266. MIDNIGHT AT THE BRIGHT IDEAS BOOKSTORE by Matthew Sullivan (5/11/22) Fiction
Lydia loves her job at the Bright Ideas Bookstore in Denver. One day she discovers that a patron, young Joey Molina had hanged himself in the store and that he bequeathed his few belongings to Lydia, mainly his books and she finds messages throughout the pages. While trying to find answers for Joey’s suicide a friend from the past, Raj Patel, came back to town and memories of a tragedy that happened to Lidia as a child were brought back to light.
This book has interesting characters, several mysteries and unsolved crimes wanting to be solved and generally was a good page turner.
4 Stars
272. SEVEN DAYS IN JUNE by Tia Williams (5/30/22) Fiction
Shane and Eva, two writers, meet unexpectedly at a literary event, fifteen years after their first encounter where they spent a wild, crazy seven days as teenagers madly in love. They had gone back to their lives, were not in contact, but never forgot their time together. Now, as adults still attracted to each other, they try to examine their feelings in the “now”. This romance novel is more than a well crafted love story. Through humor, pain, trauma, and heartache we face the realism of contemporary urban life.
4 Stars
276. THE LINCOLN HIGHWAY by Amor Towles (6/10/22) Fiction
Towles really ventured away from his previous novels in this book about abandoned, troubled, mentally and emotionally troubled boys trying to escape their past, and seek a new life by driving on the Lincoln Highway and their adventures, mishaps and mistakes. The Lincoln Highway was suggested by older brother Emmett who was just released from a juvenile reform school for accidentally killing another teen boy. He suggested this highway to his younger brother Billy because this is the route his mother took when she abandoned them. Two other troubled teen boys, Wooley and Duchess, who escaped the same facility, one tending toward violence and the other emotionally deranged, joined them.
This follows the road trip of emotionally undeveloped teens on their own trying to right wrongs, and going about survival in the wrong direction. They have hopes and dreams for a better life but not the skills to accomplish them. This book was a “downer” for me and if there is a moral to the story, I didn’t find it.
3 Stars
279. THE CHRISTIE AFFAIR by Nina de Gramont (6/18/22) Fiction
When the well-known mystery writer, Agatha Christie went missing for eleven days in 1926, the REAL mystery began. One thousand policemen joined in the search as well as Arthur Conan Doyle, another mystery writer and they covered every possible reason, such as: Grief over her husband’s affair and mistress? Possible memory loss? A car crash? A nervous breakdown following the death of her mother? This mixture of fact and fiction makes for a good, interesting, read.
4 Stars
283. THE FAMILY CHAO by Lan Samantha Chang (6/27/22) Fiction
Leo and Winnie Chao have owned and operated a Chinese restaurant in Haven, Wisconsin for 35 years. They have been successful and their three sons, Dagou, Ming, and James have earned schlarships to good colleges. When the brothers reunite in Haven old resentments and secrets are uncovered. This is a story of an immigrant family in a small Midwestern community, with a patriarch who spared no one his vulgarity, insults, and broken promises. Even Winnie cannot take his behavior and moves into Spiritual House. After Leo, brash and unrelenting, is found dead, an act which is presumed to be a murder, Dagou becomes a suspect because his father sold the restaurant he had been hoping to run after his father. During and around the trial there are a lot of family dynamics and the prosecution displays a great deal of dark and heartbreaking racism and stereotyping in the community of which the family was unaware. There are a lot of open wounds to this compelling story.
4 Stars
284. UNDER GEMINI by Rosamunde Pilcher (6/29/22) Fiction
Rosamunde Pilcher has written many, many books and I used to read them often. But it has been years and when I saw this pop up I decided to see if I still could enjoy her work. This is one originally published in 1974 and it is about twin sisters who didn’t know the other existed until a chance meeting brought them together. Both were enthralled to be a twin, but Rose who was brought up by her wild, flamboyant mother is a more outgoing personality than Flora, brought up by a quiet, serene father in a Cornish cottage. After getting to know each other Rose proposes that they change identities. She has a boyfriend who wants her to meet his family and she isn’t interested. If only Flora would do this for her. This is the beginning of problems for Flora who has been brought into a scandal of drama and danger. I figured, halfway through this book that I had read it decades ago and it still was interesting and kept my attention, even after all this time.
4 Stars
285. A PALE VIEW OF THE HILLS by Kazuo Ishiguro (6/30/22) Fiction
This book won the Nobel Prize in Literature for 2012 and Ishiguro also was winner of the Booker Prize winning novel, “Remains of the Day.” It is the story of Etsuko, a Japanese woman living alone in England, dwelling on the recent suicide of her daughter. She is consumed with memories of Japan’s devastation during World War II and beyond. But there is so much more to this book in which is the narrator can sift through memories to arrive at a truth or revelation. After the country’s defeat in the war they went through a huge social transition from traditional ideals towards western ideals. Japanese society is a patriarchal society which highlights the subservient roll of women and their expectation of women to be obedient wives and good mothers. Through the characters of this book we learn about the attitudes of the men resistant to their wives having a voice of their own and through the regret and guilt when the women can not happily live up to this limited expectations for her. The book shows us how the use of language and dialogue is used for self-deception and self-protection.
On the outside this book can look like not much of a story. Through the reminisces and interactions of the characters we see how they feel and how they cover up and make excuses for their disappointments and feelings.
