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What Are You Reading? April - June 2021
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Halfway There
by Eve Langlais
2**
Narrator Nicole Poole makes this listenable.
I am cautious when books include term Women's Fiction but had high hopes for this because it is also on paranormal romance and mystery lists.
Naomi's life changes make slow progress which is realistic but hearing her thoughts as she repeatedly thinks about same problems is a bit much.
Her health problems would be more realistic if she were 10 or 20 years older. Nothing about going to doctor about (this may be TMI for some so) (view spoiler). It starts in US so doctor situation understandable but then she's Canadian living in Canada.
Paranormal story arc - things happen but little is learned.
Near end a mystery is abruptly solved but threat remains to be dealt with in another book.
Already have the second installment On My Way from Hoopla so I started it. Hope story arcs progress and I want whatever keeps Naomi from seeing paranormal dealt with. That plot device is annoying, not amusing, me.
I have no plans to listen to book 3. Evidently there are two endings, one in the book and another the author posted online. This trilogy may end in a cliffhanger. Author's done that with series at least once before with additional information revealed in other series. When I finish book 2 I'm done listening. If I do book 3 it will be e book so I can easily skim.
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An Extravagant Death, Charles Finch
★ ★ ★
Charles has uncovered a major theft ring run by 3 top Scotland Yard CDI's... Rather than have Charles testify in person & disrupt his position as P.M., Benjamin Disraeli, sends Charles to America courtesy of the Queen.
Upon arriving Charles is greeted with much pomp and is welcomed into "society", especially since his wife, Lady Jane, is well known as an English society VIP.
Traveling to Boston, Lennox's train is stopped and his presence is demanded at Newport in order to solve the murder of one of society's most eligible debutants. The suspects, both of high ranking Knickerbocker heritage.
As much as I enjoy this series and characters, I have to say I was disappointed in Lenox; as he allowed himself to be wounded by being careless, and that is out of character.
I knew immediately who the murderer was, but the murder weapon made absolutely no sense to me.... - 1 ★
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Dead Loudmouth, Victoria Houston
★ ★ ★
Loon Lake, because the denizens are flaming looney? Jeez what a group of who needed killing, and only two got their just desserts.
A man & woman are found dead atop each other, on top of a white grand piano that had been hoisted to the ceiling of a "gentleman's club"... being crushed to death. This is what was wrong: everything had been wiped clean of prints, but the murderer left footprints on the countertop when entering by the window. Made no sense to me.
It was easy to figure out who done it, but we never really got to know the victims or their ugliness as they were dead from the beginning of the book. So that made for their personalities to be hearsay.
I liked the main characters, they seemed to be good decent people... Even the description of fishing was entertaining, go figure. So I'll be reading more in this series.
On My Way
by Eve Langlais
Narrator Nicole Poole
2**
Part 2 of Midlife Mulligan trilogy.
About the same as Part 1. Made tolerable by being almost an hour shorter than part 1 and I sped up the narration. Narration is good. The story is the problem.
Don't Stop Believing
1*
Part 3 Midlife Mulligan e book
This one starts, at least to me, sad. It's also dark from the beginning. Read first few chapters then started skipping, reading a scene here and there. For me the HEA ending did not line up with how the books were going so I read the alternative ending. It's the creepy dark ending I expected.
Eve Langlais at the end of the alternative ending of Don't Stop Believing
"And that is the most scream-worthy ending, the kind I love."
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American Spy – Lauren Wilkinson – 4****
What an interesting and inventive debut. Told as a letter to her young children, Marie relates the events that led to her meeting their father and her career in counterintelligence. Wilkinson uses some events from history – particularly the assassination of Thomas Sankara – to frame this story of personal responsibility, family dynamics, and loyalty: to family, to country, to social ideals.
My full review HERE
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A Twist in Time, Julie McElwain
★ ★ ★ ★
2019: Rogue FBI Agent Kendra Donovan being pursued by a killer, runs into the hidden stairway in the study of Aldridge Castle for safety; only to find upon emerging that she is now 200 years in the past. Eventually becoming the Duke of Aldridge's ward while helping to solve murders among the Beau Monde.
