April Reading 2.0

The Windsor Knot (Her Majesty the Queen Investigates) by S.J. Bennett

Utterly deeeeeee-lightful! Who knew, that beneath her cashmere cardigan and pearls, behind her stout lil Corgi dogs, and under the perfectly coiffed white hair lives the mind of Sherlock Holmes and Miss Marple?! Okay, yes, you do have to suspend a little bit of belief going into this mystery series, but whatever. It is just pure FUN! A young Russian emigre is murdered at Windsor Castle, in a rather, ahem, sexual manner and it is up to QEII to solve the crime. Thanks to some fantastic casting, the old white guys are the bumbling knuckleheads and the Black assistant female secretary is the badass, along with the Queen, of course. When you need a lighthearted whodunnit, this is the book for you!

Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro

I am still not sure what I read, but I do know that my brain continues to reel, and my inner being is quite unsettled, once again, by this master of literature. Just as in Never Let Me Go, Ishiguro takes us to a futuristic world, where parents make morally questionable decisions, children live lives of deep loneliness and fears, and a family can purchase an AF (Artificial Friend). Klara is that AF, and in her relationship with the outside world, the Sun, her family, we see a world gone wrong - where technology, climate change, and the lack of human connection has corrupted the soul of humanity. Did I love this book? I'm not sure. I do know I won't forget this book easily and would highly recommend it for a book club as the discussions would be epic.

Shiner by Amy Jo Burns

What if you grew up without school, without neighbors, without television, telephone, or internet, never leaving the mountains of West Virgnia?What would your life be like? In this debut novel, Burns shows us the life of Wren, a fifteen year old girl whose life is narrowed to her home with her snake-handling preacher of a father and her mother and her mother's best friend, who once had hopes of escape. And when tragedy comes, again and again, history throws us back in time to when her parents were young, to see how the mountains trapped them as well. While steeped in sadness, moments of hope and triumph also exist, making this a book I could not put down. Just stunning.

All the Devils Are Here (Chief Inspector Armande Gamache #16) by Louise Penny

The. End. Over the course of sixteen months, reading one book a month, I was able to knock back this entire series. Louise Penny is the Agatha Christie of our lives, with the ability to develop rich sustainable characters, a memorable setting that feels like home from the very first page, and meticulously plotted whodunnits. Don't let this series intimidate you, as it did me - start with Still Life #1, and work your way through the lives of the residents of Three Pines. You will find yourself enmeshed in their lives and thoroughly entertained, guaranteed.

The Orchard by David Hopen

Aryeh Eden moves from his Ultra-Orthodox Brooklyn neighborhood to begin his senior year in the Florida high school where his world is turned upside down by his friendship with four other boys, and first female crush. It sounds so ordinary, yet debut author David Hopen turns this story into a tale of discovery, of finding who one is in the world through religion, through friendship, through education, through deep introspection. The writing is beautiful, particularly the boys' discussions with their principal, Rabbi Bloom. The tension is subtle, yet intense, an ever-present entity that pulled me inexorably into these boys' lives. At times, I felt like it was a Jewish version of Dead's Poet Society, yet at other times it felt like I was spying through a window into a place I did not belong. And the final explosive ending?! Mind blown. This book will haunt me for awhile.

Eleanor and Hick: The Love Affair that Shaped a First Lady by Susan Quinn 

As a feminist, I am ashamed that I have never read anything about Eleanor Roosevelt, as in NOTHING, No fiction, no non-fiction, zip, nada, no words. How is E.R. not written about everywhere, or perhaps she is? Eleanor herself was a prolific writer; now that I know, I intend to go back to the primary source and check out her own musings on life, politics, social order, etc. This book focuses on her incredibly close friendship with reporter Lorene Hickock, perhaps romantic, perhaps deep friendship, perhaps something entirely beyond our understanding? Yet it really doesn't matter, and the story is not written to titillate. It tells the story of two women and their place in the 20th century, smack in the middle of some big historic moments. It was utterly fascinating; I enjoyed this audio enormously. If you're a history buff, I suspect you will as well. 

The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman

Cute, a little silly, this mystery might have entertained me more if I had not just read The Windsor Knot, which quite frankly, was a better-written, implausible mystery. This one takes place in a retirement village, where a group of four elderly people have formed a club to investigate cold-case murders. Then, lo and behold, a couple murders wind up on their doorstep! For me, the author tried a bit too hard to be funny, winding up annoying me at times, rather than amusing me. I liked the main characters, but wanted a bit more background on some of them. The mystery plotting was well done, yet too many characters deciding to kill themselves, which was rather off-putting to the humorous tenor of the story. It is entertaining, but I don't believe I will be picking up the second in the series when it comes out.