5 Stars
287. THE SEVEN HUSBANDS OF EVELYN HUGO by Taylor Jenkins Reid (7/5/22) Fiction
Evelyn Hugo is an old Hollywood star who was famous in the 50’s and with seven ex-husbands, a favorite of the gossip columnists. Now in her 70’s she decides she wants to tell-all, but, be able to control it in an autobiography. She elicits the help of an unknown journalist, Monique Grant, and opens up in great detail about her humble beginnings, her glamorous life, the obstacles she overcame, and the lessons she has learned, the hard way. I had a pre-conceived notion about this book, due to the title, and have to admit it won me over. This delightful, well-written, fast-paced book is not just fun, but is emotionally uplifting and has a surprise ending.
5 Stars
290. THIS TENDER LAND by William Kent Krueger (7/14/22) Fiction
“This Tender Land” takes us on a Huckleberry Finn type journey. Orphans, twelve year old Odie and younger brother Albert, are taken in by Thelma and Clyde Brickman who work for the Lincoln Indian Training School in Minnesota. It is 1932, the Great Depression, and times are tough. The school, which separates the Native American children forcibly from their parents, is cruel and is more interested in teaching them to be “white” by not allowing them to follow or practice any Indian traditions than to educate them. Odie and Albert are the only white kids at the school. Odie is high spirited and gets in to trouble easily. Soon he commits a crime and decides he must run away. Albert, Moose, and his sister Emmy, go with him. His intention is to steal a canoe and follow the Gilead River to the Mississippi and travel to his Aunt Julia, who lives in St. Louis. This is a story of their voyage and the myriad of characters-some good, some bad, all interesting, that they meet along the way and the perilous journey of survival in the time of the worst poverty in America’s history
This feels like an epic tale complete with the wide river and beautiful countryside. It is at times exciting, tender, and heartwarming.
5 Stars
297. THE NIGHT SWIMMERS by Peter Rock (7/29/22) Fiction
This book is called “autobiographical fiction”. I don’t know if that means the author wrote from his own experiences with fictional padding or if this is written completely fictional from the first person, as an autobiography is. Whatever it is, it is an unusual book about a young man who goes to Door County Peninsula, Wisconsin the summer after graduating from college. He loves to swim at night and meets a young widow, at least a decade his senior who also loves the pleasure of swimming at night. Their relationship grows, is mostly platonic, but we feel the vibes. One night while swimming together she disappears. He tries to find her and dives down to try but she doesn’t surface. This tragedy hits him hard.
Twenty years later he is married and has two daughters and he is doing a little self-examination and remembers the summer of his night swims and the missing woman. He tries to remember his dreams and obsessions and digs into old letters and notebooks, to exam himself during that time. He decides to search for clues relating to her disappearance. And he started night swimming again.
This book goes deeply into how he sees his life and it’s meaning, to a point that I found hard to understand, or maybe relate to.
4 Stars
298. OH, WILLIAM! by Elizabeth Strout (7/30/22) Fiction
Elizabeth Strout likes to write about ordinary people leading normal lives with ups and downs and she has a great knack to tell things so simply that we feel we really know her characters. The first books I read of hers were “Olive Kitteredge” and “Olive, Again”. Now we have Lucy Barton who wants to tell us a little about her first husband, William. Lucy recently lost her second husband David but she still shares a close friendship with William. She admits William has always been a mystery to her. William wants Lucy to help him uncover a family secret. It is the kind of secret that challenges us as to how well we knew the person we thought we knew so well. Lucy’s voice throughout the book is profound in a simple way, showing her great understanding of the human condition.
I love Strout’s writing and feel like I’m saying goodby to a good friend when it is done.
4 Stars
300. RAINWATER by Sandra Brown (8/3/22) Fiction
Dust Bowl Texas in the 1930’s is just as you imagined. Hot, dry, windy, unforgiving. But Ella Barton has succeeded where most fail. She owns and runs a boardinghouse and runs a tight ship. She works from sunup to sundown and still has time to care for her son, Solly, who is challenged with not being able to speak. One of her rooms becomes available and the local doctor asks her to take in a man, even though he knows she usually only rents to women. The doctor says he will not be staying long, because he is dying. Ella accepts this stranger, but feels uncomfortable in that decision. This is an enjoyable read with romance, but mostly for her writing.
4 Stars
301. LOVE OVERBOARD by Janet Evanovich (8/4/22) Fiction
If you want a romcom (romantic comedy) this book might suit you well. It is 10 years old, been renamed, has been made into a Goldie Hawn movie, and is light and delightful. This kind of writing is hard to do, but Janet Evanovich has made a fortune doing it. It a just-for-fun book which we all need now and then.
3 Stars
308. THE SECRET LOVE LETTERS OF OLIVIA MORETTI by Jennifer Probst (8/16/22) Fiction
Olivia Moretti has died and her three daughters, Priscilla, Devon and Bailey, estranged for a long time come back to their home to settle their mother’s estate. In an old trunk they find the deed to a house on the Amalfi Coast, Italy, and a love letter from an anonymous man promising to meet their mother on the summer of her sixty-fifth birthday. This information completely blind-sided the sisters who all thought they knew everything important about their mother. They felt they had to visit Positano to see this house and to try to find this mysterious lover. The book continues as they find the house, start getting enveloped in the beautiful landscape and start enjoying the lifestyle of this magical area. And they find out how difficult it is to find someone with so few clues.
This is an enjoyable story, but hasn’t much depth. However the setting is fantastic-it will make you want to spend time there-and it exposes how little we may know about even our closest loved-ones-maybe, especially our mother!
