Books Read in April

The Diana Chronicles, by Tina Brown*

Suite Francaise, by Irene Nemirovsky****

The Jeweler's Mark*, by Vincent Lash

Saving Fish From Drowning, by Amy Tan*****

Only four books read this month. To be truly honest----three and half books read this month. I still have some pages to go in the Amy Tan book.

Amy Tan is fast becoming one of my very favorite authors. Love this Amy Tan book: Saving Fish From Drowning. How much do I love it? So much so that I'm sitting reading this book when I should be doing some re-arranging of perennials in my garden. This book reads a bit like an Anne Tyler eccentric novel. It is also a bit like The Lovely Bones in that the book's narrator is deceased and looking back at what has happened since she died. Here is a quote from Chapter One when Bibi Chen, the deceased murdered? narrator of the book is discussing her open casket viewing: "A shiny silver scarf was wrapped into a puffy bow around my lacerated neck. I looked like a turkey with aluminum foil, about to be put in the oven." Oh, and did I mention that the book is about Bibi's travel circle carrying on after her death by going on with a planned trip to China and Burma? So it is a travel adventure told by the deceased Bibi who had planned the trip. And so reading the book you are on The Road to Burma. (By the way, Burma is now called Myanmar and has been in the news because of that devastating cyclone that killed over 22,000 people.) Well, The Road to Burma soon becomes the trip from hell. Lots of interesting characters and lots of amusing incidents. I can't tell you the ending because I'm not there yet.