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Inquiring minds query:

Title

Author

Rating: Number of Stars

Synopsis

Did you like it?

Why/Why not?

Theft: A Love Story by Peter Carey – 3***
The novel is told by the two brothers in alternating chapters. The plot is convoluted and intricate, as befits a psychological thriller, but I didn’t find it a grippingly fast read. I was interested but puzzled about where this was going for a good third of the novel. Simon Vance is superb as the narrator of the audio version. He gives each brother a unique voice, which makes it easy to tell who is narrating.
Full Review HERE

The Yellow-Lighted Bookshop by Lewis Buzbee – 3***
The subtitle is: A Memoir, a History. That pretty much describes this book. What I liked most about the book were his stories about bookshops from his personal experience, i.e. the memoir sections. But Buzbee also gives the reader a history of books – from clay tablets to scrolls to paper – and book-selling. And those sections I found less engaging.
Full Review HERE

Home by Nightfall, Charles Finch

★ ★

I'm not really sure what to say about this book, I had hoped for more and I came away a tad bit disappointed. There were distractions that took away from what began as the main story line.

A German actor/musician walks off stage in the middle of a performance and disappears and for some reason Charles' competitor, LeMaine, is requested to help the police in their inquiry.

LeMaine is siphoning off Charles' private clients, via a spy in the agency.

Charler's brother Edmund's wife Molly dies so Charles goes to stay in the family home w/ Edmund; whereupon a businessman in the town sees a ghostly figure in his home and a bottle of sherry goes missing. The mayor is found dead and the only clue is a stick-figure drawing of a little girl found on the businessman;s porch and the dead Mayor's office wall.

Charles' wife Jane & family friend Toto are having a charity luncheon for a hospital, the "Royals" are included, but word has it HRH Victoria (uninvited) may or may not show up... Oh lord what do we do?

A woman, known as the sister of the German musician is found dead in the attic space of his dressing room......

Although the mysteries ended with a satisfying conclusion, they were disjointed and didn't come together as well as one would have liked.

Killer Gourmet, G.A. McKevett

★ ★

As the book opens, Savannah & Dirk are married and are once again undercover on a stakeout; a pair of punks are beating senior citizens and posting the videos on You-Tube.

As the action begins to unfold, it is revealed that Savannah & Dirk are missing the auditioning night of a famous chef at John & Ryan's new restaurant.....

The next night, Opening Night" there is a huge brawl in the kitchen; the chef is screaming, throwing pots & pans, threatening John & Ryan... until they are able to calm him down and convince him to finish dinner service. After dinner, however, all hell breaks loose again..... The sous chef is screaming bloody murder and standing over the body of the chef who has been eviscerated & his head chopped open w/ a cleaver.

The chef as it turns out was a phony, he could not even boil water & the sous chef was the one cooking all the food.

Seems as if everyone hated the chef and had reason to want him dead: his soon to be ex, his former business partner, the sous chef, & the rest of the kitchen crew.....

The regulars Tammy & Weycross (Savannah's brother) are there to help, and for some reason Savannah calls her Gran to come across country to help with the investigation..... which was too unlikely of a story line for me.

This as a fast & easy read...... But what is a food mystery without recipes?

Faulty Predictions by Karin Lin-Greenberg
★★.5

This is a group of short stories set in the US, and the title of the book is also the title of one of the stories. And, to be fair to this review, it’s hard to win high points from me in a collection of short stories since in fiction I am first and foremost a novel reader. If I were to rate the stories individually, the stories themselves would get between 1 and 5 stars, but for the overall book 2 ½ stars. There were more 1 and 2 star stories than 4 and 5.

On part of the jacket is written, “Lin-Greenberg provides insight into the human condition across a varied cross section of geography, age, and culture.” I’d say yes, but biased. At times the insights were quite excellent, particularly when dealing with things I suspect are closer to Lin-Greenberg’s own experiences, but one of the reasons I’ve given this two stars through all of it there is a clear bias toward liberals tending to be kinder and more giving and conservatives selfish and bigoted. Perhaps because I don’t ascribe to any set political group and therefore have a different bias, I’ve seen all four of those traits across the board, although not necessarily in all people. I suspect Lin-Greenberg has as well, but these are the characters she has chosen to write.

