Just Jennifer

Searching for John Hughes by Jason Diamond

Subtitled “Or Everything I Needed to Know about Life I Learned from Watching ‘80s Movies” this coming of age memoir will resonate with anyone who grew up in the 80s; beyond being Diamond’s story of growing up  it is this writer’s recounting of his attempts to pen a biography of John Hughes, an undertaking that kept coming back to his own love affair with this movies, movies that he turned to time and time again as Diamond struggled with depression, lack of self-esteem and self-doubt  growing up in a Chicago suburb as a Jewish minority.  The results are interesting and in all likelihood, far more relatable and accessible than a biography of the iconic movie director would have been.  Events in Diamond’s life such as his first girlfriend or moving to New York City are framed within which John Hughes movie he chose to watch at that time.  From the first time Diamond saw Pretty in Pink, though the title was at first off-putting to him, he was hooked.  As he worked his way through Hughes’s oeuvre of teenage angst, Diamond began to draw parallels to his own life and eventually, his life began to take focus and shape.  This non-traditional memoir will be a welcomed trip down memory lane to readers of a certain age. 

Just Jennifer

The Possessions by Sara Flannery Murphy

The boundaries between reality and the supernatural are pushed in this original debut novel in which “bodies” at the Elysian Society take a proprietary pill know as a lotus which allows them to slip out of their body which becomes a repository for the client’s deceased loved one for a short time.  Eurydice, Edie, has worked as a body for over five years and has disassociated herself not only from her job but from her life as well.  When Patrick Braddock comes to the society to reconnect with his wife Sylvia who drowned in a tragic accident several months before, Edie finds herself becoming obsessed with Patrick and Sylvia and the more she learns about them the more immersed she becomes in their lives---and Sylvia’s death.  Edie begins to see cracks in the Braddock’s marriage and she becomes more invested with Sylvia and she begins to wonder about her death, but the more time she spends with them, the more she wants Patrick; uncertain whether Patrick is interested in Edie as Edie or as Sylvia, she begins to rearrange her life so she can continue channeling Sylvia and be with Patrick, all the while the circumstances of Sylvia’s death niggling in the background.  The further into the Braddock’s lives she delves, the more at risk Edie becomes of losing herself forever, which is sometimes a very appealing thought to the young woman who harbors her own secrets and sadness.  There are so many facets to this unique novel that it is hard to know where to look next.

Coming in February...

A debut thriller that will keep you guessing, a new, long-awaited book by Christina Baker Kline (The Orphan Train), the second book in Kelley Armstrong's new series about an off-the-grid town and so much more for the shortest month of the year!

What You Don’t Know by Joann Chaney

Seven years after a serial killer is caught, the detective who arrested him is working in cold cases, the journalist who told his story is selling cosmetics at the mall, and his wife is trying to hide in plain sight.  Then the murders begin again.  Is Jacky Severs manipulating someone on the outside from death row or does someone need to get Jacky’s crimes back in the spotlight in order to regain their life?  Told from three points of view along with an omniscient narrative observing the action from time to time, the unique structure of this novel helps propel the plot forward and keep tension high in this debut psychological thriller.

A Darkness Absolute by Kelley Armstrong 

Homicide detective Casey Duncan moved to the off-the-grid town of Rockton looking for safe haven from her past, but instead found murder.  Starting a new job in a new town, especially one as secretive as Rockton, is hard enough, but Casey has also started a relationship with her boss Dalton, the Sheriff of Rockton, who has his own set of secrets from his past.  As the winter comes to the Yukon, Casey finds herself, with Will, a sheriff’s deputy, searching for a runner in the woods outside of Rockton.  Stranded in a blizzard, they seek shelter in a cave system where they find a woman who disappeared from Rockton over a year ago and was presumed dead.  After Nicole is safely back in Rockton, Casey and Will find the bodies of two other women missing from Rockton in the cave system.  They still have a resident missing, are being stalked by a man in a snowmobile suit and need to find who is kidnapping the women of Rockton before another goes missing.  Not sure if it is a resident or someone from the groups of outliers who live in the woods and caves, further off the grid, if that is possible, than the residents of Rockton.  Once again, Casey and the people of Rockton pull readers into their world;  well-developed characters, a twisty plot and a strange setting will quickly pull readers into Casey’s world, wanting to stay as long as Rockton will have them. 

A Piece of the World by Christina Baker Kline 
This vividly rendered novel, by the best-selling author of The Orphan Train, tells the story of Andrew Wyeth and his muse for the painting Christina's World, Christina Olson.  Christina lives in her family's legacy, a home off the coast of Maine and has a debilitating disease that leaves her unable to walk.   Stubbornly, sometimes to her detriment, Christina pulls herself through life and it is only through Wyeth's painting is she able to see how others see her and how she presents herself to others.  The deceptively simple prose imbues so much detail the reader is quickly transported to early 20th century Maine were the story of Christina, her ancestors and her legacy is revealed.

