Mercy street by Jennifer Haigh

 

Read again for book club. Liked it even more 

Foster by Clair Keegan

A gorgeous little novella! Read in a couple hours, but don't rush through it; the writing is wonderful!

Some snippets from the NYTimes review describe this perfect little book:

"The narrator is a young girl in rural Ireland who is sent by her parents to live with the Kinsella family while her mother, Mary, carries to term another child in a household already bustling with siblings. The Kinsellas, John and Edna, have no children of their own and will foster the girl on their small farm in Wexford, toward the southeastern coast of Ireland.

Keegan’s novella is a master class in child narration. The voice resists the default precociousness and walks the perfect balance between naïveté and acute emotional intelligence.

There is a sadness hovering over the Kinsella home, where “there is no sign, anywhere, of a child.” The girl senses a particular absence in the boy’s clothes she’s given to wear after a bath, and in the wallpaper of trains that covers her bedroom."

The Watery Part of the World by Michael Parker

We read this for Book Club and it was so well received by all of the women.  I was not as gung-ho.  The problem I had with the book was that it didn't delve as much into the history part as I would have liked.  The story was based on the fact that Aaron Burr's daughter, Theodosia, was shipwrecked and never found again.  From the NYTimes review:
 

Theodosia’s story is just one of two enigmatic plot lines in Michael Parker’s latest novel, “The Watery Part of the World.” The other is inspired by the real lives of the three last inhabitants of a barrier island in the Outer Banks, an attempt to explain what led these elderly people to abandon their homes and move to the mainland in the early 1970s.

Maybe I didn't give it enough attention; I was so busy at this time that I had trouble getting through it.  

Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel

I chose this for one of my book clubs because I was resistant to reading it and knew I would HAVE to if I picked it for the book club. After all, it's on just about EVERY best list from 2022, including Obama's.  Well, in spite of all that, it was not my "cup of tea."  I simply do not enjoy that genre, even though I tried with everything I had to enjoy it.

I respect the author, her intellect, her writing, her ability to weave a story.  But I simply could not really get into it, try as I might.  

We did have a good discussion because the book raises interesting questions and issues.  There were 5 of us in the group today, and only 1 of us really enjoyed it.

But the rest of the world does and I am glad for the author.  I much preferred her prior book, "The Glass Hotel."

Best of Friends by Kamila Shamsie

I stuck with this book to the end, and I am glad I did, but I lost interest along the way - until the end, which I thought was powerful.  The reviews on this book were mixed; Shamsie's "big" novel, Home Fires, was highly praised, but I didn't read it.

Anyway, this book has interesting themes and issues that circle throughout, and I learned a bit about Pakistani politics along the way. I am glad I read it and stuck with it. I really did like the ending, even though it seems that most critics favored the parts that took place when the two friends were 14 years old, in Karachi.

The Measure by Nikki Erlick

This is an interesting book conceptually and I enjoyed it. I did think it was a little "preachy" however.

The premise is that everyone aged 22 and over is delivered a box with a string in it.  The string indicates how long your life will be.  No one knows where the boxes came from or how they got here, but everyone gets one.  The implications are immense, of course. Start thinking about that in the context of your own life. Would you open the box?  How would you change the way you live? How would this change society? Immensely!  The author does a good job of covering so many scenarios as she follows a bunch of people's lives in the story.  Most of the scenarios are good and interesting. There was one, however, that I thought was ridiculous (Jack and Javier) and I won't say why.  

Anyway, I am glad I read it and I think it would be a good book club read.

Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver

One of my favorite authors finally came out with a new book and it did not disappoint!  Tough subject: opioid epidemic, and handled with such dignity.

Kingsolver retells the story of David Copperfield in the context of modern-day Appalachia.  I never ready Dickens (I hate to admit that!) but am familiar enough with Copperfield to see the connections to what Dickens was conveying.

What stands out in this book is her amazing capability to bring life to these characters - both the "good" ones and the "bad" ones.  None of the addicts can be blamed for their habit; society is to blame.

I love the way she describes Appalachia - lovingly - so despite what the reader may have in terms of preconceived notions, we learn to love the beauty of it.

There's so much here;  I wanted to read it again as soon as I finished. It took me a long time to read; it's not a short book. It deserved more time than I gave it, however.  Reading this book also made me want to re-read "the Poisonwood Bible" as I recall that as being one of the best books I ever read!