Showing posts with label Knopf. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Knopf. Show all posts

Saturday, May 14, 2022

Brief Book Reviews - Playing Catch Up - Little Souls; Sandra Dallas -- Marrying the Ketchups; Jennifer Close and Xstabeth; David Keenan

 

Little Souls; Sandra Dallas
Macmillan Audio - 2022
(audio narrator - Carly Robins - very good)

As I've mentioned previously, I don't read a lot of historical fiction but this premise appealed to me when I first read about it.  Set in Colorado, 1918, WWI is happening and the flu pandemic is raging on.  Little Souls is story about (2) sisters: Helen, a nurse and her husband to be, Gil, is a medical student.  Luttie, Helen's 24 year old younger sister, lives with her. Luttie is a bit of a dreamer who has an interest in fashion design and works for a high end department store. Luttie's boyfriend joined the Army to do his part with the war effort.  The sisters are very close. Dorothy is a 10 year old girl who lived with her parents in a small apartment located in the same house the sisters had shared.  When both parents die, under very different circumstances, the sisters take the girl in wanting to make sure that Dorothy is loved and cared for after learning how she had been abused.

Once I started this story I found it hard to put down and it was very easy book to listen to on audio. Not only is this a story about sisters but, it is also a story about helping those in need and righting past injustices that occurred. I found the story kind of comforting even though there were some sad moments, tragic events, but,  there was also a happier ending and a satisfying epilogue as well. Highly recommended to historical fiction fans.

Rating - 4.5/5stars

(NOTE: I received an audio download from the publisher and NetGalley in exchange for my unbiased review)

Marrying the Ketchups; Jennifer Close
Knopf - 2022

Marrying the Ketchups was a book I became curious about by the unusual title and Jennifer Close being an author I enjoyed years ago but one that I hadn't read in a while.

It's a story of (3) generations of a large Irish Catholic family who run an Oak Park (Chicago) restaurant called JP Sullivans.  The founders, Bud and Rose, opened the restaurant in the 1970s and in 2016 a few strange things had happened:  the Chicago Cubs win a World Series, their first in 108 years, poor Bud dies unexpectedly and Trump wins the presidential election  This complicated family must pick up the pieces and get their acts together and, they also must decide what is now best for mother Rose after Bud's death.

There are sisters: Gretchen - mid 30s, a bit on the wild side, lead singer in a band called the Donna Martin Graduates:) and Jane, a mother of two, successful, married to a wealthy man who just might be cheating on her.  Then Teddy, a cousin who manages the restaurant. He's a people-pleaser with issues of his own and then we have Reilly, Teddy's teenaged half-sister.

This is a story about complicated families and the author does a great job helping the reader to get to know and understand these unhappy people and their issues.  Well written, character driven, lots of funny moments even though most everyone is pretty miserable.  I liked this book but, think I might have appreciated it even more if I were younger.  The 2016 political aspects of the story were not overdone - thank goodness.  Worth considering for readers who enjoy a character driven story about complicated families.

Rating - 4/5 stars


(Note:  I received an eGalley download from the publisher and Edelweiss in exchange for my unbiased review.)
Xstabeth; David Keenan
Europa Editions - 2022

I loved Europa Editions and Xstabeth intrigued me when I read about it. I thought it seemed a bit unusual but worth trying especially because it was also a novella with fewer than 140 pages.

I'm really not sure how to classify this or even what to write about it as it was a bit too far out there for me. It's a story about a daughter, a father and the father's his best friend.  The father is singer/songwriter, but not a very good one. His daughter, Aneliya, loves her father but, begins seeing her father's best friend Jaco, who is a better musician than the girl's father.

When I have to skim a novella, it's because the book is not a good fit for me and that was the case here.  There were some explicit sex and, I just didn't get the whole point of the story unfortunately.

Rating - 1.5/5 stars

(Note: I received an eGalley of this novella from the publisher and Edelweiss in exchange for my unbiased review.)

What Else I'm Reading

The Lost Apothecary; Sarah Penner
Park Row - 2021
Book Group Read -  finished - no review yet
3.5/5 stars

Algonquin Books - 2022 (library book - hardcover)
(just started - page 57)

The Shore; Katie Runde
Simon & Schuster - 2022
(reading now - 27% mark)

Klara and the Sun; Kazuo Ishiguro
Random House Audio - 2021
(starting soon)


What are you reading?

