The Goldfinch

The Goldfinch is the story of Theo Decker, a 13-year-old boy whose Mother is killed in an explosion at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC. It's nearly 800 pages of Theo coping with that loss into his adult life.

First Theo is taken in by his wealthy friend Andy Barbour's family on Park Avenue. Then his deadbeat dad Larry shows up with his girlfriend Xandra and takes him off to Las Vegas. In Vegas Theo meets borderline (okay, actual) criminal Boris, and the two become fast friends/drinking buddies/druggies. Eventually Theo comes back to NYC where he is taken in by, and eventually goes into business with, furniture restorer James Hobart.

Throughout the story is the Goldfinch of the title, a tiny little painting that had been hanging on the wall of the Met when the explosion happened - and which Theo took with him from the rubble, after conversing with Welty Blackwell, Hobart's friend and business partner, who gave him a ring to take to Hobart before he dies of his injuries. The painting will play a major role in Theo's life.

Okay. So, this novel won the Nobel Prize for Literature. Which is why I stuck with it through almost 800 pages. But I skimmed A LOT. The characterizations are great - I liked Boris best - but there are only so many vodka-and-pot-fueled adventures that I can be interested in. And I'm glad I stuck it out to the end, because it was a bit of a surprise.

The Goldfinch

God Help the Child

Okay, so I found this story VERY hard to get into. Toni Morrison's style is that she sort of just throws you into a story and trusts that you can figure out where you are. Plus she lives in a very harsh world where a lot of bad things happen. But since it's a Toni Morrison novel I stuck with it and I will say that I'm glad I did.

The crux of the story focuses on the relationship between Bride and Booker. Bride's a beautiful cosmetics executive and Booker is, well, we aren't exactly sure what Booker is. But when Booker leaves Bride, her world falls apart, and she has to figure out a way to get it back.

But this being Toni Morrison, the story of Bride and Booker is part of a larger discussion about how the way parents raise their children affects them as adults, and how the things that are done to children - and the things they see done to others - affect their personalities. Morrison's world is not a very nice place, and many of the adults in it experienced some pretty horrible things in their childhoods. In fact that's probably why I found the book so hard to get into.

My biggest disappointment with the book is that Rain, the character I found most interesting and wanted to get to know better, was only a tiny part of the story. But I guess that was Morrison's intention, to just have Rain drift in and out of Bride's, and the reader's, life.

God Help the Child

The Summer Before the War

This is a really charming novel by Helen Simonson, the author of Major Pettigrew's Last Stand. It takes place in a small town in rural England called Rye, in the summer leading up to WWI (so all you Downton Abbey fans should like it).

The town has just hired Beatrice Nash to be the Latin teacher at the school. Beatrice is a well-educated young lady with wit and charm who was left too independent by her well-traveled and independent late father, so some of the townspeople find her a bit shocking, although most of the more sensible ones find her charming.

Beatrice's benefactor is the grand dame Agatha Kent, who loves her two nephews Hugh and Daniel like the sons she never had. Hugh is studying to be a surgeon and hopeful of marrying his professor's daughter, while Daniel is a poet who has a special friend of his own. The town is also populated with lots of other interesting people, including gypsies, and we also have a whole truckload of Belgian refugees thrown into the mix.

At any rate, it's a really well-written and well-told story. I laughed and cried, which is what the best books make me do.


The Summer Before the War

Where I Lost Her

I initially had a hard time getting into this novel, but once I did I was hooked.

Tess and Jake are visiting old friends at their camp in Vermont, when Tess sees a lost child on the road in the woods - but the child runs away before Tess can help her. An extensive police search turns up no child, there have been no children reported missing, and events in her past make the local police think Tess is imagining the child - or made the whole story up for attention.

What follows is the story of how Tess solves the mystery, and a look back at the events that have brought her to this moment in time. It's a very emotional and surprising story that I couldn't put down.

I'll definitely look for other works by this author.

Where I Lost Her

Bossypants

First, I have to say I think Tina Fey is one of the funniest people on the planet. Mean Girls? Amazing. Sisters? Hysterical. I've never seen 30 Rock but now I really want to.

This book is basically a series of essays by Tina about her life and work. Even though it is intended to be funny - and it is very funny - she's also got some great advice about succeeding and finding happiness in the workplace.

This is a really enjoyable, funny, and quick read. Even if you aren't a Tina Fey fan, read it just for the stuff about how the whole Sarah Palin impersonation went down.

Bossypants

Hillbilly Elegy

I don't read a lot of memoirs, but this has been a best seller for a while and it was recommended by more than one friend. And I have to say, I really enjoyed it. And I highly recommend it.