The Young Widower’s Handbook by Tom McAllister

Hunter Cady is almost thirty but in many ways feels as if he’s sometimes still in high school and is startled and amazed when he meets Kaitlyn who is not only smart, beautiful, and funny but also loves Hunter to distraction.  The two marry and are planning to start a family when the unthinkable happens: Kaitlyn dies unexpectedly, and to compound the tragedy, she dies of an ectopic pregnancy.  Hunter doesn’t have the skill set to handle this tragedy and cannot deal with Kaitlyn’s family who are still very attached to her and feel they have a claim on her ashes.  Hunter feels they are “his” and puts them in his car and sets off on a cross country trip without much of a plan.  Along the way he grieves, and grows up so that his return to home and rather jarring reentry into his world that has been turned around finds him better able to cope with Kaitlyn’s death and the new life he must forge for himself.

                                      
                                      The Mother’s Promise by Sally Hepworth 

Alice and her daughter Zoe have created a tight family unit, Zoe, who has a severe anxiety disorder, relying heavily on her mother for shelter and protection until Alice is diagnosed with an aggressive cancer.  With no family to speak of, her parents are dead, her brother and alcoholic, Zoe’s father never acknowledged, Alice does not know where to turn for help and for assistance in caring for fifteen-year-old Zoe during her treatment and possibly longer term if the inevitable and yet unthinkable occurs.  Alice, and in turn Zoe, find help from two unexpected women, neither of whom have been in Alice’s or Zoe’s lives before yet become the most important part of their present and possibly future.  As Alice and Zoe each come to their own terms with Alice’s disease and prognosis and with Zoe’s need to gain some confidence and coping skills for her own disorder, they form an unusual partnership with Kate and Sonja and in the process, Kate and Sonja face their own demons, revealing secrets that have the potential to change everything for everyone, not only in a good way, but perhaps in a negative way as well.  Filled with love, heart, and the willingness to go to the ends of the earth for those we love and hold dearest, there is not one character in this book left unchanged by the courage show by Alice and Zoe as they face the hardest thing they must ever learn to do: say goodbye all the while keeping faith that love will abide.

The Chilbury Ladies’ Choir by Jennifer Ryan

As World War II comes to England, more and more young men are being called up, vanishing from the small villages, fighting in the war; Chilbury is no exception.  When the last of the men are called up, the Vicar declares the choir will be disbanded due to the lack of male voices; the women of the village band together declaring if ever there is a time for uplifting, spiritual music, the time is now, and form their own choir.  Told from the points of view of five choir members, through their letters and journals, a portrait of a village emerges, with romance, heartbreak, and all the foibles of human nature as a young girl pines for her childhood crush, her older sister becomes involved with a man who is not who he seems; a mother watches her friend bury a son and worries for her own son, and a mid-wife sees the chance to earn some illicit extra money, hoping that it will mend fences with her sister.  This debut will charm and warm the soul as endearing characters are introduced intrepid while they keep the home fires burning and hope alive.   

I See You by Clare Mackintosh

Commuting home on the London tubes one evening, Zoe is startled to see her face in a classified ad for a dating service called FindTheOne.com.  Her live-in boyfriend Simon and her grown children Justin and Katie convince Zoe it is just a coincidence and only someone who looks like her.  Day after day, the advert changes and Zoe realizes the women in the pictures are victims of crimes ranging from petty theft to murder.  Finding someone to investigate is difficult, as when Zoe brings her concerns to the police they chalk it up to coincidence; Zoe chases down the advert’s purpose and finds a cop who will listen to her, but the closer Zoe gets to the truth, she realizes that the person behind this evil ad is closer to her than she realized.  This taut thriller has one surprise after another until at last, it seems all has been uncovered…or has it? A shocking last revelation will have readers turning back to see what clues were missed.

Just Jennifer

Chaos by Patricia Cornwell

After twenty-four thrillers featuring medical examiner Dr. Kay Scarpetta and her colleague investigator Pete Marino Patricia Cornwell has regained her stride as she creates a story that on the surface appears chaotic and disorganized, but all leads back to Kay’s perpetual nemesis Carrie Gretchen who will not be happy until she bests, perhaps kills, Kay.  As the September heat builds to a crescendo in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Kay is walking to meet her husband, FBI profiler Benton, using the time to wrestle with the impending visit of her sister Dorothy with whom Kay has a difficult relationship in spite of having a mother-like relationship with Dorothy’s daughter Lucy who Kay often raised as her own.  While walking through Harvard Yard, Kay encounters a young woman on a bicycle, a young woman she ran into earlier when purchasing theater tickets.  Kay and Benton are used to their dinners being interrupted by the call of business, but even so it is odd to both of them when they each receive calls.  Kay’s is a summons to a body found along the path in Harvard Yard, found by pre-teen twins.  To her surprise, it is the young woman she saw earlier, and even more so, it appears the woman was struck by lightning, even though there has not been a drop of rain or a cloud in the sky for days.  Precisely timed messages that would mean nothing to most people but have no pattern or order to them, add to Kay’s chaos theory and brings the plot back to Kay and her family and those who will stop at nothing to bring them harm.