3 Stars
311. THE DEATH OF VIVEK OJI by Akwaeke Emezi (8/30/22) Fiction
This is the first chapter: “They burned down the market on the day Vivek Oji died.” The next gripping scene is of Vivek’s lifeless body being delivered to his family’s door. We experience the mourning of his mother for her only son. As she removes the cloth in preparation of the body his mother goes into traumatic terror as she realizes she ignored the truths about Vivek’s true identity. We don’t know what that means. This modern day story, set in a Nigerian village, is filled with stories in 1st and 3rd person narratives which allow the dead Vivek to look back at his life and let others tell their story. Example to help explain. Vivek: “I felt heavy all my life. I always thought that death would be the heaviest thing of all, but it wasn’t, it really wasn’t. Life was like being dragged through concrete, in circles, wet and setting concrete that dried with each rotation of my unwilling body…I wanted to stay empty like the eagle in the proverb, left to perch, my bones filled with air pockets, but heaviness found me and I couldn’t transform it, evaporate or melt it-“. Lyrical images like this make it a visual bouquet which sometimes made sense and other times brought confusion. This is a deep story. Deep in cultural and societal images. Deep in emotional imagery of tragedy, grief, sexuality and love. It is complex but beautiful.
5 Stars
317. A SPOOL OF BLUE THREAD by Anne Tyler (9/18/22) Fiction
Three generations of the Whitshanks family come to the pages of this book. The characters are hard working, determined people who speak their minds and get on each other’s nerves regularly. The middle son of Abby and Red is introduced as he calls his parents in the middle of the night and proclaims he is gay (which turns out to be inaccurate. Denny is constantly changing jobs, never sticks to a girlfriend for long, keeps dreaming about a new career path, sleeps very late, disappears for months and even years at a time letting no one in the family know if is he is dead or alive. Abby worries about him, Red is pretty sick and critical of his behavior. We also meet the other adult children but not as thoroughly as Denny. Then towards the end of the book we meet Red’s parents, Junior and Linnie May before they were married. Linnie Mae passed herself off as an older teen to Junior when she was only 13 and when they were caught in the hay barn by her father and Junior found out she was only 13, he took off and they didn’t see each other for years. There are lots of unusual stories in this book including a boy named Stem who was abandoned and Abby took in like she was taking in a puppy dog. He just stayed and became a member of the family. I liked the book, was drawn to the characters, but there was no single outstanding plot.
4 Stars
324. TOMORROW, AND TOMORROW, AND TOMORROW by Gabrielle Zevin (9/21/22) Fiction
I never thought I would enjoy a book about video gamers/developers but this book has so much humanity and fabulous characters in Sam and Sadie who meet in a hospital as kids and build a relationship on their love of games. Eventually these two brilliant and creative kids join forces to develop a company of games and hit it big time with a game that goes viral. Bonded by a need to connect, have fun together, and love for each other, in a special way, we follow them for thirty years as they wander off track, go separately, come together, and we are rooting for them the whole time. Even if you have never played a game in your life you can enjoy the complex art and creativity that goes into this popular world. I sure learned a lot about the life of gamers and others in this peak into another generation.
5 Stars
325. THE MAGNOLIA PALACE by Fiona Davis (10/8/22) Fiction
After losing her mother to the Spanish Flu in 1919, Lillian Carter at twenty one is wondering hopelessly in New York City after a lecherous landlord incident and an accident which results in suspicions that she was the cause. Lillian, going by the name “Angelica”, had been an artist’s model for beautiful sculptures on many landmarks in the city-all in the nude. Her mother had protected her posing and when she died Lillian had no one to turn to for help. Her wanderings took her to the Frick Mansion where one of her images graced the building. While admiring the statue yet worrying about being found out, she mistakenly is received as an applicant for the job of secretary to Mr. Frick’s daughter, Helen. Without money or a home she jumps at the chance to live in this beautiful mansion amidst fabulous artwork and a chance to better herself.
The next time period is fifty years later when the Frick now turned into an art gallery where a young model from London is sent to New York and the Frick for a photo shoot. Veronica gets locked into the Frick during a storm and power outage with an art curator from the Frick named Joshua. The two discover old papers which appear to be a treasure hunt, which they cannot resist. Soon clues from the past seem to be exposing a long lost treasure.
This is a fun book with some mystery, lots of art history, and two beautiful women who need a chance in life. Interesting, fast paced and enjoyable.
4 Stars
327. THE PACT by Jodi Picoult (10/11/22) Fiction
“The Pact” has been around for awhile (1998), however I missed this one and was in the mood for a love story. Jody Picoult is a tremendously prolific writer whose popularity puts her on most ‘bestseller” lists as soon as released. Although I call this “Fiction”, it could also be in the “Mystery” category. This is about two families, the Hartes and the Golds, who are best friends, neighbors, and brought up their children together. This is the kind of friendship we may covet but wait-Jodi turns the corner as she usually does and gives this book the depth of tragedy no one would want. It’s the kind of thing that makes the families take sides which ruins their long friendship as each family stands with their own. I won’t give away the tragedy but it turns all lives in a moment upside down. Picoult is a good enough writer that she brings all raw emotions to the surface with conflicting scenarios from both sides. Then we don’t know who to believe. Then we do. This was made into a movie in 2002 and is streaming now.
4 Stars
332. MONKEY BOY by Francisco Goldman (10/23/22) Fiction
Although written as “Fiction”, author Francisco Goldman gives the narrator’s name, Francisco Goldberg, a writer, has similar divided identities to his own-Jewish/Catholic, white/brown, native/expat-giving us a portrait of him with one foot in Mexico and the other in the Boston suburb where the high school bullies call him “Monkey Boy”. In this intimate, irresistibly funny, compelling voice we see the heartbreak of this “halfie” growing up in a predominently white working-class America.
4 Stars
335. STORIES OF YOUR LIFE AND OTHERS by Ted Chiang (11/1/22) Fiction
Did I tell you I am not a big fan of science fiction for the most part. I kind of like time travel and other things that aren’t too alien or outrageous. This book is a collection of short stories, each quite different from the other and all thought provoking. It was a good introduction into this author for me and I will give a brief sentence on a few of these stories.
