I purchased a Kindle Paperwhite just before my wedding to be sure I had plenty of reading materials for the honeymoon (without lugging around books). Now hear me out...I resisted e-readers for a long time, because I too am a book aficionado. There's nothing better than the turn of the pages and the weight of the book shifting in your hands as you turn every page in anticipation of the next. However, for traveling logistics...this is a great solution, and I'm not going to lie...WAY more convenient for one-handed beach/pool-side reading. I was also blessed with a generous Amazon gift card from one of my students as an end-of-the-year gift, which allowed me to stock my new Kindle with some great summer reads, and rather than having to wait for them to be shipped in the mail...they are immediately downloaded to my Kindle. So...I caved, but I don't regret it! I also got to purchase this sweet n' chic Vera Bradley e-reader cover! LOVE IT! I got this one on sale, I think the pattern is retiring, it's not available in this pattern and size online anymore.
Now in order to select the books I load on my Kindle, I still insist on going to the bookstore first to actually pick up the books, read a few pages, read the back and decide if it's for me before I download. Yes, I KNOW you can get a free sample of the book on your Kindle before you buy but it's still not the same! So no, I have not and will never completely abandon real books. But now, onto our feature!
I just finished reading Helen Simonson's Major Pettigrew's Last Stand
The cover art is what drew me to pick it up at the bookstore (yup, that's me...still judge a book by it's cover). I could tell it was going to be a good love story, and I'm a major sap for a good love story. I used to be a Nicholas Sparks addict until I realized it was always the same story and very formulaic. He has a few greats, but after a while they all start to sound the same, so I've laid him to rest for a while. But always on the hunt for a sweet love story I picked this one up to find out more.
In the small village of Edgecombe St. Mary in the English countryside lives Major Ernest Pettigrew (retired), the unlikely hero of Helen Simonson’s wondrous debut. Wry, courtly, opinionated, and completely endearing, the Major leads a quiet life valuing the proper things that Englishmen have lived by for generations: honor, duty, decorum, and a properly brewed cup of tea. But then his brother’s death sparks an unexpected friendship with Mrs. Jasmina Ali, the Pakistani shopkeeper from the village. Drawn together by their shared love of literature and the loss of their spouses, the Major and Mrs. Ali soon find their friendship blossoming into something more. But village society insists on embracing him as the quintessential local and regarding her as the permanent foreigner. Can their relationship survive the risks one takes when pursuing happiness in the face of culture and tradition? -(Description on Amazon.com and the back of the book)
This premier novel from Simonson eloquently and unapologetically presents the conflicts between the modern generations and their elders tied to etiquette and tradition. Simonson also examines the cultural and religious barriers that divide societies, and yet she gently tears down the walls, revealing the hearts of people that have the same basic needs: love, acceptance, and a home that allows them the space to be their true self. Through the events that take place these characters learn that in order to meet these needs, sometimes change is necessary.
As I read I burst out laughing, I scoffed at characters, I got teary-eyed, and I even held my breath and felt my whole body tense in suspense. I loved every page of this book and felt the tinge of disappointment when I had read through the last page.
Some of my favorite lines from the book:
"Mrs. Ali sighed, 'I rather admire such refusal to bow before authority, but I fear it makes for a very uncomfortable daily existence." - p. 67
"--America wielded her huge power in the world with a brash confidence that reminded him of a toddler who has got hold of a hammer.---He was prepared to admit that he might be prejudiced, but what was one supposed to think of a country where history was either preserved in theme parks by employees wearing mob caps and long skirts over their sneakers, or was torn down--taken apart for the wide-plank lumber?" - p. 174
"Only sometimes when we pick and choose among the rules we discover later that we have set aside something precious in the process." - P. 181 Abdul Wahid
"'I know something of shame,' said the Major. [...]'How can we not all feel it? We are all small-minded people, creeping about the earth grubbing for our own advantage and making the very mistakes for which we want to humiliate our neighbors.' [...] 'I think we wake up every day with high intentions and by dusk we have routinely fallen short. Sometimes I think God created the darkness just so he didn't have to look at us all the time.''"- P. 341
BOOM! There's some powerful stuff in this incredible novel and there's a few weeks left of summer for you to soak it up if you feel so inclined.
Looking forward to starting my next summer read. What are you reading this summer?
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