Before We Were Yours by Lisa Wingate

What's wrong with me? Everyone loves this book. It gets fabulous online reviews. My friends can't stop talking about it. At my book club, I was the only one out of 18 people who said, "It was just OK" as everyone else babbled on how it was their favorite book of the year.

It has two story lines and while I often like the technique of a current story and a story in a different time, I only liked one of the stories here. In the 1930's, southern children were being taken away from their parents, put in the Tennessee Children's Home, and then sold to wealthy families. This part of the story is true. In the novel, we follow one young girl, Rill, and her struggle to keep her siblings together through this horrible ordeal. This was a great story.

The second story line takes place in the present time and is about Avery Stafford, an attorney from a wealthy, political southern family, who is home to help her family through a health issue. She's engaged to marry a family friend, but it's oh-so-very clear from the moment she meets Trent that her fiance is toast. The author lost me when she went into detail on Trent's looks including his ripped abdomen. I knew then how Avery's story would end. I love a good love story, but this one was just too predictable.

But then I'm the only one on the planet who questions this novel. I suppose you should read it and decide for yourself. Or just read the parts about Rill and skip over Avery. - June

Birds of America by Lorrie Moore

I don't usually choose to read short stories. They remind me of reading assignment in school where we had a huge literature anthology that included poems, essays, and short stories all bound together. I only remember The Lottery; the rest are forgotten. Give me a nice juicy novel to get lost in any day!

My book club reads novels and non-fiction, and to my knowledge, they have never read a book of short stories. So I proposed this one not having read it and only knowing that it gets great reviews. And it was supposed to be funny. I love funny. But when I read a review and I heard what the stories were about........ a woman who accidentally killed a baby, a couple finds out their young son has cancer..... I thought that there could be no way that this book has humor. I was so wrong! I can't begin to count the number of times I laughed out loud one minute and nearly cried the next.

Here's just a little example:

"Where am I from?" Agnes said it softly. "Iowa." She had a tendency not to speak up.
"Where?" The woman scowled, bewildered.
"Iowa," Agnes repeated loudly.
The woman in black touched Agnes's wrist and leaned in confidentially. She moved her mouth in a concerned and exaggerated way, like a facial exercise. "No, dear," she said. "Here we say O-hi-o."

Lorrie Moore is my new hero, and I'm determined to read everything she writes. She lives just miles from here in Madison, and I want to be her best friend. I have always had a quirky sense of humor, but so does Lorrie, so I know we could get along. She is a fabulous writer who can pack so much into just one or two sentences.

Here's a quote from one story about infidelity:

Holding fast to her little patch of marital ground, she’d watched as his lovers floated through like ballerinas, or dandelion down, all of them sudden and fleeting, as if they were calendar girls ripped monthly by the same mysterious calendar-ripping wind that hurried time along in old movies. Hello! Good-bye! Ha! Ha! Ha! What did Ruth care now? Those girls were over and gone. The key to marriage, she concluded, was just not to take the thing too personally.

Please read this, BT. I could hear you laughing with me as I read this and I want to know you really are. - June

 

The Garden of Evening Mists by Tan Twan Eng

There are some books that take so long to develop, that I'm tempted to put it aside. As I read this beautiful novel, I admired the exquisite writing but I just was having a hard time picking it up - and was finding it was way to easy to put it down. I almost gave up. BUT I'm so glad I didn't.

The first half of the book introduces the main characters: Yun Ling Teoh, a retired judge who has returned to Malaysia; Maritomo, a renowned Japanese gardner; Magnus, a tea farmer who lives in the Malaysian Highlands, and more. The first half of the book leaves a lot of questions in the mind of the reader. The author jumps around to different times without any headings or other indications that he's now 30 years ahead or behind. And then there's the foreign words that are a mystery. And things are stated but never explained.

But then suddenly the questions start to be answered and the author fills in the holes. And it's wonderful! When my book club met to discuss this book, we all felt that this was a book worth the wait and requires patience. There are so many wonderful themes but I loved the parts about memories and what we remember and what we wish to forget. Just a special, beautifully poetic book. - June

My Name is Lucy Barton by Elizabeth Strout

Lucy and I took a road trip together. At least that's the way I feel about it. She sat in my passenger seat and told me the story of her life..... her troubled childhood, her difficult relationship with her parents, her troubled marriage. And she helped make the miles go by as I listened to her stories. She's very articulate and expresses herself well, but there were times my mind wandered as she brought up childhood friends and old boyfriends.

