The Bluest Eye

 Just finished reading The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison for my Banned Book book group.

This is turning out to be aa good group because I am reading books I have never read and probably would never have picked up to read.  This is one of them.  I have heard about Toni Morrison for years but never read any of her books.  This one is amazing.  It is disturbing and difficult to read but very worthwhile.

It is not surprising that it has been challenged by a variety of parents in school systems and town libraries. The important part is that Morrison in an interview said that she never intended it to be read by white audience.  She was writing for black people who were suffering through the poverty and racism in the south.   This is the story of young children and the difficult lifestyle they were forced to grow up under in the south.  The poverty and unemployment led adults to depression and low self esteem.  That led to violence against their families. Also the fear of the white employer led to better treatment of the white employer than your own family members and children.  It is very sad to read about.

That oppression passes to the next generation and because there are no role models to look up to that adds to the lack of self worth.  The title comes from a young black girl, in Morrison's class, as a child, who with no black role models, looked at Shirley Temple as the epitome of beauty and said she wished she had blue eyes.  

This book is a fabulous read and just as relevant today as it was when it was first published.

Morning Sun in Wuhan

 Morning Sun in Wuhan, by Ying Chang Compestine is a delightful middle school book about the beginning of Covid in Wuhan, China.  

Told from the point of view of a young girl living in an apartment complex near the hospital. We meet Mei a thirteen year old girl just after her mother has recently passed.  She is intrigued with cooking dishes that remind her of cooking with her mother and also playing a cooking computer game with a few friends.

Her father is a surgeon at the local hospital and when Covid breaks out he cannot not come home to the apartment, leaving Mei alone.  Her refrigerator is full and she can play games to communicate with two boys she knows, but things are getting more drastic as food supplies dwindle and people are having to lock down.  A neighborhood support group forms and Mei and her friends step up to help with cooking meals and delivery.  

This is a must read book for everyone about how community worked together helping each other through a crisis.  Also there are some simple recipes in the book that Mei cooks for herself and others.  Some look easy and delicious.

Signal Fires

Signal Fires, the latest novel by author Dani Shapiro is a small book but packs a big impact.  A person spends their life walking down a road with twists and turns along the way.

You never can see too far ahead, where each decision at an intersection might take you and how it changes and affects the rest of your life and those connected to you.

Following two families that live on Division Street in a small New York suburb, the book jumps between the present and the past.  Two families whose lives over time will intertwine. Starting in 1970, as a happy young couple enters their first home with two young children, full of happiness and hope about the future.  Dr Ben Wilf  and his wife bring up their daughter, Sarah and son, Theo in this small town.  1985,  a tragic car accident, the circumstances of that accident will become a dark secret, never to be spoken about.  

New Year’s Eve, Y2K, another new, young family on Division Street, with dreams of their future, as their son, Waldo, is born that night.  Our individual personalities that we bring to our relationships and how they shape our marriages, our children and the future.

Dr Wilf will comment that he feels we live our lives in loops. We carry our past with us like a series of Russian nesting dolls.  Who we have been and our actions are always there inside of us.  

The present 2020, a global pandemic and all the characters are adults now.  We learn the experiences of these families are connected and how the relationships  have all evolved over time and connected them to each other.  We also, throughout the book as it jumps back and forth, hear the story from the perspectives of the various characters, Ben Wilf, his wife, Mimi, Sarah, Theo, Waldo and his father.

Shapiro balances loss with love, and offers hope with grief.  This is a beautifully written novel that captures the reader and does not let go. It leaves you thinking about your life and the different actions and decisions that have brought you to where you are and made you who you are today.  The history of those who came before you intertwined with the strangers you have yet to meet.

The Diamond Eye

 The Diamond Eye written by author, Kate Quinn.  

Another excellent historical novel!!   Unknown woman heroine comes to light in the fabulous writing of Kate Quinn.  The beginning of WWII Russia is an underdog in the war and helping the Soviet military in the fight to maintain its borders from German occupancy is the sharpshooter, Mila Pavlichenko.  She is a young woman, a history student and librarian with a  young son, who steps up and enlists in the military.  She becomes a deadly sniper, known as Lady Death becoming a national hero.  She visits the US on a good will tour... another story from history that was hidden until now.

I have said this before but I think the most fascinating novels that pull the reader in and do not let go are the historical novels that bring to light a moment in history that was unknown or forgotten.  This is one of those novels.  Mila Pavlichenko is such a incredible character.  This novel follows her and makes her a three dimensional person who the reader can relate to and cheer for.

She marries and has a child by the time she is 18.  Then her husband leaves her and does not want to take care of her or the baby, but also will not divorce her, freeing her.  She goes back to finish school, living with her parents, who take care of her son.  While finishing her dissertation, the war breaks out and she enlists.  She is a marksman with a rifle and she becomes a woman sniper .  This is very unusual, she follows the motto she sets for herself,  "Don't miss, don't fail".  

She rises in the ranks and is a commander and trains her men to become snipers.  She becomes famous for the number of hits she has made.  She is invited with a Soviet entourage to Washington, DC to meet the President and Eleanor Roosevelt and make the case for the United States to step in and help Russia in the war.   She tours America making speeches and winning the hearts of the citizens,.

It is an amazing story and so well told by Quinn.  You are there with Mila as she hides in the brush waiting for the enemy to make a wrong step.  You are there  with Mila as she finds love and suffers loss.  You are routing for her as comes to the US and tours the country, missing her son and only  wishing to return home.

Mr Perfect On Paper

 I have never been a Rom Com fan but once again if you are looking for a light entertaining book to take you on a romantic journey you can not go wrong with the delightful new book by Jean Meltzer, Mr Perfect on Paper.  

Meltzer reached success last year with her debut novel, The Matzah Ball, a Jewish Rom Com about finding true love against the odds.  This time she follows a similar path with a new young woman, with a chronic anxiety disorder who is looking for Mr Right.  All her anxiety seems to be getting in the way of finding her perfect match and  falling in love.  

Ironically she has developed a dating website that scientifically matches you to the mate of your dreams. It is all in the algorithm ... That becomes the premise for the book.  Matchmaker Dara Rabinowitz comes from a long line of matchmakers and has modernized the art as the creator and CEO of the app J-Mate.  She has created the online formula for lasting love.  Her mother before her was a matchmaker along with her grandmother who may have one last match to make, Dara herself.

Chris Steadfast, the national television and charming news anchor of Good News proposes they turn Dara’s search into must-see TV.  He is trying to save his show from cancelation when he realizes that following Dara as she dates to find her perfect mate brings in big ratings.

Of course this is romance at its finest and the best laid plans go awry.  There is cute comedy and romance which just leads to great escape reading.  So fill the bath with bubbles and get the incense and candles ready and slip under the water for a quiet read.

 

Death and the Conjuror

 Death and the Conjuror written by Tom Mead is a new mystery featuring Jospeh Spector, a elderly magician and conjuror.  In what is the beginning  I am sure of a new series he is working on solving a locked room murder with the Scotland Yard detective, George Flint.

This mystery takes place in 1936 in the dreary streets of London.  A prominent psychologist is found murdered in his home office with all the windows locked and the door locked. He is found by his housekeeper, Olive Turner when she goes to let in one of his patients, the actress, Della Cookson, known as patient B.   No one, Olive tells the police later could have come or gone without her knowledge.  She could hear everything and she let the guests in and out over the course of the evening.

Flint is completely  baffled and turns to Spector to help him solve the crime. Spector knows the people in the theatre and the worlds of the other patients involved, Patient A, a musician, and B, an author.  He also as a professional trickster is good at figuring out the various ways a locked room could be accessed to commit murder.

Through out the book as we meet the different suspects and learn their stories and connections, Spector also practices some simple magic tricks then gives the reader the answer to how those tricks are accomplished.  They are each slight of hand and if read carefully help to lead to the thoughts about the crime could have been committed, or they could be just red herrings, like a  slight of hand trick to direct the eye away from what is really happening right in front of the them.

An entertaining and well conceived idea for a new mystery series and an interesting new pairing of detective and assistant.

Nineteen Minutes

 Every time I think I will not read anymore Jodi Piclout novels, I read one and love it.  She really does a great job with every subject  she takes on.  She builds the plot expertly, creates compelling dialog and makes the reader really care about the characters. This story of a school shooting is so well developed that even  if you start the  novel thinking you know how  you feel about guns, shooters and schools..in the end you are rethinking, open to a conversation and caring  about every character on all sides of the argument.  Nor a new book but still relevant... and a banned book.

I read this book for my Banned Book  Book Group.  It is again amazing what books are challenged, when  students are actually living through these horrific experiences  in school and  the drills that all kids have to participate  in  just in case there is a shooter in their school.  Yet parents do not want their children to read about it.  

