Recommended: The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce

Overview:

 

Harold Fry is convinced that he must deliver a letter to an old friend in order to save her, meeting various characters along the way and reminiscing about the events of his past and people he has known, as he tries to find peace and acceptance.

Recently retired, sweet, emotionally numb Harold Fry is jolted out of his passivity by a letter from Queenie Hennessy, an old friend, who he hasn't heard from in twenty years. She has written to say she is in hospice and wanted to say goodbye. Leaving his tense, bitter wife Maureen to her chores, Harold intends a quick walk to the corner mailbox to post his reply but instead, inspired by a chance encounter, he becomes convinced he must deliver his message in person to Queenie--who is 600 miles away--because as long as he keeps walking, Harold believes that Queenie will not die.

So without hiking boots, rain gear, map or cell phone, one of the most endearing characters in current fiction begins his unlikely pilgrimage across the English countryside. Along the way, strangers stir up memories--flashbacks, often painful, from when his marriage was filled with promise and then not, of his inadequacy as a father, and of his shortcomings as a husband.

Ironically, his wife Maureen, shocked by her husband's sudden absence, begins to long for his presence. Is it possible for Harold and Maureen to bridge the distance between them? And will Queenie be alive to see Harold arrive at her door?

A Memoir of Grief (Continued) by Jennifer Weiner

Overview:

 

When Eleanor Goode meets Gerald King, she's a senior at Wellesley who's won all the writing prizes. He's just published his first novel, Dirty Blond, and is well on his way to becoming one of the literary lions of his day. Gerry seduces Ellie, spinning her a fantasy of working with him, two writers, side by side. How could she have known that, in their years together, it would be one typewriter, not two; his words, not hers? How she would become the fetcher of coffee, the holder of trinkets fans would press into his hands after readings, the keeper of his legacy.

A Memoir of Grief (Continued) begins with Gerald's death. Ellie, who hasn't written more than a grocery list in decades of marriage, had no intention of writing a memoir. It's not until she realizes how broke he left her that she decides to write a whitewashed account of her life with the Great Man of Letters. Widow's Walk spends over a year on the New York Times bestseller list. Critics hail Ellie's talent, the revelatory way she writes about grief, and how to live through it.

Ellie enjoys the attention, but happily thinks that'll be the end of her literary career;until her agent starts asking about another book.

 

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Review:

A Memoir of Grief (Continued) chronicles Ellie King's life after her husband's death. After years as Gerald's keeper, it's finally Ellie's chance to step out of his shadow. A quick, engaging read. Fun for any fan of Jennifer Weiner's.

Review: The Road Less Graveled by Wendy Laird

Overview:

The Road Less Graveled is the account of a family that escapes a collapsing economy and the overscheduled American lifestyle, at least temporarily, by following their dreams to Italy.

Part Tuscan idyll and part cautionary tale, Wendy Laird’s latest Kindle Single tells the flip-side story of expat existence, what it takes to make it happen, and how a life on a well-mapped trajectory can veer off course in the process. Laird’s beautiful prose and acerbic wit keep the book, if not her own agenda, on the right track

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Review:

If a line that begins like this: "And in keeping with the exasperating lack of class distinctions" is meant to be funny, I must have misplaced my sense of humor. Laird is arrogant, narrow minded and silly... at best. The Road Less Graveled reeks of false class. A spoiled, plain-jane middle-classer masquerading as a sophisticated jet-setter. She pokes fun at anyone who seems to have more sophistication or a bigger wallet. The "exasperated" English translations for Italian phrases become repetitive and dull.

I spent two stints living in Italy. Some experiences were wonderful, others less so, but I was always able to embrace the experience. I could accept that in Italy, Italians did things differently, but it didn't make it wrong. Laird spent the better part of the book complaining about how everything was done. For wanting to spend a year abroad, she appears ill-prepared for the experience.

. The later chapters are more reflective. Laird finally seems to be settled in Italy; however it was too late to find the family endearing. As a result their ultimate financial downfall doesn't garner much sympathy.

 I've read many books featuring Americans in Italy. Most were quite funny or inspiring. This was not one of them.

