The Heirs

Title:  The Heirs

Author:  Susan Rieger

Publication Information:  Crown. 2017. 272 pages.

ISBN:  1101904712 / 978-1101904718

Book Source:  I received this book through the LibraryThing Early Reviewers program free of cost in exchange for an honest review.

Opening Sentence:  "When he was dying, Rupert Falkes had the best care money could buy."

Favorite Quote:  "We're package deals. All or nothing."

The Heirs is a portrait of the Falkes family - Rupert, Eleanor, and their fives boys Harry, Sam, Will, Jack and Tom - particularly in the aftermath of Rupert's death. The way in which each person deals with Rupert's death, however, reaches far back into the past to provide a glimpse of how the family got to this point.

The Falkes are a rich family with Eleanor bringing the pedigree and Rupert bringing the rags to riches story. On the face of it, the story begins with Rupert's death and a declaration from a Vera Wolinski that she had a relationship with Rupert and that Rupert fathered her two children, who are now entitled to part of Rupert's estate. The news unsettles the Falkes brothers, not just for what the future may bring but even more because it calls into question everything they thought they knew about their parents and their lives. They each deal with it differently, and they each bring it to their mother differently. Eleanor is the lynch pin that holds this family together.

Below the surface though, this book is more than a family portrait; it is an examination of relationships. Rupert and Eleanor. Rupert and Vera. Eleanor and Jim. Jim and Anne. Sam and Andrew. Sam and Susanna. The Falkes brothers. The Wolinski brothers. Within those relationships, this is a story of love, loyalty, and ultimately fidelity. The questions of fidelity and what it means in every context is the underlying current throughout this book.

The chapter titles - all names except the one titled The Heirs - tells you how this completely character-driven book is. All their stories circle around Rupert's death, but truly each chapter become a vignette and one portrait in a gallery. Eleanor's is a story of strength and of knowing what to see and what to ignore. It is a story of when to follow the "rules" and how, carefully and quietly, to break them. Sam's story is one of the struggle between a love based on desire and one based on friendship. Anne's is the story of constantly living with the fact that you were a second choice and making a life anyways. And so on, through the Falkes family and those who surround the.

Of all the characters, Eleanor is my favorite for her quiet strength and her ability to hold secrets close and her outward demeanor of constant composure. Or, maybe, the mother in me just relates to her love of and her understanding of her children

Eventually, the books winds around to Rupert's own story. This is perhaps my least favorite part of the book for it gets graphic and visual about his relationships with two very different women. Although the entire book is about relationships, most of it is subtle. The descriptions of Rupert's relationship are a jarring note in this otherwise quiet book.

As with Susan Rieger's first book, The Divorce Papers, this book takes me a while to get into. However, the characters do pull me and I find myself engaged in their struggles and caring what happens to them. Given these first two books, I look forward to seeing what Susan Rieger writes next.

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The Shape of Bones

Title:  The Shape of Bones

Author:  Daniel Galera (author). Alison Entrekin (translator)

Publication Information:  Penguin Press. 2017. 240 pages.

ISBN:  1594205485 / 978-1594205484

Book Source:  I received this book through the Penguin First to Read program free of cost in exchange for an honest review.

Opening Sentence:  "No terrain is impossible for the Urban Cyclist."

Favorite Quote:  "Little by little, through small actions of the sort, maybe it was possible to gradually become someone else, someone not as quiet, who was able to incorporate into the plot of his own life the exquisite violence of comics, the virility and magnetism of his favorite movie heroes, the rugged ease of the actions and words of someone ... who embodied like no one else some kind of obscure idea to which Hermano aspired."

The book description, if you notice, very carefully names no characters. That is both the foundation and the confusion of this story. The story is told in different time periods. The book begins on a young man in his childhood neighborhood. He is risk taker and a thrill seeker, navigating the world of "urban cycling" and his world of friends, bullies, girls, dares, and a childhood in the neighborhood streets of Port Alegre.

Next we meet a man - a surgeon, a husband, a friend, and a father. He too is a risk taker and a thrill seeker. He is contemplating a mountain climbing expedition with his best friend; their proposed challenge is one of the least explored and most dangerous climbing destinations. He seems to have a lot going for him in life - family, friendship, and career. Yet, something is amiss, and he is constantly seeking.

The book moves back and forth between past and present at the beginning with no connection drawn between the two. The names, places, and relationships are confusing. It is also hard to determine which people and places to pay attention to because it's unclear who and what will come up again in a different time period later in the story. The focus in the reading becomes keeping the story straight.

Finally, I realize the connection without it being explained and then can focus on the crux of the story. Do we ever outgrow, escape, get over, move forward from the scars on our childhood? The answer, I hope, is yes. Those scars become a part of who we are, but hopefully, so do other things. This book is about a man who is defined by a childhood moment. Now, decades later, he may be a father himself, but that moment still holds him captive.

Understanding this connection helps connect some of the dots. The relationship between past and present becomes clear. The mountain climb becomes a metaphor for the recklessness of his youth and  his constant struggle to overcome his past. To some extent, though, this connection comes a little late. Once I understand, I almost want to start the book over with this new knowledge. I don't because in the focus to figure out the connections, I am not invested enough in the characters to begin again.

After that point, though, the book settles into the story. The present becomes more prominent, and the past becomes the key to unlocking this man's present day decisions.  The secret of the past reminds me of the story of The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini. That book, however, had an intensity and emotion that does not quite come through in this book.

