Book Review: The Perfume Collector by Kathleen Tessaro

This is yet another book about a secret history. Yawn! Aren’t there too many books about that already? Well, who cares? This book is fantastic! I loved every page of it (and there are quite a few).

The Perfume Collector: What it is about

What the publishers say: “London, 1955: Grace Monroe is a fortunate young woman. Despite her sheltered upbringing in Oxford, her recent marriage has thrust her into the heart of London’s most refined and ambitious social circles. However, playing the role of the sophisticated socialite her husband would like her to be doesn’t come easily to her—and perhaps never will.

Then one evening a letter arrives from France that will change everything. Grace has received an inheritance. There’s only one problem: she has never heard of her benefactor, the mysterious Eva d’Orsey.

So begins a journey that takes Grace to Paris in search of Eva. There, in a long-abandoned perfume shop on the Left Bank, she discovers the seductive world of perfumers and their muses, and a surprising, complex love story. Told by invoking the three distinctive perfumes she inspired, Eva d’Orsey’s story weaves through the decades, from 1920s New York to Monte Carlo, Paris, and London.

But these three perfumes hold secrets. And as Eva’s past and Grace’s future intersect, Grace realizes she must choose between the life she thinks she should live and the person she is truly meant to be.“

The Perfume Collector: What I thought

I enjoyed reading this book so much! It was a very quick read, and I found it hard to put it down. Grace inherits a lot of money as well as a beautiful apartment in Paris. Wonderful! We readers get a look around the apartment and while it’s meant to be sold, I hoped Grace would be able to keep it and maybe live in it herself.

Most of the story is about Grace trying to find out why she has been left all this wealth. She doesn’t know the deceased and rather than accepting the inheritance just like that, she wants to find out who this Eva d’Orsey is. In a sense, the book is a mystery in which Grace, step-by-step, tries to find out how Eva knew her. Her search brings her to an abandoned perfume shop and an old lady who lives above it.

It’s also the story of Eva, who we find 30 years earlier, in the 1920s, working as young woman in a New York hotel. Here she meets all kinds of guests, some of which play a role in her further life. Most of these guests are flamboyant types and it’s good fun reading about their antics while staying in the hotel. Eva isn’t supposed to talk to the guests, but she does make some life-long friends there.

There is a really good sense of place and time. I especially loved reading about the hotel where Eva worked and about the perfume shop. The story is build up well, and I couldn’t stop reading and finding more about Eva and about Grace’s search for Eva’s history.

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Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

Number of pages: 464

First published: 2013

I got this: from Harper for review

Genre: historical fiction

Weekly Reading Roundup

 *****

The week

I’ve been taking part in the Bout of Books read-a-thon and I read a lot! Except on Saturday… I went out with my friend, shopping in Amsterdam – first to Marks & Spencer’s (an English department store with one  store in the Netherlands), where I bought some of my favorite English foodies (egg custards, scones and carrot & coriander soup). Then we had dinner (fish & chips) in an Irish Pub and thereafter we went to Waterstone’s (an English bookstore with one store in the Netherlands) – it opened especially for the people attending the book group that we were going to. For the first hour there were just a very few of us, browsing the shelves (I bought one book – I was good) and then more people arrived. The book group meeting was part of a big organisation of 30 authors each meeting 25 readers at different locations in Amsterdam. We had a great meeting with Joe Dunthorne, writer of Wild Abandon and the recently-made-into-a-movie Submarine. 

*****

Books I finished in the last week: 6

De laatkomer [The Late Arrival] by Dimitri Verhulst [Dutch]. To escape his domineering wife, a man pretends to have Alzheimer’s and moves into a care home. 4.5 stars

A Trick I Learned From Dead Men by Kitty Aldridge. A young man works as an assistant-undertaker and finds his life around him falling to pieces. 5 stars

Poollicht [Polar Light] by Jolanda Linschooten [Dutch]. Non-fiction travelogue about trips to artic areas. 4 stars

The Thief by Fuminori Nakamura. A pickpocket gets involved with a mafia-type individual, against his wishes. 5 stars

The Perfume Collector by Kathleen Tessaro. A beautiful historical fiction story about a woman who inherits a lot of money from a woman she doesn’t know. She investigates. 5 stars

