November and December reading list

 I haven't read as much over the last couple of months, but here's my thoughts on what I have read.

The Heart Principle by Helen Hoang

This is another rom com by Hoang which features a person diagnosed to be on the autism spectrum. Anna Sun is a violinist and one of her performances went viral making her a huge star. Unfortunately, it has also led to burnout and extreme anxiety - so much so that she cannot even complete playing a piece. She just starts them over and over again, certain she has made too many mistakes. At the same time her long time boyfriend tells her he wants to have an open relationship.

She decides to address the anxiety created by these situations through embarking on a series of one night stands. However, even that doesn't work out how she's planned. She hooks up with Quan, a tattooed, motorcycle riding man who looks very different from anyone she's previously been involved with. The only problem is their three first attempts at a one-night stand fail - and as they keep trying, and spending more time together, it starts to feel like a relationship. Which is exactly what Anna was trying to avoid.

Quan has issues of his own as he is recovering from certain health issues and is scared the physical manifestations of his treatment will make it hard to be intimate with anyone. More tension is created by the fact that Anna's family think Quan is an inappropriate choice for her, even though he really steps up when her father is hospitalized. 

Because this is a rom com with a predictable arc, all of the issues are eventually resolved and Quan and Anna both end up with the type of the relationship they didn't know they were looking for.

The Sisters of Auschwitz by Roxanne van Iperen

I almost avoided reading this because I have read so much Holocaust literature I wasn't sure I felt like reading more. But this narrative non-fiction is quite interesting.

The author begins her research as she moves into a house in the Netherlands that was used as a safe house for Jews and other Nazi enemies during the war. Through her research she learns of the Jewish sisters, Lien and Janny who became active members of the Dutch resistance when the Nazis invaded the Netherlands. They sourced false identity cards, hid fugitives and printed and distributed an underground newspaper. All the while they also entered into relationships and had children. Both were married to non-Jews, although one of the women was involved with a German who escaped Germany to avoid military service so was also very at risk.

When life got too tough in Amsterdam they moved with their families, including their parents and younger brother, to a home in the forest which became a centre for the resistance. After many close calls the sisters were betrayed by an informant in 1944 and sent on the last transport to Auschwitz and then Bergen Belsen, together with the Frank family. Fortunately, their husbands and children were able to escape capture and did not end up in concentration camps.

Unlike the Frank women, these sisters survived and were in fact a source of information regarding Anne Frank's fate.

The book is well written and a compelling read while still filled with factual support for all the statements made. The author was even able to interview some of the sisters' children. While it is an interesting read, it is yet another Holocaust book, and you do need to be in the mood for that.

Em by Kim Thúy

I did enjoy this book, but I'll warn you from the start that it was hard to follow at times. There were a lot of characters and it was sometimes hard to keep them, and their connections to each other, straight. The central story is about Louis, the child of an American soldier in Vietnam who ends up living on the streets after his father returns to the US and his mother dies as a result of a poison gas attack during the war.

Louis adopts another baby who is abandoned at the market and names her Em. Louis and Em both eventually end up being evacuated from Vietnam and living abroad. 

The book covers not only their lives, but the lives of their parents and the impact of the war on them, and covers broader historical events such as the rubber plantations ins Vietnam prior to the war, the massacre at My Lai, the airlift of biracial orphans from Saigon and the building of the international nail salon business by Vietnamese women.

I enjoyed the book, and it was short and easy to read, but I did keep having to flip back and forth to keep track of the characters.

Becoming Eve by Abby Stein

This is another non-fiction book which tells the story of the author who was born as the first son in a rabbinical Hassidic dynasty family in Brooklyn. Though she is raised to marry, study Torah and carry on the family name, she always knows that she's really a girl.

Because she lacked access to television or the internet, she sought out whatever secular information she could find through books, including forbidden religious texts and secular examinations of faith. While she follows the path expected of her for years, including marrying and having a child, eventually she can no longer live the life of a Hassidic man. 

Against tremendous odds she orchestrates an escape from her insular community. And with the help of a  more mainstream and welcoming Jewish group she embraces a different form of Judaism and ultimately transitions. A Rabbi in her new group tries to broker a relationship between her and her father, but this is rejected outright. She is not allowed to see her mother ever again. In the afterword she suggests she is in touch with two of her numerous siblings, but they are so afraid of the implications of maintaining a relationship with her that she agrees not to name them.

This is a fascinating insider's glimpse into a world that we can generally only see from afar. It clearly illustrates how difficult it would be to remain in that world and have any semblance of individual autonomy. The author deserves tremendous admiration for having the strength of character to escape rather than live a lie.

There were also a few little tidbits that I found interesting. For example, whenever the author introduced a new character she explained how they were related to her - and it was always in multiple ways. Despite all of this inbreeding apparently it is common practice before approving a marriage match to do genetic testing to ensure there will be no issues as a result of the inbreeding.

The Education of Augie Merasty by Joseph Auguste Merasty

This is a first hand account of the author's experiences in a residential school. At the time the book is written, Merasty is a retired fisherman and trapper - so he's not young. And it's very clear how his time in residential school as a child continues to haunt him and impact his ability to function.

Merasty describes the efforts that were made to "take the Indian out of" the children in residential schools. The tales of physical and sexual abuse are no longer surprising, but still extremely disturbing. He was also taught to be ashamed of anything relating to his Indigenous heritage - and still struggled with conflicting feelings about it.

This is a very short book and really only tells a limited number of stories, but it packs a punch.

How to Save a Life: the Inside Story of Grey's Anatomy by Lynette Rice

As a loyal watcher of Grey's Anatomy over its entire 18 seasons, I had to read this book. It is really a collection of interviews by an Entertainment Weekly reporter. It is entirely unauthorized and some key people (read Shonda Rhimes) refused to be interviewed for the book so it only includes old interview material with these people, and much of that is undoubtedly taken out of context.

As much as I wanted to like this book, it was actually kind of boring. It didn't really tell me anything that I hadn't already read on social media and it seemed to have quite an agenda in supporting some of the players and not others.

If you're really into Grey's Anatomy you might want to read this, otherwise I'd definitely pass. In fact, even if you're really into the show your time might be better spent watching reruns.

A Few More Titles

 The Vixen by Francine Prose

This book was sort of strange, but intriguing. It was set in the early 1950s when the protagonist, Simon Putnam, was given a job at a major publishing firm following his graduation from Harvard (with an essentially useless degree in folklore and mythology). Simon's flamboyant uncle helped him get the job.

At first he is only responsible for rejecting all the unsolicited manuscripts that were sent for review. But eventually the head of the firm, who is also his uncle's friend, gave him a top secret job - to edit the manuscript for a "bodice ripper" based on the lives of Ethel and Julius Rosenberg. Simon's problem is that his mother knew Ethel in childhood and was very shaken by what she saw as her wrongful conviction and execution. And Simon can't tell anyone that for fear of being denounced as a Communist so he has to play along with the terrible manuscript that paints Ethel as the mastermind of her fate as well as a sex goddess.

While editing the manuscript Simon insists on meeting the very reclusive author and falls for her - they enter into a strange sexual relationship where they only have sex on her demand in very public places. As Simon gets to know her, he becomes increasingly suspicious about whether she actually wrote the book. So much of the narrative surrounds Simon delving into that issue.