In “Understand” humans develop godlike intelligence and then realize that it is not only intelligence that makes them human.
The narrator in “Story of Your Life” deciphers an alien orthography who remembers the past as well as the future.
In “Division by Zero” life loses all meaning to a mathematician when he discovers proof that mathematics itself is meaningless.
Does any of that spark your interest? I did find it interesting but not compelling.
3 Stars
336. STATION ELEVEN by Emily St. John Mandell (11/15/22) Fiction
This is not such a way-out science fiction that we could see this happening. In this book an event called “the Collapse” is a pandemic which killed most of the world’s population in a few short weeks. Station Eleven, concentrates on a few main characters both before and for two decades after the Collapse.
Arthur Leander, a successful actor, is introduced along with his three marriages in succession, and his demise as he falls to the stage floor of a heart attack while playing King Lear. After the Collapse we follow what happened to his wives and a few other people he was friends with or knew. Soon after Arthur’s death the Collapse happens and the few left-1% of the world’s population, struggles to survive as all government and systems had come to a halt.
The book’s chapters revert before Collapse and after Collapse, which gets a little mind-boggling at times. But if you stay with it, it works. Two youngsters during the Collapse, Arthur’s son Tyler and Kirsten, a child actor Arthur had nurtured and taken under wing, barely remember what life was like before the Collapse two decades earlier. Tyler, who calls himself the Prophet, is a religious zealot who believes the survivors were chosen by God. His theory of Divine Intervention for the chosen few condemns the billions of people who died and marks them as sinners. Kirsten, the child Arthur befriended, embodied Arthur’s pure child-like love of art and beauty. She learns that it is crucial to move beyond survival and to live a life of connecting to people and to helping others.
This 2014 book has won several awards and is a bestseller. It is also an original series on HBO Max. It is quite timely that she chose a story about a world-wide pandemic five years before Covid became our reality.
4 Stars
340. THIS TIME TOMORROW by Emma Straub (11/21/22) Fiction
Alice is turning 40 tomorrow and visits her terminally-ill father. This part of her life is the hardest for her. Her life, most of which lacks excitement, is still satisfying to her, but at times she thinks something is missing. When she wakes up the next morning she relives her sixteenth birthday and she sees how vibrant her 40ish father is. This insight into the past brought her perspective on her relationship with her father and what her life has become.
This emotionally resonant work is filled with warmth and authenticity and urges us to appreciate the present.
4 Stars
344. THE LANGUAGE OF FLOWERS by Vanessa Diffenbaugh (12/2/22) Fiction
The language of flowers is a Victorian use of flowers to convey romantic expressions. But for Victoria Jones, a child of the foster-care system and who had trouble getting close to anyone, she used the language for communicating mistrust and solitude. Elizabeth, her 30th foster mother, lived on a farm, tried to home-school Victoria and through flowers tried to show her the language. But Victoria was a broken person and it was not easy for her to accept help or guidance from Elizabeth. As Victoria aged-out of the system at age eighteen, and a fire broke out, Victoria ran away and having nowhere to go lived on the streets for a while. To keep her busy she collected flower seeds and planted them and made arrangements which she showed to Renata, owner of a flower shop. Eventually she hired Victoria to help her pick up and transport flowers from the wholesale market to her shop. Soon she realized Victoria was homeless and she helped her rent a room with her sister. When she let Victoria do arrangements for the customers she realized her magical talent. Her business flourished.
True to reality in many cases, Victoria had trouble with trust and being conventional. The rest of the story, you will have to read, some painful, some hopeful, but always relying on the meaning of flowers.
This debut novel was released in 2011, but somehow I missed it. The author has been a foster parent and knows that these children have many issues, and sadly, some may never be healed. I found the book to be realistic and probably not uncommon. The reference to flowers brought beauty and inspiration into a broken world.
5 Stars
345. THE ASTONISHING COLOR OF AFTER by Emily X.R. Pan (12/6/22) Fiction
The novel opens with Leigh’s statement that her mother turned into a Red Bird following her suicide. After leaving a crossed-out message “I want you to remember”, Leigh is traumatized. When a Red Bird drops off a box which contains a letter in Mandarin from his mother’s parents saying that they want see her after the long family estrangement, Leigh and her father fly to Taipei, Taiwan, where her mother was born and grew up.
Her grandparents and a family friend help Leigh search for her mother in all of her favorite childhood places. One night a stick of magical incense enabled her to travel through time and to revisit chapters of her mother’s life.
As they approach the 49th day after her death, a day when the Buddhists believe the deceased is reborn into a new life, the vision of the Red Bird becomes fainter. Leigh also learns about why her mother was estranged from her parents all these years.
Presented as a “young adult” book, I found the story to be beautiful, it held my interest and I especially enjoyed the beauty of the visions. In other words, I think adults will like it too.
4 Stars
346. APE HOUSE by Sara Gruen (12/10/22) Fiction
Bonobo apes, the smaller chimpanzee, are an endangered species, are capable of learning American Sign Language, and can form deep relationships within their species and with humans, as they have with Isabel Duncan, a scientist at the Great Apes Lab. Bonzi, Lola, Mbongo, Sam, and Makena are the most important things in Isabel’s life, and in fact, are her life.
An explosion in the lab severely injures Isabel who is rushed to a hospital and the apes get away. John Thigpen, a reporter, thinks that the explosion was probably caused by animal activists who have continually protested the Ape Lab. A reality TV show, featuring the apes debuts under mysterious circumstances and becomes a phenomenal hit with the cameras broadcasting the apes in their human-like house 24 hours a day, showing them ordering “take-out” food, playing rambunctiously, partaking generous amounts of sex, and signing for Isabel to come get them. With the help of John and two others they form a plan to rescue the apes.
