This is a strange book. I can’t recommend it to anyone really. There were parts that rang true. In actual circumstances the cleaner could never got away with all her spying because someone from the company would have placed someone late at night to catch her in the act.

I had trouble getting into the rhythm of this book. There were many what I would call run on sentences. Such as, "Essays were invited to suggest a building, opus, or installation that might convert a lot in downtown Jacksonville, a gift from an anonymous donor, "into another manifestation of our aspirations, which are to infuse the future with charity, education, and civic vigor, not only in our fair town, but as an example to our country, in need of defining its soul. All this in one sentence! I other places there were some very short sentences. Example- "It is now." "It isn't " "It is not".
Once I was able to get a rhythm with the varied sentences I enjoyed the book. There were some beautiful descriptions of the gardens. It also was fun to read the mentions of Lincoln and his wife and of Harriet Beecher Stowe. All in all I would give the book a 3.5.

I wanted to like this book but to be honest I was glad to turn the last page as it was hard to finish the book. Each chapter alternates between the 3 Tran family members- grandmother Minh, mother Hung and daughter Ann. This led to confusion. Grandma Minh is dead as the novel begins but I believe it would have been a much stronger book had it been her life story as she had a more interesting life.
I can only give it a 3 rating.

The reader should know that this is really not about the war but about the family left behind to cope.the mother, Maria, tries to be a good mother but has her hands full. The children really raise themselves.

I would have liked the book better if the translator had more clearly made who was speaking. Pronouns such as she, her, or he needed names such as Maria said or Lorenz said. As it is I found it hard to follow the plot. Switching back and forth between Grete and her grand child several years later didn't make it any easier.

Perhaps if I had been a fan of the TV show Three's Company I would have enjoyed this book more. Or maybe if the characters in this novel would have been more likable I could have given a more favorable review to this book. Winning a lottery should have led to a happier conclusion. However, in my humble opinion One's Company is going to have a hard time finding the right audience to appreciate this story.
I can't recommend it.
Nancy K.

I highly recommend Peach Blossom Spring by Melissa Fu. It is hard to believe that this is her first novel as it has all the ingredients of a first rate historical fiction story. By that I mean the book explains to the reader why the Chinese hated the Japanese for many years by telling it in a love story between a mother and son over many years. From China to Taiwan to finally the United States. Intermixed are very interesting short but powerful folktales.

This is a story of immigrants and war but above all love of family. It would make an excellent book for Book Clubs to read and discuss particularly those who enjoyed reading Wild Swans.

I wanted to like this book but there was too much gore. Think Silence of the Lambs and you all know what I mean.

The setting is Iowa, murder takes place in a corn field and it goes on from there. If you like to read a mystery that includes a brutal, savage killer this is the book for you. The author is talented but this left me very uneasy. If that was what the author wanted she succeeded!

While not my usual type of book to read, I prefer novels, I am glad I read this.
I love going to plays but had never heard of Shuffle Along which is what this book is really about. We are talking about the early 1920's and this was "a musical comedy that happens to be performed by negroes...scarcely a negro show at all." This is what Richard Stokes wrote in his review in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

I was surprised to learn that in the show whenever a "character was indicated as a full- blooded negro, it was necessary to use burnt cork" he wrote. Josephine Baker was added to the cast after a time - what a character! Noble Sissle, Eubie Blake, Flournoy Miller, and Aubrey Lyles were all collaborators on the show. These are names and people we all should know about if we want to know about the beginnings of Broadway. Possessing great talent but because they were black were always fighting an uphill battle.

I am glad that Caseen Gaines wrote this book. It deserves to be read, reviewed by the media and talked about on the radio and TV. These black artists deserve to be better known and appreciated.

Multiple wives with one dead husband makes for a very interesting mystery novel. Actually, this should be considered a romance/mystery with a fairy tale ending!
I liked getting to know the 3 sister wives but there were a few too many coincidences, such as when one of the wives needed transportation a car suddenly is made available to her. Polygamous marriages are fascinating to read about so the author chose a good topic but to me the ending was just too cute and tidy. If I would recommend this book to anyone I would warn them that there are graphic sex scenes from time to time.

It looks like I am the first reader to give this book a rating of 3 rather than a 5. Why did I do this? It is true I enjoyed reading about all the fashions of the day and the many homes and "cottages" of the wealthy people of the day. I also appreciated knowing that Thelma, mistress of the Duke, and Gloria were twins and very loyal to each other. Gloria, mother of Gloria Vanderbilt, was a rather shallow but interesting person. She was lucky to have a sister with money to help her out of many fixes.

What I didn't like about this book is that it goes on and on about the problems of the very wealthy and much of the book is devoted to Gloria's life and problems not Thelma's affair with the Duke. If your book club likes light reading this fits the bill- mine wouldn't appreciate it.

Antonia, a retired English Professor, is recently windowed. She is doing her best to move forward in life but troubles and memories keep piling up. Her troubled sister is missing, a young pregnant Mexican immigrant begs for Antonia's help and what can Antonia do to help or better yet what should she do.

