My November Reads

 November is over already and Christmas is three weeks away! Where, oh where, does the time go? Here are the books that I read in November!

1) Haven by Emma Donoghue: I like Ms. Donoghue's writing. I saw this at the library and swooped it up.  It was on the "It's Your Lucky Day" shelf, where you can check out the book but only have a week to read it! This was a reasonably short book, so I got it read in time! It was an interesting concept for a story!

This story took place in seventh-century Ireland. There was a priest named Artt who was considered the wisest and holiest of all.  He had a dream about an island and wanted to take two of the brothers (monks) in the community and go to the island to create another community of brothers. He chose the two that he wanted to go with him and they left with the very barest of supplies because Artt felt that God would take care of all their needs.  They sailed away and searched for the island that Artt dreamt of. Eventually, they came across an uninhabited island that Artt approved and they settled there. They sought to do and make everything with what was there on the island and Artt would not let them go out to sea to obtain supplies as theirs dwindled away. 

The ending was superb. It's a book worth reading!

2) A Thousand Moons by Sebastian Barry: Yes, I am still reading Sebastian Barry. What can I say? I love his writing! This book begins where his book Days Without End ended!

The story takes place in Tennessee in the post-Civil War time. Winona Cole, a young orphaned child of the Lakota Indians was taken in and raised by John Cole and Thomas McNulty. 

"Where John Cole abided, there was to be found Thomas with his simple heart.  Their love was the first commandment of my world-Thou shalt hope to love like them. We have all to meet many souls and hearts along the way-we are obliged to-we must pray we can encounter one or two Thomases and John Coles on that journey.  Then we can say life was worth the living and love was worth the gamble."

Winona was a smart young woman living where Indians were not welcome, nor were smart women. She was viciously attacked one evening and that lead to her search for her attacker. She believed it to be Jas, a boy/man who had been interested in her.  When Jas was found killed, Wenona was arrested and sentenced to hang.

This is a spiritual book in some ways. I loved it!

3) Such a Pretty Face by t. greenwood: I have read many of this author's books and really liked them.  This one was a disappointment for me. 

The story has two timelines: present-day and 1970's New York City.  Young Ryan's mother, Fiona, dreamed of becoming a movie star. Her dreams were just that...dreams. But one day, young Ryan was discovered and treated as a grown woman rather than the young girl she was (around ten years old). Of course, Fiona was her biggest promoter. Forty years later, Ryan got a text from her oldest friend telling her that a pre-teen picture of her had been found in the possession of a well-known wealthy investor who had just been found to be a pedophile and a sex trafficker.  To make it worse, the photo had an inscription written to him by Ryan's mother.

After this discovery, Ryan began examining her childhood and her relationship with her mother and what it all meant in the present time.

Some of the story was interesting, but it just dragged on for me.

4) The Cloisters by Katy Hays: Oh, this was a good one! I look forward to more from this author!

Recent college graduate, Ann Stilwell, arrived in New York City from Washington (the state) to work for the summer at the Metropolitan  Museum of Art. Instead, she was assigned to work at the Cloisters (at the Museum) where the Museum's medieval art was kept and displayed along with an elaborate garden.  There was a small, but seemingly close staff working there.

Ann soon finds that the researchers there are working on a theory that medieval tarot cards hold the key to telling the future. This leads to much mystery and power-seeking among the staff.

This book was well written and a great mystery! Read it!

5) Guide to DNA Testing and Genetic Genealogy by Blaine T. Bittinger: Ok, so I am able to tell you the name of the book, but that's about as much as I understood.  Not that the book isn't well-written, it's that I have absolutely no understanding of anything vaguely scientific. I try, but it just doesn't happen.  That being said, there were some (few) parts in the book that I highlighted because I did understand, so that was helpful!

For those who do understand science, etc. I think that this book would be extremely helpful.  And I am hopeful that as I continue to study DNA I will be able to use the book more!

What I read in October

 

Well, again, 4 books were read this month.  Maybe I need winter to set in so I just sit and read! October was full of unpacking from our move back to Illinois and we are just starting to wind down from all of it! The good news? I loved every one of the books that I read!

1) Next Year in Havana by Chanel Cleeton: I was slow to warm up to this book, but by the middle of it, I was hooked! Marisol Ferrera was heartbroken when, in 2017, her beloved grandmother (Elisa) passed away. Marisol had grown up listening to her grandmother's stories of life in Cuba when her grandmother was a girl. Elisa's father was a sugar baron in Cuba and the family was quite wealthy. However, by 1958, Cuba was facing great political unrest, and Elisa had met and fallen in love with one of the revolutionaries. Her family had to flee Cuba and went to Miami where Elisa married and raised her son, Marisol's father.  Before Elisa died she asked Marisol to scatter her ashes in her beloved Cuba. Because Marisol was a journalist she was allowed into Cuba and stayed with her grandmother's best friend who still lived there. While in Cuba, Marisol began uncovering some family secrets and had a secret of her own when she became attracted to a man who was a political activist. It was a really good story!

