heroin.  Maggie is not a nice girl nor a particularly likable character.  She is promiscuous and pretty wanton, experienced far beyond her years with sex and various drugs.  I found it a little unbelievable that her mother, especially one whose daughter has caused so many problems and made so many bad choices in the past, could spend such a long period of time without any substantial communication with Maggie, whose harrowing story is told in chapters alternating with Ava's.

Despite the need to suspend belief a bit (but, really, isn't real life often unbelievable?), I loved this novel.  Perhaps it's because I'm a book lover, or maybe it was the interesting cast of characters.  Ann  Hood is now officially on my list of favorite authors!

AWAY WITH THE FAIRIES (Kerry Greenwood)

Phryne Fisher is an Australian aristocrat with a flair for solving murders.  If you get a chance, check out the TV series featuring this sophisticated sleuth.  It doesn't follow the novels exactly, of course (what TV series does?), but you'll enjoy seeing Phryne (pronounced Fry-nee) in action.

In this novel, a famous author and illustrator of books featuring fairies has been discovered dead, along with her pet bird, in her office at a popular magazine.  Phryne joins the staff to investigate the woman's sudden death, which doesn't appear to be a natural one.  In the process of her investigation she is introduced to a large number of quirky magazine employees, most of whom live in the same apartment complex as the deceased, so naturally suspects abound.  In the meantime, Phryne's Asian lover, a successful businessman, has disappeared and she takes on the task of finding him with the help of 2 somewhat unsavory but totally loyal henchmen.   This is a fun series with a very likable heroine.  I plan to read more!

ONE OF OURS (Willa Cather)

Willa Cather's novels always reflect her fierce passion for the midwestern plains, where she moved with her parents at age 9, but she uses the land not as a character, but as a backdrop for her characters and their search for meaning in life.

Claude Wheeler is a college-age man unable to find his place in life in the 1910's.  He is intelligent, strong, and very competent, but he feels unfulfilled by his life as a farmer and searches for meaning or a cause to which he can devote his life.  After marrying Enid, a long-time friend, he realizes that life is still unsatisfying and that marriage has provided none of the contentment and sense of purpose that he had expected.

Claude finally discovers his passion when he enlists in the army in World War I.  Enid has left him (supposedly temporarily, although she is never heard from again in the novel) to nurse her ailing missionary sister in China and when war is declared Claude enlists and is sent to France.  It is during this time, despite being surrounded by influenza, battles, and loss,  that he seems to discover his true self and finally become an independent man devoted to what he sees as a noble cause.  Claude is a young man born after the vanishing of the American frontier, seeking a solution to his restlessness and his own frontier to tame.  In WWI he finds the inspiration and purpose that eluded him in Nebraska.

We discussed One of Ours at our Vintage Book Club in November.  This novel provided a great opportunity for conversation and an interesting array of characters (most of whom I have not mentioned in this review).  Overall, I think we would all recommend it as a thought=provoking character study.