Nonfiction Review: The Devil's Highway

I downloaded the audiobook The Devil's Highway by Luis Alberto Urrea onto my iPod last fall for Nonfiction November, but I ran out of time to listen to it. Then, I pitched a book column to my editor at Shelf Awareness for Cinco de Mayo and included this real-life immigration story on my list. When my article idea was accepted, I had extra motivation to finally listen to this stunning true story that was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. What took me so long?

Urrea, a novelist, memoirist, and journalist, delves deep into a story that made newspaper headlines in May 2001, when a group of 26 men attempted to cross on foot from Mexico into the United States along a desolate stretch of desert in Arizona known as The Devil's Highway. The men they paid to lead them (known as coyotes) got lost, and the men wandered for many days in the scorching heat, with very little water and no food, sometimes walking in circles without realizing it. A member of the U.S. border patrol finally spotted one of them and in rescuing him, as is their job, he was stunned to learn there were 25 more of them out there somewhere in the desert. The border patrol leapt into action and began a thorough and wide-ranging search, but for fourteen of the men, they were too late. Only twelve of the men who went into the Devil's Highway came out, and their full story only gradually came to light, thanks to Urrea's extensive research and interviews.

My first thought after listening to this audiobook was simply, "Wow." Urrea tells this incredible true story with unflinching truth and fairness, laying out the details and building the story as a novelist would. He takes time to help readers get to know each of the characters - the 26 men who entered the desert (because they were each individuals with families and lives and hopes) as well as the courageous border patrol officers who saved as many of them as possible and found and cared for the remains of the rest. Though, of course, immigration is even more of a hot-button topic now than it was when Urrea first published this book in 2004, he does not tell this story from any particular political point of view but from a human point of view as a journalist, focusing in on the people involved and how this devastating event affected them, both the walkers and their rescuers, and on the bare facts of what happened. One can't help to think, though, that this story is just one of thousands of border crossings, deaths, and families affected over the past decades, and that thought is mind-blowing because this one tragedy is so devastating. It's a riveting, powerful, and thought-provoking book that everyone - on all sides of the immigration debate - should read.

272 pages, Little Brown
Hachette Audio
I received this audiobook free from SYNC, which starts up again at the end of April!

After finishing this book, I wanted to know more about Urrea and especially his thoughts on what is happening with immigration today, and how things have changed on the border since 2001. So, I searched for recent interviews with him, and found this one on Fresh Air from last year...which also made me realize, "Oh! Urrea is that author, who published the novel, The House of Broken Angels" that received so much critical acclaim last year. That one has just moved way up my must-read list. The interview is mostly about his novel, though Terry Gross does talk to him about The Devil's Highway and the border today, as well.



Listen to a sample of the audiobook, read by the author. His voice, reading this story, is absolutely mesmerizing.

You can purchase The Devil's Highway from an independent bookstore, either locally or online, here:

Or you can order The Devil's Highway from Book Depository, with free shipping worldwide.

Fiction Review: The Blinds

My latest audiobook was The Blinds by Adam Sternbergh, a suspenseful thriller with a very unique premise.

The Blinds is the nickname for Caesura, a town located in the middle of nowhere in Texas, about 100 miles from the nearest neighbor. It's an unusual town, with about 50 residents, all of them there voluntarily as part of a unique witness protection program that started eight years ago. Each resident goes through a medical procedure before arriving that erases parts of their memory so that none of them remembers why they are there, what circumstances led to them coming to The Blinds, and most importantly, which criminal(s) they snitched on to end up there. In fact, none of the residents - or even the sheriffs - know who is a criminal and who is an innocent witness or what any of their real names are. When each person came to The Blinds, he or she chose a new name - picking a first name and a last name from lists of movie stars and ex-vice-presidents. As the novel opens, Fran Adams is remembering her intake day, meeting Sheriff Calvin Cooper for the first time and choosing her name. Fran is unique in the town because she was pregnant when she moved there and has the only child in Caesura, an eight-year-old boy. Fran now wonders whether this is the best environment for her son to grow up in, but what choice does she have? Like all the other residents, she stays here in this isolated place because it protects her and her son from the outside world, from whoever out there might want to kill her for whatever she witnessed or did or knew. On this Monday, though, everything is about to change for the residents and for Sheriff Cooper because the town has its first murder, something that should be impossible in a fenced-in anonymous town where no one is allowed to have firearms (the sheriff has one, but he never loads it). Did someone manage to get in? Has one of the residents remembered something and somehow gotten a gun? After eight years of peace and quiet and solitude, the outside world is about to invade The Blinds and reveal some of its secrets.

