I've read a fairly wide variety of books over the past month - liked some; others less so.
Royal Holiday by Jasmine Guillory
This romantic comedy is really just pure fun. While it draws on characters from Guillory's prior books it is absolutely not necessary to have read them first in order to appreciate this one.
Vivian Forest, an American woman in her fifties, is asked to join her daughter Maddie on an unusual Christmas business trip. Maddie is a stylist and has asked to fill in for someone in styling a member of the royal family (who is clearly meant to be Meghan Markle). So Vivian, who has rarely left the country before, is whisked away in first class style to spend Christmas in a cottage outside London owned by the royal couple.
While there Vivian meets Malcolm Hudson who is the Queen's private secretary. Romance develops between the two as he takes it upon herself to show her around (where she has a humorous meeting with the Queen in the royal stables).
After Christmas, and on a whim, Malcolm invites Vivian to stay with him in London over the New Year. She does this and their relationship deepens - to the point where they have to figure out what they can do about it since they live on opposite sides of the ocean.
The book is pure fluff, but well written, intelligent and funny. If that's the kind of escape you're seeking, I recommend it.
When we Meet Again by Kristin Harmel
I'm not sure how historically accurate this book is, but to the extent there is some truth to it, it certainly covered a piece of history of which I was not aware.
Emily has had a lonely upbringing - her father deserted the family when she was a child and started a new relationship with a woman who did not want to include Emily in their lives, her mother was killed in a car accident when she was 17, and her paternal grandmother who took care of her after that has recently died. She also has moved from one disastrous relationship to another since abruptly leaving what may have been the love of her life at 17. She has always focused on her career so when she is laid off from her journalism job she really at loose ends.
The mystery of Emily's past starts to unfold when an anonymous person sends her a painting of a woman she recognizes as her deceased grandmother - together with a written note that says only "he always loved her". This sets her on a quest to find out who sent her the painting, and who it was that always loved her grandmother (who, to Emily's knowledge, had also been abandoned by her husband at a young age).
In alternating chapters we slowly learn of her grandmother's past - she lived in a poor farming family in Florida. During World War II German prisoners of war were sent to work on farms like hers (this is the part that I think is historically accurate, but which I never knew about). Her grandmother falls in love with one of the prisoners - and her feelings are reciprocated. However he's not free and when the war is over is shipped back home - promising to return.
As the story unfolds we learn why Emily's grandparents were never reunited - and we see her repair her relationships with her father and her first love.
I don't want to give too much away, but the story while a bit far-fetched was intriguing.
Olive Again by Elizabeth Strout
This is a sequel of sorts to Strout's book, Olive Kitteridge. While it is not necessary to have read this book, or The Burgess Boys, there are overlapping characters so it does add some depth to this book. While described as a novel, it reads more like a collection of interconnected short stories which take place in the small seaside town of Crosby, Maine. Kitteridge appears at least indirectly in most of the stories. She is an aging and opinionated woman and her affect on people varies widely - some love her, others don't. Personally I'm not a huge fan of hers - I find it hard to sympathize with her idiosyncratic and well entrenched views. I can't say I bonded with any of the other characters either - just as you started to get to know them the story moved on and you never saw them again. While this book was critically acclaimed, I could take it or leave it.
Trust Exercise by Susan Choi
This book was just plain weird - and to be honest, even after mulling it over for several days, I'm not sure I understood it. First of all, the almost 600 page book is only divided into 3 chapters. So sometimes that makes it hard to follow the thread.
In the first section we meet Sarah and David who are high school students at an elite arts school. They fall deeply in love, but through a series of misunderstandings and differing attitudes (not to mention a socioeconomic divide) their relationship falls apart rather quickly.
Through the whole first chapter we follow their time in high school - as well as their relationships with the other cast of characters, including other students, teachers (especially the flamboyant and unconventional, Mr. Kingsley) and some visiting students and teachers from England.
In the second chapter we learn that the whole first chapter may have been fictionalized by Sarah who is now a novelist. This chapter is written from the perspective of one of her former friends (though her name is not mentioned in chapter 1 - a pseudonym is used). This friend has returned to her home town and has befriended David which prompts her to track down Sarah and bring her back to town to see a play which he is directing and which was written by the British teacher that visited all those years ago. It's not clear to me what the friend wants to accomplish by doing this.
The third chapter is from the perspective of a young woman many years later who was raised by adoptive parents and is seeking out her mother. I thought I knew who the mother was (I won't share my guesses here lest it give away too much), but honestly I'm not certain.
I kept reading because I was interested enough to want to figure out how this story would unfold - but in the end I'm still not sure I got the answers...
If you're interested, make sure you leave yourself lots of time to read this book so you can flip back and forth to try to connect the dots. I read an e-book and may have been happier with a hard copy that would have made that process easier.
Mourning Has Broken: Love, Loss and Reclaiming Joy by Erin Davis
This is a memoir by Erin Davis, who was an extremely popular host of a Toronto morning show. In 2015 her seemingly healthy 24 year old daughter died in her sleep just after celebrating her first mother's day.
Davis gives a very honest account of how she heard about the death, how she coped in the immediate aftermath and how she and her husband put the pieces of their lives back together, very slowly and over time.
At times this book was exceedingly sad - after all it is an account by a mother who has lost her only child. At other times it leaves you with hope for humanity - she was often treated with immense kindness by both friends and strangers. Though, she also saw the worst in humanity - sometimes it was by well-meaning people who just said the wrong thing (she particularly hated the "at least..." comments and did not find them at all comforting). Sometimes it was by truly vile people who should really have kept their mouths (or e-mails) firmly shut.
I think this is an important read for anyone, but particularly if you know someone who has lost a child. It gives very practical guidance on how to navigate this very sensitive situation.
As an aside, I love the title - such a good play on the word Mourning by a former Morning Show host. I applaud Davis for her courageousness in sharing her journey and hope that she continues to find joy where she can.
Tuesday, January 14, 2020
Monday, December 2, 2019
The Sweetness of Forgetting by Kristin Harmel
While at times a little far fetched, I was really sucked into this wonderful story.
Hope is in her mid-thirties, recently divorced, running her family's near bankrupt bakery and trying her best to raise an angry 12 year old, Annie. She has also lost her mother to cancer and her beloved grandmother, Mamie, is slipping away into Alzheimer's.
In a moment of lucidity Mamie realizes that if she does not reveal the secrets of her past to her granddaughter they will be lost forever. So she sends Hope to Paris with a list of her family members to find out what happened to them.
In Paris Hope discovers Mamie has been living a lie - though for the best of reasons. The interesting story is how Hope tracks down what happened to Mamie's family as well as a long ago lover.
In her quest she is helped by her daughter, who becomes more supportive as she learns more of her family's past, and Gavin, a friend who would like to be more if Hope can only open up her heart again. She is also aided by Jewish organizations in Paris and the US, Muslims in Paris, as well as an unlikely Muslim Albanian family. Her ex-husband and ex-boyfriend (and unfriendly banker) are less supportive. With time she also realizes that the fairy tales her grandmother has been telling her for her whole life contain more truths about her past than she realized.
