Luanne Oleas
In [a:Ann Patchett 7136914 Ann Patchett https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1371838720p2/7136914.jpg]'s novel, TOM LAKE, she makes the most of the COVID pandemic shutdown. The main character and former actress, Lara, sees her three grown daughters returning to the family farm. They're trying to save the cherry harvest without the usual aid of farm laborers. This gives them many long hours working together. The daughters fill that time by asking their mother about her past and the movie star, Peter Duke, who she dated way back when.So much of this book centers around what family stories we pass on and what we keep in our hearts. Although the relationship better Lara and Peter really happened, it wasn't all wine and roses like the daughters imagined. And maybe the greatest love story, the one between Lara/Laura and Joe, the girls' parents, isn't of much interest to the daughters.It also reveals that we don't always tell the whole truth until the moment is right—if at all. Some facts are better unveiled when the listeners are ready to hear it. Mothers often have to guess when it the right time and what might actually derail their offspring if they found out the truth at the wrong time.One confusing part of the story was that Lara named her daughters after important characters in her life. Daughter #1: Emily was the name of Lara's character in OUR TOWN, the play by Thornton Wilder. Daughter #2: Maisie was also the name of Lara's mother-in-lawDaughter 33: Nell was Lara's grandmother's nameOUR TOWN plays a huge role in the TOM LAKE story. It probably helps if you have seen or read it once. Patchett did an excellent job with this story and how it unfolds will surprise the reader. Or at least it surprised this reader.
I can't believe I'm giving a Colleen Hoover book a four-star rating. She had a cowriter on this one, so maybe that made the difference. I normally gobble up everything she writes in a couple days. This took me longer and I almost didn't finish it. (Yikes!) I'm glad I did. It's a good story with a thoughtful premise and an unanticipated outcome.
Charlie (a girl) and Silas (her boyfriend) have always been in love, but they are only 17. Still, it's a love that is unquestionable until it suddenly falls apart. The reason the relationship ends isn't your normal, high-school stuff. It was much bigger. In fact, it's pretty much thanks to the adults in their lives that their relationship hit the skids.
The characters were well-drawn, with Charlie somewhat more believable than Silas. Charlie had more hardship enter in her life which may be why she has more dimension. Still, Silas has his own quirks that make him real too.
When the book starts, both Charlie and Silas have completely lost their memories. The book tells about their attempts to recover their pasts. This became a real challenge when they would make progress for 48 hours, then lose it all again and have to start over. This also became a challenge for the authors, who eventually handled it by having Charlie and Silas leave themselves clues.
The repetitive nature of memory loss was wearing to read about until the main characters found a way to move forward. I did like how the story ended and it was a truly sweet idea.
I have to admit curiosity lead me to read this book. I saw it on the NY Times best seller list last year, which isn't common for a romance. Then, after seeing it stay there for a while, I read the description.Son of the US President falls for the Prince of England. Say what???So, initially, I thought, not for me. Not my thing. But, I kept seeing the title and became intrigued. Who wrote it? A man? A woman? I looked up the author who prefers the pronoun they, so my question went unanswered. But, did it matter? As an author myself, I've written from the male and female points of view (though I admit writing from the guy's perspective is harder for me.)Then, I wondered, how different is a guy-on-guy romance from a guy-on-gal romance? I know from seeing my gay friends, that the guys relate way differently from how my husband and I do. There's a roughness they have that I don't share with my spouse. I even remember asking who does what in the relationship. I mean, we don't strictly follow a normal gender roles, but I do the dishes. My husband handles the care maintenance. I asked my gay friend how they divided the labor and he said, “Whoever is better at something handles that task.”So, then, like most books, you need to do a little research about experiences you haven't lived in order to write the book. How did the female-looking author ([a:Casey McQuiston 17949486 Casey McQuiston https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1608160367p2/17949486.jpg]) research the intimate scenes? As a woman, I wouldn't have a clue how guys approach one another, get intimate, and even kiss. And then was the rest of the setting as well. I don't think the author ever lived in the White House or Kensington Palace.Well, it's all there in black and white if you want to know. I think from what I know, the author captured it well—and not just the sex. There's the politics, the royal protocol, and even the ins and outs of “The Residence” aka The White House living quarters. I'll say I learned a lot, again not just about sex. I found it unputdownable, always a positive quality in any book I read. If you're curious, like I was, give it a read.
