Devil Makes Three is a complex piece of historical fiction.
Ben Fountain recounts the horrifying violence and lawlessness on Haiti's political and economic systems in the 1990's. He tell the story through 3 major characters a prominent Hatian family , an adventure seeking American and the US Consulate/CIA. Each of the intertwining stories is complex and sometimes clouded with more factual information than was necessary to effectually tell each story. The book packs an emotional punch in favor of getting the readers sympathy for the plight on Haiti. But that messages gets lost with too many words. As a history lover I slogged through historical facts about Voudo, Strange Feast Days etc. but I think the average reader find them unnecessary. I enjoyed the the story despite extras but would only recommend the book to readers with an interest in historical fiction. Good book ,too many Words!

Three generations of women are living in a broken down house in a small Italian town in the1990s. Life is changing and each generation is reacting differently. The story is set in 12-year-old Valentina's summer of coming into puberty. Her reaction brings with it all sorts of conflicting emotions. She sees her mother and grandmother as very flawed individuals she can't quite understand.

The book is very unsure of its point of view. Valentina and the book are looking for some meaning that doesn't appear. I was very disappointed reading The Empire of Dirt. I rarely feel negatively about a book after I reading it. This book left me with a bad feeling. The writing was lovely but the story was unmoving.

Smalltime by Russ Shorto like a trip back in time when we would sit around the kitchen table and listen as my sister's husband would regale us with stories of his Italian family.
I am a Pittsburgh native so stories about the mob were quite common in the 50's growing up.
Russ made this history of the small time Italian mob
Very accessible and understandable with his story of his grandfather's life and the history of Johnstown after the war. Johnstown was in the midst of the Golden Age of steel production. The Italian immigrants so long downtrodden as less than others took the opportunity to gain power with gambling and rackets.
Mr. Short brings that history to life and honors both his father and grandfather at the same time.
The book is a smooth read moving easily between the past and present the Italian with lots of great stories along the way. I was sorry to see Smalltime end, I could have listened to more stories. Very Enjoyable book!

The Atomic Bomb the Cold War and it's aftermath hang over Stuart Evers novel The Blind Light. The loss of prewar innocence and fear of total destruction affect the lives of the characters, Drum and Carter. The friends come from different backgrounds. Carter comes from a wealthy background, while Drum is a member of the working class. After the war Drum, who is an auto worker is on strike. Carter offers to help him out, so Drum takes his family to Carter's estate. There the family remains for the rest of the book.

This was a rather difficult book to finish because the characters didn't speak to me and weren't particularity likable. Their lives weren't very interesting, some incidents were there for shock value Evers alluded to the bomb as being a fear by bringing up Doom Town occasionally as a mythic event which I didn't quite understand. I won't be telling my friends to read this book because the Blind Light didn't shine through.

It takes a family to raise a strong woman. In the book A Girl is a Body of Water the women in Kirabo's teach and guide her to be a woman of the 21st century. She learns from her grandmother and aunts about the life of an African living in the small village of Nattetta, Uganda. Kirabo learns the tribal and customs,the stories and ledgends, the hard work of farming and making a successful life on the land. But Kirabo's dreams go beyond the village she desires European education.

In the boarding school Kirabo meets girls who have grown up in the city. She begins to expand her worldy knowledge. Going between school and Nattetta Kirabo feels she is between worlds. Her father Tom comes home to Nattetta and takes Kirabo to the city to attend University. In Kampala Kirabo is left under the wing of her Aunt Abi, who teaches her the ways of the modern world while instilling in Kirabo the importance of her heritage.

One of the threads of Kirabo's rich story is her search for her mother, she wants to find her place in the world and family.

After university Kirabo's journey takes her back to Nattetta where she is able to reconcile her education with her families customs and ways finding a unique place for herself in modern Africa.

Ms. Makumbi has give a beautiful insight into African culture filling the book with memorable characters and stories. i would recommend this book to many friends because like any great book it can be read and experienced on many levels.

I came upon The End of the Ocean by happy accident. This book was a captivating read from page one. The stories of the two main characters seemingly unrelated and their separate stories were both worth a book in themselves. The very gradual hints of the two stories connection made each story important by its self. This was a powerful message in a form acceptable to the uninformed
A really good novel with an important message

Nguyen Phan Que Mai's book The Mountains Sing is a story that sings. The story of the Tran family who live in the turbulent era of change in North Viet Nam between the 1940s to present day. Told by Tran Dieu Lan to her granddaughter Huong the story spans the years beginning with the Great Hunger, a time of severe famine, the Communist Land Reform, where the family lost their land holdings, to the Viet Nam War and its aftermath. Through all this strife Tran Dieu Lan fights valorously to be the rock keeping her family together.