Just Jennifer

A Torch Kept Lit by William F. Buckley

Conservative commentator, founder of the National Review and talk show host of Firing Line, William F. Buckley was above all a keen, often wry, observer, even judge, of people.  In this collection of obituaries and eulogies (edited by Fox News’s Washington correspondent James Rosen) Buckley recaps and recounts lives of people, and the effect they had on others and others’ reactions to them, in encapsulated essays, sometimes only half a page.  Divided into six sections, Presidents, Family, Arts and Letters, Generals, Spies, and Statesmen, Friends, and Nemeses, no one is spared.  Entries range from the [mostly] obscure, Rosalyn Tureck, Buckley’s favorite performer, a classical pianist and harpsichordist, to some of the most famous deceased, John Lennon and Princess Diana.  The introduction essays to each piece is as keenly observed as the eulogies themselves.  One has to wonder what eulogy or obituary of himself Buckley would have chosen for this collection.

FTC Disclaimer: I received this book from the Blogging for Books program in exchange for this review.

Coming in January...

It's not too early to start your New Year's reading list. Here are some suggestions to get you started:

This is Not Over by Holly Brown

Dawn and her husband stay at gorgeous upscale rental on the California coast and live the high life for a weekend.  When Dawn returns home, she is shocked to learn that Miranda, the home owner, intends not to return the full deposit as the sheets were, in Miranda’s opinion, ruined with a gray like stain in the center of them.  Now through threatening e-mails and bad reviews on Getaway.com the two women begin cyberbullying, each trying to teach the other a lesson.  Both women are stubborn and determined to hold their ground but as the story unfolds, told in alternating points of view, it becomes clear that neither woman is as stable as they think they are and each has secrets they are keeping, secrets that hold them back from uncovering the truth of what really occurred during that weekend.  But in the end, it is this ferociousness and stubbornness that will save both women from themselves and from each other.  A quick read that sometimes gets bogged down in repetition, but that has an ending worth waiting for even if neither woman is ever redeemed in the reader’s eyes.

The Sleepwalker by Chris Bohjalian 

Twenty-one-year-old Lianna Ahlberg’s world is turned on end when her mother Annalee disappears one night, sleepwalking, Lianna fears.  Annalee suffered terribly from sleepwalking, causing her family great concern over the years, Lianna even had to pull her off a bridge railing one night while Annalee was posing, naked, as one of the decorative angels.  As long as her husband, Warren, was in bed with her, Annalee didn’t seem to have a problem, but after years of treatment and no nocturnal wonderings, he decides it is safe to leave their Vermont home and attend a conference in Iowa for a short time.  Lianna’s twelve-year-old sister Paige is understandably upset by her mother’s disappearance, almost fierce in her quest to find her while Lianna is, by contrast, almost preternaturally calm.  A piece of Annalee’s nightshirt caught on a branch by the river seems to confirm everyone’s worst fears though Annalee had yet to be found.  Gavin Rikert, from the state police, has taken a special interest in the case, though Lianna cannot figure out why, and eventually, he develops a special interest in Lianna.  Lianna, deciding not to return for the fall semester of her senior year in college, attempts to hold the family together while at the same time continuing the search for Annalee, a search that takes her into places in her parents’ marriage a daughter shouldn’t have to go, a search that will lead her to places she never thought she’s have to go, places from which she can never return. 

The Girl Before by J.P. Delaney

After filling out a detailed and unusually intense, probing application, Jane scores an ultra-modern, high-tech London apartment that seem to anticipate all her needs…but does it know her too well?  Once in the apartment, Jane learns that the previous occupant, Emma, died in the apartment under perhaps, mysterious circumstances.  Jane embarks on a dangerous cat and mouse game with her landlord but who is the aggressor and who is the pretty?  A tale of obsession that switches between Jane and Emma’s stories, weaving them together irrevocably in this tale of obsessions with twists and turns that don’t stop until after the final page is turned.

My Husband’s Wife by Jane Corry 

Lily, a young lawyer, has married Ed an artist, and plans to make a fresh start at life, moving on from family secrets and guilt she has been carrying since she was a teenager.  An appeal case, Lily’s first murder case, her firm has taken on changes everything.  When Lily meets the clever, smart Joe who has been convicted of killing his girlfriend, she is drawn into a dangerous cat and mouse game that will change her life for years in unforeseen ways.  At the same time, there is a nine-year-old girl living in Lily and Ed’s building who lives with her single mother who moved from Italy to London.  Carla has more secrets than any nine-year-old should have, but has also learned that knowledge is power and has learned to manipulate people to get whatever she wants.  Sixteen years later, Lily and Ed have an autistic son and Ed’s art has finally taken off, including some portraits he did of Carla when she was a child.  Now Carla returns with an agenda, an agenda that can only end in one way, and one that reintroduces Joe into Lily’s life asking questions that Lily is not ready to answer, even to herself. 