I loved and hated this book. The story is excellent. The writing, stellar. What I disliked was the memories it brought up.
It really could be filed as historical fiction since it started in 1952, the year before I was born. The majority of the story that saddened me happened in the 1960s. I still remember I wasn't allowed to wear pants to school until I was a high school junior. In college, I got great math scores on my SATs. My counselor's advice? “Lucky you. You never have to take math again.” Meanwhile, the guys around me who got almost as good scores were encouraged to pursue the new field of computers.
In 1960, the FDA approved the birth control pill. In 1965, married women could take it. It was 1970 before all states allowed unmarried women to take it.
In 1974, women were allowed to have a credit card and a bank account in their own name.
Yes, we were voting, but you wouldn't know it. These are the days that a certain political party wants to relive.
The main character lived through these same repressions. Women were expected to stay in the kitchen, not work in a chemistry lab. They aren't there now, really. (My husband is a chemist.)
So, the tale of Elizabeth Zott and Calvin Evans falling in love and NOT getting married is half of the book. How Elizabeth handles her career in TV is the other half. Here was a perfectly intelligent woman, not allowed to pursue her passion, abiogenesis, because of her gender. But, because she was good-looking, they put her on TV with a cooking show. Figures.
Anyway, I loved and hated the book, but it's a great read. I still can't walk outside with my shirt off. I know some men who should be arrested for that, but aren't.
It sometimes take time to know and forget who our spouse might be. Just like we know and forget who we are ourselves. I think Lucy Barton didn't know herself well enough when she married William. And William had no way of knowing who he was because he'd been lied to his whole life.
The book starts with Lucy and William, long divorced, both grappling with their current states of their significant relationships. William seems happy enough with his younger wife and a new young daughter, much younger than the two daughters he had with Lucy.
Lucy is widowed from her second husband who was nothing like William. But now she's alone except for the time she spends with her grown daughters, mostly shopping. This leaves her plenty of time to wonder why her early family life left her so traumatized and why William cheated on her which led to their divorce.
I love how Elizabeth works these two characters back into each other's lives later in life. Their “necessary conversations” have them exposing one another. When the author confines them in a car or on a plane, very real conversations occur that eventually leads them to silence and thoughtfulness. Over and over. Excellent book!
I had seen the movie (with Robert Redford and Jane Fonda) before I read the book. I was struck by the sparse style of writing that conveyed such deep emotions. Maybe it's my age. . .
For such a short book, it really packs a wallop. In this Mayberry-like town, Addie Moore, a lonely widow connects with Louis Waters, a lonely widower down the block, by asking him to talk and sleep with her at night because “The nights are the worst. Don't you think?”
So begins the tale that shifts not just the lives of Addie and Louis, but their relatives, friends, and nosey inhabitants of their small town.
I guess the most surprising part of the book was that people, some strangers, thought their opinion about the relationship should matter. Why??? It didn't matter to Addie and, eventually, Louis who began the relationship more reluctantly. However, when Addie's son objected to “People your age meeting in the dark like you do,” it threatens to rip Addie's family apart.
This especially touching looks at how our emotional needs can change as we grow older (and grow as individuals) struck a chord with me. I liked the way Addie and Louis came to know each other by talking and spending time together. I enjoyed the secrets they shared with each other, and how they looked at life and viewed their past relationships. I think it's an important book and needs to be shared and considered widely.
Loved it. All 400 pages. More page really, since I read the large print version.
What really struck me was how much I grew to love all the characters in this tale. Initially, I thought it would be full of self-involved people who hung out in college and never let go of those days. And in some ways, like the never-letting-go part, they were. However, they also all had a certain tenderness to them.
Of course the book mostly focuses on Harriet and her now ex, Wyn. Ten years has passed since they first hooked up and like a lot of couples, they found they couldn't live with or without each other.
