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THE SHELL COLLECTOR

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Widowed Maeve Lindsay was born and raised on Whelk’s Island. Spirited, kind, and a little mischievous, she pours her life into the town. But she carries a secret that shapes her every move.

So emotional! I loved this story so very much. Yes, lots of tears. Life, death, love, loss, acceptance and moving on.

I recommend this novel for readers looking for an easy, breezy summer read, with a lot of heart behind it.

Doerr's first collection is made up of a mere eight stories, some of such quality as to inspire amazement, and others seriously off the mark. This makes me wonder if The Shell Collector wasn't rushed into print in the wake of his literary prize. Might he have produced a finer, more consistent collection if he had waited just a few more years? Anthony Doerr is a gifted and fearless new writer. He is absolutely unafraid to take on the biggest themes of the human condition, always writing about heroes and their various epic journeys. ‘ The Shell Collector’ is unforgettable—not so much a book of short stories as a book of short myths.” Maya," Ness whispers in my ear. If there is more, it is lost as he buries his head in my shoulder. The steel shell around us groans. We are the torus inside. There is no space or time. No concept of being. Just a floating feeling, a sense of escape and flying, another Icarus kiss, completely free, the empty cosmos around us, exploring each other there at the bottom of the sea. Widowed Maeve Lindsay was born and raised on Whelk's Island. Spirited, kind, and a little mischievous, she pours her life into the town. But she carries a secret that shapes her every move. Shells have been featured on over 5,000 postage stamps worldwide, and have been featured on many coins including the Bahamian dollar (1974), the Cuban peso (1981), the Haitian gourde (1973), the Nepalese rupee (1989) and Philippine peso (1993).Maya Walsh, an avid shell collector herself as well as a contributor for the Times, is determined to bring to light these wrongdoings—and not just the blood on Wilde’s hands of endangered seashells and marine life. She has the rare opportunity to interview this infamous man, and she dives in. Scuba suit and all. Two years after her husband’s death, Amanda Whittier has two children to raise alone, an abandoned dream of starting a business, and a fixer-upper cottage by the sea. She has no room in her life for anything else and little interest in moving on after losing the man she loved. During the Renaissance people began collecting natural objects of beauty for private cabinets of curiosities. Because of their attractiveness, variety, durability and ubiquity, shells frequently became a large part of such collections. Scientific interest began to develop towards the end of the 17th century, and in 1681 The Jesuit priest Filippo Bonanni publishedthe two-volume atlas Ricreazione dell'occhio et della mente nell'osservazione delle chiocciole ("Recreation of the eye and of the mind in the observation of molluscs"), the first treatise devoted entirely tomollusc shells. [1] In 1692 Martin Lister published Historia Conchyliorum, a comprehensive conchological text with more than 1,000 engraved plates. Born and raised on Whelk's Island, octogenarian Maeve is like the matriarch of the island. She loves her community and is actively involved in all aspects of it, including attending town council meetings. She carefully considers supporting new businesses such as Paws Town Square, looking for ones that will serve the community best. Maeve spends hours each day walking the beach and collecting unique shells. There she meets Amanda and her children, and their connection fills a hole she didn't know she had. So after their bout of "comfortable, writhing, squirming" embraces, Maya and Ness go to his Caribbean island hideaway for no story reason other than it makes a "romantic" setting. Sure enough, once more she fails to get the story but finally consummates the relationship in yet another burst of repetitive coy metaphors and clauses. Oh, and she ignores all the messages from her boss because, again, she's so good at her job that way and because it is plot convenient. .

This is my first Nancy Naigle book! I enjoyed this sweet story about an older lady who befriends a young widow. There is a light romance with precious characters. The children are the best. I recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a Hallmark style book with a happy ending. Paul Grant is a relative newcomer to the area, and his work with former military dogs needing rehabilitation has been good for the town. Though he loved once before, he’s convinced he’s not suited for romance and is determined to find meaning—alone—through his work and role in the community.Many museums worldwide contain very large and scientifically important shell collections. However, in most cases these are research collections not as readily accessible to the general public as exhibits.

A young mother trying to keep life a bit normal for her two young children after the loss of her husband, and we are here to walk in her shoes. Very well done collection of short stories by Anthony Doerr, written a dozen years before his Pulitzer Prize winner "All The Light We Cannot See." If you read "All The Light," you will recognize little bits and pieces of that lovely book in some of these stories, especially the title story. Remember Marie-Laure's fascination with shells and mollusks? Straight from "The Shell Collector." The pacing. Too many inconsequential details of the day-to-day life of Amanda with her children. Everything in a story should count and too many times it felt like reading the boring minutiae of someone’s life. Also, the meeting between Paul and Amanda happened too late in the novel, I think. The premise was set and then delayed and delayed and delayed. I think the reason for that was to focus on the developing relationship between Amanda and Maeve, but I think the pacing on all of that could have been done better.Maeve and Amanda are kindred spirits and help each other out without even realizing they are doing so.

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