Three Romes by Duncan Fallowell

Overview:

 

In 1972 on a long summer vacation in a near-empty apartment; in September 1987 to track down the designer Valentino; in 2013 for a winter’s stay which – somehow – finds the author entering one of the most astonishing secret places in the world: three eras, three different approaches, but clearly all from the same hand. As original and provocative as ever, Duncan Fallowell takes the reader through his personal experience of the city on an eerie spiral of romance and comedy and wonder. This is Rome as you’ve never read it before

 

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Review:

 

Three Romes records Fallowell's visits to the Eternal City in 1972, 1987 and 2013. Part one reminded me of Jack Kerouac: rambling, conceptual, and slightly hazy. It felt ripped from Fallowell's diary. He was the intended audience. Part two reads as an article, perhaps for the Life & Style section for the Wall Street Journal.  Part three lands somewhere between the two. An established writer taking notes for himself, to use for a later published work.

 

Personally, I enjoyed the 2013 piece the most. Fallowell seems to have hit his stride; producing a piece that is atmospheric, suspenseful, engaging, and masterful. It was the only piece that really exudes 'Rome' for me. 1972 was a very individualized experience. An excellent example of creative writing, but not necessarily relatable. 1987 was interesting, but said little about Rome or Italy.

 

Review: Inside the O'Briens by Lisa Genova

Overview:

 

From award-winning, New York Times bestselling author and neuroscientist Lisa Genova comes a powerful new novel that does for Huntington’s Disease what her debut Still Alice did for Alzheimer’s.

Joe O’Brien is a forty-four-year-old police officer from the Irish Catholic neighborhood of Charlestown, Massachusetts. A devoted husband, proud father of four children in their twenties, and respected officer, Joe begins experiencing bouts of disorganized thinking, uncharacteristic temper outbursts, and strange, involuntary movements. He initially attributes these episodes to the stress of his job, but as these symptoms worsen, he agrees to see a neurologist and is handed a diagnosis that will change his and his family’s lives forever: Huntington’s Disease.

Huntington’s is a lethal neurodegenerative disease with no treatment and no cure. Each of Joe’s four children has a 50 percent chance of inheriting their father’s disease, and a simple blood test can reveal their genetic fate. While watching her potential future in her father’s escalating symptoms, twenty-one-year-old daughter Katie struggles with the questions this test imposes on her young adult life. Does she want to know? What if she’s gene positive? Can she live with the constant anxiety of not knowing?

As Joe’s symptoms worsen and he’s eventually stripped of his badge and more, Joe struggles to maintain hope and a sense of purpose, while Katie and her siblings must find the courage to either live a life “at risk” or learn their fate.

Praised for writing that “explores the resilience of the human spirit” (The San Francisco Chronicle), Lisa Genova has once again delivered a novel as powerful and unforgettable as the human insights at its core.

 

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Review:

Lisa Genova really gives Huntingdon's Disease a face, name, and family. I had no knowledge of this debilitating disease prior to reading Inside the O'Briens, and now feel compelled to learning more. Genova's descriptions are so authentic,  for the first several chapters I had to remind myself it's a fiction book.

Inside the O'Briens reveals the heartbreak of a future outlined by tragedy, but the triumph of the human spirit, which cannot be contained. We follow husband and father, Joe O'Brien as he and his family learn about his diagnosis. The story is revealed through the eyes of Joe, who struggles to see life as living with Huntingdon's rather than dying from it, and daughter Katie. At 21 and the youngest of four, Katie struggles to live life without the dark cloud of Huntingdon's Disease. She must also decide if knowing her own gene status will help or hurt this process.

Genova has created a  complex, and compelling family. Through moments of joy, pain, anger, and hope, I was rooting for the O'Briens. The story was raw and real. It described the many faces of terminal illness, and the many reactions to it. There was so much compassion for each of the family members as they worked through Joe's diagnosis, and its impact on them. A beautifully written novel.

*I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

 

 

Recommended:The True Story of Hansel and Gretel by Louise Murphy

Overview:

 

In the last months of the Nazi occupation of Poland, two children are left by their father and stepmother to find safety in a dense forest. Because their real names will reveal their Jewishness, they are renamed "Hansel" and "Gretel." They wander in the woods until they are taken in by Magda, an eccentric and stubborn old woman called "witch" by the nearby villagers. Magda is determined to save them, even as a German officer arrives in the village with his own plans for the children.

