Fiction Review: Lonesome Dove

Ever since I started my YouTube channel in 2021 and heard about the annual June on the Range reading event there, I've heard people raving about how amazing the novel Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry is. I remember all the hype over the TV mini-series in the 80's (though I didn't watch it), and lots of friends with similar reading tastes said the novel was excellent. But I'm not a huge fan of westerns generally, so I put off reading it. I decided this would be the year, and I read it in June for both June on the Range and my own Big Book Summer Challenge. Wow. Why did I wait? This beautifully written, moving novel blew me away and left me sobbing (three separate times!) and often laughing out loud. It was everything I'd heard and more.

In 1873, Augustus McCrae and Captain Woodrow Call are retired Texas Rangers, living a quiet life on the Texas/Mexico border along the Rio Grande, in the tiny, dusty town of Lonesome Dove. A couple of their ex-Ranger fellows, Pea Eye and a Black man named Deets, along with a teen boy named Newt make up the rest of their Hat Creek Cattle Company, which doesn't get a whole lot of business there in the desolate, tiny town. Both Call, often just called Captain, and Pea Eye are both reticent men, but Gus talks enough for the whole outfit. He can--and often does--talk about absolutely nothing for hours. The town mostly consists of a few meager farms and ranches, a general store, and a saloon, featuring a beautiful whore named Lorena. The few travelers that come to Lonesome Dove often come just for Lorena, though there is also a lot of drinking and card playing in the saloon, as a man named Lippy plays the piano. Into this quiet life on the edge of nowhere, another ex-Ranger named Jake stops by the Hat Creek outfit to visit his old friends. He regales them with tales of his recent trip to Montana, which is still a vast wilderness. He emphasizes that it is excellent cattle country (as opposed to Lonesome Dove, where grass for grazing is nearly non-existent), and Call is unusually moved from their typical routine to suggest a cattle drive all the way to Montana. First, they round up thousands of cattle from Mexico and a few more men, including a couple of experienced cowhands, two lost Irishmen they rescued from Mexico, and some teen boys from town. The expanded though ragtag Hat Creek outfit sets off, leaving behind their quiet existence, for the unknown wilderness ahead and untold dangers on the way, from Indians, horse thieves, and nature. Along the way, they meet many other people, whose paths they may cross for just a day or for much longer, following Call's unusual and emphatic need to drive their new herd of cattle all the way to the unknown territory of Montana.

This novel surprised me so many times and in so many ways. Yes, it's a western adventure with plenty of action. But McMurtry has also created fully-drawn, three-dimensional characters that soon feel like old friends. I expected an all-male cast in this cowboy novel, but he's included many fascinating, well-developed female characters, too. The writing is beautiful, but the novel is also plot-driven, with so many unexpected twists and turns that I never for a moment got bored through its gripping 850 pages. I was also surprised by the emotional depth and intensity of this story that had me sobbing, hard, three different times and also often laughing out loud (the first, wonderful instance of this is in chapter 8, about the origins and details of the sign for the Hat Creek outfit that Gus created). Here's another fun moment, as two people ride into camp:

 "The most surprising thing was that [she] was wearing pants. So far as [Gus] could remember, he had never seen a woman in pants, and he considered himself a man of experience. Call had his back turned and hadn't seen them, but some of the cowboys had. The sight of a woman in pants scared them so bad they didn't know where to put their eyes. Most of them began to concentrate heavily on the beans in their plate. Dish Boggett turned white as a sheet, got up without a word to anybody, got his night horse and started for the herd, which was strung out up the valley."

There is violence and tragedy, yes, but also friendship, love, honor, and commitment. It's an epic story that kept me engrossed for a full month and then feeling like it ended too soon. I will definitely be reading its sequel, The Streets of Laredo (and there are also two prequels).

NOTE: Do NOT read the Preface, written by the author, as it contains spoilers--of this book and the sequel.

858 pages, Simon & Schuster

Phoenix Books, Inc (audio)

This book fits in the following 2024 Reading Challenges:

 

Mount TBR Challenge

Monthly Motif - "Comedy Club" - while not strictly a comedy, it did make me laugh a lot!

Diversity Challenge

Big Book Summer Challenge
 

 

Note: This post contains affiliate links. Purchases from these links provide a small commission to me (pennies per purchase), to help offset the time I spend writing for this blog, at no extra cost to you.

 

Visit my YouTube Channel for more bookish fun!

