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.