The Apothecary (The Apothecary #1) by Maile Meloy

The Apothecary by Maile Meloy is the first in a magical Young Adult series set in the 1950s. Janie Scott's family has moved from Los Angeles to London after her parents — both in the film industry — are accused of being Communists and feel obligated to leave the country. In London, Janie feels totally out of place but she's fascinated by Benjamin Burrows, the son of the local apothecary, an unusually defiant student who pointedly refuses to get under the table for atomic bomb drills. 

When the apothecary's shop is invaded and he disappears, Janie and Ben set out to find him and discover the apothecary's Pharmacopoeia, the book filled with magic potions that Russian spies were seeking when the apothecary disappeared. To find Ben's father, keep the Pharmacopoeia out of Russian hands, and prevent nuclear disaster, they will have to try some magical potions that do amazing things like turn people into birds. 

Highly recommended - Magic, adventure, and a touch of romance make The Apothecary a total delight. I'm kind of disappointed that I only have the first book in the series. The next two don't get quite the ratings the first does at Goodreads, but I enjoyed The Apothecary enough that I'd still like to read on. I just looked and my library system does have the second book, but not the third. I need to drop off donations, anyway, so I'm tempted to check it out in spite of my library check-out ban —  part of my book-buying ban. I haven't checked out a single book since the pandemic began so one can't hurt, right? Right?

©2021 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

When We Were Young by Richard Roper

When We Were Young by Richard Roper is the story of two old friends who were driven apart by tragedy and a verbal falling out — one a successful comedy writer, one living in his parents' shed after a bad case of self-sabotage and self-pity have paralyzed him and kept him from getting a decent job. The one living in the shed, Theo, is being evicted by his parents as the book opens (it has a great opening sentence). 

When the successful friend, Joel, gets bad news, he remembers a promise he and Theo once made to walk the Thames Path together when they turned 30. Now he wants to fulfill that promise. The Thames Path is a walking path that stretches 200 miles, from the origin of the Thames to London. 

When We Were Young is told in alternating chapters from Joel and Theo's points of view. I found the opening chapters of When We Were Young a bit slow and in general didn't love it as much as How Not to Die Alone, the other book I've read by Roper. But, once I became invested in the story, I enjoyed it and I ended up giving it 4 stars. 

Recommended - I love Richard Roper's sense of humor and had to reach for tissues, in the end. I'm pretty sure How Not to Die Alone made me cry, too, so if you're looking for a good sob, Roper is the man for you. I think one of them was happy tears and the other ripped my heart out and then bandaged it with a smile-cry but I'm not going to tell you which was which because I don't want to spoil anything! 

I always close British books that have someone walking one of the paths with envy and a deep desire to go take a long walk through fields of sheep. Public walking paths sound like such a joy. Also, I really like this author and can't wait to see what he writes, next. 

My review of How Not to Die Alone:

How Not to Die Alone by Richard Roper

My thanks to G. P. Putnam's Sons for the review copy!

©2021 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens

When I heard Where the Crawdads Sing was our July selection for F2F group, I actually said, "Ugh," aloud. I did not want to read this book. The sheer volume of hype had turned me off and the few reviews I read didn't make it sound appealing to me. I strongly considered skipping this book group selection. After all, I'm on a book-buying ban and planned only to buy those I'm most interested in for book group. 

What changed my mind? I looked up the book and it was reasonably priced. At that moment, I didn't want to go hunt down a copy at the library so I just hit the button and voilá, it appeared in my mailbox. I miss having bookstores nearby but can't deny that modern book ordering can be kinda cool. I read it immediately (in June) because I had been planning to read Gone With the Wind in July since the beginning of the year. 

At first, I was sure my "Ugh," was going to be accurate. I spent the first 60 pages hating the book because I was so angry at every character who abandoned the main character, Kya, aka the Marsh Girl. And, as I mentioned in yesterday's review of Gone With the Wind (and many others), I'm not a fan of dialogue written in vernacular unless its use is very limited. At one point, I mentioned the fact that I just wasn't sure I was going to be able to finish. Thank goodness a friend on Instagram informed me that it improves. 

I'm not sure when I got to the point that I couldn't bear to put Where the Crawdads Sing down but I was up a tad late on the night I finished and totally gripped. I was angry, skeptical, teary, happy briefly, then teary again. What an emotional ride. 

Recommended - While there were things I disliked about Where the Crawdads Sing and things that I found implausible (to the point that I was visualizing the author sitting with pen and paper, plotting), I loved the naturalist aspect of the book and eventually the book became impossible to put down. I had to know what was going to happen to Kya, especially whether or not she would ever end up with the love of her life. The murder mystery was not nearly as interesting to me and I'm not actually sure how I feel about the ending. 

