The Husbands by Chandler Baker

The Husbands by Chandler Baker
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

An interesting commentary on gender roles and twisty mystery all in one!

Overworked and underappreciated, Nora is a mom to a young child, an attorney working to make partner, and pregnant. She is burning the candle on both ends and feeling it. Her husband, Hayden is loving and supportive - as long as it doesn't interfere with his life. The young family is quickly outgrowing their house and looking for another when they discover Dynasty Ranch - a seemingly perfect neighborhood. Of course, nothing is ever really perfect...

The mystery involves one of the Dynasty Ranch husband's death in a house fire. Nora is asked to look into it for insurance/wrongful death purposes.

I listened to this book as I walked, (a big shout out to The Walking Book Club and MacMillan Audio) and found it engaging enough to keep listening after I finished my walk. It started a bit slowly, but the observations about working mothers were spot on and Nora's exhaustion and sense of being overwhelmed are familiar to all working moms. I think the slower pacing in the first half works to set up the action in the second half. It left Nora (and me!) wanting to believe what we were seeing even though knowing something was off. (Moral - always listen to that little voice!)

Just when I began to believe this would be a Stepford Wives knock-off, the plot took a turn, the pacing picked up, and things got really interesting. This was just about when both plot threads (gender roles/mystery) converged. There were a few times when characters didn't act true and there were a few plot hole or leaps, especially as the book neared conclusion, but the action at the end carried me through.

And then there's the ending...be sure to read all the way to the end!

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Nomadland by Jessica Bruder

 

Nomadland: Surviving America in the Twenty-First Century by Jessica Bruder
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is a nonfiction account of the mostly invisible culture of nomads. Often retirement aged people who have fallen on hard times, although we also see those few younger folks who choose to live on the road.

I was fascinated by this book. I am currently retired and always thinking about what lays ahead. I would not be looking forward to the exceptionally difficult life of working as part of Amazon's Camper Force, processing sugar beets, or cleaning firepits and rest rooms as a camp host. So interesting.

As I was reading this book I kept thinking about the Hubert Humphrey quote, “The moral test of government is how that government treats those who are in the dawn of life, the children; those who are in the twilight of life, the elderly; those who are in the shadows of life, the sick, the needy and the handicapped.” 

I have not seen the movie and was surprised to learn the source was nonfiction.  I'm looking forward to seeing how the filmmakers weave all of the nomad's stories into one narrative.

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The Hangman by Louise Penny

 

The Hangman by Louise Penny
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

It took me a while to discover Louise Penny and Inspector Gamache, but her books and his story has rapidly become a favorite of mine.  I came across this title which is rarely included in the lists of Gamache books so of course, I HAD to read it.

The Hangman is a novella written by Louise Penny and is a part of the Gamache world of books. The story is more straightforward and the characters are not as fully drawn as in her full novels. Don't let that put you off - this book is special for other reasons.

This is a GoodReads Canada book - not to be confused with Goodreads, the social sharing website for things about books. It's a program sponsored by ABC Life Canada, and funded by Canada's Office of Literacy and Essential Skills. The idea is to provide emergent adult and young adult readers with material they will want to read, and to introduce them to authors and series they will want to continue reading as their proficiency increases.

All in all brilliant idea - and the reason I gave this book 5 stars - 3 for the story and 2 bonus stars for the Good Reads program.



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The Scent Keeper by Erica Bauermeister

 

The Scent Keeper by Erica Bauermeister
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

It's the story of a young girl raised on an isolated island with her father who is a scientist interested in smells.

The story was kind of average, but the descriptions of smells, and scents was incredible. Smells always take me to a particular place or time and this is the first time I've read a book has been able to do the same. I loved it. The author's strength was her beautiful descriptions of senses we tend to discard.

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The Henna Artist by Alka Joshi

 

The Henna Artist by Alka Joshi
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is the story of Lackshmi and her journey to independence in India during the 50s. She is a woman living and working alone during a time when most marriages were still arranged. She's a making a name for herself an herbalist and henna artist. She needs to tread a bit lightly since even the slightest whiff of gossip could send her clients running. Then one day a surprise arrives that changes everything.

A beautiful book about a time, place and people who are mostly unknown to me. I loved learning about the art of henna and I'm always drawn to books with folk medicine. There is so much we discount because it's not modern. The writing is beautiful.

