Eat, Read, and Be Mommy

Not quite everything, you understand.  All the same, I was completely looking forward to reading Patricia Reilly Giff’s latest, Winter Sky, because I LOVE her.  I was psyched.  And then I had a string of evenings with other responsibilities, which meant I was reading it in tiny little fits and starts, and that just about ruins a book.  I was so sad!  It was a good story, with an intriguing mystery, and it ended in an absolutely satisfying way; I was just never able to immerse myself in it.  I never had the time.

It is possible, of course, that it wasn’t quite as good as her best have been, but that’s a pretty high standard to meet.  I so desperately loved Pictures of Hollis Woods, All the Way Home, Willow Run, Storyteller, Nory Ryan’s Song, Maggie’s Door, A House of Tailors…you get the idea. She is able to tell stories simply without oversimplifying the context, and with an impressive level of poignancy to boot.  Winter Sky is extremely contemporary, which will probably make it more popular than some of her historical fiction among readers of today.  Siria is endearing, and her found family (which includes one actual family member) rings true.  (As a parent, I find her nighttime wanderings appalling–she follows the firetrucks to local fires so that she can watch over her fireman father–but they do make sense as part of the story.)  Read it and enjoy–and then, if you’ve never read any of the ones I listed above, go read those.

Right now.