The Garden of Letters by Alyson Richman

Rating: 2.8

This is about a girl who is an Italian cello player who joins the resistance movement during WWII.  I enjoyed the first portion of the book but then it incorporated a lot of romance and it felt like typical chick lit.  It is too bad as it had potential.

After Her by Joyce Maynard

My Rating: 4.4

So enjoyable. This book captures two young sisters, Rachel and Patty, and their relationship.  It is a coming of age story that captures the quirkiness of being a young girl, their adoration of their police detective father, life in the late 70's and growing up in California. Despite their father pursuing a serial killer in the mountains of Marin County, right in the family's back yard, this is not a mystery (that confusion/expectation accounts for almost all of the lower ratings you see on any site).  

I listened to this book and thoroughly enjoyed the voice of Rachel and how Maynard captured her and Patty. I have enjoyed other books of Maynard's and this definitely won't be my last.

My Future Reads from Bookmarks Magazine for Sept/Oct

I just got my latest Bookmarks Magazine - WOOHOO!  If you aren't familiar with Bookmarks, I consider it a "must have" magazine for any reader (and I don't like magazines).  If you are interested, I did a video on it:

This is perfect timing as I will take the magazine with me to the beach in Maui and comb through it some more but, right now, here are the reads that really jump out at me:

        

I already have these on my kindle:
   

These are only the books at first glance....now you see why I love Bookmarks!  What books are on your radar?  Also, let me know if you want me to do these posts when I get my bi-monhtly Bookmarks magazine.

The Days of Abandonment by Elena Ferrante

Rating: 4.9

Wow. Uncomfortable, distasteful, gritty and raw. After being left by her husband, this is Olga's descent into madness.  This got so dark and uncomfortable that 60% of the way through (during the scene where she can't focus on her dog or her children), I was going to stop reading. I am glad I didn't but this was not a fun or easy read. 

Watching someone's life fall apart is never easy but, feeling it with such powerful force is extremely uncomfortable. Olga came completely undone when her husband left her and you feel it. Ferrante is a writing force that doesn't pull any punches. 

This is definitely not for everyone. I am not rating it this high due to the story or even saying I recommend it but you have to give kudoes to Ferrante for being able to write so impactfully.

Warning: extreme raw graphic language

Little Black Lies by Sharon Bolton

Rating: 4.6

I don't generally read mystery books so am not sure how this ended up on my Kindle but, if you were the person who recommended it to me then, 'thank you!'.  This story revolves around the central characters, Catrin, Callum and Rachel, all living on the Falkland Islands. Each character tells one of the three sections.  

Bolton does a fabulous job of capturing the Falklands and Island life as well as making each of the characters come alive.  I had no idea of who did it until the very last page.  If you like mysteries, I am sure you will enjoy this well written book.

Mean Streak by Sandra Brown

Rating: 1.5

This is the first and only Sandra Brown book I have read.  It was very flat with one dimensional characters and absolutely no depth. Maybe it was the audio version that made it horridly flat but, I couldn't get past the flat characters to even give the horrific plot line a chance (predictable, cheating husband, recluse who comes out to find her, yadda yadda yadda).  Definitely not my cup of tea.

As another reviewer said "the only suspense was in when to stop reading".

The Bone Gap by Laura Ruby

Rating: 4.4

Another one that was very difficult for me to rate/review. A huge part of me loved this book.  It was so unique and unlike anything else I have ever read. For most of it, I felt like I was in a dream and wasn't sure what was real and what was the dream. 

This book was about so many things but, the general story line is that after being abandoned by their mother young Sean O'Sullivan is taking care of his teenage brother Finn when a beautiful girl Roza shows up in their barn. Roza is kidnapped away from them and young Finn sees it happen but no one believes him.

Beyond this surface storyline is how women are perceived in the world, how you have to deal with men...their looks at your looks, having your guard up, love and so many other layers that I probably didn't grasp.

I don't generally care for magical realism so I wasn't thrilled with the ending but I have to give the author huge kudos for such an original piece of work told in such an ingenious way. If you care for magical realism at all, I bet you would love this book even more than I did.

Plainsong by Kent Haruf

Rating: 4.8

I had to noodle on this one for a few days to decide how I felt. It was beautiful writing that flowed so easily. It was sparse and yet captured so much.  

The conflict was that I didn't realize how much I cared about the characters until some of the twists and turns unfolded that I really didn't like. I found myself reading in a frenzy to find out how it unfolds and getting very upset at some of their choices. Haruf seamlessly weaves together three stories:

• Two little boys whose mother leaves them to be raised by their father
• Two old crusty bachelor brothers who are farmers
• A young girl finds herself pregnant 

This book is about these storylines and yet more than that, it is about a place, life and choices.

Easy to read in the writing style but not easy from an emotional perspective. This one will stay with me for a while. What an amazing author.