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The Midnight Library by Matt Haig

 

The Midnight Library by Matt Haig
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Nora Seed is despairing of her life and living.  She takes pills and never expects to wake up again, but she does and it's in a library filled with books that each represent the infinite ways her life could have gone.  She gets the chance to see what would have happened had she made other choices.

I loved this story - I've always been a sucker for the movie, It's a Wonderful Life, and this book made me think of that movie.  The thought that life is not a linear trip is one that I like to play with.  I love the notion that the small choices in your life and affect big changes in others' lives.  All of the options presented to Nora seem logical, but I really liked seeing the difference the small changes.  I loved the chapter titles and the way the work of great thinkers was sprinkled throughout.  

I was aware of Matt Haig, but only as a children's author.  I am really glad I read this adult book and look forward to reading more of his work.

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"Harry -- yer a wizard."

 

"Harry -- yer a wizard." is a line spoken to Harry by Hagrid early on in the first book of the Harry Potter series and a favorite of mine.

This book opened up the world of children's literature.  It is smart on so many levels and is enjoyed by children and adults.  I first read this book as soon as it came out and immediately knew it was something special.  I ran out and bought copies for all the eleven-year-olds in my life.

Since it's been 20+ years since its original publication, I thought I'd reread the books and see how they held up.  While it may have been a while since I read the books that doesn't mean Harry and pals have been absent from my life.  I've seen all the movies several times, play HP trivia, enjoy all the cultural references, and have proudly knitted (and wear) a Gryffindor scarf.

Boy oh boy, did the books hold up!!  I think they were better the second time around.  I appreciated the names of the characters and spells much more, could pick up subtle foreshadowing, and really took the time to immerse myself into the rich world JK Rowling has created.  

This is a series worth returning to again and again.

My Mother Was Nuts by Penny Marshall

 

My Mother Was Nuts by Penny Marshall
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I listened to Penny Marshall read this book. Hearing her stories told in her nasally, New York accent made them really come alive. Her life was interesting and she could see humor in most everything. 

While she drops A LOT of names, the book isn't a tell all. She's respectful about the people she talks about. 

I was a bit shocked at the way she casually talks about her drug use -- although maybe I shouldn't be since many of the people described as close friends were known to be heavy users. 

A quick and easy listen.

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Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi

 

Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is the story of a coffee shop that has a seat that allows you to back in time for a brief moment - as long as it takes for a cup of coffee to get cold. It gives you the opportunity for one last moment with a loved one, but there are rules - nothing in the will future change, you can only return to the coffee shop, and your stay will only last a short while.

The book tells four stories of people who are seemingly unconnected. They all "travel" for different reasons. All four stories are heartfelt and distinct.

 This book is translated from the Japanese and the language is spare and sometimes doesn't have the fluidity we are accustomed to with English writers. I also wonder about some cultural differences - especially in the way emotions are described.

I think people should read this book and just sit with the stories - accept them at face value.

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The Book of Lost Friends by Lisa Wingate

 

The Book of Lost Friends by Lisa Wingate
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

There is no finer historical fiction author than Lisa Wingate! I liked "Before We Were Yours" a lot, but I LOVED "The Book of Lost Friends". In both books Wingate takes a little known historical fact and uses it as a starting point. In this book it's the "Lost Friends" ads in newspapers.

This story contains two timelines - today and post Civil War during Reconstruction. Reconstruction is a time I don't frequently read about, and goes a long way toward helping the reader understand how truly difficult is was for the newly freed blacks - unprepared with no support and still having to rely on often unscrupulous former owners. It was also a time that families that were torn asunder could try to find each other again. No small feat considering that names were frequently changed and most freed slaves were illiterate.

The modern timeline follows an English teacher in a failing school and her students. The Reconstruction timeline follows an ex-slave who is also the illegitimate child of the plantation owner.  It doesn't take too long for the reader to discover that neither protagonist is what she appears to be.  

The book takes its name from the "Lost Friends" advertisements that were placed in southern newspapers and read aloud in black churches.  Actual advertisements are printed between the chapters in this book.  It really lent an authenticity to the story and really hit my heart.  I knew nothing of this and was glad to learn about them.

As the book progresses the timelines begin to merge, and it's very satisfying to catch glimpses of the past in the present.

The book is well researched and documented.

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The Law of Innocence by Michael Connelly

 

The Law of Innocence by Michael Connelly
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I started with Harry Bosch years ago, and they are good enough that I will always read the next entry. I especially like when universes collide and while this is a Mickey Haller book, Harry Bosch plays his part. A solid story with old friends.