There are also side stories about Simon's parents, his relationship with an employee who was fired to make room for him, his crush on one of the other women in the office and, of course, McCarthyism and the continuing efforts of the US government to denounce Communists and justify the execution of the Rosenbergs.

Again - weird but interesting.

The Summer of Broken Rules by K.L. Walther

This is another book that I read mostly because it was set on Martha's Vineyard. It was essentially a light, easy to read young adult romance with lots of Martha's Vineyard content so I enjoyed it.

Meredith travels to Martha's Vineyard with her extended family to celebrate her cousin's wedding. It is the first time the family has gone back to their regular summer cottage since she lost her older sister in a car accident.

In past summers the extended family has always played a game of assassin, and Meredith's sister was always the winner. So Meredith vows to win in her honour. But, since this is a romance, she gets distracted by her alliance with one of the groomsmen.

This is no great literature but it was a fun read - there was plenty of humour as the family and friends fight to win their game. And the typical narrative romance arc of meeting, falling for each other, falling out and getting back together.

The Strangers by Katherena Vermette

I loved this sequel to The Break as much as I enjoyed the first book. Again it takes place in Winnipeg and deals with the women in a Metis family. In particular, the story deals with Elsie and her two daughters, Phoenix and Cedar. The chapters are told from each of their perspectives - and they are all very strong and interesting characters.

Elsie has struggled with addiction for years and thus lost custody of her daughters and she tries so hard to clean herself up so she can see them. Phoenix is incarcerated in a youth detention centre, where she gives birth to a child who is immediately taken away from her. And Cedar bounced around between foster homes where she had mixed experiences before she goes to live with the father she's not seen since she was a baby and his new wife and her daughter. Cedar desperately misses her mother and sister even though she barely remembers them.

The women are also united in their grief over the death of the youngest sister, Sparrow. In addition to these women we also learn more about Elsie's mother, Margaret, who went to law school but had to give everything up when she got pregnant with Elsie and was abandoned by her white, middle class law school boyfriend.

While there is not a lot of action, the story is carried by the fantastic character development and the strength of these different, but all admirable women. Despite their less than perfect circumstances, including the racism they continually endure, I was left with hope for them at the end of the novel.

Daisy Jones and the Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid

I loved the unconventional style of this book. It was written as if it was a tell all biography of Daisy Jones and the other six members of her band. Each entry is an "interview" with one of the band members or others in their lives. It is written in such a convincing way that once I googled it just to confirm it really was fiction. And at the end the identity of the interviewer definitely caught me by surprise.

Daisy Jones is a teenager caught up in the sex, drugs and rock and roll of the Los Angeles music scene. When she is 20 she hits the big time and a producer realizes she could gain even more fame if she joins with the band "The Six" which is also on an upward trajectory. While they clicked on stage, Daisy and the bands lead, Billy, did not get along at all behind the scenes.

So much of the book follows the trajectory of the band, Daisy's dependence on pills, Billy's dependence on alcohol and then his wife and family and the other band members who are along for the ride (with differing degrees of interest in the life and patience for being in Billy's shadow).

The book purports to tell us what the public didn't know about what was going on behind the scenes of this popular band. I just loved both the story and the clever style.

What Strange Paradise by Omar El Akkad

I loved this book, though I may have missed some of the subtleties. I recently heard the author speak and he said he intended to write a modern-day Peter Pan - I completely missed that. Either I'm not familiar enough with Peter Pan or I just don't read subtexts all that well.

But, on whatever level I understood the book, it worked for me. It tells the story of a 9 year old boy, Amir. When we first meet him he has just washed up on the shores of the Greek island of Kos. He is the only survivor in a smuggler's boat full of refugees. When on the run from the scene, Amir is lucky to encounter a local teenaged girl, Vanna, who makes it her mission to save Amir.

In alternating chapters we learn Amir's backstory - his family were refugees from Syria living in Egypt when he followed his stepfather onto a smuggler's boat, unaware that he would be leaving behind his mother and step brother, possibly forever. The chapters which describe Amir's time on the boat, and the characters making the journey with him, are incredibly vivid and well written. You could feel the tension. The scenes between Amir and his step-father - as his step-father realizes the grave danger he's put them in - are particularly poignant.

The other chapters chronicle Vanna's efforts to keep Amir out of the hands of a dogged police officer who is trying to track him down and pen him in with all the other illegal immigrants on the island. She has been told that if she can get him to a remote area of the island someone will come with a boat to take him to the mainland. And she does everything she can to make it happen. The communication between the two children, who do not speak the same language, is fascinating.

I definitely recommend this one - even if you aren't a Peter Pan person!

Yours Cheerfully by A.J. Pearce

I wish I had gone back to my own review of the first book in this series, Dear Mrs. Bird as I didn't remember I actually didn't like it. And I didn't really like this one any better. I find the writing style quite simplistic, but the biggest problem is the main character, Emmy Lake. I just don't like her - I find her naive to the point of stupid, self-absorbed and just plain annoying. It's a wonder her boyfriend, Charles, and her boss (and Charles' brother) put up with her at all.

This book picks up where the last one left off. Mrs. Bird has left the women's magazine that Emmy works for and Emmy continues to help respond to letters asking for advice, under the direction of a more sympathetic woman this time. In addition, to her work on the column Emmy has been asked to help further the government's agenda of encouraging women to join the wartime work force.

Emmy meets a woman, Anne, on a train who is about to start working in a munitions factory so she arranged to interview the women working there so she can promote the lifestyle. But through her interviews of Anne and her friends, Emmy learns that everything as not as rosy as the government would have women believe. So she sets out to try to change things for the women - of course at risk to not only her job, but theirs as well. And almost missing her wedding in the rush to solve the world's problems.

I don't really recommend this book and I hope I remember my own recommendations if there is a third instalment in this series.

Unreconciled: Family, Truth and Indigenous Resistance by Jesse Wente

On the surface this is a memoir, but it's really far more than that. Jesse Wente, whose mother and grandmother are Indigenous, but whose father and grandfather are not, was raised in Toronto. He only visited his family's lands in Serpent River on vacations.  He remembers with perfect clarity the first time he realized he was an Indian - and how he was viewed not as Anishinaabe or Ojibwe, but as a cartoon Indian as seen on TV of the day (and probably still not - hello Atlanta Braves fans...).

Wente works through his history and that of his family, including his grandmother's experiences in residential schools, to try to develop an understanding of his urban Indigenous identity. I found the details of his upbringing fascinating - his experiences in very white, upper class private schools, his early love of movies which he shared with his mother and eventually turned into a career, his attendance at U of T (on an Indigenous scholarship that he struggled to feel deserving of), his early work at CBC radio and his time at TIFF. It was particularly jarring to hear how even when he was quite established at TIFF he realized he had become just a "token" and had to leave the job because of his discomfort with that role.

The later chapters are more political than memoir as he talks about his current activist work as well as what he hopes to ideally eventually achieve. However, they are no less interesting.

Another work about the Indigenous experience that should be required reading for all Canadians.

The Singing Forest by J.A. McCormack

I must confess I didn't always understand what was going on in this book - and I'm not sure if it's because I was often tired when I read it so I might have missed or forgotten some things, or if it was just confusing.

The novel really tells two intertwining stories. The first is that of Stefan Drozd who is the subject of Canadian extradition proceedings for the role he played in war crimes as part of Stalin's secret police in Belarus. The second is that of the young lawyer, Leah, who is representing the Canadian government in the extradition proceedings.