Powerful questions that will appeal to any Book Club members that choose to read this book which I hope they do. The author makes you laugh and cry as she tells this story. I highly recommend this book!

I had to force myself to finish this book although as it turned out the last third of the book was the best.
I loved the letters between Grace and Rainier but then I found out in the author's notes that she had made them up! I guess that shows that the author can write but most of the book is really quite dull- Grace has very low esteem, Grace loves older men, Grace has many affairs, Grace is unhappy- this is the message the author gives us over and over again.
My question is, who was the real Grace Kelly?
I would have a hard time recommending this book.

Please stick with this book as it gets ever so much better once the author decides which theme she wants to emphasize,
It could have been just a romance story, or a brief history of the famous Hope diamond, or a study of gems; instead the author chooses a path and the book captures the reader.( I won't tell which theme as that would be a spoiler) The characters come to life and by the end the reader can feel the anguish each of the two main figures go through when they must make a decision.
Recommended for book clubs as there are many points to discuss,

I would have to hesitate before I would recommend this book to just anyone. True it is very well written, filled with powerful scenes of a New York and Jamaica that the ordinary person would never see. Much of the time the author has the characters speak using the Jamaican patois which is a little hard for the average reader to understand, Patsy comes to America from Jamaica leaving her young daughter behind. She thought she would find love, employment and happiness. As it turns out all she finds is disappointment and terrible hardships. Tru, her daughter grows up with unhappiness and many challenges. Overt racism are present in both their lives.

This is a sad story about immigration that the author has told it so well that if I were making a list of the top five books about immigration this would be on it. Hard to read but worth it!

If you like thrillers with a few twists at the end, this is the book for you. It is one of those books that you need to share with your friends so that after all of you have read it you can decide what you would do in a similar situation. Some might think it to be a romance book - maybe, but it is so much more. I really enjoyed reading this book.

This is a memoir by a not well-known musical performer. For 4 years the author "played violin" with a group that was not named. Led by "the composer" who also remains unnamed. The author uses the word "played" but really none of the group played for the audiences as the speakers were always turned off and the music came from a hidden CD player. The group traveled the US and "played" in shopping malls, music halls and many times on PBS. I assume that the editors vetted the story as it is presented as the truth. In this age of fake news nothing should surprise us but at the end of the book I am still wondering can this be true and who is the unnamed composer. It's an interesting but sad tale.

A rather unusual book about a part of Nazi Germany I had not read nor heard about. The Nazis used Women, who were called employees, to taste every meal before it was served to Hitler.
Based on the life of Margot Wolk, the last living food taster, we read about what it must have been like to face each day not knowing if you would be poisoned or live for another day. That part of the book,which really was the first half, was the best part for me. It appeared to me that the author then wanders off this subject and the book becomes a sad, tragic story about the affair between Rosa, the taster, and one of her guards. The ending comes as a surprise because the reader is left in the cold as to how Rosa lives her life during the many missing years. Perhaps a short story would have been a better way to tell the story. My book clubs would not enjoy reading this book- too sad and too violent at times with no real ending. Perhaps that was what the author was trying to tell us about this chapter in German history.

I really liked this book and it can stand alone even though I just found out that it is a sequel to The Dust That Falls From Dreams.( I intend to read that soon)
Daniel is a returning pilot who served in the First World War for Britain. He is married to Rosie and both must adapt to their new life in the years between World Wars. The author manages to tell their story and many of their friends and family stories using humor and some very sad moments. Book Clubs should love this book as there is much to discuss. I admit it takes awhile to get into the book but stick with it as you will soon not want to stop reading as the characters reveal their true colors.

This is not the type of book I normally read- usually I like thrillers or books by famous enough authors. So, I took my time getting started on this book by Jonathan Miles. Shame on me because it turns out to be a very interesting read, full of some of the quirkiest characters you will ever meet. I am thinking of Winston Lorinar, the doctor's father especially.
Words such as tender, sad, funny and wise could all be used to describe this book. Anatomy of a Miracle will be one of those books that will spread by word of mouth. I know I have already told a couple of my reading friends about it!

Clara, the daughter of Tamar is the narrator of this story. She is a college graduate who has formed a business called "Words by Winters" she charges $100 for 100 words. Sometimes she writes blurbs for the back of an author's book, sometimes it is an invitation to a party. She even writes obituaries when a family member disliked the dead relative and couldn't find kind words to write about the person.

This is an odd job but then I found Clara to be a strange person. Very immature in the beginning but there seems to be some growth to her character at the end.

Tamar has early onset Alzheimers and is living in a facility. Her condition progresses rapidly with Clara trying to get answers to questions that she should have asked years earlier.

The author is a "word person" also and some of her descriptions are beautiful. Others are way too wordy and unnecessary. If the reader were not a Jeopardy watcher on TV she might also be confused as the author refers to this TV show frequently. Clara's best friends are Sunshine and Brown- last names or first names - hard to tell. Also, hard to tell which is the male and which is the female. Some reviewers have called this a heart warming book but I can't agree with them. I would call it a short story that expanded to become a novel that will appeal to those readers who want to read a sad story about how early onset Alzheimers affected a mother and her daughter.