Coffee & Books discussion

The Night Watchman – Louise Erdrich – 4****
Erdrich was inspired by the true story of her grandfather, who successfully fought against a US Senator intent on “eliminating” various Indian tribes to craft this novel, set in 1953, on the Turtle Mountain reservation in North Dakota. There are two main characters, Thomas Wazhashk and his niece Patrice Paranteau. Their parallel and interconnecting story lines highlight the life, struggles and triumphs of the Native Americans during this era. I loved these characters, Patrice, in particular, as well as the many supporting characters.
LINK to my full review

My review for The Nurses' War by Victoria Purman

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Magic Bites – Ilona Andrews – 3***
Paranormal fantasy is just not my thing, but this was really quite fun to read. I loved that the main character is a kick-ass woman who does not suffer fools (or vampires or shapeshifters or demons, etc) lightly. There were parts of the story line that reminded me of Jim Butcher’s Dresden Files stories. The action is nonstop and there’s some interesting sexual / romantic tension. If I need another paranormal fantasy for a challenge prompt I just might turn to Andrews in the future.
LINK to my full review

Finishing Many Are Invited, Dennis Cuesta. It is not really my kind of book, see how if it changes at all.

I finished my book called Into the Storm by Suzanne Brockmann

My review for The Mallee Girl by Jennifer Scoullar

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

My review for The Cane by Maryrose Cuskelly

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

I just started reading the chosen and the beautiful and still reading rainbow milk for a book club I joined last month.

I finished my book called Don't Make a Sound by T.R. Ragan

I finished my book called Midnight Dunes by Laura Griffin

Have a Little Faith – Mitch Albom – 3.5***
Albom explores what it means to live a life of faith by looking at two very different congregations and their preachers: Rabbi Albert Lewis and Pastor Henry Covington. These two men could not be more different and yet each exemplified what it means to life a life of faith. There were a couple of times when I bristled at the feeling of being emotionally manipulated, but in the end I found it moving and thought-provoking, comforting and challenging.
LINK to my full review

The Spook In the Stacks – Eva Gates – 3***
Book number four in the Lighthouse Library Mystery series. This series features Lucy Richardson, the librarian (and resident) at the Bodie Island Lighthouse Library of the coast of North Carolina. It’s a fast, fun cozy mystery. As the title and cover imply, this one is set around Halloween.
LINK to my full review

Five Days in London, May 1940 – John Lukacs – 3.5***
Historian John Lukacs has written over twenty books, several dealing with World War II. In this book he focuses specifically on Winston Churchill and the five days from May 24 to May 28, 1940. We obviously know the outcome already, but Lukacs manages to convey the sense of urgency and tension and uncertainty of this moment in history. This is a slim volume, but very dense.
LINK to my full review

A Tale For the Time Being – Ruth Ozeki – 4****
This is Ozeki’s most widely-read work (if the Goodreads ratings are any indication). It was nominated for both the Booker Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Award, and it won the Los Angeles Times Book Prize. I don’t think I’ve ever read anything quite like this. Yes, I’ve read other books with multiple narrators and with multiple time lines. But there is an ethereal quality to Ozeki’s novel that I can’t remember ever encountering. I felt transported and immersed in these characters’ lives, even though I didn’t always want to be there. Nao’s story is particularly distressing with the bullying she endures, her family’s disastrous financial situation and her father’s deep depression.
LINK to my full review

Evans Above – Rhys Bowen – 3***
Book # 1 in the Constable Evans mystery series. I can’t really call it a cozy because our lead character is a policeman, after all, and NOT an amateur sleuth, but it has many of the hallmarks of cozies. I enjoyed the book, though it was a bit slow-moving.
LINK to my full review

The Wedding Girl – Madeleine Wickham – 3***
Milly is engaged to Simon, the son of the immensely wealthy Harry Pinnacle. But Milly has a huge secret that is likely to derail all her mother’s plans for the “wedding of the century.” I didn’t like either Milly or Simon, but I still found the book entertaining. It was a quick, fast, chick-lit romantic escape.
LINK to my full review

I finished my book called Taming the Texan by Jules Bennett

I finished reading the hardcover edition of Speechless: Controlling Words, Controlling Minds (2021) by Michael J. Knowles on October 8th, 2022; am listening to the unabridged audiobook of A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous 14th Century (1978) by Barbara W. Tuchman (1912-89); and am currently reading Live From New York: An Uncensored History of Saturday Night Live (2002 hardcover) by James Andrew Miller and Tom Shales.

