Hiddensee, by Gregory Maguire, author of Wicked, is a retelling of the life of Drosselmeier, the beloved Godfather of the Nutcracker’s Klara. It is the story of young Drosselmeier’s upbringing, how he died, met fantastical forest creatures, came back to life and eventually became the toy maker who carved the famous Nutcracker. A wonderful and engaging story set in the enchanted Black Forest of Bavaria and reminiscent of Grimm’s Fairy Tales; an enjoyable read.
The Almost Sisters by Joshilyn Jackson is a book about a woman who writes graphic novels and comics for a living. Her half sister is the perfect, married, stable mother, or so it seems. When her grandmother in Alabama becomes ill, she returns to the South to look after her, and all sorts of unexpected events unfold, not least of which is the appearance of Batman (you’ll have to read it to find out.) This is a great book that…
The Bedlam Stacks by Natasha Pulley is a fascinating book set in the mountains of Peru during the mid 1800’s. A small party from the East-India company is sent from England to smuggle cinchona tree cuttings out, as their bark is rich in quinine for treating malaria. What they find is truly magical. Pulley’s descriptions were so fantastical that I often struggled to visualize what she was describing, and I found this tiring. The line between what is real and…
The Wanderers by Meg Howrey is a brilliant novel about three astronauts going through a seventeen month simulation to prepare them to be the first humans to go to Mars. Howrey did a great deal of research for this book and based it on an actual trial simulation. We follow an Helen, Yoshihiro, Sergi and their families during the simulation and learn about the inner life and strength and sacrifice that it takes to venture into space. Beautifully written, transformative;…
In the Midst of Winter is the new novel by Isabel Allende. It brings together three very different people during a snowstorm in Brooklyn. An American professor in his sixties, a young Guatemalan illegal immigrant and a Chilean woman and fellow academic. Their lives intersect after an accident leads to unexpected discoveries that throw them all together. Told in past and present, Allende is, as always, a brilliant storyteller. However, I have read all of her books and this is…
The Doll Funeral by Kate Hamer is a beautifully written atmospheric novel that follows 13 year old Ruby as she learns shes been adopted and sets off to find her real parents. Set somewhere in a forest town in England, Ruby befriends a group of siblings living on their own who she thinks might help lead her to her real family. Hamer crosses seamlessly back and forth between the living and the dead as the mystery of Ruby’s true family…
Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe was written in 1959 and is one of the first great novels to come out of Nigeria, a country with a rich literary history, so I thought it was time to finally read it. It tells the story of Okonkwo, a strong man of an Ibo village, a warrior with three wives and many children. This book gives the reader an inside look into African tribal life, and also shows what happens when the…
Origin by Dan Brown is the latest in the Da Vinci Code Series. This one finds Professor Langdon traipsing around Europe again with another beautiful woman in search of the answers to the questions “Where do we come from and where are we going?” while trying to prevent an all out war between science and religion. I’ve always enjoyed Brown’s books and never expected excellent writing, but this one was rather silly. If you’re a fan of the series, you’ll…
Reluctantly Charmed by Ellie O’Neill is a book set in Ireland, and not nearly as bad as the title would lead one to believe. Kate McDaid inherits an estate on her 26th birthday from her long dead great great great great aunt of the same name. First she must publish “The Seven Steps” once a week under her own name in order to receive her inheritance. Her aunt was believed to be a witch and the poems written by Fairies….
We’ll Always Have Paris by Jennifer Coburn is a Mom/Daughter travel memoir that follows an 8 year old and her mother across Europe on several trips over the course of 8 years. Coburn is convinced she is going to die young since she lost her father at age 19. She decides to take off to Europe with her daughter and make memories while she can. This is not an exceptionally daring, adventurous or even interesting book. It could have been,…