In alternating narratives we learn of Drozd's miserable childhood in rural Belarus (he was both abused and neglected), his escape to Minsk where he does odd jobs until he ultimately ends up as an errand boy for the secret police, and then his escape to Canada where he starts a new life based on lies about his past. Drozd is no doubt a miserable character - he is anti-semitic, cruel, beats his wife and is convinced he is owed the life he has build in Canada.

Leah is convinced of his guilt, but struggles to find the evidence she needs to support his deportation. She even travels to Belarus to interview witnesses, but she is uncomfortable about payments an investigator made to the star witnesses for their testimony. We also learn about her difficult childhood. Her father abandoned her when she was a toddler, her mother was killed in a car accident when she was 6 and she is taken in by her very ill, maternal aunt on the weekdays and three of her father's brothers on the weekends. The aunt is Jewish and tries to teach her some of her heritage, but she is left with more questions than answers when her aunt dies. The uncles are not Jewish and have no idea about child rearing either, but somehow they muddle through and she is very attached to them at this point.

The narrative takes us through the conclusion of the extradition proceedings, but somehow there still isn't a lot of resolution.

There were parts of this book I quite liked, and the story showed great promise, but in the end I didn't love it.

Fall Reading List

Once again I've saved up a long list of books so I will only give fairly summary reviews.

The Jetsetters by Amanda Eyre Ward

This was an interesting study in family dynamics - and how everything can go horribly wrong.

Charlotte Perkins is a 70 year old widow who has also just lost her best friend. She is estranged from her children and at loose ends. When she sees an essay contest, she decides to write about a torrid summer romance from many years ago. The grand prize is an all expense paid cruise and she hopes to take her 3 adult children to bring the family closer together.

Her children are also all struggling in one way or another. Her eldest daughter Lee lives in LA and has never quite made it as an actress. She has also just broken up with her more famous boyfriend (whose left her for a younger, more successful, co-star) and is financially unstable. Even before she hears about the contest she leaves LA to go live with her mother, without telling her mother about the break up.

Charlotte's middle child is Cord - he's a venture capitalist in Manhattan, and the only one of the children that's truly financially and professionally successful. But his mother is concerned because he can't seem to find a wife - of course, that's because he's never told her he's gay.

Finally, Regan, the youngest is a harried mother of two - the romance of her marriage (to her sister's high school boyfriend) is gone.

Of course, the story wouldn't go anywhere if Charlotte didn't win the essay contest - so the family embarks on the cruise from Athens, through Rome and Florence and on to Barcelona. While on board the family members are faced to interact with each other - and learn about long held family secrets. Old and new romances also make an appearance which complicates everyone's life even further.

I was caught by surprise by the ending - which I liked. All in all it was an entertaining book.

A Boring Wife Settles the Score by Marie-Renée Lavoie

This is a sequel to Autopsy of a Boring Wife and is equally charming and humorous. In the original book we met Diane just after her husband left her for a much younger woman who was pregnant with his child. She also loses her job in that book. Some time has passed and Diane is learning to live on her own, sharing a house with her best friend and her friend's children. She is also deciding what she wants to do for a living and decides to dabble in a new romance.

There's not a lot of action in the book, but Diane's musings as she fumbles through a new job, new love, interactions with her adult children and encounters with her ex-husband are witty and intelligent. The book is short and to the point and very fun to read.

Ties that Tether by Jane Igharo

While on one level this is a romantic comedy, on another it explores the dilemma faced by many immigrant children when they are trying to adapt to their new home.

Azere immigrated to Canada with her mother and younger sister following the death of her father when she was 12 years old. While her father was on his deathbed her made her vow to marry an Edo Nigerian man. And in the 13 intervening years her mother has set her up with countless such men - with no success. After one particularly disastrous blind date she meets, and has what she thinks is a one night stand, with Rafael, a Spanish American man.

Much to her surprise Rafael becomes a co-worker, friend and eventually serious romantic partner. And Azere must decide whether to follow her heart or keep her vow to her deceased father and very disapproving mother.

The story is well written and I thought dealt with Azere's dilemma in a nuanced and realistic manner while still maintaining the light-hearted tone of the book.

Songs for the End of the World by Saleema Nawaz

This book was so prescient it is eerie. The book begins with a publisher's note that it was all written prior to the outbreak of COVID-19. In fact, the publication date was advanced when it became clear how timely it was.

In this book a pandemic that starts in China makes its way to North America - leaving illness and death in its wake. Sound familiar? It gets even more eerie as it talks about lock downs, social distancing, overrun hospitals, contact tracing and all sorts of other issues which are now second nature to us, but we just fiction at the time the book was written. There are some differences from COVID - for example, kids are hit harder than adults and there is no vaccine in sight. But still - talk about fiction becoming reality.

The book is written from the perspective of a multitude of characters. Some of the chapters are in the present, others are in the past. And over time we learn how the various characters relate to one another - either through there pasts or through present-day encounters, or both. What is particularly interesting is that one of the characters, Owen, is the author of a plague novel that seems to foretell the pandemic in the book (again, sound familiar?).

When I picked up the book I was worried it would be too depressing to spend all that time on a book set in a COVID-like environment. But, I was so taken in by the characters and trying to piece together their relationships that I did not get hung up on the pandemic aspect. I was just fascinated by how the author seemed to predict the future and was very impressed with her ability to craft a complex story and bring all the pieces together in a believable and interesting way.

Painting the Light by Sally Gunning

Though this historical fiction is set further in the past than I typically like, I was drawn to it because it is set on Martha's Vineyard.

Ida Russell is young girl living in privilege in Boston in 1893. But her privilege can't buy her the respect she wants as an art student at a prestigious school - because she is a girl and art is still seen as man's work. However, she struggles along and does impress some instructors. But her life is turned around when her father and brothers are lost at sea and her mother takes her life when she cannot cope with her grief.

In her vulnerable state she is taken in by the charming Ezra Pease, a sheep farmer on Martha's Vineyard. She marries him and abandons her art to become a farmer's wife. And a very unhappy one. After a big storm Ezra is presumed dead and Ida must figure out how to put her life back together. And she is faced with one surprise after another about the man she married - and his only living relatives who have never much liked her. She learns how to ride a bike (wearing pants which is even more scandalous) and falls in love with a married man. She also makes decisions about the farm which had always been Ezra's domain.

The author does a great job of developing Ida's character, bringing back the spunk of her youth so she can move on from her life as an unhappy farmer's wife.

Fight Night by Miriam Toews

I've always enjoyed Toews' work, but I think this was one of my favourites. The grandmother, Elvira, was an amazing character.

The novel centres on the lives of three generations of women living together: Elvira, who is physically frail but completely "with it" and full of personality; Elvira's daughter, Mooshie, who is a pregnant actress who struggles with mental health issues; and Mooshie's daughter, nine year old Swiv.

The book is written from Swiv's perspective. When she is suspended from school for fighting, her grandmother takes on the job of home schooling her. Her assignment is to write a letter to her absent father about her life. So the book is actually that letter. At the same time Swiv instructs her grandmother to write a letter to her unborn sibling, who they refer to as Gord. So we also get to read Elvira's letter to Gord.