The power of this book is in the last few chapters where this intensity and emotion does start to build, and where the secret moment of the past is finally revealed. Will the book end with hopelessness or with hope of finally moving forward? Will the man find absolution in his visit to the past? Read and and find out.

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The Misfortune of Marion Palm

Title:  The Misfortune of Marion Palm

Author:  Emily Culliton

Publication Information:  Knopf. 2017. 304 pages.

ISBN:  1524731900 / 978-1524731908

Book Source:  I received this book through the Penguin First to Read program free of cost in exchange for an honest review.

Opening Sentence:  "Marion Palm is on the lam."

Favorite Quote:  "It still astounds her that as a family they collectively did nothing. It must have been hard to do so little. It had to be."

Marion Palm walks out on her family - her husband and her two young daughters. Is it to be a journey of self-discovery? Is it to be foul play? Is there a secret life to be discovered? The book has so many directions in which it can go. How will it move forward?

Therein lies the issue for me. The book does not truly move forward. It moves backwards into Marion's past and the reasons she gets to this point. However, that past is not about her marriage or her children. They are almost an aside for her. Her past reaches back to her childhood, and the journey by which Marion Palm learns to steal. She is, in her own words, not a thief but a "woman who embezzles." It satisfies a need in her, and she is seemingly good at it. She has managed to embezzle almost $200,000 from her daughters' school. Fear of getting caught supposedly makes her run, but as the story develops, perhaps that is not the only reason she runs. Constraints of family seem not to be for Marion Palm.

Therein lies the other issue for me. The other perspectives in this book are those of Marion Palm's husband and her daughters even though they may not necessarily be the center of her story. Nathan has inherited a trust fund and is otherwise a struggling author. He is also completely self-involved. His is not surprised by Marion's departure, nor does he seem overly concerned.

Ginny and Jane, one a teenager and the other even younger face their own issues which have something to do with their mother but not entirely. They are abandoned by their mother at a restaurant, but that seems not the have the impact you think it might. They act out and get into trouble, but again that seems less about their mother's disappearance than about an entire dysfunctional household. Jane's story also encompasses an autistic boy who goes missing at the same time. I am still not entire sure what role that plays in this entire book.

Marion's all deal with Marion's disappearance in their own way, but, at the same time, nobody seems overly concerned. The most concerned individuals in the book seem to be the school board member who want to reclaim the embezzled money and the detective who is investigating the matter. They seem to be commentary on the Palm family, which is clearly dysfunctional and scattered.

Unfortunately, none of the main character generate interest or empathy. I keep reading to see if the story develops. Will there be a reckoning for Marion's embezzling? Will there be a resolution to Nathan and Marion's marriage? Will the need of young children impact a mother's decisions? There really is not a conclusion. The book ends somewhat as it begins; the only plot point seems to be that Marion Palm walks out on her family. To some extent, the entire book feels like the middle of a story. I want to know more about the beginning, and I want there to be an ending that brings closure.

The marketing for the book promises wit and humor. Sadly, I find neither in the book. It is a sad snapshot with unlikable characters. The marketing also promises an adventurous "bad girl" heroine. I am all for "bad girl" heroines to cheer for. However, I find myself not cheering for this one.

Please share your thoughts and leave a comment. I would love to "talk" to you.

How to Find Love in a Book Shop

Title:  How to Find Love in a Book Shop

Author:  Veronica Henry

Publication Information:  Pamela Dorman Books. 2017. 352 pages.

ISBN:  0735223491 / 978-0735223493

Book Source:  I received this book through the Penguin First to Read program free of cost in exchange for an honest review.

Opening Sentence:  "He would never have believed it if you'd told him a year ago."

Favorite Quote:  "It was the kind of bookshop that stole time:  people had been know to miss meetings and trains, lost among the shelves."

Sometimes I just need a feel good book. A book about small town life with everyone knowing everyone and all lives intermingled has its quirky characters. Sweet love stories often make a charming read. As an avid reader, of course, I am a sucker for books set in and around bookshops or libraries. It's an added bonus when I can have all of that in one.

This book works. It's not complicated. It's not hard to envision how the story will go or how the book will end. There is no great mystery. There are no action sequences. There is no big denouement. It is simply a sweet, charming story that is perfect for a beach read or a cozy fall read with a blanket and a cup of tea.

The book begins with an ending. Emilia's father dies. She is devastated as her father was the one parent she ever knew. Life will never be the same. Not for Emilia and not for many others in the small village of Peasebrook. Julius Nightingale was the owner and operator of Nightingale Books (such a lovely name for a bookshop!). He moved to town with his infant daughter and never left. He lived a quiet life in his little bookshop in a quiet town. Yet, his death leaves a bigger gap in the town's life than his daughter ever imagined.

The book briefly tells Julian's own tragic love story, but the main story is about Emilia and the other residents of Peasebrook.  Every character has a story, and almost everyone has a love story. A secret love. An old flame. A love too shy to express itself. A love that remains quiet because it feels unworthy. A love lost. A love tested by the arrival of a child. A selfish emotion that calls itself love. A friendship that now shows glimmers of something more. A once-love that is now more a friendship and a partnership. Love and life in the town of Peasebrook gravitates around Emilia and Nightingale Books.

