Leaving by Roxana Robinson

A good friend recommended this book and I truly enjoyed it. It's about two long-lost lovers who meet later in life and reconnect.  She is divorced; he is not.  Families come into play and complicate the romance, obviously, and they struggle to figure things out.  The ending is quite a shocker!

The major obstacle to the two being able to stay together (he is married but not satisfied), is his daughter.  The demands she places seem unreasonable, and very selfish. As the daughter of divorced parents, I could not relate to her feelings and concerns.  I wanted my parents to be happy and although I was unhappy that they split up, I did not fight it one bit. I would never have done what this daughter did.  But I came to accept that given in this story and it did make the ending make much more sense. 

Very beautifully written. I had never read anything by this author before but I will seek out more of her work.

God of the Woods by Liz Moore

 

An excellent thriller with a message. I really enjoyed this book and understand why it's on everyone's "BEST" list, including Obama.  The characters are diverse and deep; there are plot twists that take you by surprise; the ending may surprise you. I felt I knew what was going to happen, and I was just partly right. I learned a bit about the Adirondacks and how they came to be so undeveloped.  Yes, we appreciate that now, but the reasons date back to when the upper class decided to declare this area "theirs" for rest and relaxation and bascially kicked all of the farmers out, or made it hard for them to make a living.

This is a crime story but it's also a story of class division, power, corruption and privelege.  Really enjoyed!

Lord of the Flies by William Golding

We read this for book club - decided to read a "classic" and this was chosen.  Since the group I am in consists of educators, it was an interesting conversation. We all really enjoyed reading this again and discussing severeal issues that are pertinent today.  "Why were there no females in this book?" If there had been, how would the story be different.

We talked about peer pressure, violence, prejudice and more. It was a lively discussion and I'm glad we revisited this classic book, read by many middle schoolers.  Is it still used today? That I need to find out!

Same As It Ever Was by Claire Lombardo

 

I enjoyed this book a lot.  It's a family story - which I love - and focuses on a woman grappling with her past and present.  She's got a really toxic relationship with her mother .... for good reason, and she punishes her mom in various ways. And none of those ways are good or productive.

I like the writing style and the way the author brought out the details of the story over the span of the rather long novel. Sometimes I had to go back a little bit to see what the author was referring to when she revealed plot twists. She adores her two children and spoke of them in ways that a mother can understand! It's over the top but I get it!

Overall, a very enjoyable book. It does have a lot of sadness and regret described, but that's life!

Catalina by Karla Cornejo Villavicencio

 

This was an interesting read, which I wanted to read as soon as I heard about it. Not sure why it did not captivate me the way I wanted it to.  

From GoodReads:

When Catalina is admitted to Harvard, it feels like the fulfillment of destiny: a miracle child escapes death in Latin America, moves to Queens to be raised by her undocumented grandparents, and becomes one of the chosen. But nothing is simple for Catalina, least of all her complicated, contradictory, ruthlessly probing mind. Now a senior, she faces graduation to a world with no place for the undocumented. Her sense of doom intensifies her curiosities and desires.

Sandwich by Catherine Newman

I absolutely loved this book. The author is so clever and funny and the story is one that so many women will relate to, I am sure.  I listened to an interview with her on "The Book Case Podcast" and it was very enlightening. I love to hear authors talk about their books and she was especially insightful.

The book's title refers to three things:  the town of Sandwich on Cape Cod, where this family has been going for 20 years, the lunch food, and "the sandwich generation."

It's short and easy to read and I'd read it again in a minute!

The Women by Kristin Hannah

This book is everywhere! "Best book" lists, top of the Best Seller List, on everyone's WTR list.

I don't get it! I read it and found it to be very predictable and not very informative about women's experiences in Vietnam, which was the point of the book, I think. I could be missing something that everyone else found.

I guess I am just not a Kristin Hannah fan, except for the Nightengale. I'm the odd one out.