 

Listen to a sample of the audiobook here and/ordownload it from Audible. The sample sounds great - I bet it's excellent on audio.

 

Or get this audiobook from Libro.fm and support local bookstores (audio sample here, too).

 

Print and e-book from Amazon.

 

You can buy the book through Bookshop.org, where your purchase will support the indie bookstore of your choice (or all indie bookstores)--the convenience of shopping online while still buying local!

   
  

Fiction Review: Sipsworth

A popular favorite book from this year's Booktopia was Sipsworth by Simon Van Booy. Simon is a prolific author who's written almost a dozen novels, but this was my first experience reading one of his books, and it didn't disappoint. It's the joyful, uplifting story of an elderly woman who finds community and a reason to live through an unexpected source.

Helen lived in Australia for decades, but after her husband and son both die, she decides to return to the small English village where she grew up. At eighty-three years old, she lives alone in a small cottage, sticks to the same routine week after week, rarely interacting with another human, and is mostly just waiting to die. One cold, wet night, Helen looks out her window and sees a neighbor carry a strange box out to the curb for trash pick-up the next day. Bored and curious, Helen puts on her robe and slippers and goes out to investigate; sometimes people throw away interesting things. The box turns out to be a large glass fish tank with a bunch of smaller boxes inside it. Then Helen spots a colorful piece of plastic inside: a deep sea diver. Her son had one exactly like it. He'd picked it out at the pet store on his 13th birthday, and it came in a set for his new aquarium. Is this one part of a set, too? Wracked with memories both painful and comforting and without really thinking about what she's doing, Helen carries the fish tank filled with boxes into her own house. The next day, she'll go through the boxes to see what treasures are inside. But the tank includes something Helen hadn't expected that she won't notice until tomorrow: a small mouse. Though she initially tries to get rid of it (with hilarious results), the mouse ultimately changes Helen's life and helps her to connect with other people in her community.

That seems like a tall order for a little mouse, doesn't it? But this is a very special mouse that comes into Helen's life just when she needs something (someone) to care for. They need each other. This is a warm, gentle story, though there are plenty of unexpected plot twists and funny moments to move the narrative along. Van Booy has created a wonderful main character and a fabulously compassionate, engaging story. As much as I enjoyed the novel, I loved it even more after listening to the author speak at Booktopia. He was an incredibly entertaining speaker who had us all laughing throughout his session, but what really moved me was his explanation of the things in his own life that inspired the story. After all, how can a relatively young man write convincingly about an isolated old woman who has given up on life? Well, he volunteers both as an EMT and in elderly care homes, where he has bonded with some of the residents. And he experienced that kind of loneliness and isolation when many of us did, during the lock-down period at the start of the pandemic. He alleviated some of his isolation with a pet mouse, and his respect and love for the intelligent little creatures comes through on the page as Helen discovers the attributes of her own mouse. This is a beautiful story of love, community, and healing that will put a smile on your face. I want to read some of Van Booy's backlist now!

NOTE: I considered including some of the many quotes I highlighted in this novel, to show you its warmth and humor, but I didn't want to deprive potential readers of the delight in coming across these gems themselves.

240 pages, David R. Godine

HighBridge, division of Recorded Books

This book fits in the following 2024 Reading Challenges:

 

Alphabet Soup Challenge - S

Travel the World with Books - UK
 

Disclosure: I received this book from the publisher in return for an honest review. My review is my own opinion and is not influenced by my relationship with the publisher or author.

 

Note: This post contains affiliate links. Purchases from these links provide a small commission to me (pennies per purchase), to help offset the time I spend writing for this blog, at no extra cost to you.

 

Visit my YouTube Channel for more bookish fun!

 

Listen to a sample of the audiobook here and/or download it from Audible. The sample is from the beginning of the novel, as Helen discovers the discarded aquarium.

 

Or get this audiobook from Libro.fm and support local bookstores (audio sample here, too).

 

Print and e-book from Amazon.

 

You can buy the book through Bookshop.org, where your purchase will support the indie bookstore of your choice (or all indie bookstores)--the convenience of shopping online while still buying local!

    
  

3 Great Middle-Grade Audio Books - Mini Reviews

In March, I participated in Middle-Grade March and the Fierce Reads event for International Women's Month. I listened to three excellent middle-grade novels on audio, all by women authors and featuring fierce female characters (and with great female narrators). The first was historical fiction, and the other two were modern-day realistic fiction. My brief reviews are below, and you can also check out my review of The Parachute Kids by Betty C. Tang, a middle-grade graphic novel I also read in March.

