The Magician of Tiger Castle
by Louis Sachar
The Magician of Tiger Castle was not what I was expecting (5/10/2025)
Holes, by Louis Sachar is one of my favorite books which is why I chose to read his newest book. I expected to be completely surprised by a twist in the book. I was, but it was in the middle of the book and I kept watching for denouement that would satisfy my excitement for reading Sachar. The characters and story line were well developed although I regularly wondered where we were headed. Understanding this to be a fantasy (which is not usually a preferred genre for me) I enjoyed Sachar's writing (as I always do) and the very different story that this turned out to be.
Going Home: A Novel
by Tom Lamont
Maturing characters (12/17/2024)
Just as children mature at exponential rates during early childhood, those who an entrusted with their care mature as they embrace the role of guardian or parent. This novel gives full value to the roles adults play in the lives of children.
After a tragedy, 2 or 3 year-old Joel is placed with a family friend and changes the lives of four adults who have to determine who they need to be to Joel and to each other to take care of Joel. This is both a heartwarming story and a story of challenging family dynamics. Without giving anything away, I can say that In the end, the child is the center of the universe - for both the child and those taking care of him.
Becoming Madam Secretary
by Stephanie Dray
An Intelligent woman of the 1920s and 30s (12/8/2023)
At first, I thought that the author was a good storyteller but not a great writer. As the book went on, I became so engrossed in the story, that I began to truly appreciate her writing style. Women in the 1920s and 30s were expected to fulfill their roles as wives and mothers. Frances Perkins was fortunate to have married a man who respected her intelligence, her abilities, and her need to work. Having taken the lead on important social issues, she gained the respect of politicians and was perfectly positioned for FDR to appoint her his Secretary of Labor. She learned to balance her intelligence and her causes against what men would accept from her as a lone women amongst all men, so that she was both listened to and heard. It was a remarkable feat. The writing compels the reader forward in a very satisfying way.
The Personal Librarian
by Marie Benedict, Victoria Christopher Murray
Secrets can color our lives (3/19/2021)
As someone who has lived with a family secret for almost 40 years, Belle's hiding the fact that she was fair enough to pass as white, despite the fact that she was "colored" resonated with me. I felt that the characters were well-drawn, but thought that the book moved very slowly from major issue to major issue without sufficient build-up to propel the story forward. There were times I felt as though I was continuing the work because I had committed to writing a review. In the end, I felt it was worth the effort, I just wished an editor had pared it down a bit.
I Want You to Know We're Still Here: A Post-Holocaust Memoir
by Esther Safran Foer
Remembering the past, assuring the future (12/17/2019)
"I Want You to Know We're Still Here" by Ester Safran Foer was a well-written love note from a mother to her children. The story felt like a fairy tale retelling, where you recognize the story in bits and pieces, but the names have changed and the details are different. I, admittedly, read this book because of Jonathan Safran Foer's books, but you can see from Ester's writing where her son got his strength for words. However, Ester truly has her own voice. Ester's way of formatting a story is like that of an earnest parent after the child has had its own baby and is now asking for advice. She admits that she doesn't have all the answers, that a lot of it she had to assume or research herself. She reminds us that while the survivors of the Holocaust might be leaving this earthly planet, there is still an echo or shadow of what they had to overcome and what was done. The book reads as motherly plea to remember to do our homework because as life goes on she wants to trust someone to remember the echo and the shadows because they were here, and still are as long as their stories are told.
D-Day Girls: The Spies Who Armed the Resistance, Sabotaged the Nazis, and Helped Win World War II
by Sarah Rose
Another take on WWII stories (4/7/2019)
Since my pre-teens, I have been drawn to stories about World War II. My father fought in it, as a young Jewish woman, it was part of my heritage and history. I often feel like there isn't another story that can be told that I haven't read. But there is - and that is D-Day Girls. It was a completely different twist on the stories of the War: the citizenry, the people who fought it, the conflicts between the conquerors and the defeated and how that got turned around. It was well-researched and well-written. Despite the rampant sexism that was practiced by the very people who were dependent on these women to do their jobs, it is a refreshing look at the women who made a difference in the War as something more than nurses or stenographers.