Lillian Boxfish Takes a Walk by Kathleen Rooney

On New Year’s Eve 1984, 84-year-old Lillian Boxfish, once the highest paid advertising woman in America decides to take a walk from her Murray Hill apartment; through lower Manhattan, she meets new people, and revisits her life, making peace with her choices and with her future.  Heading out to get a pre-supper drink, Lillian has a final Negroni of 1984, finds she is too full from half a package of Oreo cookies to have supper at her usual restaurant; a restaurant she learns is going to be sold to the owner’s nephew in the new year.  Deciding to walk almost three miles to Delmonico’s where she and her ex-husband had their divorce dinner almost thirty years prior, Lillian takes the time to reflect on coming to Manhattan from Washington D.C.  in the 1920’s.  Her dry wit and delightful verse earned her a spot on R.H. Macy’s advertising team and quickly catapulted her to the top of her trade.  Lillian eschewed marriage and motherhood and was a surprised as anyone when she fell head over heels in love with a seventh floor carpet salesman Max and had to leave her job almost a decade later, pregnant with their only child, Gian.  Lillian recalls her books on “lunch time” poetry that were published in the 1930’s and muses on the state of the city mid-1980’s.  Along her walk, Lillian encounters kind people giving her hope that the city will get better as it always has in the past.  Alternating chapters recount Lillian’s present day journey and her journey in life, including a difficult time mid-century when she sunk into a deep depression that required intensive treatment, but Lillian came through with the grace and aplomb that served her well throughout her life, the same grace and aplomb she exhibits on her ten-mile-walk through Manhattan on a chilly evening.  Lillian Boxfish is an engaging heroine, someone to delight in and yearn to be like.  Her candid reflections of the growth of a city and the snapshot view of her present day city bring Manhattan to life the way many of the most beloved writers of the twentieth-century did, a remarkable feat for Kathleen Rooney a resident of Chicago.  Rooney, who is a young writer, also portrays an elderly woman reflecting on her life with the same acuity she portrays the hopes and dreams of a young woman of Lillian’s memory.  Lillian Boxfish is indefatigable in not only her instance on making this New Year’s Eve journey on her terms, but in the way she lived her life---so far---on her terms.

Home Sweet Home by April Smith 

Living in New York City during the 1950’s, Calvin Kusek, a World War II pilot hero and an attorney, and his wife Betsy, a nurse, should be at the top of their game.  They met after Betsy was arrested in a department store protest supporting unionization and a brief stint as a member of the Communist Party.  Eager to escape all the trappings  they fear for their family, they decide to move across the country to a small town in South Dakota where a war buddy of Cal’s offers the two a chance to start over and even try their hands at cattle ranching.  Hard work though it is, Cal and Betsy, and their daughter Jo and son Lance, quickly fall in love with this new way of life; though they are ideologically different than their neighbors they are respected and fit comfortably into the community.  When a State Assembly seat becomes open, Cal runs for and easily wins three turns.  When his ambitions turn to the U.S. Senate, his friends and opponents become suspicious of him and Betsy finds the FBI investigating her and her activities as a young woman and a smear campaign begins, turning neighbor against neighbor and entire state against Cal and his family; a libel lawsuit vindicates the family but causes deep ruptures in their relationships, ruptures that don’t heal until one night thirty years later when Lance and his family are brutally murdered in their home.  A town now comes to Jo’s side, though she has been living in the Pacific Northwest for many years, supporting her and offering their assistance into finding out who committed such a heinous crime, even if it means opening up wounds that never really healed, but have stayed dormant, a series of events that not only reunites families but will preserve the land for generations to come. 

Calvin Kusek and his family move from 1950’s New York City to South Dakota where they embrace a new way of life, learning to fit in with their new neighbors in spite of their liberal tendencies.  Everything changes when Cal runs for public office and the family finds themselves under a cloud of suspicion, one that will tear their lives apart until many years later, a horrific event brings a daughter back to her home town and gives everyone a chance to heal and move forward.  For fans of Jane Smiley

Her Every Fear by Peter Swanson

Kate Priddy agrees to swap her London apartment with a distant cousin, Corbin Dell in Boston hoping that the time away will help heal her neurotic tendencies after being kidnapped and held hostage by an ex-boyfriend.  Once in Boston, however, Kate is shocked to learn that Corbin’s next door has been murdered and that the police are interested in talking with Corbin.  Curiosity gets the better part of Kate, especially after she meets her neighbor across the courtyard who, though he didn’t know the murdered woman, seems to know an awful lot about her, including the fact that Corbin frequently visited her in spite of his not admitting to knowing her that well.  The more Kate learns about her cousin, the less she knows what is real and as a killer is slowly revealed she finds herself in a dangerous maze in which she’ll have to trust someone, but will she pick the person who can keep her alive?  Full of twists and turns, Peter Swanson once again plumbs the depth of human emotion keeping the tension high, even until the last page that may leave some readers wondering if Kate has made the right choice, the choice that will keep her alive. 

Behind Her Eyes by Sarah Pinborough

When Louise kisses the man at the bar she has no idea he is her new boss David, her new married boss, nor does she have any idea that she and his beautiful wife Adele will become close friends, keeping their relationship a secret from David. As Louise observes David and Adele’s relationship from the point of view of first a secretary, then a friend, then a lover, she knows something isn’t quite right in the marriage but the more questions she asks the more things don’t seem right. A frightening tale of coming undone with an unforeseen, shocking twist at the end; it has been said before "You'll never see this ending coming" but never has it been more true than with this debut.