While some of the story is sad - as Mamie has lost so much time, some of it is very hopeful. Mamie is able to teach Hope and Annie about the power of love, even after decades apart. And she also comes to appreciate the family bakery legacy more than she ever had.
Hope is in her mid-thirties, recently divorced, running her family's near bankrupt bakery and trying her best to raise an angry 12 year old, Annie. She has also lost her mother to cancer and her beloved grandmother, Mamie, is slipping away into Alzheimer's.
In a moment of lucidity Mamie realizes that if she does not reveal the secrets of her past to her granddaughter they will be lost forever. So she sends Hope to Paris with a list of her family members to find out what happened to them.
In Paris Hope discovers Mamie has been living a lie - though for the best of reasons. The interesting story is how Hope tracks down what happened to Mamie's family as well as a long ago lover.
In her quest she is helped by her daughter, who becomes more supportive as she learns more of her family's past, and Gavin, a friend who would like to be more if Hope can only open up her heart again. She is also aided by Jewish organizations in Paris and the US, Muslims in Paris, as well as an unlikely Muslim Albanian family. Her ex-husband and ex-boyfriend (and unfriendly banker) are less supportive. With time she also realizes that the fairy tales her grandmother has been telling her for her whole life contain more truths about her past than she realized.
While some of the story is sad - as Mamie has lost so much time, some of it is very hopeful. Mamie is able to teach Hope and Annie about the power of love, even after decades apart. And she also comes to appreciate the family bakery legacy more than she ever had.
Kasztner's Train: the True Story of Rezso Kasztner, Unknown Hero of the Holocaust by Anna Porter
I picked up this somewhat older book at a book sale, and confess it was a little too academic for my liking (I struggle when reading any book for pleasure that has a multitude of footnotes).
Despite that I got sucked into the story and finished the book even though at the start I doubted that I would. It helped when I realized it didn't really matter if I precisely remembered who each and every character was as constantly checking the index for that started to drive me a bit crazy.
Kasztner was a Jewish lawyer and journalist living in Budapest at the time of the Nazi invasion of Hungary. In 1944 he somehow managed to meet Eichmann and other senior Nazi officers and negotiated a deal to allow over 1600 Jews to escape to Switzerland rather than being shipped to Auschwitz. In other dealing he also may have saved about 40,000 other Jews already living in camps.
The book goes through these negotiations and all the characters involved in painstaking detail. We get insights into other Jewish community leaders, those who supported Kasztner and those who didn't, various Nazi officers, and Jewish leaders in Switzerland, Turkey, Palestine and the US. Kasztner struggled both during and after the war to get the support of these other leaders - many of whom were just in denial about the gravity of the Nazi action in Hungary.
After the war Kasztner settled in Israel where he was accused of selling his soul to the devil. His reputation in tatters he was eventually murdered.
While his tactics may have been questionable there is no doubt several thousand people and their descendants owe their lives to Kasztner. In addition to knowing nothing about him before reading this book, I also learned far more than I ever did about the Nazi action against Jews in Hungary.
Despite that I got sucked into the story and finished the book even though at the start I doubted that I would. It helped when I realized it didn't really matter if I precisely remembered who each and every character was as constantly checking the index for that started to drive me a bit crazy.
Kasztner was a Jewish lawyer and journalist living in Budapest at the time of the Nazi invasion of Hungary. In 1944 he somehow managed to meet Eichmann and other senior Nazi officers and negotiated a deal to allow over 1600 Jews to escape to Switzerland rather than being shipped to Auschwitz. In other dealing he also may have saved about 40,000 other Jews already living in camps.
The book goes through these negotiations and all the characters involved in painstaking detail. We get insights into other Jewish community leaders, those who supported Kasztner and those who didn't, various Nazi officers, and Jewish leaders in Switzerland, Turkey, Palestine and the US. Kasztner struggled both during and after the war to get the support of these other leaders - many of whom were just in denial about the gravity of the Nazi action in Hungary.
After the war Kasztner settled in Israel where he was accused of selling his soul to the devil. His reputation in tatters he was eventually murdered.
While his tactics may have been questionable there is no doubt several thousand people and their descendants owe their lives to Kasztner. In addition to knowing nothing about him before reading this book, I also learned far more than I ever did about the Nazi action against Jews in Hungary.
Love Lives Here by Amanda Jetté Knox
This is a very interesting autobiography of a woman's family life - and how she becomes a successful social activist in order to support her family.
Amanda lived a fairly unstable life - she never knew her biological father, she was bullied mercilessly at school and she struggled with alcoholism as a young teenager. As a result she grew up never feeling like she really belonged. However, when she married the love of her life at age 20 and had three children she thought she had found the stability she craved.
When only 1, her middle child who she thought of as a boy came out as transgender. While this was entirely new territory for her, she supported her fully and fought in every way she knew how to find the support her daughter needed. Her spouse and other two children were also supportive, but her spouse continued to be very unhappy.
Less than a year later her spouse also came out as transgender. For a long time Amanda thought this might be more than she could handle, especially when she was unable to find positive role models for a marriage surviving transitioning. However with time she realized how much happier her spouse was now that she was no longer hiding her true self - and that ultimately led to a stronger, happier marriage.
This is a great story of the power of love and acceptance - especially in the face of external criticism.
Amanda lived a fairly unstable life - she never knew her biological father, she was bullied mercilessly at school and she struggled with alcoholism as a young teenager. As a result she grew up never feeling like she really belonged. However, when she married the love of her life at age 20 and had three children she thought she had found the stability she craved.
When only 1, her middle child who she thought of as a boy came out as transgender. While this was entirely new territory for her, she supported her fully and fought in every way she knew how to find the support her daughter needed. Her spouse and other two children were also supportive, but her spouse continued to be very unhappy.
Less than a year later her spouse also came out as transgender. For a long time Amanda thought this might be more than she could handle, especially when she was unable to find positive role models for a marriage surviving transitioning. However with time she realized how much happier her spouse was now that she was no longer hiding her true self - and that ultimately led to a stronger, happier marriage.
This is a great story of the power of love and acceptance - especially in the face of external criticism.
Friday, November 22, 2019
3 Novels and an Autobiography
The Dearly Beloved by Cara Wall
This book was different than what I usually read, and at times a bit slow, but I enjoyed it. It is set in the years 1950 to 1970 and follows the lives of two couples whose lives end up being extremely intertwined.
Charles comes from a wealthy but cold Boston family. His father is an academic who assumes he will go to Harvard and then also become a professor. But Charles surprises his stringently atheist father by deciding instead to become a Presbyterian minister. Charles falls in love at first sight with Lily who he runs into at the Harvard Library. Lily's lived a difficult life - an only child, her parents were killed in a car accident when she was a teenager. Though she was taken in by loving aunts and uncles, it has killed any belief she has in God. She is quite clear about that with Charles, but they end up together anyway.
James, who was raised by a drunk and abusive father, gets an unexpected gift from an uncle in Ireland which allows him to go to the University of Chicago. There he also decides to go into the Ministry - more as a way to create social change than for his steadfast belief in God. He also falls in love at first sight with Nan when she comes to play piano at his college. She comes from a well to do Southern family - her father was also a minister.