The individual love stories are tempered by the love of a community for one of its own. The town (or at least most of the town) gathers around Emilia through her father's death and through the fact that Nightingale Books is in financial trouble. Julius was dedicated to the people in his life; he was much more lax about the business end of Nightingale Books. His illness exacerbates the problem, and Emilia inherits a mess. A developer stands ready to pounce of the valuable real estate. To Emilia, the store is her childhood, her legacy, and her promise to her father all rolled up in one. However, can she make it work with the physical and financial mess Julian leaves behind? With her own persistence and with a little help from her friends, maybe - just maybe - she can.

As a reader, I find myself engaged in her story and in all the love stories in the book. I hope that each and every one works out.

Please share your thoughts and leave a comment. I would love to "talk" to you.

Sisters

Title:  Sisters

Author:  Lily Tuck

Publication Information:  Atlantic Monthly Press. 2017. 176 pages.

ISBN:  0802127118 / 978-0802127112

Book Source:  I received this book as a publisher's galley through NetGalley free of cost in exchange for an honest review.

Opening Sentence:  "We are not related - not remotely."

Favorite Quote:  "I also wanted to ask him:  And who do you love best? Me or her?"

My first reaction upon opening up this book is, "That's it?" I check my galley many times and am almost ready to send a message saying I received an excerpt and not a complete book. Then, I do a little research, and discover that I do indeed have the complete narrative and that indeed is all there is. My next reaction is, "Really?"

Anyways, past that bumpy beginning, I settle in to read the book. Short novel? Long short story? Novella? Call it what you will. Sometimes, much can be said and conveyed in a short span. So, I begin and end, reading the entire story in one sitting.

At first glance, this book is a story of a marriage, much like Dept. of Speculation by Jenny Offil. Both books are about a relationship. The biggest similarity is the one that makes these books unusual. None of the characters have names. They are identified in relationship to each other. Husband. Wife. Son. Daughter.

This book, however, goes so far beyond the relationships. This is a book about one woman's obsessions and the destructive power of those obsessions. The "sisters" in this book are two women who are at different times married to the same man. The first wife is also the mother of two children - a boy and a girl - who are now the step-children of the second wife. The narrator is the second wife.

The salient facts of the relationships are as follows. Husband and wife number one were at some point happily married. They have two children together. Husband met wife number two while still married to wife number 1, "but by then he and his wife were not getting along." A divorce happened, and Husband is now married to wife number two. Marriage number two has now existed for several years for the son in now an adult and a a daughter is now married.

However, wife number two is obsessed with wife number one. This is a book of that obsession. The story is a stream of consciousness tell-all that sounds like it comes from a therapist's couch. Wife number two's memories jump through time, back and forth from the beginning of her relationship with Husband to the present time. The bigger memories are co-mingled with the minutiae of life - a speeding ticket, a meal, a dress, etc. - which add details but little relevance.

In essence, this book is a character sketch of a disturbed, obsessed mind. One element seems missing from the book. This woman displays an incredible memory for the details of years ago, but no memories indicates that any person in her life recognized her obsessions or attempted to get her help.

 Unfortunately, some of obsessive tendencies translate into actions that I do not care for. Translate that into eeewwww and just no. Saying exactly what this bend in the story is would be a spoiler. So, I am just leaving it at it's not for me. These segues could easily have been left out without impacting what story there is.

The ending, though not surprising, is very abrupt. The ending symbolizes the effect of her obsessions but clearly would not the end of the obsessions. Thus, the book at this end feels unfinished. Overall, an unlikable main character and story line but a memorable book for its short length and unusual approach.

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The Underground River

Title:  The Underground River

Author:  Martha Conway

Publication Information:  Touchstone. 2017. 352 pages.

ISBN:  1501160206 / 978-1501160202

Book Source:  I received this book as a publisher's galley through NetGalley free of cost in exchange for an honest review.

Opening Sentence:  "When the steamboat Moselle blew apart just off its Cincinnati landing, I was sitting below deck in the ladies' cabin, sewing tea leaves into little muslin bags and plotting revenge on my cousin Comfort for laughing at me during dinner."

Favorite Quote:  "We want to believe a story is true. We use our imagination to convince ourselves. We can't help it."

Much history has been written of the underground railroad, an informal networks of home and individuals that provided a path for those escaping slavery in the United States. So, the premise of this book about following a similar path on the "underground river" in the 1800s intrigues me.

History also tells of numerous, courageous abolitionists who risk everything for their beliefs that slavery always has been and always will be wrong. The premise of this book about a woman who becomes a coerced helper in this endeavor intrigues me. May gets involved in the underground journey because she has a debt to pay; she have never been exposed much to or thought much about the horrible institution of slavery. The idea of following on her journey of learning and her ultimate belief in what she is doing intrigues me. The potential for a story of an awakening intrigues me.

All of this, of course, is from the book description. That description and the cover are what lead me to pick up this book. Unfortunately, the book does not deliver what I expect, and I end the book disappointed. Based on my expectations, I am not the reader for this book.

Primarily, I expect a story of slavery - those who wish to perpetuate it, those who hope to escape it, and those who help along the way. That story is in the book, but it does not enter the book until almost half way through. The first half of the book is about a riverboat theater and the cast of characters who call it home. There is a brewing love story, descriptions of the riverboat and theater cultures, and the stories of relationships and conflicts that arise living in such close quarters.

The story centers around May, who joins the riverboat theater after she is essentially abandoned by her cousin Comfort Vertue (yes, that is the name). The key character trait stressed about May is, "I can be very literal ... when I talk ... I say what I think." This is further elaborated into the fact that May thinks herself incapable of lying. This, of course, is put to the test as she gets involved in the underground river. The only issue is that this trait is stressed over and over again. It is stressed not through actions, but essentially repeated many times over in words. After while, my reaction is that I get it. May is literal. Move on. Tell me something else.

