November

A Tangled Mercy by Joy Jordan-Lake
This is just a gorgeous, fascinating, oh so topical historical fiction book. Set in Charleston, South Carolina, the story takes two roads: 1822, as the city awaits the beginning of a slave rebellion and 2015, as a young woman searching for her family's history discovers the past. Both stories contain compelling characters. The famous weapons maker of the rebellion and his lover, the daughter of a slave owner with her own rebellious streak, and the masterminds of the uprising draws one into both the beauty of Charleston and the underlying ugliness of its history. The modern day story is equally as compelling, as Kate examines the past and its connection to today as she is pulled into Charleston life through friendships with a judge, a member of the old blue blood elite, and an artisan and his son as she tries to uncover the mystery of her mother's past. The author seamlessly weaves the tragedy of the AME church massacre of 2015 into the story line as she deals with today's issues of race in a thoughtful and powerful manner. This was a book I could not put down.

In the Midst of Winter by Isabel Allende
After reading The Japanese Lover early in the year, I was excited to receive an early release of Allende's latest book. What has always impressed me about Allende, a much celebrated Chilean-American author, is her ability to shift genres throughout her long career. Her last book encompassed a rich white California family with WWII and the Japanese, and her latest book is a complete departure from that.  In the Midst of Winter is a beautifully drawn, character-driven novel that begins during the blizzard of 2015, yet takes the reader to Brazil of the 90's, Chile in the 70's and 80's, and Guatemala of today.  The three main characters, who are faced with a blizzard, a sick cat, and a dead body, share their lives and inner souls with one another as they try to solve the various crises: Richard, owner of the Brooklyn brownstone where they are all stuck, a recovered alcoholic and NYU professor, unfriendly and snarky, but with a deep well of sadness inside; Lucia, a free-spirited Chilean adjunct professor who rents out Richard's basement, owner of a one-eyed chihuahua, and a tragic family history from the authoritarian takeover in Chile; and Evelyn, a young Guatemalan girl whose car accident precipitates their meeting, and who bears a past that is almost beyond surviving.  It is an oddly compelling story, full of humor, sadness, and great hope; it was a perfect read on chilly fall days.

Beasts of Extraordinary Circumstances by Ruth Emmie Lang

This is an extraordinary tale of an extraordinary boy, who grows into an extraordinary, and rather complicated, man.  It stretches belief. It is rather unbelievable actually; be prepared to suspend the 'rules' of nature and man, and go into some magical realism.  You see, where ever Weylyn Grey goes, strange weather follows him.  His parents are killed in a freak snow storm, leading Weylyn to meet and live with some 'interesting' characters.  This story is peopled with humorous, caring, cruel, kind, complex humans, folks from all walks of life.  The pivotal relationship is with Mary, who Weylyn meets as a young child. Their lives are meant to be entwined forever as we see these two children grow to be young adults, and beyond.  Admittedly, I love magic and fantasy, and I am impressed with how Lang weaves a strong engrossing story together with a beautiful fairy tale. This is a solid debut for a new young writer.

Odd Child Out by Gilly Macmillan
The second in a series by a fairly new British author, this is a surprisingly solid book.  I say 'surprisingly,' as it is hard to characterize it.  It nominally has to do with a death and a police detective, but it is so much deeper than a mere mystery.  Jim Clemo is a detective with a past (explained in the first book What She Knew which I have not read, but will definitely consider reading next), and he has been given an 'easy' case upon his return to get his feet a little damp.  Fortunately for this policeman, he gets waaaay beyond damp as he and his partner slowly and methodically pull bits and pieces of evidence out into the light. On the surface, it is an argument between two teenage boys, with one found in the river in critical condition, and the other one unwilling to talk. However, with a variety of intriguing characters as well as the backdrop of Somalian refugees and the horror they escaped to carve out a life in Bristol, England, this book takes us into some dark, complex arenas.  This one is a hard one to put down, with quite a twist in the end.

Einstein and the Rabbi: Searching for the Soul by Naomi Levy
I have a tendency to choose books in regards to what is happening in my life, or occasionally to avoid specific topics that are too sensitive in that moment (re. my mother's death last year had me avoiding death books and skewing towards magical fantasy escapism). This last month of recovering from surgery, with time on my hands to think about new directions in life, led me to this gorgeous book.  On long walks through the beautiful PNW woods, I listened to Rabbi Levy explore the history, mysticism, and beliefs in not only Jewish religion, but in her own life.  She uses an incredible letter from a young rabbi who liberated Buchenwald concentration camp to the most famous scientist of his time, as this young rabbi searched for answers of his own son's death. I found myself often stopping, writing down notes, rewinding just to hear some lines once again, and heading to my bookstore to find a physical copy to explore more slowly in the months to come. It not only soothed my soul, but it expanded it; this book brought me back to a place of spirituality that I have missed in my life as a confirmed agnostic, and brought me a level of great peace that had been missing. When you need some spiritual salve, this book will provide it.

