Gilded/Cursed by Marissa Meyer

      

A Duology?  Interesting!!!

Last week I had the huge and unexpectedly delightful pleasure of seeing and listening to and meeting Marissa Meyer at Bookmarks in Winston-Salem NC while on her book tour for the recently released Cursed.  She is my daughter's favorite author, mainly for another series called The Lunar Chronicles.  That series has about 6 books total, so guess what?  I'm on book three.  ;-)

Meyer is a gifted and energetic storyteller, and this duology is all about storytelling.  I won't really say much here, as I dove in without knowing anything about this series and found all the surprises and twists and tone so fun that I would want that for any reader.  She starts with a miller's daughter who boasts she can turn straw into gold, and then when she is called out on that boast in horrific fashion, the fairy tale we think we were getting becomes something oh so much more.  This is a lighter toned story, very lyrical and light but with some heavy darkness woven in.  Also, the second book has some more, um, adult situations that were a bit bothersome to this prude (when it comes to YA fiction at least), but were kinda necessary to forward the plot.  So, enter at your own risk.  But the creativity here in how she twists a well known fairy tale, and how she manages to still give some great nods to the origin story while making it truly her own, really makes for some fun reading!  She drops a bombshell I did not see coming toward the end of the second book, and I was highly impressed with how she set that up!!

I am currently halfway through The Lunar Chronicles, and that series is set in the future, which makes it a bit more serious as a group of teens try to save the modern world (that combined review coming soon).  I found the Gilded duology a lighter read even with the monsters, as I knew that was fairy tale, set in a medieval village with a castle and a scary forest, etc.  Overall I believe I have found a new author to love (she was so fun to meet!  Full of energy and spunk!) and anticipate.  And yes, daughter of mine, I should have read these way back when you told me to!!  Thanks for letting me borrow all of your copies!!!  ;-)

One Italian Summer by Rebecca Serle

 

A quick read, and made me want to go to Italy (specifically Positano, loved the story of how it got its name!) like NOW!

Beautiful setting, interesting premise, but not at all what I thought it would be.  Jacket says a young woman loses her mother, then takes the trip they had planned together only to meet a younger version of her mother on the trip and so she gets to know her mom in her youth.  Of course, revelations occur and our heroine learns a lot about her mom and herself.  But the book focuses more on her own marriage and flirty behavior while she takes a break from her husband, and all this mixed up together just did not meld for me.  I would have much preferred the focus to be ONLY on the woman and her mom, and not hijacked by the flirting.  Or at least maybe not as much as there was.

That being said, I did enjoy most of the story.  There are many insights into how grief is experienced in many different ways; how one person should not be responsible for another's happiness; how sometimes letting go is the biggest act of love.  I think there is a LOT to talk about here in book clubs, a lot to unpack about the mother-daughter relationship and whether it could be TOO close, and how even women of today who are supposedly so strong and independent still have a hard time making their own decisions for themselves.  There are lots of fun book references here (pay attention to the prologue page, haha!), and this book will make you hungry for caprese everything. I think the biggest question we are all left with is this:  What do you want? Meaning, don't let someone else tell you all the answers.  Answer for yourself.   I would still recommend it, but thought the ending came a bit too tidily.  A fun, light read that will also make you think.  3.5 stars really, but I always round up!!

The Water Keeper/The Letter Keeper/The Record Keeper by Charles Martin

 

  

Today, it's a three-fer!!

My book club choose The Water Keeper for our selection this summer.  While I missed the meeting, I brought it up at the next one for a brief recap and disclosed that I was already into the second book.  Then Ronnie says, "Well, wait til you get to the end of the third one!!!"

Ronnie, I owe you a phone call!

I went into these books totally blind as to the subject matter.  And actually I think that is a good approach here because if I start to tell you What this series is about I think you can miss what is really going on here.  Martin is a fantastic writer; I have read a few of his other books and while there is a religious/Christian bent to his work it is not overwhelming, it is just part of the story and forges more of a moral compass than any kind of guilt trip or evangelism, so no worries there in my opinion.

What I will tell you is that you will be pulled into this story of a man, his life, his chosen vocation(s), his passion, his identities, his faults, his mentor, his love, and most of all, his heart.  There is action, there is love, there are guns and boats and people in danger; and there is hope and family and healing and photography and, most fun, a fabulously expressive dog.  (Reminded me in part of the banter Dean Koontz puts into his novels, and there is almost always a dog in a Koontz book!)  By the time you get to the third book, there is a shift in the story with LOT of flashback and you are halfway through the book before you get some good action, but I do think Martin wraps it up pretty nicely, lots of closure realistically done, and maybe even some room to revisit Murphy - if he wants to.  Maybe by this time Murph has earned a much needed break!!  For so much action this series is almost quietly written; I could not put them down.

Check out Long Way Gone and When Crickets Cry by Martin too - but have your tissues at the ready!

Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus

 

First of all, can we just talk about that COVER ART???

Thank goodness for a book about a woman where the cover is not a vista and her back looking away from us.  Ugh.

THIS BOOK WAS AMAZING.  Not at all what I expected.  Garmus does a tremendous job of balancing a very serious topic (the suppression, sexism and yes, abuse, women faced particularly in the 1960's - trigger warning here for one particular scene told in reminiscence - is that a word? It is now) with some of the most amazing banter and hilarity of domestic life you will ever read.  And this was her debut!!!  She said she was inspired by a bad day at work where she herself experienced sexism, and writing this book was a way to reassure her that things were not as bad as in her mother's time, hence the 1960's setting.

Elizabeth Zott is brilliant.  She is a scientist who is "on to something" in her lab, and her boss can't stand that Elizabeth is so much smarter than he is.  He fires her for no good reason, even as she argues with him that what he is doing is unfounded and illegal. 

So, Elizabeth is in need of a new job so she can take care of her daughter.  Elizabeth is very straightforward, all about the facts, and seemed almost unemotional in her determination to make things work.  She lands a new job without even meaning to when a fellow parent who works at a TV station asks her to host a cooking show.  After all, cooking is chemistry, right?

Well, she does it, but she does it HER way, which does not make the producers happy.  But it sure makes the viewers happy and the ratings soar as Elizabeth makes no bones about how cooking should be and how women should live.  This gets her in trouble, but ratings are ratings!!

There is a lot to unpack here as Elizabeth faces her life struggles in the 1960's.  It was painful as a woman of the next century to read about how women in the work force were treated back then.  I am not suggesting everything is equal now, but this story really brings out how little recourse women had back then and how reliant they were forced to be on their husbands or fathers.  Elizabeth is very independent, even when she falls in love with another scientist who respects her, loves her, supports her, and still lies to her.  Well, he does, even if it is just to protect her.  Theirs is a beautiful and happy time together for sure!  But still.  You get my point.  And, there is a little bit of an Owen Meany feel in some of this once we learn about Elizabeth and Calvin's childhoods and events all culminate very unexpectedly and very ironically.  (crytpic, much??? ha, go read it for yourself!)

The ending brings a full circle event that was a bit too far fetched for me from a reality perspective, but I still loved the idea.