Gruen, a bestselling author of “Water for Elephants”, “Riding Lessons”, and “At the Water’s Edge”, she continues to be a brilliant story-teller in the “Ape House”.
5 Stars
348. THE HEART’S INVISIBLE FURIES by John Boyne (12/19/22) Fiction
After his bestselling book, “The Boy in the Striped Pajamas”, I knew John Boyle would have to write a good follow up-real pressure here.
This story begins in 1940 in Ireland where the book begins in a church where a 16 year-old girl is being berated by the priest in front of the congregation as a “whore” for being pregnant. She refuses to give the name of the father who happens to be be her father. She is cast out of the town by the priest and her family and she gets on a bus headed for Dublin. After a tough time in Dublin where tragedy came to her, the baby was given up for adoption.
In this book, epic in size-from 1940 to present day, we follow one man’s life, Cyril Avery, from 1940 to the present where we see he was orphaned and adopted by an Irish couple who were indifferent to him and made him feel like an outcast. Rather lost and alone in a big emotionally empty house, Cyril made one acquaintance with Julian, a courageous, dangerous fellow with whom Cyril became infatuated. By accident they became roommates at a boarding school and Julian became a friend. Cyril needed, like so many adoptees, to find out the mystery of his life, particularly his mother, in order to find his true identity and much of his life was in pursuit of this goal. With the lack of parental support he had to make his own way , and though his school years were more social, they were difficult as he awakened to his homosexuality, at a time when society, especially in Ireland, was ultra conservative and considered homosexuality a criminal act. He struggled with his sexuality and as time passed he moved abroad where he was finally able to be an openly gay man.
John Boyne writes delicious prose. i especially liked the first chapters of 1940’s Ireland. In fact, I wish the book had been about Cyril’s birth mother, a plucky, resourceful girl willing to do what it takes to survive. I had empathy for Cyril struggling to find himself, but found the story, in general, not unusual in those days and even today. It is sad to say that the tragedy of the story is so “common” that it is not unique enough, however, this poignant story is beautifully told, unveiling the enduring human spirit.
4 Stars
354. THE ART OF CRASH LANDING by Melissa DeCarlo (1/9/23) Fiction
Mattie Wallace is a mess. Pregnant, broke and alone, she piles all her belongings into six large trash bags to head to a tiny town in Oklahoma where her mother grew up.
She was notified that her grandmother had died leaving her house to Mattie. As she left the Florida panhandle, she thought about her mother, a raging alcoholic who always made the wrong choices in life, had left Oklahoma decades before. Mattie feared she was following in her mother’s footsteps, by heading in the same direction.
This debut novel, filled with the mystery of why her mother left, has scarred her own ability to trust and love, and is a poignant picture of how our upbringing controls our ability to become the kind of adult we want to be. Can this small town help Mattie solve the mystery between the grandmother she never met and her broken mother, and answer questions that will make sense of her own life?
This is a great first book and I look forward to more.
4 Stars
360. CARRIE SOTO IS BACK by Taylor Jenkins Reid
From the author of two previous books I have read and reviewed, “Malibu Rising” (Fiction 222) and “The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo” (Fiction 287), Reid writes a book of totally different texture than the others. I like that she is versatile. In this book we venture into the world of professional tennis, where Carrie Soto, once great, now perhaps beyond her prime, comes back to play for one last grand slam, possibly beating her arch rival.
We get to see in Carrie the desire to win at any cost in order to be able to shatter every record and become the best player the world has ever seen. Her father is her coach, a former champion himself who has trained her since the age of two. With her thirty-seven year old body not cooperating like it used to, coming out of retirement has the eyes and ears of every tennis fan in the world. This emotional, physically grinding, adventure by a past superstar puts you right in the court with her.
4 Stars
364. THE MEASURE by Nikki Erlick (2/3/23) Fiction
On an ordinary day the world wakes up to find a small wooden box on their front porch. One for each person living there. Inside the box is one piece of string of varying lengths. As the day goes on and the news realizes this is a phenomenon throughout the world, the mystery becomes greater. Soon they realized the people with the shorts strings were dying quickly and that the string was a measurement of how long each person had to live. Some wanted to know, others did not. There was disbelief when those in one family realized one of them would not be here long. Then there was frenzy. Where did these come from? Was it a curse or a gift from God? As millions realized their destiny there was anger and jealousy. Societies came together and fell apart. Some got religion, some said ‘what the hell’ and committed crimes. Ethical questions arose about short stringers and if they should be allowed to participate with their short life span.
This book is definitely different and makes you realize how difficult life would be to know when you would be dying. It made me extremely uncomfortable and anxious realizing how this knowledge brought out the best and worst in people. It was thought provoking, that’s for sure.
4 Stars
365. WHEN WE WERE ORPHANS by Kazio Ishiguro (2/6/23) Fiction
Set in early 1900’s Shanghai, a young English boy, Christopher Banks, is orphaned at age ten when his parents mysteriously disappear. He returns to England to live with his aunt and after his schooling the disappearance of his parents make him interested in detective work. Over time he becomes a renowned detective and later in life decides to go to Shanghai to uncover the mystery haunting him: the mystery of what became of his parents.
This is where the story gets tricky as Christopher crosses the boundaries between reality, derangement, and imagination. He is caught up in the Second Sino-Japanese War battles which brought back memories of his childhood. As he endeavors to find his old house and a house which he thinks his parents might have been held he persuades a commander to direct him to the house where he feels sure his parents are still captive. Amidst the battle around them the commander refuses to help, leaving Christopher on his own. Surrounded by great confusion from the battle and his mind he uncovers that his parents were not who he thought they were (innocent victims).
