I read a couple of books in the last week that contained stories within the story. You know the type, each chapter from a different character’s perspective, each telling their own story, but their stories all come together somehow. In the case of the books that I read, their stories came together in a cooking class and at an inn in Ireland. Although very different in many ways, I liked both of these books for the same reason. Regardless of where people (or characters in a story!) come together, many of the messages are very similar. We will have an impact, sometime in the future, on people that we have not yet met. Our lives are bound to others in ways that we cannot foresee. You never know the burdens that others carry. Everyone’s personal story is unendingly complex, truly personal. There is always hope.
A Week in Winter, the last book written by Maeve Binchy before her death, was certainly my favorite of the two books. Knowing that it was the last Maeve Binchy book made me a little melancholy before I even started reading, and a book set on the rocky and stormy Atlantic coast of Ireland will have plenty of melancholy already! I love books set in Ireland, and while this one offered no surprises to fans of Maeve Binchy, it transported me to Stone House, an inn opened by Chicky Starr with the help of Riggy (a troubled young man who needs to find his way) and Orla (Chicky’s niece trying to find her place). Separate chapters focus on each of these characters as well as an American actor who ends up there on a whim, a couple of doctors that are trying to recover from the tragedies they’ve witnessed, a psychic librarian, a cantankerous school principal, a Swede torn between family duty and his love of music, a young girl and her not-happy future mother-in-law, and a prize-winning couple. Each has a different story and separate reasons for being at Stone House, where they will hopefully (mostly) find hope and a way forward in their lives.
Unfortunately, Maeve Binchy did not get a chance to finish editing the book before her death, and in places, it shows. There are several awkward transitions, some characters that are not as well-developed as in her previous works, and some storylines that seem to be left unfinished. However, it is still Maeve Binchy, comforting and thoughtful storytelling.
Title: Week in Winter
Author: Maeve Binchy
Genre: Fiction
Pages: 336
Publication: Knopf, February 2013
The Art of Mixing, the sequel to The School of Essential Ingredients, is now on the shelves at the library and I decided it was time to bump the first book up to the top of my to-read list! The story focuses on a cooking school being taught at a restaurant owned by the instructor, Lillian. There are chapters in the book devoted to the back story of each of the students – the struggling teenager, the shy computer guy, the beautiful Italian woman, the harried mother, the forgetful elderly woman, the sad widower, and the older married couple. Other chapters in the book focus on the cooking class each week and the interactions that the students have with the instructor, each other, and food. Food is certainly a character of its own in this novel, and there are beautiful passages describing food and the art of cooking that could cause me to gain twenty pounds! There are parts of the book that may be a little too saccharine, and maybe things end a little too neatly for everyone, but ultimately it was entertaining, a light set of stories about people and the way that food touches our lives.
Title: The School of Essential Ingredients
Author: Erica Bauermeister
Genre: Fiction
Pages: 240
Publication: Putnam, January 2009
OK, before I talk about the book I need to talk about the length of chapters in a book. This is a silly little idiosyncrasy of mine, but I like the chapters in the books that I read to be a reasonable length. I often read when I go to bed at night. And whether it’s because my eyelids are growing heavy, or because they should be because the alarm clock will go off all too soon, I often tell myself that I will put down the book “after I finish this chapter”. If the chapters are absurdly short, 2 or 3 pages, I often break the promise to myself and end up reading another 4 or 5 chapters. But when chapters are unreasonably long, or really half of the book, like they are in The Sense of an Ending, finding a natural place for my bookmark before turning out the light becomes a frustrating pursuit. Does that double space between paragraphs indicate a natural break? To find out I need to keep reading, and then, well, I’m still reading. Silly, I know, but a little pet-peeve of mine.
Elizabeth Brown loves books, spends all her time with books, and is always reading.
My favorite thing about this book is definitely the illustrations. It tells the story of Peter and his cat, characters from a book themselves, on a quest for the one missing book in a library that holds all the books ever written. The book is How to Live Forever, and in a library that comes alive at night, containing the world within its pages, they discover the Ancient Child who has the book and need to decide whether to read it. For every bibliophile who ever dreamed of a world within books, and built of books, the beautifully detailed illustrations provide a dream come true.
The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore is by far my favorite book about books. The illustrations are truly magical, as is the story of a man who spends his life being surrounded by, caring for, and being cared for by, books. And as his story is finished, the cycle begins anew, with the books remaining the one constant. As much as I love the book, and I do, immensely, the short animated film that preceded the book is perhaps even more fantastic (and I NEVER say that about a film!). It won the 2011 Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film and can be found on 
While many books can take you on adventures in new places, give you new ideas to contemplate, and introduce you to new and complex characters, there is comfort in curling up to drop in on old friends. I love a good mystery (OK, even some not-so-good ones) and a good mystery series is even better. I will not bore everyone by carrying on about every book in a series, but I will occasionally highlight the one I’ve most recently read, hoping it will inspire someone else to check it out!
Watching the Words 