Just Jennifer

Plaid and Plagiarism by Molly MacRae

Janet Marsh, her daughter and two friends have all moved to Inversgail, Scotland to run a bookstore/tearoom/bed and breakfast; upon arrival in Inversgail, Janet learns she cannot move into the house she and her ex-husband owned and have been renting out because someone has turned it into a garbage dump.  Janet blames local newspaper columnist Una Graham (fondly known as Ug) but when she and her friends try to catch Una in the act they instead find her body in Janet’s shed.  Now in addition to learning to run Yon Bonnie Books, setting up the tearoom and readying the B&B, Janet has a murder to look into; a stack of unpleasant blackmail letters found in the back of the story opens up new possibilities for suspects, including Janet’s ex-husband.  To add to Janet’s already too long to-do list, she has been tapped by the local librarian to be the judge of the writing contest for Inversgail’s upcoming literature festival, along with a reclusive author who is also Janet’s next door neighbor and who may just be on the suspect list.  This first book in a new series introduces readers to a delightfully quirky cast of characters in a charming setting that they will look forward to returning to time and time again.

  

Just Jennifer

The Clancys of Queens by Tara Clancy

In this laugh-aloud no-holds barred memoir, stand-up comedian, writer Tara Clancy details growing up in Queens during the 1980’s and 1990’s.  Tara was born to an Irish policeman and an Italian social worker, both with big families.  She spent part of her week with the "the Geriatrics of 251st Street" (her Italian grandparents and aunts and uncles), every other weekend with her father and the alternating weekends with her mother at her mother’s boyfriend’s home in the Hamptons, complete with a swimming lagoon and small motorized car for Tara’s use.  Tara tells her story in vignettes, not entirely chronologically, making the narrative a bit hard to follow.  She focuses more on her earlier life and spends less time detailing her high school and college years and her time since then, years that might make an interesting sequel.  The Clancys (and the Riccobonos) loved hard and played hard and Tara was the self-proclaimed Queen (or rat) or the neighborhood, in and out of the neighbors’ homes as if they were her own.  Tara’s honesty and entertaining narrative also illuminate the differences in social classes and shows how her mother’s family (especially her grandparents) who identified strongly with their Italian heritage reacted to the choices their children made as they grew up.  The out-of-time narrative notwithstanding, this is an enjoyable, quick memoir of a time not so long ago that will win Tara some new fans hoping for more of her life so far.

FTC Disclaimer: I received this book from the Blogging for Books program in exchange for this review.

Just Jennifer

Am I Alone Here? Notes on Living to Read and Reading to Live by Peter Orner

Novelist and short story author Peter Orner turns his attention to his own reading habits and preferences in this collection of essays that revisits some of his favorite books, classic (mostly modern) authors such as Virginia Woolf, Isaac Babel and John Cheever, as well as some more unknowns, Elias Canetti, Juan Rulfo and Nobel Prize winner Yasunari Kawabata.  These essays are not just reflections on the work but include personal recollections about where Orner read the work, what was going on in his life and why the book is so important to him.  In many of the essays Orner muses on fathers and sons as he mourns the loss of his own father and reflects in their time together and their relationship.  Orner is a watcher, an observer; some of his favorite places to read and write include the San Francisco hospital’s cafeteria, reading John Cheever in Albania or The Matisse Stories of A.S. Byatt in a run-down Victorian in Cincinnati.  Orner reveres the books as almost sacred objects, both physically and for the wisdom and solace contained within.  Of the Byatt he says it has a “beautiful light blue cover. On it two people are reading. There’s a window and tree in the background.”  Each essay is intimate and personal and reminds us that while reading and writing may be solitary endeavors books bind us not only to the characters within, their creators, but also to each other as they tether us to the world at large while allowing us to float freely wherever we may choose.  Sources and Notes at the end offer further insights to the works mentioned throughout the text.  

Just Jennifer

The Bitch is Back: Older, Wiser, and (Getting) Happier

In this second collection edited by Cathi Hanauer, (The Bitch in the House) over two dozen authors (nine from the original collection) reflect on being a woman in the modern world, feminism, and yes, getting older.  These essays, on topics ranging from relationships with husbands, exes, mothers, finding new men friend, having a baby using IVF without a partner, sex after menopause, co-parenting, and divorce, are brutally honest, but offer a light touch, assuring women we WILL get through it, gracefully, and maybe come out even better than before.  Best-selling author Ann Hood reflects on body image and a healthy weight both at her current age and as a younger woman who worked as a flight attendant during a time when a “perfect” physique was required.  Lizzie Skurnick writes about her decision to get pregnant without a partner, including her family’s reaction, her longing to have a “husband” during the pregnancy and the “what am I doing” moments when she realized how much money she had already spent on getting pregnant, but also how much more money she was going to spend over the course of her child’s lifetime.   The essays are divided into four sections (Me, Myself, and My Midlife Choices; Sex, Lies and Happy(ish) Endings; To Hell and To Hold; and Starting Over making it easy to dip into a section as the mood (or mood swing) strikes.  Read the essays that best suit your current place in life, read the essays written by your favorite writers, but don’t miss a single word in this entertaining, wise collection.

