I finally got around to reading The Girl With the Dragon Tatoo by Stieg Larsson. Murder mysteries are not really my thing, but with so much hype around this book, I thought I would read it. The character of Lisbeth Salander is certainly compelling, and Larsson has created a well written, intelligent mystery that keeps you up late at night turning the pages. What I wasn’t expecting was the level of violence against women, and I found it very hard…
Trains and Lovers is the latest novel by Alexander McCall Smith, although by the time I finish writing this he will probably have a couple more novels out, as he is the most prolific writer I have ever read. This novel isn’t part of any series he writes. It is the story of 4 people who meet briefly as they take a train together from Edinburgh to London and share their stories of life and love and trains with each…
The Impossible Lives of Greta Wells by Andrew Sean Greer, is a novel for those who enjoy time travel. Greta is deeply depressed in 1985 after the death of her twin brother and departure of her longtime lover. She consents to undergo an experimental treatment similar to electric shock which sends her into other lives in other times. With a little suspension of disbelief it is possible to travel through time with Greta as she inhabits each of these three…
The Shortest Way Home by Juliette Fay tells the story of one family torn apart by death and loss. Sean, the 43 year old protagonist returns home to Belham, Massachusetts after 20 years away working as a nurse in the most war torn Thirld World countries in the world. He is burnt out and plans to recuperate a while before heading back out into the field. At home he finds his younger sister, tired of holding down the fort in…
The End of Your Life Book Club by Will Schwalbe is a memoir about Mary Anne Schwalbe and her son Will, who form a book club of two during the remaining two years of Mary Anne’s life, after she is diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. The book club meets mostly during Mary Anne’s chemo treatments. This book was so moving for so many reasons. Mary Anne lead a very inspiring life, fighting for the rights of refugees, and working tirelessly to…
The Firebird by Susanna Kearsly is a big fat romantic novel full of mystery and travel and a little magic. Nicola Marter has the rare gift of psychometry, touching an object and being able to see its history. She works for an art dealer and holds a small carved wooden bird that the owner claims once belonged to Catherine the Great. There is no proof of this, yet Nicola knows it to be true as she has seen it all…
The Last Runaway by Tracy Chevalier (author of Girl With a Pearl Earring) is a novel set in Ohio in the 1850’s. It tells of a Quaker woman, Honor Bright, who has travelled with her sister from England to start a new life in a new world. Her sister dies during the journey, and she finds herself alone in a strange new land. The women who befriend her have a secret to keep, and Honor needs to decide if she…
Peaches for Father Francis by Joanne Harris is a continuation of Chocolate, the Story of Vianne Rocher as she returns eight years later to the little French village of Lansquenet, where she had a chocolate shop and fell in love with a gypsy named Roux (played by Johnny Depp in the movie Chocolate.) I love this story and the way Harris brings the sights sounds and smells of a place to life, especially through the use of food in her…
A Hundred Flowers is Gail Tsukiyama’s latest novel. I always look forward to reading her books and wasn’t disappointed this time. Her elegant prose is beautiful to read, and in her deceptively simple style, she brings us deep in to the emotions of her characters, while the place comes alive as well. This novel is set in China, in 1958 during Mao’s reign. It focuses on one family of intellectuals, and what happens when one decides to write a letter…
The Poet Prince by Kathleen McGowan is the third book in The Magdalene Line Series. It is my least favorite of the three, but still worth reading if you are already invested in the series. This time, the novel is set in Florence during the Renaissance, and explores the lives of Lorenzo de’ Medici, Botticelli, and Michaelangelo, as they relate to the story of the teachings of Jesus and Mary Magdalene. The modern characters in this novel are not as…