Unfortunately, I did not feel up to driving the 30 miles to book group so I can't speak to what others in my F2F group thought, darn it. I was really looking forward to this meeting because I think there's lots to talk about in Where the Crawdads Sing. So, I'd recommend it as a discussion book, even not knowing how the discussion went. 

©2021 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

The Love Story of Missy Carmichael by Beth Morrey

Millicent "Missy" Carmichael is old and tired and very lonely but she's not entirely sure what to do about her loneliness as The Love Story of Missy Carmichael opens. She's been rattling around alone in a very large house since her beloved Leo has gone. She's had a falling out with her daughter Melanie and her son Alistair and his family are living in Australia, so very far from London that all she has to look forward to is their annual Christmas visits.

Then, Missy decides that she needs to try living again and she begins by walking to a local coffee shop, dropping by a park, going a little farther than she's really comfortable with. And, while she's trying to stretch herself a little, she meets Angela, her son Otis (who is the same age as her grandson Arthur, in Australia) and Sylvie. When Angela and Sylvie continue to pursue a friendship Missy is certain she doesn't want, things begin to change.

While Missy's circle of friends is slowly growing (including a dog, something she's never been too fond of) and even the interior of her home is changing, she also reflects back on her early years — her childhood, the many deaths of family members, how she met her husband and married him, motherhood. She's always thought herself a bit of a failure. But, was she? Is it too late to make amends for her mistakes? Can she forgive herself and discover the things she's done right, over the years?

Highly recommended - I loved this book. I think it was the comparison to A Man Called Ove that piqued my interest when I was offered The Love Story of Missy Carmichael for review and there are some similarities. Missy is 79. She's not a curmudgeon like Ove, but she has effectively avoided everyone but her family when possible and isn't quite sure how to make friends. She also initially seems quite negative. Missy tries to avoid those who reach out to her, at first, but she finds Angela interesting (Angela and Otis give her something to write to Alistair about) and Sylvie is a breath of fresh air. And, as her friendships grow and blossom, you get to know her history, how she became the person she is, and what she's lived through. She is so much better than her internal monologue makes you think, in the beginning. I love books about friends who become a sort of surrogate family and The Love Story of Missy Carmichael is that sort of book. The ending will break you a little, but in a good way. Keep tissues handy.

My thanks to G. P. Putnam's Sons for the review copy!

©2020 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

Mini reviews - Strange Weather in Tokyo by Hiromi Kawakami and The Confusion of Languages by Siobhan Fallon

Both of these are books from my personal shelves. As I was writing these two reviews (and planning a third), I realized they were ending up much longer-winded than I expected so I deleted a third cover image and I'll review that final book separately.

If not kept in check, nighttime thoughts are prone to amplification. 

~ p. 131

Confession: The cover seduced me, although a vaguely positive review added to the temptation to buy this book. There isn't anyone flying in Strange Weather in Tokyo, and it's not a book about magical realism. It's just a cool cover.

Strange Weather in Tokyo is about a young woman named Tsukiko who happens across her former teacher when they're both drinking in a bar. He is older, a widower, and recognizes her from his Japanese class, many years ago. She calls him "Sensei" (teacher) rather than his name, throughout the book. They keep bumping into each other at the bar and eventually Sensei invites Tsukiko to his home, where they continue drinking and he shows off his quirky collections of train teapots and used batteries. Occasionally, they go places together but then there will be a vague falling-out or they won't see each other for a few months. And, yet, she's always thinking about Sensei and wonders if he's thinking of her.

I like this part of the cover description: "Their relationship develops from a perfunctory acknowledgment of each other to a hesitant intimacy which tilts awkwardly and poignantly into love."

Admittedly, it takes a very long time for the "love" part to arrive. It's clear that there's an attraction between the two, and yet Sensei occasionally chides Tsukiko and treats her like she's still his student. Meanwhile, she sometimes drifts away, almost chained by her loneliness, as if she doesn't feel it's possible to break free from it long enough to encourage affection. It's a slow, thoughtful book but I wasn't sure why I found Strange Weather in Tokyo compelling, when I thought back on it. Very little happens, and yet I liked every little moment in which you caught another spark between them. In flipping through the book, I found myself rereading passages beyond the quotes I'd marked. The ending is moving and lovely. If I were to Marie Kondo the room I'm sitting in, I would definitely say Strange Weather in Tokyo sparks joy when I hold it in my hands. I think I'll be looking for more by this author.

Recommended but not a favorite - A quiet book about a couple who are a study in contrasts and yet somehow find themselves drawn to each other and filling a hole in each other's lives. Lovely writing. An oddly simple yet magnetic story.

