VERA WONG'S UNSOLICITED ADVICE FOR MURDERERS (2023) - Review

  Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers by Jesse Q. Sutanto

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Jesse Q. Sutanto's "Vera Wong's Unsolicited Advice for Murderers" was a recent book group choice. I'll read a cozy once in a while but was quite surprised by this charming mystery of death and friendship. Everyone loved the book!

FIRST SENTENCE: Vera Wong Zhuzhu, age sixty, is a pig, but she really should have been born a rooster."

THE STORY: Vera Wong, who lives above her forgotten tea shop in the middle of San Francisco's Chinatown, enjoys sipping on a good cup of Wulong and doing some detective work on the Internet about what her Gen-Z son is up to. One morning, Vera trudges downstairs to find a dead man on the floor of her tea shop. In his outstretched hand, a flash drive. Vera takes the flash drive sure she would do a better job than the police. Vera knows the killer will be back for the flash drive; all she has to do is watch the increasing number of customers at her shop and figure out which one among them is the killer. What Vera doesn't expect is to form friendships with her customers and start to care for each and every one of them.

WHAT I THOUGHT: One of the novel's standout features is its unique narrative voice. Vera Wong's character is a delightful blend of sass and vulnerability, making her not just a crime-solving force to be reckoned with, but also a relatable and endearing protagonist. All the characters add layers to the story, each contributing their quirks and secrets to the unfolding drama. From the grumpy police detective to the suspects, Sutanto weaves a web of personalities that adds depth to the story.

While the novel primarily falls into the cozy mystery genre, Sutanto seamlessly incorporates social commentary into the narrative. Vera Wong's journey becomes a reflection of societal norms and expectations, challenging stereotypes about age, gender, and race. The author cleverly addresses serious issues with a light touch, ensuring that readers both enjoy the mystery and contemplate the underlying themes.

BOTTOM LINE: Highly Recommended. "Vera Wong's Unsolicited Advice for Murderers" is a standout addition to the mystery genre, offering readers a refreshing take on the classic whodunit. Jesse Q. Sutanto's masterful storytelling, coupled with Vera Wong's irresistible charm, creates a novel that is both a lovely read and a laugh-out-loud experience. Fans of cozy mysteries will find themselves eagerly awaiting Vera Wong's next unsolicited adventure. This is the second title, after "Dial A For Aunties", in the series.

DISCLAIMER: A copy of "Vera Wong's Unsolicited Advice for Murderers" was provided to me by Berkley/Net Galley for an honest review. 

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GREAT SHORT BOOKS (2022) - Review

Great Short Books: A Year of Reading—Briefly by Kenneth C. Davis
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
On sale: November 22, 2022

Great Short Stories" is an incredibly valuable tool for book clubs and readers everywhere! Some authors/titles are well-known and others will be new discoveries. Author Kenneth C. Davis made sure to include "a broad diversity of writers and voices" as well as a variety of genres. The guideline for length is roughly 100 - 200 pages with exceptions.

I am a member of two book groups as well as reviewing for NetGalley so I was delighted to see "Great Short Stories", a guidebook for "A Year of Reading - Briefly". In his introduction the author discusses the issue of time for readers in our society and how the idea to curate short stories came to him. There actually are fifty-eight entries in alphabetical order listing the title, the author, and year of publication with basic information including the opening paragraph, overview, author's bio, why you should read the book, and what else to read from that author. There are lists of entries by the author's last name, dates of publication, additional lists of short stories, and more.

A random sample of titles includes: Charlotte's Web (E.B. White); Evil Under the Sun (Agatha Christie); The Hour of the Star (Clarice Lispector); The Lathe of Heaven (Ursula K. LeGuin; Mrs. Dalloway (Virginia Woolf); Tokyo Ueno Station (Yu Miri); etc.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED for any book group looking to find new titles or any reader who wants to know what to read next.

Thank you to the author, publisher Simon & Schuster, and NetGalley for an early copy for an honest review.


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THE RED PONY (1937)

The Red Pony by John Steinbeck

Many young people were forced to read this book in school. This is one of those stories that you may not like much on first reading. But today our book group at John Ganton's Countryside had a lively discussion of  The Red Pony. The precise use of words describing people and places creates a world the reader can picture.
 