Share your week by posting a link on Deb's Blog HERE



Friday, March 4, 2022

Book Review - French Braid; Anne Tyler

 

French Braid; Anne Tyler
Knopf 3/22/2022 and Random House Audio
(9+ hours - narrated by Kimberly Farr (very good)

"Nobody outside a marriage has any real notion of what goes on inside."

It's 1959 and time to meet the all American family - The Garretts  - Mercy and Robin (mother and father) and their (3) children: Alice and Lily are teens and David is the youngest child.   Father, Robin is running the family hardware store in the Baltimore, Maryland area. Robin is sort of removed from the daily life of his children.  The mother, Mercy, tends to the needs of her children but, she is far from a warm and comforting sort of mother. She is unfulfilled with her life, her marriage and, her real passion seems to be her art.  The children: Alice is responsible and the one who likes to follow the rules, Lily is perhaps too boy crazy for her own good and young David seems confused; he longs to be grown up yet still very much a child who needs reassurance. 

As the story begins in 1959, Robin decides that the family should take a vacation. It will be their first and last vacation as a family. We follow the Garrett family from 1959 through the present day.  This is an expansive yet quiet, poignant, reflective kind of story about family.  There are special moments to be shared but, also there is that secret desire to break free from the family. 

I thought the Garrett family felt cold, there was not a lot of emotion but, in reality that is just how some families are.  There was one particular scene on a train involving the grandmother and her granddaughter which will forever be etched in my mind when I think about this book.  In some ways the mother, Mercy reminded me of Delia in Ladder of the Years, a book I finally read a few months ago and loved - she too was an unfulfilled mother needing something more than what her marriage and children provided.

If you are wondering about the significance of the title French Braid it is this - when a hair braid is undone crimps and crinkles remain -- "that's how families work too. You think you're free of them but, you're never really free! The ripples are crimped forever."  Not my favorite Anne Tyler novel but, I'm certainly happy I experienced it. No one writes about family like Anne Tyler, an author who is not afraid to show us human frailties in her flawed characters.

Thanks go to Knopf Publishing and Random House Audio for allowing me access to the eGalley as well as the audio download in exchange for my unbiased review.

Rating - 4.5/5 stars

Wednesday, February 23, 2022

Book Review - The Swimmers; Julie Otsuka

 

The Swimmers; Julie Otsuka
Knopf - 2022

The Swimmers is a very short novel at fewer than 200 pages and, it is a most unique kind of story. 

The story begins with a group of swimmers, all regulars who frequent a community type underground pool (picture a fitness club or YMCA).  These swimmers are obsessed with their routines and find swimming as a way of forgetting their troubles.  For an hour or so each day swimming helps them to cope with everyday life. There is a set of unspoken rules among the regulars and as they admit,  swimming is their addiction of choice.   It's when the pool closes for 10 days each August that the swimmers must face their real lives and deal with neglected families and issues at home. Oddly, each of the swimmers ,with the exception of Alice remains unnamed.  We do learn that Alice is a retired lab technician and she is also forgetful.   

One day a crack appears in the pool, yet no water is escaping.  The inspectors are at a loss and agree that the cause may never be found.  Each of the swimmers thinks there is some significance to the crack and even that it is bad luck to swim over it.  Then one day, the bad news arrives,  the pool management announces the pool will be closing for good.  Alice, however, is allowed to swim an extra lap and forget her troubles for a bit longer.

Next there is a rather abrupt change in story line in which the focus switches to Alice and the story takes a more serious turn.  This section is narrated by her daughter as her mother slips deeper into dementia and eventually must prepare for a move to a memory type care facility.  We learn much about Alice's past, as well as most every detail about what goes on in a memory care facility. 

This was not just a story about obsessed swimmers, it was a touching mother-daughter story as well. It seemed very personal, perhaps at least in part, based on the author's own experience with her mother.  The writing is both unique and beautiful with realistic and touching moments. There seemed to be a clear message about not postponing all the things that you have been meaning to do or people you've wanted to spend time with -  tomorrow, next month or next year are not guaranteed. This is the second book I've read by this author, she has a different style which I very much enjoy.

