Three incredibly short reviews

 The last three books that I have read weren't up to my level of expectations for my reading, thus the short reviews.  I need to head to the library for something good to read!

1) If You Tell by Gregg Olsen: the very disturbing true story of a really deranged, mentally ill mother and the amazing resilience of her three daughters.  I know mental illness, but this woman took it to a whole other level in terms of her cruelty to others.  Pretty hard to read.

2) Dear Life by Alice Munro.  This was a book club read and is a book of short stories.  I don't like short stories so it was tough for me to get through.  However, Ms. Munro's writing is brilliant.  So if you like short stories, I would recommend it to you!

3) Old Lovegood Girls by Gail Goodwin. I hadn't read any of Goodwin's books for years but had liked them so I checked this out from the library. It was a good story about 2 college roommates (for only one semester) who would touch base every few years with each other.  However, the writing seemed chopped up to me and just didn't flow well. It was disappointing.

Jack

 For those of you who have never read Gilead or Home by Marilyn Robinson, I strongly urge you to read them (in that order).  They are beautiful books of family,  love, and acceptance.  Her new book, Jack, tells the back-story of John Ames Boughton, the son of a beloved preacher, who was always a bit of a black sheep in the family, although his father always understood, forgave and loved Jack.

I found Jack to be rather slow and hard to get into at first and if I hadn't read the two above named books, I'm not sure I would have stayed with it.  I'm very glad that I did stay with it.  In the end, there was grace.

The story is about Jack and Miss Della Miles in the 1940's in St. Louis. Jack was living pretty much the life of a bum-sleeping in a flophouse, unemployed and often drunk.  Miss Della Miles was a black schoolteacher living in St. Louis.  One day Jack came across Della walking in the rain and he offered his umbrella and walked her home. And when they got to her home she invited him in for some tea.  And Jack fell in love.  One night they went to dinner together and Jack abruptly left the diner, leaving Della alone.  She was quite upset and when he came around later that evening, they bickered and laughed and talked.  And Jack agreed to leave her alone.  However, a year later they ran into each other in a locked-for-the-night cemetery and the relationship began anew despite all of the problems they knew they would encounter being a racially mixed couple in St. Louis.

Looking back, this is really a beautifully written book.  I already look forward to visiting it again sometime!

A Little Life

 I kept seeing posts about A Little Life and finally decided to read it.  Thank goodness I did!  This is one of the best books I have ever read!  

A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara is 814 pages.  Definitely not a short nor quick read.  But it seemed that every page was worthwhile. 

A Little Life is about four young men who meet and become best friends while attending college.  The first half of the book (roughly) told about both the backstory and the present story of three of the friends.  Their lives centered around the fourth classmate, Jude, a brilliant man, who reported that he had no family, yet was deeply scarred by his childhood.  Following college, all four of the men moved to New York. Over the decades their friendships continue with each other as they navigate addictions, successes, failures, marriages, affairs, etc.

The second half of the book begins to go deeper into Jude's life.

Suffice to say, this book is absolutely devastating.  It is also fascinating, a wonderful tribute to love and loyalty.  This book may stay with me all my life.  I know that I will re-read it at some point.

This moving excuse is going to last awhile, I guess

 Boxes are mostly all packed, movers are coming in 3 days and we are feeling quite overwhelmed!  And now to think about all of the unpacking and organization when we get to our new place...

So again, a very brief blog here.  I have read five books since my last post:

The Anatomy of Dreams by Chloe Benjamin-interesting premise about research into sleep disorder patient's dreams, with the intent of being able to change the patient's behavior through the dream work.  I found it quite interesting.

The Pull of the Stars by Emma Donoghue-another interesting novel about an Irish nurse working in an understaffed hospital during the 1918 pandemic in Ireland. She got an inexperienced volunteer to work with her and also worked with a female doctor who was a Rebel in the ongoing fighting in Ireland. Over three days working in the ward together, all three women's lives are changed by each other and their patients.  Good book. 

Normal People by Sally Rooney-about two young people (Connell and Marianne) who became friends, despite their differences.  Their lives intersected over the years, as they moved back and forth in their own lives.  They never seemed to stay apart for long.  I have read and talked to others who did not like this book at all.  I found it fascinating and it stayed with me for quite awhile.

