Bookin' It Thru Life

Typical Cornwell with all our favorite players in different places...Scarpetto and Marino are back in Richmond on an ill-advised consulting case; Benton is stuck in Aspen with an reluctant patient and Lucy is in Florida working an attempted murder.  The underlying story was a stretch, the tenuous ties that hold it together stretching even my willing suspension.  And though the main mystery was of course solved by the final page, I was still left with too many unanswered questions to feel fully satisfied-did Dr. Touchy-feely ever get his comeuppance?  Did Mrs. Wacky Sex Life ever face reality?  How did Chief I Suck At My Job really get his position, and did his ghosts ever come home to roost?  I suppose these could be setups for future books but its a stretch to expect that readers will maintain that sort of active curiosity until the next book comes out. Overall, the book was exactly as expected when I grabbed it out of the basement (another one of the trove I inherited from my fathe

I had very low expectations for this book which it exceeded.  I think it was on a cheap books list in the Nook...when I don't have any particular next book in mind I'm a sucker for the under $3 cheap read that doesn't require me to do anything except hand over a couple of bucks and hit "Download".  What's not to like?  Well, sometimes the book.  This one was better than average. Cin-opsis:  Liza, Maggie's estranged friend, leaves our heroine her house-with the caveat that the friend's mother (Edith) comes along with the property.  Maggie takes the offer and hopes for the best.  This set-up lends itself to certain comedic tropes around multi-generational living.  While Fishman is not 100% successful, she largely avoids the predictable and tells a funny, touching story.  Both women come to know and appreciate Liza in a new way through her endowment as they grow into their new relationship as "property mates". Rating:  #5 Good Enough

My sister (the primary school librarian) gave me this book over the summer after she finished it.  Its target audience is the older elementary school/younger middle school student.  Modeled after Chaucer's Canterbury Tales , the book follows the adventures of three youngsters as they travel across the countryside trying (and largely failing) to stay out of trouble.  The children come complete with backstories and baggage and they bond in part because of, and in part in spite of, their differences.  There's a cliffhanger and a twist.  I thought it was good, though it was a bit longer than it needed to be in my opinion.  For what it is worth, I encouraged my 10 year old to read it and he made it through about 20 pages before declaring " I can not read another page of that book !"-so it clearly was not up his alley. I think I would have been a fan had I read it when I was his age. Rating:  #5 Good Enough

Well, I picked this book up sometime this year and did not get around to writing it up until now.  I'm looking at the title thinking, I don't remember a THING about this book.  I googled it and the description did not help.  So I pulled it up on my Nook.  Yes, I ordered the book.  Yes, I apparently read a good part of it.  I seem to have gotten to page 265/341 and apparently bailed.  So put this in the "didn't even finish it" category.  Even after all that, I still don't remember much about it and I made no notes while reading it.  My vague recollection is that the book itself did not track with the description on the cover and if I stopped reading it part way through, it must just have not been that interesting.  I mean, I will sometimes not finish a book because I don't like it-those I generally remember and have strong feeling about re: why I did not like it.  Its very rare that I just stop reading a book and don't even remember why...this book seem

I hate to say it because my worship of L’Engle knows no bounds, but I did not like this book.   Well written? Sure-that goes without saying.   But it was a little too  dreary and depressing for me and our "hero" was no such thing.  Unrequited love that lasts a lifetime?  Sure, I'll buy it.  Unrequited love that is so consuming that life outside of it is just shadow living for a lifetime ?  Nah.  The book also had overtones of The Great Gatsby which is not a book that I love or really even like.  I've tried Fitzgerald's "masterpiece" three times (twice for classes, in high school and college, and once as an adult) and I. Just. Don't. Get. It.  This book reminded me of that for some reason.  Not all the racy, high fashion nonsense, but the obsession without a relateable reason... I was happy to read it as I had never stumbled over this particular book before and I always like to tick off another L'Engle.  Glad I borrowed it from the library, s

Cin-opsis:   Young woman who hasn’t seen her favorite uncle in 15 or so years inherits his bookstore.   Following clues in imitation of the scavenger hunts they played when she was a child, Miranda susses out her uncle’s life since he disappeared and in the process, discovers herself.    It’s a good read, uncomplicated, easy to like.   Favorite book of the year?   Not even close.   Readable and entertaining?   Sure. Rating:   #5 Good Enough

