Audiobook The Unwedding

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by Ally Condie
Read by Christine Lakin
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Or listen at Libro.fm
Content: There is some mild swearing and mention of murders. It’s in the mystery section of the bookstore.

The life Ellory thought she had has completely fallen apart. Her husband filed for divorce after almost 20 years of marriage, and nothing has been right since. They had planned on going to a resort in Big Sur for their anniversary, but it’s non-refundable, so Ellory finds herself there alone. There’s a wedding scheduled for the weekend, and when Ellory finds the groom dead in the resort pool, things turn dark. Add to that, a rainstorm and a mudslide trapping all the guests there, and then another guest is murdered, things become desperate. The question is whether they can figure out who the murderer is before they strike again.

I wanted to like this one so much more than I actually did. My biggest problem? Ellory was so sad. So much sad. All the sad. Every chance she got she was “I miss my husband” and “I miss my kids” and “oh noes, my life is worthless now”. All of which I get: her divorce came out of the blue and she is mourning it, but in what has been billed as a thriller, it’s very distracting. Which, also: this really isn’t a thriller. I never felt like anyone’s life was truly in jeopardy, and while Ellory was trying to figure the mystery out, she didn’t actually solve it (but she also kind of did?). I was also hoping for a grand sense of place – we didn’t get to Big Sur on our recent California vaction, but I wanted to feel like I was there. But, no. I finished this one because I kept hoping it would get better (it didn’t) and the narrator kept me engaged (she was quite excellent).

I’m sure Condie still has some good stories left in her, but this one wasn’t it. Disappointing.

Painting the Game

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by Patricia MacLachlan
First sentence: “I am young, four years old, when it first happens.”
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Content: It’s a slim book with lots of white space. It’s in the Middle Grade (grades 3-5) section of the bookstore, but I could see it going younger.

Lucy’s dad is a minor league baseball pitcher, hoping to be called up to the majors. She’s always been into baseball, but never had enough courage to pitch in her after-school games. But she has been practicing in the mornings, and maybe she’ll be able to pitch a game. And then, maybe she’ll be able to perfect her father’s specialty: the knuckleball.

There’s a couple of side plots with her parents: her mother opens up an art show, and her dad comes back from where he lives while he’s playing, but mostly it’s about Lucy’s determination to become a pitcher.

I don’t mind a low-stakes middle grade book. There’s not much to this one, either with plot or with words, but that’s okay. Lucy has a goal, she works toward it, and she succeeds at pitching a game as well as pitching a knuckleball. It’s nice. But that’s really all it is. Nice. The thing about nice books is that they really don’t have means to soar. There’s no real conflict so that the resolution doesn’t feel earned. But that’s okay: there’s some girl out there who wants to be a baseball player and she will find this book, and it will make her happy.

And that’s all that really matters.

Brightly Shining

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by Ingvild Rishøi (Author,  Caroline Waight (Translator)
First sentence: “Sometimes I think about Toyen.”
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Release date: November 19, 2024
Content: There are four instances of the f-bomb, and some very bad parenting. It will be in the Christmas section of the bookstore.

Melissa and Ronja’s father can’t seem to hold a job. When he’s sober, things are going well, but all too often, he falls off the wagon and into the bottle again. This time, after he gets a job at a Christmas tree lot and ends up drinking again, Melissa decides to take matters into her own hands. She bargains with the miserly lot owner to take on her father’s job for him (and work off the big advance he took). That leaves Ronja alone, but she’s unhappy that way. So, she joins Melissa at the lot. Everything goes well… until it doesn’t.

Much like the Hans Christian Andersen tale “The Little Match Girl”, this one is hopelessly sad. It’s a reminder that not everyone gets magical Christmases and that there are those for whom the holiday is not wonderful. (And that some of those people are children.) There are brief moments of hope, and Ronja narrating the book helps, but it’s really just… sad.

The writing is gorgeous, though, and Rishoi knows how to be evocative. But, mostly, this was a bleak Christmas tale. Maybe it’s a reminder to be thankful you’re not spending your Christmas Eve under a tree in a tree lot, in the middle of a storm, with a drunk father who doesn’t even bother to come and find you.

So very sad.

