Why shedding Christmas is so hard and JoJo Moyes

I hate taking down the Christmas tree, putting away the decorations. I hate that the village goes back in the storage space under the stairs. I hate the nativity scene going back in its storage container, looping the lights just right so that they are easy to put out next year. I loathe taking the wreaths off the door and the windows. Everything looks so barren and empty, so cold.

In an attempt to stave of the emptiness of a Christmas-less house, I decorate for other seasons, other holidays. I really wish that in January you could leave up the 'winter' decorations: the pinecones, the snowmen, the snowflakes. They aren't really Christmas-y, ya know? But no, we have to say bye-bye to them all. So, in my house, we decorate for the next holiday. And that would be Valentine's Day. And I HATE Valentine's Day.

Why do I hate Valentine's Day? I guess because it's so friggin' cheesy. I mean, red, pink, glitter, sparkles, roses, chocolate . . I mean, all these things I love one at a time. But on Valentine's Day they all collide. It's just so FORCED. Women are supposed to make men buy them things, to get crazy frisky, and find 'romance' because it is the middle of February. It's pretty much a holiday picked by retailers because they were between seasons.

Don't get me wrong, I like romance. But I don't like 'contrived' romance. I like laughing with my husband and finding secret moments, having inside jokes and knowing when one of us needs a hug. Movies? I would rather watch a rom-com than a straight up 'romance.' Books? I stay away from a book classified as a 'romance,' but I will read chick-lit. I love a book that isn't about romance, but I love it when romance happens in a book.

I don't force the hubs to buy me flowers or jewelry. If he wants to buy me flowers, I tell him to wait a week (they raise the prices on Valentine's Day). He cooks, so I would rather have a great dinner. We go out usually the week after or so, when not everyone in the world is trying to get to the same restaurant (we only have one really nice one in our town), or maybe we go out for a drink. If he wants to buy me an Amazon or a Starbucks card he can, but he does that every once and awhile any way.

Despite all that, I will sprinkle my house with hearts like an elementary school teacher (because I have elementary-age daughters) and make heart-shaped pancakes (because I am raising my kids in the age of Pinterest). But I tell my family I love them everyday, and we show our love in a million different ways. We don't save it for Valentines' Day.

And now, let me talk about JoJo Moyes.

<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>
Well, after you read my above rant, you will find this funny. I have fallen in love with JoJo Moyes' books. And then I learn that "Moyes' novel Foreign Fruit won the Romantic Novelists' Association (RNA) Romantic Novel of the Year in 2004." But, as you see, that would be ROMANTIC books, not necessarily romance books. I would classify the two books I read as good chick-lit.

I first read The Girl You Left Behind and wasn't sure if I loved it. I listened to it, and one of the readers had a French accent which threw me off. But guess what? I read so many books in the last year, and I remember this one so clearly. My mind keeps going back to this book and the wonderful nuances, the stories, the 'romance' of the story.

This is book is actually two stories from two different woman living nearly a century apart. In 1916, Sophie Lefevre's artist husband, Edward, has left her in her small French village while he goes to fight on the front in World War I. The village is invaded by Germans, and the inn that Sophie and her sister run becomes the food and entertainment center for the soldiers. The Kommendant becomes obsessed with the Edward's painting of Sophie which hangs at the inn, and Sophie is determined to do whatever she must to save her family, her village, and especially her husband.

The book switches to Liv Halston, a living in modern-day London, hanging onto her life by a thread after her successful architect husband dies suddenly. His gift to her on their honeymoon was Sophie's portrait, and, through a chance encounter, the painting is discovered to be on the list of art stolen by Germans. Liv battles to keep the painting, sure that losing it will mean losing her husband again, and all the good memories along with it.

Moyes tells two wonderful tales. Sophie's story is historical fiction, told with such richness that I can see her inn, Le Coq Rouge, and I can picture the painting, done is a Matisse style. I can picture Sophie, and Edward and the whole town. Liv's story is told with emotion, and the pictures Moyes paints are more visceral, more emotional. We can feel everything Liv feels; her hurt, her love, her need. Moyes does an incredible job on both fronts. The modern story gets slightly bogged down, but it is worth it all just to read a book that invokes such strong emotions.