Our narrator is a young man whose “uncle” was a WWII hero.   The uncle writes a well-received memoir and we as readers are treated to both his story and his “nephew’s” reactions to such.   The war story has all the ingredients of a hit:   love and battles and sex and airplanes, desperate rescues and heroic adventures.   Our narrator is suitably in thrall.   The writing was pleasant:             “ groans of downy sleep, death’s counterfeit ”  and            “And isn’t that the very problem with even the simplest lie, let alone a lie the size of Poxl’s?   It             breeds suspicion, incredulity without bounds ” The book was fine.  I did not find it to be the masterpiece that some did.   In addition, and perhaps overriding what I might otherwise have thought of it, shortly after I read this I read Chabon’s Moonglow and Poxl West can’t hold a candle to “grandfather”, nor Torday to Chabon.   An unfair comparison probably as Chabon is a seasoned author and this is Torday

I picked this one up on the Nook (I believe based on someone’s “best of” list?)   Set in India between 1916 and 1921, the setting was appealing for its very “different”ness from what I generally read.   Mysteries are not my first choice when looking for a new book but I can be up for anything that will keep me entertained and engaged.   This one did both.    I was intrigued by Perveen and her backstory and equally curious about how the widows of the title had gotten into the situation that drives the central mystery.    Observations on Bombay in 1920:   its hard to believe that Perveen’s experiences took place 100 years ago-while so many things have changed, sadly, so much has not!   Though clearly we have come a long way, we are still fighting the same battles for equality both in the home and in the workplace.   You would think that 100 years would be long enough for us to have mastered this but alas, no.   Cin-opsis:   Perveen, a young, ambitious lawyer, works for her fami

I first read these books when I was perhaps 13 or 14.  I reread them when the movies came out-give or take late 2001.  I'm not sure I have read them since, though for sure its possible.  On a late summer vacation my Nook was lost somewhere in between home-MSP-BWI-my sister Kim's house-the beach house-the other beach house-my sister Cathy's house-RDU-a six hour layover in BWI-MSP-home again.  So I hit the basement bookcases for reading material.  These books (the trilogy) were sure to keep me occupied and entertained while I procrastinated obtaining a new Nook. As a (if not the ) forerunner of the entire fantasy genre, Tolkien has a special place in my heart.  I loved his books as a youngster and love them even now.  The story of Frodo and his Companions is timeless and in revisiting it I was not disappointed.  The fellowship of man, elf, dwarf and hobbit along with all of the mystical creatures they met along the way from Hobbiton to the end of the world and back again is

I actually liked this book a lot (caveat: until the end, which I kind of wish had happened one chapter sooner than it did).  I love a good road trip and our "hero" was road tripping from page one.  Quick cinopsis (nod here to Hrishi and his "hrinopsis" on WWW):  Late middle aged man with addict son heads out in an RV to meet up with his ex and try to find their missing child.  It was funny and quirky and I am just enough short of his middle age age to find all of his laments about his slowly failing body relateable but not quite personally applicable (yet).  While driving, Greg reflects on his childhood, his relationship with his ex-wife, his love for his wife, his interactions with his son and other aspects of his life.  Hunter does a great job bringing Greg's feelings to life and lending poignancy to his reflections, as in here where he recalls the feelings he got when his friends' moms would be nice to him:  " Most of him was on guard, calculatin

I had very low expectations for this book. I was wandering around Target, bored and unwilling to actually shop while my kid had indoor soccer practice across the street.  Target is not known for its wide variety of reading material so I was more looking for an opportunity to feel superior than an opportunity to buy a book.  This one caught my eye for whatever reason and so, book and a bag of popcorn in hand, I headed back to the dome parking lot to try to find that balance between running your car for an hour and freezing in the Minnesota chill of a late winter evening.  Chapters later I was captivated.  A review on the cover indicates that Reese Witherspoon thought the book was "Beautifully written and incredibly funny" and while I have to agree with both characterizations, I also thought it was delightful and heartbreaking and cringe inducing and tragic and lovely. Honeyman takes us inside Eleanor's head so that we can see her foibles and recesses in all of their woun

Another chick-lit book from the cheap rack at B&N.  Darker than most, without the comedic intervals more common in a traditional beach read, this one was forgettable virtually from the beginning.  I'd say it goes in the don't bother category. Rating:  #7, Eh.

