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2019 Reads and Reviews ~ Anything goes
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Louisa May Alcott
3/5 stars
I found this classic story of Little Women which was made into an annotated version. I wish I could I say I loved this version but I had a hard time with it. There were copious annotations in the book and most were very tedious which took me away from the storyline. I was looking forward to a re-read but I must have never read this version because this was so different from what I remembered. Perhaps I had read a children’s version when I was younger.
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The Beautiful Poetry of Donald Trump
Rob Sears
3/5 stars
This came across the desk at the library and was so intriguing I just had to read it. Rob Sears took President Trump's tweets and transcripts arranging each sentence and made them into poetry. Every sentence was spoken by Trump which the author backs up with notes on where each sentence came from.
The Hate U Give – Angie Thomas – 4****
Sixteen-year-old Starr Carter is the narrator of this contemporary novel that deals with some major social issues facing America. I love the way that Thomas writes these characters. The realities of living in an urban neighborhood that is stressed by unemployment, gangs, poverty, drug use and broken families are all present. Thomas gives Starr a relatively stable home environment: a family-owned house, neighbors who look out for one another, and, most importantly, two parents who love one another, work hard, and set a good example for their children. The novel raises more questions than it gives solutions. But these are issues than need examining, and this is a great way to start the conversation.
LINK to my review
I gave 4 stars to Remembering Denny by Calvin Trillin. Of all the books he's published, this is by far the most autobiographical I've come across, even though he is writing about a college friend who sermed to have everything -- looks, brains, accomplishments -- who staggered everyone who knew him by killing himself. I learned a lot about the weirdness and pressures of attending Yale, what it was like to be a highly accomplished white male in the 1950s when guys like that ran the world virtually unchallenged, and what it was like to have to adjust to the ways the Love Generation upended that world. Even though the author and Denny faced a lot of similar situations, their lives ended up utterly different and this book is about trying to make sense of that. Highly recommended glimpse into a vanished world.
Pachinko – Min Jin Lee – 4****
This is an epic work of historical fiction that follows four generations of one Korean family living in Japan, beginning in 1910 and ending in 1989. I was quickly drawn into the story and eagerly followed Sunja’s story, but I did get a little bored with the repetition towards the end. Still, I was engaged and invested in these characters’ stories, and the setting and timeframe gave me some insight into a culture about which I know little.
LINK to my review
Maid: Hard Work, Low Pay, and a Mother's Will to Survive by Stephanie Land4 stars
If you've never been in the author's shoes, this book may tell you something you didnt already know. For me, this book brought back a lot of memories of days where no matter how hard you worked it seemed like you never got ahead. It's a fact of life that a lot of the hardest jobs are the lowest paid. I applaud the author for forging ahead and trying to make a better life for herself. It's too bad that a lot of these jobs force people that are working full time to accept public assistance. There is no political commentary here. If I could tell the author one thing, I would tell her that what doesnt kill you makes you stronger. I wish everyone could go through hard times working at a dead end job so they could learn to appreciate what they have.
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Bowlaway
Elizabeth McCracken
3/5 stars
Bowlaway is the story of the unusual Bertha Truit, her family and friends in Salford, Massachusetts. When we first meet Bertha, she is in a cemetery and presumed dead but her life isn’t over and she eventually sets up her life in Salford surrounded by her husband Dr. Leviticus Sprague. She opens up a bowling alley where candle pin bowling is the game and life revolves around the alley with characters coming and going, growing old and dying. I had some difficulty with keeping track of all the characters coming in and out of the story line but overall I enjoyed this book.
Mango Elephants In the Sun – Susana Herrera – 3.5***
Subtitle: How Life in an African Village Let Me Be in My Skin. This is a memoir of the time the author spent as a Peace Corps volunteer teacher in Cameroon. I was interested and engaged in the experiences Herrera related, but somewhat appalled by how she lacked even basic understanding of the differences in culture before she arrived at her assignment. She relays some very interesting insights she gained from the women she befriended in the village.
LINK to my review
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The Swiss Family Robinson – Johann David Wyss – 3***
Originally published in 1812, this is a classic adventure tale of a mother, father and four sons who are shipwrecked on an unnamed (and apparently uncharted) tropical island in the South Seas. I had never read the book, though I had seen the Disney movie back in the ‘60s. My adult self recognizes the glaringly implausible (and, frankly, impossible) scenarios but the adventure still captures the imagination.
