The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fford is the first novel in a series of novels about detective Thursday Next. Set in Britain in the 80’s, Fford has created a world where the barrier between literature and reality is bendable and it is possible to steal characters out of novels and poems, or even enter into them yourself. You must completely suspend your disbelief to enjoy this story. Sometimes it worked for me and sometimes it didn’t, but it’s hard not…
Friends, Lovers, Chocolate is the second book in the Isabel Dalhousie Series by Alexander McCall Smith. These books have a weightier quality to them than the more lighthearted Ladies No.1 Detective Agency Series. Set in Edinburgh, Isabel Dalhousie is another wonderful, strong, intelligent, female lead character. She is a philosopher and a bit of an investigator herself. In this book, she meets a man who has recently had a heart transplant, and now is having strange dreams, almost like memories….
Good Things is the debut novel by Mia King. After five years of her own TV show in Seattle called ‘Live Simple,’ Deidre’s show is cancelled. She also looses her apartment the same week and is conveniently offered the use of a country home by a gorgeous, rich stanger she happens to meet. Its all a little too good to be true for my taste, which seems to be a theme in the books I’ve been reading lately. What are…
Goodnight June by Sarah Jio is a novel that imagines how the classic children’s book Goodnight Moon came to be. June is a successful banker in NYC when her Aunt Ruby, who raised her, dies and leaves June her Seattle bookstore, Bluebird Books. While going through her late Aunt’s papers, June finds a series of letters between her Aunt Ruby, and Margaret Wise Brown, author of Goodnight Moon. This discovery alters the course of June’s life in more ways than…
The Silver Star is the new novel by Jeanette Walls, author of The Glass Castle. I wasn’t sure how Walls’ novel would compare to her memoirs, and although it doesn’t pack the emotional punch of her earlier books, it doesn’t disappoint. It is the story of 12 year old Bean, her 15 year old sister Liz and their flaky musician Mom, in 1970’s California. When their Mom takes off and leaves the girls, they make their way alone across country…
Fools is a collection of short stories by Joan Silber. I’m not generally a fan of short stories, as they always leave me wanting more and I find it is the rare writer who is accomplished at writing in this format. Silber is one of them. This is a great collection of seemingly simple stories about ordinary people going about their lives. There is the daughter of missionaries who grows up to be an anarchist, and in later stories we…
The House of Impossible Loves by Cristina Lopez Barrio is a saga about the Laguna family. A family of women cursed to have only girl children and to be unlucky in love. When Santiago is born, it seems the curse has been lifted, but not entirely. Lopez Barrio is a good storyteller, and although it is reminiscent of Isabelle Allende or Gabriel Garcia Marquez, she is not really in their league. Although it was well written, it was hard to…
The River of No Return by Bee Ridgway is a time travel novel starting in present day New England and travelling back to 19th century London. There is a mysterious society called The Guild that is able to move back and forth through time. I love time travel novels, and this one did not disappoint; full of romance, mystery and adventure. I loved it all the way until the end when it left me hanging with many unanswered questions. Hoping…
Minding Frankie by Maeve Binchy is a sweet novel about a little girl named Frankie, whose mother dies the day she is born. She is raised by a community of well meaning people in a small Dublin neighborhood. Her Father learns about her only weeks before she is born, and tries hard to give up drinking, find a better job and do the best he can to raise Frankie. He has help from a wonderful array of characters who try…
The Miniaturist is the highly popular new novel by Jesse Burton. Set in Amsterdam in 1686, the story is based on the actual miniature cabinet house made for Petronella Oortman, on view today in The Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam. This is the one historical truth in the novel that Burton imagines her story around. It is a fascinating portrait of 17th century Amsterdam at the height of the Dutch East India Company. There are many secrets being kept in the house Petronella…