Peck & Peck

 Author Bonnie Garmus achieved fame when her first book Lessons in Chemistry was published.  The book was popular with book discussion groups and was on the best seller lists for many weeks.  Peck & Peck is her newest publication. 

This time Garmus follows a young protagonist, Batter Gray, as he grows up and dreams of a career as a poet. Batter Gray starts out life as a young boy who does not fit in with the other boys at school. His parents are always suggesting he find a more profitable career to pursue. We follow him through his college years, to New York City where he works at a copy shop, a diner and a Gap store folding tee shirts.

When he stumbles across the publishing company, Peck & Peck, producers of the legendary poetry journal, he feels that he will finally achieve his dream.  

Through a series of confusing yet mysterious encounters, Batter is fast becoming embroiled in the workplace infighting and controversies of the Peck family and the employees. All the characters in this novel are eccentric and quirky. There are many twists and turns and a plethora of characters.  There are many great lines to remember and the author does a good job of making a non poetry lover question their decision.  

Though I would not rate this novel as good as her first, it was a entertaining novel.

Three Bags Full

 Three Bags Full was published back in 2005 written by Leonie Swann. I bought it brand new in hardcover back then, but never got around to reading it.  To be truthful I did try once or twice to pick it up but it never really caught my attention to read through it. 

I loved the title and the concept of the sheep playing the detectives.  Recently I saw that it was made into a movie and I was determined to read the book before I saw the movie. So i picked it as book discussion selection and forced myself to pick it up and read through it.  I suppose you can tell at this point, that I have not really enjoyed this mystery novel. 

It is a clever idea to have the flock of sheep find the Shepard dead in the pasture and decide to play detectives and uncover his murderer.  The Shepard has treated the flock very kindly and has promised them a trip to Europe. He reads mystery novels to them, so that is how they have ideas about how to investigate. the writing is clever with many animal references.  This flock of sheep are very clever though some other sheep they meet in the story are not as smart. 

Leonie Swann has written another book in this series, which I will check out.  She has also written another series that feature elderly pensioners who live together and have a pet tortoise who assists in solving a crime.  I have reviewed it here.  I do believe I enjoyed that series more than this one.

I will watch the movie later on TV.  I have heard it has been changed quite a bit to make it a family movie. 

Hazel Says No

 I do not know how this book almost escaped my notice.  I am so glad it did not go unfound in the end. Hazel Says No is a very quick read but very intense.

Hazel is an incoming senior when her parents move from New York City to a small Maine college town. She is living with her brother who is starting middle school, her mother who is trying to find herself, and her father who has gotten the college professorship and head of the English department position he has been dreaming of.

Hazel was a star student in New York but trying to look on the bright side, this move to a small Maine rural community may give her an added edge when applying to colleges. Her dream school is Vasser and it looks like you are ranked higher if you are an A student coming from a lesser known High School than if you come from a New York City school. 

Hazel spends the summer hanging out at the town pool watching her brother, and reading as se awaits the beginning of her final year of high school. The school principal seems friendly when he sees her at the pool.  But things do not turn out well when he calls her into his office on the first day of school.

This is a story of how the things we say and do can quickly change the trajectory of not only our lives but the people around us. 

Starting with the family move to Maine and following through with how Hazel and each of her family members react to the meeting between school principal and Hazel that first day of the new school year. Each family member has a narrative that tells the story from their perspective.