I laughed out loud at the name of and viewpoint of the dog (yes, that is what I said!).  I loved that Elizabeth rips out her kitchen to create her own damn lab.  I hated how many instances of lying to women - all of the female characters in this book, including the daughter, were lied to - there were, which was the norm. (is??)  This book will make you mad on one hand, and glad for the progress - so far - on the other.  But mostly, this book will make you root for Elizabeth, as she uses her brain and her knowledge of chemistry in the kitchen to show women all over what they can really do and be.  You go, Mrs. Ellis!!!!!!!!!!!!

The Paris Apartment by Lucy Foley

 

I read this in one day.

WHOA!!!  What a ride!  I enjoyed Foley's book The Guest List on audiobook and was wavering on this one until my mom lent it to me and said it was a good one.  A bit dark, a lot mysterious, an unexplained disappearance and so many secrets and reveals!!!

Like The Guest List, Foley gives us several points of view in this story.  Confusing at first, but oh boy does it ever come together.  Family drama, siblings who think they know each other and have we mentioned Paris yet?  Oui, mon amis, tres bien!

(That's all I've got after two years of French in college, which was a hot minute ago...but I digress.)

I started taking notes while I read on most of my books this year, and my notes for this one contain mostly questions that begin with WHY is that happening and WHY did that character do THAT. And one of the best quotes: "Women deserve a chance at a new life."  Quite the deep theme here really.

So, we have a Melrose Place type setting in Paris - a gated apartment house where the residents each have their own eccentricities.  Except in at least two cases it is not really eccentricity as much as life trauma.  Jess comes to stay with her brother, who is not in his apartment when she arrives even though she just spoke to him.  None of the residents seem to know where he is but they obviously knew him and she begins to worry, to snoop, to suspect that SOMETHING is not right here.  

Ya think????

How Foley pulls it all together kept my eyes on the page for an entire rainy day at the beach this summer.  I have never been so thankful for rain.

If you are looking for a fast paced, dysfunctional family thriller, this is your jam.  Is there redemption in the end?  I'll say.  But you'll never see it coming.  Love it.

The Hidden Palace by Helene Wecker

 

The second book of The Golem and the Jinni, I enjoyed this one just as much as the first one!  The story of this bizarre friendship (love story??) between a woman made of clay and a jinn trapped in a human body by a cuff of iron expands to include new characters, new friends, and maybe a frenemy, while revisiting the locals in Little Syria and an heiress who hides across the sea.  I loved all the new characters and felt this follow up did great justice to our original story, which is not always the case in a sophomore effort.  There really was more to this story!!!  Honestly, I would totally pick up a third volume, and I read these two back to back with no issues or overload at all. Wecker shows her knowledge of and love for New York, introduces us to what life in the Middle East would have been like for a Western woman, mentions war and ships that sink and other historical events that are happening during these times, and once again has smoothly woven all of this into a novel like no other.

There is more Jewish heritage referenced here, and the struggle to keep one's traditions (and NAME) going in the face of ridicule and ignorance.  There is the pull of the familiar and the necessity for change, hard as that change might be.  But mostly in this story is the need for truth.  The final truth at the end left my eyes a little damp, but I loved it all.  Chava, Ahmad, Maryam, Sayeed, Sophia, Anna, Toby, Kreindel, Dima and Yoselle are characters, along with the city of New York in 1915 which was a character of its own, that I will not soon forget.

The Golem and the Jinni by Helene Wecker

Here is the greatest mystery about this novel:  How in any world have I not read this in the nine years since it was published???

Maybe I was the one trapped in a flask.

I loved this story.  It is very hard to believe that this is a debut novel.  Wecker is an exceptional writer and certainly found her genre and style right off the bat.  The way she blends the very human struggles of belief, assimilation, personal history, acceptance, worry, change and empathy really does boggle the mind upon reflection.  And she does it seemingly effortlessly. You can tell that a lot of thought, research, and emotion went into writing this novel.  The webs of the differing storylines are complicated at first; the reader has no idea why we jump from a girl in the desert in the year 900 and something, to a bakery in 1899 New York City.  The Goodreads summary for once is definitely lacking in description (and is also surprisingly NOT a copy of the inside flap!  Update, please!!  I probably would not have picked this one up just with that as incentive.  But, the cover is so beautiful that maybe I would have anyway.)

This is a long book at 484 pages, including one of the longest Epilogues I remember reading, plus an additional 16 pages of author interviews, notes, and further reading, which I always read - lots of interesting tidbits here about how Wecker came to this story, and her own background's influence.  And, I will say it took a while to gather steam.  The title characters don't even meet until almost a third of the way in.  Their back stories are worth it though; trust the author that not one word was unnecessary here.  This book was beautifully edited as well, I think, which is something you don't really notice unless it is done poorly.  The tone is very reminiscent of The Alchemist - a bit of parable, fable and fairy tale all mixed together with historical locations to make it seem that much more real.

The character development here is stellar.  I felt their emotions, I saw their facial expressions, I felt the heat and the sand of the desert and the spray of water from the New York harbor.  Billed as historical fantasy, the story is set a thousand years ago, and a hundred years ago.  Turn of the century (1890's-early 1900's) New York City serves as the main location.  But we get flashbacks to the Syrian desert of the late first century as well.  How all this comes together as a tightly woven story is half the fun.  The rest of the fun is in the imaginative storyline - a Golem is created as a wife for an immigrant and they head for NYC.  A Jinni is released from his imprisonment by a struggling tin worker trying to "rub out" the damage to the flask owned by a friend.   How they each struggle to fit in to their new environments, how they meet and help each other, and how their friendship grows is central to the story.  Secondary characters like the ice cream man (based on a real photo the author found in her research!), the matriarch of Little Syria, a Jewish man who has rejected his faith while serving the immigrant community, a small boy fascinated by the Jinni, a teenage girl who spies a castle made of glass in her desert home, a flirty NYC society girl or two, and a man on a mission to find eternal life all come to life as they help, hinder, hurt and support each other.

The novel's slow build toward what seems to be a tragic ending kept me guessing.  I have purposefully left some plot out of this review because it is all revealed so beautifully in the book that I don't want to risk spoilers.  I loved the Golem's gentle nature versus her strength and constant fear of losing control; the Jinni's transformation from free spirit to humanlike empathy; and mostly the unfolding of their connection and how their one similarity - difference - trumps their opposite natures.  So much to discuss here - immigration, religion, showing your true self, loyalty, friendship, and of course, macaroons.  A fantastically fantastic story that I would recommend to anyone who enjoys fairy tales that truly come to life.

The Second Life of Ryan Hunt series by Garritt Overeem

 

Book One: Resurrection

I met Mr. Overeem at a local pop-up vendor market and had such a nice chat with him.  I ended up buying all three of his books, self published, and thought I would just give them a whirl. It has been a while since I read some straight up science fiction.  I forgot how much I enjoy a good space odyssey! 

Now, if science fiction is not your thing, that is totally fine, just move along.  It is ok to skip this review if you don't want anything to do with space ships, aliens, black holes, and urns of 48,000 year old ashes.

Mom, that means you.  Love ya, mean it, Brad Thor has a new one out, go read that. ;-)

But I was pleasantly surprised!!   I originally gave this book three stars, but then I thought, no, I really enjoyed this story and so I bumped it to four, thinking that against all odds this author has published a very original storyline and I really hope others will pick it up so he can continue his work and tell more stories.  Many people are turned off by a three star rating (which still means I liked it), and this series deserves a bump!!