A well known widow, currently known for her disgraceful manners in society and as the paramour of Sir Aldridge's nephew Alec, is found stabbed to death & her face mutilated.
There are no lack of suspects, including Alec & the widow's despised step-son; and there is the disappearance of the famous 5 strand pearls/diamond necklace that her current lover took from his wife and gifted her; which she obscenely wore & flaunted at the opera, in front of her lover's wife & family...
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Betrayal in Time, Julie McElwain
★ ★ ★ ★
2019: Rogue FBI Agent Kendra Donovan being pursued by a killer, runs into the hidden stairway in the study of Aldridge Castle for safety; only to find upon emerging that she is now 200 years in the past. Eventually becoming the Duke of Aldridge's ward while helping to solve murders among the Beau Monde.
When a high ranking government military man is found garroted in a vacant church with his tongue cut out & cross-like symbols on his body in invisible ink... Duke of Aldrich & Kendra are called to assist the coroner.
It is soon discovered that the man had secrets from wartime Spain & France that he had just become privy to; all tied to Evert Lawson, the son of his former-best friend's whom he was mentoring to be in the Secret Service.
Evert Lawson had been reported dead 2 years past, when he had been captured in Spain by the French plebian army and blown up in an explosion & subsequent fire.
Next another former military man is murdered in the same manner and a third is targeted, whom Kendra hopes to save, no matter that he is the most culpable of the tree involved in Evert's demise.
Well written interesting, compelling & at times funny....
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A Lady in Shadows, Lene Kaaberbol
★ ★
France 1894: The book opens with a man watching a woman bathe & then ejaculating into a glass container of some sort.
Immediately in the first chapter a woman is found murdered w/ her abdomen slashed... Which leads to the question is there another Ripper running around.
Madeline Karno, is an highly intelligent young woman who helps her father with his medical practice & autopsies. She is admitted to the University in hopes of becoming a doctor, but instead they move her to the Physiology classes, where she encounters the former male lover of her fiancée and an odd acting professor.
As Madeline investigates the murder of the dead woman, she learns that the woman was pregnant and both her womb & fetus are missing. She also discovers that many of the free-living prostitutes in the city are being treated every-other-day with so called syphilis treatments, that turn out to be anything but.
I read the book through, but was not entranced with the characters, they seemed rather flat and boring. The narratives were boring as well...
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The Little Old Lady That Struck Lucky Again, Catherina Ingelman-Sundberg
★
I know this is supposed to be as funny & entertaining as the "100 year Old Man", but I didn't think so.
5 Swedish pensioners go to Las Vegas, rob a casino, happen across a cache of stolen diamonds, transfer the $$$$ to help both the Police Pension Fund & the Pensioners' Home... but something goes awry!
The return to Sweden, buy a house next door to some bikers and yadda, yadda, yadda.
Not only was I bored, I didn't find them funny not did I even like them as people.
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Eat a Peach, David Chang
★ ★
David Chang is the proprietor of several restaurants beginning w/ MomoFuku (Lucky Peach) The Noodle Bar and several other sites all with different names and different menus.
This book is not a cookbook )but there is one "Momofuku, which I will review later) but his memoir & that of his restaurants.
He talks briefly about his childhood & family but goes into detail about the opening/planning of his restaurants. He doesn't talk much about his chefs except to point out their contributions & give them credit for their hard work & ideas.
He does talk on & off about his therapy, therapist, mania, & depression.
Both the Noodle bar & Ssam sound wonderful, but as they are in N.Y. they are a no go. His Los Angeles restaurant Majordomo, I read the limited menu and I wasn't too impressed: $17 for a bowl of Kimchi Rice is a bit much, no matter who makes it.
