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What are you reading?
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Jun 25, 2018 09:18PM
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Freak by Jennifer hillier. liking it so far
I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter – Erika L Sánchez – 4****
Fifteen-year-old Julia narrates this coming-of-age story set in Chicago. The novel opens shortly after her sister has died. Her mother and father are absorbed in their grief, and Julia feels smothered by their over-protectiveness. I really like Julia; she’s talented, bright, resourceful and tenacious. But she’s also a hurting teenager and risk for major depression.
LINK to my review
The Terra-Cotta Dog – Andrea Camilleri – 3.5***
Book two in the Inspector Montalbano series has him solving a 50-year-old crime. Montalbano is a wonderful lead character. He doesn’t suffer fools gladly, nor sweat the small stuff. He’s intelligent, a loyal friend and is always ready to find the humor in a situation, no matter how dire. Camilleri populates the novel with an assortment of colorful characters that complicate Montalbano’s life. Interesting, engaging and entertaining. I’ll keep reading the series.
LINK to my review
The Girl She Used To Be – David Cristofano – 2**
A young woman in Federal Witness Protection Program is surprised when a man calls her by her real name. On the positive side, Cristofano writes a fast-paced suspense filled story full of twists and turns. On the other hand … the plot stretches credulity too far and at the end I’m left just shaking my head and muttering “Huh?”
LINK to my review
Call the Midwife – Jennifer Worth – 4****
Originally titled: The Midwife: A Memoir of Birth, Joy and Hard Times . This was renamed to coincide with the popular television series. I think Worth did a good job of honestly relaying her experiences during the 1950s, serving as a midwife in London’s East End. There are some graphic scenes, but I felt they were honestly portrayed.
LINK to my review
Bitter Grounds - Sandra Benítez – 4****
This is a sweeping historical epic covering three generations of two families in El Salvador: the wealthy land-owners, and the servants employed by them. Through these families the reader learns something of the history of El Salvador from about 1932 to 1975. I really enjoyed the way Benítez showed these two classes interacting. As much as they tried to remain separated, they were inextricably linked and their lives held many parallels. Winner of the American Book Award, 1998.
LINK to my review
Just starting book 10 of my favorite series, Repairman Jack.
Honeymoon With My Brother – Franz Wisner – 2**
When his fiancée dumped him five days before their wedding, Franz called on his brother Kurt to help him cancel the event. Nonrefundable airline tickets helped make the decision to take the honeymoon anyway. This should have been interesting, but I quickly grew bored. I found him self-absorbed and immature. His fiancée did the right thing when she bailed out.
LINK to my review
The Forgotten Garden – Kate Morton – 4****
In 1913 a 4-year-old girl is found alone on the wharf in Australia. In 2005, her granddaughter inherits a cottage in Cornwall from her grandmother, and sets out to solve the mystery of her grandmother’s origins. What a magical story. The action moves back and forth in time, from the late 1800s to 1913 to 1975 to 2005, and changes perspective from chapter to chapter. I was engaged and interested from beginning to end.
LINK to my review
Lilac Girls – Martha Hall Kelly – 3.5***
Using three different narrators, the novel tells the WW2 story of the women prisoners held at the notorious Nazi prison camp Ravensbrück. Kelly used two real-life women: Caroline Ferriday, a New York socialite and Broadway actress, and Dr. Herta Oberheuser, a German physician who became the only female surgeon operating at the prison camp. The third narrator is Kasia Kuzmerick, a Polish teenager who is sent to the camp along with her sister, whose story is loosely based on that of a pair of sisters who survived the operations they underwent at Ravensbrück. It’s good historical fiction and a decent debut. I look forward to reading Kelly’s next book.
LINK to my review
Left Neglected – Lisa Genova – 3***
As she has done for other neurological disorders, Genova crafts a compelling story that educates and entertains. I felt Sarah’s frustrations as she worked with occupational therapists to try to regain some of her lost functionality. I empathized with her inability to let go of the high expectations she set for herself. I thought the book was interesting and informative, but not as compelling as some of her other works.
LINK to my review
Mrs Poe – Lynn Cullen – 2**
Historical fiction that focuses on the relationship between Frances Osgood, a poetess, and Edgar Allan Poe, and complicated by the attempts at friendship between Poe’s wife and Frances. Well, I wanted to like this. I just never really felt any love between them. I got tired of the longing and yearning and attempts to stay apart, only to be inextricably drawn together. I found the author’s notes at the end of the novel more interesting than from the novel itself.