Here we find the tables have turned on Mickey Haller.  Instead of defending the accused, he stands accused of murder himself.  Of course he was framed...while we know Mickey maybe a bit of a shyster, he is not a killer.   Mickey and company work to not only clear his name, but also find the killer.  

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When We Believed in Mermaids by Barbara O'Neal

 

When We Believed in Mermaids by Barbara O'Neal
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This book takes us from Northern California to New Zealand, and is the search for family. Certainly it's not only about location (although the descriptions of the location were a favorite part of mine), it's also about finding room in one's heart for family.

As the book begins we meet Kit, an ER doctor living a very impermanent life in northern California.  She gets quite a shock when she thinks she sees her dead sister on TV in New Zealand.  Through flashbacks we learn about her unconventional childhood and why finding her sister is so important to her.

Overall, I liked the book.  There were a few things that didn't quite add up for me, but I was able to suspend some cynicism because the book and its message are beautiful

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Still Life by Louise Penny

 

Still Life by Louise Penny
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I keep seeing Louise Penny books popping up on the "Best of..." lists, but had never read any. I loved this book. I loved the quirky characters and town. I also loved Inspector Gamache and his humanity. This is a series I will return to.

In this first book of the series we meet Inspector Gamache, a legend among the police in Quebec.  He is sent to solve a murder in a small town, not on any maps.  Of course, it will be populated with quirky characters who need to escape or are hiding secrets.  Meeting these people and discovering their secrets is half the fun of solving the mystery.  Since the book is set in Quebec we are also treated to French Canadian sensibilities and plenty of French phrases.  It added to the coziness of the setting.

It was so refreshing to read a mystery without an unreliable narrator.  I think that's been too overdone.  I feel a bit like we've lost enough trust in others in our "real" lives, that I don't think we need to fill our reading life with mistrust also.

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Review: Butch Cassidy: The True Story of an American Outlaw

Butch Cassidy: The True Story of an American Outlaw by Charles Leerhsen
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I like biographies, I like westerns (although I'm not fond of horses - go figure), and who doesn't like Paul Newman and Robert Redford as Butch and Sundance?

This book was an eye opener.  I hadn't ever thought about what living in the west was really like - the Gunsmoke and Bonanza episodes I watched while growing up made it seem adventurous and exciting - not dirty and hard. Thanks to Hollywood I had no clue!  

I also came away with an appreciation for how hard it is to find accurate information about "folk heroes" like Cassidy - especially since people who didn't want to be found could just move to another state and carry on with a new name. A large portion of the population were illiterate and spellings of names could be quite creative.  Of course the popularity of dime store novels that glorified bank robbers, cattle rustlers, and gunfighters didn't help. 

Throughout this book I wondered why Butch turned to crime.  He was smart, well spoken, well liked, and literate.  Initially it seemed that poverty drove him into crime, but he would go for long stretches as a hard working, trusted ranch hand and then rob a bank or a train and need to leave, only to start over in a new location.  

My biggest complaint about the book was that the author inserted himself too much into the book - especially when it came to his opinion of other researchers.  It's clear he did extensive research and provides ample documentation for his assertions, but he would come off as pompous when referring to his fellow researchers.

After finishing this book I rewatched the Newman/Redford movie.  Sadly after reading this book, I didn't like the movie as much as I did when I first watched it.  Even though it was true to the spirits of Butch and Sundance, the movie didn't age as well as I remembered it.

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Review: A Good Marriage

A Good Marriage by Kimberly McCreight
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is a good solid mystery book with lots of twists, turns, and suspects. Both books deal with the idea that you know people, only to find out you don't know them at all.  I loved Reconstructing Amelia by the author and maybe my expectations were too high for this book. 

It was hard to find likable characters in this story, and I felt a bit like some of them were solely created to be perfectly set up to be red as herrings. The rich families behave with little or no integrity, EVERYONE has secrets, an annual sex party (oh boy!!) and money or lack of it drive this story.

That said, I did finish this book in two days so it kept me going. I just wish it had the same depth and heart that Reconstructing Amelia did.

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Review: Deacon King Kong

Deacon King Kong by James McBride
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

What an interesting story with interesting people. 

This book takes place in a housing project in NYC. There are all the expected characters - drug dealers, gangsters, drunks, the homeless, deacons, strong women. It goes beyond the stereotype and gives us the humanity of those people...the drunk who moved there as a young man with his future ahead of him, the drug dealer who was a baseball phenom as a child, the preacher's wife who lifts up the whole community. Lives are entangled and lessons are learned. I loved the connectedness of the characters in the story.

