The Wild Water Walking Club by Claire Cook eBook edition

Wild Water Walking Club falls into the category of a great beach read.  This is the fourth Claire Cook title I have enjoyed, starting with Must Love Dogs and Summer Blowout.  She is an entertaining author who understands the complexities and inherent contradictions between love, good sense and human behavior.

One of the things I enjoy most about her books is that even though the usual heroines are middle aged women, there are always an eclectic blend of multi-generational characters.  These kids, young women, middle aged and seniors interact and create a comfortable mix,

Another aspect of her writing that I always enjoy is here ability to mix totally believable story lines with a couple that stretch credibility.  And yet they somehow work together.  Probably because you sense that she is more interested in the characters than in some carefully derived plot line.

I am a daily walker -- walk from 2 to 3 1/2 miles a day.  A more or less useless urban ritual to keep me fit and clears my head.  But all those miles never really seem to add up to anything tangible.  These women counted steps and miles and made them count for a concrete goal -- a trip across country.

I love the idea of walking to a goal.  The smell of lavender makes me happy.  But the whole clothesline thing seemed out of place and kind of lost me.  I admit, however, that it makes for a very funny urban guerilla scene later in the book.

I am seriously considering where I want to "walk" to this year.  I'll keep you posted.

Here is the publishers recap:

Just put one foot in front of the other. Sounds simple, doesn’t it? But when Noreen Kelly takes a buyout from her job of eighteen years and gets dumped by her boyfriend in one fell swoop, she finds it hard to know what that next step is—never mind take it. At first Noreen thinks maybe her redundancy package could be an opportunity, a chance to figure out what to do with the rest of her life while her company foots the bill. Sure, she may have gotten high to “Witchy Woman” and grooved to “Sweet Baby James” back when James Taylor had hair, but she isn’t ready for her AARP card. Not yet.

But it’s the first time in a great many years that Noreen has time to herself—and she has no idea what to do with it. When she realizes that she’s mistaken her resume for her personality, Noreen knows that she has to get moving, so she puts on a new pair of sneakers and a seriously outdated pair of exercise pants, and walks. She doesn’t get very far at first—just to the end of her street, Wildwater Way—but she perseveres, and when she’s joined by her neighbors Tess and Rosie, Noreen realizes that walking is not an extreme sport. It can actually be fun.

As the Wildwater women walk and talk, and talk and walk, they tally their steps, share their secrets, and learn what women everywhere are finding out—that time flies and getting fit is actually fun when you’re walking with friends. Throw in a road trip to Seattle for a lavender festival, a career-coaching group that looks like a bad sequel to The Breakfast Club, a clothesline controversy that could only happen in the ’burbs, plenty of romantic twists and turns, and a quirky multigenerational cast of supporting characters, and the result is an experience that’s heartfelt, exuberant, and above all, real.

del.icio.us Tags: ebooks,e-books,fiction,ebook reviews,ebooks about fictions,beach reads

Moon Shell Beach eBook Edition

I woke up the other morning with a summer cold.  Felt so lousy that I crawled back into bed with my eBook, a box of Kleenex and a bottle of Vitamin C.  I spent the day reading and dozing.  Dozing as much as reading.

I needed something light, diverting and entertaining.  Nancy Thayer's new book (Moon Shell Beach) seemed like the perfect thing.  After all I love her Hot Flash series. 

The good news is that the book carried me off to Nantucket and the beach.  Obviously, Thayer knows the town well and did a great job of capturing the ambience of the island.  And of course, I'm always a sucker for hope.

That is pretty much where the good news ends.

Notice above, I spent a great deal of time dozing.  If I had felt any better I would have tossed the book and gone to find something entertaining to do. 

My experience with Thayer says that she is a good writer who has mostly delivered credible chick-lit with well developed characters.  The plots are usually pretty simple but she makes up for that by developing people you really like and want to know better. 

This book is evidence that Thayer has evidently reached the status of author where her publisher will pretty much take anything she writes and put it out there for the unsuspecting public.  Too bad!!  Trust me, no first time or lesser known author could get this particular manuscript published!

I have the particular good fortune of having a couple of long and close friendships with other women.  We have certainly had our petty disagreements, vicious arguments and periods of estrangement.  But there are some lines that friends do not cross.  And these two women not only cross them but seem to take delight in trampling on them.

It probably doesn't really matter since Lexi and Clare are cardboard women.  Thayer tries (and fails) to give them emotions and an inner life; but it (the inner life) is as unbelievable as they are.  These are basically immature and rather stupid young women who grow up to be rather stupid and immature older women. 

It is really sad to see a fine author put out such crap.  Based on her long history of great storytelling, I am will to give her next book a chance.  But if it is anything like Moon Shell Beach, she will lose me for once and all!

