This week felt a little more like normal. I did get five books in and have a distinct favorite. Chick-lit wins again, albeit slightly elevated chick-lit.
Jane Johnson's The Tenth Gift was my favorite not only because of her strong-but-flawed heroines, but the fantastical stitching of pirates and history and a teeny bit of embroidery into a cohesive story that doesn't villainize or romanticize.
The book follows present-day Julia and 17th-century Jane as the travel from their respectively mundane lives to a world they had never dreamed of. Jane's reaction to being taken captive by pirates is honest. Her experiences are neither white-washed nor glamorized. Julia follows Jane's "adventure" when she receives the antique embroidery pattern book that Jane had also used as a journal.
The only issue I had was the bit of hocus-pocus at the end, but I will tolerate that for a truly well-told tale of Barbary pirates.
2 comments:
Recommended: "The Great World Spins"
(Word verification thingee: "vorpho," which would be part of my name if I were a magician: The Great and All Powerful Vorpho.)
Whoops--slightly off: "Let the Great World Spin"
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