Not much is known about King Henry’s third wife, so Weir had to rely on her imagination more than in previous books, and I found her imagination somewhat lacking. She portrays Jane as a pious anti church reform woman who once believed she’d been Called to a spiritual life, but gave up on her dream of being a nun in favor of a posting in Queen Katherine’s household at Court. The nun thing is an invention of Weir’s and doesn’t really add much to the story other than to unnecessarily reinforce Jane’s piousness. This piousness is referenced again and again, but rather than portray Jane as a straight-laced goody-two-shoes, Weir tried to make her more complex. Which is how we get a Jane that loves Queen Katherine and hates Anne Boleyn for having an affair with the King (among other reasons), and later justifies her own affair with the King by telling herself that his marriage to Anne wasn’t legitimate and therefor it’s not adultery. (It’s still fornication, but pious Jane doesn’t bat an eye at that. It’s true love, so God will totes understand.) She feels somewhat responsible for Anne’s ultimate fate and is haunted by her specter (literally—she starts seeing an Anne-shaped shadow in her bedchamber at night), but not even a mild ghost infestation can spice up the blandest of Henry’s wives. Basically, boring queen = boring book. Without a truly interesting character to distract me, I was painfully aware that Weir’s prose isn’t much more than a checklist of historical events as she thinks her version of Jane would have perceived them.

I don't think I could do this book of short stories justice with a review. Munro writes stories about ordinary people in everyday situations that are a turning point in their lives. To have an affair, to stay or leave, to wait or act, to be silent or speak. She writes without any literary tricks and often at a remove from the characters, but each story still pulled at me in some way. 

Paperback. I discovered Munro while vacationing at a rental beach house and had finished the book I had brought with me, so was browsing the completely random selections on the bookshelves. I didn't get to read more than the first story in this collection, but it was enough to know that I needed to have a copy for myself. 

I read this book for Booklikesopoly 2020, lot Mountain Cabin 15: Read a book with a tree or a mountain on the cover, or read a book that features a main character who is a father. This book has a tree (or tree trunk, I guess) on the cover with a woodsy background.

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Book source ~ Tour

Marcie Horton has connected once before with a spirit when she was thirteen. But that was four years ago and she feels like she’s missing something by not having any further contact with anything…other. She’s hoping a summer working on her mother’s archeological dig will distract her from a feeling of missing out on something big. Joined by her older brother Eric and his girlfriend Renee, they barely get settled in when two graduate students let the three of them and another student, 19-yr-old Leo, in on a secret. There is much more out there than any of them realize. Marcie is about to get her wish - something incredible is about to happen. The real question is: Is she ready for it?

This is a book heavy on how humanity is shitting where we eat. Too graphic? How about how we are killing the very thing that supports us? Too dramatic? Too bad. We are. If you don’t like books that point out this fact, even if it is a fictional book, then you may not enjoy this as much as I have. Now, to the story itself…

Marcie is a pretty level-headed 17-yr-old. She’s had a life-altering encounter with a spirit when she was 13, so maybe that has something to do with it. In any case, the story is told from her POV so it helps she’s not an over-emotional idiot. Side characters are interesting even if Renee makes me want to slap her upside the head occasionally. And don’t get me started on Leo. Marcie is more forgiving than I would be. Oh! Did I not mention there’s a little hotness going on between Marcie and Leo? Ah. Summer love.

Lorraine and Zeke are a bit irritating in their roles, but I get it. And you will, too. I find the idea of a Universal Energy Field fascinating. I want it to be a thing. In fact, my belief is, since we are mostly water and energy then when we die our energy goes back out into the ether and comes back as another being. So, I guess I believe a bit in reincarnation. And that’s why I believe in ghosts. That energy can get stuck and next thing you know, wooohoooo things going bang. Anyway, I enjoyed this journey of Marcie’s and hope she and the others can bring about some change before it’s too late.

The Book Genie picked an old paperback that I found at a Friends of the Library sale, and I can see why it was a giveaway. I could not last even my usual minimum 50 pages before giving up on this 40 year old Sci-Fi snoozer. 

NEXT!

I gave the audio a full hour, hoping that I'd reach that magical point where you just fall into the story and thoughts about how much longer it was going to go on stop intruding on your consciousness, but it never did. So I finally gave up and moved on to the next book.

Audiobook, picked up on a whim at an Audible $5 sale. Rich Orlow's narration was okay.