My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante

My rating: 4.8

In the 1950's, Elena and Lila are growing up in Naples. As they grow, as their paths repeatedly diverge and converge, Elena and Lila remain best friends whose respective destinies are reflected and refracted in the other. 

For me, this book captured girls, women, friendships, Italy, childhood and so much more. I think Ferrante is such a gifted writer and she transports me to the streets of Italy where I feel know all the charactes and can empathize with their feelings. It brought Italy and the dialect back to me. I can't wait to read more in this series.  I realize that Ferrante's writing is not happy or uplifting but her elegant but simple prose makes me want to return to it again and again.

The One And Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate

My rating: 4.6

Ivan has spent twenty-seven years behind the glass walls of his enclosure in a shopping mall and has grown accustomed to humans watching him. He hardly ever thinks about his life in the jungle. Instead, Ivan occupies himself with television, his friends Stella and Bob, and painting. But when he meets Ruby, a baby elephant taken from the wild, he is forced to see their home, and his art, through new eyes.

I listened to this on audio.  At first I wasn't sure if I was going to get in to a story told by a gorilla but, the narration soon had me enraptured and caught up in this wonderful Young Adult novel. I can see why it was a 2013 Newbery Medal winner and a #1 besteller on the New York Times list. 

Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood

My rating: 2.0

Two sisters, Laura & Iris.  Laura dies in mysterious circumstances. The story of the two sisters is intermingled with excerpt from Laura's novel which was published posthumously. 

This book came highly recommended from two friends that I respect and generally align with their ratings. Unfortunately, not so in this case. This book was not for me. I stuck with it hoping it would somehow redeem itself and I regret every last minute I spent on it.

The Expatriates by Janice Y.K. Lee

My rating: 4.0

This is more the story of three women, Margaret, Hillary and Mercy, who happen to be living in Hong Kong. Once I adjusted my expectations to understand that, I quite enjoyed this book. It also happens to capture what it is like to be an Expat living in Hong Kong. 

Each of the three characters has a life altering event happen and Lee handles the bigger impacts and how it changed each of them very well.. I found this to be an entertaining read.

Bookmarks Magazine May/June

After a very long day at work, I had already decided I was going to indulge in an out of the ordinary weeknight glass of wine.  Imagine my delight when I found my latest Bookmarks Magazine in my mailbox. After curling up enjoying my wine and the bookmarks together (perfect pairing!) here are the reads that are jumping out at me that I have put the the ebook version on hold at my library.  

What a great edition!  Let me know what books are on your radar as my queue always has room for more.

      

Front Lines by Michael Grant

My rating: 4.8

This book is set in WWII with women subject to the draft and eligible for service alongside men. This is being compared to Code Name Verity which I ranked in my 2013 Best Of.

This is the story of 3 girls; Rio Richlin, Frangie Marr, and Rainy Schulterman.  The first half of the book takes place in each of the girls home town to help you get to know them. It felt quaint which, I imagine things were in most places in the 1940's.

Then the girls go off to basic training and various points, their paths cross. From this point on, the book had me riveted. You saw and felt how war was and, how it changed each of the girls. You also understand why anyone who has been to war never talks about it. I thought this was an excellent book with an interesting premise that I would definitely recommend.
  

My Name is Lucy Barton by Elizabeth Strout

My rating: 2.0

Don't hate me but, I have realized that I am just not an Elizabeth Strout fan. Her writing is sound but it is the depressing characters and story lines that don't go anywhere. This is the third book of hers I have read and I find them all too dysfunctional with unappealing characters and this one is no different.

This is the story of Lucy's mother, who she hasn't spoken to in years, coming to visit her in the hospital while she is recovering from surgery. They mainly gossip about people from the past but Lucy also remembers some things from her childhood and the tension in their relationship is always there right below what isn't said.  I found this very melancholy and just not my cup of tea.

Midwife's Confession by Diane Chamberlain

My rating: 1.0

This is the story of three women who have been best friends since college...and one implausible thing after another (I won't write any spoilers) continues to happen time and again throughout this book.  

Due to the decent writing, I kept trying to just go with the flow and consider it an entertaining beach read and not get too hung up on the far-fetched contrived story lines.  I am kicking myself that I read this till I only had a couple of chapters left and it took yet another turn South before I gave up on it. 

The House of Special Purpose by John Boyne

My rating: 4.8

Part love story, part historical epic, part tragedy. Georgy is 80 years old and his beloved with Zoya is dying of cancer. He starts flashing back to when he was a teenager and how he went from being a teenage son of a poor farmer to the bodyguard to the Tzar.  

Great character development, a piece of history I was unaware of mixed with fabulous story telling. Although some of the story was far fetched, I went along with it every step of the way and loved it.

In The Heart Of The Sea by Chris Hemsworth

My rating: 3.0

This is the real life inspiration for Moby Dick. The first part of the book captures what it was like to live in Nantucket back in the 1800's and be employed on a whaling ship and the second portion captures what happens at sea.

While I found this interesting, it felt FAR too long for my liking. It really dragged for me at all different times throughout the book. If you enjoy non-fiction, you would probably really enjoy this book.

Slade House by David Mitchell

My rating: 1.0

Despite David Mitchell's wonderfully readable writing style, this was another book that is just not for me. A couple reasons were:

• Each chapter read like a short story and I don't generally like short stories;
• He would start using 'magical terms, phrases and references that you didn't know what they meant.  If you hung in there long enough he would explain them but, he did this all too frequently for my taste
• The characters felt very fluffy and superficial. If this was supposed to be scary, I felt it was more silly and childish with the characters

All in all, I am happy to let this go and move on to other books.

H is for Hawk by Helen MacDonald

My rating: 1.0

Desite some beautifully written passages, this "Misery Memoir" just didn't grab me. Rather than continue to struggle through it, I decided to move on to other books.

The Other Typist by Suzanne Rindell

My rating: 3.1

Rose Baker is an orphaned young woman working for her bread as a typist in a police precinct on the lower East Side. When Odalie begins work at the precinct Rose finds herself falling under the new typist's spell. As the two girls' friendship blossoms and they flit between the sparkling underworld of speakeasies by night, and their work at the precinct by day, it is not long before Rose's fascination for her new colleague turns to obsession.

The author does a great job of foreshadowing so you know there is a twist waiting for you long before you get there....although I wasn't quite sure what the twist meant and reading others interpretations see it can mean a couple of different ways. Maybe this was too long as the story line and characters seemed to drag. If this had been a little more condensed it would have flowed better for me.

Sweetheart by Chelsea Cain

My rating: 4.8

This is the 2nd book in the Chelsea Cain series. This is a fun serial murder book (ok, I can't believe I just typed that lol!) It has good characters and plot and is so twisted you want to keep turning the pages.

This second book explores other murders while continuing to delve deeper into the very bizarre relationship between Detective Archie Sheridan and the serial killer Gretchen Lowell.  I will probably take a break from this series for a bit but will read more in the future.

Bookmarks Magazine - Mar/Apr

I just got my latest Bookmarks Magazine - and unfortunately I am slammed with work.  I did manage to make the time to glance through it this morning over a cup of coffee and here are the reads that jumped out at me that I am going to put in my queue: (all book covers are clickable and take you to Amazon....but I found all the books at my online library)

This one is out of my comfort zone but, the review was so intriguing I added it to my library queue.

      

 Let me know what books you have in your queue (whether from Bookmarks or some other source)