The Rules of Magic by Alice Hoffman
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I adore Alice Hoffman's writing. This book is actually a prequel to Practical Magic (which became a cult classic and was made into a Warner film starring Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman). One of my favorite quotes concerning Hoffman's writing is from Jodi Picoult who says "Reading an Alice Hoffman book is like falling into a deep dream where senses are heightened and love reigns supreme." I would say that is a pretty good assessment. I absolutely loved this book. I can't even begin to tell you how much. The Owens family is dangerously unique. Upon a visit to an aunt, they uncover family secrets and begin to understand the truth of who they are. It is a story about the power of love told in dreamy prose with unforgettable characters, set in a world abounding with enchantment. A story that tells you that we are fated to lose everyone we love because that's what it means to be human, and that the only remedy for love is to love more--and be true to yourself.


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Artemis by Andy Weir
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is an old fashioned heist story, which just happens to be set on the moon. It is an action packed techno thriller and it doesn't disappoint the legion of fans he picked up with his first book, "The Martian." Weir was first hired as a programmer for a national laboratory at age fifteen and has been working as a software engineer ever since. He is also a lifelong space nerd and a devoted hobbyist of subjects like relativistic physics, orbital mechanics, and the history of manned spaceflight. So with this background, his characteristic blend of engineering/science/math along with a large dollop of humor are in full display here. Jazz Bashara, the female first-person-smart-ass narrator of this tale is a delight--very flawed, but very likable. And it is interesting to me that Weir wrote a female character so well. His description of the lunar colony living under various bubbles named after famous astronauts was intriguing and well thought out. You could tell he did his research. This was a fast easy read and great fun to boot!


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Horrorstör by Grady Hendrix
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

It may not seem like an obvious choice to combine horror and comedy, but in this case I think it pays off in this account of a haunted IKEA like furniture showroom. A group of people stay overnight in an ORSK store to investigate strange acts of vandalism. Manager Basil and his employees discover the store had been previously the site of an asylum that had been closed due to the cruelty of its warden--which explains why ghosts were haunting the store. The story is told mostly through Amy, an employee who is very unhappy because she views her work as an unfulfilling dead end job. The book is very much a social critique with great banter between Manager Basil and employee Amy, like when Amy says to Basil "I know this is your religion, but for me it's just a job." To which he retorts, "That's your problem. For you it's just a job...A job is what a guy in a gas station has. People at Orsk have work. It's a calling. A responsibility to something bigger than yourself. Work gives you a goal. It lets you build something that lives on after you're gone. Work has a purpose beyond making money." The concept and design of the book is really unique, and I found it to be a lot of fun.


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Feathers by Jacqueline Woodson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A very sweet read based on the lines from an Emily Dickinson poem..."Hope is the thing with feathers..." Jacqueline Woodson is a treasure and her books are always so beautifully written. A delightful read.


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From Here to Eternity: Traveling the World to Find the Good Death by Caitlin Doughty
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I always find mortician Caitlin Doughty's books interesting. In this, her latest, she continues her examination of how other cultures care for their dead. She goes on a global journey, examining rituals unknown here in the United States. In rural Indonesia they dress the mummified dead's body and it resides in the family home for years. In Bolivia they have wish-granting human skulls and in Tokyo they use chopsticks to pluck their loved ones bones from the crematory ashes. She approaches her subject with great curiosity and trademark humor. She does make some important criticisms of the American funeral industry that is expensive, impersonal, and fosters a fear of death that she says inhibits our ability to cope and mourn. A fascinating read.


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No Time to Spare: Thinking About What Matters by Ursula K. Le Guin
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I have long admired Le Guin's Earthsea fantasy series. When I saw a quote from this book concerning our cultural perceptions of fantasy--"The direction of escape is toward freedom. So what is 'escapism' an accusation of?"--it made me want to read the ruminations of a varied writer and deep thinker in her eighth decade. I knew from her background--she grew up in a household of anthropologists, views the dominant socio-political American system as problematic, and ideas of anarchism and taoism appear in her work--that her views would be sharp, opinionated, and erudite. Even when she's talking about her cat she is always rigorous in her examination and discourse. Our current society is one that doesn't necessarily value its elders, so it was interesting to read the thoughts of a woman who continues to fight invisibility and will always stand out with her intelligence and wit.


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Sing, Unburied, Sing by Jesmyn Ward
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This book about an African American family challenged with dissolution has been receiving a lot of attention and garnering lots of acclamation in book circles recently. Told from several different perspectives, a young black woman and her two children drive to a prison to pick up their white father--Parchman prison, the oldest prison in Mississippi, which represented institutional racism for many years. The 13 year old boy has been raised by his grandparents (who he idolizes) and has a dislike and distrust of his erratic mother. The care of his 3 year old sister has fallen largely to him. The tension between her and her son runs throughout the novel. Her failings are aggravated by addiction and grief, and she risks her children's safety repeatedly as the novel progresses. There is also a supernatural element involving a pair of restless ghosts. Jesmyn Ward is the first woman to have won two National Book Awards, and the first person in her family to have graduated college. This site doesn't let you use half stars, or I probably would have rated this book 4-1/2 stars. It is beautifully written with great lyricism and also painful and heart breaking too. The intimacy in this family portrait is so vivid. You feel the struggle and violence and despair so intensely as it examines ugly truths in their lives--and yet you also feel the strength as well as the limitations of family bonds. Profoundly moving, poetic and haunting. You won't be able to forget it anytime soon.