In The Confusion of Languages, Cassie Hugo is a military wife who has lived in Jordan for a while. She's a rule follower, a little paranoid and stiff, determined not to offend the Jordanians while she lives amongst them. Margaret Brickshaw is the opposite. When Cassie is tasked with welcoming Margaret and her husband, she at first sees Margaret as a wisp of a woman, tiny and timid. But, Margaret is American to the core and unwilling to bend to the rules. Instead of covering her skin, she wears what she wants. She smiles and chats up the embassy guards and her help around the apartment, looking them boldly in the eye, even when told such behavior is dangerous.

As the book opens, Margaret has been involved in a traffic accident while driving with Cassie in the car. It's no big deal to Cassie. Americans are always found at fault; she just needs to follow the embassy guards and pay the fine. But, instead, Margaret insists on going home and asks Cassie to watch her toddler while she returns alone. When hours pass and Margaret doesn't return home or answer her phone, Cassie becomes anxious. Looking through Margaret's possessions for clues, she finds a diary and begins to read about the past few months.

The Confusion of Languages is told entirely in past tense, jumping back and forth from diary entries to the time ticking away while Cassie awaits Margaret's return.

What does the ominous final entry in Margaret's diary mean? Why is Margaret not returning Cassie's calls? Did she really go to the police station to pay her fine or somewhere else? As Cassie reads Margaret's diary, she will find out what was really in Margaret's heart and mind and the secrets she kept during the months of their friendship.

Recommended - The Confusion of Languages is fascinating for its peek into life as a military wife living in the Middle East, a subject the author knows well as she has lived in Jordan and Abu Dhabi. I learned, for example, that when you live in embassy housing you have a panic room and strict instructions how to stock it and that the embassy of a foreign nation in which an American lives keeps the military residents up-to-date on happenings that may endanger their safety (protests nearby, political upheaval). I knew none of that. The story itself is a melancholy one. As Margaret's story slowly unfolds, there's always that lingering question about where she's gone and why. But, the underlying theme seems to be that there is a time and a place to conform. "When in Rome" and all that. The book also addresses infertility and fertility and the tensions both can cause in a marriage as one of the women has no children and wants them; the other was hastily married after becoming pregnant.

If I'd read these two books one after the other I would have been dying for a thriller, afterwards. Read them when you're in the mood for a slower, more character-driven novel.


©2019 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

How Not to Die Alone by Richard Roper

Andrew rubbed his eyes and yawned. "All I want is to live in a converted train station on top of a mountain with sea views and Wif-Fi and easy access to central London, is that so much to ask?"

"Have another cookie," Peggy said, patting him on the top of the head. 

~ from p. 314 of How Not to Die Alone


Andrew's job is a strange one. He's tasked with finding relatives or friends of those who die alone in London. He digs through their possessions, searching for clues to where he might find someone who knew the deceased and any financial accounts the deceased may own. Barring the discovery of both, the public health will pay for what amounts to a pauper's funeral, of sorts, which Andrew feels obligated to attend so that nobody is buried without at least one person present.

But, Andrew has a tricky problem. When he applied for the job, he wasn't actually listening to his future boss when he was asked a particular question. Andrew played along, giving a couple of vague answers before realizing he'd just claimed he had a wife and two children. Andrew lives alone. He has a sister but no other relatives and is probably destined to die alone, just like the people whose funerals he attends. Instead of confessing to his mistake, Andrew has drawn up an elaborate spreadsheet to help him keep all his lies straight. And, 6 years have passed since he was hired. It's really too late to tell the truth, isn't it?

Then, things grow even worse. The boss, in his eternal quest to stir up camaraderie amongst the employees, has decided that all the employees should take turns hosting a dinner at their homes, so that everyone can get to know each other better and meet each other's families. Andrew, of course, has no family. He has a pretend wife who makes loads of money and two fake children, but in reality he lives in a flat that he hasn't kept up well and he's got a train running through his home. He spends his off time hanging out in a chat room with a few other people who are even more obsessive than he is about trains.

When a new employee named Peggy shows up, Andrew's world is lightened by her presence. She's a cheery and delightful companion when digging for clues in the homes of the deceased and not afraid to sneak a coffee or a little personal time in the middle of office hours. Suddenly, Andrew feels like he's living, again. But, Peggy is married and Andrew has a fake wife and a looming date to serve dinner to his fellow employees. Will Andrew be able to confess to the complicated web of lies he's created? When he realizes his job is on the line, is there any way at all out of the disastrous corner he's painted himself into?

