The Last Ballad by Wiley Cash

Amazing. Based on the true story of Ella May Wiggins, a textile factory worker in Bessemer City, NC. Cash is a powerful voice in Southern fiction, and in his hands this tale of union struggles and the brave people who demanded fair pay and fair treatment truly comes alive. Ella is white and her best friend is black, which in itself is rare, but Ella does not see color, she just sees the poor conditions in which she and her four children live, with not much hope for improvement. Cash captures the patterns of speech, the desperation of a single mother, the loyalty of friends and the fear Ella must have faced in her decisions to try to make a better life for her family. Beautifully told, heartbreaking in its truth, this would be a great addition to a Local History or Southern Fiction class - in school or out. The title is well chosen too- love it!

The Hush by John Hart

Way off the beaten bath for Hart - this one is part fantasy, part mystical and not at all what I expected, even once I got into it.  Johnny is still haunted by the events of The Last Child and now lives a very secluded life on his land.  He still relies on his childhood bff Jack (who may or may not be the real protagonist here), now a brand new lawyer determined to help Johnny keep his land, despite his misgivings about how Johnny lives there, and what might be out there.  Johnny has had run ins with the law, and there is only so much his stepfather Clyde can do for him.  When he does come into town, the townspeople think his is strange and possibly dangerous.  Johnny needs his land, is connected to it somehow, and puts up a mighty fight when a rich man tries to buy it off him for his own agenda.  Why does he want it so badly?  What is out there?  Monsters? Power? A force of nature? 

Hart's writing is some of the best around, and even though the storyline here was a reach for him, his storytelling is still so so good.  Not sure I'd recommend this one to all - you have to have an open mind to that mystical element I mentioned above.  So if you want a true taste of Hart's writing, go with Redemption Road, or Down River, or The King of Lies (see, I still can't decide which one I like best!!!).

The Last Child by John Hart

Wow, I haven't read a page turner like that in a long time. Since 2009 as a matter of fact. 

Which would be the FIRST time I read this gem by one of my favorite authors.  Helps that he is from NC so I consider him local and all even though he up and moved to Virginny to be with John Grisham, but whatever.

As I mentioned on my Summer Reading list (please visit my blog at www.rawlesreads@blogspot.com), I have at the top of the list the newest John Hart, but since he wrote his new one about Johnny, I figured I better go revisit the first one, and boy am I glad that I did.  I thought I'd just skim it through again, since I knew I had read it before.  I remembered one big thing from the end, but I would have missed all the little things and the tangled web Hart weaved to create this multi-layered, yes miraculous story.

Johnny is sad - his twin sister went missing a year ago, his dad walked out, his mom is still drugged up and now being abused by her new "boyfriend".....  sounds like a winner right?  Stay with me, because Johnny is one of the most dogged characters you'll ever meet.  He is convinced his sister is still alive and is furious with the Detective who promised to find her.  We get the story from Johnny's view, a bit from his bff Jack, and a lot from Detective Hunt, who has his own family drama going on at home with a very sullen teenage son.  Johnny is conducting his own investigation and at age 13 is constantly stealing and driving his mom's car to "stake out" the local sex offenders.  He has even studied up on his family's history in the area and the connection to a particular plot of land and a freed slave.  Everything is circular, and things happen for a reason.  As Det Hunt gets too close and personal with this case, another girl goes missing.  Johnny steps up his jaunts and things get deadly.  You may or may not see the ending coming, but you won't see ALL of it til the very end.  Great story - can't believe he does not write with an outline.  Neither, apparently, can Grisham.

Extra points if you can comment below on who, exactly, The Last Child is.......

Can't wait to see what Johnny is up to in The Hush - set 10 years after the events of this novel!!!  Stay tuned......

Summer Reading List 2018

Hello Summer!!  (almost)

My pile of books is too high.  Said No Reader EVER!!

But it is pretty close this year.  I am a little bit behind on my reading schedule - Goodreads tells me I am four books behind in my self-imposed challenge.  And my pile of books is stressing my bookshelf and giving me anxiety.  Guess that is what happens when you go do something silly like GET A JOB!  

Oh well, this is just another test of time management - of reading shorter books and adding Audio Books as I drive 30 minutes to work. Interesting thing about audio books - it's like a dual review situation: you can like the story but hate the narration, be annoyed by the narration AND the story, or like the story because of the narration.  Hmmm.  My fav audio book so far?  I Let You Go by Claire Macintosh.  But that is looking backward and I am ready to surge forward into Summer Reading!!  Here are the 12 books I have on the top of my stack to read in the next few months.

