We liked Guernsey LPPS, but thought it was a book best enjoyed for the emotional impact; dissecting it only pointed out its flaws and lessened our enjoyment. The epistolary format gave it an intimacy that would have been lost with a more traditional prose. We thought the love triangle with Mark and Dawsey and Juliet was a distraction, and would have preferred more information about Christian and Elizabeth. We talked about resiliency and the ability to find humor in a horrible situation. What held them together throughout their shared experience was that they all knew each other – warts and all – before the occupation. 3.5* on a 5* scale.

In 1962 Jackson Mississippi there is a distinct line between the black maids and the white women who employ them. The line blurs with the white children the maids care for and love. But eventually the children grow up and become their mothers and fathers and the line is back again.

This is a story of one white woman’s efforts to challenge the division by enlisting the help of The Help to write an important book. It’s an unsettling time in the South. Jim Crow laws are still enforced, but challenged daily. Martin Luther King is marching on Washington and giving his “I Have a Dream” speech. Medgar Evers is killed in his front yard. There are sit-ins in Woolworths, and bus boycotts. But even the “good” white families maintain that line – if not in private, in public. No one wants to be the first to buck the tradition … the consequences of doing so are ostracizing for the whites, unemployment, beatings, even death for the blacks.

It’s a compelling read and gives us several different vignettes to consider. We have Skeeter, daughter of a cotton plantation owner (though they prefer to call it a farm) with a trust fund. Miss Hilly, the Junior League President and tyrant of the young Jackson society set. Miss Elizabeth, who can’t be bothered with her own children and doesn’t even recognize herself in the book that her maid helps Skeeter write. Aibileen is a central character. She tries desperately to instill in each child she raises a color-blind moral code, and leaves each family as the child succumbs to family and peer pressure to think differently. She is the first to trust Miss Skeeter with her thoughts on being a maid, and she begins to enlist the help of the other maids in town. Minny is the one who can never be deferential and so is constantly having to look for a new family. She’s sassy and loud, but loyal to a fault and genuinely kind. Ultimately she is instrumental in getting the other maids to trust Skeeter with their stories, and she is the one who gives them the story they need to ensure Hilly will not sabotage them.

The writing is far from perfect however, which is why I don’t give it 5 stars. The author uses first person for all but one chapter – THE BENEFIT – alternating narrators to tell the story. Some of the characters are barely evident – Elizabeth and Celia are one-dimensional, Lou Anne is just a ghost. And Hilly could have been better drawn as well; some complexity would have added much to the story. And there are plot points that go nowhere – Mrs Phelan’s illness, for example.

This is book 1 of the Father Tim series. Father Tim goes home again and finds many connections he didn’t even know he sought. He also makes peace with the memory of his father, and discovers the truth behind many boyhood mysteries. Audio book narrator Scott Sowers “young” voice isn’t quite right for Father Tim and others of his generation, but he does an okay job of other characters.

13-year-old Grace suffers a terrible accident while out horseback riding one frosty morning. This tragedy sets Grace, her mother, Annie, and father, Robert on separate paths toward healing. Annie, used to being a high-powered business woman, takes charge; she will “fix” Grace’s battered horse, and mend Grace’s spirit in the process. This quest leads them to a Montana ranch where Tom Booker works his magic as the horse whisperer. The horse is terribly wounded, but no more so than mother and daughter, whose close-off emotions have formed scars as binding as the animal’s visible ones. Tom says he is not a miracle worker but he manages to bring those emotions out into the open and set them on a path towards healing, at least until …

It is a gripping story and hard to put down, which makes this long book a fast read. However, I'm not sure Annie was completely believable.

Astrid narrates this tale of her journey through a series of foster homes in the six years following her mother’s imprisonment for murdering an ex-lover.
Ingrid Magnussen is the quintessential free spirit. Pale, with vivid blue eyes, and nearly white blond hair, she is wraithlike and beautiful; a single mother who is devoted to her only child, Astrid. Ingrid frequently spouts her philosophy that women should be strong and that they do not need the love of a man to flourish. Then Barry Kolker enters their lives, and Ingrid falls hard. When Barry stops calling, Ingrid cannot let go. Eventually her obsession with revenge leads her to concoct a poison of oleander blossoms, and Astrid is left to the foster care system when Ingrid is sent to prison.
Astrid’s experiences are at times horrific, but there are moments of warmth as well. She finds the strength to survive and even flourish for a while. The result is a young woman who is still far from the promise of her talent and intellect, but able finally to confront her mother.
It’s a powerful story, and well-written. The ending feels a little forced, however, wrapping up a bit too quickly.

4.5 stars
McBride is best known for his memoir "The Color of Water." Here he turns his talents to an historical novel based on the true story of Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad that brought so many slaves to freedom in the North.
Liz Spocott, a house slave and mistress to her master, is struck on the head and afterwards can see the future in her dreams. The book opens with Liz in captivity in the attic of a tavern, run by the notorious Patty Cannon and her band of slave stealers (they capture slaves they find alone, hold them until a broker comes to town, ship them south and sell them). She is chained to an elderly “woman without a name,” who recognizes Liz’s gift and tries to impart to Liz the secret code of slaves on the freedom train. The lesson is incredibly brief, and Liz is badly wounded (she’s been shot in the head, though the musket ball hasn’t penetrated her skull) and half delirious. But still she remembers just enough so that when the opportunity presents itself Liz manages to get free (and also free the 13 other slaves in the attic with her).
Of course this means that Patty and her gang will stop at nothing to find Liz. As if that weren’t enough, her master has also hired a well-known slave catcher, The Gimp, to bring Liz back to him. The other slaves are afraid of her because of her perceived powers. The rumor mill is alive with stories about The Dreamer and her magic. So Liz is all alone, ill, and barely knows a few key parts of the code.
The entire novel takes place in the swamps, marshes, inlets, and woods of Maryland’s Chesapeake Bay shore area (Dorchester County to be exact) in about 10 days time. It’s remote and unforgiving. But Liz finds help … first from The Woolman (a former slave who has been raised in the backwoods and swamps) and then from Amber (the slave of Missus Kathleen Sullivan, whose husband, along with Amber’s brother died oystering six months previously).
I thought it was a compelling read, and I learned much about the Underground Railroad and life in pre-Civil War Maryland. I was immediately drawn into the story and stayed up way too late trying to finish it. I think, however, it may not be for everyone, which is the only reason I do not give it 5*.