Combining classic themes of fairy tales and war literature, Louise Murphy’s haunting novel of journey and survival, of redemption and memory, powerfully depicts how war is experienced by families and especially by children. The True Story of Hansel and Gretal tells a resonant, riveting story.

Review: The Room by Jonas Karlsson

Overview: 

Bjorn is a compulsive, exacting bureaucrat who discovers a secret room at the government office where he works--a secret room that no one else in his office will acknowledge. When Bjorn is in his room, what his coworkers see is him standing by the wall and staring off into space looking dazed, relaxed, and decidedly creepy. Bjorn's bizarre behavior eventually leads his coworkers to try to have him fired, but Bjorn will turn the tables on them with help from his secret room. Author Jonas Karlsson doesn't leave a word out of place in this brilliant, bizarre, delightful take on how far we will go--in a world ruled by conformity--to live an individual and examined life.

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Review:

At first Bjorn comes across as a co-working nightmare: an arrogant, rude corporate climber with zero self awareness. He operates without knowledge of social cues or norms, and sees the world in black and white, with little use for others. His clueless naiveté in direct contrast to someone of his "intelligence".

By chapter seventeen two realities seem to emerge: Bjorn's and everyone else's. While Bjorn has enjoyed several visits to the room between the elevator and bathrooms, his colleagues simply see him standing against a blank wall.  His behavior sets off even the shyest of his colleagues. But the more his co-workers try to convince Bjorn there is no such room, the more adamantly he claims there is. Surely an entire office can't be crazy?! Yet it's hard not to believe Bjorn's version of reality.

A clever commentary on conformity, office politics, and how difficult it can be to swim against the tide.

* I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Review: The Wanderer in Unknown Realms: A Novella by John Connolly

Overview:

 

"Books alter men, and men, in their turn, alter worlds.”

Soter is a man who has been haunted by World War I. But when he’s sent to investigate the disappearance of Lionel Maudling, the owner of a grand country house whose heir may be accused for his death, he encounters a home that will lead him to nightmares he could have never imagined.

Maudling’s estate houses countless books of every sort—histories, dramas, scientific treatises. But none seems to offer Soter any hint to Maudling’s whereabouts, until he’s led to an arcane London bookseller where the reclusive scholar made his last purchase. What Soter finds at the end of a twisted maze of clues is a book like no other, with a legacy that will put everything he knows in danger…

An inventive horror novella from internationally bestselling author John Connolly, this is a story of madness, of obsession, and of books’ power to change the world.

 

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Review:

 

The Wanderer in Unknown Realms is another example of John Connolly's mastery of the written word and storytelling. This novella was a suspenseful and atmospheric read. The characters so easily conjured.  The Wanderer was a quick read that left me at the edge of my seat and eager to learn what fate awaits Soter.

While the novella falls into the fantasy/magical realism spectrum, the underlying tone is based in reality. Books do spread ideas both inspiring and dangerous. The lines between madness and clarity can be blurred. In many ways I was reminded of Tolkien's manifestation of war in The Lord of the Rings. Is Connolly's Soter's mind war torn, or is he the only one privy to the truth?

Recommeded: The Places in Between by Rory Stewart

Overview:

 

In January 2002 Rory Stewart walked across Afghanistan-surviving by his wits, his knowledge of Persian dialects and Muslim customs, and the kindness of strangers. By day he passed through mountains covered in nine feet of snow, hamlets burned and emptied by the Taliban, and communities thriving amid the remains of medieval civilizations. By night he slept on villagers' floors, shared their meals, and listened to their stories of the recent and ancient past. Along the way Stewart met heroes and rogues, tribal elders and teenage soldiers, Taliban commanders and foreign-aid workers. He was also adopted by an unexpected companion-a retired fighting mastiff he named Babur in honor of Afghanistan's first Mughal emperor, in whose footsteps the pair was following.

Through these encounters-by turns touching, con-founding, surprising, and funny-Stewart makes tangible the forces of tradition, ideology, and allegiance that shape life in the map's countless places in between.