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Dead Spider, Victoria Houston
★ ★
Lew has her hands full, not only has the least liked richest man in town been murdered at the annual youth fishing contest which he sponsors, the local residential home for retirees has been robbed (drugs, guns, jewelry, & cash), and Dr. Osborne's granddaughter has disappeared.
A lot is going on. The Governor's office has labeled the murder as High Priority & is footing the bill for the investigation; the town has been asked to send in all photos & videos they've taken on the event; and an expert on reading surveillance videos is brought in to teach Lew & her deputies how to review the event's films as well as the town's.
Somehow everything is all connected and there really isn't any surprises; but there sure are/were a whole lot of ugly people in that town.
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Dead Big Dawg, Victoria Houston
★ ★ ★
Lew, Dr Osborne (Lew's lover), Ray, & Bruce are back on a case; this time a missing woman & multiple murders.
Two of the lovers, ex and otherwise of the local serial adulterer are murdered as is the husband of one, and a local bird watcher is missing.
A local couple's business computer is hacked, which merely brings another character who wants to learn to fish into the plot.
Fast & easy to read, it was easy to figure out "who done it".
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Highway 61, David Housewright
★ ★ ★
McKenzie is asked by Nina's daughter, Erica, to help out her father who is being blackmailed (only Erica does not know why her father needs help).
Erica's father & Nina's ex is a conman being conned by a young prostitute he met online. He took her to a Jazz Festival in Thunder Bay, Canada... The last thing he remembers is they were drinking & getting high and then he wakes up to find her dead, throat slit, on a different hotel floor than where they were staying and instead of checking for a pulse, he bolts without reporting the crime to the police.
While investigating the hotel room, McKenzie's car is tagged by the "Two Joes" with a large amount of cocaine, which McKenzie finds and disposes of.
Turns out Erica's father is being blackmailed for the death of the prostitute and has set McKenzie up as a mule for the drugs w/ the two Joes.
When McKenzie finds out the girl is still alive it leads to a hunt for her & the database she stole from the online Madame by several killers working for different factions all with different interests....
All throughout the story as the many layers of deceit of Erica's schmucky father become revealed, it is evident why Nina divorced him, leaving one to wonder why McKenzie continues to help him.
Intense, fast paced & an engrossing read; however, as I'm beginning to like the characters in this series less & less, which is why this gets 3 stars
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Secretariat – William Nack – 4****
Subtitle: The Making of a Champion. I think everyone knows about this horse and his extraordinary Triple Crown victory. Nack did extensive interviews with the people involved: owner Penny Tweedy, trainer Lucien Laurin, jockey Ron Turcotte, and groom Ed Sweat, as well as the many others surrounding the horse. The book starts slowly with a laborious genealogical history of both the people and the horse. But once he starts writing about the actual races …Nack makes the telling of those races almost as nail-bitingly exciting as it was to watch them live.
My full review HERE
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Dead Madonna Victoria Houston
★ ★ ★
A young woman is found dead under the pontoon boat of the son of a wealthy business man, she was murdered. Near the same time a local woman is found dead in her home; same wounds as the dead girl.....
The young woman was pregnant, but her wealthy married lover was not going to divorce his wife tin order to marry her & the other man, well she was stringing him along which made his wife unhappy...
Easy to figure out "who done it"... Loon Lake is a decent series and the main characters are likeable enough, there is a lot of fishing goin on, which I often skim over.
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Dead Deceiver, Victoria Houston
★ ★ ★
Someone is hacking into the Technical College's computers & sending out scam e-mails to the students & other colleges using the College President's e-mails. Sometimes at night after school hours, sometimes from her home.
Her husband is a conman, 3 divorces with financial abuse, the last one two days after this current marriage.
A woman who lost her way while snowshoeing is shot in the face & her body dumped. Ray & Doc Osborne find one of her snowshoes. The 90 year old hermit finds her other snowshoe and is murdered for it....