I enjoyed that their jobs were actually a significant part of their lives. Some books it seems the characters don't have to earn a living. However, jobs were also part of the reason they broke up which is so realistic. I like Wyn's growth, for admitting he needed to work on himself. I liked Harriet's growth for examining her own motivations for pursuing medical school.
Like all of Emily Henry's novels, her dialogue was spot on. You felt as if you were listening in on the reunion of good friends who don't see each other enough. Also, the author was able to show the strains on friendship that crop up as people mature. As much as we all want to stay connected to our old friends, life and work get in the way.
Harriet's crew of friends were lucky to meet up once a year at an idyllic cottage in Maine. However, that cottage is being sold, and I did wonder how/if the friends would continue to connect. I could definitely imagine a sequel to this book. The characters are great and their continued evolution would be intriguing. Fingers crossed! I'd definitely read the next phase of the story.
I love everything by Colleen Hoover and this is no exception. However, I think the title should be “MIND OF A MAD MAN,” because Hoover exposes the antagonist's mind so well in this novel.
As always, I fell for the setup. Sloan, the female lead is stuck in a horrible situation through no fault of her own and for very altruistic reasons. Carter (aka Luke,) the male lead, can't be truthful for the noblest of reasons. And the bad guy, Asa, who has his own complex background that explains why he is as messed up as he is. Then, there's attraction a forbidden relationship provides. It's all here.
Because this book was written over a long period of time and published episodically, it does read a bit like a soap opera told from three points of view. The cliff-hangers were irresistible.
There is a possibility that there should be a trigger warning for this book when it comes to the unwanted sexual advances from the Asa toward Sloan. It didn't bother me, but I can see where it would others. I think it skates on the edge of unsavory until maybe the last scene.
Overall, another great story by Hoover that I read in a couple of days despite it being 384 pages long. Lost a little sleep doing it though.
Like all novels by [a:Anne Tyler 457 Anne Tyler https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1529285150p2/457.jpg], the wonderfulness is in the details. Sure, it's a great story about a marriage that starts when WWII starts and ends just after Sept. 11, 2001. Still, it's the little stuff that stays with me.I love how Tyler gets into the husband's and wife's heads. As a married person, I can say this totally reflects how marriages work. The author details what each spouse thinks about what the other spouse says, does, and even what they think they think. The husband thinking about his wife:“She was a good person, really. Well, and so was Michael himself, he believed. It was only that the two of them weren't good. Or weren't . . . what was he trying to say, weren't nice. They weren't always very nice to each other; he couldn't explain just why.”Wife thinking about her husband when she tried a new recipe for dinner:“It would be a miracle if he liked it (there were water chestnuts in it), but for once he didn't make one of his disparaging remarks. Instead, he rose and went to the kitchen for. . . what? For butter. She took it as a reproof; he could have asked her to fetch it. She would have been glad to fetch it. But no, he had to limp all the way across the dining room, all the way into the kitchen and back, swinging his bad leg extra widely from the hip as he tended to do when he was tired. He placed the butter dish in front of his mother and inched back down onto his chair with a grunt. That the butter was for his mother added insult to injury; it implied that Pauline was not properly alert to his mother's needs.”It's the internal lives of the partners in a marriage that add depth to the story. There's what a wife and husband say to one another and then there's what each only thinks to him- or herself. Anne Tyler captured this marriage perfectly. Really none of us knows what were doing when we enter into it. Some just handle better than others. Great read!