That leads to my third issue in the book. It tells a story. That's what a book is supposed to do, right? Yes, up to a point. However, the books that pull me in are the ones that don't seem to tell the story. Rather, the characters appear to be living the story. This book, for me, never reaches that point. Hence, I am never fully engaged in the characters or the plot. That, to me, is disappointing for a book whose premise holds such promise.

Please share your thoughts and leave a comment. I would love to "talk" to you.

The List

Title:  The List

Author:  Patricia Forde

Publication Information:  Sourcebooks. 2017. 336 pages.

ISBN:  1492647969 / 978-1492647966

Book Source:  I received this book as a publisher's galley through NetGalley free of cost in exchange for an honest review.

Opening Sentence:  "Smith Fearful was a scavenger."

Favorite Quote:  "Without words, we will be imprisoned in the here and now forever ... The here and now is only the smallest part of who were are. Each of us is all that we have been, all our stories, all that we could be."

The List is a middle grade book that is based on the interesting premise that if you control people's ability to communicate, you control their actions and hence their impact on the world. Limits communication and you limit an individual's ability to influence their environment.

The List is set in a post-apocalyptic, dystopian world where man's abuse of Earth has caused The Melting, a literal melting of the polar ice caps. One man, Noa, saw it coming and successfully built a place called the Ark. The names in this book are not the most creative ones, but perhaps that is because it is geared towards a younger audience, and more obvious connections influence comprehension.

Noa seeks to create a world - to save the world - but according to his rules. Control and force are the source of his power. A key tenet of the Ark is to limit communication. Music and the arts have been forbidden. Language itself is limited to, as you might guess from the title, a list. The list is about 500 words but getting shorter by Noa's decree. Certain professions have additional words specific to their work, but those are to be used only by specific people and in specific circumstances. Beyond that, words are whittled down to what Noa considers the essentials.

Benjamin is the wordsmith of the Ark. His job is to collect errant words and be the keeper of the list. Letter (makes me think letter?) is his twelve year old apprentice. As often happens in such books, her childhood has a tragic story. Sadly, in his word searching, Benjamin disappears, and Letta becomes the official wordsmith.


Of course, she learns that things are not always what they seem in the Ark, and that the individual viewed as the savior of this community may have other plans. Conflict between the two sides persists.  Note that the book does have scenes of violence and some descriptions of torture. Parents and teachers should determine its appropriateness for their middle grade audience.

As a adult reading the book, the story has two competing forces - the power and love of language and the environmental statement on the destruction of Earth by man. It is the environmental message that is at the heart of this book. Language is a means to control man towards Noa's environmental goals. Interestingly, for a book with a strong environmental message, the story includes no real if age-appropriate scientific information. Only one character is depicted as a scientist, and he exists on the periphery of the Ark society.

In fact, in a story of the past, Benjamin tells Letta about how "they [scientists] were seen as the enemy, the people who had opposed the Green Warriors before the Melting. There was no place for them in Ark." It is unclear how to balance that with the fact that current science is pointing out the dangers of man's abuse of earth. It is, in fact, the scientists leading the charge for environmental protection, and others who undermine science. On that point, the story may be confusing for a young audience. Which side is science on?

What I do leave the book with is the love and necessity of language. I can't imagine limiting it to a list. I can, however, imagine being a wordsmith whose life's work is to gather words.

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The Readymade Thief

Title:  The Readymade Thief

Author:  Augustus Rose

Publication Information:  Viking. 2017. 384 pages.

ISBN:  0735221839 / 978-0735221833

Book Source:  I received this book through the Penguin First to Read program free of cost in exchange for an honest review.

Opening Sentence:  "To make your way to the DePaul Aquarium and Museum of Natural History, on Petty Island in the middle of the Delaware River, you can drive through New Jersey and over the only bridge."

Favorite Quote:  "What do you do when the one true thing in your life turns out to be a lie?"

The story of the thief begins in the middle. Someone from the past has found her, and she does not want to be found. Lee Cuddy is only seventeen years old and has already been through a lot in her life. She is living on the periphery of society, under the radar, making do as best as she can.

There is a lot going on in this book. Shoplifting. Teenage angst. Child abuse. Homeless teenagers. Criminal cults. Murder. Physics theories. Ancient codes embedded in art work. Internet hackers. Sex trade. Drugs. Corruption. Love story. Teenage pregnancy. Those are just the things I remember.

It makes for an entertaining read up to a point. After a while, too much becomes just that. Too much. Following Lee's story is like jumping from one thing to the next to the next to the next. The fact that the book starts in the middle adds to that feeling because the story both moves forward and fills in the back story. So, the jumps occur in all directions. Oddly, even with all that encapsulated in one book, the book is at times slow moving. Overall, I keep thinking that less may have been more in this situation.

The connections in Lee's story are also at times unbelievable. Chance plays a big factor. People in Lee's seem either really really evil towards her or really really nice. Even some people who are complete strangers help her in a way that is not entirely believable. Even when they suffer for it, they continue to help. Yes, people like that exist in the world. However, the characters in this book are either one extreme or the other, and that is not realistic.