This book is very well written, showing the point of view of the shooter as he grows up and arrives at the  moment of his unraveling.  It describes the characters of the kids who unknowingly harass kids who are different not realizing how much it hurts them.  

We meet two mothers, and see how their relationships with their children affect the lives they are leading.  Not really seeing their kids for who they are and what they are experiencing at school.

It is a message to parents to stay connected to your teenagers even as they are pulling away from you.  Stay involved in their lives and try to stay in commuication.

The Plot

The Plot by Jean Hanff Korelitz is a very well written suspenseful mystery thriller.  

What a terrific book...  dare I say a great plot...  this book has an entertaining storyline with a good twisty ending.  When Jake reaches the end of his patience waiting to write the runaway novel of his career, he "borrows" an idea from a deceased student.  His success is a heady experience of travel, author interviews , book readings and sales. When he meets Anne, a fan, they fall in love and the life seems perfect...  until  it is not. 

Jake had one good novel in him that made the bestseller list years ago.   Lately he holds off his publisher, he has writers block and teaches at a third rate MFA writer's program.  After a student comes to class with a good idea for a novel, he watches the book lists for its publication.  When the book never is published he goes back to see what happened to the student and finds out he died without publishing..

Jake decides to make the story his own novel and it is his next big hit.   He takes to heart the quote that author Jean Hanff Korelitz uses at the beginning of the book, "Good writers borrow, great writers steal."  She attributes  the quote  to T. S. Elliot, but possibly stolen from Oscar Wilde.

It is a thriller, but not a scary one, just a fun, tongue in cheek, mystery.

Mother Daughter Traitor Spy

Susan Elia MacNeal's first stand alone novel, Mother Daughter Traitor Spy is an unnerving story of life in the United States in 1940.  This is not a mystery or horror novel, but a story that portrays real life as Hitler was taking over Europe and German Americans who supported Hitler and his ideas were trying to influence American citizens to follow the German example of how a country should be run and  join the Bund.

Basing the characters in this historical novel on the real life occurrences of an actual mother, daughter spy team from California during the 1940s.  Their story is built into the plot of Veronica and her mother Violet, who leave New York and move across the country to Santa Monica, California.  Being of German heritage, they are befriended by a group of German Americans as they are starting their new lives in this very unfamiliar environment.  This group is sympathetic to Hitler and the Nazi party.  Violet and Veronica find the beliefs of the Nazi German group abhorrent and feel strongly it's their patriotic duty to do what they can to stop their hateful activities.

They also find a small contingent of like minded friends, that engage them to help the effort to suppress the efforts of the Nazi sympathizers. The Nazi group believes that all minorities are dangerous to American ideals and should be sent away or killed. They are feeding the public propaganda and want to put America first . They are against helping other countries and upholding democracy.

Veronica gets a job as a secretary to the leader of the Bund group in Santa Monica.  She spies on their activities reporting to a spymaster who is in contact with the FBI, helping them to gather the information they need to arrest the German propagandists.  Her mother, Vi looking to meet other women, make friends and keep busy, becomes apart of the local German social group.  She is sewing and embroidering for them listening to the propaganda speakers who come to their social events.  

It happened so long ago, but many of the topics in the book are so similar to what is happening now in this very  country.  Jonah says to Veronica as they finish a mission to turn in some Nazi sympathizers, "I'm absolutely sick at all the ignorant  things people are saying - in private and public.  We cannot dismiss it because under that rage is fear - and below that, pain.  Letting go of the rage means facing the pain and fear. .."

So perfect an explanation of how people are caught up in these movements and willing to listen to and agree with propaganda that makes them feel justified.

So many times history seems to imitate itself.  An interesting and compelling book.

The Lottery

 Shirley Jackson is one of the all  time incredible authors of horror novels.  I have reviewed one of her other books here, We Have Aways Lived in the Castle, but The Lottery has always been my favorite novellas.

The Lottery is a story about moral judgement,  mob mentality and blind tradition. The people of the town come together every year for a ritual that has been recurring for generations.  They no longer know why they do it but they also cannot stop doing it.

No one in the  town is strong enough to stand up and stop the tradition though it is an example of the banality of evil. There is the old man named Warner, who has been around the longest who says it doesn't matter if the meaning is lost, he symbolizes blind faith.  There is Tessie Hutchinson, who represents both the townspeople, who  is happy to participate until she becomes the scapegoat, and then protests the idea.

The men who come with the black box to the center of the town square are Mr Summer and Mr Graves.  The names are also so well positioned in this short book, helping to build the suspense of the story.

This story has been challenged and banned but continues to be an impactful story when read and discussed.  

Murder at Teal's Pond : Hazel Drew and the mystery that inspired Twin Peaks

David Bushman and Mark Givens teamed up to written Murder at  Teal's Pond, the story what happened to Hazel Drew and the mystery that inspired Twin Peaks.  Twin Peaks, the television show, was created based on the Hazel's death but is really does not follow the actual story.

Hazel Drew was a young working girl who grew up and lived outside Albany New York close to 100 years ago.  Her life can be tracked up  until the day she died.  She was found a week later in Teal's Pond.  But the mystery of how and why she died there has never been solved.

Many people were investigating the case, but there were many secrets and truths not shared.  So when  these new authors go back to try and find new answers to old questions they find out that they just don't seem to exist.  So this book reviews the police reports, the coroner's report and the many newspaper accounts of what happened but there are no new answers in this book.

That was a little disappointing and frustrating after reading the whole book.

Killers of A Certain Age

 Deanna Raybourn is a NYT bestselling and Edgar Award nominated author for the Veronica Speedwell Mysteries and has also written another mystery series and some stand alone  novels. Killers of a Certain Age is her newest work and it is very entertaining.

The plot is the story of four elderly ladies in their 60s, who have spent the last 40 years as a team of assassins.  They were recruited from various places in their 20s to join an elite network of assassins  working for the Museum.  Each has a different story that makes them perfect candidates for this job. We learn their back stories as we watch them fight for their future.

Now as they are about to retire they realize they are now the target of a hit.  False information has been submitted to the board of the Museum and it is a fight to the end, either they will kill or be killed.

There are plots and plans to kill the people who are out to get them. The women need to stand together to save their lives, not knowing who to trust and who is going to try and kill them next. They have always only killed people, who when dead, will make the world a better place.  The organization started when Nazis were getting away and hiding in plain site.  Their mission was to kill Nazis, save stolen artwork and it grew from there.

One interesting connection  in this book is Holocaust art and how some was stolen and is being resold at auction now, if not claimed.

This is a fun and fast moving novel that proves women can do anything men can do.  No job is too hard for a woman, and men should be worry, women are as clever and maybe more .

The Messy Lives of Book People

 The Messy Lives of Book People written by Phaedra Patrick was a very entertaining and enjoyable book.  It was a welcome book to read while relaxing on a warm day in the sun.  

This plot deals with some great discussion questions in a light and entertaining story.  When Olivia Green is faced with an unusual request from her employer it has the ability to change her life.  Liv is a house cleaner by  trade.  She never finished school, married young and lives with her husband and two teenage sons.  As they send off their last child to college Liv and her husband are struggling to make ends meet and what empty nest will look like for the two of them.  

Their marriage is in a rocky place. Their jobs are taking up all their time and energy.  Can their marriage survive and even thrive again?  Then Liv is given an opportunity that ignites a dream she thought was long gone.  She starts to get excited about life again, but will this new life include her husband?  She is questioning her marriage and herself as she looks back through the life of famous author, the illusive, Essie Starling.    

As Liv starts to accomplish the task set out for her by her favorite author, Essie Staling, she learns more about herself.  Her strengths and talents that have been shut away come out of hiding.  She finds her voice and her power.  She also gets a chance to explore the world of the rich and famous.  A chance to see whether money is really what makes a person happy.  

Fun and poignant with a few twists and turns this is a wonderful novel.

A Curious Beginning, A Victoria Speedwell Mystery

 A Curious Beginning featuring Victoria Speedwell is a new series to add to my ever growing list to follow...  this is a fun light entertaining young woman who wants to defy the expected role of women in her time period.  Set in 1800 in England, she should be settling down at the age of 18 with a husband who will take care of her and their future children.

But she has a razor sharp tongue and quick wit and dreams of exploring the world catching butterflies.   This book is the first mystery she has to solve.  When a man who approaches her tells her past is not what it seems, leaves her in the custody of someone he trusts and then is murdered, she sets off to find out the secrets of her past and free herself and her benefactor from murder charges or possibly worse.