New For November

Moonglow by Michael Chabon

This story of a family, told from the point of view of an unnamed dying grandfather slowly reveals the light and shadows of a marriage and a family, as well as the social context of their existence, as a grandson sees the history of the family he thought he knew in a different light, much the way moonlight reflects and refracts light with shimmering prose and insights.  As a grandson sits by this dying grandfather’s bedside, he tries to glean the last bit of information and family secrets his grandfather has to offer.  In a family that kept secrets as a way of life, the grandson learns more about his grandparents’ marriage than he was ever able to observe as a young child or a young man; he learns of his grandmother’s life growing up in France during World War II and her coming to America and living with a man who lies about his short time in prison during their marriage, a lie which she easily saw through.  Technology and space exploration and rockets are backdrops to this story which often feels more like a reflection or refraction, an autobiography than a novel, all with Chabon’s signature style, carefully observed, characters that are both new and familiar and footnotes to boot.   A November www.libraryreads.org pick. 

Faithful by Alice Hoffman

Alice Hoffman’s books have always been touched with angels, good and bad, and her latest novel is no exception.  Just before their high school graduation, Shelby Richmond and her best friend Helene were in a horrible car accident, one from which Shelby walked away but one that left Helene in a coma hovering between the now and the hereafter.  Shelby spends the next years of her life wandering around also in an in between place while Helene, ensconced in a hospital bed in her childhood home, seeming unaware of what is going on around her, becomes a shrine to which people make a pilgrimage touting Helene’s ability to heal what ails them just by being in her presence.  The one person who probably needs Helene’s miracles, and forgiveness, the most is Shelby who cannot bring herself to visit her old friend.  Shelby follows a high school classmate to Manhattan after Ben professes his love for her, but she still has a hard time feeling anything except for Chinese food and now abandoned dogs; as she navigates a new city she learns there are souls just as lost as she, some more, learns to make friends, and yes, love again, all the while, being guarded by someone who knows her, someone who is real but is not ready to be seen until an unlikely set of circumstances throws them together finally making Shelby feel complete.  Alice Hoffman’s books have a magical realism to them that makes you want to believe in something more than yourself and to never lose hope.  A November www.libraryreads.org pick.

I’ll You There by Wally Lamb

Sixty-year- Felix Funicello (yes, a distant cousin of THAT Funicello) is divorced and cheering on his young adult daughter Aliza as she embarks on a magazine writing career in Manhattan. One evening while setting up for his film club, the college professor is visited by the ghost of an early 20th-century female director who leaves Felix reels of film of his life, offering him the chance to re-enter his life in order to gain, perhaps, a new appreciation of the women in his life and how he got where he is today and where he might go from here.  As Felix revisits his life he sees his mother and sisters as he saw them as a child, but in the back of his mind he can draw on the knowledge and experience of a sixty-year-old as he “watches” the movies from the inside out.  He learns the circumstances of his sister Frances’s birth, a story that would have been enough as a focus for the entire book, but rather Lamb turns these memories and revelations into ways for Felix to understand his young adult daughter more and support her as she tries to break into journalism in New York City and becomes a mother herself.  Charming and witty, this book offers social history from feminism to pop culture.   A November www.libraryreads.org pick.

Say No More by Hank Phillippi Ryan

Boston reporter Jane Ryland is on her way to interview a college administrator about date rape on campus when she and her producer witness a hit and run, unwittingly ruining an alibi, stumbling into something that she’d be better off nowhere near.  On the other side of town, her secret fiancé homicide detective Jake Brogan is investigating the drowning death of Hollywood screen-writer, local adjunct professor Avery Morgan.  In Avery’s community, The Reserve, the residents are quiet and keep to themselves, but Avery’s next-door neighbor is particularly so making Jake have to work harder to find witnesses.  When Jane finds a young woman willing to go on the record about date rape, she quickly realizes that she may unwittingly have information that could help Jake, but how can she feed him the information without revealing her sources and how can she talk to the District Attorney about the hit and run she witnessed without compromising her position as a reporter and how can she and Jake ever tell the world about their engagement and get on with their lives without one of them giving up their livelihood?  Intricate plotting and an engaging, intrepid heroine and hero are trademarks of Ryan’s Jane Ryland series and her latest entry doesn’t fail to disappoint as Jane and Jake once again pursue parallel investigations that ultimately connect in most unexpected ways.  This series with its complex stories lines and complex characters is one not to be missed.  

Coming in October...

