KP's bookshelf: all en-US Sat, 19 Apr 2025 18:40:03 -0700 60 KP's bookshelf: all 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg The Secret Life of Sunflowers 198290461
Johanna inherited Vincent van Gogh's paintings. They were all she had, and they weren't worth anything. She was a 28 year old widow with a baby in the 1800s, without any means of supporting herself, living in Paris where she barely spoke the language. Yet she managed to introduce Vincent's legacy to the world.

The inspiration couldn't come at a better time for Emsley. With her business failing, an unexpected love turning up in her life, and family secrets unraveling, can she find answers in the past?]]> Marta Molnar KP 0 3.61 The Secret Life of Sunflowers
author: Marta Molnar
name: KP
average rating: 3.61
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/19
shelves: currently-reading, road-trip-w-hans
review:

]]> Broken Country 228709118
A love triangle unearths dangerous, deadly secrets from the past in this thrilling tale perfect for fans of The Paper Palace and Where the Crawdads Sing.

“The farmer is dead. He is dead, and all anyone wants to know is who killed him.�

Beth and her gentle, kind husband Frank are happily married, but their relationship relies on the past staying buried. But when Beth’s brother-in-law shoots a dog going after their sheep, Beth doesn’t realize that the gunshot will alter the course of their lives. For the dog belonged to none other than Gabriel Wolfe, the man Beth loved as a teenager—the man who broke her heart years ago. Gabriel has returned to the village with his young son Leo, a boy who reminds Beth very much of her own son, who died in a tragic accident.

As Beth is pulled back into Gabriel’s life, tensions around the village rise and dangerous secrets and jealousies from the past resurface, this time with deadly consequences. Beth is forced to make a choice between the woman she once was, and the woman she has become.

A sweeping love story with the pace and twists of a thriller, Broken Country is a novel of simmering passion, impossible choices, and explosive consequences that toggles between the past and present to explore the far-reaching legacy of first love.]]> Clare Leslie Hall KP 0 currently-reading 4.36 2025 Broken Country
author: Clare Leslie Hall
name: KP
average rating: 4.36
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/18
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> City of Night Birds 223075562
On a White Night in 2019, prima ballerina Natalia Leonova returns to St. Petersburg two years after a devastating accident stalled her career. Once the most celebrated dancer of her generation, she now turns to pills and alcohol to numb the pain of her past.

She is unmoored in her old city as the ghosts of her former life begin to her loving but difficult mother, her absentee father, and the two gifted dancers who led to her downfall.

One of those dancers, Alexander, is the love of her life, who transformed both Natalia and her art. The other is Dmitri, a dark and treacherous genius. When the latter offers her a chance to return to the stage in her signature role, Natalia must decide whether she can again face the people responsible for both her soaring highs and darkest hours.

Painting a vivid portrait of the Russian ballet world, where cutthroat ambition, ever-shifting politics, and sublime artistry collide, City of Night Birds unveils the making of a dancer with both profound intimacy and breathtaking scope. Mysterious and alluring, passionate and virtuosic, Juhea Kim’s second novel is an affecting meditation on love, forgiveness, and the making of an artist in a turbulent world.]]> Juhea Kim 0063394804 KP 4 3.25 2024 City of Night Birds
author: Juhea Kim
name: KP
average rating: 3.25
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2025/04/16
date added: 2025/04/16
shelves:
review:

]]> Three Days in June 223438529
A new Anne Tyler novel destined to be an instant an inept mother of the bride attempts to navigate the days before and after her daughter's wedding.

Gail Baines is long divorced from her husband, Max, and not especially close to her grown daughter, Debbie. Today is the day before Debbie's wedding. To start, Gail loses her job—or quits, depending who you ask. Then, Max arrives unannounced on Gail's doorstep, carrying a cat, without a place to stay and without even a suit.

But the true crisis lands when Debbie shares with her parents a secret she has just learned about her husband-to-be. It will not only throw the wedding itself into question but also send Gail back into her past and how her own relationship fell apart.

Told with deep sensitivity and a tart sense of humor, full of the joys and heartbreaks of love and marriage and family life, Three Days in June is a triumph, and gives us the perennially bestselling, Pulitzer Prize-winning writer at the height of her powers.]]> 4 Anne Tyler KP 4 road-trip-w-hans 3.41 2025 Three Days in June
author: Anne Tyler
name: KP
average rating: 3.41
book published: 2025
rating: 4
read at: 2025/04/12
date added: 2025/04/16
shelves: road-trip-w-hans
review:

]]> The God of the Woods 213939529 When a teenager vanishes from her Adirondack summer camp, two worlds collide

Early morning, August 1975: a camp counselor discovers an empty bunk. Its occupant, Barbara Van Laar, has gone missing. Barbara isn’t just any thirteen-year-old: she’s the daughter of the family that owns the summer camp and employs most of the region’s residents. And this isn’t the first time a Van Laar child has disappeared. Barbara’s older brother similarly vanished fourteen years ago, never to be found.

As a panicked search begins, a thrilling drama unfolds. Chasing down the layered secrets of the Van Laar family and the blue-collar community working in its shadow, Moore’s multi-threaded story invites listeners into a rich and gripping dynasty of secrets and second chances. It is Liz Moore’s most ambitious and wide-reaching novel yet.]]> 15 Liz Moore KP 2 3.88 2024 The God of the Woods
author: Liz Moore
name: KP
average rating: 3.88
book published: 2024
rating: 2
read at: 2025/03/15
date added: 2025/03/15
shelves:
review:
The God of the Woods had some of the same problems as a recent book I read, All the Colors of the Dark. It started off great, and I really looked forward to the rest of it. Then it started bogging down and going off on tangents and introducing characters who are, in the end, inconsequential and hard to keep track of. Also, in this book, the timeline and the characters go back and forth in confusing ways. Many of the characters are unrealistic. At least one of the women characters, Alice, is so weak it’s ridiculous. And what is with her sister having an affair with her husband? That did NOT fit into the story at all. Some of the plot twists are also ridiculous. And the ending� it is also ridiculous in that the detective who leaves Barbara Van Laar on the island is doing the same thing as the people who hid the death of Bear Van Laar. She is putting innocent people’s lives on the line by not revealing the truth. And comparing Barbara to a god at the end also seems so overblown� but I suppose that’s how the author got the title.
]]> <![CDATA[The Grey Wolf (Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, #19)]]> 204742169
Relentless phone calls interrupt the peace of a warm August morning in Three Pines. Though the tiny Québec village is impossible to find on any map, someone has managed to track down Armand Gamache, head of homicide at the Sûreté, as he sits with his wife in their back garden. Reine-Marie watches with increasing unease as her husband refuses to pick up, though he clearly knows who is on the other end. When he finally answers, his rage shatters the calm of their quiet Sunday morning.

That's only the first in a sequence of strange events that begin THE GREY WOLF, the nineteenth novel in Louise Penny's #1 New York Times-bestselling series. A missing coat, an intruder alarm, a note for Gamache reading "this might interest you", a puzzling scrap of paper with a mysterious list—and then a murder. All propel Chief Inspector Gamache and his team toward a terrible realization. Something much more sinister than any one murder or any one case is fast approaching.

Armand Gamache, Jean-Guy Beauvoir, his son-in-law and second in command, and Inspector Isabelle Lacoste can only trust each other, as old friends begin to act like enemies, and long-time enemies appear to be friends. Determined to track down the threat before it becomes a reality, their pursuit takes them across Québec and across borders. Their hunt grows increasingly desperate, even frantic, as the enormity of the creature they’re chasing becomes clear. If they fail the devastating consequences would reach into the largest of cities and the smallest of villages.

Including Three Pines.]]> 14 Louise Penny 125035417X KP 3 3.73 2024 The Grey Wolf (Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, #19)
author: Louise Penny
name: KP
average rating: 3.73
book published: 2024
rating: 3
read at: 2024/12/16
date added: 2025/03/15
shelves:
review:

]]> The Wedding People 210135159
A propulsive and uncommonly wise novel about one unexpected wedding guest and the surprising people who help us start anew.

It's a beautiful day in Newport, Rhode Island, when Phoebe Stone arrives at the grand Cornwall Inn wearing a green dress and gold heels, not a bag in sight, alone. She's immediately mistaken by everyone in the lobby for one of the wedding people, but she’s actually the only guest at the Cornwall who isn’t here for the big event. Phoebe is here because she’s dreamt of coming for years―she hoped to shuck oysters and take sunset sails with her husband, only now she's here without him. Meanwhile, the bride has accounted for every detail and every possible disaster the weekend might yield except for, well, Phoebe―which makes it that much more surprising when the women can’t stop confiding in each other.

In turns uproariously, absurdly funny and devastatingly tender, Alison Espach's The Wedding People is a look at the winding paths we can take to places we never imagined―and the chance encounters it sometimes takes to reroute us.]]> Alison Espach KP 3 4.05 2024 The Wedding People
author: Alison Espach
name: KP
average rating: 4.05
book published: 2024
rating: 3
read at: 2025/03/03
date added: 2025/03/03
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry]]> 21913164
The irascible A. J. Fikry, owner of Island Books - the only bookstore on Alice Island - has already lost his wife. Now his most prized possession, a rare book, has been stolen from right under his nose in the most embarrassing of circumstances. The store itself, it seems, will be next to go.

One night upon closing, he discovers a toddler in his children’s section with a note from her mother pinned to her Elmo doll: I want Maya to grow up in a place with books and among people who care about such kinds of things. I love her very much, but I can no longer take care of her. A search for Maya’s mother, A. J.’s rare book, and good childcare advice ensues, but it doesn’t take long for the locals to notice the transformation of both bookstore and owner, something of particular interest to the lovely yet eccentric Knightley Press sales rep, Amelia Loman, who makes the arduous journey to Alice Island thrice each year to pitch her books to the cranky owner.]]> Gabrielle Zevin 1622313542 KP 3

The plot, however, was a bit too sentimental or heartwarming for me.

I'm glad I read it in advance of watching the movie version on Netflix.

]]> 4.09 2014 The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry
author: Gabrielle Zevin
name: KP
average rating: 4.09
book published: 2014
rating: 3
read at: 2025/02/22
date added: 2025/02/23
shelves:
review:
The best thing about this book is all the literary references. That made it really fun to read. The author's website, it turns out, has a list and even links to all the titles referenced in the book.


The plot, however, was a bit too sentimental or heartwarming for me.

I'm glad I read it in advance of watching the movie version on Netflix.


]]> <![CDATA[The Sequel (The Book Series, #2)]]> 216769696
After the “insanely readable� (Stephen King) and “perfectly told� (Malcolm Gladwell) New York Times bestseller The Plot comes Jean Hanff Korelitz’s equally captivating new novel: The Sequel.

Anna Williams-Bonner has taken care of business—that is to say, she’s taken care of her husband, bestselling novelist Jacob Finch Bonner, and laid to rest those anonymous accusations of plagiarism that so tormented him. Now she is living the contented life of a literary widow, enjoying her husband’s royalty checks in perpetuity, but for the second time in her life, a work of fiction intercedes, and this time it’s her own debut novel, The Afterword. After all, how hard can it really be to write a universally lauded bestseller?

But when Anna publishes her book and indulges in her own literary acclaim, she begins to receive excerpts of a novel she never expected to see again, a novel that should no longer exist. Something has gone wrong, and someone out there knows far too much: about her late brother, her late husband, and just possibly... about Anna herself. What does this person want, and what are they prepared to do? She has come too far, and worked too hard, to lose what she values most: the sole and uncontested right to her own story—and she is, by any standard, a master storyteller.]]> Jean Hanff Korelitz KP 2 3.72 2024 The Sequel (The Book Series, #2)
author: Jean Hanff Korelitz
name: KP
average rating: 3.72
book published: 2024
rating: 2
read at: 2025/02/17
date added: 2025/02/17
shelves:
review:

]]> Havoc 214282605 In the vein of The Bad Seed comes a twisty, atmospheric psychological suspense about a meddlesome elderly guest at a decadent luxury hotel who believes she has left her problematic past behind, until she decides to interfere in the lives of a young mother and her eight-year-old son, and finally meets her wicked match.

The war between age and youth has never been so vicious.

Eighty-one-year-old widow Maggie Burkhardt came to the Royal Karnak to escape. But not in quite the same way as most other guests who are relaxing at this threadbare luxury hotel on the banks of the Nile. Maggie, a compulsive fixer of other people’s lives, may have found herself in hot water at her last hotel in Switzerland and just might have needed to get out of there fast... But here at the Royal Karnak, under the hot Saharan sun, she has a comfortable suite, a loyal confidante in the hotel manager, Ahmed, and a handful of sympathetic friends, similar “long-termers� who understand her still-vivid grief for her late husband, Peter. Here, she is merely the sweet old lady in Room 309.

One morning, however, Maggie notices a new arrival at a mournful-looking young mother named Tess and her impish eight-year-old, Otto. Eager to help, Maggie invites them into her world. But it isn’t long before Maggie realizes that in her longing to be a part of their family, she has let in an enemy much stronger than she bargained for. In scrawny, homely Otto, Maggie Burkhardt has finally met her match.]]> Christopher Bollen 0008730474 KP 4 3.91 2024 Havoc
author: Christopher Bollen
name: KP
average rating: 3.91
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2025/02/01
date added: 2025/02/03
shelves:
review:

]]> The Safekeep 201871450 A “razor-sharp, perfectly plotted� (The Sunday Times) tale of desire, suspicion, and obsession between two women staying in the same house in the Dutch countryside during the summer of 1961—a powerful exploration of the legacy of WWII and the darker parts of our collective past.

A house is a precious thing...

It is 1961 and the rural Dutch province of Overijssel is quiet. Bomb craters have been filled, buildings reconstructed, and the war is truly over. Living alone in her late mother’s country home, Isabel knows her life is as it should be—led by routine and discipline. But all is upended when her brother Louis brings his graceless new girlfriend Eva, leaving her at Isabel’s doorstep as a guest, to stay for the season.

Eva is Isabel’s antithesis: she sleeps late, walks loudly through the house, and touches things she shouldn’t. In response, Isabel develops a fury-fueled obsession, and when things start disappearing around the house—a spoon, a knife, a bowl—Isabel’s suspicions begin to spiral. In the sweltering peak of summer, Isabel’s paranoia gives way to infatuation, leading to a discovery that unravels all Isabel has ever known. The war might not be well and truly over after all, and neither Eva—nor the house in which they live—are what they seem.

Mysterious, sophisticated, sensual, and infused with intrigue, atmosphere, and sex, The Safekeep is “a brave and thrilling debut about facing up to the truth of history, and to one’s own desires� (The Guardian).]]> 0 Yael van der Wouden 1797175246 KP 4 3.95 2024 The Safekeep
author: Yael van der Wouden
name: KP
average rating: 3.95
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2025/01/25
date added: 2025/01/26
shelves:
review:

]]> All the Colors of the Dark 200167750
From the New York Times bestselling author of We Begin at the End comes a soaring thriller and an epic love story that “hits like a sledgehammer . . . an absolutely must-read novel� (Gillian Flynn, author of Gone Girl).

1975 is a time of change in America. The Vietnam War is ending. Muhammad Ali is fighting Joe Frazier. And in the small town of Monta Clare, Missouri, girls are disappearing.

When the daughter of a wealthy family is targeted, the most unlikely hero emerges—Patch, a local boy, who saves the girl, and, in doing so, leaves heartache in his wake.

Patch and those who love him soon discover that the line between triumph and tragedy has never been finer. And that their search for answers will lead them to truths that could mean losing one another.

A missing person mystery, a serial killer thriller, a love story, a unique twist on each, Chris Whitaker has written a novel about what lurks in the shadows of obsession and the blinding light of hope.]]> Chris Whitaker KP 2 4.16 2024 All the Colors of the Dark
author: Chris Whitaker
name: KP
average rating: 4.16
book published: 2024
rating: 2
read at: 2025/01/12
date added: 2025/01/16
shelves:
review:

]]> The Angel of Rome 59024342
We all live like we're famous now, curating our social media presences, performing our identities, withholding those parts of ourselves we don't want others to see. In this riveting collection of stories from acclaimed author Jess Walter, a teenage girl tries to live up to the image of her beautiful, missing mother. An elderly couple confronts the fiction writer eavesdropping on their conversation. A son must repeatedly come out to his senile father while looking for a place to care for the old man. A famous actor in recovery has a one-night stand with the world's most surprising film critic. And in the romantic title story, a shy twenty-one-year-old studying Latin in Rome during the year of my reinvention finds himself face-to-face with the Italian actress of his adolescent dreams.

Funny, poignant, and redemptive, this collection of short fiction offers a dazzling range of voices, backdrops, and situations. With his signature wit and bighearted approach to the darkest parts of humanity, Walter tackles the modern condition with a timeless touch, once again solidifying his place in the contemporary canon as one of our most gifted builders of fictional worlds (Esquire).]]> 8 Jess Walter KP 5 road-trip-w-hans 3.70 2022 The Angel of Rome
author: Jess Walter
name: KP
average rating: 3.70
book published: 2022
rating: 5
read at: 2024/10/05
date added: 2024/12/30
shelves: road-trip-w-hans
review:
Hans and I listened to the story/novella The Angel of Rome and loved it! We just had the story and not the whole book.
]]> Something in the Water 40390080 “A psychological thriller that captivated me from page one. What unfolds makes for a wild, page-turning ride! It’s the perfect beach read!”—Reese Witherspoon (Reese’s Book Club x Hello Sunshine book pick)

A shocking discovery on a honeymoon in paradise changes the lives of a picture-perfect couple in this taut psychological thriller debut--for readers of Ruth Ware, Paula Hawkins, and Shari Lapena.

If you could make one simple choice that would change your life forever, would you?

Erin is a documentary filmmaker on the brink of a professional breakthrough, Mark a handsome investment banker with big plans. Passionately in love, they embark on a dream honeymoon to the tropical island of Bora Bora, where they enjoy the sun, the sand, and each other. Then, while scuba diving in the crystal blue sea, they find something in the water. . . .

Could the life of your dreams be the stuff of nightmares?

Suddenly the newlyweds must make a dangerous choice: to speak out or to protect their secret. After all, if no one else knows, who would be hurt? Their decision will trigger a devastating chain of events. . . .

Have you ever wondered how long it takes to dig a grave?

Wonder no longer. Catherine Steadman's enthralling voice shines throughout this spellbinding debut novel. With piercing insight and fascinating twists, Something in the Water challenges the reader to confront the hopes we desperately cling to, the ideals we're tempted to abandon, and the perfect lies we tell ourselves.]]> Catherine Steadman KP 3 road-trip-w-hans 3.52 2018 Something in the Water
author: Catherine Steadman
name: KP
average rating: 3.52
book published: 2018
rating: 3
read at: 2024/10/07
date added: 2024/12/30
shelves: road-trip-w-hans
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness]]> 212972620
There is no bigger public health story now than the collapse in youth mental health. The numbers are terrifying and dominate our headlines. There has been much debate over how we got here, and what to do next, and bestselling author and social psychologist Jonathan Haidt is at the white-hot center of that discourse. Haidt has spent his career speaking wisdom and truth into the most difficult landscapes—communities polarized by politics and religion, campuses battling culture wars, and now the perfect storm contributing to a public health emergency for Gen Z.

For the cohort that hit puberty around 2009, their sense of self developed as the threads of three dramatic technological and social changes smartphones and life with the constant companionship of a screen, front-facing cameras and the bevy of apps that thrived on selfie-culture, and social networks that reduced engagement and affirmation to likes and hearts alone. But phones aren’t the only villain here; the ground for this crisis was seeded by a decades long shift from play-based childhoods to ones defined by over-supervision, structure, and fear.

The Anxious Generation is a penetrating and alarming accounting of how we adults began to overprotect children in the real world while giving essentially no protection in the brutal online world. Haidt documents the four fundamental harms of the phone-based sleep deprivation, social deprivation, cognitive fragmentation, and addiction. He then shows the unique harms affecting boys, and the unique harms affecting girls. In the last section of The Anxious Generation , he offers concrete and scientifically based advice with separate chapters addressed to parents, schools, universities, governments, and to teens themselves. He draws on ancient wisdom and modern psychology to help everyone understand what healthy development would look like in the digital age.

10 hrs. 33 min.]]> 11 Jonathan Haidt 0593829093 KP 5 non-fiction 4.25 2024 The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness
author: Jonathan Haidt
name: KP
average rating: 4.25
book published: 2024
rating: 5
read at: 2024/12/27
date added: 2024/12/29
shelves: non-fiction
review:

]]> James 210164254
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER NATIONAL BOOK AWARD WINNER ONE OF THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW'S 10 BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR SHORTLISTED FOR THE BOOKER PRIZE KIRKUS PRIZE WINNER A brilliant, action-packed reimagining of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, both harrowing and darkly humorous, told from the enslaved Jim's point of view

When the enslaved Jim overhears that he is about to be sold to a man in New Orleans, separated from his wife and daughter forever, he decides to hide on nearby Jackson Island until he can formulate a plan. Meanwhile, Huck Finn has faked his own death to escape his violent father, recently returned to town. As all readers of American literature know, thus begins the dangerous and transcendent journey by raft down the Mississippi River toward the elusive and too-often-unreliable promise of the Free States and beyond.

While many narrative set pieces of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn remain in place (floods and storms, stumbling across both unexpected death and unexpected treasure in the myriad stopping points along the river’s banks, encountering the scam artists posing as the Duke and Dauphin�), Jim’s agency, intelligence and compassion are shown in a radically new light.

Brimming with the electrifying humor and lacerating observations that have made Everett a “literary icon� (Oprah Daily), and one of the most decorated writers of our lifetime, James is destined to be a cornerstone of twenty-first century American literature.]]> 8 Percival Everett 0593821262 KP 4
By the end, I felt like the book was like an everyman story of revenge and redemption for slavery. I was crying and cheering for James all the way, but especially at the end.
]]> 4.43 2024 James
author: Percival Everett
name: KP
average rating: 4.43
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2024/12/17
date added: 2024/12/17
shelves:
review:
I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed James. The only reason I didn't give it 5 stars is because I’m not a fan of this type of picaresque (a series of episodes rather than a straightforward plot) adventure story. In this one, the adventures hung together enough to really hold my interest. I really loved the way James grew in his understanding of himself and became more and more able to do the horrible, dangerous things he had to do to seek freedom for himself and his family.

By the end, I felt like the book was like an everyman story of revenge and redemption for slavery. I was crying and cheering for James all the way, but especially at the end.

]]> The Whispers 156845259
From the author of The Push, a thriller about four suburban families whose lives are changed when the unthinkable happens—and what is lost when good people make unconscionable choices

The Loverlys sit by the hospital bed of their young son who is in a coma after falling from his bedroom window in the middle of the night; his mother, Whitney, will not speak to anyone. Back home, their friends and neighbors are left in shock, each confronting their own role in the events that led up to what happened that terrible night: the warm, altruistic Parks who are the Loverlys' best friends; the young, ambitious Goldsmiths who are struggling to start a family of their own; and the quiet, elderly Portuguese couple who care for their adult son with a developmental disability, and who pass the long days on the front porch, watching their neighbors go about their busy lives.

