It's Monday 7/8! What Are You Reading?

Things finally settled down a bit around here last week - no new crises (though the old ones continue)! The holiday mid-week messed me up a bit - I kept thinking it was Saturday when it wasn't yet. We had some old friends over for 4th of July, and it was great to get caught up and laugh! Both our sons returned from their own holiday fun in time for a family dinner Sunday with my father-in-law here, too, and in between, my husband and I had some quiet time to recuperate. We were both still pretty exhausted this week from all the stress and chaos, and the start of the week was more of that. And - minor miracle - I actually had some quiet time to myself Friday when my husband and son went golfing together, so I unexpectedly had some writing time, and I've found an editor for my new book!

Here's what we've been reading this past week:

Having finally finished Gone with the Wind, I moved onto my 2nd Big Book of the Summer, Fly by Night by Frances Hardinge. It's a middle-grade fantasy novel that has been on my shelf for a loooong time - since its release in 2008! It's set in a world where books are banned and few people know how to read, but orphan Mosca was secretly taught to read by her father. She runs away from her cruel uncle and pairs up with a conman named Eponymous Clent. Mosca is very smart but also very naive, having grown up in a small, remote village. It took me a while to get into this one, mainly because I'm not a huge fan of fantasies set in made-up worlds, but I am enjoying it now that I've gotten used to its eccentricities. It's clever, action-packed, and funny. But, I had to set it aside temporarily...

I realized I was running out of time to read a book for my next book group (I told you the holiday messed up my timing last week!), so I also started my 3rd Big Book of the Summer, a re-read of The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger. Besides reading it to discuss next week in book group, this also happens to be one of my Top 5 Books Of All Time (don't ask me to name all five because they keep changing, but this one is always up there!). I LOVE this unique novel with all my heart, and as soon as I began reading it again, I remembered why. It is warm and sweet and clever and smart and joyful and sad. I am a huge fan of time travel novels to begin with, but this one is my favorite and so beautifully written. I think it's been at least 10 years since I first read it, and I am enjoying it just as much the second time and staying up much too late every night because I hate to set it down.

On audio, I finished listening to a middle-grade/teen novel (and another Big Book) from 2004, Airborn by Kenneth Oppel, an author that we and our sons enjoyed when they were younger (his Silverwing collection was a favorite here). Airborn was nominated for a bunch of awards - and won quite a few of them - when it was first released. It's a fast-paced story that combines adventure, steampunk, and fantasy, set in a world that is ours...but not. Matt Cruse is a cabin boy on a huge airship that carries wealthy passengers several hundred feet above the ocean, from city to city. With pirates, a dying scientist, a mysterious island, and a never-before-seen creature, it is packed with action and excitement. It's a full-cast audio, so it was lots of fun to listen to.






I chose another Big Book for my next audio: The Book of M by Peng Shepherd, a novel that was released about a year ago that I have wanted to read ever since I heard about it. It's a post-apocalyptic tale about a mysterious virus that quickly spreads across the world. It causes people to lose their shadows, which oddly also causes them to gradually lose their memories. I'm still at the very beginning, as the later stages of this catastrophe are experienced by multiple narrators trying to escape its effects. This novel made it on a bunch of Best of 2018 lists and has been compared to The Passage and Station Eleven, two books I loved. It's already gripping, and I can't wait to see what happens next!


My husband, Ken, is reading his third Big Book of the summer, The Crow Girl by Erik Axl Sund, which I picked out for him at Northshire Books (recommended by the booksellers there) at Booktopia this year. It's a Swedish thriller about a serial killer. On the cover, it says, "the most disturbing book you'll read this year," and he says that so far that is absolutely true! He says it makes it sound as if most of Sweden's citizens are child abusers; I didn't realize this one dealt with kids or I might have chosen something different, but he is sticking with it. At 866 pages, it might take him a little longer.