If you are a fan of literary short fiction, you may well like this book more than I did. To be honest, I chose it for a reading challenge that included reading a book by an author who shares my first name. Since I am neither a fan of thrillers (Karin Slaughter, who may be an excellent writer, but that’s not my cup of tea) nor romance novels (I found more than one of those) and Lin-Greenberg is the first I found where I thought I might find a closer match.

The Astronaut Wives Club – Lily Koppel
Book on CD narrated by Orlagh Cassidy.
4****

In 1959 the U.S. announced the first seven Mercury Astronauts. They were instant American Heroes, profiled in Tom Wolfe’s The Right Stuff. But their wives, who had just as much of “the right stuff” were relegated to (and restricted by) the role assigned to them – happy homemakers showcased in Life magazine, asked what breakfast they sent their men off with each morning, and followed to the beauty parlor and grocery store.

Lily Koppel felt these women – and the wives of the astronauts in the Gemini and Apollo missions - deserved their own book. While some of the women did not consent to be profiled, Koppel conducted extensive interviews with some of the women.

Not all their stories ended happily. Most divorced their astronaut husbands. Some succumbed to alcohol, pills or depression. Some forged new careers. Koppel reveals their strengths, their weaknesses, their fears and joys, their stumbles and triumphs. These were some STRONG women, and it’s about time they were recognized.

Orlagh Cassidy does a marvelous job narrating the audio book. Her pace is good, and she has enough skill as a voice artist to give the women sufficiently distinct voices (most of the time), so there is little confusion. Of course if you listen, you should also get a copy of the text version, so you don’t miss the photographs.

FOUR STARS.

I don't like to do reviews and I'm not very good at it, so I will just say that this story involves boys stranded on an island after a plane crash and what their society looks like and becomes. It has been tagged as YA, but I don't think that anyone younger than high school will get much out of it. It is a well known "banned book" for reasons of violence, but I wonder if parents were not just horrified at the novel's possible authenticity!

by Shawn Achor.
4 stars.
Positive psychologist researcher, Shawn Achor, famous for his TED talks on the science of happiness, reviews research on what helps people to create happiness in their lives. I listened to this book on Audible on my commute to work. I try to stay up to date on published self help books that my clients refer to and many of my business owners/ executives are drawn to Shawn Achor's books and research. He is a Harvard professor and researcher and although his principle audience may be business leaders, the research he reviews can be applied in anyone's life. I found some of the research obvious and other studies intriguing and unexpected. If you enjoy his TED talks, you will enjoy this book.

Hail to the Chef – Julie Hyzy
3***

The second in a series of cozy mysteries featuring White House Executive Chef Ollie Paras begins at Thanksgiving and takes the reader through preparations to decorate the White House for Christmas. But the discovery of a fake bomb hidden in the building complex puts everyone on edge. Clearly it was planted by an insider, for who else would have access? Was this someone’s idea of a practical joke? Or is someone seriously trying to harm the President?

This was fairly entertaining, but I guessed what was going on FAR ahead of Ollie, and even, apparently, the Secret Service Agent in Charge! I didn’t even have the benefit of an intense one-on-one hours-long training session with said AiC, the way Ollie did, to get the message. Yet time and again Ollie ignored the warning signs that I felt were as obvious as the largest Las Vegas neon sign. Oh well … all’s well that ends well.

It’s a cozy mystery and I read this genre for the escape from reality. And this certainly fills that bill.

Mariana by Monica Dickens

3 stars

Mary Shannon has gone away to brood while her husband is at war in WW II. During a storm she hears on the radio that her husband's ship has gone down; frantically, she tries to telephone to get news, but her line is down. During the long night, she remembers her life from about age 8, and it is part coming of age and part becoming her own person. This is the second novel by Monica Dickens, the great- granddaughter of Charles Dickens, and she said that it was semi-autobiographical.