Brought up my two spinster aunts, Victoria doesn't suspect anything is amiss until both of the elderly ladies die.  Now she is on her own and planning to close up the small cottage they have recently lived in and set off chasing illusive butterflies.  First someone ransacks the cottage and tries to kidnap her. Then a gentleman intervenes and  takes her to London.  On the way he starts to explain that all is not as it seems. But after leaving her with a friend of his to watch her and promising to come back with answers he is murdered.  

She and the handsome, but of course antagonistic, rough man named Stoker, are off to solve the mystery of their benefactor's death and clear their names of suspicion for murder.  

This is a fun mystery because not only are you getting clues to the possible murderer but at the same time each of the lead characters are also slowly revealing more about their pasts which are also mysterious.

I will try and read another book from this series and see how the characters develop.

The Lunar Housewife

 Caroline Woods is an author I will look for again.  Her new book The Lunar Housewife was intriguing.  I could not put it down once I started reading it.

Written as a novel within aa novel, it is the story of a young woman starting out in New York City trying to build a career during the Cold War, 1950s.  It is also a time that women are not treated equally to men, not really taken seriously in the business world.   Working as a waitress a party she spots a handsome young man who is starting out in the magazine publishing business.  Louise is interested in becoming an author and has been working on a manuscript.  Joe the handsome magazine publisher and his friend Harry are starting up the new magazine  and are at the party.  Louise puts herself in front of Joe and they start to date.  He also asks her to write an article for the first issue of the new magazine he and his friend Harry  are publishing.  Of course she writes under a male pseudonym, because who would read an article written by  a woman. 

As the romance builds with Joe, Louise becomes more and more suspicious that there is some subversive about the relationship with Harry and the magazine.  Secrets are being kept by everyone.  As Louise and Joe become more attached and serious int heir relationship we are also reading a manuscript that Louise is writing a romance novel. The romance dime novel, mirrors her personal thoughts and problems in life. 

Easy to read and relate to if you grew up in the 50s and 60s .  Interesting to read as an historical novel. 

Hidden on the High Wire

HIdden on the High Wire tells the story of a traveling family circus. Author Kathy Kacer begins the story in November, 1939 in Germany. Irene Danner is 13 years old and the star performer on the high wire for the Lorch Family Circus. She learned her balancing act from her grandfather, who has recently died, and passed the family business to her father, the first Danner to run the Lorch family circus, in four generations.

 This book is based on the real life Lorch Family Circus and the Althoff Family Circus. Both families went back generations in the business. Adolf really agreed to protect the Lorch Family during the Holocaust. He willingly puts his family and all those in his circus at risk to help this Jewish family.  It took courage for Irene to perform in the circus and to approach Aldof Althoff to secretly protect their family from the Germans. It also took bravery for the members of the Althoff circus to keep the secret and become friends with Irene and her parents.

Lessons in Chemistry

 What delightful book.  This book was recommended by a friend and I really appreciate that she mentioned it to me.  I would have overlooked this book.  Though now I see that it is fast becoming a very popular read, if I had to reserve it now I would be 37th on the library's ebook waitlist.  

So entertaining ...I loved the quirky characters and the idea that love is a matter of chemistry ... cooking is a matter of chemistry and friendship is a matter of chemistry.. do opposites attract or similar people react to each other better?  This book covers the world of women, housewives and family interactions in 1960... like baking soda and vinegar it fizzles

This is such creatively written plot, with quite a unique writing style.  Readers meet Elizabeth Zott and Calvin, two characters with some personality quirks that some may say are on the spectrum but maybe just fun quirky personalities.  The chemistry between them is magnetic.  They are both chemistry scientists working at the same lab.

It is the 1960s and women are still expected to stay home, have children and be the perfect housewives.  Professional working women is still unheard of , so Elizabeth stands out and is unwelcome at the Hastings Laboratory.  When her greatest supporter , Calvin dies unexpectedly, and Elizabeth finds herself unwed and pregnant, also frowned upon, she is forced out of her lab.  Her daughter, named Mad Zott, and the dog, Six Thirty, benefit from Elizabeth setting up her lab  at home to continue her research.  She spends time educating both the dog and her young child.  

Slowly  as we read this story  more and more explanations are revealed about both Calvin's past and Elizabeth's thoughts.  Elizabeth takes a job as a television chef, using her knowledge of chemistry to teach the housewives of America how to make delicious meals.

This is a story of love, resolve to succeed and trust.  Elizabeth learns how to accept help and friendship from the TV  producer and the neighbor.  She learns to be a great mother and the ability to stand up for herself and succeed.  Mad is the catalyst that creates all the chemical reactions in this story.  She is a well developed character, with a clever, interesting personality.

If you have been a mother, a working woman and especially if you  grew up in the '60s and '70s, you will really relate to this plot and to the clever prose that is written into this story.

Horse

 I have always though Geraldine Brooks' best book was The Year of Wonder, a story about the plague .  I found that book fascinating and learned quite a bit of history from that novel. This time she has completely outdone herself with this new novel, Horse.

Horse is a novel whose plot seems to be the story of a racehorse who holds an iconic place in history.  On he surface that is an interesting story in itself.  But this book is so much more.  It is a love story, between a trainer and his horse.  It is the history of horse racing in this country at the turn of a century.

It is a history of slavery in the south and the beginning rumblings of the Civil War. It is the story of men dared to who stand up for what they believed in.  This book also ties the past to the present.  It brings the past to meet the present and show the race relations in this country are not solved..  maybe even more dangerous, because they are not as clear. 

There is also a large element of the art of painting a horse and the restoration of its skeleton.  All these added facets are so interesting.  This is a novel to savor and enjoy as you read each page.

Justice For All

Justice For All written by Phyllis Greenbach was a book recommended to me.  It was compelling and kept me engaged til the end.  She definitely outlined a very hard, dangerous and frustrating situation that people trying to change their lives for the better face when coming to this country.

An interesting novel that tells the immigrant experience, escaping from danger in El Salvador and risking life to come through Mexico and immigrant to the US. Greenbach describes in real depth the trip by bus to Mexico and the border crossing. Then life is still difficult as an undocumented worker trying to learn the language, find work and pay for food and housing. Greenbach builds an interesting storyline of a small family and each of their experiences adapting to their new life.

We meet Rosa and her two sons starting showing them with their father trying to live a normal happy life in El Salvador.  Finally the horrors of the military catch up with their family and when her husband is killed Rosa realizes that she needs to leave to save her sons' lives.  This story follows her and her sons' as they travel and try to establish themselves in the US.  

Interesting story and I hope this is a realistic version of what happens when people do come to this country because it is really emotionally impactful.

Trapped in My Sports Bra and Other Harrowing Tales

 Wonderful short entertaining book of essays that tell the story of the author's trials and activities that consume our everyday lives.   Trapped in My Sports Bra and Other Harrowing Tales  talks about author, Marlene Fischer's relationships and her life including her children, her parents and the people she encounters through out her day.  Sweet short vignettes that are easy to read on the beach or when you just have a few minutes.

The vignettes in this book are ones that so many of us can relate to.  As I was reading I felt like I had a similar story that if the author, Marlene was sitting with me I would have shared right back to her. Sometimes I missed having her there to discuss each essay with.  They are so relatable that they bring back memories of incidents you may have forgotten.  Or you may even have advice that you could share about how to handle an experience differently.

It is comforting to know sometimes when things are difficult or even just embarrassing that we all are  going through similar life experiences.

Gained a Daughter But Nearly Lost My Mind

 Marlene Fischer writes her first short book about the wedding she planned, executed and held in her backyard during the pandemic for her son and future daughter-in-law...  Gained a Daughter But Nearly Lost My Mind

What a fun entertaining account of how Marlene executed and held a backyard wedding for her son and future daughter during the pandemic. So many crazy experiences have happened during Covid. this book records for posterity how even the world in crisis could not stand in the way of true love and a wedding. Altering dresses and plans the families pivoted and made the best of a crazy situation creating lasting memories in their backyard and in the house stuffed with family members leading up to the eventful day.

Short and very sweet, Marlene is talking to all the women today who are marrying off their sons.  These days we do not need to be the maligned mother in law, butt of jokes and evil representation from the movies and stories... we can be a second mother.  We are winning a lovely daughter and the she is gaining another loving mother figure.

Beautiful Little Fools

 Beautiful Little Fools ...sure fooled me... I was reading along thinking how interesting that author Jillian Cantor has written this great historic novel based on the real lives of Jay Gatsby and Daisy Buchanan and the deaths that resulted from that steamy love affair... when I realized that the story she was interpreting was originally a novel... not real life.

