February 2.0

Daughter of Molokai (Molokai #2) by Alan Brennert
It has been fourteen looong years since Molokai hit the reading world, finding fans everywhere. Finally, the sequel has been written and it will satisfy and entrance those of you who loved the first book. Long ago, a young girl was dropped on Molokai, suffering from leprosy, left to survive on her own. Along the way, Rachel found special people who showed her love and courage. In this sequel, we follow her daughter, Ruth, taken from her parents, and ultimately adopted by a Japanese family, eventually moving to California. We see the overt racism during the 1930's and 40's, ultimately leading to the internment of Japanese. I found this to be the most powerful part of the book, detailing the horrors in the camps that quite often are white-washed. Much of it brought up the topical news of today as we see refugees vilified and children locked in cages decades after Executive Order No.9066. Brennert is a master of drawing his readers into his characters and creating a sense of family between his imagined people and his readers. Sometimes, sequels are written to merely take advantage of a 'hit' quickly; this sequel seems to be written because so much more is left to be told. Well done!

Finding Dorothy by Elizabeth Letts
The fourteen Oz books by L. Frank Baum were my favorite childhood companions; Dorothy, Ozma, Polychrome, et all were my best friends, the four quadrants of Oz existed in my mind, and the Nome King haunted my nightmares. In other words, I was obsessed in the way that the millennials love Harry Potter. So this book, detailing the life of Maud Baum, Frank's wife, was just the ticket I needed to return to childhood. Born during the Civil War, Maud was raised by a rather famous suffragette, having both Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton at her wedding. Maud was intelligent, adventuresome, and independent, much like the young girl characters Frank created for his stories. Author Letts sprinkles a plethora of wonderful Oz trivia throughout the book (though I suspect only geeky readers like myself picked up on Jim the Cab horse from Dorothy and the Wizard of Oz book), takes us into the filming of the famous movie, and it is fascinating to see where some of Baum's more fantastical ideas originated. Extremely well-researched, if a bit saccharine in spots, this is an intriguing story. If you too loved Oz and all its inhabitants and love historical fiction, you will not go wrong with this book.

No Exit by Taylor Adam
Wow, just WOW. This debut by Eastern Washington University graduate Taylor Adam deserves to be called a 'thriller' - I could not put this book down. Here's the premise: Colorado college student Darby Thorne is on her way across a snowy mountain pass to try and get to her mother's deathbed. Stopped by the terrible weather, she takes refuge in a rest stop where she spies a caged child in a back of a van. Nuff said...wouldn't want any spoilers to ruin this roller coaster ride of a story. Is it always plausible and logical? Nope. Is it engaging and entertaining? Yep. Will you be able to put it down...not a chance.

Silver Sparrow by Tayari Jones
An earlier book by the author of An American Marriage, this book shows Jones' early writing chops. She is truly the master at creating characters who engage, anger, and entice you into their lives, as well as the relationships among these characters. In Silver Sparrow, two families exist, two wives, two daughters, yet only one husband and father. Only one family knows that the other exists, that one marriage is a sham, that the husband divides his lives between two, that the daughters are not equal in love and treatment. A deeply intimate look into two family's lives in Atlanta will give your brain food for thought, as well as any book club.

Erotic Stories for Punjabi Widows by Balli Kaur Jaswal
The title was enough to put me off for awhile, yet this has been a very popular read for the past year - a Reese Witherspoon book club choice no less. I should have picked it up sooner, as it is far more than its title. The plot line follows a young Sikh woman who lives in London and is struggling to define her life. Having dropped out of law school and asked by her sister to help find her an arranged marriage, Nikki gets pulled into teaching writing classes at the temple. Yet what she finds is so much more: an eclectic group of widows, all seeking love, connection, excitement. As the story unfolds, each character gets defined further and we see where life may take Nikki. Yes there's a bit of romance, a bit of mystery, some cultural information - ultimately a quite entertaining read:)