Part of this book gripped me more than others. I did root for Mary, even if she was often self-centered; I think that is a natural part of most children's development, and if she didn't get out of it as early as many of us think she should have, just look around at how many self-centred teens and early twenties people there are today.

As far as women authors went, Monica Dickens was only outsold at that time by Daphne du Maurier, however, her work hasn't remained as popular over time. I haven't read du Maurier for years, so can't give a good comparison as to why, but I do think it's a shame she's so little known now. I didn't love this book, although I suspect that when I was younger I'd have liked it more.

The Girl on the Train – Paula Hawkins
Book on CD narrated by Clare Corbett, Louise Brealey and India Fisher.
4****

Rachel rides the same train each day from her flat in a suburb of London into the city for her job, and back again. As she passes one particular suburban neighborhood she becomes fixated on a couple she sees having breakfast on their deck. She gives them names – Jason and Jess – and invents perfectly happy lives for them. One day she sees the couple kissing … but it’s not Jason, it’s another man with Jess. A few days later Rachel reads a news report about a missing woman; the picture of Megan Hipwell is “Jess.”

What a wild ride – gripping and fascinating. The novel is told in alternating points of view, and moving back and forth in time. We have three distinct narrators: Rachel, Megan and Anna whose lives converge around the two men: Tom (Rachel’s ex, and Anna’s current husband), and Scot (Megan’s husband).

We learn early about Rachel’s alcoholic fugues and black-outs, her inability to remember, her warped thought processes. Clearly she is an unreliable narrator. But as we hear from Megan and Anna, and their secrets, we begin to doubt whether any of the characters can be trusted to tell the truth.

I was guessing right up to the reveal, and the ending is nothing short of chilling.

The audio is capably narrated by three voice artists: Clare Corbett, Louise Brealey and India Fisher. But I have no way of knowing who voices which character. Frankly, they sound very much alike to me and if Hawkins hadn’t started each chapter with the narrating character’s name, and the voice artists hadn’t read those chapter titles, I think I would have been completely lost. Still the pace of the narration was good.

Probability for Kids by Scott A. Chamberlin
★★

When I saw math, I was excited; math is a big deal in our house, and my eldest is now a math major in her junior year of college. We did plenty of math, and I fit our curriculum to each of our children’s needs. When I saw Prufrock Press, I was even more excited. After all, this is the press that gave us Philosophy for Kids one of our favourite books back when we homeschooled. But then I saw those dismal words “Aligns with Common Core Standards,” and then, inside, that Chamberlin is a Mathematical Educator, my heart sank. Nevertheless, I read every single page, hoping to find anything good, wonderful and commendable, and I did; it brought this rating up an entire star from what I give the entire mathematics philosophy of the Common Core to two stars.

The Pros – the activities in this book are well described, have excellent leading questions for teachers (whether in brick and mortar schools or at home) to help guide students in creative problem solving, and cover the six main areas of probability.

The Cons
First, these assignments are based on activities that have worked for gifted and talented students and are designed for students with strong math skills. I can see this working for gifted and talented students who enjoy math and for other strong math students who enjoy being creative. However, and this is a big however that virtually every mathematical educator I have met with one main exception, there is no such thing as any sort of math learning method that will work for all math students, and this is certainly no exception to the rule.

Second, at no time, before during or after are students permitted to be taught algorithms. For those of you who have spent a good deal of time away from school, algorithms (an algorithm is a procedure or formula for solving a problem) are what mathematicians, engineers and people who actually use math in the real world use. Why? Because they work and because they save a great deal of time. While having students explore ways to figure out how to solve problems first can help them better understand what they are doing, this book has been designed to be used in three different age categories, including high school.

Third, I think there is so much emphasis on always being creative, that the word is going to lose its meaning. I am a big fan of creativity; my math loving eldest writes stories and draws, my other two aspire to be musicians and have various creative abilities. But there is no way that all three of them approach math with creativity, despite a strong foundation doing that with them when they were younger. The fact is, it didn’t always work, and if my three children weren’t able to learn all their math exactly the same way, what about classrooms of children?

