Flying Changes: A Novel, by Sara Gruen

A positive story dealing with very serious subjects: family relationships, teenage angst, rocky romance, tragedy. All seems to come together perhaps too neatly, but after reading several books with dark, depressing themes I was ready for something lighter and that offered hope at the end.

Peachtree Road, by Anne Rivers Siddons

Read, reviewed, and released in December, 2013

A sad, dark novel of family dysfunction, domestic violence, and insanity in a well-bred Southern family of the Buckhead neighborhood of Atlanta, Georgia spanning from the early 1950s to the 1970s and 80s.

Shep, a middle aged man who describes himself as a recluse and a hermit reflects on his childhood at the burial of his cousin Lucy. He and Lucy bonded as friends and confidants from the moment she moved into his family home when she was five years old and he was seven. The novel carries us through the adventures of their childhood, the risks of adolescence, and the angst of early adulthood, along with that of their families and close friends.
The fact that Lucy died is no spoiler, as the Prologue opens with her funeral. How she died is the surprise, and Shep's fate remains a mystery.

The English Assassin, by Daniel Silva

Read and reviewed in March, 2013. Released later

A fast-paced thriller involving stolen art by the Nazi regime during World War II and the subsequent attempts to restore it to the rightful owners or their heirs. Surprisingly, or not so surprisingly, the Swiss government and banking establishments are portrayed as Nazi collaborators and as unwilling to relinquish the hidden works of art, even as late as the 21st century.
The plot includes references to the world of classical music concerts and the excruciatingly delicate craft of art restoration.
I found it very interesting as it is fiction based on historical research, and I learned about places and people of which I did not know.

A Gift from Brittany, by Marjorie Price |

A wonderful book that I won't soon forget. A mostly gentle memoir of an American artist's life in the French country and her close friendship with an older peasant woman who offers kindness and wisdom.

Spoiler alert: Warning, Don't scroll down if you don't want to know too much.










also deals with a controlling spouse and domestic violence

The Last Time I Saw Paris, by Lynn Sheene

Read and reviewed in December, 2013. Released later

Not entirely my cup of tea because of the many explicit sexual descriptions, but was interesting and fast moving. A young woman leaves her loveless marriage for romance in Paris, just as the Nazis invade. Unable and unwilling to return home, and without proper identification she finds it hard to live. With the help of new friends, she manages as well as she can, and becomes a valuable asset to the Resistance movement.

One Day, by David Nicholls

Read and reviewed in December, 2014. Released later

A funny, sweet, poignant romance/friendship story between two university graduates. An unusual format, this takes us through almost two decades of their parallel lives, focusing on one day each year. The years become tumultuous and chaotic, but they always keep in touch with each other no matter what. The ending was a complete shock - I didn't see that coming at all! I'll say no more, no spoilers here.

One Mississippi: A Novel, by Mark Childress

Read and reviewed in February, 2014. Released later

What a wild ride this was! From beginning to end, full of drama and violence: explosions, catastrophes, interracial romance, homophobia, riot, and mass murder - all in the context of a teenage boy and his family and his best friend in a new community.

Levi's Will, by W. Dale Cramer

Read and reviewed in November, 2013. Released later.

I'm very glad I picked this up at the church garage sale, even though I had not heard of this author. It is a very well written story of a run-away son who, after many years, attempts reconciliation with his stern, tradition-bound elderly father. It also includes his experience in the Army during World War II, his romance with his future wife and his relationships with his own sons, especially with his exceptionally gifted but rebellious second son.

I couldn't help but compare this with The Chosen by Chaim Potok, which I recently read. Both books deal with similar themes: a stern, tradition-bound father and an exceptionally gifted but rebellious son.