Highly recommended - OK, the bad up front. There are some descriptions of yucky smells and sights in the homes of the deceased. Some may find that off-putting. To be honest, it didn't bother me at all, but as I was reading I was aware that it might be a problem to some readers. It's really just setting, though. The characters, the dialogue, and the story are funny and charming and awful (some of the characters are the kind you love to hate) and How Not to Die Alone is going on my favorites list for 2019. Andrew is clearly a wounded soul but why? What happened to make him retreat from the world, in general? What will Andrew do about his lies and his growing affection for Peggy? There are so many questions that kept the pages turning. And, I absolutely loved how they were resolved. I haven't given it all away, I promise. How Not to Die Alone is a delightful story of grief, loneliness, and the healing power of friendship. Very British in setting and humor although I noticed the Americanization of some words and spellings in this printing.

I told my physical therapist about the book and he said, "Ooooh. That needs to be a movie." I agree. I think it would be easily adaptable to the screen. Peggy and Andrew visit a bookstore, at one point, and I looked it up. It's real and it sounds marvelous. I've added that bookstore to my wish list of places to go. Book lovers will appreciate the bookstore scenes for the setting alone.

I received a copy of How Not to Die Alone from G. P. Putnam's Sons (unsolicited, I think, but it might have been requested via Shelf Awareness; either way, I was excited to get it). Many thanks!

©2019 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

Nadya Skylung and the Cloudship Rescue by Jeff Seymour, illus. by Brett Helquist

Nadya Skylung and the Cloudship Rescue is a middle-grade fantasy adventure that takes place in a world in which people travel in the clouds because it's safer than travel by land or sea. Nic, the captain of the Orion, has rescued a number of children from dangerous situations and turned them into his Skyship crew. Nadya is a Skylung, a humanoid creature with gills who can speak to plants and other Skylungs. She works inside the balloon of the cloudship with Mrs. Trachia (another Skylung), where there is a garden. The plants breathe out atmosphere, keeping the ship afloat. But, the health of the plants is also dependent upon the aid of the Skylungs. 

When pirates attack, the children are able to escape but the rest of the crew is captured. They're being towed by the pirate ship when they emerge from their hiding place and find the adult crew gone. Can Nadya and her four friends and fellow crew members break the Orion free and rescue the adults from the pirate ship without being captured and sold into slavery?

You'll have to read it to find out. I'm not telling. I will tell you, though, that I think Nadya is a great character. She's got spunk and she uses her head. She can be snippy and hold a grudge but she's a hard worker and courageous. There are a lot of wonderful, unique touches to this fantasy world that I found both compelling and surprising. 

Highly recommended - Original world building, a strong storyline, and some nail-biting tension make Nadya Skylung a winner. I was at the beginning of my summer slump when I picked up Nadya Skylung and the Cloudship Rescue, so I read it slowly. But, I was aware that it was an excellent book, even during the days that I was having trouble reading. The ending is surprising as something very bad happens to Nadya and I thought the author did a realistic job of showing how a person might react to such a personal disaster. I presume but don't know for sure, that Nadya Skylung and the Cloudship Rescue is the first in a series, since Nadya hears a cry for help through the Panpathia (like a spiritual intercom system that only certain people can hear) on the final page. I'm definitely looking forward to more.

Note: This book contains illustrations, so it's a great one for young chapter-book readers who are still intimidated by pages and pages of text with no illustrations. 

©2018 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

Tin Man by Sarah Winman

In Tin Man by Sarah Winman, Ellis is an artist at heart and his mother, Dora, appreciates beauty but is stuck in a small, dark life. She encourages Ellis to stay in school and follow his heart while a copy of Van Gogh's "Sunflowers" painting is the one ray of sunshine in her dark world. But, Ellis's father has other plans for him.

Michael's young life has been fraught with pain. At the age of 12, he goes to live with his grandmother, Mabel, and everything changes. Here (with his grandmother in Oxford, UK), he finds love, acceptance, and the best friend of his life, Ellis. As he and Ellis grow, their relationship changes. And, then when Ellis marries Annie, he becomes part of a trio -- Michael, the bubbly writer who makes everyone laugh; Ellis, the artistic, thoughful one; Annie, everyone's friend, the one who sees into your soul (and a book lover). But, Michael disappears for years and loses contact.

Annie and Ellis miss Michael but they don't even know where to look for him. Realizing they've become dull without him, they make an effort to add some fizz to their lives. And, then one day Michael returns and tragedy strikes.

All of this is told upon reflection, as a painfully lonely Ellis reflects on his life. It is, oddly, the ability of a 19-year-old Ellis is teaching to knock dents out of car metal who finally gets Ellis's pain right and, in so doing, helps him to realize that there's still life to be lived.

Highly recommended - Heartbreaking and achingly beautiful, the story of a friendship between two boys that stretches and changes, then alters to fit in a third person and the tragedy that upends it all. A tale of love, loss and hope. There's much I can't talk about without spoiling Tin Man, but just . . . wow. What an amazing read. The book bounces back and forth between the 60s, the 90s, and somewhere in-between. It's a book with a melancholy tone, yet there's always a thread of hope winding its way through the prose and it ends on a high note. It is so very, very real and the end is just so freaking perfect and beautiful that I sat on the bed, staring at my cats with tears streaming down my face. This one will go on the good shelves.

