Tilt by Emma Pattee

 

I am not sure where I heard about this book, but I was drawn to it for a reason: earthquake! Having a son and grandkids in San Francisco, it's a natural disaster I think about often.

This was a page-turner and a gripping story, but I must say, I did not love it. Too gritty, too upsetting. Characters not developed enough for me.

But I read and listened to it (while walking) and I am not sorry I did.

Here is what Amazon says about it:

Annie is nine months pregnant and shopping for a crib at IKEA when a massive earthquake hits Portland, Oregon. With no way to reach her husband, no phone or money, and a city left in chaos, there’s nothing to do but walk.

Making her way across the wreckage of Portland, Annie experiences human desperation and kindness: strangers offering help, a riot at a grocery store, and an unlikely friendship with a young mother. As she walks, Annie reflects on her struggling marriage, her disappointing career, and her anxiety about having a baby. If she can just make it home, she’s determined to change her life.

A propulsive debut, Tilt is a primal scream of a novel about the disappointments and desires we all carry, and what each of us will do for the people we love.

The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton

 

I chose this book for our book club when we decided to read a "classic." We had visited "the Mount" the Edith Wharton home in western Massachusetts last summer and I bought the book.

I had a hard time at first, but I really enjoyed it in the end.  It reminded me of the Gilded Age on HBO.  Set in the same period in the same city - NYC.

It was a great depiction of a society in the midst of change.  There were a lot of descriptive paragraphs of what the city was like, what the interiors were like, how the people dressed, etc. But more important, it depicted NY society at that time. There were too many characters to keep up with, but I managed to make a connection with some of them. Some in my book club felt very differently about the book and the characters than I did.  Made our conversation quite lively and interesting!

James by Percival Everett

 What a brilliant book. That is about all I can say. Read it. It deserved to win the Pulitzer Prize. It's inventive, gripping, funny, tender, perfect!

Isola by Allegra Goodman

This was quite a book and based on a true story! I heard about it and immediately knew I had to read it. I am a fan of Allegra Goodman, too. This was quite a different book for her. This is the entry on Amazon for this compelling novel!

Heir to a fortune, Marguerite is destined for a life of prosperity and gentility. Then she is orphaned, and her guardian—an enigmatic and volatile man—spends her inheritance and insists she accompany him on an expedition to New France. That journey takes a unexpected turn when Marguerite, accused of betrayal, is brutally punished and abandoned on a small island.

Once a child of privilege who dressed in gowns and laced pearls in her hair, Marguerite finds herself at the mercy of nature. As the weather turns, blanketing the island in ice, she discovers a faith she’d never before needed.

Inspired by the real life of a sixteenth-century heroine, Isola is the timeless story of a woman fighting for survival.

Rental House by Weike Wang

 

I am a fan of Weike Wang, but this was not my favorite book by this author. Perhaps the timing of when I read this was off. I did enjoy it and I love her witty style of writing. But I guess I just didn't like the main female character, Keru, as much as I would have liked to.

A couple rents a house and invites their families to visit: one at a time however. Here is a good summary of what happens between THEM

For Keru and Nate, the vacation home is supposed to be a place for relaxation, an escape from the mundane stresses of life; but it presses them up against their problems without the escape of work. The two see each other laid bare, rife with neuroses, disappointments, insecurities — and only then do they see what exactly it is that holds them close.

Audition by Katie Kitamura

This was quite a compelling book.  I listened to it and wish I had had a physical copy because reading the words on the page would have added something, I believe.  But there is also something special about having it read aloud.  It's just that this book was so DEEP! I wanted to mull over certain passages, which I can only do by reading the words. 

The end confused me a bit. I think I need to take out the physical book and have another look.  Kitamura is a deep thinker, a writing genius, I think.

Here's a brief summary from Tertulia:

“Kitamura’s novels are short, sharp, and deadly. I’m not sure there’s anyone better writing in America today,” declared The Guardian in their roundup of fiction to watch in 2025. In Audition, an accomplished actress and an attractive younger man meet for lunch in a Manhattan restaurant. As the encounter unfolds, competing narratives emerge, questioning the roles we play and the truths we conceal.

 

Dream State by Erich Puchner

 

This book I LOVED! It took me a while to read it but it was very satisfying in the end.  I had never heard of this author before, but he's now on "my list." This book tells the long story of a love triangle, in effect, and how the three people interact and interplay throughout their lives. 

It's a family saga and also brings in a lot of current issues, like climate change, addiction, senility.....happy stuff! Haha.  But the tale is told with beautiful language and compassion, and humor.

The Sweetness of Water by Nathan Harris

 

From NPR: 

Harris asks a question Americans have yet to figure out: How does a community make peace in the wake of civil war? I'm not sure the novel comes close to finding an answer. But posing the question and following through the work undertaken felt incredibly worthwhile nonetheless.

This was a book club read, and I enjoyed it for the most part, but I didn't think it was particularly original.  The subject matter was disturbing so it was not an easy read, but the themes and ideas were compelling. 

The characters were fully drawn and likeable (well, the ones you were supposed to like). I'm glad I read it but it was not one of those, "OH, you HAVE to read this book!