I really enjoyed this fast-paced thriller (I was surprised to see that the print edition is 400 pages long because I listened to it in record time) that is also something of a closed-room mystery. The premise reminded me a bit of Fifty Mice, which I read last fall and also liked, though The Blinds has its own unique twists. Both novels have in common an intriguing premise related to witness protection, missing memories, and a sense of humor. Here, some of the humor comes from the names of the people in the town, which all sound slightly familiar because of their origins - names like Hubert Humphrey Gable (the murdered man), Greta Fillmore (the bartender), and Walter Robinson (the sheriff's deputy). This adds a welcome bit of levity to what could otherwise be a very dark story, though it was a little bit confusing at first listening on audio. As the story gets rolling, the action picks up, leading to a climactic stand-off. There is plenty of suspense here and even more surprises, as secrets of the town's residents - and the program they are a part of - gradually come to light. My husband doesn't usually listen to audiobooks on his own, but I'm going to help him import this one into his iTunes because I know he will like it, too! And now I am interested in reading one of the author's earlier novels, Shovel Ready, which was nominated for an Edgar award.

400 pages, Ecco
HarperAudio

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.

Listen to a sample of the audio from Chapter 1.

You can purchase The Blinds from an independent bookstore, either locally or online, here:

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

Movie Monday: Secret in Their Eyes

It's been a very long time since I've written a Movie Monday post, so the list of movies I've watched but not yet reviewed keeps growing! It's really tough to fit an extra blog post into Monday, since it is already busy with my It's Monday! What Are You Reading? post, plus visiting Monday posts on other blogs, plus setting up goals for the week. But Movie Monday has such nice alliteration...

My husband and I were away this weekend, and the hotel WiFi on my husband's Kindle Fire didn't allow us to connect to our cable network or any of the TV station websites, so instead of catching up on our usual TV shows, we watched a movie on Netflix, Secret in Their Eyes, a unique and intriguing suspense drama with an excellent cast.

The movie moves back and forth between 2002 and 2015. Just after 9/11, Jessica Cobb, played by Julia Roberts, and Ray Kasten, played by Chiwetel Ejiofor, were working together as part of a counter-terrorism team that combined the FBI and the local Los Angeles District Attorney's office. Claire Sloane, played by Nicole Kidman, was brought in as the new Assistant DA, and Ray immediately developed a crush on her. The team was keeping an eye on a local mosque that was said to include members of a terrorist cell when they got called to the scene of a crime. A body had been found in a dumpster next to the mosque. The team rushed to the scene, only to find a horrifying surprise: the murdered person in the dumpster was Jess' beloved daughter. Thirteen years later, we see that Ray is still obsessed with the crime, staying up late every night to comb through mug shots looking for a potential suspect identified years ago. Claire is now the DA, and Jessica still works as an investigator for the DA, though she looks haggard and haunted. Ray had moved to NYC after the incident thirteen years ago, so this is the first time they've all been together since then. The action moves back and forth between the team investigating the crime originally - and meeting with obstacles - and the present, with Ray telling Claire and Jess he's found the suspect they lost so many years earlier.

This is a dark movie with plenty of suspense and unanswered questions (until the end). As you can probably guess from that cast list, the acting is top-notch, and we were quickly drawn into the lives of the characters. There's not a lot of action (which is fine with me!); it's more of a quiet psychological thriller. The tension builds as it moves from the present to the past and back to the present, and the viewer learns more, bit by bit, about the case and the investigation, with a side plot about the romantic feelings Ray has for Claire. We both enjoyed it. I read that it was based on an earlier Argentinian film by the same name that was even better (in case you speak Spanish), but we thought this American remake was well-done, thoughtful, and engaging.

Secret in Their Eyes was released in theaters in 2015. We watched it on Netflix. It's also available to rent on Amazon for $3.99.

It's Monday 3/11! What Are You Reading?

Happy Monday! I had a good week & an even better weekend! The beginning of the week was a bit busy with doctor's appointments for my 93-year old father-in-law, but after that, I got a couple of good writing days in. I sent pitches for four new articles, and three have already been accepted! My writing calendar is filling up, which I like to see. I still need to work on getting more travel writing jobs because I really want to do more of that.