After The Girl You Left Behind I read Moyes' novella Honeymoon in Paris. This is short read is the stories of Sophie and Edward's earlier romance, and Liv's let down of a honeymoon, ending with the purchase of the painting.

And, to finish off my Moyes' obsession, I read Me Before You. This is a totally different book, the story of Louisa Clark, a steady girl with a striking sense-of-style, a steady boyfriend, and no real purpose in life. When the cafe where she works closes, she is forced to take a job as a companion to a quadriplegic man with a past including business success and extreme sports. Louisa refuses to let him retreat from the world, and, in the end, she gets more from him then she gives. Moyes' ability to let us see what her characters are seeing and to feel what her characters are feeling really shines.  Beautiful, beautiful book.

These books are my ideas of what a 'romance' novel should be. Real emotion brought to us by beautiful words. I recommend all three of these books.

Listening Versus Reading and Deals of The Week

I love reading, and mostly I love reading fiction. I mean, I love movies, too, but it a totally different way. Reading allows me to fall into the story, to create my own vision and picture the characters in my own way. This is why I do and don't like it when they make a book into a movie; sometimes it's great to see my vision come to life, or to change my vision into something even better. Usually I'm disappointed by the movie; they edit out the 'best' parts, they change the characters or they completely decimate a great story to make it a box-office hit.

I often listen to books, too, because I'm home alone all day, or I'm in my car, and I like to keep the fiction going. Sometimes a book is just better when it's read to you. Ready Player One by Ernest Cline is such a book. I read it the second time around, but it didn't match the audio version. A story about a future world where everything is done in an online world created by a guy who grew up and LOVED the 80's. The heir to his online creation is to be determined by a contest comprised of a maze of 80's trivia, including music, movies, books, and video games. The story is told in first person, and is wonderfully read by Wil Wheaten-an 80's piece of pop-culture himself. The book was great when I re-read it, but it wasn't as good as the audio version because of Wil Wheaten.

But there are many more books that are better when read, in my humble opinion. Take the book I'm listening to now, The Girl You Left Behind by Jojo Moyes. It is the story of a painting told in two parts, from WWI France and present day England, and the passion it instills in people that fall into its spell. It is a wonderful story so far; I have about 1/4 of the book to go. Now, I love the story, but I almost gave up on it because of the beginning of the book. The first part of the story, maybe the first third, is told through the eyes of a woman in a French town occupied by the Germans in WWI. The narrator of the audio book uses an effective French accent, but it is a little off-putting and took me away from the story a bit. I almost gave up on the story, but powered through and I'm glad I did. I find myself loving this story. I have cried for the characters and felt sadness for a time when the characters are sad. I think, for me at least, that this is one that I would have loved more if I were reading it.

But reading is nothing if not arbitrary and very personal. One person's perfect listen is another person's perfect read, and a third person may dislike the story altogether. And that's okay. That's what makes it such a great hobby.
______________________________________________________________________

Amazon Kindle Deals

$6.99. This is the third and final installment of Veronica Roth's great YA series (but we all know that half of the YA readers are adults). Allegiant is a brand new release, and the $6.99 price has been in place since pre-release, but this is cheaper than the second book, so you might want to scoop this deal up before they get wise and raise the price!



$3.99. While I'm on this tangent, This is the first book in the series. Divergent is a good, quick read in the whole Dystopian, I'm-a-teenager-and-I-want-to-control-my-own-destiny genre. Worth the two days it takes to finish it.




$5.99. Yes, it's that James Franco and it's gotten pretty good reviews. Actors Anonymous is the a bunch of stories of members of Actors Anonymous, a 12-step group with a high power known as The Great Director. It's a look into the actor's world from the view of an insider who finds it all a little ridiculous and funny.



$1.99. I reviewed this one awhile ago and it was good.The Neighbors gets off course a few times, but I enjoyed it. A great read for Halloween, especially for $1.99.