I have loved all the books I have read by this author.  Her imagination is prolific.  She has wowed me with books about the Rosenbergs and their neighbors.  She has imagined a story where Margot, Anne Frank's sister lives and comes to America to find her sister after the war.  So when she steps in and explores the world of the infamous Jay Gatsby and his relationship with Daisy it is very creative.

Daisy Fay tells the story of meeting Jay, falling in love and the heartbreak of him  leaving for war and her sister and father dying.  Jordan Baker, Daisy's best friend follows the same story line and adds her perspective and personal facts about her life as a professional golfer to fill out the storyline.  We also hear from Catherine McCoy a woman suffragette, who becomes involved with Gatsby and her sister, Myrtle Wilson, whose own unhappy marriage leads her to get involved with the lives of the main characters here by meeting Tom Buchanan at the request of Jay Gatsby.   We hear from each of these women as their lives intertwine in an increasingly dangerous whirlwind that will end in tragedy.

Moral of the story; money cannot make you happy...

Are You There GD? It's Me Margaret

 I guess I was already too old to read this when it was first published.  Reading it now for a book group and it is well written and I can see myself at that age again so clearly.  Interesting to read it as an adult.

Are You There GD? It's Me Margaret by Judy  Blume is a perfect coming of age novel.  It address so many topics that girls of 12 are curious about.  It is a way for the reader to get answers to questions if they cannot discuss it with a parent.

It was fun to read now as aa banned book and see what people object to.  The idea of discussing religion, sex, and menstruation.  Everything that girls in sixth grade are interested in.  It is also fun to read that she is in New Jersey, where I grew up.  

I think the serious issues are also presented simply, and without judgement.  It is interesting to think about GD outside of a religious context. You do not need to be apart of a religious group to talk to GD.

This book was on the cutting edge of its time, but is still so relevant to girls today.

Marion Lane and the Deadly Rose

 Marion Lane and the Deadly Rose is the newest novel in the Marion Lane series written by author, T.A. Willberg.  I am not sure why I keep reading this series, but I am interested in what happens but not really  enjoying the writing style of Willberg.

There are some characters that keep appearing in the underground society of special detectives that assist London police and MI5 with cases they cannot figure out.  

This time as Marion is working to solve a murder that happened on the streets of London, there is unrest below the streets.  Marion and her friends are trying to resist the pressure to join with others in forming a union of detectives who want to change the procedures and change how the secret society works.

Something seems wrong to Marion and she is also getting secret letters telling to watch out for the new recruits.  As the novel progresses Marion gets to know the people she is working with better and the  reader is learning characters back stories.  

So though the mysteries are interesting and the concept is little different, but similar to other books. There is a lab where they work on special items to assist in their work, like a cape that makes you invisible, an exploding orb, special glasses to through things.   The writing and character development are not compelling .  I will probably read the next book in the series, but I am not exactly sure why.

Too Mulch Too Handle

 H.Y.Hanna just keeps the clever and delightful mysteries coming...

 Again we meet Poppy trying to get her grandmother's flower and plant stand up and running.  The descriptions are wonderful and I can picture the little cottage and the small greenhouse in the garden with all the pots on counters as Poppy tries to build up her inventory and sell the flowers and plantings to the townspeople.  Just watch out because someone in her path always winds up dead.  Then she and the handsome neighbor, who just happens to be a mystery writer and his ex, a detective in town are on the case, finding the real culprit.  A great summer read!  So glad I am getting to preview all these books.

Maybe I appreciate this series because I have such a brown thumb.  But  it is fun to picture the garden and the flowers and the greenhouse shed with its small plants budding.  I can sympathize with Poppy's mistakes and frustrations.  This time there is even a discussion about chemicals and how they are bad for the planet and the plants.  A serious topic.

Metropolis

 B.A. Shapiro does not disappoint in the new novel,  Metropolis.  Told in alternating chapters about the lives of six people whose lives intersect at the Metropolis Storage Company.

As you walk down the street in a neighborhood, or see a house for sale, don't wonder what it looks like inside?  ow have they decorated or are their lives like?  It has also become the thought on people's minds when you drive by a storage place.  Or maybe as you are putting things in your storage unit, you  are wondering what kinds of things are other people storing?  

What are  the things in someone's life that they cannot live with anymore but they cannot bring themselves to throw away?  These days in a society of such consumption there are even television shows about people who have abandoned their storage units full of belongings.  Where have they gone and why are all these things left behind?

Shapiro takes this concept sets each of our protagonists in a storage unit at Metropolis.  We see  the picture of their belongings they need there and we learn the back story that brings then to this location in Cambridge, MA.  All their lives will intersect as the plot continues.

Zach, the owner, Rose the office manager, Jake, a lawyer, Serge, a photographer, Liddy, an unhappy wife, Marta, a student, from Venezuela finishing her dissertation.  Each of them has a secret and feels the Metropolis Storage Company is a good place for secrecy.

Shapiro has written such an incredible novel that the reader feels attached to each of the characters. You want them all to succeed.  So descriptive that you can picture each of the units as photograph in your mind.  I  did not want to leave the building or the characters.

The Christie Affair

I  almost did not read this because I thought it is so similar to a few other books about the disappearance of Agatha Christie.. but I am glad I did ..this is a clever plot looking at the same situation from a completely different perspective... 

This time we hear the story from the woman Archie Christie is going to leave his wife for.  The other woman! We meet Nan O'Dea, the woman Archie is having an affair with.  She tells the reader  the story of her life and what led her to meet Archie and win his affection.  

Of course we know the main details, Agatha runs away from home the night Archie tells her he is leaving her to marry Nan.  Her car is found off the road and Agatha has disappeared.  A country wide man hunt is underway for many days until Agatha is spotted.

Though you may  think you  know the outcome of the story this time we are given a new perspective and some new reasons to look at the case from a different angle.  Also what would a story about Christie be without  some mysterious circumstances ... so there are some mysteries that the reader can try and solve as the plot unfolds.

Entertaining and clever  written by author, Nina de Gramont.

The Woman Who Split the Atom The Life of Lise Meitner

 The Woman Who Split the Atom, written by Marissa Moss is an inspiring story of a woman determined to study science in spite of the challenges she faced.  

Lise Meitner grows up in Vienna, Austria with her father, mother and sisters.   Her early schooling takes place in the beginning of the 19th century. This was a time when women were not encouraged to attend school or have careers.   But Lise and her sisters were determined to study and her parents encouraged and supported them to follow their interests.   She prepared herself for the rigorous tests ahead and achieved her goal of studying physics. 

Author,  Marissa Moss uses both her skill as a author and her talent as a graphic comic artist to pull the reader into the story of Lise's life from living at home with her family to traveling to Berlin to work with some of the greats physicists of all time.  Though she was a demure, small young woman and intimidated at first, she persisted winning herself lab space in the basement of the KWI  university to study the scattering of alpha particles.   

Through the early 1900s Meitner met important professors and scientists, who would be her friends and supporters, Max Planck, Albert Einstein, Heinrich Rubens, and the man who become her life long scientific partner, Otto Hahn.  She also worked with her nephew Otto Frisch. She began publishing articles about her scientific findings under the name L. Meitner, so no one would know they articles were written by a woman.  This earned her a small stipend to live on along with an allowance from her father. 

As Adolf Hitler comes into power the laws begin to change for the Jews of Germany.  Though Lise Meitner does not consider herself particularly Jewish, Hitler and Nazi Germany recognized her Jewish family history and her success and prominence become a liability.

For as long as she can hold onto to her lab and experiments, she refuses to leave Berlin, but finally she see the danger and her friends help her escape Nazi Germany. She continues her work in Sweden.  Meitner realizes that in her experiments she has split the atom.  When scientists see how this nuclear fusion can be used to end the war, she is invited to work on the Manhattan Project in the United States to develop the atomic bomb.  Lise is against helping to create something that leads to destruction and death.   She spends the rest of her life working to find way to use atomic energy for peaceful work. She spoke to audiences about science's ethical responsibilities.

A Death in Jerusalem

 Historical novels are always so satisfying because the reader learns something new that they had not known before.  When you combine the historical history with a clever mystery plot at the same time the book is even more fascinating.

Author Jonathan Dunsky has combined the intrigue of a good mystery with the history of Israel in 1952, in  his new novel A Death in Jerusalem.  This newest novel follows our protagonist, Adam Lapid as he risks his life to solve another case of unexpected death.

Lapid is a survivor who was lost his family in the Auschwitz.  He has police training but now, in the new young state of Israel, he is working as a private detective. At the start of this novel Lapid gets himself in trouble with the law when he joins the protestors in Jerusalem marching to the Knesset to speak out against Israel accepting reparations from Germany.  Germany in 1952 was becoming successful through industrial production.  Lapid represents the survivors who were not ready to forgive Germany for their crimes and did not want to accept money or goods and products from the recent enemy.  

