The Secret Book of Flora Lea by Patti Callahan Henry

Title: The Secret Book of Flora Lea

Author: Patti Callahan Henry

Publisher: Atria Books 2023

Genre: Historical Fiction

Pages: 355

Rating: 2/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Cover Lover - An author that has a common name spelled in an uncommon way

Where I Got It: Library

In the war-torn London of 1939, fourteen-year-old Hazel and five-year-old Flora are evacuated to a rural village to escape the horrors of the Second World War. Living with the kind Bridie Aberdeen and her teenage son, Harry, in a charming stone cottage along the River Thames, Hazel fills their days with walks and games to distract her young sister, including one that she creates for her sister and her sister alone—a fairy tale about a magical land, a secret place they can escape to that is all their own.

But the unthinkable happens when young Flora suddenly vanishes while playing near the banks of the river. Shattered, Hazel blames herself for her sister’s disappearance, and she carries that guilt into adulthood as a private burden she feels she deserves.

Twenty years later, Hazel is in London, ready to move on from her job at a cozy rare bookstore to a career at Sotheby’s. With a charming boyfriend and her elegantly timeworn Bloomsbury flat, Hazel’s future seems determined. But her tidy life is turned upside down when she unwraps a package containing an illustrated book called Whisperwood and the River of Stars. Hazel never told a soul about the imaginary world she created just for Flora. Could this book hold the secrets to Flora’s disappearance? Could it be a sign that her beloved sister is still alive after all these years?

Our book club selection for this month. I was hoping for a decent historical fiction featuring a mystery and family connections. I was pretty disappointed by the outcome of this one. The coincidences and “twists” of the story were too ridiculous and silly. It felt like it just got too saccharine. The author pulled at the reader’s heartstrings in a way that I do not appreciate. Beyond that, I had some technical writing issues. So many parts were a a lot of telling and not a lot of showing. I dislike. Finally, the weird anachronisms got to me after awhile. The British main characters talk in American vernacular at the time. Um no.

Next up on the TBR pile:

Romantic Comedy by Curtis Sittenfeld

Title: Romantic Comedy

Author: Curtis Sittenfeld

Publisher: Random House 2023

Genre: Romance

Pages: 309

Rating: 2/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Quarter of a Century - 2023; Romanceopoly - Festival Barn

Where I Got It: Library

Spice Rating: 4.5

Sally Milz is a sketch writer for The Night Owls, a late-night live comedy show that airs every Saturday. With a couple of heartbreaks under her belt, she’s long abandoned the search for love, settling instead for the occasional hook-up, career success, and a close relationship with her stepfather to round out a satisfying life.

But when Sally’s friend and fellow writer Danny Horst begins dating Annabel, a glamorous actress who guest-hosted the show, he joins the not-so-exclusive group of talented but average-looking and even dorky men at the show—and in society at large—who’ve gotten romantically involved with incredibly beautiful and accomplished women. Sally channels her annoyance into a sketch called The Danny Horst Rule, poking fun at this phenomenon while underscoring how unlikely it is that the reverse would ever happen for a woman.

Enter Noah Brewster, a pop music sensation with a reputation for dating models, who signed on as both host and musical guest for this week’s show. Dazzled by his charms, Sally hits it off with Noah instantly, and as they collaborate on one sketch after another, she begins to wonder if there might actually be sparks flying. But this isn’t a romantic comedy—it’s real life. And in real life, someone like him would never date someone like her . . . right?

With her keen observations and trademark ability to bring complex women to life on the page, Curtis Sittenfeld explores the neurosis-inducing and heart-fluttering wonder of love, while slyly dissecting the social rituals of romance and gender relations in the modern age.

Oh goodness. I truly disliked this book. My main issue with the book is actually the format and writing style. The “Dear Diary” style of relating the week at the non-SNL production got old really fast. It felt super immature and distracted from the characters. The second section of emails was tired and repetitive. I couldn’t even imagine having to listen to that on audio. Thank goodness that I was reading it with my eyes. The third section was the only part that I was okay with. It’s written with first-person narrative, but seems normal. My other issue with the book is the story itself. There’s an attempt to show a story focused on insecure woman as she attempts to not fuck up a New Romantic relationship. I appreciate the attempt, but found Sally so unlikeable and annoying in many ways. I would have liked to see so much more between her and Noah, but instead we don’t get them together until the 70% mark of the book. As an extra note, I hated reading the COVID section. The entire section where Jerry contracts COVID seemed out of place and took my out of the point of the book. This is going to be interesting book club.

Next up on the TBR pile:

Shark Heart by Emily Habeck

Title: Shark Heart

Author: Emily Habeck

Publisher: Marysue Rucci Books 2023

Genre: Fantasy?