James and Charles are hired as co-pastors of a Presbyterian church in New York City and the remainder of the book follows the lives of the two couples. While the men work well together and like each other, Lily and Nan have trouble relating to each other. This is exacerbated when Lily, who never really wanted to have children, gives birth to twins, and Nan, who desperately wants them is unable to conceive. All of them are also challenged when one of the twins is diagnosed with autism at a time when the medical profession knew little about it and did even less for it.
In short this book is about love, faith, friendship, and parenthood. Not a lot of action but still interesting.
All This Could Be Yours by Jami Attenberg
This is another book that is really more about characters than action. In this case, the patriarch Victor suffers a heart attack and is on his deathbed. His daughter Alex rushes to New Orleans more to learn why her mother, Barbra, has stuck with this abusive, criminal man for so long, than to mourn her father. Gary, who actually lives in New Orleans is in Los Angeles when his father takes ill and can't bring himself to return. Gary's wife Twyla seems unwilling to leave Victor's bedside.
The book largely takes place over the course of one day (except really for the prologue and the epilogue). Through Alex, Barbra, Twyla and Gary we learn about the distant and not so distant past and see why each of the characters has reacted to Victor's illness in the way they have. Some of the secrets are quite surprising so I don't want to share them here.
I liked how all of the characters were very complex - not necessarily likeable but relatable. It could at times be a bit of a slow read too.
Window on the Bay by Debbie Macomber
This was really just a beach read which I ordered at the beginning of summer but didn't make its way to me until long past beach season.
The story centres around Jenna and Maureen, divorced women who have been friends since college. Jenna has recently become an empty nester and is at loose ends when she and Maureen decide to plan a long postponed trip to Paris. But in the meantime they are both dipping their toes in the dating pool, with little success, when they find love in unexpected places.
Not very surprising or story, and no deeper meaning, but a good escape.
Me by Elton John
This is a fantastic autobiography by Elton John. He does not credit a ghost writer so I guess he wrote it on his own and it's incredibly well written. I was literally laughing out loud at some of his turns of phrase. And, let's face it he's had a fascinating life so what's not to like about reading about it.
He goes through his shy and somewhat difficult childhood (his parents both had bad tempers and he was constantly hiding in his room), his early efforts as a singer, his chance meeting with Bernie Taupin that changed both of their lives, through to stardom, drug and alcohol addiction, rehab, founding the AIDS foundation, love, marriage and fatherhood. It also revealed his recent struggle with prostate cancer which had not been previously publicized.
He of course shares details of his friendships with John Lennon, Rod Stewart, George Michael, Freddy Mercury, Gianni Versace and Princess Diana. He also describes meetings with the Queen, the Queen Mother, Michael Jackson, Elvis Presley and a host of other marquis names. But he spends just as much time talking about how his life was affected by a young boy with hemophilia who contracted AIDS or a toddler he took to in a Russian orphanage.
Though he does criticize some people, he never comes off as mean spirited. And he seems grateful for all his fame and fortune. He definitely knows he's lucky to have avoided AIDS. And it explains why he has yet to retire.
I really enjoyed reading this book.
This book was different than what I usually read, and at times a bit slow, but I enjoyed it. It is set in the years 1950 to 1970 and follows the lives of two couples whose lives end up being extremely intertwined.
Charles comes from a wealthy but cold Boston family. His father is an academic who assumes he will go to Harvard and then also become a professor. But Charles surprises his stringently atheist father by deciding instead to become a Presbyterian minister. Charles falls in love at first sight with Lily who he runs into at the Harvard Library. Lily's lived a difficult life - an only child, her parents were killed in a car accident when she was a teenager. Though she was taken in by loving aunts and uncles, it has killed any belief she has in God. She is quite clear about that with Charles, but they end up together anyway.
James, who was raised by a drunk and abusive father, gets an unexpected gift from an uncle in Ireland which allows him to go to the University of Chicago. There he also decides to go into the Ministry - more as a way to create social change than for his steadfast belief in God. He also falls in love at first sight with Nan when she comes to play piano at his college. She comes from a well to do Southern family - her father was also a minister.
James and Charles are hired as co-pastors of a Presbyterian church in New York City and the remainder of the book follows the lives of the two couples. While the men work well together and like each other, Lily and Nan have trouble relating to each other. This is exacerbated when Lily, who never really wanted to have children, gives birth to twins, and Nan, who desperately wants them is unable to conceive. All of them are also challenged when one of the twins is diagnosed with autism at a time when the medical profession knew little about it and did even less for it.
In short this book is about love, faith, friendship, and parenthood. Not a lot of action but still interesting.
All This Could Be Yours by Jami Attenberg
This is another book that is really more about characters than action. In this case, the patriarch Victor suffers a heart attack and is on his deathbed. His daughter Alex rushes to New Orleans more to learn why her mother, Barbra, has stuck with this abusive, criminal man for so long, than to mourn her father. Gary, who actually lives in New Orleans is in Los Angeles when his father takes ill and can't bring himself to return. Gary's wife Twyla seems unwilling to leave Victor's bedside.
The book largely takes place over the course of one day (except really for the prologue and the epilogue). Through Alex, Barbra, Twyla and Gary we learn about the distant and not so distant past and see why each of the characters has reacted to Victor's illness in the way they have. Some of the secrets are quite surprising so I don't want to share them here.
I liked how all of the characters were very complex - not necessarily likeable but relatable. It could at times be a bit of a slow read too.
Window on the Bay by Debbie Macomber
This was really just a beach read which I ordered at the beginning of summer but didn't make its way to me until long past beach season.
The story centres around Jenna and Maureen, divorced women who have been friends since college. Jenna has recently become an empty nester and is at loose ends when she and Maureen decide to plan a long postponed trip to Paris. But in the meantime they are both dipping their toes in the dating pool, with little success, when they find love in unexpected places.
Not very surprising or story, and no deeper meaning, but a good escape.
Me by Elton John
This is a fantastic autobiography by Elton John. He does not credit a ghost writer so I guess he wrote it on his own and it's incredibly well written. I was literally laughing out loud at some of his turns of phrase. And, let's face it he's had a fascinating life so what's not to like about reading about it.
He goes through his shy and somewhat difficult childhood (his parents both had bad tempers and he was constantly hiding in his room), his early efforts as a singer, his chance meeting with Bernie Taupin that changed both of their lives, through to stardom, drug and alcohol addiction, rehab, founding the AIDS foundation, love, marriage and fatherhood. It also revealed his recent struggle with prostate cancer which had not been previously publicized.
He of course shares details of his friendships with John Lennon, Rod Stewart, George Michael, Freddy Mercury, Gianni Versace and Princess Diana. He also describes meetings with the Queen, the Queen Mother, Michael Jackson, Elvis Presley and a host of other marquis names. But he spends just as much time talking about how his life was affected by a young boy with hemophilia who contracted AIDS or a toddler he took to in a Russian orphanage.
