Straight Man by Richard Russo

When this book came out in 1998, I remember reading a review in the newspaper and knew I needed to read it.  I'd never heard of Richard Russo (this was long before his Pulitzer Prize) and I fell in love with this book immediately.  I raved about it to all my friends and made them read it.  So now, years later, I forced the book onto my book club telling them it's an all-time favorite.  Reading it now, I still love it, but as I read it this time, I wonder how my book club members will receive it.  I just hope they see the humor there and not just focus on a man who is obsessed with peeing.  The book takes place in one week in the life of Hank, a university professor and chairman of the English Department.  We meet his family and his colleagues who are all unique and, in typical Russo style, quite quirky.  One of my favorites is his secretary who ends every sentence as if it were a question by raising her voice at the end.  All hell breaks lose during this week, and as we read about Hank, it's hard to decide if he's incredibly sane or mad.  But we love him regardless.

I'm glad after all these years I was able to reread this book and know that I still love it.  I'll continue to force it on my friends. -June

The Long-Shining Waters by Danielle Sosin

This is a beautifully written book about three women who live in the same area around Lake Superior.  Although they all have the lake in common, they live in different times: one lives in the 1600's, one in the early 1900's, and one in 2000.  The book rotates from one story to another bringing each woman to life.  Each of the three women has challenges she's facing, and the author does a masterful job of revealing these characters to us.  It isn't an action-packed book, and there are times when I felt there were chapters where absolutely nothing happened.  But it still kept my interest and I enjoyed the poetic writing style. - June

The Art of Hearing Heartbeats

For me, one of the biggest benefits in being in a book group is that sometimes a member reads a relatively unknown book and wants to share it with us.  I had never heard of The Art of Hearing Heartbeats, and if someone had told me what it's about, I doubt I would have picked it up.  But it has a magical quality that I really enjoyed.  It takes place in Burma, and we meet a cast of characters that are intriguing.  The book's narrator is a woman who is looking for her father who mysteriously disappeared from their New York home.  She finds hints that he has returned to Burma where he grew up in search of a woman named MiMi.  The book then switches back to her father's childhood and we learn about his life and his relationship with MiMi.  There's a strong fantasy/mystical level to the book, and you can't read it looking for logic.  For example, Tin Win (the narrator's father) is blind as a child, and has supernatural hearing where he can hear the heartbeats of the people around him as well as find his way easily by hearing familiar sounds.  It's a slow-moving book but I enjoyed the ride. -June

The Crying Tree by Naseem Rakha

This was a recommendation from Sister BT who probably could relate to the prison scenes in the book.  While I'm not familiar with prisons, I do know a thing or two about secrets, and there were lots of those in The Crying Tree.  I had to fight the urge to gather all the characters in a room and have them all spill their guts just to see what would happen.  The main character, Irene, is devastated and angry when her son is shot.  The shooter is on death row, and after being miserable for years, Irene chooses to forgive the shooter and begins a secret correspondence with him.  Her husband, Nate, knows much more about the murder than he tells anyone.  Even the shooter has a story he keeps to himself.  This is really a great book, and the characters are well done.  However, it's a sad book, and even with the outlook of hope at the end, it still is hard to read sometimes.  Thanks, BT.  -June

Cross Currents by John Shors

I need to give up on Amazon customer reviews.  Too many times I have been convinced to buy a book based upon glowing reviews from readers and too often I've felt that they must be written by the friends and family of the author.  Maybe my taste just differs from others, but when I read these reviews, I need to see what other kinds of recommendations they give.  I feel I was certainly mislead by the reviews for this book.

Cross Currents takes place on a small island in Thailand right before the tsunami hits.  In fact 9/10ths of the book is before the big event.  During that time, we meet all the characters and we love them all because they are perfect, and in turn, they all love each other.  Part of what bothered me about the book was the narrator's point of view.  The author tells us how every character feels and what they are thinking all the time.  Perhaps I prefer books where the author leaves it up to me to determine how the character feels based upon his words or actions rather than being told these things.  So the book just didn't work for me.  The only thing that kept me reading to the end was to find out who lives and who dies in the tsunami.  And by the end, I really didn't care all that much. - June