On the weekend, my husband and I took a mini getaway to Rehoboth Beach here in Delaware, just two hours away. We like to plan a weekend trip for February or March - about the time we are sick of winter and it's not yet warm enough to get the camper out! We had a great weekend and even saw some sunshine on Saturday so we could walk on the beach (though it was still pretty cold!). We tried some new restaurants and went to some old favorites, did a bit of shopping, found a new-to-us homemade chocolate shop (so good), and did lots of walking in town and on the beach and boardwalk. Best of all, we enjoyed one of our favorite bookstores, Browseabout Books, and met up with two of my Booktopia friends! Yes, Saturday was a good day - shopping for books, talking books with friends, and reading!

Here's what we've all been reading this past week (and you can see what we bought this weekend down below):

• I finished The Den by Abi Maxwell, my first Booktopia 2019 read (and I am also reviewing it for Shelf Awareness). It's a split narrative about two families in the same place about 150 years apart, with two sisters in each time period. In both, the older sister gets pregnant and leaves home and eventually goes missing. It's a complex story, but I enjoyed it. I'm looking forward to hearing the author speak at Booktopia in May (click Events at the link for more info).
• I started my next book group pick, My Dear Hamilton: A Novel of Eliza Schuyler Hamilton by Stephanie Dray and Laura Kamoie. You may recall that I dreaded reading the 600-page novel, America's First Daughter, by the same authors last year but ended up loving it, and I'm having the same experience now! I thought I wasn't in the mood for lengthy historical fiction, but once again, these remarkable authors have plunged me into the life of a woman connected to a Revolutionary hero, and I am captivated. It's a great novel, and I am also learning so much.
• I am still slowly making my way through a very unique illustrated book, Tales from the Inner City by Shaun Tan. Tan is known for his amazing illustrations, graphic novels, illustrated short stories, and even a short film. This unusual book is a collection of short fantasy stories about animals in an urban environment. Some stories are just a few lines long and others are 5 or more pages, each with at least one huge, colorful, two-page painting. They are all very weird and imaginative, about worlds that are different than ours, with a focus on the connections between animals and humans. It's almost impossible to describe briefly, but I am enjoying it.
• On audio, I started listening to Tangerine by Christine Mangan, a novel that got a lot of attention last year. It's the story of two young women in the 1950's who are college roommates and then meet up again later in Morocco. There is tension throughout, as you know that something bad happened when they last saw each other, but it's quite a while before you find out exactly what. It's keeping me a bit off-balance because the chapters alternate between the two main characters, and I'm not sure whether one of the women is a bit stalkerish or whether the other woman is paranoid. I'm enjoying it and am curious to see how it ends - and also hoping to have time for the discussion at a local bookstore next week.
• My husband, Ken, is reading The Child Finder by Rene Denfeld, a thriller that I gave him for Christmas. It got a lot of great buzz when it was published in 2017, and he says it's very good so far.
•  Our son, Jamie, 24,wants to read book 4, Kingdom Blades, of the series A Pattern of Shadow and Light by Melissa McPhail, a favorite series of his. But, being him, he decided to first re-read the first 3 books in the series. So, he finished book 1, Cephrael's Hand is now reading book 2, The Dagger of Adendigaeth. He says he's enjoying it and is glad he decided to re-read because he's remembering details he'd forgotten...and the series is sooo good!

Blog posts from last week:

Celebrate Mardi Gras with Books, TV, Movies, and FOOD! - enjoyable any time of year

Teen/YA Review: All the Crooked Saints by Maggie Stiefvater - definitely not my usual kind of thing, but this amazing author got me again with this magical, surreal story of miracles

Fiction Review: The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead - moving, powerful, and just as stunning as everyone says! A must-read.

What Are You Reading Monday is hosted by Kathryn at Book Date, so head over and check out her blog and join the Monday fun! You can also participate in a kid/teen/YA version hosted by Unleashing Readers.

You can follow me on Twitter at @SueBookByBook or on Facebook on my blog's page.   

What are you and your family reading this week? 

Our haul from the bookstore - including 3 classics (one that counts for Big Book Summer!)

  

Fiction Review: The Underground Railroad

I might just be the last person on earth to finally read Colson Whitehead's stunning and revered novel, The Underground Railroad. It won the National Book Award for Fiction in 2016, the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 2017, and several other prestigious prizes, as well as being nominated for a bunch of other awards and being on just about every Top 10 list the year it was published. After gazing at it on my shelf with anticipation for over a year, I finally made time to read it in February. Wow. I was just as moved and engrossed by this unique and powerful novel as all the other readers, reviewers, and prize-awarders have been.

