Summer Reads #5

The Little Paris Bookshop by Nina George
After seeing this on the PNW bestseller list for weeks on end, and considering I was heading to Paris, I figured it was time to read this little gem...and it is a beauty.  Beautifully written, it encompasses the life of Monsieur Perdu, a bookseller whose barge on the Seine river in Paris provides a world of words, imagination, and beauty for so many customers and neighbors.  However, Perdu is haunted by the loss of his own years ago and has yet to rejoin the human race.  As he takes a 'walkabout' down the river, meeting all sorts of humans, he recommends books to heal, books to inspire, and books to teach - whatever he 'sees' the person needs at that moment. This novel is about not only finding love and forgiveness in one's life, but also about the comfort and solace so many of us find in books.  Read in the long plane ride to Paris, this is truly a lovely read.

Wonder by R.J. Palacio
This is a spectacular YA book, that should be read by adults, as well as kids, most especially for all my teacher friends.  The story tells of a young boy named Auggie whose life took a big u-turn at birth, as he was born with a double-genetic malnormality, creating a face that scares parents and children alike, and leaves Auggue wanting to permanently wear the Star Wars space helmet he got as a little boy. Now an eleven year old middle-schooler, after 37 painful operations, it is time for Auggie to brave the world of school.  Your heart will break as you read not only of the overt teasing and cries of horror by other students, but the more painful, insidious bullying of a bright, courageous, funny, and thoroughly delightful young man as he teaches all of us what it means to be a 'wonder' in today's world.

Missoula:  Rape and the Justice System in a College Town by Jon Krakauer
If you are from the PNW, you would be hard-pressed to not know of Jon Krakauer, the Outside magazine writer who has exposed us to so many incredible tales over the years:  Into the Wild, Into Thin Air, Under the Banner of Heaven, and Where Men Win Glory.  Within his non-fiction books, Krakauer always does a thorough job of reporting, gathering information not only from the main subjects, but from the vital peripheral ones as well.  He does not disappoint with his latest book, but he will leave you disturbed, angry, and saddened over the climate of sexual abuse, discrimination, and blatant miscarriage of justice not only in universities today, but in American society.  Krakauer looks at a few specific cases in Missoula, following cases that are not prosecuted, ones that are settled, and even a case that goes all the way to trial.  At the end of this book, you will not feel satisfied and delighted; however, I do believe this is absolutely a book that everyone should read - parents with both sons and daughters, folks sending kids to college, anyone involved with young men and women today, particularly in an educational setting.  You will never view the crime of rape in the same way again.

I'll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson
This is the book that pretty much every staffer at Village Books, our delightful independent bookseller here in Bellingham, has on their 'staff pick' book shelf. Technically classified as YA, I would say this is merely because the main characters are teens; nothing else is 'young' in this novel.  As the book opens, we are immediately introduced to twins Noah and Jude, and throughout the book we see the story unfold through their eyes, as the author slides us back and forth in time.  All we know is that these two siblings who used to stand shoulder to shoulder as they did in the womb, have split somehow from each other.  We see Noah, an artistically brilliant young 'Picasso-esque' teen, attempting to cope with society when he does not really fit in.  Jude, a brash, independent young woman morphs into a creature who hides from society.  Jandy Nelson, a brilliant writer, keeps the reader obsessively turning pages, putting together the pieces of all the characters, not just the twins but the artistic mother, the math-professor father, the tortured sculptor, and the homeless drug-addicted teenager who inhabit the twins' lives.  In the end, I agree with the VB staff - this is the most brilliantly written, magical, heart-wrenching, and redemptive book I have read in 2015.  I cannot recommend it highly enough.

When the Moon is Low by Nadia Hashimi
The author of one of my 2014 favorites, The Pearl that Broke its Shell, has come out with book number two and it does not disappoint.  Once again, Hashimi returns to Afghanistan but this time in today's world.  The story begins as a rather typical tale of Fereiba, a middle-class Afghani woman who wants more than her role as a wife and a mother.  Married to a wonderful man, educated, raising a family, life is good in Kabul...until of course, the Russians and the Taliban.  However, this is not the story of their fight against these forces.  Instead, the author uses the BBC headlines of today and tells a tale of Fereiba and her teenage son, Saleem, as they become the undocumented refugees we read about each day, trying desperately to get to safety in a northern European country.  As I read this book, I saw real-life stories on the immigrants trying to sneak through the tunnel at Calais in an attempt to get to England, of the huge migration issues in Greece and Macedonia, and I saw the attempts by 'good' countries as they shut their borders to the people who need them most.  Ferieba and Saleem are good people who were dealt a rotten hand on where they were from - I will never look at the immigration issue the same way again.  This would be a fantastic book club book as it brings up topical, political, familial, and cultural issues that so  many of us see from varied viewpoints.

Seveneves by Neal Stephenson
"The moon blew up without warning and for no apparent reason."  Yep, that is the first line of this wildly popular, best-selling science fiction book from acclaimed writer Neal Stephenson.  The obvious premise from the beginning is the complex issues that involve the world when the moon is broken into seven large pieces by an unknown Agent.  It quickly morphs into a tale of an epic odyssey...how humanity survives as the fallout of the rocks create a 'rain' that covers the earth in fire for five thousand years.  Yes, you heard right - 5,000 years.  While I have always loved post-apocalyptic tales, they usually entail disease and war, creating a 'life is over as we know it' type of story line.  This was a whole new venture for me, as I can count on one hand the sci-fi books I have read in the past.  Neal Stephenson is a great author to begin with in the science fiction genre, as the man creates incredibly complex and intriguing characters, is purposeful in each step of his plot construction, and builds tension so that it is hard to close the book at night.  I obsessively read this 850 page book, dreaming at night of the end of the world and constantly wondering what the next step in survival would be.  Due to his vast knowledge of physics and engineering, Stephenson occasionally lost me in his complicated details and I admittedly skimmed those paragraphs after figuring out I could never understand the concepts anyway.  And no, I do not feel guilty - I didn't miss anything of the plot and I didn't give up on the book.  For my first foray into space, I am thoroughly satisfied. Destined to be a classic, I highly recommend Seveneves.

