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Reviews by Becky H

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The Whistling Season
by Ivan Doig
A perfect picture of perfect hardship (4/6/2017)
The picture of hardships on a “dry” farm in 1909 Montana is clearly shown in this delightful story of motherless family trying to survive and the brother/sister couple who answer their ad for a housekeeper.

Homesteading, social life, family life, shenanigans, love, one roommore
Victoria
by Daisy Goodwin
Much better than the TV series (4/6/2017)
This book covers only Victoria’s early life and first few years of her long reign. Goodwin is a writer of historical fiction that borders on “women’s fiction.” She has a tendency to emphasis the more salacious and gossip laden events in the life of the person written about.more
A Man Called Ove
by Fredrik Backman
A MAN CALLED OVE by Fredrik Backman (2/2/2017)
To say Ove was set in his ways would be a gross understatement. But Ove’s wife loved him and he loved her. Life was good until tragedy struck – twice. Now Ove is alone and wishes to kill himself, but life intervenes in the guise of neighbors, friends, enemies and Ovemore
News of the World
by Paulette Jiles
A lovely, spare novel (10/20/2016)
This is a wise book. The story of an old man who has lost all his worldly possessions in the Civil War and now reads the newspapers to folks who cannot read or have no access to papers and the 10-year-old returning Kiowa captive girl who has now lost two families in heartmore
Caught in the Revolution: Petrograd, Russia, 1917 - A World on the Edge
by Helen Rappaport
The details of revolt and chaos (10/18/2016)
The lives of the diplomats, journalists, ordinary citizens and foreign expats who lived through 1917 in Petrograd (now St. Petersburg), Russia as it fell from Tsarist rule to peasant's revolt to anarchy to Leninism is told in exacting detail by Rappaport. Her clear andmore
The Underground Railroad: A Novel
by Colson Whitehead
Just not very good (10/12/2016)
My big problem with this book is: it doesn’t know what it is. Is it historical fiction? Yes, and no. Is it science fiction? Yes, and no. Is it alternative universe/history? Yes, and no. I had the uncomfortable feeling all while reading it that I was being played by themore
The Last Days of Night: A Novel
by Graham Moore
I Love this Book (8/15/2016)
I love this book. I know NOTHING about electricity….but I understand this book. And I am laughing. That is the essence of a great writer: to help me understand difficult concepts and to entertain me while my brain is engaged. This book has it all: humor in large part,more
The Girls
by Emma Cline
Skip this one (7/27/2016)
What a sad and depressing book! Inspired by the girls who followed Charles Manson and committed vile crimes for him, this book follows a depressed and lonely girl as she falls under the spell of one of the followers of a cult leader in the 1960’s. Although some of the bookmore
Les Parisiennes: How the Women of Paris Lived, Loved, and Died Under Nazi Occupation
by Anne Sebba
Scholarly WWII work (7/18/2016)
This is a very, very dense scholarly book concerning the women of Paris during WWII. I ended up reading it as a collection of brief episodes as it was difficult to follow any one person's activities because of the chronological order of events and the various names used bymore
Girl Waits with Gun
by Amy Stewart
First Woman deputy sheriff (7/12/2016)
Constance Kopp, the first woman Deputy Sheriff of New Jersey, is the heroine of this novel. Constance was a real person as are her sisters and the other law enforcement persons. The personalities of each is clearly defined. The story moves slowly, but is interesting withmore
The Invisible Life of Ivan Isaenko
by Scott Stambach
An Invisible Life (7/12/2016)
Did I enjoy this book? Hmmm, not so much. Was it compelling reading? Oh yes, absolutely!
Ivan is a teenage boy in a grotesquely deformed body, the result of radiation from a malfunctioning Russian nuclear plant. His mind, however, functions perfectly. Trapped in a deformedmore
The Invisible Life of Ivan Isaenko
by Scott Stambach
A situation you never want to be in (6/26/2016)
Did I enjoy this book? Hmmm, not so much. Was it compelling reading? Oh yes, absolutely!
Ivan is a teenage boy in a grotesquely deformed body, the result of radiation from a malfunctioning Russian nuclear plant. His mind, however, functions perfectly. Trapped in a deformedmore
Arrowood: A Novel
by Laura McHugh
Eerie and engaging (6/25/2016)
Arrowood is a gothic thriller that starts slowly with mounting eeriness as the main character, Arden Arrowood, is slowly revealed along with the tragedies in her life. Her twin sisters disappeared while she, only 8 years old, was supposed to be watching them. Arden hasmore
The Summer Before the War
by Helen Simonson
The Summer before the War (5/30/2016)
What begins as a lovely and genteel story of discrimination against a “professional” woman in an English village just before World War I, quickly becomes a fascinating tale of honor, class, love, discrimination and village life with all its charm and meanness. Themore
All the Ugly and Wonderful Things: A Novel
by Bryn Greenwood
Ugly hope (4/27/2016)
The Ugly – Strung out, abusive, uncaring parents who also deal drugs and engage in "open" marriage among other things: relatives who are too eager to condemn and not eager to listen: law enforcement that wants to believe the worst: and more.

The Wonderful – sinceremore
The Hired Girl
by Laura Amy Schlitz
Volumes of wisdom (3/26/2016)
There are volumes of wisdom contained in this young adult novel. Joan, 14, is abused and over worked by her father so she leaves home to seek her fortune. Along the way she comes in contact with a young Jewish man who “rescues” her, a Catholic priest who teaches about hermore
Ashes of Fiery Weather
by Kathleen Donohoe
ASHES OF FIERY WEATHER by Kathleen Donohoe (2/26/2016)
This novel of firemen and their families was hard to read. Not because many of the fireman died, but because the novel was constantly jumping from past to present then back to a different time in the past then back to present – all in the same chapter. The writing is clearmore
Salt to the Sea
by Ruta Sepetys
SALT TO THE SEA by Ruta Sepetys (2/13/2016)
Although a young adult novel, this tale of the end of World War II and the refugee ship Wilhelm Gustloff will also appeal to all who like historical fiction. Sepetys knows her subject well and is able to clearly voice each of the teens fleeing the fall of Germany. Each ofmore
Out of My Mind
by Sharon M. Draper
A look at "disability" (2/13/2016)
Melody, eleven years old, is brilliant. She also has spastic bilateral quadriplegia (cerebral palsy), is confined to a wheelchair and cannot speak. When she gets a Medi-Talker that allows her to communicate, her life changes.
OUT OF MY MIND tells Melody’s story of beingmore
The Storyteller
by Jodi Picoult
Who can you forgive? Will you? (1/30/2016)
A story within a story within a story is the only way to quickly describe THE STORYTELLER. There are three storytellers -- Sage, a baker, who carries guilt and grief that consumes her; Josef, a beloved elderly man, who confesses to Sage and wants her to forgive and thenmore

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