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(view spoiler)
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Walk Two Moons – Sharon Creech – 5*****
I was completely drawn into the book from the beginning, as I learned that Sal was forced to move from her beloved Kentucky farm some 300 miles north to a town where there wasn’t even a tree in her yard. I liked the multi-generational aspect of the novel, as well as the story-within-a-story way Creech revealed what had happened. As Sal told the story of Phoebe and the lunatic, she was peeling back the layers of her own story, and finding ways to process her loss. Though I cried at the ending, I was left with a feeling hope. A marvelous book.
My full review HERE
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The Unteachables – Gordon Korman – 4****
This was a fun, enjoyable middle-grade book about kids – and at least one teacher – who need a little extra help and a hefty dose of understanding and empathy. I loved how the kids came to understand one another, and how they came to understand their teacher and his struggles. I think that young teens and middle-grade students will particularly like the focus on what the kids CAN do. Put down and bullied, they are clearly NOT helpless victims. Bravo!
My full review HERE
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Momofuku Milk Bar, Christina Tosi
★
Normally I'd go into in-depth detail about the book: Font, layout, contents, recipes, photos, list of ingredients, directions, etc. but I was so put off and so very disappointed by it all that I'm not going to waste my time.
Milk Bar: a place to drink, purchase, & eat desserts made with milk that has had Cornflakes, Fruity Pebbles, or Captain Crunch soaked in it & then strained. That immediately put me off as I clearly remember drinking that milk when I was too young to know better.
I did read the list of ingredients at the beginning of the book and Tosi did explain what she used, what could be substituted, and why. But I found recipes to be labor intensive and therefore of no interest and just reading them made me gag on the projected sweetness.
Her description of her cookies, crunchy outside & creamy inside, left me imagining raw/undercooked gooey messes.
I also found a great dichotomy in her ingredients: pure butter, organic eggs, & high grade chocolate mixed w/ (most likely gmo) highly sugared commercial cereals & cheap marshmallows?
Such a huge disappointment and a whole lot of hype. before you buy a copy, I suggest you borrow a copy from your local library.
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Magic Ramen, Andrea Wang
★ ★
It turns out that this is a very simplistic take on the creation of Instant Noodles/Cup-of-Noodles and nothing to do with David Chang's N.Y. Momofuku Noodle Bar... LOL! But at least we know where the name came from.
What I found weird was that the inventor Momofuku Ando created these so that Everyone would be able to afford a hot bowl of ramen without having to wait in long lines the cold weather, just to eat; but that for a long time after first making his instant ramen available it cost considerably more that fresh Ramen from a vendor.
Aside: If you want to see a movie on the making of a Ramen Bar, I suggest you watch "Tampopo".
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Caught in Time Julie McElwain
★ ★ ★ ★
2019: Rogue FBI Agent Kendra Donovan being pursued by a killer, runs into the hidden stairway in the study of Aldridge Castle for safety; only to find upon emerging that she is now 200 years in the past. Eventually becoming the Duke of Aldridge's ward while helping to solve murders among the Beau Monde.
The Duke of Aldrige, Kendra, & their staff are on the way to one of his country estates (away from his sister) when out of the fog comes a group of Luddites, running from the textile mill they have just destroyed...
As the Duke & Kendra are invited to go to the mill, they discover the body of the mill manager with his head smashed in and a void where blood splatter should be. Days later the widow of the mill manager & her housekeeper are found with their throats slit, the widow being tortured as well & the house ransacked..
The local mill owner has eyes for Kendra but she dislikes how he makes her feel when he looks (leers) at her with his smarmy smile.
There is a great twist in the plot, which had me surprised....and led to a satisfying ending.
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Dead Tease, Victoria Houston
★ ★
Lew & Doctor Osborne are called to the scene of a young woman's murder; one fatal knife stab into the heart... A vicious crime and even more viciously flaming crazy characters.... A philandering husband gaslighting his wife, a lot of fishing, and an odd ending.
I'm thinking had I read this first, I might not have read any others.