Rating - 4.5/5 stars

Thanks go to Knopf Publishing and Edelweiss for allowing me access to the eGalley in exchange for my unbiased review.

Tuesday, February 22, 2022

First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros - A Town Called Solace; Mary Lawson


Welcome to First Chapter/Intros, hosted by Yvonne @ Socrates Book ReviewsEach week readers post the first paragraph (or 2) of a book we are reading or plan to read soon.

Knopf Canada - 2021

ONE

CLARA

There were four boxes. Big ones.  They must have lots of things in them because they were heavy, you could tell by the way the man walked when he carried them in, stooped over, knees bent.  He brought them right into Mrs. Orchard's house, next door to Clara's, that first evening and put them on the floor in the living room and just left them there.  That meant the boxes didn't have necessary things in them, things he needed straight away like pyjamas, or he'd have unpacked them.

I started this book yesterday and I'm really enjoying it.  In case, you are curious about CLARA - she is an eight year old girl.  This is an author I have read and enjoyed in the past so I couldn't wait to read it. I was also happy to read that JoAnn at Gulfside Musing loved it.

Tuesday, February 15, 2022

First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros - The Swimmers; Julie Otsuka

Welcome to First Chapter/Intros, hosted by Yvonne @ Socrates Book ReviewsEach week readers post the first paragraph (or 2) of a book we are reading or plan to read soon.

The Swimmers; Julie Otsuka
Knopf - 2/2022

THE UNDERGROUND POOL

The pool is located deep underground, in a cavernous chamber many feet beneath the streets of our town.  Some of us come here because we are injured, and need to heal. We suffer from bad backs, fallen arches, shattered dreams, broken hearts, anxiety, melancholia, anhedonia, the usual aboveground afflictions.  Others of us are employed at the college nearby and prefer to take our lunch breaks down below, in the waters, far away from the harsh glares of our colleagues and screens.  Some of us come here to escape, if only for an hour, our disappointing marriages on land.  Many of us live in the neighborhood and simply love to swim.  One of us--Alice, a retired lab technician now in the early stages of dementia--comes here because she always has. And even though she may not remember the combination to her locker or where she put her towel, the moment she slips into the water she knows what to do. Her stroke is long and fluid,  her kick is strong, her mind is clear. "Up there," she says, "I'm just another little old lady. But down here at the pool, I'm myself."

What do you think - read more or pass?

Saturday, October 30, 2021

Book Review - Stay With Me; Ayobami Adebayo

 

Stay With Me; Ayobami Adebayo
Knopf - 2017

Akin and Yejide are a young professional couple in Nigeria who after four years in remain childless. Akin is pressured by his mother Moomi, to take a second wife who can give them a child.   She even has the woman in mind, her name in Funmi.  Akin and his wife do not believe in polygamy but after trying fertility specialists, healers as well as some bizarre folklore beliefs still no pregnancy.  Of course, it is assumed Yejide is to blame.  When Yejide learns about the second wife she feels desperate to get pregnant and, this is where the story gets interesting.  I can't say too much more about the storyline without giving spoilers but, this story was decent and had plenty of discussion points.

The story covers the periods 1985 - 2008 with a backdrop of political turmoil. The story is told in      alternating POVs from the two main characters who were well-developed yet unlikeable in their        own ways.  The story is heavy in dialogue with a blend of extremely sad moments and laugh out      loud scenes as well which was nice as this book could have been a real downer.  I liked                      learning about the Nigerian culture and the value placed on offspring above all else.  My book          group met to discuss this one this month and most thought it was an interesting read but no one really loved it.  Readers who like learning about other cultures should try this one.

          I originally tried the audio download from the library but, I found the Nigerian accent a bit too                         difficult at times so, I switched to the library print copy instead. 