In order to show Christopher’s mental confusion (PTSD?), I found it extremely hard to follow the narrative. My mind was crazily swimming, as was Christopher’s, but I got lost in the process.
3 Stars
366. BLACK CAKE by Charmaine Wilkerson (2/10/23) Fiction
When Elinor Bennett died she left behind a strange legacy for her two sons, Benny and Byron: A black cake from a family Jamaican recipe with a long family history and a voice recording telling of her escape after being wrongfully suspected of murder. The story unfolds a heartbreaking tale of betrayals and secrets that challange her sons to “share the cake when the time is right.”
As a debut novel Ms. Wilkerson became a nominee for Best Debut Novel of 2022. Well done!
4 Stars
371. DEAR EDWARD by Ann Napolitano (2/22/23) Fiction
Twelve-year-old Edward Alder is the lone survivor of a plane crash headed for Los Angeles. Without his family who perished in the crash, Edward struggles feeling like a part of himself has been left in the sky. In his struggles to find himself he discovers answers to life’s most profound questions: When you’ve lost everything how do you find the strength and resilience to put one foot in front of the other; How do you learn to feel safe again; and, How do you find meaning in your life. This is an uplifting book that I enjoyed.
4 Star
376. COVER STORY by Susan Rigetti (3/18/23) Fiction
Student and aspiring writer, Lora Ricci, feels lucky and intimidated to have landed an internship at Elle Magazine. After an overwhelming experience at NYU of failing many classes she is shocked to have an editor, Cat Wolff, offer her this plum position. When Cat invites her to move into her suite at the Plaza Hotel she asks her to ghostwrite stories for her which will become a lucrative literary position for Lora, even if ghosted. She can’t refuse.
Rigetti does a clever job in this first novel of letting the reader know from the opening pages that Cat is not a kind mentor of Lora but we don’t know why. Through journal entries, texts and posts the mystery of the motive unfolds an entertaining shell game.
4 Stars
378. MIGRATIONS by Charlotte McConaghy (3/28/23) Fiction
“The animals are dying. Soon we will be alone here..” Charlotte McConaghy, a young Australian author, takes her novel to a place we may not want to go, but must, as we enter the most probable scenarios of the upcoming events to happen in our climate crisis evolution.
The book follows the journey of a young woman, Fanny Stone, who loves the wild ocean tides and the Arctic terns that soar above the ocean. Fanny arrives in Greenland without a plan other than to find a way to follow the last flock of Arctic terns on their final destination. Fanny approaches a sea captain and convinces him that the terns know how to find the fish that he desperately needs. Though skeptical, he agrees to the plan since the fish have been dwindling for years and he needs a new plan. Unknown to the captain and crew, Fanny comes with a lot of emotional baggage, from losses in her life, secrets, and obsessions with pursuing the terns at any cost. Is the ship and crew hostage to her passions, putting them all in jeopardy?
Migrations is an exceptional story about nature, a threatened world, and the future of the world. Though fiction, many things are sadly coming to pass.
5 Stars
381. YOU THINK IT, I’LL SAY IT by Curtis Sittenfeld (4/8/23) Fiction
This book, her first collection of short stories (10), gives the readers a lot to chew. Like the title says, Sittenfeld tackles what we may think, but goes on to say in a witty and sharp way. She dangles themes of disenchantment where some wouldn’t venture: when Donald Trump becomes an alarming candidate; when parents are overwhelmed by the demands of parenthood; when despite having achieved a secure professional status we admit that our lives haven’t turned out as expected.
Sittenfeld brings compassion and hopefulness without sentimentality and naivety. She is one of my favorite authors and although I enjoy her more developed stories she does justice to the short ones too.
4 Stars
383. SISTERLAND by Curtis Sittenfeld (4/20/23) Fiction
I blogged a couple of years ago that Sittenfeld was my new “favorite” author, then a while later, changed my mind. I loved Rodham (#27-Fiction, p.1), a cleverly fictionalized version of what way her life may have followed for Hillary Rodham (Clinton) had she decided not to marry Bill Clinton, and followed it with American Wife (#28- Fiction, p.1), a story about a conventional woman who marries into a large, boisterous, Southern family whose political aspirations are to get her husband into the White House-to me loosely based on Laura Bush. Both of those books were cleverly written and I really was a fan. Since then I have also read Prep, Eligible, If You Think It I’ll Say It, and now Sisterland, all by Sittenfeld. All I can say is ‘…the thrill is gone.’ Her books feel a little more tedious to read with the stories not as fresh and the dialogue and sentence structure more flat and predictable. Have I become more discerning as my reading journey goes on and on? I DO think so, as I have given far fewer 5 Stars out than I used to. That said, if you are a fan you may want to give this book a try.
This sister-twin book goes back and forth from adulthood to childhood, showing the differences in the sisters more than how alike they are. That is okay. Both sisters have, since childhood, known that they possess some psychic power. One sister, Kate, tries to ignore her psychic abilities and is living a traditional role of wife and mother in the suburbs. Violet, embraces her powers, lives a more eccentric lifestyle as a medium, and goes unafraid into a gay relationship. And so the story goes back and forth, as I said, and becomes a little intense when Vi predicts a catastrophic earthquake in St. Louis. The book is a very long 15 hours on audio, and the ending is unsatisfying.