For me, the best part of the book was Elvira's spirit - she was always trying to do things others felt were a danger to her health - including dragging Swiv on a trip to California to visit two of her nephews. The scenes in California were funny, but also sad at times. Although this book is "just" a story about a family, it is so well written I couldn't wait to see how everything turned out for the characters that I couldn't help falling in love with.

The Spectacular by Zoe Whittall

Interestingly, this is another book about three generations of women - though in most other respects it's quite different than Fight Night. 

The main character in this one is also the granddaughter, Missy, but she's older. In 1997, when Missy is 22, her band hits it big and books a North American tour. Missy tries to get a doctor to tie her tubes so she can enjoy herself on the road, but no doctor is willing to let such a young woman make this life altering decision.

So, Missy nonetheless embarks on the tour with her all male band - and meets a man in every port. She parties hard with her band mates, but one unlucky day she forgets about some cocaine in her possession and is not allowed to cross the border from Canada to the US. So the band has to go on without her.

Meanwhile, Missy's mother, Carola, who abandoned her family when Missy was very young is living on the yoga retreat she ran to at the time. She is dealing with the fallout of a sex scandal at the retreat when she sees Missy's picture in a magazine and wants to reach out to her.

Finally, Missy's grandmother Ruth, who is 83, wants to return to the Turkish seaside that she fled from. When Missy is turned away at the border she goes to live with Ruth who tries to bring about a reconciliation with Carola.

I don't want to give it away by getting into the details but the book covers several years in the lives of the three women - how they live their separate lives, and how they periodically get together. We also gain insight into the various relationships each of the women embark on and, at its heart, what it means to be a mother.

I liked this book, but I wouldn't say I loved it the way I did Fight Night.

The Last Letter from Your Lover by Jojo Moyes

This was an interesting story about the role of women and marriage immediately before the sexual revolution. Jennifer Starling wakes up from an accident without any memory of her life. Despite the memory loss, it becomes obvious to her that she really doesn't like her husband. She then finds a love letter signed only "B" which tells her she clearly had a lover, but she has no recollection of it. She then embarks upon trying to figure out who that lover is.

In 2003, Ellie, a journalist, finds the same letter in the archives of the newspaper that employs her. She also sets out to find out what happened in an effort to salvage her career which is floundering. It also gives her some insight into her lacklustre relationship with a married man.

Eventually, both women manage to weave together what happened and Ellie, in particular, strives to find a happy ending for both Jennifer and herself.

The Forest of Vanishing Stars by Kristin Harmel

I will confess I almost gave up on this one at the start, but I stuck with it. It wasn't the best book of all time, but I wasn't sorry I finished it.

In the early chapters, a two year old girl in Berlin is abducted by an old woman named Jerusza and taken to live in the forests in Poland. Jerusza changes the girls name to Yona and teaches her how to survive in the forest - even providing lessons on how to kill. She also keeps Yona away from towns and other people, warning her of how dangerous they can be.

Jerusza dies at the beginning of World War II and Yona is left to fend for herself. While in the forest she meets many Jews fleeing the Nazis and uses her forest survival skills to help them. Most of the book deals with her relationship with the people she helps (remember she has many survival skills, but few people skills) and their struggle to evade capture and survive the harsh conditions of living in the forest.

Other than Yona, most of the characters are not terribly well developed, but are nonetheless interesting. This book was reasonably entertaining but there are better Holocaust books out there.

Holding Still for As Long as Possible by Zoey Whittall

This book is more a character study than a novel. It delves into the lives of three marginalized 20 somethings living in Toronto. There is Josh, a transgendered paramedic; Amy, his ex-girlfriend who grew up more privileged than the other characters and is an amateur filmmaker; and Billy, a child pop star who now suffers from severe anxiety attacks.

The book explores their relationships with each other and with others, as well as giving us insight into their daily struggles just to keep going. Again, not much happens but the people are fairly interesting - and it's a short read. The interspersing of EMS terminology (and the glossary of EMS terms at the end) added a twist that I found interesting.

The Last Installment

 Here is my final instalment of very brief reviews of the many books I have read over the past few months: 

The Librarian of Saint-Malo by Mario Escobar

 

This is yet another book set in German occupied France during World War II. I’m starting to think I need to take a break from these books because they’re all starting to seem a bit the same. In this one a young librarian, Jocelyn, is living in the small town of Saint-Malo. When her new husband is sent to war shortly after their marriage, she makes it her mission to save the valuable books in the Saint-Malo library. The story is told through letters she writes to a famous writer, Marcel Zola, who she hopes will survive the war to tell her story.

 

When the Nazis take over the town, Jocelyn is forced to house an officer, Bauman, who is both demanding and abusive. He is also clearly seeking out sexual favours and when he is rebuffed increases his efforts to find and remove valuable books from the library. Jocelyn also witnesses his particular cruelty to her Jewish neighbours and friends.

 

Jocelyn eventually joins a more organized resistance made up of some of the locals. She is assisted, somewhat surprisingly, by another German officer whose role is to safeguard the cultural heritage of occupied countries. He personally takes on Bauman in defending Jocelyn and the valuable library collection.

 

The narrative carries through to the end of the occupation and we eventually learn the fate of Jocelyn, her husband, the other members of the resistance, the German officers and the library collection.

 

Songs in Ursa Major by Emma Brodie

 

This was a fantastic surprise – I knew almost nothing about this book when I picked it up and I ended up really enjoying it. It tells the story of Jane Quinn who was raised by her grandmother and aunt on an island of the coast of Massachusetts (Bayleen Island) which is clearly intended as a stand in for Martha’s Vineyard.

 

Jane is an amateur singer whose band is called upon to play in the Bayleen Island folk music festival in the summer of 1969 when the headliner, Jesse Reid, gets into a motor vehicle accident on the way to the festival. Jane’s band is a huge success and Jesse’s agent offers to get them a recording contract. Despite facing tremendous sexism in the recording process, the album is made and is a big success. And the band is invited to tour with Jesse’s band.

 

While on tour Jane and Jesse enter into torrid romance (which is said to be loosely based on the relationship between Joni Mitchell and James Taylor). Neither the romance nor Jane’s band manage to survive the pressures of touring and fame. So, Jane and Jesse part ways, and her band breaks up. The novel follows all of the players for years, and against all odds Jane becomes a major solo artist.

 

The book also deals with major issues of sexism in the music industry, drug addiction, mental illness and the power of family secrets to destroy lives. I had a hard time putting it down as I was so interested in the fate of all the players. I found the epilogue particularly satisfying in the way it tied up all the loose ends.

 

The Warsaw Orphan by Kelly Rimmer

 

Another novel set during World War II – this one in Warsaw. Here, Roman is a Jewish boy living in the ghetto with his family. He is at first one of the fortunate ones as he has a job in a factory that feeds him and pays him a small amount to help his family (including a younger brother and a new born sister). Elzbieta is a Polish girl (a few years younger than Roman). Elzbieta has moved to Warsaw with her adopted parents and uncle and is hiding the secrets of her own past.

 

Elzbieta is bored and befriends her neighbour, a nurse, who she eventually learns is smuggling Jewish children out of the ghetto. Without her parents’ knowledge Elzbieta convinces her neighbour to let her help. In this way she meets Roman when his parents are faced with the difficult decision of whether to give up their daughter to save her. Roman and Elzbieta are drawn to each other and become friends.

 

Their friendship is strained when Roman, who is devastated by his parents’ and younger brother’s deportation, joins the resistance. And Elzbieta’s involvement puts her in danger due to the secrets she’s hiding.