Pages: 416

Rating: 3/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Unread Shelf; Read Around the USA - Texas

Where I Got It: Book of the Month March 2024

For Lewis and Wren, their first year of marriage is also their last. A few weeks after their wedding, Lewis receives a rare diagnosis. He will retain most of his consciousness, memories, and intellect, but his physical body will gradually turn into a great white shark. As Lewis develops the features and impulses of one of the most predatory creatures in the ocean, his complicated artist’s heart struggles to make peace with his unfulfilled dreams.

At first, Wren internally resists her husband’s fate. Is there a way for them to be together after Lewis changes? Then, a glimpse of Lewis’s developing carnivorous nature activates long-repressed memories for Wren, whose story vacillates between her childhood living on a houseboat in Oklahoma, her time with her college ex-girlfriend, and her unusual friendship with a woman pregnant with twin birds. Woven throughout this “heart-wringing” (Adam Roberts, internationally bestselling author of Salt) novel is the story of Wren’s mother, Angela, who becomes pregnant with Wren at fifteen in an abusive relationship amidst her parents’ crumbling marriage. In the present, all of Wren’s grief eventually collides, and she is forced to make an impossible choice.

I am really not sure how exactly I feel about this book. The writing was beautiful. I was sucked into the story by the prose. I even really loved the different passage structures: short scenes, play scenes, flashbacks, etc. I loved how the mixing up of the plot and timeline really kept me turning the pages to see what happened next. But… and this is a big but, I truly disliked Wren and her entire character. We never really get to truly connect with her and understand her. She is so closed off throughout the book that I don’t even think Lewis understood her. I found her entire story to be so incredibly frustrating. And the entire second section of the book was such a bummer for me. I wanted to spend more time with Lewis and Wren, not her mother. This book is our book discussion fro book club next week. I’m interested to hear what everyone else thought about the book.

Next up on the TBR pile:

Before the Fall by Noah Hawley

Title: Before the Fall

Author: Noah Hawley

Publisher: Grand Central 2016

Genre: Thriller

Pages: 416

Rating: 3/5 stars

Reading Challenges: 

Where I Got It: Library

On a foggy summer night, eleven people--ten privileged, one down-on-his-luck painter--depart Martha's Vineyard on a private jet headed for New York. Sixteen minutes later, the unthinkable happens: the plane plunges into the ocean. The only survivors are the painter Scott Burroughs and a four-year-old boy, who is now the last remaining member of an immensely wealthy and powerful media mogul's family.

Was it by chance that so many influential people perished? Or was something more sinister at work? A storm of media attention brings Scott fame that quickly morphs into notoriety and accusations, and he scrambles to salvage truth from the wreckage. Amid trauma and chaos, the fragile relationship between Scott and the young boy grows and glows at the heart of this stunning novel, raising questions of fate, morality, and the inextricable ties that bind us together.

Our book club selection for January and it was a bit of a mess. We start out with the plane crash and immediate aftermath. I was intrigued by the mysteries of the passengers and what caused the crash. We start to explore the backstories of our characters. Very quickly the book starts to drag along. The backstories get more and more boring and tangential. I just found myself caring less and less about these characters. I kept wanting this is actually all connect somehow. But in the end, the cause of the plane crash was so stupid and frustrating. I almost threw my book at the wall.

Next up on the TBR pile:

Mistress of Rome by Kate Quinn

Title: Mistress of Rome (Empress of Rome #1)

Author: Kate Quinn

Publisher: Berkley 2010

Genre: Historical Fiction

Pages: 470

Rating: 4/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Unread Shelf

Where I Got It: Unread Shelf

First-century Rome: A ruthless emperor watches over all—and fixes his gaze on one young woman...

Thea is a slave girl from Judaea, purchased as a toy for the spiteful heiress Lepida Pollia. Now she has infuriated her mistress by capturing the attention of Rome’s newest and most savage gladiator—and though his love brings Thea the first happiness of her life, their affair ends quickly when a jealous Lepida tears them apart.

Remaking herself as a singer for Rome’s aristocrats, Thea unwittingly attracts another admirer: the charismatic Emperor of Rome. But the passions of an all-powerful man come with a heavy price, and Thea finds herself fighting for both her soul and her sanity. Many have tried to destroy the Emperor: a vengeful gladiator, an upright senator, a tormented soldier, a Vestal Virgin. But in the end, the life of Domitian lies in the hands of one woman: the Emperor’s mistress.

