Turn The Page ... Tuesday

First up - the TBR book.

sigh.

I have no idea why I had this book on my shelf. I know I bought it but as to what my motivation was I don't know. Maybe it was the fact that her dad was a Lutheran minister and I was raised Lutheran ... my curiosity must have peaked. Easter Everywhere unfortunately was not what I hoped it was (whatever that was when I bought the book - you know what I mean?). Here is a description from Amazon:

"A scrappy kid with a violent stutter, novelist Steinke (Milk; Suicide Blonde) is the oldest child of an aloof Lutheran minister and a clinically depressed former Miss Albany. The household is steeped in the word of God; Steinke grows up brewing her own communion wine, baptizing the neighborhood cats and craving, even at age six, spiritual transcendence. It's a wish that never leaves her, and she's tireless in her pursuit of this elusive state of oneness, first seeking it in a sexually obsessive relationship with a man who turns out to be gay, and then in her doomed marriage. Her writing on these topics is blunt and powerful. When her husband confides that a teenage girl of their acquaintance has been e-mailing him, Steinke doesn't pull her punches. "Michael believed that getting close to young girls and hearing about their love life was so exciting that anyone, even his own wife, would understand the Masonic pull." When it comes to her personal relationship with God—the real meat of the book—Steinke is relatively brief, almost distant: "The idea of church still has a grip on my imagination, but I realize now that what I thought was held only inside those walls—grace and divinity—is actually located directly and authentically inside myself."

I guess I was just sad reading a book that didn't have a happy ending (in my opinion). I think I might have thought it was going to be a Glass Castle kinda book. It wasn't. But who am I to judge. Maybe it was happy for her and I just don't get it. The author poured out her heart and recounted the events and how it affected her so I hate to be critical. I was hoping that all that yuck would had brought her closer to God but it doesn't appear to be that way.

Gloomy title but great book - The Murder's Daughters really got my thinking about how I would handle it if someone in my family committed a crime. Two sisters handle their fate completely differently and it's interesting to see over the course of 30 years their lives change and are affected by their secret past.  Amazon's summary:

"This solid novel begins with young Lulu finding her mother dead and her sister wounded at the hands of her alcoholic father, who has failed at killing himself after attacking the family. Meyers traces the following 30 years for Lulu and her sister, Merry, as they are sent to an orphanage, where Lulu turns tough and calculating, searching for a way into an adoptive family. Eventually, Lulu becomes a doctor specializing in the almost old, though her secretiveness about her past causes new rifts to form in her new family. Meanwhile, Merry becomes a victim witness advocate, but her life is stunted; she's dependant on Lulu, drugs and alcohol, and she can't find love because she usually want[s] whoever wants me. In the background, their imprisoned father looms until a crisis that eerily mirrors the past forces Lulu and Merry to confront what happened years ago. Though the novel's sprawling time line and undifferentiated narrative voices—the sisters narrate in rotating first-person chapters—hinder the potential for readers to fall completely into the story, the psychologically complex characters make Meyers's debut a satisfying read."

I enjoyed this book and wanted sometime to tell the girls a thing or two while they were making their way. I think you might like this one too.

I have decided I really like Sarah Addison Allen. I've only read two of her books(Garden Spells was the other) but her other two are on my list to read as soon as I can get my grubby little hands on them. Sugar Queen was such a fast little take me away read. No brain power needed. No major drama. Just a girl trying to find her way under her deceased father's shadow, a tyrant of a mother, and a hidden stash of candy in her closet. Well, ok - there is more in her closet but you will have to read the book to find out what comes out ;-) I think I read this in two days - zoom zoom. This book is a real treat.

I was in inspired by Jill's post last month to read Frankenstein. I tried to convince my book group to do the same but to no avail. I thought it fitting to read right before Halloween. Who knew there was so much more to the story than a giant monster stomping around!

So tell me - where has your nose been this month?