The history of Jerusalem as a divided city and the efforts of David Ben-Gurion and Menachem Begin during the time in Israel's history are all interesting facts that are intertwined with imagined the mystery plot of a young girl, Moria Gafni, who has committed suicide.  Her father, Baruch Gafni,  who is a wealthy business man with connections in high places, is able to rescue Adam Lapid when he gets into trouble with the police at the protest outside the Knesset.  In exchange, Lapid has agreed to find out why Moria committed suicide.  

There are many twists and turns that lead Lapid into some very dangerous situations and a few red herrings that keep the reader guessing who Moria was involved with that led her to end her life. 

Some  of the violent descriptions were difficult to believe. It was hard to imagine a person really living through the harm he encountered.  The storyline was unusual and will keep the reader's interest.  The Israeli history is an added bonus, learning about the early days of the state's first leaders and how they were able to to bring Israel avert financial catastrophe and was the beginning of full diplomatic relations with Germany established in 1965.

From Dust A Flame

 From Dust A Flame, a debut novel by Rebecca Podos.

A warm touching YA novel.  Growing up with her mother and brother always on the run, Hannah has never felt understood.  Her mother always seems distracted and more connected to her brother, Gabe.  Hannah is turning 17 and she has her future mapped out on a spread sheet, finish high school in one place, working as hard as she can for the best grades.  That way she can get noticed by the teachers and get recommendations to the Ivy league universities and leave her mother behind.  Then on her birthday everything changes.  Her well ordered life is really out of her control.  In an effort to straighten things out she finds out how much she never knew about her mother.  She finds a family she did not know existed and she grapples with who she really is.

This novel explores many interesting topics; Judaism, family connections, sexuality, friendship and commitment.  Written in a teenage voice that embraces the current thoughts of today, and perfectly taking into account the different way parents grew up and the learning curve. The power of the ancient Jewish mysticism to connect with a modern day lesson of love, strength and family.

West With Giraffes

 West With Giraffes written  by  Lynda Rutledge..this is one of those books that I would probably not have picked up if not for the assignment to read it for a book discussion group.  Of course I am so glad I did.I will talking about this book and recommending it for a while.  

This is an historical novel that has so many different amazing historical references that interconnect and give the reader aa real sense of what life was like in the Unites States in 1938.  Our west in Oklahoma and the Texas pan handle we were suffering from the worst weather situation to hit the country, the Dust Bowl. Farmers could not grow their crops, their animals were dying and there was no money and if you did not pick up and move further west, you and your family would eventually die also from lack of water and food.  Then there was the Hurricane of '38 in New England which also killed hundreds of people.

Our protagonist, Woodrow Wilson Nickel, is writing this story from his nursing home room.  It is 2025 and he is 105 years old.  He is looking back, wanting to record his life story before the end.  He especially wants to leave a record of the time he drove giraffes across the country.  This is also a true story that two giraffes survive on a ship from Africa that arrive in New York during the hurricane.  They are transported to San Diego, California to the new zoo that is being established.

This story is so enjoyable to read and at the same time so full of many issues people deal with on an everyday basis.  Looking at the role of women, people of color and poverty through the lens of this time period.  Along with the issues in the US there is also a war brewing in Europe, that we learn about through newspaper headlines as the travelers are driving cross country with the giraffes.  

A story of growing up, strength, caring and love.  

Trust No One

 Trust No One , this seems to be a popular title so make sure you get the novel is written by Paul  Cleave.

A unusual thriller novel.   As the protagonist begins to suffer from Alzheimer's disease, he is becoming more and more confused and losing memories.  Jerry Gray is a mystery writer, who uses an alias Henry Cutter to write his mystery series.  As we read about his slow dive into the abyss he cannot tell the difference between what he has done or what he has written his mystery novel characters doing. The wall between real life and the world of writing become more entangled as he loses life as he knew it. 

I do not want to give too much of the plot away... Jerry Gray is telling his story, but then sometimes hands the story telling over to Henry Cutter, who writes in a different style.  We are hearing both from Jerry before he sinks into Alzheimer's and later Jerry after he is confused and mixing his mystery plots with the real life happening around him.

But don't trust me...read it yourself.

The Personal Librarian

 I do not think there is a book written by author Marie Benedict that I do not love.  Her newest             book, The Personal Librarian is no exception.  This is a novel about the history of our country, the mind set of people in America. It is the story of a woman who grew up in a home with a mother who wanted something different for herself and her children.   A wonderful story of perseverance and strength in the face of prejudice and racism in America.

This time Benedict has worked with co-author, Victoria Christopher Murray.   The match has created a book of timeless historical perspective along with the imagined feelings of the people who were there.

What a wonderful storyline, how a young woman grew up with a mother who sacrificed so much to see her daughter succeed in a prejudice world.  Her mother's fanatic support led  Belle da Costa Greene, to become the personal librarian to J.P. Morgan, who was one of the early 20th century's wealthiest and most powerful men.

Belle grows up away from her relatives and her father because her mother realized that she and her children could pass at a time in American history when being black made it difficult  to succeed in business.  Though her father, Richard Greener,  was the first Black graduate of Harvard and a well-known advocate for equality. His decision to fight for equality for people of color leads Belle's mother to choose a different path for herself and her children.  

Explaining away her darker skin tone as being of Portuguese heritage she becomes the assistant to J.P. Morgan.  He trusts her to curate his collection of rare manuscripts, books, and artwork.  He is building the Pierpont Morgan Library which will house the most sort after art and artifacts.  Belle has incredible taste and is a quick study of what his collection should and how to negotiate for the most important pieces. She develops a shrewd style of winning away the pieces Morgan wants at auction before anyone else can even put in a bid.  

Told in such a humanistic and warm way, this is a story of their relationship, her relationship with J. P. Morgan's children and his colleagues .  The fear Belle lived with on a daily basis as she moved in these wealthy aristocratic world always afraid something would give her away, is so realistic.

The Last Rose of Shanghai

 Written by Weina Dai Randel, The Last Rose of Shanghai  is a beautiful love story and an excellent historical representation of what happened in Shanghai, China during the war years of the 1940s.  While Europe was fighting Hitler and the Nazi war machine, China and Japan were also at war between themselves. 

German Jews were able to escape to Shanghai looking for freedom, but found instead a country at war and a different kind of prejudice.  Japan had invaded and was trying to take over rule of China.  Though the Japanese or Chinese were not anti Jewish and many were not aware of the anti-Semitism in Europe. But then Japan forms an alliance with Germany and the Britons in Shanghai's International Settlement  become the enemy, then restrictions finally tighten against Jews. 

Ernest Reismann comes to Shanghai penniless as a Jewish refugee looking for a job to support himself and his sister, Miriam.  As they wait for word of their parents fate back in Germany, Ernest finds work as a piano player in Aiyi Shao's glamorous nightclub.  Aiyi is a young woman going against the mandate of her social community, to marry and have a family.  She wants so much more, freedom, a career.  Aiyi runs the successful nightclub and works hard to keep it profitable.  This will lead to trouble for all those who surround her.  Aiyi has been promised in marriage as is the custom.  She is not sure that is the life she envisions for herself.  Aiyi will have face many obstacles as she learns how to navigate her business and social life.

Falling in love with someone outside your religion or social community is dangerous.  Aiyi and Ernest are willing to risk everything for that love.  It will have implications on their families, friends and business partners.   The decisions they make in their own lives have repercussions on the lives of all the people around them. Deciding if the benefits outweigh the sadness and losses is what book discussion groups will analyze. 

The novel has many twists and turns in the plot. The descriptions of the sounds, smells and streets of Shanghai are so real you will feel like you  are there. The descriptions of danger in the streets of Shanghai  feel so real also, that you will cringe and hold your breath as you wait to make sure each character is ok as they face a dangerous experience.

Ernest and Aiyi's lives intertwine through the years, as we hear their story from each point of view in alternating chapters.  Aiyi is telling her story to a young documentary producer, whom she wants to make a documentary about Ernest's life and his talent as a musician.  Aiyi is at the end of her long and dramatic life.  It has been a life full of so many experiences; marriage, religious practices, race relations, sibling relationships, motherhood, hope, music, women's rights and love.

Weina Dai Randel was born and raised in China. Weina is the winner of the RWA RITA Award, the National Jewish Book Award finalist, the Goodreads Choice Award “Best Historical Fiction” semifinalist, and the RT Book Reviewers Choice “Best First Historical” nominee.  Weina came to the United States at twenty-four, when she switched from Chinese to English and began to speak, write and dream in English. After living in Texas for many years, she now resides in Massachusetts. readers. She is an adjunct professor and is also a member of the Historical Novel Society.