The story spins out over the course of one week, in the alternating voices of the women in each family as they are forced to face the secrets within the walls of their own homes, and the uncomfortable truths that connect them all to one another. Set against the heartwrenching drama of what will happen to Xavier, who hangs between death and life, or a life changed forever, The Whispers is a novel about what happens when we put our needs ahead of our children's. Exploring the quiet sacrifices of motherhood, the intuitions that we silence, the complexities of our closest friendships, and the danger of envy, this is a novel about the reverberations of life's most difficult decisions.]]> 10 Ashley Audrain KP 3 3.53 2023 The Whispers
author: Ashley Audrain
name: KP
average rating: 3.53
book published: 2023
rating: 3
read at: 2024/12/10
date added: 2024/12/16
shelves:
review:
The Push, her first book, was so much better! I wanted to find out how this ended, but other than that, I wasn't very interested in the dramas of the various women. Much of it seemed overdone and unbelievable. The ending did have good shock value, I suppose.
]]> The Rocking-Horse Winner 591189 22 D.H. Lawrence 1860920071 KP 0 short-stories 3.84 1926 The Rocking-Horse Winner
author: D.H. Lawrence
name: KP
average rating: 3.84
book published: 1926
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/10
shelves: short-stories
review:

]]> The Women 193752824 An intimate portrait of coming of age in a dangerous time and an epic tale of a nation divided.

Women can be heroes. When twenty-year-old nursing student Frances “Frankie� McGrath hears these words, it is a revelation. Raised in the sun-drenched, idyllic world of Southern California and sheltered by her conservative parents, she has always prided herself on doing the right thing. But in 1965, the world is changing, and she suddenly dares to imagine a different future for herself. When her brother ships out to serve in Vietnam, she joins the Army Nurse Corps and follows his path.

As green and inexperienced as the men sent to Vietnam to fight, Frankie is over- whelmed by the chaos and destruction of war. Each day is a gamble of life and death, hope and betrayal; friendships run deep and can be shattered in an instant. In war, she meets—and becomes one of—the lucky, the brave, the broken, and the lost.

But war is just the beginning for Frankie and her veteran friends. The real battle lies in coming home to a changed and divided America, to angry protesters, and to a country that wants to forget Vietnam.

The Women is the story of one woman gone to war, but it shines a light on all women who put themselves in harm’s way and whose sacrifice and commitment to their country has too often been forgotten. A novel about deep friendships and bold patriotism, The Women is a richly drawn story with a memorable heroine whose idealism and courage under fire will come to define an era.]]> 15 Kristin Hannah 1250317959 KP 4 4.53 2024 The Women
author: Kristin Hannah
name: KP
average rating: 4.53
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2024/05/22
date added: 2024/11/07
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Waiting (Renée Ballard, #6; Harry Bosch, #25; Harry Bosch Universe, #39)]]> 206340506
LAPD Detective Renée Ballard tracks a terrifying serial rapist whose trail has gone cold, with the help of the newest volunteer to the Open-Unsolved Unit: Patrol Officer Maddie Bosch, Harry’s daughter.

Renée Ballard and the LAPD’s Open-Unsolved Unit get a hot shot DNA connection between a recently arrested man and a serial rapist and murderer who went quiet twenty years ago. The arrested man is only twenty-three, so the genetic link must be familial. It is his father who was the Pillowcase Rapist, responsible for a five-year reign of terror in the city of angels. But when Ballard and her team move in on their suspect, they encounter a baffling web of secrets and legal hurdles.

Meanwhile, Ballard’s badge, gun, and ID are stolen—a theft she can’t report without giving her enemies in the department the ammunition they need to end her career as a detective. She works the burglary alone, but her solo mission leads her into greater danger than she anticipates. She has no choice but to go outside the department for help, and that leads her to the door of Harry Bosch.

Finally, Ballard takes on a new volunteer to the cold case unit. Bosch’s daughter Maddie wants to supplement her work as a patrol officer on the night beat by investigating cases with Ballard. But Renée soon learns that Maddie has an ulterior motive for getting access to the city’s library of lost souls.]]> Michael Connelly KP 5 mystery-thriller-crime 4.05 2024 The Waiting (Renée Ballard, #6; Harry Bosch, #25; Harry Bosch Universe, #39)
author: Michael Connelly
name: KP
average rating: 4.05
book published: 2024
rating: 5
read at: 2024/11/06
date added: 2024/11/06
shelves: mystery-thriller-crime
review:

]]> The Love of my Life 60201391
Good Morning America Book Club pick

“Rosie Walsh’s The Love of My Life is my favorite kind of thriller - gripping, heartbreaking and impossible to put down.� (Laura Dave)

From the New York Times best-selling author of Ghosted comes a love story wrapped in a mystery: an up-all-night pause-resister with a dark secret at its core.

I have held you at night for 10 years and I didn't even know your name. We have a child together. A dog, a house.

Who are you?

Emma loves her husband, Leo, and their young daughter, Ruby: She’d do anything for them. But almost everything she's told them about herself is a lie.

And she might just have got away with it, if it weren’t for her husband’s job. Leo is an obituary writer; Emma a well-known marine biologist. When she suffers a serious illness, Leo copes by doing what he knows best - researching and writing about his wife’s life. But as he starts to unravel the truth, he discovers the woman he loves doesn’t really exist. Even her name isn’t real.

When the very darkest moments of Emma’s past finally emerge, she must somehow prove to Leo that she really is the woman he always thought she was....

But first, she must tell him about the other love of her life.]]> Rosie Walsh 1669609871 KP 5 3.53 2022 The Love of my Life
author: Rosie Walsh
name: KP
average rating: 3.53
book published: 2022
rating: 5
read at: 2024/10/12
date added: 2024/10/20
shelves:
review:

]]> Shakespeare's Kitchen 8735729 Ilka Weisz has accepted a teaching position at the Concordance Institute, a think tank in Connecticut, reluctantly leaving her New York circle of friends. After the comedy of her struggle to meet new people, Ilka comes to embrace, and be embraced by, a new set of acquaintances, including the instituteOCOs director, Leslie Shakespeare, and his wife, Eliza. Through a series of memorable dinner parties, picnics, and Sunday brunches, Segal evokes the subtle drama and humor of the outsiderOCOs loneliness, the comfort and charm of familiar companionship, the bliss of being in love, and the strangeness of our behavior in the face of other peopleOCOs deaths.
A magnificent and deeply moving work, "ShakespeareOCOs Kitchen" marks the long-awaited return of a writer at the height of her powers.
"]]> 243 Lore Segal 1595585834 KP 1
I can see that it's SUPPOSED to be funny in some parts. Sorry, it didn't work out that way. Sorry, I just don't CARE who stole the pencil sharpener and where it ends up. And I can see that the author wants the reader to think about certain interesting aspects of life, like the way people have trouble confronting each other after a loved one has died, but, again, it just doesn't add up to much.

It seems to me that the various short scenarios are just dropped on the reader.. Ok, so we have to think about a situation because we are reading it, but the author offers NO insights or interesting nuances or even a comment about the situation about which we are reading to add any depth to the mundane details of the characters' every little action. The scenarios are abrupt, unresolved in any meaningful way, and some are nonsensical. You just keep reading and might think, 'Yes it is hard to talk to someone after a loved one has died.' Does that make this good writing? I don't think so. Does it make it endlessly boring? Yes. ]]> 3.30 2007 Shakespeare's Kitchen
author: Lore Segal
name: KP
average rating: 3.30
book published: 2007
rating: 1
read at: 2010/12/13
date added: 2024/09/28
shelves:
review:
This is one boring book. The "plot" centers around the mundane details of life of Ilka W. and Leslie and Eliza Shakespeare. There are other characters, but they are so thinly drawn and again woven in with so many mundane details, that I didn't even want or try much to keep them straight in my mind.

I can see that it's SUPPOSED to be funny in some parts. Sorry, it didn't work out that way. Sorry, I just don't CARE who stole the pencil sharpener and where it ends up. And I can see that the author wants the reader to think about certain interesting aspects of life, like the way people have trouble confronting each other after a loved one has died, but, again, it just doesn't add up to much.

It seems to me that the various short scenarios are just dropped on the reader.. Ok, so we have to think about a situation because we are reading it, but the author offers NO insights or interesting nuances or even a comment about the situation about which we are reading to add any depth to the mundane details of the characters' every little action. The scenarios are abrupt, unresolved in any meaningful way, and some are nonsensical. You just keep reading and might think, 'Yes it is hard to talk to someone after a loved one has died.' Does that make this good writing? I don't think so. Does it make it endlessly boring? Yes.
]]> The Imperfectionists 8171863 351 Tom Rachman 1588369749 KP 3 3.53 2010 The Imperfectionists
author: Tom Rachman
name: KP
average rating: 3.53
book published: 2010
rating: 3
read at: 2011/04/22
date added: 2024/09/24
shelves:
review:
I thought the book was very well written. The main problem, for me, was that the stories or vignettes did not really tie together enough. Or they didn't tie together in a way that made a plot. The best thing about the whole book was the characterization. Rachman did a great job of getting inside the mind of each character and making them real. So, each vignette was good, but it just didn't add up to much overall.
]]> Listen for the Lie 127279000 What if you thought you murdered your best friend? And if everyone else thought so too? And what if the truth doesn't matter?

Lucy and Savvy were the golden girls of their small Texas town: pretty, smart, and enviable. Lucy married a dream guy with a big ring and an even bigger new home. Savvy was the social butterfly loved by all and, if you believe the rumors, especially popular with the men in town. But after Lucy is found wandering the streets, covered in her best friend Savvy’s blood, everyone thinks she is a murderer.

It’s been years since that horrible night, a night Lucy can’t remember anything about, and she has since moved to LA and started a new life. But now the phenomenally huge hit true crime podcast Listen for the Lie and its too-good looking host, Ben Owens, have decided to investigate Savvy’s murder for the show’s second season. Lucy is forced to return to the place she vowed never to set foot in again to solve her friend’s murder, even if she is the one who did it.

The truth is out there, if we just listen.]]> 352 Amy Tintera 1250880319 KP 1 road-trip-w-hans 4.07 2024 Listen for the Lie
author: Amy Tintera
name: KP
average rating: 4.07
book published: 2024
rating: 1
read at:
date added: 2024/09/24
shelves: road-trip-w-hans
review:
This was one of my least favorite books ever. Hans said he'd give it 2 stars because he liked the dirty parts... LOL. I think the book couldn't decide what it was trying to be - humorous, dark, scary, sexy.... and in the end it was none of those things for me. Just boring. I can't believe it has such a high review average!
]]> The Housemaid 60866877
“Welcome to the family,� Nina Winchester says as I shake her elegant, manicured hand. I smile politely, gazing around the marble hallway. Working here is my last chance to start fresh. I can pretend to be whoever I like. But I’ll soon learn that the Winchesters� secrets are far more dangerous than my own�

Every day I clean the Winchesters� beautiful house top to bottom. I collect their daughter from school. And I cook a delicious meal for the whole family before heading up to eat alone in my tiny room on the top floor.

I try to ignore how Nina makes a mess just to watch me clean it up. How she tells strange lies about her own daughter. And how her husband Andrew seems more broken every day. But as I look into Andrew’s handsome brown eyes, so full of pain, it’s hard not to imagine what it would be like to live Nina’s life. The walk-in closet, the fancy car, the perfect husband.

I only try on one of Nina’s pristine white dresses once. Just to see what it’s like. But she soon finds out� and by the time I realize my attic bedroom door only locks from the outside, it’s far too late.

But I reassure myself: the Winchesters don’t know who I really am.

They don’t know what I’m capable of�

An unbelievably twisty read that will have you glued to the pages late into the night. Anyone who loves The Woman in the Window, The Wife Between Us and The Girl on the Train won’t be able to put this down!]]> Freida McFadden KP 2 3.98 2022 The Housemaid
author: Freida McFadden
name: KP
average rating: 3.98
book published: 2022
rating: 2
read at: 2024/09/16
date added: 2024/09/24
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Old Filth (Old Filth Trilogy #1)]]> 38473488
Borrowing from biography and history, Jane Gardam has written a literary masterpiece reminiscent of Rudyard Kipling’s “Baa Baa, Black Sheep� that retraces much of the twentieth century’s torrid and momentous history.

]]> 287 Jane Gardam 1609450175 KP 3
This is one of those books that I didn't enjoy reading that much, BUT I did and do really appreciate it in the overall and in retrospect. I think the author was really talented and that she was very creative in her structuring of the novel. The book has a lot to it. It unpeels like an onion, but from two different directions. The name is interesting, too, because it definitely has a double meaning.. outwardly an acronym for "Failed in London Try Hong Kong," but also, and more importantly I think, meaning dirty, grubby secrets that are festering and are basically at the heart of the main character's personality. The other thing that forms the main character, in addition to his 'dirty secret," is the fact that he's a Raj orphan. That whole idea is one I really knew nothing about. Yet another horror of British colonialism. Along with the seriousness of the events in the book, there is an offsetting wit and humor, too. ]]> 4.19 2004 Old Filth (Old Filth Trilogy #1)
author: Jane Gardam
name: KP
average rating: 4.19
book published: 2004
rating: 3
read at: 2011/02/02
date added: 2024/09/20
shelves:
review:
I'm reading it through a second time! It's incredible how many little secrets are hidden that I did NOT notice the first time. Well, of course, the first time I did not know to what those little nuggets were referring and now I do. It is almost better the second time around - or at least I'm appreciating the depth of it more.

This is one of those books that I didn't enjoy reading that much, BUT I did and do really appreciate it in the overall and in retrospect. I think the author was really talented and that she was very creative in her structuring of the novel. The book has a lot to it. It unpeels like an onion, but from two different directions. The name is interesting, too, because it definitely has a double meaning.. outwardly an acronym for "Failed in London Try Hong Kong," but also, and more importantly I think, meaning dirty, grubby secrets that are festering and are basically at the heart of the main character's personality. The other thing that forms the main character, in addition to his 'dirty secret," is the fact that he's a Raj orphan. That whole idea is one I really knew nothing about. Yet another horror of British colonialism. Along with the seriousness of the events in the book, there is an offsetting wit and humor, too.
]]> The House with the Mezzanine 51141439 30 Anton Chekhov 1661284884 KP 3 short-stories 4.00 1896 The House with the Mezzanine
author: Anton Chekhov
name: KP
average rating: 4.00
book published: 1896
rating: 3
read at: 2024/08/11
date added: 2024/09/11
shelves: short-stories
review:

]]> The Mitford Affair: A Novel 75722363
Between the World Wars, the six Mitford sisters dominate the English political, literary, and social scenes. Though they've weathered scandals before, the family falls into disarray when Diana divorces her husband to marry a fascist leader and Unity follows her sister's lead, inciting rumors that she's become Hitler's own mistress.

Novelist Nancy Mitford is the only member of her family to keep in touch with Diana and Unity after their desertion, so it falls to her to act when her sisters become spies for the Nazi party.

Probing the torrid political climate of World War II and the ways that sensible people can be sucked into radical action, The Mitford Affair follows Nancy's valiant efforts to end the war and the cost of placing loyalty to her country above loyalty to her family.]]> Marie Benedict KP 3 3.62 2023 The Mitford Affair: A Novel
author: Marie Benedict
name: KP
average rating: 3.62
book published: 2023
rating: 3
read at: 2024/09/10
date added: 2024/09/11
shelves:
review:

]]> The Safe Man: A Ghost Story 15789825 New York Times bestselling author Michael Connelly

Like his father before him, Brian Holloway is a safe man. That is, his specialty is opening safes. Every job is a little mystery, and he has yet to encounter a lock he can't break or a box he can't crack. But the day Holloway gets called in to open a rare, antique safe in a famous author's library, his skills open a door that should have remained closed.

In this haunting and singular story, previously published anonymously, Michael Connelly proves once again that he is "superb at building suspense.... the reader can never be sure what sudden turns the plot may take" (Wall Street Journal).]]> Michael Connelly 1619698382 KP 3 3.72 2012 The Safe Man: A Ghost Story
author: Michael Connelly
name: KP
average rating: 3.72
book published: 2012
rating: 3
read at: 2024/07/13
date added: 2024/08/29
shelves: road-trip-w-hans, mystery-thriller-crime, podcast-or-series
review:

]]> Class: A Memoir 189187451 1 Stephanie Land 1797164228 KP 3 memoir 3.68 2023 Class: A Memoir
author: Stephanie Land
name: KP
average rating: 3.68
book published: 2023
rating: 3
read at: 2024/08/28
date added: 2024/08/29
shelves: memoir
review:

]]> Eruption 214198686 Two of the bestselling storytellers of all time have created an unforgettable thriller. A history-making volcanic eruption is about to destroy the Big Island of Hawaii. But a secret held for decades by the military is more terrifying than the volcano.

Michael Crichton, creator of Jurassic Park and Westworld, had a passion project he had been pursuing for years ahead of his untimely death. Knowing how special it was, his widow held back his notes and the partial manuscript till she found the right author to complete it.

The author she brought it to is the world’s most popular storyteller: James Patterson. Eruption brings the pace of Patterson to the concept of Crichton: the most anticipated mega-thriller in years.]]> Michael Crichton KP 1 mystery-thriller-crime 3.46 2024 Eruption
author: Michael Crichton
name: KP
average rating: 3.46
book published: 2024
rating: 1
read at: 2024/08/15
date added: 2024/08/15
shelves: mystery-thriller-crime
review:
This was possibly the most boring "thriller" I ever read. The last 1/2 hour of listening was tense, but other than that it was choppy and poorly written and just not thrilling at all. I say choppy because the book throws in a lot of facts about volcanoes which mainly just break up the action. Also, it goes back and forth between quite a few characters who are so briefly developed that they are flat and unreal.
]]> <![CDATA[The Man in the Wooden Hat (Old Filth, #2)]]> 6570431 Old Filth has been acclaimed as Jane Gardam's masterpiece, a book where life and art merge. And now that beautiful, haunting novel has been joined by a companion that also bursts with humor and wisdom: The Man in the Wooden Hat.

Old Filth was Eddie's story. The Man in the Wooden Hat is the history of his marriage told from the perspective of his wife, Betty, a character as vivid and enchanting as Filth himself.

They met in Hong Kong after the war. Betty had spent the duration in a Japanese internment camp. Filth was already a successful barrister, handsome, fast becoming rich, in need of a wife but unaccustomed to romance. A perfect English couple of the late 1940s.

As a portrait of a marriage, with all the bittersweet secrets and surprising fulfillment of the 50-year union of two remarkable people, the novel is a triumph. The Man in the Wooden Hat is fiction of a very high order from a great novelist working at the pinnacle of her considerable power. It will be read and loved and recommended by all the many thousands of readers who found its predecessor, Old Filth, so compelling and so thoroughly satisfying.]]> 233 Jane Gardam 1933372893 KP 3
There sure were a lot of old secrets that both the characters carried around with them. And I don't really understand how the attraction to Veneering's boy, Harry, got started in the first place or why Betty liked him so much. It seems like in some ways Betty was never really satisfied with Filth or never loved him, but in the end, it might just have been a part of human nature or both of their upbringings as Raj orphans or ??? because in some other ways they seemed to have a nice, comfortable 50+ years together. Like the other book, there are confusing sections or sentences that one has to really work to figure out. Sometimes that's rewarding and sometimes it's.. well, confusing :) ]]> 4.04 The Man in the Wooden Hat (Old Filth, #2)
author: Jane Gardam
name: KP
average rating: 4.04
book published:
rating: 3
read at: 2011/03/18
date added: 2024/08/07
shelves:
review:
It was really fun to read this after having read Old Filth. It really filled in a lot of the blanks and gave a fuller perspective to the lives of both Betty and Old Filth. I'm not sure how I would have liked the book without having read the first one, however. As it was, I found this one easier to read because I DID have the background of the first book.

There sure were a lot of old secrets that both the characters carried around with them. And I don't really understand how the attraction to Veneering's boy, Harry, got started in the first place or why Betty liked him so much. It seems like in some ways Betty was never really satisfied with Filth or never loved him, but in the end, it might just have been a part of human nature or both of their upbringings as Raj orphans or ??? because in some other ways they seemed to have a nice, comfortable 50+ years together. Like the other book, there are confusing sections or sentences that one has to really work to figure out. Sometimes that's rewarding and sometimes it's.. well, confusing :)
]]> The Elephant Whisperer 22453645
As Lawrence risked his life to create a bond with the troubled elephants and persuade them to stay on his reserve, he came to realize what a special family they were, from the wise matriarch Nana, who guided the herd, to her warrior sister Frankie, always ready to see off any threat, and their children who fought so hard to survive.

With unforgettable characters and exotic wildlife, this is an enthralling book that will appeal to animal lovers and adventurous souls everywhere.]]> 11 Lawrence Anthony KP 5 memoir
The first I’d read about the intelligence of elephants was indirectly in the novel, “Like Water for Elephants, � which I loved. Here, the author learns first hand and in real life about the magnificent capabilities of elephants� both physical and mental, since he is in charge of a game reserve in Africa and agrees to take in a herd of angry elephants. To me, however, the most impressive part of the book was the ability of the author to “psychoanalyze� all types of animals on his reserve and in his life � from the elephants down to his bull-terrier dog, Max. His analyses are really interesting and raise the book up a notch or two. The author is an amazing man: an outdoorsman, a man’s man, and also a wonderful, kind, brave, and understanding human being. He managed to throw in a few tidbits about the important people in his life in just the right proportion to the rest of his story. For example, the anecdotes about how he met his wife and later how he came to marry his wife were interesting, funny, and just the right length so as not to detract from his main focus of the animal reserve and the elephants he adopted.

I thought it was interesting that the whole idea of adopting the elephants was to keep them alive and keep them wild. Angry elephants are too dangerous and will most likely be killed, so he needed to work with this group for many months to quiet them down but not to domesticate them. He had to strike a balance between working with them, in his own unique way, and leaving them alone. In the end, he succeeded and then writes about how he now doesn’t interact very much with these elephants since his main goal of getting them to accept their surroundings has been accomplished. Along the way, he changes his perceptions � and the readers� � about the capabilities of elephants, and as he falls under their spell, so do we!
]]> 4.40 2009 The Elephant Whisperer
author: Lawrence Anthony
name: KP
average rating: 4.40
book published: 2009
rating: 5
read at: 2016/07/13
date added: 2024/07/29
shelves: memoir
review:
What a surprise! I loved this book. I’m not usually a fan of animal stories. Usually they are too cutesy and just not my thing. This book, however, somehow got through this block of mine, and it rose above any cutesy-ness and was moving, well written, and eye opening.

The first I’d read about the intelligence of elephants was indirectly in the novel, “Like Water for Elephants, � which I loved. Here, the author learns first hand and in real life about the magnificent capabilities of elephants� both physical and mental, since he is in charge of a game reserve in Africa and agrees to take in a herd of angry elephants. To me, however, the most impressive part of the book was the ability of the author to “psychoanalyze� all types of animals on his reserve and in his life � from the elephants down to his bull-terrier dog, Max. His analyses are really interesting and raise the book up a notch or two. The author is an amazing man: an outdoorsman, a man’s man, and also a wonderful, kind, brave, and understanding human being. He managed to throw in a few tidbits about the important people in his life in just the right proportion to the rest of his story. For example, the anecdotes about how he met his wife and later how he came to marry his wife were interesting, funny, and just the right length so as not to detract from his main focus of the animal reserve and the elephants he adopted.