The Affairs of the Falcóns
by Melissa Rivero
A Story with Truth (12/23/2018)
If I could, I would give this book a 4.5. It was well-written and had good charagcter development. It told the story of an undocumented family living in NYC. I felt as though I could easily have been reading a biography. It is both hopeful and sad. Never mentioned, but often in my mind was that the Falcons' children would grow up in America without documentation and without ever having made the choice to adopt this country. The book was rich with all of the dimensions of living a life unseen and yet with a history. I think that the only reason I did not give it a 5 was that in order to not give away the ending too soon, the author did not foreshadow enough and moved the story a little too slowly.
A Ladder to the Sky: A Novel
by John Boyne
A totally fresh take on the art of writing (9/9/2018)
I have never read a book quite like this. A completely fresh plot. The main character reminded me of a sociopath/narcissist I once had to deal with. Awful, but too fascinating to turn away from. The use of various narrators and first, second and third person narrators kept the book fresh and unique. The book moves through various phases of the writer's life and ambition at no time making him a sympathetic character. Can't wait to see what else John Boyne has written.
A Place for Us
by Fatima Farheen Mirza
Authentic view of life of the first and second generation immigrants (7/15/2018)
If you, your parents, your grandparents or people you know are immigrants to this country, this book will touch you on so many levels. The first generation to the country, holding on to the beliefs that make them the people they are, even if they are the "old ways"; their children, being raised on their parents values, while struggling to find their own identity in the country of their birth. There are also the family dynamics of birth order, male child vs. female child, and how culture controls and plays into that. The look into this immigrant's family life is eye-opening and educational. Written with great sensitivity. I can't say enough good things about this book.
The Kennedy Debutante
by Kerri Maher
Kick Kennedy - American Princess/British Marchioness (6/6/2018)
Oh how I loved this book! Full disclosure: I am an absolute fan of historical fiction and absolutely cannot get enough of all things Kennedy. If you are not a fan of either, you might not feel the way I did about this book.
Yes, Kick Kennedy was a privileged, pampered, watched-over American princess, but after understanding that (and forgiving it) Maher truly had her come off as her own being (as opposed to being in her brothers' shadows) and willing to give of herself, understanding the privilege under which she lived, donating her time, talent and treasure. I knew only the basic outline of her life (and death) and this book filled in the detail and gave it color. I thought that Maher did an excellent job of showing the depth of Kick as a partner/volunteer/employee and lover of her family, religion and the man she married.
Is it appropriate to call a book "delicious" any more? It was short of gossipy about a character who was talked about all of her adult life. So good!
The Travelling Cat Chronicles
by Hiro Arikawa, Philip Gabriel
Not what I was expecting (5/4/2018)
Having lived with dogs and cats for the past 35 years, and read most of the best selling novels about various pets over those years, I started the Traveling Cat Chronicles with different expectations than how I found the book to begin with. First of all, there was a cultural difference in the approach to the man/cat bond. Secondly, I felt that there was a disconnect because of the translation. I just felt that a warmth that I was used to from the American bestsellers was missing. Also, the foreshadowing - that device that keeps you moving forward to find out why things are going the way they are going - was awkward. It is only because of these issues that I gave the book a 4 and not a 5, since by the end, I was totally wrapped up in the characters and the way the story played out. If you approach the book with the understanding that it is not another "Marley and Me", that it is its own story, I think you will find it truly enjoyable.
French Exit
by Patrick deWitt
Good writing, fair story (1/27/2018)
I enjoyed the writing better than I enjoyed the story. I was looking for something quirky, which by the description of the book, I was sure I would find. Quirky is certainly one way to describe the book. As the story unfolded, I found myself less and less enchanted, but the writing was so strong it drove me on. There were moments - such as a comment about adulthood being thrust upon one at too young an age, or the dictionary game - that made the book a worthwhile read. But there were too many "where is this going?" moments. Without being a spoiler, I was disconcerted by the ending and would have appreciated an epilogue to help me understand how the characters lives were resolved.
Sometimes I Lie
by Alice Feeney
A book that requires two readings (11/21/2017)
You know from the title and the opening of the book, that there is something you will need to figure out beyond the story line itself. The story line is good. It keeps moving forward, told in different time periods. Not unlike Gillian Flynn's "Gone Girl" there is a trick - Although, in Flynn's book, it is better understood on second reading, in this book, I felt that it actually required a second reading to sort out the characters in order to now understand the trick. Maybe it's me. Maybe I needed to be paying closer attention or needed to understand the characters better. But trying to apply what I had learned at the end to what I had read from the beginning seemed a bit exhausting.