Yellowface by R.F. Kuang

 

I listened to this book on my walks and really enjoyed it.  At times, I thought it went too far into the whole "writer's world" conversation, but I did find that part enlightening.

Bear by Julia Phillips

Kirkus says, "A bold and brilliant modern fable of sisterhood, class, and our relationship to the natural world."

I loved this book, even though it was a little slow at times.  The climax was shocking and the message deep.  I love this author, now having read both of her books. She is deep, lyrical, and draws you into her stories with real connections to her characters and their feelings.

The Divorcees by Rowan Beaird

This was interesting but not as compelling as a review I had read.  I was not aware of these divorce ranches in Nevada in the 50's, where a woman could spend 6 weeks and get an "instant divorce" by establishing that residency in the state. Of course, this was frowned up and the reasons for the divorce were often very compelling (spousal abuse, cheating, impotence, etc.)

The main character, Lois, receives her father's permission (but not his sanction) to divorce her husband after an unhappy 4-year marriage.  The reader doesn't really learn much about the marriage, which to me was confusing, but I think it was the author's way to assert that it may not matter: a woman should not stay married if she is not happy.  Lawrence did not beat her; but Lois was not fulfilled in the marriage, and she really didn't want children either. He did.

Anyway, Lois meets an interesting and mysterious character at the ranch, Greer.  Everyone supposes she is famous or is married to someone famous.  She is somewhat of an enigma to them all.  Lois is drawn to her, and she to Lois.  But things are not what they seem.

The ending was rather flat to me.  Did I miss something here?

 

Martyr by Kaveh Akbar

It took me awhile to finish this book and at one point, I was not sure I would.  Thank God I stayed with it. I think this is the best book I read this year.  It's not an easy book to read - at least it was not for me - but it was so full of ideas and truths and things that stimulated my thinking. Those kinds of books stay with you for a long time.  This review from NPR resonated with me.  This is a book that I could read again and get even more from. But I know I won't because my TBR list is way too long.

Horse by Geraldine Brooks

Not sure why I didn't get to this book sooner...but glad I finally did! I listened to it and that was a treat.  A great audiobook, with several readers.

There were parts of the book that seemed a bit contrived, but so much of the story was derived from fact.  In order to make the book not just about race as in horse racing, but race, as in racial issues, she did add some storyline that was relevant to the current times.  She even brought in the Trump presidency, COVID and George Floyd (although not mentioned by name.)

I especially liked the parts devoted to the character Martha Jackson, a real person from my hometown of Buffalo, who was an art collector and dealer and friend of Jackson Pollock. I wonder if that connection is in part responsible for the Pollocks at the Albright Knox Art Gallery!

I liked the way she linked present and past and how she made so many of the characters come alive.

Overall, a very enjoyable and important work of fiction.

The stolen Child by Ann Hood

 From Kirkus:  A well-crafted, fast-paced story about how a single encounter can shape a person’s whole life.

The story jumps around from a trench in WWI to the 1970s.  Nick, an American soldier in France, is given two parcels by a woman artist. One is some paintings she has done, and the other is a baby!

He keeps the paintings but leaves the baby and is forever haunted by this.  Years later, ill with cancer, he returns to France to try to find out what happened to the child.

He brings along Jenny, a local girl (who gave up HER child for adoption) to help him with this task, since he is sick.  Their adventures are mingled with those of an Italian craftsman, Enzo. Eventually their paths meet up, and the mystery is revealed.  Lots of drama in between.

But I really enjoyed reading this book!

Blue Ruin by Hari Kunzru

I listened to this book on my walks and the narration was by the author, so very good.  However, I feel like I would have gotten more out of the book had I read the words on paper.  I am not sure why, but perhaps because it is a very deep book.  I enjoyed it and appreciated its messages, but it was dark!

Here are some of the ideas explored in the book, as written in Kirkus:

...the novel is a study of the complications of art, money, and identity. Is Rob more free as an artist for having access to wealthy patrons? Does Jay have more integrity for sabotaging his art world prospects? And why do muses like Alice absorb so much abuse up on that pedestal?