Review: The World Before Us by Aislinn Hunter

Overview:

 

When she was just fifteen, smart, sensitive Jane Standen lived through a nightmare: she lost the sweet five-year-old girl she was minding during a walk in the woods. The little girl was never found, leaving her family, and Jane, devastated. Now the grown-up Jane is an archivist at a small London museum that is about to close for lack of funding. As her one last project, she is searching the archives for scraps of information related to another missing person--a woman who disappeared some 125 years ago from a Victorian asylum. As the novel moves back and forth between the museum in contemporary London, the Victorian asylum, and a dilapidated country house that seems to connect both missing people, it unforgettably explores the repercussions of small acts, the power of affection, and the irrepressible vitality of everyday objects and events.
    
Here is a rivetting, gorgeously written novel that powerfully reminds us of the possibility that we are less alone than we might think.  

 

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Review:

The World Before Us is thoroughly engrossing and beautifully written. Told in first-person plural, readers join the group of other-worldly figures who have spent the last twenty years following Jane, in search of who they are.

Inglewood, both contemporary and Victorian, holds the secrets of two missing women, nearly 125 years apart. As Jane gets closer to unraveling the mystery of missing girl N-, she must face her haunted past: the disappearance of five-year-old Lily, while under Jane's care.

Hunter's novel reveals itself  like a microscope flitting in and out of focus. Readers get a glimpse of life through an archivist's eye;  dates, names, and places become the stories of family and friends.  As Jane learns the truth about N, I couldn't help but wonder if Jane- and her followers- would at last make peace with the past.
Again, an excellent, engaging read.

 

* I received a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Review: Making Toast by Roger Rosenblatt

Overview:

 

When Roger's daughter, Amy—a gifted doctor, mother, and wife—collapses and dies from an asymptomatic heart condition at age thirty-eight, Roger and his wife, Ginny, leave their home on the South Shore of Long Island to move in with their son-in-law, Harris, and their three young grandchildren: six-year-old Jessica, four-year-old Sammy, and one-year-old James, known as Bubbies.

Long past the years of diapers, homework, and recitals, Roger and Ginny—Boppo and Mimi to the kids—quickly reaccustom themselves to the world of small children: bedtime stories, talking toys, play-dates, nonstop questions, and nonsequential thought. Though reeling from Amy's death, they carry on, reconstructing a family, sustaining one another, and guiding three lively, alert, and tenderhearted children through the pains and confusions of grief. As he marvels at the strength of his son-in-law and the tenacity and skill of his wife, Roger attends each day to "the one household duty I have mastered"—preparing the morning toast perfectly to each child's liking.

Luminous, precise, and utterly unsentimental, Making Toast is both a tribute to the singular Amy and a brave exploration of the human capacity to move through and live with grief.  

 

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Review:

 

Making Toast reads as a meditation on Rosenblatt's life after the sudden loss of his daughter, and subsequent move to the home his daughter and her family shared. I was anticipating more of a chronicle, maybe more of a tear-jerker.  As a wife and new mother, I feared Rosenblatt's experience would hit a soft spot. A baby and two other young children left without a mother? Unconscionable. Maybe I expected to learn how you get over something like this. Or to discover the secret of overcoming loss; how life moves forward. At the very least, I expected the simple act of breakfast: making toast, to anchor the tour through grief.  What the book captures is life the first year 'after Amy.'

 

 

At times Making Toast reads as diary entries; at other times, as writing exercises. There is an emotional distancing between the situation and Rosenblatt himself. Maybe it's a coping mechanism, but I found it a bit cold. The recurring mention of godless-ness in both Amy's service and the family's life was more than a life off-putting. Without the context that it made the loss harder to bear, or created anger, there was no purpose to noting the point. Mentioning the point more than once suggests a hidden agenda. 

I imagine there may stronger chronicles of grief.

Review: The Life You Left by Carmel Harrington

Overview:

 

Sarah, I’m not coming home tonight.
If you love me, you will give me the space I need…
Tell the children I love them.
Paul

It started out like any other day for Sarah Lawler; getting the kids ready for school, making the pack lunches and juggling baby Ella’s feeds.