Monthly Rond-Up: June 2024

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It wasn’t until I started doing this round-up that I realized just how many adult books I read this month. A LOT. In fact, my favorite this month as one of those (in fact, it was one that I picked up at a bookstore on vacation!):

Here We Go Again

Seriously: you have to love a book that makes you ugly cry on an airplane. As for the rest:

Middle Grade:

Bog Myrtle

Adult Fiction:

Summer Fridays
Murder Your Employer (audiobook)
The Paris Novel (audiobook)
Summer Romance (audiobook)
How to Age Discgracefully
The Mistletoe Mystery
The Wood at Midwinter

Graphic Novel:

If You’ll Have Me

Non-fiction:

There Was Nothing You Could Do

What was your favorite this month?

Bog Myrtle

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by Sid Sharp
First sentence: “Two sisters lived alone in a hideous, drafty old house on the edge of town.”
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Release date: October 8, 2024
Content: It’s a short book, probably about beginning chapter level, with a lot of pictures. It’ll probably end up where The Wolf Suit did, in the Middle Grade Graphic Novel section.

Sisters Magnolia and Beatrice lived in a drafty house at the edge of town and didn’t have a lot of money. Magnolia, who was grumpy and just a bit mean, was always cold, so Beatrice, who was nice and kind, decided to go buy some yarn to make her a sweater. They didn’t have money (see: cold, drafty house) so Beatrice decided to go find treasures in the forest to trade for yarn. When that doesn’t work, she meets the Bog Myrtle and the course of the sisters’ lives changes. For both good and bad.

I didn’t know I needed a charming fable about kindness and sustainability with a strong anti-capitalist sentiment, but I guess I did. I adored this one quite a bit. It’s got a quirky sense of humor, much like The Wolf Suit, and it’s both sweet and a bit edgy at the same time. I do hope that there are kids who find this one, and who love it as much as I do.

A lot of fun!

Two Christmas Books

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The inventory manager at work is thinking about Christmas books, and is looking for the One that we can have as our featured book for the season. She threw two suggestions at me this week, and I have thoughts on both.

The Mistletoe Mystery
by Nita Prose
First sentence: “My gran loved all holidays, but her favorite by far was Christmas.”
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Release date: October 1, 2024
Content: It’s short and sweet, and nothing objectionable. It’ll be in the Christmas book section of the bookstore.

Christmases have been hard since Molly’s grandmother died a few years back. She and her boyfriend, Juan, have tried to make things special, but it hasn’t been quite the same. And then there was the unfortunate Secret Santa incident at work last year that made things a bit worse. But this year, it seems that Juan is really determined to make things shine. Except he’s acting a bit odd. Can Molly get to the bottom of things before Christmas?

I liked this one well enough, though I might have liked it more if I had read the other books in Prose’s series. Molly is an odd character, and I think I was missing parts so I didn’t quite get the whole picture. And as a Christmas-specific book, it tried to be O. Henry, but it fell flat. It was fine, but not one that I will get to be a part of our collection.

The Wood at Midwinter
by Susanna Clarke
First sentence: “It was winter, just a few days before Christmas.”
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Release date: October 22, 2024
Content: It’s illustrated, but it’s also a bit more adult in feel than a picture book would be. It will be in the Christmas book section of the bookstore.

This is a fable of sorts about a young woman who has a connection with animals and the woods and goes into them to ask for a baby, ends up with a bear cub as a child. I think. I’m not entirely sure what the plot of this one is. It’s more atmospheric – it has lovely illustrations, and I think the final package will be amazing. But, there wasn’t much substance to it at all. It tried to be a timeless Christmas tale, but I wanted more depth to it, more substance. And it says something when you like the author’s afterword better than the actual story itself.

Alas, no real Christmas winners yet this year.

How to Age Disgracefully

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by Clare Pooley
First sentence: “Police Constable Penny Rogers had been right on the bumper of the minibus, siren wailing and lights flashing, for several miles before it finally pulled on to the hard shoulder of the motorway.”
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Review copy provided by the publisher.
Content: There is some swearing, including a few f-bombs It’s in the Fiction section of the bookstore.

I’ve been selling this one this way: this book is about what happens when a senior social group and a daycare band together to save the community center both call home. Also: Daphne is absolutely Fabulous. There’s more to it than that: much like all Pooley’s books, it’s about found family, community, and older people, as Pooley herself put it, bossing it.  