2) Lucy by the Sea by Elizabeth Strout: I couldn't have loved this book more.  It is the last one so far in the Lucy/William series and if you haven't read them, do so ( read them in order, however).

In Lucy By the Sea, Lucy and William (Lucy's ex-husband) went to Maine to ride out the pandemic soon after it began to hit New York. There they spent the next few months, just the two of them isolated. As time went on, Lucy and William experienced a deep connection as they navigated the pain of not being able to be with their daughters during this time, who were also going through painful times. As time went on, Lucy and William found their love again for each other.

This is such a beautiful book, especially if you have gone through Lucy's journey in the earlier books. Ms. Strout's writing continues to amaze me.

"If I had known what it would be like the next time that I saw them-Well, I did not know then.

It is a gift in this life that we do not know what awaits us." 

3) Time and Again by Jack Finney: My daughter recommended this book to me when we were in New York this past fall.  We were looking at the Dakota and that is where this story takes place! That made this book especially interesting to me! This book came out fifty years ago and Stephen King has called it "THE great time-travel story".

Si Morley was bored with his life. When he was recruited by a secret government entity, he decided to take the opportunity. The entity was studying/working on time travel.  Si went from the 20th century back to 1882 numerous times and enjoyed seeing New York City as it was developing.  Meeting a young woman there, whom he fell in love with complicated Si's life and he ultimately had to decide if he wanted to remain in 1882 or return to his modern life. 

There is also a mystery involved in the story, which added good interest.  It was a good read! 

4) The Many Daughters of Afong Moy by Jamie Ford: This is such an interesting book. It is a novel and is about inherited trauma, which I keep trying to explain to my family about (it was often something that I explored with clients when I was working).

Dorothy Foy had struggled with depression and dissociative episodes for years, but when her five-year-old daughter began remembering past memories from her ancestors, Dorothy decided that she had to seek help.  She was fearful that her daughter might develop the same mental health issues that she had been struggling with and she didn't want that for her daughter.

Dorothy connected with a therapist who was doing some experimental treatments around inherited trauma.  She was able to take Dorothy back to view her ancestor's lives and began to understand how their trauma was affecting her life. 

This story also has a mystery running through it that adds to the pleasure of the story. Another good read!

What I read in September

 September and October were consumed with moving across the country and I just never found the time to get to my blog readers. Somehow, however, I did manage to read 4 1/2  books in September and liked all but one (that one I only read the first half and then moved on). Here are the four books that I liked:

 

1)The Lost Girls of Willowbrook by Ellen Marie Wiseman: I have read a couple of her books before and liked them and this one was also good. The story takes place in the 1970s at the Willowbrook State School on Staten Island in New York. When Sage's identical twin sister, Rosemary died, Sage was devasted. Rosemary had always been a rather "different" child, but she was Sage's best friend. Sage was ten years old when she was told that Rosemary died of pneumonia. A few years later, Sage's mother died in a car crash. In a moment of anger, Sage's stepfather told Sage that Rosemary wasn't dead but had been placed at Willowbrook and he had gotten a call that she was missing. That night Sage left home to go to see her sister. After Sage arrived at Willowbrook, she was mistaken for Rosemary and suddenly her life became one she had never imagined. It is a good mystery read!

2) Tamarack County by William Kent Krueger: I am still working through reading the Cork O'Connor thought that I would finish the series this year, but it's not going to happen! This is okay with me, because I love the books! There were several mysteries going on in this book, which ended up all coming together! Great book! 

3) The Wonder by Emma Donoghue: I loved this book, although I did find it a bit of a slow read. It is a very interesting story.  The story takes place in Ireland in the mid-nineteenth century where an English nurse, Lib, was brought to tend to Anna, an eleven-year-old girl who appeared to have survived for four months without eating. Lib is quite skeptical and was brought to attend to Anna for two weeks to try to see what exactly was going on. The young girl, of course, became a national wonder and people flocked from all over to try to see this miracle. Anna was caught up in religion and superstition after the death of her brother and the rituals of the Church and the beliefs of her family.  This is a fascinating book, based on some true stories! 

4 ) Hour of the Witch by Chris Bohjalian: This story takes place in 1692 in Boston and, yet, was quite timely in many ways! Mary Deerfield was the second wife of Thomas, who was a cruel, mean man, especially when he had been drinking, which was usually every day.  After he stuck a fork in Mary's hand one evening, she knew that he would kill her if she stayed in the marriage. She left and went to her parent's home, while the men of the city talked and discussed what was to be done about her leaving her husband. She had begun finding things around around their home, that she was suspected of placing, then a boy she was treating died and suddenly everything she did was examined. She was eventually brought to trial.