Rating - 4/5 stars

Thursday, December 17, 2020

Book Review - The Mistletoe Murder and Other stories; P.D. James

                                               The Mistletoe Murder and Other Stories; P.D. James 

                                                                          Knopf - 2016

P.D. James (1920 - 2014) was one of those authors I always meant to read but, it took until 2020 to try her books.  In this offering, published after her death, there are (4) short mysteries in fewer than 200 pages. The last (2) feature Detective Adam Dalgliesh, a character she featured in (14) earlier mysteries. All of the stories have some merit but, it was the first (2) that I enjoyed the most: The Mistletoe Murder and  A Very Commonplace Murder.

The Mistletoe Murder - was the most descriptive in the collection. It takes place at a remote country estate some (60) years earlier just after WWII.  It tells the story leading up to the murder of a black sheep of a family, needless to say, the deceased cousin was not well liked.  There were not a lot of characters in this mystery so not too many suspects but, still a surprise unraveling at the end. The story was told is the first person, a good character study too.

A Very Commonplace Murder uses a delightful blend of wit and humor. Sixteen years earlier Ernest Gabriel witnessed a crime. However, he was doing something he should not have been doing - spying on a couple. Since he has dirt on his hands, he is reluctant to come forward as a witness for the accused.

The Boxdale Inheritance - a young lovely wife is suspected of poisoning her much older, wealthy husband. She was found not guilty but, the suspicion that she killed him followed her through old age. Sixty-seven years later the case has been reopened at the request of the grandson of the victim since the inheritance may have been ill gotten. 

The Twelve Clues of Christmas - Was it murder or suicide?  The owner of Haskerville Hall is dead and it originally appears to be a suicide but, further investigation - (12) pieces of evidence points to murder.

Overall, this was a fun way to spend a few brief hours during the month of December.  While I enjoyed this short collection, I'm not sure I feel motivated enough to go back and read the (14) book series.

Rating - 4/5 stars

Thursday, December 10, 2020

Book Review - Hamnet; Maggie O'Farrell

 


Hamnet, Maggie O'Farrell
Knopf - 2020

I don't read a lot of historical fiction but, the weird thing is when I do, I tend to enjoy it.  The same was true of Hamnet.  "Hamnet" was the son of William Shakespeare, although his name is never mentioned in the book, instead there are only references such as: Agnes' husband, the glovemaker's son and the Latin tutor for the reader to make the connection. 

The story is told from the POV of Agnes, Hamnet's mother.  From the beginning of the novel there was a feeling of desperation as Hamnet searches for his mother, because it is his twin sister, Judith, who is very ill. His mother is away from the home and his father is working in Stratford-upon-Avon.  Ironically, it is Hamnet who ends up dead at the age of 11 in 1596 from what was believe to be the bubonic plague or Black Death. 

The story works in many ways, although the writing took a bit of getting used to. The writing is clearly literary fiction at its finest. I  must say I struggled for the first 25 pages or so with the third person, present tense POV. The story alternated between Hamnet as a child and his short life and how Agnes meets Will, their marriage and the birth of their children etc. Agnes is a strong, smart woman full of passion and love for all of her family. The aftermath of Hamnet's death strains the marriage and causes those left behind to ask "what if?" wondering whether the boy's death could have been prevented. 

You need not be into Shakespeare to enjoy this story. It is a story about a mother's love for her children and about loss and grief.  Heavily character driven, all of the characters were well explored, except perhaps the oldest child Susannah. The details of the town and home were beautifully written. There was a lot of foreshadowing of events to come and some of the passages required a pen in hand, just so haunting.

Rating - 4.5/5

Quotes --

"Every life has its kernel, its hub, its epicenter, from which everything flows out, to which everything returns.  This moment is the absent mothers."

"She grows up with a hidden, private flame inside her:  it licks at her, warms her, warns her.  You need to get away, the flame tells her, you must."

"Anyone, Eliza is thinking, who describes dying as 'slipping away' or 'peaceful' has never witnessed it happen.  Death is violent, death is a struggle, the body clings to life, as ivy to a wall, and will not easily let go, will not surrender its grip without a fight."

Tuesday, December 1, 2020

First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros - Hamnet, Maggie O'Farrell

 


Welcome to
 First Chapter/Intros, now hosted by Yvonne @ Socrates Book ReviewsEach week readers post the first paragraph (or 2) of a book they are reading or that they plan to read soon. 

Hamnet, Maggie O'Farrell
Knopf - 2020

"A BOY IS COMING DOWN A FLIGHT OF STAIRS.