And much like Pooley’s other books, I adored this one. There were moments I laughed aloud – Pooley is excellent at writing characters, making them pop off the page, and having them do hilarious things. I love the way she makes misfits – from a teenage dad to a washed-up actor to a bedraggled housewife to a pop-up yarn artist – fit together in a coherent group. Her overall message is that community and friendship matters. It’s lovely to read about.

It’s such a joyous book, one I am very glad I read.

Audiobook: Summer Romance

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by Annabel Monaghan
Read by Kristen DiMercurio
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Or listen at Libro.fm
Content: There is some swearing, including a couple f-bombs, and some off-screen sex. It’s in the Romance section of the bookstore.

Ali Morris thought she had it all: a loving, supportive mother; the perfect marriage; the perfect kids; the perfect family. But, her mother died two years ago, and Ali retreated into herself, and everything fell apart: she and her husband separated and she’s losing touch with her kids. But this summer – the summer that the divorce will be finalized – Ali has decided that maybe what she needs is a summer romance.

Enter Ethan. He seems like the perfect candidate: he’s only in town for the summer. It’ll be the perfect fling to get Ali out of her funk. Except things aren’t quite that simple when you’re nearly 40.

This one – much like all of Monaghan’s books -was delightful. I loved the narrator; she kept me engaged in the story and added depth to Ali’s situation that I might have missed had I read the book. But I also love Monaghan’s tales of second chances. The women are always slightly older, always coming off a not-quite-great situation, and always find that person who fits them just perfectly. It’s lovely to read, and to be reminded that maybe just because it’s your second time around, it doesn’t mean you’re washed up.

A truly charming summer book

Audiobook: The Paris Novel

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by Ruth Reichl
Read by Kiiri Sandy
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Or listen at Libro.fm
Content: There is mention of sexual abuse to a child, as well as just general bad parenting. It’s in the Fiction section of the bookstore.

Stella was raised by a single mom, who was not reliable. She was flaky and inconsistent and as a result, Stella became very routinized. She had rules she followed, and systems to make her life make sense. And then, in the early 1980s, Stella’s mother dies and leaves her money with specific instructions to go to Paris until the money runs out. So, Stella does. And, she sets about living in Paris like in New York – very frugally. That is until she wanders into a second-hand clothing shop and tries on the Perfect Dress. She can’t afford it, but the shop owner talks her into it, promising she could return it the next day. She also promises that Stella’s life will change. And it does. She meets Jules and through him, the whole world of Paris opens up and eventually completely changes Stella’s life.

This was a delightful little novel. I could tell that Reichl was a food writer – food was incredibly important to the story, both to the plot and just in the descriptions of the food. I felt like I could have been in Paris, enjoying the food that Stella had. That was part of what I enjoyed about the book – the descriptions of Paris in the early 1980s – it was someplace that someone could go and live for months on very little, and still enjoy so much. It was also a story about enjoying life to the fullest; Stella discovers that the limiting way she had been living her life was soulless, and to really Live, one needed not only to Enjoy the finer things but also to Follow Your Dreams.

Sandy was also an excellent narrator. She brought the characters to life and was able to make the whole Paris world feel full and vibrant. In the end, I thought it was a very enjoyable read.

If You’ll Have Me

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by Eunnie
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Content: There is talk of sex, but none actual. It’s in the graphic novel section of the bookstore.

Momo is the one friend who is the helpful one. You know: the one you go to for homework, or to borrow $10 from when you need it. PG is a slacker – I’m impressed if she passes any of her college classes! – and tends to prefer one-night stands to actual relationships. So, when they meet, Momo doesn’t think she’s PG’s type. But as they get to know each other, Momo falls for PG.

I’m not doing too well describing the plot because there’s not much there. It’s a cute girl and a butch girl falling in love, having some miscommunications and then working it out. The art is where this one shines. Eunnie is a Korean-American artist and you can tell there are Asian influences in there. It’s all very pink and sparkly and big eyes and bubble hearts. It’s just so very sweet and cute and not a whole lot else. She did try to give PG a bit of an edge, but I’m not sure how well it worked; you could tell that PG is a softie under there. I still thought it was sweet and fun, and I’m sure there’s someone out there who will fall in love with it.