Piglet by Lottie Hazell

I read the book review in the New York Times and was immediately interested to read the book. I put it on hold at the library and it took a while to come in, so others were as intrigued as I was.

It was not an easy read for me - but I really enjoyed it. This is a debut novel for this writer and in reading some of the reviews, there were people who thought that the ending was weak. I did not.  And it did not bother me that the reader never learns Kit's "secret" (what he reveals just a few days before the wedding.  We can guess, and really, does it matter?!?)

From Amazon:

An elegant, razor-sharp debut about women's ambitions and appetites—and the truth about having it all

Outside of a childhood nickname she can’t shake, Piglet’s rather pleased with how her life’s turned out. An up-and-coming cookbook editor at a London publishing house, she’s got lovely, loyal friends and a handsome fiancé, Kit, whose rarefied family she actually, most of the time, likes, despite their upper-class eccentricities. One of the many, many things Kit loves about Piglet is the delicious, unfathomably elaborate meals she’s always cooking.

But when Kit confesses a horrible betrayal two weeks before they’re set to be married, Piglet finds herself suddenly…hungry. The couple decides to move forward with the wedding as planned, but as it nears and Piglet balances family expectations, pressure at work, and her quest to make the perfect cake, she finds herself increasingly unsettled, behaving in ways even she can’t explain. Torn between a life she’s always wanted and the ravenousness that comes with not getting what she knows she deserves, Piglet is, by the day of her wedding, undone, but also ready to look beyond the lies we sometimes tell ourselves to get by.

A stylish, uncommonly clever novel about the things we want and the things we think we want, Piglet is both an examination of women’s often complicated relationship with food and a celebration of the messes life sometimes makes for us.

The Island of Missing Trees by Elif Safak

I really enjoyed this book that we read in Book Club.  It taught me a lot about history and about trees and the whole plant/insect world.  Very good read!

From Amazon:

Two teenagers, a Greek Cypriot and a Turkish Cypriot, meet at a taverna on the island they both call home. In the taverna, hidden beneath garlands of garlic, chili peppers and creeping honeysuckle, Kostas and Defne grow in their forbidden love for each other. A fig tree stretches through a cavity in the roof, and this tree bears witness to their hushed, happy meetings and eventually, to their silent, surreptitious departures. The tree is there when war breaks out, when the capital is reduced to ashes and rubble, and when the teenagers vanish. Decades later, Kostas returns. He is a botanist looking for native species, but really, he's searching for lost love.
Years later a Ficus carica grows in the back garden of a house in London where Ada Kazantzakis lives. This tree is her only connection to an island she has never visited--- her only connection to her family's troubled history and her complex identity as she seeks to untangle years of secrets to find her place in the world.

A moving, beautifully written, and delicately constructed story of love, division, transcendence, history, and eco-consciousness,

Good Material by Dolly Alderrton

I really enjoyed this book and especially the final 20 pages, which really took a turn.  It was funny and told from Andy's point of view until the end, and then Jen took over the first-person narrative.  I had thought all along, up to that point, how odd it was that this female author was telling the story from the man's point of view.  

There's some real stuff to ponder in here about being female, having children, being in a relationship, etc.  Food for thought that many women think about but don't necessarily talk about.  At least not in my circles.

The Moment of Lift by Melinda

 

Read this with the book group.  Enjoyed it but sometimes it was a little too much.  More detail than necessary. But she has certainly made a difference in the lives of many oppressed children and women in the world.  Good to know that the Gates money has helped so many.

Soulmate by Sally Hepworth

 

I read about this book when the paperback was released and it sounded like a good "easy" read after some heavy hitters.

It was just OK. I had the audiobook so I could listen on my walks and it was a decent listen.  Nothing earth-shattering about it but enjoyable listening.

From GoodReads: 

Picture a lovely cottage on a cliff, with sloping lawns, walking paths, and beautiful flowers. It’s Gabe and Pippa Gerard’s dream home in a sleepy coastal town. But their perfect house hides something sinister. The tall cliffs have become a popular spot for people to end their lives. Over the past several months, Gabe comes to their rescue, literally talking them off the ledge.