Cora has grown up on the Randall plantation in Georgia and has been an orphan since about the age of ten or eleven, when her mother, Mabel, escaped. She was moved to the Hob, a small cabin set aside for the misfits of the slave community, but she clung hard to - and fought to protect - her mother's (and previously, her grandmother's) tiny garden, a 3-yard square plot of dirt in between cabins. When Caesar, a newly arrived slave from Virginia, asks teen-aged Cora about escaping, she says no at first, but after a violent and terrifying incident, she agrees. The two slaves escape through the nearby swamp one dark night, with their masters and various slave catchers close on their heels. One young man, a boy really, almost catches them, but when he tries to rape Cora, she kills him and they continue. Cora and Caesar make it to the Underground Railroad station and begin their journey north, in constant danger of being re-captured, especially now that Cora has been labelled the murderer of a white man. Their travels take them through the Carolinas and beyond, seeking freedom.

Here, while in hiding on her journey, Cora muses about the meaning of freedom:

"What a world it is, Cora thought, that makes a living prison into your own haven. Was she out of bondage or in its web: how to describe the status of a runaway? Freedom was a thing that shifted as you looked at it, the way a forest is dense with trees up close but from outside, from the empty meadow, you see its true limits. Being free had nothing to do with chains or how much space you had. On the plantation, she was not free, but she moved unrestricted on its acres, tasting the air and tracing the summer stars. The place was big in its smallness. Here, she was free of her master but slunk around a warren so tiny she couldn't stand."

Whitehead has written a very honest, authentic, and thought-provoking story of what life was really like for slaves on a southern plantation and the dangers of life on the run...but with his own clever twists. As steeped as the novel is in real-life history (each chapter opens with a real fugitive slave ad), it also presents an alternate history. In the novel, the Underground Railroad is quite literal: a real railroad that travels through tunnels underground, with hidden stations below the barns and homes of anti-slavery white people, who risk their own lives to help slaves move north. In addition, each southern state they travel through in the narrative has established its own unique way of dealing with Blacks - one of them has even abolished slavery and set up an alternate lifestyle for the freed slaves. As Cora travels, she experiences each new state, some of them disturbingly horrific and some seemingly peaceful. These fictional experiences in made-up societies mirror much of what happened - and is happening - in the real world over hundreds of years. The overall effect of this mix of real history and alternate history is a compelling and thoughtful story with characters that you root for (and those you hate). The premise is intriguing and ingenuous and kept me riveted to the page. As with any book about the real horrors of slavery, some passages are difficult to read, but Cora's courage and determination kept me captivated to the very end.

306 pages, Doubleday
Random House Audio

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.

Listen to a sample of the audio book. I read this one in print, but the audio sounds excellent and is probably even more powerful.

You can purchase The Underground Railroad from an independent bookstore, either locally or online, here:

Or you can order The Underground Railroad from Book Depository, with free shipping worldwide.

Teen/YA Review: All the Crooked Saints

One of my reading paradoxes is that I don't typically like reading fantasy...but I always end up enjoying Maggie Stiefvater's novels, which are all various types and degrees of fantasy. She has a way of writing characters and stories that completely pull me in, in spite of my initial hesitation. I especially loved her two series, The Wolves of Mercy Falls (starting with Shiver), which completely took me by surprise and I expected to hate, and The Raven Cycle (beginning with The Raven Boys), which both my son and I loved. I even enjoyed The Scorpio Races, even though it was a bit violent for my taste. So, when I heard about Stiefvater's latest YA novel, All the Crooked Saints, it didn't sound like something I'd like, but I had learned my lesson and knew to give it a try. Though this novel was the most fantastical - and more than a little strange - of all of them, I still got immersed in the story and invested in the characters and ended up enjoying this very unusual bit of fiction.

Most of the novel takes place in the 1960's, though there are flashbacks to earlier times, on an isolated ranch called Bicho Raro in the deserts of Colorado. This is where the Soria family lives...and performs miracles for visiting pilgrims. The catch is that the miracles have side effects - each person's inner darkness somehow manifesting - that are often so debilitating that the pilgrims have to live on the ranch until they figure out how to overcome the darkness. The family has a strict rule that family members can not interact with the pilgrims living on the ranch in case their darkness might spread, so there is an odd little community living on its own there whose members have some bizarre side effects, like the girl who has her own constant rainstorm following her around or the man who grows to an enormous height or the priest with the head of a coyote. The younger generation of Sorias includes cousins Daniel, considered the Saint of Bicho Raro; Beatriz, the girl who is said to have no feelings but is a mechanical genius; and Joaquin, who plays DJ Diablo Diablo in the middle of the night on the pirate radio station the cousins run out of an old truck. Into this strange mix comes Pete, a young man from Oklahoma who has come to the ranch to buy the very truck the cousins broadcast from, since their parents are unaware that Beatriz got it running again.