Our son, Jamie, 24, is now reading a new-to-him series, An Assassin's Blade trilogy by Justin DePaoli, described as a dark epic fantasy. He says the books are shorter than what he usually reads and not as well-written as his favorites, but he's enjoying it.



Blog posts last week:

Movie Monday: Yesterday - a warm, funny, uplifting music-filled movie - lot of fun!


Summary of my Books Read in May - another good reading month


Celebrate 4th of July with Books! - two wonderful novels about the great women behind our founding fathers


Fiction Review: Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell - I finished! Well-worth the five weeks it took me to read it - I loved it!

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?

Remember to sign up for the Big Book Summer Challenge! It's easy-going, like summer - you only have to read one book of 400 or more pages between now and September (though you can, of course, read more!) It's lots of fun and a great way to add extra enjoyment to your summer! All the details are at the link - you can sign up there if you have a blog or, if not, just leave a comment on that page or sign up at the Goodreads group linked from that page. Join the fun!

Fiction Review: Gone with the Wind

It took me five weeks - and multiple reading challenges for extra motivation! - but I finally finished reading Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell. Given the fact that it won the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award, has become a beloved icon of classic American literature, and has been highly acclaimed for over 80 years now, I shouldn't have been surprised by how much I liked it. But I was blown away by this engrossing novel, and in 950+ pages and five weeks, never once got bored of reading it. In fact, I am now missing Scarlett, Melanie, Rhett, and the rest of the gang.

I am guessing that most people know the basic plot (I saw the movie about 35 or so years ago and remembered the highlights), but I will provide a quick recap. Scarlett O'Hara is a classic Southern Belle, living on a prosperous cotton plantation called Tara in northern Georgia with her parents and two sisters (and lots of slaves). It is 1861, and Scarlett is 16 years old, blossomed into a beautiful and brash young woman who knows the power she has over men. She is happiest surrounded by beaux, flirting with them all, and delighting in the effect she has on them. The novel opens with a barbecue at the neighboring plantation, Twelve Oaks, owned by the Wilkes. Scarlett is surrounded by men, as usual, but the one she really wants is Ashley Wilkes, a quiet, scholarly young man whom Scarlett grew up with. At this event, Ashley gets engaged to Melanie Hamilton, a small, plain young woman. The Civil War soon interrupts all their lives, as the men go off to fight, and the women are left to try to manage the households, as shortages of basic supplies make everyday life difficult and the violence and devastation of the war affects civilians. Scarlett heads to Atlanta to move in with Melanie (whom she hates, of course) to help care for Melanie's Aunt Pitty, an elderly and helpless woman. The novel continues through the war, the burning of Atlanta, and on into the dark days of Reconstruction. Scarlett changes from a delicate flower to a strong, fierce, determined woman, as she does what she has to to save her family, friends, and Tara. All along, she continues to hate Melanie (though the two become quite close in facing adversity together), secretly love Ashley, and more and more, is attracted to a much-hated handsome Scallawag named Rhett Butler.

So, there's almost 1000 pages in one paragraph. I've been careful to avoid any spoilers and just stick to the bare outline of the plot, but SO MUCH happens in this novel! It is filled with unexpected plot twists, suspense, and surprises. Mitchell has crafted an exquisite novel filled with three-dimensional characters that you come to care for (or hate, or in Scarlett's case, love and hate, alternatingly!). For such a long story, it is surprisingly agile and fast-paced, filled with action and completely engrossing. It's funny, too, with plenty of passages that made me laugh out loud in surprise. Mitchell's writing is engaging and insightful, as in Rhett's musings about the realities of war and here, where she describes the Southern gentility during the barbecue:

"Men and women, they were beautiful and wild, all a little violent under their pleasant ways and only a little tamed."