While the premise is really super far-fetched (isn't most sci-fi?  Three years on Mars in The Martian, much??), Overeem's story of a man, Ryan Hunt, whose remains survive tens of thousands of years and many annihilations and worlds only to be rejuvenated with futuristic technology in order to save the universe is actually very readable, relatable, and HUMAN.  Overeem does a great job with the banter between our hero and the determined and smart Dr. Katalina Winslow - you can actually feel their chemistry on the page.  A few awkward passages but overall this story is full of adventure, inventive futuristic life, and so much heart.   Other species are vividly described, and we even get an angel siting as well as other creatures of current mythology.  Think Han Solo meets Meredith Grey - in space.  They are both tough, both struggling with losses from their pasts, and of course Ryan is thrown into a world where nothing is as he remembers it, and then they give him his own AI being in the form of NORA.  

Let the games/chase/adventure begin.  And then continue into book 2!!! (See below:)

"The wonderful thing about life is discovering what you are capable of."

Whoa. I just finished this one last night, after reading the first book over the summer. This one starts off with a Bang, a really great beginning flashback. Then we meet Ryan and Kat again but things are different after what happened in Book One, especially for Kat. Of course a new adventure/danger presents itself and our whole gang are once again off on a mission of saving an entire species this time. I had a bit more trouble following the plot here, but honestly I am not sure that mattered! The new characters introduced here, along with more polished writing, some pretty deep life statements woven in, and THAT DOLL..... great little addition!

Overeem is a local author in my area, and I met him at a vendor faire in the Spring of 2022. Hit it off and thought, I am a Reader, I will read just about anything, let me give this sci-fi series a try and support a local author. Win win! And now I find out that while I did buy his three books, there is a FOURTH one coming! Whoo hoo! How I love a series. So, halfway there, can't wait to see where Ryan and Kat go next, how their relationship grows, and what Nora is going to do about it. HA! I hope Vicki shows up again, she is fun to hate, and we saw a bit of a softer side of her in this book - for about 5 minutes - but it is there. Overeem's imagination continues to offer fascinating ideas of what future life could be like, popping over to another planet just like we drive to the Grand Canyon now. Interesting technology, ideas about DNA enhancement, neural commands, and surviving black holes all make for serious brain candy. Plus, Ryan is just a fun guy - always cracking a joke even when being blasted with lasers or facing down evil spliced species. Plus, wait til you meet his car.

If you like super nerdy space adventures and technology and computers who have feelings, this is a great place to spend an afternoon/weekend. Fun stuff. Thank you Gerrit!

Matrix by Lauren Goff

 

So, maybe DON'T listen to this one on audio.

I was looking for a story to captivate me on a total 8 hours in the car to the beach and back. This was NOT it.

I usually love historical fiction, especially in a century not often written about (late 12th early 13th c), strong female characters, royal court intrigue, and natural herbal remedies of the times.

But I was bored. I didn't like the narrator, I didn't like the main character, it really was a history of Marie de France's life after she was sent in exile to an abbey to help run it at age 17 because she was an orphan, bastard royal child who was too tall and ugly to marry off. So Eleanor of Aquitaine separated Marie from her female lover, removed her from her court (Marie was also in love with Eleanor apparently), and left her to find a life that she didn't want but of course ended up thriving in. And, wow, she was a Crusader before she was 17? Ok, that is pretty cool, maybe I would have liked it better with more on that phase of her life as compared to living in silence and starvation in a nunnery. Or maybe I just missed the whole thing about her influence as an educated poet whose writings and fables and translations are famous according to Wikipedia (that research I did on my own was more interesting than the book, ha).

Based on a real person in history, I just did not find this version of her life interesting, and I do think the narrator, whose voice was just depressing, had a lot to do with that. Bummer.

All the Stars!!

I listened to this one on audio, but I don't think that necessarily enhanced the book, it is just how I got it first.  I think that reading this one in hard copy would be just as wonderful, if not better.  However, there is an Australian accent and alternating performers for the several points of view presented which is always a bonus.

A Note on the Author:

I am on an unintended but now focused journey to be a Geraldine Brooks Completist.  I love her writing.  Each of her books are so different yet all of them share this in common:  they are all based on real events and people.  Check her catalog out.  My favorite is People of the Book, followed closely by Caleb's Crossing and Year of Wonders.  But they might both be bumped by Horse.

And I'm OFF!

What do horseracing, slavery, skeletons, art history, Kentucky, Australia, and a cute doggie all have in common?

Yeah, Horse.

This is the brilliance of Brooks' Books.  She takes a relatively small bit of history, in this case the story of Lexington, a fabulous but short-careered and incredibly fast stallion in the mid-1850's, and tells an intricately woven story not only of the horse, but of his enslaved and devoted groom Jarrett, the artist who paints them, the art student who finds said painting 160 years later, the Smithsonian scientist who studies skeletons, and a real life art dealer thrown in for good measure.  We spend the most time (I think) with Jarrett and "his" horse, delving into the injustice of racism and slavery, which is then echoed in the present tense to a horrible level in the story told jointly by Jess, the Australian scientist, and Theo, the Nigerian-American art historian.  But the story is really of the horse, his little known impact on history, and the dedication of a few people to bring his story to the forefront.  I found the different angles of story telling to be fascinating.  There are so many levels to this, no these stories!!  I loved them all.

I feel like I have not given this book its due in this review, but if you like historical fiction, horse racing, and hard looks at hard topics, this is definitely one to pick up!

Edited to add:

I talked to my mom about this book and she just started reading the hardback.  She says it is a bit hard to get into what with all the different perspectives and time period jumping.  It is not chronological at all.  So I may have to revise my above statement and say that listening to this one might be best as you have different auditory voices to help keep the chapters separate.

Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel

 

This book is the reason I rarely leave a book unfinished.

I almost gave up on this one.  I was not invested, the storyline and timeline kept changing, leaving characters behind, I could not find the connector.  Because I was not supposed to.  Until literally about halfway in.

Then it was:  Oh, wait, what?  And then:  OOOOoooohhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I read the second half twice as fast as the first half.  Natch.

This story is very complicated, and echoes back to several other novels I have read, one of them very recently, which left me in a bit of deja vu.  Interestingly enough, in the acknowledgements the author lists about a dozen other novels you should read if you liked Sea of Tranquility, and the books I had in mind were on her list.  I won't name them here, as that would be kind of a spoiler.  IYKYK. (And I would add the book Replay by Ken Grimwood, one of the best time travel books I have ever read, outside of Outlander o'course, and 11/22/63 by Stephen King).

I am not going to attempt to give you a plot summary here - get that on Goodreads for what it will be worth for this one.  I do understand from Goodreads Questions that if you read The Glass Hotel first, you will recognize several characters from that book in Sea of Tranquility.  I am hoping that once I go back to The Glass Hotel, I will find out the answer to one main question I felt was left unanswered in a secondary plot about a lesser secondary character (Vincent). Mandel again weaves in Shakespeare, art, a pandemic, and futuristic devices (like she did in Station Eleven).  If you like science fiction, the idea of what life could be like in the future, and coming full circle, this is a great read.  Be patient, I promise it will deliver.  

