Recent Reads: "No Country For Old Men", "The Shipping News" and "The Secret Life of Bees"

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Oregon Gifts of Comfort and Joy ~ Kathy Matthews

"No Country For Old Men"

by Cormac McCarthy, c. 2005

I bought this book and the book below at the library book sale for .50 each.  I had just begun it when I went to my last check up at the oral surgeon's in February.  Dr. Shock spotted my book and said, how do you like that book?  Have you seen the movie?  I said, well, it is fine so far, but I just started it and, no, I have heard of the movie but I haven't seen it.  He said, well the movie was pretty heavy.  I don't think that he enjoyed the movie very much.

After reading the book, I know that I would not like the movie.  It is really a guys action thing, with lots and lots of killing.  The book was not very easy for me to read, due to the subject matter and also due to the way it is written.  The author is a minimalist, if that is a real word for authors, and I kept getting the male characters confused.  Also, he doesn't believe in quotation marks, so I got further confused during conversations.

The story idea really is good though.  A guy out hunting comes across some drug runners shot to death and tons of money.  He and his girl therefore need to be on the run, since he took the money.  The nice sheriff tries to find the killers and the guy with the money.  The super bad man is a Mexican killer who has no mercy, and there is a hit man who is after the Mexian killer.  

So there you go; there are rave reviews, and you just might love it.  I didn't, but I did learn some things and I worked my way through to the end.

 Oregon Gifts of Comfort and Joy ~ Kathy Matthews

"The Shipping News"

by E. Annie Proulx c. 1993

After slugging it through No Country For Old Men, I was delighted to read this book.  I think that I saw the movie for this book a long time ago, but I barely remember it.  The character development in The Shipping News is wonderful.  Ms. Proulx understands her people, and she has a lot of them, though not so many that I got lost. 

The story is about a man, Quoyle, who moves to Newfoundland with his aunt and two little girls after his bad wife dies.  He gets a job at the local paper and is assigned to write about the shipping news.  We follow the family for a couple of years until they get all settled in. 

I learned about the harshness of Newfoundland, life in tiny villages, fishing, relationships, newspapers, insecurities, knots and much, much more. 

I loved this book, and did not want it to end.  So after it did, I wanted another really good book, and am now reading the one below for the second time.

 Oregon Gifts of Comfort and Joy ~ Kathy Matthews

"The Secret Life of Bees"

by Sue Monk Kidd c. 2002

It has been a couple of years since I have read this book; I paid full price for it at Costco, and will be keeping it around.  

I have not seen the movie yet, and I am kind of afraid to because I don't want to be disappointed.  If you have seen the movie, what did you think?  If you have read the book and seen the movie, is the movie just like the book?  There are only a few movies out there that are just like the books that inspired them.  The Princess Bride and Because of Winn Dixie are two that I can think of right off hand.  What are some other ones?

Okay, back to the book review.  This story is set in the early 1960's in the south when blacks got the right to vote.  The main character and teller of the story is Lily, a teenager with a mom no longer living and a mean dad.  Rosaleen, their housekeeper, has been with Lily ever since her mom died.  Without going into too much detail, things happen, and Lily and Rosaleen need to leave the mean dad, so they do. 

Lily and Rosaleen find a soft place to land a couple of hours away from home. They are taken in my three sisters who raise bees and sell honey.  The story unfolds beautifully, and I am going to be at a loss when I am done with this book, because I have nothing lined out yet, and I am halfway through it.  Needless to say, I highly recommend it.  It is just plain awesome.  Talk about character development and somebody knowing how to tell a dang good story.

What, oh, what shall I read next?  Have you any suggestions?

Thanks for stopping by to see me; I wish you the best.

~ Kathy M.

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