I found this book to be very well-written and a great read.

5) I read half of Orhan's Inheritance by Aline Ohanesian but found myself not looking forward to going to bed to read it.  After reading half of it, I gave up and moved on to better books. Life is too short!

August Reading

I had a good month reading for August, except for one book, which was a DNF (did not finish). I hated doing that but I just couldn't do it!

1) The Personal Librarian by Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray: This book kind of blew me away! It is a historical novel based on the true story of Belle da Costa Greene who hid her black identity and passed as white.  She became the personal librarian for J.P. Morgan and developed and managed his very impressive personal library. She became well-known in New York City as she curated his library to become one of the most important libraries in the world.

However, she spent her life hiding her true identity, Belle Marion Greener, daughter of Richard Greener, the first Black to graduate from Harvard. Her parents separated when she was young and her father was not around. Her mother encouraged her children to pass as white, as Portuguese Americans and worked hard to instill "whiteness" in them. Her mother wanted better for all her children and so she moved them from their predominately black neighborhood in Washington DC up to New York City. They changed their surname to "Greene". 

So Belle had to live with her secret and protect her secret all her life as she would travel and mix in society all over the world. 

The book was such a fascinating story and from what I have read about Belle it seemed quite true to the facts of her life.

The most interesting fact that I found was that it wasn't until after her death that biographers were researching her life and discovered her secret. She managed to keep her secret all of her life!

2) Daughters of Memory by Janis Arnold: This is an "older" book (published in 1991) that I came across while packing books up and decided to re-read it. It was a good book!

Two sisters grew up in a small Texas town. One sister, Claire Louise got out of that small town as quickly as she could, running off with her high school boyfriend. The other sister, Macy Rose, stayed home and became the "good sister". She graduated from college, got married, and had children just as was expected of her.  She lived in Houston, so was fairly close to the family farm. Meanwhile, ten years had passed with her family having absolutely no word from Claire Louise. 

Then one day, Claire Louise showed up at her childhood home with her two children. Soon it was evident that both their parents and their beloved grandmother were in failing health.  Claire Louise inserted herself into every aspect of the family, taking over all of her parents' lives. Macy Rose decided that Claire Louise would not take over their grandmother's life and at the risk of losing her own family, she became obsessed with saving her grandmother from Claire Louise.

The family dynamics in this book are so very interesting. Each chapter is narrated by one of the two sisters, back and forth. By the end, secrets have come out and it appears likely that the animosity between the sisters may be worked out!  Good book!

3) The Confessions of Frannie Langton by Sara Collins: this is the book that I did not finish.  I read half of it and just didn't care anymore. If anyone has read the whole book, I would be interested in your opinions of it!

4) Radical Love by Zachary Levi: while my family was visiting us a couple of weeks ago, I noticed this book that my 18-year-old 

granddaughter was reading. She began telling me about the book and I realized that I had just recently seen Zackary Levi on an episode of Who Do You Think You Are! So she offered to let me read it when she finished it. It was a good read. He discussed his disturbing childhood and began some of the journey of looking past his parents to his ancestors and how who they were played into who his parents and grandparents were. He discussed his mental health journey and how he has progressed. The subtitle of the book is "Learning to Accept Yourself and Others"...perfect description of the book!

(Note: I had forgotten to put the picture of this book in the collage!)

5) Remarkably Bright Creatures by Selby Van Pelt: this book has been a top-seller for some time so I finally picked it up. It is described as a friendship with an octopus, so I really hadn't been interested in it.  However, it turned out to be a lovely story!

Tora Sullivan's son Erik had died mysteriously thirty years ago. Recently her husband had also died and she began working at the Aquarium in her small town. She worked there as a cleaning lady at night, and after a while, she became interested in the octopus who resided there.  He was a big one and was named Marcellus.

Marcellus, after getting to know Tora, Marcellus figured out what had happened to her son Erik. He just needed a way to prove it and be able to help her uncover his findings. 

There is so much else to this story....I thoroughly enjoyed it!

6) Once There Were Wolves by Charlotte McConaghy: this was a good book, also and probably one that I will read again.  It is a story of twin sisters who grew up spending time alternately between their mother (a police officer) in Australia, and their father who lived isolated in Alaska.

Inti Flynn had spent her life studying and working with wolves. She and her team had arrived in Scotland to re-introduce wolves to the country. They ended up having fourteen wolves with them.  She also had brought her twin sister with her, hoping that perhaps she, the wolves, and the land can help her sister Aggie begin to recover from the trauma she had endured.

Needless to say, the Scottish people in the town were not supportive of wolves being released outside their town, especially those with farms. 

This is another book with very interesting dynamics going on between people. A very interesting story!

I Am So Behind (July reading)

 

 I apologize to those who follow me. We bought a new place in Illinois, and sold our condo in Alabama all within 2 weeks this month, so things have been crazy!