The scientific bent and the connection to the art world in this book comes through the works of Marcel Duchamp, a French artist. The book features the Société Anonyme as the name of a group. Duchamp with others started a society by that name for the promotion, exhibit, and collection of art. His piece, The Bride Stripped Bare by her Bachelors, Even (also known as The Large Glass), is the work around which this story centers. Interestingly, Duchamp also had a series of works knows as the Readymades, found objects which he chose to collect and exhibit as art. That connection is not followed in the book, but makes for a possible reason for the title.

The connection to the art world has led to a comparison of this book to Dan Brown's books. For me, that comparison does a disservice to this book. The book does feature Marcel Duchamp's art works, but there is so much else going on that it becomes just a part of the story not the heart of the story as it is with Dan Brown's books. In addition, while the book itself is atmospheric and descriptive, that descriptive style does not extend to the works of art being discussed. In fact, having read the book, I can visualize the fictional places and events described but cannot visualize the real art pieces. I enjoyed learning about the work through the research I did while reading.

The imaginative and colorful descriptions of the places in the book are my favorite part. An abandoned museum. Underground tunnels that wind their way through the city. A building with a clown's head. A building called the Crystal Castle. The vivid descriptions create a suitably creepy and dark atmosphere that underlies this story and remains the most memorable part of the writing.

Please share your thoughts and leave a comment. I would love to "talk" to you.

The Dying Game

Title:  The Dying Game

Author:  Asa Avdic

Publication Information:  Penguin Books. 2017. 288 pages.

ISBN:  0143131796 / 978-0143131793

Book Source:  I received this book through the Penguin First to Read program free of cost in exchange for an honest review.

Opening Sentence:  "One afternoon, the unit secretary came into my office."

Favorite Quote:  "Wink murder ... It goes like this:  One person is randomly chosen as a murderer and another is the detective. The other players, the victims, know who the detective is, but they don't know the murderer. Then everyone walks around the room. The murderer kills people by discreetly winking at them. When someone gets blinked at, they fall down dead. When the detective thinks he knows who the murderer is, he accuses the suspect. If the detective is right, he wins; if not, the murderer wins."

The year is 2037, and the world is not the one we know. Most of Europe operates under a benignly named but strictly controlled Union of Friendship. The game is real except it is not really a game. The rules are real except that each person thinks they are playing different game, and each person is given a different set of rules.

The reader knows the role Anna Francis plays and the rules she is given. What the actual goal of this project is keeps me wondering throughout the book. I guess at where it is going but do not guess correctly as to how. The "how" is the roller coaster ride of this book which the reader takes right along with Anna Francis.

Anna Francis knows only her work. Anna's mother is raising Anna's daughter; a father is not in the picture. A secret - a disaster both personal and professional from Anna's perspective - in her past has brought her from the forefront of major projects to a bureaucratic office job in Stockholm. Anna is given the "opportunity" to take on a new project to help with the recruitment of a new member for the RAN project. The book never explains what the RAN project is except to imply that the project is beyond top secret, and its members are a very elite group. Anna is asked to give a few days of her life to observe the candidates for this position as they are placed in a field test on the remote, secluded island of Isola.

Oh, and, she will be presumed dead for most of those days. That is indeed the test as Anna understands it. The candidates are to be led to believe that Anna has been murdered by one of them. With no way on to or off the island, how will that impact those who remain. The objective is to see how the individuals handle that situation. Anna is given an entire secret realm underneath and throughout the house from which to observe and report. That is the test. Or is it?

Once Anna is on the island, nothing is quite as she envisioned. Someone completely unexpected from Anna's past is part of this situation. Anna's "death" is staged as planned, but then events don't go quite as Anna or the other individuals on the island have been led to expect. New relationships are formed. Old relationships are rekindled. People appear to die. People disappear. Storms hit the island. Communication is cut off. Transportation is cutoff. The scenario is perhaps not as controlled as it was put forth by the project coordinators. Or is it?

Different perspectives throughout the book fill in some holes in the narrative, but the ending of the book leaves loose ends. What is the RAN project? What is the story of the man from Anna's past? What completely is Anna's story? What happens next? This last question arises not because the story feels incomplete but because Anna's character becomes real and I want to know. This last question is what warrants the success of this storytelling. I am left wondering what happens next and questioning if sequel will come to explain more. I want to know.

Please share your thoughts and leave a comment. I would love to "talk" to you.

The Address

Title:  The Address

Author:  Fiona Davis

Publication Information:  Dutton. 2017. 368 pages.

ISBN:  152474199X / 78-1524741990

Book Source:  I received this book through the Penguin First to Read program free of cost in exchange for an honest review.

Opening Sentence:  "The sight of a child teetering on the window ledge of room 510 turned Sara's world upside down."

Favorite Quote:  "Sometimes we don't know the answer."

Two women. Two time period. One city. One beautiful old building. A past that dreams of a future. A present that looks to the past for answers. A host of intrigue and secrets that connects all of it. A book that tells both stories in alternating sections, winding them closer and closer together until by the end, all the connections are revealed, and the story of the past ends, and the story of the present finds a path forward. This is structure used by many books including Fiona Davis's book The Dollhouse, and it usually makes for an entertaining story.

In this book, the past is Sara Smythe in the 1880s. She works in a London hotel and cares for her ill mother. Life seems to hold no further prospects. A chance encounter offers her the opportunity to start a new life in the United States. She comes to New York, starts over, and her life goes in a direction she could never have imagined.