However, if this book were used for the stellar activities and then students actually got to learn the alogrithms at some point, then I think this could be used effectively in some teaching situations.

You by Caroline Kepnes
4 stars.
Oh no, I just realized that I finished reading this book about a love obsessed, sick, sick, psychologically deranged character on Valentine's Day. If I do recommend this book to others, I will have to address a few disclaimers first. Yes, it is suspenseful. Yes, it is a psychological thriller. No, you will not get anything else done in your life until you finish it. But, at the same time you are deeply ashamed of yourself for reading it. I actually found myself for the first 3/4 of the book liking a terribly deranged character. Joe, the main character, narrates his story and somehow you are okay with the fact that he is abducting people. How does that happen? How in the world does an author convince you that it is okay and even justified because they happen to be annoying characters? For that feat alone, I will give Caroline Kepnes 4 stars. There is crass, sexual language for those that may be offended by such. I am fully expecting to have a few nightmares over this one.

Surprised by Joy: The Shape of My Early Life by CS Lewis
2 stars

Like so many others, I greatly enjoyed the Narnia series when I was growing up. I read it for fun and had no idea that it was a Christian allegory until I was an adult. While my daughters enjoyed them (one has read them at least four times) they disappointed me somewhat as an adult. However, I have tried a few times to read other books by Lewis, but this is the first one I’ve made it all the way through. To be honest, what kept me going is that this will be part of a book discussion with some old reading friends. I read a chapter per day as if it were a school assignment.

The two stars are not because Lewis was unable to write or articulate his thoughts, because he certainly did. However, as a memoir of his journey to atheism and then to Christianity, a subject of keen interest to me, it ended up having little appeal. It was more of his educational and intellectual journey through his youth, punctuated by descriptions of life away at different schools, until he became a Christian. Of course, it’s another example of a brilliant intellectual coming around from atheism to Christianity, something so many feel is impossible, but there was little to tug at my heartstrings or to empathize or sympathize as much with him as I would have liked to given so many of his circumstances. Perhaps it’s because he write it when he was will into his fifties and was so far removed, but I think perhaps it may have been because he was not ever given to having many friends when he was growing up, nor did he really want them most of the time, and those he did make were usually as intellectual as he was.

That said, Lewis had some interesting insights at times, but what I found irksome was that girls and women tend to only appear as the odd relative hosting some sort of gathering (his mother died when he was very young) almost another species, or were referred to in light of erotic passion not being a substitute for joy, or how lack of girls in the area led to increased pederasty in public school and how it affected or was affected by the social hierarchy (that’s the term he employed for that) or other things equally bereft of any recognition of women as humans with a capacity for intelligence.

Karin wrote: "Surprised by Joy: The Shape of My Early Life by CS Lewis
2 stars

Like so many others, I greatly enjoyed the Narnia seri..."

Such an interesting review, Karin. It sounds like your review has more insight than his book.

Paige wrote: "Karin wrote: "Surprised by Joy: The Shape of My Early Life by CS Lewis
2 stars

Like so many others, I greatly enjoyed t..."

Thanks, although many people really like this book.

Murder on St. Nicholas Avenue, Victoria Thompson

★ ★ ★ ★

I read this in one sitting because it kept me interested.

Frank & Sarah Malloy (formerly Brandt nee Decker) are in Europe on their honeymoon, when a former neighbor of the Malloy's comes seeking help for her daughter, Una, who is in the "Tombs" for the alleged murder of her husband.

Maeve (Nanny) and Mrs Decker decide to help... They go to the scene of the crime, where Mrs Decker helps Una's mother pack Una's things, while Maeve searches for (and finds) a ledger and over $3,000 cash....

They get Una released & Gino Donatelli (a young policeman, sweet on Maeve) and Mr. Decker (of the Knickerbocker crowd) join in the investigation.....

Una is not the grieving widow she seems to be while in front of the Deckers, which leaves the question did she or one of the many business associates of her husband murder him?

Keeper of the Castle, Juliet Blackwell

★ ★ ★


A Scottish castle moved to San Francisco w/ two very active & different ghosts... The tower room keeps falling apart, because the contractor is lying about the acquisition of the stones, the blueprints being jiggy, and almost everything else.....

