Oh My Stars by Lorna Landvik

So...my latest...this one is about the following:
"It's 1937, and shy, homely, 18-year-old Violet Mathers—battered by her mother's desertion, a father's verbal and physical abuse and an accident that cost her her arm—has decided to travel from her Kentucky hometown to the Golden Gate Bridge, from which she plans to jump. As fate will have it, however, the bus she's riding on is totaled in North Dakota. Luckily, she's put up by a warm local family, whose heartthrob son, Kjel (pronounced "shell"), dreams of musical stardom with his black friend Austin, a guitar virtuoso. Pitying Violet, Kjel ropes her into a journey to retrieve Austin's brother, Dallas, a sullen but musically gifted ex-con. By happy accident, the three men fill in for a no-show band at a carnival, enthralling the first of many crowds. As the Pearltones, they soon inspire a mania of Elvis-like proportions, and Violet blooms in their company and proves a savvy manager."

As most Landvik novels follow - this one has twists and turns which leave the characters with whiplash. Lives they planned on having and dreams they planned on following get waylaid by life. Typical.

I liked this novel but of all the Lorna Landvik novels I've read (this, I believe is #4), it was my least favorite. That being said, however, it still made me laugh out loud and I still would always recommend Landvik for a quick, easy, heart-warming read.

The View From Mount Joy by Lorna Landvik

I love Lorna Landvik. She makes me laugh out loud when I read her. This latest one of hers was no exception.
Joe Andreson is the central character in The View From Mount Joy. Beginning in 1972 during Joe's senior year, we meet a high-school hockey player who is the "new kid" in a Minneapolis school where jocks rule and the most popular cheerleader, Kristi Casey, leads all the fellas around by their penises. Joe and his mother have left their old lives behind after Joe's father is killed in a plane crash. As high school leads to college, careers and family, Joe embarks on a life he hadn't expected: A grocery store owner in the "small" town of Minneapolis. A grocery store he never meant to inherit from his high-school employer. Joe's life keeps moving back and forth between his best friend Darva and his high school f*%k Kristi (sorry for the graphicness). Joe struggles to find an "exciting" life like the ones his high school pals all found but in the end, his journey leads him to the place he had always known to be fulfilling - home. A place where family and values and friends are the greatest view of life to be had.

Read it...read all of Landvik's books...they're all funny and "feel good" and corny sometimes (we can all use a little corny - an escape that reading should bring, right?) You won't be disappointed.

Angry Housewives Eating Bon Bons by Lorna Landvik

Let me start by saying that if I were a speed reader, I would have finished this book in at most, a day. It was stupendous! This is, I think, the 4th book of Lorna Landvik's that I've read and this is by far my favorite! I loved it. I loved ALL the characters (the ones I was supposed to love). I loved the story. I loved the sappiness. I loved the reality of life and friendships and love. I loved this book.


Angry Housewives spans 4 decades and revolves around the friendships formed between 5 women (and eventually one man). The novel delves into their marriages, kids, careers and with all of that the trials and tribulations that follow. What I loved most about the book is how the friendship started. 5 women, busy with life and new marriages and young children, have a love of reading and together form a book club (named: Angry Housewives Eating Bon Bons - read the book and you'll understand why). Each chapter features a book that was read and the reason the host chose it (don't say hostess because the feminine 'ess' takes meaning away from the word and demeans women...you'll understand when you read this). When I get the book back from Maggie, I will be adding many of the books to my list. Another thing I loved about this book and the friendships portrayed was the realness of it. It wasn't a book filled with mushy, pat-your-friends-head, everything-will-be-alright-in-the-end crap. It was real. The women fought with each other and were sometimes mean to each other and were sometimes jealous of each other and it was how life sometimes is. I loved this book. Read it. Especially if you're a woman and you have at least one friend.

Welcome To the Great Mysterious by Lorna Landvik

So I finished my most recent read. It was a really quick read as all of Landvik's novels are. This is my third time reading her and of course, I wasn't disappointed - though I should say in comparison with the other two, this was my least favorite.

Welcome to the Great Mysterious is about Geneva Jordan, an aging Broadway star. During a recent hiatus from the stage, Geneva is asked by her fraternal twin Ann to stay at her house in Minnesota to care for her 13-year old Down Syndrome boy (Rich) while she and her husband take a much needed (and first) trip together since Rich's birth. Geneva reluctantly agrees and surprisingly enough, slips easily into the role of caregiver. While getting to know her nephew, she also gets to know herself and reconnects with certain things she had lost in her self-absorbed world on stage.

This novel, at times, got a bit corny and predictable but for one who doesn't mind the corny so much, it was still very enjoyable. As with the other two Landvik novels I've read, there was an unexpected, heart-wrenching, tear-jerking moment which helped to tie the whole novel together and leave me wanting more. As always, a definite recommendation and I look forward to the next novel of hers that I pick up.

The Tall Pine Polka by Lorna Landvik

I'm on to the above. I started this novel on Friday and am nearly half way through it...and I love it. I love Lorna Landvik...she's a great, funny, laugh out loud writer and I imagine I would love any one of her books. This one is about the inhabitants of a small town in northern Minnesota called Tall Pines. At the center of the town is the diner called Cup O'Delight - run by a rich and robust woman, newly escaped from an abusive marriage. This diner is also where most of the "action" occurs in the novel, mainly surrounding the introverted main character Fenny. She's a 22-year old, newly orphaned young lady, trying to find where her place is in life (without her overzealous and extroverted parents). She has recently been cast in a Hollywood film - having been stumbled upon by the screen writer as he scopes out towns to film the movie. She's inexperienced and naive and a hilarious change of scenery to the uptight and egotistical trappings that come with the "business". I haven't finished reading this book but I already recommend it highly. You will laugh out loud at the things people say and do. (Note: Just remember the quote, "I think I just pooped in my pants!")

Update:  Okay, so I finished The Tall Pine Polka by Lorna Landvik and...wait for it...I LOVED IT!!! I love Lorna Landvik. She's such a funny writer and her characters...well, it's almost like I had met all of them before and all of their faces are stuck in my mind. They are all well-developed and personable. Real and likable and I just wish I lived in the place (Tall Pines) so I could go to the Cup O'Delight Cafe and have a cup of O'delight and hang with my "friends". That takes a special writer who can make you feel like that. Read it...or if you can't find this particular novel, find another by Landvik and read that one...you probably won't be disappointed.

Patty Jane's House of Curl by Lorna Landvik

I'm reading a book by an author, new to me. This one's about Minnesota sisters, Patty Jane and Harriet. Patty Jane is newly married - and abandoned - pregnant and trying to deal. Her sister is also in some dire straits - her husband has tragically died. It's supposed to be an emotionally tender and comedic novel about the bonds between women. Sounds good to me. I'll let you know.

Update:  Okay, well, I finished "Patty Jane's House of Curl" by Lorna Landvik. Loved it, loved it, loved it. Lorna Landvik reminds me so much of Fannie Flagg (recall, Fried Green Tomatoes, the movie made from her book - Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe). One minute you're laughing your ass off, the next you're crying your eyes out. I loved the characters in it, I loved the story line, I loved the book. It's always an awesome thing to find a new author that you love. You'd think with all the books out there one wouldn't have a hard time finding a good one but it isn't always that easy. I plan on adding Lorna Landvik to my list and buying any book of hers I can get my hands on.