My first middle-grade audio was Iceberg by Jennifer Nielsen. I'm a longtime fan of Nielsen's middle-grade historical fiction (like Lines of Courage and A Night Divided), and as you might guess from the title, this one is about the Titanic. Twelve-year-old Hazel is on a mission to save her family after her father's death. Her mother has sent her to the docks to board the Titanic for New York, where Hazel's aunt has promised her a job in a garment factory, so she can send money home to keep her siblings from starving. But when Hazel tries to buy a ticket, she finds that all of her family's savings isn't enough for the fare for even a third-class ticket. She finds a way on board as a stowaway. Luckily, she makes some friends on board, including Charlie, a boy working as a porter, and Sylvia, a girl her age in First Class. With a dream of becoming a journalist one day, Hazel begins to hear rumors about the ship that make the reporter in her interested--and wary--so she sets out to investigate and learn more. We all know how the Titanic's story ends, so there is plenty of suspense here, as well as fascinating historical details. It was an excellent novel with a wonderful main character (and yes, don't worry--she survives).

 352 pages, Scholastic Press

Scholastic Audio

This book fits in the following 2024 Reading Challenges:

Monthly Motif Challenge - "Thrill Me" - this was a historical thriller

Travel the World in Books - UK (and Atlantic Ocean!)

Listen to a sample of the audiobook here and/or download it from Audible.

 

Or get this audiobook from Libro.fm and support local bookstores (audio sample here, too).

You can buy the book through Bookshop.org, where your purchase will support the indie bookstore of your choice (or all indie bookstores)--the convenience of shopping online while still buying local!

_______________

Next, I listened to Dear Sweet Pea by Julie Murphy, my first novel from this very popular YA author (this is her first middle-grade novel). Twelve-year-old Sweet Pea feels torn apart by her parents' divorce, despite their efforts to keep everything "normal." She splits her time between her mom's house and her dad's, which are identical homes two doors down from each other! They've divorced because her father has come out as gay. She's also still grieving the loss of her first-ever best friend, Kiera, who's found prettier, thinner, more popular girls to hang out with. Luckily, Sweet Pea has Oscar, her new best (only) friend and her cat, Cheese. Her strange elderly neighbor asks Sweet Pea to help out while she travels to stay with her ill sister, and Sweet Pea makes some pretty big mistakes but also learns and grows. I enjoyed this warm, funny novel, focusing on several common adolescent issue--like divorce, life changes, and secrets--between Sweet Pea, Kiera, and Oscar and what it means to be a friend.

288 pages, Balzer + Bray

HarperAudio

This book fits in the following 2024 Reading Challenges:

 

Alphabet Soup Challenge - D

Diversity Challenge

Literary Escapes Challenge - Texas

 

Listen to a sample of the audiobook here and/or download it from Audible.

 

Or get this audiobook from Libro.fm and support local bookstores (audio sample here, too).

 

You can buy the book through Bookshop.org, where your purchase will support the indie bookstore of your choice (or all indie bookstores)--the convenience of shopping online while still buying local!

_______________

My last middle-grade audio book in March was Home Away from Home by Cynthia Lord, an author I have enjoyed in the past. Mia and her mom always visit her grandma in Maine every summer, but this year, Mia's there alone. Her mom and her boyfriend are working to sell their old house and find a new one, for "a fresh start." Mia wishes everything would stay the same, but she loves visiting her grandma in the small, seaside town. Things are different there this year, though, too. Mia meets grandma's neighbor, Cayman, who's her age and seems to have made himself at home at grandma's house! The two kids spot an unusual white bird of prey when they go to check on the baby eaglets the town is known for, and Mia launches an investigation. This was a wonderful middle-grade novel that deals with lots of typical adolescent issues, including divorce and friendship, as well as the perils of social media, with a hefty dose of nature added in (which I loved).

224 pages, Scholastic Press

Scholastic Audio

This book fits in the following 2024 Reading Challenges:

 

Literary Escapes - Maine

 

Listen to a sample of the audiobook here and/or download it from Audible.

 

Or get this audiobook from Libro.fm and support local bookstores (audio sample here, too).

 

You can buythe book through Bookshop.org, where your purchase will support the indie bookstore of your choice (or all indie bookstores)--the convenience of shopping online while still buying local!