Until one day, he doesn’t. When Pippa discovers Gabe knew the victim, the questions spiral. . . .Did the victim jump? Was she pushed? And would Gabe, the love of Pippa’s life, her soulmate . . . lie? As the perfect façade of their marriage begins to crack, the deepest and darkest secrets begin to unravel. Because sometimes, the most convincing lies are the ones we tell ourselves.

Happiness Falls by Angie Kim

I really can't say enough about this novel.  I picked it up after hearing its premise:  

When a father goes missing, his family’s desperate search leads them to question everything they know about him and one another in this thrilling page-turner, a deeply moving portrait of a family in crisis.

I'm thinking of a page-turner, a quick read, and a family portrait. It's so much more! And I learned so much! 

This book is an "exploration of neurodiversity and its effects on family dynamics with a mystery."  Eugene, the younger brother of the twin older siblings, "is autistic, nonverbal and has a rare genetic condition called Angelman syndrome."

There is so much to learn in this book, and it gives you a lot to think about, too. I highly recommend it! 

The Berry Pickers by Amanda Peters

Synopsis:  from NYTimes:

It is 1962 and a Mi’kmaw family crosses from Nova Scotia into Maine to harvest berries as migrant workers. Once they arrive, everything falls into a summer rhythm, but one afternoon, the family’s youngest, 4-year-old Ruthie, disappears. Her brother Joe is the last to see her, which will haunt him for the rest of his life. 

I enjoyed this book, but would have liked more about the Native people.  Sometimes I felt like the author was trying to include "too much." (Dementia, mental illness,  infertility, etc.)  But overall, I did like the book and it kept me interested.

The Rachel Incident by Caroline O'Donoghue

I enjoyed this book so much, especially the ending.  It's rare lately (or so it seems) to be happy at the end of a book - to be happy with the happy ending!  (I shouldn't have given that away.)

I can see this book being bought up and ending up on screen.  It's a delight.  The New York Times reviewer mentioned similarities with two authors: Ann Tyler and Sally Rooney. I agree. There is humor and pathos and very likeable characters.  

From the Washington Post review: 

Although the novel opens in 2022, most of the story takes place back around 2010, cast in the heat of regret and the glow of nostalgia. The narrator, Rachel Murray, recalls living in Cork while finishing up an English degree. One of the many lovable things about this novel is O’Donoghue’s kindhearted perspective on the awkwardness of the college years, that weird period when you’re self-conscious enough to be embarrassed but not quite self-controlled enough to feign maturity.

We Must Not Think of Ourselves by Lauren Grodstein

Not sure where I heard about this but it was a good read.  The story takes place in the Warsaw Ghetto and while I feel like I have read so much about this in the past, this book had another twist.  The protagonist is a teacher who is given the job to document the people's lives who he encounters in the ghetto, with the reason that the stories need to be told, before they cannot ever be told again.....the people may be gone.  From the New York Times:

Lauren Grodstein’s new novel takes place in the Warsaw ghetto, where a secret group of archivists made sure the truth survived.

Sharing an apartment with 10 others and teaching English in a crumbling basement, Adam signs on to interview his neighbors for the Oneg Shabbat project, a clandestine effort to gather accounts of life in the ghetto for posterity. Grodstein’s tale is clearly informed by those actual witness records, some of which survived the destruction of the ghetto and the deaths — from starvation, disease or “Grossaktion” deportation to camps like Treblinka — of most of its inhabitants. 

This is a tender, heartbreaking novel that grapples with timeless questions. Is collaboration forgivable? Can sparks of human kindness, however tiny, fend off hopelessness in the face of evil? In the spring of 1942, Adam learns that the Nazis will begin deporting some 6,000 Jews from the ghetto to the camps each day. Mystified and despairing, he wonders, “What had happened to them in their lives that they couldn’t let us live ours?”