There was no way of knowing that her husband, Paul, would leave for work that morning and simply not come home.

Now the questions are piling up quicker than the unpaid bills and, unable to answer her children’s questions about where their Daddy is, Sarah is getting desperate.

But it turns out she isn’t quite as alone as she thought she was. When her beloved childhood friend, Edward, comes back into her life, Sarah thinks she’s finally been thrown a life line.

There’s just one problem with Edward: no one else can see him.

Edward is an angel. And he has a message for Sarah that will change her life and the lives of others forever. For it is only in the most difficult of times that Sarah can discover how strong she truly is.

Set in a small coastal village on the beautiful Irish coast, The Life You Left is a story of redemption and the strength of love.

 

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Review:

 

On the whole I found this book to be enjoyable, though it did lack some depth. The characters were likable and the story wasn't as predictable as others in this genre, but there were definitely gaps. The super natural elements certainly added something to the narrative, however in parts it felt underdeveloped and inconsistent. Several minor plots  and characters were introduced then seemingly abandoned. There were several occasions where the main plot appeared to be forgotten, or it was unclear what the main plot point was. As a result I didn't feel a connection to the characters, and in fact it felt as though Harrington felt them deposable. The ending seemed to create a forced happy ending where they really wasn't one. Maybe The Life You Left was about Sarah trying to find herself?

 

The Life You Left is good for some light, easy reading.

Review: Then We Came to The End by Joshua Ferris

Overview:

For anyone who has ever worked in an office, hating everything and everyone in it, yet fell apart when it was time to leave -- this book is for you. Heartbreaking, yet hysterically funny, Then We Came to the End is the definitive novel about the contemporary American workplace.

With an irresistibly casual writing style, Ferris makes readers a part of his fictional advertising agency from the moment we open the book. Through numerous impromptu conversations, colleagues come alive. We learn that Larry and Amber have had an affair, and that Amber is pregnant. We know that Chris Yop is panicking because he exchanged his office chair without permission, and that Joe Pope is universally despised because he got promoted and now everyone has to listen to him. No one likes Karen Woo because she's always trying to seem smarter than everyone else. And the head boss, Lynn, has cancer, but she doesn't want anyone to know. We understand that the agency is in trouble, and that the unstable Tom Mota is being laid off. We realize that anyone could be next. And we're dying to know what's going to happen.

By the time readers finish the book, they'll swear that Ferris has spent time in their own offices. And they'll thank him for capturing so knowingly what makes it so horrible, and what makes it our own.

 

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Review:

Joshua Ferris' debut is a hilarious and relatable look at life working in an office. Ferris captures the highs, lows, and everything in between; from water cooler gossip and office shenanigans to office politics and the real threat of lay-offs.

While humor plays a prominent role, Then We Came to the End has a lot of depth. With snapshots of the absurd and the serious:  Chris obsesses over his 'illegally' acquired chair,  while Lynn faces the battle of her life. And the whole office is worried about their future with the company. Ferris' first person- plural narrative gives readers the knowledge of each character's internal struggles while reserving a chair for us at the staff meeting.

A great introduction to a talented and promising writer. I highly recommend his follow-up novel, The Unnamed, as well.

Review: The Shore by Sara Taylor

Overview: 

Welcome to The Shore: a collection of small islands sticking out from the coast of Virginia into the Atlantic Ocean. Where clumps of evergreens meet wild ponies, oyster-shell roads, tumble-down houses, unwanted pregnancies, murder, storm-making and dark magic in the marshes. . .

Situated off the coast of Virginia's Chesapeake Bay, the group of islands known as the Shore has been home to generations of fierce and resilient women. Sanctuary to some but nightmare to others, it's a place they've inhabited, fled, and returned to for hundreds of years. From a half-Shawnee Indian's bold choice to flee an abusive home only to find herself with a man who will one day try to kill her to a brave young girl's determination to protect her younger sister as methamphetamine ravages their family, to a lesson in summoning storm clouds to help end a drought, these women struggle against domestic violence, savage wilderness, and the corrosive effects of poverty and addiction to secure a sense of well-being for themselves and for those they love.