Fiction Review: Remarkably Bright Creatures

My neighborhood book group recently celebrated our 200th book with a nice lunch out, and we chose an excellent book for this milestone: Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt. Everyone enjoyed it, and it received our second-highest rating (since we started using ratings about 13 years ago). This heartwarming story about an unusual friendship between a woman and a giant Pacific octopus (just go with it--it works) focuses on connections, loss, and family.

Tova works nights cleaning the local aquarium in Sowell Bay, the small coastal town in Washington where she's lived all her life. She's suffered terrible losses--her eighteen-year-old son drowned years ago, her beloved husband, and most recently, her estranged brother--and leads a very isolated life. But she's developed an odd sort of friendship with Marcellus, the giant Pacific octopus who lives in the aquarium and occasionally breaks up the monotony of his dull life with excursions outside of his tank--he particularly enjoys snacking on the sea cucumbers at night. Tova has caught him before (and helped him out of a difficult situation once), but she keeps his secret. In California, a young man named Cam is turning thirty but feels like his life is a mess. He can't keep a job, and he still lives with his aunt in her trailer, ever since she began taking care of him at age nine when his mother left. With his best friends married and having a baby, Cam feels even more acutely stuck. He heads north to Washington state, looking for clues as to the identity of his father, suspecting he may be a wealthy real estate agent. As Cam continues his quest to solve his personal mystery, Tova considers selling the home her grandfather built to move to a retirement home, and Marcellus--who is very smart--realizes he is reaching the end of his natural life, stuck in this tank.

These three characters all feel at loose ends as the novel opens, as if life doesn't hold much appeal and their futures are grim. The novel is filled with all kinds of unexpected plot twists, wonderful secondary characters, and a great sense of humor. The subject of loss, in all of its forms, is deeply examined here from all three perspectives, while the focus of the story is on healing and connections. Besides these main characters, others from the town play key roles and are well-drawn: Mac, who runs the local grocery store, Tova's group of old friends, "the knitwits," and more. Narration moves back and forth between the three main characters. The audio production was outstanding, often causing me to laugh out loud, and I especially enjoyed Marcellus' chapters. My book group gave it an average rating of 8.7 out of 10, so clearly, we all enjoyed it, and it provided some great discussions.

Ecco, 368 pages

HarperAudio

This book fits in the following 2024 Reading Challenges:

 

Alphabet Soup Challenge - R

Literary Escapes - Washington 

 

Visit my YouTube Channel for more bookish fun!

 

Listen to a sample of the audiobook here and/or download it from Audible. The sample is from the beginning of the novel, and just these few minutes gives you an idea of Tova's voice and her life.

 

Or get this audiobook from Libro.fm and support local bookstores (audio sample here, too).

 

Print and e-book from Amazon.

 

You can buy the book through Bookshop.org, where your purchase will support the indie bookstore of your choice (or all indie bookstores)--the convenience of shopping online while still buying local!

 
  

Fiction Review: Rabbit Cake

Rabbit Cake by Annie Hartnett was my last full-length novel of the year, read in the last days of December, and I absolutely loved it. I didn't review every book I read last year (a new approach for me), but I wanted to review my favorites and this qualifies! I met Annie Hartnett in May at Booktopia 2023, an annual event I attend every spring in Vermont at the Northshire Bookstore. I loved her novel Unlikely Animals (my review at the link) and really enjoyed talking to her, asking questions, and listening to her talk about the writing of the book. So, I wanted to read from her backlist, and my husband gave me Rabbit Cake for my birthday. This warm, funny, deeply moving novel lived up to my expectations!

Elvis, named after Elvis Presley because she shares his birthday, is ten years old when her mother sleepwalks to the nearby river and drowns. For the next eighteen months, Elvis, her fifteen-year-old sister, Lizzie, and their father each deal with their shock and grief in different ways. Like their mother, Lizzie is also a chronic sleepwalker, and that increases and worsens in her grief, leading to ever more bizarre sights greeting Elvis and her dad in the morning, including terrifying spates of sleep-eating and egg stealing. Lizzie also decides to set a world record for baking rabbit cakes, following in her mom's footsteps, since she always made a three-dimensional rabbit cake for special occasions. Their dad discovers a local parrot in the pet store who mimics his wife's voice and comments and brings it home. He also starts wearing his wife's lipstick and bathrobe at home. Elvis is pretty lost, mostly worried about her dad and her sister, and determined to uncover the details of her mother's death. She loves animals (her mom was an animal biologist), so she continues working on the book about animals and sleep that her mom was writing and starts volunteering at the local zoo. But this family has a long way to go through their grief and coping to heal and reconnect with each other.