This is also a work of historical fiction, though, and I learned so much about the South during the Civil War and Reconstruction. I had no idea of the darker side of Reconstruction - the corruption, political machinations, and the military rule over Georgia and other Southern states. Nor did I realize just how much ordinary people suffered during the war and after. Of course, as you might expect of a novel written in the 1930's, the racial picture drawn in the story is in sharp contrast to our modern sensibilities. The slaves that work at Tara and most of its neighboring plantations are happy in their roles and well taken care of, with the white characters often mentioning how the simple-minded "darkies" need structure and direction. In fact, most of the main black characters in the novel choose to remain with their masters after the war ends and they are freed; most field slaves flee but most house slaves stay. As horrifying as all this is, I accepted the way the story is told as a product of its time, both the 1860's in which is was set, and the 1930's when it was written. If anything, it is perhaps an accurate picture of how most white, wealthy Southerners thought at the time.

Margaret Mitchell brought to vivid life this singular period of American history, in this singular place. She opened my eyes to the effects of the war and its aftermath on real people, most of whom went from living wealthy lives of leisure and beauty to poverty, grievous injury (or death), and starvation. And she does all of this through an incredibly complex character, Scarlett, who is selfish and shallow ("I'll think about that tomorrow!") but can also become a fierce and loving protector when her friends and family are threatened. It's a love story, a fascinating history, and a compelling family saga. I thoroughly enjoyed reading every page of it. Now I am eager to re-watch the movie adaptation!

959 pages, Scribner

This was my first book read for my 2019 Big Book Summer Challenge (quite a start!). There is still plenty of time for you to join the fun, too! Check out the details at the link.

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 (very long!) audio book, from the opening of the novel.

You can purchase Gone with the Wind from an independent bookstore, either locally or online, here:

Or you can order Gone with the Wind from Book Depository, with free shipping worldwide.

Celebrate 4th of July with Books!

If you are a regular reader of this blog, you already know how much I loved the two historical novels by Stephanie Dray and Laura Kamoie. I gushed about them both here on the blog and reviewed both of the novels, America's First Daughter and My Dear Hamilton, in glowing praise (my reviews at the links). In both cases, I was hesitant to read the book, thinking I would be bored by a 600-page historical novel, but by chapter two, I was hooked and quickly sped through each of them, left at the end wanting even more!

I wrote about these two novels and their authors in this week's From the Shelf column in Shelf Awareness: The Women Behind the Founding Fathers. Both would be excellent choices this week for celebrating the United States' Independence Day, the 4th of July. These two authors beautifully combine historical details of our nation's birth and development (Kamoie is a history professor) with compelling stories of influential women, and the combination is irresistible.  You can read more about them at the link to my column above.

And, coincidentally, both of these engaging and fascinating novels would be perfect choices for my Big Book Summer Challenge - there is still plenty of time to join! Despite each having 600+ pages, these are both fairly quick reads and would be a great addition to your summer reading.

Happy Fourth of July!

Books Read in May

Not, that's not a typo - it's July 2, and this is my MAY summary! I had a lot of books to review from May...and a lot of family crises that kept me from writing. So...May! May was an excellent reading month, with a lot of variety. Here's what I finished reading in May:

• The Guest Book by Sarah Blake (ME) - adult fiction on audio
• Paul Takes the Form of a Mortal Girl by Andrea Lawlor (IA) - adult fiction
• On a Sunbeam by Tillie Walden - teen/YA sci fi graphic novel

• Evvie Drake Starts Over by Linda Holmes (ME) - adult fiction
• Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman (Scotland) - adult fiction
• The Knowing by Sharon Cameron - teen/YA fiction on audio

• Inheritance by Dani Shapiro (CT) - memoir
• True Grit by Charles Portis (AR, OK) - adult fiction

Links are to my reviews. Note that I did not review The Knowing because I couldn't write about it without spoiling the first book in the series, so you can read my review (no spoilers!) of that book, The Forgetting, at this link.