IV by Arjen Lubach [Dutch]. A young woman investigates something her father was working on when he was killed. 5 stars

Books I’m reading & planning to read

Reviews

Wild Abandon by Joe Dunthorne. Contemporary fiction about a family living at a commune. 3.5 stars

Schroder by Amity Gaige. A divorced man wants to see more of his little daughter and takes her on an unscheduled holiday, after which he is wanted for kidnapping. 5 stars

Vrij spel [Free Game] by Carlijn Vis. Historical novel about a woman who fled the Netherlands in WWII and her adventures in order to get to England. 4 stars

 

*****

And further…

Some new books that I recently got.

*****

That’s it!

What are you reading this week?

Book Review: Wild Abandon by Joe Dunthorne

This author is new to me but comes highly recommended by my friend. She read this book and Submarine by the same author. When I found out that Joe Dunthorne would be present at a 30-author book club (each author discussing their book with 25 people), I booked us in. Unfortunately, I didn’t like the book as much as I’d hoped. In the book club (last night), we only discussed what we liked about the book, so that was pretty safe!

Wild Abandon: What it is about

What the publishers say: “Kate and Albert, sister and brother, are not yet the last two human beings on earth, but Albert is hopeful. The secluded communal farm they grew up on is – after twenty years – disintegrating, taking their parents’ marriage with it. They both try to escape: Kate, at seventeen, to a suburbia she knows only through fiction and Albert, at eleven, into preparations for the end of the world – which is coming, he is sure.

And then there is Don: father of the family, leader and maker of elaborate speeches. Faced with the prospect of saving his community, his marriage, his son from apocalyptic visions and his daughter from impending men, he sets to work on reunifying the commune by bringing it into the modern age, through self-sufficiency, charisma and a rave with a 10k sound system.

The last day on earth is coming. Bring your own booze.“

Wild Abandon: What I thought

It all starts quite funny, with Kate (17) sharing a shower with her younger brother Albert (11), but deciding soon after that maybe she’s too old for that. Albert is very keen to keep the family ties fastened, but Kate is ready to explore the world.

Albert knows the world’s end is nigh. In a way, it is indeed. The family, and community, is falling apart bit by bit.

I liked it how Kate opposed her parents by not wanting to be hippyish. She doesn’t wear her big skirts to school and has very limited experience with drug taking (something her uncle Patrick has taken too far).

There were some very fun moments in the story in general, and they were a pleasure to read. But after a while, I got bored with this book, even though it was quite short. I liked Kate but didn’t really care much for the other protagonists. Albert I found a weird kid, Patrick was weird too, Don a little tragic, and his wife deserved a book of her own.

I would have liked a bit more of a plot. The story did go somewhere, but very slowly.

I did finish the book, rather more slowly than I’d hope for such a short book, but I lost most of my enjoyment of reading it towards the end. Such a pity, as it started really quite good!

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Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

Number of pages: 244

First published: 2011

I got this: bought it for a book club event

Genre: contemporary fiction

New Arrivals!

At the moment, I seem to be reading faster than that I’m getting new books. That’s good news, because the to-be-read pile has almost reached a 100 – I hope to be able to stay below that number, it sounds way too many as it is. Anyway, the new books….

Books I got for review

The Perfume Collector by Kathleen Tessaro

For review from Harper. I’m not sure why I asked for a review copy of this book. It’s one of those books where someone finds a letter/book/object and then digs in the past to reveal a secret. Been there, done it. BUT: I read this and it was fantastic!!! I devoured this book. Really good!

From the publishers: “Newlywed Grace Monroe doesn’t fit anyone’s expectations of a successful 1950s London socialite, least of all her own. When she receives an unexpected inheritance from a complete stranger, Madame Eva d’Orsey, Grace is drawn to uncover the identity of her mysterious benefactor.

Weaving through the decades, from 1920s New York to Monte Carlo, Paris, and London, the story Grace uncovers is that of an extraordinary women who inspired one of Paris’s greatest perfumers. Immortalized in three evocative perfumes, Eva d’Orsey’s history will transform Grace’s life forever, forcing her to choose between the woman she is expected to be and the person she really is.”