This is my first [a:Curtis Sittenfeld 6429 Curtis Sittenfeld https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1675721083p2/6429.jpg] book, but it won't be my last. It starts in the backstage chaos of a Saturday Night Live-like show in NYC and ends in Kansas City, MO of all places. What happens in between is the kind of magic we all wonder about.It's all reflected in a comedy sketch that never happened called “The Danny Horst Rule.” It was named after one of the male writers on the comedy show who was average-looking but dating a knockout of a female celebrity. The rule presents the idea that lots of good-looking female celebrities date average (or below-average) looking guys, but rarely does the reverse (good-looking male celebrity with an average-looking woman) happen.Unlike a real romantic comedy—if there is such a thing—Sally, the main character, is a comedy sketch writer who is only average-looking. So, of course, she's attracted to the absolute HUNK of musical host (Noah) for one week's Saturday night show. At times, she even believes he might be interested in her, but she constantly brushes the idea aside because, well, the Danny Horst Rule. Years pass. Just when this reader began to wonder what the almost connection between Sally and Noah was or wasn't, the COVID pandemic intervenes and everyone's life is interrupted in odd ways (as it was in real life.)What happens next occurs through a quick flurry of emails. Without giving away the ending, let's just say Sally and Noah test the Danny Horst rule. Overall, it's a delightful story that presents both the reality of late night, live TV and fame. The realism in the story is quite a departure from most romantic comedies.
Excellent, excellent book. I loved this story. I wanted to learn more about “online dating apps” when I picked up this book. However, what I did learn was what a great writer Christina Lauren is. Or should I say, what a great writing team Christina Hobbs and Lauren Billings make.
I think the author(s) did an great job of creating deep and believable characters. I like that they didn't all have it all together in the beginning and tended to unravel from there. Sure, “Americano” River Pena was a bit too wonderful at times, but he had enough faults to make him real. And Jess was just your single mom who made mistakes, but one that is overall very intelligent.
The important factor here was the attraction between River and Jess, or in the beginning, the lack thereof. When they turn up to be a match via River's company's algorithm, neither one can believe it. In fact, the company has to offer Jess a reason to give the match a chance. (River already has a monetary reason for it to work out.) When Jess is offered a small stipend to give River a chance, she's just broke enough to take it.
I love all the interferences that make their match a struggle. It is definitely art imitating life in a perfect way. READ THIS BOOK! It sings.
It didn't really take me a month to read this book. It took me about 4 days. Life interrupted.
This is probably the earliest Elinor Lipman books that I have read (though I did see the movie made from her first book.) All the classic Lipman skills are evident, just not as sharp. The dialogue is there, the quick wit, and the ever-surging plotline, but none quite as honed as her later books.
Somehow, I like it better. That there is a bit more description. A few side trips. How it takes her more time to explore the depth and changes of her characters. I'm up for the slower, weightier Lipman.
Times change. The svelte dialogue and rushed plots of her more recent works fit our world now. But this book came out in 1998 and was set almost 30 years earlier. It was a slower time. No computers. No smart phones. No internet. Just people meeting people where they were.
In this case, the impetus for the story was a letter, stating Gentiles were preferred at the title's namesake inn. Imagine my surprise when the back of the book acknowledgements mentioned the author's mother. It said “Julia Lipman, who remembered after thirty-five years the exact working of the letter from the hotel on the lake.”
Art inspired by real life is always the best.
This novel about someone who has been diagnosed with a terminal illness gave this reader a lot to think about. However, what I thought had nothing in common with the thoughts of a 36-year-old, Japanese mailman, the main character. Oddly enough, he was never named, which I didn't notice while reading the book.
His deal with the devil allows him an extra day of life, providing the mailman agrees to eliminate from the world an item of the devil's choosing. The mailman seems to agree to eliminate items that will directly effect friends and family more than himself. He never mentions how they will impact the world adversely. He only seems to think of ways that it will make the world a better place. Maybe, in order to live another day, it helps the mailman to think this way. For example, the first item is a phone. We can all think of ways that eliminating phones might improve our lives. However, in an emergency, what would you do without a phone?
As the title suggests, cats are eventually selected as something to disappear from the world. Amazingly, this effects the mailman directly—not to mention his cat, Cabbage.
This thought-provoking little book is definitely worth the short time it takes to read it. Your mind will wander places it never has before and maybe places you don't want to go, but should.