House of Hollow by Krystal Sutherland

Recommended by the (young) bookseller at Barnes and Noble, this horror fantasy left me wanting something more - not interested in a sequel, but just more in the story. (Although a PREQUEL could be interesting.....) I did not realize it was a horror book - it is more creepy than scary.  Three sisters disappear together and when they are later found, weeks later, they seem different.  They grow up, weird people out, and their dad KNOWS something is off.  What really happened to the girls?  Where'd they go?  Who took them?  Why is there a scar on their necks?  We do get the answers, I didn't like them, especially when flowers start growing in weird places.  Beauty is deceiving seemed to be the theme.  There is of course a twist which I did not see coming, and honestly the story kinda went downhill from there for me.  Good writing and Great character development - I loved Vivi and wanted more of her viewpoint at the end, she kinda faded out.  Very original and a super Dark story, disturbing and weird.  Courtney, you'd love it.  Mom, not so much.  ;-)

Life Expectancy by Dean Koontz

 

I am a huge Dean Koontz fan.  I have read about half of his books (he is prolific!!) and he has his OWN shelf in my library.  Only Diana Gabaldon is also afforded that honor, and we know how I feel about her.  (Right?  If not, I have done something wrong here  #obsessanach).

I found this treasure for a dollar at my local used bookshop, The Book Lady in Monroe NC.  (I moved last year, but don't worry The Book Rack in South Charlotte, I am coming for YOU tomorrow!)  I knew I had read it before - who can forget a name like Punchinello Beezo???  But I could not remember exactly what happened in this story of predictions, life, coincidences, dread, hilarity, and clowns.

That's right.  Clowns.  Don't read this one, Ashley. 

Jimmy Tock is born on a stormy night, the same night his grandfather dies in the same hospital where Jimmy is born.  The same night Punchinello Beezo is born, and the same night Punchinello's father goes on a shooting rampage in that same hospital.  The same night that, before he goes, Jimmy's dying Granddaddy sits up with some astonishing words:  "Five days.  Five Terrible Days."  He then proceeds to shout out five specific dates on which Jimmy will have Terrible Days.

And so the waiting and the dreading begin.

Most of all, though, this is a mad caper of hilarity and punchy dialogue and deadpan jokes.  Koontz is a master at taking something terrifying and making it common and normal and yes, laugh out loud funny.  A wonderfully poignant ending, full circle, and some of the best banter since Doris and Rock.  This is not a horror novel.  It is fast paced and crazy and funny and fun with a super twist near the end.  Yes, there are guns involved, but there is also a library and love and babies - and hope.  I highly recommend this one - no supernatural stuff really, which you can find in many of Koontz's works.  This is a stand alone, and so so good.  Enjoy!

Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell

What a beautiful and devastating book.

I kept hearing how good this book was, but of course was wary due to the subject matter. It is not a spoiler to say this is about love, family, a mother's fierce love and heavy guilt, and the death of a child. But we learn so much about the family and the times and the WRITING - omgosh y'all, the writing is absolutely beautiful. I felt like I was in Stratford, I could smell the horses and feel the scalding water for laundry and hear the creaks of the stairs.

"A breeze slips invisibly, insistently through the streets, like a burglar seeking an entrance. It plays with the tops of the trees, tipping them one way, then the other. It shivers inside the church bell, making the brass vibrate with a single low note. It ruffles the feathers of the lonely owl, sitting on a rooftop near the church. It trembles a loose casement a few doors along, making the people inside turn over in their beds, their dreams intruded upon by images of shaking bones, of nearing footsteps, of drumming hoofs."

So descriptive and atmospheric and heartfelt! The passages describing the parents' grief in the months after their child's death will tear out your heart. So well done, fractured, real. But I did not cry with this one, although several have said to have Kleenex nearby. I knew it was coming, and that helped. AND, that grief comes more towards the end of the book - there is so much more here than just the death in the story. This is a story of a marriage, of two people who come from dysfunctional families and find their way to, away from, and hopefully back to each other. It is the story of the twin left behind. Of a nameless playwright in England in the late 1500's (yes, THAT playwright) struggling to find his place away from his abusive father and hopeless life. I loved that he remained nameless throughout the novel, because this story was about Agnes, his wife. The one left behind when he goes to London and finally finds the stage. The one who knows things about people, who knows she will have two children and yet births three, who knows the man down the lane will be gone from sickness by the end of the year. The girl from the forest who is the healer. The one who could not save her own child.

I had read The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox several years ago by this author (audio version actually) and did not really like that story, or that ending. THIS book makes me want to be a Maggie O'Farrell completist. Or maybe I will stop with this one - perfection.

Turtles All The Way Down by John Green

 

Perfection.

John Green is just amazing.  He GETS teenagers.  My daughter has been telling me to read this book for several years, and finally this weekend I just said, "Well, bring it downstairs for me!" and I dove in.

Aza Holmes is a teenager with OCD, a best friend name Daisy who writes Star Wars Fan Fiction, a widowed mother who is worried sick about her, and SO. MANY. THOUGHTS.

The way Green describes Aza's anxiety about germs, the way her thoughts take over, is overwhelming and scary and eye-opening and just TRUE.  The way Green presents her friendship with Daisy as one where they each just totally understand and put up with each other yet still get seriously annoyed with each other too is also TRUE.  Young love must be a part, but is not the whole part, of a JG novel and throw in a missing billionaire and his troubled son and you got yourself a John Hughes film written by John Green.

Way too many quotable moments here - so much wisdom for life.  I read this one so fast I didn't even stop to take notes, I just got totally sucked in.  Plus, I fell in love with Harold.  ;-)  Tua, not so much. 

I loved Daisy's nickname for Aza.  I felt for the loss of her dad and for Davis.  I really felt for Aza's anxiety and how she knew she was "crazy" but still could not talk herself out of the crazy behaviors, and how she hated that those behaviors were affecting her life.  I loved the ending and the peek at the future.  But mostly I just loved reading this one.  My daughter was so right.

And now I want to add John Green to my Completist Challenge.  Two down, about 10 to go!!!  (I have read The Fault in Our Stars.  I have also seen Paper Towns, the movie, but that can't count as a book, right?  #tbiab #ifykyk)

The Hazel Wood by Melissa Albert

 

First of all, AMAZING cover.  Just look at all those clues and hints and winks and nods!  

Second of all, am I the only one that kept reading the author's name as Melissa Gilbert?  Yes? Ok.

This is DEFINITELY NOT Little House on the Prairie.  More like, Scary house in the deep dark woods.

Ok, so on to the story!  Which one you ask?  Well, once upon a time, a woman became famous for writing some pretty dark fairy tales.  Until suddenly it became almost impossible to find a copy of those fairy tales, and the author pretty much lived her life reclusively on her big dark estate, Hazel Wood.  And no one knew why.

Including her granddaughter, Alice, who never sees her grandmother.  Alice just tries to live her nomadic life with her single mom unobtrusively and not to get involved with the rabid fandom created by the mystery that is her grandmother.

Until Alice's mom disappears.  So Alice and her new fairy tale obsessed bff Ellery go off to find her, and in doing so wind up finding out so much more.