Though he does criticize some people, he never comes off as mean spirited. And he seems grateful for all his fame and fortune. He definitely knows he's lucky to have avoided AIDS. And it explains why he has yet to retire.
I really enjoyed reading this book.
Wednesday, November 13, 2019
another slew of fall books
The books keep coming in more quickly than I can record my thoughts. But there were a couple I really enjoyed in this group.
Cilka's Journey by Heather Morris
This is a second novel by the author of The Tattooist of Auschwitz and I would say I have similar criticisms of this book. While the story is engaging, it seems to almost romanticize very difficult circumstances.
In this book we follow Cilka, who was in fact a minor character in the other book (and we do hear some passing news of the other characters from that book in this one). She was taken to Auschwitz at age 16 and there installed as the mistress of two Nazi guards. She was also put in charge of the barracks where women who were about to be gassed were placed for the night. From Cilka's perspective she just did what she needed to survive. But to the Russian liberators she was a collaborator so she was sentenced to 15 years in the Gulag in Siberia.
Taken to Siberia in the middle of winter and subjected to harsh labour she must again learn to survive - which again involves sleeping with brutal guards. She also tries desperately to hide her past from the women in her bunk as she does not think they will understand why she did what she did to survive Auschwitz.
She gets a break when she is taken under the wing of a kind Russian doctor who supports her training as a nurse. Through this relationship, and others in the camp, she learns to trust again and even manages to find love. While the book does describe horrific things that happen both to Cilka and others, for me it all wrapped up a little too neatly. That being said it's still an interesting read - you just have to suspend your disbelief a bit.
What Happens in Paradise by Elin Hilderbrand
This is a sequel to Hilderbrand's Winter in Paradise which came out last year (a third book is in the works for next year). While you could theoretically read this book as a standalone, I wouldn't as I don't think you'd get nearly as much out of it.
The book is pure escapism, though I will say Hilderbrand has branched even further into the mystery/thriller genre (from her more familiar romance). In the first book Irene Steele and her sons Cash and Baker discover following the death of their husband/father in a helicopter accident off the island of St. John that he was living a second life there. He had a girlfriend (who died in the accident) and a twelve year old daughter. After learning a little about that second life, Irene, Cash and Baker return to their lives in the US. But they are contacted by the FBI and told that now they suspect the helicopter crash was in fact a murder.
So at loose ends for various reasons all three return to St. John. Irene takes on a job as second mate on her husband's daughter's step grandfather's fishing boat (yes you read that complexity correctly). There an unlikely romance begins to blossom. Baker and Cash are both in love with Ayers (the best friend of their father's girlfriend) though she is back together with her old flame. (One of my favourite parts is how this boyfriend calls Baker and Cash Banker and Money).
So the book explores these twisted romance stories all the while trying to figure out what happened in the helicopter crash. And it ends with the FBI taking Irene's homes away - leading us all to want to read the next instalment to find out why.
The Testaments by Margaret Atwood
Anyone who read this blog regularly will know I read a lot, and I like a lot of books by many different authors. But when I dive into a book by a true master there's no comparison. Atwood's writing style just blows me away.
As you likely know this is the long awaited sequel to The Handmaid's Tale. For decades readers were asking Atwood how Gilead, the dystopian society in which The Handmaid's Tale is set, came to an end. It is clear from that book that the society did not survive, but the book doesn't explain what happened. This book answers that question. And if I have to criticize it at all I would say that maybe Atwood tried too hard to give readers what she expected they wanted to hear. As a reader it's hard to criticize that too strongly as of course it tells the story I wanted to hear too.
While the initial book was written from the perspective of the Handmaid, Offred, this one is told in three voices. The first is Aunt Lydia with who we are very familiar from the first book. She was one of the women who were allowed a certain degree of power within a very limited sphere - that is they terrorized (ostensibly trained) the handmaids. While initially we saw Aunt Lydia only through Offred's eyes, now we get inside her head - and realize she is much more complex than we initially believed.
The second perspective is that of a young girl who was raised by foster parents within Gilead (having been taken from her birth parents who were deemed unworthy). She is now being groomed to marry - really the only option for a girl of her standing. She does not want to marry and turns to Aunt Lydia for assistance.
The third perspective is that of a young girl who was raised in Canada. She learns that her past is more complex than she believed and that it involved a connection to Gilead. Having learned in school about the evils of that society, she gets involved in trying to sabotage it.
I don't really want to tell you much more about this book as it would take away the joy of reading it. And despite the heavy topic it is so well written I knocked it off in a little over a day - I couldn't put it down.
A must read.
The Billionaire Murders by Kevin Donovan
This is an expose by a Toronto Star reported on the shocking and as yet unsolved murders of Barry and Honey Sherman (he the chairman of a major generic pharmaceutical company; she a socialite and philanthropist).
Donovan carefully goes through everything he can find about the investigation - interviewing the police, going to court to get documents unsealed, interviewing the private investigators hired by the Sherman family to conduct their own investigation and talking to numerous friends, colleagues and family members.
It is also a critique of the police investigation which initially seemed to waste time on the conclusion that this was a murder suicide which was hard to reconcile with the crime scene.
In the end Donovan tells a story that suggests numerous possible assailants - in his view it could only have been an insider who was extremely familiar with the Shermans' habits and schedules on the days surrounding the murder. Based on his analysis I can't say I have a very strong feeling about who the murderer was though I do have some suspicions about more than one person.
Donovan also delves into the lives of the Shermans which was fairly interesting on its own. It will be fascinating to see how his theories hold up if and when there are actually arrests in this case.
Take it Back by Kia Abdullah
I don't remember where I heard about this book, but I'm sure happy I did - it was really fantastic.
The basic premise of the story is that, Jodie Wolfe, a 16 year old Caucasian girl with facial deformities accuses 4 Muslim classmates of gang rape. The boys are handsome, well liked and come from hardworking immigrant families. Much of the narrative deals with the investigation and trial into Jodie's accusations. And I must say I really wasn't sure who to believe until the very end. The characters are so well developed they are all credible or not credible to the same degree.
But there is much more to this book - Jodie enlists Zara, a Muslim lawyer at a rape crisis centre, to shepherd her case through the legal system. Zara has problems of her own having left a prominent job as a Barrister, walked away from an arranged marriage and become estranged from her father immediately prior to his death. This leads her to depression and drug use. Her taking on a case against members of her community also leads to tremendous tension with her family and other community members. So the examination of race relations in London as well as the pressures put on young immigrant women to live in two rather different worlds is also at the forefront of the story.
I really liked the writing style and the story sucked me in from the start. The characters were also so interesting as they were multi-faceted and I went from liking to disliking them - often in the span of the same chapter.
Cilka's Journey by Heather Morris
This is a second novel by the author of The Tattooist of Auschwitz and I would say I have similar criticisms of this book. While the story is engaging, it seems to almost romanticize very difficult circumstances.
In this book we follow Cilka, who was in fact a minor character in the other book (and we do hear some passing news of the other characters from that book in this one). She was taken to Auschwitz at age 16 and there installed as the mistress of two Nazi guards. She was also put in charge of the barracks where women who were about to be gassed were placed for the night. From Cilka's perspective she just did what she needed to survive. But to the Russian liberators she was a collaborator so she was sentenced to 15 years in the Gulag in Siberia.