As in Unlikely Animals, Hartnett here has created wonderfully real characters struggling with some very serious issues, but she writes about it all with a hefty dose of humor (listen to the audio sample to get a feel for the tone). You can probably tell from my description above, which is just the tip of the iceberg, that these are some very quirky characters--and that's where some of the humor comes from--but aren't we all a little weird in our own ways? In spite of their flaws, the characters are very likable, and smart, precocious Elvis is a wonderful narrator. We see her family's issues through her eyes, as she strives to understand grief. The family goes through some big challenges along the way, from a runaway to a stint in a mental hospital to some stolen rats, but in the end, they find each other again and start to heal. I enjoyed every minute of this tender, compassionate, hilarious look at grief and family ties. It was the perfect way to end my reading year!

327 pages, Tin House

Blackstone Audio

This book fits in the following 2023 Reading Challenges:

 

Mount TBR Challenge

Literary Escapes Challenge - Alabama 

 

Note: This post contains affiliate links. Purchases from these links provide a small commission to me (pennies per purchase), to help offset the time I spend writing for this blog, at no extra cost to you.

 

Visit my YouTube Channel for more bookish fun!

 

Listen to a sample of the audiobook here and/or download it from Audible. Listening to it makes me want to reread the book!

 

Or get this audiobook from Libro.fm and support local bookstores (audio sample here, too - a different one).

 

Print and e-book from Amazon.

 

You can buy the book through Bookshop.org, where your purchase will support the indie bookstore of your choice (or all indie bookstores)--the convenience of shopping online while still buying local!

    
  

Nonfiction Review: The Zookeeper's Wife

Way back in 2007 when The Zookeeper's Wife by Diane Ackerman was first released, I heard scores of rave reviews, so I added it to my want-to-read list (a very long list). Fast-forward to 2022 when I was visiting Little Free Libraries in my town--supposed to be just dropping off--and I spotted the book and snatched it up. I finally read it last month for Nonfiction November. Wow, what a stunning book! It was definitely worth the wait.

The book opens in 1935 in Poland, describing the beautiful world of the Warsaw Zoo, run by husband and wife Jan and Antonina Zabinski. Their zoo was filled with unique and fascinating animals in realistic habitats, with a large collection of exotic birds, reptiles and amphibians, animals from around the world, and animals unique to their region, like the European bison (I never knew there was such a thing!) and Przywalski horses. Their large, modern house on the premises was filled with a strange menagerie of baby or injured animals being nursed back to health, many of whom became family pets, beloved by their young son, Ryszard. It was a peaceful, harmonious, lovely place. Then in 1939, they woke one morning to the sounds of German warplanes, followed by weeks of bombs directly hitting the city--and the zoo--and soon, the Nazis marching in to invade in September 1939. The Nazis walled off a Jewish ghetto and began their process of restricting, then later ending their lives. The animals still left in the zoo, those not killed or run off by the bombing, were taken by a colleague of theirs, a German zookeeper they had previously been friends with and with whom they enjoyed discussing zoology during annual professional meetings. He assured them he was talking their most valuable animals back to Germany "to keep them safe." With few animals left, and Jan involved in the underground resistance, they used their connection with the German zookeeper, up high in the Nazi organization, to repurpose the zoo several times during the war, as a placed to raise animals for fur for the German armies and other uses. With Germans coming and going freely from their zoo and home, they also brazenly used their property to hide and save hundreds of Jews during the war, putting their own lives at risk.

This remarkable true story is told in a very effective way. The author used many primary sources, including Antonina's own diaries kept throughout the war, and the effect is to make you feel like you are right in the middle of what is happening. It is horrifying, shocking, and inspiring as the Zabinskis and their "guests" struggle with starvation, despair, and satisfying basic needs while never losing hope. They not only kept all those people safe but created a temporary home for them, filled with art, music, and conversation, all right under the noses of the Nazis. My husband was teasing me as I read this book because I kept reaching for my iPad while reading the book, to look up all kinds of fascinating details: animals I'd never heard of, sculptures and artwork created by their guests, real photos and videos of the Nazi invasion and all that came after it. To me, that is the best kind of nonfiction book: the kind that is fascinating and helps you learn a lot but also makes you want to know even more. Both the subject matter here and the way the story is told make for an engrossing, captivating book, which also includes photos. I'm so glad to have finally read it.

