The Local Lit Scene

MY MOTHER KILLED CHRIST BUT GOD LOVES ME ANYWAY-Katie Roberta Stevens

Sent in by Katie Rickert

The title of this book caught my attention because it was a bit shocking.  However, after reading the Amazon description I was intrigued.  When I read the Prologue, I was hooked.  The writing was so powerful, I had to put the book down to catch my breath.  It’s the story of a girl raised by a mentally ill mother who thought she killed Christ.  But it is an inspiring, uplifting book.

This was the first time in 20 years that I read a book so well-written that I could not put it down and go to bed.  The beginning is tough to read, but in the middle I was laughing out loud.  By the end, I didn’t want it to be over.  The only bad part about the book was that it was over.

I highly recommend this book.  The writing was breathtaking.

Thanks Katie, for sending in the review,I have to admit to being very intrigued to read this book, the name, the review, so if any one else has read it, I would love to know if you found it as good as Katie did. This book only seems to be available on Kindle at the moment, so those of you with Kindles, go get yourself a new book to read!

I recently borrowed this book from a friend of mine after reading the back cover and becoming intrigued by the story line. I have to admit to not wanting to put it down. One of those books that you keep reading late into the night even though you have a 5.30am start- and don’t want to end. I think some people may be put off by the whole ‘demon’ side of things, but to me it was just fascinating and very readable. I loved how she combined two stories in one and brought the family line from then until now. How secrets of the past can change a future of a person and the amount of superstition that can be inherent in people.

Meredith is not superstitious at all and I love how her candid no-nonsense attitude is contrasted by the 19th century Leonie.

If you enjoy this sort of thing, I highly recomend it!

I thoroughly enjoyed it. It had drama, intrigue, a love story and secrets. Just what one expects of a good story book. Here is the excerpt from the back cover:

In 1891, young Léonie Vernier and her brother Anatole arrive in the beautiful town of Rennes-les-Bains, in southwest France. They’ve come at the invitation of their widowed aunt, whose mountain estate, Domain de la Cade, is famous in the region. But it soon becomes clear that their aunt Isolde—and the Domain—are not what Léonie had imagined. The villagers claim that Isolde’s late husband died after summoning a demon from the old Visigoth sepulchre high on the mountainside. A book from the Domain’s cavernous library describes the strange tarot pack that mysteriously disappeared following the uncle’s death. But while Léonie delves deeper into the ancient mysteries of the Domain, a different evil stalks her family—one which may explain why Léonie and Anatole were invited to the sinister Domain in the first place.

More than a century later, Meredith Martin, an American graduate student, arrives in France to study the life of Claude Debussy, the nineteenth century French composer. In Rennes-les-Bains, Meredith checks into a grand old hotel—the Domain de la Cade. Something about the hotel feels eerily familiar, and strange dreams and visions begin to haunt Meredith’s waking hours. A chance encounter leads her to a pack of tarot cards painted by Léonie Vernier, which may hold the key to this twenty-first century American’s fate . . . just as they did to the fate of Léonie Vernier more than a century earlier.

To order a copy,just click on the book cover and it will take you straight to Kalahari.net

Happy Reading!

Written and sent in by Cathy:

This is the book that I received as my prize in the February giveaway… and wow it sure was a great read.  Having only ever read one book by Katherine Stone, and I loved every word of it, I had high expectations of this one…. and it didn’t disappoint.  I gobbled it up and was actually quite sad when I finished it.  Katherine Stone writes in such an easy style that you don’t even notice how many pages you read at a time and then discover you’re halfway through already!

The story revolves around two sisters who don’t know they are sisters… their father… the one’s mother and then a few grandparents and significant others thrown in…. It’s four love stories that are intertwined and set in the booming city of Hong Kong in 1994, around the building of a hotel building.

The book might be “fluffy” and “chick lit” but it definitely makes you question your prejudices and the reasons why we sometimes think like we do.  Well worth the read.

Thanks Cathy, I am so glad you enjoyed it!

I have just finished reading ‘When God was a Rabbit’ by Sarah Winman. I enjoyed it totally.

It was a breath of fresh air to read, simple and eloquent, the words just poured off the page into my reading eyes and I did not want it to end.

It is a simple story, about a brother and a sister, about love, about triumphs and tragedy.  And everything inbetween. If you are looking for an easy to read, but enjoyable book, I would recommend this.

Before this, I read

Mr Rosenblum’s list– Natasha Solomons – which again, I thoroughly enjoyed.

The Millenium Trilogy- Steig Larson – un put downable, if you haven’t read it yet, you really really should.

The Thirteenth Tale- Diane Setterfield- in a similar vein to Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffeneger and if you enjoyed that, you should enjoy this one. I did!

The Passage – Justin Cronin – a very bizarre novel, which makes one wonder about the state of the American Government and what could happen, if people are allowed to mess with genetics and viruses. I enjoyed it but did find it a bit slow going at times. If you are looking for something sci-fi’ish then this is a good one to go for.

Dark Visions – LJ Smit – in a similar vein to Stephanie Meyer and the Twilight series, but focuses less on vampires. More on special gifts that a group of teenagers have and the perils they are exposed to. It is a young adult book and definitely readable.

And that is where I am at at the moment. How I still manage to find time to read is a mystery, but one cannot keep me away from books for long!

Now tell me, What have you been reading?

So, the month of love finally draws to a close and we will have a winner for the Love book competition in a few days.

But I wanted to write my review about Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell.

As I have said before, The Man recommended this book to me.   Pretty much on our first date and considering that when he was ‘courting’ me, he said that one of his favourite authors was Tom Robbins – my ultimate favourite favourite – and that I had seen David Mitchell’s books around and was fairly attracted to his covers I thought, cool a new author to discover.

Well, four years later I still hadn’t read it and it being sat on my bookshelf for a year (it was my birthday present last year) and after NEEDING something to read, I thought, right I’ll do it.  I will, if only to stop the jibes whenever I bemoan the fact I have nothing to read, ‘read Cloud Atlas’.

And I did. It was hard going in the beginning. It begun to redeem itself in the sort of middle and then went down hill from there. I struggled through it and honestly,even left it for about a week while I read some other stuff as it was really hard going. I eventually finished it (and I am not the usual reader who will finish a book even if I am not enjoying it but I persevered with this one just to prove a point) and I did not enjoy it.

It had a great thread and his writing is good, but the actual story just didn’t really make much sense in the end. There was no meat in the story, just the basic aroma of a good novel, which doesn’t taste as good as it might smell.

Futuristic, not enough substance but great story telling. I can see how someone would enjoy it, but I found the ending bland.

Have you read it? Did you enjoy it?