Rules of Civility: A Novel by Amor Towles

Last December, a friend and I attended a book talk put on by our local independent bookseller.  As he talked about one book after another, I madly wrote down titles and authors that sounded interesting.  When he mentioned Rules of Civility, two women in the room immediately said, "That was my favorite book from this year."  Bingo.  That name went on my list.  The novel focuses on several characters living in New York in the 1930s.  This is a story of friendship, love, success, and failure.  The storyline and the characters are wonderful, but I really loved the writing style of the author most of all.  There were just little writing gems sprinkled through the book.  Here's an example of one of my favorites:

"As a quick aside, let me observe that in moments of high emotion - whether they're triggered by anger or envy, humiliation or resentment - if the next thing you're going to say makes you feel better, then it's probably the wrong thing to say.  This is one of the finer maxims that I've discovered in my life  And you can have it, since it's been of no use to me."

The main character, Kate, and her best friend, Eve, meet a man named Tinker in a bar on New Year's Eve.  They develop a friendship, and an odd kind of love triangle.  But there are other men and lots of other women who weave in and out of the storyline.  I loved this book, and I'll try to remember the author so I can grab his next book when it comes along.  -June

The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey

Generally, I'm not a fan of science fiction or fantasy novels.  I haven't read The Hobbit or The Passage or any of the Twilight books.  I even found Harry Potter to be tiring after a while (go ahead and stone me!).  But I found The Snow Child to be a very entertaining and sweet book.  It takes place in Alaska in the 20's.  Mabel and Jack live on a homestead, and are trying to get their lives back together after losing a baby.  They realize they will remain childless, and yet both of them long for children in their lives.  On a snowy day, they build a child out of snow, and she comes alive.  Mabel remembers reading a fairy tale about a snow child (and actually, I think I kind of remember something about one too - or maybe that was the gingerbread boy) and she is cautiously optimistic that this girl will be a part of their family.  Parts of the book are believable but the magic is interwoven nicely in the plot, and the characters are all interesting.  Recommend it.  -June

The Odds: A Novel by Stewart O'Nan

I loved O'Nan's small novel "Last Night at the Lobster", so I've been anxious to read The Odds which is also a quick read.  It's the story of a middle-aged couple who go to Niagara Falls over Valentine's Day to try to win back the money they have lost and to try to rekindle their love.  The author is wonderful, and he does a beautiful job of developing the characters.  I just found it to be very sad - especially how the husband tries so hard to please his unpleasable wife. Maybe it just made me a bit uncomfortable to be so thoroughly inside their heads.  The book moves from character to character letting the reader know what each spouse is thinking and it's all so very real and normal.  Most couples who have been married for years can completely relate to Art and Marion.  I loved how there is a little quip at the beginning of each chapter with "odds" such as the odds of a couple remarrying or the odds of going over Niagara Falls. -June

The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes

This is a short but very thought provoking book, and I think it should come with a label that says only people over 50 should read it.  I say that because so much of the book is about looking back on your life and your relationships, how we remember the events in our lives, and what we choose to forget.  It is beautifully written, and I'm already planning on reading another book by this author.  In the first part of the story, Tony tells about his life as a young man and his relationships with his friends and a girl named Veronica.  Then in the second part of the book, Tony looks back at that time as a 60-year-old man and events occur that make him reflect back on that time and examine what he remembers. 

At one point, Tony writes about how you look forward to your life when you are young.  And then he writes, "What you fail to do is look ahead, and then imagine yourself looking back from that future point.  Learning the new emotions that time brings.  Discovering, for example, that as witnesses to your life diminish, there is less corroboration, and therefore less certainty, as to what you are or have been."  As I read, I would often stop and reread sentences or paragraphs that struck me as incredibly written.  This is a book I will plan to read again someday - and I very rarely do that.  Highly recommend.  -June

Dear Life: Stories by Alice Munro AND In Case We're Separated by Alice Mattison

Short stories frustrate me.  Just when I'm getting to know the characters and settling into the plot, wham!  The story is over and the next story is waiting to be read.  I find when I try to read a book of short stories, I blend the characters together even if the stories are not connected.  Both of these short story collections are extremely well written, and I enjoyed skipping around and reading them in small bursts.  I've heard the Alice Munro is considered one of the best short story writers around, and I believe it.  Perhaps I should just read one story and then put the book down rather than tearing into the next one.  My preference is for reading novels, and although I may pick up a short story from time to time, I don't think I'll be devouring a collection of them for a while.  -June

