West with Giraffes: A Novel
by Lynda Rutledge
Never thought about giraffes! (3/15/2023)
I have been to many zoos around the US, and never once thought about how animals arrived here. I took for granted that they had human treatment and were cared for but never considered that it was perilous and heartbreaking. I enjoyed the character development of Woody and his boss who risked much to get the animals safely to the zoo. A truly inspiring story!
The Last Grand Duchess: A Novel of Olga Romanov, Imperial Russia, and Revolution
by Bryn Turnbull
A Russian story (1/2/2022)
I was hooked on this story from the first page! It is an engrossing historical novel that tells the story of the eldest daughter of Tsar Nicholas in Russia. Olga's life is intertwined with the historical occurrences of the early 20th century in Russia. Olga is not able to attend balls and be in society. She lives an almost cloistered life with her family. She is very innocent and naïve. They do not live the typical lives of royals, but prefer to stay alone in the palace, and entertain to a minimum. This is in an effort to never disclose the medical condition of Olga's brother and heir to the throne, Alexei who is a hemophiliac. This effort costs them family and friends, and the peasants love to support them when revolution was on the horizon. Also to complicate events was Grigori Rasputin who was a priest who could somehow help Alexei when doctors could not. Soon rumors were all over the country about how the tsarina needed the priest to be with them. Right or wrong, people started to believe that he had too much influence on the crown.
I enjoyed this novel, as I always saw the Romanovs as victims. This story shows they were participants in the demise of the government in Russia by their own egos, naivete, and lack of empathy for their people.
In Every Mirror She's Black: A Novel
by Lola Akinmade Akerstrom
Its hard to be a Black Woman in our world (9/4/2021)
I read this book as soon as it arrived. I wanted to read this , primarily to see how Black women are treated in another country , especially one that has a reputation for being liberal and open like Sweden. Maybe this is part of what drew Kemi , a hope to advance in a world that she thought would accept her! Brittany Rae went for the money and position and poor Muna just had to escape! Each woman finds that she may not be any better off than before. Each is trapped by her expectations ( not unreasonable) of what she expected her life to be in a new country. I think the three different perspectives are valuable as they illustrate that racism is alive and well in the world. Each had a chance to have a different outcome in their lives but things pretty much ended with the similar disappointments.. I also thought that Jonny was an unusual character. He seemed right off to be a bit odd to me, but I thought of him as someone high functioning on the autism spectrum, because of personal experiences in this field. His family didn't help him grown up into a responsible adult who could take care of himself. This was an unusual story for me, but one I enjoyed for all its quickiness.
The Book of Lost Names
by Kristin Harmel
The courage of ordinary people. (5/19/2021)
I was as impressed that Eva was so willing to help forge documents so that Jewish children could escape to Switzerland. She put her needs and that of her mother's aside to help in that effort. It's good to know there are so many selfless people in the world! Although I did find Eva's mother annoying. I think it was realistic for how people were in denial of what the Nazis were capable of. She was not interested in rescuing the children and her thoughtless comments often put Eva in danger. She was blind to what was going on around her. I wondered how many of our parents and grandparents hid stories about the war from us as they were too painful to recall. I gave this a 4 and not a 5 because I did not like the ending. It was too much like a Hallmark movie, and a little hard to believe. But I did enjoy the story.
Miss Austen
by Gill Hornby
Miss Cassandra (4/9/2021)
I enjoyed this book very much! It was like reading a Jane Austen novel! The language and characters were very much in Austen's style. That made it easier to get into Cassandra's mind set of not revealing her true thoughts and doing what society would demand of a single woman. That alone made it a bit unsatisfying for me. Single women of the time , had no rights but tons of expectations placed upon her! Her family totally controlled her daily life, from where she was allowed to live and go, how she could live and who she was beholden to. What a frustrating life!! It did make me grateful to be a woman in our times, but we women still want more! The relationship between the sisters was intense. Not having a sister made it harder for me to understand that , but in view of the entire Austen family, I know of few families that enjoy each other so much, almost to the exclusion of others! It was a simpler time, but the family was positive and negative in its influences. I asked myself several times how did Cassandra give up her own happiness for her family and her fiancé? English duty??
The Survivors: A Novel
by Jane Harper
more about characters (2/4/2021)
I found this book a bit hard to get into at first as there were so many characters introduced. But saying that I must say there was not enough info fleshed out about those characters. Red Herrings? I actually had to write notes on the characters to keep then straight. I have never read a book set in Tasmania, so it did get my attention, nor have I been to a beach where there were caves to explore! But I felt like it was a dark, cold setting, which matched the mood of the story. It was not a happy tale but it matched the mystery. The ending was a surprise but I think there were so many possibilities that Jane Harper wanted to keep us guessing.
Miracle Creek
by Angie Kim
This book stirred memories (4/15/2020)
Angie Kim's novel hooked me with the opening line! This is a murder mystery, but also it examines the life of families with special needs children as well as immigrant families in the US. Both play a major role in the story. As a mom of a daughter with autism and it forced me to go and remember the feelings I experienced in the past. I know of the intensity of daily life and the struggles, the need to feel like your child can be like other kids--especially if you can find the "right" treatment. I know that parents will do most anything to help their child and this book helped me to examined my own feeling about that as a parent. This need is also reflected in the families of the special needs children and the immigrant family. But this also is a murder trial where many people have secrets and partial truths they have revealed. I liked that it was told from multiple perspectives, which increased the clues of how the tragedy occurred and how they suspected one another. So many people had enough reasons to be the actually murderer. I was hooked from the first page to the last!
