Beach Music by Pat Conroy

Synopsis :

A Southerner living abroad, Jack McCall is scarred by tragedy and betrayal. His desperate desire to find peace after his wife’s suicide draws him into a painful, intimate search for the one haunting secret in his family’s past that can heal his anguished heart. 

Spanning three generations and two continents, from the contemporary ruins of the American South to the ancient ruins of Rome, from the unutterable horrors of the Holocaust to the lingering trauma of Vietnam, Beach Music sings with life’s pain and glory. 

It is a novel of lyric intensity and searing truth, another masterpiece among Pat Conroy’s legendary and beloved novels. 



This is what I say :

If you read my post here, I must update that I didn't bring this book with me for that particular trip.  It's just too heavy and bulky.  At the last minute, I chosen a lighter paperback.

Having said that, I have finished reading this title and it was a pretty good read. To think that this copy sat not on my shelf but on a coffee table together with a few other titles for a few years as I used them as decorative items.  The reason it had that 'role' was because I thought it would be a boring read! How wrong can I be! hahah...

Beach Music certainly wasn't boring.  Told from the perspective of Jack McCall who couldn't deal with his wife's suicide, he exiled himself and his young daughter to Europe and doesn't want anything to do with his friends and family back home.

Until he was called home and from there he learned the stories of generation past that might help him deal with all that he has to deal with.

Now, the title, why Beach Music?  There's some reviewer who commented that it's the 'shag dance music' that they used to dance to in their youth.  However, personally, I felt that it's the music that calls one home...it calls Jack home, back to the beach and the house that falls into the sea where it all started.   It's also the natural music that calls the loggerhead back to the sea once they are hatched and loggerhead conservation that features quite extensively throughout the book. 

I guess if you read in between the lines, you can actually see the similarities of these creatures in the lives of the characters.

The writing is quite beautiful and there's a few quotable quotes that again, if you look deeper, can be found throughout the book.

My only qualm would be that character developing is rather poor especially with some of the minor characters that was mentioned once and then never heard of again...like Martha.  And also probably that the author packed too many sub-story line into this title that it got slightly overcrowded.

But still, it's a thumbs up :)

Book Purchase #4 - September 2018

Ehem......hello...I can't believe here I am again with another such post!

I thought I was being rather good in managing my purchases but after this post, a phone call came of some books that's available at a charity sales and the call asked if I'm interested?

One look at the titles, I was hooked and I put in a reservation for 6 titles. Fortunately or unfortunately, depending on how you look at it,  3 of the titles that I wanted was reserved by others so I ended up with only 3 titles.

These are all titles by Jeffery Archer and forms part of a chronicles or series with about 6 to 7 titles.  I had the first title and have been on the look out for the others but I wasn't willing to pay retail as it would really put a dent in my wallet.

So I guess I can't say no towards getting them at a rather good price and contributing towards charity at the same time.

As some of the titles were taken by others, it will take a while for me to complete the chronicles.  Wish me luck!

ps with this, my books purchase for the year is at 10.

Saving Fish from Drowning by Amy Tan

Synopsis :

San Francisco art patron Bibi Chen has planned a journey of the senses along the famed Burma Road for eleven lucky friends. But after her mysterious death, Bibi is forced to watch from the spirit world as the eleven travelers bumble through their adventures.

Determined to make the best of it, the pleasure seekers embark on a trail paved with uncertainty, questionable food and tribal curses.  Then, on Christmas morning, they cruise across a misty lake - and vanish.  

Coloured with picaresque characters and haunting imagery, this mesmerizing tale is about the actions we choose, the moral questions we might ask ourselves, and above all, the deeply personal answers we seek when happy endings seem far out of reach.


This is what I say :

I have not read a novel by Amy Tan for quite a long time.   Although Saving Fish From Drowning is not a new title,  I have never come across this title before.  I got this copy from a '2 for 1' deal in October last year and I am most certainly glad I did although I have to give up 2 titles for this 1 title.

I have quite forgotten how Amy's books are like even though I have read her classic titles such as The Joy Luck Club and The Kitchen God's Wife.  All I know is that she does write about her Chinese heritage and culture which is a major influence in her writings.

