Category Archives: Book Reviews

Friday Book Whimsy: The Orchardist

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It’s rare that I’m quite as conflicted about a book as I am about The Orchardist, a debut novel by Amanda Coplin. Though I love books that take place in the American West of the 1800s, I also  generally dislike sad books. Personally, there is so much sadness in the world that I would rather read a book that is uplifting.

In its way, however, The Orchardist is uplifting. It features some of the kindest fictional people I have ever come across. They are contrasted, however, by characters that are sheer and truly evil.

William Talmadge (known only by Talmadge throughout the book) cares for apple and apricot trees in Washington in the late 1800s. One day, two young adolescents, both clearly pregnant despite their young age, wander onto his property, desperately hungry. Still, they are like wild dogs, fearful of every move he makes. He provides food by setting it outside where they can eat without his presence.

It becomes clear that they have been living in an unbelievably horrific situation, from which they have escaped. Still, taking these girls under his wings leads to circumstances that he could never have imagined.

So, my conflict comes from this being a sad book written by a new author whose prose is utterly beautiful. The book is unique and while sad, also provided evidence that the definition of family doesn’t have to come from blood.

Though disturbing, The Orchardist challenged all of my senses, and overall I found it to be a very satisfying read.

Here is a link to the book.

 

Friday Book Whimsy: Someone

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Someone, by Alice McDermott, is a novel I probably wouldn’t have read if it hadn’t been for a book club. Though the author is quite prolific, I haven’t read a single one of her novels. The cover is unremarkable, so that wouldn’t have grabbed my attention. That’s one of the good things about a book club. You read things you might otherwise not even consider. I’m very glad to have read Someone.

I will admit that for me, Someone had a slow start. In fact, I was prepared to dislike it, much like a toddler might stomp their feet at being forced to eat an unfamiliar food. I was a few chapters in before I realized that the plot line which was escaping me was doing so for a good reason. Their really isn’t a plot line.

Instead, in what is almost a series of vignettes, the life story of Marie Commeford — a totally unremarkable woman — is doled out to the reader, piece by piece. She lives with her mother and father and her brother Gabe who is seemingly destined for the priesthood. It begins with the nearly-blind young Marie waiting on the porch of her Brooklyn home for her much-loved father to come home from work. In stories that jump from one period of her life to another, we watch her develop, learn to love, face the death of her parents, marry and have children. There is nothing particularly unforgettable about any of these events. She is a likeable old woman who becomes a likeable old woman.

It is the story of how Marie becomes comfortable with her ordinary self. At the same time, she watches her brother struggle with his sexuality and eventually leave the priesthood.

McDermott’s writing was simply beautiful — like reading a poem. It is absolutely what made this novel a delight to read. I will be reading more of her books in the future.

Here is a link to the book.

Friday Book Whimsy: The Best Cook in the World

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Former New York Times reporter and Pulitzer Prize winner Rick Braggs grew up in the Deep South. His family members weren’t aristocratic Charlestonians. He didn’t cut his teeth in fancy restaurants in Atlanta, GA. He grew up poor, with oil under his fingernails from fixing his own broken-down cars. His father was a ne’er do well who had almost no role in Braggs’ life except to give him his last name. But he was reared by a loving mother and her poor but kind family, who knew how to love and how to cook, perhaps in that order.

Braggs pays tribute to his upbringing — and his mother in particular —  with this combination memoir/cookbook The Best Cook in the World: Tales From My Momma’s Table. Given my love for stories about the South, and my appetite for southern cooking, this book was a dream come true. Braggs writing makes me ashamed to refer to myself as a writer.

I was only a little ways into the library book when I knew I’d have to buy the book using CASH MONEY, something I rarely do these days. While the stories he tells about his extended family are funny and told with such love, it’s the recipes to which I will refer again and again. If it was a paper book I owned, the pages would be tattered.

I loved The Best Cook in the World. While I suspect many of us think those words could refer to our own mothers’ cooking, Braggs use of his mother’s very own words to describe the cooking method gives the reader such a picture of his mother that she could be our mother too.

Here is a link to the book.

 

Friday Book Whimsy: The Widows

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It’s 1924, and Lily Ross learns that her husband — Sheriff Daniel Ross — is killed while transporting a prisoner. She is devastated by the news. But even more surprising is the arrival at Lily’s front door of a woman — Marvena Whitcomb — looking for Daniel, wanting him to help find her missing daughter. It doesn’t take long for the two women to realize that Daniel had a few secrets. When Lily is asked to take over the job as sheriff, she is determined to find the answer to some of the questions being raised. Like Daniel really overtaken by the prisoner, or is there something else going on in this mining community? And in order to find out the answers to some of these questions, she must rely on the help of Marvena, who shared Daniel’s love with Lily.

