Author: bibliobloggityboo

The Summer Book Club by Susan Mallery

This upbeat piece of women’s fiction starts with Laurel (one of the three main female characters in the book) getting called into school because her daughter has been telling the school that all men are terrible. Laurel realizes that her daughter has, in fact, not a single good male role model in her life so she sets out to make a male friend in order to show her daughter that some men are actually not terrible! Female lead #2 is Laurel’s best friend Paris whose husband left her ten years ago due to her uncontrollable rage. With years of therapy and learning anger management technique, Paris still worries she could flip out at any moment. Lastly, fem-hero #3 is Cassie — kicked out of the family home in Bar Harbor and told to get herself a life. It’s no surprise that by the end of the novel, everyone is doing great — that’s why we read these books!

Here is why I continue to read Susan Mallery novels, as opposed to many of the other women’s fiction selections. Yes, I have to suspend a lot of disbelief because in real life they just don’t make men like the ones these three manage to snag (except for my husband, of course!), but reading a Mallery book is kind of like reading an entertaining how-to manual for parenting and other relationships (including with yourself). Great advice, articulately doled out, and without having to resort to stupidity and game playing.

A couple of funny bits — the three women have a summer book club focused on Romance novels and the three men join in for one, pretty hysterical, discussion. And Mallery manages to make a thrift store shopping experience actually exciting to me (and trust me when I tell you that I dislike shopping for anything that doesn’t come with turning pages).

I read this while trying hard not to read about the horrible things happening in the world and found it very calming and reassuring. Even if it is fiction, it reminds me that not everybody is out there chanting horrible and ill informed slogans.

Thank you to Canary Street Press and NetGalley for providing an advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. The book will be published on February 13th, 2024.

The Underground Library by Jennifer Ryan

I thoroughly enjoyed this fictionalized history of the underground library at Bethnal Green tube station in London during WWII. The story follows three women during the early stages of WWII (~1940). Near the beginning of the London Blitz, the German bombs destroyed the large and beautiful Bethnal Green Library, necessitating its relocation underground.

Juliet Lansdown has just taken the role of Assistant Librarian, a role usually reserved for men (who were of course in short supply). Jewish Sofie Baumann has managed to obtain a visa to leave Berlin for London as a household servant — also in short supply and one of the few ways Jews could still get out of Germany and go to the relatively safe shores of England. Katie Upwood, a library assistant, finds out she is pregnant shortly after hearing that her beau is missing in action, presumed dead. Together these women, and the growing community taking to the tube station for nightly shelter, form a support system for the predominantly female cast of The Underground Library.

Jennifer Ryan always gives her characters a happily-ever-after which made it easier for me to read of a harrowing time without too much additional stress which I greatly appreciate. I loved the attention to historically accurate details of the age — the big hotels fixing up their cellars for dancing, the women in internment camps on the Isle of Man teaching each other skills, the treatment of unwed mothers, deserters, efforts at Jewish reunification, and the fact that universities, rather than close, started opening up to women while the men were away — Margaret Thatcher got her 1943 Chemistry degree from Oxford! I also always love Ryan’s characters and the way they work to make the best of whatever situation they find themselves in — usually through some wonderful friendships. All learning to take whatever joy is available to them and cherish it.

Ryan does differentiate where her fiction veers off from fact in the afterward, and she covered (almost) all of the points that I had noticed being off while reading. However, one thing that does slightly irritate me is that in addition to making a woman the heroine of making the library happen, she also makes the male head librarian someone who tries very hard to get in the way of it being a success, except when Juliet flatters him and basically offers to give him all the credit. In fact (according to wikipedia) it was a male librarian and his male assistant who worked hard to get the library moved underground and kept it going! I don’t mind her making the characters female, but I think it’s sad to make the male character a “bad guy” when he wasn’t (I don’t see the need to empower women at the expense of men). It could be that Ryan has more information than I do, but I wasn’t able to to find it.

If the story sounds familiar, that may be because this is the second book to fictionalize this WWII underground library this year. The Little Wartime Library by Kate Thompson covers the later years of the war and was also very enjoyable. For those interested in the real story, here is a somewhat personal accounting: https://www.historic-uk.com/HistoryUK/HistoryofBritain/Bethnal-Green-Tube-Disaster/. I’ve embedded a couple of photos in this post.

Thank you to Ballantine Books and NetGalley for providing an advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. The book will be published on March 12th, 2023.