I read eight books in total in May, which is very good for me. Seven of them were fiction, but I did get one nonfiction memoir in there, for a change! Two of the books were teen/YA, and the other six were for adults, and I listened to two books on audio in May. The first two books listed were the last of my 2019 Booktopia reads, and I enjoyed meeting both of those authors. I enjoyed all eight books, but it's easy to pick a favorite because I really loved Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine and am still missing the book and its main character. Highly recommended if you haven't read it yet!

Progress in 2019 Reading Challenges:
This is my favorite part of my monthly summary - updating my Reading Challenges:

Mount TBR Reading Challenge - just 3 of my 8 books were from my own shelves (and they were all fairly new, so I am still losing ground!).

Monthly Motif Reading Challenge - May was One Sitting Reads month, so I am counting On a Sunbeam by Tillie Walden...though to be clear, I didn't actually read it in one sitting, as I tend to read graphic novels in small bites...but I could have!

Back to the Classics Challenge - Woohoo! With True Grit by Charles Portis, I finally read my first classic of the year! I counted this one as a novella, as it was just 240 pages.

Monthly Keyword Challenge - I didn't read a single book with any of the monthly keywords in the title...again, for the 5th month in a row! Clearly this challenge wasn't a good choice for me!

Nonfiction Reading Challenge 2019 - I added Inheritance by Dani Shapiro, as my 4th nonfiction read of the year.

Diversity Reading Challenge - 3 of my 8 books were diverse books.

Travel the World in Books Reading Challenge - I added just one new country, Scotland (do other planets count? I had two of those!)

2018 Literary Escapes Challenge - I added 3 new states: Iowa, Connecticut, and Arkansas (and read two more books set in Maine - a popular setting for me this year!)

Finally, Bookish Bingo hosted by Chapter Break - not really a challenge per se, but a fun game that I play each month. I filled in 21 squares in May - 

Bingo spaces filled in:

The Guest Book - recently released (2019), audio book
Paul Takes the Form of a Mortal Girl -  read a physical book, minority author, new to me author
On a Sunbeam - alternative mode of transportation (spaceship), free book
Evvie Drake Starts Over - new relationship, clean romance, contemporary fiction
Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine - library book, award-winning, overcome adversity, mother
The Knowing - suspense, in a series
Inheritance - not in a series
True Grit - shelf love, made into a movie, outlaw/scoundrel

 
What was your favorite book read in May? 

Movie Monday: Yesterday

After laughing through the trailers on TV the past few weeks, my husband and I went out to see Yesterday this weekend, as soon as it hit theaters, and it lived up to our expectations. This warm, funny, musical movie was fun and uplifting.

Jack Malik, played by Himesh Patel, is a struggling musician...really struggling. He plays small venues where his friends make up most of the audience and writes his own songs, but after years of working, he hasn't seemed to make any progress. His manager and old friend, Ellie, played by Lily James, keeps encouraging him, but one night, after yet another performance with almost no audience, he decides to quit. Riding his bicycle home, there is a sudden black-out, all over the world, and Jack gets hit by a bus. When he wakes up in the hospital - battered and bruised and missing his front teeth - Ellie is by his side. Over the next few days, he begins to notice that his friends don't understand his references to Beatle's songs, and when he sings Yesterday for them on the new guitar Ellie gave him, they are stunned by the song and thinks he wrote it. Many trips to Google confirm that he is now living in a world where no one - except him - has ever heard of the Beatles or knows any of their songs. He begins playing the songs and quickly gains attention, including from Ed Sheeran, playing himself. Bringing his friend Rocky, played by Joel Fry, along as his roadie, Jack quickly rises and gains fame. A Hollywood agent named Debra, played hilariously over-the-top by Kate McKinnon, takes him under his wing and quickly makes him famous, but Jack has doubts - about lying about writing the songs and about the role that Ellie plays in his life.