Together their stories form a deeply affecting legacy of two barrier island families, illuminating 150 years of their many freedoms and constraints, heartbreaks, and pleasures. Conjuring a wisdom and beauty all its own, The Shore is a richly unique, stunning novel that will resonate with readers long after turning its final pages, establishing Sara Taylor as a promising new voice in fiction.

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Review:

I really like the interconnectedness of the stories; moving backward and forward in time to learn about the many generations and families who have lived on The Shore. In this way the reader gets acquainted with the characters from a variety of perspectives. There are touches of magical realism, but it's so subtly and artfully incorporated, it is easy to attribute the characters' gifts to a connection with the land.

This was such an engaging and enjoyable read, I had almost finished the book before I realized how dark the stories are. Taylor presents a cast of characters with troubled pasts and unhappy family lives. Women  appear has heroines, while subjected to the abuse of fathers, brothers, boyfriends and husbands. There is a sad truth to these stories, both as a portrait of the historical relationship between men and women, and as a snapshot of the dark side of small town life.

I only wish the book was longer, as I wasn't quite ready to leave The Shore or these characters. Thoroughly engrossing, I am eager to read Taylor's next work.

*Note: I received The Shore as an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Recommended: This is Where I Leave You by Jonathan Tropper

Overview:

 

The death of Judd Foxman’s father marks the first time that the entire Foxman family—including Judd’s mother, brothers, and sister—have been together in years. Conspicuously absent: Judd’s wife, Jen, whose fourteen-month affair with Judd’s radio-shock-jock boss has recently become painfully public.

Simultaneously mourning the death of his father and the demise of his marriage, Judd joins the rest of the Foxmans as they reluctantly submit to their patriarch’s dying request: to spend the seven days following the funeral together. In the same house. Like a family.

As the week quickly spins out of control, longstanding grudges resurface, secrets are revealed, and old passions reawakened. For Judd, it’s a weeklong attempt to make sense of the mess his life has become while trying in vain not to get sucked into the regressive battles of his madly dysfunctional family. All of which would be hard enough without the bomb Jen dropped the day Judd’s father died: She’s pregnant.

This Is Where I Leave You is Jonathan Tropper's most accomplished work to date, a riotously funny, emotionally raw novel about love, marriage, divorce, family, and the ties that bind—whether we like it or not.

Review: The Book of Life (All Souls Trilogy #3) by Deborah Harkness

Overview:

 

After traveling through time in Shadow of Night, the second book in Deborah Harkness’s enchanting series, historian and witch Diana Bishop and vampire scientist Matthew Clairmont return to the present to face new crises and old enemies. At Matthew’s ancestral home at Sept-Tours, they reunite with the cast of characters from A Discovery of Witches--with one significant exception. But the real threat to their future has yet to be revealed, and when it is, the search for Ashmole 782 and its missing pages takes on even more urgency. In the trilogy’s final volume, Harkness deepens her themes of power and passion, family and caring, past deeds and their present consequences. In ancestral homes and university laboratories, using ancient knowledge and modern science, from the hills of the Auvergne to the palaces of Venice and beyond, the couple at last learn what the witches discovered so many centuries ago.

 

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Review:

 

I have really enjoyed the All Souls Trilogy, and the final installment did not disappoint. The Book of Life did have some areas that were a little weaker than the previous books. One reviewer mentioned the shift in narrator, from first to third person. I had some difficulty transitioning between narrative perspectives... I think primarily because I didn't recall those shifts in the previous books, and at times they felt unnecessary. There were a few characters who I thought would have a larger ro I have really enjoyed the All Souls Trilogy, and the final installment did not disappoint. The Book of Life did have some areas that were a little weaker than the previous books. One reviewer mentioned the shift in narrator, from first to third person. I had some difficulty transitioning between narrative perspectives... I think primarily because I didn't recall those shifts in the previous books, and at times they felt unnecessary. There were a few characters who I thought would have a larger role in the book. Especially given the first chapter or two. So that felt a bit unresolved. There were some parts in which it seemed more back story would have been appropriate.Truthfully though, I'm hoping those unresolved items will result in additional books. As always, Harkness has done an amazing job developing characters and describing the places they live and work. So well researched. Anxious to read her next work.