Mel talks w/ the Broadsword wielding Ghost in order to find out exactly what treasure it is he is protecting...... and with his help she does her best to help the wailing ghostly woman in red.

Light and entertaining.....

Give Up the Ghost, Juliet Blackwell

★ ★ ★

Mel is contacted to unremodel (restore) a hacked up Victorian... Finding a sloppy patch job which hides a room, a bookcase & secret passage.....

Helping the ghost of the owner reconcile with the ghost of his missing daughter.... as well as another ghost constantly cleaning up the kitchen of a 1940's apt after the college students leave it a mess....

Nice cozy mystery..... I like reading about the architecture.

The Moving Finger – Agatha Christie
2.5**

The fourth installment in the Miss Marple series has the reader visiting the small village of Lymstock. Jerry Burton has come to the quiet town along with his sister, to recuperate from a bad accident. But they are greeted with a vitriolic anonymous letter, and soon discover that someone has been sending such poison pen missives to most of the women in town. The local solicitor’s wife commits suicide after one such note … or does she?

This is an intricately plotted mystery, but Miss Marple doesn’t appear until page 153 (out of 216 total pages). Most of the detective work is done by Jerry Burton and the local investigator, Superintendent Nash. They don’t lack for suspects; it seems that almost everyone in town is a potential culprit, including the vicar’s wife! But of course, after hearing a few casual remarks Miss Marple solves the entire case.

There are a couple of romantic subplots which are really ridiculous and do nothing to further the mystery. I recognize that Christie frequently included such elements in her earlier works, but it just irritates me.

I Am Malala: The Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban 2 stars

If you click on the book link, it apparently goes to my review, but I'll post it here, too.

There is no question that both before and after she was shot, Malala Yousafzai was a courageous young girl who stood up for what she believed, allowed to do this by her supportive family. This book centres on Malala's life with her family and in her quest not only to become educated herself, but that all girls be educated. Much like Susan B. Anthony, she grew up in a home where the value and opinions of women was valued above society; in this case in a society that, under the fear of the rising terrorism my the Taliban, was moving back in a direction where women would have no value other than as the property of the men controlling their lives.

The story told is generally known, so I won't sum it up here. I was greatly disappointed by the quality of writing; Malala, based on her speaking abilities and grades, is obviously a bright young girl when this was happening. Urdi is her first language, and naturally when this book was being written she was still fairly new in the English speaking world. It's one thing to study English in your home country, but it's an entirely different kettle of fish to suddenly find yourself surrounded by it and to work on becoming fluent while recovering from severe injuries. However, she didn't write it alone. Speeches and books aren't written the exact same way. I felt the writing could have lived more, shown more of the depth of Malala. It was helpful that she was showing that she has normal fears and weaknesses common to youth and even adults, but I never felt it, just read the words about it. Even for a young adult novel I felt we were only scratching the surface and the book felt almost pedantic at times.

This is rather sad, because this story is one of many important stories that join together in a chorus calling for help for women in girls throughout the world. It helps open up a window into what it's like living through a terrorist war, but the writing missed the mark time after time.

The Golden Ball & Other Stories, Christie



★ ★ ★ ★

I must say that I had hesitated reading this book as I knew it was not one of Christie's better known detective stories. I was very surprised and pleased.

15 Stories:

1. The Listerdale Mystery: A woman in desperate straits finds a good home

2. The Girl on the Train: A young woman jumps on a train making a fast escape

3. The Manhood of Edward Robinson: A Young man learns to stand up to his bossy fiance

4. Jane in Search of a Job: A young woman agrees to impersonate a princess and ends up involved in a jewel heist

5. A Fruitful Sunday: A young couple find adventure & a ruby necklace

6. The Golden Ball: A young man ousted by his uncle makes good

7. The Raja's Emerald: A spurned young man makes good after finding a stolen emerald

8. Swan Song: An opera singer faces her past

9. The Hound of Death: A refugee nun, a secret cult, and the vanquishing of evil

10. The Gipsy: A young man and a Gipsy that is ever present warning him of danger

11. The Lamp: A haunted house, a ghost child, & a strange death

12. The Strange Case of Arthur Carmichael: A young man in a trance acting very strangely and a grey ghost cat

13. The Call of Wings: A once impoverished millionaire begins having visions of doom

14. Magnolia Blossom: A run-away wife returns home to save her husband from disaster

15. Next to a Dog: A young woman is offered a much needed position, but declines for love of her dog

Karin wrote: " I Am Malala: The Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban 2 star..."

