Life After Life by Kate Atkinson

One of my favorite movies is Sliding Doors with Gweneth Paltrow.  In the movie, she's a young woman coming home unexpectedly in the middle of a work day.  In the first scenario, she misses her train, but in the second, she just jumps on the train in time.  From there, the story breaks into two entirely different plots - one that follows her life after she misses the train but eventually gets home, and the second one in which she makes the train.  What I love about it is it shows how a seemingly insignificant event can make a life altering change.

I was reminded of this movie as I read Life After Life.  Ursula is born in 1911 in England.  She dies but then begins her life again.  And again.  And again.  Each time, she has a sense that there is danger so she makes a change that will keep her alive.  For example, one death occurs when their maid comes home from London with influenza and gives it to Ursula.  So in several lives after that, she does what she has to do to keep the maid from going... sometimes just a small thing but it will change their lives.

As Ursula becomes an adult, the story gets a little confusing and I admit I often had to look back to see what year she's in as I was reading.  But the stories are fascinating, and she has a wide variety of lives (marrying an abusive man, marrying a Nazi, remaining single and working during the London Blitz). 

As I think more about it, I believe that Ursula was not the only character who was reliving his/her life.  There were some clues that made me believe that they changed as Ursula's life changed, and this would only be the case if they were altering their lives too.  Just a thought I've been mulling over.

This is a book that has stayed with me for a while.  And I think that I'd like to re-read it someday - which I almost never do.  Highly recommend.  -June

The Orchardist by Amanda Coplin

Normally when I finish a book, I'm anxious to blog about it.  I either love it and can't wait to proclaim my love or I don't care for the book and want you to know why.  But I was all over the place on this one.  At times I was enthralled and other times very impatient for it to move along.  The setting and the characters are incredibly defined.  You really do know Talmadge, the kind gentle lonely man who owns an orchard in Washington State.  When two young pregnant girls arrive on his property, they become part of his life.  While the book is well written, it is sometimes hard to follow.  There isn't much dialogue, and what there is, isn't punctuated.  No quotation marks.  So I often wondered if the character actually said the words or just thought about saying them.  And I never felt I knew the motivation behind some of the things the characters did - especially Talmadge.  Did he try to save Della because his sister ran away when they were children?  Really?  Or was there another reason I missed?  And the other women in his life.... And so the question...... would I recommend it?  With reservations.  And yet why can't I stop thinking about it. - June

The Chaperone by Laura Moriarty

While I'm not usually drawn to historical fiction, this one sounded (and was!) very interesting.  It takes place in the early 1900's, and it's the story of Cora, a woman from Kansas, who is a chaperone to a 16-year-old girl as she travels to New York City during one summer.  The girl is the future film star, Louise Brooks, whose name sounded somewhat familiar to me, and after Googling her, I can see that the book really does follow her life.  But the book isn't just about Louise.  It's mostly about Cora and how, as a woman in that era, her feelings about a woman's place, sexuality, social behavior, and morality changed as a result of that summer in New York.  Her background is fascinating, but I won't ruin it for you by telling it all.  I think it's a very interesting read and it does portray a time of change - and thank God we did change.  -June

P.S.  I listened to the audiobook version, and Elizabeth McGovern was the narrator.  While I love her in Downton Abbey, I confess I didn't care for the way she read it.  She tried to use various accents (Midwest, German) and none rang true.  Plus her "normal" voice as the narrator was kind of stuffy English like it is on Downton.  So I'd recommend the paper version over the audio one.

And the Mountains Echoed by Khaled Hosseini

I'm sure I'm the only reviewer who will compare this book to Olive Kitteridge.  And maybe I'm crazy to do so.  But this wonderful book has the same format as Olive.  Each chapter is written from the point of view of a different character, and yet they are all loosely connected.  And like Olive, there is one character, Pari, who is either central to the story in the chapter or at least there is a reference to her.