 

Rimmer writes well and this is an interesting story (inspired by the real life Polish nurse, Irena Sandler, who smuggled Jewish children out of the Warsaw ghetto), but I just think maybe I need to take a break from this type of book which seems to have been so plentiful lately.

 

The Secret Keeper of Jaipur by Alka Joshi

 

While this can be read as a standalone book, it is really a sequel to Joshi’s earlier novel, The Henna Artist. Those who have read the earlier book will remember Malik, the henna artist Lakshmi’s young assistant. This book takes place several years later when Lakshmi is now married to Dr. Jay Kumar and is directing a healing garden at the hospital in Shimla.

 

Malik, who is now 20, has just finished his private school education and Lakshmi, wanting him to have great opportunities sends him back to Jaipur to work for the Facilities Office of the Jaipur Royal Palace which is building a new, state of the art, cinema. Malik is reluctant to go having just met and fallen for Nimmi, a young widow with two small children.

 

When the cinema collapses and injures and kills many people, the novel turns into a bit of a mystery. Malik does not believe blame is being directed at the right people and he sets out to discover the truth. This quest highlights the huge class distinctions at play in Jaipur.

 

Eventually, the truth about many secrets comes to light. I quiet enjoyed this book, although not as much as the first one.

 

People we Meet on Vacation by Emily Henry

 

This book is billed as a novel version of the movie When Harry Met Sally which is an apt enough description. In this case Poppy and Alex meet during orientation in their freshman year at the University of Chicago. They are vastly different – he is quiet and studious, she is more of a partier – and think they will probably never cross paths again.

 

However, they come from the same town and someone suggests that he should give her a ride home for the summer. Over the course of the drive, despite fighting over music, eating in the car and other such mundane travel-related issues, they develop a friendship. And while they move to different places and embark on very different careers, every summer they meet up for a week long vacation. For both it becomes a highlight of their year.

 

Except, we learn early on that something bad happens on one of the trips and they lose touch. Two years later Poppy is unhappy in her jobs, her relationships and her life in general. When she thinks it over she realizes the last time she was truly happy was on her summer trip. So she decides she needs one last vacation to win back Alex’s friendship.

 

Over chapters which move from the past to the present we learn how the relationship grew, what went wrong on that trip, what has happened since and where Poppy and Alex will end up in the future.

 

I enjoyed the characters in this book. And I thought the structure of how the narrative unfolded worked really well. I recommend this one.

 

Family Reunion by Nancy Thayer

 

I always enjoy Thayer’s annual, light, summery, Nantucket based novels. They are by no means great literature, but they are a great escape.

 

This one tells the story of Eleanor, a widow who is living in an old house on a cliff in Nantucket. Eleanor lives in Nantucket year round and loves the summer when her children and grandchildren visit for an annual reunion. But this year her children have a surprise – they think she should sell the house and move into a retirement community. While they suggest it’s for her health, in fact what they really want is their share of the proceeds.

 

The only one on Eleanor’s side is her 22 year old granddaughter, Ari. Ari wants an escape from her life, including her parents, so comes to spend the summer with her grandmother. She gets a job at a summer camp for local children and pours her heart into it. And, of course, it wouldn’t be a Nancy Thayer book if there weren’t a love interest for both Eleanor and Ari.

 

Pleasantly predictable and easy to read. This is only for you if that’s a genre you appreciate.

 

Anne of Manhattan by Brina Starler

 

This is a modern-day adaptation of Anne of Green Gables, which is set in Manhattan. In this case, after years in foster care, Anne grew up on Long Island with her foster parents, Marilla and Matthew. In Long Island her best friend is Diana and her archrival is Gilbert Blythe. Throughout school Anne and Gil competed and fought over everything – though they did share one unexpected kiss after graduation. After that she ghosted him.

 

Now, Anne is living in Manhattan with Diana and another friend from college. She is working on her post-graduate degree and yearns to be a writer. She is thrown when she runs into Gil, who has just moved to New York after 5 years in California. And to make matters worse he is enrolled in her program and they are paired with the same professor for their thesis.

 

Working together leads to friendship, and then a closer relationship. But then Gil does something that Anne interprets as an attempt to get ahead of her. She feels she should never have trusted him. But he feels the same when he finds out Anne has been hiding the inappropriate advances of their thesis advisor. Together they have to work through the mistrust to see if there’s a future for them.

 

Golden Girl by Elin Hilderbrand

 

While I am always anxious to read Hilderbrand’s new releases, I hesitated over this one when I saw the premise. In this novel, Vivi Howe, a Nantucket based author, is killed in a hit and run accident just as she’s achieved the pinnacle of her career. She enters the afterlife and is given a coach who tells her she has the rest of the summer to watch what’s going on “down below” and that she can use three “nudges” to help things move in the direction she hopes they will. So, a weird premise – but, it actually worked for me and I enjoyed the book. It really just served as a different way to narrate a story about people.

 

Together with Vivi we watch her three children (who are young adults), her ex-husband and his new girlfriend, her most recent boyfriend and the publication of her latest novel. We also get to see the investigation into Vivi’s accident. The novel is loosely based on Vivi’s past and ends up revealing secrets to her children that she had not really intended to share. We also get to see how Vivi chooses to use her nudges and bring about happier endings for the people she loved.

 

I enjoyed revisiting Nantucket with Hilderbrand – many of the more minor characters and locations played a prominent role in her past works. If you like her work, you should read this one despite the somewhat supernatural bent.

 

Malibu Rising by Taylor Jenkins Reid

 

I enjoyed The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo so much that I was anxious to pick up Reid’s latest novel – and it did not disappoint.

 

In many ways the style of the two books is similar. There are a lot of characters (I sometimes had to search back to be reminded of who someone was) and while most of the narrative takes place in the present, there are many intermingled chapters which tell us about the characters’ pasts. In fact, Mick Riva, the father of the four main characters in this book was also one of Evelyn Hugo’s seven husbands – so that was kind of a fun tie in (though by no means do you need to read both books to understand either).

 

Mick Riva is a rock star who essentially abandons his wife, June, who is now deceased. He travelled around the country collecting girlfriends, wives and probably children. When he leaves June he essentially abandons his four children, Nina (a model), Jay (a pro-surfer), Hudson (a photographer) and Kit (an aspiring pro surfer and the pampered baby of the family). Every year since their mother’s death the children have hosted a huge party that attracts everybody who is anybody in LA. 

 

The narrative goes back and forth telling us about the love story of Mick and June, the birth of the children, June’s death, how the children carried on after her death and then this year’s party. By the end of the party the house is destroyed and we’ve learned a great deal about this family and where the future might lead them. I don’t want to give too much away because this is a really engaging book which I highly recommend.

 

The Paper Palace by Miranda Cowley Heller

 

This is another book that went back in forth in time and told us the history of several friends and family members. The “paper palace” is the name given to a family’s summer compound on Cape Cod and much of the action, both past and present, takes place there.

 

The narrative starts with Elle Bishop, who is a 50 year old wife and mother, having a one night stand with her oldest friend, Jonas. She spends the next 24 hours deciding whether she should stay with her husband, Peter, who she truly loves or leave him for a chance with Jonas. Making the decision leads her to relive the many moments of her past that led to this day.

 

There are many disturbing aspects to the past – both Elle and her mother were sexually abused as children. And, Jonas and Elle shared a terrible secret that tore them apart or they may have had a relationship many years before.