Not charting any new ground, GMR documents a childhood trauma experienced by three children and the repercussions of such on their lives in the decades that follow.  The story explores and exploits the games that memory and perspective can have on events as they retreat into the past, and how motivations and syllogism can intertwine and overlap to distort reality.  This book was not particularly well-written, though I have no specific criticism of the writing.  The story was not particularly good, though I can't point to a fatal flaw.  The characters were not especially compelling, though I can't say exactly why they did not land.  All in all, not much to complain about here, but not much to recommend either. Rating:  #5 Good Enough 

Having just read Michener's Alaska this fictional book set in the same state caught my attention.  I was eager to read a book with Alaska as the backdrop, thinking I would recognize the land that I had been so impressed with in my recent reading.  That part worked- I was pleased to recognize the setting and I felt that I appreciated the various references to Alaskan history and recognized the characteristics of the Alaskan people which were endemic to characters in both books:  fierce, almost obsessive independence, a highly developed sense of community, rampant alcoholism, seemingly automatic challenges to authority.  The book was fine; I liked it well enough.  Its the kind of book that hits the shelves every single day and does not really stand out from its brethren.  Had it not been set in Alaska, it would have been a hard pass for me, and in the final analysis I am glad that I read it. What's it about?   Call it a coming of age story, call it a wilderness story, call it a

Though the reviews on it are extraordinarily mixed, I fall on the side of liking this book.  It tells the story of an young woman who is raised in Nigeria, comes to the US for much of her young adulthood and then decides to return to her home country. Its ostensibly a love story, though not really.  It sort of a coming of age, but not really.  Its hard to define.  I found myself liking Ifemelu (even if I never did really figure out how to pronounce her name) and enjoying her journey.  I liked that she lived in a country and a culture that I have little real life experience with, and did not find it at all odd that even so, there were so very many things that I did relate to.  I was sort of lukewarm on the various love stories but liked that she ended up back home again.  I'd recommend this book, especially if you are looking for something that does not fit nicely into the traditional coming of age in the US book. Rating:  #3 Enjoyed it very much

Overall this book was ok-probably hovering somewhere just north of a 5 “good enough” with one huge caveat:  it could have used a stronger editor.  When a book has glaring enough inconsistencies and errors to take me out of the story, I start to get irritated.  When it does it over and over, I start to lose faith.  I love to just sink into a story and forget about life for a while…hard to do when you keep saying to yourself “that doesn’t make any sense!” as you are reading.   Bummer, because this was otherwise a likeable story.  Part mystery, part family drama, the protagonist and her twin sister were interesting characters and the story had legs, it just fell apart for me a little in the telling.  Examples:  At one point our heroine (if she really is such) dons a bikini and then proceeds to undress down to her underwear…and I know it sounds petty but there was a whole lead up to her wearing the bathing suit to begin with and a whole discussion of her still having it on, so why hav

Follett tends to fall into the same category for me as Baldachi, Grisham, Cornwell, etc. etc…you know what you are getting when you dive into one of his books.   Its going to be compelling, well written, most frequently long enough to be worth the effort, and ultimately, forgettable.   Classic escapism.   It did not disappoint.   This copy of the book has been on my shelf for years, unread, most likely one a host of books I inherited from my father-in-law when he purged his book shelves a couple of years back and I took anything I thought I might want to read someday.   The story takes place on a plane flying the overnight route from Europe to America with a cast of characters straight out of a, well, a novel…you have your ne'er-do-well young rouge running from the law, your wealthy family with its haughty mother, overpowering father, petulant but relatable daughter and impish but lovable son, the mysterious trench-coated lawman, etc. etc.    There is a love story, a mystery, a t

