Books!!!

Have been reading quite a lot recently--it's nice to sort of rediscover books!

I did something I haven't done in a loooong time--parallel-read books. I've never been able to do it successfully, but I divided my time between upstairs (where some masonry work is going on), and downstairs (where the culinary work is), and HAD to keep a book at each location :)

The books could not have been different -- one dealt with life in rural America in 1900 and was told through the eyes of a village woman, and so was not even in perfect English, while the other was the story of two authors in England, and read wonderfully.

1.Gap Creek -- The Story of a Marriage, by Robert Morgan

This is a book that really opened my eyes to life in rural America, in the Appalachian Mountains, at the turn of the last century. The story is about Julie, a young girl who "works like a man," and it sort of follows her through the first couple of years of her marriage to Hank Richards.

Although the characters are sort of very polarized, the way life is described, and the trials and tribulations of a young couple trying to make it on their own are told really well. A bit too much depression, though, as nothing seems to go right for the younguns -- NOT good for a light read :(


2. The Thirteenth Tale-- by Diane Setterfield

This is sort of suspense/ghost story, set in England, set mainly in the moors. A dying author, Vida Winter, has been giving so many false accounts of her life, that when young biographer Margaret Lea receives a letter from her that she's finally ready to tell her "real" life story, Margaret refuses to believe her. But what follows is a really fast suspenseful read of mysteries, dark secrets, and ghosts of the past and present haunting both the biographer and her subject.
Now, I've known many twins, and am not sure of all the hype that the book places on their "bonds."
Also, there's a bit much incest, and too little romance, but the shocking ending makes it worth the while, if you want to be entertained and horrified.

:) :)