EVENSONG (2025) - Review

EVENSONG
by Stewart O'Nan
My Rating: 4 of 5 Stars
On Sale: November 11, 2025
 

When I found Emily, Alone, I read it and fell in love with author Stewart O'Nan because his writing about the elderly so closely matched what I was experiencing. The fact that his characters inhabit Pittsburgh, where I lived for many years, counts heavily too. 

"Evensong", was a lovely title to pick up before the Christmas holidays. It doesn't take long to realize that each chapter is more like a short story and a reader of any age will recognize their own hopes and fears. 

FIRST LINE: "In 2022, Joan Hargrove falls down the stairs."

THE STORY: A group of older women in Pittsburgh called the "Humpty Dumpty Club," support each other through "aging, loss, and life's challenges", helping each other and navigating their own personal struggles.

WHAT I THOUGHT: O'Nan's writing is thoughtful and detail oriented. It's comforting, as a reader, to find that one is not alone. You can read the other books about the Maxwell family individually but it's not necessary. Wish You Were Here (2002) about Emily, followed by Emily, Alone (2011) focusing on Emily's widowhood, and concluding with Henry, Himself (2019).

VERDICT: HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

DISCLAIMER: A copy of Evensong was provided to me by Grove Atlantic / Atlantic Monthly Press / netgalley.com

  

LESSONS IN CHEMISTRY (2022) - Review

Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
On sale: April 5, 2022

Every once in a great while, a book takes you by surprise. At first I found "Lessons in Chemistry" charming. Then I realized it wasn't the rom-com the cover seemed to suggest. Eventually I noted it wasn't just about chemistry. And finally I didn't want the story to end.

FIRST SENTENCE: "Back in 1961, when women wore shirtwaist dresses and joined garden clubs and drove legions of children around in seatbeltless cars without giving it a second thought; back before anyone knew there'd be a sixties movement, much less one that its participants would spend the next sixty years chronicling; back when the big wars were over and the secret wars had just begun and people were starting to think fresh and believe everything was possible, the thirty-year old mother of Madeline Zott rose before dawn every morning and felt certain of just one thing: her life was over." (The longest first sentence I have ever recorded.)

THE STORY: It's the 1960s again bringing back all the "outrageous sexism" women had to deal with as they began fighting for their equal rights. Our scientist heroine, Elizabeth Zott, meets Calvin Evans, a renowned scientist and avid rower. How this partnership changes them is the beginning of a story that touches and changes others.

Later when Elizabeth cannot find a position as a scientist, she improbably becomes the host of a television show called 'Supper at Six' where she uses chemistry to explain food preparation.

WHAT I THOUGHT: Having lived through the 1960s and experiencing much of what Bonnie Garmus describes, I realized how far we have come and how much farther we have to go. "Lessons in Chemistry" evokes a variety of responses and emotions ranging from constant laughing out loud to anger to tears and everything in between.

And Elizabeth is an amazingly kind, strong, stubborn, intelligent woman sometimes as irritating to the reader as she is to the people around her. All the characters (except for the villains) are people we want to have as friends too including Six-Thirty, "a really great dog".

BOTTOM LINE: HIGHLY RECOMMENDED Reading this book is an experience you do not want to miss! April 25, 2022 issue of People Magazine had this as its Book of the Week

DISCLAIMER: I received a free e-copy of "Lessons in Chemistry" by Bonnie Garmus from NetGalley/Doubleday Books for my honest review.


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THE CHILDREN'S BLIZZARD (2021)

The Children's Blizzard by Melanie Benjamin
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

One hundred thirty three years ago on January 12, 1888, a terrifying blizzard hit the Northwest Plains. They say the temperature dropped almost 100 degrees in 24 hours. Referred to as the children's blizzard, at least 232 people perished, many of them children just dismissed from school.

Author Melanie Benjamin has taken a true event and shaped it into a compelling story. The first half, "A Disturbance in the West," sets the background for her story of two young sisters, both school teachers, and the impossible choices they are forced to make to protect their students when the unexpected storm hits. The description of the blizzard is overwhelming. The narrative switches among Gerta, her sister Raina, and Gavin Woodson, a jaded newspaper man banished from New York to Omaha.