368 pages (but the text ends on page 323, with lots of extra details at the end), W.W. Norton & Company

Blackstone Audio

I just discovered this book was adapted into a movie that we definitely want to watch!

This book fits in the following 2023 Reading Challenges:

 

Mount TBR Challenge

Monthly Motif - Around or Out of this World - Poland

Alphabet Soup Challenge - I got a Z!

Nonfiction Reader Challenge - Science (zoology)

Diversity Challenge

Travel the World in Books - Poland

 

Note: This post contains affiliate links. Purchases from these links provide a small commission to me (pennies per purchase), to help offset the time I spend writing for this blog, at no extra cost to you.

Visit my YouTube Channel for more bookish fun!

 

Listen to a sample of the audiobook here and/or download it from Audible.

 

Or get this audiobook from Libro.fm and support local bookstores (audio sample here, too).

 

Print and e-book from Amazon.

 

You can buy the book through Bookshop.org, where your purchase will support the indie bookstore of your choice (or all indie bookstores)--the convenience of shopping online while still buying local!

 

Fiction Review: A Solitude of Wolverines

I took advantage of the seasonal R.I.P. Challenge and Series September event to finally read a book I have heard wonderful things about: A Solitude of Wolverines by Alice Henderson. I first heard about this series on the Book Cougars podcast and bought this first book for my husband. I thoroughly enjoyed this outdoor thrill ride.

Wildlife biologist Alex Carter is attending a wetlands dedication ceremony near Boston when a man comes through the crowd shooting. He is particularly focused on her, since she discovered the bird that cancelled the development slated for the area, which resulted in him losing his job and home. Alex escapes unharmed but deeply shook up. When an old professor calls later that day to ask if she could fill in at the last minute on a wolverine population study in the mountains of Montana, Alex is only too happy to leave the city and get back to the wilderness, where she feels at peace. She's been hired by the land trust that purchased over 20,000 acres of wilderness. It was the site of a ski resort that had its heyday in the 1930's-60's. Now, Alex is staying alone in the spooky old resort (think The Shining kind of vibes) when she's not backpacking through the beautiful mountains and forests on the land. She sets up "traps" with meat to capture photos of the elusive and solitary wolverines, in the hopes of finding some living on the property. From her very first day in Montana, though, Alex experiences both covert and very open hostility and threats. Ranchers, hunters, and trappers are not at all happy about this land being designated as conservation land. Alex meets a few welcoming people nearby and in town (26 miles away), but as the threats and danger ramp up, she is very much on her own on the property, trying to fend off increasingly violent threats and protect the animals on the land.

I thought I'd enjoy this novel because I enjoy most thrillers, and I love the outdoors and nature, but it surpassed even my high expectations. It's an original premise, a thriller with a wildlife biologist at its center, and Henderson is an excellent writer who carries it out beautifully. The thriller is action-packed, right from the very first pages when Alex is shot at to the breath-taking climax. The mystery here is a good, twisty one with surprises that I never saw coming, and the suspense is fast-paced. That gripping story is set against the gorgeous backdrop of the Montana mountains, with plenty of stunning descriptions of the natural world and fascinating information about wolverines, as Alex proceeds with her study. The characters here are fully fleshed out; Alex is a likable three-dimensional character that I came to care about and was rooting for. This outdoor adventure thriller has it all and kept me riveted from beginning to end. I can't wait to read book two, A Blizzard of Polar Bears, which I also bought for my husband last year (see the pattern here?).

309 pages, William Morrow

This book fits in the following 2023 Reading Challenges:

 

Mount TBR Challenge

Literary Escapes Challenge - Montana

R.I.P. Challenge

 

Note: This post contains affiliate links. Purchases from these links provide a small commission to me (pennies per purchase), to help offset the time I spend writing for this blog, at no extra cost to you.

 

Visit my YouTube Channel for more bookish fun!

 

Listen to a sample of the audiobook here and/or download it from Audible.

 

Or get this audiobook from Libro.fm and support local bookstores.

 

You can buy the book through Bookshop.org, where your purchase will support the indie bookstore of your choice (or all indie bookstores)--the convenience of shopping online while still buying local!