Christa Comes Out of Her Shell by Abbi Waxman (Romantic Comedy)

A nerdy marine biologist (specializing in bubble raft snails!) has moved as far from her Los Angeles home as possible — to a fictional island called Violetta in the middle of the Indian Ocean. Having survived a childhood in the limelight (in both positive and really, really, negative ways), she is happy to be alone, unbothered, and having a blast with the marine life she loves. Unfortunately, she is called back into the heart of the family when her father — a media star from decades ago — reappears after a twenty-five year, presumed-dead hiatus in Alaska. What follows is a modern “romp” through greedy agents, journalists, and media outlets all wanting the “real” story. They don’t actually want the “real” story, of course — they want the highly marketable, “let’s make a ton of money” story starring all of the smiling faces. Lots of marine biology factoids and a reignited (with a metaphorical blow torch) love interest in the form of a (very) handsome childhood family friend, and you have all the makings of a typical Waxman romcom. I will say this particular book had more rom than com for my taste, and while the writing was very good, it did not have the insightful turns of phrase that I remember loving in Nina Hill and the others BUT, I read it in two sittings and enjoyed it thoroughly.

The Story Hour by Thrity Umrigar (Literary Fiction — Audio book)

Writing: 5/5 Characters: 5/5 Plot: 4/5

A beautifully written (with fantastic audio reader) story about an Indian immigrant woman who attempts suicide (in the first chapter — this is not a spoiler) and the black therapist who is assigned her case. Their stories form an interlocking spiral as themes of betrayal, grief, and loneliness play out in both of their lives as the two become more connected than a typical therapeutic relationship warrants.

Lakshmi — the immigrant — is a complex character in a tired body with the loneliness incumbent with an uncaring husband and being cut off from her family home in India. Maggie — the therapist — is a black woman on the verge of an (ill advised) affair, married to a loving and caring Indian professor. Both have complex and well-articulated, deeply considered backstories that have a surprising amount of commonality.

The book is a study in interpersonal engagements of all sorts — the urges, the mistakes, the trust, the quest for redemption, forgiveness and for happiness and intimacy. Incredible breadth and depth. I liked every one of the characters and yet frequently grew angry with them for their all too human errors of judgement. At the very end, there is no specific resolution — highlighting the fact that life is not lived as a novel with a consistent narrative arc and closure.

I was completely engaged and could not stop reading, but there was a lot of pain to share, and I will need something light and happy to read before I venture back into another like it.

The Last Devil To Die by Richard Osman (Literary Mystery)

Number four in Richard Osman’s deservedly popular comic mystery series. Four retirement village pensioners tackle a Romance Fraud, some missing heroin, and the professional looking murder of an elderly antiques dealer who happens to be a friend. A reminder on the four pensioners from my previous reviews: Elizabeth, with the mysterious background and friends in high and low places who all seem to owe her favors; Ibrahim, the retired psychiatrist, who pores over the cases he failed; Ron, the former trade union leader who loves a chance to get back on the stage; and Joyce, who has the often under appreciated skill of bringing everyone together while remaining invisible herself.

While the book has all the hallmarks of Osman’s previous work — tight, content rich prose, laugh out loud moments every few pages, and irreverent mystery solving — this title is different. With one of the regular characters progressing steadily into ever increasing dementia, there is a philosophical turn and one of the most poignant scenes I’ve ever read. I was honestly weeping (correct term) for quite some time. Osman shows a different side of his prodigious writing abilities in blending this very real, and yet unfortunately very ordinary, experience to an otherwise fun, comic, and artfully written romp celebrating friendship and the purposeful embrace of old age.

Some quotes:
“Friendship, and Joyce flirting unsuccessfully with a Welshman who appears to be the subject of a fairly serious international fraud. Elizabeth could think of worse ways to spend the holidays.”

“Mervyn is not one of lifes hand-takers. He lives life at a safe distance.”

“The easiest way to make a small fortune in antiques is to start with a big fortune and lose it.”

“In my business you hear a thing or two about love. I find it easy to replicate. It is largely a willing abandonment of logic.”

“There comes a point when you look at your photograph albums more often than you watch the news.”

“ That’s the thing about Coopers Chase. You’d imagine it was quiet and sedate, like a village pond on a summer day. But in truth, it never stops moving, it’s always in motion. And that motion is aging, and death, and love, and grief, and final snatched moments and opportunities grasped. The urgency of old age. There’s nothing that makes you feel more alive than the certainty of death.”

Habitations by Sheila Sundar (Literary Fiction)

Writing: 5/5 Characters: 4.5/5 Plot: 3.5/5

A deeply thoughtful book about Vega Gopalan — an Indian academic (Sociology) who immigrates to the U.S. and shares her introspective take on all her observations of life for herself and the people she meets. Pervading her experiences is the memory of her sister who died at 14 from a disease that would have been easily detectable (and treatable) had she been born in the U.S.