Legacy – Nora Roberts
2**

From the book jacket: Adrian Rizzo was seven when she met her father for the first time. That was the day he nearly killed her – before her mother, Lina, stepped in. Soon after, Adrian was dropped off at her grandparents’ house in Maryland… Lina, meanwhile, traveled the country promoting her fitness brand and turning it into a billion-dollar business. … A decade later, Adrian has created her own line of yoga and workout videos. She’s just as coolheaded and ambitious as her mother. But while Lina dismisses the death threats that Adrian receives as a routine part of her daughter’s growing celebrity, Adrian can’t help but find the vicious rhymes unsettling.

My reactions
If that synopsis seemed long, imagine how this 400-plus-page-long tome feels. Lord, but it takes forever for the “thriller” part of the plot to come to fruition. And the romance takes just a long to blossom. The only thing more boring would be to actually watch all the yoga / fitness videos she describes.

There was a nugget of an interesting romantic thriller here, and it’s a pretty fast read. Certainly kept me entertained while I spent hours waiting in an emergency room.

The Book Of Magic – Alice Hoffman – 3.5***
I came late to the Hoffman fan club. I’m not terribly interested in reading about witches and magic, and I had seen the movie of Practical Magic, which I thought was terrible. But I finally read that first in the series last year and I was pleasantly surprised by how much I like it. So here I am again. What I really like about the books is the relationships between the generations of women. Hoffman moves back and forth between various characters. She does this quite well, keeping the story flowing and the reader turning pages.
LINK to my full review

Her Royal Spyness – Rhys Bowen – 3***
Book #1 in the “Her Royal Spyness” mystery series introduces us to Lady Victoria Georgina Charlotte Eugenie, daughter to the Duke of Glen Garry and Rannoch, and thirty-fourth in line to the throne, and commonly known as Georgie. There’s little actual spying involved, rather it’s a typical cozy mystery in which Georgie tries to clear her name, and her brother’s, after a body is found in her bathtub! There’s a host of upper-class friends / family to round out the cast, and, best of all, her maternal grandfather, a retired cop. A fun, fast, read.
LINK to my full review

Lightning Men – Thomas Mullen – 3.5***
Book two in the Darktown series continues the story of a newly integrated Atlanta police force in the 1950s. There’s a lot going on here from the basic police procedural involving the crimes the officers are trying to solve, to the racism on the force, to the ugly and dangerous tactics of the Klan, to some personal marital issues, to political corruption. It certainly captured my attention. Mullen crafts a tight thriller, with complex characters, and a couple of stunning scenes. Still, I felt a little lost regarding the relationships between the characters because I hadn’t read the first book in the series first.
LINK to my full review

I finished my book called The Best Friend: A Novel by Jessica Fellowes

Pied Piper –Nevil Shute – 4****
An elderly British man, John Howard, goes on holiday to France in April 1940, and must cut his visit short when Germany begins the invasion. He agrees to take two British children back to England with him, expecting a 2-day journey, but … This is a road trip and a suspense thriller with an undercurrent of family relationships and love. On the way he will encounter other refugee children, and of course, he takes them with him as well. Mr Howard is a marvelous character. Courage does not always involve fighting the enemy. Mr Howard and Nicole display the kind of quiet courage that comes from a deep conviction that what they are doing is correct, and a strong faith that somehow, they will prevail.
LINK to my full review

I finished my book called How to Walk Away by Katherine Center

Poirot Investigates – Agatha Christie – 3***
This was the first collection of short stories featuring the little Belgian and his “little grey cells” that Christie compiled. I love Poirot and I really appreciate the friendship and banter between him and Captain Hastings. The short stories do little to give the reader many of the clues which Poirot spends time thinking about, and rely heavily on his explanations to Hastings at the end of each episode outlining his “methodical thinking.” Even so, he is still among my favorite detectives, and I enjoyed these stories very much.
LINK to my full review

The Masterpiece – Fiona Davis – 3***
In this work of historical fiction, Davis turns her attention to another New York City landmark: Grand Central Terminal. I really wish Davis had focused more on the building’s historic past, the many reasons it achieved landmark status, and the fight to save it -or- on the feminist issue of unrecognized artists (or other contributors) due to gender bias. Trying to do both resulted in a work that didn’t fully explore either theme. It was a pretty fast read, and I kept turning pages, but I was left with a “Is that all?” feeling.
LINK to my full review