One for Sorrow

 One for Sorrow by Mary Downing Hahn is fascinating historically based story.   This was a terrific historical ghost story., written for middle school and older teens..also perfect for an adult. Enjoyed the spooky ghost story aspect and the historical side of the plot also. The 1918 flu is so relevant to today and I was curious about that time period. This is the story of the people of a small community during the flu pandemic and also the story of young girls learning about friendship and hate. How to include friends and what can happen when you exclude one person from your circle.   

All based on true stories told to the author by her mother .  The plot line definitely holds your attention.

This is a YA book with a strong message of being kind to others even if they are different.  The story of a group of young girls who have decided they do not like the one girl who looks and dresses differently.  When Annie starts going to a new school the other girls ignore her.  But Elise who is also unpopular befriends Annie.  Annie soon realizes that Elise is not really nice to others.   Annie switches allegiance  and that is the beginning of her trouble with Elise.  

This is a spooky ghost story about the girls and the influenza epidemic but also a story about friendship, loss and love.  Annie sees that her parents really love and support her and that is very important.  You  cannot take your parents love for granted.

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian

 The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, by Sherman Alexie the story of Junior's life growing up on the Spokane Indian reservation.  This YA fiction story is autobiographical of Alexie's life.

We meet Junior as he known to his family and friends but in his new school he is known as Arnold Spirit.  This is just one of the challenges our young Indian friend has to face as he tries to negotiate the world of differences between living on the rez and going to school in the neighboring white farm community.

Junior is a 14 year old boy who lives with his mom, dad and sister.   His parents grew up on the reservation and never left. This is a cold hard look at the hard life of the reservation.  So many adults are alcoholics.  They are uneducated and poor with no prospects of changing that trajectory.  A teacher tells Arnold that he is very  smart and he has a chance to escape the same fate.  So with his parents support and help Arnold travels 20 miles a day to the neighboring town to the white high school.  

It is a hard decision, his friends and fellow Indians are angry that he is trying to leave the reservation.  The white families in the town are prejudice against him for coming from the rez.

But slowly Arnold learns to be a part time Indian and to make a few friends in the white world.  This is his story.  It contains discussions of a 14 year old boy's thoughts about sex and the fights Junior gets into as he tries to balance between two worlds.  It is a true life lesson for many  of us about how people are all the same and we should look beneath the skin and clothes to see the person in front of us.

Two Nights in Lisbon

 Two Nights in Lisbon by Chris Pavone is another novel in the mystery thriller genre.

This time a newly married couple travels to Portugal to add a short vacation to the husband's business trip.  After a few days of touring around the husband gets up in the morning goes out to pick up coffee before his business meeting and never returns.  The wife, Ariel Pryce, panics immediately and goes to the police to report her missing husband.  When they do not seem to take her seriously she goes to the American Embassy to get them involved.

Once she has everyone's attention the explosive mystery is underway.  So many questions are explored in this novel; who can you trust?, how well do you know your spouse? and how do you get the assistance you need to rescue a kidnap victim in a foreign country?

The plot of this novel is intriguing. Written mostly from Ariel's point of view we hear her backstory reveal slowly as she is searching for her husband.  With the local police and the American Embassy looking into both her and her husband's backgrounds more clues are released along the way and then there is a reporter following the story looking for the story of his career uncovering facts as the story progresses. 

Also the writing style is unique and very entertaining.  Listening to the characters talk and think has a distinct rhythm to it. This writing style and the intriguing plot keeps the reader turning pages as quickly as possible to find out the ending.

My Evil Mother

 My  Evil Mother, by  Margaret Atwood, is such a fun light entertaining story from this fabulous author. I listened to this short title on audible.  It was fun to listen to and maybe because I have read so many books by  the author I kept waiting for the other shoe to drop.

the best part about this story is I want to share it with my daughter.  I feel like this is very similar to our story.  The mother daughter relationship.  As a mother, you are doing your best and yet your daughter sees you as the evil enemy.  This is a clever interpretation of that fateful relationship.

Written to make every mother whose daughter rebelled or stormed up the stairs yelling 'I hate you' able to laugh at those memories.  

The story of a single mother and her daughter coming of age in the 1950s.  Description of the perfect housewife, who claims to have more witchlike powers.  The daughter worries that the kids at school will find out.  She also wonders how much of what her mother says is true.  Growing up can be difficult, but with a mother like hers, it can be mortifying .

The Mystery of the Sorrowful Maiden (A Laetitia Rodd Mystery)

 The Mystery of the Sorrowful Maiden, written by Kate Saunders turned out to be a delightful novel. this is the first book I have read from this series, though it is the third in the group.

Laetitia Rodd is a lady of distinction, who seems may have fallen on hard times after the death of her husband, who was a clergyman. She is now a private detective and lives with her landlady, Mrs. Bentley. She is a woman of a certain age, though that is never made clear, and she is a woman of discretion.

This time around she gets involved in helping to absolve a woman, Sarah Transome, of murder at the behest of her neighbor, Ben Tully.  Mrs Rodd gets involved and the case gets complicated with many different characters being suspected.  There seem to be a plethora of guilty characters, but then there are also going to be more victims.  Using her ladylike discretion, she assists the police inspector of Scotland Yard, Mr. Blackbeard with his inquiries and brings the culprit to justice.

The interesting topics covered in this storyline are surprising for the time period.  This is a quick read and fast moving plot with colorful actors. This plot takes us to the streets of London in the mid nineteenth century.  Theatre was becoming gentrified.  This story describes Georgian tradition where the audience participated with boos and hisses.  Then there is also a description of a new type of acting beginning, the Shakespearian theatre.  This is a time in history when thespians were yet to be recognized as respected members of society.   

  

The Golden Dreidel

 The Golden Dreidel is a short children's book written by Ellen Kushner.  It has recently been re  -  released with illustrations by Kevin Keele.  It is a simple story about the miracle of Chanukah. What separates it from some of other stories written about the Chanukah story is that it closely resembles The Nutcracker story for Christmas.

So not surprisingly, New York’s Vital Theater Company asked Ellen to adapt the book as a play for their 2008/09 season — and at the last minute she fulfilled her life’s dream of acting on stage in New York, when she stepped in to play the part of Tante Miriam! 

This is the story of  Sara, who is frustrated that her family cannot celebrate Christmas, like her friends.  That Chanukah is not as colorful and brilliantly lit up as Christmas.   She and her brother, Seth join her parents and all  the cousins, aunts and uncles for the annual Chanukah party.  As the kids are playing  dreidel, Tante Miriam arrives and has a big bag of gifts for everyone.  Sara is given a golden dreidel and a warning to be careful, this is not an ordinary  dreidel.  In a fight over the dreidel with her brother, the TV is damaged.  In the middle of the night just like a broken nutcracker in the other version, Sara is taken on an adventure... is it real or did she just dream it?  

An interesting take off  on  the classic Christmas story.   And the perfect vehicle for a holiday stage play and maybe some day a short movie to watch on Chanukah.  

A Darker Reality

 Anne Perry is a prolific author.  She has written three different historical mystery series. The Thomas Pitt series about a working class police inspector in Victorian London.  Then she writes a spin off series, about Daniel Pitt Thomas and Charlotte's son, a reluctant lawyer living the 1910s.  The William Monk series about a policeman who suffers from amnesia after an accident.  When he fired he becomes a private detective, with the assistance of Hester and Sir Oliver Rathbone solving crimes.

Her newest series stars Elena Standish, a young determined photographer, who after carrying her dead lover's final message into the heart of Berlin as Hitler is coming to power earns herself a secret position with the British Secret Service.  A Darker Reality is the third novel in this series. This time Elena has traveled with her parents to the United States for the 60th anniversary party for her grandparents.

Her grandfather travels in very impressive social circles and the guest list involves many important political figures.  In a back room President Roosevelt is a having a meeting during the celebration. When but when the beautiful wife of a renowned scientist is found murdered in the driveway,  the President is whisked out the back door. Later Elena's grandfather is taken into custody accused of murder. 

Elena was the photographer at the party. Can her pictures help tell the story of what unfolded?  She and her father try to help her grandfather with his case to be released from prison. They must decide if he was set up and why.  Is he involved with growing war movement in Europe and which side is he on?

Perry writes an entertaining mystery that is easy and quick to read, setting the scene with some political and factual historical information. 