The publisher says:

Lexi Laney and Clare Hart grew up together swimming in the surf, riding remote bike trails, and having wondrous adventures across picturesque Nantucket. And when it was time to share intimate secrets and let their girlish imaginations run free, they escaped to their magical private hideaway: Moon Shell Beach. 

But nothing stays the same. With the complicated pressures of adulthood, their intense bond is frayed, hurtful words are exchanged, and Lexi flees Nantucket to a life of luxury while Clare stays behind.

Ten years later, a newly divorced Lexi returns to make amends with those she left in her wake. Living at home with her father and dating a gorgeous carpenter, Clare still simmers with resentment toward her glamorous friend. And when Lexi opens an upscale clothing boutique next door to Clare’s chocolate shop, their paths are fated to cross.

Their emotional reunion is beset with major challenges: Lexi’s return sets off a series of startling events that fracture the status quo and set the town gossips’ tongues wagging. And as Clare’s life takes an abrupt detour, Lexi wonders if the happiness and peace they once knew on Moon Shell Beach will, in the end, prove to be as fleeting as time and the tide. In the turbulent adult world, awash in failed loves and romantic disappointment, can childhood dreams still come true?

Irresistible reading, Moon Shell Beach explores the evolution of a tumultuous lifelong friendship, the power of forgiveness, and the rewards of believing in miracles.

del.icio.us Tags: ebook,e-book,ebook review,chick lit,ebooks about fiction,beach reads,Nantucket

The Wednesday Sisters eBook edition

The Wednesday Sisters by Meg Clayton is as close to a perfect beach read as you can get.

It is a rare book that has one smart, engaging and has a well rounded and believable woman character. Never mind five of them! This is the story of five women living conventional lives in unconventional times.

From a purely technical point of view, Clayton has pulled off an impressive feat. She manages to make each one of these five women real and full character who all get equal time and equal voice.

The story starts with the assassination of Bobby Kennedy and traces these women's lives through roughly 10 years. Those ten years include the Apollo space flights and burning bras; peace marches and Miss America contests, the birth of modern Silicon Valley and the first New York Marathon.

The story is about women and friendship. As the world around them changes these women are busy building relationships with each other and with books.

In a broad sense It is about family. The ones we come from and the ones we create. It is about the frailty and fortitude. It is about awaking, change and growth.

It is also laugh out loud funny and tear-jerkingly sad. I mean really, how can you resist a book that starts out:

"That's us, there in the photograph. Yes, that's me-in one of my chubbier phases, though I suppose one of these days I'll have to face up to the fact that it's the thinner me that's the "phase," not the chubbier one. And going left to right, that's Linda (her hair loose and combed, but then she brought the camera, she was the only one who knew we'd be taking a photograph). Next to her is Ally, pale as ever, and then Kath. And the one in the white gloves in front-the one in the coffin-that's Brett."

I was hooked from the first paragraph.

So grab your suntan lotion, your favorite drink and a bag of chips, sit in your favorite lounge chair and prepare to enjoy!

Here's the publishers synopsis:

Friendship, loyalty, and love lie at the heart of Meg Waite Clayton’s beautifully written, poignant, and sweeping novel of five women who, over the course of four decades, come to redefine what it means to be family. For thirty-five years, Frankie, Linda, Kath, Brett, and Ally have met every Wednesday at the park near their homes in Palo Alto, California. Defined when they first meet by what their husbands do, the young homemakers and mothers are far removed from the Summer of Love that has enveloped most of the Bay Area in 1967. These “Wednesday Sisters” seem to have little in common: Frankie is a timid transplant from Chicago, brutally blunt Linda is a remarkable athlete, Kath is a Kentucky debutante, quiet Ally has a secret, and quirky, ultra-intelligent Brett wears little white gloves with her miniskirts. But they are bonded by a shared love of both literature–Fitzgerald, Eliot, Austen, du Maurier, Plath, and Dickens–and the Miss America Pageant, which they watch together every year. As the years roll on and their children grow, the quintet forms a writers circle to express their hopes and dreams through poems, stories, and, eventually, books. Along the way, they experience history in the making: Vietnam, the race for the moon, and a women’s movement that challenges everything they have ever thought about themselves, while at the same time supporting one another through changes in their personal lives brought on by infidelity, longing, illness, failure, and success. Humorous and moving, The Wednesday Sisters is a literary feast for book lovers that earns a place among those popular works that honor the joyful, mysterious, unbreakable bonds between friends.

del.icio.us Tags: ebooks,e-books,ebook review,The Wednesday Sisters,Clayton,summer reading,fiction,women

The Spare Wife eBook edition

The Spare Wife by Alex Witchel is one of those books that I categorize as the perfect beach read.  Light and fluffy as a souffle and just about as substantial.

Of course I read every word.