The writing is beautiful, with a talent for capturing complex feelings and thoughts in a few apt phrases. It read like a memoir to me — no foreshadowing, no clearly defined narrative arc — more the development of a life with the actions and events paralleled by Vega’s internal commentary and awareness of self-discovery as it occurs. It was interesting that I didn’t really like Vega — she is not the type of person I would befriend. This is not because she was in any way an unpleasant character, but because she is a deeply interior person who does not always show (or feel?) the empathy and interest in others that I personally like in friends. One of her friends says (appropriately) at one point: “… but sometimes, when we talk, I feel as though I’m interrupting your thoughts.” I usually need to really like a character to enjoy reading about her, but in this case I found myself relating to her intellectually, if not emotionally, so perhaps I would have enjoyed her friendship after all. 🙂

I was impressed by all of the topics discussed in the pages — none with heavy agendas and all with the kind of verbal interactions that show several individuals tackling a topic from multiple personal contexts rather than pulling the latest PC verbiage from a shelf. Vega spends her time in her (American) university keeping company with a wide variety of people — almost all immigrants themselves (from East Africa, Pakistan, Jamaica, etc.). There are a lot of discussions of cultures, advantages, and a realistic depiction of choices that have to be made in order to be allowed to stay or to study. All were treated as facts of life for which you needed to adopt strategies, rather than focussing on the unfairness.

Vega experiences racism at various points but doesn’t let it define her — it’s just more of the expanding context that provides the soundtrack for her developing life. I loved the fact that she was irritated by the “inclusive educational models” at her daughter’s school which featured simplistic math sheets and overly exclamation pointed reading guides, but at the same time had the awareness that if one of her colleagues had written a paper on such models she would have applauded the theories. The book referred to some fascinating academic studies about topics I couldn’t have imagined myself — opening me up to new worlds of thoughts and experiences. Also some lovely references to some of my favorite (and not that well-known) books such as Maya Angelou’s “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings,” and Tsitsi Dangarembga’s “Nervous Conditions.”

I enjoyed reading the book, but it was one of those books that I found become more interesting the more I thought about it after I finished it. I felt exposed to the multi-faceted reality behind the academic reports, news coverage, and general stereotypes through a stream of social commentary that pertained to individuals in groups, rather than groups as a whole. And lots of stereotype smashing roles — her characters were all influenced by their cultures and backgrounds, but never defined by them. Every time I assumed it would go in a predictable direction it didn’t. Definitely worth reading.

A few good quotes:

“She has long had the sense that there were two types of men: spectacularly bad choices, and interchangeably mediocre ones. She only realized, now, how far she had come from that impression. There was such a thing as a happy marriage. Easy and generous love.”

“She found the veneer of friendship lonelier than being alone.”

“I just grew up with so many people like that. People who lived privileged lives in India, but the moment they travel abroad or talk to foreigners, they want to establish themselves as experts as poverty.”

“There was something broken in her. She knew how to desire a person, but not to care for them.”

Thank you to Simon & Schuster and NetGalley for providing an advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. The book will be published on April 12th, 2023.

The Running Grave by Robert Galbraith (Mystery)

960 pages and I downed it in three days. Would have been less time but I literally can no longer sit still for that amount of time without massive squirming. As with her Harry Potter books, Rowling grabs your interest on sentence one, and then just refuses to release it. (Just in case you didn’t know, Robert Galbraith is a pen name for J. K. Rowling).

This is the seventh book in the Cormoran Strike series, starring the afore mentioned Strike — a one-legged military hero, with a wildly unconventional background — and Robin Ellacott — partner in the firm with a passion for psychology. All the books have been made (or are being made) into movies — I’ve seen them and they are fine but the books are infinitely better (IMHO). You won’t have to have read all the previous books — any required piece of background is restated as needed.

Her books are often dark — while things tend to work out by the end, there is a lot of darkness taking a long time to herald the dawn. In this “case,” Robin is required to go undercover into a pretty horrifying cult, with its own fully developed world view, massive organization, and fully fleshed out doctrine and practices. I had to stop reading well before bedtime lest I get too stressed…

For those up to date on the series, a little more progress on the personal side of things with a bit of an emotional cliff hanger on that front. While there were two years between previous installments, this one came a mere one year after the last so it looks like Rowling is on a roll. Maybe next fall will see volume 8? According to wikipedia, Rowling said she had plans for ten more after the third …

960 pages and I downed it in three days. Would have been less time but I literally can no longer sit still for that amount of time without massive squirming. As with her Harry Potter books, Rowling grabs your interest on sentence one, and then just refuses to release it. (Just in case you didn’t know, Robert Galbraith is a pen name for J. K. Rowling).