Part two, "The Maiden of the Prairie," deals with the aftermath of the storm and consequences of the life or death decisions that were made. Holding all the stories together is the reporter who, guilty of having written false copy luring many immigrants to this desolate area, commits to write about the aftermath of the blizzard.

To make sure today's reader understands the conditions in 1888, the author describes the realities of life during that time period that allowed this tragedy to happen.

The narration of events during the unrelenting blizzard are knuckle-biters. This is a story where the reader will have no trouble remembering the characters or their ultimate fate. This is not an 'everyone lives happily ever' story but rather one of survival.

BOTTOM LINE:  This is a book you will read and recommend to all your friends! HIGHLY RECOMMENDED. 

 

DISCLAIMER: A copy of The Children's Blizzard was provided to me by Delacorte Press /Net Galley for an honest review.

 

Hardcover: 368 pages
Publisher: Delacorte Press (January 12, 2021)
ISBN-10: 0399182284
ISBN-13: 978-0399182280

THE AUTHOR: Melanie Benjamin is the New York Times bestselling author of Mistress of the Ritz, The Girls in the Picture, The Swans of Fifth Avenue, The Aviator's Wife, The Autobiography of Mrs. Tom Thumb, and Alice I Have Been. Benjamin lives in Chicago, where she is at work on her next historical novel.

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OLD LOVEGOOD GIRLS (2020)

Old Lovegood Girls by Gail Godwin
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The amazing Old Lovegood Girls is a story of friendship between two women who become talented writers. It recalled personal memories going back many years. An extraordinary read, it was filled with thoughts I wanted to ponder, remember, and cherish.

THE STORY: Finalizing room assignments for Lovegood Junior College in 1958, the dean decides to make some adjustments and places Feron Hood with Merry Jellicoe. Feron has had an unpleasant childhood and Merry might be a good influence. These oddly compatible young women become friends, but a tragic event causes Merry to leave school after one year.

Ten years later they inhabit different worlds and have not been in touch, but their friendship remains. Feron says that once someone is in your 'reference aura' they stay there forever. Over all the years, each is a touchstone for the other.

FIRST LINE: "The dean and the dorm mistress stood brooding over the student housing plans laid out on the rosewood conference table."

WHAT I THOUGHT: Such beautiful writing evokes memories about our own lives. I read Old Lovegood Girls on my Kindle, but I need to buy a hardcover copy so I can underline and write in it (blasphemy, I know). So many memories began to surface with this book that I felt the need to reel them in to continue reading. A more careful reading would let me explore each personal memory, what it meant then and what it means now.
 
The story constantly circles back revealing more and reminding the reader. At first I found that repetitious and a bit annoying, until I settled into the ebb and flow of the story. The ending seemed abrupt, but it drew together the themes of continuity and change. The technique woke me to a bad habit I have developed in this overstimulated world. Snap decisions. Superficial judging. Both save time but miss meaning.

BOTTOM LINE: HIGHLY RECOMMENDED. I read lots of books I end up loving but this one stole my heart. I felt it was written for me alone. I hope other readers will feel the same way.

Disclaimer: A copy of Old Lovegood Girls was provided to me by  Atlantic Monthly Press/Net Galley for an honest review.

Hardcover: 352 pages
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing (May 5, 2020)
ISBN-10: 1632868229
ISBN-13: 978-1632868220

Gail Godwin is a three-time National Book Award finalist and the bestselling author of twelve critically acclaimed novels, including Unfinished Desires, A Mother and Two Daughters, Violet Clay, Father Melancholy's Daughter, Evensong, The Good Husband, and Evenings at Five. She is also the author of The Making of a Writer: Journals, 1961--1963, the first of two volumes, edited by Rob Neufeld. She has received a Guggenheim Fellowship, National Endowment for the Arts grants for both fiction and libretto writing, and the Award in Literature from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. She has written libretti for ten musical works with the composer Robert Starer. She lives in Woodstock, New York.