The Accomplice

What an intriguing and complicated mystery... Lisa Lutz sets in motion a plot that takes friends, Luna Grey and Owen Mann from college into adulthood as best friends, keeping each other's secrets.  Sometimes they are in agreement on the secrets they are keeping, sometimes they do not even know what secrets they are protecting.  Jumping back and forth between past tense and current problems their friendship seems invincible... that it will last forever.  Well written, you are drawn into the mystery, taken along for the ride as all the facts unravel before your eyes.

Luna Grey has a secret that she is running away from.  She comes to college as a pragmatic, cautious student, from a humble beginning, keeping her head down.  She meets Owen Mann, who is gregarious, charming, from a privileged lifestyle. Their friendship withstands the many troubles they encounter through college and they are still friends later in life, when Owen's wife is found dead.

Told in alternating chapters that take you back to their early friendship and current day as they try to figure out who could have killed Owen's wife the story unfolds.  Secrets are revealed and in a intricate plot with many twists we eventually learn the whole story.  

This is a fun mystery but also a story of relationships. The closeness and trust of friendship, and how far that trust will last before it breaks.

Wish You Were Here

 Jodi Picoult has written the first novel I have read chronicling the CoVid pandemic.  Wish You Were Here is the story of a young couple living in Manhattan when the CoVid pandemic breaks out.  

Diane is a young woman who is climbing the job ladder at Sotherby's just the way she always planned to.  She has her life mapped out.  Vice President at the art auction house.  Married and requisite kids by a certain age.  House in the suburbs. Her live in boyfriend, Finn is a medical intern and she is sure he will propose on their upcoming romantic getaway vacation to the Galapagos Islands.  

Just as they are getting ready to leave the country everything locks down.  New York City goes into panic mode and Finn is working around the clock at the hospital trying to save patients who are getting sick with this new disease.  Finn tells Diane to leave on the dream vacation without him.  Better she is safe and having a nice time while he is facing death in the hospital.  When she lands in the Galapagos she is on the last  ferry  and then the island shuts down.  Stranded in this beautiful exotic island is both freeing and claustrophobic.  Diane has to learn to rely on herself and to slow down for the first time in her life. 

We learn about the catastrophe unfolding in New York though emails Finn is sending to Diane.  We experience the frustration, fear and sadness of  all  the healthcare workers who were on the front lines.

Picoult has researched all the topics in this novel throughly.  She describes the CoVid pandemic in realistic terms from the viewpoints of doctors, patients, giving reader a real feel for being in the thick of the situation.  She also describes the beauty and wildness of the Galapagos Islands, the serenity and the peacefulness. It will be interesting to see if this book is recommended reading to the the future generations who did not experience the last few years in real time as a way to understand what happened in 2020.

Jodi Picoult wrote this book really quickly to get it published while we are still in the pandemic.. a little risky when we do not really know the final outcome yet. But she did a great job chronicling life as we are living it. Of course this novel has a larger life lesson about who we are, how we judge others and should we have a life plan or live more in the moment.  Diane O'Toole is following a road map for her life she has planned out in her mind.  Career, marriage and children.  But when the CoVid lock down happens and her life starts going off course, she has to reexamine all the plans and ideas she thought she had understood. Well written, entertaining though I did not really  want to read some of the details about what was happening in NY hospitals.  Too soon.  But this will be a great resource for readers years from now or those who did not watch the news every day.  For those who did live through it to get a real feeling for what 2020 was about.

Marion Lane and the Midnight Murder

 Marion Lane and the Midnight Murder by T A Willberg is the first in a new mystery novel series.  The second book has been published and Willberg is working on the third.  This is definitely a new and different style of mystery novel.  This novel feels more fantastical.  We are introduced to Marion Lane, a young woman who has grown up with her grandmother, after mother committed suicide.  Her grandmother is an unhappy person, who has resented having to look after her granddaughter and now is anxious to marry her off. 

Marion hopes there is more to life and goes out to get a job and be self sufficient.  When she applies to a dark cobweb filled bookstore for a job she is whisked downstairs underground to find a world of secret tunnels that run under the streets of 1950s London.  She is introduced to a world of crime fighting done after dark to solve crimes that have stumped Scotland Yard.  She joins the apprentices who are learning all the tricks, gadgets and cunning of good detectives.  

When one of their fellow employees is murdered, the investigators must look at themselves to find the murderer.  Now Marion must figure out who she can trust from this mysterious group of detectives recruited for Miss Brickett’s Investigations & Inquiries.  Marion and her friends will use what they have learned to save their colleague accused of the murder as they discover secrets dating back to England's involvement in World War Two.

An entertaining plot, though a little farfetched, if the reader suspends the need for reality this was a fun read.  It will be interesting to see where Marion and the Investigators and Inquirers go next.

The Venice Sketchbook

 Rhys Bowen is such an accomplished author.  She writes a variety of styles, three different mystery series and also stand alone novels.  This newest stand alone historical novel, The Venice Sketchbook is a delightful though painful story of life in Europe leading up to World War II.

A beautiful love story of Juliet, a young girl of eighteen, who travels to the city of love, Venice, with her aunt.  It is 1928.  Venice is enticing, sailing through the canals,  the delicious food and of course a handsome man who she falls in love with.  Her aunt whisks her away before she can get to know this handsome stranger.  A few years later, Juliet gets an opportunity to return to Venice as an art student to study and she runs into Leo again.  This time though he is from a family of royalty and is betrothed to marry a person who will help cement the family's financial future, he and Juliet are drawn to each other.  

The war breaks out and Juliet is caught there.  Her life takes various twists and turns that she writes about in her diary.

Years later, Caroline Grant 's great aunt Juliet dies and leaves three keys to Caroline without any explanation.  Caroline starts on a trip to Venice to help her get over her divorce and try to find out what the keys are connected to in Venice.  As we follow Caroline back to Venice we are reading the diary of Juliet's life and adventures.

The suspense is built as the reader learns more and more about Juliet's life during her year at art school and as the war is encroaching on Italy.  The reader will be caught up in the story until you reach the satisfying ending.

Where There's A Will

 Where There's A Will  is the 10th installment in the Rowland Sinclair WWII mystery series.

I will say this is one of my  favorites in the series.  It is captivating in the plot the scenic descriptions and in the historic references.  So many memorable people from history are mentioned and brought into the storyline.  Sulari Gentill is brilliant at interweaving the historical facts leading up to WWII with a mystery plot that feels like everyday life.  

This time Rowland Sinclair and his friends, Edna, Milton and Clyde are brought to the United States to help figure out why Rowly's friend was recently murdered and why this friend made Rowly the executor of his will. The group travels between Boston and New York City and then spends some time on the North Shore of Massachusetts. The descriptions of each of the cities makes the reader feel like they are walking the street with our protagonists.  The reality of life in the US during the early 1930s is realistic and presented at the beginning of each chapter with a news story from places like the Boston Globe.

As the series has progressed the characters have been developing and growing.  Now it is like I know these four misfits from Australia.  They are distant friends that I read about but don't get to visit with in person.  Loyal to each other saving lives and sharing what they have without jealousy or regret.

Oh to have friends that loyal!   I can hardly wait until the next  installment of this fabulous series.

Hidden Powers Lise Meitner's Call to Science

 

Young people, especially girls who are interested in science will find a wonderful role model in Lise Meitner.

This book written in a beautiful poetry style easily explains the life of Lise Meitner and her critically important contribution to science.

Each chapter is written in a simple poetic style that makes understanding the complicated science that Lise and her fellow laboratory partners are discovering easily understandable.

The story of Lise’s life and how she worked her way through many obstacles is amazing as well as inspiring.

Lise Meitner wanted to be a scientist from a very young age. She lived at a time in history when women were not offered an education and certainly not encouraged to attend university, get a doctorate, or become a professor.   She overcame all these challenges and became the first woman physics professor at the University of Berlin.  As she was working hard to try and discover a new element for the periodic table alongside her partner, Otto Hahn, they discovered nuclear fission.

Life in Germany is getting more and more dangerous for the Jewish citizens. The Nazis are coming to power and Lise is in danger as she continues to work in the lab and is dismissed from teaching because of her Jewish religious beliefs.  She escapes to Sweden and continues her work. Along the way we also met other women scientists who were working hard to be accepted into the all male world of research and professorship. 

This book will encourage all young people to pursue their dreams with vigor and remain true to their beliefs and ideals. 

This book details references the Holocaust and how it affects Lise,  her colleagues,  her friends and family

but does not delve into the atrocities of the war.  We learn about how Hitler's rise to power affects Lise's life and career.  We learn how she withstands the pressure of the Nazis to curtail her work and how she escapes to Sweden.  Her fellows scientists help her and also are against the war and support the Jewish people.  They help her as much as they can.    Lise continues her work and is asked to come to America and assist in the creation of the atomic bomb.  She refuses because she is first and foremost a humanitarian.