I did have some good reading in July! I can honestly say that I liked each of the above 5 books!

1) The Measure by Nikki Erlick: On one random day, every person 21 years and older in the entire world woke up to a small wooden box on their doorstep. Inside was a thread, either long or short. It turned out that the measure of the thread you received told you how long you had left to live. Would you decide to open your box? Do you want to know how long you will live? 

The book follows the stories of several different people as they struggle with the decision to know how long they have to live.  It is untimely, a quite moving book. The message I took from it was to live a life of meaning.

2) Wish You Were Here by Jodi Pocult: I hadn't read any of her books for several years, but this one intrigued me.  This was such an interesting story.

Diana, who had her whole life planned out, and Finn, her boyfriend who was a surgical resident at a hospital, were planning to travel to the Galapagos, where Diana was sure that Finn was going to propose to her.  Suddenly, the city was hit by a plague and Finn had to stay there to work.  He encouraged Diana to go on the trip by herself since the trip was non-refundable.  She reluctantly agreed to and that was when things got interesting.  As soon as she arrived, the island was shut down, including the hotel where she was to stay and everyone had to isolate themselves. There was barely any wifi, her luggage had been lost and she knew no one.

Diana slowly acclimated to where she was as she began to meet some people willing to help her. She ended up on the island for a long time, and eventually, Diana was able to get back to her home. But when she awoke, she wasn't where she thought she was going and.....

That's all I'm going to tell you! 

3) The Paper Palace by Miranda Cowley Heller: another fascinating book with a very interesting ending!

Elle, went to the paper palace, as it had been called, with her family one August and everything changed in her life in a moment. She had been going to this place every summer growing up and her oldest friend Jonas had been there also.  Now, coming there when Elle was 50 years old, happily married with 3 children, one night Elle and Jonas discreetly left the party happening inside and had sex for the first time ever with each other, while their spouses were still inside at the party. Now Elle was left with a decision....she had always been in love with Jonas and when she was younger had thought that they would have married. Now years later, the attraction was still there and she struggled with what to do.

This was a very simplified version of this story...there are many family dynamics at play in the story, along with some tragedy. It is a good book!

4) The Sanatorium by Sarah Pearse: This novel is about the happenings in a long abandoned sanatorium that was developed into a very minimalist, rather exclusive, hotel up in the Swiss Alps. Elin Warner was a detective that was taking some needed time off. An invitation to her estranged brother Isaac's engagement party came to her and she decided that perhaps she could mend fences with her brother and reconnect with his fiance, Laure, who she had been childhood friends with.  However, when Elin arrived at the hotel the vibes were not good.  And the next morning, Laure was missing.

So, of course,  Elin was back in detective mode as other things kept occurring. This was a good mystery. I had not realized that it is the first of a series, so I am looking forward to reading more about Elin!

 5) A Good Neighborhood by Therese Anne Fowler: I will say, right off the bat, that after I finished this book, my first thought was "This would make a great book for a book club!"

Valerie lived in a good neighborhood, raising her biracial son, Xavier, by herself.  Valerie was a college professor and soon Xavier was headed off to college. All was great until the Whitman's arrived.  They tore down the house next to Valerie's, including the beautiful old trees, and built a mansion-type showhouse. Valerie was a professor of forestry and ecology, so everything the Whitmans were doing to the property was hard for her to take.  And they also had a troubled teenage daughter to boot who, of course, got involved with Isaac. 

This book raises so many questions, about friendship, love, neighbors, and race. It was a very heart-rendering read, but a very good read.

My Reads in June

 I am vacationing and visiting our kids and grandkids this month, so this will be brief! I actually finished four of the above-pictured books. I read 186 pages of  A Single Thread and gave up! I just never got into the characters or the story and had other books I wanted to read!

I really liked The Yellow Wife and Grace.  And I read two more of the Cork O'Connor series.

I hope your summer reading is going well and you are finding great reads!

What I Read in May

 

I read six books in May, all fiction, with three of them by Irish authors. That seems to be a theme for me in 2022! 

1) The Temporary Gentleman by Sebastian Barry.  This was the second in the McNulty family trilogy and I would say it was the second-best of the three.  It is the story of Jack McNulty who was writing his life story as he sat in his small home in Accra, Ghana. His life was a sad story: his commission in the British Army in WWII was not permanent, he traveled the world as a soldier, then was an engineer.  His marriage failed in the end. He was a man who did not have much positive to say about how his life had been. 

2) Four Letters of Love by Niall Williams. Another Irish author and story. This book is about two people who had lived rather tragic childhoods.  

When Nicholas was twelve, his father heard from God that he was to become a full-time painter, so he quit his job to paint...the father sold the car, sold most of their furnishings and the family struggled to survive. Nicholas was made fun of at school.