THE SUSPECT (2019)

The Suspect by Fiona Barton
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is the third book in which reporter Kate Waters is featured but can be read as a stand alone. I was often surprised by the twists and turns, which kept me reading past my bedtime.

This is Fiona Barton's third mystery following The Widow (2016) and The Child (2017). Scanning reviews revealed this is considered a series and certainly Barton has found a formula that works. Each book is told by three different participants, one of which is journalist Kate Waters.

FIRST SENTENCE: "The call comes at three a.m."

THE STORY: Two young girls travel to Thailand for a gap year adventure and then go missing. Told from three viewpoints (the Mother, the Detective, and the Journalist), the author creates sympathetic, if imperfect, characters.

Alex was supposed to go to Thailand with a good friend. Instead the friend cancelled and Rosie volunteered to take her place. Alex has carefully planned the trip but Rosie only wants to party. After a couple of weeks, they both disappear and it is obvious something bad has happened. Complicating things for Kate, is the fact that her son has also gone off the grid in Thailand. 
  
The puzzle is who is telling the truth (and is it the whole truth?) and who is lying. The answers slowly come into focus.

QUOTES: ". . .we look for the familiar in everything, don't we? We look to anchor ourselves in safe waters."

"When I hit a dead end in a story, my instinct is always to go back to the beginning and see what I missed ."

WHAT I THOUGHT: I wasn't sure I wanted to read this book based on what I knew about the plot, but once I started reading, I was totally immersed. The exotic locale, the variety of voices, and the mystery itself were all compelling due to the careful plotting and excellent story telling skills of Fiona Barton.

BOTTOM LINE: HIGHLY RECOMMENDED. You'll want to read ALL the books in the series.

Hardcover: 416 pages
Publisher: Berkley (January 22, 2019)
ISBN-10: 1101990511
ISBN-13: 978-1101990513
 
DISCLAIMER: I received a free e-copy of  The Suspect by Fiona Barton from NetGalley/Berkley  for my honest review. 

 

ON TURPENTINE LANE (2017)

On Turpentine Lane by Elinor Lipman
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

In 1999 I stumbled upon The Inn at Lake Devine and chose it to be featured at a Reader's Advisory Workshop where I was speaking. Elinor Lipman turned out to be a 'life author' for me. Her stories are what I call literate chic-lit but they are more than that.

Here's what I wrote in an earlier review on my blog:

She is the Jane Austen of her time. Language, dialogue and sentences are precise and exactly right. And you will want to be friends with all her characters. She deals with what could be uncomfortable topics that are part of our lives in a way that makes them palatable.

THE FIRST LINE: "If I hadn't been naive and recklessly trusting, would I ever have purchased number 10 Turpentine Lane, a chronic headache masquerading as a charming bungalow?"

THE STORY: Faith Frankel has returned to her hometown at the age of thirty-two to work for her private school writing thank you notes to wealthy donors. In the meantime, her fiance has abandoned her and is finding himself on a cross country walk. He's too busy to get in touch with her but posts pictures of himself with the women he is meeting on his trek. Luckily Faith has support from her office mate Nick Franconi. (Can you see where this is going?)

WHAT I THOUGHT: This screwball romantic comedy is funny, poignant, and a little outrageous. If you want a lovely, well-written escape from today's politics, you can't go wrong with Elinor Lipman. Highly recommended.

Title: On Turpentine Lane

Author: Elinor Lipman

Genre: Chic-Lit

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin

No. of Pages: 320

Copyright: February 14, 2017

ISBN-10: 054480824X

ISBN-13: 978-0544808249

Disclaimer: An advanced reading copy (ARC) of this book was provided to me by Houghton Mifflin and Net Galley for an honest review.

ELINOR LIPMAN is the author of ten novels, including The View from Penthouse B and The Inn at Lake Devine; one essay collection, I Can’t Complain; and Tweet Land of Liberty: Irreverent Rhymes from the Political Circus. She lives in Massachusetts and New York City. (from Amazon.com)

THE COLOR OF WATER IN JULY (2012)

The Color of Water in July by Nora Carroll
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

What attracted me to this book was the Northern Michigan setting, but the story was what kept me reading. There are only so many stories. It's how they are told that makes the difference.