Summer Reads #4

Armada by Ernest Cline
If you were a fan of Cline's first book, Ready Player One, put your battle helmet on and get ready for another rockin' ride because this one is a humdinger.  Though not a sequel of Ready Player One, Cline once again draws on his incredibly detailed knowledge of television, movies, and video games of the 1970's and 80's to pull together a story of thrills and excitement.  The premise this time is as follows:  what if all the space shows/movies of the last few decades (think Star Wars, The Last Starfighter, ET, etc.) were actually not for pure entertainment but were actually set up to prepare us for the coming of an alien invasion?  And those space videos all the kids have been playing for decades?  Yep...those are actually flight simulators so that the defense drones can be deployed against said alien invasion.  This story is a rollicking good read with good guys, bad guys, sassy teenagers, and some complex moral dilemmas.  If you liked the Star Wars movies, or have a teenager who is a big 'gamer,' you will not go wrong with this book - I felt like a kid again as I swerved, ducked, and avoided getting shot down:)

Go Set a Watchman by Harper Lee
After hearing all the bad reviews, the skeptics who loved Scout rolling their eyes, and the horror over Atticus' racist attitude, I questioned whether I should read this 'newly found' manuscript.  However, I am truly glad I did.  Read in just one lazy reading day on the couch, I found myself swept back to the slow Southern town of Maycomb, where Scout has returned on her annual visit.  We find the usual suspects:  Atticus, her 72 year old lawyer father; Aunt Alexandra, her straight-laced elderly aunt; Uncle Jack, the eccentric uncle; Henry, an erstwhile lover; and even Calpurnia and her son, Zeebo, play a small part.   First, is it as poorly written as reviewed?  No.  It's fine.  It's not TKAM, but what is?  However, some glittering examples of brilliance pop up occasionally where a sentence or two reminds the reader of Harper Lee's writing style.  And it's a rough draft - get over it.  I wish Lee would have taken this one off the shelf decades ago, and revised and edited it - we would have had two treasures from one author.  Does this book ruin Atticus for all of literary eternity?  No.  It is, in fact, rather brilliant on showing the complex relationship between Scout and Atticus, as well as the struggles for the older generation as the NAACP and the civil rights movement makes it way down South.  If you love TKAM as much as I do, I absolutely think you should read this; it will provide you with a different way of looking at the original story and the characters...and no, it will NOT ruin the original story.  I also think it would be a fascinating book club read that would generate some heated and thoughtful discussions.  I surprised myself by how much I enjoyed it.


Devil in the Grove: Thurgood Marshall, the Groveland Boys, and the Dawn of a New America by Gilbert King
Ironically, I read this book right before diving into Go Set a Watchman.  This is a deeply historical account of the beginning of the civil rights movement, but not the protests, the church involvement, or the boycotts.  This book tells the true account of the attack on the legal system, to bring equality to the land through the courts, in particular the U.S. Supreme Court.  While the book focuses very much on Thurgood Marshall (a fascinating, brilliant, complicated man), it also delves into other vital players who not only defended innocent clients, but pushed the argument for equal rights into the forefront of the American public.  The case of the Groveland boys, accused of raping a white woman in Florida, was the story of the decade...and I had never heard of it.  It is a painful look into our past, and causes one to question how SCOTUS could do away with the Voting Rights Act after being reminded of how far we have come.  For any history buff, this is a fascinating read - however, it is dense and very factual, so it is not a quick read.

Those Girls by Chevy Stevens
If you like a good thriller and are from the PNW,  this book is for you. Set in eastern British Columbia, and eventually Vancouver, BC, the story revolves around three sisters:  Dani, the responsible oldest sister who cares for her motherless sisters; Courtney, the wild one who enrages their alcoholic and abusive father; and Jess, the smart baby of the family who is the one who stands up to their father.  After a night of tragic abuse, the girls encounter some seriously bad boys.  Trapped, alone, and vulnerable, this incident leads to a lifetime of changed identity, as well as a new location.  Some of the scenes are fairly graphic and violent, so be forewarned.  However, Stevens does a solid job of continuously building the tension as the sisters mature and eventually have to deal with the trauma of long ago.  While I would not necessarily call it 'pretty writing', it is competent and definitely a page-turner.





The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate by Jacqueline Kelly

While I am trying to add to my knowledge of Young Adult books, as well as middle-readers, I promise not to write too many of them up on my blog.  However, I just could not resist with 'Calpurnia' as she is just a stud of a kid.  A Newberry Honor book, Jacqueline Kelly has created another storyline the likes of the Caddie Woodlawn book from long ago.  Calpurnia is an 11 year old girl who lives in 1899 in the heart of Texas.  Surrounded by six brothers and a mother who desperately wants Callie to be a 'real' girl, Calpurnia decides instead to befriend her curmudgeonly old grandfather, a disciple of Charles Darwin and a dedicated naturalist.  This book made me smile and laugh out loud at some of the antics; it also made me cringe to see the societal expectations on girls long ago.  If you have an 8-12 year old girl somewhere in your life who has not read this book, it would be a fabulous gift - Calpurnia Tate is just delightful.