In case you can't tell from that brief description, this is a very weird bit of storytelling, filled with characters who have magical powers and others whose inner darkness has manifested in bizarre external ways. I listened to it on audio and was captivated by the beautiful singsong voice of narrator Thom Rivera, though it took me a bit longer to be engaged by the story itself. As I said, I'm not a big fan of fantasy. But Stiefvater's writing eventually won me over, as it always does. It especially shines in this unusual novel, with metaphors that make you stop in your tracks, and a humorous way of describing things (that's the downside of audio - I wasn't able to mark any quotes to share with you). Despite my initial doubts, this strange and surreal novel grew on me, as did its unusual characters. While this wasn't my favorite of Stiefvater's novels, I ended up enjoying it and appreciating its underlying messages about happiness and inner darkness. If you like fantasy and fables generally or are a fan of Stiefvater's specifically, then you will likely enjoy the magical story Bicho Raro and its miracles.

320 pages, Scholastic

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.

Listen to a brief audio sample here, to hear the narrator's melodic voice, or to download the audio book from Audible.

You can purchase All the Crooked Saints from an independent bookstore, either locally or online, here:

Or you can order All the Crooked Saints from Book Depository, with free shipping worldwide.

Celebrate Mardi Gras with Books,TV, Movies & FOOD!

A Mardi Gras parade and float, circa 1988

Happy Mardi Gras, ya'll!

Today is Mardi Gras day - we used to live in New Orleans, so this is a major holiday at out house! We had our annual party with a few friends (many of whom also lived in New Orleans when we did) on Saturday, and today, we will finish off the season with our annual tradition of Popeye's at a friend's house.

Want to join the fun today? Here is a collection of ways to celebrate Mardi Gras, New Orleans, and Louisiana today...including food, recipes, travel tips, movies & TV shows, and, of course, some great books! You can also check out my latest column in Shelf Awareness published today that features books about and set in New Orleans, Armchair Travel: Destination New Orleans.

Great Adult Books Set In/About Louisiana (additional titles in my article linked above):

• The Crowning Glory of Calla Lily Ponder by Rebecca Wells, author of Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood - I listened to Calla Lily's story on audio and laughed out loud & bawled my eyes out! It takes place in southern Louisiana, with plenty of local color.
• Gumbo Tales: Finding My Place at the New Orleans Table by Sara Roahen - I loved this memoir about the food, history, people, and unique culture of New Orleans.
• Trail of Crumbs: Food, Love, and the Search for Home by Kim Sunée - although this food-focused memoir covers everyplace from Sweden to France to Korea, the author grew up in New Orleans, where the food culture impacted the rest of her life.
  

Middle-Grade and Teen/YA Books Set In/About Louisiana:

• Ruined by Paula Morris - a teen/YA mystery/ghost story set in New Orleans (the perfect setting for a ghost story!)
• The Freedom Maze by Delia Sherman - a compelling middle-grade historical fiction adventure (with a touch of time travel), where a girl from 1960 travels back to 1860 Louisiana
• Zane and the Hurricane by Rodman Philbrick - a middle-grade novel about Hurricane Katrina - powerful and gripping
• Out of the Easy by Ruta Sepetys - most people are familiar with her two YA novels set during WWII (Between Shades of Gray and Salt to the Sea), but this historical novel is set in New Orleans in 1950

Movies & TV Shows

• Chef  - a wonderful, uplifting movie about a family food truck that travels from Miami to LA, with a stop in New Orleans, of course! My favorite movie of the year in 2015.
• NCIS: New Orleans - though it's a crime show, it includes many scenes of New Orleans, mention of local restaurants and landmarks, and other local tidbits. They usually do a Mardi Gras episode around this time of year, so check your cable On Demand.
• You can also check out some classic movies and modern classics with New Orleans settings, like A Streetcar Named Desire and The Big Easy.
• Or tune in to watch parades and other scenes in New Orleans streaming live (or if you missed the parades, some great video clips) at www.mardigras.com.