***

The Apple Orchard by Susan Wiggs (ebook)

Leslie of Under my Apple Tree reviewed this book and it sounded like something I might like too. So, I asked for it via Netgalley (ebook). It seems like a great summer read. Now, where is summer?

From the publishers: “Tess Delaney makes a living restoring stolen treasures to their rightful owners. People like Annelise Winther, who refuses to sell her long-gone mother’s beloved necklace—despite Tess’s advice. To Annelise, the jewel’s value is in its memories.

But Tess’s own history is filled with gaps: a father she never met, a mother who spent more time traveling than with her daughter. So Tess is shocked when she discovers the grandfather she never knew is in a coma. And that she has been named in his will to inherit half of Bella Vista, a hundred-acre apple orchard in the magical Sonoma town called Archangel.

The rest is willed to Isabel Johansen. A half sister she’s never heard of.

Against the rich landscape of Bella Vista, Tess begins to discover a world filled with the simple pleasures of food and family, of the warm earth beneath her bare feet. A world where family comes first and the roots of history run deep. A place where falling in love is not only possible, but inevitable.

And in a season filled with new experiences, Tess begins to see the truth in something Annelise once told her: if you don’t believe memories are worth more than money, then perhaps you’ve not made the right kind of memories.”

***

Books from the library

The Woman Who Went to Bed for a Year by Sue Townsend

From the writer of the Adrian Mole books, a book about a mother of 17 year old twins, who has been wanting a break from it all since they were born. Now is her chance. This sounded great fun – and it was (I already read the book).

From the back of the book: “The day her twins leave home, Eva climbs into bed and stays there. For seventeen years she’s wanted to yell at the world, ‘Stop! I want to get off’. Finally, this is her chance.

Her husband Brian, an astronomer having an unsatisfactory affair, is upset. Who will cook his dinner? Eva, he complains, is attention-seeking. But word of Eva’s defiance spreads.

Legions of fans, believing she is protesting, gather in the street, while her new friend Alexander, the white-van man brings tea, toast and an unexpected sympathy. And from this odd but comforting place, Eva begins to see both herself and the world very, very differently.”

***

Books I bought

The Twelve by Justin Cronin

I read (and loved) The Passage, so I am very keen to read the next instalment of this trilogy. They had this book for the price of a magazine in my favorite UK supermarket.

From the publisher: “The epic story of THE PASSAGE continues. Death-row prisoners with nightmare pasts and no future. Until they were selected for a secret experiment. To create something more than human. Now they are the future and humanity’s worst nightmare has begun.“

***

Have you read any of these books? Which of these would appeal to you?

Quick Book Review: Schroder by Amity Gaige

This book is a long letter from a man, Eric Kennedy, formerly known as Eric Schroder, to his wife Laura. But this is not one long boring letter. A lot of the book is the story of what happened when Eric took his small daughter on an unscheduled trip. Sometimes he refers to “you”, Laura, but in general this is merely a story as told by Eric.

Eric Kennedy has reinvented himself when he was 14. Having moved to the USA from Germany at the age of 9, he worked hard to get rid of his accent, and felt he needed an “old” name (with a hint of belonging to that family) to count in the American society. So, he dropped his German name, Schroder, and adopted the name Kennedy.

No one, not even his wife, know his real identity, or that he was born in Germany. Eric tells the story of how he met Laura, and the story he told her about his past. After he and Laura separate, he is only allowed to see his daughter Meadow every now and then. On one occasion, he decides to take her on a road trip and they keep going. Soon, the police are looking for them.

Beautifully written, but not a difficult read, actually quite a fast read for this kind of book. A very personal document about a father’s love for his daughter and how he is naive to think his wife would be fair in their child custody process. It’s also about Eric’s quest to become accepted as an American, neglecting his old father on the way.

Rating: 4.5

Number of pages: 272

First published: 2013

I got this book: bought it at the local book store

Genre: contemporary fiction

Have you read this book?

Did you enjoy it?

Weekly Reading Roundup

 

The week

No troubles this week! We got a replacement car while our car is being repaired. It’s a very small car, though, but it will do for the moment.

My husband persuaded me to book a sunny holiday: in a few weeks’ time I’ll be going to the Canary Islands (Spain, but to the left of North-Africa) for a week of reading in the sun. I think it’s rather indulgent – and scary! I’ve never been on holiday on my own.