Note: The cover is so gorgeous that I tried to position it to best effect to show how the gold glistens in the light. It's apropos, too, as it's an image of Van Gogh's "Sunflowers" (one from the series).

Release date for this hardback copy is May 15, 2018.

©2018 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

The Salt Line by Holly Goddard Jones

The Salt Line begins with a group of people who are preparing to go on an expedtion. The world is dystopian, a near-future world in which a deadly tick has caused the United States to be subdivided into zones. The characters we're following are mostly wealthy people from the Atlantic Zone who are going to an Outer Zone in the region that used to be known as the Smoky Mountains. In this future world, people are presumably crammed into cities in the regions that are safe from tick infestations and have little to no exposure to nature. Some zones only experience periodic outbreaks but that's enough to make their inhabitants poorer, their zone less desirable and populous.

We get to know the characters while they're doing their training. Edie is a former bartender who is partnered with the man she's been dating, an online pop star named Jesse. Wes is a fabulously wealthy tech start-up genius who came up with what I presume is a banking system and his partner (on the expedition, each has to have a partner to "stamp" them in the event of a tick bite) Marta is the wife of a mob boss with political aspirations. There's a brother and sister, a married couple who are both lawyers, and some others who have lesser roles. Tia and Andy are their guides.

After the training, the participants don suits that are designed to protect them from ticks and hike to their first campsite. At this point, I was still convinced I was reading a survival story. But, not long after, there's a surprising plot twist that changes the entire character of the novel and the question is no longer, "Will they survive the dangerous Outer Zone or will some die of Shreve's, the deadly illness carried by the ticks?" but "Will anyone survive?" There is some violence and plenty of deaths but fortunately The Salt Line is not too gory, although there is at least one totally gross infestation in which the ticks reproduce and then explode out of one of the adventureres' skin. Ewww.

I found The Salt Line riveting most of the time, but there were moments of exposition that I found tiresome. I'm not sure I always needed that extra bit of character development that came via flashbacks and storytelling by characters. But, that was one of only two complaints I had. The other was the fact that I did have a little difficulty buying into a world in which an entire country had been subdivided on the basis of the presence of a disease-brearing tick. Granted, the author did explain that there was no foolproof defense - no preventive cream or suit had a 100% success rate and the ticks burrowed so quickly that even using the so-called stamp that pulled them out and burned the eggs was no good if you didn't act fast. Would that be enough to drive people into the most crowded regions to survive? I don't know. It felt like there needed to be some other driving factor to explain the mass migration.

Regardless, I enjoyed the reading, the uniqueness of the world building and storyline, the character development (bearing in mind that there were a lot of characters and not all were in need of the same depth of treatment), and the surprising plot twists. There were a couple major plot points that I anticipated but I didn't find the book generally predictable so they were not bothersome. I did sense the author's presence in the "Who will live and who will die?" aspect. But, she did a good job of developing characters with flaws, some more likable than others, and I liked where she took the characters who were the kindest.

Recommended - Surprising in many ways, The Salt Line is a very good read with well-developed characters, unique world-building, and an unusual storyline that shifts dramatically, partway in. I will be looking for more by this author.


©2017 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

Leopard at the Door by Jennifer McVeigh

After the death of her mother, Rachel was sent to England to live with her grandparents. Now 18, she has decided to return to her home in Kenya, in spite of her father's letter advising her not to come home. 

In Kenya, Rachel finds that a lot has changed. Her father has a new companion and she is not the kind, welcoming spirit that Rachel had in a mother. Bitter, intolerant, and nervous, Sarah has driven away old family friends and tries to keep an iron grip on her son, Harold. The only person who seems at all friendly is Nate Logan, and he has fallen out of Sarah's favor. 

Meanwhile, the country is in political upheaval. The Mau Mau, native Africans who are tired of the imperialists taking their land and their rights, have become violent and are killing the natives who won't join them. And, they've started killing white landowners, as well. Will they succeed at uniting Africans and driving the whites away? Or will they be stopped before they reach the farm where Rachel and her family live?

As Rachel tries to find a way to coexist with Sarah and find her place in her old home, she begins a secretive relationship that, in and of itself, is an act of betrayal. But, Sarah has another secret, one from the day her mother died. Will she share her secret before it's too late?

It sounds like there's an awful lot going on but the storyline is actually pretty straighforward. Rachel goes home, there's a new woman sleeping with her dad and they plan to marry, the woman is not kind to anyone, has distanced the family from the servants, and restricts her son. Rachel's dad is under her thumb and he just wants everyone to get along. Rachel is also restricted in her movements but she finds that sewing outfits for the families who live on a stretch of their land and teaching the children helps keep her occupied and happy. Because the family is even more isolated by Sarah's brusque personality than the distance between farms alone, Rachel befriends the people whose children she teaches and the man who used to tutor Rachel but now works as a mechanic.

