A House Full of Babies

The Birth House by Ami McKay

Oh, my goodness, if you haven't read this book yet, you simply must! I had been putting it off for quite a while, even though I had heard wonderful things about it. Now, I am so glad that I added it to my Spring Reading Thing 2007 list.

***

Miss Dora Rare tells us her stories of daily life in Scots Bay, Nova Scotia in the early 1900s. But her daily life was far from ordinary. Growing up in a house surrounded by men (she had six brothers) Dora quickly became "one of the boys" much to her father's chagrine.

In an effort to separate her from her rowdy brothers so that she might eventually catch the eye of a suitor her father insisted on sending her to live with her Aunt Fran, who would teach her to be a lady. Well, Dorrie's mother wouldn't hear of it, since Aunt Fran is a bit high-and-mighty, well-to-do, and always seems to find a way to look down her nose at their simple ways. (As it turns out, Aunt Fran isn't nearly as perfect as she would like us to think!)

Dora, instead, goes to live with Miss Marie Babineau, the elderly midwife ("witch" according to many townfolk) who mentored her in catching babies and healing the sick with all sorts of potions and dreadful-sounding concoctions, and many many prayers.

As the story unfolds, Dora takes Miss B.'s role on, and gets into a few rough spots, thanks to the "know-it-all" Dr. Gilbert Thomas who has opened a new Maternity hospital for women to have their babies at, "pain-free" with the help of a little twilight sleep. His ridiculous remedies and theories of women's fits of hysteria and the cures therein (think of The Road to Wellville) were unfortunately, quite accurate for the time. Of course Dr. Thomas would like all the women to choose his practice because that means more money in his pocket. Therefore, he needs to convince Dora (and the community) that she really must end her midwifery days.

Dora finds herself rushing to Halifax, thrown into the aftermath of the Halifax explosion to care for the pregnant women who were launched into premature labour from the impact of the explosion.

She finds herself fleeing to Boston, where she questions her small-town existence as she is inspired by the women's movement and also unknowingly by Miss Honey, one of the girls at Paddy Malloy's Playhouse nextdoor.

As the years go by, we watch Dora grow out of her shell and become the woman she is intended to be, and her life unfolds, just as Miss B. predicted it would: in a house full of babies.

***

The characters are each unique and memorable. You can certainly find something to detest or adore about each of them - no matter how small a role they play. The research that McKay has done for this book is thorough, and she even calls on real historical events that greatly impact the lives of the residents of Scots Bay (the war, the Halifax explosion, for example).

In fact, I was surprised to discover that the entire premise of this book is based on the life of a real midwife who used to live in the house that McKay bought in Nova Scotia.

Read the book, and then go to McKay's website, http://www.thebirthhouse.com/ to discover the conception of the novel, learn tidbits of history (such as midwifery in the early 1900s, groups like the Occasional Knitter's Society, and yes, even the early uses of the vibrator to cure hysteria), and even have your tea leaves read to see what the future holds for you.

This was by far, one of the most wonderful, engaging reads I have ever had. The storyline had me engrossed from start to finish. And the design is perfectly detailed. There are even notes from the Willow Book included at the end (just in case you need a little Beaver Brew or Raspberry Tea).

1, 2, 3 Vampire Hunters! MWAH-Ah-ahhh!

When I picked up the unabridged audio CD of The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova, I thought I was in for a real treat because I had heard quite a bit of buzz about this book. And, well, let's face it. I DID have that short vampire obsession phase back in college with Anne Rice's chronicles.

This audiobook boasts an ensemble cast of SIX readers, which is way more than typical. I do like the fact that there were so many different voices because it made the book feel more like one of those old radio mystery programs, which was kind of cool. The sound effects and menacing music were great for about the first disc, but then you just start expecting them, and it starts to sound silly. Something dramatic concludes the chapter, and right on cue: Dah, dah, daaaaaaaah from the orchestra.

But I do have to say that the utter dissapointment in this audiobook reached a climax with the entrance of Dracula himself. I kid you not, he sounded just like Count the Count from Sesame Street:



I was just waiting for the moment when he says, "I vant to suck your blooooood!" Terrible stereotyping of what Hollywood has done to Dracula. Seriously, I laughed through the rest of it.

If I had read the book, I'm sure I would have enjoyed the story a lot more.

So if you're into vampires and whatnot, I'd say, stick with Anne Rice. She's got it down.

