Oleander Girl is the new novel by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni. Divakaruni is a brilliant writer, and here she has crafted another wonderful story that follows Korobi, a young Indian girl engaged to be married, yet discovering a secret from her own past that sets her on an unexpected journey to the United States. Kolkata comes alive in these pages, as do the all the different characters that make up this novel. It is a story of culture, family, racism, coming…
The Beach Street Knitting Society and Yarn Club by Gil McNeil is a feel good novel about second chances, through opening up your own knitting store in a small seaside village in England, and hanging out with glamorous movie stars. There’s nothing too original here, and the characters are pretty predictable, but it’s a fun read nonetheless, if you’re in the right mood. Personally, I love novels set in England for the language alone, not to mention the humor. This…
A Natural History of Dragons, A Memoir by Lady Trent is a fictitious memoir by Marie Brennan. It is written in the Victorian style and is full of adventure and humor, as Lady Trent recalls her first youthful expedition to study dragons. The most memorable part of the book is the fantastic drawing of the dragon on the cover. I wanted to be so drawn in that I would come away almost believing in dragons, but this didn’t happen. It…
We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves, is the haunting new novel by Karen Joy Fowler. Told by Rosemary, a 22 year old undergraduate at UC Davis, she recalls her early life with her older brother Lowell, and her sister Fern, neither of which she has seen in over a decade. The story of this unusual family becomes more mysterious as it unfolds. Fowler is a brilliant writer. She has created a story so complex and rich in detail, that it…
I never read The Girls Guide to Hunting and Fishing by Melissa Bank when it was wildly popular a decade ago. I just recently picked it up, and it is as funny and relevant now as it was then. It is written as a series of connected short stories featuring young, single Jane Rosenal trying to make her way through the treacherous territory of dating, family relations, work, etc. Bank’s writing is funny and insightful. I laughed all the way…
The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin tracks a year of Rubin’s life where she sets out very systematically to become happier. I really wanted to like this book, but I couldn’t relate to most of Rubin’s thoughts on how to pursue happiness. It was not until the end of the book that she even considered changing her own attitude, and then only begrudgingly. She has methods and systems in place to help others set up their own Happiness Project and…
Where’d You Go, Bernadette? by Maria Semple is one of the most original books I’ve read in years. Told from the point of view of Bernadette’s fifteen year old daughter Bee, and written mostly in email correspondences, the book could have been nothing more than a gimmick that didn’t really work. However, due to Semple’s wit and clever writing style, the story flows seemlessly through countless emails, memos, police reports etc. We meet Bee’s mother, Bernadette, a brilliant architect who…
Corfu by Robert Dessaix is a novel loosely based on the life of little known Australian writer/actor Kester Berwick. The main character, also an Australian actor and traveler, finds himself in Corfu and rents Berwick’s house for a few months while he is away. While there, he meets up with the local ex-pat community, puts on plays, and reads Berwick’s books, letters and other writings. His own life begins to mimic Berwicks, as he tries to navigate his way through…
A Teaspoon of Earth and Sea is the debut novel by Dina Nayeri The novel tells the story of Saba and her twin sister Mahtab, growing up in 80’s Iran after the revolution. When they are 11 years old, a terrible accident happens, and Saba is unclear whether Mahtab is alive or dead. Her only memory is seeing her get on a plane to America with their Mother. After Mahtab and her Mother disappear, Saba begins fashioning tales of their…
The Shoemaker’s Wife, the latest from Adriana Trigiani, is a sweeping family saga following the lives of two Italian immigrants at the turn of the century who move from their small villages in the Italian Alps to NYC, meet, eventually fall in love and start a new life together in Minnesota. This story is based on the lives of Trigiani’s grandparents. Being the grandaughter of Italian immigrants myself, I loved this story. It tells the tale of hardworking immigrants trying…