Sunday, December 14, 2008

Sunday Salon



So this weekend my husband and I went away for an annual family getaway, and I brought Naomi Ragen's The Ghost of Hannah Mendes to read and... it kind of fizzled for me.

It's about an elderly Jewish woman who is visited by the ghost of a long-dead ancestor, telling her to enlist the help of her two granddaughters to go to Europe, to unearth some family secrets. The granddaughters are unmarried and dysfunctional, and the plot promises socially-appropriate romance and a deeper appreciation of one's heritage.

Well, okay. It's an easy enough read- fluid and well-written but the plot is so transparent I'm having a hard time getting into it. So I may not bother for the time being. I think I've gotten as far as I'm going to, although I may hang on to the book for a while. Gonna start something else tomorrow though.

In other news, today was Day #2 of the temple's book sale and I think we did well. The final figures aren't in, but I'm optimistic right now that it will have been a success.

Finally, I found out that I won a Jewish book giveaway sponsored by Hachette! I'm going to receive 5 books. Now, I spammed my entire email list trying to win this contest so it just goes to show- spam pays! Oh my goodness what a terrible lesson!

Hope you all had a great Sunday!

7 comments:

Ali said...

I can't stand it when I go away for the weekend and end up with the "wrong" book! I hope you had a great weekend anyway.

Anonymous said...

Congrats on winning the Hachette giveaway. It looks like a good one.

Alyce said...

Congrats on the win! It's always exciting to win a box of books. :)

Dawn @ sheIsTooFondOfBooks said...

congrats on the win! Was it a random drawing type thing, or a different type of contest?

I always enjoy your reviews, so I'll look forward to these 5 when you get to them :)

Marie Cloutier said...

Dawn, thanks! It was a random drawing where you got entries by emailing people or posting on your blog. so i posted on my blog, and then emailled everyone I knew! :-)

The Bookworm said...

sorry you are note enjoying The Ghost of Hannah Mendes too much.

congrats on winning those books!

http://thebookworm07.blogspot.com/

Anna said...

Congrats on winning the giveaway!!

Transparent plots don't do it for me either. Sorry to hear the book isn't what you expected.

--Anna
Diary of an Eccentric