Christmas Books

We always give and get lots of books in my family. On Jeri's advice, I got Man from the Train for my son who refuses to read fiction. Daughter Julie claimed it first and was 1/2 way through the last time I checked. Julie is infatuated with N.K. Jemison and convinced me to read the Broken Earth trilogy a while back. Jemison peoples her landscape with powerful women and non-gender-specific characters. It's fantasy but her writing makes it easy to identify with the protagonists. So now I'm on to Jemison's other series: Inheritance Trilogy. Meanwhile, I read the new Kingsolver book, Unsheltered. I was told it was a little heavy-handed with its message and it's true, but she can write so beautifully. (Warning: It's pretty anti-Trump.) Then I finished Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine. It was funny and sad and a great example of giving the reader just enough information to keep them reading. Reminded me a little of Curious Incident.
Happy New Year, all!

My Favorite Books of 2018

I’ve read 42 books this year. Eleven fall in the category of memoir/biography/autobiography and 8 in the category of general non-fiction. So, about half were fiction, and half again of those were cheesy fiction.

As I looked over all 42 titles, 3 stood out:

While the City Slept: A Love Lost to Violence and a Wake-Up Call for Mental Health Care in America. This is the true story of a 2009 murder in Seattle. I read it early in the year and can still remember many of the aspects of it. I won’t repeat myself here; I reviewed the book in February on this blog.

The Man from the Train: The Solving of a Century-Old Serial Killer Mystery. OMG! This book was fascinating! I loved it. I dreaded reading it. It led to uneasy sleep on several nights. The killer kills by hitting people in the head with the blunt side of an axe – whole families at a time, in the middle of the night - a lot of them. The murders occurred between 1898 and 1912.

The authors have done their research and provide background and history on the quirky characters on the periphery of these murders as well as those who were unfortunately accused and convicted of some of the crimes.

Both of the above books are true crime, or Fact Crime as the category for The Edgar Awards is called. The Edgards.com is one of my go-to places when I’m looking for something to read. A couple of my other favorite categories on this site are First Novel and Young Adult. Check it out!

The third book of my favorites is Calypso by David Sedaris. I’ve read a number of his books and this one does not disappoint in the humor department. But, it goes beyond that with some deeply personal and poignant stories/observations. It’s one of those books that you laugh out loud while reading, and the person sitting in the room with you says, “yeeess?” You pretty much end up reading the whole book to them.

Looking forward to new favorites in 2019!

Liane Moriarty did it again! I just finished her newest novel, Nine Perfect Strangers, and it's well worth the read. I got so caught up in the end, I read for three hours this morning to finish it! The book is about nine strangers spending ten days together at a health resort. While all the characters narrate throughout the book, a lot of the story is told by Frances, a middle-aged romance novelist who, shortly after her arrival, starts to wonder if she should pack up and run. The book is a fast read, perfect for the busy holiday season. Merry Christmas fellow Bookmarkers!

I've been encouraged to mention a few books I've read lately, so  here goes...

Love Anthony by Lisa Genova. Many of you will recognize that name - she is the author of Left Neglected and Still Alice, among others. She not only has a degree in Biopsychology and a Ph.D. in Neuroscience from Harvard University – she is also an extremely talented novelist. In this book she tells the story of Anthony, a nonverbal boy with autism, through the stories of 2 women whose lives intersect in a moving and surprising way. One thing that I don’t recall from other books of hers I’ve read, is how easily she slips into spiritual and emotional concepts and conversations. I highly recommend this book and I expect to read her newest, Every Note Played, in the not too distant future. (If anyone has read or plans to read Love Anthony, I’d love to discuss the ending with you.)

I alternated reading Love Anthony with listening to Silent Child, by Sarah Denzil. It was Audible’s 2017 Thriller of the Year, due in no small part, I’m sure, to the fantastic narration by Joanne Froggatt (Mrs. Bates of ‘Downton Abbey’). In this book we meet Sarah, a single mom to Aiden, who disappeared at age 6 during a storm. She eventually had him declared legally dead and started to move on with her life, when he suddenly reappears 10 years later. He is nonverbal and traumatized after presumably being held captive during those lost years. I saw some parallels between characteristics/behaviors Aiden displayed and those of Anthony in the book mentioned above. As a psychological thriller, the book has several plausible candidates for ‘whodunit,’ and I liked the ending.