I am confused … in a good way.

Lucy has left her small Ohio town in the dead of night, along with her lover and former history teacher, on her way to adventure and riches; but can she really trust him? Miles has been searching for his missing, apparently schizophrenic, twin brother for years; a recent letter has given him a clue that dates back to their childhood and the fantasy games they played, and at last he is certain where to find him. Ryan has his own identity crisis when he learns that he was adopted; his biological father, Jay, is a ne’er-do-well who has never taken responsibility for anything, until he suddenly contacts Ryan, convinces him to come live with him, and learn his trade.

At its core this is a novel about identity, and it is mesmerizing and intentionally confusing. You have three separate story lines, told in alternating chapters, and without any apparent connection between them, unless you think about identity and reinventing oneself as a connecting theme. I know that Ryan Schuyler is a real person. Lucy Lattimore is definitely a real person. Miles Cheshire and Lydia Barrie are real people. But what about Jay Kozelek, Hayden Cheshire, George Orson?

The novel jumps around in time, making it even more difficult to keep track of all these characters. It starts about two-thirds of the way through the story line; or at least I think that’s where the opening falls in chronology. But don’t let that dissuade you; enjoy the roller coaster ride.

On December 1, 1958 a fire at Our Lady of the Angels Catholic grade school in Chicago killed 92 pupils and three nuns. This is their story. The authors write a page-turning account of the contributing causes of the blaze and of the deaths. Compelling storytelling. I could not put it down.

What glorious writing! I had read this before, but read it again for book club. If you've seen the movie (and who hasn't) you'll be somewhat surprised - Denys Finch Hatton is in only a small part of this book. No, Dinnesen's real love was Africa itself.

In November 2008 I read Shadows on the Grass - a group of 4 essays (about 85 pages) at the end of this edition that form an epilogue of sorts to Out of Africa. The writing is so poignant as to make you want to weep, and still fills yourheart with love.

I first read this "novelized" true-crime book when it was first published. I think that is what made me interested in this genre of reading. I recently re-read the book and found it just as compelling as the first time.
Simply put, nobody does it better. And writing it nearly - or perhaps definitely - destroyed Capote because he got so caught up in the psychology of the killers (Percy Smith, in particular).
Capote's writing is just beautiful. So evocative of place. It is a brilliant work!

McBride and his eleven siblings knew their mother was a free-thinking, intensely private, strong-willed woman, who demanded excellence from her brood. She was disorganized and overwhelmed, but they knew she loved them. She believed firmly in Jesus Christ and insisted they all attend church each Sunday. She also insisted that they attend the best possible public schools … which meant the Jewish public schools where they were frequently the only Blacks in attendance. They lived for most of their youth in Brooklyn’s Red Hook projects. Certainly they knew their mother wasn’t like the other kids’s mothers; but when they asked, she would simply say, “I’m light-skinned.” When James asked if he was black or white his mother’s curt response was, “You’re a human being. Educate yourself or you’ll be a nobody!” When he asked what color God was, his mother answered, “He’s the color of water.”

But eventually, and after repeated pleas, James convinced his mother to tell the story that he and his siblings never knew – or even suspected. She was not only white, but Jewish – the daughter of an Orthodox rabbi.

The book is told in alternating chapters – Ruth’s story, and James’s story. McBride doesn’t hold back in this memoir of “A Black Man’s Tribute to His White Mother.” He clearly outlines the missteps and tragedies, as well as the joy and success of his extended family.

It is emotional and heartfelt, tender and raw, full of the personal issues of race, religion and identity, as well as the societal issues of race and religion.

Dorris braids a single story told in reverse chronological order, from three unique perspectives. Rayona, a 15-year-old “half-breed,” begins the story, relaying her efforts to raise her own irresponsible mother. We then move to Ray’s mother, Christine, who recounts her struggles growing up and rebelling against her unaffectionate mother, Aunt Ida. Finally we hear from Aunt Ida, the matriarch of the family, whose secrets have shaped her daughter and granddaughter in ways she never intended.

It’s a great premise for a literary work. However, I don’t think Dorris succeeds in his execution. I really grew to care about Rayona, but then her story ends abruptly and Dorris transfers the tale to Christine. Because they are both portrayed as so unfeeling and irresponsible, I had a hard time caring about Christine or Aunt Ida, though I did begin to empathize with Ida when she finally tells her story in part three. HERE is a story I really want to know more about. But Dorris ends the book abruptly … almost mid-sentence.

I’m left feeling very dissatisfied, and almost as if I wasted my time reading this. However, after attending our book club meeting, I see much more in the book. We had a great discussion about a number of issues. I still give it only 2 stars, because I didn't like it, although I do appreciate it a bit more after our discussion.