Taken to Siberia in the middle of winter and subjected to harsh labour she must again learn to survive - which again involves sleeping with brutal guards. She also tries desperately to hide her past from the women in her bunk as she does not think they will understand why she did what she did to survive Auschwitz.
She gets a break when she is taken under the wing of a kind Russian doctor who supports her training as a nurse. Through this relationship, and others in the camp, she learns to trust again and even manages to find love. While the book does describe horrific things that happen both to Cilka and others, for me it all wrapped up a little too neatly. That being said it's still an interesting read - you just have to suspend your disbelief a bit.
What Happens in Paradise by Elin Hilderbrand
This is a sequel to Hilderbrand's Winter in Paradise which came out last year (a third book is in the works for next year). While you could theoretically read this book as a standalone, I wouldn't as I don't think you'd get nearly as much out of it.
The book is pure escapism, though I will say Hilderbrand has branched even further into the mystery/thriller genre (from her more familiar romance). In the first book Irene Steele and her sons Cash and Baker discover following the death of their husband/father in a helicopter accident off the island of St. John that he was living a second life there. He had a girlfriend (who died in the accident) and a twelve year old daughter. After learning a little about that second life, Irene, Cash and Baker return to their lives in the US. But they are contacted by the FBI and told that now they suspect the helicopter crash was in fact a murder.
So at loose ends for various reasons all three return to St. John. Irene takes on a job as second mate on her husband's daughter's step grandfather's fishing boat (yes you read that complexity correctly). There an unlikely romance begins to blossom. Baker and Cash are both in love with Ayers (the best friend of their father's girlfriend) though she is back together with her old flame. (One of my favourite parts is how this boyfriend calls Baker and Cash Banker and Money).
So the book explores these twisted romance stories all the while trying to figure out what happened in the helicopter crash. And it ends with the FBI taking Irene's homes away - leading us all to want to read the next instalment to find out why.
The Testaments by Margaret Atwood
Anyone who read this blog regularly will know I read a lot, and I like a lot of books by many different authors. But when I dive into a book by a true master there's no comparison. Atwood's writing style just blows me away.
As you likely know this is the long awaited sequel to The Handmaid's Tale. For decades readers were asking Atwood how Gilead, the dystopian society in which The Handmaid's Tale is set, came to an end. It is clear from that book that the society did not survive, but the book doesn't explain what happened. This book answers that question. And if I have to criticize it at all I would say that maybe Atwood tried too hard to give readers what she expected they wanted to hear. As a reader it's hard to criticize that too strongly as of course it tells the story I wanted to hear too.
While the initial book was written from the perspective of the Handmaid, Offred, this one is told in three voices. The first is Aunt Lydia with who we are very familiar from the first book. She was one of the women who were allowed a certain degree of power within a very limited sphere - that is they terrorized (ostensibly trained) the handmaids. While initially we saw Aunt Lydia only through Offred's eyes, now we get inside her head - and realize she is much more complex than we initially believed.
The second perspective is that of a young girl who was raised by foster parents within Gilead (having been taken from her birth parents who were deemed unworthy). She is now being groomed to marry - really the only option for a girl of her standing. She does not want to marry and turns to Aunt Lydia for assistance.
The third perspective is that of a young girl who was raised in Canada. She learns that her past is more complex than she believed and that it involved a connection to Gilead. Having learned in school about the evils of that society, she gets involved in trying to sabotage it.
I don't really want to tell you much more about this book as it would take away the joy of reading it. And despite the heavy topic it is so well written I knocked it off in a little over a day - I couldn't put it down.
A must read.
The Billionaire Murders by Kevin Donovan
This is an expose by a Toronto Star reported on the shocking and as yet unsolved murders of Barry and Honey Sherman (he the chairman of a major generic pharmaceutical company; she a socialite and philanthropist).
Donovan carefully goes through everything he can find about the investigation - interviewing the police, going to court to get documents unsealed, interviewing the private investigators hired by the Sherman family to conduct their own investigation and talking to numerous friends, colleagues and family members.
It is also a critique of the police investigation which initially seemed to waste time on the conclusion that this was a murder suicide which was hard to reconcile with the crime scene.
In the end Donovan tells a story that suggests numerous possible assailants - in his view it could only have been an insider who was extremely familiar with the Shermans' habits and schedules on the days surrounding the murder. Based on his analysis I can't say I have a very strong feeling about who the murderer was though I do have some suspicions about more than one person.
Donovan also delves into the lives of the Shermans which was fairly interesting on its own. It will be fascinating to see how his theories hold up if and when there are actually arrests in this case.
Take it Back by Kia Abdullah
I don't remember where I heard about this book, but I'm sure happy I did - it was really fantastic.
The basic premise of the story is that, Jodie Wolfe, a 16 year old Caucasian girl with facial deformities accuses 4 Muslim classmates of gang rape. The boys are handsome, well liked and come from hardworking immigrant families. Much of the narrative deals with the investigation and trial into Jodie's accusations. And I must say I really wasn't sure who to believe until the very end. The characters are so well developed they are all credible or not credible to the same degree.
But there is much more to this book - Jodie enlists Zara, a Muslim lawyer at a rape crisis centre, to shepherd her case through the legal system. Zara has problems of her own having left a prominent job as a Barrister, walked away from an arranged marriage and become estranged from her father immediately prior to his death. This leads her to depression and drug use. Her taking on a case against members of her community also leads to tremendous tension with her family and other community members. So the examination of race relations in London as well as the pressures put on young immigrant women to live in two rather different worlds is also at the forefront of the story.
I really liked the writing style and the story sucked me in from the start. The characters were also so interesting as they were multi-faceted and I went from liking to disliking them - often in the span of the same chapter.
Wednesday, October 30, 2019
Autumn Reading List
While I've been too busy to post lately, it hasn't stopped me from reading. So here's some brief reviews of the books I've read over the past few weeks.
The Summer Guests by Mary Alice Monroe
This was recommended as a good beach read, but I didn't enjoy it as much as some of the other escape reading that I do. The premise was that when a hurricane hit southern Florida and South Carolina several guests made their way to a horse farm in North Carolina. That was the start of the problem for me - there was way too much discussion of horses and riding and horse competitions...I suppose if you're interested in horses or even better riding competitions you would get more out of that part than I did.
Besides the horse racing there were the expected relationship stories. We learned about the owners of the horse farm, Grace and Charles. Charles was a famous rider until he was injured and is now afraid to get on a horse. His wife Grace is equally nervous about him riding again which leads to some tension. Their daughter Moira shows up with a truck full of rescue dogs. Grace's friend Gerda who is a horse breeder shows up with her daughter Elise who is also friends with Moira. There is a lot of tension between mother and daughter as Gerda is pushing Elise to follow the Olympic dream she was forced to give up when injured. The weirdest part of the book is when Gerda meets a horse that she believes is the reincarnation of the horse she had to put down following that injury. A famous equestrian shows up as the boyfriend of one of Grace's friends, Hannah. But he dumps her for someone else at the house. Finally Cara who has an island home on the outer banks eventually shows up after trying to protect her house from the storm.