The story of the present is Bailey Camden in 1984. She is recovering party girl just out of rehab. Her issues have cost her friends and her job. Life seems to hold very few prospects. Her wealthy cousin Melinda's bounty offers her a chance to start over. She takes it, and it puts her on a path she could never have imagined.

See the parallels yet?

What first draws the two stories together is the location. Located at the corner of 72nd Street and Central Park West in Manhattan, the Dakota is a co-op apartment building considered one of New York's best addresses. In fact, it was the once home to John Lennon and the location of his death. However, when it was built in 1884, it was purposefully named The Dakota because its location was considered as remote to the main sections of Manhattan as the far-off Dakota Territories.

Sara comes to the Dakota in 1884 when the project architect Theodore Camden offers her a job at the Dakota. Theodore Camden is also Melinda and Bailey's grandfather. Melinda is descended from the children Theodore Camden claimed with his wife. Bailey is the daughter of a child Theodore and his wife raised. The Camden estate belongs to the direct descendants, leaving Bailey with the name but no inheritance.

The story continues to weave back and forth as Sara sets up the new building, and Bailey works on a project to remodel one of the units. Secondary characters and romances enter in the picture. Underlying it all is the history and grandeur of the building itself. Through Sara's eyes, the reader sees the initial construction and decor, and through Bailey's eyes, the reader witnesses the attempts to preserve that history and the destruction of that initial vision in the name of modernization.

As with most books such as this one, one time period calls to me more. In this case, Sara's story is the more compelling one, given the plot and the historical richness of the time period. Overall the book is an entertaining story and an intriguing look inside a landmark building.

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Hum if You Don't Know the Words

Title:  Hum if You Don't Know the Words

Author:  Bianca Marais

Publication Information:  G.P. Putnam's Sons. 2017. 432 pages.

ISBN:  0399575065 / 978-0399575068

Book Source:  I received this book through the Penguin First to Read program free of cost in exchange for an honest review.

Opening Sentence:  "I joined up the last two lines of the hopscotch grid and wrote a big '10' in top square."

Favorite Quote:  "What greater gift can you give another than to say:  I see you, I hear you, and you are not alone?"

A mother wonders how to keep her daughter safe. A daughter wonders if, with her parents gone, safety is ever possible. Beauty and Robin - a woman and a girl - find their lives forever altered in the Soweto Uprising in 1976 in Johannesburg, South Africa.

The history that is the basis of this book is as follows. Thousands of Black South African students rose in protests over a decree that introduced Afrikaans as a language of instruction in Soweto school. The language, associated with apartheid, has been termed by Desmond Tutu as "the language of the oppressor." Johannesburg police responded with force. Police released the death count at 200, but most reports set the number much higher.

In this book, Beauty Mbali is Xhosa woman from a rural village in Transkei. She is educated, a teacher herself, and a single parent after the death of her husband in the mines. She comes to Johannesburg in search her seventeen year old daughter, who is a student in Johannesburg. Beauty learns that Nomsa is one of the leaders in the uprising and is now missing. Beauty's one instinct as a mother is to bring her daughter home to safety.

Robin is a nine-year old white girl. She lives a privileged life in Johannesburg with her parents. Her father is an official in the mines. Robin's parents leave for an evening out with friends. The next news is that protesters have killed them both. Robin is packed of to live with her aunt, who is unmarried, sometimes irresponsible, and in a career that does not lend itself to having a child in her home.

In the aftermath, the stories of Beauty and Robin meet and interweave. Told through their alternating perspectives, the book presents two very different images of the same world - one facing the harsh reality and one dealing with the harsh reality with the innocence and self-centered nature of a child. The book highlights Beauty's statement, "I want her to understand that two men can be in the exact same place doing the exact same things while wearing the exact same clothes and yet they can still be worlds apart." She makes the statement about people living in a world of apartheid and discrimination, but it holds true for all of life's experiences.

Beauty and Robin's stories are one of differences of race. Through secondary characters, the book also introduces prejudice and discrimination because of religion and sexual orientation. While absolutely real, the story lines are unnecessary to this book.

Beauty and Robin's perspectives are also those of an adult and a child. As the book progresses and particularly at the end, the events and actions attributed to the child seem too far-fetched to seem real in the volatile, violent environment. While I completely follow the story, towards the end, it loses the sense of reality that permeates the rest of the book. However, it remains a moving and touching story and highlights the point once again that in a war, innocent victims exist on all sides of the conflict.

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The Asylum of Dr. Calgari

Title:  The Asylum of Dr. Calgari

Author:  James Morrow

Publication Information:  Tachyon Publications. 2017. 192 pages.

ISBN:  1616962658 / 978-1616962654

Book Source:  I received this book as a publisher's galley through NetGalley free of cost in exchange for an honest review.

Opening Sentence:  "From its birth during the Age of Reason until its disappearance following the Treaty of Versailles, the tiny principality of Weizenstaat lay along the swampy seam between the German Empire and the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg like an embolism lodged in an artery."

Favorite Quote:  "You will teach me what you know of art, and I shall teach what I know of badness ... Madness? ... That, too."

The book's protagonist, Francis Wyndham, is an American from Philadelphia. He is also an aspiring painter, who comes to Europe in the hopes of apprenticing himself to one of the great painters, perhaps Pablo Picasso. Things do not work out as he hopes. He finds himself in dire straits. A chance meeting leads to a job as an art instructor at insane asylum run by Alessandro Caligari.