The Storyteller's Secret by Sejal Badani. From the publisher: “From the bestselling author of Trail of Broken Wings comes an epic story of the unrelenting force of love, the power of healing, and the invincible desire to dream.” Jaya, a New York journalist, leaves the safety and comfort of her middle- class life to go to India to uncover answers to her family’s past. Through Ravi, her grandmother’s former servant and trusted confidant, she learns of the resilience, struggles, secret love, and tragic fall of Jaya’s pioneering grandmother during the British occupation of the 1940s. The present (Jaya’s) and past (grandmother Amisha’s) love stories both ring true, and the supporting characters and the details of the physical setting of rural India, were also very descriptive and convincing. I loved this book!

Lovin' me some non-fiction

I have been on a non-fiction kick. Not exclusively, but mostly. My side trips with fiction this year have been disappointing. Here are the non-fiction I’ve read:

Theft by Finding: Diaries 1977-2002 by David Sedaris. What is it about reading someone’s diary? I find it fascinating. And, the best part of this book is you hear his voice – the one we know and love from his popular books – emerge. I liked this a lot.

Heartmates: A Guide for the Partner and Family of the Heart Patient by Rachael Freed. Thanks to Kathy K. for recommending this soon after Michael’s event. It was just in time, described perfectly some of the things I was going through, explained things I didn’t know. It was the perfect book at an important time.

Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis by J.D. Vance. This was the book for the One Book One Community reading event. I didn’t like this book. Something about it didn’t seem authentic or sincere.

Words on the Move: Why English Won't - and Can't - Sit Still (Like, Literally) by John McWhorter. How does a living language stay alive? Answer: only through change. This book picks out some of those changes and examines them. LOVED this book, but I’m a little funny about language that way.

Between You & Me: Confessions of a Comma Queen by Mary Norris. Mary Norris was an editor at The New Yorker. That might be all you need to know. This is another book about English and editing. It was not nearly as engaging as Words on the Move precisely because she was touting some of those old, peculiar style rules that The New Yorker is always the last to let go of. I found it a little stuffy.

How to Write an Autobiographical Novel: Essays by Alexander Chee. The author examines the age old questions of how to be a writer and what makes good writing. In the process, he tells his story. I enjoyed this book, and it followed beautifully on the heels of the other two books on English.

Tibetan Peach Pie: A True Account of an Imaginative Life by Tom Robbins. OMG! You know I love Tom Robbins, right? This is his sort of memoir, sort of autobiography. It starts slow. I actually didn’t like it to start; it seemed artificial. But, towards the end, that old, round-about style of his comes through, and we get a sense of his life as an artist. I was smiling when I closed the cover (OK, shut down my Kindle) on this one. I might ask him to marry me or at least let me lick his face.

Fascism: A Warning by Madeleine Albright. Tough book to read especially if you do so within an hour or two of watching the news. She reviews autocratic/fascist leaders starting with Mussolini through the present day, shines a favorable spotlight on her efforts as Secretary of State, and wonders about the future of democracy.

Historical fiction

I now turn your attention to the category of historical fiction and will summarize some books of that genre that I have enjoyed recently.

A Tangled Mercy by Joy Jordan-Lake. "After the sudden death of her troubled mother, struggling Harvard grad student Kate Drayton walks out on her lecture—and her entire New England life. Haunted by unanswered questions and her own uncertain future, she flees to Charleston, South Carolina, the place where her parents met, convinced it holds the key to understanding her fractured family and saving her career in academia. Kate’s attempts to discover what drove her mother’s dangerous obsession with Charleston’s tumultuous history are derailed by a horrific massacre in the very same landmark church where tragic events took place in an 1822 slave revolt. In the unimaginable aftermath, Kate discovers a family she never knew existed as the city unites with a powerful message of hope and forgiveness for the world."

I loved this book. Alternating chapters tell the story in 1822 and its parallel in 2015. The fiction is tied to real events and people in both centuries. The stories in the past and the present are equally compelling and the way they are tied together at the end was beautiful. I listened to the book on Audible and the narration, especially the chapters set in 1822, was quite good. I got a strong sense of place and of the characters. The book provided some thought-provoking situations and difficult decisions that had to be made by the characters.