1 - The Hush by John Hart.  The only reason I haven't jumped right into this one is that I feel like I might need to review The Last Child first - Hart has, for the first time, written a quasi-sequel.  He has aged the main character from TLC ten years and revisited his life after the events of the first novel.  I love the way Hart writes - absolutely gorgeous prose - so I want to be sure I can savor this one this summer.

2 - Circe by Madeline Miller.  A recommendation from Sally (for those of you new to my blog, Sally is my local bookstore owner, and I do what Sally tells me.  If you don't know your local bookstore owner by name -and they yours - get on that as your number one priority this summer!!).  Circe is born of two gods but is banished to Earth when her fierce powers make her parents nervous.  And so to Earth falls our first Witch.  A mythical, magical read!!!!

3 - A Secret History of Witches by Louisa Morgan.  More witches!!!  Book flap: "A sweeping historical sage that traces five generations of fiercely powerful mothers and daughters - witches whose magical inheritance is both a dangerous threat and an extraordinary gift."  Oh yes.  From Brittany's 1821 to WWII, I may be having the most magical summer since Harry Potter.

4 - The Immortalists by Chloe Benjamin.  Ok, I admit it, I bought this one for its luscious cover!  A colorful tree, lots of branching out, roots to place or displace - I love some good symbolism.  Four siblings visit a psychic who can supposedly tell you the date of your death.  Each deal with the knowledge differently but it definitely shapes their decisions and lives.  Would YOU want to know???

5 - The Half Drowned King by Linnea Harsuyker.  And if you think the author's name is hard to pronounce just wait until you meet the characters in this saga from medieval Scandinavia!!  The rightful Prince is left for dead by his less than loyal men and he must reclaim his right and save his sister, who is facing her own betrayals and decisions back home with the scheming stepfather.  A story of Vikings and mystical beliefs, this one should really bridge the gap until Game of Thrones comes back on!!!

6 - Chasing the North Star by Robert Morgan.  More historical fiction for me!  The author of Gap Creek turns his attention to the South of Slavery and to two slaves who decide to make a run for it - but one is secretly following the other.  Another Sally recommendation from last year that only recently made it to my pile.

7 - The Last Ballad by Wiley Cash.  I met Mr. Cash at the fundraiser my local library put on last fall - a very quiet man but oh that writing!  We read A Land More Kind Than Home in my book club last year - a dark and difficult read - but still I look forward to this one.  It is 1929 and Ella May has four children and a runaway husband and her job at the mill barely makes ends meet.  Then the Union shows up and Ella May has to make some decisions about her family and survival that will have repercussions for generations.  Switching between Ella May's narrative and the story of her life as told by her granddaughter, this is based on a true story and events that happened in Cash's native NC.  Local historical fiction!!! 

8 - The Second Mrs. Hockaday by Susan Rivers.  Sally said this one was the best Book Club Book on her list for this summer, so yeah.  An epistolary novel set during and after the Civil War about a young wife who is left in charge of the farm and a young baby, just like many war wives.  But when Mrs. Hockaday's husband returns he finds she is headed to jail accused of murdering a baby.  What happened in the two years he was gone?  A mystery for sure, especially since the baby was hers.....

9 - Not Dead Yet by Phil Collins.  The Memoir of my favorite drummer.  Against all odds, this book has been on my shelf for over a year, but you can't hurry a good book. I think I will let him steal my heart away this summer and finally learn more about the man behind Genesis.  It might take me One More Night, but I Don't Care Anymore.  I cannot believe it's true, but this is the only nonfiction on my list!  Su-Su-Sussudio! (which I also hope to learn the meaning of!!!)

10 - The Secrets You Keep by Kate White.  I met Kate White at that same Library Fundraiser last fall and she is delightful!!!  So full of energy, and I ended up buying two of her books!  In this one, a woman experiences haunting nightmares after a terrible accident and then begins to realize her husband has become distant, a murder has occurred, and her nightmares suddenly seem to be connected.  This will be my beach read - mystery, thriller, and paperback!!! 

11 - Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte.  Finally!  My book club has been talking about re-reading a classic for years so this year we are finally doing it.  I have not read this one in, oh, 35 years???  I am interested to get my own take on reading this as a "mature reader."

12 - My Kindle.  I discovered recently that I have upwards of 50 books on my Kindle right now. Unread.  Aaacckkkk!  Double anxiety.  It is all my friend Karen's fault for introducing me to BookBub and their $1.99 book sales.  I am not even sure what all is on there but I figure I picked them for a reason - let's see, there's Alex and Me, the one about the pet bird (hold on, that one is nonfiction too!!)......Dreams and Shadows, a young adult series that sounded right up my alley - a modern fairy tale set in Texas.....The Edge of Nowhere by a woman I met online through mutual Diana Gabaldon fans who has written an historical fiction account of her grandmother's childhood in the Oklahoma Dust Bowl....and a bunch of other books I probably never would have bought otherwise.  Sometimes these books surprise me and sometimes they are, well, terrible.  So we shall see.  But I have told myself that I can only take my Kindle on my long plane ride this summer so I can clear some of these out!  Poor Kindle has been neglected lately!