There's a lot of uncomfortable interaction between unlikable characters, an affair, and a political undercurrent. What I enjoyed most about Leopard at the Door was learning a little about a particular time and place: 1952 in Kenya. I had heard of the Mau Mau before, but I have no idea where, and it was fascinating reading about what led to the rebellion of the African natives against the whites. It sounds like a common theme: imperialists take over, grab all the property, try to change how the natives live and treat them as inferiors, and then the natives rebel. What keeps the pages turning is the knowledge that eventually the rebellion is going to end up on the doorstep of the main characters. There's no way around it. And, the Mau Mau are brutal. Hard as it could be to read about, I enjoyed the learning experience.

However, there were some irritations. Rachel is one of those characters who eventually begins to feel like what romance writers call a heroine who is "too stupid to live." She has witnessed something in the past, but for some reason she's kept it to herself. She knows that a man who keeps returning to her father's farm is dangerous, for that reason - not just dangerous in general, but dangerous to her. I never could understand what possible reason she could have for remaining quiet about him. I would have said (spoiler - highlight if you dare), "That guy touched me in my private places and killed someone, Dad!" Her decision to stay mum didn't make a lot of sense to me. I also was frustrated by the lack of contractions in the book. "I do not believe you," she says. I dream that I am standing with my back against the garage wall [. . . ]. There are maybe a handful of contractions used in the entire book and that bogs it down. It's a very slow read. Generally, lack of contractions in speech and narrative are rookie errors unless they're used to show a particular accent. She's not a first-time writer, but I think the author could benefit from doing a single edit of future novels with an eye toward making contractions for the sake of flow.

Recommended but not a favorite - I don't regret reading Leopard at the Door and never considered abandoning it, but it was not a favorite because Rachel's actions don't make sense, much of the time. Why would you stay in a country where people are being slaughtered or burned inside their homes if you had an option? Why would she not share information that could keep her and her family safe? And, the rest of the characters are mostly unlikeable. Nate is the exception and he is only present at times, and briefly. I would have loved it if Nate were present more, just to balance out the characterization, which leaned negative. I also found much of the book predictable. However, the ending surprised me and I liked it. And, I loved the learning experience. I gave Leopard at the Door an average rating.

©2017 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery  or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

Setting Free the Kites by Alex George

I am way jumping the gun, here, because I could not stop myself from reading Setting Free the Kites by Alex George almost as soon as it walked in the door. It was by far my most anticipated read of 2017 (you can tell me what to look forward to, now -- I may need help) and I was frankly shocked when I was offered an ARC. And, darned if I didn't absolutely fall in love with the book. I will probably reread it closer to the release date, which is currently February 21, 2017, but I don't want to wait till then to review. You should definitely pre-order a copy. Trust me, it's one you don't want to miss.

Setting Free the Kites tells the story of a friendship between two middle school boys named Robert and Nathan. Robert has been tormented by an oversized bully for an entire school year and the first day of the new school year appears to be an omen of another bad year to come, until the new boy steps in. Nathan is fearless and relentlessly upbeat, a bit of a daredevil and full of life. Robert and Nathan become friends, then tragedy strikes, bringing them even closer. Meanwhile, at home Robert faces an entirely different challenge. While Nathan's days are difficult yet carefree and filled with acts of daring, Robert's family ignores him and approaches every holiday with the fear that it will be their last with Robert's brother Liam, who has a degenerative disease. Robert's friendship with Nathan is both an escape and a time of laughter and fun like he's never known, before.

I don't want to go into too much more detail because it's best to let the story unfold, but Setting Free the Kites is a book that I could hardly bear to put down. I found myself immediately drawn in by the characters and their stories, the friendship between Robert and Nathan, the way music featured in their lives, the family situations, even the setting in Coastal Maine. But, I think what I loved the most was the subject of grief. Tragedy runs through these two young lives and what I thought the author did best in this particular book was in describing grief as a very personal experience, his portrayal of how the same loss is handled in completely different ways by different people. That was so very true to my own experience; and, since writers often get grief all wrong, I appreciated the realistically varying reactions. But, don't worry, it's not all heartbreak, by any means. That was just one of my favorite aspects of Setting Free the Kites and it is, in the end, a beautiful, uplifting story of life and hope and sometimes surprisingly offbeat and funny.

I neglected to mark any quotes to share, although I can assure you the writing is just gorgeous. That will be something to watch for if I do reread it in January. And, in case you're wondering about that beautiful cover, there is an amusement park that features in the book, hence the ferris wheel bokeh. I'm in love with that cover.