The story was an eyeopener for me never having heard the Viet Nam story from the point of view of the North Vietnamese. They struggled heroically to keep their way of life and their country whole in the face of incredibly bad odds forced on them by foreign powers.

The Tran family's courage and resilience is breathtaking and makes one appreciate the freedoms we so much for granted. The book is one I will happily read again for the storytelling, the language and the unforgettable characters. Wonderful Book!

Gace Marisola is seeking a home, a family, a place to belong. She returns to India to attend to her dying mother and finds that she has been left with a strange bequest. A beach house unoccupied for years and a sister she never knew she had.

The bequest will change Grace's life forever. Caring for a sister who has been institutionalized since birth, making the beach house livable and figuring out her own place in life.

Grace struggles on all fronts with her sister Lucy, the house and finding her place in Indian society.

Doshi's spare language with no unneeded words bring Grace's uncertainties to life. There are many questions in the book the interconnections of families, the responsibilities to family members and the sacrifices they can involve.

This was an interesting read about India and the place an Indian-Italian woman can make for herself there.

You Were There Too is a book about all sorts of dreams. These dreams are played out by three very engaging characters Mia Graydon, her husband Harrison and a stranger Oliver. Mia is an unsuccessful artist who among other dreams wishes to be successful.

She also is dreaming of having a child with her surgeon husband Harrison; but the dreams she is having involve a stranger, Oliver.

The book is sort of light hearted in its approach to the problems posed by these dreams which are sometimes serious and are handled as such but with Mia's firm belief that an answer will be found.

As with many dreams, the outcomes are unexpected but bring Mia personal growth she never expected. The ending is so very hopeful and encouraging that we are sorry not to be present for her next adventure.

Travelers by Helon Habila was for me an eye opening experience.The story of the Nigerian graduate student's ever increasing interest in and involvement with refugees from Africa and the middle East. Habila brings the reader on a journey of interconnected stories experienced by the graduate student. He comes to understand the immigrant after becoming undocumented himself. The stories run seamlessly through the book making it a gradual opening of the reader eyes to the realities of going to another place in hopes of freedom, safety or opportunity. A timely book for our uneasy times. I would recommend Travelers to friends. Helon Habila is a new favorite author I will read his other books

I enjoyed The Last Collection very much. It gave me a different insight into the ominous days before the invasion of France and Paris during World War II.
The story tells of a young artist unwitting involved in the rivalry between fashion designers Elsa Schiaprelli and Coco Chanel. Each has a different style and political leanings. Lily finds herself drawn to each for different reasons and must choose her own way. The different life perspectives make the story interesting and cause the young artist to grow very quickly from a naïve girl to a young woman who sees the situation for what it is the takeover of a world changing regime.
The story is captivating from start to finish. A good read for historical fiction fans.

All families are in some way dysfunctional. Anissa Gray's debut novel portrays one such family. A family of three sisters and a brother struggle with the loss of a structured home life since an early age. As a consequence they make questionable choices in their lives.

The story is told through the eyes of the three daughters, each having their stories told in various chapters. Each has a hunger she is trying to satisfy in the context of their siblings. They all find that they need to accept and take responsibility for their own lives and to accept the love and support of each other.
This book speaks so much to the ordinary lives many broken families experience. the family rises to the occasion and is stronger as a result.
There are many ways to experience the book from a personal viewpoint so much fruitful discussion could ensue.
I recommend The Care and Feeding of Ravenously Hungry Girls because the women characters are well written strong and loving. Characters we want to know and care about. This is a strong start for Anissa Gray and I look forward to and hope to read more about her strong very human characters.

Paris Echo is another fine book by Sebastian Faulks.
There are three main characters in this novel. Hannah a researcher seeking to study the lives of women during the Nazi occupation of Paris. Tariq a young man from Tangier who is seeking adventure and an answer to the secret of his mothers life in Paris. The third character is Paris which holds untold secrets and answers for Hannah and Tariq. The wonders of Paris seen through Tariq's eyes are spellbinding showing both its glorious and dark sides. The characters are fleshed out so the reader cares a lot about them and their outcomes. Both Hannah and Tariq grow in ways which will impact and better their lives in the future. Another beautiful story by Sebastian Faulkes will keep the reader thoughtfully revisiting the characters days after the book is finished.