Most of the visitors don't know each other before they arrive - they only have the hosts in common. So relationships develop - both new ones and existing ones. They are interesting enough but for me did not make up for all the horse talk. I wouldn't recommend this unless you're into horse.
Searching fo Sylvie Lee by Jean Kwok
Although a bit of a mystery, which is not a genre I usually gravitate towards, the interesting family dynamic made this book worth it to me.
It starts with Sylvie, the beautiful and successful elder daughter of the Lee family, flying from the US to the Netherlands for one last visit with her dying grandmother. Then she disappears. Her younger sister Amy is devastated and wants to look for her, but has to first find out more of the time before she was born. She is too young to remember how her immigrant parents were too poor to care for Sylvie and sent her to be raised by her grandmother in the Netherlands. Her grandmother was living with other relatives at the time and while Sylvie is doted on by the husband, the wife treats her quite inconsistently.
Then in alternating chapters we learn of Sylvie's return to the Netherlands - the rekindling of relationships with her grandmother and the son of the people she grew up with (and with whom she was friends at the time) - and Amy's trip to stay with these same people to try to solve the story behind her sister's disappearance.
The truth was not immediately obvious which made me want to keep reading. In addition the characters were nuanced and sympathetic (even the woman who treated Sylvie poorly had a sympathetic story). This also shed light on the difficult choices immigrants need to make in order to provide the lives they want for their children.
I definitely recommend this book.
From Scratch: a Memoir of Love, Sicily and Finding Home by Tembi Locke
This was a fantastic memoir. Tembi was an exchange student in Florence when she ran into Saro and it was love at first sight. Saro was a chef from Sicily several years older than Tembi and his family disapproved of his relationship with a younger, Black, American actress - to the extent that his parents refuse to attend their wedding (though an aunt and uncle defy his father and represent the family).
Tembi and Saro relocate to Los Angeles where they both have successful careers, make many friends and adopt a baby girl. Saro is also welcomed into Tembi's large and boisterous family.
Unfortunately when their daughter is only 6 or 7 Saro is diagnosed with terminal cancer and most of the book is written through the lens of Tembi's extraordinary grief during his illness and following his death. The small bit of good that comes out of his diagnosis is that Saro's parents and sister finally travel to LA to visit. There they are overwhelmed with the love he shares with Tembi's family and their anger starts to crumble.
The summer following Saro's death, Tembi and her daughter travel to Sicily to stay with his now widowed mother and to spread his ashes on the island in accordance with Saro's wishes. Day by day and eventually summer by summer Tembi bonds with her mother-in-law, at the start over their shared loss, but eventually the bond becomes broader.
While Tembi's story is sad, it also shows her strength and resilience as well as her ability to forgive. While the human story is enough, the descriptions of Sicily - its physical beauty and its people - are also enthralling.
The Song of the Jade Lily by Kirsty Manning
This is in some ways a typical Holocaust novel, but it does have a twist. The narrative switches back in forth in time - from the World War II era to the present day. In the present day, Alexandra is shocked to hear her grandmother beg her grandfather's forgiveness while he's on his deathbed in her Australian home. For her perspective they've always had a perfect marriage. Since her job in London is offering her a temporary post in Shanghai (and she has just broken up with her boyfriend there) she decides to accept the opportunity so she can delve into her grandparents' past. All she knows is they spent some time during the War in Shanghai and later adopted a Chinese baby (her now deceased mother).
With Alexandra we learn that Remy and her parents fled to Shanghai from Austria after one of her brothers was shot on Kristallnacht and the other was taken into custody. There her mother falls into a severe depression and her father, a doctor, works tirelessly with the city's poor population which is struggling under the Japanese occupation. They befriend the Chinese family who live across the hall from them. The father practices traditional Chinese medicine and is able to help Remy's mother. Remy becomes best friends with the daughter and idolizes the older son. Remy also befriends a girl on the boat from Austria who becomes orphaned when her mother dies in childbirth on the ship. The family would like to take her in but she is forced to live in rather squalid conditions under the guardianship of her disinterested uncle. We do know fairly early on that this girl ends up in Australia - still friends with Remy.
The chapters go on to reveal the truth about Remy's youth and Alexandra's parents and grandparents. The book also contains very vivid descriptions of Shanghai during the Japanese occupation and in the present. I quite enjoyed this one.
The Beekeeper of Aleppo by Christy Lefteri
This is the first book I can recall reading that takes place in civil war torn Syria. Nuri is a beekeeper and his wife, Afra, is an artist. They live a very comfortable life with their son and extended families in Aleppo. But when civil war strikes the unthinkable happens - they lose their son. The shock blinds Afra, but despite the difficulty of her travelling Nuri insists they flee their war torn homeland to join his cousin in the UK.
Nuri and Afra embark on a dangerous journey through Turkey, by boat to Greece and then by land through France and eventually the UK. They end up in a rooming house for immigrants in London while they go through the refugee claims process. There we see the difficult time refugees from many countries have in establishing themselves anew.
The story is interesting - and the insights into Nuri's psyche are fascinating - some of the turns took me by surprise but were very believable. Some of the other characters in the rooming house add colour to the narrative.
All in all I enjoyed this book too.
The Empress of Idaho by Todd Babiak
This is a fascinating novel that deals with an issue rarely touched upon in literature - the sexual exploitation of a teenaged boy by his much older female neighbour.
Adam lives with his mother in the poor part of town. His father left when he was a child and his older brother has left to play college football. Adam is 14 and about to become a starter on his high school's football team even though he's only a sophomore. He's also doing well in school, works a part time job at a gas station with his good friend Simon and is dating Phoebe, a girl from a wealthy established family. Everyone believes he has what it takes to go even further than his brother.
Adam's life is upended when his next door neighbour brings home a new wife, Beatrice. Beatrice becomes overly interested in Adam and finds ways to be alone with him and essentially sexually assault him. Adam is a teenaged boy - he's torn between his physical interest in Beatrice and the need to lie to everyone in his life. To make matters worse Beatrice sucks Adam's mother into a shady real estate deal - encouraging her to quit her steady job in order to get rich quick.
Over the course of the summer Beatrice's past starts to catch up with her and Adam, his mother, Beatrice's husband and others get caught in the complicated web.
The main story is interesting though disturbing. There are also side stories of note - in particular that of Simon who comes from a very wealthy but conservative African family. He is one of the few people of colour in the town and is "accused" of being gay causing his parents to kick him out of their home. The support Adam musters for Simon, despite being in such a troubled state of his own, shows a really nice aspect of teenaged friendship.
This is a great book but not one for those easily disturbed by stories of sexual exploitation.
The Guest Book by Sarah Blake
This is an interesting story about a very privileged New York based banking family. It is also a multi generational story which switches back and forth from about 1935 to the present day (when the newest generation doesn't have quite the resources of their forebears).
