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.