The passage is narrow and twists back on itself. He takes each step slowly, sliding himself along the wall, his boots meeting each tread with a thud.

Near the bottom, he pauses for a moment, looking back the way he has come.  Then, suddenly resolute, he leaps the final three stairs, as is his habit. He stumbles as he lands, falling to his knees on the flagstone floor."

I have to admit this intro, the writing style, is off putting to me. However, I've read about 30 pages so far and I am actually liking it so far.

Have you tried this one? Any plans?

Wednesday, April 22, 2020

Book Review - Sea Wife; Amity Gage


TITLE:  Sea Wife
AUTHOR:  Amity Gage
PUBLISHER: A. Knopf 
PUB. YEAR: 2020
SETTING: CT
FORMAT: eGalley
RATING: - 4/5


The Sea Wife was an interesting read about a strained marriage and a man with a dream. A dream to give up his unsatisfying job, buy a boat and have his family sail the Caribbean with him for a year. 

Michael Partlow is the unhappy husband, his wife Juliet is a stay-at-home mom with two young children, Sybil 7, and Georgie 2. For nearly a decade Juliet has been working on her PhD; she is also a woman who suffers from depression stemming from abuse as a child. Despite Juliet's concerns, she decides to go along with Michael's plans. What could possibly go wrong?

Based in part on true events, the story alternates between Michael and Juliet's experiences along their sailing journey. Michael's thoughts tare shared through journaling and Juliet's as she looks back once she has returned home.  The story, sad at times, also has a good amount of joy and splendor as well.  I enjoyed setting and the writing style which was a bit different, I would like to try other books by this author as well.

Tuesday, March 24, 2020

First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros - Sea Wife; Amity Gage



Thanks to Yvonne at Socrates’ Book Reviews for taking over FCFPTI.

 Sea Wife; Amity Gage
A. Knopf - 2020

1.

"Where does a mistake begin? Lately I've found this simple question difficult. Impossible, actually.  A mistake has roots in both time and space--a person's reasoning and her whereabouts. Somewhere in the intersection of those two dimensions is the precisely bounded mistake--in nautical terms, its coordinates."

I haven't been able to focus on much reading lately but, I started this one last night and I'm enjoying it so far.  Isn't the cover beautiful? What do you think about the intro?

Tuesday, February 18, 2020

First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros - Weather, Jenny Offill


Each Tuesday, Vicki, from 
I’d Rather Be At The Beach hosts First Chapter 
First Paragraph Tuesday Intros where readers post the opening paragraph(s)
 of a book that they are reading or plan to read. Here's my pick for this week:

Weather, Jenny Offill
Knopf - 2020


NOTES FROM A TOWN MEETING IN MILFORD, CONNECTICUT, 1640

Voted, that the earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof; voted, that the earth is given to the Saints; voted, that we are the Saints.

ONE

"In the morning, the one who is mostly enlightened comes in.  There are stages and she is in the second to the last, she thinks.  This stage can be described only by a Japanese word. 'Buket of black paint,' it means.

I spend time pulling books for the doomed adjunct.  He has been working on his dissertation for eleven years.  I give him reams of copy paper, binder clips and pens.  He is writing about a philosopher I have never heard of. He is minor, but instrumental, he told me. Minon but instrumental!"

What do you think? Read more or pass?

Wednesday, July 31, 2019

Chances Are; Richard Russo


AUTHOR:  Richard Russo
PUBLISHER: Random House Audio and Knopf
PUB. YEAR: 2019
SETTING: Martha's Vineyard - MA
FORMAT:  audio (11+ hours) and eGalley
RATING - 5/5

In this story, three old friends from Minerva College in Connecticut, now 66 years of age, return to Martha's Vineyard, the place they celebrated college graduation decades earlier.  The place holds both good and bad memories for the trio as the woman each of them had loved disappeared on that Memorial Day weekend, 1971, decades earlier. Just what happened to Jacey, the young woman each cared so much about?