I thought it was interesting that the whole idea of adopting the elephants was to keep them alive and keep them wild. Angry elephants are too dangerous and will most likely be killed, so he needed to work with this group for many months to quiet them down but not to domesticate them. He had to strike a balance between working with them, in his own unique way, and leaving them alone. In the end, he succeeded and then writes about how he now doesn’t interact very much with these elephants since his main goal of getting them to accept their surroundings has been accomplished. Along the way, he changes his perceptions � and the readers� � about the capabilities of elephants, and as he falls under their spell, so do we!

]]> The Frozen River 202294742
From the New York Times bestselling author of I Was Anastasia and Code Name Hélène comes a gripping historical mystery inspired by the life and diary of Martha Ballard, a renowned 18th-century midwife who defied the legal system and wrote herself into American history.

Maine, 1789: When the Kennebec River freezes, entombing a man in the ice, Martha Ballard is summoned to examine the body and determine cause of death. As a midwife and healer, she is privy to much of what goes on behind closed doors in Hallowell. Her diary is a record of every birth and death, crime and debacle that unfolds in the close-knit community. Months earlier, Martha documented the details of an alleged rape committed by two of the town’s most respected gentlemen—one of whom has now been found dead in the ice. But when a local physician undermines her conclusion, declaring the death to be an accident, Martha is forced to investigate the shocking murder on her own.

Over the course of one winter, as the trial nears, and whispers and prejudices mount, Martha doggedly pursues the truth. Her diary soon lands at the center of the scandal, implicating those she loves, and compelling Martha to decide where her own loyalties lie.

Clever, layered, and subversive, Ariel Lawhon’s newest offering introduces an unsung heroine who refused to accept anything less than justice at a time when women were considered best seen and not heard. The Frozen River is a thrilling, tense, and tender story about a remarkable woman who left an unparalleled legacy yet remains nearly forgotten to this day.]]> 15 Ariel Lawhon 0593748999 KP 5 4.30 2023 The Frozen River
author: Ariel Lawhon
name: KP
average rating: 4.30
book published: 2023
rating: 5
read at: 2024/07/27
date added: 2024/07/27
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics]]> 22717176
The number one New York Times best-selling story about American Olympic triumph in Nazi Germany, the inspiration for the PBS documentary The Boys of '36, broadcast to coincide with the 2016 Summer Olympics and the 80th anniversary of the boys' gold medal race.

For readers/listeners of Unbroken, out of the depths of the Depression comes an irresistible story about beating the odds and finding hope in the most desperate of times - the improbable, intimate account of how nine working-class boys from the American West showed the world at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin what true grit really meant. It was an unlikely quest from the start. With a team composed of the sons of loggers, shipyard workers, and farmers, the University of Washington’s eight-oar crew team was never expected to defeat the elite teams of the East Coast and Great Britain, yet they did, going on to shock the world by defeating the German team rowing for Adolf Hitler. The emotional heart of the tale lies with Joe Rantz, a teenager without family or prospects, who rows not only to regain his shattered self-regard but also to find a real place for himself in the world. Drawing on the boys� own journals and vivid memories of a once-in-a-lifetime shared dream, Brown has created an unforgettable portrait of an era, a celebration of a remarkable achievement, and a chronicle of one extraordinary young man’s personal quest.]]> 15 Daniel James Brown KP 3 non-fiction 4.43 2013 The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics
author: Daniel James Brown
name: KP
average rating: 4.43
book published: 2013
rating: 3
read at: 2014/08/20
date added: 2024/07/21
shelves: non-fiction
review:

]]> Good Material 206145480
From the New York Times best-selling author of Ghosts and Everything I Know About Love: a story of heartbreak and friendship and how to survive both.

Andy loves Jen. Jen loved Andy. And he can't work out why she stopped.

Now he is. . .

Without a home

Waiting for his stand-up career to take off

Wondering why everyone else around him seems to have grown up while he wasn't looking

Set adrift on the sea of heartbreak, Andy clings to the idea of solving the puzzle of his ruined relationship. Because if he can find the answer to that, then maybe Jen can find her way back to him. But Andy still has a lot to learn, not least his ex-girlfriend's side of the story�

In this sharply funny and exquisitely relatable story of romantic disaster and friendship, Dolly Alderton offers up a love story with two endings, demonstrating once again why she is one of the most exciting writers today, and the true voice of a generation.]]> Dolly Alderton KP 2 3.59 2023 Good Material
author: Dolly Alderton
name: KP
average rating: 3.59
book published: 2023
rating: 2
read at: 2024/07/01
date added: 2024/07/10
shelves:
review:

]]> Clear 176501330
A stunning, exquisite novel from an award-winning writer about a minister dispatched to a remote island off of Scotland to “clear� the last remaining inhabitant, who has no intention of leaving—an unforgettable tale of resilience, change, and hope.

John, an impoverished Scottish minister, has accepted a job evicting the lone remaining occupant of an island north of Scotland—Ivar, who has been living alone for decades, with only the animals and the sea for company. Though his wife, Mary, has serious misgivings about the errand, he decides to go anyway, setting in motion a chain of events that neither he nor Mary could have predicted.

Shortly after John reaches the island, he falls down a cliff and is found, unconscious and badly injured, by Ivar who takes him home and tends to his wounds. The two men do not speak a common language, but as John builds a dictionary of Ivar’s world, they learn to communicate and, as Ivar sees himself for the first time in decades reflected through the eyes of another person, they build a fragile, unusual connection.

Unfolding in the 1840s in the final stages of the infamous Scottish Clearances—which saw whole communities of the rural poor driven off the land in a relentless program of forced evictions—this singular, beautiful, deeply surprising novel explores the differences and connections between us, the way history shapes our deepest convictions, and how the human spirit can survive despite all odds. Moving and unpredictable, sensitive and spellbinding, Clear is a profound and pleasurable read.]]> Carys Davies 1797168517 KP 5 3.76 Clear
author: Carys Davies
name: KP
average rating: 3.76
book published:
rating: 5
read at: 2024/07/08
date added: 2024/07/08
shelves:
review:

]]> Inferno (Robert Langdon, #4) 17212300 17 hours 12 minutes

In the heart of Italy, Harvard professor of symbology Robert Langdon is drawn into a harrowing world centered on one of history’s most enduring and mysterious literary masterpieces . . . Dante’s Inferno.

Against this backdrop, Langdon battles a chilling adversary and grapples with an ingenious riddle that pulls him into a landscape of classic art, secret passageways, and futuristic science. Drawing from Dante’s dark epic poem, Langdon races to find answers and decide whom to trust . . . before the world is irrevocably altered.]]> 17 Dan Brown KP 2 mystery-thriller-crime
I did enjoy hearing about the fabulous and exotic locations, and I like the literary references in Inferno, but the writing and plot twists are pretty bad. The first half of the book seemed acceptable, even if not very well written. I was involved and wanted to find out what would happen. However, the second half twisted around the plot in ways that just didn’t even make sense. So many things were just thrown in and the reader is expected to just believe them because it is written that way. The way things turned out for the various characters is maddening. It just started to get on my nerves more and more, and by the very end, I was almost laughing at the ridiculousness of the plot and the characters.

I probably won’t read another Dan Brown book, if there is one.

]]> 3.49 2013 Inferno (Robert Langdon, #4)
author: Dan Brown
name: KP
average rating: 3.49
book published: 2013
rating: 2
read at: 2013/11/02
date added: 2024/07/04
shelves: mystery-thriller-crime
review:
Dan Brown is on a downhill slide. This book does NOT live up to Angels and Demons or The DaVinci Code. He’s running out of steam, I’d say.

I did enjoy hearing about the fabulous and exotic locations, and I like the literary references in Inferno, but the writing and plot twists are pretty bad. The first half of the book seemed acceptable, even if not very well written. I was involved and wanted to find out what would happen. However, the second half twisted around the plot in ways that just didn’t even make sense. So many things were just thrown in and the reader is expected to just believe them because it is written that way. The way things turned out for the various characters is maddening. It just started to get on my nerves more and more, and by the very end, I was almost laughing at the ridiculousness of the plot and the characters.

I probably won’t read another Dan Brown book, if there is one.


]]> <![CDATA[The Lost Symbol (Robert Langdon, #3)]]> 6414097
What was lost will be found...

Washington DC: Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon is summoned at the last minute to deliver an evening lecture in the Capitol Building. Within moments of his arrival, however, a disturbing object - gruesomely encoded with five symbols - is discovered at the epicentre of the Rotunda. It is, he recognises, an ancient invitation, meant to beckon its recipient towards a long-lost world of hidden esoteric wisdom.

When Langdon's revered mentor, Peter Solomon - philanthropist and prominent mason - is brutally kidnapped, Langdon realizes that his only hope of saving his friend's life is to accept this mysterious summons and follow wherever it leads him.

Langdon finds himself quickly swept behind the facade of America's most historic city into the unseen chambers, temples and tunnels which exist there. All that was familiar is transformed into a shadowy, clandestine world of an artfully concealed past in which Masonic secrets and never-before-seen revelations seem to be leading him to a single impossible and inconceivable truth.

A brilliantly composed tapestry of veiled histories, arcane icons and enigmatic codes, The Lost Symbol is an intelligent, lightning-paced thriller that offers surprises at every turn. For, as Robert Langdon will discover, there is nothing more extraordinary or shocking than the secret which hides in plain sight...]]> 18 Dan Brown 0739319175 KP 3 mystery-thriller-crime 3.61 2009 The Lost Symbol (Robert Langdon, #3)
author: Dan Brown
name: KP
average rating: 3.61
book published: 2009
rating: 3
read at: 2009/10/26
date added: 2024/06/23
shelves: mystery-thriller-crime
review:
I enjoyed this book and really wanted to keep reading it, however, I have to say that I liked Angels and Demons the best of his books and Da Vinci code was second best. Now I guess they are beginning to seem formulaic. I liked the interpretation of modern religion (well all religion or spirituality) and the Bible in this book! The power of intention! Science of Mind! This is it! I'd rather read about it here than by Paul Coelho. At least Dan Brown isn't really hitting you over the head with it like Coelho does, in my opinion.
]]> The Great Believers 43128121
In 1985, Yale Tishman, the development director for an art gallery in Chicago, is about to pull off an amazing coup, bringing in an extraordinary collection of 1920s paintings as a gift to the gallery. Yet as his career begins to flourish, the carnage of the AIDS epidemic grows around him. One by one, his friends are dying and after his friend Nico's funeral, the virus circles closer and closer to Yale himself. Soon the only person he has left is Fiona, Nico's little sister.

Thirty years later, Fiona is in Paris tracking down her estranged daughter who disappeared into a cult. While staying with an old friend, a famous photographer who documented the Chicago crisis, she finds herself finally grappling with the devastating ways AIDS affected her life and her relationship with her daughter. The two intertwining stories take us through the heartbreak of the eighties and the chaos of the modern world, as both Yale and Fiona struggle to find goodness in the midst of disaster.]]> 17 Rebecca Makkai 0525630821 KP 2 4.20 2018 The Great Believers
author: Rebecca Makkai
name: KP
average rating: 4.20
book published: 2018
rating: 2
read at: 2024/06/18
date added: 2024/06/18
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Thank-You Project: Cultivating Happiness One Letter of Gratitude at a Time]]> 52702167 Gratitude is good for the soul !-- and The Thank-You Project provides an intriguing way to capture its power.

The Thank-You Project chronicles the wonders that happened when Nancy Davis Kho wrote "thank-you for the impact you've had on my life" letters to key people in her life, over the course of a year-and provides practical guidance for readers who want to start a letter-writing project of their own.

As Nancy Davis Kho sailed toward her 50th birthday in 2016, she came up with a unique way to commemorate She embarked on a project to write one thank-you note per week, for 50 weeks. She wanted to acknowledge the many people who had influenced her, helped her, and brought her joy. First she wrote to family, then branched out to friends, old teachers, past loves, etc. She didn't necessarily send all the letters, but with the ones she did, the recipient got a one-page reminder that they were revered and appreciated. Even better, Nancy was creating the best gift she could ever give herself. After she typed that 50th letter, she bound copies of all of them together and put the book on her nightstand. She returns often to that letter collection, flipping at random through the pages for a reminder of her support network - an immediate therapeutic cure when times get tough.

Using her own story as a springboard, Nancy gives real guidance to her readers who want to start their own Thank-You Project. No matter your age or walk of life, active appreciation of the
formative people in your life (both past and present) can start the good vibes
flowing!


RUNNING TIME � 4hrs. and 44mins.

©2019 Nancy Davis Kho (P)2020 Running Press Adult]]> 0 Nancy Davis Kho 1549156691 KP 5 non-fiction 3.83 2019 The Thank-You Project: Cultivating Happiness One Letter of Gratitude at a Time
author: Nancy Davis Kho
name: KP
average rating: 3.83
book published: 2019
rating: 5
read at: 2020/04/16
date added: 2024/06/11
shelves: non-fiction
review:

]]> Dust Child 159497481
In 1969, sisters Trang and Quỳnh, desperate to help their parents pay off debts, leave their rural village and become “bar girls� in Sài Gòn, drinking, flirting (and more) with American GIs in return for money. As the war moves closer to the city, the once-innocent Trang gets swept up in an irresistible romance with a young and charming American helicopter pilot, Dan. Decades later, Dan returns to Việt Nam with his wife, Linda, hoping to find a way to heal from his PTSD and, unbeknownst to her, reckon with secrets from his past.

At the same time, Phong—the son of a Black American soldier and a Vietnamese woman—embarks on a search to find both his parents and a way out of Việt Nam. Abandoned in front of an orphanage, Phong grew up being called “the dust of life,” “Black American imperialist,� and “child of the enemy,� and he dreams of a better life for himself and his family in the U.S.

Past and present converge as these characters come together to confront decisions made during a time of war—decisions that force them to look deep within and find common ground across race, generation, culture, and language. Suspenseful, poetic, and perfect for readers of Min Jin Lee’s Pachinko or Yaa Gyasi’s Homegoing, Dust Child tells an unforgettable and immersive story of how those who inherited tragedy can redefine their destinies through love, hard-earned wisdom, compassion, courage, and joy.
Read less]]> 12 Nguyễn Phan Qu� Mai KP 3 4.12 2023 Dust Child
author: Nguyễn Phan Qu� Mai
name: KP
average rating: 4.12
book published: 2023
rating: 3
read at: 2024/05/29
date added: 2024/05/29
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Three Years A Traveler: One woman, One dog, Seven Rvs, and the path less traveled to heal the heart]]> 64659397 Leslie White knew she wanted more out of life- She found it in an unlikely place.Devastated from the loss of both parents to cancer nine months apart, Leslie vowed to change her life. She bought the neighbor’s old motorhome, found a job as a traveling histologist, and hit the road.

But she found she could not trust the one person she was still holding onto.



Ride along for the sometimes heartbreaking, sometimes hilarious tale of traveling and working across America, and Alaska, and back. Leslie drove through depression and grief - to the other side - to acceptance, peace, and forgiveness.

The memoir, Three Years a Traveler, is a vivid, humorous, and moving recount of betrayal, grief recovery, and the jagged journey back to healing and happiness.]]> 230 Leslie White KP 3 memoir 4.24 Three Years A Traveler: One woman, One dog, Seven Rvs, and the path less traveled to heal the heart
author: Leslie White
name: KP
average rating: 4.24
book published:
rating: 3
read at: 2024/05/25
date added: 2024/05/25
shelves: memoir
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Conscious Parenting: A Guide to Living With Young Children]]> 25573333 75 Stephen Spitalny 1329054946 KP 4 non-fiction 4.50 2015 Conscious Parenting: A Guide to Living With Young Children
author: Stephen Spitalny
name: KP
average rating: 4.50
book published: 2015
rating: 4
read at: 2024/04/16
date added: 2024/05/18
shelves: non-fiction
review:

]]> A Rose for Emily 2984286 36 William Faulkner 1563127881 KP 3 short-stories 3.83 1930 A Rose for Emily
author: William Faulkner
name: KP
average rating: 3.83
book published: 1930
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2024/05/18
shelves: short-stories
review:

]]> Roman Fever 117643799 Roman Fever and Other Stories. From her picture of erotic love and illegitimacy in the title story to her exploration of the aftermath of divorce detailed in "Souls Belated" and "The Last Asset," Wharton shows her usual skill "in dissecting the elements of emotional subtleties, moral ambiguities, and the implications of social restrictions," as Cynthia Griffin Wolff writes in her introduction. Roman Fever and Other Stories is a surprisingly contemporary volume of stories by one of our most enduring writers.]]> Edith Wharton KP 3 short-stories 3.50 1934 Roman Fever
author: Edith Wharton
name: KP
average rating: 3.50
book published: 1934
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2024/05/18
shelves: short-stories
review:

]]> Good Country People 31705497 A Good Man is Hard to Find and Other Stories, The Dark Descent, and The Dark Descent: The Medusa in the Shield v. 2

Mrs. Hopewell is a country farmer and her estranged daughter Hulga has a degree in philosophy. A stranger arrives and convinces them both that he's a naive Bible salesman. They're wrong and the consequences are particularly humiliating for Hulga.]]> 15 Flannery O'Connor KP 4 short-stories 3.73 1955 Good Country People
author: Flannery O'Connor
name: KP
average rating: 3.73
book published: 1955
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2024/05/18
shelves: short-stories
review:

]]> The Cube 61257960 Adam Rapp KP 4 3.09 The Cube
author: Adam Rapp
name: KP
average rating: 3.09
book published:
rating: 4
read at: 2024/05/06
date added: 2024/05/18
shelves: road-trip-w-hans, short-stories
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Democracy Awakening: Notes on the State of America]]> 123283961 A New York Times Bestseller

A vital and urgent call to action about the precarious state of American democracy, charting its historical challenges and current threats, from one of our era’s most important and insightful historians.

“M˛ą˛µľ±˛őłŮ±đ°ůľ±˛ą±ô.â€� –TheĚýWashington Post

“AnĚýexcellent primer for anyone who needs the important facts of the last 150 years of American history–and how they got us to the sorry place we inhabit today.â€� –GłÜ˛ą°ů»ĺľ±˛ą˛Ô

At a time when the very foundations of democracy seem under threat, the lessons of the past offer a roadmap for navigating a moment of political crisis. In Democracy Awakening, acclaimed historian Heather Cox Richardson delves into the tumultuous journey of American democracy, revealing how the roots of Donald Trump’s “authoritarian experiment� can be traced back through the earliest days of the republic. She examines the historical forces that have led to the current political climate, showing how modern conservatism has preyed upon a disaffected population, weaponizing language and promoting false history to consolidate power.

With remarkable clarity and the same accessible voice that brings millions of readers to her newsletter, Letters from an American, Richardson wrangles a chaotic news feed into a coherent story that singles out what we should pay attention to and what possible paths lie ahead. Her command of history and trademark plainspoken prose allow her to pivot effortlessly from the Founders to the abolitionists to Reconstruction to Nixon to the January 6 insurrection, highlighting the political legacies of the New Deal, the lingering fears of socialism, the death of the liberal consensus, and the birth of “movement conservatism.”ĚýĚ�

An essential read for anyone concerned about the state of America, Democracy Awakening is more than a history book; it’s a call to action. Richardson reminds us that democracy is not a static institution but a living, evolving process that requires constant vigilance and participation from all of us. This powerful testament to the resilience of democratic ideals shows how we, as a nation, can take the lessons of the past to address today’s challenges and secure a more just and equitable future.]]> 320 Heather Cox Richardson 0593652975 KP 3 non-fiction 4.52 2023 Democracy Awakening: Notes on the State of America
author: Heather Cox Richardson
name: KP
average rating: 4.52
book published: 2023
rating: 3
read at: 2024/01/27
date added: 2024/05/18
shelves: non-fiction
review:

]]> A Good Hard Look: A Novel 12251600 0 Ann Napolitano 1101494107 KP 5 3.94 2011 A Good Hard Look: A Novel
author: Ann Napolitano
name: KP
average rating: 3.94
book published: 2011
rating: 5
read at: 2024/05/14
date added: 2024/05/15
shelves:
review:

]]> Black Cake 60292604 Length: 12 hours and 2 minutes

We can’t choose what we inherit. But can we choose who we become?
In present-day California, Eleanor Bennett’s death leaves behind a puzzling inheritance for her two children, Byron and Benny: a black cake, made from a family recipe with a long history, and a voice recording. In her message, Eleanor shares a tumultuous story about a headstrong young swimmer who escapes her island home under suspicion of murder. The heartbreaking tale Eleanor unfolds, the secrets she still holds back, and the mystery of a long-lost child challenge everything the siblings thought they knew about their lineage and themselves.

Can Byron and Benny reclaim their once-close relationship, piece together Eleanor’s true history, and fulfill her final request to “share the black cake when the time is right�? Will their mother’s revelations bring them back together or leave them feeling more lost than ever?

Charmaine Wilkerson’s debut novel is a story of how the inheritance of betrayals, secrets, memories, and even names can shape relationships and history. Deeply evocative and beautifully written, Black Cake is an extraordinary journey through the life of a family changed forever by the choices of its matriarch.]]> Charmaine Wilkerson KP 2 3.97 2022 Black Cake
author: Charmaine Wilkerson
name: KP
average rating: 3.97
book published: 2022
rating: 2
read at: 2024/04/16
date added: 2024/04/16
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Running Grave (Cormoran Strike #7)]]> 195929671
In the seventh installment in the Strike series, Cormoran and Robin must rescue a man ensnared in the trap of a dangerous cult.

Private Detective Cormoran Strike is contacted by a worried father whose son, Will, has gone to join a religious cult in the depths of the Norfolk countryside.

The Universal Humanitarian Church is, on the surface, a peaceable organization that campaigns for a better world. Yet Strike discovers that beneath the surface there are deeply sinister undertones, and unexplained deaths.

In order to try to rescue Will, Strike's business partner, Robin Ellacott, decides to infiltrate the cult, and she travels to Norfolk to live incognito among its members. But in doing so, she is unprepared for the dangers that await her there or for the toll it will take on her. . .

Utterly pulse-pounding, The Running Grave moves Strike's and Robin's story forward in this epic, unforgettable seventh installment of the series.]]> 35 Robert Galbraith KP 5 mystery-thriller-crime
I've read all 7 in the series, but I was wondering if someone new to the series would be able to appreciate this as a stand alone book. I think the answer is YES if they like mystery/detective stories. The author gives plenty of background to the relationship between Strike and his partner, Robin. AND the case they are working on is certainly fully contained in this one book. So if you're on the fence... I recommend reading The Running Grave!

Favorite quote by Aeschylus in this book: "Happiness is a choice that requires an effort at times." I love the way Strike applies this quote to his life!!