One of the locals in Louisiana

Travel
All this talk of Louisiana making you want to visit? I have written articles about visiting New Orleans  and Exploring Cajun Country - check them out and start planning your trip (plenty of food recommendations in both!). I'm certainly ready to go back!

Crawfish!

Eat, Drink, and Be Merry!
Notice that many of the books and movies about Louisiana are focused on FOOD? Yes, Louisiana - and especially New Orleans - is known for its amazing, unique food. This blog post on how to celebrate Mardi Gras includes my own recipes for some classic Louisiana dishes, plus food you can grab locally today and webcams where you can vicariously experience Mardi Gras - there are plenty of suggestions in this post that you can still manage to do TODAY! Or save it for tomorrow if you like - we eat this food all year round. 

NOTE that Zapp's potato chips - which you absolutely MUST try) have been bought out by PA-chip maker Utz, so you don't have to get them by mail-order anymore. We can now find them in local stores like Wawa here in Delaware....though we still ordered a carton of assorted flavors for Mardi Gras! (Cajun Crawtator and Cajun Dill are the best)

Me & my sons, about 8 years ago

It's Monday 3/4! What Are You Reading?

Busy week last week! The first part of my week was focused on writing, and the weekend was our annual Mardi Gras party. We used to live in New Orleans, so Mardi Gras is a major holiday at our house. We always look forward to our annual gathering of close friends, but it's a lot of work, too. So, I made a huge pot of jambalaya Friday evening (I made the red beans last week), and we spent Saturday decorating the house and getting everything set up. We had a wonderful collection of old friends, family, and our sons' old friends, and I think everyone had a great time. Family left by Sunday afternoon (including my husband, for a business trip), and then I collapsed!

Now, I need to catch up on everything I didn't do last week, including a bunch of e-mail and...visiting blogs. My evenings were FULL last week, with book group and two trips to drop off/pick up a car for repairs, and that is usually my blog time. I did spend an hour writing a book review last night for my blog...and then, just as I was ready to put my laptop away, it disappeared when I tried to publish it! Not fun. So, I wrote my review of Unsheltered twice - I hope you enjoy it!

Here's what we are all reading this week:

• I finished Unsheltered by Barbara Kingsolver for my neighborhood book group last week, and I loved it! It's a split narrative that takes place in one house in Vineland, NJ, which was created as a utopian community in the 1860's (in real life). One side of the story takes places back then, when a high school science teacher who's not allowed to teach about Darwin's theories lived in the house, with a (real-life) female botanist who corresponded with Charles Darwin living next door. The other half of the story takes place in the same house in the present, with a family dealing with a lot of crises - the husband's father is very ill and living with them, and their two adult children have both had to move back home (along with a newborn baby). I love Kingsolver's novels to begin with, and her way of connecting the two parallel stories in different time periods is so clever & engaging. You can read my full review and listen to a wonderful sample of the audio book at the link.
• Next, I dove into my first Booktopia book, which is also a book that I have proposed reviewing and interviewing the author to my editor at Shelf Awareness: The Den by Abi Maxwell. Oddly, this is also a split narrative about two families in the same place about 150 years apart - what a coincidence, right? In this novel, there are two sisters in each time period, and in both, the older sister gets pregnant and leaves home and eventually goes missing. It's a complex story, but I'm enjoying it so far - almost finished and hoping I get the chance to interview the author.
• I forgot to mention last week that I have been slowly making my way through a very unique illustrated book, Tales from the Inner City by Shaun Tan. Tan is known for his amazing illustrations, graphic novels, illustrated short stories, and even a short film. This unusual book is a collection of short fantasy stories about animals in an urban environment. Some stories are just a few lines long and others are 5 or more pages, each with at least one huge, colorful, two-page painting. They are all very weird and imaginative, about worlds that are different than ours, with a focus on the connections between animals and humans. It's almost impossible to describe briefly, but I am enjoying it.
• On audio, I finished listening to The Blinds by Adam Sternbergh, a unique thriller that I devoured! It's about an isolated town in Texas where all its citizens (about 50 of them) are in witness protection, either criminals or innocent witnesses. The Blinds is an experiment where each person's memory - or at least portions of it -  is erased before they arrive in town, so no one knows who is who or what they did before. It's been a dull, sleepy town for eight years but now there's been both a suicide and a murder, and Sheriff Calvin Cooper must try to keep the peace as the outside world threatens to interrupt their uneasy harmony. It was unique and compelling, and I listened during every spare moment!
• My husband, Ken, is reading Inside a Silver Box by Walter Mosley, a science fiction novel. He likes Mosley's mysteries featuring Easy Rawlins, and he and I both enjoyed The Last Days of Ptolemy Grey, a wonderful and moving novel about aging. This is the first of Mosely's science fiction novels either of us has read. My husband is about three-quarters of the way through it now.
• I noticed Ken left the Mosley novel at home for his trip this week (probably because he didn't want to finish it and either have to bring a second book or run out of reading material!) and brought with him The Child Finder by Rene Denfeld, a thriller that I gave him for Christmas. It got a lot of great buzz when it was published in 2017, so I hope he enjoys it.
• Our son, Jamie, 24,wants to read book 4, Kingdom Blades, of the series A Pattern of Shadow and Light by Melissa McPhail, a favorite series of his. But, being him, he decided to first re-read the first 3 books in the series. So, he finished book 1, Cephrael's Hand last week and has started on book 2, The Dagger of Adendigaeth. He says he's enjoying it and is glad he decided to re-read because he's remembering details he'd forgotten...and the series is sooo good!