Summer Reads #3

The Marriage of Opposites by Alice Hoffman

I have been impatiently waiting for Hoffman's newest novel to come out, after being stunned by her 2011 novel The Dovekeepers, truly a masterpiece, and fascinated by her 2014 novel, The Museum of Extraordinary Things.  Similar to Dovekeepers, her newest book relies heavily on her characters, making this a story driven not by plot, but by the development, interaction, and dynamism of her various characters.  Based on the family of Camille Pisarro, one of the fathers of the Impressionist art movement and comrade of Monet, Degas, and Renoir, Hoffman brings us into a world of mysticism and romance on the island of St. Thomas in the 1800's.  We hear the story through a variety of voices:  Rachel, a defiant young Jewish girl who wants more than the arranged marriage she sees in front of her; Frederic, the Parisian nephew of Rachel’s husband, a young man of passion and faith who embarks on a life of isolation and excommunication from their synagogue; Jestine, Rachel’s best friend, daughter of the African cook, who loves Rachel’s white half-brother; Lyddie, Jestine’s daughter who was stolen years before and lives a seemingly normal Jewish life; and Camille, the youngest child who sees the world in tints and shades and colors.  Throughout the story, the characters encounter anti-semitism and racism, and encounter deep wells of loneliness as love is stolen, lost, destroyed, and found again.  As always, Hoffman uses spirituality and an almost other-worldliness in her story that describes both the characters and their environment, and as the reader loses oneself in the story, we can almost hear the birds, smell the spices, and taste the molasses of a long-gone era.  This is a book that will linger in your mind long after your fingers browse the final pages.

The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd

I am one of the few who have not read a Sue Monk Kidd book; yes, I missed The Secret Life of Bees a few years ago.  However, I do love good historical fiction, especially when it is based on heroic unknown people from our past and she hits it just right in her latest book.  Encompassing the story of two of America's earliest abolitionists and feminists, Kidd follows the story of the two sisters from Charleston who set the world afire, as well as their slave, Hetty in her attempts to free herself of both physical and mental slavery.  Sarah is the rebellious daughter of a judge and a strong-willed Charleston matriarch, who are both determined to keep the social order and allow their daughters as little self expression as possible.  As the oldest, Sarah is repressed, daunted by society, and struggles with a speech impediment.  However, as she raises her youngest sibling, Angelina, Sarah fosters in her a rebelliousness and fight that eventually seeps into her own soul.  At the same time, Hetty and her mother fight their own rebellion, as Hetty learns to read and revolt in her role as the house seamstress.  Steeped in history of the time and beautifully written, if you are a fan of historical fiction, this book will not let you down.

We Need to Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver

Made into an award-winning movie a few years ago, this 2003 book had been on my 'to-be-read' shelf for awhile.  It should have come off that shelf muuuuch sooner; it is a riveting, harrowing, hair-raising look at what it means to raise a sociopath and watch his path of destruction.  Written in a series of letters, from the mother to her husband, Eva delves into some fairly dark places.  We see the beginning of the marriage to Franklin and the angst over whether to create a family or stay in wedded un-parenting bliss.  From the very onset of Kevin's birth, a disconnect occurs and Kevin creates a completely unexpected chaos, unlike the birth of a 'normal' child, as well as a disconnect between Eva and her husband, Franklin, that is impossible to breach.  Eva gives hints of the school shooting to come, and as the years progress and she lays out Kevin's life to us, we can see the signs of destruction.  This is a completely gripping tale and an obsessive read; it would be a stellar book club book as it delves into some treacherous waters surrounding our ideas of what it means to be a good parent and supportive spouse.

The Scribe by Matthew Guinn

I was lucky enough to read an advanced copy of Guinn's new book; his first foray into literature, The Resurrectionist, was an Edgar award finalist.  This time he goes back in history, to Atlanta, Georgia in the 1880's where a cotton exposition designed to catapult Atlanta into the future and leave the 'unpleasantness' behind collides with a vicious serial killer.  Thomas Canby, a former Atlanta detective, lives out in the countryside, busily dealing with important crimes like missing pigs.  When given the chance to redeem his good name, he grabs it with both hands.  Teamed with the first black Atlanta PD detective, who is not yet even allowed to carry a gun, these two men find themselves following a bloody trail to hunt down the killer.  Author Guinn sprinkles clues to Canby's past throughout the story, giving us a sense of the unusual policeman that he is:  former Union soldier in a city that holds their Confederate past dear; son of an Irish immigrant killed in Sherman's siege; ex-fiance of a prim school teacher; and childhood friend of the city's beloved madam.  Guinn weaves a suspenseful tale in the midst of an accurate historical fiction; this is an entertaining read.

Summer Reads #2

The Water Knife by Paolo Bacigalupi
The newest book by the author of the hugely popular The Windup Girl,  Bacigalupi's novel is a shocking look into our future as it pertains to the issue of water.  Hmmm...water, a fairly innocuous entity, right?  However, look at every media report lately about this entity and you will see articles on water restrictions in California, the historical drought in the Southwest, not seen since the 1200's, and the farmers fighting for their water rights.  Bacigalupi takes this idea and twists it into his view of the future of California, Nevada, and Arizona as the aquifers built in the last ice age shrink into ever smaller stores. His story follows three main characters, each with their own agenda:  Angel, the title character of the book and the right-hand assassin for the megalomaniac who 'owns' Lake Mead and controls Las Vegas; Lucy, the reporter who lives in Phoenix and becomes a part of the dying city as she reports on the blood and murder found there; and last is Maria, a Texas refugee (Texas has lost all their water rights and has been virtually made extinct) who has no family and few friends, but gets pulled into a water war that will soon encompass them all.  I found this book to be very complex, especially at the beginning, needing great concentration to figure out exactly what is going on.  Water rights - who has them, who gets to keep them, and who is involved in stealing them - is rather complicated.  However, I am thankful I plowed through as the story begins to gel after the first third and I became engrossed in the saga of survival.  It is a pretty scary look at a more-than-possible future.