*

Just some notes about the poetry in the book:


On a Friend's Escape from Drowning off the Norfolk Coast
by George Barker
Came up that cold sea at Cromer like a running grave
Beside him as he struck
Wildly towards the shore, but the blackcapped wave
Crossed him and swung him back,
And he saw his son digging in the castled dirt that could save.
Then the farewell rock
Rose a last time to his eyes. As he cried out
A pawing gag of the sea
Smothered his cry and he sank in his own shout
Like a dying airman. Then she
Deep near her son asleep on the hourglass sand
Was awakened by whom
Save the Fate who knew that this was the wrong time:
And opened her eyes
On the death of her son's begetter. Up she flies
Into the hydra-headed
Grave as he closes his life upon her who for
Life has so richly bedded him.
But she drove through his drowning like Orpheus and tore
Back by his hair
Her escaping bridegroom. And on the sand their son
Stood laughing where
He was almost an orphan. Then the three lay down
On that cold sand
Each holding the other by a living hand.




On A Friend’s Escape From Drowning Off The Norfolk Coast
In the poem “On A Friend’s Escape From Drowning Off The Norfolk Coast�, the speaker describes, in the minutest details, how a friend of his nearly drowned in the sea during a visit to a beach in Norfolk with his family.
The poem begins with the friend already in trouble. He is further away from shore than he’d like and desperately trying to get back, but the waves are too strong to overcome. As he is continuously pushed under water, he can see his young son playing on the beach, seemingly unfazed by his father’s struggle. His cries eventually waken the boy’s mother and she immediately dashes into the ocean, dragging him to shore.
The poem closes with the friend and his fiancée lying on the beach, catching their breaths after the near-death-experience, while their son laughs at them, oblivious to what nearly happened.


Title
On 12th January, 2023, J.K. Rowling revealed on Twitter that the title of the seventh novel is The Running Grave. She first gave us the clue “Disentangle the hanging venturer,� which happened to be an anagram for “the running grave.� The title was guessed by the Strike & Ellacott Files podcast account. The title is likely jointly inspired by the poem “On A Friend’s Escape From Drowning Off The Norfolk Coast� by George Barker and Dylan Thomas� “When, Like A Running Grave�.



When, Like a Running Grave
by Dylan Thomas
When, like a running grave, time tracks you down,
Your calm and cuddled is a scythe of hairs,
Love in her gear is slowly through the house,
Up naked stairs, a turtle in a hearse,
Hauled to the dome,

Comes, like a scissors stalking, tailor age,
Deliver me who timid in my tribe,
Of love am barer than Cadaver's trap
Robbed of the foxy tongue, his footed tape
Of the bone inch

Deliver me, my masters, head and heart,
Heart of Cadaver's candle waxes thin,
When blood, spade-handed, and the logic time
Drive children up like bruises to the thumb,
From maid and head,

For, sunday faced, with dusters in my glove,
Chaste and the chaser, man with the cockshut eye,
I, that time's jacket or the coat of ice
May fail to fasten with a virgin o
In the straight grave,

Stride through Cadaver's country in my force,
My pickbrain masters morsing on the stone
Despair of blood faith in the maiden's slime,
Halt among eunuchs, and the nitric stain
On fork and face.

Time is a foolish fancy, time and fool.
No, no, you lover skull, descending hammer
Descends, my masters, on the entered honour.
You hero skull, Cadaver in the hangar
Tells the stick, 'fail.'

Joy is no knocking nation, sir and madam,
The cancer's fashion, or the summer feather
Lit on the cuddled tree, the cross of fever,
Not city tar and subway bored to foster
Man through macadam.

I dump the waxlights in your tower dome.
Joy is the knock of dust, Cadaver's shoot
Of bud of Adam through his boxy shift,
Love's twilit nation and the skull of state,
Sir, is your doom.

Everything ends, the tower ending and,
(Have with the house of wind), the leaning scene,
Ball of the foot depending from the sun,
(Give, summer, over), the cemented skin,
The actions' end.

All, men my madmen, the unwholesome wind
With whistler's cough contages, time on track
Shapes in a cinder death; love for his trick,
Happy Cadaver's hunger as you take
The kissproof world.
Analysis of When, Like a Running Grave


Has spoilers! I really want to read this one!
]]> 4.56 2023 The Running Grave (Cormoran Strike #7)
author: Robert Galbraith
name: KP
average rating: 4.56
book published: 2023
rating: 5
read at: 2023/11/02
date added: 2024/02/24
shelves: mystery-thriller-crime
review:
6 stars!! OMG this book was SO good. I think it is the best one in the series. I was crying at the end... partly out of happiness at the ending and partly because the book is over and I'm sad about that. 34 hours and I am addicted. I loved just about every minute of it.

I've read all 7 in the series, but I was wondering if someone new to the series would be able to appreciate this as a stand alone book. I think the answer is YES if they like mystery/detective stories. The author gives plenty of background to the relationship between Strike and his partner, Robin. AND the case they are working on is certainly fully contained in this one book. So if you're on the fence... I recommend reading The Running Grave!

Favorite quote by Aeschylus in this book: "Happiness is a choice that requires an effort at times." I love the way Strike applies this quote to his life!!

*

Just some notes about the poetry in the book:


On a Friend's Escape from Drowning off the Norfolk Coast
by George Barker
Came up that cold sea at Cromer like a running grave
Beside him as he struck
Wildly towards the shore, but the blackcapped wave
Crossed him and swung him back,
And he saw his son digging in the castled dirt that could save.
Then the farewell rock
Rose a last time to his eyes. As he cried out
A pawing gag of the sea
Smothered his cry and he sank in his own shout
Like a dying airman. Then she
Deep near her son asleep on the hourglass sand
Was awakened by whom
Save the Fate who knew that this was the wrong time:
And opened her eyes
On the death of her son's begetter. Up she flies
Into the hydra-headed
Grave as he closes his life upon her who for
Life has so richly bedded him.
But she drove through his drowning like Orpheus and tore
Back by his hair
Her escaping bridegroom. And on the sand their son
Stood laughing where
He was almost an orphan. Then the three lay down
On that cold sand
Each holding the other by a living hand.




On A Friend’s Escape From Drowning Off The Norfolk Coast
In the poem “On A Friend’s Escape From Drowning Off The Norfolk Coast�, the speaker describes, in the minutest details, how a friend of his nearly drowned in the sea during a visit to a beach in Norfolk with his family.
The poem begins with the friend already in trouble. He is further away from shore than he’d like and desperately trying to get back, but the waves are too strong to overcome. As he is continuously pushed under water, he can see his young son playing on the beach, seemingly unfazed by his father’s struggle. His cries eventually waken the boy’s mother and she immediately dashes into the ocean, dragging him to shore.
The poem closes with the friend and his fiancée lying on the beach, catching their breaths after the near-death-experience, while their son laughs at them, oblivious to what nearly happened.


Title
On 12th January, 2023, J.K. Rowling revealed on Twitter that the title of the seventh novel is The Running Grave. She first gave us the clue “Disentangle the hanging venturer,� which happened to be an anagram for “the running grave.� The title was guessed by the Strike & Ellacott Files podcast account. The title is likely jointly inspired by the poem “On A Friend’s Escape From Drowning Off The Norfolk Coast� by George Barker and Dylan Thomas� “When, Like A Running Grave�.



When, Like a Running Grave
by Dylan Thomas
When, like a running grave, time tracks you down,
Your calm and cuddled is a scythe of hairs,
Love in her gear is slowly through the house,
Up naked stairs, a turtle in a hearse,
Hauled to the dome,

Comes, like a scissors stalking, tailor age,
Deliver me who timid in my tribe,
Of love am barer than Cadaver's trap
Robbed of the foxy tongue, his footed tape
Of the bone inch

Deliver me, my masters, head and heart,
Heart of Cadaver's candle waxes thin,
When blood, spade-handed, and the logic time
Drive children up like bruises to the thumb,
From maid and head,

For, sunday faced, with dusters in my glove,
Chaste and the chaser, man with the cockshut eye,
I, that time's jacket or the coat of ice
May fail to fasten with a virgin o
In the straight grave,

Stride through Cadaver's country in my force,
My pickbrain masters morsing on the stone
Despair of blood faith in the maiden's slime,
Halt among eunuchs, and the nitric stain
On fork and face.

Time is a foolish fancy, time and fool.
No, no, you lover skull, descending hammer
Descends, my masters, on the entered honour.
You hero skull, Cadaver in the hangar
Tells the stick, 'fail.'

Joy is no knocking nation, sir and madam,
The cancer's fashion, or the summer feather
Lit on the cuddled tree, the cross of fever,
Not city tar and subway bored to foster
Man through macadam.

I dump the waxlights in your tower dome.
Joy is the knock of dust, Cadaver's shoot
Of bud of Adam through his boxy shift,
Love's twilit nation and the skull of state,
Sir, is your doom.

Everything ends, the tower ending and,
(Have with the house of wind), the leaning scene,
Ball of the foot depending from the sun,
(Give, summer, over), the cemented skin,
The actions' end.

All, men my madmen, the unwholesome wind
With whistler's cough contages, time on track
Shapes in a cinder death; love for his trick,
Happy Cadaver's hunger as you take
The kissproof world.
Analysis of When, Like a Running Grave


Has spoilers! I really want to read this one!

]]> <![CDATA[The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store]]> 85148114
ĚýĚýĚýĚýAs these charactersâ€� stories overlap and deepen, it becomes clear how much the people who live on the margins of white, Christian America struggle and what they must do to survive. When the truth is finally revealed about what happened on Chicken Hill and the part the town’s white establishment played in it, McBride shows us that even in dark times, it is love and community—heaven and earth—that sustain us.]]> 400 James McBride 0593422961 KP 3 4.25 2023 The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store
author: James McBride
name: KP
average rating: 4.25
book published: 2023
rating: 3
read at: 2024/02/22
date added: 2024/02/24
shelves:
review:

]]> Malibu Rising 55847689
Four famous siblings throw an epic party to celebrate the end of the summer. But over the course of twenty-four hours, their lives will change forever.

Malibu: August, 1983. It’s the day of Nina Riva’s annual end-of-summer party, and anticipation is at a fever pitch. Everyone wants to be around the famous Rivas: Nina, the talented surfer and supermodel; brothers Jay and Hud, one a championship surfer, the other a renowned photographer; and their adored baby sister, Kit. Together, the siblings are a source of fascination in Malibu and the world over—especially as the offspring of the legendary singer, Mick Riva.

The only person not looking forward to the party of the year is Nina herself, who never wanted to be the center of attention, and who has also just been very publicly abandoned by her pro tennis player husband. Oh, and maybe Hud—because it is long past time to confess something to the brother from whom he’s been inseparable since birth.

Jay, on the other hand, is counting the minutes until nightfall, when the girl he can’t stop thinking about promised she’ll be there.

And Kit has a couple secrets of her own—including a guest she invited without consulting anyone.

By midnight the party will be completely out of control. By morning, the Riva mansion will have gone up in flames. But before that first spark in the early hours before dawn, the alcohol will flow, the music will play, and the loves and secrets that shaped this family’s generations will all come bubbling to the surface.

Malibu Rising is a story about one unforgettable night in the life of a family: the night they each have to choose what they will keep from the people who made them . . . and what they will leave behind.]]> 11 Taylor Jenkins Reid 1984845349 KP 4
I liked the way the story started with the mother, June, and followed her progeny to the point at the end where they get revenge (of sorts) for her. It worked. I especially liked it when Nina raged at Mick Riva, her dad, at the end (he surely deserved it!) , and how she made a huge change in her life and for HERSELF finally.

I didn’t particularly like the story of Casey, the lost sibling. It just didn’t fit, and it didn’t seem realistic that the 4 Riva siblings would take her in that quickly. I also wasn’t keen on the descriptions of the wild party at the end because there were just too many characters and escapades. It became hard to follow and remember them all� and no need to remember them all, anyway.


]]> 3.88 2021 Malibu Rising
author: Taylor Jenkins Reid
name: KP
average rating: 3.88
book published: 2021
rating: 4
read at: 2024/01/07
date added: 2024/02/24
shelves:
review:
I love Taylor Jenkins Reid! However, although this was a VERY compelling read, it didn’t quite live up to Daisy Jones and the Six or The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo. It is really a testament to TJR that she can take subject matter that initially seems like it is from Teen or People Magazine and make it into a story where you really care about the characters and what happens to them. That’s what I thought about Malibu Rising.

I liked the way the story started with the mother, June, and followed her progeny to the point at the end where they get revenge (of sorts) for her. It worked. I especially liked it when Nina raged at Mick Riva, her dad, at the end (he surely deserved it!) , and how she made a huge change in her life and for HERSELF finally.

I didn’t particularly like the story of Casey, the lost sibling. It just didn’t fit, and it didn’t seem realistic that the 4 Riva siblings would take her in that quickly. I also wasn’t keen on the descriptions of the wild party at the end because there were just too many characters and escapades. It became hard to follow and remember them all� and no need to remember them all, anyway.



]]> <![CDATA[An Improbable Friendship: The Remarkable Lives of Israeli Ruth Dayan and Palestinian Raymonda Tawil and Their Forty-Year Peace Mission]]> 208092710
Ruth Dayan is the widow of Moshe Dayan, who conquered the West Bank in the Six-Day War, and is an ardent advocate for human and women’s rights. Described by the Israeli paper Haaretz as Israel’s “Queen Mother,� she founded a house for fashion and decorative art, Maskit, that employed thousands of new immigrants, giving them a venue to preserve and modernize their ethnic crafts and culture. She has since been hired by the US State Department to do the same throughout Latin America. Raymonda Tawil, representative to Paris of the Palestine Liberation Organization, mother-in-law of Yasser Arafat, journalist, and feminist, finds herself in constant trouble with her government for being a long-time pioneer for rapprochement between Palestine and Israel. She has been called the “unofficial press officer of the West Bank� and remains among the most committed Palestinians for reconciliation with Israel.

With extensive research, the author gives us a new and unique window into both the Middle East and the intricate web of human stories behind the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
]]> Anthony David KP 2 memoir 2.00 2015 An Improbable Friendship: The Remarkable Lives of Israeli Ruth Dayan and Palestinian Raymonda Tawil and Their Forty-Year Peace Mission
author: Anthony David
name: KP
average rating: 2.00
book published: 2015
rating: 2
read at: 2024/02/07
date added: 2024/02/09
shelves: memoir
review:

]]> Yellowface 62967013
So what if June edits Athena’s novel and sends it to her agent as her own work? So what if she lets her new publisher rebrand her as Juniper Song—complete with an ambiguously ethnic author photo? This piece of history deserve to be told, whoever the teller. That is what June believes, and The New York Times bestseller list agrees.

But June cannot escape Athena’s shadow, and emerging evidence threatens her stolen success. As she races to protect her secret she discovers exactly how far she will go to keep what she thinks she deserves.]]> 9 R.F. Kuang 0063250861 KP 4 3.80 2023 Yellowface
author: R.F. Kuang
name: KP
average rating: 3.80
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2024/01/22
date added: 2024/01/22
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Resurrection Walk (The Lincoln Lawyer, #7; Harry Bosch Universe, #38)]]> 85157667
From #1 New York Times bestselling author Michael Connelly: Lincoln Lawyer Mickey Haller enlists the help of his half-brother, Harry Bosch, to prove the innocence of a woman convicted of killing her husband.

Defense attorney Mickey Haller is back, taking the long shot cases, where the chances of winning are one in a million. After getting a wrongfully convicted man out of prison, he is inundated with pleas from incarcerated people claiming innocence. He enlists his half brother, retired LAPD Detective Harry Bosch, to weed through the letters, knowing most claims will be false.

Bosch pulls a needle from the haystack: a woman in prison for killing her husband, a sheriff’s deputy, but who still maintains her innocence. Bosch reviews the case and sees elements that don’t add up, and a sheriff’s department intent on bringing quick justice in the killing of one of its own.

Now Haller has an uphill battle in court, a David fighting Goliaths to vindicate his client. The path for both lawyer and investigator is fraught with danger from those who don’t want the case reopened and will stop at nothing to keep the Haller-Bosch dream team from finding the truth. Packed with intrigue and courtroom drama, Resurrection Walk shows once again that Michael Connelly is “the most consistently superior living crime fiction author� (South Florida Sun Sentinel).]]> 11 Michael Connelly 1668632349 KP 4 4.44 2023 Resurrection Walk (The Lincoln Lawyer, #7; Harry Bosch Universe, #38)
author: Michael Connelly
name: KP
average rating: 4.44
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2023/11/28
date added: 2024/01/17
shelves: mystery-thriller-crime, road-trip-w-hans
review:

]]> Night Owl (Trasker #1) 122496905 A shocking act of sabotage draws a retired spy into a deadly conspiracy in an explosive thriller by an Amazon Charts and Wall Street Journal bestselling author.

After three decades in counterintelligence, Brad Trasker is retired, disillusioned, and dealing with a tragic loss. Spy games are behind him until he attends the launch of a next-generation aircraft. When the project of innovative aerospace CEO Kylie Connor explodes on the tarmac―nearly killing her in the process―Trasker is pulled back into the line of fire.

The mystery of the sabotage quickly deepens. All Kylie’s data has been wiped from the server. One of her engineers has disappeared. A seed investor has died in a suspicious car accident. And a cold-blooded murder raises the stakes even higher.

To discover who’s pulling the strings behind a dangerous conspiracy, Trasker needs to find a motive. Corporate espionage, revenge, or something he can’t yet see? Targeted by assassins, he finds himself overmatched when he realizes he can’t trust anyone―including Kylie. Too long out of a game he no longer understands, Trasker must adapt or die.]]> 0 Andrew Mayne KP 2 mystery-thriller-crime ]]> 3.55 2023 Night Owl (Trasker #1)
author: Andrew Mayne
name: KP
average rating: 3.55
book published: 2023
rating: 2
read at: 2024/01/14
date added: 2024/01/16
shelves: mystery-thriller-crime
review:
My opinion: don't bother. Wow, how could this book have earned 4.19 stars?

]]> Small Things Like These 59841388
It is 1985 in a small Irish town. During the weeks leading up to Christmas, Bill Furlong, a coal merchant and family man faces into his busiest season. Early one morning, while delivering an order to the local convent, Bill makes a discovery which forces him to confront both his past and the complicit silences of a town controlled by the church.

Already an international bestseller, Small Things Like These is a deeply affecting story of hope, quiet heroism, and empathy from one of our most critically lauded and iconic writers.]]> 2 Claire Keegan 1696604923 KP 4 road-trip-w-hans 3.97 2021 Small Things Like These
author: Claire Keegan
name: KP
average rating: 3.97
book published: 2021
rating: 4
read at: 2023/12/25
date added: 2023/12/26
shelves: road-trip-w-hans
review:

]]> Reputation 59364274
The bestselling author of Anatomy of a Scandal—soon to be a Netflix series—returns with a new psychological thriller about a politician whose less-than-perfect personal life is thrust into the spotlight when a body is discovered in her home.

As a politician, Emma has sacrificed a great deal for her career—including her marriage and her relationship with her daughter, Flora.

A former teacher, the glare of the spotlight is unnerving for Emma, particularly when it leads to countless insults, threats, and trolling as she tries to work in the public eye. As a woman, she knows her reputation is worth its weight in gold but as a politician, she discovers it only takes one slip-up to destroy it completely.

Fourteen-year-old Flora is learning the same hard lessons at school as she encounters heartless bullying. When another teenager takes her own life, Emma lobbies for a new law to protect women and girls from the effects of online abuse. Now, Emma and Flora find their personal lives uncomfortably intersected…but then the unthinkable happens.

A man is found dead in Emma’s home. A man she had every reason to be afraid of and to want gone. Fighting to protect her reputation, and determined to protect her family at all costs, Emma is pushed to the limits as the worst happens and her life is torn apart.

Another breathless and twisty novel from an absolute “master of suspense� (CrimeReads), Reputation brilliantly illustrates that it isn’t who you are that matters…it’s who people think you are.]]> Sarah Vaughan 179714068X KP 3 3.43 2022 Reputation
author: Sarah Vaughan
name: KP
average rating: 3.43
book published: 2022
rating: 3
read at: 2023/11/22
date added: 2023/12/24
shelves:
review:

]]> When We Were Sisters 182123218 An orphan grapples with gender, siblinghood, family, and coming-of-age as a Muslim in America in this lyrical debut novel from the acclaimed author of If They Come For Us

In this heartrending, lyrical debut work of fiction, Fatimah Asghar traces the intense bond of three orphaned siblings who, after their parents die, are left to raise one another. The youngest, Kausar, grapples with the incomprehensible loss of her parents as she also charts out her own understanding of gender; Aisha, the middle sister, spars with her crybaby younger sibling as she desperately tries to hold on to her sense of family in an impossible situation; and Noreen, the eldest, does her best in the role of sister-mother while also trying to create a life for herself, on her own terms.

As Kausar grows up, she must contend with the collision of her private and public worlds, and choose whether to remain in the life of love, sorrow, and codependency she's known or carve out a new path for herself. WHEN WE WERE SISTERS tenderly examines the bonds and fractures of sisterhood, names the perils of being three Muslim American girls alone against the world, and ultimately illustrates how those who've lost everything might still make homes in each other.]]> 6 Fatimah Asghar 0593611047 KP 1 3.65 2022 When We Were Sisters
author: Fatimah Asghar
name: KP
average rating: 3.65
book published: 2022
rating: 1
read at: 2023/12/22
date added: 2023/12/24
shelves:
review:
I chose to read this because it was a National Book Award nominee in 2022. As so often happens for various book awards, books are nominated that try something new and different � whether it works or not. In my opinion the new, different things in this book did NOT work and it was hard to get through (in other words, boring.) The new, different thing seemed to be all the truncated sentences, the lists, the repetitions, the redactions. There was nothing wrong with this approach, except I think it distracted from what little plot there was. I think that basically book didn’t have enough to hold it together. Yes, the language was often lyrical, but, sadly, I spent the whole time waiting for it to be over.
]]> <![CDATA[The Madness of Crowds (Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, #17)]]> 56435994 You’re a coward.

Time and again, as the New Year approaches, that charge is leveled against Armand Gamache.

It starts innocently enough.

While the residents of the Québec village of Three Pines take advantage of the deep snow to ski and toboggan, to drink hot chocolate in the bistro and share meals together, the Chief Inspector finds his holiday with his family interrupted by a simple request.

He’s asked to provide security for what promises to be a non-event. A visiting Professor of Statistics will be giving a lecture at the nearby university.

While he is perplexed as to why the head of homicide for the Sûreté du Québec would be assigned this task, it sounds easy enough. That is until Gamache starts looking into Professor Abigail Robinson and discovers an agenda so repulsive he begs the university to cancel the lecture.

They refuse, citing academic freedom, and accuse Gamache of censorship and intellectual cowardice. Before long, Professor Robinson’s views start seeping into conversations. Spreading and infecting. So that truth and fact, reality and delusion are so confused it’s near impossible to tell them apart.

Discussions become debates, debates become arguments, which turn into fights. As sides are declared, a madness takes hold.