BTW: The titles are based on the names of Trout Flies
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Beneath the Bonfire – Nickolas Butler – 4****
In this collection of short stories Butler explores relationships: men and women; male bonding; fathers and children; people and the land. The ten stories are dark and mesmerizing, Butler’s characters are lonely and yet reaching out for connection. I recognize the landscape which can be brutally unforgiving for the person not experienced or equipped to survive the dangers of the north woods.
My full review HERE
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Dead Lil' Hustler, Victoria Houston
★ ★ ★
While working for an environmental department searching for non-native invasive plant species a young man stops to fly fish in the traditional Japanese style of Tenkara. Just as he's getting ready, he is killed by a sniper's bullet to the head.
Meanwhile two kayakers come across the remains of someone in a snowsuit, the snowmobile underwater, also shot in the head.
Doc's grandson, Cody, is rushed to ER with a case of meningitis where he meets up with a most obnoxious man whom her knew from his childhood..... The man doing his best to learn about Lew.
Lew, Dr Osborne, Ray, & Bruce are on the case as well as on the lake/stream fishing.
There is one thing I notice consistently about Dr Osborne; while he's supposed to be sharp & able to read an interviewee as good as, if not better than Lew, he always notices a Red Flag and either ignores it or forgets about it until the end of the book; which makes me wonder just how good of a Deputy he really is.
The more I read of this series, the more I skim over the parts of everyone's back stories & the fishing.
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Dead Insider, Victoria Houston
★ ★
A Whole Lot of Crazy Assed Folks in this one...
During a flood, what looks to be 6 packages of butcher paper wrapped venison are seen floating down a flood of water; when the local deputy & flood control worker snag & open the packages, what they find are the body parts of the woman who was running for Senator...
Lew, Dr Osborne, Ray, & Bruce are on the case as well as on the lake/stream fishing.
There is one thing I notice consistently about Dr Osborne; while he's supposed to be sharp & able to read an interviewee as good as, if not better than Lew, he always notices a Red Flag and either ignores it or forgets about it until the end of the book; which makes me wonder just how good of a Deputy he really is.
The more I read of this series, the more I skim over the parts of everyone's back stories & the fishing.
Mod
The Coronation, Boris Akunin
★
Although the synopsis on the front inside cover grabbed my attention, I just did not like the tone of the book; all the pomposity bored me as did the all of the lengthy erudite first person narratives of Afanasi Ziukin, the majordomo of Grand Duke George Alexandrovich.
Grand Duke Georgii Alexandrovich arrives in Moscow with three of his children for the coronation of Tsar Nicholas. During an afternoon stroll in the park, Georgii’s daughter Xenia is dragged away by bandits, only to be rescued by Erast Petrovich Fandorin and his Japanese sidekick, Masa. Then the group realizes that the four-year-old, Mikhail, has been taken in the ruckus.
A ransom letter arrives from the kidnapper demanding ransom in form of the Count Orlov Diamond from the royal coronation scepter.... and so the adventure begins.
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Dead Rapunzel, Victoria Houston
★ ★ ★ ★
The young widow of a wealthy man who is about to open an art gallery with the money he left her is pushed in front of a lumber truck & killed...and old man without a hat is seen running away from the scene. The young man who saw the old man is then found dead out near an ice fishing spot.
As Lew & Dr Osborne investigate her death, it becomes obvious that her predeceased husband's children & extended family know nothing about her plans for the museum & have high hopes of inheriting.
It was obvious "who done it". Not as much actual fishing in this one, but still the subject is there.
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Shadows in Time, Julie McElwain
★ ★ ★
2019: Rogue FBI Agent Kendra Donovan being pursued by a killer, runs into the hidden stairway in the study of Aldridge Castle for safety; only to find upon emerging that she is now 200 years in the past. Eventually becoming the Duke of Aldridge's ward while helping to solve murders among the Beau Monde.
A Brewster's (Female Brewer) male relatives are plotting against her even though the company has always been passed down to the eldest daughter; her manager has gone missing so she asks Kendra for help. Kendra finds him in a farmer's nearby cottage stabbed to death.