LINK to my review
The Road – Cormac McCarthy – 3***
A man and his son wander a desolate and destroyed American landscape after some unnamed world-wide disaster has pretty much killed off most of the earth’s population and destroyed the environment. I don’t need a happy ending in order to appreciate and like a book. But I do need to feel some sense of purpose to the story, and I couldn’t figure out what McCarthy was trying to impart. Still, there is something about McCarthy’s writing that captivates me. I like his spare style. I like the way he paints the landscape so that I feel I am living in the novel (even if it’s a horrible place to be). I think he’s one of those author’s whose works I appreciate, even when I don’t particularly like them.
LINK to my review
My Cousin Rachel – Daphne du Maurier – 4****
Oh, what a tangled web we weave …. Wonderfully atmospheric, gothic psychological suspense. Rachel is flirtatious one moment, and standoffishly proper then next. She seems callously indifferent in one scene and then solicitous and concerned about Philip on the next page. She’s both captivating and infuriating!
LINK to my review
The Yearling – Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings – 4****
Rawlings’s 1938 Pulitzer-winning novel focuses on the boy Jody, his parents Ora and Penny Baxter, their neighbors the Forresters, and their hard-scrabble lives in central Florida in about 1870. As the fawn AND the boy grow to “yearling” status, they face difficult decisions that affect the family’s very survival. I loved the poetic way Rawlings wrote about the natural world; it reminded me of the many times I went camping with my father and brothers, and the lessons he imparted about plants, animals, nature, survival, hunting and fishing. I highly recommend this classic of children’s literature.
LINK to my review
The Professor and the Madman – Simon Winchester – 4****
The subtitle is all the synopsis you need: A Tale of Murder, Insanity, and the Making of the Oxford English Dictionary. James Murray is the professor, a learned man who became the editor of the OED. Dr William C Minor is the madman, an American Civil-War surgeon whose paranoid delusions result in his commitment to an asylum for the criminally insane. And yet … Simon Winchester crafts a compelling non-fiction narrative. He captured my attention on page one and held it throughout.
LINK to my review
The Perfume Collector by Kathleen Tessaro.
The Perfume Collector by Kathleen Tessaro.
Someone Knows My Name – Lawrence Hill – 5*****
Originally published in Canada as The Book of Negroes , Hill’s novel tells the story of Aminata Diallo from 1745 to 1802. What marvelous story telling! I was engaged and interested from beginning to end. It’s a thought-provoking, informative and inspiring tale.
LINK to my review
Currently Reading, Effective Sunday 05Aug18TEXT:
The Diva Serves High Tea by Krista DavisAUDIO in the car:
Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin KwanMP3 audio:
The Cruelest Month by Louise Penny
The Fiery Cross – Diana Gabaldon – 3***
Book number five in the popular Outlander series continues the saga of Claire Randall and Jamie Fraser. There’s plenty of drama and intrigue in these tales … personal and political. It’s a ripping good yarn that moves at a quick pace and held my interest throughout.
LINK to my review
Heat Lightning – John Sandford – 3***
This is the second book in the Virgil Flowers series, which is a spin-off of Sandford’s extremely popular Lucas Davenport series. In his trademark style, Sandford gives us plenty of twists and turns in the plot, a few red herrings, and some subtle clues that are easy to miss. Flowers is an extremely likeable character. The action is fast and furious, and the ending is satisfying for the thriller/mystery genre.
LINK to my review
Island Beneath the Sea – Isabel Allende – 4****
In a bit of a departure from her usual emphasis on Hispano-American history, Allende gives us a story of an 18th-century slave in French-occupied Saint-Domingue (later to become Haiti). We follow Zarité from her childhood through age forty, Saint-Domingue to Cuba and on to New Orleans. Allende is more than up to the task of relating the historical events that frame this family drama. I loved Zarité. She’s intelligent, resourceful, courageous, and wily. Violette is also a richly drawn character – willful, intelligent, confident, loyal and loving. None of the men in her life are a match for her.
LINK to my review
Michael Tolliver Lives – Armistead Maupin – 3***
Eighteen years after “finishing” his Tales of the City Series in 1989, Maupin returned to the beloved characters and gave readers a 7th installment. Michael has a landscaping business and a new husband. He’s dealing with what many middle-aged people face – the decline of our elderly parents. I really like the way these characters support and love one another. However, readers who are offended by gay sex scenes should beware. I’m not usually shocked, but a couple of scenes made me uncomfortable.
LINK to my review
The Baileys Harbor Bird and Booyah Club – Dave Crehore – 4****
What a lovely, gentle story focusing on “familiar” characters. My husband and I have vacationed in Door County (and in Baileys Harbor) many times. We always go in the off-season – fall and spring, even in winter (once). I know these communities and these people, and Crehore gets them down perfectly. My only regret is that this is a library book and I have to return it. I’d love to own it and read it over and over again.
LINK to my review
Digging to America – Anne Tyler – 4****
A story of the immigrant experience and two families united by the decision to adopt. Tyler writes so well about family dynamics, about all the little events in our lives that both form and show who we are. As I got to know these characters, I grew to love them. And I wanted to give them all a big hug at the end.