Highly recommended - An absolutely engrossing tale of family, friendship, youth, love, and loss. Could. Not. Put. Down. It reminded me, now and then, of Ann Patchett's Commonwealth in that sometimes ordinary, everyday events came off as so much more interesting than you might expect.

And, now, I've read two 5-star books in a row! I'm almost terrified to open the next book, for fear it cannot possibly live up to Setting Free the Kites or My Family and Other Animals (yesterday's review). Wish me luck. I haven't chosen my next reads.

My review of Alex George's previous release: A Good American

©2016 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery  or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

Mini time! Countdown City by Ben H. Winters and You Can Date Boys When You're Forty by Dave Barry

Someday I'll catch up on reading and reviews and then my life will be complete, right?  RIGHT?  Okay, I know better but I can dream.  In the meantime . . . some mini reviews.

You've already seen the kit I've prepared for the upcoming fictional apocalypse in the Last Policeman series (and maybe my review of The Last Policeman). On to the second installment.

As Countdown City opens, a mere 77 days remain before an asteroid will collide with Earth. Hank Palace no longer has a paying job as a detective but his former babysitter begs him to locate her husband, who has gone missing -- or "bucket list" as they say in the pre-apocalyptic lingo. Hank has a lingering affection for his old babysitter so he agrees, in spite of the fact that it's no longer possible to do things that were once common like buy gas, use a phone, find coffee.

Hank is tenacious and smart, though, and the missing man is so beloved that he's certain there must be more to the story.

Ben Winters is such a sharp writer.

I squeeze up and down along the edges of my arm and feel nothing and meanwhile my breath is ragged and uneven. At a certain point I will cross a threshold where it won't matter either way; "loss of limb and/or death," that double-conjunction pivot point will resolve decisively on "and."  

~p. 220 of Countdown City

Seriously, how can you not adore his writing? I love the way he can toss out a line of dialogue like, "Love is a bourgeois construct," and in those few words inform you about a character with surprising depth. I love Hank and his wonderful, upbeat attitude. I love the fact that Winters' world building is believable -- the human choices, the way the infrastructure is crumbling.

About 1/2 - 2/3 of the way in, Countdown City becomes seriously edge-of-your-seat exciting. As in the first installment, the story is wrapped up in a satisfying manner -- no cliffhangers, just the knowledge that the end of the world is still coming and, ohmygosh, you have got to get that next book which, by the way is gorgeous ---->

Recommended and, so far, I think the Last Policeman series is worth owning for the sake of revisiting that snappy dialogue. I cannot wait to read the last book.

Dave Barry's latest release, You Can Date Boys When You're Forty is, unfortunately, pretty disappointing, and I don't say that lightly.  I've been a fan of Barry since I was a kid. My father has been gone for almost 24 years but I'll always think of Dave Barry as one of the authors we bonded over, reading passages aloud to each other, laughing, trading his books and giving them as gifts. You Can Date Boys When You're Forty made me laugh out loud a couple times but it also occasionally made me cringe (the section on grammar . . . just, no . . . horrifying, not funny).

I did like the silliness of the essay "Manliness":

Here's what my homeowner tool collection consists of: duct tape, a smallish hammer and 283,000 tiny random pieces of hardware for hanging pictures.  Hanging pictures is my only real manual skill. If we have a global nuclear war and civilization is wiped out and I happen to be one of the small band of surviving humans, I will not be a big help.

First Survivor: I'll forage for edible roots.
Second Survivor: I'll look for water.
Third Survivor: I'll build a shelter from fallen trees.
Me: And I'll hang the pictures!
First Survivor: We'll eat him first.

~p. 32 of You Can Date Boys When You're Forty, ARC (some changes may have been made to the final print copy)

My favorite essay is "Seeking WiFi in the Holy Land," about his family's journey to Israel. His current wife and daughter (if I recall right, he's on his second marriage) are Jewish and their vacation sounded pretty adventurous. The essay is both funny and touching. When Barry left the Yad Vashem museum with tears in his eyes I choked up a bit, myself.

Iffy on recommendation - I liked some of the essays but a few of them were just flat awful so I gave You Can Date Boys When You're Forty an average rating of 3/5. I'd recommend checking it out from the library if you're a fan.

©2014 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery  or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

Armageddon in Retrospect by Kurt Vonnegut

I wonder if I should bother to mention the sources of my books. Should I? Sometimes I do; sometimes I don't. Armageddon in Retrospect is a book that has been sitting on one of my shelves for several years. I came across it on one of those days that I was working on purging the shelves of books I'll never read, those that no longer interest me. Vonnegut is an old favorite of mine but I hadn't read any of his work in at least a decade.