This may be my favorite [a:Elinor Lipman 63681 Elinor Lipman https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1482327276p2/63681.jpg] novel so far. Maybe I'm just morbid, but having it start with two accidental deaths and uncovering the secrets of the deceased lives post mortem intrigued me. Sunny lost her mother, Fletcher lost his father, and one of them lost both. (No spoilers.) It all happens in a little burg named King George, NH, where everyone knows everyone's business. I think one of the interesting aspects of the novel was how much baggage Sunny carried from high school even at 31. Maybe returning to her home town brought it all back but I think we all have those vague tendencies. Once in grammar school, someone says you have a big nose, and you still remember that when you turn 80. In Sunny's case, she was an excellent golfer who made the guys' varsity team in high school. However, as the first female ever on the team, not to mention the best golfer on the team, she took a lot of flack for trying to be part of the team.Insecurities abound in this story. The local doctor has them, a political candidate has them, her campaign manager has them, and even the chief of police is riddled with self-doubt. Seeing all those neuroses connected by a dead man and woman is the fun of the plot. Lipman really turned on her storytelling chops to write [b:The Dearly Departed 459337 The Dearly Departed Elinor Lipman https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1320404587l/459337.SY75.jpg 447819]. I had a ball reading it.
In my quest to read all thing Lipman, I just finished [b:The Ladies' Man 459335 The Ladies' Man Elinor Lipman https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1400877157l/459335.SY75.jpg 902700]. Let's just say that the main character is one of those guys you love to hate.The premise is that 30 years previous, Harvey Nash walked out on Adele Dobbins just before their engagement party. Then, he went to Hollywood, inverted his name (to Nash Harvey) and began writing jingles for commercials with questionable success.In fact, questionable pretty much described everything Nash does. He can pretty much lie his way into and out of everything. Even when the going gets tough, Nash has a story for that. But Adele's not buying, even when he returns to Boston to apologize for standing her up. I'm glad she's suspicious. More characters should be. The crazy jams the characters (added by wacky family members) encounter only moves the story forward at an hysterical pace. Again, Lipman has brought out what we all live through, then takes it to the next level. Can't wait to read her next one.
If you, like me, are in the market to buy a house, DON'T READ THIS BOOK.
Sure, you can get taken in by that cute, cottage-y look, but the next thing you know, your workmate moves in and the police are digging up your basement.
I love how Elinor Lipman tells her stories. They usually feature (like this one) the messes folks get themselves into. Normal everyday people with believable quirks end up in the weirdest situations. Take the main character, Faith Frankel's dad. A typical father telling typical dad jokes until one day he moves out of the family home, starts painting Chagall knock-offs, and moves in with Tracy and her two teenage daughters. Happens all the time.
That's just a lovely side story in this well-paced, dialog-driven tale about a 32-year-old Jewish woman who initially puts up with her vagabond boyfriend until he starts posting pics of himself and other women he encounters on his journey across country to find himself.
I like the role (undertow?) that family plays in this book. Faith's family does their best to help one another even when it's sporadic and not all that beneficial. The point is, they try.
Great read for anyone who wants to know that weird stuff happens to everyone.
Second read. First review.
I think I loved it just as much this time as the first time I read it, which was around 1992. Of course the two main characters are upper crust. Why would you bother with a Victorian romance if they weren't? Kate Harvey (aka Lady Katherine D'Harnancourt) and Lucien Kingsley Tremaine are perfect for each other and perfectly flawed. Both lost their entire families, almost overnight.
Lucien returns from war to find himself revealed as a bastard son and striped of his inheritance. Katherine had to reinvent herself after becoming pregnant while unwed.
But anyone who reads you the story can tell you what happens. What I love about this book is what I love about any book that tries to tell a great story. Strong characters, lots of them, each with strong motivation. Excellent dialogue, believable (for the time) circumstances, and more obstacles in the protagonist's path than you could shake a stick at.
And love. The unending, unbreakable, forged from fire emotion that keeps you coming back time and again. Sure, it's 424 pages long, but it's so, so worth it.