Then all hell breaks loose in the Duke's home. A young woman shows up claiming to be the Duke's long lost daughter, who along with her mother (the Duke's wife) drown 20 years ago. Although the Duke wants Kendra to investigate in order to know the truth, he becomes more & more entranced with they young woman as does the Duke's sister.
While investigating the long lost daughter, there is an attempted kidnapping of Kendra and then a second....
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The Killing Room, Cristobel Kent
★ ★
I found this to be not only confusing but rather boring as well; too many things going on at once. The discovery of a hidden basement room that was once a torture chamber (barely mentioned & left for the end); the firing & subsequent murder of the Palazzo's security man; the disappearance of a dog & a journalist/boyfriend; the internal investigation of Sandro's partner, Guilietta on drug use allegations at the women's' clinic where she also works; the smearing of the missing dog's poop on the outside of the owner' room; & the death of the most fascinating resident of the newly opened Palazzo Residences.
It was difficult to get a bead on the personalities of the main characters; Sandro Cellini, his wife Luisa, & partner Guilietta, they seemed very bland. While on the other hand the people staying in the Palazzo were outright Fugly people.
There was too much going on and not enough tie-in's. I couldn't even keep the characters straight as to who was who...
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A Murder in Tuscany Christobel Kent
★ (being generous)
Wow was this Booooooooooring! Cellini was slow, his wife emotionally distraught, the other characters (on an artistic retreat in an old castle) really erudite, and the innocent working in the kitchen. Unlike other detectives in Italy & France, you never get the sense that Cellini has much of a personality, he seems to be stuck & just drifting along.
Long narratives, very little action and almost as little dialog.
Will skip the series.
I would give this book 10 stars if possible! I loved this book.It is riveting and heart wrenching. The story of sisters Isabelle and Vianne during WWII in Nazi occupied France. Both women heroes to so many. They had their everyday lives taken away from them yet rose above it for survival of others and themselves. I've read many fiction and non-fiction Holocaust stories and continue to shocked and horrified by what I learn abt the Holocaust. The horrors what evil men and women are capable of. It saddens me that it is taking so over 70 years to learn of so many brave and heroic women! We need to know these stories before they are gone. These are the stories to teach young women today!
I sat down in the afternoon to read for a "bit". I finished the last 300 pages in the wee hours of the night and most of the time on the edge of my seat. The last 10 pages I was in tears.
This is one very powerful read I will never forget. I wonder if I would have had the strength to do what the women of this story did. I doubt it. This is a MUST READ!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Home – Nnedi Okorafor – 4****
Book 2 in the marvelous “Binti” science fiction trilogy. Okorafor is a wonderful storyteller! I love the way she crafts her tale, combining science fiction and traditional mysticism. I also like how she weaves in a message of social justice and against racism. Binti is one strong female lead. I’m looking forward to Book 3, to see how (I’m not even wondering whether) Binti manages to bring peace between warring factions and ensure the future of her people.
My full review HERE
Currently I am reading 'Friends & Other Liars' by Keala Coble
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Quite a Year For Plums – Bailey White – 3***
A charming look at the eccentric people who inhabit a small town in Georgia. I had a hard time getting into the book. That was my problem, I think, rather than the book’s. I usually enjoy these slower, meandering, character-driven works, but it just didn’t quite work for me at this time. It was okay. There was nothing really wrong with it. But I barely remember it just a day after finishing it.
My full review HERE
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Bluffton – Matt Phalen – 4****
Subtitle: My Summers With Buster Keaton. This graphic novel explores the early 20th century era of Vaudeville, and one particular summer resort that catered to many of the era’s Vaudeville stars – including the Keaton family and their talented son, Buster. It’s a wonderful way to introduce young readers to this by-gone era.
My full review HERE
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The Winter of Frankie Machine – Don Winslow – 4****
Wow, what a ride! The action is fast and furious, and deadly. Retired Mob hit-man Frank Machianno (a/k/a/ Frankie Machine) is really on his own, with no one to trust. And the reader is pretty much on her own as well. There are more potential suspects than Carter has pills. The action is non-stop and there are surprises right up to the ending. This is the first book by Winslow that I’ve read. It won’t be the last.