I cannot tell you how many years this book has sat on my Unread Shelf. I know that I got it before we moved back from California, so at least 6 years. I’ve read many of Kate Quinn’s later books, but never this series. We picked it for our November book club selection and I finally dove in. Overall, I really enjoyed this look at Ancient Rome. The first 150 pages are fairly slow, but once we get past those, the story really gets going. We have to establish our world and our characters before we get to the meat of the story. Thea was a great outsider character left to navigate the treacherous and unjust world of Rome. I was rooting for her right from the beginning. Marcus was fascinating and I really wanted to see more of him that we got. Lepida was horrid and I really wished she has faced a more terrible end, but at least she did face her end. I liked the interplay of the storylines and the different levels of Roman society depicted. We got a little of everything, even a few real historical people. I just wish it had been about 100 pages shorter with some extra slow and long sections trimmed down. Still, I have the rest of the series and will put them in my TBR short pile.

Empress of Rome

• #1 Mistress of Rome

• #2 Daughters of Rome

• #3 Empress of the Seven Hills

• #4 Lady of the Eternal City

Next up on the TBR pile:

The Six by Loren Grush

Title: The Six: The Untold Story of America’s First Women Astronauts

Author: Loren Grush

Publisher: Scribner 2023

Genre: Nonfiction - US History

Pages: 432

Rating: 4/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Nonfiction Reader; Clock Reader

Where I Got It: Library

In this account of America’s first women astronauts “Grush skillfully weaves a story that, at its heart, is about desire: not a nation’s desire to conquer space, but the longing of six women to reach heights that were forbidden to them” (The New York Times).

When NASA sent astronauts to the moon in the 1960s and 1970s the agency excluded women from the corps, arguing that only military test pilots—a group then made up exclusively of men—had the right stuff. It was an era in which women were steered away from jobs in science and deemed unqualified for space flight. Eventually, though, NASA recognized its blunder and opened the application process to a wider array of hopefuls, regardless of race or gender. From a candidate pool of 8,000 six elite women were selected in 1978—Sally Ride, Judy Resnik, Anna Fisher, Kathy Sullivan, Shannon Lucid, and Rhea Seddon.

Our book club selection for August was a nonfiction pick! I was really hoping for an engaging story of six fascinating women. We got most of that, but there were a few slow parts. I loved learning about the process of these women becoming astronauts. I was very interested in the process. And I was interested in seeing how NASA adapted and changed over the decades. I was less excited to really get into the nitty gritty of each of these missions. The details started to bog down the book a bit. Overall, I did enjoy this one, but I wonder if the Young Readers version would be better.

Next up on the TBR pile:

Raising Critical Thinkers by Julie Bogart

Title: Raising Critical Thinkers: A Parent’s Guide to Growing Wise Kids in the Digital Age

Author: Julie Bogart

Publisher: TarcherPerigree 2022

Genre: Nonfiction - Education

Pages: 352

Rating: 3/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Unread Shelf; Nonfiction Reader

Where I Got It: Bookworm in Omaha NE March 2024

Education is not solely about acquiring information and skills across subject areas, but also about understanding how and why we believe what we do. At a time when online media has created a virtual firehose of information and opinions, parents and teachers worry how students will interpret what they read and see. Amid the noise, it has become increasingly important to examine different perspectives with both curiosity and discernment. But how do parents teach these skills to their children?

Drawing on more than twenty years’ experience homeschooling and developing curricula, Julie Bogart offers practical tools to help children at every stage of development to grow in their ability to explore the world around them, examine how their loyalties and biases affect their beliefs, and generate fresh insight rather than simply recycling what they’ve been taught. Full of accessible stories and activities for children of all ages, Raising Critical Thinkers helps parents to nurture passionate learners with thoughtful minds and empathetic hearts.

For co-op adult book club, we followed up Julie Bogart’s The Brave Learner with her newer book. Overall, I totally see the need for this book and know that many of my fellow co-op parents really benefitted from the information presented. For me, it was a bit like being back in education classes in college. For goodness sakes, Bogart name drops Maria Montessori, John Dewey, and Paolo Freire. Many of the big explanations about critical thinking were a review from my college days. From those, Bogart tries to give some activities and examples, but they were very long and drawn out. I would have liked more practical advice on how to implement critical thinking skills into our education plans. A few of us did meet last weekend to discuss the book. Thankfully the discussion veered more towards practical applications than theory. Worthwhile read, but not going to end up being a favorite.

Next up on the TBR pile:

The Leftover Woman by Jean Kwok

Title: The Leftover Woman

Author: Jean Kwok

Publisher: William Morrow 2023

Genre: Mystery?

