It’s getting late here in California. I kept delaying my post hoping that I’d have some brilliant reading session to talk about, but it never happened. I did go for a nice long walk though, to celebrate the fact that the weather is once again bearable. Just a side note to the weather god…100 plus degree weather in Morro Bay is unacceptable!
I did finish this book today:
Rosewater and Soda Bread
Marsha Mehran
2008
272 pages
This book is the sequel to Pomegranate Soup, which I read earlier this year. It picks up the stories of the residents of Ballinacrough, including the Aminpour sisters, Marjan, Bahar and Layla, as well as their elderly friend Estelle and the gossipy old biddy Dervla (who while incredibly narrow-minded (not to mention mean) at least provides some tension…too bad she disappears half way through the book). I enjoyed catching up with the characters, but I felt the story had no point. Oh sure, there’s a bit of drama when Estelle finds a mysterious young woman on the beach, and the sister’s are moving forward with their lives, but overall? No point. And Marjan’s potential love interest came across as a wanker danker. And there were hints of yet another sequel. Gah.
It’s ironic that during the first part of the book, when Dervla was making her appearances, I was so annoyed by her holier-than-thou attitude that I wished she wasn’t in the book. But when looking back at the book, I’m asking for more Dervla.
The other book related happening in my day was that I joined BookMooch. I am really trying to work on cutting back on the number of books I buy. I have this whole instant book gratification thing working against me, though, so we’ll see how it goes.
you liked the first one though right? It sounded neat in your review back in February. I was interested in it after reading your review, sequels can be a miss…that is too bad. Thanks for the review!!! have a great week!
I love the new look to your blog!
We had the horrendous heat wave in NC a couple of weeks ago. We are back to normal now (hot but not unbearable). Hope you get a break soon.
I too have a habit of accumulating mass quantities…my hubby keeps asking just how many unread books do I need to have lying around? (Never too many, of course…don’t I need one for every mood and room in the house?!)
Bethany – yes, I did like the first one. I still like her writing, I just expected more from this second book.
Annie – the fog came in today, so we returned to our normal summer weather.
Anne – Don’t tell your husband I’m contributing to your collection of unread books!
I love the look of your blog. It’s raining here and you made my day sunny. Thanks. Don’t you just hate being disappointed when a sequel doesn’t live up to the original? Yet, you feel sort of like you gave birth to the first book, and you don’t want to abandon it. LOL