The Widows is the first of two books written by author Jess Montgomery that are based on the true story of Ohio’s first woman sheriff.  I enjoyed the book very much. I got a history lesson, both on Ohio’s first woman sheriff (Lily Ross is a real-life person though the story isn’t necessarily true), but also some insight on the fight for better conditions social justice, and even unionization of the mines in the east and northeast United States during the early 1920s.

I am eager to read the next book in the author’s Kinship Series.

Here is a link to the book.

Friday Book Whimsy: The Last Midwife

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I like books that take place in 1800s, especially if the setting is the Midwest, particularly Colorado. For this reason, I am especially fond of books by Denver author Sandra Dallas, whose books often take place somewhere in Colorado.

The Last Midwife, by Sandra Dallas, takes place in a fictional town in Summit County, Colorado, in 1880. Since my mom and dad lived in Summit County before they retired, I have a special interest in that area.

Gracy Brookens has served her small mining town located high in the Colorado Rockies for many years. She would like to quit, but the women of the town rely on her for her expertise. Not only has she delivered nearly every baby in the town for years, she also served as the only person in the county with any kind of medical background.

While Gracy has many friends, she also has enemies, including the medical doctor who finally came to serve the community. Still, she continues to be the person upon whom the women rely. That is, until a baby she delivers — the child of a powerful man in the community — dies sometime after Gracy leaves who she believes is a healthy child. What’s more, she is accused of murdering the baby.

While many people know that she is innocent, Gracy has her share of enemies as well. After all, a midwife learns lots of secrets while being with pregnant women in labor.

I really like Sandra Dallas’ novels, and this was no exception. Having said that, some of it seemed a bit unrealistic and forced. The ending — coming literally in the final sentence of the book — came as a surprise. I like surprises.

Overall, I recommend this book to fans of the author and fans of stories about midwifery.

Here is a link to the book.

Friday Book Whimsy: The Long and Faraway Gone

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Author Lou Berney wrote one of my favorite reads so far in 2019 — November Road. Because I liked that book so much, I decided to give one of his earlier books a try. I liked The Long and Faraway Gone just as much. Thumbs up to Lou Berney!

Back in Oklahoma City 1986, two very sad fictional events transpired. Five employees working in a movie theater are shot and killed execution-style. Inexplicably one of the teenaged employees isn’t shot. He has no idea why he was spared, but as you can imagine, the notion that he didn’t die while everyone else did haunts him. In the meantime, a young woman, who is visiting the state fair with her younger sister, goes missing and a body is never found.

Years later, both the surviving theater worker and the surviving younger sister set out to find closure by solving the cases themselves. The author has the two meet at a point in the book — a clever move — but other than that, the two stories are not connected.

Berney’s writing makes for an interesting story. Like November Road, I was unable to put the book down until I could learn the outcomes of their individual stories.

I highly recommend this book.

Here is a link to the book.

Friday Book Whimsy: The Only Woman in the Room

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Hedwig Eva Maria Kiesler was born in Austria with the advantage of being extremely beautiful. Her beauty, along with well-to-do parents, made life more comfortable — and safer — in the pre-World War II years when it was much better to keep her Jewish background a secret. Instead, she became a well-known actress with a Catholic background……

The Only Woman in the Room, an historical novel by Marie Benedict, tells the story of this woman who later became Hollywood leading lady Hedy Lamarr.

Her beauty and grace led her into the arms (and ultimately into marriage) of a high-level German arms seller with strong ties to Italian dictator Benito Mussolini. She was convinced by her father that marrying such a man would keep the family safe. Though she originally loved him, it didn’t take long to see his jealous and controlling side. She began to quietly save money, and eventually escaped to Paris. The conversations she overheard as his wife, however, made her a valuable asset to the Allies.

She made her way to Hollywood where she became famous working for Louis B. Mayer. Her fame was responsible for her success in raising money for the war effort. Eventually, however, she became aware that the newest technology — radio-controlled torpedoes — could be easily jammed. Working with a friend, they came up with an invention that would prevent the jamming. Unfortunately, the U.S. Navy never took the invention seriously. She was posthumously inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame.

Lamarr’s story is interesting, and while I found the book somewhat dull in parts, I admit I enjoyed the history lesson. I recommend the book.

Here is a link to the book.

