Books Read in February

The Burgess Boys by Elizabeth Strout (pub 2014)
The story: Jim and Bob Burgess are middle-aged NYC lawyers, brothers who are as different as they can be. Jim is brisk, successful, rich, well-respected. Bob can't seem to do anything right. He's divorced, childless, sad, and lonely. Also, he accidentally killed their father when he was four-years-old. When their sister Susan's son accidentally commits a hate crime, Jim and Bob have to return to their tiny hometown in Maine to take care of things. Nothing works out right, and all their lives seems to crumble after they reunite in Shirley Falls to "fix" things with Susan.
Me: Oh man. I really loved this book. I had one of those glorious read-on-the-couch all afternoon days, and I was so bummed when I came to the end of the book—even though it was a great ending. Strout's last novel was the Pulitzer Prize-winning Olive Kitteridge, which was fantastic, so I was really excited to read this one. This is one dysfunctional family, this Burgess clan, but you really have to root for them. Strout has created some big personalities that we come to know intimately. I miss them already, even though they were often kind of jerks— especially to each other. In the end, it's a story of redemption and family bonds that is beautifully, powerfully written.

Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton. (multiple reread)
The story: Ah, the terrible tale of Ethan Frome, the quiet, desperate man who falls in love with his wife's cousin. If you don't know the story, you probably had a terrible high school English experience. ;)
Me: I've read and taught this so many times, but I still love it. It's so sad. So desperate. So hopeless. It's always great fodder for discussion with young minds who are reading it for the first time. We watched the movie together, too, and the kids found it hysterical.

Train to Trieste by Domnica Radulescu (pub. 2009)
The story: Mona Manoliu is a young Romanian girl who falls madly in love with Mihai, a young man she meets while on summer vacation in the mountains. They have a wild, passionate love affair before she returns home to Bucharest. It's 1977, and Romania is a mess as the Ceausescu regime starves and bleeds its people. Mona's father is a revolutionary, and they live in constant fear that he will be arrested, tortured, and executed. Over the next few years Mona falls more in love with Mihai, but at the same time she suspects that he is part of the secret police. Her life is a constant torment of love and fear, suspicion and regret. Eventually she realizes that her life is in danger, and she flees to the U.S. as an indigent immigrant. She has absolutely nothing but her college transcripts, and she manages to make a solid, but quite sad, life for herself in America. She discovers from friends that Mihai was shot, and eventually she returns to Romania to find out what happened to him.
Me: I loved this book. My son actually found it in a thrift store, read it, and thought I would love it. I did. Radulescu is a beautiful writer. The novel is filled with passion and color while Mona was in Romania, but it was drab and rather depressing in America. I thought that seemed fitting, though, as Mona's life as an immigrant was just hard. I'm not sure I've ever read a novel before that takes place in Romania, and I really appreciated the vivid descriptions of a beautiful country in a brutal political time.

Books Read in January

The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley
The story: In an little English village in the 1950s, an 11-year-old girl stumbles upon a murder scene in her own backyard and resolves to solve the mystery. Dubbed "a combination of Harriet the Spy and Sherlock Holmes," Flavia de Luce goes about the village and outskirts finding clues and digging into the past. She's also a budding chemist with a special penchant for poisons, which could have been interesting but wasn't.
Me: T-e-d-i-o-u-s. I don't have a proper appreciation of precocious 11-year-olds, bumbling and blustering, or British wit. This is one of those books that has been recommended to me several times and I've always meant to read it; however, I cannot even fathom the obsession with this book. Yawn. (This was our January book club pick.)