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Long Way Gone by Charles Martin
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This poignant retelling of the Prodigal Son story was awarded Book of the Year at the 2017 Christy Awards. I like Martin's writing, and have enjoyed every book I've read of his. He has an uplifting faith that shines through each one without being preachy about it. One of the things I liked best about this book was its emphasis on music, guitars, and song histories. His books are always emotional reads, but if you love music like I do this is a particularly sweet ride. Cooper O'Connell is an itinerant preacher's son who leaves home seeking fame and fortune in Nashville. He quickly learns that his father knew much more than he thought he did. The story is told in three parts beautifully woven together. I don't want to take away anything from your enjoyment of the story if you decide to read it by saying more here. Just read it.


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Hunger: A Memoir of (My) Body by Roxane Gay
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Although Gay is a competent writer, overall I was a bit disappointed with this book. I expected a little more insight into what must be a difficult way for her to live--functioning in a world that is clearly designed for a different type of body. Her story was raw and honest, but I found it a bit repetitive and it got a little irritating to listen to her intellectualize her behavior but take no real responsibility for it, laying it again and again at the feet of the terrible rape she experienced at such a young age. And I do not mean to minimize in any way what a horrible experience that must have been. But, I kept wanting her to embrace a little righteous anger and use it positively in her life instead of wallowing in a sea of self-hate and effectively becoming a victim all over again.


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Camino Island by John Grisham
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is a departure from Grisham's usual legal thrillers. It has the same good plotting with clever criminals and many branches of the law represented, but he manages to stay out of the courtroom. This time out he gives us a peek into the world of rare book collecting when priceless manuscripts are stolen from a Princeton University library. The security firm working for the insurance company suspects a prominent bookstore owner, Bruce Cable, but they need someone on the inside to get close to Cable and determine if he has the manuscripts. Mercer Mann, a debt-ridden novelist with writer's block turns out to be the bait. I found this to be a light hearted agreeable read.


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Still Me by Jojo Moyes
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Love Jojo Moyes. Me Before You, After You, and now Still Me. Funny, romantic, heartbreaking, poignant. All those things and more. Louisa Clark is so quirky and lovable and Moyes's characters (even the minor ones) so well written...it just pulls you in and keeps you entranced--I didn't want to put it down and definitely didn't want it to end. That's good writing. It's a great read for Valentine's Day and even though it is about Love in all its guises, it's really a story about loving yourself and discovering who you really are.


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Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I would have given this book 3-1/2 stars if I could. I did like it. VanderMeer is a three time winner of the World Fantasy Award--but this book, and the two others in the Southern Reach trilogy Authority and Acceptance, aren't exactly fantasy. The book is quite different and it seems to have split people pretty much into two groups, those who love it and those who think something on the order of what was that I just read? It has a Lovecraft vibe and is a mash of SF/horror. The basic plot is that there is an area of the U.S. that was mysteriously taken over by an environment called Area X. The unknown force that created it surrounded it with a border. The border does have one opening that allows humans to enter and less frequently leave. Numerous expeditions have been dispatched--most have ended in violent deaths or disappearances of those involved. An all female expedition is sent in and they know each other only by their functions--psychologist, surveyor, anthropologist, etc. It is what VanderMeer does with this basic plot that is so interesting. The framework seems to be that humans are isolated, easily manipulated, poorly suited to their natural habitat, and insignificant in the face of untamed splendor. Again, interesting concepts. I'm interested in how he finishes the trilogy.


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A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I saw Ann Patchett's comment about this book being salve for a disordered world, and I couldn't agree more. I found this book to be delightful, old world, and just very courtly in tone yet infused with a lot of humor. It was a Book Club selection, the first book I have ever read by this author, but also such a nice change of pace from what we have been reading the last few years. It makes me want to read Rules of Civility, his first novel, which was ranked by the Wall Street Journal as one of the best books of 2011. This is not the type of book that you'll want to read quickly, but one to set a leisurely pace with in order to savor its finely composed writing.


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Commonwealth by Ann Patchett
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I usually always finish a book I start, though lately I have softened my position on this. In the case of this book, I only read about half of it--but will probably go back and finish it at some point. Maybe the timing was off. I do know that certain books have to arrive at the appropriate time. It was well enough written, of course, and parts of it I enjoyed--but it just wasn't engaging me the way I wanted it to, and to be honest I guess I was juggling quite a few other books at the time that engaged me more...so I did just stop and put it away.