 

I don’t want to give too much away, but I recommend this book for both the mystery of it and the complex and engaging characters. However, I do warn you that the scenes with sexual abuse were quite upsetting.

 

While we were Dating by Jasmine Guillory

 

This is the sixth romance novel by Guillory and it was as entertaining as her others. While the characters in all of the books are inter-related, they can be read as standalone books.

 

In this one, Ben works as an ad agency and lands a big account for a campaign featuring a movie star, Anna. Anna is ambitious and wants to land a big move role but is doing the ad campaign in the interim. Ben and Anna immediately begin flirting with each other and, when Ben gets drawn into Anna’s family emergency, their relationship becomes more involved. In addition to their sexual attraction, they genuinely like each other’s company and begin to share their past secrets with each other.

 

When Anna’s manager suggests a public relationship with Ben would be good for her career, he is willing to play along, even keeping the truth from his family. After this the novel follows the typical narrative arc of trouble in paradise followed by reconciliation.

 

Guillory’s books are always light, fun, well written and entertaining.

 

Seven Days in June by Tia Williams

 

At its heart this book is a romance novel, but the back story to the characters makes it a little more complex.

 

Eva Mercy is a best-selling erotica writer living as a single mother in Brooklyn. She never felt very safe growing up as her mother moved them from place to place as she fell in with different men (most of them bad news). As such, she is working very hard to create a stable environment for her daughter. She does this all despite suffering from debilitating migraines.

 

Shane Hall is an award-winning literary author who has lived a very reclusive life. To everyone’s surprise, especially Eva’s, he shows up at a literary event where she is speaking. Sparks immediately fly between them. And, it becomes obvious to anyone familiar with their work that they have always been writing about each other.

 

What no one knew is that when they were teenagers they spent 7 blissful days together one June – until she woke up out of a drug induced sleep to find Shane missing. He had promised to never leave her so she was devastated and is now afraid to trust him.

 

Despite her concerns they are still very attracted to each other and spend another seven days together – and eventually Eva gets the courage to ask Shane why he left. Seeing again and having the answers causes her to make a big decision about her writing style and leads her to wonder whether they have a future.

 

The Love Child by Rachel Hore 

 

This is a book based on the real life stories of young unwed mothers who were forced to place their babies up for adoption.

 

Alice Copeman becomes pregnant at 19. The father of the baby was a soldier she met working as a field nurse during World War I. Unfortunately, the father did not survive to see the birth of his child and Alice is forced by her step-mother to give the baby away so she does not bring shame upon herself and her family.

 

Hating her stepmother for this, and struggling to move on, she throws herself into her studies and becomes a doctor (against staggering odds for women). She never stops trying to provide advice about family planning to her, mostly impoverished, patients.

 

The baby is adopted by Edith and Philip Burns, and they name her Irene. Shortly after her adoption Edith becomes pregnant and her mother always favours her natural son, especially because Irene is the baby her husband chose not the one at the agency that she preferred. Irene is also bullied by other children (called a bastard) and she therefore knows she’s different but doesn’t really understand why.

 

The narrative follows both Alice and Irene for decades and eventually the two stories intertwine so we get to see what happens when long buried secrets are revealed.

Second Instalment of Long List

Day for Night by Jean McNeil

 

I didn’t actually enjoy this book all that much.  It takes place in London during the Brexit vote. Richard is an independent film writer and director and his wife, Joanna, is a wealthy movie producer. They decide to make a film about Walter Benjamin, a German Jewish intellectual who killed himself in Spain in the 1940s while trying to escape the Nazis. What’s weird is Richard seems to see and talk to Benjamin throughout the novel – to get his take on things.

 

The other main story line is when they cast a sexually ambiguous young actor to play Benjamin and Richard embarks on a sort of affair with him.

 

All it all I just found the book too weird for my taste.

 

Where the Grass is Green and the Girls are Pretty by Lauren Weisberger

 

This was by no means great literature, but it was interesting enough and definitely topical. It focuses on Peyton Marcus, a news anchor who has reported on college bribery scandals when her husband is accused of bribing officials at Princeton to buy their daughter’s way in. Ironically, their daughter didn’t even want to go there in the first place; she wanted to go to an arts school.

 

This has far reaching implications for innocent victims including their daughter, Max, whose offer is rescinded. In addition, Peyton’s sister Skye loses funding for a shelter for at risk girls that she has been devoting her life to (and getting into debt that her husband doesn’t know about).

 

It certainly kept my attention to find out how everybody sorted their lives out in the end.

 

Good Company by Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney

 

This was a bit of a slow read but the characters were interesting enough to keep it going. It deals with Flora and Julian, a couple who have moved from New York to L.A. and are finally finding some financial stability. Flora does voice over work and Julian has a regular job in television instead of devoting all his time and energy to the struggling theatre company they ran in New York.

 

When their daughter Ruby is graduating from high school, Flora is looking for a picture of the three of them and their best friends Margot and David. While looking for it she comes across Julian’s wedding ring which he claimed to have lost when Ruby was five years old. Through flashbacks we learn what happened that summer – and see the impact it has on both Flora’s marriage and her relationship with Margot.

 

The Last Bookshop in London by

 

This is another book that takes place during the London blitz. Grace, a young girl who had a horrible relationship with her rural father and step mother moves to London when they tell her she can no longer live with them. She, and her best friend, Viv, move into the home of her late mother’s best friend.

 

In London Grace befriends her mother’s friend’s son. Her mother’s friend also convinces an elderly local bookshop owner, Mr. Evans, to hire her as an assistant. There, she slowly modernizes the shop and wins over Mr. Evans. She also meets a handsome RAF officer who introduces her to literature, starting with The Count of Monte Cristo.

 

However, the war intervenes, her beau and her mother’s friend’s son are sent overseas. The only communication they have are infrequent letters. Grace also joins the neighbourhood watch brigade where she helps to shepherd people to shelters when air raid sirens ring, and to clean up the devastation after bombings.

 

When the main, posher, street of book shops is severely damaged, Grace’s shop literally becomes the last book shop in London. So, she makes space for other book sellers to sell their stock from her shop – even those who had always behaved badly toward her.

 

The story provides an interesting angle on how everyday Londoners managed to survive the blitz despite terrible personal loss and hardship.

 

That Summer by Jennifer Weiner

 

Another excellent novel by one of my favourite authors. Like last year’s Weiner novel, much of the action in this one takes place in Cape Cod.

 

In the past, Diana spends a summer living with a professor that her single mother works for at the university. She spends her days working and her evenings hanging out with summer residents of the town, including a private school boy who seems to take an interest in her. However, the summer ends on a bad note when the boy and two of his friends get her drunk and rape her. Years later we see where the girl has ended up and the lasting impact the rape has had on her life. 

 

At the same time we are told the story of Daisy, an upper class housewife living in the suburbs with her much older husband and their daughter, Beatrice. Daisy is struggling with Beatrice who has been kicked out of a fancy private boarding school and with her husband who is indifferent to her, at best.

 

While I do not want to give the story away, over time, the two narratives come together in an interesting fashion. While somewhat predictable, Weiner builds in enough twists to keep you really interested. 