Together again, the three aging friends: Lincoln, a commercial real estate broker, Teddy who owns a small publishing business and Mickey, a musician, try to piece together just what happened to Jacey.  As each man looks back at what had transpired from their college days to the present: the Vietnam war and the draft lottery and direction that their lives had taken as a result, bits and pieces of their lives as well as the Jacey mystery begins to come together.  

Once again, I found this story to be another trip down memory lane in many ways and all that happened in those 40 plus years. I loved the Martha's Vineyard setting and that this was a very character driven novel. Each character was well explored, very human and somewhat flawed. The mystery element surrounding Jacey's disappearance added a lot to an already great story.  

This one was a combo audio listen (very good narrator) and eGalley read.

Tuesday, July 23, 2019

First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros - Chances Are; Richard Russo


On Tuesdays, Vicki, ( I’d Rather Be At The Beach hosts First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros where  readers post the opening paragraph (or 2 ) of a book they are reading or that they plan to read.

This is my second book this month that takes place at least in part in 1969 - 50 years ago. The last book was, Summer of 69; Elin Hilderbrand - loved it but no review yet.

1969 - 50 years ago: Woodstock, Bobby Kennedy assassination, Vietnam war, Apollo moon landings, the last Beatles concert and so many more memorable events. I was in high school in then - definitely old enough to remember what a wild year it had been.  

Today's featured book is a story about 3 male friends (all 66 years old in the present). The story also flashes back to 1969 and something that happened back then....I'm about 50% through and it's really a good story by a talented author.


Chances Are; Richard Russo
Knopf-2019

Prologue

The three old friends arrived on the island in reverse order, from farthest to nearest: Lincoln, a commercial real estate broker, practically cross-country from Las Vegas; Teddy, a small-press publisher, from Syracuse; Mickey, a musician and sound engineer, from nearby Cape Cod. All were sixty-six years old and had attended the same liberal arts college in Connecticut where they'd slung hash at a campus sorority.  The other hashers, invariably frat boys, claimed to be there by choice, because so many of the Thetas were hot, whereas Lincoln, Teddy and Mickey were scholarship students doing the job out of varying degrees of economic necessity. Lincoln, as good-looking as any of the frat boys, was immediately made a face man,  which meant donning a scratchy white waist-length jacket serve the girls in the sorority's dining room.  Teddy, who worked at a restaurant during his junior and senior years of high school, became a cook's helper, making salads, stirring sauces, plating entrees and desserts. Mickey? They took one look and escorted him over to a sink where a mountain of dirty pots sat piled alongside a large cardboard box of off-brand steel scrubbers. Such was their freshman year.  By the time they were seniors, Lincoln has made head hasher and could offer both his friends positions in the dining room.  Teddy, who'd had enough of the kitchen, promptly accepted, but Mickey said he doubted there was a serving jacket big enough to fit him.  Anyway, he preferred remaining a kitchen slave to making nice with the fancy girls out front, since at least the galley was his own."

Does this seem like one you'd want to read?

Thursday, May 2, 2019

The River; Peter Heller

AUTHOR:  Peter Heller
PUBLISHER:  Knopf
PUB. YEAR: 2019
SETTING:  Canada
FORMAT:  - print - library
RATING - 4.5/5

 Wynn, from Vermont and Jack, from Colorado are friends who met at Dartmouth. Both share a love of fishing, sleeping under the stars and books.  The two decided to canoe the Maskwa River in Canada, doing what they love.  However, instead of the relaxing time filled with peace and tranquility they imagined, the two face unexpected dangers and find themselves fighting for their own survival.

I'm not a lover of the great outdoors (except the beach) and I give a big "no thanks" to hiking and camping as well, but, I must say I really loved this story.  It definitely helped me to understand the appeal that draws some to this type of adventure.

The author is incredible - the story starts our very slow with all kinds of beautiful details about nature, it's sights and sounds. There is peace, serenity and beauty to be found all around; I felt a part of the landscape.  He then gradually builds the tension as the two friends put themselves in a bad situation and are faced with new danger and a fight to survive.  There is much to love about this book of friendship, the great outdoors and survival.  Outdoor lover or not, give this one a try.