The Strange Case of Jane O. by Karen Thompson Walker

I read another book by this author quite a long time ago. Since I keep this blog, I can link to that entry and recall that I read it more than 10 years ago. It is one of those books that you remember reading, even if you don't remember the details; you remember that you read it and it had an impact.

Well, that will be true with this book, too.  It's compelling and mind-boggling account of a woman, Jane, and her encounters with a psychiatrist, Dr Byrd.  She has hyperthymesia which is an excessive, accurate memory for dates, places, and events. She can remember what happened exactly on any date in the past and can describe details that would seem impossible to remember. But, some of these things did not really happen. Or did not happen in this reality. The book reminded me of The Midnight Library a bit and the concept of parallel universes.  But it's really beyond that. There are lots of twists and turns in the plot and the story is told from the point of view of both Jane (in the form of letters to her infant son) and Dr. Byrd.

All I can say is, I found it quite riveting and it's one of those books that I could pick up and start all over again.....if another book weren't waiting for me in my Library queue.

The Rich People Have Gone Away by Regina Porter

 

I am not sure where I heard about this book, but I am glad that I did!  Really interesting and compelling read! By the way, it's a COVID novel, but a very different one. Description:

A diverse group of New Yorkers are brought together by the search for a missing woman--in this electric novel of secrets, connection, and community.

And from Amazon:

Brooklyn, 2020. Theo Harper and his pregnant wife, Darla, head upstate to their summer cottage to wait out the lockdown. Not everyone in their upscale Park Slope building has this privilege: not Xavier, the teenager in the Cardi B T-shirt, nor Darla’s best friend, Ruby, and her partner, Katsumi, who stay behind to save their Michelin-starred restaurant.

During an upstate hike on the aptly named Devil’s Path, Theo divulges a long-held secret—and when Darla disappears after the ensuing argument, he finds himself the prime suspect. As Darla’s and Theo’s families and friends come together to search for her, with Ruby and Katsumi stepping in to broker peace, past and present collide with startling consequences.

Set against the pulse of an ever-changing city,

The Rich People Have Gone Away connects the lives of ordinary New Yorkers to tell a powerful story of hope, love, and inequity in our times—while reminding us that no one leaves the past behind completely. 

The characters were so diverse and so deep.  I just loved them all and loved the way the author put the story together while giving all the different characters lots of printtime! Sometimes I would feel like Porter was diverging from the main storyline, but I enjoyed that!

The Washington Post wrote an excellent review of this book.  I agree with everything they say and she's now an author I will be watching!

Peggy by Rebecca Godfrey

This was a very enjoyable book and I learned so much in reading it.  I didn't know much about Peggy Guggenheim except that she was part of that family and that she has an art museum in Venice that was closed the day we were there. :-( 

She was quite an interesting person who lived during a very interesting time! I didn't know her father died on the Titanic, that she was quite a siren who had affairs with many men, and that the love of her life seems to have been Samuel Beckett. Oh, there was so much to learn!

The sad thing about the book is the fate of the author, who died of cancer before she finished it. The book was completed by another author who spoke so highly of Godfrey.

This book made me want to read and learn more about this era.

The Life Impossible by Matt Haig

From NY Times:

"The book follows a retired English woman who has lost her husband and, many years before, her young son. Her small, closed-fist of a life could easily have petered out quietly in her living room. Instead, she goes to Ibiza on an adventure that we will not spoil here, except to say that it involves telepathy."

I enjoyed this book and found the ideas thought-provoking and compelling. I did not, however, enjoy this as much as The Midnight Library. It's not fair to compare, really, but that book captured my attention more than this one.

Mainly, I listened on my walks, and it is an excellent audiobook. The reader sounds like Maggie Smith.  Very British with perfect diction. 

Mina's Matchbox by Yoko Ogawa

 

This was just the book I needed now.  I can't say exactly why, but it was so satisfying after all I have been through over the past 6-8 weeks. A good story, heartwarming, well-written, touching. I agree with this summary found on Amazon:

In this elegant jewel box of a book, Yoko Ogawa invites us to witness a powerful and formative interlude in Tomoko’s life. Behind the family's sophistication are complications that Tomoko struggles to understand—her uncle’s mysterious absences, her great-aunt’s experience of the Second World War, her aunt’s misery. Rich with the magic and mystery of youthful experience, Mina’s Matchbox is an evocative snapshot of a moment frozen in time—and a striking depiction of a family on the edge of collapse.

Don't Be a Stranger by Susan Minot

 

From Amazon: 

Ivy Cooper is 52 years old when Ansel Fleming first walks into her life. Twenty years her junior, a musician newly released from prison on a minor drug charge, Ansel’s beguiling good looks and quiet intensity instantly seduce her. Despite the gulf between their ages and experience the physical chemistry between them is overpowering, and over the heady weeks and months that follow Ivy finds her life bifurcated by his presence: On the surface she is a responsible mother, managing the demands of friends, an ex-husband, home; but emotionally, psychologically, sexually, she is consumed by desire and increasingly alive only in the stolen moments-out-of-time, with Ansel in her bed.

Don't Be a Stranger is a gripping, sensual, and provocative work from one of the most remarkable voices in contemporary fiction.

I enjoyed this book very much.  It's been compared to "All Fours" by Miranda July (which I have not read, but want to.)