OK, enough of the comparison.  This is the latest book from the author of The Kite Runner.  Like his previous books, he gets gold stars for his writing.  It's fabulous.  The book jumps to different decades and to different characters, so there were times when I felt the need to almost draw out a timeline as to what happened and when it happened.  It can be confusing.  But I really loved the character development and found the book fascinating.  The basic story is about how Pari is sold to a childless, wealthy couple in Kabul in the 1950's.  Her uncle, Nabi, works for the family so we learn his story, Pari's brother's story, and several more.  There were some characters who needed more attention and I wanted to know what happened to them, but overall I highly recommend this one. - June

Hikikomori and the Rental Sister: A Novel by Jeff Backhaus

A friend sent this to me via the Kindle share program, and after looking at the name, I just wasn't sure about reading it.  I had no idea what Hikikomori was and assumed it was someone's name.  Come to find out Hikikomori is a Japanese term for someone who withdraws from the world.  Evidently there are many  young Japanese men who live in their rooms and refuse to come out.  This story, however, is about an American living in New York City.  Thomas and his wife, Silke, have lost their young son, and as the story begins, he has spent the last three years in his bedroom.  He only leaves at night to buy frozen food that he prepares in a microwave in his room.  His wife seeks the help of a young Japanese woman named Megumi who had a brother who lived in his bedroom.  So the book is about the relationship between Thomas and Silke, and Thomas and Megumi.  It's very well written, and I did enjoy reading it - although there were several times I considered scanning it rather than really reading it because the prose became a bit over the top.  And the writing style was unusual.  Every other chapter was written by Tom in the first person, and every other was written in the third person.  But it worked, and overall I enjoyed it.  -June

The Absolutist by John Boyne

This book really got to me.  I couldn't read it before going to sleep at night, because if I did, I couldn't sleep.  I'd wake up in the night and think about it.  And I didn't want to read the ending.  Sometimes when I book is really good you just don't want it to end, but in this case, I was actually afraid to read the ending.  I sensed how it might end, and I didn't think I could bear to read it.  Why did this book affect me so?  I have no idea, but I felt on the verge of tears through much of it.  Does that make it a good book?  I think if any book makes you think the way this one did, it's a great book, and I'm desperate for someone to read it so they can talk me down.  BT, please?

The book is about World War I.  I've read piles of books about WWII, but none about this war.  The characters are young English soldiers, and the descriptions of the war are chilling and incredibly sad.  The main character, Tristan, is gay and is banished from his home in his teens.  He joins the war effort when he's just 17.  During his basic training he meets Will and they form a close friendship.  This relationship forms the basis of the book and is very complex and complicated.  Have you read it yet, BT?  Hurry, OK? - June

Audiobooks

Lately I've been reading more than one book at a time.  I rarely do this.  But I always have a book I'm reading and now I often have a book I'm listening to too!  I heard a woman being interviewed on the CBS morning news show who said that audiobooks are the rage now that people simply download them to their phones.  I find I can listen everywhere and while I'm doing almost anything - walking the dog, driving in the car, fixing dinner, cleaning bathrooms.  I used to just listen to them on long driving trips but now I'm getting into it.  The actors who read these books are amazing and often switch their voices for the multiple characters making it so easy to understand and more enjoyable.  It makes me wonder how my feelings would differ if I had read these books instead of listened to them.  Anyway, here are two I've just listened to and liked.

Where We Belong by Emily Giffen
This is definitely in the chick-lit category but maybe that's why it made a good book to listen to.  The characters were interesting, and as I mentioned above, the actor made it fun as she changed her voice from the sophisticated Marion to the teenaged Kirby.  Marion gave birth to Kirby 18 years ago and put her up for adoption.  She then launched a very successful career without a thought to family and children.  Kirby felt out of place in her family and tracked Marion down.  The chapters switch from one woman to the other and the book comes to a thought-provoking conclusion about finding out who we really are.  Enjoyed it.

The Silent Wife by A.S.A. Harrison
Carla recommended this one because she'd heard it has been compared to Gone Girl.  And there are similarities.  The chapters switch from husband to wife, and there is certainly some dysfunction in the marriage.  In fact, I think we learn very early in the book that the wife will eventually commit a murder.  If you're someone who can read a book and not really like the characters, then this might work for you.  The husband is a total ass, not just because of his infidelity but because of his enormous ego and his overall feelings about women.  But it is certainly an interesting read, and I loved listening to it.