Sunday, April 28, 2019

Inheritance; Dani Shapiro, a memoir


AUTHOR:  Dani Shapiro
PUBLISHER:  Alfred Knopf
PUB. YEAR: 2019
SETTING:  n/a
FORMAT:  -  print/library
RATING - 4/5

Blond, blue-eyed author Dani Shapiro was told on a few occasions that she didn't look Jewish even though she grew up in a Jewish Orthodox family with roots from Eastern Europe.  One day in 2016, on a whim she decides to have a DNA test done in conjunction with Ancestry.com.  When the results come back, her life is turned upside down.  She learns quickly that the only father she had known, was not her biological father. 

With both parents now deceased, but a husband willing to help her unlock the mystery of her conception, she was quickly able to piece together just who her biological father was. Her biological father was a 1960s University of Pennsylvania medical student and sperm donor and now, a retired physician.

Deeply personal and moving,  as I read her story it began to raise all sorts of questions for me.  I found this memoir fascinating and a real page-turner. I thought it was sad that many of the questions that she would have liked to have answered were ones that only the two people  she thought she knew  best took to their graves.

If you have any interest in genetics or paternity, try this memoir.

Tuesday, April 23, 2019

First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros - The River; Peter Heller


Each Tuesday, Vicki, from I’d Rather Be At The Beach hosts First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros where  readers post the opening paragraph (sometime two) of a book they are reading or that they plan to read.  Here's an except from a book I've been looking forward to. What do you think?

The River; Peter Heller
Knopf - 2019

PROLOGUE

"They had been smelling smoke for two days.

At first they thought it was another campfire and that surprised them because they had not heard the engine of a plane and they had been traveling the string of long lakes for days and had not seen sign of another person or even the distant movement of another canoe.  The only tracks in the mud of the portages were wolf and moose, otter bear."

What do you think? It's been getting some great reviews.

Thursday, September 13, 2018

I Remember Nothing and Other Reflections; Nora Ephron



AUTHOR: Nora Ephron
PUBLISHER: Knopf
PUB. YEAR: 2010
SETTING: unsure
FORMAT:  - my shelves
RATING: 4/5 stars


In this collection of some (23) essays, the late Nora Ephron (2012) writes on a variety of subjects; past, present and future. One story,  "My Aruba", is an essay that Ephron names after her cowlick, a bald spot on the back of her head. In "My Life as an Heiress", she talks about family and how she was not from a close-knit family. She resented that her brother Hal got to attend Columbia while she had to go to a public college. Then in another short reflection simply titled, "Teflon" she made me smile once again. Her reflections are often funny, sometimes downright quirky, and other times insightful and though provoking.

The author wrote this collection when she was dealing with leukemia which most of her followers were not even aware of at the time.  Her fans were naturally shocked to learn of her passing in 2012 at the age of 71.

I thought this was a nice collection after, I Feel Bad About My Neck and Other Thoughts on Being a Woman, a book that had really resonated with me when I read it.

Sunday, September 2, 2018

The Clock Dance; Anne Tyler


TITLE: Clock Dance
AUTHOR: Anne Tyler
PUBLISHER: Knopf
PUB. YEAR: 2018
SETTING: PA, AZ, MD
FORMAT:  - PrintLibrary
RATING: 4/5 stars

MY THOUGHTS:

Clock Dance opens in 1967, PA, and follows the life of the book's main character Willa  Drake. We first meet Willa when she is only 11 years old.  Her dysfunctional family includes a mother, who walks out on the family without notice, her passive father and a younger sister. At 21 Willa marries her college boyfriend and at 41 she finds herself a young widow.  Fast forward to part II, Willa is remarried and living in Arizona. It's a marriage that demonstrates that she has repeated some of the patterns of her past, When an unexpected phone call from Baltimore from someone in need of help causes Willa to leave her home in Arizona.  While in Baltimore, it's like a lightbulb finally goes off, helping Willa to decide how the remainder of her life might possibly play out.

This was a slow moving story. I loved the writing but,  I  found myself wishing Willa would become a stronger, more outspoken woman. She was one of those women who never expected much from other people, including her family, and as a result she got very little in return for her efforts.  I was happy I read this one even though it wasn't perfect,  I thought that the quirky characters introduced toward the end of the novel were delightful.

Sunday, July 1, 2018

Month in Review _ Goodbye June


June was a busy month in general and yet, still a good month for reading. I finished (9) books in June, making this (49) books for the first half of 2018. 