 
  

Fiction Review: Unlikely Animals

My favorite book (read so far) of Booktopia 2023 was Unlikely Animals by Annie Hartnett, a new-to-me author. I absolutely loved this delightful, funny novel about addiction, death, and animals, both real and hallucinated.

Twenty-two-year-old Emma Starling has returned to her small, rural hometown of Everton, New Hampshire. Her father, Clive, is dying of a mysterious brain disease, and it's finally time (Thanksgiving now) to admit to her parents that she did not start med school in the fall, like she told them (Emma was supposedly born with healing powers). Emma's come home to spend time with her father but also to figure out what's next in her life. Her brother, Auggie, is also at home living with their parents after his second stint in rehab. Clive's brain disease causes hallucinations, especially of animals, though he also hallucinates a real-life man. Ernest Harold Baynes lived in the town around the turn of the 20th century and was a renowned naturalist who was known for taming animals and bringing them into his home, including a pet fox, The Sprite, and a bear named Jimmy. Clive was asked to leave his job as an English professor at the local college when he scared a class by yelling about all the cats in the room. Emma finds a job as the long-term substitute teacher for the 5th grade class at the local school. The kids have been doubly traumatized as a classmate died recently and their usual beloved teacher is accompanying her husband, a prominent local businessman accused of dealing drugs, in court. Finally, Emma's best friend from high school, Crystal, is missing, but police aren't even looking for her, as she was known to take drugs and they assume she either ran away or is dead somewhere. Clive hasn't given up, though, and is driving everyone in town crazy by posting thousands of "missing" posters all over. Oh, and the entire novel is narrated by the (dead) residents of the town cemetery.

I know that last part sounds gimicky (and the whole thing sounds very quirky), but this is a wonderful novel filled with heart and humor. It deals with some very serious topics--opioid addiction, childhood trauma, terminal illness--with honesty and emotional depth, but it also had me laughing out loud from beginning to end. The narration by dead townspeople from many different time periods adds a unique (and amusing) omniscient point of view. Ernest Harold Baynes (Clive just calls him Harold and has many in-depth conversations with him) was a real historical figure in that part of New Hampshire, with real photos and edited excerpts of his writings sprinkled throughout the novel. The author explained at Booktopia that she wanted to include him in a book but wanted to write a modern story, not historical fiction, so she made him a ghost. The precocious 5th graders in Emma's class were one of my favorite parts of the story; they are intense and sincere and very funny. The novel also incorporates suspense, in the plotline about the missing Crystal. Is this another of Clive's flights of fancy or could she possibly still be alive somewhere? All of these disparate plotlines come together in a fabulous climax. This wonderful, unique novel was poignant, engrossing, hilariously funny, and filled with memorable characters. I definitely want to read Hartnett's earlier novel, Rabbit Cake.

346 pages, Ballantine Books

This book fits in the following 2023 Reading Challenges:

 

Mount TBR Challenge

Diversity Reading Challenge

Literary Escapes - NH

 

Visit my YouTube Channel for more bookish fun!

 

Listen to a sample of the audiobook here, from the start of the novel with the cemetery residents narrating, and/or download it from Audible.

 

Or get this audiobook from Libro.fm and support local bookstores.

 

You can buy the book through Bookshop.org, where your purchase will support the indie bookstore of your choice (or all indie bookstores)--the convenience of shopping online while still buying local!

  

Middle-Grade Review: The Midnight Children

For Middle-Grade March, I listened to four middle-grade audio books (check out my first two reviews here and the third review here), and enjoyed them all.

I'm a big fan of Dan Gemeinhart and especially loved his middle-grade novels, The Honest Truth and The Remarkable Story of Coyote Sunrise. In The Midnight Children, Gemeinhart again creates an engaging story with great characters in unusual circumstances. Ravani Foster lives in Slaughterville with his mom and dad and is lonely. He spends his summer days delivering town newspapers, taking his dad's lunch to the slaughterhouse at noon, and trying to dodge the nasty bullies who cruelly pick on him. One night, unable to sleep, Ravani looks out his bedroom window at midnight and sees a group of seven children of varying ages get out of a truck and carry their suitcases into the abandoned house across the street. With the help of his excellent frog-catching skills, he gets to know these new kids in the neighborhood and becomes good friends with a girl his age named Virginia. But the kids have some deep and dangerous secrets. Will they trust Ravani enough to take him into their confidence?

