Books, Books & More Books

The Signature of All Things by Elizabeth Gilbert is absolutely charming. Written by the author of Eat, Pray, Love, this is fiction that spans the 18th and 19th centuries. It’s all about the Whittaker family. Henry was born poor but made good and is a cantankerous patriarch. Alma, Henry’s daughter is brilliant if spoiled. Her husband Ambrose is an artist who doesn’t hang around long, but I’m not going to tell you why. The book is good. Well written with great characters and a good tale, it was a treat.

Calling me Home by Julie Kibler is a road-trip story staring two unusual characters: Isabelle McAllister, an 89 year old who wants to attend an important funeral and Dorrie, her hairdresser, who Isabelle wants to drive her. But Dorrie has her own problems as a single mom. But, hey, maybe a roadtrip is just the break she needs. And, as the miles and Isabelle’s story unfold – Dorrie wonders at the stubbornness of a white woman who fell in love with a black man in 1930 Kentucy.

This Will Make You Smarter: John Brockman. Yes I bought it because of the title. I love brain books. John Brokman is publisher of Edge.org and asked some of the worlds biggest thinkers what scientific concept would help everyone get smarter. People like Kaniel Kahnerman, Richard Dawkins, Martin Seligman, Steven Pinker – I have a crush on Steven Pinker – and Daniel Goleman, offered up their suggestions. Aubrey De Grey talks about conquering our fear of the unknown. Clay Shirky talks about the “80/20 rule” and Richard Thaler talks about rooting out false concepts. Yes I’m smarter now.

Splintered by A. G. Howard is a creative reworking of the Alice in Wonderland story. Alyssa Gardener finds herself in Underland, a world where the fiction of her childhood is a reality that hard to get a grip on. Now she’s beginning to understand the family curse and why her mother has been locked up in a mental hospital for so many years. If she’s going to save her mom, and the boy of her dreams, she’s doing to have figure out who she can trust and who is trying to kills her.

The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield made me immediately check to see if there was another of her books that I could order lickety-split. Sadly this is her first book, so I await with bated breath her next. It was sooooo gooood. It’s all about Vida Winter’s life. Vida is a famous author and the 13th tale is the one she hasn’t yet told. She chooses Margaret Lea to tell it to. It’s a gothic tale of feral twins, a ghost, a governess and a devastating fire. It’s a story of a woman haunted by the self she can’t remember. The story moves back and forth in time as Margaret seeks information to verify the story Vida is telling her. And it takes to the very end to unwind fact from fiction.

The Silkworm Robert Galbraith writes about a private investigator who isn’t the dapper, suave, sophisticated fellow most authors like to build. Cormoran Strike’s got a leg missing, he’s overweight, but he has a mind like a steel trap. When Owen Quine, a mediocre author and not so nice a guy goes missing, his wife asks Cormoran to find him. This is the first of Robert Galbraith’s Cormoran Strike novels that I’ve read, but I’ve ready many other books by this author including Harry Potter! Yup, Robert Galbraith is a pen name J K Rowling uses for this series. There are plenty of twists and I’m ready for the next one.

Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty was a delight. I read The Husband’s Secret and immediately went and got this novel. I was not disappointed. Liane Moriarty is smart and funny. I love books that make me laugh out loud. This book is all about the reality of parenting including the ridiculous lengths to which helicoptering parents will go to protect their wee ones, without giving any thought to the crappy example they’re setting for their children. When the annual school Trivia Night ends in a riot, one parent is dead and the remaining parents are being investigated by police. Was it murder? Playground politics at its worst!

The Spellman Files by Lisa Lutz is a part detective novel, part family saga. Izzy Spellman may have made some romantic mistakes, and does drink too much but she’s a great P.I. She works for her mom and dad at Spellman Investigations, invading people’s privacy. When Izzy decides to get out of the family business because she wants a normal life she ends up taking on the most important case of her life.

Emily & Einstein by Linda Francis Lee was charming, if a little contrived. Sandy Portman, a man of means, is killed in an auto accident and comes back as a stray dog. His wife, Emily, fights to save this dog’s life eventually taking the mutt home to live with her. Emily had no idea that Sandy was on his way home to dump her. With her home on the line – her mother-in-law wants to evict her from a family condo in a chi-chi building – she starts to learn things about Sandy that leave her hurt and angry. Will Einstein, the dog, be able to make up for the jackass Sandy was when he was alive?

In Calling Me Home by Julie Dibler, 89-year-old Isabelle McAllister has a big favour to ask her hairdresser and friend, Dorrie. She wants Dorrie to drive her from Texas, where they live, to Ohio, so she can attend a funeral. Along the way she tells Dorrie the story of falling in love in the 1930s with a black man in a time when black men weren’t allowed out and about after dark. Dorrie has some questions of her own about her relationship and the time she shares with Isabelle helps her come to terms with her own priorities.