Book Marathon...again!

oh...it’s lovely to sit in the garden and read your favourite book!
In reality, the time spent on the monkey businness has been squeezed in between two amazing novels.

I loved The 1000 autumns of Jakob de Zoet because...it sounds SO familiar. After all, you are reading about a dutch clerk stuck on Dejima Island, Nagasaki Bay, A.D. 1799.

I’ve got my own reverse Dejima island at home: there’s a japanese and a half stuck in holland here!
I enjoyed the characters, the plot, the landscapes...it all fits beautifully. There’s almost a sense of plot dejavu’...but that’s why this is such a beautiful historical novel.
MFJ gave it to me as a present, and patiently waited for me to re-emerge from those pages (560 of them) to ask “how is it?”...I guess I’ll be kind enough and lend it to him...

And the other novel?

The Help, by Kathryn Sockett: her debut novel...let’s just say I can’t wait to read her NEXT one. The story is set in Jackson, Mississipi, in 1962. It’s riveting. it’s un-put-downable. Loved every word of it. you read what it feels like to be a black maid, working for a white family in those eventful years. If you have children, you’ll want a nanny like Aibileen...if you love good food, you’ll adore Minny (she’s sassy and big mouthed...but still! Her culinary skills are known in all of Jackson...just stay away from her chocolate cake, just in case). And you’ll like Skeeter too: 24, white, back from Uni, wants to be a writer and cannot explain why her black maid Constantine left so suddenly and cannot be traced: where is she?
I was sorry when I finished it, and all those characters are still walking beside me. I might read it again before monday, when I’ll return it to the proud owner...
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