Hungry Heart: Adventures in Life, Love and Writing by Jennifer Weiner

The New York Times best-selling author writes about her life [so far] with honesty, sometimes self-deprecation and humor, as she talks about growing up Jewish, overweight with a father who deserted the family when she was in high school, a mother who “came out” in middle age, Weiner’s time at Princeton University where she blossomed into the self-assured writer, her marriage and divorce, giving birth to her two daughters, her path to best-selling author even after walking away from a “big agent” when Weiner doesn’t life the changes she suggests for her first novel and how it feels to find out your father died of a drug overdose on the bathroom floor in his girlfriend’s apartment.  Weiner recounts growing up smarter but heavier than most of her peers and points to the moment (in high school) when she stopped trying to fit in and found out she really did fit in, just in a different way.  Often full of self-doubt, once Weiner realizes that she can’t control everything and can make decisions that are best for her alone (until she has her daughters) and doesn’t have to agree with or approve of other people’s decisions to still love them and be a part of their lives, as she is able to do with her mother who announces when Weiner is an adult, that she is a lesbian.  Weiner’s father is more difficult, but once she accepts what he is and that he made his choices because they were his choices and had nothing to do with her, she is able to move on and grieve his death. 

Full of wit and wisdom, Weiner feels good about herself---finally---and hopes she is able to project this positive feeling not only toward her daughters but to everyone’s life she touches.  This thoroughly enjoyable collection of essays will appeal to not only fans of Weiner’s novels but anyone who enjoys an engaging memoir.

Little Boy Blue by M.J. Arlidge

In what may be her most personal case to date, Detective Inspector Helen Grace is called to a Southampton night club where she realizes she knows the victim who has been asphyxiated after what looks like a night of bondage; she quickly realizes that her double life may be revealed and all her secrets will come out, possibly ruining her career.  A second victim, one who holds Helen Grace’s secrets as well sends Helen to her superior Gardam to confess her connection to the victims, but in a final, very personal twist, Helen finds that she has been outsmarted by someone surprising and unexpected and finds her very freedom on the line.  Full of twists and turns, this latest entry into this series delves even deeper into Helen’s psyche than previous novels and leaves readers with a cliffhanger that will have them breathless until the next installment is released.

News of the World by Paulette Jiles

In post-Civil War Texas, retired and widowed Captain Kidd ride from town to town earning his living reading newspapers to audiences full of those eager for news of the world.  In Wichita Falls he is offered a $50 gold piece in exchange for delivering ten-year-old Johanna to her people in San Antonia four years after being kidnapped by the Kiowa, living as one of their own since.  Kidd agrees to the 400-mile journey, meeting with difficulties he imagined and those he didn't, forming a unique bond with this unsettling young girl who is strong-willed and has no memory of her past being raised by European parents and their ways.  Johanna goes along with Kidd, if not unwillingly, reluctantly, but soon learns that she needs him for protection, food and shelter and comes to trust Kidd for her basic needs and eventually companionship.  Kidd’s initial reluctance fades as well as he learns to communicate with Johanna and comes to realize he may need her as much as she needs him, leading to a surprising decision in this gorgeously written novel with prose and sparse and precise as the barren Texas landscape through which Kidd travels.

Small Great Things by Jodi Picoult 

Ruth Jefferson has been working as a labor and delivery nurse in a Connecticut hospital for over twenty years.  She is stunned when a white supremacist couple tells her supervisor that they don’t want Ruth, or any other African American staff member to touch their baby; to Ruth’s surprise, her supervisor complies and a note is placed in the patient’s file.  The next day, baby Davis goes into distress and Ruth is the only personnel in the nursery at the time.   If she intervenes, she may lose her job; if she doesn’t, the baby may die.  Making a decision, Ruth performs CPR and participates in the team’s efforts to save the baby, efforts which ultimately fail.  What happens to Ruth next is unthinkable, as she is charged with the murder of the baby.  Arrested and incarcerated, Ruth finds herself in an unbelievable situation, a situation which she has certainly read and heard about over the years but never expected to find herself, or a family member in.  Public defender Kennedy McQuarrie takes Ruth’s case but tells Ruth that her charges have nothing to do with race, but rather her actions on the fateful night, but Ruth isn’t sure she agrees.  As Ruth, released on bail, tries to maintain a sense of normalcy for herself and her son, she, and Kennedy, and even her sister who has chosen to embrace her African American heritage, leading a different life than Ruth has chosen for herself, all begin to realize how race affects more things than the seemingly obvious, and the things they, and we, were brought up to believe may not be as cut and dry as they do at first blush.  Even the hateful father of the dead baby comes to realize that not everything is as it seems and that changes everything for everyone.  Picoult once again tackles difficult feelings and situations with an openness and honesty that leave no easy answers.  She is careful not to make too many assumptions and, and in a note at the end of the book, admits to shortcomings and pitfalls she ran up against writing about these sensitive topics and the attempts she made to overcome and understand them.  An epilogue at the end of the novel ties all ends up perhaps a little too neatly for some, but does offer hope and in some cases, even redemption.