THE STORY:  Jess is 33 and has just inherited a big Victorian cottage she hopes to sell so she will finally have some money to comfortably cushion her ordinary life in New York City. Reluctantly returning to Journey's End after so many years, however, awakens yearnings for lost opportunities, family secrets, and old loves.

WHAT I THOUGHT: Carefully plotted, the reader finds clues from the memories of two women separated in time by many years. The story belongs to Jess, but the revelations come from Mamie, her grandmother. The story is not as predictable as one might assume and there is some lovely writing.

"I call that summer blue, the color of water in July - all of promise wrapped up in it, and every disappointment too."

 "It had turned August now, you could feel it right away, the lack of sincerity of summer, the hint that it was already planning to leave."

The Northern Michigan setting is a character as well and capable of inducing all sorts of nostalgic memories of summers by the water. It is obvious that the author knows and loves this part of Michigan.

The message of the book is an important one. Hold on to what matters. The trick is to find out what truly matters.

FIRST SENTENCE: "There must be a precise moment when wet cement turns dry, when it no longer accepts footprints or scratched-in declarations of love; an ordinary moment, unnoticed, just like any."

BOTTOM LINE: After reading this book, I immediately requested permission to download the author's second book Academy Girls and loved that as well! Highly recommended.

DISCLAIMER: Invited by Net Galley to request and receive this title for an honest review.

Title: The Color of Water in July

Author: Nora Carroll

Genre: Mystery, Suspense, Chic-Lit

Publisher:  Lake Union Publishing

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

No. of Pages:235 pages

Copyright: August 18, 2015

ISBN-10: 1503945634

ISBN-13: 978-1503945630

"Nora Carroll is a pseudonym for #1 New York Times bestselling author Elizabeth Letts. As Nora Carroll, she writes multi-layered novels filled with the things she loves most-- rambling houses, old letters and manuscripts, and most importantly, the mysteries of love, women, and family." (from Amazon)

THE TRUTH ACCORDING TO US (2015)

The Truth According to Us by Annie Barrows
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

After reading too many thrillers this summer, The Truth According to Us was a wonderful respite. I found it charming and readable although I have to agree with other reviewers that it's a bit longer than necessary.

THE STORY:  When she refuses to marry her father's choice for a husband,  wealthy Layla Beck is banished to the fictional town of Macedonia, W.Va. where she must write a history for the W.P.A. (Federal Writers' Project). Renting a room from the Romeyns, she finds a different way of life and discovers a talent for writing. But there are secrets that threaten to destroy the family she has come to love.

WHAT I THOUGHT: What a perfect book to read during the summer! The author creates the Southern small town of our imaginations, filled with people we could sit on a front porch with drinking lemonade and fanning away the heat.

The Romeyn family has secrets going back many years. The reader is introduced to clues and suspicions through the curiosity of twelve-year-old Willa, her Aunt Jottie's reminiscences, and letters written to and from Layla Beck, the outsider. All the characters are well-drawn. The writing is evocative and the message about the harm secrets can inflict is incisive.

FIRST SENTENCE: "In 1938, the year I was twelve, my hometown of Macedonia, West Virginia, celebrated its sesquicentennial, a word I thought had to do with fruit fro the longest time."

BOTTOM LINE: If you like to escape into books and visit another time, I highly recommended spending some time in Macedonia, W.Va. with the Romeyns

DISCLAIMER: Invited by NetGalley to request and receive this title for an honest review.

Title: The Truth According to Us

Author: Annie Barrows

Genre: Historical Fiction

Publisher: The Dial Press

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

No. of Pages:512 pages

Copyright: June 9, 2015

ISBN-10: 0385342942

ISBN-13: 978-0385342940

Annie Barrows, an American editor and author, is best known for the Ivy and Bean series of children's books and for being the co-author (with her late Aunt, Mary Ann Shaffer) of The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society.

THE SOUND OF GLASS (2015)

The Sound of Glass by Karen White
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The Sound of Glass was my introduction to author Karen White, who writes what has been called 'grit-lit' (as opposed to 'chic-lit') because of her southern settings. The location of the story is Beaufort, South Carolina. I have a very close friend who lives there with her daughter part of the year and that caught my attention.