What Oprah's Reading

Oprah has announced that The Road by Cormac McCarthy is her latest book club selection. I haven't read it yet, but maybe I should add it to my spring challenge list! It sounds pretty great:

A father and his son walk alone through burned America. Nothing moves in the ravaged landscape save the ash on the wind. It is cold enough to crack stones, and when the snow falls it is gray. The sky is dark. Their destination is the coast, although they don't know what, if anything, awaits them there. They have nothing; just a pistol to defend themselves against the lawless bands that stalk the road, the clothes they are wearing, a cart of scavenged food-—and each other.

Have you read it yet?

Brown Paper Packages Tied Up with Strings...

randomness...feed your mind and your blog
Week of March 25: A Few of My Favorite Things

what's your favorite.....

1. food: I'll break this one down into two categories. Fave healthy food? Yogurt. Especially now that I've discovered the delectable goodness of Activia's apple meusli & nuts. Now, fave food in general? CHEESE! Ohhh I *heart* cheese. Give me a chunk of bread and a hunk of cheese and I'm in heaven.

2. movie: Stealing Home (Mark Harmon & Jodi Foster) Something about this movie just gets me every time. And for anyone who's seen this one, you'll know what it means when I say, "Goodnight Mrs. Paaaaaaarks!" :-D

3. song: Grace Kelly by Mika, but as far as music goes my favourites change frequently. But ooh, Mika's album is released in Canada tomorrow! I've been looking forward to this one...he's a great blend of Elton John, Scissor Sisters, and Queen. What a combination. Big Girl is a great anthem for us fluffy girls out there. :-D

4. color: Brick Red (with glitter!)

5. outdoor activity: Walking. Am I boring yet?

6. season: Fall is indisputably the most beautiful season, in my opinion. Nothing greater than the changing colour of leaves, the crisp autumn air, breaking out your sweaters, and curling up by the fireplace with a cup of cocoa and a good book.

7. book: Oh, now this isn't fair. There's no possible way in the universe that I can narrow it down to one fave. So I'll give you my latest one: The Way the Crow Flies by Ann-Marie MacDonald. Her previous book, Fall on Your Knees was an Oprah pick, but this one grabbed me on a more personal level. Perhaps it's my childhood fascination with Bugs Bunny, just like the main character, Madeleine McCarthy. Or maybe it's something else.

8. store: One word - IKEA. I know, some people look down on it because it's "cheap" stuff. But hey, why should I spend 3x the money at a fancy furniture store, when IKEA stuff looks great and holds up just fine in my house? More money for me to spend on books. And shoes.

9. car: I've only had a few cars in my lifetime, but so far the best has been my Honda Civic (06)!

10. animal: This guy:



till next time....

Visual DNA

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Boys and Their Muddy Boots

I'm the only girl stuck in the middle of six boys who spend most of their days poking, laughing and wrestling together as they trip and drag their muddy boots through my life.

Dora Rare, The Birth House by Ami McKay

Random House has Insight

When you're surfing the net for your next great reading purchase, do you ever read excerpts before you decide to buy? It's one of my own personal favourite ways of determining whether a book will capture my interest or not. I love to read the first line. If it grabs me, I'll read the full first paragraph. And sometimes I go even further and read the entire sample that's available.

As I surf through the various book blogs out there, I enjoy reading what people have to say about the book they just finished. But it's usually not enough for me. I still have that little nagging voice that says, "browse inside the book first!" But then I usually have to go to the trouble of following a link to the publisher or to Amazon, finding out if there even IS an excerpt available, getting into the reader, taking a peek, then if I decide to buy it, I have to get back to the main page...yadda, yadda, yadda.

Well, now there's a cool little gadget that will make that whole process a lot quicker and easier. And it's snazzy too!

Random House has introduced Insight - a digital distribution tool, and a neat little widget that lets you take a sneak peek into many of their books with a Browse & Search function. It's an online book reader that shows you what the actual pages look like, and gives you a decent chunk of the book to get a good feel for it.

Know what's even cooler? They've designed it so that you can add the widget to your website or blog. Check this out: (You will need Flash 9.0 to view this, and it's available for free here.)




See that little binoculars icon at the top right corner? Click on that, and you can search the contents of the ENTIRE book (not just what's here in the preview). So let's say, you're doing research for a term paper, and you're looking for a book with lots of information on...oh, I dunno...agoraphobia. You've found a book on phobias, but you're not sure if agoraphobia is covered. Problem solved...do a search for agoraphobia, and you'll find all the instances of that word in the entire book.

And for my fellow audiophiles out there, they've also got samples for audio books too, so you can have a little listen before you buy:



(There's even a wee little audio version too...great for your sidebar!)


You can read more about Insight here, and check out the available titles with Browse & Search here.

This new little goody makes me giddy. :) Can't wait to get to my next book that has Browse & Search available.

My sidebar will be widgetylicious.