Abigail Robinson promises that, if they follow her, ça va bien aller. All will be well. But not, Gamache and his team know, for everyone.

When a murder is committed it falls to Armand Gamache, his second-in-command Jean-Guy Beauvoir, and their team to investigate the crime as well as this extraordinary popular delusion.

And the madness of crowds.]]> 448 Louise Penny KP 5
Then there are always one or two family issues within the 3 Pines community. In this one, Jean Guy struggles with his feelings for his down syndrome daughter, Idola. By the end of the book he has thoroughly accepted and loves her, and dealing with the issue of Robinson’s research has helped him to do this.

Usually a new person from the outside is introduced, and this person definitely becomes involved in the main plot. Haniya Odoud is that person in The Madness of Crowds. The new person is always affected by the love and inclusiveness of 3 Pines, as is Haniya in this book.

Often Clara Morrow’s art is at least tangentially and symbolically connected to the plot of the book. At the end of this book, her painting is revealed as both a portrait of Haniya AND a map of 3 Pines. This seems to represent how much Haniya has been affected and changed from her cold, hard personality into believing in the love of the people she’s met in 3 Pines.

Finally, there are always mentions of the tell tale characteristics of the main characters in 3 Pines. Armand Gamache’s kind eyes, his love of his wife, and his smell of sandalwood and rose are mentioned, as they always are. Jean Guy has a few common traits as well. In this book, the way he leans back in his chair is mentioned. LP skipped his smelling of the magic markers this time� LOL. Clara Morrow is usually disheveled so in this book her “whipped cream mustache� from her hot chocolate is mentioned at least a couple times.

Now, if I were really into this, I’d go back and see what I could remember of some of the other books and mention how THEY follow the formula. Probably I won’t ďŠ]]> 4.44 2021 The Madness of Crowds (Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, #17)
author: Louise Penny
name: KP
average rating: 4.44
book published: 2021
rating: 5
read at: 2023/10/09
date added: 2023/12/23
shelves:
review:
Here’s the way an LP book seems to be constructed. First, there is a murder, and that is the main plot. However, there is sometimes a large, community wide issue to deal with as well. In this book, the community wide issue is Annette Robinson’s research which could lead to forced “euthanasia� for the disabled and elderly. In another book, Gamache had to deal with the opioid epidemic in Canada.

Then there are always one or two family issues within the 3 Pines community. In this one, Jean Guy struggles with his feelings for his down syndrome daughter, Idola. By the end of the book he has thoroughly accepted and loves her, and dealing with the issue of Robinson’s research has helped him to do this.

Usually a new person from the outside is introduced, and this person definitely becomes involved in the main plot. Haniya Odoud is that person in The Madness of Crowds. The new person is always affected by the love and inclusiveness of 3 Pines, as is Haniya in this book.

Often Clara Morrow’s art is at least tangentially and symbolically connected to the plot of the book. At the end of this book, her painting is revealed as both a portrait of Haniya AND a map of 3 Pines. This seems to represent how much Haniya has been affected and changed from her cold, hard personality into believing in the love of the people she’s met in 3 Pines.

Finally, there are always mentions of the tell tale characteristics of the main characters in 3 Pines. Armand Gamache’s kind eyes, his love of his wife, and his smell of sandalwood and rose are mentioned, as they always are. Jean Guy has a few common traits as well. In this book, the way he leans back in his chair is mentioned. LP skipped his smelling of the magic markers this time� LOL. Clara Morrow is usually disheveled so in this book her “whipped cream mustache� from her hot chocolate is mentioned at least a couple times.

Now, if I were really into this, I’d go back and see what I could remember of some of the other books and mention how THEY follow the formula. Probably I won’t ď�
]]> None of This Is True 63083260 Listening length: 11 hours

Lisa Jewell returns with a scintillating new psychological thriller about a woman who finds herself the subject of her own popular true crime podcast.

Celebrating her forty-fifth birthday at her local pub, popular podcaster Alix Summers crosses paths with an unassuming woman called Josie Fair. Josie, it turns out, is also celebrating her forty-fifth birthday. They are, in fact, birthday twins.

A few days later, Alix and Josie bump into each other again, this time outside Alix’s children’s school. Josie has been listening to Alix’s podcasts and thinks she might be an interesting subject for her series. She is, she tells Alix, on the cusp of great changes in her life.

Josie’s life appears to be strange and complicated, and although Alix finds her unsettling, she can’t quite resist the temptation to keep making the podcast. Slowly she starts to realise that Josie has been hiding some very dark secrets, and before she knows it, Josie has inveigled her way into Alix’s life—and into her home.

But, as quickly as she arrived, Josie disappears. Only then does Alix discover that Josie has left a terrible and terrifying legacy in her wake, and that Alix has become the subject of her own true crime podcast, with her life and her family’s lives under mortal threat.

Who is Josie Fair? And what has she done?]]> 11 Lisa Jewell KP 4 mystery-thriller-crime
I was torn between 4 and 5 stars because I thought the ending was not very satisfactory or believable. Also, I thought the whole idea of having the sound effects and the narrated podcasts was unnecessary and distracting.

As with many psychological thrillers, the set-up plot was great and so compelling, but the climax and the denouement were not as good.

Overall, it was a really fun read!!!
]]> 4.14 2023 None of This Is True
author: Lisa Jewell
name: KP
average rating: 4.14
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2023/12/18
date added: 2023/12/20
shelves: mystery-thriller-crime
review:
I couldn’t put it down! And I loved, loved the voice of Nicola Walker as one of the main narrators (think Last Tango in Halifax farm girl). I try to see every movie or TV show she is in, and so I was pleasantly surprised to see she was narrating this.

I was torn between 4 and 5 stars because I thought the ending was not very satisfactory or believable. Also, I thought the whole idea of having the sound effects and the narrated podcasts was unnecessary and distracting.

As with many psychological thrillers, the set-up plot was great and so compelling, but the climax and the denouement were not as good.

Overall, it was a really fun read!!!

]]> Daisy Jones & The Six 43998386
Everyone knows Daisy Jones & The Six, but nobody knows the reason behind their split at the absolute height of their popularity . . . until now.

Daisy is a girl coming of age in L.A. in the late sixties, sneaking into clubs on the Sunset Strip, sleeping with rock stars, and dreaming of singing at the Whisky a Go Go. The sex and drugs are thrilling, but it’s the rock and roll she loves most. By the time she’s twenty, her voice is getting noticed, and she has the kind of heedless beauty that makes people do crazy things.

Also getting noticed is The Six, a band led by the brooding Billy Dunne. On the eve of their first tour, his girlfriend Camila finds out she’s pregnant, and with the pressure of impending fatherhood and fame, Billy goes a little wild on the road.

Daisy and Billy cross paths when a producer realizes that the key to supercharged success is to put the two together. What happens next will become the stuff of legend.

The making of that legend is chronicled in this riveting and unforgettable novel, written as an oral history of one of the biggest bands of the seventies. Taylor Jenkins Reid is a talented writer who takes her work to a new level with Daisy Jones & The Six, brilliantly capturing a place and time in an utterly distinctive voice.

Cast List:
Daisy Jones, read by Jennifer Beals
Billy Dunne, read by Pablo Schreiber
Graham Dunne, read by Benjamin Bratt
Eddie Loving, read by Fred Berman
Warren Rhodes, read by Ari Fliakos
Karen Karen, read by Judy Greer
Camila Dunne, read by January LaVoy
Simone Jackson, read by Robinne Lee
Narrator / Author, read by Julia Whelan
Jim Blades, read by Jonathan Davis
Rod Reyes, read by Henry Leyva
Artie Snyder, read by Oliver Wyman
Elaine Chang, read by Nancy Wu
Freddie Mendoza, read by P.J. Ochlan
Nick Harris, read by Arthur Bishop
Jonah Berg, read by Holter Graham
Greg McGuiness, read by Brendan Wayne
Pete Loving, read by Pete Larkin
Wyatt Stone, read by Alex Jenkins Reid
Hank Allen, read by Robert Petkoff
Opal Cunningham, read by Sara Arrington]]> 10 Taylor Jenkins Reid 1984845306 KP 5 4.15 2019 Daisy Jones & The Six
author: Taylor Jenkins Reid
name: KP
average rating: 4.15
book published: 2019
rating: 5
read at: 2023/04/15
date added: 2023/12/14
shelves:
review:

]]> The River We Remember 100701026 Runtime: 13 hours and 33 minutes

In 1958, a small Minnesota town is rocked by the murder of its most powerful citizen, pouring fresh fuel on old grievances in this dazzling standalone novel.

On Memorial Day, as the people of Jewel, Minnesota gather to remember and honor the sacrifice of so many sons in the wars of the past, the half-clothed body of wealthy landowner Jimmy Quinn is found floating in the Alabaster River, dead from a shotgun blast. Investigation of the murder falls to Sheriff Brody Dern, a highly decorated war hero who still carries the physical and emotional scars from his military service. Even before Dern has the results of the autopsy, vicious rumors begin to circulate that the killer must be Noah Bluestone, a Native American WWII veteran who has recently returned to Jewel with a Japanese wife. As suspicions and accusations mount and the town teeters on the edge of more violence, Dern struggles not only to find the truth of Quinn’s murder but also put to rest the demons from his own past.

Caught up in the torrent of anger that sweeps through Jewel are a war widow and her adolescent son, the intrepid publisher of the local newspaper, an aging deputy, and a crusading female lawyer, all of whom struggle with their own tragic histories and harbor secrets that Quinn’s death threatens to expose.

Both a complex, spellbinding mystery and a masterful portrait of midcentury American life, The River We Remember is an unflinching look at the wounds left by the wars we fight abroad and at home, a moving exploration of the ways in which we seek to heal, and a testament to the enduring power of the stories we tell about the places we call home.]]> William Kent Krueger 1797161008 KP 3 4.05 2023 The River We Remember
author: William Kent Krueger
name: KP
average rating: 4.05
book published: 2023
rating: 3
read at: 2023/12/14
date added: 2023/12/14
shelves:
review:

]]> Tom Lake 75428809
In this beautiful and moving novel about family, love, and growing up, Ann Patchett once again proves herself one of America’s finest writers.

In the spring of 2020, Lara’s three daughters return to the family's orchard in Northern Michigan. While picking cherries, they beg their mother to tell them the story of Peter Duke, a famous actor with whom she shared both a stage and a romance years before at a theater company called Tom Lake. As Lara recalls the past, her daughters examine their own lives and relationship with their mother, and are forced to reconsider the world and everything they thought they knew.

Tom Lake is a meditation on youthful love, married love, and the lives parents have led before their children were born. Both hopeful and elegiac, it explores what it means to be happy even when the world is falling apart. As in all of her novels, Ann Patchett combines compelling narrative artistry with piercing insights into family dynamics. The result is a rich and luminous story, told with profound intelligence and emotional subtlety, that demonstrates once again why she is one of the most revered and acclaimed literary talents working today.]]> Ann Patchett KP 4 4.06 2023 Tom Lake
author: Ann Patchett
name: KP
average rating: 4.06
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2023/12/04
date added: 2023/12/14
shelves:
review:

]]> The Pole 200680307 Meesterlijk toont Coetzee een stroeve liefde, die wordt geremd door barrières van taal, cultuur, leeftijd en sekse. En als de sceptische Beatriz op het punt staat te vertrekken, lijkt de Pool haar toch voor zich te winnen: â€Lieve mevrouw,â€� zegt hij, â€herinner je je de dichter Dante Alighieri? Zijn Beatrice heeft hem nooit Ă©Ă©n woord gegund en hij is zijn leven lang van haar blijven houden.’]]> J.M. Coetzee KP 3 3.75 2023 The Pole
author: J.M. Coetzee
name: KP
average rating: 3.75
book published: 2023
rating: 3
read at: 2023/12/06
date added: 2023/12/06
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[A World of Curiosities (Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, #18)]]> 69703861 Chief Inspector Armand Gamache returns in the eighteenth book in #1 New York Times bestseller Louise Penny's beloved series.

#1 New York Times bestselling author Louise Penny returns with the eighteenth book in her popular series featuring Armand Gamache and the denizens of the Quebec village Three Pines.]]> 14 Louise Penny 1250887399 KP 5 4.09 2022 A World of Curiosities (Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, #18)
author: Louise Penny
name: KP
average rating: 4.09
book published: 2022
rating: 5
read at: 2023/11/18
date added: 2023/11/19
shelves:
review:

]]> Ordinary Grace 20695879 “That was it. That was all of it. A grace so ordinary there was no reason at all to remember it. Yet I have never across the forty years since it was spoken forgotten a single word.�

New Bremen, Minnesota, 1961. The Twins were playing their debut season, ice-cold root beers were selling out at the soda counter of Halderson’s Drugstore, and Hot Stuff comic books were a mainstay on every barbershop magazine rack. It was a time of innocence and hope for a country with a new, young president. But for thirteen-year-old Frank Drum it was a grim summer in which death visited frequently and assumed many forms. Accident. Nature. Suicide. Murder.

Frank begins the season preoccupied with the concerns of any teenage boy, but when tragedy unexpectedly strikes his family� which includes his Methodist minister father; his passionate, artistic mother; Juilliard-bound older sister; and wise-beyond-his-years kid brother� he finds himself thrust into an adult world full of secrets, lies, adultery, and betrayal, suddenly called upon to demonstrate a maturity and gumption beyond his years.

Told from Frank’s perspective forty years after that fateful summer, Ordinary Grace is a brilliantly moving account of a boy standing at the door of his young manhood, trying to understand a world that seems to be falling apart around him. It is an unforgettable novel about discovering the terrible price of wisdom and the enduring grace of God.]]> 11 William Kent Krueger KP 5
Wow, this did not disappoint the second time around. I loved it. What a sweet, sad story. I did remember a few key parts of the book, but that didn’t spoil it. The writing is really good, the story is captivating, the characters are interesting. Even though several parts are quite sad, the book is also a little funny. So it really has about everything.

Spirituality is woven in to the book as well, but it’s not done in any off-putting way, and I loved those parts. I like the way the concept of grace is woven in to the story throughout. This quote from Aeschylus sums up the book in a way. “He who learns must suffer. And even in our sleep pain, which cannot forget, falls drop by drop upon the heart, until, in our own despair, against our will, comes wisdom through the awful grace of God.�
William Kent Krueger. Ordinary Grace (Kindle Locations 17-19). Atria Books. Kindle Edition.

In the end, however, it is the simple idea of saying grace before a meal that gives meaning to the title of the book. Young Bobby miraculously comes up with a flawless and ordinary grace at the big dinner toward the end of the book, and that becomes a transformative event and the climax of the book.

]]> 4.15 2013 Ordinary Grace
author: William Kent Krueger
name: KP
average rating: 4.15
book published: 2013
rating: 5
read at: 2023/11/10
date added: 2023/11/10
shelves:
review:
I almost never read a book a second time. This one was good enough the first time, and it had been long enough since that time, that I figured I’d give it a go for round 2. I’m also preparing to read Krueger’s follow up book, The River We Remember, so I wanted this first one to be fresh in my mind.

Wow, this did not disappoint the second time around. I loved it. What a sweet, sad story. I did remember a few key parts of the book, but that didn’t spoil it. The writing is really good, the story is captivating, the characters are interesting. Even though several parts are quite sad, the book is also a little funny. So it really has about everything.

Spirituality is woven in to the book as well, but it’s not done in any off-putting way, and I loved those parts. I like the way the concept of grace is woven in to the story throughout. This quote from Aeschylus sums up the book in a way. “He who learns must suffer. And even in our sleep pain, which cannot forget, falls drop by drop upon the heart, until, in our own despair, against our will, comes wisdom through the awful grace of God.�
William Kent Krueger. Ordinary Grace (Kindle Locations 17-19). Atria Books. Kindle Edition.

In the end, however, it is the simple idea of saying grace before a meal that gives meaning to the title of the book. Young Bobby miraculously comes up with a flawless and ordinary grace at the big dinner toward the end of the book, and that becomes a transformative event and the climax of the book.


]]> Hula 184149572 Set in Hilo, Hawai'i, a sweeping saga of tradition, culture, family, history, and connection that unfolds through the lives of three generations of women--a brilliant blend of There, There and Sharks in the Time of Saviors that is a tale of mothers and daughters, dance and destiny, told in part in the collective voice of a community fighting for its survival

"There's no running away on an island. Soon enough, you end up where you started."

Hi'i is the youngest of the legendary Naupaka dynasty, only daughter of Laka, once the pride of Hilo; granddaughter of Hulali, Hula matriarch on the Big Island. But the Naupka legacy is in jeopardy, buckling under the weight of loaded silences and unexplained absences, most notably the sudden disappearance of Laka when Hi'i was a child. Hi'i dreams of healing the rifts within her family by becoming the next Miss Aloha Hula--and prove herself worthy of carrying on the family dynasty. She demonstrates her devotion to her culture through hula--the beating heart of her people expressed through the movement of her hips and feet.

Yet she has always felt separate from her community, and the harder she tries to prove she belongs--dancing in the halau until her bones ache--the wider the distance seems to grow. Soon, fault lines begin to form, and secrets threaten to erupt. Everyone wants to know, Hi'i most of all: what really happened when her mother disappeared, and why haven't she and her grandmother spoken since? When a devastating revelation involving Hi'i surfaces, the entire community is faced with a momentous decision that will affect everyone--and determine the course of Hi'i's future.

Part incantation, part rallying cry, Hula is a love letter to a stolen paradise and its people. Told in part by the tribal We, it connects Hawaii's tortured history to its fractured present through the story of the Naupaka family. The evolution of the Hawaiian Sovereignty movement is reflected in the journeys of these defiant women and their community, in whose struggle we sense the long-term repercussions of blood quantum laws and colonization, the relationship between tribe and belonging, and the universal question: what makes a family?]]> 11 Jasmin Iolani Hakes 0063276992 KP 1 3.93 2023 Hula
author: Jasmin Iolani Hakes
name: KP
average rating: 3.93
book published: 2023
rating: 1
read at: 2023/10/16
date added: 2023/10/16
shelves:
review:

]]> The Mercies 61779699 "Every once in a while, a modern day parable, perfectly told, reflects all that could happen in a world gone mad." - Adriana Trigiani

Finnmark, Norway, 1617. Twenty-year-old Maren Magnusdatter stands on the craggy coast, watching the sea break into a sudden and reckless storm. Forty fishermen, including her brother and father, are drowned and left broken on the rocks below. With the menfolk wiped out, the women of the tiny Arctic town of Vardø must fend for themselves.

Three years later, a sinister figure arrives. Absalom Cornet comes from Scotland, where he burned witches in the northern isles. He brings with him his young Norwegian wife, Ursa, who is both heady with her husband's authority and terrified by it. In Vardø, and in Maren, Ursa sees something she has never seen before: independent women. But Absalom sees only a place untouched by God, and flooded with a mighty evil.

As Maren and Ursa are drawn to one another in ways that surprise them both, the island begins to close in on them, with Absalom's iron rule threatening Vardø's very existence.

Inspired by the real events of the Vardø storm and the 1621 witch trials, The Mercies is a story of love, evil, and obsession, set at the edge of civilization.]]> 338 Kiran Millwood Hargrave KP 5
After about the first 1/3 of the book, which was a bit difficult due to the Norwegian names and language, I just COULD NOT PUT IT DOWN .

The Mercies is based on historical events in the 1600’s in Norway so one can’t say the brutality ( of both setting and actions) in it is exaggerated. It didn’t spare the reader many of the gory details, though, so get ready for that if you decide to read it. The foreshadowing was abundant throughout, which is partly why I couldn’t put it down. The writing was excellent overall. A good historical novel.

I am having trouble figuring out the meaning of the title. “May the mercies of God be upon you,� is spoken by the minister. But it seems hollow given the tragedies in this book. And this is voiced when Maren, one of the main characters, says later, “� the mercies of God would have been better spent drowning ( us ) all.� So is it irony, then, that title? I suppose the reader can pick what meaning to give to it. The Mercies.
]]> 4.09 2020 The Mercies
author: Kiran Millwood Hargrave
name: KP
average rating: 4.09
book published: 2020
rating: 5
read at: 2023/09/22
date added: 2023/09/25
shelves:
review:
4.5 stars

After about the first 1/3 of the book, which was a bit difficult due to the Norwegian names and language, I just COULD NOT PUT IT DOWN .

The Mercies is based on historical events in the 1600’s in Norway so one can’t say the brutality ( of both setting and actions) in it is exaggerated. It didn’t spare the reader many of the gory details, though, so get ready for that if you decide to read it. The foreshadowing was abundant throughout, which is partly why I couldn’t put it down. The writing was excellent overall. A good historical novel.

I am having trouble figuring out the meaning of the title. “May the mercies of God be upon you,� is spoken by the minister. But it seems hollow given the tragedies in this book. And this is voiced when Maren, one of the main characters, says later, “� the mercies of God would have been better spent drowning ( us ) all.� So is it irony, then, that title? I suppose the reader can pick what meaning to give to it. The Mercies.

]]> Vanishing Maps 198984735 From the acclaimed author of Dreaming in Cuban a follow-up novel that tracks four generations of the del Pino family against the tumultuous backdrops of Cuba, the U.S., Germany, and Russia in the new millennium.

Celia del Pino, the matriarch of a far-flung Cuban family, has watched her descendants spread out across the globe, struggling to make sense of their transnational identities and strained relationships with one another. In Berlin, the charismatic yet troubled Ivanito performs on stage as his drag queen persona while being haunted by the ghost of his mother. Pilar Puente, adrift in Los Angeles, is a struggling sculptor and the single mother of a young son. In Moscow, Ivanito's cousin, Irina, has become the wealthy owner of a lingerie company, but she remains deeply lonely in the wake of her parents' deaths and her estrangement from her Cuban heritage. Meanwhile, in Havana, Celia prepares to reunite with her lost lover, Gustavo, and wonders whether age and the decades spent apart have altered their bond.

Cut off from their Cuban roots, yet still feeling the island's ineluctable pull, Ivanito and his extended family try to re-imagine where--and with whom--they belong. Over the course of a momentous year, each will grapple with their histories as they are pulled to Berlin for a final, explosive reunion.

Set twenty years after the events in Dreaming in Cuban, Cristina GarcĂ­a's new novel is an epic tale of family, devotion, and the timeless search for home.]]> Cristina GarcĂ­a KP 1
Garcia writes in what I’ve come to know as a very typical Latin American writing style with tangents and many characters and a lot of surrealism. Someone like Isabel Allende can pull that off, as in The House of the Spirits, BUT Garcia, sadly, can not!
]]> 2.50 2023 Vanishing Maps
author: Cristina GarcĂ­a
name: KP
average rating: 2.50
book published: 2023
rating: 1
read at: 2023/09/16
date added: 2023/09/19
shelves:
review:
Too many characters populated this book. It was hard to keep them all straight, and, frankly, I never really got to caring much whether I did or not. The characters never came alive for me. I found myself bored through the whole book.

Garcia writes in what I’ve come to know as a very typical Latin American writing style with tangents and many characters and a lot of surrealism. Someone like Isabel Allende can pull that off, as in The House of the Spirits, BUT Garcia, sadly, can not!