When Isabel (who lived on an island off the opposite coast where Nicholas lived) was eleven, she and her younger brother went out for the afternoon.  Her brother, Sean, was a musical prodigy and was pretending to play the fiddle while Isabel danced.  Suddenly the music stopped and when Isabel turned around she saw Sean having a seizure.  He had lost all speech and movement. Isabel blamed herself.

Go forward years later, and Isabel and Nicholas met on her wedding day.  Isabel was marrying someone that she did not love.  Nicholas was trying to locate his father's last surviving painting, which Isabel's father had won years ago. So it was that Nicholas was at Isabel's home, and so it was that Sean began to speak, sing and move.  After a while, he was well enough to go with Nicholas to see Isabel on the mainland. And that is when Nicholas and Isabel fell in love with each other.

The "four letters of love"? Nicholas wrote them to Isabel. What became of them? What became of Isabel and Nicholas? You will have to read the book!

3) When the Stars Go Dark by Paula McLain. This book is a mystery, not the usual writing of Ms. McLain. I hope that she continues to write mysteries!  It was very good.  It is about a detective from San Francisco who specializes in missing persons. She needed a break, both personally and professionally, so she took some time off and went up to a cabin in Medicino. Right away, she learned of a missing girl, then more missing girls, until a pattern became clear and she and the local sheriff began working together.

It is quite a good story!

4) The Deep Dark Descending by Allen Eskens.  I have long been a fan of Mr. Eskins writing.  This is a mystery about a homicide detective whose wife had been killed in a hit and run years before. Suddenly, he learned that her death was actually a murder. Now he is faced with choosing to be a revengeful man or a law-abiding police officer. This is a very good read!

5) A Thousand Voices by Lisa Wingate. I enjoyed this book! It is the story of lovely, talented twenty-year-old Dell Jordan who had just returned from a year abroad with a traveling symphony. Her foster parents who have raised her since she was thirteen, wanted her to go to Julliard, but Dell was not sure that is still what she wants.  What she wanted most was to learn more about her Native American father.  All she had to go on was his name on her birth certificate and a place in Oklahoma that her birth mother had mentioned to her years ago. She went to the area and began to investigate who and where her father was.

6) History of the Rain by Niall Williams. Yes, it is also by an Irish writer and takes place in Ireland. This is a very slow reading- book. I couldn't quit reading it, but it was a bit of a chore.  However, for once, I was rewarded with an ending I liked that made the whole book worth it!

Ruthie Swain was home from college after having collapsed. No one knew what was wrong.  Her bedroom was up on the third floor, full of her dead father's books. She decided to try to find/know her father through his books.  Along the way, she uncovered her family history in Ireland, and found that, just maybe, she is going to be fine! 

April Reading

April has come and gone! I had some good reading last month! I even got a non-fiction book in the mix! 

1) The Sweetness of Water by Nathan Harris: This book has so many layers. It takes place right after the Civil War ended. Two brothers who had been slaves, but were now free, were hired to help work the farm in Georgia owned by a couple who were grieving the loss of their only son, who had been reported to have been killed in the War. The brothers' goal was to save enough money to head north in search of their mother who had been sold away years before.

During this time, there is also a story of two Confederate soldiers who were in a relationship with each other and were discovered one day in the woods. The ramifications were immense throughout the town.

The author did a splendid job tying the two stories together. I couldn't put the book down, it was that good. And, get this, it's a debut novel! I highly recommend it.

2) The Drowning Kind by Jennifer McMahon: I struggled to try and like this book.  I finished it and was deeply unsatisfied.  I kept waiting for it to get better and I was disappointed. The premise was intriguing to me: Jax received 9 missed calls from her older sister who was found dead in the pool of their grandmother's estate. The older sister had fairly recently moved there and was trying to uncover the history of the property. In 1929, the property had once held a famous, modern hotel with a natural spring. There were mysteries and secrets connected to the property and the springs. 

I hated the ending.

3) On Canaan's Side by Sebastian Barry: Another book by this author. It was similar to The Secret Scripture in that it was narrated by a ninety-five-year-old lady reviewing her past.  Lilie Bere was devasted by the loss of her grandson, Billy. She tells her story beginning in her life in Ireland, being forced to leave and come to the United States. It is a rather sad life that she lives.

The story spans seventy decades and Lily's life was spent in fear, betrayal, loss, grief, and love. Billy had been the saving grace for her world. It was a good story and I liked it well enough!

4) Emotional Inheritance by Galit Atlas PhD: the subtitle is "A Therapist, Her Patients, and the Legacy of Trauma". This book made me miss being a therapist.  Her style seemed reminiscent of mine, where I would try to help clients examine family secrets, dynamics, etc. to help them understand how the past of their ancestors (parents, grandparents, great-grandparents, etc) affect their own lives, in many different ways. In that way, clients can begin to make changes for themselves as they begin to understand what had led them to where they were. This book shared stories of Dr. Atlas's work with clients and how they were able to change.  It was quite good and very interesting!