Too bad that the writer did not caption the emotion and amazing impact that Malala has had on the world.

Me, Myself, and Us: The Science of Personality and the Art of Well-Being by Brian R. Little
4 stars
I listened to this book on Audible and I enjoyed the research review so much that I am going to take a second listen. Professor Brian Little is a Harvard "Personality" Psychologist and one of the World's experts on the subject of personality. I am intrigued and wonder about how much of our personalities are "hard-wired" and genetic versus how much flexibility we have to alter them. (My clients know how much I believe FLEXIBILTY in our lives is so important.) Dr. Little educates us on why the Myers Briggs in an unreliable and invalid test (I just heard your collective sigh), and really blows up what is so misunderstood about our understanding of personalities. I learned that I am an "ambivert" (I am actually right in the middle between extrovert and introvert). I do recommend this book to everyone, if for no other reason than food for thought and great conversation.

My Name Is Lucy Barton by Elizabeth Strout.

I love Elizabeth Strout's writing!

my review

All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr – 4****
A blind French girl and a young German orphan find their lives intersect in the walled Brittany town of Saint-Malo in August 1944. Doerr gives us wonderful descriptions, letting the reader experience the world as Marie-Laure or Werner does. Doerr peoples the novel with a wide assortment of characters, but the two young people at its core will stay with me for a long time, as will the haunting strains of Clair de Lune. The audio version is performed by Zach Appelman, who does a marvelous job. His gift as a voice artist makes it easy to believe he is speaking for a blind teenaged girl, a confused German boy, an elderly uncle, or a gruff soldier.
Full Review HERE

A Brief History of Montmaray by Michelle Cooper – 2**
Sixteen-year-old Sophie FitzOsborne writes of her life in the crumbling castle on the small island of Montmaray. It is 1936 and their isolation is about to end as news from the mainland lets them know the world is on the brink of war. Sounds exciting but overall I was bored. There are a few moments of decently written suspense, and I liked the strong female characters. But the cliffhanger ending seems manipulative, and I’m not sure I care enough about what happens next to read book two in the series. I see the appeal for the YA audience, but it’s not for me.
Full Review HERE

Murder is Easy, Christie

★

Chatter, chatter, chatter, chatter & supposition... lots & lots of supposition....

Boooooooooooooooooooooooring!

A former British police office just back from Africa is on a train when an old woman sits across from him and proceeds to tell him about a series of murders in the small village where she lives...... She also tells him that she has just warned the local doctor that he could be next, and she knows this by the look in the murderer's eyes.

He dismisses the old woman's story as fancy.

Unbeknownst to him, on her way to Scotland Yard she is run down by a car....... What sets him off on his investigation is the notice that the Doctor has died.....

From the point where he arrives in the village the story just falls short..... I didn't care about the characters, I didn't like them, they had no redeeming qualities......

As for this being a Superintendent Battle mystery, he doesn't come into the story until the very end and really has not active part in it at all!

The Mouth of the Crocodile, Michael Pearce

★ ★ ★

I ♥ the Mamur Zapt stories, usually there is a humorous undercurrent, but I didn't find that it this book so much.....

A young British boy is pushed but manages not to fall into the river, not so however one of the Pasha's men.

On a train through the Sudan during a haboob (sandstorm), the Pasha's briefcase is stolen. The briefcase carries "secret" plans of the Khedive, which would provide for a new rail system of a smaller gauge that would not be compatible w/ the current British Railway system.