In 1935 Kitty and Ogden Milton seem to have it all - money, looks, perfect children and enviable love for each other. But tragedy befalls them one day - and it hits Kitty particularly hard. In an effort to make her feel better Ogden buys her an island in Maine. That island comes to define multiple generations of the family. In fact, in present day the story revolves around one granddaughter, who is desperately trying to prevent her cousins from selling the island since they can no longer afford to keep it.
Much of the drama is revealed as this granddaughter, a historian, tries to figure out some of her family's secrets (some of which are revealed in the guest book). We learn of Ogden's possible business dealings with the Nazis, his hiring of a Jewish man, Len, who earns the respect of Ogden and one of his daughters but the scorn of everyone else. There is also a story about a decision Kitty makes during the war which haunts her throughout her lifetime. And there is a mysterious visit to the island by Len's friend, Reg, who is always the only black man in the room and is again at the island. All of these people end up playing an important part in the Milton family history.
I don't want to give too much of the story away as part of the fun is how it all weaves together very nicely. The book is well written, though perhaps a tad longer than it needs to be, and the story is interesting. The characters are also well rounded and relatable.
Queenie by Candice Carty-Williams
This book is at times laugh out loud funny and at times rather sad, but it is really just a very realistic and detailed character study. Queenie is a Jamaican British 25 year old living in London and trying to figure out her life. She has just broken up with her long term white boyfriend (they are actually on a break) and she makes some seriously bad decisions about men who she uses to fill the void.
Her job at a national newspaper is also in jeopardy as she spends too much time trying to sort out her personal life and makes yet another bad relationship decision there. Really her biggest problem is trusting the wrong people.
With time and the support of her family and friends we are left with the feeling that Queenie's self esteem will improve and she will learn how to rely on herself rather than men to measure her worth in the world.
I enjoyed the story and the added benefit of the reinforcement of the power of female friendships.
Queen Bee by Dorothea Benton Frank
I saw this recommended somewhere, but all I will say about it is that it was so boring I gave up when I was about 1/4 of the way through. Maybe I was missing something that others saw, but I wasn't willing to give it any more time to figure that out.
The Cactus by Sarah Haywood
I really enjoyed this book - it sort of reminded me of Elinor Oliphant is Completely Fine or The Kiss Quotient where the heroine fell somewhere on the autism spectrum and you got to see life and relationships through her eyes. In this book Susan lives a very orderly life and emotions don't fit into the equation. She has even been involved with a man for years where theirs is more of a business relationship - they go on dates, they have sex, but they have no emotions or long term goals.
Unfortunately careful planning is not always enough. First, Susan finds herself pregnant. Then her mother dies and leaves her unemployed brother with a life estate in her house that Susan had hoped to sell to be able to afford a bigger flat for when the baby is born.
So Susan must figure out how to fight the will - and along the way she needs help from her upstairs neighbour who becomes a friend and, even less likely, her brother's best friend. She also has to work out an arrangement with her baby's father that satisfies two parties who never wanted an emotional entanglement. And finally she learns some long buried secrets about her past. All of this is handled with surprising grace and humour by a person who is much more comfortable with well established routines.
This was an easy and enjoyable read.
The Summer Guests by Mary Alice Monroe
This was recommended as a good beach read, but I didn't enjoy it as much as some of the other escape reading that I do. The premise was that when a hurricane hit southern Florida and South Carolina several guests made their way to a horse farm in North Carolina. That was the start of the problem for me - there was way too much discussion of horses and riding and horse competitions...I suppose if you're interested in horses or even better riding competitions you would get more out of that part than I did.
Besides the horse racing there were the expected relationship stories. We learned about the owners of the horse farm, Grace and Charles. Charles was a famous rider until he was injured and is now afraid to get on a horse. His wife Grace is equally nervous about him riding again which leads to some tension. Their daughter Moira shows up with a truck full of rescue dogs. Grace's friend Gerda who is a horse breeder shows up with her daughter Elise who is also friends with Moira. There is a lot of tension between mother and daughter as Gerda is pushing Elise to follow the Olympic dream she was forced to give up when injured. The weirdest part of the book is when Gerda meets a horse that she believes is the reincarnation of the horse she had to put down following that injury. A famous equestrian shows up as the boyfriend of one of Grace's friends, Hannah. But he dumps her for someone else at the house. Finally Cara who has an island home on the outer banks eventually shows up after trying to protect her house from the storm.
Most of the visitors don't know each other before they arrive - they only have the hosts in common. So relationships develop - both new ones and existing ones. They are interesting enough but for me did not make up for all the horse talk. I wouldn't recommend this unless you're into horse.
Searching fo Sylvie Lee by Jean Kwok
Although a bit of a mystery, which is not a genre I usually gravitate towards, the interesting family dynamic made this book worth it to me.
It starts with Sylvie, the beautiful and successful elder daughter of the Lee family, flying from the US to the Netherlands for one last visit with her dying grandmother. Then she disappears. Her younger sister Amy is devastated and wants to look for her, but has to first find out more of the time before she was born. She is too young to remember how her immigrant parents were too poor to care for Sylvie and sent her to be raised by her grandmother in the Netherlands. Her grandmother was living with other relatives at the time and while Sylvie is doted on by the husband, the wife treats her quite inconsistently.
Then in alternating chapters we learn of Sylvie's return to the Netherlands - the rekindling of relationships with her grandmother and the son of the people she grew up with (and with whom she was friends at the time) - and Amy's trip to stay with these same people to try to solve the story behind her sister's disappearance.
The truth was not immediately obvious which made me want to keep reading. In addition the characters were nuanced and sympathetic (even the woman who treated Sylvie poorly had a sympathetic story). This also shed light on the difficult choices immigrants need to make in order to provide the lives they want for their children.
I definitely recommend this book.
From Scratch: a Memoir of Love, Sicily and Finding Home by Tembi Locke
This was a fantastic memoir. Tembi was an exchange student in Florence when she ran into Saro and it was love at first sight. Saro was a chef from Sicily several years older than Tembi and his family disapproved of his relationship with a younger, Black, American actress - to the extent that his parents refuse to attend their wedding (though an aunt and uncle defy his father and represent the family).
Tembi and Saro relocate to Los Angeles where they both have successful careers, make many friends and adopt a baby girl. Saro is also welcomed into Tembi's large and boisterous family.
Unfortunately when their daughter is only 6 or 7 Saro is diagnosed with terminal cancer and most of the book is written through the lens of Tembi's extraordinary grief during his illness and following his death. The small bit of good that comes out of his diagnosis is that Saro's parents and sister finally travel to LA to visit. There they are overwhelmed with the love he shares with Tembi's family and their anger starts to crumble.
The summer following Saro's death, Tembi and her daughter travel to Sicily to stay with his now widowed mother and to spread his ashes on the island in accordance with Saro's wishes. Day by day and eventually summer by summer Tembi bonds with her mother-in-law, at the start over their shared loss, but eventually the bond becomes broader.
While Tembi's story is sad, it also shows her strength and resilience as well as her ability to forgive. While the human story is enough, the descriptions of Sicily - its physical beauty and its people - are also enthralling.