The Kindest Lie – Nancy Johnson – 3***
There’s a good premise here and some interesting family dynamics. Johnson captured my attention early and kept me turning pages. I wanted to know what would happen to these people and how their stories would play out, but I thought Johnson relied too much on the secrets and failed to make sense of the present. Ruth is supposed to be this brilliant scientist and yet she behaves just as impulsively as Midnight, the young white boy she befriends. This is Johnson’s debut novel, and I think a little more work (and editing) might have made this a very memorable work.
LINK to my full review

Something Wicked This Way Comes – Ray Bradbury – 5*****
Bradbury was a master of suspense and sci-fi. Here he turns his imagination loose on every child’s dream – and nightmare. Who doesn’t love to be scared on a carnival ride? Like the best roller coaster, Bradbury S-L-O-W-L-Y drew me up the incline of suspense, dropped me into terror, and then evened out to let me catch my breath, only to realize there was another, steeper, incline ahead. When, finally, the ride was over I was giddy with relief … and wanted to “go again!”
LINK to my full review

I finished my book called A Little Country Christmas by Carolyn Brown

The Last Thing He Told Me – Laura Dave – 3.5***
A book-club friend once said that she dislikes thrillers because she dislikes being manipulated. I am beginning to feel that way about thrillers, too. However … This is a fast-paced, intriguing book. There are several twists and turns that kept me turning pages long after I should have stopped to do other necessary things. Yes, there were some things that bothered me. A few threads that were left hanging. A few inconsistencies that an editor should have caught. As thrillers go, this is pretty good.
LINK to my full review

Mansfield Park – Jane Austen – 4****
Ah, but I love spending time with Austen. Fanny is perhaps the ideal heroine, and reportedly Austen’s own favorite among her heroines. She is intelligent and thoughtful, pretty and graceful, keeps her own counsel, is modest and principled, and still has a loving heart. There is a certain predictable pattern to Austen’s novels, and this one is no exception. Our heroine will remain true to herself, and love will triumph.
LINK to my full review

I finished my book called Force of Nature by Suzanne Brockmann

Life Among the Savages – Shirley Jackson – 3***
This collection of essays / vignettes is about Jackson and her family’s 1953 move to a small town in Vermont, where she and her husband settled into a large house and proceeded to fill it with children and books, a dog, two cats, and “literally thousands of socks.” I’ve read two of Jackson’s classic “horror” tales previously, so, I knew she was a talented writer. But I had no idea she had such a wicked sense of humor!
LINK to my full review

The Thirteen Problems – Agatha Christie – 3***
This is a collection of short stories. The Tuesday Murder Club is a group of friends, including Miss Jane Marple, who regularly meet and take turns relating an interesting murder case they are aware of, but without revealing the culprit. The club members try to guess who committed the crime. Of course, Miss Marple is always right.
LINK to my full review

I finished my book called Sugarplum Way by Debbie Mason

The Deal Of a Lifetime –Fredrick Bachman – 1*
DNFd the audio after about 30 pages. NOT, the feel-good story I was hoping for from the cover. Then picked up the text and finished it quickly. Still didn’t like it, but I’d give it 1 star
LINK to my full review

Little Eve by Catriona Ward. Audio is so good!

Evan Help Us – Rhys Bowen – 3***
Book two in the Constable Evans series has Evan looking into two seemingly unrelated deaths. I like Constable Evans, but this one dragged a little. Still I enjoy spending time with the colorful residents of Llanfair.
LINK to my full review

The View From Penthouse B – Elinor Lipman – 3.5*** rounded up
Two sisters and a handsome, cupcake-baking young man share a Greenwich Village apartment and support one another’s efforts to get back into life. What a charming comedy of manners, reminiscent of Jane Austen, but updated to the 21st century. The scenarios and the characters are believable and relatable. Their dialogue sparkles. I love how they support and encourage one another through thick and thin, and many complications relationship wise. Just delightful fun.
LINK to my full review

I finished my book called That Holiday Feeling by Debbie Macomber

The Forbidden Game

I finished my book called For Your Own Good by Samantha Downing

A Cowboy For Christmas – Lori Wilde – 2.5**
Okay, it’s an Avon Romance and I was expecting something predictable and heart-warming, not great literature. This had a lovely premise: a struggling, young widow with a toddler, meets her late husband’s estranged brother and the sparks fly. But there’s a very weak subplot involving Lissy’s mother-in-law; this tortured character just tortured me every time she appeared on the page, and the book lost a ½ star as a result. That’s not to say that I won’t get back on the horse and try another of Wilde’s cowboy romances in the future.
LINK to my full review