The Devoted by Blair Hurley is not my usual choice of book to read. It is a story of a rebellious girl who turns away from her family and her faith not really knowing what she actually seeks. Without the persistence of her brother who repeatedly seeks Nicole out and brings her back to her roots Nicole would have been lost.

The Buddhist faith is very complicated and is not presented very favorably in most of the book. The characters were not fully realized and some were not to believable. I realize this was a depiction of a teens journey to adulthood but it was hard to read with no character who was sympathetic. In the end I was glad the book was finished.

Fatima Farheen Mirza expresses a feeling everyone has in A Place for Us whether we are native born Americans or immigrants from India. In her beautiful novel Ms. Mirza tells the story of one Indian Muslim family trying to find a place for themselves in a world very different from the one they had in India.

The parents, Rafiq and Layla, after their marriage move to California to begin their life together. They have three children, two daughters and a son. The novel involves the struggles and joys they have as parents trying to raise observant Muslim children in modern America with all its temptations and pitfalls.
Each character is lovingly drawn in detail so the reader shares full empathy with their success and sorrows.

The parents come to terms with Muslim life in America. Each child takes their own approach to being a Muslin one with sad consequences.

The reader invests so much in each child's journey that the book is hard to stop reading.

Fatima Farheen Mirza has written her chronicle in the same vein as Jhumpa Lahiri giving the reader a vircarious experience into the integration of an Indian immigrant in the USA trying find a place for themselves.

A wonderful first effort for an author I'm I will be reading again and again.

Anatomy of a Miracle begins with a sly wink of an eye the reader is told that the story is true but also a novel.
This tale of a paralyzed veteran and his sister who experience a so called miracle when he regains the ability to walk. They are pummeled by our cynical modern society. The people who have witnessed the "miracle" are also pulled into the circus of the event.
The readers sympathy is drawn to these ordinary folks who were living their lives and are trying to cope with a world they only see on TV. There are some well-drawn characters who get lost in a fake event.
This leaves me as a reader frustrated and questioning what the author was trying to say with this book.
Miracles can happen and to explore the person who receives the "grace" and how he reacts would have been more interesting to me as a reader. To begin a book about a miracle with a lie?

Sometimes I Lie is like taking a rollercoaster ride through a dark tunnel the reader never knows what will happen next. This fast paced thriller keeps the reader on the edge of their seat for all 200 pages. The twists and turns are numerous and the characters unreliable.

Especially the narrator Amber Reynolds who spends a good part of the book in a coma.

The premise is interesting because we see many things in daily life which aren't as they appear to be and we judge them with a limited knowledge of the truth.
Are our perceptions true or do we take to another place to satisfy our inner self?

This was a great first book I will look for more thoughtful thrillers from Alice Feeney in the future

The Mothers of Sparta by Dawn Davies is a series of thought provoking essays, stories of her life so far. These memories tell a story somewhat unique but important to her growing up to become a mother, wife and mother. Some are almost poetry in their language; others are gritty and sarcastic; still others disturbing. The range of emotions make this book a worthwhile read for those of us who often think our joys, pains and victories are not shared by another Dawn Davies tell us we are not alone in our struggle to be great mothers.

Young Jane Young By Gabrielle Zevin In her gentle sometimes funny way gives the reader a cautionary tale for the modern technically challenging we navigate today.
This engaging read tells the experiences of a young woman who makes a mistake that affects her life seemly forever. But her spunk and durability win out and we see a strong young woman emerge to take her place in her world.
As with her previous book The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry
the characters so likeable we would like to have coffee with them and get to know them better.
The book will keep the reader fully engaged first page till last.
Books like Young Jane Young are a pleasant respite from the difficult day to day world. They give me hope

The Twelve Straight was a short stretch of road between Florence GA. and George Wilson's farm. Within this short stretch of road. Eleanor Henderson captures a microcosm of the social problems prevalent in the South during the Depression years.

Seen through the eyes of 2 teenage girls the story tells of racism, oppression, class distinction. Weaving these and other related issues into a compelling, sometimes complicated, tale with a large cast of characters the reader gets a nuanced view of the South before WWII.

The book was a difficult but rewarding read which I will remember for a long time. It will join other favorites on my bookshelf to be read again. A thought provoking, character driven book. The best kind of read!