We thoroughly enjoyed every moment of this unique movie that combines a musical with a romcom and adds a dash of sci fi. It's just plain fun, from beginning to end, and the very definition of a feel-good movie. Of course, the music is great, and it's fun to watch Jack to try remember all the lyrics to all the songs. It is also very, very funny, with plenty of laughs packed in from all the characters, including Jack's parents who really don't understand his newfound fame. Patel, a British actor who I'd never heard of before, is excellent in the lead role, juggling drama, awkward romance, humor, and music adeptly. I have noticed that many (most?) movie critics have been less-than-impressed with this movie and been - well, critical, but all of the regular people (i.e. my friends!) who have seen it have enjoyed it as much as we have. So, to the critics, I say...relax! Just chill out, sit back, and go along for the ride. I think this is the perfect summer movie - poignant, very funny, great music, and with a clever premise. We walked out of the theater smiling and singing (and spent the next few days trying to remember all the Beatles' lyrics!). In fact, I'd like to watch it again just to experience that pure entertainment joy.

Check out the trailer to see for yourself:



Yesterday is currently in theaters. You can purchase tickets (including for recliner theaters, like we did!) through Fandango:

It's Monday 7/1! What Are You Reading?

Ugh...July 1? That's half of the year over already, and I feel like I'm just running in a hamster wheel (and occasionally getting flung off!). Sorry I missed the Monday post last week - and also visiting blogs - but we had yet another crisis pop up. My father-in-law was in the hospital from Monday through Thursday. It was just a respiratory virus/cold, but at 94 years old, it hit him hard and weakened him. The hospital was frustrating because what they did was not always in his best interest, so we were all thrilled when the doctor discharged him on Thursday (after we waited for 6 hours to talk to him and finally had to almost tackle him to get him into the room! lol). So, my FIL is back in his independent living apartment now, still coughing a bit but otherwise pretty much back to his baseline. He is definitely needing more care and help these days, so we are trying to manage that, while also trying to help get our son's health back on track after a really bad relapse of his chronic illnesses this spring. It's been a tough time here.

We had a nice, quiet weekend, and my husband and I went out by ourselves Saturday evening, which was just what we needed. We were both too exhausted and burned out for social interaction but enjoyed dinner at a local pub and a movie in a recliner theater (Yesterday was great - review to follow, probably today).

And, of course, we always have our books to comfort us. Big Book Summer is about the only thing I am enjoying about summer these days! It's too hot here to do anything else. Here's what we've all been reading the past two weeks:

I FINISHED IT!!! Yes, after five weeks, I finally finished my first Big Book of the Summer, a 959-page chunkster, Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell. This is a readalong for the Book Cougars podcast for June, plus a classic (I am behind on my Classics Challenge), and from my own shelves, so it counts for several challenges. I never got bored with it in five weeks. It is really an astounding novel, and I can see why it's been so acclaimed for so long. The story is intricate and engrossing, plus it is filled with historical details of the Civil War and Reconstruction in Georgia, which were quite eye-opening. Sure, it is dated to some degree, having been written in the 1930's, and especially in terms of race, but keeping in mind that it is a product of its times, it is a compelling, fascinating novel and worth every one of those almost-1000 pages! I'm going to miss Scarlett, Melanie, Rhett, and the rest of the gang. And now I want to re-watch the 4-hour movie adaptation.

Last week, I had to set Gone with the Wind aside for a few days to re-read one of my all-time favorite novels, The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin. I first read it back in 2015 (you can read my review at the link), and I loved it just as much the second time around! This is a wonderful, warm, witty novel about books and love. The title character is a grumpy recluse who owns a bookstore on tiny Alice Island and lost his wife a year earlier. The novel is about friendship, love, and healing. It is also filled with literary references, the kind of book that has you scribbling a list of other things you want to read while you are reading it! This favorite novel of mine makes me both laugh out loud (frequently) and brings tears to my eyes, even the second time. I couldn't make it to book group after all, because of my father-in-law in the hospital, but I was very glad to have re-read the book, and it was the perfect novel for a stressful week. Highly recommended.