The Poison Tree by Erin Kelly

I guess this book proves to me that you can dislike the characters but still like the book.  Boy, talk about dysfunction!  The story takes place in London, and we meet Karen (our narrator) and her friends, Rex and Biba, who are brother and sister.  We know from the start that a crime has been committed but we don't know who did it or what happened.  The suspense builds throughout the book, and the ending is quite a surprise - followed by more surprises.  All the characters are quirky but the book is well-written and I had a hard time putting it down.  -June

The Kitchen House by Kathleen Grissom

I love it when a friend recommends a book I haven't heard of, and I always want to like it.  And this one starts off with such promise.  It takes place on a Southern plantation in the late 1700's and early 1800's, and I wanted it to be like The Help where we see the relationships between the slaves and masters.  And for the first quarter of the book, I was pretty hooked.  But then it just started to fall apart and irritate me.  The writing is not good, and the author has the annoying tendency to repeat things over and over as if I didn't catch them the first time.  The book contains every type of tragedy you can imagine: incest, child abuse, rape, murder, spousal abuse..... the list goes on.  And there are all these secrets (who fathered who and such) that some people know but for some reason don't reveal to the other characters.  Anyway, I just got tired of all the drama.  I think the author tried to throw in everything that possibly happened back in those environments into the book, and it was overwhelming.  Sorry, but I don't recommend this one.  -June

The Space Between Us by Thrity Umrigar

Such a fascinating book!  It takes place in Bombay, and describes the relationship between a wealthy family and their employee, Bhima.  We learn about both Sara and Bhima, their children, their husbands, and how their lives differ and yet are so often the same.  The author does a marvelous job of describing Bhima's living conditions in the slums and the frustrations she endures.  The characters are well developed, and the story line is moving.  I highly recommend this one!  -June

Emily, Alone by Stewart O'Nan

Poor, sweet Emily.  First of all, I think Stewart O'Nan is an incredible writer.  I loved Last Night at the Lobster, so I was excited to read about Emily.  Perhaps I should have started with the "prequel", Wish You Were Here, but I wasn't aware that it would be smart to read them in order.  Anyway, I enjoyed getting to know Emily and (unfortunately) could relate to some of her concerns and anxieties.  Getting old sucks, and Emily is certainly struggling with the process.  The book is almost written in small short stories, but they all are chronological in Emily's life.  Each one, however, is a little nugget of wisdom about her, and although it was depressing sometimes, I enjoyed the book. - June

Good Things I Wish You by A. Manette Ansay

Where has the time gone?  I read this one a month ago, and it just seems to have slipped my mind.  I guess that's not a ringing endorsement for the book, is it?  I'm always drawn to books that have interesting concepts, and this one does.  Two separate stories - one in the present and one in the past.  The main character in the present story is writing a book about the characters in the past, Clara Schumann (wife of Robert Schumann) and Johannes Brahms.  Although I found the writing to be excellent, I never was really drawn to any of the characters.  And while their relationships were interesting, I found myself uncaring.  So I'd only recommend this one if you're interested in the lives of either Schumann or Brahms.  -June

The Paris Wife by Paula McLain

Why is it that when you finally read a book that all your friends have read and raved about, you often are disappointed?  I couldn't wait to read this book based on all the wonderful reviews I'd heard, and while I enjoyed it, the book will not stand out as one of my all-time favs.  Perhaps one of the reasons is this..... when I read fiction that is about people who actually lived, I can't help but continue to ask myself, "Did this really happen?  Did she really think that way?  Did he say those words?"  I know the author made up the scenes and just used Hemingway and Hadley in them, but how much is based on truth?  I'm sure there was research involved, but some of the scenes and thoughts are so intimate..... well, I just keep wondering what's truth and what's fiction.  Another friend has recommended I read some of Hemingway's works and some of my questions will be answered.  So many books to read!  My list continues to grow.  -June

The Art of Fielding by Chad Harbach

First of all, this is not a baseball book. Yes, there are several chapters that describe a game, an inning, an event that took place during a game. But this is so much more than that. It's about relationships at a small college in Wisconsin, and many of the characters just happen to be on the baseball team. I loved the writing - very descriptive - and I can see the movie being made soon. And although all the characters were flawed, they were completely lovable - and I loved them all. I highly recommend this book. -June