LINK to my review
True Crime: Real Girls, Real-Life Stories, by the Editors of Seventeen Magazine4 stars!
The first story in here was so horrible I thought they were probably tapering down to something uplifting and inspirational. They weren't. All the stories involve teens being murdered, killing someone else or doing something else that's pretty unthinkable. The photos are all in full color; most of these stories have clearly never been collected anywhere else. I felt a little as if I'd been punched in the gut when I finished the book.
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Giraffes on Horseback Salad: Salvador Dali, the Marx Brothers, and the Strangest Movie Never Made
Josh Frank
3.5/5 stars
This is the interesting and absurdly true story about the famous painter Salavdor Dali who had written a screenplay and wanted the Marx Brothers to be in it. Josh Frank had been researching unmade film scripts when he found mention of Dali’s script originally titled The Surrealist Woman and from there he had his subject for this book. Through painstaking research he pieced together the story of Giraffes on Horseback Salad screenplay. Illustrated by Manuela Perte and adapted with Tim Heidecker, this book contains the graphic novel based on the screenplay and the written story of the strangest movie never made. One of my favorite trivia bits from the book was how did Harpo and Dali (who became friends) communicate. Neither spoke each other’s language but both wives spoke German so they could translate for their husbands
The Dog Who Saved Me – Susan Wilson – 3***
Though I am not really an animal lover or a “dog person,” I have read a few of Wilson’s books and found them interesting and engaging. This is somewhat formulaic, but the lead characters are likeable and their back stories interesting enough to hold my attention.
LINK to my review
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Wade in the Water: Poems
Tracy K. Smith
3.5/5 stars
The poems from this book are from the Poet Laureate of the United States. I especially enjoyed the section of poems I Will Tell You the Truth about This, I Will Tell You All About It which were taken from letters written by African Americans civil war soldiers and their family members.
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The Princess Saves Herself in This One
Amanda Lovelace
3.5/5 star
Lovelace writes from the feminine prospective on love, loss and growing up/being female through short concise poetry. This is the first of 3 books in the series. You will either love it or hate it. I loved it.
The Alice Network – Kate Quinn – 3***
Based on the real stories of women who served as spies during World War I, Quinn has crafted an interesting, engaging story of wartime heroines and the price they paid for their service. She uses a dual timeline, moving back and forth between 1947 and 1915. I was much more interested in Eve’s story; I found Charlie irritatingly immature. I thought the ending, especially that final confrontation, was somewhat rushed and implausible. Still, it held my attention and I was glad to learn something about the brave women who served.
LINK to my review
An Appetite for Murder – Lucy Burdette – 2**
Number one in a new series starring Hayley Snow, food critic wannabe in Key West, Florida. The premise sounds promising, and it seems to have all the elements for success, but Hayley is irritatingly immature and just plain too stupid to live. I’m not ready to give up on the series, but this isn’t a great beginning.
LINK to my review
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Coyote Cowboy Poetry – Baxter Black – 1*
This is a compilation of previously published works by Black, who is a trained veterinarian and a syndicated humorist / columnist. I thought it was mediocre to bad poetry that I’m sure some people find humorous but that did nothing for me. I did appreciate one or two of the sentiments (though the poetry was still bad).
LINK to my review
My Brilliant Friend – Elena Ferrara – 3.5***
This is the first of four books in the “Neapolitan Series” by Ferrante. I loved the way this friendship between Elena and Lila was portrayed, and the strength of these two girls as they faced the challenges of growing up. I also really appreciated how the landscape and culture were practically a character in the novel. I felt immersed in 1950s Naples. I could not help but be reminded of my BFF when I was growing up. Like these characters, we hardly breathed without consulting one another, and shared every secret, every joy, every heartache, every dream, every disappointment, every triumph.
LINK to my review
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My Brilliant Friend
– Elena Ferrara – 3.5***
This is the first of four books in the “Neapolitan Series” by Ferrante. I loved the way this friendship be..."
These are very popular at the library-I always see someone checking them out.