Re Jane by Patricia Park

Rating: 3.0

Half Korean and half American, Jane was shuttled off to her uncle in the States after her mother died and her grandfather refused her. This supposedly is a cultural retelling of Jane Eyre but it is fluffy and definitely isn't worthy of the comparison. That being said, it was still enjoyable as a beach read. I found two things very annoying:

1. when she would break the third wall "Reader, let me tell you...."
2. that whether Jane was speaking English or Korean, her grammar was 'very not good'. I could understand her Korean not being perfect but I didn't think she would speak in broken English (and that wasn't just when she was angry).

I did enjoy the capturing of her cultural challenges in both America and Korea as well as the many Korean foods, phrases that the author included.d It was entertaining but not a must read.

The Death's Head Chess Club by John Donoghue

Rating: 2.5

I have to be one of the few people who didn't care for this book. It has an interesting premise:  In the past, a prisoner Jew who played chess for survival at Auschwitz against SS chess players.  In the present, as a grandmaster playing in an Amsterdam tournament that who happens upon the Nazi official that oversaw the Auschwitz tournaments. 

It was wordy and drawn out and seemed to be missing substance. Maybe it was the audio version but, I didn't feel for any of the characters.  I know many people are saying this was their favorite book for this year and I wish I felt that way but it just didn't grab me and I was very glad to be done with it.  If you read it (instead of the audio version) let me know if you felt that was more enjoyable.

Leaving Time by Jodi Picoult

Rating: 2.5

I read this for book club otherwise I probably would have stopped reading it 1/4 of the way in (still wishing that I would have).  Picoult tried to do too much and it just didn't work.  A drunk ex-detective haunted by his choices, a psychic who has a comic flare to her, a biologist studying elephants with lots of interesting elephant behavior thrown in...just too many threads that didn't mesh.

The whole thing felt cheezy with an ending that, IMO, you can only pull off if you have a great story line and characters that you are bought in to 100%, which this definitely did not. I am only rating it as high as I did as I really enjoyed the parts on the elephants.

Circling the Sun by Paula McLain

Rating: 4.9

Despite enjoying McLain's previous book, The Paris Wife, having read Beryl Markham's original book West With The Night, I wasn't sure if I would enjoy this book for two reasons:
1. West With the Night was so poetic
2. The Paris Wife (McLain's previous novel) was so well written

Both of the above made me wonder how McLain could possibly top that. Well, she did it phenomenally well.  

This was poetic without being over the top and she captured Africa and the amazing adventure that was Markham's life so well. I was riveted and didn't want it to end.  Markham was an amazing women and even more so for having lived her life in the early 1900's - definitely a woman before her time. I think Paula McLain did amazing justice in capturing all of it.  Strongly recommend.

Our Souls At Night by Kent Haruf

Rating: 4.8

This is a beautiful novella that I loved from the opening page until the last page.  Addie Moore pays an unexpected visit to a neighbor, Louis Waters. Her husband died years ago, as did his wife, and in such a small town they naturally have known of each other for decades; in fact, Addie was quite fond of Louis’s wife. His daughter lives hours away in Colorado Springs, her son even farther away in Grand Junction, and Addie and Louis have long been living alone in houses now empty of family, the nights so terribly lonely, especially with no one to talk with. Addie is about to change all that.

This quiet, thought provoking story touched me. I could see this making a very interesting discussion at a book club. So sad that this is the last of Haruf's works as he is such a beautiful writer. 

At the Water's Edge by Sara Gruen

Rating: 2.5

After embarrassing themselves at the social event of the year in high society Philadelphia on New Year’s Eve of 1942, Maddie and Ellis Hyde are cut off financially by Ellis’s father. To Maddie’s horror, Ellis decides that the only way to regain his father’s favor is to succeed in a venture his father attempted and very publicly failed at: he will hunt the famous Loch Ness monster and when he finds it he will restore his father’s name and return to his father’s good graces (and pocketbook).  Off they go to Scotland in the middle of WWII.

I think listening to the audiobook helped with the character development but they still all felt very spoiled.  It was obvious that the author was trying to garner sympathy for Maddie but I didn't feel anything for any of the characters.  The Loch Ness twist was just weird.  I think she was trying to channel "Outlander" and definitely missed the mark.  Very disappointing and definitely not anywhere near as good as Water for Elephants. I kept reading this book hoping it would improve. I have read other books by Gruen and so far, in my opinion, she was a one hit wonder.

West With The Night by Beryl Markham

Rating: 3.2

I am reading another book based on Beryl Markham's life and I realized, that I never rated this book. This book of Beryl Markham's life is like poetry and a beautiful read, regardless of who wrote it (it is disputed if it was written by Markham or not but, Hemingway loved it). She had such an interesting life but, is also verbose and drawn out. I did enjoy the portions in Africa (what an incredible childhood..having a cheetah jump in her bedroom window to attack her dog!) but I found myself skimming the later sections as I was bored.