THE STORY: Merritt Heyward learns that she has inherited a big old Victorian house from her late husband's reclusive grandmother. Feeling guilty about his death and at loose ends, she leaves Maine determined to take up residence in Beaufort.

Before she can catch her breath, her too-young widowed step mother appears with Merritt's ten year old half-brother wanting to move in with her. Loralee claims to be cash strapped with nowhere else to turn. Reluctantly Merritt agrees they can stay for a short time even though she longs for time alone to heal.

WHAT I THOUGHT: Luckily I approached the end of the book just around bedtime. Unfortunately I didn't fall asleep because I kept thinking about what I had read. Even though there were secrets and conflicts, the characters were people you came to care about. Although the story basically revolves around Merritt, it is impossible not to love Loralee, who at first glance appears a stereotypical Southern lady, but is actually a wise and wonderful woman.

I did find it took a while to get the family genealogy straight in my mind as I was reading. I also found Merritt annoying sometimes in her ability to be standoffish. But Karen White writes well and tells a compelling story. I will certainly look for some of her other titles. And if you are like me, the descriptions of Beaufort will make you want to visit and drink sweet tea on a big old veranda overlooking the river.

FIRST SENTENCE: "An unholy tremor rippling through the sticky night air alerted Edith Heyward that something wasn't right." (Prologue, Beaufort, South Carolina July 1955)

BOTTOM LINE: Three women with unhappy secrets weave a tangled web as they tell their stories holding the reader spellbound. Highly recommended.

DISCLAIMER: An advanced reading copy (ARC) of this book was provided to me by NetGalley for an honest review.

Title: The Sound of Glass

Author: Karen White

Genre: Grit-Lit (Southern Women's Fiction)

Publisher: NAL

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

No. of Pages: 426

Copyright: May 12, 2015

ISBN-10:  0451470893

ISBN-13: 978-0451470898

Karen White, a New York Times bestselling author of 19 novels, writes 'grit-lit' or southern women's fiction, as well as "a contemporary paranormal mystery series set in Charleston, South Carolina." She lives near Atlanta, Georgia with her husband and two children.

AT THE WATER'S EDGE (2015)

At the Water's Edge by Sara Gruen
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

After reading and loving Water for Elephants a few years back, I couldn't pass up the opportunity to request Sara Gruen's new title and I guess I wasn't alone. "At the Water’s Edge debut[ed] at #6 on the New York Times bestseller list, #5 on the Indie bestseller list, and #12 on the USA Today bestseller list!"

THE STORY: Madeline Hyde and her husband Ellis never go anywhere without his best friend Hank. Drinking, dancing, spending money, and amusing themselves consumes their days; but they throw away their privileged lives when they disgrace themselves at a fashionable Philadelphia New Year's Eve party. To escape, Ellis and Hank decide to make good on the many times they have talked about hunting down the Loch Ness monster. Maddie has always thought of their discussions as a game. After all, it is 1944 and World War II is raging; but Hank finds a ship that will take them across the Atlantic and thus begins a journey that will change them all.

The remote Scottish Highland and its inhabitants aren't particularly welcoming to this frivolous trio who expect to be waited on in the middle of difficult times. While the men go off to search for monsters, Maddie, left behind, learns more about the people and how they survive. She makes friends and begins to understand what life can really be.

WHAT I THOUGHT: A mixture of historical fiction (the Scottish during WWII), romance, coming of age, mysticism (Loch Ness monster hunting), and more, the book seems over the top sometimes but is always compelling. It is impossible not to think of Diana Gabaldon's Outlander series (without the time travel) when you read this story.

FIRST SENTENCE: "The headstone was modest and hewn of black granite, granite being one of the few things never in short supply in Glenurquhart, even during the present difficulties."

BOTTOM LINE: Women everywhere will be reading this book - a great beach read!

Disclaimer: An advanced reading copy (ARC) of this book was provided to me by NetGalley for an honest review.

