Arribada by Estela Gonzales is a novel set in Mexico. Mariana, a world class pianist, grew up in a small coastal town full of beautiful beaches and sea turtles. When she returns home to help find her missing Uncle, she finds a place she no longer recognizes. She joins Fernanda, an indigenous local woman, in working on conservation projects. As the love between them grows, hidden family secrets emerge which threaten to change everything. This lyrical and poetic novel is…
The High Mountains of Portugal by Yann Martel, author of Life of Pi, is a modern day fable in three parts: Homeless, Homeward, and Home. As these titles suggest, the novel sets the reader off on a very strange search for home. Magical, philosophical, at times absurd, filled with magic realism, Martel’s unique writing and storytelling doesn’t disappoint. Following three generations of men in search of answers, each after suffering great loss, the novel begins in Lisbon in 1904 and…
Embroideries is a graphic novel by Marjane Satrapi, author of Persepolis; here she is much more candid. We spend an intimate afternoon of tea and conversation with nine Iranian women, friends and family who gather and speak freely with no men around. Their stories of marriage and sex, adultery, plastic surgery and much more are at times laugh out loud hilarious and at other times nothing less than tragic. A fascinating and totally uninhibited look into the inner lives of…
American Fever is the debut novel by Dur E Aziz Amna. High school honor student Hira is chosen to live in America for an exchange year during high school. While other students get sent to New York or other East Coast locations, Hira lives with a single Mom and her teenage daughter in rural Oregon, and life couldn’t be more different than back home in Pakistan. While Hira suffers through ignorance and racism about her culture religion, her own arrogance…
Surrender: 40 Songs One Story is a memoir by Bono, written in 40 chapters, each based on a U2 song. Surrender tells of Bono’s childhood as Paul Hewson, the profound affect his mother’s early death had on him, being raised by his father, meeting Ali, his wife, the same week in high school that he met the other members of U2, the band’s humble beginnings in the Irish punk scene to their quick rise to global rock superstars, Bono’s decades…
Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro is a story set in the future, seen through the eyes of Klara, an artificial friend. When Klara goes home with Josie, she does everything she knows how to do to be the best friend she can be and to help Josie get well. She believes there is a magical power in the sun that can help heal Josie and she goes to great lengths to make this happen. Keeping the focus on…
Solutions and Other Problems is the new graphic novel by Allie Brosh, author of Hyperbole and a Half. Here Brosh continues to entertain with stories of her life from early childhood to adulthood, including stories of her family and her dogs. Her particular way of looking at the world, combined with her totally original drawing style is laugh out loud, pee your pants funny. There are moments of deep tragedy and sadness in this book, yet Brosh still finds a…
Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi is a surprisingly sweet little novel that sneaks up on you and hooks you before you know it. In a small underground cafe in a back alley of Tokyo there is a special seat you can sit on that allows you to travel back in time, you just need to return before the coffee gets cold. If you are able to suspend your disbelief and go along for the ride, the eclectic…
The House of Fortune by Jesse Burton is the sequel to The Miniaturist. However, the first novel came out so long ago, I probably should have reread it first as I felt a little lost diving into this book. Set in 1705 Amsterdam, Thea is turning 18 and a marriage to a wealthy man is her family’s only hope to pull them out of their declining circumstances. Her aunt Nella is orchestrating the marriage, but Thea has very different ideas…
The Music of Bees by Eileen Garvin is a novel set in rural Oregon that brings three unlikely characters into a surprising and life changing friendship. Alice, a beekeeper stuck in a dead end job, encounters Jake, a teen in a wheelchair sporting a mohawk. After inviting him to her home, she finds that he has a rare gift with the bees. Enter Harry, a twenty something needing a job, but with so much social anxiety he has never been…