This is a work of historical fiction focusing on two remarkable women who advanced the understanding of natural history with their discoveries. Mary Anning and Elizabeth Philpot had little in common, being separated by age, education level and social class, but they found friendship in their common interest in fossils. The setting is early 1800’s England – specifically the seaside village of Lyme Regis.

The reader easily sees that Mary’s life is limited by her social class and lack of education. Elizabeth’s prospects are also limited – maybe even more than Mary’s. She’s educated, but has no money or particular social standing, and she cannot rely on her plain looks to help her attract a suitable husband (which, after all, is the goal for women in this time period). I am interested in natural history, so naturally find the history of their scientific accomplishments fascinating. But I am also intrigued by the exploration of the role of women in this time.

I like the way Chevalier develops the unlikely friendship between these two women. Elizabeth does sometimes show a somewhat patronizing attitude toward Mary, and the jealousy caused when a fossil collector pays more attention to the young, uneducated Mary than to Elizabeth strains their relationship. Yet, ultimately their interest in the science and in receiving credit for their contributions is what binds them together. I have to admit that I was sometimes irritated with Elizabeth’s superior attitude, but I applauded her for championing Mary’s cause. As for Mary … I just loved her. She showed such intelligence and drive.

I listened to the book on CD, narrated by Charlotte Perry and Susan Lyons. The two performers of the audio book do an excellent job of voicing these two very different women – Remarkable Creatures, indeed!

I had a difficult time with this novel. I did not like Kingsolver’s voice as narrator at the outset, which made my mind wander as I “listened.” That really has little to do with the novel, except that it is part of the reason I don’t give it that final 5th star, because, ultimately, I loved this book.

Kingsolver tells the story of William Harrison Shepherd, a young man caught in the gaps (the lacunae) between two countries, two parents, two cultures, two lives (public and private). The novel unfolds as a series of diary entries, letters, and newspaper clippings, spanning the period from 1929 to 1954. Never quite at ease with his place in the world, Shepherd is an astute observer, who carefully considers what he witnesses and forms his own opinions. But he is not a man of action; he goes along for the ride, letting history unfold around him and never quite understanding how it has derailed his meager hopes. When he fails to play the media’s game, he finds himself the object of increasingly outlandish stories; and, eventually, accusations taken as truths will destroy him. The lacuna that is most important here is the space between truth and a falsehood perceived as truth.

I love how Kingsolver’s luscious writing paints the landscape and time period. I could just about taste the sugary pan dulce or savory chalupas; was nearly deafened by the howler monkeys, the din of the marketplace or the shouts of demonstrators and riot police; I relished in the colors of the tropics and felt subdued by the grey of a mountain winter.

I listened to the audio book, narrated by Kingsolver. I did eventually grow to appreciate the author’s narration, though I really had a difficult time with her performance at the outset. I thought she was too “careful” with her words; it lacked emotion and “life.” But she really shone, in my opinion, when she voiced Frida Kahlo and, especially later in the novel, Violet Brown. I think I am going to have to read this one again – this time in a text format.

I really enjoyed this novel. I loved the exploration of family dynamic, was engaged in the story, liked that there was no “magic fix” to their self-created problems.

The Andreas sisters have always felt that they had a lot to live up to – their parents’ expectations, of course, but also the burden of the great women characters for whom they were named, and their feeling that everyone expects “great things” from each of them. Now they are adults, all back in town to help their mother as she deals with breast cancer. Life has buffeted the sisters and things haven’t turned out quite as they expected, but they seem to cling to the roles they’ve always played and that they feel define them, and this sets up the central tension of the novel.

Brown explores issues of communication, of sibling rivalry, of the dichotomy of seeking independence and yet shouldering responsibility. The sisters have some hard lessons to learn before they can move beyond their disappointments and setbacks, and face the future as true adults.

Book on CD performed by Kirsten Potter. Potter’s performance is just about perfect; giving clear voice to the many characters (I particularly like how she voiced the father and Cordy). I would definitely read another book by Brown, and listen to another audio performed by Potter.

How can you atone for a mistake which so drastically alters someone’s life? This is a complex novel that explores issues of class, guilt, love, war and forgiveness. On a summer day in 1935, at 13-year-old Briony's family estate, she witnesses a part of scene between her older sister, Cecilia, and Robbie Turner, the son of a servant, and her imagination takes off. Additional happenings in the house that same day, including her own snooping, result in a leap of logic and she accuses Robbie of a terrible crime. Her “confident” testimony is what convicts him despite the absence of evidence. This is her crime, whose repercussions the book follows through World War II and beyond, and for which Briony will spend her life trying to atone.

The reader knows this is an injustice and can only hope for an eventual resolution. I was horrified that no one took a good look at the situation and saw the obvious flaws in this young girl’s testimony. But then, she was an upper class young lady of a fine family, and he was the strong laborer trying to “get above his station.” Cecilia, in my opinion, is equally to blame for locking herself in her room at the outset and not coming forward until it is too late to save Robbie. She also atones; she completely cuts herself off from her family and continuously works to try to reverse the damage. Robbie is left to try to piece together some semblance of a life; his service during WW 2 is in part an effort to expunge his record.

Jill Tanner’s performance of this audio book is wonderful. She’s able to express the boredom and outrage of the young teen Briony, the passion and excitement of Cecilia, the anxiety and confusion of Pierrot and Jackson, the petulance and superiority of Lola, and the hope and determination of Robbie.

