Ethan Frome

Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton

I used to think that Romeo and Juliet was the best of all tragic love stories. You know, no one gets their true love and everyone dies. I may have to re-evaluate this.

Ethan Frome is a bleak and desolate book set in a bleak and desolate locale. It is a short novella and you don't really find out for sure "what happened" until the end. I don't want to be a spoiler but I have to say this. The best of all tragic love stories is one where the lovers are crippled for life and forced to rely on the care of the one person who keeps them apart, thereby keeping them from being happy. What more could you ask for in a tragedy?

Edith Wharton was the first woman to win the Pulitzer Prize but it wasn't for Ethan Frome. Ethan Frome was published in 1911 and it was 1920 when she published The Age of Innocence for which she won the Pulitzer. Summer, published in 1917 was apparently the companion to Ethan Frome. I am tempted to read Summer (especially if it is as short and easily read as Frome). I already have The Age of Innocence on my list of books to read (I read it years ago but I don't remember much about it).

For anyone who is a fan of tragedies or of Edith Wharton, I would recommend reading this book. If for no other reason, because it is only 130 pages long.

The Battle Of The Labyrinth

The Battle Of The Labyrinth by Rick Riordan

Book 4 of the Percy Jackson series. I read it in a matter of hours.

Seriously these books are fast and fun and they bring to life in the modern world the characters of Greek mythology.

Did you know the Labyrinth created by Daedalus kept growing and changing? Neither did I but it does in this book.

I have been thinking about reading stories of Greek mythology again (but I probably won't because I have too many other things I want to read more).

Only one more book to go and I'll be kind of sad about it, I think.

I'm taking a reading hiatus for about 3 weeks because I have a bunch of studying to do.

Next book, Ella Minnow Pea by Mark Dunn - stay tuned :)

The Hummingbird's Daughter

The Hummingbird's Daughter by Luis Alberto Urrea

This is an epic novel. It covers essentially 19 years of the life of Teresa Urrea a.k.a. Santa Teresa de Cabora. Teresa Urrea was a real person and was a distant cousin of the author. He grew up hearing tales of her but thought they were all myth until he found actual documentation of her life. After over 20 years of research, came this novel.

This novel is rich and compelling and felt similar to One Hundred Years of Solitude (Gabriel Garcia Marquez). I loved it yet it took me forever to read. A large part of this was that I was otherwise occupied with my time. Another part was the scope of the book. This is not a difficult read (weird syntax, antiquated English, etc.) but for some reason it requires that the reader take their time and savor the story. I read another of the author's books, Into the Beautiful North, and I enjoyed it very much. This book is bigger and more grandiose perhaps just because of the historic nature of the story.

Teresa Urrea lived from 1873 until 1906. According to the novel she was a bastard daughter of a wealthy Mexican man and an Indian servant that everyone called "the hummingbird". She became a curandera, a healer, and was also called a saint. Her name was cried out by the indigenous people as they went to war against the invading Mexicans. In the nineteen years of her life covered in the book, she lived a remarkable life. Much about her life is not known so the author has created a rich novel to fill in the holes that history has left.

I highly recommend this book to anyone not afraid to tackle the 499 pages that are often sprinkled with Spanish. Enjoy!