Pages: 288

Rating: 3/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Lifetime - 40s

Jasmine Yang arrives in New York City from her rural Chinese village without money or family support, fleeing a controlling husband, on a desperate search for the daughter who was taken from her at birth—another female casualty of China’s controversial One Child Policy. But with her husband on her trail, the clock is ticking, and she’s forced to make increasingly risky decisions if she ever hopes to be reunited with her daughter.

Meanwhile, publishing executive Rebecca Whitney seems to have it all: a prestigious family name and the wealth that comes with it, a high-powered career, a beautiful home, a handsome husband, and an adopted Chinese daughter she adores. She’s even hired a nanny to help her balance the demands of being a working wife and mother. But when an industry scandal threatens to jeopardize not only Rebecca’s job but her marriage, this perfect world begins to crumble and her role in her own family is called into question.

The Leftover Woman finds these two unforgettable women on a shocking collision course. Twisting and suspenseful and surprisingly poignant, it's a profound exploration of identity and belonging, motherhood and family. It is a story of two women in a divided city—separated by severe economic and cultural differences yet bound by a deep emotional connection to a child.

First off, this book was labeled as a mystery/thriller. I beg to differ. This is a very slow moving literary fiction style story with a dash of mystery. If the reader is at all astute, the “twists” will be seen a mile away. They did not add anything substantial to the story. As to the story itself, it doesn’t really explore any interesting topics that haven’t already been done by other authors. The main female characters are extremely unlikeable as opposed to real, flawed humans. And their entire personalities seem to revolve around simplistic identities even when attempting to explore something deeper. I wanted to really root for these women and understand their choices. Instead, I found myself rolling my eyes at almost every page. And do not get me started on the “romance” between Jasmine and Anthony. When they weren’t pining for each other, the actual conversation read like a 13 year old’s diary. Very disappointing.

Next up on the TBR pile:

Everyone Brave is Forgiven by Chris Cleave

Title: Everyone Brave is Forgiven

Author: Chris Cleave

Publisher: Simon & Schuster 2016

Genre: Historical Fiction

Pages: 418

Rating: 3/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Decades - 1940s; In Case You Missed It - 2016

London, 1939. The day war is declared, Mary North leaves finishing school unfinished, goes straight to the War Office, and signs up. Tom Shaw decides to ignore the war—until he learns his roommate Alistair Heath has unexpectedly enlisted. Then the conflict can no longer be avoided. Young, bright, and brave, Mary is certain she’d be a marvelous spy. When she is—bewilderingly—made a teacher, she finds herself defying prejudice to protect the children her country would rather forget. Tom, meanwhile, finds that he will do anything for Mary.

And when Mary and Alistair meet, it is love, as well as war, that will test them in ways they could not have imagined, entangling three lives in violence and passion, friendship, and deception, inexorably shaping their hopes and dreams. The three are drawn into a tragic love triangle and—as war escalates and bombs begin falling—further into a grim world of survival and desperation.

Set in London during the years of 1939–1942, when citizens had slim hope of survival, much less victory; and on the strategic island of Malta, which was daily devastated by the Axis barrage, Everyone Brave is Forgiven features little-known history and a perfect wartime love story inspired by the real-life love letters between Chris Cleave’s grandparents. This dazzling novel dares us to understand that, against the great theater of world events, it is the intimate losses, the small battles, the daily human triumphs that change us most.

A book club selection this month. I was pulled in by the summary. It’s been awhile since I have read a good World War II novel and I had hoped that this would be it. Unfortunately, this one really missed the mark. As a point of mark, the writing style is just not that good. It’s weird and choppy with terrible dialogue. There’s an attempt at witty dialogue and sentence construction, but it just becomes much too clever and silly at times. Even when he storyline is focused on very serious events and consequences, the writing style continues. And then we turn tot he characters. I could never understand why Mary was so desirable. It was complete milquetoast to me. Tom was even worse. It was the blandest of the bland. At least Alistair had a bit of personality and metal to him. But it wasn’t enough to actually redeem the book for me. Not the book for me.

Next up on the TBR pile:

The Murmur of Bees by Sofia Segovia

Title: The Murmur of Bees

Author: Sofia Segovia

Publisher: Amazon Crossing 2015

Genre: Historical Fiction; Magical Realism

Pages: 471

Rating: 3/5 stars

Reading Challenges: 52 Book Club - Yellow Spine; COYER

From the day that old Nana Reja found a baby abandoned under a bridge, the life of a small Mexican town forever changed. Disfigured and covered in a blanket of bees, little Simonopio is for some locals the stuff of superstition, a child kissed by the devil. But he is welcomed by landowners Francisco and Beatriz Morales, who adopt him and care for him as if he were their own. As he grows up, Simonopio becomes a cause for wonder to the Morales family, because when the uncannily gifted child closes his eyes, he can see what no one else can—visions of all that’s yet to come, both beautiful and dangerous. Followed by his protective swarm of bees and living to deliver his adoptive family from threats—both human and those of nature—Simonopio’s purpose in Linares will, in time, be divined.