Just one blog post last week:  

Fiction Review: Unsheltered by Barbara Kingsolver - warm, immersive story of two families in one house, 150 years apart

What Are You Reading Monday is hosted by Kathryn at Book Date, so head over and check out her blog and join the Monday fun! You can also participate in a kid/teen/YA version hosted by Unleashing Readers.

You can follow me on Twitter at @SueBookByBook or on Facebook on my blog's page.   

What are you and your family reading this week?  

Happy Mardi Gras!

Fiction Review: Unsheltered

I just finished reading Barbara Kingsolver's latest novel, Unsheltered, and my neighborhood book group discussed it this week. Kingsolver is one of my favorite authors (especially her earlier novels like The Poisonwood Bible, The Bean Trees, and Pigs in Heaven), so I've been looking forward to reading this recent one. Unsheltered features parallel stories set in the same house about 150 years apart; it's clever and compelling, and I enjoyed it very much.

Willa Knox and her husband, Iano, are juggling so many crises at once that they can barely keep up. Their two adult children have had to move back home, along with a newborn infant; Willa lost her job and Iano's job as a college professor barely covers their expenses; Iano's cranky and infirm father lives with them and needs medical care they can't afford; and the house they recently inherited from an aunt in Vineland, NJ, is literally falling down around them. Willa normally takes responsibility for everyone around her, but she is feeling like her life is spinning out of control right now, as she struggles to take care of both a baby and an elderly man (with a serious potty mouth).

In alternating chapters, 150 years earlier, on the same corner in Vineland, Thatcher Greenwood has recently moved in with his new (much younger) wife, Rose; her mother, Aurelia; and her 12-year-old sister, Polly. Their house is also falling down around them and needs a new roof and other unaffordable repairs, but Rose's father built the house, so the women around Thatcher refuse to even consider moving. Thatcher works for modest pay as a high school science teacher in Vineland, a Utopian community started by Charles Landis (a real-life town and man). Thatcher yearns to introduce his students - mostly the children of farmers and laborers - to the excitement of science, but his overbearing principal, a close friend of Mr. Landis, won't allow him to even mention Darwin's revolutionary new discoveries. Thatcher's only refuge is the friendship of his next-door neighbor, Mary Treat (another real-life historical figure), a rare female botanist who spends her time examining the local flora, earns a good living writing about her observations, and corresponds with Mr. Darwin directly.

That sounds like a lot packed into one novel - and it is - but Kingsolver introduces each family and time period gradually and so compellingly that the reader is soon immersed in their lives. I found both stories equally engrossing. Our book group had a wonderful, wide-ranging discussion that included topics like the clever ways that Kingsolver draws parallels between the two stories, the details of each family's challenges, her use of the words "shelter" and "unsheltered" in each chapter with various meanings, and her talent for writing sentences that stop you in your tracks. In this one, Willa muses about the differences between their early years as a couple and their later years with children:

" No rational guidelines existed for comparing youthful freedom with the heart-enlarging earthquake of family life."

As with most Kingsolver novels, she combines the personal with the global, and concepts related to the environment and politics are woven into the narrative. A few in my book group felt she was a bit heavy-handed and preachy at times. I felt that way about her last novel, Flight Behavior (though I still enjoyed it), but I thought this novel was more natural and thoughtful in its approach, ingeniously showing parallels between then and now that indicate that things really haven't changed as much as we might think and that the challenges facing our world today aren't all that new. Mostly, though, this warm, engaging, entertaining novel is about family and how compassion, connections, and creativity can see us through the most difficult times in our lives.