5) Florence Adler Swims Forever by Rachel Beanland: I had read about this book for ages and finally picked it up on clearance one day. I'm so glad that I did! 

The story takes place in 1934 in Atlantic City.  Esther and Joseph Adler had two daughters, Fannie and Florence. Fannie was pregnant and on bed rest in the hospital so her daughter Gussie was living in the apartment with the family, along with a young girl that Joseph had insisted on bringing over from Nazi Germany as the war began to progress. Florence had always been a prizewinning swimmer and had been practicing to swim the English Channel. Until one day tragedy struck and everything changed for the family.

This is another story where family decisions are affected by family secrets and it's not always clear what is the right thing to do.

There are many layers of relationships going on in this book, also, and the author does an excellent job bringing them all together. I liked the ending of the book very much. I think that the family will be ok.

My favorite books for April: Florence Adler Swims Forever, and The Sweetness of Water.

My Reading for March

 

March was a surprisingly good reading month for me, especially since we had guests throughout the month (it was so much fun!)! A couple of books really surprised me with how much I loved them!

1) Falling to Earth by Kate Southwood: a surprisingly good novel! This is the story of Paul Graves and his family after surviving a tornado in their small town.  The story takes place in 1925 in Marah, Illinois. Paul's house, family, and lumber business were all untouched by the tornado. Everyone else in the town was affected by losses from the tornado, including deaths. The story tells of the year after the tornado and the emotions that Paul (and his family) goes through as being an untouched survivor.  It is a story of gratitude, guilt, confusion sadness, and love. I found this to be a slow-going story in terms of life. That does not really make sense, but there is no big plot, etc.  It's just a nice easy-going, but a hard read, in that I found it very interesting that I kept talking to my husband about the book. I rarely do that and I realized how much the story was affecting me.

2) Lost Boy Found by Kirsten Alexander: This was a fascinating story based on a true story. In 1913, young brothers went off into the woods in a small Louisiana town and came back without their four-year-old brother.  They thought that he had already returned home, but he hadn't. After two years of vigorous searching, the boy was found in the company of a tramp. Soon, people were divided...was he really the missing boy, or was the tramp's story true that this boy was the son of a young woman who had asked him to keep her son for a month? The tramp was arrested and put on trial.  Both mothers fought for the boy. The ending is shocking and incredibly sad. I want to read about the real case to see if the book followed true

3) The Storyteller's Secret by Sejal Badani: I quite liked this book, probably because it was one of learning of gone ancestors' lives.  Jaya was a journalist in New York when she learned that her grandfather was gravely ill in India.  He wanted to talk to Jaya's mother who he had been estranged from for years, but the mother refused to go.  Jaya was recovering from her third miscarriage and her marriage was crumbling.  She decided that she would go to India to learn about her mother's life there and meet her grandfather.  Sadly, the grandfather died before Jaya arrived, but her grandmother's long-time servant, Ravi, met her at the home and agreed to share the story of her grandmother's life in British occupied India. As Jaya learns about her grandmother's life and her secrets, she began to experience her own resilience and strength.  She also began to understand her mother's life in India and why she had treated her as she had. I found it to be a good story about women-grandmother, mother, daughter. 

 

4)  Secret Scripture by Sebastian Barry: This is an older book, written in 2008, and as it turned out, it is the second book in a trilogy about the McNulty family from County Sligo, Ireland. This book is the story of Roseanne Clear McNulty and it begins when she is about to turn one hundred years old.  She had been in the Roscommon Regional Mental Hospital for the past seventy years. The hospital was about to be torn down and a new one built.  The head of the hospital was to decide who should go to the new one and who would be able to exist on their own. He had not really interacted with Roseanne over the years but had to at least interview her to make a decision on where she might be placed.  As he began to spend more time talking to her, she shared her story with him about her past before she had been placed in the Hospital. The doctor became enamored with her story and began to do some research to discover more about her. This was such an intriguing story and the ending was absolutely stunning!  I've never been as surprised by an ending (twice) to a book as I was with this one.

5) The Last Bookshop in London by Madeline Martin: A nice easy-to-read book about a young lady in 1939 England. Grace Bennett had been orphaned and left to live with an uncle who did not seem to care for her at all.  When she and her best friend were invited to come live in London with her mother's best friend, it was a dream come true for both of the girls. Grace got a temporary job at a bookstore and soon began to enjoy her work there.  She had never been a reader, so in order to better serve the customers, she began reading, taking recommendations from a handsome young man who frequented the shop. You can probably see where this is going.

