A Piece of the World by Christine Baker Kline is a novel based in fact about the life of the woman in Andrew Wyeth's famous painting, "Christine's World". Very interesting and informative.
Garden of Lamentations by Deborah Crombie is her newest (#17) London police mystery featuring Duncan Kincaid and Gemma James. Excellent, as always.
Where Memories Lie by Deborah Crombie is one of the older books in this series. Gemma's friend, a refugee from Nazi Germany, learns that one of her father's famous pieces of jewelry, which disappeared during their flight from the Nazi's, is being put up for auction in London. What is another word for excellent?
Crowned and Dangerous by Rhys Bowen is the tenth, and, I think, best of her Royal Spyness series. Ms. Bowen is one of my favorite authors, but when I began reading this series I felt the character, Lady Georgiana Rannoch, 35th in line to the throne, was too 'cutesy'. But either I have grown to appreciate her, or Georgie is solving more interesting crimes.
Leave Me by Gayle Forman was my least favorite read this month. I could not identify with the 40-something, over-achieving, over-worked, NYC wife/mother/editor. She needed to learn to say NO and ask for help - which she finally did after suffering a heart attack.
Goldberg Variations by Susan Isaacs is about a successful, self-made, woman, alienated for years from her family, who invites her three grandchildren to visit her in order to decide which one will inherit her business.
Past Perfect also by Isaacs was a little more interesting. It is about a young woman who fifteen years ago was expelled from her CIA job with no warning and no explanation. She has never been able to let go of the 'not knowing' so when the opportunity to learn 'why' appears, she goes for it, which leads to murders, cover-ups, etc.
I started reading Isaacs after somewhere learning about her and in need of a new author to follow. Her books are written in first person which I do not care for, but for now, I'll continue reading.
Miller's Valley by Anna Quindlen was one of this month's favorite reads. Quindlen is one of the authors I will always read. This book is about a family whose farm, which has been in the family for generations, is going to be flooded by a new dam and reservoir. People in the valley affected try to stop it, but can't.
Some of the passages about the main character, a young girl growing up on the farm in the 1960's, were so beautiful and evocative. They made me feel just as I did about being a farm girl during the same time period.
The Hollywood Daughter by Kate Alcott was another good read which took me back to an era of my youth - Hollywood in the 1950's. Not because I could identify with the young girl, but because it reminded me of how interested I was in what was going on with the stars at that time. References to movie magazines recalled for me my Grandmother's interest in them and how we would read them together and talk about the celebrities. And I remember so well the scandal surrounding Ingrid Bergman and her affair with Roberto Rossellini which much of this book is about. But it was Alcott's writing about McCarthyism, the Red Scare and the Black-listing of the Hollywood Ten that got my ire up. It smacks too much with what seems to be going on today.
We Were the Lucky Ones by Georgia Hunter was my other favorite read this month. This is her first book and while it is a novel it is based on her Jewish family and what they experienced during WWII. The parents and five adult children were living in Poland at the beginning of the war. What they all went through, how they were separated, not knowing if the others were dead or alive, and how they all survived is remarkable. Excellent read.
And Justice There Is None by Deborah Crombie. Luckily the Corning Library had another Crombie's for me. Unfortunately this is the last one unless I can get ahold of some of her really old ones. This is the one where Duncan and Gemma begin living together along with their respective sons in a house in Notting Hill. They work together solving the murders of two antique dealers when they realize the cases may be related. This is also the book where Gemma miscarries their baby. Crombie is such a good writer and I really like these characters. Now I just have to wait for another new book while watching out for some old ones.
The Whole Town's Talking by Fannie Flagg. I had really been looking forward to reading this latest from Flagg and was not disappointed when it started out with a Swedish immigrant buying a farm in Southern Missouri in 1889. Once his farm is established and other Swedes settle nearby, he decides it is time to marry. As there are no likely candidates nearby, he advertises in a Chicago newspaper. The mail-order bride works out. They build up a dairy herd and start a dairy, help build a new town, etc. I lost my enthusiasm for the book when the author started trying to cover too many years, giving a few pages and snippets to each decade all the way up to 2016. There were too many characters and no really defined plot line by then.
The Lighthouse by P.D. James. This is another of my favorites for the month. I have lamented before about discovering this author too late. Luckily, the Corning Library still has a few of her titles. She is such an intelligent author and master plotter. I love her main protagonist, Commander Adam Dalgliesh, and his team. One thing this author never does is 'write down' to her readers.
No comments:
Post a Comment