3 Stars
388. WHAT’S LEFT OF ME IS YOURS by Stephanie Scott (5/1/23) Fiction
In modern day Tokyo a businessman hires a “wakaresaseya”, literally a “breaker-upper” who is hired to seduce his wife so he has grounds for a divorce and can pay less to her. This illegal business went terribly wrong and his wife died. The husband left his seven-year-old daughter in the care of her grandfather and left town. The grandfather told the young girl her mother had died in a car accident. Years later the daughter, Suniko, takes a phone call meant for her grandfather from a prison administrator with information on the wakaresaseya. From that Suniko begins to uncover information about the life of her mother and the mystery of her death in this beautifully told story of lost memories, passions, secrets and lies.
4 Stars
389. THE VIOLIN CONSPIRACY by Brendan Slocumb (5/1/23) Fiction
Ray McMillian is a young, black student who found his love and dreams in playing his violin. He had no encouragement from his bedraggled mother who needed him to get a “real” job to help his family with finances and was told to stop playing with that thing all the time. Racism, coupled with a lack of black classical musicians, and the fact that he could not afford private violin lessons to take him to the next level, and a need to own a good violin rather than renting a school violin, made his chances to succeed seemingly impossible.
Ray, however, could not give up on being a great violinist and his dream to enter the international Tchaikovsky competition. At a visit to his grandmother’s he learned his great-grandfather used to play the fiddle and that he owned one. After searching for it his family didn’t seem to want it and he was allowed to take it. Ray was elated to have it and continued practicing and perfecting his skills.
The conspiracy in this story sort of gives the story away so I will leave it to the reader to find out. What enchanted me was his strong desire and unusual talent Ray had and the aforementioned barriers and challenges he had to overcome on his way to greatness. The audiobook was enhanced by beautiful classical music and made me feel like I was in another world-the world of classical music competition. The conspiracy was exciting, stressful, sad, and powerful. Hats off to Slocumb who created a musical thriller as his debut novel.
5 Stars
393. HELLO BEAUTIFUL By Ann Napolitano (5/19/23) Fiction
William Walters is pretty much alone in the world, neglected at home, feeling unloved. Life changes for him when he is awarded a basketball scholarship to Northwestern University where he meets Julia Padavano, the eldest of four sisters, and their big, loud, boisterous but welcoming family, and for the first time in his life he feels like he belongs.
There are moments of tragedy, of dealing with mental illness, and the many changing roles of women in the next 50 years. Napolitano is a good writer and although it is not her best book it is solidly good and enjoyable.
4 Stars
395. LESSIONS IN CHEMISTRY by Bonnie Garmus (5/19/23) Fiction
Elizabeth Zott has a brilliant mind and intends to use it. In the early 1960’s, her all-male colleagues at Hastings Research Institute are not into “equality” especially in scientific research. Except for Calvin Evans, a brilliant but lonely Nobel Prize nominee who falls in love with her mind.
A few years later, Elizabeth, now a single mother, is inadvertently chosen to become the TV chief on the highest rated cooking show, “Supper at Six”. She challenges her audience to understand the nutrition, scientific terminology and chemical reactions which produce the food. The audience loves it and her and she becomes a star. She is not just cooking but encouraging her audience to learn and be counted, even as a stay-at-home mom. This character is fun and original and we see that intelligence can be funny too!
5 Stars
396. THE 100-YEAR-OLD MAN WHO CLIMBED OUT THE WINDOW AND DISAPPEARED by Jonas Jonasson (5/26/23) Fiction
Allan Karlsson was 99-years-old, in good health, lived in a nursing home, and in one day knew there would be a celebration on his 100th birthday. Allan enjoyed his vodka and the staff controlled the amount he was allowed to drink. Wanting more independence, on a whim he decided to escape and climbed out the window in his slippers. This lead to an adventure of his life, both charming and hilarious similar to “A Man Called Ove” and “Forrest Gump”. His back story is filled with meetings with historical figures and his present adventure is laugh-out-loud funny. This is a totally fun, quirky book, fast-moving and a perfect way to add enjoyable moments to your day.
5 Star
399.
399. SOMETHING BORROWED by Emily Giffin (6/3/23) Fiction
Rachel White, an attorney at a high-powered Manhattan law firm, is a rule follower. Soon to be maid-of-honor at her best-friend Darcey’s wedding, she has a secret, decides to confess to Darcey, which ultimately changes her relationship to Darcey and her fiance. Can this be right to risk everything in order to clear her conscience and be true to herself?
You will have to read this in order to find out. The story is fun, not deep, but good enough to make it a hit rom-com movie starring Kate Hudson, Ginnifer Goodwin, and John Krasinski, which I saw, felt was well-cast, and was fun, not deep.
3 Stars
400. REMARKEDLY BRIGHT CREATURES by Shelby Van Pelt (6/6/23) Fiction
Marcellus is a giant Pacific octopus and is a prisoner in a tank at an aquarium. In the first-person he knows that his life span is four years-1460 days, and since he arrived as a juvenile he figures he doesn’t have much time left and he longs to go back to the ocean.
Next we meet Tova Sullivan, the 70-year-old after hours custodian, who each night devotedly cleans the floors, the glass, and empties trash for $14 an hour. She loves her job and has worked at the aquarium longer than any employee. As she polishes the glass she talks to the lovely water creatures, especially her favorite, Marcellus. This evening Marcellus did not come out to greet her and she figured he must be sleeping or hiding in the rocks. At the trash bin near the lunch table she spots something, thinking someone had dropped a sweater or something. Then she spots a tentacle tangled in some power cords. As she hesitantly undoes the cords she looks into the octopus’s eye which followed her every movement. After his release Marcellus wrapped hid tentacle round and round her arm rather tightly, then immediately released her arm and slithered away. Tova examined her arm and then went to find Marcellus and soon realized he had returned to his tank and the life-giving water he depends on. How did he do this?