Set against the backdrop of the Mexican Revolution and the devastating influenza of 1918, The Murmur of Bees captures both the fate of a country in flux and the destiny of one family that has put their love, faith, and future in the unbelievable.

Our book club pick for March. Somehow I did not realize that I had this sitting on my Kindle app already. And this book did not work for me at all. It started out interesting with the story of this maybe magical boy who is taken in by a family. From there, I thought we would get to read about a magical story of found family and identity. But that’s not where the story went. Instead, we get bogged down in terrible people doing terrible things to those around them. We get an attempt at an examination of the corruption of the Mexican political regimes under Diaz. Unfortunately, none of it really landed for me. And then there were so many sections that I questioned whether or not the writing and story was racist. Ultimately the book became a slog and I dreaded picking it up every day.

Next up on the TBR pile:

The Secrets We Kept by Lara Prescott

Title: The Secrets We Kept

Author: Lara Prescott

Publisher: Knopf 2019

Genre: Historical Fiction

Pages: 349

Rating: 4/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Decades - 1950s; 52 Book Club - 4 Different POV

At the height of the Cold War, Irina, a young Russian-American secretary, is plucked from the CIA typing pool and given the assignment of a lifetime. Her mission: to help smuggle Doctor Zhivago into the USSR, where it is banned, and enable Boris Pasternak’s magnum opus to make its way into print around the world. Mentoring Irina is the glamorous Sally Forrester: a seasoned spy who has honed her gift for deceit, using her magnetism and charm to pry secrets out of powerful men. Under Sally’s tutelage, Irina learns how to invisibly ferry classified documents—and discovers deeply buried truths about herself.

One of the book club selections for the year. Thank good that this story is by and large interesting and thought-provoking. We follow multiple women in multiple locations as they are involved in a variety of espionage activities. The story mostly focuses on Olga and Irina, but I found their stories not my favorite. I wanted to hear even more about the typists and specifically about Sally. It was fascinating to me how the various women are directly involved in espionage, but are still somehow left out of actual intelligence. It’s an interesting dichotomy in history. By the end of the book, I was very sad about the fates of all the women featured in the book. But the story is probably much more realistic that way.

Next up on the TBR pile:

Underground Airlines by Ben H. Winters

Title: Underground Airlines

Author: Ben H. Winters

Publisher: Mulholland Books 2016

Genre: Science Fiction

Pages: 336

Rating: 2/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Unread Shelf; 52 Book Club

A young black man calling himself Victor has struck a bargain with federal law enforcement, working as a bounty hunter for the US Marshall Service in exchange for his freedom. He's got plenty of work. In this version of America, slavery continues in four states called "the Hard Four." On the trail of a runaway known as Jackdaw, Victor arrives in Indianapolis knowing that something isn't right -- with the case file, with his work, and with the country itself.

As he works to infiltrate the local cell of a abolitionist movement called the Underground Airlines, tracking Jackdaw through the back rooms of churches, empty parking garages, hotels, and medical offices, Victor believes he's hot on the trail. But his strange, increasingly uncanny pursuit is complicated by a boss who won't reveal the extraordinary stakes of Jackdaw's case, as well as by a heartbreaking young woman and her child -- who may be Victor's salvation.

Victor believes himself to be a good man doing bad work, unwilling to give up the freedom he has worked so hard to earn. But in pursuing Jackdaw, Victor discovers secrets at the core of the country's arrangement with the Hard Four, secrets the government will preserve at any cost.

I was intrigued by this alternative history, but ended up really disappointed in the execution. The main issue is that I am uncertain as to the point of this book. Are we supposed to understand that everyone is terrible? Are we supposed to root for any of the characters? Because I truly don’t. It’s a cluster of unlikeable characters, confusing sequences, and an unsatisfying ending. As an extra note, the narration alternates between straight forward descriptions to a strange bit of stream of consciousness. I did not enjoy the book.

Next up on the TBR pile:

Savage Appetites by Rachel Monroe

Title: Savage Appetites: True Stories of Women, Crime, and Obsession

Author: Rachel Monroe

Publisher: Scribner 2019

Genre: True Crime

Pages: 272

Rating: 3/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Fall TBR

In Savage Appetites, Rachel Monroe links four criminal roles—Detective, Victim, Defender, and Killer—to four true stories about women driven by obsession. From a frustrated and brilliant heiress crafting crime-scene dollhouses to a young woman who became part of a Manson victim’s family, from a landscape architect in love with a convicted murderer to a Columbine fangirl who planned her own mass shooting, these women are alternately mesmerizing, horrifying, and sympathetic. A revealing study of women’s complicated relationship with true crime and the fear and desire it can inspire, together these stories provide a window into why many women are drawn to crime narratives—even as they also recoil from them.