It is an interesting quirk of the human psyche that we delight in reading about the folly of the ruling class. Thousand of pages are written (and read) each year about Princesses, Princes, Dukes, Ladies and Counts.  And most of us have never even seen one. 

In the US we have apparently substituted the ultra rich of New York as our own special brand of American aristocracy.  These thin, rich, powerful and presumably beautiful Upper East side denizen serve as the ruling class that we love to hate.  From The Great Gatsby to The Nanny Diaries we are alternatively amused and horrified by a rarified life style that has absolutely nothing to do with our daily lives. 

Most of us are not super thin, super rich or super connected, but for a few hours we can escape to a world that is exceedingly seductive. And there is something immensely satisfying in cutting them down to size.  After all, they may have all the advantages but, obliviously, they are deeply flawed.

Yes, the characters are self absorbed and shallow.  Yes, the the plot is trite and predictable.  So what? It is great fun. 

Take my word for it, this is a great read for a cold winter day!  You don't need to wait for summer.

The publisher tells all:

A sophisticated, witty, sexy story that exposes the world of upper-class New Yorkers and the media that perpetuate their myth. Ponce Morris is a beautiful, rich widow who's been dubbed "the spare wife" because she's the perfect companion to the wealthy, powerful couples she socializes with. She'll go to sports events with the husbands and throw elegant dinner parties and shop with the wives. She's cool and nonthreatening because the two things everyone knows for sure are that Ponce doesn't like sex and doesn't have a romantic bone in her body. Over the years, she has managed other people's lives--and her own--perfectly. Ponce has everything under control, exactly the way she likes it. Until...Babette Steele, an ambitious aspiring journalist, finds out that Ponce is having an affair with a socially prominent and very married man and decides to break the scandal in a juicy magazine piece.

For Ponce's circle, day-to-day existence quickly becomes a complicated game of social and professional chicken--whoever outsmarts and outmanipulates the other will win. And there is a lot at stake, not only for Ponce but for her friends, all of whom are in the midst of crises of their own: a philandering novelist who hasn't been able to write since his breakout Wall Street best seller, an aging billionaire who can't seem to resist young women (the younger the better), a legendary news show producer on the decline, a big-name political journalist looking to rebound from his wife's death, and an editor at a glitzy magazine that covers the worlds of politics, fashion, and Hollywood. As Ponce's life threatens to come apart at the seams, the author takes us into a world she knows intimately: a dynamic Manhattan filled with opinion makers and social fakers.

This is a vibrant, trenchant novel about ambition, love, friendship, and the intoxicating allure of getting ahead...and trying to stay there.

del.icio.us Tags: the spare wife,ebook,e-books,witchel,ebook review

SUMMER READING by Hilma Wolitzer

Summer is officially here -- the kids are out of school and it is getting hot here in California.

Last weekend I started my summer reading with Summer Reading by Hilma Wolitzer. I picked it because I am a long time fan of Hilma Wolitzer, because the synopsis peaked my interest and because of the title, of course. Here’s the official information – “Summer Reading offers a seductive glimpse into the intersecting lives of three very different women.” For the rest of the official synopsis, skip my comment and jump to the italics below. The book was a great combination of substance and entertainment. By building the book around a group of contemporary women reading the classics Wolitzer highlights her belief that women’s interior lives have not changed much over the centuries. Done with a deft touch and a sense of humor it actually made me want to pick up and reread Trollope! I know these women. Or at least I recognize them in myself and some of my friends, which made this an easy read. I recognize their struggles, as well, which made it substantive. If you’re looking for quiet, thought provoking summer getaway this is definitely a great choice! I recommend it! So here is the official stuff: Summer in the Hamptons means crowded beaches during the day and lavish parties in the evening, but Angela Graves, a retired English professor, prefers the company of Gabriel García Márquez and Charlotte Brontë. Her only steady social contacts are with the women in the reading groups she leads, among them, is wealthy Lissy Snyder, a beautiful newlywed who hosts the twice-monthly meetings of the Page Turners and takes pains to hide a reading disability and her emotional neediness. Hamptons local Michelle Cutty, Lissy's housecleaner, eavesdrops on the group's discussions — of books and gossip — when she's not snooping through Lissy's closets. All three women secretly struggle with troubling personal issues that threaten the tenuous balance of their lives: Lissy, abandoned by her father in childhood, is now the unwilling stepmother of her husband's hostile children; Michelle, resentful of the moneyed arrogance of the jet-setting, seasonal "invaders," can't secure a commitment from her fisherman boyfriend; and solitary, bookish Angela still bears the shameful memory of a disastrous love affair that took place long ago. As Angela encourages the Page Turners to identify with the literary heroines of Trollope and Flaubert, the books — in fact, theact of reading itself — will influence the tough choices the women must make. Stunningly evocative and richly imagined, Summer Reading explores the meaning and consequences of living an authentic life.

Summer Reading by Hilma Wolitzer.