Title: At the Water's Edge

Author: Sara Gruen

Genre: Historical Fiction

Publisher: Spiegel & Grau (an imprint of Random House)

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

No. of Pages: 368

Copyright: 1st edition (March 31, 2015)

ISBN-10: 0385523238

ISBN-13: 978-0385523233

Sara Gruen is the #1 New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of Water for Elephants, Ape House, Riding Lessons, and Flying Changes. Her works have been translated into forty-three languages and have sold more than ten million copies worldwide. She lives in western North Carolina with her husband and three sons, along with their dogs, cats, horses, birds, and the world’s fussiest goat. (From Amazon)

Descent (2015)

Descent by Tim Johnston
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Tim Johnston's novel is very disturbing. I realized it shortly after beginning, but I kept reading.

OPENING LINE: "Her name was Caitlin, she was eighteen, and her own heart would sometimes wake her - flying away in that dream-race where finish lines grew farther away not nearer, where knees turned to taffy, or feet to stones." 

Visiting Colorado on vacation, Caitlin, with her younger brother Sean tagging along, goes for a run leaving her sleeping parents behind. What happens then is every parents' worst nightmare. Only Sean returns.

The story explores the aspect of each person's life as it is affected by the disappearance, not just the immediate family but others in the community as well. The author brings the Colorado mountains to life. As a matter of fact, his descriptions would easily transfer to a visual story telling medium.

For most of the story I was totally anxious about what was going to happen and it only got worse as the end approached.

Don't misunderstand. This is an excellent story beautifully told. Almost like a impressionist watercolor painting, details and feelings are only suggested in beautiful and emotional language. And the reader doesn't see everything all at once. Instead bits and pieces are revealed over time.

This haunting thriller will stay with you for a long time.

BOTTOM LINE: Well written, plotted, and with incredibly real characters, this book is HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

Title: Descent

Author: Tim Johnston

Genre: Literate Thriller

Publisher:  Algonquin Books

No. of Pages: 384

Copyright: January 6, 2015

ISBN-10: 1616203048

ISBN-13: 978-1616203047

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Source: Net Galley

Disclaimer: An advanced copy of Descent was provided to me by Algonquin/Net Galley for review purposes.

Tim Johnston , a graduate of the University of Iowa and the University of Massachusetts Amherst, has done a lot of writing and won awards for it, but Descent is his debut novel. He currently teaches in the Creative Writing Program at the University of Memphis.

THE GOLDFINCH (2013)

Early in the morning I read the most astonishingly beautiful sentence and realized it was the end - that when I 'turned the page' there would be no more and I cried.

The night before I had been so intensely involved with read Donna Tartt's The Goldfinch that I stayed up until very late thinking I could finish it before retiring. Approaching 2:00 AM I realized that I would need to sleep first.

What's odd is that I was seduced into my late night attempt because my Kindle tells me percentage read. Intuitively I should realize that a percentage of a long book will mean more pages but reading on a Kindle distances one from a feel for the shape and weight of the book.

Right now I am longing for my own copy. I highlighted sentences and passages on the Kindle but I want to hold the physical book in my hands. I want to flip through the pages and re-read sections and write in the margins.

At GoodReads the reviews are passionate but not always positive. It makes me sad when others cannot find the beauty or even acknowledge it. You don't have to 'like' a book to recognize it's worth.

Donna Tartt's writing is like music. She has created fascinating characters that are unforgettable, who remain mysterious even when we feel we know them.

This is Theo's book and he tells the story in retrospect beginning at thirteen when a terrible disaster occurred that changed the course of his life. One might identify this as a Bildungsroman. It is that, but its form constantly morphs. Melanie, a reviewer on GoodReads commented that there are elements of “thriller, Bildungsroman, philosophical treaty, coming of age tale, epic, travelogue, memoir”.

Let this story surprise and delight you.

Bottom Line: HIGHLY RECOMMENDED but make sure you have the time it deserves.

Title: The Goldfinch
Author: Donna Tartt
Genre: Literature
Publisher: Little, Brown and Company
No. of Pages: 784 pages
ISBN: 0316055433
Copyright: October 22, 2013
Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
Source: Amazon

Disclaimer: Purchased for my Kindle Fire because I couldn't get a copy from the library quickly enough.