The Auschwitz Detective

 What a great mystery novel.  This is a prequel for the Adam Lapid series, which takes us back to his experience in Auschwitz.  It is a hard to read account of life in the camp as a Jewish prisoner, but also a heart warming account of how some of the prisoners rose above the strain and horrific ordeals and kept their dignity and sense of humanity.  Intwined in the novel of the Holocaust is a mysterious death, that Lapid needs to unravel to save his own life.

A Deadly Act

 This is a great mystery series that I have just discovered.  I will go back now and read all the earlier novels in this series.  Adam Lapid is a retired Hungarian Jewish detective who now after the Holocaust immigrates to Palestine/Israel.  He is living there in 1950 and working as a private detective.  His past gives him a hardboiled tough exterior.  He takes on the cold case of a actress murdered in a graveyard.  As he tries to find the killer who has roamed free for five years, he finds that one death may lead to another.. he must protect his own life as he sticks his hand the nest and uncovers a hand full of trouble.

The Maid

 The Maid by Nita Prose is listed as a novel, but it is also very much a mystery novel.

Prose is writing this novel from the perspective of Molly Gray, best known as Molly Maid.

She works very hard cleaning rooms at the Regency Grand Hotel.  Moly Maid is twenty five years old, but she is also an unusual young lady, who struggles with understanding the cues and social interactions that other people take for granted.  She sees the world in black and white and sometimes  misses thee nuanced  shades of grey.  Having grown up with her Gran, she is trying now to move on after Gran's death.  She is trying to negotiate the daily life of going to work, cleaning her apartment, making the rent and understanding those around  her.  

She is happiest when she is wearing her crisp clean uniform, pushing her cleaning cart full of clean sheets, towels, miniature soaps, shampoos and little individually wrapped chocolates to leave on pillows. She takes her job  seriously and she takes the directions of the manager at face value and literally.

When she tries to befriend the Rodney, bartender at the Regency and tries to help Juan Manuel, the  dishwasher in the kitchen, her cleaning skills are put to the test and her honesty is questioned.

The Man Who Loved His Wife

 The Man Who Loved His Wife is a book of short stories written by Jennifer Ann Moses.  Short stories are a little harder to write than a novel.  The author must capture the reader’s attention quickly, keep their attention while building the plot of the story, then reach a conclusion in a limited amount of time and pages.  Enticing the reader, making them feel emotions for the characters and stay engaged with the storyline is something that Moses does very well throughout this book.

Each of the stories uses a dark comedic style to show the real lives of Jewish people living in many locations; New Jersey, Israel and the southern United States.  Stories of immigrants and survivors. The stories grab the reader, pulling them into the character’s lives and end leaving the reader with an uncomfortable feeling of uncertainty of what happens next in the protagonist's life.  Adolescent love, marriage and infidelity, true love are all scrutinized.  Jewish rituals and customs are explored through stories of funerals and sitting shiva.

The Ladies of the Secret Circus

 Constance Sayers has a terrific imagination that she shares with the reader in her book, The Ladies of the Secret Circus.  This is the  story of Lara Barnes who on her wedding day is left alone at the alter.   She and Todd have had a long romance which is finally about to culminate in marriage when her fails to show up at the church.  Lara does not believe he is gone of his own volition.

Her mother, Audrey is supportive but seems to have her own secrets she is guarding, as she tries to protect her daughter.  Ben Archer, the police chief is very supportive and helpful to Lara as she decides to investigate the disappearance of her fiancé .

Tied to this modern day family is the history of a magical circus that only appears to special people in Paris back in the 1925.  Sayers paints a beautiful picture of artistic, social cafe scene in Paris at night. With descriptions of the nightlife and the artists who live there and paint the beautiful women.

The Secret Circus is magical and full of illusions.  Sometimes places and experiences that are so fantastic that could bring a person to the edge of evil.  Could the Circus of such fantastical beauty and magnificence be connected to the world of evil?  

So wonderfully presented that the beauty and the grotesque come to life and seem real.  

Wrongfully Infused

 Living in the make believe world with Gemma and her best friend, Cassie, running a tea shop in in her tiny Oxfordshire village in England you can forget all the crazy stuff happening here in the real world.  

Gemma returns to her tea shop, Little Stables to find the clientele has been lured away by a new Tea Bar on the other side of town.  Gemma and her best friend are going to eat at the new location to see what the fuss is all about and of course find their best customers, the 4 elderly ladies, the Old Biddies, there.  Gemma has dinner with her parents and explains the problem to them and her mother gives her some good advice to improve her own tea shop to attract the people back to her cafe. 

Gemma is busy baking the best scones in the Cotswolds and trying to keep her relationship moving forward with her rediscovered first love, Devlin, who is up for a promotion to Detective Inspector.   Her mother is expanding her interests and helping people coming to live in England from other countries learn the customs and language.  She is also learning their customs and enjoying some of the new ways of eating and living.

Then her mother introduces her to her newest friend, who is the mother of the woman with the offending Tea Bar.  There has to be a crime committed and of course Gemma is one of the accused.  Of course if she is a suspect in the death she must defend herself.  Thus begins the trail of characters Gemma interviews to find out who could have really murdered the Tea Bar owner, to clear her own name.  Also because Gemma realizes even when her boyfriend, Devlin asks her to stay out the case because it could affect his upcoming promotion, Gemma cannot stop hunting for the killer.

Another fun entertaining light mystery.  So cozy that I spent the day on the couch through a snow storm reading this novel.  Also it takes you away form the news and the CoVid pandemic we are living through.  There is not one mention of illness or masks.  Here you can forget that those are a part of our world today.

Disclosure: A review copy of this book was sent to me by the author. All of the above opinions are my own.    

The Vixen

 I was looking forward to reading this book, but  in the end I was a little disappointed.  Though again after the conversation about it with my book discussion group, I felt it was worth the read.

An interesting novel ...but disappointing.  I was hoping for more of a story about the Julius and Ethel Rosenberg.  This is a story  of a young man who is trying to establish himself int he world of publishing.  He is very naive and is easily taken advantage of in the hard boiled world of publishing at a time when there were still three martini lunches, men dominated the business and it was an all boys network.  

Simon the narrator of this book and the new man at the publishing company that wants to publish a bodice ripper about Ethel Rosenberg, has to figure out whether to stand up for his beliefs or follow the  direction of his boss and defile the good name of Ethel Rosenberg.  

Francine Prose grew up knowing that her mother went to  high school with Ethel Rosenberg, so her protagonist, Simon has a similar connection to the Rosenbergs.  

He is haunted for the entire novel by Ethel's last words, sent to her lawyer, " Ethel said in her letter, you will see that our name will be kept bright and unsullied by lies. "

So when Simon is offered a job  at a publishing company he jumps at the job.  Then he is asked to copyedit a novel loosely about Ethel that sullies her name.  Simon is torn between keeping his job  and acting like the men he meets on the job or being loyal to what he images his mother would want and also to Ethel.

This is a coming of age story. Simon is a learning how the world works and how women can use their sexuality to take advantage of you .  How men use power to get what they want.  

All in all an interesting novel but not a favorite of mine.  Much of  the plot seems very far fetched and a bit unrealistic.  

The Lincoln Highway

Amor Towles is being praised for this new novel.  So unlike his previous novels, this plot takes us back in US history to the 1950s, a simpler time, but still a time of heartache for so many young men coming of age. 

This novel explores the lives of three young men who come from very different walks of life and different places in the United States.  We get to know each of the characters telling their story as they travel from Nebraska to New York.  They and others share what has led each of them to end up in Salina, a work farm for troubled boys.   

Emmett, who grew up in Nebraska, was at Salina for involuntary manslaughter after a boy was killed in a fight.  His father has died after years of being an unsuccessful farmer and loosing his property to the bank.  As Emmett and his younger brother Billy are about to leave and start a new life, Wooly, son of an aristocrat and Duchess, son  of a vaudevillian , two boys who were at Salina with Emmett show up unexpectedly and detour Emmett and Billy to New York.  Wooly and Duchess are are on the run, having snuck out of Salina before their time is up.  

This is the story of misadventures and coming of age, self discovery and learning along the way to be a better person in order to succeed.

The writing style in this novel is perfection.  The descriptions and the character development are very well done. Maybe it is the perfect writing... but I was on edge the entire time I was reading this novel.  I had a pit in my stomach, worried that something terrible would happen to Emmett and Billy, who I really wanted to succeed from the very beginning.  So along the way,  there were many times where I thought I would just put the book down and not continue to make myself so uncomfortable.  But in the end the writing and story kept me engaged and I had to read all the way to the end.