Friday Book Whimsy: Tending Roses

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Sometimes I dream about moving to a small town where everybody knows your name and you can walk to anywhere you need to go and the stress level is virtually nonexistent. But then I remember that there wouldn’t be a Whole Foods three-quarters of a mile from my house and I would be hard pressed to find an Asian market or a symphony hall. So I am satisfy my urge by reading about such a community.

For that reason, I enjoyed Tending Roses, the first in a series by Lisa Wingate. I had previously read — and reviewed — Before We Were Yours, also by the same author. I really liked that book and the author’s writing style. Tending Roses is very different, much cozier than the somewhat disturbing Before We Were Yours.

Kate and her husband Ben, along with their baby Joshua, come to visit Kate’s grandmother, mostly at the behest of other family members. Grandma Rose lives alone in the house where she brought up her children, but now, because of aging and increasing dementia, the family believes it is time for her to move into a nursing home. Kate has been asked to break the news to her grandmother.

It isn’t long before Kate realizes this is easier said than done. Grandma Rose is very happy where she is, and it becomes increasingly clear to Kate why this is so. The slower life in the smaller town is a big change — and a refreshing one — from their busy life in Chicago.

Days turn into weeks turn into months, and Kate becomes more and more peaceful. Adding to her quiet joy is a journal of stories apparently written by her grandmother that tell the tale of her life, and her wonderful memories of being a child and raising her family in this small town.

The book has a quiet charm that was refreshing after reading some of the graphic mysteries I mostly enjoy. I found myself rooting for Kate to convince her family that a slower, easier life is the way to go.

Here is a link to the book.

 

Friday Book Whimsy: The Care and Feeding of Ravenously Hungry Girls

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Author Anissa Gray’s debut novel, The Care and Feeding of Ravenously Hungry Girls, reminds the reader that there is a story behind every person and his and/or her story unavoidably shapes each person’s life.

Their personal story certainly shapes the lives of sisters Althea, Lillian, Viola, and their brother Joe. After their mother dies, the eldest — Althea — takes over raising her siblings. Their father is in and out of their life, and often violent. Therefore, Althea’s sisters and brother are shocked when she and her husband Proctor are arrested and convicted of defrauding many poor and elderly people via a nonprofit they created. The two go to prison.

Lillian takes over raising Althea’s kids, one of whom was responsible for reporting her parents’ illegal activity. The story — told through each of the sisters’ perspective — slowly but surely provides background as to what happened in their lives and how each has coped over the years.

The story moved slowly in some parts. While the subject matter is dark, I can’t quite say that it was an entirely depressing book. As the story progresses, the focus turns to how forgiveness and love can change lives.

I found it hard sometimes to connect with the characters, who often seemed a bit like caricatures. And the comparison by some reviewers to An American Marriage seems to fall short. I loved that book, and I’m afraid I could take or leave this debut novel.

Here is a link to the book.

 

Friday Book Whimsy: Jerry Lee Lewis: His Own Story

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While mostly disliking autobiographies and (even more) MEMOIRS, I always have enjoyed biographies. Still, it is unusual that I would have picked up a biography about Jerry Lee Lewis, a musician who was just enough before my time to merely peak my interest. I dance to Great Balls of Fire (or used to) at weddings, and that’s about it.

But this biography was brought to my attention in another book I was reading, and it was mentioned mostly because of the book’s author, New York Times journalist Rick Bragg. Bragg was born and reared in Alabama, and much of his writing that isn’t news-related includes stories about his family and growing up in the south.

THAT’S what caught my attention.

I have read books by Bragg before, and he is one of those writers that makes me ashamed to call myself a writer. His ability to tell a story is enviable.

That’s the reason that I couldn’t put the book down. In fact, the only reason that it took me as long as it did to read the book was because I went back and forth between Wikipedia and YouTube to learn about Jerry Lee Lewis’s music and to watch the videos. I was unfamiliar with much of his music and knew almost none of his history (except for the part about marrying his 13-year-old cousin).

Jerry Lee Lewis’ story is fascinating, and his love for music and specifically his love for original rock and roll  is legendary. I, of course, knew nothing about it. I believe that only added to my interest in the book.

The musician has had ups and downs throughout his career. He currently is still living, and up until recently, still performing.

While the book is primarily about the life of the famous musician, it is also about life in the 30s and 40s and 50s in the south, and about the history of country music, hillbilly music, rockabilly music, and mostly rock and roll.

I found it to be a remarkably enjoyable, if somewhat lengthy, read.

Here is a link to the book.