Alias Hook by Lisa Jensen AND  Dorothy Must Die by Danielle Paige

Sometimes, after a scary futuristic dystopic novel, one just needs to fly off to Never Land, or perhaps the Land of Oz, right? Except of course when those two places have been distorted, satirized, and 'magicked' into something else.  However, these two books were still a rollicking bit of fun, particularly if you were fans of the childhood books.  Jensen takes the original J.M. Barrie story of idyllic childhood and the boy who 'won't grow up', and turns him into a murderous, sadistic, hateful pre-teen.  Captain Hook, of course, is a misunderstood pirate - yet, not entirely sympathetic.  The story splits its setting between the 'now' of NeverLand and the past history of young James Hookbridge.  He was a spoilt, arrogant, wealthy young man, cursed to the fairy country and now a young woman has arrived to turn his world upside down.  Jensen does a solid job of using tidbits from the original story and the reader for Audible is spot-on with Hook's indolent, piratical, British accent.  For you Oz fans, Danielle Paige really nails this one.  For those ignorant of Oz (shame on you - they were my favorite childhood books), L. Frank Baum wrote a dozen books, chronicling the tales not only of Dorothy, but of Ozma, the real ruler of Oz, and the numerous sidekicks along the way.  In Paige's new version of the story, a young modern-day Kansas girl, Amy Gumm, is whisked to Oz in a twister, of course, and comes to find all the magic gone.  Dorothy actually returned to Oz, after realizing what a dump Kansas was, and has pretty much trashed the place with her obsession for magic and power.  The 'wicked' witches are now the 'good' witches, thus the story commences to rid the land of the terrible influences of Dorothy and her three henchmen,  the Scarecrow, Lion, and Tin Woodman.  Paige is masterful at using all the characters from the Baum books, and I admittedly got a big kick out of that.  You will love this book if you once lived in Oz as a child like I did - if not, probably not so much.

Syndrome E and Bred to Kill by Franck Thilliez
If you are in the mood for a fabulous new detective/murder mystery series, in the style of Jo Nesbo and his character Harry Hole, I would say that Franck Thilliez is the latest great author.  First, he has created two complex characters whom you both love, and want to strangle occasionally.  Franck Sharko is an older detective, a schizophrenic who obsesses over toy railroads and talks to his imaginary friend, Eugenie, in the most inappropriate public places.  Scharko battles his superiors, goes about his business in a completely unorthodox way, and sees the smallest clues to solve the mysteries.  In the first book, Syndrome E, five dead bodies and a shocking snuff film come together to lead Sharko to Lille, Paris, and even Montreal.  Luci Henibelle, a young detective with twin daughters and an obsessive curiosity, becomes his de-facto partner as they unravel the idea of 'syndrome e.'  In the sequel, Bred to Kill, the two reluctantly pair up again, as tragedy has struck them both, and find a trail of blood, murder, and insanity that leads them to the jungles of Brazil.  Thilliez weaves in mysterious and undetectable trails that lead the reader to draw incorrect conclusions, and then shows them the way out.  These mysteries are incredibly well written, taut, psychologically thrilling, and just darn good stories - I highly recommend them both and look forward to the third in the series finally being translated from the original French.

Freedom's Child by Jax Miller
This book is a getting quite a bit of buzz out their on the book blogosphere, and I would wholeheartedly agree that it is a solid thriller.  It is a fast read, with some intriguing characters.  Freedom Oliver, the main character, has been in the witness protection program for many years, hanging in podunk Oregon, running a bar, and getting blackout drunk most evenings.  Unfortunately for her, the main who spent 17 years in jail for a murder he did not commit, has now been released...and knows where she is.  Once this scene is set, the story flips back and forth between the present day as Freedom makes her way back 'home' to find her daughter, and the long ago days of being a wife to a Boston bad-boy.  While it is not the most complex story, it is a great beach read and definitely a page-turner.  I would not recommend it for a book club, as I don't think it has enough 'meat on the bone' for discussion; it is more pure entertainment.

Church of Marvels by Leslie Parry
This book had all the pieces needed for me to want to borrow it:  Coney Island tent show with illusionists, contortionists, and other tortured souls; turn-of-the-century New York City; an insane asylum; and a mysterious newborn baby found in the muck.  Parry pops back and forth amongst the characters, as we see Alphie, a young married woman imprisoned unlawfully in the asylum, stuck on an island in full view of the city, waiting for her handsome husband to find out the 'real' truth from his mother and rescue her.  Odile Church is another voice, as she searches for her sister Belle after a terrifying tent fire on Coney Island takes away not only their mother, but the only home and family they have ever known.  The last voice of Sylvan, the Irish muckraker who finds the babe, is the voice of reason who eventually pulls all the strings of the varied stories together.  Parry puts some nice twists and turns in during the final chapters, consequences I never saw coming, so I was rather impressed.  This was a solid debut novel, and one that could bring up interesting conversation for a book club.

Close Your Eyes, Hold Hands by Chris Bohjalian
This is a difficult review for me to write, as I am unsure exactly where I stand on this particular book.  Normally, I am a huge fan of Chris Bohjalian; Sandcastle Girls, a novel of the Armenia holocaust, was one of the most powerful books of the past decade for me.  This latest book is a dystopic novel, looking at the East coast of America and the consequences of a nuclear power plant meltdown.  Admittedly, one of the main problems for me was the narrator on Audible.  Talk about a buzz kill...my dog could have done a better job, or a computer-activated voice, which is what she sounded like.  Monotone, completely devoid of emotion, and slow as molasses, this is a definite 'do not recommend' as far as listening goes.  However, I was not a huge fan of the writing style either.  Bohjalian creates an intriguing and complex main character in Emily Shepherd, the daughter of the head engineer at the nuclear plant that implodes.  Yet as the story moves all over the place, both in time and space, it can occasionally be confusing, as Emily writes in her journal, telling us of her past, dropping in tidbits on Emily Dickinson (those I enjoyed), and her relationships with a variety of people.  Emily seems to be suffering not only from guilt and separation from her parents and the life she knew, but also from some mental illness that was evident prior to the meltdown. However, Bohjalian never directly addresses that nor does he look at the larger consequences. For me, the singular voice of Emily was a detriment to the unraveling of the story.

Summer Reads #1 - REDO

The Paris Architect  by Charles Belfoure
I have seen this book on numerous 2015 lists, and great book club choice lists as well; I would whole-heartedly concur.  Written more in the style of All the Light I Cannot See, this is a beautiful tale of WWII and the Parisian people involved in the conflict.  Belfoure creates complex characters who are not always likable, but who are vulnerable, selfish, loyal, patriotic, anti-semitic, self-sacrificing, and all together human.  Lucien, the title character of the novel, is hired by a wealthy Parisian to create hiding places for Jews who are no longer able to escape Nazi-occupied Paris.  Inherently anti-semitic, Lucien first agrees in order to earn the outrageously large fee, but ultimately gets pulled in by the creativity this task requires - to devise a hiding place that even the most discerning SS officer cannot find.  The characters we meet are intriguing:  Hertzog, the Nazi soldier with an artist's soul; Adele, the fashion designer who will do anything to survive; Bette, the beautiful model with a hidden secret; and the many different Jewish prisoners whom Lucien attempts to save.  This story is fascinating and compelling, with some lovely twists in the end - I highly recommend it.

Carry the Sky by Kate Gray
It is truly hard to find words to describe this book, as it is almost seems to be part poetry, part novel.  Kate Gray, a talented and award-winning poet from Oregon, has taken her own life experiences and written a gorgeous, heart-breaking, and poignant tale of life in 1983 in a college preparatory boarding school.  The tale is recounted by two of the main characters:  Jack Song, a young Korean-American physics teacher and Taylor Alta, the new girl's crew coach at St. Timothy's.  Song's side of the story is constantly told through poetic use of physics - I know, that sounds like an oxymoron, a poetic physics story?  But he pulls it off with aplomb, making the reader consider the pull and drag not only of physical elements, but of human emotions.  His dealings with the student who just does not fit in, his inappropriate relationship with an unstable student, as well as Song's struggles with his sister's death, explores some very deep questions about life and responsibility. Alta's side of the story is heart-wrenching, as Gray takes us deep into her mind as she is tortured by the death of the woman she loves, as the police continue to look for her body in the very river where Alta's team rows each morning, as well as her guilt about her own sexuality.  I will be honest - this is not a heartwarming, uplifting, sweet story. It is painful at times to see into the recesses of one's heart, and as the story unfolds, you will find little redemption.  However, it is truly one of the most beautifully written books I have read in years, and deeply involved me in the lives of these characters.  This was a five-star book for me, a rating I rarely give.  I suspect it will be overlooked for awards, as it is written by an obscure Oregon writer; that is a big mistake - it is a very special book.

Euphoria by Lily King
This was a strange and different book, and I was not sure I was truly going to like it until I was about one third of the way through.  It has earned tons of accolades and numerous awards, and now that it is completed, I do understand why.  It is gorgeously written, and it is not a 'cookie-cutter' type of book; it has a unique focus and very different characters.  First is Nell, the bad-ass anthropologist who already has a published and popular book; she is a cypher, as she is on one hand a truly gifted scientist, able to understand the nature of the native people and to form familial bonds with them in a short amount of time. However, she also seems to be ignorant of her own bonds with her husband, Fen, and one wonders why the two are actually together.  The third part of this triangle is Bankson, the son of English gentry, the last of his male line due to illness, war, and suicide.  The push and pull amongst these three moves the story along to its final, shocking crescendo.  I look forward to our book club discussion of this intriguing, and rather different tale of these three scientists and the natives of New Guinea.

Fourth of July Creek by Smith Henderson
Winner of an emerging writer award, I look forward to seeing more by Henderson, as this was a fabulous first effort.  To be honest, I felt it could have been about 100 pages shorter (more judicious editing perhaps?).  However, I still found it to be a page-turning rollicking good story.  The main character, Pete Snow, is a social worker who attempts to solve each child's disastrous life; unfortunately, Pete has his own disaster of a life with an ex-wife who has taken their thirteen year old daughter to Texas, for no apparent reason other than to party for weeks on end, his brother who is on the run due to a warrant for his arrest, and a distant father and rather bitchy stepmother.  Amidst Pete's own traumas, in walk the Pearls, a father and son who are trying to live off the grid, but are doing so rather unsuccessfully.  As Pete gets pulled into their intriguing lifestyle of paranoia and government hatred, he begins to question what makes a family whole and what truly breaks them apart.  This is a compelling story.


Missing Reels by Farran Smith Nehme
Remember those old Hepburn and Tracy movies, where they quibbled, and teased, and angered each other, and the dialogue was snappy and delicious?  Yep, that would be this book.  Read in just one day (okay, I was home sick but it was still an obsessive read), Nehme knows her stuff about the cinema.  She should - she's a movie blogger on old films, as well as a regular contributor to film magazines.  Missing Reels is her first novel, and I do hope she keeps writing them - she's good.  The main character is Ceinwen(pronounced Kine-Wen), a young girl from Mississippi who is obsessed with looking like Jean Harlow, works at a vintage clothing store, and lives in a sketchy apartment with two of the most adorable gay roommates ever.  Her downstairs neighbor is Miriam, a film star from the 'pre'- talkie era, who is dying to see a full copy of the only film she ever made.  Hence, the hunt begins.  Pulled into this mystery is a quirky NYU math professor, Matthew, who has a snobbish and mostly-absent fiancee; with Ceinwen, Nehme has created a dynamic duo. These two have the best dialogue in the book as they painstakingly go back through time in their hunt for the 'missing reels.'  Nehme creates a cast of wonderful sidekicks that help the two young lovers along the way, and has a satisfying ending.  If you're looking for an entertaining summer read, I would highly recommend this one.

A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Bachman
I'm going to bet we have all had that cranky, curmudgeonly old man in a neighborhood.  You know...that man who seems to make everything his business, the kids are always too loud and bothersome, and he doesn't want any changes.  Yep, that is Ove.  However, this delightful Swedish novel is so much more than some grumpy old fart.  As I listened to this book on Audible, I laughed out loud more times than I could count, felt my eyes well up a few times as well, and realized that Ove was actually...my own father, who I miss every day over the nine years since he died.  You see, Ove is a widower who desperately misses his wife who has recently passed away.  Amidst his frequent tries at suicide (hilariously unsuccessful, and that's not to take suicide lightly - it's just Ove!), Ove meets his new neighbors: Patrick, a fumbled-finger executive who is incapable of being a 'fixer-upper', a sin in Ove's eyes; Parvana, the East Indian immigrant wife, with two snappy lil girls in tow and another child on the way; a cat rescued from a snow bank; and a few other 'odds and ends' of characters who make up Ove's surroundings.  As Bachman weaves his tale of how a lifelong curmudgeon finds his way back to love and friendship, we see Ove's past and how he came to be 'Ove.'  I have not loved a book this much since The Unlikely Pilgramage of Harold Frye.  It is a dear, delightful, heartwarming story of life and the humanity that peoples our world.

You Should Have Known by Jean Hanff Korelitz

I'm not sure how I missed this little gem which was on the New York Times bestseller list for quite some time. It has all the requisite ingredients of a thriller that is bound to pull one in:  a creepy little sociopath, a confused and ignorant wife, a school setting with impossibly snobby parents, a sympathetic victim, and a question mark throughout of what is true and what is fiction.  The main character of the book, Grace, is a composed, intelligent woman who works as a marriage therapist and has been married eighteen years, with a twelve year old son in a posh private school.  On the eve of publishing her first book, titled "You Should Have Known," the horse manure hits the fan at Rearden Prep School.  Having written a text on how marital problems are not formed within a marriage, but are a product of women just choosing poorly, Grace has to confront her own beliefs on what her marriage is, and is not.  Korelitz writes a taut story with little extraneous fluff; it reads quickly and obsessively.  This could be an intriguing choice for a book club who is willing to delve into some provocative ideas of marriage, friendship, and how the two intertwine.

The Boston Girl by Anita Diamant
For those of you who read Diamant's The Red Tent (one of my favs in the last decade), you will not be disappointed in her latest novel.  And if you like to listen to books on Audible, absolutely download this one.  It is read by Linda Laven (of Alice's Restaurant fame) and she nails the Boston-Jewish accent - I felt like I was watching a movie in my head.  Let me tell you first what The Boston Girl is not; it is not a mystery, nor a thriller, nor family drama per say.  It is a historical fiction that delves deeply into the character of Addy Baum, a young Jewish girl in Boston where the story begins in 1916.  The 85 year old Addy is telling her grandaughter the story of her life for a school project, and just like her family, we get drawn deeply into Addy's tale of a Jewish immigrant and her surrounding friends and family.  We hear of WWI and the soldiers with shell shock, of the Spanish flu pandemic, the child labor issues, the search for more education, and of course, a man to love.  Addy is heartwarmingly honest with her granddaughter, and is also wryly funny - there are many laugh-out-loud moments, especially concerning her mother who does nothing but complain, while she loves her daughters so hard.  This was a seriously delightful book; I felt bereft as the book finished, as if I had lost touch with my good friend, Addy Baum.  Ah, what a beautiful thing it is to feel as if the characters are truly alive.

Bittersweet by Miranda Beverly-Whittemore

Unless you were that perfectly gorgeous, shockingly smart, and sickeningly wealthy friend in college, we all have seen those people on campus, or read about them in People magazine.  Who wouldn't want to be part of their secret circle of friends?  In Beverly-Whittemore's novel, we meet the Winslows, the family who has everything:  beauty, money, bloodline, and more importantly, a private little family compound called Winlock, where all the relatives encamp each summer.  The protagonist of the book is fittingly called Mabel, an overweight, awkward, lower-class girl who just so happens to be college roommates with...yep, a Winslow.  Over the course of this summer in Vermont, Mabel (and the reader) meet the eccentric and highly addictive family of the Winslows: the crazy aunt, the creepy patriarch, the ice-queen mother, the hot brother, and the cousins who all look shockingly alike.  What is really going on in Winlock and in Bittersweet, the cottage that Ev and Mabel share?  This book is an intriguing thriller with some nice little twists and turns.

Where They Found Her by Kimberly McCreight
One of my favorite books last year was McCreight's Reconstructing Amelia, a book about a high schooler's death and her mother's search for the truth.  McCreight used a variety of sources to tell that story: text messages, emails, blog sites, etc.  It was a unique writing style that I not only admired, but I felt was more fitting for today's teenager. Her second novel is another page turner.  The main character, Molly Sanderson, is an ex-attorney, want-to-be reporter who is just recovering from a severe depression due to the loss of a child.  Enter the murder in her small New York college town - a newborn's body is found out in the woods.  Thus the search for the mother/murderer begins.  A variety of characters people McCreight's story: Molly's husband, Justin, and English prof at the local college; the wild divorcee with a troubled son; the 'perfect' mother with the two 'perfect' children; the strong-jawed police chief who grew up in the town and has a history; and the kindergartners and high school kids who turn the story all sorts of intriguing directions.  This is a fascinating thriller that brings up questions of guilt, parenting styles, and how our past affects our today - highly recommend.

The Hotel on Place Vendome: Life, Death, and Betrayal at the Hotel Ritz in Paris by Tilar J. Mazzeo
After reading so many fiction books on France and Paris in preparation for the big trip this summer, I figured it was time for some factual info.  This book reads like a real-life People magazine, interspersed with historical facts and trivia.  The main setting is the world-famous Ritz hotel in Paris, the gathering spot for decades for all the famous people and glitterati in the world (and yes, this is where Princess Diane was staying when chased to her death by the paparazzi).  The Lost Generation (Gertrude Stein, Ezra Pound, Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, etc.) frequented its bar in the 1920's, and Coco Chanel lived there for many years leading up to the German invasion.  The focus for this book is the last few months of the occupation and follows a variety of people, both ones you know and ones that are merely bookmarks in history.  I learned a ton about the occupation and the Parisian participation, or lack there of, in the resistance,  I also gleaned facts about the famous Valkyrie plot to kill Hitler (yep, it was hatched in the bar at the Ritz), and the secret meetings often held in the salon.  Mazzeo drops waaaaay too many names constantly - I stopped trying to keep them all straight and just read for the story.  Short chapters that focus on one person/group of people helped.  If you're visiting Paris anytime soon, this is a great read.

April Showers...of books!

I am Pilgrim by Terry Hayes
This book has hit it big:  New York Times bestseller for weeks on end, every person I see in a doctor's waiting area seems to be reading it, and it is all over airport bookstores.  However, the number one reason I know it is something special is that my husband literally could not pull his face out of it for days...March madness basketball, a visit from his daughter who lives in LA, and constantly sad looks from his dog that wanted to play ball... nothing else but finishing this book seemed to matter.  And once I picked up this book, I could see why.  It is a rollicking good read, a mind-numbing thriller, and a page turner to the degree that dinner did not get cooked for three days.  Yes, a book that is over six hundred pages took me just three days to read; that's what happens when one reads obsessively.  Here's the basics of the plot line:  A defunct American spy gets pulled into a murder scene by his NYPD pal; a Saudi Arabian sees his father beheaded years ago and is a titch angry; a loyal Turkish policewoman raises a mentally challenged boy; a rich young husband mysteriously dies in a palatial estate on the Turkish seaside.  Anything more than that and I might give something away.  Needless to say, this is a five-star, can't miss, read it on vacation or in the library or standing on your head - you won't be sorry.

The Love Song of Miss Queenie Hennessy by Rachel Joyce
For those of you who read and loved The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Frye, Joyce has now written what she calls a 'companion' book.  It is not a sequel, yet I question whether it could stand alone or be read before Harold.  Joyce's first book was utterly delightful, following an older English gentleman who goes out one day to mail a letter to an old friend, Queenie Hennessey, and realizes he has done her a terrible wrong years ago so he begins to walk, hundreds of miles, to her deathbed.  In this companion book, we see the story from Queenie's point of view: the terrible death of Harold's son David and Queenie's role in it; the aftermath and the job loss; the construction of Queenie's sea garden; and most importantly, her time spent in the hospice house as she dies a slow, agonizing death from a cancer that has stolen her ability to speak.  We hear her story through her journal, and we see the wild and crazy characters who live, and die, with her in this lovely home staffed by kindly nuns.  For anyone who has volunteered for hospice care, you will see your life reflected here.  It is a beautiful, poignant story told through the eyes of a very special woman.  It is narrated on Audible by a deliciously British-accented woman.  It is just a lovely book; if you enjoyed Harold Frye,  I strongly recommend it.

Running the Rift by Naomi Benaron
Having read about this book on one of the many "award-winners" lists in December, I was compelled to check out the winner of the Bellwether Prize for Social Engagement.  Written by a UCLA professor who has worked extensively with Rwandan genocide survivor groups in Rwanda, Benaron is a uniquely knowledgable and gifted writer.  She has crafted a beautifully told story about the years leading up to the horrific time in 1995 where over a million Tutsis were slain by the Hutus in their own country.  The story follows Jean Patrick, a Tutsi boy and gifted runner, who has been groomed for years to become the great Olympic hope not just for Rwanda, but for his tribe. This book is a slow roller, with the first eighty pages slowly building the characters and the setting, and make no mistake, the setting of Rwanda, its cities and countryside, plays the role of a main character as well as the boys who inhabit it.  Benaron can write, I mean really write, with the lyrical style of Alan Paton who wrote of Africa as well, in Cry the Beloved Country.  As the boys grow up and we start to see Rwanda devolve into tribal factions, the story picks up pace and unfolds in a tragic, yet redemptive way.  This book is a perfect example of my motto:  The More You Read, the Smarter You Get.  It would be a powerful book for a classroom, or a book club, as it will not leave your memory any time soon.

Men We Reaped by Jesmyn Ward
This is another book that is timely, politically charged, and I believe, a book that should have a wider audience.  Written by a professor, who grew up in a small Mississippi town on the border of Louisiana, Ward tells of the five deaths in this black township that changed her life and the lives of many of its citizens.  It seems so simple and straight forward, but it is not; this is Ward's view into a world that exists only for poor black people, a world that does not really exist here in the Pacific Northwest or even on the West Coast.  This small town lives, breathes, and dies together; the children grow up with their cousins, pop in and out of each others' homes depending on the happenings in their families, and as readers, we slowly see the insidious effect poverty has on the young men in particular.  Most of the dead boys dropped out of school after being seen as stupid, lazy, or incapable of learning.  As a former teacher, I know the power expectations, high or low, has on a student and as a reader, we see the powerful effect this lack of education has on their future, or lack thereof.  Ward escapes, but with each death, she is sucked back in by the dominant pull of the South and of family.  She finishes her autobiographical tale with the story of her brother's death, and it is a poignant, heartbreaking sign of what is happening still today in poor townships down South.  This could be an intriguing book club choice that would garner some provocative discussions; it is also a strong companion book to Bryan Stevenson's book Just Mercy.  

Better by Atul Gwande
Having read Being Mortal last month (see review - truly amazing book), I decided to go back and explore some of Gwande's older books.  I admit, I love his writing; he could write a grocery list that is a page-turner, as far as I'm concerned.  Better looks at a variety of different areas in medicine, where he believes doctors, nurses, and the medical community in general, could do better.  He follows some fascinating story lines:  the push to end polio in India and how the aid workers combat outbreaks; what hospitals do for cystic fibrosis patients, which morphs into how data is collected and communicated to patients; surgical survival in the armed forces and how it has been improved; and the simple, yet difficult task, of merely washing one's hands.  This is a quick read, coming in at under 300 pages, which is a nice change of pace.  It is a truly fascinating look at the inner works of medicine and what can be done to make it...better.



The Girl You Left Behind by Jojo Moyes
Granted, I absolutely loved Moyes' book Me Before You; that book dealt with powerful issues of assisted suicide, what we value in life, and who we choose to love.  I was not sure that another book by her would live up to my enjoyment of her previous book. I have to say, I was not enamored with the first fifty or so pages.  The story begins during WWI, in a country village in France, as two sisters try to run a small inn and restaurant while their husbands are away at war.  Enter the stereotypical 'bad Germans,' the desperate search for food, the mayor's sick child - the cliches abounded and I almost gave up.  However...I am glad I stuck with it.  Once the story hit modern day and the cliches disappeared, the plot thickened and sucked me in.  Enter the new main character, Liv, a young widow whose life is pretty much a disaster.  All she has is the beautiful flat her architect husband left her and the painting they bought on their honeymoon.  As the secrets and mystery swirl around the painting, involving lawyers, detectives, and the always-ugly public media, that is when the plot takes hold.  I ended up thoroughly enjoying this book.  I do not think it would elicit deep and thoughtful book club conversations, but I do think it's just great brain candy and a good vacation read.

Finding Jake by Bryan Reardon
As I read the plot summary for this book, I wondered if I really needed to read another book on school shootings.  Considering we've had over a hundred just since Newtown, I thought it would be frustratingly depressing.  I had already read Jodi Picoult's Nineteen Minutes and David Cullen's journalistic bestseller Columbine; did I really need one more?  Yet, I found Reardon's take on a school shooting to be fascinating, well-written, and cogent to what occurs in childrens' social structures.  The story follows one family: stay-at-home dad who struggles with extreme shyness and his role as the homemaker; high-powered attorney mother who tries to be an involved parent; shy but morally intelligent son named Jake; and socially adept daughter.  The story flips back and forth between time periods, showing us the years of raising Jake and his pivotal childhood social structures, and the powerfully charged moment of the school shooting and its aftermath, both in the neighborhood and in the media.  This story takes some provocative twists and turns, and leads to places that are unexpected.  I cruised through this book in a day, thoroughly enjoying every page.

A Pleasure and a Calling by Phil Hogan

This book is difficult to describe.  It is not a mystery, nor a family drama; it is not non-fiction, though it almost reads like it; it is not comedy, though I did suffer a few deliciously evil giggles at inappropriate places.  The story is told from the viewpoint of Mr. Hemmings, a middle-aged land agent in rural England, who knows every house, every family, every secret in his tiny little town.  How, one may ask? Because Mr. Hemmings keeps all the keys as he lists, exploits, and sells each home, each business, and each apartment.  He gleans information from frequent secretive visits back to their abodes, or on his stalker-ish nightly visits, and satisfies his urges by reading through his copious files on said clients.  As he tells his story of one man, Mr. Sharp, who is rude to him one day on a walk and the fallout of this breach of etiquette, the reader comes to see the brilliant sociopathic nature of Mr. Hemmings.  We see the entire story from his brain, with very little dialogue and little character development other than this narrator.  Mr. Hemmings also gives us a look into his childhood and teen years so we can see how his 'habits' were formed.  I found this to be a rather delightfully wicked book, as I found myself actually cheering for this nasty little man and holding my breath to see if and when he was caught.  I actually think it could bring about some 'wicked' good conversations at a book club about privacy, delusions, and how one's past affects one's present.  I thoroughly enjoyed this twisted tale.