Salt to the Sea by Ruta Sepetys
In my many decades of obsessive reading, I have read a lot of WWII books, and I mean A LOT.  In fact, I rather avoid them now as I'm a little burnt out. Yet, this book has been on my radar for almost two years.  A Goodreads YA Fiction award winner and a Carnegie Medal winner of 2016, this author discovered a long hidden and forgotten story of great bravery, and incredible tragedy. The story flips amongst a variety of characters: a Lithuanian nurse, a young Polish girl, a mysterious Prussian soldier, and a German enlistee. As this group tells their tale of the treacherous escape to the Baltic Sea, as Germans, refugees, and soldiers, I felt myself tightly wrapped up in their tale, feeling my stomach tighten when they try to cross the frozen bay while Russian planes fly overhead, the fear when past stories of abuse are remembered, and my heart wrenched when some travelers fail to survive. Yet the story is not over when they reach the ships that will take thousands of refugees across the Baltic to Germany; it is just beginning. I still cannot believe this is a historical event that has never been broadcast, made into books and movies, or wept over for generations. If you like historical fiction and seek a new 'angle' on WWII, I cannot recommend this book strongly enough. It is powerful, beautifully written, and utterly fascinating.

Dreamland Burning by Jennifer Latham
Here is another YA historical fiction that focuses on an incident that has been covered up, forgotten, and deliberately hidden for generations...the 1921 white race riots in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Latham, in just her second novel, does a spectacular job of moving between two time periods: today's world, 17 year old Rowan whose best friend is Black, whose father is a white powerful businessman and mom is a Black bad-ass public defender, who discovers a mysterious skeleton hidden in her backyard; and the story of long ago told by William, a seventeen year old biracial boy of 1921 Tulsa, whose father is a white Victrola salesman and mom is a wealthy Osage native, whose learning curve of race relations in his town is high and furious. Oh yes, so many things are brought into this book...the treatment of black and natives, the role of oil in Tulsa, the murders of the Osage women and their headrights, the treatment of blacks, particularly young black teens, in today's society. It is an olio of 'issues' and author Latham handles them with aplomb. A beautifully written book, with a serious mystery that will keep one turning pages, and a feeling of shock of all the things that have been hidden away from us in America's history surrounding race. It would be a perfect book to use in a secondary classroom, or a book club, as the provocative topics will definitely stimulate conversation.

October 2.0

My Absolute Darling by Gabriel Tallent
Raw. Disturbing. Intense. These are the first words that come to mind after finishing this powerful coming-of-age debut novel by an impressive new author. The story follows Turtle, a fourteen year old girl being raised by her survivalist father, Martin, as well as her alcoholic grandfather. Incest, physical and verbal abuse, and shocking abandonment is woven through this disturbing tale of how a young teen survives what no one should be subjected to in any stage of life. When a young man befriends Turtle and a teacher reaches out to help, the push and pull of Turtle's life will rip your heart out. This is not an easy read; it will profoundly disturb many readers, but if you can get past the first fifty pages, you will be rewarded with one of the most moving stories of unlikely heroes. Turtle is uniquely complex; she will say things that make you hate her, and then at other times you will want to wrap your arms around her. What you won't ever do is forget her.

Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng
An immediate best seller, Celeste Ng's second book is really that good. Seriously. I liked her first one, Everything I Never Told You, but honestly, Fires is better. The writing, the character development, the varied themes - Ng has honed her skills brilliantly. The story begins at the end, and then puts all the pieces together thanks to a complex crew of characters: Mrs. Anderson, a repressed wife, mother, and journalist, who is aggravating, mean, insensitive, and devoted to her own picture of what makes a life worthwhile; the four Anderson children, all unique and quirky, with pieces both unlikable yet sympathetic; Mia, an artist with a mysterious past and her daughter, Pearl, who longs for a stable home; and a young Chinese immigrant mother who blows the plot line in all directions. This is a powerful novel, with so much ‘meat on the bone’ for discussions of race, class, parenting, teenagers, art, that it would be an outstanding choice for a book club. 