The Color of Water-A Black Man's Tribute to His White Mother by James McBride-a great read that is non-fiction, but the story could have easily have been a novel.  The author's mother kept her earlier life and heritage a secret from her twelve children.  The children just always thought that she was "different".

This was a book club read and we all loved it.  I highly recommend it!

And lastly, Talk to Strangers by Malcolm Gladwell.  I am a big fan of Malcolm's podcast, Revisionist History, and finally am getting around to reading his books. I loved this book, as I could hear Malcolm's voice as I read it!  That made it even better!  The book uses several stories to illustrate how we can be mistaken about what someone is saying if we don't actually listen and attempt to know the person.  We misread cues and make judgments from our perspectives instead of listening to what the person is saying or trying to say.  It really is a great read that offers a big impact.

More Excuses

 Well, my hand is healing well, so that excuse is gone, but now I am so immersed in packing that I haven't been able to keep up with my blogging.  Is that a good excuse?  I think so.  I can't believe how much work packing is.  It would be a bit easier if I didn't have so many books!  So once again, just very brief remarks on the books that I have read in the past month.

1) The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett: good book!  It is about a set of identical twin sisters,j Desiree and  Stella, who at the age of sixteen ran away from their small, black, southern community to New Orleans.  As they were living there, the sisters began separating their lives, including their racial identities.  Stella left New Orleans without telling Desiree and it was many years later before they found each other.  This is a sad, but loving book, very well-written;

"She'd always felt like the older sister, even though she only was by a matter of minutes.  But maybe in those seven minutes they'd first been apart, they'd each lived a lifetime, setting out on their separate paths.  Each discovering who she might be."  

2) How to Stop Time by Matt Haig: this was an easy, quick read.  The main character, Tom Hazard had a rare condition that allowed him to live through centuries.  But how can you live a life with someone you love when the Albatross Society only allows you ten years in each life?  How does Tom live a normal life?

It was a fun read, but nothing too heavy.

3) The Orphan's Tale by Pam Jenoff: this was one of my book club reads.  It is historical fiction that takes place in Germany and France during World War II.  There are two main characters, a young girl, Noa, and an older woman, Astrid. They met at the circus when Noa, and a baby she had rescued from a train car of Jewish babies being sent to the camps, found refuge there.  Astrid was the lead aerialist for the circus, and she was told to train Noa to be her partner.  At first, Noa and Astrid did not get along, but they soon forged a strong bond with each other as they learned each other's stories and worked together.

This is a book that highlights an unknown to me...who knew that the Germans allowed circuses to continue to travel around during the war?  It was a good, sad, and strong story that has stayed with me for a while.  Good read.

4) This Is Happiness by Niall Williams: This was an impulse buy, and it ended up being one of my favorite books of the year so far.  It's a simple story that takes place in a small parish in Ireland. Noel (called "Noe") was a seventeen-year-old who had just left the seminary.  You can imagine how that would go over in Ireland.  He went to the small parish of Faha to stay with his grandparents.  The big issue in Faha was that electricity was coming.  With electricity coming, workers were arriving in Faha, including one named Christy.  Christy and Noe became close and learned each other's secrets.  This is a very slow-paced novel, yet, I couldn't put it down.  It's just full of very tender moments and of a slower time. And something about it really touched me.  When Noe had been a young boy, he came home from school and found his mother on the floor:

"When you try and lift your mother it's not the same as lifting another human being.  The moment you do it you know you'll never forget it for the rest of your life.  You know there's no frailty, nakedness, nor tenderness either, quite like this, and know that the moment you have her in your arms the feeling of it is entering you so profoundly that from here on it will form part of the knowledge of your blood and brain and soul too, whether you believe in souls or not."

5) The World We Knew by Alice Hoffman: This was another book group choice.  I had read it earlier and blogged it at https://alifeofbooks.blogspot.com/2019/10/the-world-that-we-knew.html.  It is also one of my favorite reads!

6) and lastly, Too Much and Never Enough by Mary Trump: great clinical analysis of Donald Trump.  Well-written. Enough said.

I've been gone awhile, but still reading!

I have been sidelined with hand surgery (right hand) and therapy and having our house on the market.  This is the first typing I've attempted since the beginning of June!  The good news is that the hand is healing well, and we sold our house! Soon my posts will be from the gulf coast of Alabama! 

These posts will be brief because of my hand.  I have posted a picture of what I have read up to the last two weeks.  Hopefully, my next posts will be more detailed!  Happy reading!