 

If You Want to Make God Laugh by Bianca Marais

 

This story takes place in South Africa, in the townships and the countryside, leading up to the end of apartheid and the election of Nelson Mandela. The novel centres on a very young black girl, Zodwa, who, while living in a squatters camp, is raped and becomes pregnant. While she does not really want the baby, when she is told he died immediately following birth she is devastated – and she does not really believe it. She thus begins a crusade to find her son – and at the same time to figure out what happened to her brother who died during the fight to end apartheid.

 

At the same time we learn of two white sisters – Ruth and Delilah, the daughters of a Scottish father and an Afrikaans mother. Their father was abusive and they each escaped the farm they lived on at a young age. Now they have returned to the farm due to different personal crises and through the narrative we learn about their pasts.

 

Eventually the two stories also collide and we see the relationship between the Zodwa, Ruth and Delilah. In each case they are struggling to figure out their place in the new South Africa, with the threat of civil war and the growing AIDS crisis.

 

This is a great story – while political, it is also very personal. I found myself invested in all three women. I definitely recommend this one.

 

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid

 

I really like this one.  Evelyn Hugo was a poor girl living in Hell’s Kitchen in New York in the 1940s. Her mother died when she was young and her father was abusive. She has a dream to make it as an actress in Hollywood, and at 14 marries the first man who can take her away from New York and get her to LA.

 

Though faced with the tremendous sexism that most female actresses of that era (or even now) suffered, she eventually makes it big.  The book tells us how and at the same time gives us a detailed account of the seven husbands she acquires along the way – and eventually tells us who her true love was.

 

Evelyn’s past is revealed in her old age as she grants an interview to a young magazine writer, Monique. Monique is an unlikely choice to write her biography, but Evelyn is very specific that she must do it. Over time we, and Monique, learn why.

 

I really enjoyed this book. Evelyn was a fascinating character – strong, inventive, and flawed. She was not always the kindest person – and could be extremely self-centred – but that only added to why I was drawn in. I definitely recommend this one.

 

Letters to Camondo by Edmund de Waal

 

This was a very short book, written entirely in the form of imaginary letters from the author to Moise de Camondo. Through the letters we learn about Camondo, a banker and art collector from a wealthy Jewish family in Paris. His ancestors arrived in Paris from Constantinople and built a large mansion which is now a museum. On his death Camondo willed the property to the city with the proviso that nothing change. I didn’t actually find this book all that interesting. It was mostly a rundown of names and dates, with a lot of name dropping by the author whose family was another one of the Paris elite. If you’re going to read something by this author, your time would be better spent on The Hare with the Amber Eyes which tells the story of the author’s ancestors

A Book Summary

It’s been weeks (or months) since I’ve posted – I’ve been reading a lot but haven’t had the time to post. So, the following are briefer than usual reviews of some of the books I’ve read since my last post (more to follow when I get more time).

 

Ladies of the House by Lauren Edmondson

 

This book is a modern-day retelling of Sense and Sensibility, but it has been decades since I read that book so I can’t comment on how effective the retelling is. In this novel, 34 year old Daisy’s father has just died. Following his death it is revealed he was involved in a public scandal. As a result Daisy, her mother and sister are forced to sell their fancy home in Georgetown because they can no longer afford it.

 

Daisy’s mother is not coping well with giving up her lifestyle and her younger sister just wants to move on – but ends up falling for the son of one of her father’s political opponents. Meanwhile, Daisy is still pining after her long time best friend – only to discover he is writing an exposé on her father. She at first wants to respond to this by staying out of the spotlight, but discovers her silence may make the lingering scandal even worse for her family.

 

This was a fairly light and easy read, entertaining enough, but not exceedingly memorable.

 

The Relatives by Camilla Gibb

 

This was a relatively easy book to read, but I never really got into it.  In fact it was a bit more like reading three separate short stories. They did come together in the end but, for me, not in a particularly satisfying way. I’ll not reveal the end here, in case you want to read the book on your own.

 

The three stories are about Lila who is a social worker. She was adopted as a young child and only knows her biological mother was a teenaged refugee who died by suicide when she was two. This history impacts her work as she tries to rescue many of the children she works with – sometimes with less than perfect results.

 

In the second story, Tess and Emily are a lesbian couple who have separated. Tess never wanted to be a mother but Emily convinced her so they have a child, Max. Emily does most of the child-rearing though Tess does take more interest in Max once he gets older. After they separate, Emily wants to use their frozen embryos to have one more child on her own. Tess is reluctant as she does not even want the burden of becoming a genetic parent.

 

In the final story we learn of Adam who was Tess’s sperm donor. He donated sperm to pay his way through graduate school and has no desire to be a father. At the start of the book we find Adam being held captive by al-Shabaab in Somalia which has him rethinking his views on home and family.

 

Through alternating chapters we see where these characters end up and how they are related to each other.

 

Hana Khan Carries On by Uzma Jalaluddin

 

This is a sweet, well written romance novel, by a local Toronto author and set in Toronto. Hana’s family owns a struggling halal restaurant in the Golden Crescent neighbourhood. Hana waitresses there part time but she really wants to work in radio. She is currently interning at a local radio station where she is desperately trying to outshine the other intern and therefore get a permanent job. She also tells her stories in an anonymous podcast and develops a virtual relationship with one of her listeners.

 

Trouble arrives when a handsome young man moves into her neighbourhood with plans to open a competing, more upscale halal restaurant. Despite herself Hana finds herself drawn to the man.

 

At the same time an aunt and cousin arrive from India for a visit – and slowly a secret is revealed about her aunt’s past – which ties into the rival restaurant owner. The book also sensitively portrays a racially motivated attack on the neighbourhood which brings the rivals together.

 

A predictable narrative arc for a romance novel, but interesting nonetheless because of the intriguing characters and the local colour.

 

Musical Chairs by Amy Poeppel

 

This was an easy to read, often humorous novel. It centres around Bridget, a cellist in a trio. She has been friends with the pianist, Will, for so long that most people believe they are married. Right now they are searching for a new violinist. While they are off work searching for the violinist, Bridget decides to go to her summer home with her boyfriend.

 

Her summer plans are thwarted when her boyfriend breaks up with her by email. Instead, she is left with her adult twin children who descend on her. Her daughter, Isabelle, has just made the spur of the moment decision to leave her lucrative job and her son, Oscar, thinks his husband is cheating on him. To add to the excitement, her 90-year-old father, a legendary conductor, has decided to remarry. And both Will and Isabelle are flirting with new relationships.

 

When her father wants the trio to play at his wedding they need to find that violinist. Will decides to contact Gavin, the original member of their trio. So, Bridget is forced to face the fact he may be the father of her twins, rather than a sperm donor. And she has to figure out whether Will is really the friend she always thought he was.

 

Everything wraps up fairly nicely in the end – to me it made for an enjoyable read.

 

The Woman with the Blue Star by Pam Jenoff

 

This is yet another ghetto based novel – and as many recent ones seem to, also focuses on the role of the non-Jews in helping the victims.

 

In this novel, Sadie and her parents are living in the Krakow ghetto and in a last ditch effort to escape end up stranded in the sewers under the streets of Krakow. This is further complicated by the fact that Sadie’s mother is pregnant.

 

At the same time Ella, is living in Krakow with her well to do, but mean, stepmother. Ella wanders the streets both to escape her stepmother and to rendezvous with her ex-boyfriend who has suddenly reappeared. One day she spots Sadie through a sewer grate and they end up becoming friends. Ella does what she can to help and protect Sadie once she finds her.