Inferno by Dan Brown

Something must be wrong with me.  I've read many positive book reviews of Inferno, and I've had friends tell me they just couldn't put it down.  Even the New York Times seemed to think it was a fun read.  And since it takes place in Florence and Venice (two of my favs), I should adore it.  Years ago, I remember liking The DiVinci Code.  And you'd think that since this book is basically the same plot that I would like it too.  But there is something about the way it is written that just turned me off. I felt as if the author took a travel guide from Florence and Venice, chose a couple of key historical landmarks and artifacts, and then created a far-fetched storyline while he spewed dates and miscellaneous facts to the reader about these things.  For example, as our hero is being chased by people he thinks want to kill him, he jumps into a water taxi in Venice and tells the driver to take him to St. Marks Square ASAP.  Yet as he moves down the Grand Canal, he acknowledges many of the landmarks along the way giving dates, architectural details and owners names, etc.  This totally breaks from the plot and seems to just be copied right from Frommers.  Maybe he knew that there would be "Inferno Tours" in Florence and Venice, so he wanted to give the tour guides landmarks they could include in the itinerary.  And here's a spoiler - nearly everyone you think is a good guy in the book turns out to be a bad guy and vice versa.  One key character starts out good, then bad, then good again.  Crazy.  I'm glad it's over.  -June

The Good House by Ann Leary

I read a positive review about this book that made me think I'd love it.  So I downloaded the audio version to take on a road trip with me last week.  As the review stated, the narrator of the book, Hilde, is a feisty 60-ish New England woman.  She's outspoken and very independent.  Perfect.  I liked her right away.  And I thought I was in for a fun, witty story.  But what I didn't know is that there is this secret side to her life.  Hilde is an alcoholic.  Her daughters have conducted an intervention and she's completed rehab.  Yet, as often is the case, she doesn't really think she has a problem, and so she starts drinking when she's alone while she pretends to the world that she's staying sober.  The book is not just about her drinking.  There are other story lines that take place in her small coastal town where Hilde is a realtor.  There's an affair between two people and somehow Hilde gets involved, and there's a relationship Hilde has with one of the local men.  But the drinking gets in the way of all the other stories.  OK, I'll admit that my personal history caused me to grip the steering wheel every time Hilde would make yet another excuse for her drinking.  She had millions of them...... she had to drink to celebrate a sale, she had to drink to relieve her stress, etc.  So I can't say I enjoyed this book, but I can also see how others might.  -June

Nate in Venice by Richard Russo

Here are some things I love:
1. Venice
2. Richard Russo
3. Reasonably priced Kindle downloads
4. A man named Nate

So when I saw a Kindle Single called Nate in Venice by Richard Russo for $2.99, I couldn't push that "Send it to me right away" button fast enough.  This short novel is in some ways typical of Richard Russo's writing.  There is a wonderful main character, Nate, who is completely lovable and yet flawed.  And he is surrounded by a small cast of characters who are quirky and yet beautifully described.  As a reader, you feel you know these people, and I think every book Russo has written has these qualities.  Nate is a retired college professor who is on a tour of Italy with his brother, Julian.  Their relationship isn't good and we learn more about why throughout the book.  There's also a subplot about a Nate and one of his students, but unfortunately, I found this part of the book to be vague and incomplete.  There were lots of hints about the student, but there was no explanation as to what really happened and how Nate felt about it.  I did love the parts about Venice (although I wanted more!).  And I truly love the way this guy writes.  I think I'd read anything coming from him - and maybe I already have. It's definitely worth the money here.  -June

Before I go to Sleep by S. J. Watson

A woman wakes up each morning and can't remember anything.  She doesn't recognize the man in bed with her, and she has no memories from the past 30 years or so.  Anything she learns in her day is erased when she goes to sleep at night.  Can this even happen?? At any rate, Christine decides to try to gain some control, and at the advice of her doctor, she starts a daily journal where she writes down everything that she learns about herself, and then every day she has to read the entire journal so she can figure out who she is.  There are several twists throughout the book, but it was a book I read to the end just to figure out how it could possibly be concluded.  I found the book to be pretty repetitive in parts and also unbelievable.  Visions of her past would appear to her just when she needed to have that information.  So even though it gets great reviews online, it doesn't get one from me.  -June

The Art Forger by B. A. Shapiro

What an interesting read!  I know nothing about art forgery (maybe this is a good thing?) and really not much about art.  But I learned more than I ever need to know about it from this book, and I found it fascinating.  The plot may be a bit contrived, but it kept me reading and enjoying.  Claire is an artist who paints reproductions for a living because her own art work has not yet been discovered.  She's approached to paint a reproduction of a Degas painting, and is told she's painting it from the original.  Because Claire is not only talented artistically but is also brilliant, she recognized that she's painting from a copy and she begins her research to find out the story.  All kinds of other interesting characters cross her path, and there's a nice satisfying ending.  What more can you ask for?  A great summer read. -June