So there are my 12 reads of the Summer of 2018.  Let me know what YOU'll be reading and if any of the books on your stack are listed here!

Happy Reading,
Rawles

Artemis by Andy Weir

I don't usually read "science fiction" but I do enjoy it. I LOVED The Martian. What a fresh voice! And the science, while very detailed, was fascinating!!! Great story.

In his sophomore attempt, Weir again goes to the stars - well, the moon in this case. A future colony has been established there with peoples from all over Earth, creating a new kind of melting pot. And new opportunities for Jasmine to "improve" her station by earning money on the black market - just a bit of petty smuggling here and there won't hurt anybody. Until one of her clients makes a BIG ASK, and all her skills from her estranged father along with her quick problem solving skills and brazen courage come full circle. Jaz, who has grown up on the moon, gets quick lessons in economics, the caste system and the omnipresent mob factors in her colony. Can she outwit them? Can she earn the prize money that will allow her to move out of her tin can abode and have her own private bathroom (priorities!)? Can she even survive when she is asked to face the desert moon alone and unsupported? And what is up with her Earth Bound pen pal that keeps interrupting our story here? The only thing that storyline supported was the possibility of a sequel where they meet up. 

Still, an interesting story and kept me reading. Weir's first attempt at a female narrator falls a bit flat, but considering Jaz's upbringing it makes sense. I would still read more of Weir!!

Love and Other Consolation Prizes by Jamie Ford

I met Jamie Ford at our Library's Fundraiser last year.  I complimented him on Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet, and told him how much I appreciated a sweet, happy ending.  He smiled and said to me,"Then you are going to love this one!" as he handed me back my personally signed copy.

He was right.  :-)

The set up is very similar to Hotel.  Three Asian youngsters trying to assimilate into America, this time in Seattle during the World Fair in 1909.   Like in Hotel, the reader almost immediately connects with the main character, in this case a boy called Ernest.  It is very easy to fall in love with these characters the way Ford writes them.  Maisie and Fahn are his two best friends/loves and of course a choice must be made, if not made for him.  Because Ernest was literally raffled off at the Fair, and the woman who "won" him runs a brothel.  And Ernest ends up loving his new family regardless of their line of work - he has completely lost the one he was born into an ocean away.

As we once again toggle between two times - the beginning and near the end of his life - Ernest reflects on his life, his choices, his loves and his secrets.  His grown daughters visit and ask questions which bring back many memories of the paths his life has taken.  Ford did a lot of research here, and actually based the premise on a true story (or as the author calls it, "lost history") of a baby named Ernest who was to be given away during the time of the fair, but was apparently never claimed.  And so this story was born.  Add in some side scenes nodding to the women's suffrage movement, the health hazards of the "trade," the transport of children and women to America for less than honorable purposes, and even the different levels of cribs - from downright abuse to the select education and expensive dresses Madam Flora's girls received in her respected establishment - and you have yourself an interesting, well presented, and emotional story based on truth.  And yes, the ending was quite the consolation prize......I love it!!!!

The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox by Maggie O'Farrell

Ok...a couple of things here......


One, I listened to this one on Audible and the narrator (or maybe the editor, to be fair)  NEVER paused. This story is told from three perspectives, and the narrator blended one sentence to the other and 5 seconds in I would think, OH, this is a new chapter.  ANNOYING!!!!!


Two, that ending.  Just - no.  I know what happened, that is subtly clear.  But it makes no sense to me to drop the story like that.   Revenge without the revengee realizing what is happening isn't really revenge, it is just torture.  And no questions?  No accusations?  (well, ONE)  Not the ending I would have thought for Esme, no matter what.  Yes, she has changed, but it just didn't sit right with me.

Three, the story.  Lots of subplots here, yes, and a beautiful juxtaposition of social expectations and the freedom in a woman's life between three generations.  Iris and Esme have quite opposing experiences, and the unthinkable yet undeniably realistic injustice that was Esme's life is hard to fathom in these times.

A quick "listen," but I think this story had such potential.  The voice of Kitty is actually well portrayed for her condition, and there could have been some kind of a future of reconciliation at least between Esme and Iris, if not with Kitty.  And that Robert had no role but in passing at the end just added to the sadness.  Such a waste, just like Esme's life.  A dark read.