The one at the bottom is A Passage to India.  I really did not care for it.

The other books listed from bottom to top are:

All My Puny Sorrows by Miriam Toews-I wasn't crazy about this story, yet it remained with me for a while.

Rebecca's Tale by Sally Beauman-this is a sequel to the novel Rebecca.  It takes place twenty years after Rebecca left off.  It is written in the same style as Rebecca and was approved by the Du Maurier estate.  It was really good!

Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier-a classics novel for a good reason!  It was great to re-read this for one of my book groups!  If you haven't read it or you haven't read it recently, grab it up!  A good love story and mystery!

The Book of Lost Friends by Lisa Wingate-Ms. Wingate hit a home run again with this one!  It is a story about freed slaves trying to find their families who they had been separated from, usually years before.  Very powerful story!

A Mercy by Toni Morrison-this was read for my other book group.  I love this book, but just a warning, it can be a bit difficult to read as it jumps time periods often.  I recommend reading all of her books!

The Dutch House by Ann Patchett-another book club choice.  It's a good story about family issues-I always enjoy those!

The Book of Longings by Sue Monk Kidd-this is a novel about the wife of Jesus. I was a bit let down with the book.  It's an interesting premise, but I just felt like it was lacking.  I mean if you going to imagine a wife for Jesus, imagine more details!

A Place for Us by Fatima Farkeen Mirza- I loved this book and highly recommend it.  I didn't think that I would enjoy reading it, but it is a very well-written and powerful family story.

I read TWO non-fiction books? And a Stephen King book?

Before I get to my recent reading, I just want to take a moment here to thank all the doctors, nurses, hospital staffs, essential workers, first responders, teachers, parents and whoever I may have missed for all the time, energy, love, and work they are putting in to help get us through this virus.  I am in total awe of each and every one of them.  And I honor and respect their work by staying home as much as possible, and always, always wearing a mask when I do have to go out. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Well, it has been a time for reading, hasn't it?  In some ways, I feel like I'm not reading anymore or less than usual, but then I go on a reading spree.  It is all about having a good book to read, for me at least!  Like the three books I am telling you about today!

I finished reading Untamed by Glennon Doyle and loved it.  It is just short essays on how we view our own lives, but extremely powerful words.  She is a very good writer, in the league of Anne Lamott, which is high praise from me.



Her chapter on Deliveries was about grief (of all different kinds).  It spoke to me deeply, yet simply.  "Grief shatters."  Aren't we all experiencing grief right now?  Longing for the world to go back to how it was, not having to hear the nightly death numbers (like listening to the daily death counts on the news each night during the Vietnam War)? Missing our families, our friends, our neighbors? Going out to eat or shop or to the movies?  Glennon talks about how if you let yourself shatter, then you can pick up the pieces and become a new person.  Will we ever be the same person again when this plague ends, or after someone you love dies?  No. You will be a different person.  That can be a good thing, depending on how you let yourself grieve and accept.

The other non-fiction book that I read was When Time Stopped-A Memoir of My Father's War and What Remains by Ariana Neumann.  Something about this book really grabbed me and I sped through it in two days.  Ariana was born and raised in Venezuela.  Her father was considerably older than her mother.  Her father would never talk about his past, so, of course, when Ariana was a child she took it upon herself to become a detective!  She found some interesting things one day in her father's box. He would not discuss it and she never saw the box again.



After Ariana's father's death, she received her father's box, but then it was full of papers, letters, cards, etc.  She then undertook the journey she had always dreamed of -discovering who her father really was.

This book is incredibly researched.  The author spent years finding family members that she had never heard of, and who would add immensely to her journey of discovery. I really was fascinated with the book.  Although the book was about finding her father, I wish that the author would have shared a bit about how she actually felt about all that she learned. She did somewhat, but, I guess the therapist in me, wanted to know more!

And I also read The Outsider by Stephen King.  I couldn't resist!  I am in no way a fan of horror, but I love his writing.  I would rank him as one of the best writers I have read.  There are books of his that I won't go near, but those that I have read have been superbly written.



This is a story that begins with the murder of a young boy and all evidence led to the small town's much-loved coach and teacher.  However, there was also evidence to prove that the coach was in a different town during the murder.

It's hard to write any more about the book because I don't want to give anything away! It's just a good mystery that goes all over the place, literally.