What Happened by Hillary Rodham Clinton
Cmon, admit it, you’re curious. Well, I was! I chose to pre-order the audio version just so I could hear Hillary tell me her side of the story. It does not disappoint. Is it subjective? Of course, it is HER story. But is it fascinating? Absolutely. This book not only gives deep and frequent glimpses into Hillary’s soul and heart, it also gives us a bird’s eye view into the workings of a presidential campaign; I found both compelling. Laced with facts and statistics (it is Hillary, the wonky policy maven), it lays bare the true influence Comey, Russia, and yes, her own actions had on the 2016 electoral college loss. It also gives deep personal stories of her family and friend relationships. Admittedly, I am a fan, always have been. Yet would I recommend this to people who aren’t fans, who voted independent or even (gasp!) Republican? Actually, I would, even more strongly than for supporters. By the end, I was sad for our country, feeling that we lost a real opportunity to unite this country and repair some damage. I am still and will always be “With Her.” Read the book - it’s actually very good. 

The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander
This is a highly read and recommended book, as well as a frequent assignment in today’s college curricula; it will change forever the way you see justice in America. Therefore, in today’s charged environment, as we watched Charlottesville unfold and the NFL rise, or kneel, to the president’s challenge, it behooves us all to gather as much factual information as possible in order to have informed opinions, based on facts and not just what pundits are spouting. This book should be your first stop. I highly recommend listening to it. At times, it can be a bit dry. I would also recommend skipping the first chapter as all that does is lay out, in PhD type of doctoral format, what the author will be discussing in the book - just get to the book. And once you do, you will be given an in-depth historical tour of America and the caste system it has slowly and insidiously built for hundreds of years. 

Code Girls: The Untold Story of American Code Breakers Who Helped Win World War II by Liz Mundy
With whiffs of Hidden Figures, author Liz Mundy brings us another true story of women mathematicians and teachers who changed the tide of war to victory, but were unknown heroes for decades. Told in a narrative voice, Mundy reveals the very beginning of the use of women code breakers by both the navy and army. As men were needed at the front, searches began first in the Seven Sisters college system, then through the Ivy Leagues and teachers schools, and by later war years, a warm body with a penchant for puzzles was good enough. Literally thousands of women went out to work decoding, encoding, and even building code breaking machines. Women became respected and revered members of the crypto analysis units, irreplaceable to the war efforts and truly essential to the Allied victories. At times, the writing gets bogged down in minutia, but it always picks back up and returns to fascinating stories of the real women and battles they influenced. (Fun fact: Bill Nye the Science Guy - his mom was a code breaker!) If you like history, love historical trivia and war stories, and enjoy learning about badass women, this book is for you:) I know my WWII veteran and engineer father of mind would have loved this!

Mr Dickens and His Carol: A Novel of Christmas Past by Samantha Silva
Most of us know who Charles Dickens is, the famous 19th century British novelist who brought us Oliver Twist, David Copperfield, and of course, the most cold-hearted miser of all time, Ebenezer Scrooge. In Samantha Silva's debut novel, she imagines how a Christmas Carol was born. It is an inventive, fluffy tale of Victorian England with all the lovely description of the streets that Dickens inhabited and where he found all his characters. We see his family life, his frustrations with fame and the hangers-on who want his money, and his utter disbelief as his previous novel fails miserably and he is strapped for cash. This is a charming little tale that will satisfy the Christmas spirit as well as give one some intriguing insight into one of our most prolific English authors.

October Books

Good Me, Bad Me by Ali Land
My, oh my, this is one deep, dark, twisty, brilliant, mess-with-your-mind kind of book. Once I picked it up, it was impossible to put it down and it literally kept me guessing until the last three pages. Milly's mom is a serial killer. And I don't mean the garden-variety, "I randomly shoot people" type of killer; I mean the "torture small children and bring sorrow and tragedy into families" type of murderer. So the question is, how does that impact Milly? Can she live a normal life after turning her mother into the London police? Can the psychologist with whose family she now currently lives assuage her painful memories? Can her new 'sister' destroy her with the bullying, or make her stronger? Can her friendship with a younger girl be healing or destructive? And the ultimate question...how far from the tree does this apple fall? Author Ali Land spent years as a mental health nurse in the UK and her deep knowledge shows. She is a master of character development, creating rich and complex humans that a reader can cheer for, or empathize with, or root against as the story progresses. This is one humdinger of a book for a debut; I will be first in line for Land's second book!

The Bright Hour: A Memoir of Living and Dying by Nina Riggs
As age continues to creep up on me, I find more and more people in my life are suffering from cancer and chronic illness, caring for parents with dementia, and have children who are fighting for their lives. This book had been on my TBR pile for awhile, and as I planned the sprinkling of my own mother's ashes, it seemed a cathartic choice. You see, Nina Riggs experiences what all women fear each time they go in for that mammogram...a spot is found. But people beat this stuff all the time, right? Yep, those are the stories we usually read about, as well as the ones we wish for, but what about the cancer that is hyper-aggressive, that metastasizes quickly, that within a year knocks Nina to her knees and forces her husband and two young boys to confront the realization that this cancer is going to kill her.  And as irony would have it, her own mother succumbs to her own eight-year long cancer battle right in the middle of Nina's own treatment. I know, sounds uber-depressing, yet Nina has an engaging, dark sense of humor that makes one laugh at the most inappropriate times, as well as helping us see the everyday trials of this insidious disease. At the end of this book, I realized once again that death finds us all in the end, that we are called to make the most of every moment and give back what we can, to love hard and often and ceaselessly, that our lives are just infinitesimal pieces of the universe,  and that laughter and sorrow quite often go together.  One can find great solace in this beautiful book.