Donna Tartt is an elusively private author but I did find this fascinating interview with the British Telegraph 12/9/2013. She has written two previous well-reviewed books: The Secret History (1992) and The Little Friend (2002), both of which I was lucky enough to read at the time they were published.

PERFECT: A NOVEL (2014)

The hardest reviews, the ones I sometimes never get around to writing, are for the books that profoundly touch me in some way. The fear that whatever I would say might not be worthy overwhelms me. And it's how I feel about Rachel Joyce's Perfect.

The world is a different place when you are a child. The things that catch your attention, the things that worry you are beyond what an adult can see or understand.

What if your best friend, the cleverest boy in your school, tells you that two seconds are being added to the day but you weren't sure exactly when? And what if something terrible happened because of that? How could it change the course of your world and to what lengths would you need to go to save someone you love?

"Two seconds are huge. It’s the difference between something happening and something not happening. It’s very dangerous.”  

In Perfect, when something unfortunate does occur, the quiet, underlying sense of dread begins to affect the reader as well as the characters.

"Sometimes caring for something already growing is more perilous than planting something new."

There's a mystery here too. The story alternates between 1972 with eleven-year-old Byron's life and forty years later with Jim's struggle with mental illness. How do these pieces fit together?

"The rift between the past and this moment is so huge it is like being marooned on a square of ice, seeing other patches of his life also floating around him, and unable to piece them together."

Sometimes I was annoyed briefly when I had to leave one world for the other, put down one thread to follow the other; but it is impossible not to be drawn into the web of Rachel Joyce's tale. The ending is the only one I can imagine now.

Bottom Line: Beautiful writing and elegant plotting make Perfect a book to be experienced. It will be on everyone's best book list for 2014. Highly recommended. 

Title: Perfect

Author: Rachel Joyce

Genre: Fiction

Publisher: Random House

No. of Pages:  400 pages

Copyright: January 14, 2014

ISBN:  0812993306

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

Source: NetGalley

Disclaimer: A copy of Perfect was provided to me by Random House/Net Galley for review purposes.

Rachel Joyce is the author of the international bestseller The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry. She is also the award-winning writer of more than twenty plays for BBC Radio 4. She started writing after a twenty-year acting career, in which she performed leading roles for the Royal Shakespeare Company and won multiple awards. Rachel Joyce lives with her family on a Gloucestershire farm. (Source: AMAZON)

MY ANTONIA (1918)

My Antonia by Willa Cather
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

What is amazing is that it took me so long to discover Willa Cather's My Antonia, a complex and elegant remembrance that appears as a deceptively simple story.

I read this for my book group, In Good Company. We talk over dinner and can often veer off subject. There was more discussion about My Antonia than any of the other titles we have read over the year we have been meeting. And it was universally loved no matter how individual perceptions varied. We gossiped about the characters just as if they were friends and neighbors we cared about.

Discover this book for yourself. Forget the description that it's the tale of an immigrant girl named Antonia growing up in Nebraska. It's so much more.

View all my reviews

Update on NIGHT FILM (2013)

I just barely finished reading Night Film by Marisha Pessl this past weekend, in one pretty huge gulp, and already it is being talked about for a movie! Check out this article from Casting Call.

If you've read the book, feel free to make your own casting decisions!

NIGHT FILM (2013)

Night Film by Marisha Pessl
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

What did Ashley Cordova want to tell him before jumping to her death? Investigative reporter Scott McGrath decides to track down Ashley's father, the elusive director of dark and disturbing films, Stanislas Cordova, to find the truth behind the myths. Night Film is one incredible roller coaster ride.

Using made-up documents to help tell a story has been done before but never as well as Marisha Pessl's detailed and realistic newspaper clippings, photographs, magazine articles, and other documents scattered throughout the book.

Some of the print reviewers aren't as enthusiastic about this sophomore effort of Marisha Pessl, who won recognition for her debut novel Special Topics in Calamity Physics (2006). However, most readers (and that includes me) are totally enthusiastic.