The Song of the Jade Lily by Kirsty Manning
This is in some ways a typical Holocaust novel, but it does have a twist. The narrative switches back in forth in time - from the World War II era to the present day. In the present day, Alexandra is shocked to hear her grandmother beg her grandfather's forgiveness while he's on his deathbed in her Australian home. For her perspective they've always had a perfect marriage. Since her job in London is offering her a temporary post in Shanghai (and she has just broken up with her boyfriend there) she decides to accept the opportunity so she can delve into her grandparents' past. All she knows is they spent some time during the War in Shanghai and later adopted a Chinese baby (her now deceased mother).
With Alexandra we learn that Remy and her parents fled to Shanghai from Austria after one of her brothers was shot on Kristallnacht and the other was taken into custody. There her mother falls into a severe depression and her father, a doctor, works tirelessly with the city's poor population which is struggling under the Japanese occupation. They befriend the Chinese family who live across the hall from them. The father practices traditional Chinese medicine and is able to help Remy's mother. Remy becomes best friends with the daughter and idolizes the older son. Remy also befriends a girl on the boat from Austria who becomes orphaned when her mother dies in childbirth on the ship. The family would like to take her in but she is forced to live in rather squalid conditions under the guardianship of her disinterested uncle. We do know fairly early on that this girl ends up in Australia - still friends with Remy.
The chapters go on to reveal the truth about Remy's youth and Alexandra's parents and grandparents. The book also contains very vivid descriptions of Shanghai during the Japanese occupation and in the present. I quite enjoyed this one.
The Beekeeper of Aleppo by Christy Lefteri
This is the first book I can recall reading that takes place in civil war torn Syria. Nuri is a beekeeper and his wife, Afra, is an artist. They live a very comfortable life with their son and extended families in Aleppo. But when civil war strikes the unthinkable happens - they lose their son. The shock blinds Afra, but despite the difficulty of her travelling Nuri insists they flee their war torn homeland to join his cousin in the UK.
Nuri and Afra embark on a dangerous journey through Turkey, by boat to Greece and then by land through France and eventually the UK. They end up in a rooming house for immigrants in London while they go through the refugee claims process. There we see the difficult time refugees from many countries have in establishing themselves anew.
The story is interesting - and the insights into Nuri's psyche are fascinating - some of the turns took me by surprise but were very believable. Some of the other characters in the rooming house add colour to the narrative.
All in all I enjoyed this book too.
The Empress of Idaho by Todd Babiak
This is a fascinating novel that deals with an issue rarely touched upon in literature - the sexual exploitation of a teenaged boy by his much older female neighbour.
Adam lives with his mother in the poor part of town. His father left when he was a child and his older brother has left to play college football. Adam is 14 and about to become a starter on his high school's football team even though he's only a sophomore. He's also doing well in school, works a part time job at a gas station with his good friend Simon and is dating Phoebe, a girl from a wealthy established family. Everyone believes he has what it takes to go even further than his brother.
Adam's life is upended when his next door neighbour brings home a new wife, Beatrice. Beatrice becomes overly interested in Adam and finds ways to be alone with him and essentially sexually assault him. Adam is a teenaged boy - he's torn between his physical interest in Beatrice and the need to lie to everyone in his life. To make matters worse Beatrice sucks Adam's mother into a shady real estate deal - encouraging her to quit her steady job in order to get rich quick.
Over the course of the summer Beatrice's past starts to catch up with her and Adam, his mother, Beatrice's husband and others get caught in the complicated web.
The main story is interesting though disturbing. There are also side stories of note - in particular that of Simon who comes from a very wealthy but conservative African family. He is one of the few people of colour in the town and is "accused" of being gay causing his parents to kick him out of their home. The support Adam musters for Simon, despite being in such a troubled state of his own, shows a really nice aspect of teenaged friendship.
This is a great book but not one for those easily disturbed by stories of sexual exploitation.
The Guest Book by Sarah Blake
This is an interesting story about a very privileged New York based banking family. It is also a multi generational story which switches back and forth from about 1935 to the present day (when the newest generation doesn't have quite the resources of their forebears).
In 1935 Kitty and Ogden Milton seem to have it all - money, looks, perfect children and enviable love for each other. But tragedy befalls them one day - and it hits Kitty particularly hard. In an effort to make her feel better Ogden buys her an island in Maine. That island comes to define multiple generations of the family. In fact, in present day the story revolves around one granddaughter, who is desperately trying to prevent her cousins from selling the island since they can no longer afford to keep it.
Much of the drama is revealed as this granddaughter, a historian, tries to figure out some of her family's secrets (some of which are revealed in the guest book). We learn of Ogden's possible business dealings with the Nazis, his hiring of a Jewish man, Len, who earns the respect of Ogden and one of his daughters but the scorn of everyone else. There is also a story about a decision Kitty makes during the war which haunts her throughout her lifetime. And there is a mysterious visit to the island by Len's friend, Reg, who is always the only black man in the room and is again at the island. All of these people end up playing an important part in the Milton family history.
I don't want to give too much of the story away as part of the fun is how it all weaves together very nicely. The book is well written, though perhaps a tad longer than it needs to be, and the story is interesting. The characters are also well rounded and relatable.
Queenie by Candice Carty-Williams
This book is at times laugh out loud funny and at times rather sad, but it is really just a very realistic and detailed character study. Queenie is a Jamaican British 25 year old living in London and trying to figure out her life. She has just broken up with her long term white boyfriend (they are actually on a break) and she makes some seriously bad decisions about men who she uses to fill the void.
Her job at a national newspaper is also in jeopardy as she spends too much time trying to sort out her personal life and makes yet another bad relationship decision there. Really her biggest problem is trusting the wrong people.
With time and the support of her family and friends we are left with the feeling that Queenie's self esteem will improve and she will learn how to rely on herself rather than men to measure her worth in the world.
I enjoyed the story and the added benefit of the reinforcement of the power of female friendships.
Queen Bee by Dorothea Benton Frank
I saw this recommended somewhere, but all I will say about it is that it was so boring I gave up when I was about 1/4 of the way through. Maybe I was missing something that others saw, but I wasn't willing to give it any more time to figure that out.
The Cactus by Sarah Haywood
I really enjoyed this book - it sort of reminded me of Elinor Oliphant is Completely Fine or The Kiss Quotient where the heroine fell somewhere on the autism spectrum and you got to see life and relationships through her eyes. In this book Susan lives a very orderly life and emotions don't fit into the equation. She has even been involved with a man for years where theirs is more of a business relationship - they go on dates, they have sex, but they have no emotions or long term goals.
Unfortunately careful planning is not always enough. First, Susan finds herself pregnant. Then her mother dies and leaves her unemployed brother with a life estate in her house that Susan had hoped to sell to be able to afford a bigger flat for when the baby is born.
So Susan must figure out how to fight the will - and along the way she needs help from her upstairs neighbour who becomes a friend and, even less likely, her brother's best friend. She also has to work out an arrangement with her baby's father that satisfies two parties who never wanted an emotional entanglement. And finally she learns some long buried secrets about her past. All of this is handled with surprising grace and humour by a person who is much more comfortable with well established routines.
This was an easy and enjoyable read.
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