Home Fire by Kamila Shamsie
Acclaimed Pakistani writer Kamila Shamsie takes on the topic of jihadi recruitment and the impact on the family in her modern-day retelling of Antigone.  Left alone by their mother's death and their jihadi father's mysterious disappearance into the gulag of Guantanemo, three siblings each take a separate path. Isma, the oldest daughter, flees to America, burying herself in PhD studies and a friendship with the son of prominent English-Pakistani politician; Aneeka, her gorgeous younger sister, law student, and rebel; and Parvaiz, Aneeka's twin, who gets lured into the dark world of the jihad, and winds up a half a world away from London. We see each side of their story through powerful narration and character development, as the plot slowly and inexorably leads to the final conclusion.  This is a powerful tale of what a sister will do for her brother, how lack of hope and prejudicial treatment can twist a young person's dreams of the future, and how far a family will go to survive.  It is slow at times, but it builds to a devastating conclusion, with the final one third of the book being the most powerful.  This would be an excellent book club choice as it provides one with a variety of life choices to discuss endlessly.

Rules of Magic by Alice Hoffman
One of my favorite authors is back and I could not wait to get my hands on her latest, due out November 10 (thank you Net Galley for the advanced copy!). While I loved The Musuem of Extraordinary Things and The Marriage of Opposites, The Dovekeepers of 2011 remains my favorite due to its setting in biblical times and the extraordinary four women who tell the story of the Masada. In Hoffman's latest venture, she returns to the world of one of her earliest works, Practical Magic, and the Owens family of witches.  Thanks to the long-ago Salem witch trials, the intermingling of two families, and a dark curse that hangs over the Owens' head every generation, falling in love can be a deadly prospect.  The three Owens children, Fran, Jet, and Vincent, are each highly unique. Hoffman uses magical realism in a delightful way, with mischievous happenings, some humor, and then some dark magic thrown in as well. I was mesmerized by this story - it is what I call a 'delicious' read that will keep you entertained until the very last page.


Upstairs at the White House: My Life with the First Ladies by J.B. West

The life of the Chief Usher in the White House is outlined in this book, moving from the last term of FDR all the way to the first term of Richard Nixon. As West moves from assistant to head, we see the close business relationship he has with all the first ladies of the era.  One experiences the loosey-goosey Eleanor Roosevelt style, where she wasn't even sure who was sleeping and even living on the third floor, the love story of Harry and Bess Truman, with a few laughs over broken bed boards and the real boss of the nation, and the formality of the Eisenhowers and Mamie's love of the color pink.  The short tenure of Jackie Kennedy is the most powerful story, with a deep abiding friendship between West and Jackie highlighted, a friendship that moved beyond the walls of the White House.  The loud home of the Johnsons and their two teenage daughters was a hoot, and LBJ's obsession with saving money on electricity was ironic. At times, I could have done without the long description of place settings and decorations, but the historical viewpoint was fascinating.  I respected West's devotion to not airing dirty laundry, yet it did make him a less-than-reliable narrator, as you cannot convince me all these first ladies were the paragons of virtue he made them out to be. However, it is a great book club discussion book as evidenced by our rousing discussion in our monthly book salon, as well as a thoughtful gift to any parent who lived during these times.

The Last Painting of Sarah deVos by Dominic Smith

An intriguing, yet very different book, I would say this book has a fairly narrow audience. However, for a variety of reasons I thoroughly enjoyed it. One, it is extremely well-written; the narrative prose is beautifully constructed, yet at times it does go on a bit with little dialogue.  Secondly, if you are a fan of art, interested in art history or the Dutch masters, you would definitely enjoy the plot line.  It combines three different times periods to create an emotional story around one painting: 1637 and a female Dutch painter whose personal life is tragic, and her relationship with the Amsterdam artist guild is challenging; 1958 New York City where a wealthy art patron and patent attorney owns the only deVos painting, as he searches for the person who stole and forged his property; and the year 2000 in Sydney, Australia, as all the threads of the story come together.  It is a slow, beautiful tale, that spoke to me as the mother of an art historian who lives in Amsterdam.