Books Read in June (reviews coming soon - I hope)
  1. The Great Alone; Kristin Hannah (audio) 4.5/5 - June/June 2018
  2. The Little Clan; Iris Martin Cohen (ARC) 3.5/5 - June/2018
  3. Saving Cee Cee Honeycut; Beth Hoffman - 4/5 - June 2018 (reread-book group)
  4. The Banker's Wife; Christina Alger - (eGalley) 3.5/5 June 2018
  5. Killers of the Flower Moon: the Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI; David Grann - 4/5 (audio) June/2018
  6. Right Behind You; Lisa Gardner - 4.5/5 (audio) - June/2018
  7. The Outsider; Stephen King (print/library) - 4/5 June 2018
  8. The Chalk Man; C.J. Tudor (audio) 4/5 June/2018
  9. The Waiting Room; Emily Bleeker (eGalley) 3.5/5
New Book Arrivals
  1. The Mermaid and Mrs. Hancock; Imogen Hermes Gowar (sent by Penguin UK)
  2. The Great Believers; Rebecca Makkai (sent by Viking)
  3. Sweet Little Lies; Caz Frear (Zaffre Publishing)
  4. Putney; Zafka Zinoieff (sent by Harper)
  5. Go Ask Fannie; Elisabeth Hyde (sent by Amazon Vine - GP Putnam)
  6. Safe Houses;Dan Fesperman (sent by Knopf)
  7. The Myth of Perpetual Summer; Susan Crandall (sent by Gallery Books)
  8. The Long Path to WisdomJan Philipp Sender (sent by Other Press)


In case you missed my post with my summer reading plans, here are the books I hope to complete.
  1. Baby Teeth; Zoje Stage - We Need to Talk About Kevin meets Gone Girl meets The Omen...a twisty, delirious read that will constantly question your sympathies for the two characters as their bond continues to crumble.”―Entertainment Weekly
  2. 84, Charing Cross Road; Helene Haniff - "84, Charing Cross Road will beguile and put you in tune with mankind... It will provide an emollient for the spirit and sheath for the exposed nerve." -- The New York Times
  3. Clock Dance; Anne Tyler - "A bittersweet, hope-filled look at two quirky families that have broken apart and are trying to find their way back to one another . . . The cast of sharply drawn characters dominates in ways both reflective and raucous across a series of emotional events.”
    Publishers Weekly
  4. The Dry; Jane Harper - A small town hides big secrets in The Dry, an atmospheric, page-turning debut mystery by award-winning author Jane Harper.
  5. The Outsider; Stephen King - An unspeakable crime. A confounding investigation. At a time when the King brand has never been stronger, he has delivered one of his most unsettling and compulsively readable stories. (completed 4/5)
  6. The Other Mother; Carol Goodman -“An atmospheric and harrowing tale, richly literary in complexity but ripe with all the crazed undertones, confusions, and forebodings inherent in the gothic genre. Recommend this riveting, du Maurier–like novel to fans of Jennifer McMahon.” — Booklist (starred review)
  7. Made for Love; Alissa Nutting - From the exciting and provocative writer of Tampa, a poignant, riotously funny story of how far some will go for love—and how far some will go to escape it. 
  8. The House Swap; Rebecca Fleet -" She may not know exactly who is in her house. But she knows why they are there.  A house swap becomes the eerie backdrop to a chilling look inside a broken marriage filled with tantalizing secrets."
  9. Something in the Water; Catherine Steadman - “With unreliable characters, wry voices, exquisite pacing, and a twisting plot, Steadman potently draws upon her acting chops. . . . A darkly glittering gem of a thriller from a new writer to watch.”Kirk's Reviews (starred review)
  10. Moonglow; Michael Chabon - “A wondrous book that celebrates the power of family bonds and the slipperiness of memory….A thoroughly enchanting story about the circuitous path that a life follows, about the accidents that redirect it, and about the secrets that can be felt but never seen, like the dark matter at the center of every family’s cosmos.” (Ron Charles, The Washington Post)
Somebody had a birthday ---

Our youngest granddaughter is now 4
(Where did the time go?)