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The Witch Doesn't Burn in This One
Amanda Lovelace
3/5 stars 5/12/2019
This is the second book in a poetry series from Lovelace’s the women are some kind of magic series which discusses women’s issues. I found this one darker than the first one but I could feel where the writer was coming from through these poems. Great read.
Summer Hours at the Robbers Library
Sue Halpern
3.5/5 stars
This novel follows three main characters- Kit, the librarian; Sunny, the shoplifter and Rusty, who was down on his luck after a meteoric run on Wall Street. They meet through the local library. As the novel proceeds you follow their backstories and the trouble they have been through and how their bonding improved their lives.
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The Flying Classroom
Erich Kästner
3/5 stars
This is Kastner’s 1933 novel about a group of very young male students that live at a boarding school in Germany and which highlights their camaraderie as the grow up and learn about life and how they learn to rely on their classmates and their teachers. This was just okay for me, however, when I researched the author; he became more interesting than this story. He was German and his books were burned in 1933 when the Goebbels instigated the book burnings pre WWII. Now I want to read a biography on Kastner.
The Mermaid's Voice Returns in This One
Amanda Lovelace
4/5 stars
This is the third book of the series of poems about women’s issues by Lovelace and this one also includes other female poets’ poems. I enjoyed it.
Carols and Chaos – Cindy Anstey – 3***
This is the second book in a series, but I don’t feel I missed anything by reading out of order. Set in 1817 England, this YA romance plus cozy mystery makes for some interesting twists and turns in the plot, as well as satisfying tension between the two lead characters. I picked this up on a whim as I was trolling the library’s shelves. It sounded like a quick, fun read and that’s exactly what it was.
LINK to my review
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The Bird's Nest
Shirley Jackson
3.5/5 stars
A young single woman who lives with her aunt comes home from work one day very ill from headaches. Her aunt knows something is wrong and takes her to a doctor who discovers that she has developed into split personalities and attempts to help her get rid of them. Very dark-just like a Jackson novel should be!
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The Lady from the Black Lagoon: Hollywood Monsters and the Lost Legacy of Milicent Patrick
Mallory O'Meara
5/5 stars
Mallory O’Meara, the author of this book and also a horror screenwriter and film producer, through sheer tenacity was able to track down and put together the story of Milicent Patrick. Patrick came from an artistic family and grew up in the town near the Hearst Castle in California where her father worked on superintendent of construction on the Castle. Milicent, who was also quite artistic, was involved in the designing of the monster from the movie The Lady From the Black Lagoon and also worked on the animation/drawings of A Night on Bald Mountain from Fantasia but who eventually lost her job due to a jealous boss. What a wonderfully interesting book!
Black Klansman: Race, Hate, and the Undercover Investigation of a Lifetime, Ron Stallworth4 stars!
This is the happiest, most positive true-crime story I've come across in ages. Told from the point of view of a very new police officer, the very first black detective Colorado Springs PD ever had, who was working an intelligence detail when he stumbled across an unusual opportunity, and grabbed it and ran with it. There were some genuinely satisfying, and hilarious, results. Some people are just born to break new ground, but who on this planet expects to be the first-ever black member in good standing of the KKK? The story is simply not to be missed. Well written, too -- I found exactly two (2) typos in the whole book. Read this book!!!
Fascism: A Warning – Madeleine Albright – 4****
It’s said that those who refuse to study history are doomed to repeat it. I’ve studied some history, and yet I found much new information in this relatively slim volume. Albright clearly, methodically and logically lays out the foundations to bring understanding of Fascism. She cites numerous examples, using not only right-wing but left-wing and centrist ideologies to illustrate the concepts and realities.
LINK to my review
Odd One Out – Nic Stone – 2**
A love triangle in high school, told in turn by each of the three principle characters. Clearly, I am not the target demographic for this YA novel about kids who are conflicted about their sexuality.
LINK to my review
Fear No Evil, Thomas Henry Jones4 stars
This was the unusual story of an extraordinarily vicious murder in Huntington, Indiana, committed by someone everyone thought of as an all-American boy, perfect in every way. Still waters certainly run deep in his case. The authors hammered us over and over about what great guys the killer and his main accomplice were. I couldn't help noticing how much more time and less consideration the third guy got, the one who had almost nothing to do with it but who went into the situation with a bad reputation and paid for that for the rest of his life. It's as if the individual's reputation were more important than the acts he committed. R.I.P. Eldon Anson, the murder victim who was almost entirely lost in the sauce. Well-written and more than worth your time if you are interested in social criticism, true crime, psychology, or what makes kids go wrong.