461 pages, HarperCollins
HarperAudio

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.

Listen to a sample of the audio book, read by the author from the start of the novel - though I read this one in print, I love listening to Kingsolver read her own novels. Just listening to this brief sample made me smile and want to read the book again!

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 Unsheltered from Book Depository, with free shipping worldwide.

It's Monday 2/25! What Are You Reading?

February 25. A day I have known well since I was a little girl - my dad's birthday. I miss him every day but especially on significant days like today. It's impossible to see that date and not get hit with the sadness of missing him. I'll include a couple of photos at the end of this post in memory of all our good times together!

I finally had plenty of quiet writing time last week! I've been working on a book, about treatments for the chronic immune disorder my son and I have, and I had several good writing days last week when I was able to finish one chapter and start and finish another - progress!

And we had a nice weekend, with a good mix of getting things done and relaxing. Books are always a part of that! Here's what we've all been reading this past week:

• I have about 6 pages left of Unsheltered by Barbara Kingsolver, for my neighborhood book group this week. I am already loving it! It's a split narrative that takes place in one house in Vineland, NJ, which was created as a utopian community in the 1860's (in real life). One side of the story takes places back then, when a high school science teacher who's not allowed to teach about Darwin's theories lived in the house, with a female botanist who corresponded with Charles Darwin living next door. The other half of the story takes place in the same house in the present, with a family dealing with a lot of crises - the husband's father is very ill and living with them, and their two adult children have both had to move back home (along with a newborn baby). I love Kingsolver's novels to begin with, and her way of connecting the two parallel stories in different time periods is so clever & engaging. 
• I finished listening to The Devil's Highway by Luis Alberto Urrea. I am writing a book column for Shelf Awareness for Cinco de Mayo that includes this book. It's the true story of an attempt in 2001 by 26 Mexican men to cross the border into Arizona through a desolate stretch of desert known as the Devil's Highway. It was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize for Nonfiction and is certainly relevant to the immigration controversies and challenges rocking our nation (and the world) right now. However, the author really doesn't address political or moral issues related to immigration - his focus is on telling this harrowing story from the facts collected through interviews and police reports and on the human toll. It's fascinating, compelling, and eye-opening.
• Now, I am listening to The Blinds by Adam Sternbergh, a unique thriller. It's about an isolated town in Texas where all its citizens (about 50 of them) are in witness protection, either criminals or innocent witnesses. The Blinds is an experiment where each person's memory - or at least portions of it -  is erased before they arrive in town, so no one knows who is who or what they did before. It's been a dull, sleepy town for eight years but now there's been both a suicide and a murder and Sheriff Calvin Cooper must try to keep the peace as the outside world threatens to interrupt their uneasy harmony. It's excellent so far!
• My husband, Ken, finished Edge by Jeffrey Deaver. Though we both love Deaver's Lincoln Rhymes series, this is a stand-alone novel, so we were intrigued by it. He said it was kind of slow to start but he ended up enjoying it.
• Our son, Jamie, 24,wants to read book 4, Kingdom Blades, of the series A Pattern of Shadow and Light by Melissa McPhail, a favorite series of his. But, being him, he decided to first re-read the first 3 books in the series. So, he's just re-started book 1, Cephrael's Hand, a mere 780 pages. He says he's enjoying it and is glad he decided to re-read because he's remembering details he'd forgotten...and the series is sooo good!

Blog posts from last week - catching up!

Teen/YA Review: The Beautiful Lost by Luanne Rice - road trip novel that deals with mental illness and family problems

2019 Reading Challenges - better late than never!

Nonfiction/Graphic Novel Review: Escaping Wars and Waves by Olivier Kugler - original, powerful true stories in words and drawings of Syrian refugees

Fiction Review: Finding Dorothy by Elizabeth Letts - delightful, engrossing historical fiction about the wife of the author of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz

My summary of Books Read in January - great reading month & good start on my challenges

What Are You Reading Monday is hosted by Kathryn at Book Date, so head over and check out her blog and join the Monday fun! You can also participate in a kid/teen/YA version hosted by Unleashing Readers.

You can follow me on Twitter at @SueBookByBook or on Facebook on my blog's page.   

What are you and your family reading this week?  

A few memories of my dad - as you can see, he was a very hands-on dad and grandpa!

Dad and I in Canada circa 1969

Grandpa with his grandsons (my sons)

Dad hiking & geocaching with us