This has been on my list for a couple of years but I never could pull the trigger.   I am not sure what was stopping me…I think I thought that I had already read this years ago and I did not want to repeat.   Then, last fall, Netflix put out an 8 or 9 episode version of the book and my sister raved about it.   I DO NOT like horror movies or horror tv so I was not inclined to watch it.   However, eventually I gave in to the hype and turned it on on a Sunday afternoon while folding laundry.   If folding a weeks worth of clothes for a family of five is not enough to overcome the creepiness of a tv show viewed in broad daylight while kids and dogs wander around the house then its probably not a show for me. Well, the show was captivating and compelling and very definitely not something I wanted to watch in the dark of night alone.   My daughter watched most of it with me over the course of the next few weeks (always during daylight hours, most frequently during the weekly laundry fun

Sometime in late December 2018 I stumbled on a delightful little television series on Netflix called When Calls the Heart .   It’s set in the Canadian West during the period right around the turn of the 20 th century and centers around a young teacher who is assigned to a country school, the young Mountie who is coincidentally assigned to the same remote town, and the folks with whom they live and work.   Very much reminiscent of Little House on the Prairie , though taking place decades later and a whole country farther north, it’s family friendly drama that my kids referred to as “mom’s cheesy show” but which my then 9 year old and I binge watched over the Christmas break with secret delight.   It has all the markings of its parent channel’s best shows:   Christian based themes, no cursing, absolutely no naughty $ex, and story lines that your grandma would be happy to hear about over Sunday dinner.   I ate it up. Knowing that the tv show was based on the novels, of course my fi

Typical Baldacci...mildly entertaining, wholly forgetable...good airplane read, probably not a whole lot else to recommend it.  Even now looking at the book I have to read the cover description and skim the book to even recall what it was about and whether I liked it.  Rating:  #5 Good Enough

Broke one of my reading rules with this one since its ostensibly the first of a series and the others are not written yet...but I did not know that when I started is so I'll forgive myself this once.  The story starts by pulling out all of the fantasy tropes one by one...an orphan taken in by reluctant guardians, a teacher who takes a special interest, a test/challenge which must be mastered against all the odds, placement in a school/unit where outsiders have to work 10 times as hard to achieve the same recognition, discovery of a special power which elevates....I could go on and on and we'd hit every. single. one.  Not that there is necessarily anything wrong with that-I love a good fantasy novel!  But while not bad, this one also does not stand out from the crowd:  Rin is no Harry Potter or Rand al'Thor. Will I read the sequel should it ever come out?  Maybe.  Will it be on my must read list?  Nope. Rating:  #5 Good Enough 

Yikes,,,ever heard of "chick lit"?  This is a classic that deserves the label.  The protagonist even has a properly chick-y name:  Fixie Farr.  Poor Fixie is stuck being the dumping ground for a family of losers who can't see the forest for the trees.  Her mom's a mess going through a late mid-life crisis, her siblings are clueless hanger-on-ers, her boyfriend (of sorts) is a dweeb who even our fictional Fixie should not have fallen for and her hero, well, he's picture perfect straight from a movie and somehow (classicly) she doesn't even see it.  Other than being a little too over the top and far fetched, its your typical romance ...the final sentence in the description on the back of the book says more than I can say:  "Will she finally grab the life, and love, she really wants?"  Oh dear, Fixie, please do!  Its more than I can stand to see you waste away for a single more page! That all probably sounds more harsh than its meant to.  I Owe You On

I’ve read several Chabon books with varying success.   The Amazing Adventures of Cavalier and Clay is phenomenal-a recommend from me with high honors.   The Yiddish Policeman’s Union was ok-I don’t remember being blow away by it or anything.   Moonglow was one of those books I picked up in a hurry off the B&N discount rack-I saw Chabon’s name and thought, eh, why not?    The summary on the cover was NOT helpful-upon starting I was not sure if I was reading a memoir, a novel, a historical account of his grandfather’s life, or something altogether different.   Having finished it, I’m still not sure.   Was Chabon actually the grandson retelling his family’s story?   Was the whole account fictional?   At the end of the day, I don’t think it matters.   The story was compelling, the characters deeply flawed and equally relateably human.   A delight.     The family in the story was Jewish and their history was intertwined with Hitler’s Germany and World War II, without actually t

Silly book by an author I have grown quite fond of.   Nothing like Calypso, still I recognized his voice on every page.   It’s a brutal look at today’s society told in parable form using little forest creatures.   Sedaris has an uncanny eye for truth-telling and laying things bare and he does it again here.   Rating:   #4 Liked It