Also on the train is the Mamur Zapt and a friend (who is w/ the railway) seeking to protect the Pasha & the briefcase.

The entwining side stories are interesting: The young girl who want to be emancipated & urges the Pasha's paramour to run away; her father who is connected to the briefcase & a political extremest group; the dead man & his family; Sudanese men w/ motives; & the Mamur Zapt's "men" one whose wife is not only the "boss" but a financial wizard and the other who dislikes all political/governmental higher ups doing his best to confound them, but doing his best against the criminals as well.

La’s Orchestra Saves the World by Alexander McCall Smith
★★★★

La (Lavender) goes to Oxford with no intention of being married before her late 20s, but ends up romanced, in love, married and then abandoned by her husband. Her inlaws, displeased with their son’s actions, kind and honest people, give her their summer cottage as a home and promise to take care of her after the divorce. She is living there when World War II breaks out. At that time she volunteers to help, and so ends up with two jobs. The official one is to help an arthritic farmer take care of his chickens and collect the eggs. The second one is to organize and conduct an orchestra which can only rehearse once per month.

This is a stand-alone, historical fiction novel by McCall Smith, and one I tend to like better than I think I will during parts of it where I might not be happy with what he’s doing with La’s life or something else. There is something endearing about La and the other characters in this novel, which, although the bulk of it is during WW II, spans a good thirty years or so. I think that one of the reviews on the back or the novel that has a sentence that fits, “A fresh and unforgettable story about the power of human kindness.” From the Booklist starred review, and, as the reviewer from The Scotsman wrote, “An excellent re-creation of a woman of her time.”

I recommend this novel.

Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys – 2.5**
In 1941 Stalin’s Soviet Army invaded Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, and deported many of the residents of those countries to Siberia. Sepetys based this novel on the story of her own grandparents. There is an important historical story here, but the writing left me cold. The teen narrator really irritated me. Emily Klein didn’t help with her narration on the audio book. I found her performance overly dramatic to the point that I wanted to “boo” her.
Full Review HERE

One, Two, Buckle My Shoe: Poirot, Christie

★ ★


M. Poirot knows who was in the waiting room, he knows who he saw leaving & arriving.....

One waiting was a very important government finance minister, that many would like out of the way. Is it possible he was the intended victim?

Or did the dentist really kill himself in chagrin for the one who was poisoned by Novocaine?

One arriving, loses a buckle on her shoe (which M. Poirot gallantly retrieves) and is later found dead in a fur trunk with her face bashed in....

Interesting, but I hadn't a clue.

Mrs McGinty's Dead: M. Poirot, Christie
★

A man is about ti be hanged for the murder of his landlady, Mrs McGinty... however, Superintendent Spence (who built the case & got the man convicted) has major doubts and calls M. Poirot in to re-investigate the case.

The supposed motive of the murder seemed to be robbery, but the money was found dumped near the house.

As it turns out, M. Poirot finds that Mrs McGinty had been reading the Sunday paper and there had been an article about 4 women who were murderesses and she had recognized one of the photos in one of the houses she cleaned.....

Almost everyone in the village had something to hide, almost all were guilty of something....

Most of the women were domineering hypochondriacs (as was the mother of the alleged murderer).... or they were weak & much harassed

Not one of them was likable..... I finished the book just to find out "who done it"......

A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving
★★★

This novel of sorrow and humour, isn't just the story of Owen Meany, but also of his best friend, John Wheelwright who narrates it. The book starts when they are eleven and in the first chapter Owen accidentally kills John's mother, although they are able to remain friends. It then covers many parts of the next 35 or so years in John's life.

Owen is unique. He is tiny, has a highly unusual voice and is extremely bright. He also, for much of the book, evidently knows the date of his death and what he's doing (this is not a spoiler). He has a driving faith that there is a Christian God, but he's neither pious nor zealous for the religious life. Much of this novel covers the events surrounding this vision of Owen's, but also how he and John both navigate the trials of youth and education, the pitfalls and joys of love, and how Owen helps John find out who he is and what he's good at. It is also, regretfully, rather political in the later parts, and I was not interested in hearing about Ronald Reagan and other issues of the time when this novel was being written.

