The Lacemakers of Glenmara

Novel by Heather Barbieri

Just today, I had made up my mind 100% totally and completely to stop blogging for a while. For one thing, I'm reading so many books that you all are probably sick of me. For another, I'm hugely pregnant and tired and really should be working on submitting my novel to more agents. But then I sat down after an exhausting 15 minutes of yard work and realized that nothing really makes me happy right now (except sleeping children and massages) so I may as well blog. And now I'm happy, sitting here, writing. So there you go. Welcome to my crazy.

Back to the real topic. Who asked for light summer reading? This is it, folks. This is as light as it gets. Look at the cover: the kelly green, the doily, the undetermined source of fuzzy light in the background...it's an American finding herself in Ireland and all the sweet and sappy that can possibly entail. The main character, whose name I already forgot, goes to Ireland for a break after her mother dies and her boyfriend leaves her. Sounds a little like Wild now that I think of it, but this character is a wee bit tidier emotionally than Cheryl Strayed. She stops in a village, misses a bus, and stays to learn to make lace from the old(er) women of the village, who each have their own background and tragedies they are exorcising through crochet. And of course, since it's a light read, there is some falling in love. There are some real issues addressed, like a struggling economy and spouse abuse and the slow modernization of the Catholic church, but those are the subplots. Mostly it's like a glass of sweet tea, which I don't drink, or a Weight Watchers ice cream bar. Enjoy in moderation or your mouth will pucker eventually.

Interestingly, this writer is from Seattle and so are the authors of three of the books I got at the library today in preparation for a vacation. Go Washingtonians! Make a name for us so I can get published soon. And by the way, I refused to do the awkward pregnant lady dance at the new release and book club shelves at the library. Instead, I pulled up a chair.