What Matters Most is a recent novel by Luanne Rice. Rice is a very prolific writer who has the ability to create memorable characters that readers care for deeply. Here we meet James (Seamus) Sullivan and Kathleen Murphy. Two orphans who grew up together in a Dublin orphanage and were raised by nuns. We also meet Tom Kelly and Sister Bernadette Sullivan. Their four lives are intricately woven together long before they even know it. This is a novel about…
The Piano Tuner by Daniel Mason is a beautifully written novel that takes the reader deep into the heart of Burma. In the late 1800’s, Edgar Drake, a shy, middle aged piano tuner from London is sent into the jungle in Burma to tune a piano for an eccentric army surgeon. This is a wonderful story that had me hooked from the beginning. I was transported while reading this novel. Mason’s details about music, pianos, and piano tuning are fascinating,…
Maya’s Notebook is the new novel by Isabelle Allende. Allende is a master storyteller and I always look forward to reading her novels. However, if you haven’t read anything by her, start with something older, as Maya’s Notebook was disappointing. In the front of the book, Allende dedicates this novel to the teenagers in her tribe. All I can think is that this is meant to be a cautionary tale, warning them against the evils of drugs, strangers, and other…
The Writing Circle by Corinne Demas is about a group of writers that call themselves the Leopardi Circle. They meet weekly to read and critique each others work, and it was fun to have a peek into this world. Nancy, the newest member of the group is wary of Gillian, a world famous poet. As the story unfolds, told through several different voices, the intrigue mounts and the plot thickens. I was deeply engrossed in this novel until the end….
The Dressmaker by Kate Alcott is historical fiction about the sinking of the Titanic and what happened in it’s aftermath. This is not a story I had heard before. Alcott is a journalist. This is her first novel, and it is highly researched. In it, she tells the disturbing tale of selfish and cowardly behavior on the part of several survivors, who were in nearly empty lifeboats, yet refused to turn back and help rescue the hundreds of others drowning…
Breath, Eyes, Memory by Edwidge Danticat is a novel about a young girl who grows up in Haiti, then moves to New York to be with her mother when she is twelve.. Danticat is an wonderful writer. She also moved from Haiti to the U.S. when she was twelve and began writing only two years later. Her writing is sparse, poetic, evocative. The novel is filled with beauty and sadness. A powerful story by an amazing writer. Highly recommended.
Dreaming in English by Laura Fitzgerald is the story of Tamila Soroush, an Iranian young woman who marries an American man that she falls in love with while in the States in a tourist visa, then trys to go through the process to stay. It is an interesting cross cultural novel, however, I found the characters one dimensional and mostly unbelievable. A feel-good novel, where everything works out in the end. It is an OK read, but for a much…
Dan Brown’s newest book, Inferno, is another big thick page turner that you can lose yourself in. It is written in a similar style to Da Vinci Code. Professor Robert Langdon travels around Europe with a pretty young woman searching for hidden clues to unlock a mystery and help save the world. This formula works for him. Although not as good as Da Vinci Code, it is better than The Lost Symbol. It’s worth reading for the fabulous art history…
Kayak Morning, Reflections on Love, Grief and Small Boats by Roger Rosenblatt is a small, elegant book where Rosenblatt tries to come to terms with his ongoing grief over his daughter’s death two years earlier. He has taken up kayaking early in the morning near his home where he sinks deep into solitude and thought while he is out on the water. We are all richer because he has shared his experience with us. A review by Publishers Weekly states…
Vampires in the Lemon Grove is the new book of short stories by Karen Russell, author of Swamplandia! I’m not a big fan of short stories, I prefer reading novels, but I wanted to give these a try, as Russell is a fascinating, young author with a very original voice. Here she doesn’t disappoint in the originality department, however, these should have been labeled as horror stories, as that is what they truly are. Russell is an amazing writer with…