Monday, December 7, 2009

BOOK: The Art of Mending by Elizabeth Berg

The Art of Mending by Elizabeth Berg,229 pages

celebrate the author; women unbound challenge

As a family plans its annual reunion, centered around a Minnesota country fair, one sister, Caroline wants to discuss what happened to her while growing up. Her brother, Steve, and sister, Laura, had very different experiences and have some difficulty dealing with this new reality.

The story was very realistic, with the interactions and personalities of generations of families trying to get along. At one point, Laura wonders if she would like Caroline if she met her, as opposed to having to get along with her since they were sisters.

This was my first Elizabeth Berg book, and I enjoyed it. The writing and characters drew me in, nobody was perfect, they were just dealing with each other the best way they knew how.


Elizabeth Berg was born December 2, 1948 and is my choice for December author for Celebrate the Author. Becky hosted this challenge here. She is planning a new edition for 2010 for anyone interested. This book completes this challenge for me.

The books and authors I read are:

January:

February:

March:
Penelope Lively Moon Tiger

April:
Barbara Kingsolver Animal, Vegetable, Miracle
Beverly Cleary Dear Mr Henshaw
Anne Michaels Fugitive Pieces

May:
Jodi Picoult Nineteen Minutes

June:
Sarah Dessen Keeping the Moon

July:
Alice Munro - The View From Castle Rock

August:
Sarah Dunant - In the Company of the Courtesan
Robertson Davies - Fifth Business

September:
Andrea Camilleri - Patience of the Spider

October:
Marish Pessl - Special Topics in Calamity Physics

November:
Charlaine Harris - Dead Until Dark

December:
Elizabeth Berg - The Art of Mending

4 comments:

  1. If you'd like to read another book by Elizabeth Berg, you should try A Talk Before Sleep. It's wonderful! But have a new box of tissues handy! :-)

    Lezlie

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  2. I notice you've read Anne Michaels' Fugitive Pieces - did you see the movie? wonderful wonderful. I recently read her new book Winter Vault that was nominated for the Giller Prize. I still dream about it - it affected me deeply. I wrote a bit about it on my book blog My Reading Diary

    love the Christmas songs quiz

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  3. Thanks for the review! This is one of those that I would read for the cover alone!

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  4. lezlie - I like a good tissue book. thanks for the rec, I'd like to read another book by Berg

    janice - I didn't see the movie, but then I wasn't that fond of the book. Well, I guess it was just the second half I wasn't so fond of.
    Glad you liked the quiz

    pam - she's a quilter in the book!

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