The Chosen, by Chaim Potok

Read and reviewed in April, 2014

An excellent little novel (270 pages) that packs so much into it! Very well written, captured me from the first chapter, a softball game between two Jewish schools in which Danny injures the protoganist's, Reuven's right eye. It encompasses so much, particularly father-son relationships . Danny and Reuven become best friends although Reuven and his father are orthodox and Danny's family is Hasidic. The differences between parenting styles is emphasized throughout. Reuven's father is a wise and gentle counselor to his son, even in poor health and caught up in his work (a professor) and pro-Zionist speeches. Danny's father uses silence as a tool to guide his son, forcing him to look inward for guidance. The only times he talks to Danny is when they are studying Talmud together.
The book also delves extensively into Jewish history, especially that concerning the Hasidic branch of Judaism. Other significant historical events were World War II, the Holocaust, and the Zionist movement and eventual establishment of the new state of Israel.

Of particular interest to me was Reuven's emotions when he learned of the death of President Franklin D. Roosevelt:

"...Davey Cantor burst into the room, looking as though he was crying, and shouted breathlessly that someone had just told him President Roosevelt was dead. ... everyone turned and gaped at him in total astonishment. ... I stared at him and felt myself slide slowly back onto my desk. I found myself in a sudden cold sweat. ... I didn't believe it. Until I got to the street. ... No one on the trolley was talking. It was crowded and it became more crowded as it went along, but there was only the silence inside."

It reminded me of President Kennedy's assassination, the silence in the school halls, the shock and unbelief written on every face I saw.
This is a book that will stay with me a long time, in my heart, but it is available for release through Bookcrossing.

The Irish Game: A True Story of Crime and Art, by Matthew Hart

Read and reviewed in September, 2013

Much more interesting than I expected!
A true story of professional art thieves, the art collectors who are their victims, and the paintings and other pieces of fine art which are the objects of the collectors' and the thieves' desire.

A Change in Altitude: A Novel, by Anita Shreve

Read and reviewed in May, 2013. Released later.

I just finished this yesterday, an excellent book! Very well written. The characters were believable and the setting was beautifully described. A young couple is in Kenya where the husband is researching equatorial medicine and conducting clinics, while the wife looks for worthwhile and fulfilling employment. They are invited to climb Mt. Kenya with new friends, a trek for which they are ill prepared. Many life lessons learned, some at tragic cost, and a second trek is planned to bring closure to many questions and perplexities.

A Thousand Acres, by Jane Smiley

Read and reviewed in January, 2014. Released later

A family drama loosely based on Shakespeare's King Lear. A man with three grown daughters suddenly decides to divide his 1,000 acre Iowa farm between them. The daughters and sons-in-law have ambitious plans but things don't go as hoped. I found it heavy reading and a bit depressing.

The House on the Strand, by Daphne du Maurier

Read, reviewed, and released in April-May, 2013

This is a book of suspense, historical fiction mixed with fantasy - time travel. A 20th century man agrees to participate in an unusual experiment, urged on by his friend, a biochemist doing independent research into the workings of the brain. With the use of a mysterious drug, he is taken back into the 14th century as an unseen witness to the lives and loves of the people who lived in the house where he is staying, his friend's house.What would make an apparently happy, healthy middle-aged man walk into the path of an oncoming freight train which didn't exist in 1334?

LibraryThing: One Righteous Man: Samuel Battle and the Shattering of the Color Line in New York, by Arthur Browne

I have just finished this book, an Early Reviewers book awarded to me by LibraryThing. My review is here.

I will post the review itself, not just the link, along with a cover photo, after I have finished copying and pasting all my book reviews from Bookcrossing and LibraryThing onto this blog. I am up the year 2013, so it will be a little while longer.

Prodigal Summer, by Barbara Kingsolver

Read and reviewed in May, 2013. No longer in my possession.

I just finished it yesterday, and am tempted to read it again before I release it. It was that good; I ususally don't read books twice.

This is an excellently written novel entwining the lives of three "pairs": Deanna and Eddy, Lusa and Cole, and Nannie and Garnett, a den of coyotes, and all of the farming community of Egg Fork and the wilderness of Zebulon Mountain. The women are the nurturers who care strongly about every wild creature and how they all fit into the ecosystem. They vainly try to convince the men, who are the hunters and destroyers, killing predators and poisoning the environment with chemicals. We become deeply involved in their lives and their passions, physical and emotional. Gradually the three threads come together as we see how they are connected to one another, even to the detail of a pair of brocade armchairs.