I am a fan of both fiction and nonfiction. Maybe I was a little ambitious last month, however, in thinking I could completely read and post about two books (one fiction and one nonfiction) each month. Part of my problem is that I tend to read more than one book at a time (why do I do that? I’ll save that for another post) and then not get any one of them finished within a good time frame. As you can see in the sidebar under my “Goodreads” feed, I have two good ones going right now (and finished Beartown just before leaving for vacation – I’m still processing this one and making notes), but I will not finish the other two (I don’t think) before the end of August.
For this month, then, I am going to recommend a recent past read that I really enjoyed.
Book Title: The Lake House
Author: Kate Morton
Publication Date: June 2016 (Paperback)
Publisher: Washington Square Press
Recommended by: Rachel McAdams Jessen
My interest in this book:
I wanted something contemporary to read.
Ideas Expressed/Message/Plot:
The story is about a missing child, an abandoned house, and an unsolved mystery. The plot switches between time periods and told by different narrators/characters.
First line(s) of the novel: “The rain was heavy now and the hem of her dress was splattered with mud. She’d have to hide it afterwards; no one could know that she’d been out.”
Favorite Characters/Quotes/Lines:
“An image of Charlotte Sutherland came to mind. In all her panic at receiving Charlotte’s letters, Sadie hadn’t stopped for a moment to consider the act of courage involved in writing and sending them. There was something incredibly intimate about the transference of sentiment; and in Charlotte’s case, to write not once, but twice, had been to risk rejection a second time. Sadie had all but tripped over herself in her rush to grant that rejection the first time–was Charlotte brave or foolhardy to come back for more? ‘What I didn’t understand,’ she said, as much to herself as to the others, ‘is why anyone would keep a letter like this. It’s one thing to write it in the heat of the moment, but to keep it forever after…’ She shook her head. ‘It’s so personal, so incriminating.’…A smile appeared on Alice’s face and she seemed more herself. ‘That’s a question you only ask because you’re not a letter writer yourself, DC Sparrow. If you were, you’d know that a writer never destroys her work. Even if she fears the power of its contents to implicate her.’”
Morton, Kate. The Lake House. New York: Washington Square Press, 2016. Print.
When I finished this book, I felt:
Intrigued by the story and appreciative of the author’s style and manipulation of literary elements. I also felt a little vindicated that maybe it was okay that I have kept most everything I have ever written (since 4th or 5th grade??). I have destroyed some letters and journal entries that might be “so personal, so incriminating“. They might have made a good book someday, but now I will never know.
Other fiction to read by this author:
The Secret Keeper, The Forgotten Garden, The House of Riverton (I’m adding these to my Goodreads list.)
Notes/Comments:
The book is very well written. Just when I thought I figured things out, a new plot twist occurs and takes the reader down another road. I liked how the author switched between time periods and characters – keeps the plot moving and makes the reader eager to keep reading.
Have you read this fiction selection?
Have you read this novel? Your thoughts? Do you have a recommendation of a novel similar to this one? Please share.