Honestly, to say much more than that would require spoilers.  This whole story had an eerie, sad vibe to it, and gets pretty dark and supernatural.  I liked it, I love a good supernatural spin.  Some plotlines really did not work for me, especially at the end, but I see where the author was going with it all.  This is what I would categorize as YA fantasy bordering on horror, but not Stephen King type horror.  Teresa, you would like this one!  Mom's book club, give this a miss.

Unless you like dark fairy tales, Evil Spinners, worlds beyond the veil....and are very very brave.

The Lost Apothecary by Sarah Penner

 

This was my kind of book!!!!

Historical Fiction set in late 18th century London? Check.

Strong female characters facing hardship with secrets?  Check.

Rambunctious girl who tries to help but messes up with devastating results?  Check.

Modern day woman trying to solve the mystery of those strong female characters facing hardships 200 years ago and having her own issues? Check and check.

Nella, Eliza and Caroline all have their own stories, pasts, and secrets, but only two of them have any hope for their future.  Nella has learned of potions and poisons and herbs from her mother, and her talents are a secret from all but those who truly need her services - oppressed women.  She lives sparsely and alone in a secret shop hidden from all of London - all except those in the know.  When 12 year old Eliza becomes a client, Nella does not want to get involved, but feels she must, and Eliza insists on helping.  Nella has more than one secret and prefers to suffer alone, but feels her heart tugged by Eliza.  When danger finds them, they must separate, in a most heartbreaking manner.  

Meanwhile, Caroline is in London (two hundred years later!!) for what was supposed to be an anniversary trip that went very awry.  A lover of history, she becomes fascinated by an apothecary's vial she finds by the river, and begins to investigate the markings on the side.  Along the way, she finds some (not all) answers about the vial and about herself too. 

I found the modern day story to be a bit trite - the whole marital problems (James is an ass, whyever would she have even liked that guy?), emotions, and improbable research.  BUT I did like how Caroline grew during her stay in London, and her ending is most satisfactory.  I would say the "ending" for Nella and Eliza is a bit more ambiguous and I would love to have a conversation with others about what they think happened in Nella's last chapter.  I know what my optimist's heart would say!  Nella is the most fascinating, as the poisoner and healer who herself is sick and wasting away.  She seems to yearn for her own end, yet when Eliza comes along she is diverted.  Nella is just downright sad, and Eliza bounces right on over that.  

Themes of motherhood, sisterhood (and I don't mean that in the bloodline sense), female empowerment and taking responsibility for your life/actions run rampant here.  Any male character is a mere outline, and frankly men are presented as all being awful here, at least in their actions towards our heroines.  I never thought of Nella as a villain, more a victim - of poverty, of abuse, and maybe of depression.

The book itself has a whole section in the back about essential oils and building your own "apothecary" shop, right down to what tea to boil to help you sleep.  A reader's guide has questions that begat more questions, and a history of mudlarking (gotta read the book to learn more!).  A fun read, and a great debut effort from a promising writer.

The Searcher by Tana French

Ireland, a broken down house, a broken marriage, a restless ex-cop....and a missing teenager. 

Sign me UP.

This book had so much more too!  I have a love-like relationship with Tana French.  Some of her books I love, some of them not so much.  This one?  Definitely a LOVE.  I even used Book Darts to mark passages and places.  Other reviewers have said this is a departure in tone for French; I hope it becomes her direction instead!!!

French does an amazing job setting the stage here.  A remote village in Ireland definitely becomes one of the characters in this story, just as much as the nosy neighbor (a man), the meddling store owner in town (a woman), and even the rooks that laugh their asses off on this American trying to fit into centuries of, well, Irish.

Cal Hooper moves to Ireland to start over and take a break.  He is jaded from his years on the Chicago force, his wife has left him for reasons that baffle him, and his daughter is grown and living her own life now.  So he moves to Ireland to get away and sets to work making his purchased-on-a-whim cabin livable.  He learns about permanent misty rain, bogs, walking, and what the men down the pub are really saying to him and warning him about. And one day, the Kid shows up from the family trailer a few miles up the mountain, totally skittish but obviously wanting something.  Trey is about 12-13, has a missing older brother, and wants Cal to find him.  Simple, right?

Nope.

The story takes a while to build; be patient.  It is atmospheric and a little bit eerie in tone. The relationship between Cal and Trey is precious and at first tenuous, almost fraught with tension.  Cal does NOT want to get involved.  Cal is restless.  Cal is curious. Cal has a strong moral core.  Sigh, of COURSE he wants to help Trey!!!  But how much trouble will it get him into?  What is he actually dealing with here?

I just thoroughly enjoyed this story.  It is about so much more that what happened to Brendan.  It is about finding yourself instead of escaping your life. I liked that we don't know what happened with Cal's marriage right away.  Pieces come together about his awkward but loving relationship with his daughter. And I love it when the setting is a character too.  All the people in this story are fully fleshed out, although I kept reading the nosy neighbor's name as Matt (it is Mart, see my visual issue??). There's a twist that I never saw coming that delighted me once I got it (well done, Tana!!).  The descriptions of the farmlands and Ireland itself are done with gorgeous prose. The rooks are hilarious.  I laughed out loud at their treatment of Cal (insert rueful eye roll here).  And Cal eventually figures out that sometimes the best way to help is to sit down and do nothing. Sometimes.

 I am only sorry I did not also listen to this one to get that amazing Irish lilt!  This book makes me want to be a Tana French completist.  I am half-way there!!!

The Maidens by Alex Michaelides

 

The Maidens by Alex Michaelides

In his first book, The Silent Patient, Michaelides totally blindsided me.  I did not see the ending coming.

In this book, I expected a huge twist again, so I read this one really fast to get to that ending.  It is a quick read, short chapters, and a mystery you do want to have solved. (Briefly: newly grieving group therapist Mariana has raised her niece and when one of her niece's friends is murdered at college, Mariana goes to help and protect and solve the murder, more bodies pile up, she suspects a certain professor and is determined to prove his guilt.) 

But...it was just kinda flat.  I gave it four stars on Goodreads because it did hold my interest (oh how I wish for half stars, this would have been a three and a half really), I loved the Greek Mythology nods, the setting was good.  Mariana was blind to a lot going on and missed a huge clue about the killer, and why was she so obsessed with this anyway?  Just pull her niece out of school to keep her safe and go home!!  What I felt was flat though was Mariana's obsession with proving the professor was guilty (not finding out who did it), her relationship with her niece, the whole introduction of Fred, and the reveal itself seemed way too unlikely and creepy.  I agree with other reviewers that the hints were not there.  But why should they be?  We are blindsided in this book as if we are Marianna and HAD NO IDEA. 

A bit of bull malarkey there though.  I just don't believe the ending, it doesn't add up (literally).  I do believe who the killer was, but how many people in a group therapist's life are unstable, seriously??  Mariana has dealt with a LOT of loss in her life - parents, sister, husband.  I think there was too much going on - too many red herrings and diversions that were honestly obvious.  I did not really buy into the conspiracy.  I said it was a quick read, and maybe that just means the story itself was rushed.  It also seemed weirdly unemotional. I don't want to give too much away here, so this review probably seems as disjointed as the book because there is a lot to discuss once you have read it; the spoiler alert questions on Goodreads are a good place to go debrief if you read this outside of a book club.

