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!!!

November has come and gone!

Why is time going so fast?  Maybe because I did my October Reviews in the middle of November and now it's time for November reviews! It was a good month of reading for me, though I didn't read as much as I had hoped! So here goes:

1) All the Children Are Home by Patry Francis: This book was a surprise to me.  I bought it at a small bookstore in Webster Groves, MO (The Novel Neighbor-great store) without having ever heard of it.  It turned out that I really liked it!

It is about a couple who began fostering children and after eleven years, felt that their family was complete with the four children who lived with them. The mother had conditions for taking in children-no babies, delinquents, and especially no girls. But a six-year-old girl, who had been taken from her home for neglect and abuse, became available and the parents were asked to keep her just until another foster home was available.

Six-year-old Agnes won over the family and changed them over time in ways that were never expected. It is a very heartwarming story that won my heart! (By the way, has anyone else heard of the name Patry?)

2) Anxious People by Fredrik Bachman: This book has had a lot of critical acclaim and people loving it.  I just wasn't taken with it.

The story is about eight strangers who were looking at an apartment that was for sale and while there, a failed bank robber appeared at the apartment and then hold the people hostage.  There were some funny moments in the story, but I just never cared much about the characters.  It's odd because I really love a couple of his books.

3) Purgatory Ridge by William Kent Krueger: The third book of the Cork O'Connor series. And another good mystery that takes place up around the Boundary Waters. As I wrote last month-I recommend reading these. They are well-written stories!

4) Redhead by the Side of the Road by Anne Tyler: Ms. Tyler is a longtime favorite of mine, but I just didn't care much for this story. It was about a middle-aged man who had his life routines disrupted by his "woman friend" and a young boy who showed up at his house. I was very disappointed with the book.

5) The Forest of Vanishing Stars by Kristen Harmel: Thankfully, because I have read a couple of Ms. Harmel's books, I stuck with this one.  I kept thinking it was too preposterous to be true. 

The story began with a young baby being stolen from her home one evening.  The woman who took the baby girl raised her in the wilderness of the forests in Poland teaching her everything when would need to know about survival. As the girl got older, she learned that there were groups of Jews hiding in the forests. She knew nothing about the war that was occurring and learned that a group of people called Nazis wanted to hunt down these people and kill them. Eventually, she began teaching a group that she had come across in the woods about survival techniques, etc. to help them live. She began to learn how to interact and socialize with others and they all became her family.

I just kept on reading the book, not sure where it was going and not especially happy that I was reading it. Until the end. I loved the ending and then was able to read the author's notes after the ending and learned that, of course, the story was based on real events. It is a book that I will read again and look at it differently. I should have trusted the author!!!