The Paris Hours: A Novel
by Alex George
I wish I knew Paris! (2/25/2020)
I loved this story! I gave it 4 stars because the French names, locations, and words were a bit confusing to me and I had to look some of them up on a translation app! Maybe a street map included would have helped since the streets were often named and seemed important. At first I confused the characters of the journalist and the painter. That being said, I would highly recommend this novel! The author, Alex George, writes beautiful prose. I was intrigued how these 4 people would be connected and felt their secrets were tragic and worthy of discovery, which made me persist in reading. These people were all traumatized by the war and I couldn't predict how the story would end. Adding famous people and places gave the story an authentic feel. I would like my book club to read it.
Sometimes I Lie
by Alice Feeney
So unique! (7/2/2019)
I could not stop reading this book! Amber and Claire are twin sisters who have been keeping secrets for years Those secrets control the behavior of the other sister. Amber is in a coma in the beginning of the story after a car accident and thinks her sister Claire is having an affair with her husband. But the story is much more than that! A twisted tale of love, jealousy, revenge, and hate that leaves you unsure of what you just read!
The Last Collection: A Novel of Elsa Schiaparelli and Coco Chanel
by Jeanne Mackin
Art and Fashion in prewar Paris (3/9/2019)
I loved this book! I particularly liked the use of art and color. I loved the language of the story and by using art, colors came alive. I never knew there were so many hues of blue! But I think I could "see" them through the author's description. The use of the character, Lily, bridges the gap between the rival fashion designers and the connected me to the world of art as well. Lily says, "Something moved in me that has been slumbering for two years. Color. So much color". Lily moved the story between Elsa and Coco with the ease that these two characters would not bridge alone. The setting in prewar Paris, gives the reader the chance to see how sides were taken, and what that cost the designers as well as the people of Paris in the end. "Men who persist in the belief that women in fashion are soft, sentimental creatures have never worked in the fashion industry."
The Last Year of the War
by Susan Meissner
What I failed to know (11/22/2018)
I enjoyed this book on several levels. I especially like stories that trace a relationship during two separate time periods and brings them together. There is so much to learn from the relationship of Mariko and Elise. Two young girls are caught up in the war aboard which they have not paid much attention. As American born children of Japanese and German immigrants, their simply view is that they are Americans, and they know which "side" they are on. This is not as simple for their families.As the girls meet in an internment camp in Texas, they find friendship and solace in a world that excludes them and in which they no longer understand. As they are eventually separated,they try to maintain their friendship, but life seems to works against them. The story unfolds as these now elderly women attempt to reconnect before their lives end. I wondered if I would try to recapture such a friendship based on such a terrible time in my life. And I'm not sure. I was also amazed to learn of the repatriation of Japanese, German and Italian families while the war was still being fought! How devastating to be sent to what was actually a foreign country to these young people, during a war! I wondered how well this is generally known and think it is something that needs to be discussed so they will not be repeated.They faced unthinkable situations that they were not prepared for. I also thought as I read that this story has some parallels to the challenges our country now faces with immigration. Some look at immigrants with suspicion and as a threat. Some would like them to go back to their own countries. I think history can tell us of the effect this has on our culture and those families.
The Kennedy Debutante
by Kerri Maher
I hoped for more! (6/4/2018)
I was very interested in the title character and the opportunity to read this new book. I hoped for more! I enjoyed the description of the parties and nightlife before the war. Prewar England was very different than life in America. But I felt the booked dragged, especially in the middle. Her time in back Washington was dull, and I got bored. I think an editor might condense that part. As a Catholic and a woman, I recognize that I look at Kennedy with more "modern" eyes than perhaps she deserved but I wasn’t convinced by the author’s interpretation in places. Also, I picked this book with the hope of gaining new insight into the parts of Kennedy’s life that are not public knowledge and, in this respect I found the book unsatisfying, for example, did she reconcile with her family and what happened in the four years leading up to her death?
Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI
by David Grann
Native Americans are still cheated (4/3/2018)
This was slow and chunky. It was interesting to learn the background of the tribe and the state of Oklahoma, but no conclusions were drawn. Things have not changed for them. Look at the wind turbines to know that they have no rights. If there is something that white people want they just take it. The book was designed to provoke anger at the injustice, but with no where to direct that anger. Did the author think this will repeat itself? Did he think there was some way to support the tribe? He just left us hanging in the end. Even history books draw some conclusions. My book club could hardly find much else to discuss. Best nonfiction of 2017?
The Stars Are Fire
by Anita Shreve
The fire was gone (4/3/2018)
I know that Ms. Shreve has just passed away and I have enjoyed other books she has written in the past. This book left me wanting much more. Perhaps she was not well when she wrote it. The first nearly 50 pages were about her sex life- or lack there of- with no reason for her husband to treat her so poorly. The fire shows up, and in less than a chapter, its over! An entire state is devastated yet the reader is not allowed to see the fire as the monster it is. Grace finally grows up as she is forced to. As historical fiction, the fire was barely a spark.
The Second Mrs. Hockaday
by Susan Rivers
A confusing tale of a young girl (12/2/2016)
I have very mixed feelings about this book. The topic was interesting to me as it was set in the Civil War. The format was what I did not enjoy. It was often confusing to me who the narrator was. I found myself looking to see who was speaking . Even when the section moved to 1892, it still went back in time. A more linear story would have been easier to follow. Unless the letters were addressed directly to someone, I was not sure if I was reading a diary entry or was it the author . There were also many names of characters introduced that left me unsure if these were extended family or even slaves owned by the different families.I felt the author never answered the question of why was Mr. Hockday so willing to let his wife be jailed without really knowing the facts. Was he really expecting life to be the same after being gone 4 years? It was unsatisfying to not know how they came back to each other.
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