false <![CDATA[Charms for the Easy Life]]> http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1255973794m/15796.jpg 15796 13 <p>A family without men, the Birches live gloriously offbeat lives in the lush, green backwoods of North Carolina. Radiant, headstrong Sophia and her shy, brilliant daughter, Margaret, possess powerful charms to ward off loneliness, despair, and the human misery that often beats a path to their door. And they are protected by the eccentric wisdom and muscular love of the remarkable matriarch Charlie Kate, a solid, uncompromising, self-taught healer who treats everything from boils to broken bones to broken hearts.</p> <p>Sophia, Margaret, and Charlie Kate find strength in a time when women almost always depended on men, and their bond deepens as each one experiences love and loss during World War II. <b>Charms for the Easy Life</b> is a passionate, luminous, and exhilarating story about embracing what life has to offer ... even if it means finding it in unconventional ways.</p>This P.S. edition features an extra 16 pages of insights into the book, including author interviews, recommended reading, and more. 858671 1995 Charms for the Easy Life total:1502|5:474|4:622|3:338|2:57|1:11| 1502 5997 2006 239 4 4 false false Tue Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Thu Dec 27 16:05:42 -0800 2007 Thu Dec 27 16:05:42 -0800 2007 Charms for the Easy Life is a mesmerizing fictional biography/autobiography of three generations of women living unconventional lives in North Carolina against the backdrop of the World Wars.

The book revolves around the life of the narrator's grandmother, a self-taught healer who appea...more...]]> 5 3 false false Mon Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2007 Wed Apr 25 16:27:40 -0700 2007 Wed Apr 25 16:30:29 -0700 2007
Two lovely ideas from this book:

The grandm...more...]]> 2 1 false false Mon Dec 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Sat Jan 03 15:43:29 -0800 2009 Sat Jan 03 15:44:23 -0800 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Mon Oct 12 20:52:57 -0700 2009 Mon Oct 12 20:53:10 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 1 false false Sat Aug 02 21:29:19 -0700 2008 Sat Aug 02 21:31:21 -0700 2008 5 1 false false Mon Feb 16 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Sun Feb 08 16:55:10 -0800 2009 Mon Feb 16 12:31:52 -0800 2009 more...]]> 5 0 false false Sat May 16 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Tue May 05 11:43:41 -0700 2009 Mon May 18 12:34:44 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Mon Dec 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Tue Dec 02 14:19:59 -0800 2008 Fri Dec 26 13:18:55 -0800 2008 more...]]> 4 1 false false Thu Mar 01 00:00:00 -0800 2007 Wed Jan 16 18:28:17 -0800 2008 Wed Jan 16 18:30:26 -0800 2008 4 0 false false Sun Sep 06 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Thu Jul 23 10:42:56 -0700 2009 Sun Sep 06 15:12:46 -0700 2009
I so wanted Charlie Kate to be a real person, having done and said all those vastly entertaining and admirable things. She made this story for me. The practice of sendin...more...]]> 4 0 false false Tue Dec 30 19:05:59 -0800 2008 Tue Dec 30 19:09:00 -0800 2008
This book read so seamlessly. A book I did look forward to reading any spare moment I had. A story about 3 generations of women from the early ...more...]]> 4 0 false false Mon May 01 00:00:00 -0700 2006 Sun Oct 19 02:23:40 -0700 2008 Sun Oct 19 02:28:35 -0700 2008 more...]]> 3 0 false false Mon Jun 30 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Fri Oct 03 16:50:53 -0700 2008 Mon Mar 23 13:07:18 -0700 2009 1
The Grandmother is "Charly Kate", a name she picked for herself and she is ...more...]]> 5 0 false false Sat Sep 20 08:45:56 -0700 2008 Sat Sep 20 09:26:33 -0700 2008
a few of my thoughts on character.

the women are strong, each on her own, however, i suggest the three of them make up three aspects of one woman.

they are family, tied at the hip in lifestyle, stymied in time, culture, environment...more...]]> 3 0 true false Thu Mar 01 00:00:00 -0800 2007 Thu May 15 13:29:43 -0700 2008 Thu May 15 13:34:55 -0700 2008 "A family without men, the Birches live gloriously offbeat lives in the lush, green backwoods of North Carolina. Radiant, headstrong Sophia and her shy, brilliant daughter, Margaret, possess powerful charms to ward off loneliness, despair, and the human missery that o...more...]]> 4 0 false false Sun Jul 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Sun Nov 04 22:16:31 -0800 2007 Sun Nov 30 12:49:58 -0800 2008
The narrator is the granddaughter of Charlie Kate who begins tell...more...]]> 3 0 false false Sat Mar 08 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Sun Mar 09 17:28:49 -0700 2008 Sun Mar 09 17:38:56 -0700 2008 more...]]> 3 0 false false Tue Aug 10 00:00:00 -0700 1999 Thu Aug 13 15:48:50 -0700 2009 Thu Aug 13 15:52:28 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 1 false false Thu Aug 14 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Fri Jul 11 09:55:49 -0700 2008 Sat Aug 16 10:33:51 -0700 2008 1) The setting - N. Carolina 1900-1946
2) The strong female characters - Charlie Kate, her daughter, Sophia, and grandaughter, Margaret
3) romance - this wasn't the main focus of the book, the men definitely take a backseat in this nove...more...]]> 3 0 false false Wed Oct 08 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Thu Oct 04 21:53:44 -0700 2007 Sat Oct 11 14:37:46 -0700 2008
The first 100 pages were really hard to get into and it was based ba...more...]]> http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=15796