* * * * S P O I L E R A L E R T * * * *
The issue of class is further evident because while Cecilia firmly believes that Robbie had nothing to do with the attack on Lola, she automatically focuses her attentions on Danny Hardman, a lad from the village. She never suspects Paul Marshall … though it was HE who had scratches on his face from an earlier attempt on Lola. Even though Lola had to seek treatment for cuts and bruises earlier in the day (she blamed her younger twin brothers), no one seemed to put two and two together. Paul, after all, was the scion of a wealthy family, a college man, and a good friend of Leon Tallis. And later in life when Briony wants to tell the “real” story, she is advised against doing so because surely the Marshalls would sue her for libel. Yes, Lola marries her rapist and is now the wealthy wife who, along with her husband, supports many worthy charities. Their “class” insulates them from scrutiny.

2.5** for the audio book read by Paul Boehmer.

Isabel Duncan head a university research facility studying language in great apes, specifically bonobos. The day after journalist John Thigpen visits, the center is bombed. Barely recovering from her injuries, Isabel is horrified to discover that the apes are now starring in a reality TV show called The Ape House.

I wondered at times if Gruen was trying to emulate Carl Hiaasen for colorful characters and unusual plot turns. The final confrontation is a little too neatly tied up for my taste, and several subplots seem to go nowhere. I was invested in the bonobo family from the beginning and wanted to know what would happen to them. It was the humans in the book that I never really got to know. The most interesting characters are the minor ones; Isabel and John are somewhat flat, and irritated me more frequently than not.

Paul Boehmer does a good job of performing the work. He’s especially effective voicing John Thigpen. The audio book held my attention, and for that I give 2.5* but I don't think there's enough meat here for a meaningful discussion.

Set against the backdrop of World War 2 and its immediate aftermath, this is a story with universal appeal. Two couples – the Jamaicans Hortense and Gilbert Joseph and the British Queenie and Bernard Bligh – find their way in circumstances neither ever considered.

Levy has written a gem of a novel that explores every human emotion, but ends with a feeling of hope. I felt for these wounded people and celebrated their triumphs, however small. The four central characters take turns narrating as the action alternates between Jamaica and England. The dialogue is wonderful, including just enough colloquial expression to really bring the characters to life. The novel also goes back and forth in time, building suspense and leading to an ending that is as inevitable as it is unexpected.

I have heard this book compared to To Kill a Mockingbird; I think that comparison holds up pretty well.

Michelle LeBeau has a white father and a Japanese mother, but lives with her grandparents in Deerhorn, Wisconsin, where she is the only “colored” person in town. Her grandfather, Charlie LeBeau, is one of the town’s most respected men. A bigot who strongly disapproves of his son’s interracial marriage, he nevertheless dotes on his only grandchild. Everything changes in the summer of 1974 when the local clinic expands, resulting in the arrival of Mr and Mrs Garrett – a young black couple from Chicago. Charlie and his friends are incensed and voice their prejudice at every opportunity. Mikey is uniquely able to understand the isolation the Garretts feel, and is drawn to them.

The beauty of this novel is that while it deals with tragedy, Revoyr also is writing about a young child who feels loved and protected by her grandparents, a child who enjoys the outdoors and the freedom to explore the sights, sounds and smells of the country. Michelle has a front-row seat to the happenings in town, and observes the people she knows and loves as their darkest faults come to light. She also begins to recognize what true courage looks like, and the reader can only hope that she will chose carefully which traits to emulate.

Revoyr mines her own childhood for this exploration of family values as much as it is of racism in America. Clearly the isolation her character feels is what Revoyr herself felt in the few years she spent in central Wisconsin as a child (See this story – http://scottkennethnoble.blogspot.com/2011/07/foreigner-in-marshfieldwingshooters-by.html)

3.5*** This is a moral fable in which Wilder tries to answer the question, “Is there a direction and meaning in lives beyond the individual’s own will?” He explores the characters’ motivations in life, their triumphs and disappointments. Its universal appeal is that Wilder is writing about human nature – conflicted, noble, contradictory, loving, and exasperating. He holds a mirror up to the reader’s own soul, asking the reader to examine his or her own actions and reactions.

Emily Carr was a pioneering painter, choosing as her subject the lush landscape and pre-European history of British Columbia. She focused her efforts first on recording the incredible art of the First Nations clans, capturing the spirit of the place - the serenity, power and life’s blood of the centuries-old forests that surrounded her. The path she chose was not an easy one. She refused to conform to the expectations of the white Vancouver society into which she was born. She fought her sisters for the money she needed to paint as she felt she must. She suffered negative reviews and scorn of her countrymen for her focus on native peoples. She pushed her way into art studios in France to learn the techniques she would need to capture the spirit of her beloved forests. She refused to compromise her vision, and finally achieved the recognition she deserved.

Vreeland paints a vivid portrait of Emily. I was captured from the first paragraph. There are passages in the novel that are breathtaking, powerful, urgent, serene and/or heartbreaking. I felt Emily’s frustration, elation, confusion, compassion and joy.

I’ve visited Canada many times, going to art museums in Vancouver, Victoria, Toronto and Montreal. Reading the book I can only think that I never saw Carr’s work in all those visits. How could I forget something so evocative and powerful? This novel makes me want to visit “the forest primeval” again, and to see Emily Carr’s paintings.

This delightful novella reads like a fable or morality tale, but is based on a true incident in European history. In 1550 King Joao III of Portugal decided that the perfect wedding gift for Archduke Maximilian of Austria would be an elephant. The elephant, Solomon, along with his mahout, Subhro, accompanied by a caravan of soldiers, laborers, and numerous wagons and ox carts full of provisions, set out to walk across Central Europe. Along the way they encounter various officials, peasants, priests, and wildlife, each providing an excuse for Saramago to engage in philosophical asides and/or to skewer sacred institutions and beliefs. He treats us to his thoughts on power, dignity, friendship, religion, and human weaknesses. Saramago’s writing is not for the faint of heart. He uses minimal punctuation, and the only capitalization is at the beginning of each sentence. A sentence can be as long as a paragraph. A paragraph can last three or four pages. If the reader can surrender to this style, s/he will be rewarded with a wonderful story told by a master storyteller. I’ve read two other books by Saramago - Blindness and The Double. This book is certainly the most approachable of the three, and would make a good introduction to this author.

Myra Lipinski has spent her life looking out at everyone else living their lives. Working as a visiting nurse, she cares with tender efficiency for patients who need the kind of nursing care she can provide. She also feels genuine affection for them, bolsters their spirits and helps them outside of her official duties. But she has to remain professionally detached. But things change when her old high school crush, Chip Reardon, returns to town. He is dying and he needs a nurse.

What I love about Berg’s novels is that she gives us something to think about, but also lets the reader feel with the characters. I felt Myra’s loneliness, exhilaration, peace, fear, anger, and pride. I found myself thinking about what constitutes quality of life, why certain people are attracted to one another, or how a chance encounter can really change the course of one’s life. I like that Berg’s characters are – for the most part – fully fleshed out. Even minor characters show both strengths and weaknesses. Pay attention to the prologue, and after you finish the epilogue go back and re-read the prologue. I love how Berg bookends Myra’s story with these two sections, calling attention to the wonder of normal everyday things.

3.5*** Two storylines are juxtaposed here – a contemporary murder mystery in a polygamist sect, and an historical novel that explores the beginnings of the Church of Christ of Latter Day Saints, and the issues that led to the Church’s denouncing of polygamy. Ebershoff does a good job of moving back and forth between the two, but I was much more interested in the historical aspect of the novel. Ann Eliza’s story was fascinating to me, and it was that portion that really kept me reading. Using four different performers for the audio version really helped to clearly identify the story lines and differentiate the many characters.

Audio book read by Stephen Hoye

A lucky photograph captured the imagination of the American people and helped raise the spirits of a nation (and LOTS of money in war bonds). This is the background story of the famous shot of the flag being raised on Iwo Jima.

Author James Bradley’s father was one of those six young men whose lives were changed by a photographer taking one more shot. In trying to explain his father’s long years of silence about his experiences during World War 2, Bradley discovered not only John “Doc” Bradley’s story, but that of the other men who fought to take Iwo Jima.

Though he spends a good part of the book giving us background on the six young men whose destinies would converge on Mount Suribachi during one of the bloodiest battles of the war in the Pacific, Bradley manages to keep the story moving forward. He walks a fine line between personal anecdote and the tension of a battlefield report.

Stephen Hoye is best when reading the battle scenes. When he slows down to give importance to a phrase or section his voice takes on an irritating quality that detracts from the message. Trust the listener, Mr Hoye. We will figure out what is important without your “acting” it for us. Despite this irritation, I still give the book 5 stars because Bradley’s work is gripping, emotional, dramatic, touching and inspirational.


P.S. My father spent 33 months in the Pacific Theatre during WW2 and was with one of the first units to go to Hiroshima after we dropped the bomb, to assist with clean-up.

In November 1993 the author arrived in Venice with two friends in tow. She didn’t know that a chance encounter in a restaurant would change her life. This is a delicious memoir of a love that surprised two middle-aged people – a Venetian banker and an American journalist (and chef). I am smiling thinking about it. I kept reading passages aloud to anyone who would listen. De Blasi is not only in love with Fernando, she is in love with Venice. No, she is in love with life, and she imbues her writing with that love. Read this. And enjoy life!

Jim Nightshade and Will Halloway are neighbors, best friends, and born just minutes apart. The 13-year-old boys live in the small town of Green Town, Illinois and are looking forward to Halloween. But this year, Halloween will come early, because on Oct 24, just after midnight, Cooger & Dark’s Pandemonium Shadow Show will come to town with its carnival rides, mirror maze, sideshow freaks, and a carousel that can change your life.

Bradbury was a master of suspense and sci-fi. Here he turns his imagination loose on every child’s dream – and nightmare. Clowns and fortune tellers are both fascinating and frightening. A trip inside the funhouse mirror maze elicits feelings of adventure and claustrophobia. And who doesn’t love to be scared on a carnival ride – whipped around on the Tilt-a-Whirl, feeling your heart drop as you round the top of the Ferris wheel, made dizzy as the carousel spins round and round? Parents are old and useless, except when they are inventive and heroic.

Kevin Foley’s performance on the audio was magnificent. His youthful enthusiasm for Jim and Will made me willing to go along on this adventure that I would NEVER attempt in real life. Just remembering his oily voice for Mr Dark gives me the shivers.

This book scared the beejesus out of me – and I was listening ONLY in broad daylight, during my daily commute. 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!”

The novel follows the fictitious cellist Feliu Delargo from his birth in a Catalan village in 1892 to the concert halls of Europe in the early 20th century and finally to the train depot in a small French port city in October 1940. The novel explores the conflict between art and conscience; should those in the public eye use their art and celebrity to advance a particular cause, to warn the populace, or to numb the masses? This is a large topic to tackle and the book covers a significant time frame where wars, disease and economic depressions taxed even the strongest and wealthiest. Romano-Lax manages this very well. The story pulled me in and kept me turning pages. When I got to the end, I found myself wishing the book were longer.

Mayhew’s debut novel is a story of racism in the 1950’s South, a coming-of-age novel, and a look at a family falling apart. There are some emotionally gut-wrenching scenes in the book, but I think Mayhew was trying to include too much and the plot got away from her. The family drama would have been plenty to handle in a novel. The growing racial tensions in this time period would also have fueled a full novel. In trying to incorporate both these significant plots, Mayhew failed to do justice to either one. There are moments of very good writing and I was interested and engaged in the novel. Karen White does a very good job on the audio book.

Lavinia Warren was only 32 inches high, but had ambitions that were not limited by her diminutive size. She was a real person, more popularly known as Mrs General Tom Thumb – the wife of P T Barnum’s famous “oddity.” In the midst of Civil War, their wedding was front-page news. They were received by Queen Victoria, Abraham Lincoln, and heads of state around the world. All of this is true, but this book is a work of fiction.


Benjamin does a wonderful job of bringing Vinnie to life. The novel depicts a woman of great intelligence and drive. She is shown to be cunning, witty, talented and strong-willed; also vulnerable, frightened, angry, and cold. Her partnership with Barnum is wonderfully imagined and beautifully told. Benjamin gives us a woman who is defined by her character, not her height. All this is presented against a backdrop of historical events – Civil War, the opening of the West, and life in the Gilded Age. I really liked this book. I was completely mesmerized by Vinnie’s story, and that of the other members of her troupe.

2.5**

Ji Ling is a prominent businessman. Born in America while his father was a student, he has lived in Shanghai since he was 10 years old and no longer speaks English. When he suffers a brain injury as a result of an explosion in the hotel where he has met his father for dinner, the result is loss of language … except for a few English phrases. Frustrated and frightened, his family brings in an American doctor, a neurologist specializing in bilingual aphasia (loss of speech), to help him recover his speech. Months later the physical wreckage of the explosion has been cleared away, leaving no evidence of the rubble through which Ji Ling crawled to safety. But there is plenty of evidence of the wreckage in the emotional scars Ji Ling and his family bear.

In her debut novel, Xu explores the most intimate of human interactions – communication. The loneliness and isolation of not being able to communicate our wants, desires, feelings, and hopes are evident in all the characters. Of course there is the obvious injury to Ji Ling, but the American doctor – Rosalyn Neal – is no more able to communicate than her patient (and not only because she does not speak Chinese). Meiling, Ji’s wife, is locked in a pattern of not communicating. His father, Professor Ji, is silenced by the conventions of society and his fear of interfering in his son’s marriage. Alan, the interpreter, manages to convey words without any feeling or meaning.

It’s the kind of story and the kind of novel that I should have loved. I like character-based novels that explore the intricacies of human interaction. But somehow Xu’s writing went too far in giving us the sense of isolation that comes from the inability to communicate. This reader could not connect with any of the characters. I felt their frustration, because I felt frustrated. But rather than empathizing and caring about their predicament, I felt so removed from them as to not care at all what would happen to them.

Audio book performed by Cassandra Campbell.

Moving back and forth between the 1340 “true” story of Giulietta Tolomei and Romeo Marescotti, and the modern day Julie Jacobs’s efforts to find her mother’s legacy, this is a novel that tries to be a romantic epic and a suspense thriller. The result is that it doesn’t quite succeed on either count.

I was pretty caught up in the 1340 story. Although some of the “coincidences” strained credulity, I was willing to go along because it’s a story handed down through generations. But the modern story just irritated me. There were far too many double-crosses, and triple-crosses. People show up very conveniently and without good explanation. My biggest complaint is that Julie behaves so stupidly – repeatedly. On the plus side, Fortier did a very good job of putting the action in the city of Siena and the surrounding Tuscan countryside. The location is practically a character; it is so vividly drawn and so central to the story. She also does a decent job of keeping the plot moving and building suspense. Cassandra Campbell’s narration on the audio book was very good.

I do not recommend it for book clubs because I don't think there is enough to discuss.

Opening line: They were young, educated, and both virgins on this, their wedding night, and they lived in a time when a conversation about sexual difficulties was plainly impossible.

Florence and Edward are desperately and completely in love, but relative strangers. In an era when open discussion about intimate relations is simply not done, they are left to fumble their way in the dark, both literally and figuratively. Anticipation makes them anxious, eager and fearful all at once. They have no idea that their greatest impediment to happiness is their total inability to communicate their hopes, desires, fears, anxieties, wants, dreams and true, genuine love for one another.

In an interview McEwan said he set the novel in 1962 on purpose; he needed a time frame before sex was openly discussed. One technique he uses that is very effective, is that there is very little dialogue between these two until they finally face each other on the beach. I feel so badly for them at the end of this book; I so wish they had someone to help them find a way to repair the damage they mistakenly believe to be irreparable.

There is much here that should make a gripping work of literary fiction. I generally love books like this, but this one left me feeling decidedly “meh.” And I’m having trouble defining why.

Perhaps their situation is just so different my own that I couldn’t relate to them, but I’ve read many a book with characters whose lives are very different and I had no problem understanding and relating. Perhaps it was the very slow (almost nonexistent) plot, but I’ve enjoyed plenty of character-driven books with slow-moving storylines. Perhaps it was the violence of dog-fighting, but I’ve read some books with graphic violence (including animal cruelty) and I was not put off by it. The casual sex, the rough language, the use of dialect – aspects that have been criticized by other reviewers – are all elements I’ve appreciated in other books. One area that I definitely felt detracted was her use of Greek mythology; I just did not think these references served the story well, though I appreciated the poetry of these passages.

I think it must be the combination of all these factors that left me feeling dissatisfied. I appreciate Ward’s writing, but I didn’t love it.

Torres's debut novel, We The Animals, is a challenging read. Written in a unique style of prose poetry, it tells the story of three brothers growing up in upstate New York. Our book group was engaged and interested until ... About 100 pages into this 124 page book it takes a VERY dark turn and the author lost us.

From chapter 21: Mattia had learned that, among prime numbers, there are some that are even more special. Mathematicians call them twin primes: pairs of prime numbers that are close to each other, almost neighbors, but between them there is always an even number that prevents them from truly touching.”

Alice Della Rocca and Mattia Balossino are the solitary primes of this beautifully written novel. The story begins in 1983 with Alice, forced to take ski lessons by her attorney father. The narrative skips to 1984 and twins Mattia and Michaela; Mattia is always charged with “look after your sister,” because Michaela is clearly not able to look after herself. These two chapters provide key incidents that lead to Alice and Mattia’s increasing solitude. But they will meet in high school and like rare twin primes they will cling to one another, though never quite touching.

Giordano writes with such elegance about the landscape of loneliness, the need for love and acceptance. This is an intimate study of the psychology of two damaged characters. Both Mattia and Alice lack the strength to truly connect to someone else, yet have the strength to live alone and isolated. Their steps toward one another are halting and even excruciatingly difficult, making the reader almost as anxious as the characters. Like real life, the ending is ambiguous, but oh, how I want to know what happens to these two people.

Luke Daniels does a wonderful job narrating the audio version. His nuanced performance is both gentle and harsh, quiet and panicked, tender and mean.

3.5***

This is a delightful retelling of Pride and Prejudice set in a Jewish retirement community in Boca Raton Florida. The story focuses on three widows: May Newman, Flo Kliman and Lila Katz. When May’s daughter-in-law, Carol, learns that the widowed father of her husband’s school friend is now living in a retirement community just down the road from May, she is determined to get the two of them together. (Think Mrs Bennet anxious to put her girls in the path of Mr Bingley.) From her New Jersey suburb Carol arranges a brunch reception at her mother-in-law’s condo and invites Norman Grafstein, who brings along his friend Stan Jacobs. You can imagine the plot turns from there.

I really enjoyed this light read. It’s clever and witty, albeit predictable. I couldn’t help but remind myself, “Just like Wickham!” or “She must be Charlotte” as I read. Of course some of the scenarios draw from other Austen novels, but that’s no problem, it’s all in good fun and still entertaining. I even love the cover, which just makes me smile to look at it.

Audio book narrated by Julie Fain Lawrence.


Consumed by grief at the loss of her husband and daughter, Haregewoin Teferra, a middle-class Ethiopian woman, finds solace in attending daily church services – regardless of denomination – and becomes known to other regular church-goers as a very devout woman. One day the director of the Catholic Church charity surprises her when he asks if she might do a favor for the priest. A 15-year-old orphan is living on the streets; perhaps Haregewoin might be willing to take the girl into her home? A few weeks later they ask her to take in another teen; and then a pair of six-year-old girls. And in this way Haregewoin begins to foster the AIDS orphans of Ethiopia.


Greene is a journalist and has clearly done extensive research. She writes Haregewoin’s story in a compassionate and balanced way, backed up with considerable information on the history of Ethiopia, its culture and religions, as well as the history of HIV/AIDS. For my own tastes, I wish she had concentrated on Haregewoin’s story, which I found compelling. I was far less interested in a research piece on epidemiology.


Still, the book is well-written and held my interest. Julie Fain Lawrence does a very good job narrating the audio version. I’m glad I had a text version as well, however, or I would have missed all the photographs.

Audio book performed by Michael Maloney.


When 9-year-old Bruno arrives home from school one day he finds the family maid, Maria, going through his things. He is incensed until his mother explains that Maria is helping to pack because the family is moving from their large (5-story) Berlin home to a new city for his father’s job. The reader quickly becomes aware that Bruno’s father is a highly placed Nazi Commandant and has been assigned to oversee the concentration camp at Auschwitz. Bruno, however, is a child – and can be excused for being somewhat innocent and more concerned with the impact on himself (he’ll have to leave his “three best friends for life!”)


There is an interesting premise here – to tell the story of two boys separated by a fence, but united in their “boyness.” I also get that Boyne was trying to show that complacency was the great perpetrator of the Holocaust (and of many genocides since). However, the voice he chose for this story really irritated me.


Perhaps part of that was the fault of audio performer Michael Maloney, who gives Bruno a very young voice, with a nearly breathless delivery. He really sounded as if he were under age six. He was more than innocent – he was oblivious and immature to an extent that was just unbelievable to me … unable to understand why the children in the striped pajamas could have “playmates” while he could not, and unable to pronounce German words when he’s a native German speaker (“the Fury” vs der Fuhrer or “Off-With” vs Auschwitz).


The ending is a stunner. And Boyne somewhat redeems the work by giving us a sense that Bruno’s father finally understands the impact of what he has done.

Audio book narrated by Annabella Sciorra and Adriana Trigiani

This is an epic love story taking the reader from the Italian Alps to the Iron Range of Minnesota and covering four decades, beginning in 1904. Ciro meets Enza when they are only 15, and the attraction is immediate. Over the next ten years they will meet and separate several times before finally giving their love a chance.

Trigiani spent 20 years working on this novel, which is based on her grandparents’ lives. The build-up to getting these two star-crossed lovers together was full of detail. But once they settled in Minnesota years would pass from one chapter to the next. Trigiani’s characters are strong-willed, determined, humble, gentle, intelligent and generous. They embrace life and love, and deal with adversity with grace and dignity. If Trigiani is a little too fond of simile and metaphor I forgive her because I found the story just so compelling.

The audio book jacket states that this work is narrated by Annabella Sciorra, who does a marvelous job. But half-way through the book, Sciorra bows out and Trigiani takes over. The author has a depth of feeling for the story that comes across in her performance, but I still preferred Sciorra’s narration.

Recorded book, read by the author
3.5***

Smithson Ide (Smithy) is 43, a self-described loser working at a toy factory, a chain-smoker, a drunk and obese, when a family tragedy pushes him to DO something. Coming across his old bicycle, Smithy starts pedaling … and then keeps pedaling on a journey across America and towards a new life.

The novel is told in alternating chapters – one giving the background on the Ide family, especially Smithy’s older sister Bethany who suffers from mental illness; the next chronicling the present-day happenings as Smithy bikes from Rhode Island to California. This style (dual time frames) is not easy to pull off, but McLarty does a pretty good job of it. The change in perspective can be abrupt, but not jarring and I found it easy to follow these parallel stories.

I was a little confused about Norma – the girl next door. She wasn’t as fully developed as I would have liked, and I didn’t really understand the attraction between her and Smithy at first. Of course, I didn’t really understand Smithy, either. He’s a complicated character and difficult to get to know, but I think that’s the point. I grew to like him, and was cheering him on.

Along his journey Smithy comes across a variety of characters that help him. These cameo appearances are brief but well-drawn, and I wish McLarty would write a few more novels about some of them.

McLarty does a fine job of narrating the audio version. His pacing is good, and his style of reading aloud works well for this first-person narrative.

In this spare but luminously written novel, Otsuka tells the story of young women who came to America from Japan as “picture brides” in the early 1900s. Through the course of the novel she traces the lives of these immigrants from their journey by boat, to their arrival in San Francisco, their first nights as new wives, their hardships working in unaccustomed ways, their experiences raising children, their relief and pride in building a new life in a new land, and finally to the arrival of war and the loss of what they had built as they were sent with their families to internment camps.

Otsuka won the Pen Faulkner Award for Fiction for this book. She writes mostly in a first person plural voice, using short simple sentences: On the boat we were mostly virgins. We had long black hair and flat wide feet and we were not very tall.
They gave us new names. They called us Helen or Lily.
We gave birth to babies that were so beautiful we could not believe they were ours. We gave birth to babies with colic.
In this way the story is about everyone, or anyone, or no one. Yet it is strongly evocative of time and place, and has an aura of immediacy about it. The reader feels the hopes, sorrows, disappointments, joys, fears, anguish, love, puzzlement, and pride along with these nameless women.

I’ve read other novels that dealt with the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II. Tallgrass by Sandra Dallas and Jamie Ford’s Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet are two examples. But this novel and Otsuka’s previous work, When the Emperor Was Divine, are special in the way she conveys the thoughts and feelings of the Japanese themselves.

Highly recommended.

3.5*** - I’ll admit that I was expecting a lighter chick-lit type of historical romance, but I was pleasantly surprised by the added depth to this story. Once again I found myself reading a book with dual time lines, and alternating stories; the book begins with Claire’s arrival in Hong Kong in 1952, then transitions to January 1941 where we are introduced to Trudy. For several chapters the timeline alternates, then we spend a considerable amount of time in WW2 as the Japanese take control of Hong Kong, evacuating non-Chinese residents to “safe havens” which are really POW camps. Part three returns us to Claire’s story as she begins to piece together what really happened and how the people she has met were connected.

I seem to be reading quite a few novels lately that have dual timelines, which is a difficult writing device to handle well. Lee does a pretty good job, especially for a debut novel. Leading each chapter with a date certainly helps the reader keep the timelines straight. It does take several chapters before we make the first connection between the two stories, but I was quickly caught up in these interwoven tales of love, loss, secrecy and betrayal. Claire reminds me of The Painted Veil’s Kitty Fane, though she isn’t drawn quite so fully as Maugham’s character. Will Truesdale is almost as puzzling to me as he is to Claire, but I rather like that Lee left the reader to discover him rather than spell everything out. I certainly didn’t see the revelation towards the end coming. The writing is evocative of time and place; I’ve visited Hong Kong several times (while it was still a British Colony), and can easily picture the settings, the oppressive heat and humidity, and the “aliveness” of the markets. This is Lee’s debut, and I would certainly read another novel by her.

Orlagh Cassidy does a fine job of narrating the audio version. Her pacing is good, and I had no trouble keeping the characters or the timelines straight.

This is a novel of friendship, and of men growing to adulthood. Butler writes prose that is poetic and atmospheric. Each of the five main characters has a chance to narrate, so the reader gets some insight into each of their inner thoughts and feelings, and their observations on the others in the quintet. Highly recommended for readers who enjoy character-driven novels. The audio book features five performers, each voicing a different character in alternating chapters.

Tobar has written a social satire that examines the division and lack of understanding between two interdependent groups – the affluent suburbanites living in their gated communities versus the nearly invisible cadre of workers, mostly immigrants, many undocumented, who work to maintain the façade of perfection. The three main characters are all flawed, but each has his/her virtues as well. Tobar did get a bit preachy in the last third of the book, as he railed against the media, the injustices of the American legal system, and knee-jerk reactions of the politicians and populace. I liked that the story didn’t have a tidy resolution; the ending is realistic while being hopeful.