The writing is strong, and Irving does an excellent job of filling out his characters. I liked this somewhat better than the only other book of his I've read, The World According to Garp, but I certainly didn't love it.

Anna and the French Kiss – Stephanie Perkins
3***

From the book jacket: Anna was looking forward to her senior year in Atlanta, where she has a great job, a loyal best friend, and ac rush on the verge of becoming more. So she’s less than thrilled about being shipped off to boarding school in Paris – until she meets Etienne St. Clair. Smart, charming, beautiful, Etienne has it all ... including a serious girlfriend. But in the city of Light, wishes have a way of coming true. Will a year of romantic near-misses end with the long-awaited French kiss?

My reactions
This was a pretty entertaining high-school romance, set in Paris. I’m way past the teen angst stage, but I was rather charmed by Anna and this teen drama. I did get pretty tired of Anna’s constantly putting herself down. I know that is a stage most young women go through (been there, done that), but I don’t like reading it so much. One or two references would have been enough. It was a fast read with characters right out of central casting, but it held my attention. I can certainly see the appeal for the YA crowd at which it is aimed.

Just Shy of Harmony – Philip Gulley
3***

From the book jacket: Master storyteller Philip Gulley returns to the winsome ways of Harmony, Indiana, … [and] follows the happenings of an eventful year spanning two Easters, in which Quaker pastor Sam Gardner and the members of his flock discover surprising answers to life’s challenging mysteries.

My reactions
This is book 2 in the Harmony Series, and I just love them. They are gentle stories with a good sprinkling of humor, and a few life lessons learned, but without being preachy. I have to admit that Dale Hinshaw does tax my patience … but his schemes for bringing THE WORD to heathens are ever entertaining.

Dream When You’re Feeling Blue – Elizabeth Berg
Book on CD read by the author.
2.5 **

From the book jacket: Berg takes us to Chicago at the time of World War II in this story about three sisters, their lively Irish family, and the men they love. As the novel opens, Kitty and Louise Heaney say good-bye to their boyfriends Julian and Michael, who are going to fight overseas. On the domestic front … the Heaney sisters sit at their kitchen table every evening to write letters – Louise to her fiancé, Kitty to the man she wishes fervently would propose, and [youngest sister] Tish to an ever changing group of men she meets at USO dances. In the letters the sisters send and receive are intimate glimpses of life both on the battlefront and at home. … The lifelong consequences of the choices the sisters make are at the heart of this suprb novel about the power of love and the enduring strength of family.

My reactions
It started out okay, got very interesting in the middle and then completely lost credulity in the last two chapters. Lost a whole star there.

I have to say that what I most enjoyed about this novel was the look at everyday life on the domestic front during this very trying time in history. I especially liked the way Berg painted Kitty’s own awakening to her true ambitions and goals in life, and how she talked about the way that the roles of women in America were forever being changed by the requirements of war. I also really enjoyed the strong family dynamics in the Heaney family – mother Margaret, father Frank, and younger brothers all added layers of nuance to the central story of the three Heaney sisters.

Berg narrated the audio version herself. She does a credible job, but she should really let a professional voice artist read her books.

A Sound Among the Trees by Susan Meissner ★★★

Susannah Page was a young woman during the civil war, her great granddaughter, Adelaide is ninety in the twenty-first century, and Marielle is her new granddaughter-in-law who has just married her grandson-in-law Carson Bishop four years after he became a widower. Marielle moves into the family home Susannah inherited and soon becomes swept up in Adelaide’s superstitions regarding the house and the superstitions of one of Adelaide’s friends that Susannah’s ghost haunts the house because apparently Susannah was a civil war spy. As Marielle settles into her new marriage and her role as mother to Carson’s two children, she works on sorting out the past tragedies and trial of the women of Holly Oak.

The characters are likable, the writing is fine, and I liked it, but it’s not the sort of novel I find particularly gripping now. It is labelled Christian fiction, but there really wasn’t much Christian about it other than that a few of the characters appeared to have faith a few times.