The Ocean Liner by Marius Gabriel. "Cousins Masha and Rachel Morgenstern board the luxury liner the SS Manhattan bound for New York, desperate to escape the concentration camps that claimed the rest of their family. Among their fellow passengers fleeing the war, each with their own conflicts, secrets and surprises, are the composer Igor Stravinsky, making a new start after a decade of tragedy, and Rose Kennedy, determined to keep her four children, particularly Rosemary, from harm. And then there's young Thomas, a Nazi with a secret. But, under the waves, the Manhattan is being stalked by a German U-boat."

A very gripping novel with a mostly satisfying ending, but also some tragic situations, especially the heartbreaking true story of Rosemary Kennedy, whose intellectual disabilities and strong sex drive were an embarrassment to her family, leading to a lobotomy at age 23, which reduced her mental capacity from that of an 8- to 12-year-old to that of a 2- to 3-year old. It was absolutely horrifying how she was treated by her family.

The other stories, (some of which were based on real people but were much more fictionalized than the Kennedy saga), had happier endings and I thought the book was engrossing and an easy read.

The Last Painting of Sara de Vos by Dominic Smith. This novel takes us from 1631-37 to 1957-58 to 2000 and back, and forth, and back and forth! We learn about the life of Sara de Vos, the first woman to be admitted as a master painter to Amsterdam's Guild of St. Luke, who defies the expectations of her time and paint a landscape that haunts her memory. In 1957, the painting has been in the owner's family for generations. It is stolen and a young art historian forges a nearly identical fake. In 2000 the forger, now a celebrated art historian and curator, learns that the original and the fake are both on their way to her museum."

Then the real intrigue ensues (along with a little bit of confusion on my part - like when a magician puts a ball under a cap and switches it rapidly with 2 empty caps - where did it end up?!). There's plenty of other drama involving the personal lives of the main characters.

As you may have noticed, I only "review"/post about books I liked, so - needless to say - I liked this book!

Whodunits

I haven't written any reviews for a while, and I thought that rather than post something for each book I've read (which would put me way out in front in terms of eligibility for a prize again this year), I'd post by a couple of different genres.

In the category of mysteries:

When I'm Gone by Emily Bleeker. Publisher's description: "Luke Richardson has returned home after burying Natalie, his beloved wife of sixteen years, ready to face the hard job of raising their three children alone. But there’s something he’s not prepared for—a blue envelope with his name scrawled across the front in Natalie’s handwriting, waiting for him on the floor of their suburban Michigan home. The letter inside, written on the first day of Natalie’s cancer treatment a year ago, turns out to be the first of many. Luke is convinced they’re genuine, but who is delivering them?"

There was so much more to this book than I would have guessed from the description. The poignancy of the letters; the friendship that develops between Luke and Natalie's best friend Annie; the affection for the babysitter whom Natalie made him promise to hire ... and how it all ties together at the end. I felt like I really knew the characters - she portrayed very normal conversations, gestures, etc. and Luke's very real, relatable emotions. One fact that the ending hinges on really stretched the limits of believeability, but I otherwise enjoyed the book.

Before the Rain Falls by Camille Di Maio. "After serving seventy years in prison for the murder of her sister, Eula, Della Lee has finally returned home to the Texas town of Puerto Pesar. She’s free from confinement—and ready to tell her secrets before it’s too late. Enter journalist Mick Anders, who is reeling after his suspension from a Boston newspaper and in town, reluctantly, to investigate a mysterious portrait of Eula that reportedly sheds tears. He crosses paths with Dr. Paloma Vega, who’s visiting Puerto Pesar with her own mission: to take care of her ailing grandmother and to look after her rebellious younger sister."

Love story, family saga, mystery...an easy read with realistic characters and their budding relationship and struggles with their identities and ambitions. Liked it a lot.

Before the Fall by Noah Hawley. "On a foggy summer night, eleven people--ten privileged, one down-on-his-luck painter--depart Martha's Vineyard on a private jet headed for New York. Sixteen minutes later, the unthinkable happens: the plane plunges into the ocean. The only survivors are the painter Scott Burroughs and a four-year-old boy, who is now the last remaining member of an immensely wealthy and powerful media mogul's family. Amid trauma and chaos, the fragile relationship between Scott and the young boy grows and glows at the heart of this stunning novel, raising questions of fate, morality, and the inextricable ties that bind us together."

You'll be guessing 'whodunit' right up until the end of the book!