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Review: The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires

The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires by Grady Hendrix
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is a great book for folks who are just dipping their toes into the horror genre to read - like me!  I wouldn't normally select a horror book to read, but I kept seeing this book on so many lists I thought I'd see if I could sink my teeth into it. 😉 

We have a group of privileged southern women in the 80s, who as a book club are reading true crime novels - gotta love that premise alone!!  I always suspected there was a bit of menace behind that sweet as sugar, "Bless your soul" from many a southern belle.

We learn about the women's lives, which mostly revolve around husbands, children, and maintaining the perfect home. Not so different from what one would expect in the 80s.  While the book club members are very stereotypic, hidden within are all of the social issues of the time - racism, spousal abuse, sexual abuse, repression of women. 

Throughout the book there are references to the serial killers and crime novels the women have read.  I did love that they took what they learned from these books and put it to good use.  There are also references to vampires in legend and in literature. I wish I was more conversant with vampire lore since I'm sure I missed several references. There is plenty of blood and gore (this is after all a horror novel!), but there are also deeper messages that apply to our 2020's sensibilities.

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Review: The Pull of the Stars

The Pull of the Stars by Emma Donoghue
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A wonderful pandemic read. Can there really be such a thing?  Things are bad for us, but image living through something like this 100 years ago!

Set in Ireland during the Spanish flu, this book takes place in a hospital's laying in/fever ward - maternity/flu ward. The caregivers and patients are the main focus.  As we see the women being tended to, the author broaches important social issues of the time - shell shock, "the troubles" in Northern Ireland, poverty, the Catholic Church.  

It reminded me a bit of an Irish version of Call the Midwife.

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Review: A Good Neighborhood

A Good Neighborhood by Therese Anne Fowler
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

I am a retired librarian and I love books - usually ALL books, but not this one.  I so rarely give a negative review that I fear this may be more of a rant than a review.

I took issue with so much about this book. The characters were very one dimensional. For a book about race and to an extent manhood, there were hardly any black men in the book. The one good white man  was dead and the remaining white men were racists and/or pedophiles. We have the strong, ethical single woman raising a son, the money grubbing slut looking for a man to save her, a trailer park trash momma, and a teenager who is "saved" at age 11 and signs a creepy as hell 'purity pledge'.  ALL the women have been sexually abused.

Everything AND the kitchen sink seemed to be the theme of this book - or maybe the author thought she could preach against all evils and maybe one would hit home. Too much skimming off the top of important issues, not any diving deep into them. The book would have been better if it had examined one issue - race, maybe - in a thoughtful and nuanced way.  I knew how this book would end almost before finishing the first chapter. 

The Greek chorus narration seemed interesting at first, but became very annoying, very quickly. There was way too much heavy handed foreshadowing - as though the author didn't trust the reader to pick up the hints through the plot.  As the book progressed and the repercussions for the characters became more dire, the flip tone of the narration didn't seem to match the gravity of the situation. 

The first half of the book was very slow, and then everything happened in the second half of the book - every bad thing that could happen, did happen.  It felt too rushed almost as though the author reached a required number of pages or had a due date looming and needed to finish the book.  

I read Z: A Novel of Zelda Fitzgerald by the same author and didn't dislike that (I gave it 3 stars). I wonder if having real people and events helped the author with her character development, plot, and pacing - All of which were lacking in this book.  There are so many other better books that deal with race and privilege - off the top of my head I can think of Little Fires Everywhere, The Vanishing Half, and The Hate U Give.

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Review: Unspeakable Things

Unspeakable Things by Jess Lourey
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This book was really interesting to me for several reasons. I like thrillers, I'm drawn to spunky teen protagonists, and the actual events this book is based upon happened in a small Minnesota town my family used to visit each summer. 

The story is based on the Jacob Wetterling case, a child abduction that received national attention and has been recently solved - 27 years after the murder occurred.  There are many parallels, but the author also draws from her childhood and takes some creative license.  

I liked the way author lead the reader to draw conclusions without having to spell them out. She gave the reader just enough to be able to fill in the blanks  - which can be quite disturbing. The book ended with a door closing and the reader is left to decide the final ramifications for Cassie (our spunky protagonist)...UNLESS one visits the author's website and reads the epilogue she removed from the book. I liked the book with the ending as written, but I was satisfied with the book after I read the epilogue.

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