This is a unique story that includes some light elements of magic, though it is set in the real world and focuses on real-world problems. The setting is also unique, in this town that is defined by its only industry, a slaughterhouse. The novel does not shy away from the realities of that industry! Ravani and Virginia (and the other kids) are wonderful characters that I was rooting for. It's a story about friendship and found family, with a happy ending for all of the characters, including many of the people in town. I very much enjoyed this original story that reminded me of Kate DiCamillo's novels (as well as Gemeinhart's other books).

352 pages, Henry Holt & Co.

This book fits in the following 2023 Reading Challenges:

Alphabet Soup Challenge - M

 

Visit my YouTube Channel for more bookish fun!

 

Listen to a sample of the excellent audiobook here and/or download it from Audible. In this sample, Ravani watches the children appear in the middle of the night.

 

You can buy the book through Bookshop.org, where your purchase will support the indie bookstore of your choice (or all indie bookstores)--the convenience of shopping online while still buying local!       
  

Disclosure: I received these books from the publisher in return for an honest review. My review is my own opinion and is not influenced by my relationship with the publisher or author.

 

Note: This post contains affiliate links. Purchases from these links provide a small commission to me (pennies per purchase), to help offset the time I spend writing for this blog, at no extra cost to you.

Fiction Review: Horse

I have a weird relationship with novelist Geraldine Brooks. Whenever I hear about one of her novels, I always think, "I'm not interested in that." Then, I read it (often for book group) and absolutely love it! So, when I heard about her latest novel, Horse, I again thought I wasn't interested in reading a novel about a racehorse (even though I just read and loved Seabiscuit for Nonfiction November). But, my neighborhood book group chose it for December, so I listened to it on audio, and ... you guessed it! I thoroughly enjoyed this engrossing story spanning more than 150 years.

In 2019, a young man named Theo, a Nigerian-American art history graduate student attending Georgetown University, is searching for a subject for his thesis. One day, he sees that his neighbor across the street has set out a bunch of old furniture and other household items on the sidewalk with a sign saying "Free." As he's walking by, Theo spots a painting. He pulls it out and sees it's a small painting of a horse, with a Black boy standing next to it. Intrigued, he pulls it from the giveaway pile and begins looking into it. Meanwhile, Jess, a young Australian woman who works at the Smithsonian putting together animal skeletons, hears about a missing horse skeleton from a colleague in the UK who suspects it may be stored at the Smithsonian. Jess finds the skeleton in storage and begins to work on it. Back in 1850, a Black boy named Jarret lives on a Kentucky horse farm. His adopted father, Harry, is a free man, thanks to his skill at training horses that allowed him to earn money and buy his freedom. When a new foal is born on the farm, Harry and the farm's owner give it to Jarret to train himself. As the horse grows, a traveling painter named Thomas Scott comes to the farm and is hired to paint the horses. Unfortunately, Jarret's life with his beloved horse does not unfold as he expected, and the two of them end up in Louisiana, where they again encounter Scott. Meanwhile, in the present day, Theo and Jess meet and work together to investigate the mystery of the horse from its skeleton and its painting.

Brooks is talented at weaving together an intricate story of different people in different time periods whose lives intertwine (much as she did in People of the Book). Her characters are three dimensional and interesting, and I came to care about them. As always in her historical fiction, she's taken a fascinating real-life but little-known piece of history and built a fully fleshed-out story around it. You can read the true story of the discovery of this horse, his trainer, and the painter in this article from Smithsonian magazine. The audio production was excellent, with multiple narrators reading the chapters from different characters' perspectives, which helped to bring them all to life. The narrative skillfully moves from past to present and back again, creating a sense of suspense in this already compelling story that is not only about horses and racing but also about art, history, racism, and love. Once again, I enjoyed every moment of this captivating novel by Geraldine Brooks. Next time, I won't waffle about whether to read one of her novels!

416 pages, Viking

Penguin Audio

Two other Geraldine Brooks novels I enjoyed (besides People of the Book) were Year of Wonders and Caleb's Crossing (my reviews at the links).

This book fits in the following 2022 Reading Challenges:

 

Diversity Challenge

Literary Escapes - Louisiana

 

Visit my YouTube Channel for more bookish fun!

 

Listen to a sample of the audiobook here, one of Theo's sections from the beginning of the novel, and/or download it from Audible.

 

You can buy the book through Bookshop.org, where your purchase will support the indie bookstore of your choice (or all indie bookstores)--the convenience of shopping online while still buying local!

  

   

 

Or you can order Horse from Book Depository, with free shipping worldwide.