Meh. True crime is not my genre so a book exploring the obsession of people with regard to true crime probably wasn’t going to be a hit for me. And it definitely was not a win for me. Bringing down fans of true crime to four prototypes feels very reductive. From there, I got very annoyed about Monroe’s very simplistic feminist arguments. Many times, I became angry about the generalizations Monroe made about women. Seemed to be the opposite of of a clear feminist argument.

Next up on the TBR pile:

Harry's Trees by Jon Cohen

Title: Harry’s Trees

Author: Jon Cohen

Publisher: MIRA 2018

Genre: Magical Realism

Pages: 432

Rating: 3/5 stars

Reading Challenges:

Thirty-four-year-old Harry Crane works as an analyst for the US Forest Service. When his wife dies suddenly, Harry, despairing, retreats north to lose himself in the remote woods of the Endless Mountains of Pennsylvania. But fate intervenes in the form of a fiercely determined young girl named Oriana. She and her mother, Amanda, are struggling to pick up the pieces from their own tragic loss of Oriana’s father. Discovering Harry while roaming the forest, Oriana believes that he holds the key to righting her world.

Harry reluctantly agrees to help Oriana carry out an astonishing scheme inspired by a book given to her by the town librarian, Olive Perkins. Together, Harry and Oriana embark on a golden adventure that will fulfill Oriana’s wild dream—and ultimately open Harry’s heart to new life.

Not really my type of book, but a decent read for the week. I am usually very wary of any type of heart-warming books and this one definitely fits into that mold. We get a man at sea with his life and a precocious child who changes that life. Right there, I figured this wasn’t going to be my favorite book. I was right. I wasn’t a big fan of the path of discovery in this book. My favorite parts were when things got a little strange and magical. Those portions kept me engaged with the story and characters. Overall, the story ended too neatly for me with everything wrapped into a bow. I like books with more open endings I think. I bristle at the neat and tidy finality at the end of these types of books.

Next up on the TBR pile:

Beautiful Country by Qian Julie Wang

Title: Beautiful Country

Author: Qian Julie Wang

Publisher: Doubleday 2021

Genre: Memoir

Pages: 320

Rating: 3/5 stars

Reading Challenges: 52 Book Club - Refugee

In Chinese, the word for America, Mei Guo, translates directly to “beautiful country.” Yet when seven-year-old Qian arrives in New York City in 1994 full of curiosity, she is overwhelmed by crushing fear and scarcity. In China, Qian’s parents were professors; in America, her family is “illegal” and it will require all the determination and small joys they can muster to survive.

In Chinatown, Qian’s parents labor in sweatshops. Instead of laughing at her jokes, they fight constantly, taking out the stress of their new life on one another. Shunned by her classmates and teachers for her limited English, Qian takes refuge in the library and masters the language through books, coming to think of The Berenstain Bears as her first American friends. And where there is delight to be found, Qian relishes it: her first bite of gloriously greasy pizza, weekly “shopping days,” when Qian finds small treasures in the trash lining Brooklyn’s streets, and a magical Christmas visit to Rockefeller Center—confirmation that the New York City she saw in movies does exist after all.

But then Qian’s headstrong Ma Ma collapses, revealing an illness that she has kept secret for months for fear of the cost and scrutiny of a doctor’s visit. As Ba Ba retreats further inward, Qian has little to hold onto beyond his constant refrain: Whatever happens, say that you were born here, that you’ve always lived here.

Our August choice for book club and it just wasn’t my thing. Very rarely do I really enjoy a memoir/autobiography. They often fall a little flat for me and sometimes become very repetitive. This one started out interesting highlighting a life experience that is very different from my own. But… I found that Wang does not do enough self-reflection and commentary about her early life in America. We see many family members making terrible choices without commentary. Wide swathes of peoples are painted with a large brush, exactly what Wang argues is her own experience. I wanted to see a bit of self-reflection with her own biases and prejudices. We don’t get too much introspection. And then the book just ends. The last chapter does a bit of fast-forwarding to her later life, but it just felt unfinished in my mind.