For those of you who haven't heard of this book, Hillbilly Elegy is the memoir of one J.D. Vance, who grew up poor in Southwest Ohio in a family of hillbillies from Kentucky and went on to attend Yale Law School. The book is his story of how he escaped an almost certain fate of addiction, teen pregnancy/marriage, and even crime, with the help of his Mamaw and Papaw and other adults in his extended family and community.

Vance is a very good writer, in equal parts eloquent, folksy, direct, and funny. Reading his story makes one see how different it is for folks in certain parts of the country from those in other parts, and how we have no idea of our differences. Growing up in a very small town in Maryland I saw a tiny bit of what Vance experienced but for me it was the exception, and where he grew up it was the rule. That he was able to achieve what he has achieved is a testament to his own strength and power of will, but also to the positive influence of his maternal grandparents.

I highly recommend this book.

Hillbilly Elegy

Some Kind of Fairy Tale

This novel is a really interesting take on the old "fairy snatching" legends of the British Isles. Tara shows up at her parents' door on Christmas Day - 20 years after she disappeared in the Outwoods without a trace, and looking very much as she had back in 1983. She proceeds to tell a very detailed story of how she rode off on a white horse with an intriguing stranger, and had to stay at the odd and wondrous place he took her for six months before she could "cross back over" to home.

I don't want to give the story away, but let's just say that Tara seems perfectly sane, she willingly submits to psychiatrists, medical tests, and anything else they ask but won't change her story. There's an interesting side story with a kooky old neighbor and her cat too.

The end is a bit of a stunner too. A really enjoyable read.

Some Kind of Fairy Tale

Game of Thrones

Okay, so I have been a proud "never-watched-Game-of-Thrones-don't-know-what-all-the-fuss-is-about" person for a couple of years now. But on a whim I decided to read the book to see if I would like it.

I loved it.

It's like historical fiction, except the Seven Kingdoms are made up places (although there is a sense in the background that they are sort of mapped on to actual places), and some of the stuff that happens could never happen in real life. But the intrigue! The characters! The battles! I got sucked into it right away and I couldn't put it down.

But honestly, the book doesn't particularly make me want to watch the TV series. I did go to the IMDB page to see what the characters look like (Tyrion Lannister being the only one I had really ever heard of). I'll probably put it on my Netflix though.

And I'll definitely keep reading the book series.

Game of Thrones

Modern Romance

So, I was expecting this book to just be Aziz Ansari's funny take on dating in the age of Tinder and texting. What I didn't realize was that he was working with sociologists and cultural anthropologists and doing an actual (sort of) scholarly study. And it's still hilarious.

If you are at all familiar with Ansari's work - I believe he is required to be a roaster on all roasts on Comedy Central - you'll recognize his voice in the book immediately. He's quirky and dry and and a little nerdy. Here's one of my favorite lines from the book: "We want a lifelong wingman/wingwoman who completes us and can handle the truth, to mix metaphors from three different Tom Cruise movies." And that's not even the funniest bit.

Anyway, Aziz and many experts conducted focus group around the world (including Tokyo and Buenos Aires), and set up a subreddit, to learn about people's experiences and feelings regarding the world of dating. Besides being funny it is SUPER interesting, and a must read for anyone currently maneuvering their way through it.

Modern Romance

Me Before You

I adored this book! JoJo Moyes has written a beautiful, funny, sad, deep, and I think most importantly, realistic story about two people coming to terms with their lives.

Will Traynor has lived a "big life," but when he is struck by a motorcycle and becomes paralyzed from the chest down, his world becomes confined to his motorized wheelchair. Louisa Clark has lived a very small life, still living with her parents at age 26, long-time boyfriend with whom she has almost nothing in common, and no ambition. Then Lou is hired to be Will's companion for six months.

Lou and Will come to be friends as well as employer/employee, and they each give the other something that's missing from their lives - Lou gives Will fun and adventures and tenderness, and will gives Lou confidence and determination and, in a way, hope. But the realities of life are still there, and Lou and Will need to come to terms with those realities - for better or worse.



Me Before You

Written in my own Heart's Blood

This is the eighth and (currently) last novel in Diana Gabaldon's Outlander series. It was awesome - a 1,200-plus page romp through Revolution-era America (Philadelphia, New York, Savannah), interesting goings-on in 1980's Scotland, and even a trip to late 1730's Scotland.

I'll try not to give anything away, but here's where everyone is: Jamie is alive and he and Claire are with General George Washington's troops, as is Ian as a scout. Lord John's son (Jamie's natural son) William is on the British side, though not permitted to fight. In the 1980's, Bree and Roger's son Jem has been kidnapped and they fear he's been taken back in time for the family treasure, so Roger and his time-traveling kinsman Buck go back through the stones - but they wind up in the wrong year, going back to a time when Jamie's father was still alive and Jamie and his sister Jenny were teenagers.