I’ll be taking part in the Bout of Books read-a-thon. Rather than reading the whole time, I set myself a goal: to read one book more than normal. That way, I will read more than normally, but not all the time.

*****

Books I finished in the last week: 6

I finished off a lot of books that I started the week(s) before.

Click on the blue links to go to the review

NOS4A2 door Joe Hill. Horror about a man who abducts children to take them to his imaginary Christmasland. 5 stars

Important Artifacts and Personal Property from the Collection of Lenore Doolan and Harold Morris, Including Books, Street Fashion, and Jewelry by Leanne Shapton. The story of a divorce told in the form of an auction catalog. 4 stars

The Guilty One by Lisa Ballantyne [Review in Dutch]. An eight year old boy is found dead in a playground. His eleven year old friend is accused of the murder. Mystery, 5 stars.

Wild Abandon by Joe Dunthorne. Contemporary fiction about a family living at a commune. 3.5 stars

The Woman Who Went to Bed for a Year by Sue Townsend. Fun read about a woman who goes to bed when her twins leave for university. 4.5 stars

Digitale verleiding [Digital Seduction] by Maurits Kaptein. Non-fiction about ways in which websites may seduce us into buying their stuff in future. 4.5 stars

Books I’m reading

I’m taking part in the Bout of Books read-a-thon, and I hope to read these 5 books this week:

Reviews

The Dinner by Herman Koch. A re-read because of the interest in other countries for this book. Loved it even more than last time. 5 stars

Amity & Sorrow by Peggy Riley. A mother and her two daughters escape from a cult and end up at the farm of a man who does not want them there. 5 stars

Stern by Thomas Heerma van Voss [Dutch]. A school teacher is made redundant and thinks back on his relationships with friends, family and his pupils. 4.5 stars

*****

And further…

I posted an updated list of Dystopian novels for adults. Thanks for all who suggested books! On the basis of this list, Uncorked Thoughts is doing a dystopian challenge. Check it out!

*****

That’s it!

What are you reading this week?

Book Review: NOS4A2 by Joe Hill

I’ve read only one other book by Joe Hill: Horns. It was something rather different to what I normally read, but I enjoyed it a lot. So, I was keen to read this new book by Joe Hill.

It’s been described as Horror, but there isn’t a great deal of scary stuff going on, at least not at first. There is nothing where you’d want to peek between your fingers while reading because you can’t handle it. But it is a crazy story in which a child abductor plays a large part.

NOS4A2: What it is about

The book focuses mostly on Vic McQueen who we meet as a girl. She has a really nice bicycle with which she can cross a derelict bridge in order to find back items that are missing. The bridge brings her to a completely different part of the USA, where she collects/finds the missing item, then rides her bike back over the bridge and arrives back home. One day, she comes across a man, Charlie Manx, who has a child locked in the back of his car. When she tries to release the boy, he comes after her.

Charlie Manx has built Christmasland, a wonderful Christmas experience for all the children he saves from their terrible parents. All the children he abducts end up there, for ever.

NOS4A2: What I thought

This is a big, big book, but didn’t bore me for even one minute. The pace is good and the writing is fun. The reader sometimes gets to read about Charlie Manx and his helper, the Gasmask Man and so, gets some insight into what Vic and other children awaits, when they are caught.

Vic, as an adult, is the real hero of the story. She does everything she can to catch Charlie Manx and destroy his Christmasland, after he returns while she is at a low point in her life. The vulnerable, unstable woman develops into a Die Hard hero who fights Manx until the bitter end.

I found the story very original, clever, funny, and also very believable – the only problem I had was with the fantasy part of the story. As I tend to read contemporary fiction in which everything that happens, could happen, I had to wrap my brain around the idea that Christmasland existed in Charlie Manx fantasy rather than in reality. But still, children were abducted to it and Vic also goes there. So, it took me a while to adapt to this idea. This is not a negative aspect of the book, though, I loved trying to understand how it might work.

Definitely worth a read for anyone that likes a book with crazy ideas and a rollercoaster ending.

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Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

Number of pages: 704

First published: 2013

I got this: for review from the publishers, William Morrow

Genre: horror