Review: The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton

Overview:

 

A foundling, an old book of dark fairy tales, a secret garden, an aristocratic family, a love denied, and a mystery. The Forgotten Garden is a captivating, atmospheric and compulsively readable story of the past, secrets, family and memory from the international best-selling author Kate Morton.

Cassandra is lost, alone and grieving. Her much loved grandmother, Nell, has just died and Cassandra, her life already shaken by a tragic accident ten years ago, feels like she has lost everything dear to her. But an unexpected and mysterious bequest from Nell turns Cassandra's life upside down and ends up challenging everything she thought she knew about herself and her family.

Inheriting a book of dark and intriguing fairytales written by Eliza Makepeace - the Victorian authoress who disappeared mysteriously in the early twentieth century - Cassandra takes her courage in both hands to follow in the footsteps of Nell on a quest to find out the truth about their history, their family and their past; little knowing that in the process, she will also discover a new life for herself.

 

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Review:

 

An astonishing work, filled with characters you love, hate, sympathize with and resent. Told through voices spanning three generations, this a family mystery that both devastates and inspires. As the reader begins to put the pieces of this puzzle together, one explores the limitless bounds of unconditional love and bears witness to the unspeakable acts of cruelty that selfishness can demand of that love. Through all the turmoil, mystery, and unhappiness the reader emerges from the other side smiling. All is made right, while remaining true to the realities of the world. It allows the reader to believe that in the end all things have a chance to be set right

Review: The Big House by George Howe Colt

Overview:

 

Faced with the sale of the century-old family summer house on Cape Cod where he had spent forty-two summers, George Howe Colt returned for one last stay with his wife and children. This poignant tribute to the eleven-bedroom jumble of gables, bays, and dormers that watched over weddings, divorces, deaths, anniversaries, birthdays, breakdowns, and love affairs for five generations interweaves Colt's final visit with memories of a lifetime of summers.

Run-down yet romantic, The Big House stands not only as a cherished reminder of summer's ephemeral pleasures but also as a powerful symbol of a vanishing way of life.

 

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Review:

 

A fascinating exploration of a family's history, and the house that bound five generations. Colt presents a history not only of the family, but of the tiny island the house resides. For anyone that had a family vacation home as a child, you'll easily be reminded of those days long past. Additionally, Colt presents not only a portrait of a time long gone, but also the evolution of each generation. His reflects on "The Big House" speaking specifically to his family's history, but also captures the A fascinating exploration of a family's history, and the house that bound five generations. Colt presents a history not only of the family, but of the tiny island the house resides. For anyone that had a family vacation home as a child, you'll easily be reminded of those days long past. Additionally, Colt presents not only a portrait of a time long gone, but also the evolution of each generation. His reflects on "The Big House" speaking specifically to his family's history, but also captures the changes in American society in the last century. By the end, it is impossible to imagine this home in the hands of any other family.

Review: Without Reservations by Alice Steinbach

Overview:

 

"In many ways, I was an independent woman," writes Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist Alice Steinbach. “For years I’d made my own choices, paid my own bills, shoveled my own snow.” But somehow she had become dependent in quite another way. “I had fallen into the habit of defining myself in terms of who I was to other people and what they expected of me.” But who was she away from the people and things that defined her? In this exquisite book, Steinbach searches for the answer to this question in some of the most beautiful and exciting places in the world: Paris, where she finds a soul mate; Oxford, where she takes a course on the English village; Milan, where she befriends a young woman about to be married. Beautifully illustrated with postcards from Steinbach’s journeys, this revealing and witty book transports you into a fascinating inner and outer journey, an unforgettable voyage of discovery.

 

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Review:

 

I found this book a refreshing departure from travel logs that are filled with minute details of each and every person, place, and thing the author encounters. Steinbach presents not only insights into what she's experienced, but is able to step back a recognize the person she was and the person shining through along this journey. Her reflections remind the reader that some things we carry with us whether we realize it or not.