]]> The Covenant of Water 63429926 From the New York Times–bestselling author of Cutting for Stone comes a stunning and magisterial new epic of love, faith, and medicine, set in Kerala and following three generations of a family seeking the answers to a strange secret.

The Covenant of Water is the long-awaited new novel by Abraham Verghese, the author of Cutting for Stone. Published in 2009, Cutting for Stone became a literary phenomenon, selling over 1.5 million copies in the United States alone and remaining on the New York Times bestseller list for over two years.

Spanning the years 1900 to 1977, The Covenant of Water is set in Kerala, on South India’s Malabar Coast, and follows three generations of a family that suffers a peculiar in every generation, at least one person dies by drowning—and in Kerala, water is everywhere. The family is part of a Christian community that traces itself to the time of the apostles, but times are shifting, and the matriarch of this family, known as Big Ammachi—literally “Big Mother”—will witness unthinkable changes at home and at large over the span of her extraordinary life. All of Verghese’s great gifts are on display in this new there are astonishing scenes of medical ingenuity, fantastic moments of humor, a surprising and deeply moving story, and characters imbued with the essence of life.

A shimmering evocation of a lost India and of the passage of time itself, The Covenant of Water is a hymn to progress in medicine and to human understanding, and a humbling testament to the hardships undergone by past generations for the sake of those alive today. It is one of the most masterful literary novels published in recent years.]]> 775 Abraham Verghese KP 4 4.58 2023 The Covenant of Water
author: Abraham Verghese
name: KP
average rating: 4.58
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2023/09/08
date added: 2023/09/08
shelves:
review:

]]> Await Your Reply 6725980 11 Dan Chaon 1597772771 KP 5 3.05 2009 Await Your Reply
author: Dan Chaon
name: KP
average rating: 3.05
book published: 2009
rating: 5
read at: 2023/08/16
date added: 2023/08/16
shelves:
review:
What a clever story this is. I can’t say I’d recommend it to many of my friends based on the overall foreboding tone of the book as well as a few downright gory parts, BUT those are also the things that make it compelling and interesting. It’s a psychological thriller different than any I’ve ever read. I love the way the 3 stories seem so separate and yet they intertwine in amazing ways in the end. I loved the ending with its revelation that has the reader rethinking some major parts of the book’s plot
]]> The Perfect Nanny 36216983
But as the couple and the nanny become more dependent on one another, jealousy, resentment, and suspicions mount, shattering the idyllic tableau.]]> 240 LeĂŻla Slimani 0525503897 KP 3
However, it turns out it WAS the nanny after all. At first I was so disappointed and felt like the whole book had been a waste of time, building up to nothing since we had basically known it was the nanny from the beginning. What was the point?

After thinking about it for a while, I realize that the book is actually a study of a woman going mad. That is the point. The book became more interesting in retrospect when I figured that out.
]]> 3.18 2016 The Perfect Nanny
author: LeĂŻla Slimani
name: KP
average rating: 3.18
book published: 2016
rating: 3
read at: 2023/08/06
date added: 2023/08/16
shelves:
review:
I read this book thinking that it was a crime novel and the real murderer would be revealed by the end. It didn’t have to be the nanny, did it? That must be a ploy and too obvious.

However, it turns out it WAS the nanny after all. At first I was so disappointed and felt like the whole book had been a waste of time, building up to nothing since we had basically known it was the nanny from the beginning. What was the point?

After thinking about it for a while, I realize that the book is actually a study of a woman going mad. That is the point. The book became more interesting in retrospect when I figured that out.

]]> <![CDATA[All the Devils Are Here (Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, #16)]]> 50617046
On their first night in Paris, the Gamaches gather as a family for a bistro dinner with Armand’s godfather, the billionaire Stephen Horowitz. Walking home together after the meal, they watch in horror as Stephen is knocked down and critically injured in what Gamache knows is no accident, but a deliberate attempt on the elderly man’s life.

When a strange key is found in Stephen’s possession it sends Armand, his wife Reine-Marie, and his former second-in-command at the Sûreté, Jean-Guy Beauvoir, from the top of the Tour d’Eiffel, to the bowels of the Paris Archives, from luxury hotels to odd, coded, works of art.

It sends them deep into the secrets Armand’s godfather has kept for decades.

A gruesome discovery in Stephen’s Paris apartment makes it clear the secrets are more rancid, the danger far greater and more imminent, than they realized.

Soon the whole family is caught up in a web of lies and deceit. In order to find the truth, Gamache will have to decide whether he can trust his friends, his colleagues, his instincts, his own past. His own family.

For even the City of Light casts long shadows. And in that darkness devils hide.]]> 443 Louise Penny KP 5 4.62 2020 All the Devils Are Here (Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, #16)
author: Louise Penny
name: KP
average rating: 4.62
book published: 2020
rating: 5
read at: 2023/07/29
date added: 2023/07/29
shelves: mystery-thriller-crime, three-pines
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Caribou Island: A Novel (Library Edition)]]> 9833161 Gary and Irene's marriage is unraveling. Soon they are hauling logs out to Caribou Island to build a cabin, and with each trip their desperation escalates—the punishing desolation of the prehistoric wilderness threatening to push them to the edge.

]]> 8 David Vann 1441771697 KP 1 2.75 2010 Caribou Island: A Novel (Library Edition)
author: David Vann
name: KP
average rating: 2.75
book published: 2010
rating: 1
read at: 2011/03/31
date added: 2023/07/28
shelves:
review:
The characters in this novel were SO unlikeable! Each one seemed to be a cardboard cutout of a major character flaw. Then all these "flaws" were put together in relationship, and chaos and heartbreak ensued. There was very nothing to make me care about any of them. The plot was interesting to the degree that it could be with such unlikeables peopling it; that's the only thing saving it from a one star. I felt like the writing was somewhat amateurish. The fact that one of the major characters keeps quoting from Beowulf seemed so stilted and a vain attempt to be erudite. Then the ending completely failed to wrap up one of the major plot lines, and I think it was a cop out. Other characters sort of dropped off the face of the earth as well, but the ending was the worst for not following through. Oh well, on to the next.
]]> Demon Copperhead 60317128 Demon Copperhead is set in the mountains of southern Appalachia. It's the story of a boy born to a teenaged single mother in a single-wide trailer, with no assets beyond his dead father's good looks and copper-colored hair, a caustic wit, and a fierce talent for survival. In a plot that never pauses for breath, relayed in his own unsparing voice, he braves the modern perils of foster care, child labor, derelict schools, athletic success, addiction, disastrous loves, and crushing losses. Through all of it, he reckons with his own invisibility in a popular culture where even the superheroes have abandoned rural people in favor of cities.

Many generations ago, Charles Dickens wrote David Copperfield from his experience as a survivor of institutional poverty and its damages to children in his society. Those problems have yet to be solved in ours. Dickens is not a prerequisite for readers of this novel, but he provided its inspiration. In transposing a Victorian epic novel to the contemporary American South, Barbara Kingsolver enlists Dickens' anger and compassion, and above all, his faith in the transformative powers of a good story. Demon Copperhead speaks for a new generation of lost boys, and all those born into beautiful, cursed places they can't imagine leaving behind.]]> 550 Barbara Kingsolver KP 5 4.58 2022 Demon Copperhead
author: Barbara Kingsolver
name: KP
average rating: 4.58
book published: 2022
rating: 5
read at: 2023/07/18
date added: 2023/07/18
shelves:
review:

]]> Dear Edward 49440477 Length: 11 hours 36 minutes

After losing everything, a young boy discovers there are still reasons for hope in this luminous, life-affirming novel, perfect for fans of Celeste Ng and Ann Patchett.

In the face of tragedy, what does it take to find joy?

One summer morning, twelve-year-old Edward Adler, his beloved older brother, his parents, and 183 other passengers board a flight in Newark headed for Los Angeles. Among them is a Wall Street wunderkind, a young woman coming to terms with an unexpected pregnancy, an injured vet returning from Afghanistan, a septuagenarian business tycoon, and a free-spirited woman running away from her controlling husband. And then, tragically, the plane crashes. Edward is the sole survivor.

Edward's story captures the attention of the nation, but he struggles to find a place for himself in a world without his family. He continues to feel that a piece of him has been left in the sky, forever tied to the plane and all of his fellow passengers. But then he makes an unexpected discovery--one that will lead him to the answers of some of life's most profound questions: When you've lost everything, how do find yourself? How do you discover your purpose? What does it mean not just to survive, but to truly live?

Dear Edward is at once a transcendent coming-of-age story, a multidimensional portrait of an unforgettable cast of characters, and a breathtaking illustration of all the ways a broken heart learns to love again.]]> 12 Ann Napolitano KP 4 road-trip-w-hans
I read on Ĺ·±¦ÓéŔÖ that some felt the beginning was too depressive and emotionally “grayâ€�. Edward is definitely severely depressed during the first half of the book, but I have to come to realize that the author follows Edward’s journey from both depression to an appreciation of life and also from childhood to adulthood in both the plot of the book AND in the details that Edward notices and that the author writes about. This is one of the beauties of this book, in my opinion. The tone and the plot follow Edward's development. The author is a master at that in Dear Edward. So, the things Edward notices change as he grows. For example, he comes to empathize with others.. both survivors, victims, and family members, as he develops instead of being wrapped in his own suffering. It is beautiful to see how he comes to view and care for many of the characters.

Now I’m looking forward to watching the TV series based on the book! I have to wait for Hans to finish it first ďŠ]]> 3.89 2020 Dear Edward
author: Ann Napolitano
name: KP
average rating: 3.89
book published: 2020
rating: 4
read at: 2023/06/03
date added: 2023/07/17
shelves: road-trip-w-hans
review:
It’s not a good as Hello Beautiful, but still quite good and packs an emotional punch.

I read on Ĺ·±¦ÓéŔÖ that some felt the beginning was too depressive and emotionally “grayâ€�. Edward is definitely severely depressed during the first half of the book, but I have to come to realize that the author follows Edward’s journey from both depression to an appreciation of life and also from childhood to adulthood in both the plot of the book AND in the details that Edward notices and that the author writes about. This is one of the beauties of this book, in my opinion. The tone and the plot follow Edward's development. The author is a master at that in Dear Edward. So, the things Edward notices change as he grows. For example, he comes to empathize with others.. both survivors, victims, and family members, as he develops instead of being wrapped in his own suffering. It is beautiful to see how he comes to view and care for many of the characters.

Now I’m looking forward to watching the TV series based on the book! I have to wait for Hans to finish it first ď�
]]> The Heart's Invisible Furies 36048101
From the beloved New York Times bestselling author of The Boy In the Striped Pajamas, a sweeping, heartfelt saga about the course of one man's life, beginning and ending in post-war Ireland

Cyril Avery is not a real Avery -- or at least, that's what his adoptive parents tell him. And he never will be. But if he isn't a real Avery, then who is he?

Born out of wedlock to a teenage girl cast out from her rural Irish community and adopted by a well-to-do if eccentric Dublin couple via the intervention of a hunchbacked Redemptorist nun, Cyril is adrift in the world, anchored only tenuously by his heartfelt friendship with the infinitely more glamourous and dangerous Julian Woodbead. At the mercy of fortune and coincidence, he will spend a lifetime coming to know himself and where he came from and over his many years will struggle to discover an identity, a home, a country, and much more.

In this, Boyne's most transcendent work to date, we are shown the story of Ireland from the 1940s to today through the eyes of one ordinary man. The Heart's Invisible Furies is a novel to make you laugh and cry while reminding us all of the redemptive power of the human spirit.]]> 21 John Boyne 0525494952 KP 3
The book really seemed more like a social history of Ireland and especially gay men in Ireland, Europe, and the U.S. � told through the life story of Cyril Avery, a gay, Irish man. Each period of Cyril’s life highlighted some historical period and how gays and women were treated. Ireland and especially the Catholic church were shown to be so restrictive, narrow minded, and unforgiving through all these periods of history. There was Ireland and opposed to that, the liberation of Amsterdam; then New York City and the Aids crisis, then back to Ireland until near the time of his death. Views of gays had definitely loosened up, but Cyril didn’t have an easy life in any of the time periods. He made a lot of bad choices along the way, too.

I really liked the author’s writing style. He was satirical and funny in the way that he ripped apart and showed the hypocrisy of the Catholic priests as well as quite a few other characters who deserved to be skewered.

Mary Margaret Muffet was one unforgettable bigot. She was like a living, breathing example of the worst of the Irish-narrow minded and hypocritical.

The character of Maude Avery was an interesting example of the misogyny of those early days, too. She was a writer, and one of the characters tells her that she will be on the Irish tea towel one day. This is a tea towel that hangs in most Irish pubs and it features the pictures of 12 great Irish writers. Maude replies, “That will never happen. They don’t put women on that. Only men. Although they do let us use it to dry the dishes.”]]> 4.50 2017 The Heart's Invisible Furies
author: John Boyne
name: KP
average rating: 4.50
book published: 2017
rating: 3
read at: 2023/07/04
date added: 2023/07/15
shelves:
review:
I’ve wanted to read this for a long time. Although I really did enjoy it, it didn’t quite live up to the wonderful reviews of it that I remembered. For one thing it was SO LONG � too long, in my opinion. And then at the end, I think the author tied it all up too neatly and unrealistically.

The book really seemed more like a social history of Ireland and especially gay men in Ireland, Europe, and the U.S. � told through the life story of Cyril Avery, a gay, Irish man. Each period of Cyril’s life highlighted some historical period and how gays and women were treated. Ireland and especially the Catholic church were shown to be so restrictive, narrow minded, and unforgiving through all these periods of history. There was Ireland and opposed to that, the liberation of Amsterdam; then New York City and the Aids crisis, then back to Ireland until near the time of his death. Views of gays had definitely loosened up, but Cyril didn’t have an easy life in any of the time periods. He made a lot of bad choices along the way, too.

I really liked the author’s writing style. He was satirical and funny in the way that he ripped apart and showed the hypocrisy of the Catholic priests as well as quite a few other characters who deserved to be skewered.

Mary Margaret Muffet was one unforgettable bigot. She was like a living, breathing example of the worst of the Irish-narrow minded and hypocritical.

The character of Maude Avery was an interesting example of the misogyny of those early days, too. She was a writer, and one of the characters tells her that she will be on the Irish tea towel one day. This is a tea towel that hangs in most Irish pubs and it features the pictures of 12 great Irish writers. Maude replies, “That will never happen. They don’t put women on that. Only men. Although they do let us use it to dry the dishes.�
]]> <![CDATA[A Better Man (Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, #15)]]> 44105296 Listening length: 13 hours and 20 minutes

The new Chief Inspector Gamache novel from the author of the #1 New York Times bestseller Kingdom of the Blind.

The air is thick with excitement and anxiety as Sûreté du Québec agents gather in the conference room for the Monday morning meeting of the homicide department.

This will be Armand Gamache’s first day back since his demotion from head of the entire force, to head of homicide. Complicating matters, he’ll be sharing the duties with his former second-in-command, Jean-Guy Beauvoir.

Amid blistering social media attacks, Gamache sets out on his first assignment � to find a missing woman.

The search for Vivienne Godin is played out against a backdrop of catastrophic spring flooding. Three Pines itself is threatened, as the Rivière Bella Bella breaks its banks. A province-wide emergency is declared and desperate efforts are underway to save towns and cities, dams and bridges.

As Gamache leads the search for Vivienne, he develops a profound empathy for her distraught father. With a daughter of his own, he finds himself haunted by the question, how would you feel, if�

As the rivers rise, and the social media onslaught becomes crueler, a body is discovered. And the victim’s father contemplates a murder of his own.

And the question facing both Gamache and Beauvoir shifts.

What would you do, if� your child’s killer might walk free?]]> Louise Penny 1250230888 KP 3 1. Why is it called A Better Man? I still don’t know.

2. Clara Morrow. The whole incident about her miniatures seemed forced. The critic, Jessica Oddly, was rude and there seemed no reason for that meanness,and there was no resolution except that Clara had a bit of self-realization about her painting.

3. I like this phrase from a review on Ĺ·±¦ÓéŔÖ. I feel the same way! 'The books are going downhill, sadly. “The hole in the ceiling where the rain gets in"... occurred last year with Kingdom of the Blind. This year, the coup de grace, A Better Man.' ... Annette’s review on Ĺ·±¦ÓéŔÖ. A play on the phrase “things are strongest where they’re broken. That’s where the light gets in.â€� That is repeated a lot.

4. Ruth: I am getting tired of her. Why do the people even like her or even PUT UP with her? She does get mistakenly blamed for posting the real video of Gamache under the name “@dumbass� but it turns out it's Mme Toussaint.

5. Mme Toussaint: I finally remembered how Gamache had promoted her in a previous book. She seemed to be “good� in that book. Right? Or did she have some secondary, negative underbelly? Can’t remember� But now she is so underhanded and mean, esp to Gamache. She is shown to be secretly sorry she’s so mean, and that is why she posts the real video. BUT even if she is supposed to hide her support for him from her supervisors, she doesn’t have to go that far. Evidently the power has gone to her head, according to the book. Another flip flop.

6. Speaking of flip flops, there were so many of those! In order to provide us with plenty of red herrings as to who killed Vivienne, SO many characters go back and forth being first well intentioned and then evil. I got tired of that. Also, it seemed that it was an example of Penny NOT using the “show, don’t tell� axiom of good writing. Especially at the end of the book she just feeds us these flip flops and new explanations at a rapid pace and we had no idea about the basis for many of them. I don’t know, but it seems these reasons and motives should have been more spread out and explained. There is Bob Cameron, the officer and ex hockey player. Is he good or bad? Turns out he's good� at the very end. And there is the flip flop where the note handed to Gamache might have even had his name for being the next second in command after Jean Guy moves to Paris. BUT it turns out it’s going to be Isabelle LaCoste. That is good but very abrupt. And LaCoste had a run in with the now evil Toussaint at the end� I still don’t get what she was asking Toussaint to give her� was it this second in command position?

7. There is also Pauline Vachon and agent Lysette Cloutier. Total flip flops up to the very end. I got tired of it.

8. And the accused killer, Carl Tracey. He is evil, evil throughout the book. SO it seemed VERY out of character that he actually reached out to save Jean Guy’s life in the scene at the bridge at the end. VERY UNLIKELY.

9. And then Homer Godin. Penny really had to quickly flip flop at the end to explain his abuse of Vivienne and psychological reasons why he kept blaming the husband for her murder. Kind of a stretch. We find out at the very end that he had a different cell phone which was the mysterious number that Vivienne tried to call and wrote down incorrectly. It’s things like that which are dropped in at the end that make me mad. Another flip flop� or deus ex machina.]]> 4.32 2019 A Better Man (Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, #15)
author: Louise Penny
name: KP
average rating: 4.32
book published: 2019
rating: 3
read at: 2023/05/29
date added: 2023/06/28
shelves: three-pines, mystery-thriller-crime
review:
These are just my personal notes on the book so I can remember it... in draft form... not really a review.
1. Why is it called A Better Man? I still don’t know.

2. Clara Morrow. The whole incident about her miniatures seemed forced. The critic, Jessica Oddly, was rude and there seemed no reason for that meanness,and there was no resolution except that Clara had a bit of self-realization about her painting.

3. I like this phrase from a review on Ĺ·±¦ÓéŔÖ. I feel the same way! 'The books are going downhill, sadly. “The hole in the ceiling where the rain gets in"... occurred last year with Kingdom of the Blind. This year, the coup de grace, A Better Man.' ... Annette’s review on Ĺ·±¦ÓéŔÖ. A play on the phrase “things are strongest where they’re broken. That’s where the light gets in.â€� That is repeated a lot.

4. Ruth: I am getting tired of her. Why do the people even like her or even PUT UP with her? She does get mistakenly blamed for posting the real video of Gamache under the name “@dumbass� but it turns out it's Mme Toussaint.

5. Mme Toussaint: I finally remembered how Gamache had promoted her in a previous book. She seemed to be “good� in that book. Right? Or did she have some secondary, negative underbelly? Can’t remember� But now she is so underhanded and mean, esp to Gamache. She is shown to be secretly sorry she’s so mean, and that is why she posts the real video. BUT even if she is supposed to hide her support for him from her supervisors, she doesn’t have to go that far. Evidently the power has gone to her head, according to the book. Another flip flop.

6. Speaking of flip flops, there were so many of those! In order to provide us with plenty of red herrings as to who killed Vivienne, SO many characters go back and forth being first well intentioned and then evil. I got tired of that. Also, it seemed that it was an example of Penny NOT using the “show, don’t tell� axiom of good writing. Especially at the end of the book she just feeds us these flip flops and new explanations at a rapid pace and we had no idea about the basis for many of them. I don’t know, but it seems these reasons and motives should have been more spread out and explained. There is Bob Cameron, the officer and ex hockey player. Is he good or bad? Turns out he's good� at the very end. And there is the flip flop where the note handed to Gamache might have even had his name for being the next second in command after Jean Guy moves to Paris. BUT it turns out it’s going to be Isabelle LaCoste. That is good but very abrupt. And LaCoste had a run in with the now evil Toussaint at the end� I still don’t get what she was asking Toussaint to give her� was it this second in command position?

7. There is also Pauline Vachon and agent Lysette Cloutier. Total flip flops up to the very end. I got tired of it.

8. And the accused killer, Carl Tracey. He is evil, evil throughout the book. SO it seemed VERY out of character that he actually reached out to save Jean Guy’s life in the scene at the bridge at the end. VERY UNLIKELY.

9. And then Homer Godin. Penny really had to quickly flip flop at the end to explain his abuse of Vivienne and psychological reasons why he kept blaming the husband for her murder. Kind of a stretch. We find out at the very end that he had a different cell phone which was the mysterious number that Vivienne tried to call and wrote down incorrectly. It’s things like that which are dropped in at the end that make me mad. Another flip flop� or deus ex machina.
]]> <![CDATA[Material Girls: Why Reality Matters for Feminism]]> 58924420 Material Girls presents a timely and opinionated critique of the culturally influential theory that we each have an inner feeling about our sex called a gender identity, and that this feeling is more socially significant than our actual biological sex. It makes a clear and humane feminist case for retaining the ability to discuss material reality about biological sex in a range of important contexts, including female-only spaces and resources, healthcare, epidemiology, political organization and data collection. It investigates the intellectual history of gender identity, showing how the concept is linked to a misguided philosophical picture which broadly rejects science and conflates facts about intersex people with facts about trans people. Material Girls concludes with a positive vision for the future, of collaboration between feminists and trans activists, detailing how they could work together to achieve some of their political aims.]]> Kathleen Stock KP 0 non-fiction 4.33 2021 Material Girls: Why Reality Matters for Feminism
author: Kathleen Stock
name: KP
average rating: 4.33
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at: 2023/06/12
date added: 2023/06/28
shelves: non-fiction
review:

]]> Hello Beautiful 61771675
But then darkness from William’s past surfaces, jeopardizing not only Julia’s carefully orchestrated plans for their future, but the sisters� unshakeable devotion to one another. The result is a catastrophic family rift that changes their lives for generations. Will the loyalty that once rooted them be strong enough to draw them back together when it matters most?]]> 416 Ann Napolitano KP 5 road-trip-w-hans
Ann Napolitano describes the emotions of the various characters so amazingly well. In less skilled hands, these scenes could have been unconvincing or sappy. But she writes about love, loss, compassion, forgiveness, abandonment, and fulfillment so beautifully and poignantly that it made me sob numerous times. I’m prone to do that anyway, but� not like this in the middle of the gym� LOL.