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Grief Cottage
Gail Godwin
5/5 stars
This story revolves around Marcus whose mother has passed away and who is sent to live with his Aunt Charlotte, a reclusive painter that lives on an island off of South Carolina. Aunt Charlotte has her own demons to deal with, let alone raising a nephew. Marcus is mostly on his own so when he explores the island he finds Grief Cottage- a house that was wrecked in a hurricane and which his Aunt often paints pictures of. While there he senses a young man at the cottage starring at him as he sits on the porch. Who is this young man and why is Marcus so intrigued with him? What a wonderful tale by Godwin-I will definitely read more of her!
LAPD '53, James Ellroy2 measly stars
This was such an irritating read that the text almost cancelled out the value of the photos that were supposed to be the core of the book. Ellroy does not seem to get that beyond a certain density level, the stilted bebop expressions in his ultra-noir writing style obscure the meaning of what he is trying to say. What does come through is that this guy is very nostalgic for all the hideous, tragic things that were happening around him the year he turned 5. He makes it sound as if he knew all about it as it was happening and was thrilled by every minute of it -- fairly unlikely! This was 5 years before his mother's murder and does create a compelling picture of the background and underpinnings of that terrible event. This might be worth your time if you have a high tolerance for ersatz jive talk.
The Water Will Come: Rising Seas, Sinking Cities, and the Remaking of the Civilized World, Jeff Goodell4 stars
The author really does a pretty good job of cramming an enormous subject into an average-sized book. I shudder to think of how many megatons of data and anecdotes he needed to leave out of this story, skipping lightly over all the different specific problems faced by all those different countries, many of whom will be coming to us for help as the sea-level crisis builds. I did come away with a sense of the global impact and struggled not to shut the book early so I could race into the den and put WATERWORLD in the VCR...
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The Keepers of the House
Shirley Ann Grau
5/5 stars
This 1965 Pulitzer Prize winning novel revolves around the slave owning Howlands, who have lived in the South for generations. When events that happened in the past have come to a head in the future, Abigail, the latest Howland has to deal with the repercussions. This is one of the best books I have read this year.
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Love, Ellen: A Mother/Daughter Journey
Betty DeGeneres
4/5 stars
This book covers the life of Betty DeGeneres up to 1999 when it was first published. Betty and her kids had a tumultuous life. Betty was divorced, remarried and divorced again. She talks about her marriages and life after marriage, her children and their lives and struggles and especially the events surrounding her daughter Ellen and her coming out. Well written and very interesting.
Don't Stop Believin' by Olivia Newton-John4 stars
She is called Australia's sweetheart and she certainly is that. In her memoir she seems to like everybody and everyone is her friend. But she seems sincere and she is definitely a likeable person. You will get inside info about her music and her movies. I loved that she is an animal and environmental activist and also started a cancer clinic after her bouts with cancer. She is a very upbeat person and experiences life to its fullest, which I admire. If you are a fan, you will love this book.
Decaffeinated Corpse – Cleo Coyle – 3***
Book five in the Coffeehouse Mystery series, featuring Clare Cosi, the co-owner / manager of a Greenwich Village coffee shop, and an amateur sleuth. I really like this series. I enjoy learning more about the coffee business, though Coyle can be a little too detailed at times. Still, it’s a fast, enjoyable read and satisfies my yearning for a comforting cozy mystery.
LINK to my review
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D Is For Deadbeat – Sue Grafton – 3.5***
I really like this series and its retro feel. There are no cell phones or computers; Kinsey has to rely on her intellect, her network of connections and good old-fashioned leg work. She’s smart, determined, self-sufficient and never has to rely on a man to get her out of a tight spot.
LINK to my review
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Lab Girl
Hope Jahren
4/5 stars
This is the true story of the life of Hope Jahren and her career as a geobiologist. Her cohort and assistant Bill is by her side for most of the book and he is quite a character! Alternating chapters discuss her life with her work. Sometime the science bogs down the flow of the narrative but overall I found it interesting and I learned a lot about the science of trees, flowers and soil.