OK, so the truth is I listened to the audio book as I road alone on a trip. The book is short, and so the narration only lasted about 5 hours or so. And as I listened, I kept waiting for a plot, for a change in a relationship or a person to step up show some emotion. That doesn't happen.

Much of the book is spent discussing the time when Lucy was hospitalized and her mother, who she hasn't seen in years, appears at her bedside. She spends five days with Lucy, and they discuss friends from their small town and make up names for the nurses. The do not discuss Lucy's children (who her mother has never met) or Lucy's husband (who the mother doesn't like or acknowledge) or even Lucy's father. I know that relationships don't get fixed in five days, but while Lucy appreciated her mother being there, it didn't seem to change their feelings for one another.

This novel is on many "Best Books" lists, and it gets great reviews from Goodreads. And generally, I like a novel where I can get inside the mind of a character. I loved Olive Kitteridge!! But this one left me wanting more... more plot... more development or change. Just more. -June

Beartown by Fredrik Backman

In hockey you're an experienced player at twenty-five, a veteran at thirty, and pensioned off at thirty-five. Sune is twice that. And with age he has become shorter and broader, he's got more face to wash and less hair to comb, and finds himself annoyed by narrow chairs and poor-quality zippers. - Beartown

I don't know why, but I love this quote.

Here's something you might not know about me. If you were to look at my high school yearbook and if you were to look at my senior picture, there would be a few comments there. One of these would be "avid hockey fan". Yes, I rarely missed a game and I yelled myself hoarse numerous times. But I'm not sure if I loved the game or loved the players. But either way, when I started reading Beartown, I thought I'd found a fun little book about hockey. And since it's written by the author of A Man Called Ove, a novel I love for it's wisdom and wit, I assumed this book would be the same.

It isn't. Yes, there is a lot in this book about hockey. But it is so much more and so much darker than I imagined. It's about friendship, loyalty, and the importance of belonging. But also about bullying, the "good old boy" mentality, and the obsession with sports.....and much more that I don't want to mention for fear of giving things away.

There are what seems like hundreds of characters in this book, so it can sometimes be tough to keep them all straight. But it's worth it. It's a fabulous book, well written and with characters that will stay with me for a long time. -June

Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty

I didn't see the HBO show based on this book, but when I saw how many awards it received at the Golden Globes, I thought it might be worth reading. And it was.

I will say that the book triggered some memories for me of my time as a mother of a grade school child - and not pleasant ones. For example, there was the time our son was not invited to a birthday party of a boy he considered to be a good friend. And the school politics that seemed to be all about the moms who volunteered at the school and those who didn't. And there was even the time when our "perfect" kindergarten student decided to beat up a boy who had stolen his place in the reading circle. That almost caused him to be kicked out of school! I guess I'd suppressed a lot of these memories now that our son is grown and is a charming, kind man who doesn't seem to remember any of these things.

This novel covers so many timely subjects: bullying, domestic abuse, women's self-image issues. From the start, the reader is told there has been a murder, and then the rest of the book is told as a flashback leading up to that event. The characters are fascinating even if they are a bit over-the-top and chicklit like. But I read the entire book in two days, and that says something. I recommend it. Well done. -June

Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng

Recently, I listened to an interview with an author who talked about how she developed stories. She said that she tries to always create a story where you can see different sides to issues and agree with both sides. She doesn't try to write about good characters and bad characters - they are all characters with whom we can relate.

In Little Fires Everywhere, there are several issues where it might be easy to take a stand. But the author presents both sides so beautifully that it's almost impossible. This is a story of family dynamics, especially the relationships between mothers and daughters.

The Richardsons are an affluent family living in Shaker Heights. They have 4 children who are all teenagers. They own a duplex that has been rented by a mother, Mia, and her teenage daughter, Pearl. The two families blend when Pearl befriends one of the Richardson children and begins to spend most of her time at the Richardson's home. And Mia starts to work for the Richardsons helping around the house. Things become complicated and there are secrets that develop. And while some of the coincidences are a bit over the top and some of the plot turns are predictable, it still is an excellent read and one that kept my interest throughout. -June

The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead

I'm late to sing the praises of The Underground Railroad. It's already won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, the National Book Award for Fiction, AND been an Oprah book selection. And it deserves every award it has received. It's beautifully written, the author has created wonderful characters, and the story is gut-wrenching.

The plot primarily follows Cora, a slave on a cotton plantation in Georgia, who escapes with another slave, Caesar. As she works her way to South Carolina, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Indiana, she is determined to continue to work towards freedom despite a series of violent acts and constant fear. The underground railroad was her way of moving to different locations, and the people who helped her often sacrificed their homes and even their lives for the cause.

Highly recommend this one, BT, if you haven't already read and loved it. -June

Shotgun Lovesongs by Nicholas Butler

I've never lived in a small town. And I don't think I'd ever want to. But reading about life in a small town can be fun, and Shotgun Lovesongs was a good read. Actually, it was a good listen since I had the audio book. The readers of the audio book do a fabulous job; each one is a different character. But let's talk about the book first.

This is the story of 5 friends who grew up together in the small town of Little Wing, Wisconsin. The majority of the plot takes place while this group is in their 30's but there are several flashbacks that give background. If you're looking for an action-packed who-dunnit kind of book, this is not for you. But if you want some excellent writing and interesting characters with lots of interaction between those characters, this might do it. It's a story of friendship, love, and loyalty, with a sprinkling of conflict and a few secrets. I enjoyed it, but I can't help but wonder if I would have given up on the book while enjoying the audio book. As each reader became a character, I felt as if I were hearing their story right from them. At any rate, I enjoyed it, and it helped pass the time on a car ride and more. -June

The Life She was Given by Ellen Marie Wiseman

I'm such an idiot! I need to start reading my own blog! Three years ago, I read and wrote about another book by Ellen Wiseman, What She Left Behind. And in my review, I clearly did not care for the writing. So what do I do? I dive into another one of her books expecting that I'll love it. Unfortunately, the author's writing style has become worse, not better!!

The Life She Was Given came with excellent reviews. Some reviewers called it a "beautiful" book. Beauty is not the same for everyone, that's for sure. Yes, there's an interesting-sounding story line. A young girl is kept in an attic by her parents who eventually sell her to the circus. A separate story line starts where a young girl runs away from abusive parents only to return home when her parents die and she inherits their estate. All kinds of unrealistic things happen and, as you'd expect, the two stories merge. However, the writing.......

The author uses a questioning technique that becomes extremely annoying. Things like..... What if the ice storm continues? What if the heat doesn't come on? Will she need to feed the horses? And what if they don't eat? What if the sky falls? And on and on. So irritating. I thought it might just be me, but I did read several other reviews that noticed the same issue.

So I'm done with this author. I just need to remember it and not buy another one of her books. Way too many good books out there to read instead. - June

The Good Daughter by Karin Slaughter

This novel starts with a bang. No, it actually starts with two bangs! And after both of these, I couldn't help but wonder if the whole book was going to be one shocking event after another. I don't know how to write anything here without giving it away, and I would encourage you to read it like I did without any knowledge about the plot at all. But be prepared to be blown away with the first 100 pages.

After things calm a bit, we learn about two sisters, Sam and Charlie, both lawyers, who have a strained relationship. There are secrets and lies and mysteries to figure out. If you're looking for a good thriller, a real "who dunnit", this could be it. It's not my normal read, but I enjoyed it for a change of pace. It gets wonderful reviews and I understand why. - June

Wonder by R. J. Palacio

Several years ago, a friend of mine was telling me about her Mother-Daughter Book Club. I was jealous. I wanted a daughter I could share books with and then drag her to meetings with me. And then very recently, several friends and I were talking about how we all had daughters-in-law who have moved to our town within the past few years and who really haven't met many people yet. And a light bulb went off in my head! Let's have a book club with them!! And they agreed to give it a try! So in a few weeks, we're having our first meeting and there will be maybe 16 people there.

We wanted to start out with an easy book, one that can be read quickly and not either intimidate anyone or scare them away. One of the members suggested Wonder, and I think it's an excellent choice. Although it is technically a Young Adult book, it certainly has some adult themes too. And I think it will generate discussion. Plus - a big bonus here - if people just don't have time to read it, they can go see the movie that has just been released.

If you haven't heard of it, Wonder is the story of a young boy starting 5th grade. His face is severely disfigured, and of course he is subject to all the nastiness you can imagine in middle school. However, he is bright and funny, and he has the support and love of his parents and sister. It's a quick read and I think it will be a great way to start our club - and a great way for anyone to start off the year. - June