There is a clever and scary nod to The Silent Patient at the end which was a great wink, and if you think about it, the irony of it once you know what you know about TSP could really frighten you.  Why is it that therapists never see their loved ones in a clinical light?  The cobbler's son has no shoes syndrome??  

Interesting how the author uses the device of an unreliable narrator in such a different way here.  I do think he is better with a male protagonist. As a suspense novel, this is still a good one, just has some flaws.  I would still read another by him; this sophomore effort was just not as good as his debut.  And as I reread this review, you'd think four stars would be too much, right?  You are right, which is why it now shows as three.  Sometimes a bit of distance (and a review!) reveals more truth.

The Paris Library by Janet Skeslien Charles

 

Yes, I am slowly dipping my toes back into WWII fiction.  I just could not resist the Library setting in this one!!!

What I loved about this story:

-It is based on real people, real events, and a real library!

-I learned several historical facts about Paris during WWII. 

-The Dewey Decimal System!!!!!

-So many books and authors are mentioned throughout, and quoted pertinent to the events in the book, that I kept a list.  Very interesting to consider the books that were popular in the '30's and '40's.

-There is a love story or two, but friendship and relationships with colleagues is more forefront.

- The relationship between Odile and Lily.

-The relationship between Lily and Eleanor. There is a lot to unpack here about teenagers and blended families, and standing up for yourself, from Lily, Eleanor and Odile!

-The author does a good job of presenting how people were so torn during wartime - to do their jobs sometimes they had to betray their friends, or vice versa.  Wartimes lead to impossible decisions and actions that would never have happened during peace.  Walking in other's shoes and skin indeed......

- Even though it is a split timeline, we spend the majority of the novel in the further past (I still have a hard time thinking 1987 qualifies for historical fiction, but that is just me showing my age!).

- The author nailed being a 1980's teenager with angst, grief, and parents that don't understand.

-Did I mention it is a book about books?????  Well, sort of, they are an important secondary character at least!

What I did not really like:

-Young Odile.  UGH!  So immature, even after college.  Maybe that is a statement on the mindset of society about young unmarried girls who during that time still live with their parents until they got married.  But it grated on my nerves that her mother still told her to turn out her light at bedtime, and how she threw temper tantrums and could not keep her mouth shut.  She meant well, and I guess no one is perfect especially when young, but it just took her a long time to learn not to stick her nose in and tattle.  And to face her jealousies - the whole thing with Bitsi was another tantrum.

-Even Odile skirted around her duplicity with Margaret.  That plot was heartbreaking all around.

-Lots of loose ends at the end, esp re: Odile and her past relationships.  I did like how the author really waited til the last minute to reveal all, but I wanted a bit more wrap up, even if the wrap up wasn't happy.  Many of her actions, especially when she moved to Montana and how that happened, just did not add up.  I could not reconcile the woman who turned her light off at midnight bc Maman yelled at her with the woman who eloped.

-  I know it is literary license, but I did not appreciate the timing of when she met Buck.  Way too easy.

Overall, a nice read, good historical fiction, I liked more than I didn't, and it definitely kept me reading to figure out what the book flap meant by betrayal.  And I think there is so much to discuss here, it would make a solid book club book.  The Author's note at the end explains how so much of this is a true story and which of the characters were real people, and that she learned of these people and stories and how they risked themselves to send books to soldiers and Jews while she was working at the American Library of Paris herself!  Cool!!!

PS If you are interested in other WWII books that aren't necessarily about the WAR (as in battles), check out Those Who Save Us by Jenna Bloom; The Women in the Castle by Jessica Shattuck; or The Riviera House by Natasha Lester (very similar to The Paris Library in that they are both split timelines and focus on books and art during the war).

Two books! The Library of the Dead and Our Lady of Mysterious Ailments by TL Huchu

      

Book One:

Three Stars - Which means I liked it!! Enough that I already checked out book 2!

Cadence is different here - lots of slang and casual prose. Ghostalking is a profession in futuristic Edinburgh and Ropa is a teenage Ghostalker responsible for her family. She is hard shelled, poor, a hard worker and sees dead people, and she owes rent. She makes money delivering messages from the other side, until one client has a missing son and asks Ropa for help. She immediately is over her head but is determined to discover what happened to the missing boy, and finds several of Edinburgh’s other kids are missing too. What is going on???? Well constructed and definitely different. It took a while to really get into the plot, lots of backstory here. The style took some getting used to but I enjoyed it once I got the hang of it. Is this indicative of modern British/Scottish literature?? Cool.

                        *******************************

Book Two:

Four Stars!  Ok, I jumped right into this one after reading The Library of the Dead. This second book was unputdownable which is now a word. I love Ropa's voice, her slang, her family, and her loyalty. I love her friends and her talents and how she handles her imperfect but well meaning self in her new role as intern in a magical library. (She used to be a "ghostalker", carrying messages from the other side back to loved ones left behind - for a fee of course). She is a hustler and quite mature for a 15 year old!!! The setting of a not so distant future Edinburgh and the many references to the Catastrophe and how much of a slum the city is now is done only in passing. I am hopeful some of that will come to light in a future installment, as the author has said there should be a total of five books (yea!).

This installment has Ropa, her cradle bff Jomo and their new friend and healer Priya tasked with figuring out why local boys from magical schools are showing up comatose with high fevers, and end up chasing a dark demon, lots of money, better jobs, and for Ropa, a better future for her little sister Izwi. We get more characters in this story, with a more confusing mystery to solve, and some serious old magic. I felt like this novel flowed a little better even with a few "bridges" that sort of jumped time. But I really got into the cadence here of Ropa's narration, her slang, her life, and her intentions. I also hope we get more from her Zimbabwean grandmother in the next installment - of her powers and her history - like we did in the first novel.

A fun new character and series for me - I can see this as YA, but there is some language and some weird demonic violence. No romance though, which I appreciated, but some solid friendships that take a licking and keep on ticking.

Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr

 

Writing is like a puzzle.  Authors have to find the right fit for each word, sentence, chapter.  EACH. WORD.  This is why I am not an author, only a writer.  I am too lazy/impatient/intimidated. (couldn't even decide which of those words to use!!)

By works like this.  

Doerr is a Pulitzer Prize winner for a novel I didn't love.  Yes, it was beautiful and a bit redeeming yada yada but come on y'all, it was SOOOO SAD!!  My book club loved All the Light We Cannot See, but I was like, meh.  I may not have loved ATLWCS, but there is no doubt this man has a seriously good command of language.  

Good thing Sally* tells me to give authors a second chance, and too bad he didn't win the Pulitzer again.  This book was abso-fricking-lutely amazing.  I can see how it might not be for everyone.  It is very...imaginative.   And the structure took some getting used to. And it is looooooong.  And I thought it was amazingly brilliant.

Briefly, you should know that we have three different time periods going on that cover several centuries and three locations, and five different characters whose stories we follow.  It seemed like it would be impossible to follow but somehow, the transitions back and forth were smooth and truly did help narrow the story down, even when we have two characters with two time periods each. Don't let that intimidate you though.  I don't think I am astute enough to catch all the parallelisms that are deep in this book, but I sure tried, and I sure enjoyed the journey.  The common thread, and title, is an ancient "lost" Greek fairytale about a man on the search for paradise.  I am also sure that the title is a wink, a double entendre, and more than just a title. For more plot than that, go read the book flap, which is so well written in its own right that it could win an award, were there awards for that sort of thing.

