Not So Snow White by Donna Kauffman

Not So Snow White by Donna Kauffman

The fairytales continue with Aurora, Mercedes and Vivian at the Glass Slipper as Aurora puts the company to good use to help get two friends of her family to notice each other.

The novel follows (mostly) the beautiful former tennis star and party-girl Tess Hamilton as she tries to find her place in the world after being retired from tennis (before 30). Whereas most retired tennis players of Tess' caliber would live off of their saved winnings, the hot-headed Tess spent hers as quickly as she got it and the IRS walked off with most of the rest. Not willing to let her family (or the public) know that she is almost broke Tess tries to stir up some advertising interest but doesn't have any luck until she is invited to her brother wedding just weeks before Wimbledon (the last place Tess wants to be).

Tess is taken in by Aurora who (sneakily) invites her to be the "mentor" of a young tennis prodigy with a temper much like Tess'. The only problem there is Gabrielle's big brother Max who is a patient as Tess is impatient and uninterested as far as relationships go. As with any good Donna Kauffman novel the characters win each other over (but with more than the normal amount of strife and tension) and win the reader over as well.

I spent the majority of the first part of the book upset at Tess for being such a hot-headed arrogant party-girl. After several chapters though she sort of becomes less evil and more pathetic as she tries to figure her way out of her financial predicament with her pride intact. I gained a lot more sympathy for her after that.

All in all the book was good and a fast read.

Sarah: A Novel, Canaan Trilogy by Marek Halter

Sarah: a Novel (Canaan Trilogy) by Marek Halter

I read the paperback version: 336 pages

This is the first historical / bibilical novel I have read in awhile. I think the last one that I really read was "The Red Tent" by Anita Diamante about Dinah and I had loved that one novel so much that I actually dug up a copy of the bible to find that one small passage where Dinah is mentioned.

This book was similar to that one in so many ways. Sarah (Sarai) is quite a major character in the Old Testament but is portrayed as quite a shallow character. This novel by Marek Halter takes a little artistic licensing and delves into her character. We see a probable history of her life in Ur, an account of her decisions, the hows and whys she did things the way that we see her doing them in the Bible.

Mr. Halter fills in the gaps in her life with rich period details and made me empathize completely with the character I used to feel apathetic about. After all, most of us probably only remember the bad things about Sarah: sleeping with Pharaoh, casting off her handmaid Hagar, and doubting Abraham and God when he tells her she will finally have a son. Yes those things happened in the Bible but like so much else in life there is always a reason and most people don't set out to do wrong intentionally.

This is an excellent book for those who want to dig a little deeper in the Bible and that era.

The Soloist by Mark Salzman

The Soloist by Mark Salzman

Hardback Edition: 304 pages

This novel took me about two nights to read. It's a little bit abnormal for my usual style of reading but with the way that it is written I'm not really surprised that I finished it that quickly.

The storyline looks at the life of a sheltered child musical prodigy. Renne (short for Reinhart) spent much of the first 18 years of his life learning the cello and touring through Europe. After his teacher died and Renne was trying to become his own person his music failed him (or he failed his music) by focusing too close on the pitch and not the overall piece.

Several years later and Renne is teaching at the university, unhappy with his life but unable to see how to change it. He is called up for jury duty on a case that involves Zen Buddhism and the question of insanity and at first he wants to decline to jury duty but soon the case sweeps him up in its grasp.

So between the case and Renne's newest pupil, a nine-year-old musical prodigy from Korea, Renne must examine his past (both right and wrong moves) and decide how best to move on into his future. It is a very introspective book with very little real action. Somehow though that doesn't impede the interesting nature of the book. Some parts are quite sad but at the end I was feeling quite hopeful for Renne.