6) And lastly, I read The Whereabouts of Eneas McNulty by Sebastian Barry. This book is the first of the McNulty trilogy. I had a bit of a hard time getting through it.  I didn't find it all that intriguing, but rather a sad story. But I have ordered the third book in the trilogy, so I am not giving up on the McNulty family! Eneas was kind of the black sheep of the family, never quite finding himself and not able to return home after an incident there. He kind of wandered the earth, not really knowing what exactly he was looking for. 

Go Tell the Bees That I Am Gone

 

Yep, I read one book in February.  It was a very long book, okay? And I was very busy! I loved the book!  It is the most recent book of the Outlander series. 

The story takes place as the Revolutionary War crept closer to Fraser Ridge in North Carolina, where Jamie and Claire Fraser had begun a colony.  The Fraser's daughter Brianna and her family have also made it there traveling from the 20th century. Tensions were high as loyalties were divided. 

Meanwhile, Jamie's son William was struggling with his newfound identity.  I had thought that this was going to be the last book in the series, but it ended with a cliff-hanger and I think that there must be another book in the making. 

I wish that the Outlander books were published as 2 or 3 books.  They are so long and heavy (if you are reading a hardcover as I was). I usually read half of one of the Outlander books, then read another book or two, then return to it.  This one was so good that I just couldn't put it down!

I have already finished two books this month, so I will definitely have more to review for March!

January Reads

Well, I got six books read in January.  Three of them are 5/5.  And the other three are 4/5.  Not too bad!

1) The Lincoln Highway by Amor Towles: This was a Christmas gift and I started it Christmas night! I could hardly wait to begin reading it.  It was worth my wait. The story takes place over ten days, involving four young men who end up traveling the Lincoln Highway. 

The story is narrated by various characters in the story, primarily by Emmett.  Emmett Watson was an eighteen-year-old boy who had just been released from work home for juveniles after serving fifteen months for a charge of involuntary manslaughter. The warden of the home drove Emmett back to his home.  The only family he had left was his younger brother, Billy.  Emmett's father had died while Emmett was away and his mother had left the family years before, so neighbors took care of Billy until Emmett was back home.

Due to the nature of the charges, Emmett wanted to leave his hometown with Billy and start their lives somewhere new.  Billy wanted them to move to California because he thought his mother was probably there.

However, all plans changed when Emmett discovered that two of his friends from the work farm had hidden in the warden's truck.  The friends had other plans for the four of them and they all ended up in New York City. Thus began their ten-day journey navigating around the city and meeting other people who were also struggling. 

As with the author's last book (A Gentleman in Moscow), the author does a spectacular job with character development and plot lines.  His writing is amazing and the story will stick with me for a long time! 5/5.

2) When Ghosts Come Home by Wiley Cash: I enjoy Mr. Cash's books immensely and this one was right up there with the others.

Sheriff Winston Barnes was up for re-election and was facing an opponent who would use any dirty trick possible to beat him. One night Winston woke to the noise of a very low-flying plane and he realized that something may be wrong, so he went to the local airfield and found the empty plane, along with the dead body of a local man lying on the runway. As he began the investigation, some of the people in the small southern town began to stir up accusations and racial tensions began growing.

This is a really good mystery and the ending is rather stunning! 5/5

3) The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid: I had this book on my radar for a long time and finally read it.  It's a good story with an unexpected ending.

Evelyn Hugo was an aging former movie star who surprisingly chose young Monique Grant to write her memoir. Evelyn wanted someone who could tell the truth about her life, the good and the bad. Monique was surprised at Evelyn's honesty as Evelyn told her story each morning.  She had, of course, seven husbands, but there was much more to her life than that.  There was also the unexpected great love of Evelyn's life.  And Evelyn's story somehow involved Monique.

Another unexpected ending.  Well done! 4/5

4) Blood Hollow by William Kent Krueger: another of the Cork O'Connor series.  I especially enjoyed this one.  I wonder if each book gets better? 4/5

5) If I Forget You by Thomas Christopher Greene: I was looking a book by this author that had been recommended to me when I was at the used bookstore.  They didn't have that particular book, but they did have this one, so I thought I would try it.

This story is about two people who had many years ago been lovers and paths crossed one day. Actually, the back story was quite engaging...the two met in college, he from a very poor family and she from an upper-class family. They had been torn apart by her father.  Years later when they accidentally saw each other, they came together and age-old secrets were discovered. The book actually had a rather different ending than expected. It was a good read. 4/5.

6) Northernmost by Peter Geye: I came across this book at the local bookshop (The Novel Neighbor) while visiting in Webster Groves, Missouri, and was rather stunned!  It was the third book of a trilogy, and I had not realized it was a trilogy.  I had read the first book some years ago and decided to read this third one (out of order, I know). 

So Northernmost ends the series but would be very readable without even reading the first two of the series.  This story takes place in two different times: 1897and 2017. 