The Bohemian Gospel by Dana Chamblee Carpenter
The story: Mouse is an orphan, raised in an Abbey in 13th century Bohemia. Her past is shrouded in mystery. She doesn't know where she came from or who her parents were—or why she has strange and amazing powers. She is training to be a healer, and when the young King Ottakar shows up at the Abbey with life-threatening injuries, she must put her skills to use to save him—or else. When he's healed enough to travel, he orders that she accompany him back to his kingdom as his personal healer. Things heat up between them, despite the difference in their social class, but this isn't a Cinderella story. Ottakar's life is in danger, and Mouse must contend with her own set of horrible problems. The story is filled with mystery, a love story, a tragedy, and supernatural elements that make it quite fascinating.
Me: This isn't my usual genre—a mixture of magical realism, fantasy, and historical fiction—but I loved it. Carpenter is a wonderful storyteller. Her writing is beautiful, and Mouse was a fascinating character. I felt immediately immersed in Mouse's world. It felt kind of enchanted, kind of horrifying, and very entrancing. I was a little confused at a few points in the novel, but I didn't care. I was reminded greatly of Isabelle Allende's novels, and also of Shannon Hale's The Princess Academy. Highly recommended.



Inside the O'Briens by Lisa Genova
The story: The O'Briens are a typical family—they go to work, they fight, they make up, they plan for the future. Joe is a Boston cop, and lately he's been prone to fits of anger and exhaustion. His wife is worried and insists that he see a doctor. What they find out shocks them to their core: Joe has Huntington's disease—and there is a 50% chance that each of their four adult children might also have it. The novel takes us through Joe's diagnosis and subsequent story and also follows his children as they decide whether to find out if they do or don't have the gene.
Me: Lisa Genova never disappoints! Still Alice was incredible. Love Anthony was sad and lovely. Left Neglected was fascinating. Genova holds a PhD in neuroscience from Harvard, and, naturally, her books all explore neurological disorders. That could sound tedious or didactic, but she is neither. Ever. Genova has a gift for making her characters so knowable, so relatable. And then: WHAM! These characters must contend with a medical disorder that Genova explains so wonderfully. I always feel more knowledgeable and more compassionate with each book I finish. I'm greedy, I know, but I can't wait for her next one. Highly recommended.


The Day the World Came to Town by Jim DeFede. (Nonfiction)
The story: 15 years post-9/11 and I've never heard this story. On Sept. 11, all air space into the United States was closed after the terrorists' attacks. But all of these planes were in midair—where were they supposed to land? Gander, Newfoundland, had once been an important landing spot, and this seemed to be the best place for 38 passenger planes to land. The people of Gander—a sleepy town of around 10,000 people—were called into action. They turned every available space into living quarters for nearly 7,000 passengers. Hotels were filled with pilots and flight attendants. The people of Gander fed them, clothed them, entertained them, and comforted them.
Me: This is a great story about the goodness of human beings. This community gathered together and organized at a moment's notice, doubling their population for four days. They opened their homes to strangers, brought their own towels and blankets and clothes to these people, and shared their lives with folks who just wanted to get home. In turn, the passengers—many of whom had loved ones in New York City— were grateful and patient, absorbing the goodness of the people of Gander. It was a wonderful story—a great one to read if you think our world is headed downhill. (This was our February book club pick.)

Books Read in 2015

What a sad, sad year for my SmallWorld Reads blog. I am sure I neglected to record lots of books that I read, and many of these on the list I didn't review. I don't know what happened to me! I didn't read as much, and I somehow wasn't motivated to review much.  According to my list, I read 31 books, but I know there were many that I just forgot to record here. I'm determined to do better in 2016!

My favorite 5 books of the year (not including re-reads) were

1. Love, Anthony (Lisa Genova)
2. Girl on the Train (Paula Hawkins)
3. What She Knew(Gilly Macmillan)
4. Yonahlossee Riding Camp for Girls (Anton diScalfani)
5. Moloka'i (Alan Brennert)

Here are the books I recorded:

1.  The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (multiple reread)
2. Beekeeper's Apprentice (Laurie King)***
3. Boston Girl (Anita Diamant)****
4. The Crucible (multiple reread)
5. Devil and Miss Prym (Paulo Coelho)***
6. Everything I Never Told You (Celeste Ng)****
7. Girl Who Fell From the Sky (Heidi Durrow)***
8. Girl on the Train (Paula Hawkins)*****
9. Go Set a Watchman (Harper Lee)***
10. Great Gatsby (Fitzgerald)***** - multiple reread
11. Healing Stones (Nancy Rue)**
12. Little Princes (Connor Grennan)****
13. Love Anthony (Lisa Genova)*****
14. Moloka'i (Alan Brennert)*****
15. Night Strangers (Chris Bohjalian)***
16. Of Mice and Men (John Steinbeck) -- multiple reread
17. Poisonwood Bible (Barbara Kingsolver)***** re-read
18. Princess Academy (Shannon Hale)****
19. Scarlet Letter (multiple re-read)
20. Scarlet Pimpernel (Baroness Orczy)***
21. Season to Taste (Molly Birnbaum)****
22. Secrets of Eden (Chris Bohjalian)****
23. Tenth Gift (Jane Johnson)***
24. This Boy's Life (Tobias Wolff)****
25. Under the Same Blue Sky (Pamela Schoenewaldt)***
26. Undomestic Goddess (Sophie Kinsella)***
27. Uninvited (Cat Winters)**
28. What She Knew (Gilly Macmillan)*****
29. When the Moon Is Low (Nadia Hashimi)****
30. Widower's Tale (Julia Glass)***
31. Yonahlossee Riding Camp for Girls (Anton diScalfani)****

What She Knew

Gilly Macmillan's debut novel, What She Knew, turned out to be one of my favorites of 2015— right up there with The Girl on the Train. When I first read the premise—a little boy disappears in the park— I was a bit hesitant to read it. First, the thought of that happening has always terrified me— but my kids are teens or older now, so I figured I could make it through. Second, I didn't want to read about horrible things that happened to the little boy. The author handled this perfectly, and I had no reason to fear.

Ben and his mother, Rachel, are out for their daily walk in the park. Ben asks to run ahead to the rope swing, and Rachel agrees. When she gets to the rope swing, he's gone. I think probably all parents have experienced that moment of terror— and then that sweet moment of relief when you spy your child's feet as he hides in the racks at Target. But Rachel doesn't have that sweet moment of relief. Ben is really gone.

The rest of the novel follows various characters as the search for Ben begins and continues: Rachel, her ex-husband, and the detective in charge of the search. Everyone is a suspect, and, naturally, Rachel becomes an object of suspicion and hate in the public eye. How could this horrible mother have let her child run ahead in a park? Again, I usually avoid novels that involve child abduction, but Macmillan isn't out to instill fear in parents or give us glimpses into terrifying scenarios.

This was a fantastic psychological thriller, a genre I really need to explore more. I loved Gone Girl, although it was pretty gory and graphic, and The Girl on the Train was brilliant. I really felt like What She Knew was a terrific blending of the two books. It had the heart of The Girl on the Train and the mystery of Gone Girl— but it was more uplifting than either of those books (which, again, I absolutely loved). I stayed up way past my bedtime reading this novel and finished quickly.  Highly recommended.

Book Review: Everything I Never Told You

Finally, at the end of the year, I've hit upon a good streak of books. Last week was Anton diScalfani's The Yonahlossee Riding Camp for Girls, and this week it's Celeste Ng's Everything I Never Told You. First of all, this book is scary if you are a parent of  teens. It reminds me just a tiny bit of Anne Lamott's Imperfect Birds in that "what do we not know about our kids" feeling. It's disconcerting, to say the least.

This novel, set in the 1970s, is the story of the Lee family, and, the opening line puts us right there: "Lydia is dead." The Lees are an interracial couple long before it was generally acceptable to be so in the midwest: James is Chinese-American and Marilyn is white. Lydia is their middle child, and clearly their favorite. She's the one they pin all their hopes and dreams on. For Marilyn, Lydia will stand out. She will be the doctor that Marilyn never became—a woman of intelligence and power. For James, Lydia will be the quintessential American teen. She'll be the most popular girl in school. She'll have more friends and boyfriends than she could ever hope for.