On audio, I've been listening to a middle-grade/teen novel from 2004, Airborn by Kenneth Oppel, an author that we and our sons enjoyed when they were younger (his Silverwing collection was a favorite here). Airborn was nominated for a bunch of awards - and won quite a few of them - when it was first released. It's a fast-paced story that combines adventure, steampunk, and a bit of fantasy, set in a world that is ours...but not. Matt Cruse is a cabin boy on a huge airship that carries wealthy passengers several hundred feet above the ocean, from city to city. With pirates, a dying scientist, a mysterious island, and a never-before-seen creature, it is packed with action and excitement. It's a full-cast audio, so it's lots of fun to listen to.

My husband, Ken, just finished The Good Son by You-Jeong Jeong. This thriller was given to me by one of the booksellers in our local bookstore who runs an international mystery book group at the store. Each month, they read a mystery or thriller set in a different country, and this was a favorite in the group. Jeong has been called "the Korean Stephen King" and the novel has been described as "The Talented Mr. Ripley meets The Bad Seed." It begins with the main character waking up, with no memory of the night before, to find his mother's dead body in a pool of blood. I think Ken was a little disappointed in it; it wasn't quite as fast-paced or compelling as he likes. This could have been a translation issue or - as he admits - it could be that with everything going on lately, he never had a good, long stretch to sit and read and get absorbed in it, so he read it in short spurts. He did enjoy it, just not as much as our local bookseller and her mystery book group did.

Now, Ken has started his third Big Book of the summer (he's way ahead of me!), The Crow Girl by Erik Axl Sund, which I picked out for him at Northshire Books (recommended by the booksellers there) at Booktopia this year. On the cover, it says, "the most disturbing book you'll read this year," so he thinks he knows what to expect! It's a Swedish thriller about a serial killer. At 866 pages, this one might take him a little longer.


Our son, Jamie, 24, has gone back to a favorite series, Sorcery Ascendant Sequence by Mitchell Hogan, and he re-read the first book, A Crucible of Souls (a Big Book, like most that he reads!) and just finished book 2, Blood of Innocents. He loves this series!


Blog posts from the last two weeks:

Movie Monday: Murder Mystery - a light bit of summer comedy

Fiction Review: True Grit by Charles Portis - classic western about a little girl, with a great sense of humor

Saturday Snapshot: First State National Historic Park - a nice Father's Day hike

Author Interview & Memoir Review: The Light Years by Chris Rush - a mind-blowing coming-of-age memoir about growing up in the 1960's and 70's

Author Interview and Fiction Review: Evvie Drake Starts Over by Linda Holmes - warm & witty romcom with serious undertones

Memoir Review: Inheritance by Dani Shapiro - genetic testing brings big surprises!

Saturday Snapshot: HOT Summer Days - a few photos from a rare hike

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?

Remember to sign up for the Big Book Summer Challenge! It's easy-going, like summer - you only have to read one book of 400 or more pages between now and September (though you can, of course, read more!) It's lots of fun and a great way to add extra enjoyment to your summer! All the details are at the link - you can sign up there if you have a blog or, if not, just leave a comment on that page or sign up at the Goodreads group linked from that page. Join the fun!

Saturday Snapshot: HOT Summer Days

Saturday Snapshot is hosted by Melinda at A Web of Stories (same host as always but with a new blog - check it out!).

Life around here has been an endless series of crises, so I haven't been able to get outdoors and walk like I normally do. This week, my 94-year-old father-in-law was in the hospital (he's fine now), so once he was settled back into his apartment Thursday night, I looked forward to a quiet, "normal" day on Friday. But it has been in the 90's and humid every day this week (and my car doesn't have A/C, so all those trips back and forth to the hospital were agony!). At 9 am, it was already too hot to walk in my neighborhood, so I drove a few miles to our local Ashland Nature Center, a beautiful, familiar, and shady place! I was still sweating by the end of my short hike, but it was far more tolerable in the shade, and I loved just getting outside for a bit. Here are some glimpses of the gorgeous trails, with everything lush and green.