Mod
Unmentionable: The Victorian Lady's Guide to Sex, Marriage, and Manners
Therese Oneill
3/5 stars
Oneill, in a humorously satirical style, details the awfulness of being a woman in the Victorian Age. You will be glad you live in today’s modern era after reading what women had to do to keep up appearances and the care of their family and home. Interesting and a fast read!
The Optimist’s Guide to letting Go – Amy E Reichert – 4****
I really liked this intergenerational story that follows Lorraine, her two daughters, Vicky and Gina, and Gina’s teen daughter May. Their relationships are fraught and characterized by discord and silence. It’s a delightful and heartfelt story. I find it interesting that once Lorraine loses her speech due to a stroke, the communication between her and her daughters becomes clearer. I also have to give a “warning” about the food descriptions here. Reichert’s books always have this element in them, and readers should be aware that they will find themselves craving all sorts of delicacies.
LINK to my review
The Antelope Wife – Louise Erdrich – 4****
I just have to say that Erdrich is one of my favorite writers. Her prose is luminous and poetic. Her use of magical realism seamless. It reminds me of listening to my grandparents, aunts and uncles tell stories of family lore, sitting on a dark porch of a summer evening. The novel weaves history, contemporary urban life, legend, and sacred myth into a marvelous tapestry of a story. There is birth and death, humor and tragedy, betrayal and forgiveness, broken people scattered on the battlefield of life, and others standing tall and moving forward.
LINK to my review
Ladykiller, Juliet Papa3 solid stars
This history of the life and crimes of Richie Caputo takes you right up to the moment before his trials for murder begin. I learned a fair amount about his victims and his relationship to them and how he evaded justice for decades. The author speculated on why he finally resurfaced and what if any mental problems he might have, but unfortunately, she was working from the speculations of defense counsel, reporters and the mental health providers who were clearly just chasing their tails. This was a good read that gave me, as a mental health provider, a few sad chuckles.
Santa Cruise – Mary Higgins Clark & Carol Higgins Clark – 3***
The mother/daughter writing team gives us a cozy mystery featuring retired maid and lottery winner Alvirah Meehan, her husband, Willy, and their friends on a holiday cruise. The plot is suitably complicated, if somewhat outlandish. it’s a fun, fast, cozy mystery with a satisfying conclusion.
LINK to my review
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Murder Most Frothy – Cleo Coyle – 3***
Book four in the Coffeehouse Mystery series has Clare working for the summer in the Hamptons, helping a friend train the staff of his new restaurant. Their first Hamptoms event is marred, however, when one of her employees is shot and killed. It’s a fast read with a great cast of characters. I’ll keep reading the series.
LINK to my review
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Fingersmith
Sarah Waters
4.5/5 stars
In 1862, Sue Tinder, a young woman comes to an estate in England to work for a wealthy gentleman and his daughter. But Sue is not all she seems. She is actually there to set up a scheme to make her family of cons very wealthy. But of course there is a twist to this plot that Sue is not in on and things go from bad to worse for everyone involved. Sarah Waters doesn’t disappoint her fans in this wonderful written novel of suspense.
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The Lost Queen of Crocker County
Elizabeth Leiknes
2.5/5 stars
When her parents perish in a plane crash, Jane Willow, a popular movie critic is forced to come home and face her past. Unfortunately, one night she hits something on the highway but runs from the scene after she discovers what was on the road. She spends the rest of the story sneaking around trying to make everything right. I enjoyed the author’s writing style and it was a fast read but I really had trouble with the actions of the main character and how it ended.
Girl Waits With Gun – Amy Stewart – 4****
Based on the true story of one of America’s first female detectives, Stewart gives us a wonderfully atmospheric historical crime novel set in 1914-1915, and with a great cast of characters. I loved Constance – strong, determined, intelligent, and self-reliant. But also applaud Sheriff Heath, who not only worked to prove the case against the powerful factory owner but was astute enough to recognize the talent in Constance Kopp and offer her that ground-breaking opportunity. I’ll keep reading this series.
LINK to my review
A Deadly Grind – Victoria Hamilton – 2.5***
I liked the basic premise of this new cozy series, including the small-town setting, the interplay between the sisters, and the cast of (potentially) recurring colorful characters. But the main character repeatedly made poor choices and took such obviously dangerous chances that I was just irritated with her. Still it was a fast read, and I’d be willing to try another in the series.