As a reader and lover of books and stories, I appreciated how this one ancient text stood the test of time and helped frame each of these stories, giving at the end some sort of freedom to each of our main characters, albeit in different ways.  A young girl learns to read in Constantinople; an old man finally finds happiness and purpose at his local library in Idaho; a troubled teenager takes righteous action which goes horribly wrong; an isolated young woman puts together a life-altering puzzle of clues. None of these people know each other, but their lives are woven together like a tapestry.  This is a book about a book (there is a book on the cover!), about a library or two or three (I literally sat up when Konstance's Library was introduced), about how words are immortal.  It is also about war and environmental conservation and owls and dreams for the future and misunderstood youths and Love - romantic and familial. It truly is about finding one's way in this life.  And how the threads of one life can be revealed in the most unusual ways in another.

I took so many notes on this book. I just cannot put them all in a review.  Doerr must have had a string wall to keep all the connections straight. My book club doesn't know it yet, but we are going to read this one.  We will have differing opinions I am sure - this is not a beach read.  And yet, I felt very light reading it. I actually felt like a scholar.  Even with some bad things and a few loose ends, this book made me happy as a reader.  So very much to talk about, and yes I still have some questions especially about the end(s).  This is the sort of book I have a hangover after reading.  Took me a few days to pick up my next book.  I just wanted to enjoy the aura of it, to think about it.

And, yes, to go thank a librarian, as Doerr does in his dedication: to all the librarians, then, now and in the years to come.  Fingers crossed.

*If you are new to this blog, and you don't know who Sally is, she is my local independent bookstore owner and Bookseller.  She recognizes me (or sometimes just my voice!) when she hears me come into her store (Park Road Books) and always has a perfect recommendation.  And I love her.

PPS - to see my review of ATLWCS on Goodreads, here it is:  All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr | Goodreads

The Eye of the World by Robert Jordan

Fun fantasy read! I finally read this in prep for the TV series after my cousin Pam recommended it years ago. I enjoyed it, I watched the show pretty much at the same time (while yelling, "that's NOT in the book" galore! haha), and thought they were both pretty good. I do like a good fantasy novel, and yes this one takes a lot of plotpoints from The Lord of the Rings, so astute readers/fans will see right through that. 

But the addition of a female magi makes it worth it. Women definitely have The Power here, which is a different take in fantasy a la Terry Goodkind's Wizards First Rule if I remember correctly. But luckily for me this book was not nearly as violent or graphic as Goodkind's.  There is definitely some violence and killing as per the times, but I did not find it graphic.  And the whole spin on women yielding power, both at the high level and in the villages with the Wisdom always at odds with the Village Council is a great refreshing take.  

Our hero is still the unsuspecting farm boy, but his two friends have their own journeys to go on and provide some interesting side stories that I am sure will come to full fruition later down the line, so they are not gratuitous characters.   I also look forward to finding out just how much his friend (??) Egwene and the Wisdom Nynaeve and of course our fearless leader Moiriane (she of the Power) and her Warder/protector, Lan, really do come into the whole prophecy and future of this world.  I loved the TV show's rendition of Loial, his slow and purposeful speech and history and of course, song.  One of the best phrases our hero Rand hears from a seer (another woman!) is regarding his relationship with his friendgirl Egwene:  “She’s not for you, nor you for her; at least, not in the way you both want.”  The Lore is strong, indeed!

I will eventually pick up the next book I think, but this one at 800 pages was such an investment I think I need a break. It was a bit long with all the travelling and innkeeper meeting and monster avoidance. Which means I probably won't remember all the characters' names and all the events, etc, but that is ok. There is always the TV show! Not to mention the very helpful glossary at the end of the book! Probably really three and a half stars, but I am a sucker for a huge fantasy world build (with MAPS!!)

The Reading List by Sara Nisha Adams

 

Once in a while, fair readers, there comes a book you think cannot fail.  It is, after all, a book about READING!!  Whoo Hoo!

Alas, this is not that book.

I was so hopeful for this one - it had great potential in its description.  A story about how a mysterious list of books to read and a library would bring people together just at the moment when those people needed that connection the most.  Sounds great, right?

Told from different perspectives (and narrated for me, I listened to this one), we meet a widowed man named Mukesh whose late wife loved to read; Aleisha, a teenager who reluctantly works in the library and hides her family shame; and a couple of other people who throw in their two cents' worth randomly throughout.

So here was my problem.  First of all this book was WAY too long.  Editors, you failed.  There was way too much build up, too much time with Mukesh and his daughters (although, the renditions of their phone calls to him were pretty funny on audio), not enough time with the woman from a few years ago whose time was so short I don't even remember her name, too much wallowing in Aleisha's sad restricted life, etc etc etc, and not enough time on the Grand Finale where everyone discovers (or not) where the list actually came from, who wrote it, who read it, etc etc etc.

I think the budding friendship between Mukesh and Aleisha is the best part of this novel, and we didn't really get much time with that.  The list of books was interesting.  One of them I had never heard of (wanna guess which??? comment below!) but the rest I was like, YES, pretty good list!  And as other reviewers have pointed out, there are SPOILERS galore for the books on the list, so if you haven't read any of them, beware (I am looking at you, Richard Parker!).  There were some good moments of reflection where the books being read really did speak to the reader at that moment of their life, so there's that.

I just feel that this book missed its mark.  I had to check it out of the library twice and force myself to get through it.  Never a good thing for a reader.  I kept thinking this is going to all come together so gorgeously, I just know it!  The end was awful and then nice and then it was over.  Ugh.  Disappointed.

Lockdown Update - Two Years Later

 This morning, our power went out.  

Now, I know there are more important things going on in the world right now.  Stay with me.

So, when I realized I would not get my coffee fix this morning, I packed up my laptop and my notebook (paper girl 4-EVAH) and went down to my local bakery/coffeehouse.  I was going to update the four book reviews I told myself I need to write before I start my next book.  It is weird for me to be in a space where I am not actually reading, but hey, blogs matter!!

As I was getting ready to catch up on reviews, I was (procrastinating by) scrolling back in the blog and found the trio of posts I wrote during the beginning of the pandemic.  What a fascinating record of feelings and situations and hopes and anxieties!  Reflecting on these posts from two years ago made me think it might be time for an update, for future reference again.

Wait, hold on.  TWO YEARS.  Really?  It seems like forever and yesterday.  My husband predicted this time frame back in March 2020, that it would take two years to get through it.  (I hate it when he is right!)  While I know we aren't really finished with this pandemic with all the variants and people still getting sick and the effects of Long Covid hovering over people I know, we recently had the mask mandate lifted in the state where I live and that feels like such a huge goal/change.  It was actually strange walking into the grocery store without a mask on.  

But gone is the feeling that I was dirty/germy when I walked out of the grocery store, like I felt two years ago.  I am pleased to report that at least in my case, my fears that friends and other people would act suspicious towards me and each other after Covid have not materialized.  I have resumed hugging people!  I started out holding my breath as I hugged so as not to breathe on people, but I don't even do that anymore.  Restaurants and shops are fully reopened, and while many businesses became casualties of Covid, I am pleased to say our little business is now booming and we are actually expanding to another location this summer.  We made it through!! 

