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.