Steinbach shares with readers the experiences, memories, and observations that stand out most from her "year of living dangerously." Her stories inspire travel... travel free of obligations and expectations. Without a roadmap of vacation destinations and activities, travel becomes a more surprising and reflective experience. I can't imagine anyone reading Without Reservations and not wanting a year of dangerously living themselves.

Review: Under the Big Top by Bruce Feiler

Overview: 

 

Both a great American adventure and a rare entry into asheltered world, Under the Big Top describes one man's pursuit of every child's fantasy: running away to join the circus. Bruce Feiler's unforgettable year as a clown will forever change your view of one of the world's oldest art forms and remind you of how dreams can go horribly wrong -- and then miraculously come true.

 

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Review:

 

This book was like a performance in its own right. Feiler simultaneously guides the reader through his experience of entering the private backstage world of the circus, the stories of performers and workers, and describes the beauty of the circus performance itself. Throughout the book you are faced with the bond of family that both strengthens and threatens to tear apart life behind the bright lights. Many of the stories and secrets of the circus are things you would guess out, but what I found most surprising was the overall sense of community and stability a traveling show provides. And like few other industries, the circus presents second chances and a place for those who otherwise wouldn't have opportunities. A wonderful portrait of one of America's classic pastimes. When Feiler contemplates a tomorrow without the circus, the reader contemplates the power of a journey's end.  

Recommended: Wanda Hickey's Night of Golden Memories: And Other Disasters by Jean Shepherd

Overview:

 

A bestselling classic of humorous and nostalgic Americana, reissued in a strikingly designed trade paperback edition.

Before Garrison Keillor and Spalding Gray there was Jean Shepherd: a master monologist and writer who spun the materials of his all-American childhood into immensely resonant--and utterly hilarious--works of comic art.

Wanda Hickey's Night of Golden Memories is a universal (and achingly funny) orchestration of Midwestern puberty rites, from the gut-wrenching playground antics of one Delbert Bumpus, to the supernal glow surrounding unapproachable high school beauty Daphne Bigelow, to the memorable disaster that was Shepherd's (and everyone else's) junior prom.

A comic genius who bridges the gap between James Thurber and David Sedaris, Shepherd may have accomplished for Holden, Indiana, what Mark Twain did for Hannibal, Missouri.

Review: The Harm in Asking: My Clumsy Encounters with the Human Race by Sara Barron

Overview:

Welcome to the perverse and hilarious mind of Sara Barron. In The Harm in Asking, she boldly addresses the bizarre indignities of everyday life: from invisible pets to mobster roommates, from a hatred of mayonnaise to an unrequited love of k.d. lang, from the ruinous side effect of broccoli to the sheer delight of a male catalogue model. In a voice that is incisive and entirely her own, Barron proves herself the master of the awkward, and she achieves something wonderful and rare: a book that makes you laugh out loud. Simply put: if you read it, you will never be the same.*

*That's not true. You'll probably stay the same. But you'll have laughed a lot. And you'll have learned a fun fact about Jessica Simpson's home spray. See? You didn't even know she had a home spray! The learning has already begun.

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Review:

Slow start, but definitely picked up momentum once Barron started recounting her adult experiences.  Her stories from childhood seemed a bit exaggerated, and read a little too 'I find myself so interesting, everyone else must too.' I am interested to read more of her writing though.

Review: Where'd You Go, Bernadette by Maria Semple

Overview:

 

Bernadette Fox is notorious. To her Microsoft-guru husband, she's a fearlessly opinionated partner; to fellow private-school mothers in Seattle, she's a disgrace; to design mavens, she's a revolutionary architect, and to 15-year-old Bee, she is a best friend and, simply, Mom.

Then Bernadette disappears. It began when Bee aced her report card and claimed her promised reward: a family trip to Antarctica. But Bernadette's intensifying allergy to Seattle—and people in general—has made her so agoraphobic that a virtual assistant in India now runs her most basic errands. A trip to the end of the earth is problematic.

To find her mother, Bee compiles email messages, official documents, secret correspondence—creating a compulsively readable and touching novel about misplaced genius and a mother and daughter's role in an absurd world.

 

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Review:

 

Fantastic book, and worth all the praise. I loved Semple's use of multiple narrative voices, channeled through various written communication mediums.