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Frankenstein by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Mary Shelley combined science and the supernatural in this book to write the world's first science fiction novel. It began as a fireside ghost story and turned into a worldwide phenomenon. And, this is the 200th anniversary of its publication. The story was written during the year without a summer when the eruption of Mount Tambora released vast amounts of ash and rock and sulfuric dust into the air--which dramatically lowered temperatures across many areas of the globe the following year. The bizarre weather left its mark on the culture and the literature. The popularity of the story has only grown over time. I first read this book many years ago (when I was much younger), so I had forgotten a lot of it. This time around I found it so sad. I don't remember feeling that the first time around, but as an adult you can't help but pick up on that. Still, I did enjoy reading it again and find all the supplementary information surrounding it quite fascinating.


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Everything Happens for a Reason: And Other Lies I've Loved by Kate Bowler
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I don't believe in prosperity gospel, so that was my major reluctance in reading this book. But I was interested in how someone copes with being diagnosed with Stage IV colon cancer at such a young age and having to leave behind her high school sweetheart/husband and two year old child. She describes her emotions beautifully and realistically and with great humor. A quite interesting read.


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The Bright Hour: A Memoir of Living and Dying by Nina Riggs
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

A very sad read, but due to the fact that she was a poet, very lyrically written. Definitely makes you think about loss, love, hope and many other qualities of our every day existence. It is a book that explores the richness of love and family, the things that sustain us during our darkest hours. She takes us along with her on her emotional journey--and though it is heartbreaking, and funny even,--she gives us powerful lessons on how to live.


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Three Weeks To Say Goodbye by C.J. Box
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is the first C. J. Box book I've read, and it's an older title from 2008. He's pretty popular at the library where I work, and now that I've read one of his books, I see why. He considers what he writes to be contemporary westerns. He lives in and writes about Wyoming, but incorporates cutting edge social and cultural issues and another element of the good western--a good man trying to set things right, often against overwhelming odds. The subject of this one is every adoptive parents nightmare-- a teenage birth father who never signed away parental rights shows up and with the help of his powerful father tries to take away a baby daughter from her loving adoptive parents. It quickly turns into a nightmare when sinister information about the boy and his father comes to light and the adoptive parents frantic efforts to keep the child are thwarted at every turn. Suspenseful, compelling, and thought provoking, I found this to be a very good read.


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Hallelujah Anyway by Anne Lamott

Mercy is radical kindness, says Anne, in her new book--which is a meditation on the benefits of discovering and extending mercy.  With her trademark humor and candor, the blessings come raining down.  This is a short, beautiful, joyous read that feels like a warm hug from an old friend.  Read it. Just read it.

 

A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman

Ove is a curmudgeon--but behind that cranky exterior there is a story--one that Backman tells with such humor and tenderness that I found myself utterly captivated by this sweet and charming book.  Ove has strict routines, committed principles, and a very short fuse.  When a chatty young couple with two young daughters moves into the complex where he lives and accidentally flatten his mailbox, this puts into motion a series of events that allows Backman to tell Ove's story, and tug at our heart strings all along the way.  This book is currently one of Sweden's most popular literary exports since Steig Larsson's "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo." 

To give you just a brief sample of Backman's lovely writing, here is one of my favorite passages:  "Death is a strange thing.  People live their whole lives as if it does not exist, and yet it's often one of the great motivations forthe living.  Some of us, in time, become so conscious of it that we live harder, more obstinately, with more fury.  Some need its constant presence to even be aware of its antithesis.  Others become so preoccupied with it that they go into the waiting room long before it has announced its arrival.  We fear it, yet most of us fear more than anything that it may take someone other than ourselves.  For the greatest fear of death is always that it will pass us by.  And leave us there alone."

This is a wonderful book, well worth your time.  

My Name is Lucy Barton by Elizabeth Strout

Written as a fictional memoir of a famous author, the story is told in a series of flashbacks.  Lucy's childhood was one of extreme poverty, sadness,  and isolation.  The themes dealt with in this book are important ones...how incompletely we know one another, the nature of love and family,  the redemptive power of little things.  But the overriding feeling I took away from this book was loneliness and how it permeated everything in her life.  This quote pretty much sums it up:

"Lonely was the first flavor I had tasted in my life, and it was always there, hidden inside the crevices of my mouth, reminding me."

Mischling by Affinity Konar

Mischling means mixed-blood in German.  It was a legal term used in Nazi Germany to denote persons deemed to have both Aryan and Jewish ancestry.

This holocaust story of 12 year old twin sisters who were selected by Josef Mengele, the Auschwitz physician who performed grotesque experiments on selected prisoners (especially twins), as a part of his "Zoo," is haunting and anguished.  The story is told in alternating chapters by Stasha and Pearl--the first half concentrating on their captivity, and the second half taking place after the advance of the Soviet army and the liberation of Auschwitz.

Some critics have criticized the book because of the beautiful language used by Konar in telling the tale, and the danger that is inherent in creating art out of such tortured history.  But in my opinion, rather than strip the tale of its horror, such language by contrast makes the evil all too real.  Nightmarish, dark, and painful as it was--it was still a story beautifully told.