When I happened across Armageddon in Retrospect, I opened it to read the first page and sat down immediately, unable to stop. So much for that day's purging! A book of short stories, a letter, a speech -- they all go a long way toward explaining Kurt Vonnegut's other works. It's been so long since I read Slaughterhouse Five (which I recall thinking was utterly brilliant) that I don't know if I was aware that he'd been a prisoner of war during the notorious WWII bombing of Dresden. My copy of Slaughterhouse Five is decades old and brittle, so it probably does not contain any biographical material. At any rate, his son Mark's introduction is fascinating:

Every few years he sent me a letter telling me what to do in the event of his death. Every time, except the last, the letter would be followed by a phone call, reassuring me that it wasn't a suicide note. The day before he sent me his last "If I should die" letter, he finished the speech he was to deliver in Indiana to kick off the year of Kurt Vonnegut. Two weeks later he fell, hit his head, and irreversibly scrambled his precious egg.

I got to study that last speech much closer than most, since I was asked to deliver it. I couldn't help wondering, "How on earth does he get away with some of this crap?" His audience made it work. I quickly realized that I was reading his words to an auditorium and a world utterly in love with my father who would have followed him anywhere.

pp. 8-9 of Intro, Armageddon in Retrospect

I have to wonder if he'd have been quite as well-loved if this set of stories had been published in Vonnegut's lifetime. The intro is followed by a letter Kurt Vonnegut wrote from a P.O.W. Repatriation Camp in Le Havre, France. His frustrations were clear, despite the brevity. He had been captured -- one of the few in his division who were uninjured in a brief battle -- watched many more of his fellow soldiers die by friendly fire at a train station, was shipped to a labor camp and saw the destruction of Dresden. After Dresden but before his liberation, he was forced to carry bodies from air-raid shelters. Most were old men, women and children. When the Russians arrived and his guards fled, he and some others escaped Dresden, traveling and looting for 8 days. From these events came truck-loads of anger and guilt.

Most of the stories in Armageddon in Retrospect make his anger at humanity and his own personal guilt clear. I think it's plain that they really could not have been published within his lifetime -- or, at the very least, not within a few decades of WWII -- because much of that anger is, in fact, directed at his own countrymen. But, they are excellent stories with his trademark wit, well-defined characters, believable situations and dialogue.

There were a few stories that I found particularly memorable. In "The Commandant's Desk", an older man and his daughter in Czechoslovakia are thrilled when their town is liberated, till the Americans arrive at their home. The major in charge of the small town is abrasive, rude and convinced that the old man and his daughter were collaborating with the enemy.

Shocked, the aging craftsman agrees to carve an eagle design to replace the hammer and sickle he'd placed on a desk he was making for the Russian commander but doesn't tell the major about the "surprise" he'd added to the desk. And, it's a doozy. As the major continues to insult and frighten the old man, the elderly gentleman decides to turn the desk over to the major with the surprise intact. But, then a kind-hearted captain who has always treated the old fellow and his daughter well takes over command of the town, just as the desk is being carried away.

Oh, well, I can't tell you the rest. Sorry. Haha. Spoiler. The kind-hearted Captain Donnini of "The Commandant's Desk" is a repeat character who also appears in a story about a group of American soldiers imprisoned in Dresden, starving and spending their rare breaks sharing recipes and dreaming out loud about the food they'll eat when they're liberated. That particular story, "Guns Before Butter", is another of my favorites.

Vonnegut was also an artist and some of his art is scattered throughout the book, as well -- mostly what appear to be pencil drawings and some numbered prints that are usually text-only or primarily text with a bit of decoration. The final work of art is very revealing. It says [my choice not to use all-caps; the print is entirely capitalized]:

Where do I get my ideas from? You might as well have asked that of Beethoven. He was goofing around in Germany like everybody else, and all of a sudden this stuff came gushing out of him.

It was music. I was goofing around like everybody else in Indiana and all of a sudden stuff came gushing out. It was disgust with civilization.

p. 233

Excellent stories, highly recommended but be aware that they are honest expressions of one man's frustration with his fellow humans and their refusal to just get along with each other. He was a man who yearned for peace. If you live long enough, you realize people are always fighting each other somewhere and Vonnegut's frustrations especially make sense in the context of his early experience with war.

Speaking of controversial things, I have deliberately chosen not to ever dive into the various controversies that inflame readers and bloggers in our little corner of the internet, but I've got a Freaky Big-Eyed Cat Photo in which Fiona wonders about the latest kerfuffles:

I actually wrote my thoughts down and opted not to publish them because, honestly, who cares about what two authors out of a million have to say? They're just drops in a sea of opinions. We should all be used to the odd bit of nuttiness, by now. Thanks for the help, Fiona.

©2012 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery and Babble or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.