Dr. Caligari's asylum is in Europe. The year is 1914. That, of course, means war. The War. World War I. The events are in motion. Lines have been drawn. Sides have been chosen. And, then, there are the profiteers. Sometimes, ideology is a factor, but, more often than not, the profiteers are the ones who play both sides for profit and personal game. Everything is for sale to the highest bidder regardless of the impact on the world.

What, you might ask, does an insane asylum and an American painter have to do with the war? That is the crux of the book. For, Dr. Caligari is a profiteer. He has come up with a weapon that will make him rich and direct the course of the war. Francis Wyndham finds himself in the unlikely position of being the one who stands in Dr. Caligari's  way. He has help from an asylum inmate, and together they set out to foil the doctor's plan. Oddly, embedded in the middle of this mayhem is a love story and a tribute to the impact of art on its viewer. Perhaps, beauty, or in this case horror, is in the eye of the beholder.

This story is short - more novella than novel. It is also so odd that I began do research the story and the author. What I found makes the whole thing even more interesting. This novella is based on on a 1920s silent horror film from Germany titled Das Cabinet des Dr. Caligari (The Cabinet of Dr. Calgary). The movie is about a hypnotist who uses a sleep-walking man to commit murder. The movie itself is based on the creators' experiences in World War I. The hypnotist symbolized the German government, and the sleep-walking man, the soldiers trained to kill. The book brings the message more literally with its setting in the War and its weapon of mass destruction.

Bizarre is the word that comes to mind for this book. Not that that is unexpected given the title and the cover. The book "blurb" states, "The Asylum of Dr. Caligari is a timely tale that is by turns funny and erotic, tender and bayonet-sharp―but ultimately emerges as a love letter to that mysterious, indispensible thing called art." I am not sure I get all that from the book, but it intrigues me enough to keep reading to see where it goes. It ends up in an unexpected place, and that too is okay. This book is definitely one in which as a reader, I just go with the flow with no expectation, no major a-ha moments, no disappointments, but a memorable reading experience regardless.

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Midnight at the Bright Ideas Bookstore

Title:  Midnight at the Bright Ideas Bookstore

Author:  Matthew Sullivan

Publication Information:  Scribner. 2017. 336 pages.

ISBN:  1501116843 / 978-1501116841

Book Source:  I received this book as a publisher's galley through NetGalley free of cost in exchange for an honest review.

Opening Sentence:  "Lydia heard the distant flap of paper wings as the first book fell from its shelf."

Favorite Quote:  "Lydia's skills as a bookseller came mainly, she believed, from her ability to listen. A raging case of bibliophilia certainly helped, as did limited financial needs, but it was her capacity to be politely trapped by others that really sealed her professional fate."

This book has the word bookstore in the title. I'm in! The description outlines a mystery, beginning with a suicide, a young woman hiding in plain sight, and a cast of eccentric characters such as the BookFrogs. This book is beginning to sound better and better. It's a debut novel. That adds to the excitement with its possibilities.

The story goes that bookseller Lydia Smith clearly has a secret in her past. She is estranged from her father and has no other family. She is in a committed relationship, but that has its boundaries and limits. She lives a quiet, contained life in the Bright Ideas Bookstore in Denver, Colorado. Her quiet is shattered when Joey Molina, a regular customer commits suicide in the store. The mystery deepens as he seems to have left clues for Lydia. Why did Joey kill himself? Who is Joey? What is his possible connection to Lydia? These are the questions at the heart of this mystery.

Slowly, the book peels back the layers of the past to reveal Lydia's secret and solves the mystery of Joey's connection to Lydia. Despite the cozy attributes of the book, the crime described is a graphic and violent one; so, reader, be aware. The ending, when it comes, reverts the mystery to seemingly prosaic issues. It's sad, but I expected something more unusual based on the rest of the book.

The one thing I do not invest in with this book are the characters and the relationships. Lydia and her father. Lydia and her childhood friendship. Lydia and her boyfriend David. Lydia and Joey. Perhaps, it all centers on the character of Lydia herself. Deeply emotionally scarred by a horrific childhood event, Lydia lives her life with those emotions still driving her life. Even though she has compartmentalized her childhood by never speaking of it, its impact shapes who she is. As a bookseller, she embodies the characteristics shared by avid readers (like me!). She is not an unlikable characters, even a sympathetic one. Yet, something keeps me from completely vesting in Lydia as a character.

I love the setting of the book. Even Lydia's childhood is spent in and around a library. The Bright Ideas Bookstore is described as many levels, with cozy places to read and bookish treasures to be found throughout. As the description of the book states, the store is home to the "lost and lonely regulars who spend every day marauding the store’s overwhelmed shelves." It seems a haven, but, then again, most bookstores are a haven for me. This is one of a slowly vanishing breed that invites you in and invites you to linger. Perfect for the bibliophile in me.

I also love the fact that Joey's bequest to Lydia are books, with clues embedded in them. The books have been defaced (horror!) but with purpose to create a message. Also perfect for the bibliophile in me. Given an interesting plot and great descriptions, I look forward to reading more from Matthew Sullivan.

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The Moth Presents All These Wonders

Title:  The Moth Presetns All These Wonders

Author:  Catherine Burns (editor)

Publication Information:  Crown Archetype. 2017. 352 pages.

ISBN:  1101904402 / 978-1101904404

Book Source:  I received this book through the Blogging for Books program free of cost in exchange for an honest review.

Opening Sentence:  "I first started hearing about the Moth in the late 1990s."