We also watched the 1949 technicolor film with Robert Mitchum and Myrna Loyd. Music was by Aaron Copland. It deviated from the book in ways that we found disturbing even though Steinbeck himself adapted the story for the screen. The book is actually four short stories about Jody, a young boy living with his parents on a hard-scrabble farm in California, coming of age.

I discovered there is also a 1973 remake with Henry Fonda and Maureen O'Sullivan. In this made for television movie, Clint Howard (Ron Howard's brother) played the part of Jody.

Next month the tentative plan is to read The Book Thief by Markus Zusak. The Jackson District Library has a wide selection of book kits that can be checked out for book groups.

In Good Company Book Club

Taken at our very first meeting November 2012!

A couple of years ago, my friend Laura and I discussed the idea of a book group. We got together, tossed some ideas around, and the In Good Company Book Club was born.

We remain small with usually 6-8 showing up for dinner at In Good Company, a local restaurant that puts up with our shenanigans and gave us permission to use their name! In some ways it's a women's night out, but we do talk about the books we read and some of those discussions are passionate.

Last Thursday everyone but me had read Katherine Boo's Behind the Beautiful Forevers. Book Club got cancelled several times this winter and I had moved on and read Donna Tartt's The Gold Finch instead. We all get to choose titles over a year and we don't berate anyone for not being prepared because usually we are. Besides the friendships, I have read more widely and been able to share books I love with others.

This morning, a friend shared a New York Times article (March 22, 2014) with me and I wanted to share with you. It's called Really? You're Not in a Book Club?

So are you in a book club? What is your book group reading? Are you interested in what other book groups chose to read? I would love to know your thoughts!

THE SECRET RIVER (2006)

The Secret River by Kate Grenville
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This was the choice of our new book group aptly named IN GOOD COMPANY. It is the first in a trilogy I don't plan to read, not because it isn't an excellent book. It is. It won the Orange Prize and was a bestseller in Australia. But historical fiction has never been my choice.

On the other hand, I learned a lot from Kate Grenville's beautifully written story of the settling of Australia by criminals transported to New South Wales. She follows William Thornhill and his family as they struggle to exist first in London through petty crime and later in the wilds of a strange, new country. William is caught and sentenced to death, but he is pardoned. Being banished to an untamed country affords William and these other resourceful men a second chance. They land can be theirs.

Unfortunately that opportunity comes at the expense of the native population. (Does this sound familiar?)

Whether by choice or chance the author tells the husband's tale and the reader is left to guess at the internal turmoil of the wife with the hardships of isolation and terrible burdens placed upon her.

Poetic language and an eye for detail brings this book alive.

I particularly loved this quote, "It was as if he had thought his way along a considerable conversation, but only this end-point had surfaced as words."

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Penguin Holds Twitter Book Discussions

I stumbled on this because I follow Eleanor Brown on Twitter. Last night she was participating in an online book discussion of her book The Weird Sisters, which I read and like last year. This piqued my interest when I noticed on Facebook that Deborah Harkness was posting that her book A Discovery of Witches would be next month's selection. My review of that title was not very kind and I seem to be in the minority. It crossed my mind to re-read the book so I can participate on April 4th at 8 PM EST. What a clever way to be able to interact with the author of a book you love. Click HERE to read more.

Talk About Books IN GOOD COMPANY

I have this crazy idea. It's not that the idea itself is crazy, it's more that with my over committed life, the idea that I would add one more thing to it has got to be perceived as slightly off balance.

But something a friend said to me around the holidays really resonated with me. He said, "I don't need anyone to recommend books to me anymore. I have more than I can read in what's left of my life as it is, and I have found comfort in rereading the books that I have loved in the pasts." And I understand these feelings. Occasionally I prune my list of 'to read' books because I know I am never going to get to them all. I bristle when someone says, "You have to read this book," although I often do and am pleasantly surprised. It's just that there are so many books and so little time.

So the idea is to meet once in a while at IN GOOD COMPANY for dinner or dessert and discuss whatever we are currently reading.