In 1897, Odd Einar Eide returned to his home in Hammerfest, Norway after having been thought to have died by a bear attack. The day he returned, he found that his wife was attending his funeral. When it was learned that he had returned, he was sought out by a journalist who wanted to print the story of his time in the Arctic.

In 2017, Greta Nansen is struggling with her decision to end her marriage.  [Greta was the great-great-granddaughter of Thea. Thea had been born in Hammerfest many years ago and was the only child of Odd Einar Eide.  He had sent her to America when she was a young girl, hoping for a better life for her.] When Greta's husband went to Norway on a business trip, Greta decided to fly over to Norway to tell him she wanted a divorce.  But when she arrived at the airport, she decided to visit Hammerfest first to learn more about her ancestors.

This is just a stunningly beautiful book.  I loved the story! And, yes, I have already ordered the second book of the trilogy! 5/5.

Review of My Reading in 2021

 Well, I am a little late for the review...blame it on the holidays, traveling, workers in the condo, getting home in January.  You can pick what excuse you like for me!  But I am back home and feeling settled and, better late than never, here's my review of my 2021 reading!

I read 72 books last year. (I am challenging myself to 80 for 2022). I have 17 books from my reading in 2021 that I rated from very good to excellent:

Magic Lessons-Alice Hoffman

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue-VE Schwab

Wintering-Kathleen May

Outliers-Malcolm Gladwell

We Begin at the End-Chris Whitaker

Hidden Valley Road-Robert Kolker

The Dry-Jane Harper

Killers of the Moon Flower-David Grann

Mrs. Lincoln’s Sisters-Jennifer Chiaverini

Beneath a Scarlett Sky-Mark Sullivan

The Heart’s Invisible Furies-John Boyne

The Lost Book of Names-Kristin Harmel

The TieThat Binds-Kent Haruf

The Exiles-Christina Baker Kline

Oh William-Elizabeth Strout

All the Children Are Home

The Book of Magic-Ann Hoffman

It's very surprising to me that 5 of the 17 were non-fiction! You may notice that 2 of the books are by the same author (one was read in January, and one was read in December).

Now to whittle down the list. This is fairly easy this year as some books really stood out to me. Here's my top 6:

Magic Lessons-Alice Hoffman

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue-VE Schwab

The Heart’s Invisible Furies-John Boyne

The Exiles-Christina Baker Kline

Oh William-Elizabeth Strout

The Book of Magic-Ann Hoffman

I really loved these 6 books. But as soon as I read one of them, I was quite certain that it would be my 2021 favorite, and I was right:

The Heart's Invisible Furies by John Boyne gets my vote for the number one favorite book read in 2021. If you haven't read it, I highly encourage you to read it. It's a beautiful story with wonderful writing.

December Reads

 

I actually read six books last month, but forgot to put one of them in the photo collage and am too lazy to re-do it right now! I read two very good books in December and the other four were just ok.

1) The Book of Magic by Alice Hoffman: another winning book from a favorite author! This is the last book in the Magic series and it did not disappoint!

"Some stories begin at the beginning and others begin at the end, but all the best stories begin in a library."

And those words are exactly how this story began. Elderly Jet Owens still worked at the library and that is where she first heard the death beetle, signifying that she had seven days to live.  She left the library with her niece Sally and went home to let her sister Franny know that she (Jet) had seven days to live.

There were three generations of Owens women alive and they were all under the curse of their ancestor Maria Owens...it appeared that anyone the Owens family loved was destined to die early.

When the youngest of the women, Kylie Owens, learned that her fiance had been struck by a car and had severe head injuries, she realized that it was the curse striking yet again in the family.

This time the family decided they could break the curse by going to England where the curse began. As family members began searching for answers, the answers came. And in the end, as they say, all that matters is love.

2) The Push by Ashley Audrain: I immensely enjoyed this book! This story is wrought with many issues.  It is a story about marriage, children, generations of abuse, and mental illness.

In the very simplest terms, the story comes down to this: is the mother crazy or is the daughter evil?

I'm not even going to go into the details of this book, because I don't want to spoil anything for a reader. But I do encourage the book to be read!  Good story!

3, 4 & 5) Life is Messy by Matthew Kelly, The Stranger in the Lifeboat by Mitch Albom, and Hallelujah Anyway by Anne Lamott. None of these books really delivered for me.  And I do like the authors, but the books kind of struck me as books put out because it was time to put out a new book (if that makes sense).

6) I Found You by Lisa Jewell: This story struck me as three stories in one, all involving a man found on the beach one day who did not remember who he was or where he was from.  Meanwhile, a woman living elsewhere learned that her husband who is missing never existed. And elsewhere, a man remembers some man who had been quite disturbing and he never learned where the man had gone to. 

This was a pretty good, easy-reading mystery that I picked up while waiting for my hoped-for-book for Christmas! Which I did receive!!!