This story about a lonely octopus and a lonely old lady is charming and endearing. I loved it!
5 Stars
401. THE STOLEN BOOK OF EVELYN AUBREY by Serena Burdick (6/7/23) Fiction
Evelyn married a famous novelist, William Aubrey, in 1898, England. Happiness did not last when during a dry spell of William’s writing, Evelyn discovered he had stolen a draft of her novel and tried to pass it off as his own.
Now we move forward to 2006, California, where Abigail was trying to find the identity of of her father and unexpectedly he mother died. While going through paperwork she stumbled upon information that her great-great-grandmother was Evelyn Aubrey, an author from England. She was shocked to learn that London society had believed that Evelyn had disappeared and may have been murdered.
This is a good story of what happened to Evelyn and her difficult marriage, filled with secrets and tricks Evelyn had to take, and of Abigail trying to solve the unsolved mystery.
4 Stars
402. THE MUSIC OF BEES by Eileen Garvin (6/8/23) Fiction
Three lonely, disheartened strangers: Alice, now a widow with the unexpected death of her husband; Jake, a troubled paraplegic teenager; and , Harry, a 24-year-old with social anxiety who needs a job, come together at Alice’s home to help with her bee-keeping after her husband died. They form an unlikely friendship and and a new future for themselves as they learn about the bees and each other. When the bees become threatened by poisonous pesticides of neighboring farmers they bond together, strong in their commitment to Alice and the bees.
This story shows the power of friendship, commitment, purpose, and determination to lives previously unhappy and unfulfilled. A warm, kind book to feel good about.
4 Stars
403. LUCY BY THE SEA by Elizabeth Strout (6/12/23) Fiction
Pulitzer prize-winning author, Elizabeth Strout, pens a new novel about a divorced couple who come together during the pandemic lockdown. Together Lucy and William leave their separate lives in Manhattan for a cabin in Maine by the sea. Lucy and William had moved on in their lives and had an on again, off again friendship with their complex past together. Both alone, they wanted this time together.
While in confinement they shared their struggles; the deep connection they still had; their mutual pain of their daughter’s suffering; the emptiness that comes with losing a loved one; the realization of their new, honest friendship; and the comfort of enduring love.
Elizabeth Strout has a unique way of creating ordinary characters and through intimacy and humanity brings out the depths of love and heartache the characters endure, many times the same we all have experienced from time to time. By book’s end we have been given the experience of knowing her characters intimately and we care about them. This is a true gift.
5 Stars
404. THE CANDY HOUSE by Jennifer Egan (6/14/23) Fiction
Bix Bouton and his company Mandala is so successful he is a household name in the tech community. His new technology is “Own Your Unconscious” which allows you to access every memory you ever had and to be able to share these memories in exchange for access to the memories of others. Sound problematic and dangerous? yes, and thrilling, brilliant, and intoxicating.
The audiobook has 20+ narrators, is fast moving in form and scope and altogether intellectually stimulating, but, I found it hard to visualize and follow at times. (My bad.) Imaginative alternative worlds are not a genre I enjoy, but I think for those who love it, this will be fabulous. It is getting rave reviews from many sources for it’s imaginative stretch into new realms.
4 Stars
409. A PLACE TO LAND by Lauren K. Denton (6/28/23) Fiction
Sisters Violet and Trudy lived a quiet life in a small Alabama town. Something happened to Trudy forty years ago that made her mute. Violet became her voice and protector, but gave up one great love to keep her sister safe.
A young woman, lMaya, is on her own every since her grandmother died. She ends up in Sugar Bend at the art shop called Two Sisters run by Violet and Trudy. The sisters befriend Maya and give her a job. But a boat arises to the surface of the river unveiling secrets from the past.
This pretty predictible, uncomplicated story is gentle but not shocking.
3 Stars
410. SOMETHING WICKED THIS WAY COMES by Ray Bradbury (6/28/23) Fiction
This is a real kick! From the original book Bradbury creates a drama for this audiobook with a full cast, sound effects and original music in the style of an old radio drama.
A carnival comes to Greenville, Illinois one week before Halloween called “Cooger and Darks Pandemonium Shadow Show.” Two young boys, Jim and Will sense the evil in this show which promises to make your every wish come true-but with those wishes you pay a price which becomes a nightmare.
Even though it was fun to enter the time-zone of the past and experience a radio drama, I found it pretty naive and dated in the kindest way. Their picture of “scary” is tame in today’s world. But this whole idea is a blast from the past for those who long for those bygone days.
3 Stars
411. ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE by Elizabeth Strout (6/30/23) Fiction
Strout gives us a collection of short stories about characters from Amgash, Illinois, the fictional town from her book, “My Name is Lucy Barton.” These nine linked stories are about the way they have overcome and triumphed above individual adversities reminding us that compassion can reverse our trauma.
Strout writes simple but believable characters caught up in life which captures the heart and soul of small-town America. I don’t think this book has as much relevance to me as it would have had, had I read the prerequsite book, mentioned above, which I intend to read soon, being a big fan of Strout.
4 Stars
413. THE COVENANT OF WATER by Abraham Verghese (7/8/23) Fiction
Spanning the years of 1900 to 1977, Verghese’s novel is set in Kerala on South India’s Malabar Coast and follows three generations of a family that suffers a piculiar afflection in every generation where at least one person dies by drowning in a place where they are surrounded by water. For fans of his “Cutting the Stone” this part-time author (he is also vice-chair of Medicine at Stanford University School of Medicine), shows that he can balance many things at one time including this large volume. The story is interesting, the malady is unusual, and as always the culture and traditions of India are fascinating.
4 Stars
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