Travel has been the biggest piece missing from our lives in my family. We are a mixed nationality family and my in-laws live overseas.  We travel A LOT.  We haven't seen The Cousins in over three years.  But this week, we booked a FLIGHT.  So super excited to see everyone again this summer!  My daughter is studying overseas this semester as planned and has travelled her little tuchus off.  I am so excited to go somewhere and take pictures (that isn't college where I am leaving my baby, that is, said the empty nester!!!)

And, in lots of ways, the New Normal I was so afraid of has actually happened, and it is not terrible.  We have become so used to Covid that I think we shrug it off now as a general population.  Obviously, those who have lost loved ones or seen the devastation of this illness are not shrugging, but as a whole there are fewer news reports, no more charts and flattening the curve-speak and doom and gloom (well, except for Russia's invasion of Ukraine, but that is a whole other topic/world issue!!).  I guess what I am saying is our attention has been turned away from Covid and on to other things.  We have adapted.  We aren't ignoring Covid, but we have learned to live with it.  I for one don't feel that people are ashamed at this point to admit they have Covid. That was a terrible side effect, that people felt guilty for getting sick!!  "Pretty much we are all going to get it, let's just do the best we can" became the mantra.

It was so helpful to me that I made a list of the things I DID do during lockdown in those posts from two years ago.  I was reflecting last week that I did not earn a degree, learn a language, practice my calligraphy or read all the books.  But I did get a new job, I moved out of my house where we had lived for 18 years and all the purging and packing that entailed, I became an empty nester, my husband and I have had lots of date nights and a couple of trips to the beach - just the two of us!!!  (Definitely got some reading done at the beach, and puzzles, and walks.....)  Maybe these things would have happened anyway, so maybe there is not something that I accomplished as a direct result of Covid.  But ya know what?  Life went on.  I had accomplishments, disappointments, sadness, joy, new friends, new neighbors, and navigation of a new grocery store (seriously, that is my major stress?).  Life!

We have definitely all changed.  I believe we have become a closer world.  We were all in this together (even when we didn't agree on the how).  We are all starting to come out of our shells and stretch in the sunshine.  Will my introverted side miss those days of being forced to stay home with my nuclear family for that extra "found time?"  Yes!!!  Will the extroverted side of me ever re-learn how to properly get dressed?  

Not looking good, haha.  

 

American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins

 

A five star read for me, which I did not expect.

A friend encouraged me several times to read this (hey, Lauri!!).  I resisted.  I did not want to read a sad story about a Mexican woman, Lydia, running for her life from Mexico to the US illegally and under the radar at the drop of a hat (or gun as the case may be).  I just didn't.  I don't usually read "sad books."

But now, I am glad I did, not so much because of the subject matter itself, which was of course heartbreaking, but because this book is just plain old GOOD.  It moves fast, it has sympathetic characters, it has a villain with a heart and a villain without one.  It has liars and good people and terror and loss and desperation and risk.  It is about a mother who will do anything for her son.  It is about grief and survival.  The emotions are all there without being patronizing or really even political.  I could feel the heat of the desert and hear the clacking of the trains. This book just flat out tells a story, fact after fact (well, it is fiction but was apparently thoroughly researched, so all that happens could have actually happened).

I read it so fast that I did not stop to take notes (my new MO for reading and reviewing this year, oh well).  I could not put it down.  I don't think the cover does the book justice, it seems unrelated.  Cummins took a LOT of flack for this book as a "privileged white woman" who could have no idea what the immigrant plight is really like.  Well, I don't know but seems to me that all kinds of authors write all kinds of books and if she did her research and brought this topic to the national table then it really shouldn't matter what color she is, either.  She addresses this a bit in the author's notes at the end.  Anyway, no matter what your affiliation or policy, this is a great story, tense and realistic and richly described, from Lydia's emotions to her surroundings to her panic and ability to create family from tragedy.  Highly recommend.

The Lincoln Highway by Amor Towles

I love Towles' writing.  Rules of Civility blew me away and A Gentleman in Moscow is one of my all time favorites. They are both very different and set over different time periods (Civility was about 24 hours and Gentleman was over a year I think). So I was really anticipating this new one (set over 10 days)!

Before I read it, I saw an interview with Towles online.  What an interesting guy! He talks about his approach to new stories and the connections between his books - did you catch the Easter Eggs?  I would not have without that interview!  View it for yourself here: Amor Towles | Friends & Fiction #109 - YouTube

Ok, let's get going!  Which is what poor Emmett must be thinking throughout this whole story.  Four boys, a road trip, family drama and dysfunction, juvenile detention, unfinished business (which was the original title here), a man named Ulysses, a compendium and a professor, and a girl who just wants to get the hell out of dodge, right after she dons her apron and makes more strawberry preserves.  THAT is The Lincoln Highway.

Towles is a genius of character.  His voice for Duchess and Emmett especially is so clear, you really feel like you know them.  And Billy!  He might be my favorite.  He brings road trip planning and counting to ten to a whole 'nother level.  I was so excited that Billy got to meet his hero - probably my favorite scene.  Towles switches perspectives among characters and even revisits scenes that already happened in the book from another character's point of view to give you, as Paul Harvey would say, The Rest of the Story.  While it took some time to get used to there being no quote marks over conversation (which Towles explains in his profuse reader notes on his website), I really enjoy how he writes.

And there are SO MANY interesting characters here!!! I think Towles probably had the most fun with Duchess, or maybe Sally.  The two brothers, Emmett and Billy, decide after their father's death to go find their absent mother in California via The Lincoln Highway, and young precocious Billy has it all mapped out.  Of course, unexpected passengers and delays and side trips - going the exact opposite way- happen and so we have adventures, some finished business, some debts paid, and the two other teenage boys who have such wild stories I cannot even go there without spoilers.  Duchess and Woolly bring so much to this story that it becomes as much about them as about the brothers.  Their pasts, their families, their direction and motives.  Duchess is a great character with a theater background that serves him and his audience/friends well - he does everything with a flourish!  Even beating someone up!  I am still not sure if I liked Duchess in the end or not. I really wanted to. Such a cute con.  And sweet Woolly - sigh.  His sister is so good to him!!

So that is a lot of comment that you won't understand until you read this one, and I definitely encourage you to do so.  My Beloved Book Club had a GREAT discussion about this one, so much to talk about. Father figures, how the way you are raised truly shapes you, and how or whether you can escape that past. One book club member listened to this one instead of reading the actual book and she really enjoyed the audiobook.  If your book club likes themes, there is a recipe here that you can make and postcards along the Lincoln Highway you can print, get a BIG APPLE and make cookies with strawberry jam.

Quotes:

87    If we've got unfinished business, let's finish it. (Emmett)

You could wait your whole life to say a sentence like that and not have the presence of mind to say it when the time comes. (Duchess)

409    There are few things more beautiful to an author's eye, he confessed to Billy, than a well-read copy of one of his books.

435    We were off to Arthur Avenue, driving at a speed of three hundred questions an hour.

467    Who WAS that (first) person who had the audacity to eat an artichoke?

549    He kicked me in the shin.  Isn't that priceless?