Roger finds a way to communicate to Bree when his is, and she works to reunite her family. Meanwhile Claire and Jamie, Ian and his soon-to-be-wife Rachel, William, Lord John, and everyone else, are dealing with some very real Revolutionary War battles. But all Claire wants is to go home to Fraser's Ridge.

I think this is one of my favorites in the series since the first book. I don't know why, maybe just because it's the most recent one I read. Given that it takes Diana a few years to do all the research and writing for a novel, I'm going to have to wait to see what happens next. I'm thinking I may go back to read one of the earlier novels, but for now I've got a bunch of other stuff piled up on my reading list to catch up on.

Written in my Own Heart's Blood

An Echo in the Bone

OKAY, people, this is Book 7 in the Outlander series. It's about 1,200 pages long. At this rate the TV series (which I don't watch) will go on for about twenty years, even cutting out a lot.

And there is a lot to cut out. I love Diana Gabaldon's detail but I admit to skipping over a bunch of it too. I read the books for the wonderful characters, the history, and the action. And Echo does not disappoint in those regards.

To update you on where (when?) everyone is now: Jaime and Claire are in the Colonies in 1778 or so. Brianna and Roger and their kids are in Scotland in 1980ish. The action switches back and forth from time to time, and the voice changes from character to character, but it's not at all hard to follow. We do spend most of our time in the 18th century with Jaime and Claire, and Ian, Jaime's nephew. Lord John Grey and his son William are there too (who is actually Jaime's illegitimate son). In the 20th century, Brianna gets a job as an engineer, and Roger's ancestor William MacKenzie has come forward in time inadvertently, and comes seeking answers (and a way to go back) from Roger.

Normally I take a break between Outlander books because they are just so consuming, but with the way Gabaldon ended this one (I won't spoil it), I NEED to read the next one. She left a bunch of loose ends!! So off I go to BN to download Book 8.

An Echo in the Bone

The Girl on the Train

So I have heard about this book for a while - it's been a NY Times bestseller for the longest time - but I just got around to reading it. And I just have to say wow.

Rachel is the girl on the train. She lives in suburban London and has lost her husband and her job because she has a drinking problem. But everyday she rides the train back and forth so her flatmate thinks she is going to work. One of the places where the train always stops has a row of houses where a seemingly perfect couple - and also Rachel's ex-husband, Tom, new wife, Anna, and baby  - live. Then the woman from the perfect couple disappears.

So Rachel knows that she was there at that train station the night the woman, Megan, disappeared, but she was so drunk she doesn't remember what happened. But she thinks she can help clear Megan's husband, Scott, of any suspicion, so she contacts him. Then the whole Rachel-Megan-Scott-Tom-Anna thing just gets crazy. I don't want to give anything away.

The novel is written from the different perspectives of the three women, mostly Rachel and Megan but a bit from Anna as well. I wasn't completely surprised by the ending but it did take me a bit to catch on. There's a very Gone Girl quality to the story that's quite appealing. It will be interesting to see how they make the movie work.

This was a great book, and I couldn't put it down.

The Girl on the Train

The Martian

I really enjoyed this movie, and my cousin's rocket-scientist kid recommended the book. He wasn't wrong, this is a great read.

If you are unfamiliar with the story, astronaut Mark Watney gets left behind on a manned mission to Mars when the rest of his crew thinks he has died. When he realizes he is alive and alone, he has to figure out how to survive. The problems - and there are many - include the fact that there is only enough food for 6 people for 100 days (or sols as they call them on Mars), and there is no way to get a rescue crew to Mars that quickly. Eventually he figures out how to establish communication with the folks at NASA, and a plan is established to get him home - provided he can keep himself alive long enough.

Mark is a great character with a wry sense of humor and amazing intelligence. I admit to skimming some of the more involved mechanical and scientific passages, but this was a thoroughly enjoyable read. If you saw the movie you'll notice that they left a bunch of stuff out, but they had to - it would have been a four hour movie if they hadn't.

The Martian

The Senator's Wife

This isn't a new novel, it's one I found on my ebook search of the library, from several years ago. And it takes place mostly in the 1990's so there's no social media or texting or smartphones, which is part of what makes it work.

Meri and Nathan are fairly newly married and very newly pregnant when they move next door to Delia, the wife of long-retired Democratic Senator Tom Naughton. Delia and Tom have been estranged for years, following his affair with their daughter's best friend, but they are still married and occasionally spend time together. The novel explores how Meri's and Delia's lives sort of parallel each other, even though they are separated by 30-plus years in age.

I loved the character of Delia, she's very spunky and spry and outspoken. Meri is harder to like but that's sort of the point - she has a neediness about her that is necessary to the story line.

I will say I wasn't really surprised by what happens at the end, but I was surprised by Delia's reaction to it.

All in all an enjoyable read.