Stay with Me
by Ayobami Adebayo
A Hearbreaking Story (8/25/2017)
This story reminded me of The Gift of the Magi in the way in which each spouse selfishly gives their love to the other in such a way that the gift becomes, somehow, meaningless - and yet the love of each other is so overriding that in the end, that is all you see. The first chapter gives the foreshadowing of the heartbreak we will witness, but the story builds slowly, and it is easy to forget that foreshadowing. It is, surprisingly, not a tearjerker, just so horribly sad. And yet there is redemption in the end. Saying anything more would spoil your reading of this elegant, thoughtful and well-developed story.
The Weight of Ink
by Rachel Kadish
The Weight of Ink is an intellectual challenge of the best sort (3/4/2017)
My initial response as I closed the book was "Wow! Just Wow!" Two stories are interwoven with each other - one from 2000 and one from 1659. A cache of papers is found and sold to a university for study. The stories are the analysis of those pages and the backstory to how they came to be. But to understand those studying the pages, we need the backstories of those doing the studying. The stories are those of the love of the written word and the ability to study, analyze, understand. Very often I feel that a book of over 500 pages is about 200 pages too long, but this one worked. The stories could hardly have been told in less and be as alive and vibrant as they were. The fact that the writing was compared to A.S. Byatt hooked me. It was a good comparison.
Victoria
by Daisy Goodwin
A queen's growth from childhood to adulthood (10/22/2016)
This is the story of the first two years of Queen Victoria's reign starting as a sheltered 18-year-old and ending with her clearly on the verge of adulthood two years later. Godwin drew a good balance between the person she wanted to be and the monarch that she needed - and was expected - to be. There were many (especially men) who thought her incapable of handling the rigors of the monarchy and tried to influence her as well as trying to marginalize her. Her ability to stand up to those men, as well as her mother, was inspirational. A truly enjoyable book.
The Midnight Watch: A Novel of the Titanic and the Californian
by David Dyer
A story that hit close to home (2/11/2016)
I have a family history with the Titanic. My grandmother was supposed to have come to America on the Titanic, but her father, having forgotten that his sons had become adults while he worked in America to earn their passage, did not send enough money. They literally missed the boat. By the time my grandmother and her mother and siblings came to America, the tragedy of the Titanic was known and a different route was taken. Obviously, with a background like that, I not only read The Midnight Watch for the story it told, but the story that could have been my family's. I was fascinated by the idea that such a very small sliver of time could be the subject of a full-length novel. But Dyer did a fabulous job of investigating and portraying the facts around the failure of the closest ship to the Titanic to rush to her aid and giving his characters depth and dignity. And he did so without just stretching out the facts so that he could make a novel of an appropriate length. I cried repeatedly at the loss of life, the insignificance placed on the lives third class passengers (where my family would have been) and the opportunity missed. This was an insightful, provocative and well-written novel.
All Is Not Forgotten
by Wendy Walker
All is Not Forgotten (10/10/2015)
The well-constructed ending - one I found difficult to anticipate - was preceded by an overlong setting of the stage. At 100 pages in, I would have given up, but for the fact that I had a review to write. I am glad that I stuck with it. The tension between family loyalty and professional obligation is well-cast in this novel of a psychiatrist attempting to help a young woman and her family get past the trauma of her rape. When a "treatment" is used to wipe out her memory of the event, there are far-reaching consequences in the inability to identify her attacker.
The Book of Speculation
by Erika Swyler
A struggle to decide my opinion of the book (4/15/2015)
I felt the book was well-written from the perspective of the different story lines developing and connecting with one another, but I never really found myself enjoying the book. I think it was because I never connected with any of the characters, so I never cared what happened to any of them. The author did a lot with analogies and symbolism, which is why I thought the writing style was good, but the story that developed never drew me in.
The Last Flight of Poxl West
by Daniel Torday
A Mixed Bag (1/15/2015)
I had some real struggles with the author's writing - specifically the "voice" of the narrator Poxl is the same "voice" as the narrator Eli, the allegories were often so strange they called up no useful visualization but merely felt like a device the author felt compelled to use, foreshadowing was needed but was weak - and I really thought that one fact was foreshadowed and never borne out. I thought there were some historical errors - that were simply errors, not poetic license. In the end, I found I liked the novel more than I did about halfway through, but it certainly did not rise to the level of a rating of 5
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