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!