But Lydia's just a 16-year-old girl who wants to please her parents, and so she fakes it all. No one knows who Lydia really is, including Lydia. The novel is a journey of discovery in a family that was precariously balanced before Lydia's death and possibly redemptive after her death. It's beautifully written but alarming at times. So many secrets— not huge ones, but the little ones that add up to that eerie feeling of "do I really even know you?"

Highly recommended.

Book Review: The Yonahlossee Riding Camp for Girls

This hasn't been the most thrilling year for reading nor reviewing books. Few novels this year stand out for me: Paula Hawkins' Girl on the Train is one, and Anton diScalfani's The Yonahlossee Riding Camp for Girls will definitely be another.

I didn't know what I was getting into with this novel. I thought it was a coming-of-age novel, maybe even a light read. I didn't expect this dark, mesmerizing novel of loss, rejection, and perseverance.

Set in the 1930s, the story centers on 15-year-old Thea Atwell, who has done something bad. We don't know what she's done, only that it involved her twin brother and their cousin, who was like another brother to them. As the book opens, Thea is being deposited at Yonahlossee Riding Camp, which is really just a name for a boarding school for rich girls—or, in Thea's case, a home for girls who have been bad. Her parents can't stand to be around her anymore, and sending her off to school seems like the only option.

Thea has never been around anyone besides her family: her parents, brother, aunt, uncle, and cousin. She's never had a girlfriend, never attended a fancy dinner, didn't know the codes between girls or that they even existed. She's thrown from a comfortable home in which she was the beloved only daughter into a world she didn't know existed.

And she loves it. She loves being part of this sisterhood and, most of all, loves that she gets to spend hours and hours each day riding her horse. She also loves that she is the best rider in the school. But Thea has an insatiable need to be loved and to prove that she is a person of value— she needs to reclaim her position as one who is prized. Why did her world fall apart back in Florida? Why did her parents toss her aside like trash?

Flashbacks lead up to the story of  the Big Event that sent The and her family into a downward spiral. As Thea pieces together what she did wrong, she continues on a similar path at the boarding school. Thea is a complex protagonist, bent on self-preservation but mired in self-destructive behavior. She's selfish with flashes of compassion, unstable yet admiring of stability. She's a 15-year-old girl who doesn't know how to contain her passions and enjoys the power she has over men.

While Thea is a strangely likable character is spite of her self-absorption. The novel is graphic and violent at times, but it's incredibly compelling. I stayed up way past my bedtime a couple of nights reading it. If you're in the mood for something complex and a little dark, this is a great choice.

Book Review: The Girl Who Fell From the Sky

Heidi Durrow's The Girl Who Fell From the Sky is a survivor's story. Rachel is the 11-year-old girl who fell, except she didn't fall accidentally: her mother, chased by her own demons and bad decisions, takes flight with all the kids from the top of a roof. Rachel lives.

The daughter of a white Danish woman and a black GI, Rachel now has to learn who she is. Is she black or is she white? Is she poor Rachel or lucky Rachel? And why did her mother do it?

After recovering from her severe injuries, Rachel goes to live with her black grandmother in Oregon. This is a whole new world to her, and her sense of "otherness" is almost more than she can bear. She struggles to find her place in this new world and also to attempt to grasp why her mother could possibly have thought that killing herself and her children was the only solution. The story of Rachel's mother is told through the points-of-view of the grandmother, the neighbor boy who saw the family's fall from the roof, and her mother's employer, who packed up her possessions and read her journals.

The story of Rachel's mother is really never fully explained, but I was okay with that, mostly. I didn't feel like her story was fleshed out enough to come even close to "justifying" her crime, but I suppose that's another story. Likewise, why Rachel's father never comes back for her isn't really clear at all, and I was mostly okay with that. Mostly.

That said, Durrow's writing is wonderful, and Rachel's story is intriguing enough on its own. Perhaps the novel would have lost some of its lovely, sparse narrative had the stories of the parents been deeper. I definitely recommend this one!