Next up on the TBR pile:

Crossings by Alex Landragin

Title: Crossings

Author: Alex Landragin

Publisher: St. Martin’s Press 2020

Genre: Historical Fiction, Fantasy

Pages: 384

Rating: 3/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Unread Shelf

On the brink of the Nazi occupation of Paris, a German-Jewish bookbinder stumbles across a manuscript called Crossings. It has three narratives, each as unlikely as the next. And the narratives can be read one of two ways: either straight through or according to an alternate chapter sequence.

The first story in Crossings is a never-before-seen ghost story by the poet Charles Baudelaire, penned for an illiterate girl. Next is a noir romance about an exiled man, modeled on Walter Benjamin, whose recurring nightmares are cured when he falls in love with a storyteller who draws him into a dangerous intrigue of rare manuscripts, police corruption, and literary societies. Finally, there are the fantastical memoirs of a woman-turned-monarch whose singular life has spanned seven generations.

With each new chapter, the stunning connections between these seemingly disparate people grow clearer and more extraordinary. Crossings is an unforgettable adventure full of love, longing and empathy.

An interesting premise and attempt at an interesting construction and yet this one ultimately fell very flat for me. I was hoping for another Cloud Cuckoo Land, a story that discussed the the ways in which humans create connections. Unfortunately, I never quite connected with any of the characters or found them remotely interesting. Every single character was incredibly unlikeable and definitely unreliable. I just couldn’t. And when we get to the larger story, I just couldn’t really care to care. I even tried reading it along the Baroness sequence after getting about 40% of the way through the regular way. I agree that the Baroness sequence makes a better flowing story, but I still didn’t really love the story at all. So another book that I was very excited about that just fell super flat for me.

Next up on the TBR pile:

Take My Hand by Dolen Perkins-Valdez

Title: Take My Hand

Author: Dolen Perkins-Valdez

Publisher: Berkley 2022

Genre: Historical Fiction

Pages: 359

Rating: 3/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Winter TBR

Montgomery, Alabama, 1973. Fresh out of nursing school, Civil Townsend intends to make a difference, especially in her African American community. At the Montgomery Family Planning Clinic, she hopes to help women shape their destinies, to make their own choices for their lives and bodies.

But when her first week on the job takes her along a dusty country road to a worn-down one-room cabin, Civil is shocked to learn that her new patients, Erica and India, are children—just eleven and thirteen years old. Neither of the Williams sisters has even kissed a boy, but they are poor and Black, and for those handling the family’s welfare benefits, that’s reason enough to have the girls on birth control. As Civil grapples with her role, she takes India, Erica, and their family into her heart. Until one day she arrives at their door to learn the unthinkable has happened, and nothing will ever be the same for any of them.

Decades later, with her daughter grown and a long career in her wake, Dr. Civil Townsend is ready to retire, to find her peace, and to leave the past behind. But there are people and stories that refuse to be forgotten. That must not be forgotten.

Because history repeats what we don’t remember.

I gave this book three stars on the strength of the actual historical story alone. I just had so many issues with the characters and construction of the plot in this one that I had to struggle to finish it. I definitely would like to read more about the actual story this novel is based on. I know a lot about events like the Tuskegee Syphillis experiments, but little about the forced sterilizations in the 1970s (only the ones previous). The story itself is brought down by clumsy characters and random side plots that seem to have little place in this story. My biggest complaint is the weird dual timeline. Why does Civil keep insisting that the story is so incredibly important and yet never told her daughter until right now? It’s so clunky and not needed. Just set the story in the 1970s and leave it there. We don’t need a “connection” to our modern times. That was just one of my issues. I also had problems with the abortion storyline (why was it hammered into our heads over and over again). weird romance with the girls’ father (just why?), the constant reminder of the socio-economic differences between Civil and the girls, and the insistence of researching the dangers of the birth control shot that was then dropped immediately after the sterilization happened (why focus so much energy just to switch gears so completely?). I was bored and annoyed throughout most of this book.

Next up on the TBR pile:

The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon

Title: The Priory of the Orange Tree (The Roots of Chaos #1)

Author: Samantha Shannon

Publisher: Bloomsbury 2019

Genre: Fantasy

Pages: 848

Rating: 4/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Winter TBR; COYER; 52 Book Club - High Fantasy

The House of Berethnet has ruled Inys for a thousand years. Still unwed, Queen Sabran the Ninth must conceive a daughter to protect her realm from destruction--but assassins are getting closer to her door.

Ead Duryan is an outsider at court. Though she has risen to the position of lady-in-waiting, she is loyal to a hidden society of mages. Ead keeps a watchful eye on Sabran, secretly protecting her with forbidden magic.

Across the dark sea, Tané has trained all her life to be a dragonrider, but is forced to make a choice that could see her life unravel.

Meanwhile, the divided East and West refuse to parley, and forces of chaos are rising from their sleep.