LINK to my review
My Italian Bulldozer – Alexander McCall Smith – 3***
Smith is fast becoming my go-to author whenever I feel the need for a gentle humorous break from the realities of life. Like most of his novels, this one is full of the drama of everyday life. Not much happens, but somehow major life decisions get made. Along the way are scenes of heartache, humor, friendship, and romance.
LINK to my review
First book in a series I've been meaning to check out for a few years now, Johannes Cabal the Necromancer
The Time In Between – María Dueñas – 4****
A sweeping historical novel about a young woman, who begins by cleaning the floors of the atelier where her mother is a seamstress and ends up as a sought-after fashion designer in World War II, and a spy for the British. What a fascinating and engaging read. Dueñas is an accomplished storyteller. I loved the way that Sira grew as a character, coming into her own while carefully observing and learning from her friends, neighbors and clients. Her relationships are wonderfully complex, and there are some scenes that had me on the edge of my seat. I recommend this to anyone who loves a fast-paced novel, with fascinating characters, and a strong female lead. The final scene when she decides to take matters into her own hands and go forward on her own terms is marvelous. I wanted to stand up and cheer!
LINK to my review
Casino Royale – Ian Fleming – 3***
“The name is Bond, James Bond.” And this is the book that started it all. It’s a fast-paced, spy thriller, that entertains. Bond’s attitude towards women is rather appalling, but he’s a product of his time, and of the genre.
LINK to my review
The Diva Serves High Tea – Krista Davis – 2**
This is # 10 in the Domestic Diva Mystery Series, featuring two rival “divas” in Alexandria VA. I’m tired of Natasha’s over-the-top, DIVA (with a capital D) antics. Sophie is a very likeable character and I like her relationships with ex-husband Mars and attorney (possible boyfriend) Alex. But I’ll only read another if it satisfies a challenge task.
LINK to my review
The Cruelest Month – Louise Penny – 3.5***
Book three in the Chief Inspector Armand Gamache series, set in the small town of Three Pines, Quebec, very near the US border. I like this series chiefly because of Gamache and his relationships with friends, and colleagues. I also am quite fond of the residents of Three Pines and their interactions. This is not a cozy series, despite the small-town setting and cast of eccentric residents. Rather it is more of a police procedural. Penny crafts the story from multiple points of view. The reader as well as Gamache must figure out the truth from bits of information gleaned from different witnesses / suspects.
LINK to my review
My review for: Finding Gobi: A Little Dog with a Very Big Heart by Dion Leonard
5★https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
My review for: It Shouldn't Happen to a Vet by James Herriot
5★https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
: Crazy Rich Asians – Kevin Kwan – 2.5**
Okay I knew it was chick-lit going into it, and of course I’ve seen the incessant trailers for the movie. Sounded like a fun, quick, breezy beach-read kinda book. But I have to say that I really hated most of these characters. Rachel and Nick were okay but Kwan does little to really explore their relationship. I also got tired of all the “product placements” for designer this and designer that … much of which was lost on me. Not impressed. I’ll just put on my Walgreen’s sunglasses and Kohl’s sandals and enjoy a different book at the beach.
LINK to my review
The Notebook – Nicholas Sparks – 1*
An elderly man recalls how he met his wife, writing the couple’s story in a notebook and reading sections to his wife, who is in a nursing home with dementia. I found it maudlin and simplistic, though I did like Noah’s devotion to Allie as she is lost in her dementia. On the whole, I was bored and rolled my eyes frequently. Not my cup of tea.
LINK to my review
The Wonder – Emma Donoghue – 3.5***
A nurse trained by Florence Nightingale is sent to watch a young Irish girl who claims to not have eaten for four months. Is the child a “living wonder” or a fraud? As she records her observations, Lib Wright gets to know Anna, the intelligent and devoutly religious young girl. Along the way the novel explores issues of faith, belief, guilt, abuse, family dysfunction, social mores and the role of the Roman Catholic Church and her priests in protecting (or not) children. I had to remind myself a few times that the time frame of the work is the mid-19th century. I think it would result in a great book-group discussion.
LINK to my review
The Troublesome Offspring of Cardinal Guzmán – Louis de Bernières –
3.5***
The third and final installment in this author’s “Latin American Trilogy” returns to the village of Cochadebajo, in the mountains of an unnamed South American country. I love these books. I love de Bernières’s clever writing and vivid imagery, the outlandish plot points, and outrageous scenarios. The reader who can suspend disbelief and tolerate a great deal of magical occurrences will be delighted. However, I definitely recommend you begin with the first book in the trilogy: The War of Don Emmanuel's Nether Parts.
LINK to my review
Coffee & Books
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