Every time I read an [a:Elinor Lipman 63681 Elinor Lipman https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1482327276p2/63681.jpg] book, I wonder, “where does she come up with these wacky situations?” (I'm hoping it's not real life, but the old adage is “write what you know” so maybe. . .)In this case, the reasons why the three main characters are unmarried and unemployed vary, but each stems from a unique neurosis. All of their wacky circumstances are brought to life with sparse description and vivid dialogue that makes the story sail right along.Possibly most entertaining were the ways Lipman expressed Margot's ex-husband “helping” the patients at his gynecological practice conceive—a practice that landed him in prison. Euphemisms abounded. Hysterically.Overall, it's a story of coping with good friends and a little time. Well worth reading.
I loved [b:Rachel to the Rescue 57870519 Rachel to the Rescue Elinor Lipman https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1619496768l/57870519.SY75.jpg 86954008] by [a:Elinor Lipman 63681 Elinor Lipman https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1482327276p2/63681.jpg], but that may be because I so love the premise. Here's poor Rachel, working in the Trump White House when she's not really a Trump fan. Not even close. I'm not sure if Trump supporters would love this book, but everyone else will.Rachel is works in the White House Office of Records Management, which has the best acronym, WHORM. Just in general, like most of us, she's not overly fond of her boss. And like any of us who have sent one too many work emails, she accidentally hits Reply All on an email about how horrible her boss, the president, is. The next day, she's gets her walking papers. A little stunned, she actually steps into traffic and gets run over. That's when the fun begins.From her recovery in the hospital, to her doting parents, to her legally-astute lesbian roommates, to her foot-in-mouth muckraking new boss, Rachel finds ways to hold herself together (and even fall in love) while the world seems to be falling apart. The author's witty repartee keeps even the silliest parts of this novel interesting. My favorite scene was probably the Shabbat dinner with Ivanka's Hebrew tutor. Yes, it goes there.As crazy as the Trump administration was, it seems as though this screwball novel could actually have happened, which makes it just that much funnier. Check it out!
Just finished this wonderful book, [b:The Physician's Daughter 59805953 The Physician's Daughter Martha Conway https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1653141449l/59805953.SY75.jpg 94196497] by [a:Martha Conway 23092 Martha Conway https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1407087681p2/23092.jpg]. I'm not a historical fiction fan for the most part. Like if they hadn't numbered the World Wars, I wouldn't know which came first. (JK)Still, this novel gives great insight into a woman's chances of becoming a certified doctor at the end of the Civil War. (Hint: 1865-1866)The main character, Vita, is a physician's daughter whose brother died during the war. He was supposed to be the one who followed in Dad's footsteps. He never wanted to, but whip smart Vita always did. However, Dad was old school (read: about normal for the time period) and wouldn't suffer the indignities of having his daughter become a doctor. (How the world changes, eh?)The important task for a woman in Vita's time period was to get married, not something Vita desired. So, rather than being pawned off on some old coot, she struck a deal with Jacob, a former soldier who somehow survived Andersonville prison. Their deal? He and Vita split her dowry. She gets the money for med school. He gets money for an invention he and a fellow prisoner concocted during their time in Andersonville.It seems to be going along just peachy until Jacob suggests, on their wedding night, that Vita put her end of the bargain on hold and join his pursuit instead. Since she's now a married woman, all their joint funds are in Jacob's name. She assumes he's welching on their deal and leaves, basically dropping off the face of the earth.I grew very attached to both Vita and Jacob and their individuals struggles. Hers were the taboos faced by a woman who wanted a career. His involved PTSD from the war. What I really loved about the book was the insight into life as an intelligent woman in that time period. Each chapter of the book starts with a quote about women from a medical book written in the 1800s. They would be funny if the quotes did express widely-held beliefs of the day. For example:“The majority of women (happily for them) are not much troubled by sexual feeling of any kind.” From The Functions and Disorders of the Reproductive Organs, Dr. William Acton, 1881 Great story and very enlightening. I enjoyed it.