Real Americans by Rachel Khong (Literary Fiction)

Writing: 4/5 Characters: 4.5/5 Plot: 3.5/5

An exploration of how we become who we are (nature vs nurture and all the permutations) through the stories of three generations of a single family: Lily — raised American (down to the bologna sandwiches she took to school) by her immigrant Chinese parents; her son Nick who looks almost completely like the rich, white father he never met, and not Chinese at all; and Lily’s mother May, who escaped from China during the Cultural Revolution with broken teeth and broken English — and a sharp mind trained in genetic research. Into this mix roam themes of wealth and poverty, racial inequalities, and the ethics of gene editing.

The book held my interest throughout — it’s a plot that thoroughly covers all sorts of interesting times and places from Mao’s cultural revolution to a pharmaceutical empire and across the different stages of an individual’s lifespan. Lily and Nick’s stories felt more real to me. May’s story felt more like a recap of documented history — all true but it didn’t feel like someone’s personal experience to me in the same way the others did (this could be my problem). I liked the depiction of the science, and I thought the descriptions of relationships — with the true intentions, unrealistic expectations, and the heaviness of eventual disappointments — felt genuine. I was sad that these genuine seeming relationships included several people not speaking to others for decades, rather than trying to work through the problems — a sad waste of love. I’m honestly not sure what the overall message of the book was — I get the ethical dilemmas the book (adeptly) portrayed, but I had a hard time understanding what led to individuals literally breaking off all contact with the most important people in their lives. I’m open to someone explaining this to me!

Thank you to Knopf and NetGalley for providing an advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. The book will be published on April 30th, 2024.

The Museum of Lost Quilts by Jennifer Chiaverini

I tend to think of Chiaverini’s “Quilt Books” as generic uplifting women’s fiction, but coming to this latest installment after reading her fantastic WWI historical fiction — Switchboard Soldiers and Canary Girls — I now recognize all of the deeply interesting history embedding in the Quilt books. Specifically history focusing on the often hidden contributions made by women. The plot of this book focuses on the fundraising for an historical building restoration to save it from a (somewhat two dimensional) greedy developer by collecting and curating a set of beautiful old quilts with strong ties to local history. It is the story of the individual quilts and the research process for tracking down and understanding their history that made it so interesting to me. Plenty of individual stories and the unearthing of historical context that made those stories possible. While the plot was fairly predictable, it was pleasant and entertaining, and the historical bits really kept my interest.

Thank you to William Morrow and NetGalley for providing an advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. The book will be published on April 30th, 2024.

Chenneville by Paulette Giles (Historical Fiction)

Writing: 5/5 Characters: 4/5 Plot: 3.5/5

A beautifully written book that fits into the same post Civil War world as her News of the World and Simon the Fiddler. Jean-Louis Chenneville — once a successful farmer and gentleman — returns from the war a broken man having spent a year in the hospital in a semi-coma. He awakens to a dark world of ruin — Lincoln had been assassinated, Lee had surrendered, and the Gray Union army had gone home. His body and mind are slowly healing — his memory has wide gaps.

When he does finally get home, he gets worse news — news that sends him off on a long, single-minded journey to right a terrible wrong. Giles excels at bringing a place and time to life — in this case I almost wish she was a little less skilled. It is a depressing time — full of chaos, corruption, and despair. The war is over but things have not returned to any kind of normal — there is little stability in the South, with deep-seated hatreds and little consistent law enforcement.

The story is slow paced with characters — some unpleasant but many good people just trying to make things work again — introduced as part of his heroic journey. Each character had a unique backstory that highlighted all the different people who found themselves in this difficult time and place from a wide variety of starting points. My favorite part had to do with the telegraph operators that he met and the sub community they formed (with details completely and accurately belonging to the time period). There were definitely times that I wished we could have a little less atmosphere and more plot. The book was thick with description and I don’t visualize from textual description very well, which made some of the (albeit exquisitely depicted) passages tedious for me. I was happy with the ending, but until then it was a bit of a depressing read — depressing because of how hard that time really was, not because someone put a bunch of dramatic events to force readers into heavy emotions. I’m very glad I read it, but I wasn’t super cheerful during that week …

Some quotes:
“The clippers ran like teeth over the long scar. John shut his hands together with tense precision as if pain were a mathematical problem, as if he had just solved it and the solution did not include making a noise if he could help it. Sweat ran down his face.”

“The Ohio steamboat was better because the only movement was the unhinged, sliding feel of a vessel with a shallow keel as it moved across the water.”

“He tried to get a grip on himself. This was no way to live, in this messy chaos of despair.”

“People were draining south like wintertime migratory birds.”

“Every word seemed some strange phrase of dejection and unhappiness.”

Thank you to William Morrow and NetGalley for providing an advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. The book was published on September 12th, 2023