I love this little bridge in the woods over the stream.

Cool stream running through all that green.

An enticing trail through a tunnel of lush green.

Robin's egg!

One of Delaware's two covered bridges reflected in the stream

Beautiful flowers in bloom in the butterfly garden.

Hope you are enjoying a wonderful weekend and staying cool!

Memoir Review: Inheritance

Like everyone else, I have been hearing about Dani Shapiro's best-selling book, Inheritance: A Memoir About Genealogy, Paternity, and Love, ever since its release in January this year. So, when one of my favorite podcasts, Happier with Gretchen Rubin, chose the book as its first book group selection AND one of my own local book groups chose it for this spring, I made time to read it. This unique story of discovering a shocking secret about your family - and yourself - in your 50's kept me rapt.

Dani opens the book by describing what happened when, in a rush to leave for a trip, she and her husband took a quick peek at newly delivered genetic results from Ancestry.com, and her life was forever changed. Dani grew up in an Orthodox Jewish household, with both a Jewish mother and father. Her parents had died, but - like us all - they had both left an indelible impact on her life and her identity. So, when her genetic results clearly stated that Dani was slightly less than 50% Jewish, she was stunned and assumed it must be a mistake. It was no mistake. Through the magic of the internet and with her husband's help, Dani discovered over the course of mere days that the father that she grew up with was not actually her biological father, and (somewhat miraculously) tracked down the man who had donated sperm anonymously to a fertility clinic as a medical student over 50 years ago. Dani's whole world was turned upside down, as everything she thought she knew about herself and her family seemed to be a lie. Slowly, she pieced together the story of what had happened so long ago, talked to family members, and began to come to terms with this life-changing news.

Throughout this fascinating and incredible memoir, Dani slowly unravels the truth and brings the reader along for the ride. She remembers bits of her childhood that never made sense before (such as how people often commented that blond, blue-eyed Dani couldn't possibly be Jewish), struggles to reconcile the life and father she lived with versus the truth she has discovered, and slowly - very slowly - begins to put her life back together. I was riveted by this incredible true story. Dani, a well-respected author of both memoir and fiction, is a wonderful writer, and her story is both compelling and thoughtful. This is an excellent choice for book groups, and we had some interesting and in-depth conversations about Dani's musings on family, fatherhood, and identity.

272 pages, Knopf

Note: This blog contains affiliate links. Purchases from these links provide a small commission to me at no extra cost to you.

Listen to a sample of the audio book, read compellingly by the author. It's even more powerful to hear her read her own words aloud.

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

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

Fiction Review and Author Interview: Evvie Drake Starts Over

As I have mentioned here before, I am a big fan of the Pop Culture Happy Hour podcast, and I listen to it (and look forward to it) every week. So, when I saw that the host of PCHH, Linda Holmes, had written her debut novel, Evvie Drake Starts Over, I pitched an author interview to my editor at Shelf Awareness. I was absolutely thrilled when she said yes, and last month, I had the chance to chat with Linda on the phone about her new novel, which I thoroughly enjoyed. My review of the book is below, and you can read my interview with Linda here.

Evvie Drake is packing her car to leave her husband when she gets a phone call that he’s been in a serious car accident. Before she can get to the hospital, he dies…and no one – not even her best friend, Andy – knows that she was about to leave him. This leads to a rather awkward and extra-difficult time for Evvie, as everyone sees her as the inconsolable, grieving young widow, when in fact, her emotions are also mixed up with guilt and the pressure of keeping her secret. One year later, she still feels stuck in a kind of limbo when Andy asks her if his friend, Dean, might rent the apartment connected to her house. Dean is a professional baseball player, a star pitcher with a bad case of the “yips.” As Andy explains to Evvie, “Well, he was a very good pitcher, and then all of a sudden, he was a very bad pitcher.” Dean is looking to escape the nonstop media attention, and this small town in Maine seems like a good place to lay low and figure out what’s next in his life. So, Dean moves into the apartment, and he and Evvie become friends. They both vow not to mention the others’ problem (i.e. dead husband and baseball), but as they grow to care about each other, they each want to help the other.