My full review HERE
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: This Time Together – Carol Burnett – 4****
Subtitle: Laughter and Reflection. In this memoir Carol Burnett chronicles her show business career, from her early roles in New York, to headlining her incredibly popular variety show and beyond. I love Carol Burnett. She is truly an American Treasure. I can’t remember the last time I read a book that had me both howling out loud in uncontrollable laughter (my husband came from the other side of the house to see what was going on), and crying to the point where I had to put it aside for a moment because I literally could not see the words on the page for my tears. That speaks, I think, to the genuine person Burnett is, and to her generosity of spirit to lay it all wout there.
My full review HERE
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Caddie Woodlawn’s Family – Carol Ryrie Brink – 3.5***
This sequel to the popular Caddie Woodlawn book was originally titled “Magical Melons.” Set in the late 1800s, in Western Wisconsin, the books chronicle life in the Woodlawn family, primarily from the perspective of Caddie, who is almost 13 in this episode. She and her five siblings have great fun in and around their farm and the land surrounding it. Like the “Little House on the Prairie” series, these books provide a reasonable look at life in those pioneer days, though stories involving the native Indian population make me cringe.
My full review HERE
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An Irish Country Village – Patrick Taylor – 4****
Book two in the popular Irish Country Doctor series, relating the trials and tribulations of young Dr. Barry Laverty as he begins his practice as a country GP in the mid-1960s in Ballybucklebo, a fictitious community in Northern Ireland full of eccentric and memorable residents. Taylor has a gift for making his character so alive they fairly jump off the page. I also love the descriptions he gives of the landscape; makes me feels that I’ve actually been to Northern Ireland. Will definitely keep reading this series.
My full review HERE
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A Stab In the Dark – Lawrence Block – 3***
Matthew Scudder series, number four. Block writes a tight, fast-moving, noir police procedural. Scudder is something of a mystery himself. Oh, we know why he left the force and we’re privy to his demons, but he plays his cards close to the vest. Watching him ferret out the truth is engaging and fascinating.
My full review HERE
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The Bookshop Of the Broken Hearted – Robert Hillman – 3.5***
In 1968 in rural Australia, Tom Hope runs his farm, milks his cows, tends his sheep and tries to find a new purpose in his life after his wife, Trudy, left him and took her son, Peter, with her. Then he meets Hannah Babel, a survivor of Auschwitz and some 15 years his senior, who hires him to build bookcases for her new bookshop. I really liked how Hillman drew these broken-hearted people, how he revealed their pain and their efforts to heal and move forward. Yet, I wasn’t sure I understood Hannah all that well.
My full review HERE
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Finding Dorothy – Elizabeth Letts – 3.5***
Letts mines history to go “behind the scenes” on the making of the 1938 movie that launched Judy Garland’s star - The Wizard of Oz - and, more importantly, the story of how L Frank Baum came to write the series that captured the imaginations of millions of readers. I was engaged and interested from the beginning and felt that I learned much about both the making of the movie and about the people Maud and Frank Baum were.
My full review HERE
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The Accidental Tourist – Anne Tyler – 3.5***
Tyler excels at writing character-driven works that give us a glimpse of their lives in all their messy complexity and banal ordinariness. I love the scenes she creates that reveal so much of family dynamics; the Thanksgiving dinner is priceless, as is Rose’s wedding, and Christmas at Muriel’s mother’s house.
My full review HERE
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Books mentioned in this topic
The Accidental Tourist (other topics)Finding Dorothy (other topics)
The Bookshop of the Broken Hearted (other topics)
A Stab in the Dark: A Novel of Suspense (other topics)
An Irish Country Village (other topics)
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Authors mentioned in this topic
Eve Langlais (other topics)Nicole Poole (other topics)
Eve Langlais (other topics)
Nicole Poole (other topics)
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