It started slow for me, but boy, did [b:Mad Honey 59912428 Mad Honey Jodi Picoult https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1642705453l/59912428.SY75.jpg 94339228] pick up steam. I'm a huge fan of [a:Jodi Picoult 7128 Jodi Picoult https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1657141143p2/7128.jpg], but I'm unfamiliar with her co-author [a:Jennifer Finney Boylan 30973 Jennifer Finney Boylan https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1200414859p2/30973.jpg]'s work. Let's just say they make beautiful books together.Not sure what I liked best about this book. The tidbits on beekeeping? The LBGTQ info? The honey recipes at the end? I think there's something for everyone in this book.I'm a sucker for courtroom trials and this one takes it to the next level. Picoult's always been a master when it comes to this skill, but I think this is her best yet. I never guessed the ending and I really thought I had it from the very beginning, yet when it unfolded, I realized all the clues had been well planted. Loved this book. It's a fatty, but it's worth it. In spades!
What an eye-opener of a book! I wasn't sure what to expect when the back cover said, “Alan Horne's soul has walked out on him” and wonders if he can persuade it to return. So starts the quest of the protagonist of [b:Soul Flight: An Outcast Adventure 48761627 Soul Flight An Outcast Adventure William Albert Baldwin https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1573614995l/48761627.SY75.jpg 74136459] by [a:William Albert Baldwin 19728316 William Albert Baldwin https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png]. The journey Alan takes includes a myriad of characters, all unique in his/her/their own way and a lesson in acceptance that goes beyond what most readers ever encounter.Alan Horne leaves the US and flies to Germany, probably the last place he felt truly connected to his soul. As someone who was raised mostly in the Christian West, I had learned to live by the main mantra is “you live in a body, you are a spirit, and you have a soul.” I wasn't familiar with the concept of misplacing your soul. Soul-searching was something you did within, but not Alan.Alan's journey taught me that finding your lost soul starts with connecting to people who come your way. You can try to avoid them, but you won't find your soul that way. This philosophy leads Alan into a thicket of new friends and a high stakes game of being yourself at all costs. As a woman and mother of a queer offspring, I know a little about the safety of venturing out alone when you aren't normal. And really, as we learn from [a:William Albert Baldwin 19728316 William Albert Baldwin https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png], no one is normal. But most of us have the needle pointing a little closer in that direction that the polyamorous, bisexual, pagan priest, cross-dressing, human rights advocate, and unitarian that is Alan Horne. Face it, there is someone who is going to disagree with at least one of those beliefs/lifestyles/vocations/philosophies.The intricacies of the plot almost seem random at times, but the author never quite gets us lost. He's a master at laying out all the threads of the plot, then pulling them together to make a cohesive fabric with a dazzling pattern.If you lived through the time before 9/11, you'll recall the historical events mentioned in this tale. If you didn't experience them then, it's important that you learn them now. They are signposts of what we can learn from history if we stay aware.Oh yeah, if you are a fan of Wagner, you have double the reasons to read this book. Even if you aren't (and many characters weren't,) you're still in for a treat. It's like no other books I've ever read, but it might be a cross between [b:Trinity 42696 Trinity Leon Uris https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1388450323l/42696.SY75.jpg 363317] by [a:Leon Uris 19708 Leon Uris https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1342561418p2/19708.jpg] with its culture clashes and [a:John Steinbeck 585 John Steinbeck https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1182118389p2/585.jpg]'s [b:Travels with Charlie in Search of America 33617956 Travels with Charlie in Search of America John Steinbeck https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/book/50x75-a91bf249278a81aabab721ef782c4a74.png 1024827] where the author ventures into his past to understand his present. Neither of those books have a leg up on the issues explored in [b:Soul Flight: An Outcast Adventure 48761627 Soul Flight An Outcast Adventure William Albert Baldwin https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1573614995l/48761627.SY75.jpg 74136459].