It is slightly different for Saving Fish From Drowning.  Although the story is told from the view point of a Chinese lady (or rather, a dead Chinese lady), the Chinese cultural elements are not prominent.  Maybe because she set the story in Burma or Myanmar and a majority of her characters are of mix ethnic and nationalities, it doesn't have have the 'Amy Tan' flavor.

That doesn't mean it's bad but it's just different and because I quite forgotten her earlier work (like what I mentioned above), this absence of 'Amy Tan's flavor' doesn't bother me much.

I quite enjoyed Saving Fish From Drowning.  In fact, it's the second book I bought with me during my recent gateaway.

Blood Sisters by Jane Corry

Synopsis :

Three little girls set off to school one sunny May morning.  Within an hour, one of them is dead.

Fifteen years later, Kitty can't speak and has no memory of the accident that's to blame. She lives in an institution, unlikely ever to leave. But that doesn't keep her from being frightened when she encounters an eerily familiar face. 

Art teacher Alison looks fine on the surface. But the surface is a lie. She's struggling to make ends meet and to forget the past. When a teaching job at a prison opens up, she takes it, despite her fears. Maybe this is her chance to set things right. Then she starts to receive alarming notes; next, her classroom erupts in violence.

Meanwhile, someone is watching both Kitty and Alison. Someone who never forgot what happened that day. Someone who wants revenge. And only another life will do. . .


This is what I say :

My copy of Blood Sisters is an ARC given to me about a year ago.  I actually thought it's a horror novel and wanted to keep it for near the halloween season.   However, Blood Sisters  is not a horror genre but can be considered a psychological thriller.

It started off rather confusingly with snippets of phrases and it took a while for me to get the timeline and characters in syn.  Once I have done that, it was a very smooth read right till the end.

I really enjoy reading Blood Sisters.   The plot was thrilling enought to keep me guessing and flipping the pages till the very end and even at the very end, the author throws in a surprise which made me did a double take and reflecting back on what I have read as it does change my perspective of one of the characters and made me went 'wow!' in a 'psychotically admiring' way :)

With a rather high rating in goodreads.com, this title is highly recommended if you are keen for a relaxing yet thrilling escape with the sisters.

This is actually one of the titles I brought with me when I had my weekend gateaway last month.  The sisters were good company when I have to hours to kill while waiting for my connecting flight.  I actually bought two books with me which is a good thing as I finished reading Blood Sisters during my trip itself and the other copy came in useful for the returning connecting flight.

The Girl Who Could Fly by Victoria Forester

Synopsis :

Piper McCloud lives with her normal ma and pa on a normal farm in normal Lowland County.  But Piper isn't your normal girl.  Ever since Piper was a baby, she's been able to hover a few feet off the ground, and if the people of Lowland County knew she could fly, they would have something to say about it. 

So, it only seems best that Piper be sent away to I.N.S.A.N.E., the top secret school for children with extraordinary abilities like hers.  Her new friends have powers like telekinesis, X-ray vision, and the ability to create their own weather.

Piper likes her new life at school, but soon, she realizes things arn't as they seem.  Now, the school she was sent to for her own protection might be the most dangerous place she's ever been.

This is what I say :

I can't remember how this title ended up in my collection.  All I remember is that it's a long time residence in my bookshelf but not at my part of shelf but rather, the princess's.  Anyway, while clearing the shelf recently, I happen to just read the synopsis and thought it might be a good idea to make it my 'traffic read' .

I am quite glad I did.  Although The Girl Who Could Fly is more relevant for teens and pre-teens, it is still entertaining enough and I do enjoy it.  Actually, it's Piper who's entertaining. She is just so bubbly, hyper and generally optimistic and all time high. :)

This book has elements of Mrs Peregrines Home for Peculiar Children but is more mild and certainly more relevant for the age group mentioned above.  There wasn't much of any characters development and the focus is very much just on Piper.  Even think, the development focus on just the storyline but then as this is for pre-teens and teens, perhaps it's intentionally so, so that children of that age group would be captivated by it.

The sequel to this title is The Boy Who Knew Everything and I think it ends there.  I don't have the sequel and I am not sure if I would want to read it too.