The Litigators by John Grisham

This one's for you, Carla.  I know how much you enjoy John Grisham.  And I'll admit that I haven't read much of his work since The Firm!  I only read this because I was showing a friend how to download books onto a Kindle from the library, and since The Litigators was available, I used it to show her the process.  The next week I was on a plane and thought I needed something light so I started reading it - and I really enjoyed it!  Yes, parts of it were very predictable.  You know that the alcoholic lawyer will eventually fall off the wagon and the young, bright lawyer would have to take over.  And you know that the lead poisoning law suit will eventually come through with a big settlement.  But the characters are interesting and the plot moves quickly so it's hard to put down. I did find the obsession with the female defense attorney to be very tiresome and frankly very chauvinistic.  Did we really need her beauty and sexuality described in every scene?  And was it realistic to have a group of high-profile, professional male attorneys discuss her body at a business gathering?  "Everyone took a sip, and within seconds the conversation spiraled down to an analysis of the legs and backside of Nadine Karros...."  Maybe most of Grisham's readers are male, and I certainly don't object to an attractive, powerful female character.  But somehow all the male drooling was a bit overblown, in my opinion.  Still this is a quick, fun read and I recommend it.  -June

T is for Trespass by Sue Grafton

I confess that I've never read any of the alphabet mystery book by Sue Grafton.  But I have listened to many of them.  I downloaded this one to listen to on our recent road trip, but we never got around to it.  So I started it up one day when I was on the treadmill and, like all the others in this series, I was quickly hooked.  Judy Kay, the woman who reads the book, is fabulous and does a wonderful job of taking on all the characters and their voices.  And the character of Kinsey is so likeable and smart that you can't help but enjoy the ride - even when things get a little crazy.  In T is for Trespass, there's a woman who is preparing to steal money from Kinsey's neighbor, a couple who are suing someone for a car accident they deliberately caused, and a few other minor plot lines as well.  All the stories keep you reading (or in my case, listening) and enjoying.  -June

The Round House by Louise Erdrich

Sometimes it's a good thing that I am a procrastinator.  If I had written this review the moment I finished the book, it might have been a bit more negative.  But as the days have passed and I've thought more about the book, I like it more.  The Round House takes place on an Native American reservation in the 1980's, and the story is told from the point of view of a 12-year-old boy.  His mother is raped, and the book is about how the mother, the family, and the community reacts to this horrific crime.  And there are legal issues involved too because of differences in laws for the reservation vs laws for the rest of the state.  The writing is wonderful - except why in the world are there no quotation marks?  I found this made it very difficult to read because I wasn't quite sure if what I was reading was something someone said or just a comment made by the narrator.  And the other thing I didn't care for were the stories and rantings of the boy's grandfather.  They didn't seem to contribute to the story in any way so I confess I skipped over them.  But the story is good, and although the ending is hard to read, it all comes together and is worth it.  -June

Sister by Rosamund Lupton

Another mystery.  After reading Defending Jacob, I was ready for a change, but the next book I had planned to read on my Kindle was Sister.  Actually, I had no idea that it was a "who dunnit" type of book.  I really enjoyed the beginning and how the author set everything up.  The characters were well done and the book flowed well up until about 3/4 of the way into it.  By that point, both the main character and I suspected just about everyone to be the killer.  And then by the end, everything kind of fell apart.  Some people might say that the twists at the end were exciting, but I found it all to be a bit far-fetched and confusing.  But I will say that the story kept me reading, and that in itself is a good sign.  -June

Defending Jacob by William Landay

What a ride!  This is one of those rare books that grabs you right from the start and doesn't let go.  It's the story of a murder and a DA who is investigating it.  Soon into the book, we learn that the DA's son may have committed this awful crime.  The book then shifts to the family and how they are coping with this situation and the trial that takes place.  There are several surprises along the way that make it impossible to put down.  Truly, this is every parent's nightmare, and you live it as you read it.  We all love our children, but how much can you take as a parent.  Highly recommend.  -June

The Flight of Gemma Hardy by Margot Livesey

It's not unusual for authors to take a classic story and redo it.  There must be hundreds of updated versions of Romeo and Juliet, for instance.  Some of them work, and well, other just don't.  Margot Livesey updated Jane Eyre in Gemma Hardy.  It makes me wonder if redoing a story that someone else created is cheating or acceptable in the world of authors.  I picture her writing Gemma with the story outline of Jane Eyre in front of her.  Yes, there are differences.  Gemma takes place in the 1950's through the 1970's.  The characters' names are changed and some of the storylines are different too.  But I knew from the start that she would fall in love with Mr. Sinclair, that their romance would have a break due to lies, and that that they would end up together.  No surprises there.  (And really, what woman continues to call her fiance "Mr." right up to their proposed wedding date??)  If Jane Eyre didn't exist, I might have liked the book, but even then, I think I would have found it to be stuffy - like it really was written by Charlotte Bronte and not in today's world. - June

A Land More Kind than Home by Wiley Cash

A little undiscovered gem.  I can't even remember where I heard about this book.  Maybe it was on another blog or maybe Amazon pushed it out to me and said, "Here!  You need to read this!"  Whatever happened, I'm glad it did.  The book takes place in the 80's in a small town in North Carolina.  We hear the story of how a young boy died through the eyes of three people: his 9-year-old brother, the town sheriff, and an elderly woman in his church.  As the book changes from one narrator to the next, we learn about the young boys family and what happened to him the night he attended church with his mother. The author really captures the feelings and the emotions of each narrator but I especially liked Jess, the boy's brother. I confess when I first picked it up, I thought it might not be something I'd like, but I was hooked within 20 pages.  -June