The Nerdy Bookish Friends club started 2023 with this behemoth! And what a story it was. I will admit that it took my about 100 pages to really get into the story. There are many people and places to keep track of and I had to orient myself to this world. This is high fantasy and definitely involves a lot of world-building at the beginning. Once, I settled in, I started to connect to some of the characters and began to see the big conflicts brewing. I really enjoyed how Shannon wove the stories of all these very different characters to highlight their prejudices and biases. By the end of the book, I was glad that I had read it, but I must say this wasn’t my absolute favorite. The pacing seemed very off throughout the book. I was extremely bored at many times throughout and then something would happen and I wouldn’t be able to put the book down. I may have been more satisfied if this book had been broken up a bit in two separate volumes. Still debating about reading the prequel that’s just about to be published…

The Roots of Chaos

• #0.5 A Day of Fallen Night

• #1 The Priory of the Orange Tree

• #2 TBD

Next up on the TBR pile:

Paradise Falls by Keith O'Brien

Title: Paradise Falls: The True Story of an Environmental Catastrophe

Author: Keith O’Brien

Publisher: Pantheon Books 2022

Genre: Nonfiction - History, Science

Pages: 455

Rating: 4/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Winter TBR

Lois Gibbs, Luella Kenny, and other mothers loved their neighborhood on the east side of Niagara Falls. It had an elementary school, a playground, and rows of affordable homes. But in the spring of 1977, pungent odors began to seep into these little houses, and it didn’t take long for worried mothers to identify the curious scent. It was the sickly sweet smell of chemicals.
 
In this propulsive work of narrative storytelling, NYT journalist Keith O’Brien uncovers how Gibbs and Kenny exposed the poisonous secrets buried in their neighborhood. The school and playground had been built atop an old canal—Love Canal, it was called—that Hooker Chemical, the city’s largest employer, had quietly filled with twenty thousand tons of toxic waste in the 1940s and 1950s. This waste was now leaching to the surface, causing a public health crisis the likes of which America had never seen before and sparking new and specific fears. Luella Kenny believed the chemicals were making her son sick.
 
O’Brien braids together previously unknown stories of Hooker Chemical’s deeds; the local newspaperman, scientist, and congressional staffer who tried to help; the city and state officials who didn’t; and the heroic women who stood up to corporate and governmental indifference to save their families and their children. They would take their fight all the way to the top, winning support from the EPA, the White House, and even President Jimmy Carter. By the time it was over, they would capture America’s imagination.

Such a hard book to read, and yet I was very interested in it when the book published. One of my book clubs chose this to read and I dove in after the beginning of the year. I knew the basic information about the Love Canal incident. I remember seeing news reports (after the fact obviously) and I knew about the incident was the origin of the EPA’s Superfund program. This volume really goes into depth, detailing the events leading up to the inhabitants of the neighborhood realizing that there was something seriously wrong. We get to know all the major players including a few of the women who led the neighborhood response. I’ve heard the name Lois Gibbs before, but it was nice to understand exactly who she was and how she helped lead the efforts to clean up the area. Many of the sections were difficult to read. Reading about children getting sick and dying is never my idea of fun. And yet, this is such an important story to read. I’m sure that we will have a very interesting discussion next week.

Next up on the TBR pile:

The Midwife's Revolt by Jodi Daynard

Title: The Midwife’s Revolt

Author: Jodi Daynard

Publisher: Lake Union Publishing 2015

Genre: Historical Fiction

Pages: 426

Rating: 3/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Unread Shelf Project

On a dark night in 1775, Lizzie Boylston is awakened by the sound of cannons. From a hill south of Boston, she watches as fires burn in Charlestown, in a battle that she soon discovers has claimed her husband’s life.

Alone in a new town, Lizzie grieves privately but takes comfort in her deepening friendship with Abigail Adams. Soon, word spreads of Lizzie’s extraordinary midwifery and healing skills, and she begins to channel her grief into caring for those who need her. But when two traveling patriots are poisoned, Lizzie finds herself with far more complicated matters on her hands—she suspects a political plot intended to harm Abigail and her family. Determined to uncover the truth, Lizzie becomes entangled in a conspiracy that could not only destroy her livelihood—and her chance at finding love again—but also lead to the downfall of a new nation.

This was our selection for November’s book club and I was not initially thrilled by the summary. But I decided to give it a go anyway and dove in. And it was thoroughly boring. I was bored by our main character. I was bored by the plot line. I was bored by the writing. I thought were was going to be a poisoning plot line, but that doesn’t come into the picture until over halfway through the book. And that portion of the book wasn’t that exciting either. I was just really really bored with this one.

Next up on the TBR pile: