Four books read

 I've been on a reading roll lately.  It feels like I have my groove back! Two so-so books and two good books.  You can't win them all!

1) All Adults Here by Emma Straub: about a mother and her three adult children. The mother has a secret to share with her children but is worried about how it will affect them.  Astrid (the mother) is also dealing with wondering about mistakes she may have made raising her kids. Meanwhile, the three adult children have their own issues to deal with.  I found it entertaining and readable, but not anything to make me think.

2) We Begin At The End by Chris Whitaker.  I was taken by the author's writing right off at the start of reading the book. And the story...and the characters...just wonderful reading! There are two main characters: Walk who was chief of police in his hometown that he had never left.  He continued to struggle with a life-changing event that occurred thirty years past. The other main character is Duchess who was a thirteen-year-old girl, who had spent her life dealing with her addicted mother and protecting and taking care of her five-year-old brother. Both Walk and Duchess have loved and lost and continue to seek the love of a family.

There are many characters in the book, and they all begin to tie together as you read it.  It is a story that has stayed with me for days, especially the ending.  Good read!

3) Hidden Valley Road by Robert Kolker: I have wanted to read this book since it came out, and when I saw it at the library, I grabbed it.  It is an absolutely fascinating true story about the Galvin family.  The family consisted of both parents, ten boys, and two girls. Of the twelve children, six of the boys were diagnosed with schizophrenia during the 1970s.  The book takes the reader along with the journey of this family over the years and also ties into the research that has been happening in the scientific/medical field studying schizophrenia.  The Galvin family was/is instrumental in the research of schizophrenia.

It is a very readable story that will help others learn about the illness and how it affects families.  Another good read! 

4) The last one I read was The Music Shop by Rachel Joyce: I also saw this at the library and picked it up.  I'm glad that I did, and didn't buy it.  I really didn't find this book very good.  I was quite disappointed because I loved her two books that I have read (The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry and The Love Song of Miss Queenie Hennessy-both wonderful books!). Anyway, the story is about a man who has a shop in an area that is being torn down and developed and he meets a woman who comes into his shop, and they share a love of music, then fall in love. Nothing about the story grabbed me.  Sad.