The Senator's Wife

Killing Monica

So, this novel is by Candace Bushnell of Sex and the City fame. I have never read any of her novels and thought I would give it a try, since I liked the TV show (at least early on). Killing Monica is the story of Pandy Wallis, the author of a hit series of books about Monica and her escapades in New York City (made into a series of successful movies). After a bitter divorce and the rejection of her new non-Monica book by her publisher, Pandy winds up faking her own death, and adventure ensues.

I have to say I found this book REALLY hard to get into. It started kind of all over the place, and the characters of Pandy, her friends, and her husband Jonny, seemed superficial and not very likeable. But then when she fake died - which I thought was going to come much earlier in the novel - I really got into the story, and wanted to see how it played out. And the little surprise at the end with her sister Hellenor totally caught me off guard.

I'm going to say this is a beach read, and the kind of book I read in my twenties but am over now that I'm ... not in my twenties. And I definitely wouldn't see the movie.


Killing Monica

Rutherford Park

I picked up this novel by Elizabeth Cooke because the story was compared to Downton Abbey, and the writing was compared to several authors I've read and liked, including Catherine Cookson. Although the story took some time to draw me in, in the end I would say the comparisons were more than fair.

Rutherford Park is the story of the Cavendish family and their Yorkshire estate. Lord William Cavendish traces his family back for hundreds of years, but his much-younger-wife Octavia came from "trade" and was selected for her great fortune in mills, although they have over the course of their 20-year-marriage developed a fondness for each other, and have three almost-grown children. We meet them just on the verge of World War I... see, I could totally be talking about Downton Abbey right now, except that Cora came from America, not mill towns.

There are scandals and interesting below-stairs characters, too, and the house and grounds themselves are almost another character. As I said, I had difficulty getting into the story at first, and there are a lot of characters who make very brief appearances, so I found myself wondering, "which one was that again?" But by the end of the story I felt it actually ended too soon - I wanted more.

Rutherford Park

A God in Ruins

Okay, so if you've been following this blog for a while you know that I loved the last novel by Kate Atkinson I read, Life After Life, about a woman named Ursula who keeps getting reborn into the same life and living it in different ways. This novel is not a sequel, but more of a companion, and focuses on Ursula's younger brother Teddy.

Teddy is a hero of WW II, a bomber pilot who survives every mission and comes home to marry his childhood sweetheart, Nancy. Atkinson tells Teddy's story going back and forth between the past and the present, and also from various perspectives, like that of his daughter Viola. These are all richly developed, deeply real characters and I just couldn't put the book down (although I admit to skimming a bit through the more detailed bombing raids of the war).

While not as innovative as Life After Life, this is a beautifully written book that does have a surprise or two up its sleeve. I definitely recommend it.

A God in Ruins

The Dream Lover

That's kind of an odd title for a novel that is a fictionalized account of the life of George Sand (born Aurore Dupin). But it fits with Elizabeth Berg's depiction of George as always searching for - and never finding - that perfect lover one has in dreams.

I started the novel knowing basically nothing about George Sand except that she was a French female author who changed her name to a man's name, liked to dress in men's clothing, and had an affair with Chopin. I've never read anything she's written, and honestly this book didn't make me want to read her complete works. But it's an intriguing look at a person who was at the heart of the mid-nineteenth century French arts scene, hanging out with people like Delacroix and Victor Hugo, and who was very controversial for the time (smoking tobacco in public - the horror!).

Berg is a very good writer who paints beautiful scenes and develops strong characters. I particularly enjoyed her depictions of George Sand, Marie Dorval, and Frederic Chopin. Berg does a good job of taking one or two known characteristics of historical figures and making a fully developed person out of them. I really enjoyed this novel.

The Dream Lover

A Couple of Great Reads

Wow, I have just been totally off the grid, haven't I? I have been reading, I guess just nothing I felt worth posting about until now.

Last week my husband and I went on vacation to Key West (if you haven't been, GO - it is awesome). So I read two books last week and I loved both of them. The first was The Aviator's Wife by Melanie Benjamin. It's a fictionalized account of the life of Anne Morrow Lindbergh, and it was just fascinating. Benjamin obviously did tons of research and she made me feel like she was telling the true story of the Lindberghs. All the characters are very well developed and the ending was quite a shocker. I highly recommend it.

The second novel I read was Longbourn by Jo Baker. A must-read for all you Jane Austen fans, it covers the period of time in Pride and Prejudice from the servants' point of view... sort of Downton Abbey-like. Baker develops the characters of all the named servants in Pride and Prejudice, as well as some who aren't named, and gives them interesting personalities and backstories. I literally could not put this book down. I just adored it. I especially liked the interactions between the characters of P&P and the characters of Longbourn, because we are shown a rather different side to the characters we love so much.

The Aviator's Wife

Longbourn