Just when I thought I would never find [a:Kristin Hannah 54493 Kristin Hannah https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1517255843p2/54493.jpg]'s first book, I found it. [b:A Handful of Heaven 297131 A Handful of Heaven Kristin Hannah https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1215891073l/297131.SY75.jpg 1098533] is a remarkable first book for a now accomplished and beloved author. As a writer, it's great to see her evolution (she's much better) and yet discover that she always had the magical quality of being a great, emotional storyteller.Sure it's easy for me to say she wasn't as slick in her writing as she is today. Still, she knew the importance of getting under her characters' skins and keep us wondering (and turning pages) about how they would work out their issues, if they would get together both emotionally and intellectually, and if they would even survive. How can a reader stop reading when it's all on the line for Devon, the gutsy protagonist, and the big obstruction in her life, Stone Man MacKenna?And what a great nickname. Stone Man! It says it all. A man forced to harden his heart to keep going in life. It's only fair he should run smack dab into Devon, whose life has taught her to never, never give up. Hannah returns to the frozen north in another book, [b:The Great Alone 34912895 The Great Alone Kristin Hannah https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1501852423l/34912895.SY75.jpg 56275107] where we learn more about how to survive in that harsh environment. Still, we definitely get the picture in this book too. Devon has to wait months for the river to thaw to have a way to leave Dawson City, Alaska. By then, she's become a Yukonite, not something most women from St. Louis, MO achieve.A fun romp of a read if you can get your hands on a copy. No, you can't borrow mine.
“One morning I woke up and felt something was amiss.” That's the opening line from [b:A Bug on the Internet: How to Succeed in the World After Turning into a Giant Bug 75018258 A Bug on the Internet How to Succeed in the World After Turning into a Giant Bug (Bugiverse Book 1) Yulin Wu https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1671754009l/75018258.SY75.jpg 100401084] by [a:Yulin Wu 2797430 Yulin Wu https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png], It only gets better from there.How would you react if you woke up and found you'd been transformed into a human-sized beetle? I liked Gregory's reaction. “In a panic, I ran in circles on the ceiling for the next three minutes. . .” But Gregory, aka The Bug Guy, is nothing if not resourceful. He's a dedicated employee (going to work the same day he turns into a bug) and applying all the rich philosophy he's learned through reading self-help books. So with a little positive thinking and ramped up confidence, he proceeds into a world that doesn't want him. . . until it does. Whether it's Gregory drunk-bug video going viral on social media or his unfortunate comment about Domino's pizza, he's soon an antennae-waving, tuxedo-wearing superstar with a taste for well-rotted garbage. I never could have imagined how one might deal with this unlikely transformation, but it's all laid out in a deliciously dry humor in this book. Each page contains another gem that pokes fun at our modern existence. Would HR really give diversity training to teach other employees to be sensitive to Gregory's needs (while giving him an office in the basement?) It's a brisk fun read that had me laughing all the way through as well making me ponder the metaphysical side of our current culture. Grab this book if you have a chance. It's a hoot!
What a masterfully written book! So many beautiful thoughts, expressed in beautiful sentences, to tell an honest, and by turns heart-breaking and heart-mending story. This is my first reading of a book by [a:Sabaa Tahir 7770873 Sabaa Tahir https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1637102794p2/7770873.jpg] and what a work of art. I can't wait to read something else by her. I saw that she was raised in a motel in the desert which explains the depth of her knowledge on the topic. I was right there with her.The book is so chocked full of rich, full characters that I struggled to identify whose was the protagonist. I went back and forth between Misbah, the mother, Salahudin her son, and Noor, a fellow Palestinian immigrant and Salahudin's best friend. In the end, I guess I would have to say the main character is Misbah because she begins and ends the story, the benchmark my writing teacher told me to use. However, Salahudin's story seemed almost more compelling because we see his struggles immediately throughout the book while Noor hides hers—for good reason. However, I think the author's voice sounded most grounded in Noor. The book wouldn't let me put it down. It gave great insight into the discrimination faced by immigrants in high school, and really in general, who live in a backwater towns—and front-water towns too. I learned much about the Muslim faith and really enjoyed the sayings and wisdom of Misbah.The beautiful language in general, filtered through a foreigners' ear, was captivating:- “The sky over Lahore was purple as a gossip's tongue the day my mother told me I would wed. . .”- “If we are lost, God is like water, finding the unknowable path when we cannot.”- “She is jealous. She wishes to be the biggest fish in a small pond. It bothers her that you wish to find a bigger pond.”It's a book I'd love to read again for the first time.