It's really mostly about the messiness of relationships and how that messiness echoes through the years. One of the questions in the book that I’ve been thinking about since reading it is whether or not a person can choose whom she loves. In the book, love is presented as something almost preordained and impossible to walk away from. As I said above, Napolitano writes VERY convincingly. It is very believable. In my own life, however, I’m not so sure that I could say this was true. At any rate, it’s a great question to discuss. In the book, this type of love is both a beautiful blessing as well as a curse.

The other part of life that seems almost preordained in Hello Beautiful is how offspring will follow in the footsteps of their parents and make the same mistakes. That definitely happens in this book when Julia follows her mother in important ways and life choices.



- NYT & Oprah



- good summary]]> 4.14 2023 Hello Beautiful
author: Ann Napolitano
name: KP
average rating: 4.14
book published: 2023
rating: 5
read at: 2023/05/06
date added: 2023/06/28
shelves: road-trip-w-hans
review:
What a beautiful book! I think it's my favorite of the year- or maybe longer. I haven't been that affected by a book in a long time.

Ann Napolitano describes the emotions of the various characters so amazingly well. In less skilled hands, these scenes could have been unconvincing or sappy. But she writes about love, loss, compassion, forgiveness, abandonment, and fulfillment so beautifully and poignantly that it made me sob numerous times. I’m prone to do that anyway, but� not like this in the middle of the gym� LOL.

It's really mostly about the messiness of relationships and how that messiness echoes through the years. One of the questions in the book that I’ve been thinking about since reading it is whether or not a person can choose whom she loves. In the book, love is presented as something almost preordained and impossible to walk away from. As I said above, Napolitano writes VERY convincingly. It is very believable. In my own life, however, I’m not so sure that I could say this was true. At any rate, it’s a great question to discuss. In the book, this type of love is both a beautiful blessing as well as a curse.

The other part of life that seems almost preordained in Hello Beautiful is how offspring will follow in the footsteps of their parents and make the same mistakes. That definitely happens in this book when Julia follows her mother in important ways and life choices.



- NYT & Oprah



- good summary
]]> <![CDATA[This Is the Story of a Happy Marriage]]> 13191935 1 Ann Patchett KP 4 essay
]]> 3.89 2013 This Is the Story of a Happy Marriage
author: Ann Patchett
name: KP
average rating: 3.89
book published: 2013
rating: 4
read at: 2011/12/15
date added: 2023/06/24
shelves: essay
review:
This was a 1 hour essay - free on audible.com. I like Ann Patchett, so I thought I'd try it. She did a great job of describing her marriage and the steps leading to it. It was very touching, heartfelt, and tender.


]]> Mouth to Mouth 58485565
Jeff reveals that after that traumatic, galvanizing morning on the beach, he was compelled to learn more about the man whose life he had saved, convinced that their fates were now entwined. But are we agents of our fate—or are we its pawns? Upon discovering that the man is renowned art dealer Francis Arsenault, Jeff begins to surreptitiously visit his Beverly Hills gallery. Although Francis does not seem to recognize him as the man who saved his life, he nevertheless casts his legendary eye on Jeff and sees something worthy. He takes the younger man under his wing, initiating him into his world, where knowledge, taste, and access are currency; a world where value is constantly shifting and calling into question what is real, and what matters. The paths of the two men come together and diverge in dizzying ways until the novel’s staggering ending.

Sly, suspenseful, and engrossing, Mouth to Mouth masterfully blurs the line between opportunity and exploitation, self-respect and self-delusion, fact and fiction—exposing the myriad ways we deceive each other, and ourselves.]]> Antoine Wilson 1797137786 KP 4 3.44 2022 Mouth to Mouth
author: Antoine Wilson
name: KP
average rating: 3.44
book published: 2022
rating: 4
read at: 2023/05/17
date added: 2023/05/18
shelves:
review:

]]> The Last Thing He Told Me 55713039
As Hannah’s increasingly desperate calls to Owen go unanswered, as the FBI arrests Owen’s boss, as a U.S. marshal and federal agents arrive at her Sausalito home unannounced, Hannah quickly realizes her husband isn’t who he said he was. Bailey just may hold the key to figuring out Owen’s true identity—and why he really disappeared.]]> 9 Laura Dave 179712319X KP 3 3.64 2021 The Last Thing He Told Me
author: Laura Dave
name: KP
average rating: 3.64
book published: 2021
rating: 3
read at: 2023/05/14
date added: 2023/05/14
shelves:
review:

]]> The Dictionary of Lost Words 54790816 In this remarkable debut based on actual events, as a team of male scholars compiles the first Oxford English Dictionary, one of their daughters decides to collect the "objectionable" words they omit.

Esme is born into a world of words. Motherless and irrepressibly curious, she spends her childhood in the "Scriptorium," a garden shed in Oxford where her father and a team of dedicated lexicographers are collecting words for the very first Oxford English Dictionary. Young Esme's place is beneath the sorting table, unseen and unheard. One day a slip of paper containing the word "bondmaid" flutters to the floor. She rescues the slip, and when she learns that the word means slave-girl, she withholds it from the OED and begins to collect other words that have been discarded or neglected by the dictionary men.

As she grows up, Esme realizes that words and meanings relating to women's and common folks' experiences often go unrecorded. And so she begins in earnest to search out words for her own dictionary: The Dictionary of Lost Words. To do so she must leave the sheltered world of the university and venture out to meet the people whose words will fill those pages.

Set during the height of the women's suffrage movement with the Great War looming, The Dictionary of Lost Words reveals a lost narrative, hidden between the lines of a history written by men.

Based on actual events and combed from author Pip Williams's experience delving into the archives of the Oxford English Dictionary, this highly original novel is a delightful, lyrical, and deeply thought-provoking celebration of words and the power of language to shape the world.]]> 400 Pip Williams 1984820737 KP 3 4.18 2020 The Dictionary of Lost Words
author: Pip Williams
name: KP
average rating: 4.18
book published: 2020
rating: 3
read at: 2023/04/28
date added: 2023/04/29
shelves:
review:

]]> Proof (BBC Audio) 2539037 0 Dick Francis 0563523662 KP 4 mystery-thriller-crime

I listened to a BBC audio production of the book. The ending varied from the actual book in an important way. Here is the very ending of the BBC Audio Production version:

“For once I felt I’d done what I should, that I hadn’t been a coward forever, that I hadn’t failed her (Emma’s- his dead wife's) memory or myself, and that I felt comforted and whole and at one with her. …�. Somewhere in the battle, I had found the courage of my father. �

In the concluding page of the Kindle version, the full version of the book, Beech’s triumph in feeling courageous comes about a little differently. At the very end of the book, Tony finds a long lost note written by his father . . .

“I stared at the page, transfixed. It was a scrawl, a cri de coeur, hurried, barely punctuated, ending without a question mark. I knew my mother wouldn’t have sent it, if she’d seen it. It too nearly destroyed the myth.
I felt nearer to him than ever before.
I felt his true son.
He had written ... at not quite my present age, he had written:

â€The battle must be soon now. It is essential not to show fear to the men, but God,
I fear Why can’t I have the courage of my father?� �

This note is important, and I think it should have been included in the audio production! This is because now, finally, Beech sees that his father was afraid, too, as was he. It’s the overcoming of the fear that counts. In the audio production this is repeated several times. Gerard, the investigator, tells Tony, “Fear in a fearful situation is normal. Absence of fear is not. Keeping one’s nerve in spite of fear is courage.� Tony says that in his heart he was profoundly grateful to hear this! And at the end, in his father’s note, we see that his father knew this lesson about fear as well.]]> 3.50 1984 Proof (BBC Audio)
author: Dick Francis
name: KP
average rating: 3.50
book published: 1984
rating: 4
read at: 2023/04/07
date added: 2023/04/10
shelves: mystery-thriller-crime
review:
The title of the book, Proof, conveys multiple meanings. I read that the titles of most of his books do the same. In this one the word proof conveys the obvious meaning of “proving� the alcoholic content of the wine and whiskey in the story. Also, the word proof could mean to prove who committed the crime, OR, finally, for Tony Beech to PROVE his courage in order to overcome his feelings of inferiority to his long dead father. Beech was haunted by the reputation that he wasn’t as courageous as his father or his grandfather. In this book, he definitely PROVES to himself and others that he DOES have courage. This last meaning is the one I like the best, partly because it’s the cleverest and most hidden of the meanings and also because the reader/listener really ends up liking Tony and rooting for him to succeed. His courage and success in solving this mystery help him prove (to himself) his courage as well as to move along psychologically after the death of his wife and unborn child.


I listened to a BBC audio production of the book. The ending varied from the actual book in an important way. Here is the very ending of the BBC Audio Production version:

“For once I felt I’d done what I should, that I hadn’t been a coward forever, that I hadn’t failed her (Emma’s- his dead wife's) memory or myself, and that I felt comforted and whole and at one with her. …�. Somewhere in the battle, I had found the courage of my father. �

In the concluding page of the Kindle version, the full version of the book, Beech’s triumph in feeling courageous comes about a little differently. At the very end of the book, Tony finds a long lost note written by his father . . .

“I stared at the page, transfixed. It was a scrawl, a cri de coeur, hurried, barely punctuated, ending without a question mark. I knew my mother wouldn’t have sent it, if she’d seen it. It too nearly destroyed the myth.
I felt nearer to him than ever before.
I felt his true son.
He had written ... at not quite my present age, he had written:

â€The battle must be soon now. It is essential not to show fear to the men, but God,
I fear Why can’t I have the courage of my father?� �

This note is important, and I think it should have been included in the audio production! This is because now, finally, Beech sees that his father was afraid, too, as was he. It’s the overcoming of the fear that counts. In the audio production this is repeated several times. Gerard, the investigator, tells Tony, “Fear in a fearful situation is normal. Absence of fear is not. Keeping one’s nerve in spite of fear is courage.� Tony says that in his heart he was profoundly grateful to hear this! And at the end, in his father’s note, we see that his father knew this lesson about fear as well.
]]> Recitatif 34842610 A beautiful, arresting short story by Toni Morrison—the only one she ever wrote—about race and the relationships that shape us through life, with an introduction by Zadie Smith.

Twyla and Roberta have known each other since they were eight years old and spent four months together as roommates in the St. Bonaventure shelter. Inseparable at the time, they lose touch as they grow older, only to find each other later at a diner, then at a grocery store, and again at a protest. Seemingly at opposite ends of every problem, and in disagreement each time they meet, the two women still cannot deny the deep bond their shared experience has forged between them.

Written in 1980 and anthologized in a number of collections, this is the first time Recitatif is being published as a stand-alone hardcover. In the story, Twyla's and Roberta's races remain ambiguous. We know that one is white and one is black, but which is which? And who is right about the race of the woman the girls tormented at the orphanage?

Morrison herself described this story as "an experiment in the removal of all racial codes from a narrative about two characters of different races for whom racial identity is crucial." Recitatif is a remarkable look into what keeps us together and what keeps us apart, and about how perceptions are made tangible by reality.]]> 19 Toni Morrison KP 4 short-stories
Here is the essay:


Here is the crux of what the story is trying to do:
"This extraordinary story you hold in your hands was specifically intended as “an experiment in the removal of all racial codes from a narrative about two characters of different races for whom racial identity is crucial.” [*1]"
Morrison, Toni. Recitatif (p. vi). Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.

Since Morrison's whole point was to remove any racial coding, it is really impossible to determine which girl/woman is black and which one is white but the story almost begs you, the reader, to try and determine it. Here is a good example:

" 'Roberta’s cleaned up her act and married a rich man: Shoes, dress, everything lovely and summery and rich. I was dying to know what happened to her, how she got from Jimi Hendrix to Annandale, a neighborhood full of doctors and IBM executives. Easy, I thought. Everything is so easy for them. They think they own the world.' For the reader determined to solve the puzzle—the reader who believes the puzzle can be solved, or must be solved—this is surely exhibit number one. Everything hangs on that word “they.� To whom is it pointing? Uppity black people? Entitled white people? Rich people, whatever their color? Gentrifiers? You choose."

Morrison, Toni. Recitatif (p. xx). Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.
Morrison, Toni. Recitatif (pp. xix-xx). Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.








]]> 4.31 1983 Recitatif
author: Toni Morrison
name: KP
average rating: 4.31
book published: 1983
rating: 4
read at: 2023/04/02
date added: 2023/04/07
shelves: short-stories
review:
An interesting story and an interesting concept for sure. The first part of the book/story consists of an essay by Zadie Smith which is basically analyzing the whole story. The essay is longer than the actual story but very interesting and helpful. Maybe it should be read AFTER the story, however.

Here is the essay:


Here is the crux of what the story is trying to do:
"This extraordinary story you hold in your hands was specifically intended as “an experiment in the removal of all racial codes from a narrative about two characters of different races for whom racial identity is crucial.” [*1]"
Morrison, Toni. Recitatif (p. vi). Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.

Since Morrison's whole point was to remove any racial coding, it is really impossible to determine which girl/woman is black and which one is white but the story almost begs you, the reader, to try and determine it. Here is a good example:

" 'Roberta’s cleaned up her act and married a rich man: Shoes, dress, everything lovely and summery and rich. I was dying to know what happened to her, how she got from Jimi Hendrix to Annandale, a neighborhood full of doctors and IBM executives. Easy, I thought. Everything is so easy for them. They think they own the world.' For the reader determined to solve the puzzle—the reader who believes the puzzle can be solved, or must be solved—this is surely exhibit number one. Everything hangs on that word “they.� To whom is it pointing? Uppity black people? Entitled white people? Rich people, whatever their color? Gentrifiers? You choose."

Morrison, Toni. Recitatif (p. xx). Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.
Morrison, Toni. Recitatif (pp. xix-xx). Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.









]]> <![CDATA[Kingdom of the Blind (Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, #14)]]> 42975699 The entrancing new crime thriller featuring Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, from number one New York Times bestselling author Louise Penny

When Armand Gamache receives a letter inviting him to an abandoned farmhouse outside of Three Pines, the former head of the Sûreté du Québec discovers that a complete stranger has named him as an executor of her will.

Armand never knew the elderly woman, and the bequests are so wildly unlikely that he suspects the woman must have been delusional - until a body is found, and the terms of the bizarre will suddenly seem far more menacing.

But it isn't the only menace Gamache is facing. The investigation into the events that led to his suspension has dragged on, and Armand is taking increasingly desperate measures to rectify previous actions. As he does, Armand Gamache begins to see his own blind spots - and the terrible things hiding there.

]]> Louise Penny 1250308135 KP 4 4.02 2018 Kingdom of the Blind (Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, #14)
author: Louise Penny
name: KP
average rating: 4.02
book published: 2018
rating: 4
read at: 2023/04/01
date added: 2023/04/01
shelves: three-pines, mystery-thriller-crime
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Glass Houses (Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, #13)]]> 36530921
From the moment its shadow falls over the village, Gamache, now Chief Superintendent of the Surete du Quebec, suspects the creature has deep roots and a dark purpose. Yet he does nothing. What can he do? Only watch and wait. And hope his mounting fears are not realized.

But when the figure vanishes overnight and a body is discovered, it falls to Gamache to discover if a debt has been paid or levied.

Months later, on a steamy July day as the trial for the accused begins in Montreal, Chief Superintendent Gamache continues to struggle with actions he set in motion that bitter November, from which there is no going back. More than the accused is on trial. Gamache's own conscience is standing in judgment.

In Glass Houses, her latest utterly gripping book, number-one New York Times bestselling author Louise Penny shatters the conventions of the crime novel to explore what Gandhi called the court of conscience. A court that supersedes all others.]]> Louise Penny 1427287414 KP 4
Glass Houses has a different setting this time. Much of it takes place in the courtroom. Gamache is the chief witness in the trial of Jacqueline, a would be baker, who has murdered Katie Evans, an architect who builds glass houses. The trial takes place in the blistering heat of the summer, but the book flashes back frequently to the very cold fall of the year before when the murder took place. Sometimes these switches were confusing, I have to say.

In this book Gamache is the head of the Surete. In the last book he was the head of the Surete Training academy, and previous to that he had been head of the homicide division of the Surete, a postion which Isabelle LaCoste now fills. Jean Guy Beauvoir is still his second in command. I wonder where Gamache will be next?

The title, Glass Houses, is a reference to the type of houses that
Katie Evans, the architect who gets killed in this book, built. She had studied how to adapt these glass houses to harsh climates such as that in Quebec. She is currently building one on the Magadalen Islands, “the Maggies.� Coincidentally, the big drug shipment at the center of the plot arrives at the Magdalen Islands on board a cargo ship from China. There is a mention of how there must be quite a bit of money in the Magdalene Islands these days to build this type of house� maybe that is a connection and reference to the drug money there. In the end, Katie Evans doesn’t really have a direct connection to the drugs or the drug lords, but instead is killed by the sister , Jacqueline, of her ex college boyfriend, Eduardo. It’s an indirect connection. Eduardo got his drugs from Antoine who turns out to be the big Canadian drug lord in the book. Jaqueline hates Antoine because she blames him for the death of her brother. She also hates Katie Evans for breaking up with him so many years ago and sending him into a major depression.

The book is mostly about the idea of conscience. References are made to a higher court� the court of conscience. This is from a quote by Gandhi. “There is a higher court than courts of justice and that is the court of conscience. It supersedes all other courts.� Gamache seems to be operating from this court when he decides to perjure himself in the court of law. The higher purpose is that he ends up stopping the drug lords and the fentanyl trade. He gets the big drug lords in the end.

The other conscience in Glass Houses is represented by the Cobrador. Louise Penny tells us in the afterword that the modern Cobrador is a real character in history. But she goes beyond this with her ancient Cobrador and weaves a whole fictional story about the ancient figure.

I loved the ending where Clara is displaying her paintings of the residents of Three Pines. It turns out that hidden in the pupils of each person she has painted a reflection of someone dearly loved by him/her � like looking into a glass house, another reference to the title! So Rosa, the duck, has a reflection of Ruth in her eyes.

“Deep in Rosa’s haughty eyes, there was another tiny perfect finished portrait. Of Ruth. She was leaning toward Rosa. Offering the nest of old flannel sheets. Offering a home. It was a portrait of adoration. Of salvation. Of intimacy. It was a moment so tender, so vulnerable, Reine-Marie, Myrna, Olivier felt like voyeurs. Looking into a glass home. But they didn’t feel dirty. They felt lucky. To see such love. They went from painting to painting. There, in each of their eyes, a loved one was perfectly reflected. Myrna turned to Clara, across the room. Across the shattered, broken bistro. Across the lifetimes of friendship. Clara, who knew that bodies might come and go, but love was eternal.�

Louise Penny. Glass Houses by Louise Penny (Kindle Locations 6462-6468). Kindle Edition.]]> 4.04 2017 Glass Houses (Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, #13)
author: Louise Penny
name: KP
average rating: 4.04
book published: 2017
rating: 4
read at: 2023/02/17
date added: 2023/03/28
shelves:
review:
These are basically my notes from the book, not really a review, so I can remember and distinguish each book in the series. TOTAL SPOILER ALERT, too.

Glass Houses has a different setting this time. Much of it takes place in the courtroom. Gamache is the chief witness in the trial of Jacqueline, a would be baker, who has murdered Katie Evans, an architect who builds glass houses. The trial takes place in the blistering heat of the summer, but the book flashes back frequently to the very cold fall of the year before when the murder took place. Sometimes these switches were confusing, I have to say.

In this book Gamache is the head of the Surete. In the last book he was the head of the Surete Training academy, and previous to that he had been head of the homicide division of the Surete, a postion which Isabelle LaCoste now fills. Jean Guy Beauvoir is still his second in command. I wonder where Gamache will be next?

The title, Glass Houses, is a reference to the type of houses that
Katie Evans, the architect who gets killed in this book, built. She had studied how to adapt these glass houses to harsh climates such as that in Quebec. She is currently building one on the Magadalen Islands, “the Maggies.� Coincidentally, the big drug shipment at the center of the plot arrives at the Magdalen Islands on board a cargo ship from China. There is a mention of how there must be quite a bit of money in the Magdalene Islands these days to build this type of house� maybe that is a connection and reference to the drug money there. In the end, Katie Evans doesn’t really have a direct connection to the drugs or the drug lords, but instead is killed by the sister , Jacqueline, of her ex college boyfriend, Eduardo. It’s an indirect connection. Eduardo got his drugs from Antoine who turns out to be the big Canadian drug lord in the book. Jaqueline hates Antoine because she blames him for the death of her brother. She also hates Katie Evans for breaking up with him so many years ago and sending him into a major depression.

The book is mostly about the idea of conscience. References are made to a higher court� the court of conscience. This is from a quote by Gandhi. “There is a higher court than courts of justice and that is the court of conscience. It supersedes all other courts.� Gamache seems to be operating from this court when he decides to perjure himself in the court of law. The higher purpose is that he ends up stopping the drug lords and the fentanyl trade. He gets the big drug lords in the end.

The other conscience in Glass Houses is represented by the Cobrador. Louise Penny tells us in the afterword that the modern Cobrador is a real character in history. But she goes beyond this with her ancient Cobrador and weaves a whole fictional story about the ancient figure.

I loved the ending where Clara is displaying her paintings of the residents of Three Pines. It turns out that hidden in the pupils of each person she has painted a reflection of someone dearly loved by him/her � like looking into a glass house, another reference to the title! So Rosa, the duck, has a reflection of Ruth in her eyes.

“Deep in Rosa’s haughty eyes, there was another tiny perfect finished portrait. Of Ruth. She was leaning toward Rosa. Offering the nest of old flannel sheets. Offering a home. It was a portrait of adoration. Of salvation. Of intimacy. It was a moment so tender, so vulnerable, Reine-Marie, Myrna, Olivier felt like voyeurs. Looking into a glass home. But they didn’t feel dirty. They felt lucky. To see such love. They went from painting to painting. There, in each of their eyes, a loved one was perfectly reflected. Myrna turned to Clara, across the room. Across the shattered, broken bistro. Across the lifetimes of friendship. Clara, who knew that bodies might come and go, but love was eternal.�

Louise Penny. Glass Houses by Louise Penny (Kindle Locations 6462-6468). Kindle Edition.
]]> The Whalebone Theatre 60095981
With her step-parents blithely distracted by their endless party guests, Cristabel and her siblings, Flossie and Digby, scratch together an education from the plays they read in their freezing attic, drunken conversations eavesdropped through oak-panelled doors, and the esoteric lessons of Maudie their maid.

But as the children grow to adulthood and war approaches, jolting their lives on to very different tracks, it becomes clear that the roles they are expected to play are no longer those they want. As they find themselves drawn into the conflict, they must each find a way to write their own story...