On the PCHH podcast, Linda Holmes often talks about her love of romcoms, so it’s no surprise that she chose to write one as her first novel. What is a bit of a surprise is just how good it is. She nails the witty banter and will-they-won’t-they of all romcoms, but, as she explains in her interview with me, she gives the story a much-needed twist. Neither Evvie nor Dean actually fix each other; both of them need to fix themselves before they can even consider a future together, and that’s a nice, realistic change from the typical girl-meets-boy-and-he-fixes-her romcom trope. I was hooked on this story and its likeable characters right from the first chapter. Holmes is very talented with the witty banter, and I was often laughing out loud while reading, but it is also a very warm, tender story with plenty of emotional depth, delving into grief, friendship, love, and moving forward. She’s working on a second novel now, and I can’t wait to read it!

289 pages, Ballantine Books

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.

 

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Listen to  sample of the audiobook, narrated beautifully by Julia Whelan (who also narrated best-sellers The Great Alone and Educated).

You can purchase Evvie Drake Starts Over from an independent bookstore, either locally or online, here:

Or you can order Evvie Drake Starts Over from Book Depository, with free shipping worldwide.

 

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Author Interview & Memoir Review: The Light Years by Chris Rush

The blog has been a bit quiet this week because my father-in-law went into the hospital Monday morning, so we've been spending our days driving back and forth and sitting with him and trying desperately to find a doctor to talk to (hospitals are very frustrating places!). The good news is that he is back at home now, and he's fine. It was just a bad respiratory virus, but at 94 years old, it took a lot out of him for a few days.

So, I finally have a few minutes to tell you about a book that absolutely blew me away! The Light Years by Chris Rush is a very unique memoir that was released back in April (we've had a lot of crises here lately). I had the opportunity to both review the book and interview the author for Shelf Awareness. You can read the author interview here and the book review here (or you can just scroll down from the interview - they are both in the same newsletter). I also wrote a slightly longer review here on the blog.

The memoir is about Chris' very unusual childhood. Feeling like he didn't fit in, after trying two different boarding schools, Chris headed out West at just thirteen years old. He moved in with his older sister and joined the drug counter-culture of the 60's and 70's, dealing drugs, doing drugs, enjoying the southwest wilderness, and experiencing a very unique coming-of-age without any responsible adults around. There are some horrifying moments in his memoir, but it is also very, very funny on almost every page. I was quite literally laughing out loud often as I read, in between the more poignant or frightening passages. You can read my full review here.

My interview with Chris was thoroughly enjoyable. As expected, he has a wonderful sense of humor, and he was thrilled that I "got" the humor in his book. The author interview is almost as interesting as the book itself because Chris has lived such an interesting life and is so open about his past and how it has affected the rest of his life.

I should mention that this book did not come to me through the usual review channels. It was sent to me by another author, Victor Lodato, who wrote the wonderful novel Edgar and Lucy, which I read and reviewed two years ago (review at the link - it's an excellent book and perfect for the Big Book Summer Challenge!). I also had the pleasure of meeting Victor in person at the 2017 Booktopia event, and he and I stayed in touch. He helped to edit The Light Years and also beautifully narrates the audio book (he has a great reading voice!), and he thought I'd like it. He was right!

So, thank you, Victor, for introducing me to this remarkable memoir!

384 pages, Farrar, Straus and Giroux

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.

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Listen to a sample of The Light Years on audio, read by Victor Lodato, featuring the very funny opening scene of the memoir.

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

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

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