View all my reviews

HOW THE LIGHT GETS IN (2013)

Louise Penny's latest entry in her Chief Inspector Gamache series went on sale August 27, 2013. I was lucky enough to score an ARC (advanced reading copy) months ago but put off reviewing the book because I was afraid my words would not do it justice.

So instead I offer a link to a review written by librarian Judie Evans of How the Light Gets In via Shelf Awareness. You'll have to scroll down to find it on the webpage.

One caveat though. Do not start reading the series with this title. You are guaranteed to fall in love with the village of Three Pines and its residents. Begin your journey with the very first book Still Life.

My Top Ten Summer Reads 2013

Everyone seems to be making lists these days; and since I feel I have been lucky in my reading choices so far this year, I have made my own. Being an enthusiastic reader, I might have made a longer list but here are reads I consider 'sure things' in no particular order.

Beautiful Ruins - Jess Walter
Gone Girl - Gillian Flynn
The Language of Flowers - Vanessa Diffenbaugh
The Banks of Certain Rivers - Jon Harrison (e-book only)
The Dinner - Herman Koch
Life After Life - Kate Atkinson
Rage Against the Dying - Becky Masterman
Reconstructing Amelia - Kimberly McCreight
Someday, Someday Maybe - Lauren Graham
Foal Play - Kathryn O'Sullivan

Some are thrillers, some are mysteries, and some are love stories.

Available Today! - LIFE AFTER LIFE

I have already declared this book my favorite of 2013. Read it and tell me what YOU think.

THE DINNER (2013)

The Dinner by Herman Koch
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

"The Dinner, the sixth novel by award-winning Dutch author Herman Koch and already a bestseller in Europe, arrives in the U.S. with an excellent translation and great deal of well-deserved advance praise. A slow burn creeper, this suspenseful and unsettling novel turns a microscope on parenthood, examining the darkness that may lie just below the thin veneer of civilization, social grace and propriety."

Bottom Line: If you loved Gillian Flynn's Gone Girl, like I did, you will devour this psychological thriller.

A few years ago I discovered Page & Palette in Fairhope, Alabama and fell in love. That was before every new bookstore in my community closed. (We do have an extensive used book store.) Now when I visit each year, I stop in to see what I am missing. It's exciting to be able to see wonderful books no matter where you cast your eyes.

I was looking for just one special book to purchase. What would I choose? I actually had another book in my hand when I turned around and spotted a display featuring a Wall Street Journal article and The Dinner. It wouldn't ordinarily have been my choice, but I decided to trust this wonderful bookstore and I am so glad I did. (Of course, it didn't hurt that there were comments from Scott Smith, Gillian Flynn, and S.J.Watson on the cover.)

Unfortunately, like Gone Girl, this is a book you need to discover and too much discussion of the story will ruin the experience. I can tell you that it takes place at an expensive restaurant on a single evening where two brothers and their wives are having dinner to discuss their children. If you are a theater goer, you may suppose this will be like Yasmina Reza's God of Carnage. It's not. And like Gone Girl, wherever you think the story is going, it isn't.

Not all literary translations are worthy of the story they tell, but Sam Garrett's work is seamless.

I paid $24.00 plus $2.16 in tax versus purchasing this book from Amazon for $14.31 plus shipping costs (or not) for the same hard back edition, but in exchange I had a lovely conversation with one of the staff and that was worth the difference in price to me.

If you aren't willing to trust my recommendation, check out this unusual way of sharing the excitement of discovering The Dinner.

Disclaimer: I made a resolution for 2013 to visit independent bookstores, buy a book, read it, and blog about the bookstore.

Title: The Dinner

Author: Herman Koch

Genre: Psychological Thriller

Publisher: Hogarth

No. of Pages: 304 pages

Copyright: February 12, 2013

ISBN: 0770437850

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Source: Page & Pallette, Fairhope, Alabama

Herman Koch, a Dutch actor as well as writer, is the author of seven novels and three collections of short stories. The Dinner, his sixth novel, has been published in 25 countries, and was the winner of the Publieksprijs Prize in 2009. He currently lives in Amsterdam. 


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