The Full Cupboard of Life by Alexander McCall Smith is the 5th installment of The No.1 Ladies Detective Agency, and maybe my favorite so far. McCall Smith writes with his usual charm and wit and makes you feel like the world is a little bit better of a place by the time you finish reading this book. Mma Ramotswe is on a new case, while still waiting for the day that Mr J. L. B. Matekoni will marry her, as…
The People of Forever Are Not Afraid is the debut novel by Shani Boianjiu, a new young voice from Israel. The novel tells of three young girls from a tiny Israeli village who go off to do their military service in the Israeli Defense Forces for two years after high school. Yael, Lea and Avishag each have different experiences, yet Boianjiu weaves together a whole picture of what life is like for these girls experiencing hours of endless boredom, and…
Scent of Darkness by Margot Berwin, could have been a really good novel, but instead fell flat. I’ve barely finished reading it, but have mostly forgotten it already. The protagonist, Evangeline, has a wise old grandmother from New Orleans who is a master aromata, scent maker. She leaves a vial for Evangeline that she finds after her grandmother dies. The scent has a secret ingredient that attracts one good man, one evil man to her. This leads her to New…
Mother, Mother is a dark and somewhat disturbing book by Koren Zailckas. It tells the story of a perfect Mother who seems to have everything, beautiful home, beautiful children, successful husband, etc. As the story unfolds, through each family members point of view, we see how destructive and manipulative the Mother truly is. She lies and tells different stories to everyone, pitting them against each other and slowly destroying her entire family. Zailckas writes with razor sharp insight into the…
The Virgin Blue by Tracy Chevalier, author of Girl With a Pearl Earring, is historic fiction like only Chevalier can write. Ella Turner moves to France and searches for the history of her family, the Tourniers. She begins having nightmares and is lead to discover some haunting secrets buried deep in her family’s past. The novel takes us back into the 16th century when thousands of Huguenots were persecuted and slaughtered all over France. Not my favorite novel by Chevalier,…
The Frangipani Hotel is a collection of short stories by Violet Kupersmith. Kupersmith is a new, young American writer of Vietnamese descent. The stories are filled with bits of traditional Vietnamese folk tales and ghost stories, while maintaining a distinctly modern feel. The ghost of the Vietnam War floats eerily in the background of all the stories. It’s a wonderfully compelling collection from an original new voice. I was drawn in from the very first story. Kupersmith is working on…
The Scent of Lemon Leaves is a novel by Spanish writer Clara Sanchez. It tells the story of pregnant and lost Sandra, living in her sister’s house on the Costa Brava wondering what she is going to do with her life. She is befriended by two older Norwegians that treat her like kindly grandparents, but who are not at all what they seem to be. She meets Julian, a concentration camp survivor and learns that she is involved with a…
Trans-Sister Radio by Chris Bohjalian is a novel about a woman, Allison, who falls in love with a man, Dana, only to find out he’s preparing to have a sex change operation and become the woman he always felt he was. The novel takes very ordinary people and puts them in this situation to challenge our ideas and stereotypes about trans-sexuals. Bohjalian does a good job of presenting the story with compassion, and perhaps more surgical details than the reader…
Purple Hibiscus is a powerful debut novel from Chimamanda Ngozi Adiche. Set in Nigeria, the novel tells the story of 15 year old Kambili and her brother Jaja, growing up in fear of their strictly religious father. He is a rich and powerful man and Kambili wants nothing more than to please him. She has no thoughts of her own that are not dictated by her father. When she visits her aunt and cousins, she gets her first taste of…
Without Reservations, the Travels of an Independent Woman is a travelogue/memoir by Alice Steinbach. Steinbach had been working for years as a journalist, and in her 50’s, divorced and with two grown boys, decides to take a year off to travel and live in Europe. She starts in Paris, then moves on to England and Italy. Although Steinbach calls this “The Year of Living Dangerously” there is nothing too adventurous here. She has spent time in all these places before,…