Favorite Quote:  "The Moth connects us, as humans. Because we all have stories. Or perhaps, because we are, as human, already an assemblage of stories. And the gulf that exists between us as people is that when we look at each other we might see faces, skin color, gender, race, or attitudes, but we don't see, we dan't see, the stories. And once we hear each other's stories we realize that the things we see as dividing us are, all too often, illusions, falsehoods:  that the walls between us are in truth no thicker than scenery. The Moth teaches us not to judge by appearances. It teaches us to listen. It reminds us to empathize"

This is the first time I have heard of The Moth although the organization celebrated its twentieth anniversary this year. The cover and idea of the book sounding intriguing; so, I decided to learn more.

The book itself hooks me from the beginning in the foreword by Neil Gaiman. It states so eloquently an idea that I hold dear. From its beginning, the book reminds me of other favorites - the works of Brandon Stanton and StoryCorps. All these works seek to bring the world together, one story at a time, one person at a time. In the words of Maya Angelou, "We are more alike my friends, than we are unalike." All these works seek to convey this idea.

The Moth returns to the oldest of all storytelling traditions - the oral tradition.  The purpose of the organization, according to its media kit, states, "The Moth celebrates the ability of stories to honor both the diversity and commonality of human experience, and to satisfy a vital human need for connection. It seeks to present recognized storytellers among established and emerging writers,  performers and artists and to encourage storytelling among communities whose stories often go unheard."

The idea began in 1997 in Georgia in the home of novelist and poet George Dawes Green. He brought the idea with him when he moved to New York City. To date, The Moth has had over 26,000 stories told in over 3,500 live events, and the numbers continue to grow every days.

The idea has blossomed and grown with open-mic events around the United States and community, education, and corporate programs. The project has also evolved into a radio broadcast, podcasts, and, now, this book. The book is the first venture to translate this oral storytelling into the written word.

The title of this book, All These Wonders, comes from one of the stories in the book. The larger metaphor is that "we all have moments in life when we are forced off the map. Sometimes it's by choice ... Other times we get shoved there against our will ... But the stories in this book who that when we dare to face the unknown, we usually discover that we have more grit and tenacity than we thought. And we often land in a place that we couldn't even have imagined when we started out."

As is the case with a collection of stories, some touched me more than other because of where I am in my life and my own experiences. The book comprises about 50 stories organized into seven sections. The individual stories run the gamut from light-hearted to heart-breaking. Some storyteller names I recognize, and some are new to me. Each story is only a few pages long with a brief biography of the storyteller and the details of where the story was first told. All leave me with something to ponder. This book is a beautiful glimpse into a fascinating project. I look forward to reading and listening to more.

Please share your thoughts and leave a comment. I would love to "talk" to you.

The Lost History of Stars

Title:  The Lost History of Stars

Author:  Dave Boling

Publication Information:  Algonquin Books. 2017. 352 pages.

ISBN:  1616204176 / 978-1616204174

Book Source:  I received this book as a publisher's galley through NetGalley free of cost in exchange for an honest review.

Opening Sentence:  "The first warning was so delicate:  Moeder's hanging cups lightly touched lips in the china cabinet."

Favorite Quote:  "The best thing was for me to deal with the fear on my own, and once I learned that I could do it, it was a strength that would never leave me. For me, in the worst days, when everything else had been pared away, that remained."

The Lost History of Stars is another story of horrific atrocities and war told through the eyes of a child. This story is of the Second Anglo-Boer War in South Africa. Fought between 1899 and 1902, the war resulted in the death of not only soldiers but of children. The children died not just because of the guerrilla warfare but because of deprivation and disease as thousands of Boers were placed into internment camps by the British. The deplorable conditions of the camps led to infection and disease, which young children with weaker immune systems were particularly susceptible to.

This book is singularly focused on the victimization of the children in the camps. Those looking for a broader look at the history of the Boer War in terms of the actual fighting or its impact on South Africa will not find it in this book.

This story is narrated through the eyes of fourteen year old Lettie, who ends up in the internment camps with her mother, her brother, and her younger sister. The story is of war, but it is also a coming of age story for this young woman. It is a story of loss and atrocity, but there are moments of teenage joys and teenage angst. Given the age of the narrator, this book could almost have a young adult label although the content is so very adult and so very depressing.

For me, two things keep the book from being a more compelling and emotionally engaging narrative.

First, the first half of the book goes back and forth between two periods, both through Lettie's perspective. The first is memories of her childhood at home with her family. This is the legacy of her family and the peace and innocence of her life leading up to the war. The second is primarily of the life in camp, which ranges from occasional moments of teenage life to incredibly sad moments of death and violence. The back and forth approach works in many books, but for me, this story may have had more of an impact with a linear timeline. The difference between the "before" and the "after" would perhaps have been more stark if presented completely separately rather than intertwined in alternating chapters.

Second, the book starts with an incredibly intense, emotional, and jarring event. This moment marks the break between the "before" and "after." The rest of the book has equally emotionally, heart-wrenching moments but never quite recaptures the intensity of the powerful beginning. In other words, compared to the beginning, the rest of the books seems muted. Told in a linear fashion, this event would come part way through the book with the story building to it and beyond.

The back and forth does stop about midway through the book; the story shifts completely to life in the camps. It is at that moment that the emotion of the story picks up again.

This book speaks to the power of fiction to convey a history I know very little about. It teaches and sends me off to do more research on the non-fiction actual history of events. For that, I am thankful.

Please share your thoughts and leave a comment. I would love to "talk" to you.