 

I don’t want to give away too much, but as should be expected from a Holocaust book, the girls struggle to survive and suffer tremendous loss before the war comes to an end. I did guess the ending, but not until I was almost there, which I enjoyed. If you like this type of book, I recommend this one.

 

Crossroads by Kaleb Dahlgren

 

This is a fascinating memoir by Kaleb Dahlgren, a survivor of the horrific bus crash in Humboldt, Saskatchewan.  The author was a new member of the junior hockey team that was the victim of the crash, but had become quite close with many of the 16 teammates and coaches who perished.

 

He had already suffered a great deal of adversity in his young life – he had childhood diabetes, his father was gravely ill. He worked hard with trainers and nutritionists to manage his diabetes and allow him to play hockey. He volunteered countless hours with children with diabetes in order to show them what was possible and befriending disabled hockey fans, bringing them to games and team events. He also went to a series of private and public schools to ensure his education was sound as in addition to being a talented hockey player he had plans to attend York University on a hockey scholarship. Split seconds at a crossroads on the way to a playoff game changed everything.

 

At first doctors thought he may not survive; then that he may never walk again. And, of course, the emotional trauma of losing so many teammates. With the support of his parents and intensive medical intervention and rehabilitation, he did regain the ability to walk. However, he won’t ever play hockey again. Fortunately, York University was willing to honour its commitment to him, making him a non-playing member of the team and allowing him to further his education. There are surely good things ahead for this talented and strong man.

 

Speak, Silence by Kim Echlin

 

I quite enjoyed this short novel. It tells the story of Gota. She is currently a single mother living in Toronto, but has never forgotten a passionate affair she had 11 years ago with Kosmos, a Bosnian.

 

She hears about a film festival in Sarajevo and that Kosmos will be there with his theatre company so she takes an assignment with the travel magazine she works for to investigate the fallout of the Bosnian war.

 

When she is reunited with Kosmos she immediately sees how the war has changed him – she also forms an unusual bond with Edina, the new woman in his life. It is Edina who provides Kosmos’s backstory and draws Gota into her work as a lawyer trying to get justice for the countless victims of sexual violence during the Bosnian war. Gota becomes determined to tell the stories of these women.

 

Gota takes her quest so far as to find many of the women and accompany them to The Hague to confront their abusers in the International Criminal Court. This experience of course changes Gota’s life forever.

 

The descriptions of sexual violence are graphic and disturbing – so do not read this if you find that too difficult. Otherwise, this is a very worthwhile, and important, read.

 

Letters Across the Sea by Genevieve Graham

 

This was an interesting book about a fairly ugly period in Toronto’s history. While it was not an exceptional book, the historical angle was sufficient to keep my attention. In the depths of the depression, a teenaged Irish girl, Molly Ryan, befriends and eventually falls in love with her Jewish neighbour, Max, in downtown Toronto. However, with rising unemployment tensions are running high between the Jewish and non-Jewish Toronto communities. This culminates in the Christie Pits riots where Nazi youth storm a youth baseball game and attack the Jewish players and fans.

 

Molly and Max choose this inopportune moment to kiss – which is witnessed by her father. He rushes to tear them apart and is injured in the process.  The injury leads to him having to leave his job on the police force, and he blames the Jewish man for that.

 

At the same time, the second World War rages on.  Molly’s brothers and Max and his friends enlist. They are sent to Hong Kong. Here the book gives a historically accurate account of a part of the war that was not familiar to me. Hundreds of Canadian soldiers were sent to Hong Kong – essentially as sacrificial lambs. Many were killed by the Japanese invaders; others, including, Max were captured as prisoners of war and held in horrific conditions for years.

 

Eventually Max returns from Hong Kong, and in a somewhat predictable ending, the two families make peace with each other. As I indicated, it was an interesting glimpse at history though far from the best book I’ve ever read.

 

Summer on the Bluffs by Sunny Hostin

 

This book is set in one of my favourite places, Martha’s Vineyard, though it takes place in a community I’ve not been part of. Oak Bluffs has for decades been a getaway destination for well to do black families. This story centres around Amelia Vaux Tanner, an aging widow and former Wall Street trader, who owns a cottage in Oak Bluffs. Her late husband was a prominent civil rights attorney and they built the dream cottage together.

 

For years, Amelia and her husband, who had no children of their own, brought three young, less well off, black girls on summer vacation with them. Perry, Olivia and Billie grew up as summer sisters. Amelia and her husband also supported their educations and provided them with job opportunities. The girls have never known why they were chosen.

 

This summer the widow has reconnected with an old flame and decided to follow him on his travels through Europe. As such, she plans to pass the cottage on to one of the girls, who are now young adults, and to reveal why she’s always taken an interest in them.

 

Before she is able to carefully deliver the message, each of the girls learns their back story. And that leads to tension amongst them and with Amelia. There are also several interesting men who play supporting roles in the lives of each of the women.

 

This is a well written story that delves into the history of all four women – and shares their present lives with us. I, of course, loved to detailed descriptions of Martha’s Vineyard – it almost felt like being able to visit.

 

Just Last Night by Mhairi McFarlane

 

This is a great story about friends and family relationships and the secrets people keep from each other. Eve has a fairly predictable life – a job she tolerates and weekly pub quizzes with her best friends Ed, Justin and Susie. She has also harboured what she thinks is a secret crush on Ed who has just gotten engaged to his girlfriend, Hester (who Eve of course hates).

 

Right after the engagement, Susie is killed in a car accident on her way home. In the aftermath of her death Eve learns that Susie and Ed were keeping secrets from her. She also visits Susie’s father who has dementia and does not remember Susie is dead which makes it even harder to come to terms with her death. Finally, Susie’s older brother, Finlay, shows up from the US. After initial clashes she becomes very attracted to him and joins him on a mission to retrieve his addled father who has travelled to Edinburgh. Ed is jealous and tries his best to keep the two apart.

 

Through working together even more secrets about Susie, Finlay and their past are revealed and Eve starts to figure out how to put her life back together.

 

Much Ado About You by Samantha Young

 

This is a sweet if not memorable romantic comedy. Evie Starling is passed over for a promotion in her home of Chicago. Desperate to get away she impulsively plans a holiday in a small English village. The holiday package includes an apartment and a temporary position operating Much Ado About Books, a small bookshop.

 

For Evie this is a dream vacation – and of course she also falls for Roane, a local farmer. Typical twists and turns take place but Eve, Roane and the cast of local townspeople made for an interesting read.

 

House on Endless Waters by Emuna Elon

 

While this was yet another Holocaust story, of which I’ve read many, it did have a slightly different angle. Here, Yoel Blum, a middle-aged man from Israel visits Amsterdam as he feels compelled to learn the story of his late mother who immigrated from there after the War. He is first there on a book tour when he visits the Jewish Museum and is sure he sees a picture of his mother in a video clip. However, his mother is holding a baby that is not him, or his sister, and that he cannot identify. So, he returns to Amsterdam to figure out who the baby is.

 

The writing style was interesting as Yoel is a novelist. What he learns from his past, through visits to the museum and synagogues and discussions with local Jewish community members, is woven into the novel he is writing rather than being told as his past.

 

I don’t want to give much away, but Yoel definitely learns that there was a reason for his mother’s reticence in getting together with large groups, particularly those who had also immigrated from Amsterdam.