LINK to my review
Dispatches from Pluto: Lost and Found in the Mississippi Delta by Richard Grant 5 stars
When I read the some of the blurb for this book I thought it was going to be a typical book about people that move somewhere that they have no idea what they are getting themselves into and then have one mishap after another but that was not the case. The author and his then girlfriend move to Mississippi just because they visited it once and really liked it. In some ways it is about dealing with things they didnt anticipate, such as living in an old house and raising a garden and animals when they had never done it before, but it is so much more. The author digs deep into the lives of the people of the region, their history and their prejudices and how they have changed in the years since slavery and Jim Crow and segregation. An interesting cast of characters, you will wish you could just pull up stakes and move there.
We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves – Karen Joy Fowler – 4****
A chance encounter with a fellow college student, causes Rosemary Cooke to briefly abandon the careful façade she’s adopted and has her reflecting on her childhood, and her lost siblings: her sister Fern and her brother Lowell. This is the kind of character-driven literary fiction that I relish. Fowler’s writing brings this wounded family to life.
LINK to my review
INVISIBLE WOMEN - DATA BIAS IN A WORLD DESIGNED FOR ME by Caroline Criado Perez *****5I have only gotten about 1/3 the way thru this but what an eye opener. Ms Perez presents us with data on how women are undeserved in almost every facet of life - Daily Life, The Work Place, Bathrooms, Design for everything, Doctors. She is not yelling at us about the inequities that have existed now and in the past, way past. She is showing us what it is like, how we need to change things for the betterment of everyone. Life is planned by men and women are just 'invisible' in that planning. I could go on and on about this but I have to get back to reading. This is a must read for women and men. A real eye opener.
My Life with Charles Manson, Paul Watkins with Guillermo Soldedad10 stars!
OK, there is no way to give a book 10 stars at GR but for me it rates that many. This is the life story of Paul Watkins, who quit school (where he was a straight-A student, class president and an accomplished musician), hit the road and found himself joining the Manson Family. He became Charlie's right-hand man and heir apparent, then left when he met a miner named Crockett who deprogrammed him and fellow Manson refugee Brooks Poston. Unlike Brooks, the author went back after the arrests for the Tate-LaBianca murders, rejoined, and stepped into Charlie's role as group leader. Then he left AGAIN after a close shave with death, which may have been a murder attempt by his followers. He was friends with my favorite characters from that story, notably the totallyawesome Juan Flynn, and told a lot of their stories as well. I learned more about how the group's members were traumatized by the murder of Shorty Shea and how that killing contributed to the unravelling of the group. But most of all he explained the hold the group had on him and how he had to work at it to break free. This is a fascinating tale of brainwashing, teenaged groupthink, and escape by the skin of one's teeth. A real must-read.
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Transcription
Kate Atkinson
3/5 stars
Juliet Armstrong of England is recruited during WWII to be a spy and infiltrate the British Fascists. When WWII ends she joins the BBC to do radio programming but her history with MI5 comes back to haunt her. Well written but at times I got confused as to what was going on which I suspect was the aim of the author. After all isn’t that the purpose of a good spy!
Hissy Fit – Mary Kay Andrews – 3***
Even before I read the jacket blurb, I knew I was in for a light, fun, fast, chick lit, beach read. And that’s exactly what I got. Mary Kay Andrews knows how to write in this genre and she does a fine job of it.
LINK to my review
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November Road – Lou Berney – 4****
Frank Guidry is on the run from the mob because he’s figured out his boss’s role in the JFK assassination. Charlotte Roy is running from an unhappy marriage, taking her two girls to a new life. When they meet in New Mexico, Guidry sees the perfect disguise and turns on the charm to convince Charlotte that he can help her. It’s a fast-paced thriller with an unlikely romance thrown in, and it kept me enthralled from beginning to end.
LINK to my review
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A Broth Of Betrayal – Connie Archer – 2.5**
Book two in the Soup Lover’s Mystery series. There’s a lot going on this summer in Snowflake, Vermont. Residents are protesting a developer’s plans for a car wash in historic downtown; a skeleton is found at the construction site; the mayor goes missing; and there are a couple of murders. Yet, with all that going on, the book felt slow to me.
LINK to my review