Just Jennifer

Fortress by Danielle Trussoni

In her second memoir, the author of the religious thriller Angelogy recounts her marriage and the time she spent living with her family in a medieval castle in a small town, Aubais (which ominously rhymes with “obey”)in the south of France in a last ditch attempt to save her marriage.  Trussoni met her Bulgarian husband Nikolai during her time at the Iowa Writers’ Workshop and was completely swept off of her feet; Nikolai charmed Trussoni and her two-year-old son Alex and she readily agreed to marry him.  Visa and immigration issues led the couple to move to Bulgaria where they lived with Nikolai’s parents and Trussoni uttered her first Bulgarian words when she said “I do” at her wedding; already several weeks pregnant, Trussoni assumed the family would be able to return to the United States; not so: Trussoni, who was beginning to feel trapped, could return to the States (with her son) to give birth but her husband would not be able to accompany her.  Once their daughter was born, the small family never seemed to completely meld.  Nikolai had a daughter from his first marriage, a daughter her rarely saw, and though he was very attentive to his new daughter Nico, he and Trussoni where faltering.  Trussoni thought if the family was to start over together, maybe in a different country, things would be better and so she found a medieval castle in France, a castle with secret passages and secrets rich in history from the Crusades through the Nazi occupation of France. Instead of working its magic on the family, it seemed to have the opposite effect on Trussoni’s husband and eventually the two were living in separate sections of the castle sharing “custody” of their young daughter.  A divorce was inevitable and despite Nikolai’s best efforts, Trussoni was granted full custody of their daughter, another daughter Nikolai no longer has contact with.  Living in New York City, Trussoni is able to view this time in her life with a certain clarity, if not at times with a dreamlike distance, as if the experience happened to someone else, and tells the story of this chapter of her life, with a visceral honesty that can only come from a seasoned writer and observer.

Congratulations to...

...our Grand Prize Winners:

• HQ: Lisa P.
• NC: Augustmom
• SC: Kayleen
• Affiliate Libraries: lets read (Holland)

Clinton Cash

Author: Peter Schweizer
Stars: 5
Review by:bob

Very detailed ,,,,but fees were made to the Clintons by entities with matters pending before the US State Dept.

 

The Red Notebook

Author: Antoine Laurain
Stars: 5
Review by: KM

Truly, a gem. It's small, short and a sophisticated delicacy. Surely you do not wish to pass by a deftly penned quiet Parisian romance?

 

A Week in Winter

Author: Marcia Willett
Stars: 3.5
Review by: BookDancer

Reminiscent of Rosamunde Pilcher's works, centering on a beloved family home in Cornwall, this novel follows the everyday dramas, romances and secrets of several families.  I love "cosy reads" and this is one of them!

 

Johnstown: the Day the Dam Broke

Author: Richard O'Connor
Stars: 4
Review by: Mandy Apgar

The day in question was May 31, 1889 - when the mud dam holding up the waters of Conemaugh Lake in Western Pennsylvania split (after a deluge of rain) and the resulting flood destroyed the town below, leaving over three thousand dead. Efforts to repair the dam (which was often plugged with sticks) were fruitless but constant and there wasn't a resident in Johnstown that wasn't afraid of the monster. But many could not afford to leave, and as the area's prices were so low (kept that way as an incentive by the area mills) they stayed. And who plugged the dam with sticks, refused to do anything when he rains came and the dam spouted torrents? The wealthy members of the fishing club with their lakefront houses of course. They didn't have to look at the thing. They didn't get their houses flooded, or swept away when the dam burst. Or incinerated when a fire broke out amidst the ruins. They didn't have to worry about a bloody thing but at least many were smart enough to pack away and never return after the waters receded. Johnstown attracted its share of ghouls after, as well as angels like Clara Barton, and today the town has been rebuilt and stands somewhat as a memoriam to the floods of 1889 and a later (but heralded, and much less dangerous) one in 1937. Told via eyewitness accounts and very well presented.

 

Paradise of the Pacific: Approaching Hawai'i

Author: Susanna Moore
Stars: 4
Review by: Mandy Apgar

A history of the Hawaiian islands, but sadly lacking in any real explanation as to how they were settled, which is how this gets bumped from a 5. Accounts of the early kings, issues with missionaries, dealing with the influx of problems as more and more persons try to enforce not only their lifestyle but also try to "civilize" persons already far advanced in many ways. And of course the decimation of the native population and species by the influx of imported diseases and poaching. Then, a bit too quickly explained I think, the annexation of Hawai'i. A very well done and thoughtful book, but often sad for showing how poorly humankind has treated itself and nature at times.

 

Big Dead Place

Author: Nicholas Johnson
Stars: 2
Review by: Mandy Apgar

Two things that really annoy me are - irresponsibility and callousness. Sadly those are two personality traits common amongst persons apparently found running the Antarctic base station as well as managing it. The managers don't surprise me - although to find that the national science foundation takes away a shower curtain in a ladies room because of an unlisted but apparently very important reason is a bit off. What really ticks me off is all the work that I know I've put into the sciences, and that friends have, and we will never be as fortunate as some of the drunken schlubs that are able to hop from shooting puppies (and finding it funny) to skipping down there. One lady was hired because she drew penguins on her resume. Seriously. The author is one of the grunts, a day to day worker at the base, and he has his head on fairly straight, but some of these other people you just want to punch and it really takes away from the book.