This is the story of an old English manor house by the sea, with crumbling chimneys, draping ivy and a library full of dusty hardbacks. It's the story of the three children who grow up there, and the adventures they create for themselves while the grown-ups entertain endless party guests: the worlds they imagine from books they aren't supposed to read, and the lessons they learn from eavesdropping through oak-panelled doors.

This is the story of a whale that washes up on a beach, whose bones are claimed by a twelve-year-old girl with big ambitions and an even bigger imagination. An unwanted orphan who grows into an unmarriageable young woman, chafing under the confines of her traditional upbringing and fiercely determined to do things differently.]]> 19 Joanna Quinn 0241995124 KP 4
I also didn’t really understand, at the end, how Digby was so angry at the English and enamored of the French resistance. It wasn’t very well explained, and it pretty much deflated the whole second half of the book where the reader is rooting for the English and all of Cristabel’s work for them. Why did she, and we, go through all that if now we are meant to distrust and dislike the English?

One of the things I loved about the book was the wealth of literary references. From Moby Dick to Antigone to Shakespeare � the siblings were very well read, considering their lack of education, and the author loved to weave in analogies relating to various literary works. Here’s one reference to The Iliad, a play that the siblings produce in their Whalebone Theatre:

� “We could do one of our Shakespeares, Crista.� “We could, Digs, we could,� she replies, taking a chunk of cake from his plate. As she eats it, she examines the people looking at them, smiling in their best clothes, holding their cocktails, and she thinks about The Iliad. She thinks about what happened afterwards, in the next story, when the cunning Greeks finally made their way into the city of Troy to win the war. After the body of brave Hector had been burnt on a pyre, the Greeks constructed a huge wooden horse, to be presented to the people of Troy as a gift. A mighty stallion on wheels, hollow on the inside, and they had filled it with silent soldiers, packed together, gingerly stretching cramped limbs, and carefully running their thumbs down the sharpened blades of their swords. If you find a way to give people what they want, they let you in, thinks Cristabel. If you make a creature to hide inside, they open the doors and pull you through.� �.. p. 175


Here is a good review of the book in the NYTimes:



]]> 3.80 2022 The Whalebone Theatre
author: Joanna Quinn
name: KP
average rating: 3.80
book published: 2022
rating: 4
read at: 2023/03/22
date added: 2023/03/26
shelves:
review:
The writing in The Whalebone Theatre is exquisite! I felt like I was being wrapped in a warm blanket as I read Joanna Quinn’s descriptions. All I needed was a cup of tea or cocoa. For the first half, the story really grabbed me. I was reminded of Brideshead Revisited, which I reread recently, with its old, crumbling estate, fated siblings, and involvement in WW II. The second half of the story disappointed me. I liked the word I read in one review: the story meandered. It seemed that some of the meandering was pointless, and then when the heroine, Cristabel gets tangled up with a Nazi soldier toward the end, it veered into the ridiculous.

I also didn’t really understand, at the end, how Digby was so angry at the English and enamored of the French resistance. It wasn’t very well explained, and it pretty much deflated the whole second half of the book where the reader is rooting for the English and all of Cristabel’s work for them. Why did she, and we, go through all that if now we are meant to distrust and dislike the English?

One of the things I loved about the book was the wealth of literary references. From Moby Dick to Antigone to Shakespeare � the siblings were very well read, considering their lack of education, and the author loved to weave in analogies relating to various literary works. Here’s one reference to The Iliad, a play that the siblings produce in their Whalebone Theatre:

� “We could do one of our Shakespeares, Crista.� “We could, Digs, we could,� she replies, taking a chunk of cake from his plate. As she eats it, she examines the people looking at them, smiling in their best clothes, holding their cocktails, and she thinks about The Iliad. She thinks about what happened afterwards, in the next story, when the cunning Greeks finally made their way into the city of Troy to win the war. After the body of brave Hector had been burnt on a pyre, the Greeks constructed a huge wooden horse, to be presented to the people of Troy as a gift. A mighty stallion on wheels, hollow on the inside, and they had filled it with silent soldiers, packed together, gingerly stretching cramped limbs, and carefully running their thumbs down the sharpened blades of their swords. If you find a way to give people what they want, they let you in, thinks Cristabel. If you make a creature to hide inside, they open the doors and pull you through.� �.. p. 175


Here is a good review of the book in the NYTimes:




]]> <![CDATA[Desert Star (Renée Ballard, #5; Harry Bosch, #24; Harry Bosch Universe, #37)]]> 60219987 LAPD detective Renée Ballard and Harry Bosch work together to hunt the killer who is Bosch’s “white whale”—a man responsible for the murder of an entire family.

A year has passed since LAPD detective Renée Ballard quit the force in the face of misogyny, demoralization, and endless red tape. Yet, after the chief of police himself tells her she can write her ticket within the department, Ballard takes back her badge, leaving “the Late Show� to rebuild the cold case unit at the elite Robbery-Homicide Division.
Ěý
For years, Harry Bosch has been working a case that haunts him but that he hasn’t been able to crack—the murder of an entire family by a psychopath who still walks free. Ballard makes Bosch an offer: come work with her as a volunteer investigator in the new Open-Unsolved Unit, and he can pursue his “white whale� with the resources of the LAPD behind him.

The two must put aside old resentments to work together again and close in on a dangerous killer. Propulsive and unstoppable, this new novel demonstrates once again why “Connelly is the real deal� (Marilyn Stasio, New York Times Book Review).]]> 400 Michael Connelly 0316421464 KP 4 4.49 2022 Desert Star (Renée Ballard, #5; Harry Bosch, #24; Harry Bosch Universe, #37)
author: Michael Connelly
name: KP
average rating: 4.49
book published: 2022
rating: 4
read at: 2023/03/19
date added: 2023/03/19
shelves: road-trip-w-hans, mystery-thriller-crime
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow]]> 61207289 This is not a romance, but it is about love

Two kids meet in a hospital gaming room in 1987. One is visiting her sister, the other is recovering from a car crash. The days and months are long there. Their love of video games becomes a shared world -- of joy, escape and fierce competition. But all too soon that time is over, fades from view.

When the pair spot each other eight years later in a crowded train station, they are catapulted back to that moment. The spark is immediate, and together they get to work on what they love - making games to delight, challenge and immerse players, finding an intimacy in digital worlds that eludes them in their real lives. Their collaborations make them superstars.

This is the story of the perfect worlds Sadie and Sam build, the imperfect world they live in, and of everything that comes after success: Money. Fame. Duplicity. Tragedy.

Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow takes us on a dazzling imaginative quest as it examines the nature of identity, creativity, disability, failure, the redemptive possibilities in play and, above all, our need to connect: to be loved and to love.

Listening length: 13 hours, 53 minutes]]> 14 Gabrielle Zevin 059359164X KP 5 3.92 2022 Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow
author: Gabrielle Zevin
name: KP
average rating: 3.92
book published: 2022
rating: 5
read at: 2023/01/21
date added: 2023/03/12
shelves:
review:
I loved this book. I think it had all the elements of a really good read. The characters were interesting and complicated, young and whip smart. The setting in the world of video games, while it’s not my thing, was actually interesting. The main characters were all so well educated, and it was interesting to know that it takes this level of intelligence to make it in the world of video games. They were interesting, smart, and “alternative� at the same time. It was great to read about a woman, Sadie, breaking into this gaming field, even though she did face lots of sexism and certainly made some bad decisions. She, and also Sam, were so young, though. How could they avoid making mistakes? The plot was compelling and surprising at times. Several themes were explored. The main theme was about love and its many forms and how to deal with those forms as they change over time. Also, the book dealt with communication, and how you can’t get what you want if you don’t even open up and try to talk about what that IS.
]]> Take My Hand 61187903 Inspired by true events that rocked the nation, a profoundly moving novel about a Black nurse in post-segregation Alabama who blows the whistle on a terrible wrong done to her patients, from the New York Times bestselling author of Wench.

Montgomery, Alabama 1973. Fresh out of nursing school, Civil Townsend has big plans to make a difference, especially in her African American community. At the Montgomery Family Planning Clinic, she intends to help women make their own choices for their lives and bodies.

But when her first week on the job takes her down a dusty country road to a worn down one-room cabin, she’s shocked to learn that her new patients are children—just 11 and 13 years old. Neither of the Williams sisters has even kissed a boy, but they are poor and Black and for those handling the family’s welfare benefits that’s reason enough to have the girls on birth control. As Civil grapples with her role, she takes India, Erica and their family into her heart.Until one day, she arrives at the door to learn the unthinkable has happened and nothing will ever be the same for any of them.

Decades later, with her daughter grown and a long career in her wake, Dr. Civil Townsend is ready to retire, to find her peace and to leave the past behind. But there are people and stories that refuse to be forgotten.That must not be forgotten.

Because history repeats what we don’t remember.]]> 10 Dolen Perkins-Valdez 0593552245 KP 3
Instead, the book goes full bore into the story of the Williams family which wasn’t nearly as interesting to me. Yes, it was tragic and interesting historically, but I felt like the author was trying too hard to connect Civil’s experience to the Williams's. Don’t get me wrong, the uncovering of all the racially motivated birth control and sterilization was tragic and important, but I didn’t enjoy that part of the plot for some reason, and I wished that it hadn’t consumed so much of the second half of the book.]]> 4.39 2022 Take My Hand
author: Dolen Perkins-Valdez
name: KP
average rating: 4.39
book published: 2022
rating: 3
read at: 2023/03/02
date added: 2023/03/11
shelves:
review:
It started out strong, but by the second half I think Take My Hand went off the rails a bit. Maybe the author was trying to tackle too much. The love story between Civil and Tyrell was touching, but it never really made sense to me why she couldn’t move past the shared mistake they had made. It seems like the very last scene of the book leaves it open for Civil to finally get together with Tyrell. BUT it’s just a hint at the end and not enough to really explore that plot line. I think more should have been devoted to that angle.

Instead, the book goes full bore into the story of the Williams family which wasn’t nearly as interesting to me. Yes, it was tragic and interesting historically, but I felt like the author was trying too hard to connect Civil’s experience to the Williams's. Don’t get me wrong, the uncovering of all the racially motivated birth control and sterilization was tragic and important, but I didn’t enjoy that part of the plot for some reason, and I wished that it hadn’t consumed so much of the second half of the book.
]]> Our Missing Hearts 60806376 A novel about a mother’s unbreakable love in a world consumed by fear.

Twelve-year-old Bird Gardner lives a quiet existence with his loving but broken father, a former linguist who now shelves books in a university library. Bird knows to not ask too many questions, stand out too much, or stray too far. For a decade, their lives have been governed by laws written to preserve “American culture� in the wake of years of economic instability and violence. To keep the peace and restore prosperity, the authorities are now allowed to relocate children of dissidents, especially those of Asian origin, and libraries have been forced to remove books seen as unpatriotic—including the work of Bird’s mother, Margaret, a Chinese American poet who left the family when he was nine years old.

Bird has grown up disavowing his mother and her poems; he doesn’t know her work or what happened to her, and he knows he shouldn’t wonder. But when he receives a mysterious letter containing only a cryptic drawing, he is pulled into a quest to find her. His journey will take him back to the many folktales she poured into his head as a child, through the ranks of an underground network of librarians, into the lives of the children who have been taken, and finally to New York City, where a new act of defiance may be the beginning of much-needed change.]]> 12 Celeste Ng KP 3
The conflict is how the family of Margaret, Bird, and Ethan will survive under the racist policies that are tearing them, and everyone, apart. It’s just too much. The family drama gets lost among all the political issues and the horrors these issues bring to society in general. I still was compelled to finish and thought her writing was beautiful in many sections.
]]> 3.71 2022 Our Missing Hearts
author: Celeste Ng
name: KP
average rating: 3.71
book published: 2022
rating: 3
read at: 2023/02/23
date added: 2023/02/24
shelves:
review:
This was my least favorite of Celeste Ng’s books. I think she does well, in all her books, with family drama. The problem in this book is that the family drama is overshadowed by the societal issues. In this one, the country has become completely authoritarian and restrictive. She is definitely taking on the big political issues of the day and magnifying them by setting up this dystopian society.

The conflict is how the family of Margaret, Bird, and Ethan will survive under the racist policies that are tearing them, and everyone, apart. It’s just too much. The family drama gets lost among all the political issues and the horrors these issues bring to society in general. I still was compelled to finish and thought her writing was beautiful in many sections.

]]> <![CDATA[Nine Lives: Death and Life in New Orleans]]> 8170651 The hidden history of the haunted and beloved city of New Orleans, told through the intersecting lives of nine remarkable characters.“Nine LivesĚýis stunning work. Dan Baum has immersed himself in New Orleans, the most fascinating city in the United States, and illuminated it in a way that is as innovative as Tom Wolfe on hot rods and Truman Capote on a pair of murderers. Full of stylistic brilliance and deep insight and an overriding compassion,ĚýNine LivesĚýis an instant classic of creative nonfiction.”Ě�—Robert Olen Butler, Pulitzer Prize–winning author ofĚýA Good Scent from a Strange MountainĚýNine Lives is a multivoiced biography of a dazzling, surreal, and imperiled city, told through the lives of night unforgettable characters and bracketed by two epic Hurricane Betsy, which transformed New Orleans in the 1960s, and Hurricane Katrina, which nearly destroyed it. Dan Baum brings the kaleidoscopic portrait to life, showing us what was lost in the storm and what remains to be saved. This edition contains aĚýNine LivesĚýdiscussion guide.]]> 321 Dan Baum 0385529600 KP 2 non-fiction

The narrative follows nine New Orleanians whose lives mirror the city’s baroque social layers:

Joyce Montana, the widow of Yellow Pocahontas Big Chief Tootie Montana;

corporate lawyer Billy Grace, a Rex of recent vintage;

coroner Dr. Frank Minyard;

hard-bitten cop Tim Bruneau;

ex-con Anthony Wells, among others
*

John guidos- gay big football
Wife Kathy. Vibrator story

Ronald Lewis
first chapter with ruined houses
Lives next to Miss Stuckey, who is Jewish. He has a teacher who quotes Langston Hughes about rivers. His mama said you got to do their work, but you don’t have to give them a song and dance. has a wife mini.
Railway worker

Belinda carr
Eight years old and she wanted out of her life so bad she could taste it. She wants to go to college.

Wilber Rawlins, junior
Music was all around him
Broken pinkies
Walked out of band practice
Da]]> 4.32 2009 Nine Lives: Death and Life in New Orleans
author: Dan Baum
name: KP
average rating: 4.32
book published: 2009
rating: 2
read at: 2022/12/18
date added: 2023/02/04
shelves: non-fiction
review:
This is not a review at all. I just wrote down some notes and want to save them.


The narrative follows nine New Orleanians whose lives mirror the city’s baroque social layers:

Joyce Montana, the widow of Yellow Pocahontas Big Chief Tootie Montana;

corporate lawyer Billy Grace, a Rex of recent vintage;

coroner Dr. Frank Minyard;

hard-bitten cop Tim Bruneau;

ex-con Anthony Wells, among others
*

John guidos- gay big football
Wife Kathy. Vibrator story

Ronald Lewis
first chapter with ruined houses
Lives next to Miss Stuckey, who is Jewish. He has a teacher who quotes Langston Hughes about rivers. His mama said you got to do their work, but you don’t have to give them a song and dance. has a wife mini.
Railway worker

Belinda carr
Eight years old and she wanted out of her life so bad she could taste it. She wants to go to college.

Wilber Rawlins, junior
Music was all around him
Broken pinkies
Walked out of band practice
Da
]]> Storming Heaven 57264304 Annadel, West Virginia, was a small town rich in coal, farms, and close-knit families, all destroyed when the coal company came in. It stole everything it hadn't bothered to buy--land deeds, private homes, and ultimately, the souls of its men and women. Four people tell this powerful, deeply moving tale: Activist Mayor C. J. Marcum. Fierce, loveless union man Rondal Lloyd. Gutsy nurse Carrie Bishop, who loved Rondal. And lonely Sicilian immigrant Rosa Angelelli, who lost four sons to the deadly mines. They all bear witness to nearly forgotten events of history, culminating in the final, tragic Battle of Blair Mountain--when the United States Army greeted ten thousand unemployed pro-union miners with airplanes, bombs, and poison gas. It was the first crucial battle of a war that has yet to be won.]]> 0 Denise Giardina 1665247169 KP 2 I learned why West Virginia seceded from the state of Virginia. According to this book, it was because West Virginia didn’t support slavery and Virginia did.

I learned where the term “red neck� came from. Again, in this book, the supporters of unionizing the mines wore or carried red bandanas. Thus, the term “red neck�.

I learned about the Battle of Blair Mountain where the miners fought against the mine owners and even the U.S. government armed forces.

Finally, I learned about the horrible conditions the miners suffered in the early 1900’s. But I already pretty much knew that. I won’t argue that the book brought this point home, but that is not enough to make a good book.

Cons:
I was thoroughly bored. There were too many characters to keep track of, for one thing. The writing seemed shallow to me. The descriptions of the many fights against the mine owners were way too long and boring.

The character of Rosa was not developed. She seemed tossed in just to show the life of an Italian immigrant. BUT her sections were too few and didn’t add up to much.

Overall, I would not recommend this book.


]]> 3.33 1987 Storming Heaven
author: Denise Giardina
name: KP
average rating: 3.33
book published: 1987
rating: 2
read at: 2023/02/02
date added: 2023/02/04
shelves:
review:
Pros:
I learned why West Virginia seceded from the state of Virginia. According to this book, it was because West Virginia didn’t support slavery and Virginia did.

I learned where the term “red neck� came from. Again, in this book, the supporters of unionizing the mines wore or carried red bandanas. Thus, the term “red neck�.

I learned about the Battle of Blair Mountain where the miners fought against the mine owners and even the U.S. government armed forces.

Finally, I learned about the horrible conditions the miners suffered in the early 1900’s. But I already pretty much knew that. I won’t argue that the book brought this point home, but that is not enough to make a good book.

Cons:
I was thoroughly bored. There were too many characters to keep track of, for one thing. The writing seemed shallow to me. The descriptions of the many fights against the mine owners were way too long and boring.

The character of Rosa was not developed. She seemed tossed in just to show the life of an Italian immigrant. BUT her sections were too few and didn’t add up to much.

Overall, I would not recommend this book.



]]> Signal Fires 62099064
A gripping new novel from the best-selling author of Inheritance: One Night. One Fateful Choice. A Constellation of Lives Changed Forever.

Signal Fires opens on a summer night in 1985. Three teenagers have been drinking. One of them gets behind the wheel of a car, and, in an instant, everything on Division Street changes. Each of their lives, and that of Ben Wilf, a young doctor who arrives on the scene, is shattered. For the Wilf family, the circumstances of that fatal accident will become the deepest kind of secret, one so dangerous it can never be spoken.

On Division Street, time has moved on. When the Shenkmans arrive—a young couple expecting a baby boy—it is as if the accident never happened. But when Waldo, the Shenkmans� brilliant, lonely son who marvels at the beauty of the world and has a native ability to find connections in everything, befriends Dr. Wilf, now retired and struggling with his wife’s decline, past events come hurtling back in ways no one could ever have foreseen.

In Dani Shapiro’s first work of fiction in fifteen years, she returns to the form that launched her career, with a riveting, deeply felt novel that examines the ties that bind families together—and the secrets that can break them apart. Signal Fires is a work of haunting beauty by a masterly storyteller.]]> Dani Shapiro KP 5
The two major lessons in the book seemed to be that 1 “secrets are poison� This family had a big secret and the hiding of the secret caused a lot of damage. 2 Children can’t and shouldn’t be molded into what parents think they should be. Shenkman, the father of sweet little Waldo in this book, learned the hard way that this is also a type of poison - poison to his relationship with his son.
]]> 3.80 2022 Signal Fires
author: Dani Shapiro
name: KP
average rating: 3.80
book published: 2022
rating: 5
read at: 2023/01/28
date added: 2023/01/29
shelves:
review:
What a sweet book! It was sad in many ways, but overall it just leaves me with a feeling of connectedness to the good and the good people in the world. I read that it had a touch of sci fi to it. I would disagree. To me it had a touch of spirituality, which is definitely not the same as science fiction! This whole aspect was not a major part of the book, but I found it lovely.

The two major lessons in the book seemed to be that 1 “secrets are poison� This family had a big secret and the hiding of the secret caused a lot of damage. 2 Children can’t and shouldn’t be molded into what parents think they should be. Shenkman, the father of sweet little Waldo in this book, learned the hard way that this is also a type of poison - poison to his relationship with his son.

]]> <![CDATA[A Great Reckoning (Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, #12)]]> 28821998
When an intricate old map is found stuffed into the walls of the bistro in Three Pines, it at first seems no more than a curiosity. But the closer the villagers look, the stranger it becomes.

Given to Armand Gamache as a gift the first day of his new job, the map eventually leads him to shattering secrets. To an old friend and older adversary. It leads the former Chief of Homicide for the Sûreté du Québec to places even he is afraid to go. But must.

And there he finds four young cadets in the Sûreté academy, and a dead professor. And, with the body, a copy of the old, odd map.

Everywhere Gamache turns, he sees Amelia Choquet, one of the cadets. Tattooed and pierced. Guarded and angry. Amelia is more likely to be found on the other side of a police line-up. And yet she is in the academy. A protégée of the murdered professor.

The focus of the investigation soon turns to Gamache himself and his mysterious relationship with Amelia, and his possible involvement in the crime. The frantic search for answers takes the investigators back to Three Pines and a stained glass window with its own horrific secrets.

For both Amelia Choquet and Armand Gamache, the time has come for a great reckoning.]]> 384 Louise Penny KP 5
In this one, Gamache is NOT in the surete but becomes the head of the training school. He hires many old rivals, like that book about Lincoln, Team of Rivals. There is the goth girl trainee and it turns out she is the daughter of the man who killed Gamache's parnets in a car crash years ago. Secret revealed at end of book.

In this one we find out the Gamache has moved to 3 Pines ( which book does this happen in?) AND that Beauvoir is married to his daughter. Did she get a divorce? maybe after the Cruelest Month book where Brebeuf and the other big guy try to frame her as having an affair?

Also, in this book, Michel Brebeuf kills himself because he is revealed as the murderer of the horrible teacher who has been terrorizing the students.]]> 4.62 2016 A Great Reckoning (Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, #12)
author: Louise Penny
name: KP
average rating: 4.62
book published: 2016
rating: 5
read at: 2023/01/11
date added: 2023/01/11
shelves: mystery-thriller-crime, three-pines
review:
Not really a review, just notes to help me remember.

In this one, Gamache is NOT in the surete but becomes the head of the training school. He hires many old rivals, like that book about Lincoln, Team of Rivals. There is the goth girl trainee and it turns out she is the daughter of the man who killed Gamache's parnets in a car crash years ago. Secret revealed at end of book.

In this one we find out the Gamache has moved to 3 Pines ( which book does this happen in?) AND that Beauvoir is married to his daughter. Did she get a divorce? maybe after the Cruelest Month book where Brebeuf and the other big guy try to frame her as having an affair?

Also, in this book, Michel Brebeuf kills himself because he is revealed as the murderer of the horrible teacher who has been terrorizing the students.
]]>