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Reviews by Susan B. (Sarasota, FL)

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The Seven O'Clock Club
by Amelia Ireland

Refreshing, inspirational, pageturner (10/30/2024)

Grief, not the easiest of topics, comes full circle in this book. Well written, four people in the depths of grief, each with a heart catching story, come together with a therapist who has sought them out to work thru their pain. Little by little we come to know each of the four, their lives, loves, worries, and pain. The author discloses it bit by bit and I was left wanting more after each chapter. The ending was a surprise, one I will not disclose, but worth the entire read. I found it really was a book I could not putdown.

The Last Russian Doll
by Kristen Loesch

Russian History thru the eyes of dolls (10/11/2022)

The Last Russian Doll is an epic look at what Russia was like from 1917 to present. It is told from different characters who lived and are living this history. I found the book attempted too much and at times it was hard to follow the story line. Development of the characters at times left many questions. I learned a lot about Russian history and its impact on the general population but it never drove me to hurry up and finish the book.

River Sing Me Home
by Eleanor Shearer

Terrific story (9/7/2022)

From the first time you meet Rachel her strength and determination will be an example of the human spirit and its ability to carry on no matter how hard the task. I couldn't stop reading this story and thinking about it after reading each chapter. Three things make, for me, this one of the best books of the year.
1. It is historical fiction of what life was like in the Caribbean islands.
2. It shows the determination of a mother to find her children who have been taken from her and sold at a young age.
3. The writing is so good that it puts you in the story, you can feel the heat, the rush of the river, and all the feelings and paths Rachel must follow

I recommend this is a very readable, interesting book.

The Lost Notebook of Edouard Manet: A Novel
by Maureen Gibbon

Keeping company with Manet (6/22/2021)

An insightful look inside the mind of the famous artist, I kept waiting for each page to see how he was doing with his illness and how he was going to select what to sketch and paint. His thoughts on his contemporary friends was very interesting and at times amusing. The diary form of writing his is masterful.

The Plot
by Jean Hanff Korelitz

What a plot it is! (6/5/2021)

Great read, twists all thru the story and the story within the story. Truly was a book I couldn’t put down. Excellent writing keep the flow going the entire time.

Morningside Heights: A Novel
by Joshua Henkin

Lack of depth dealing with demenita (4/19/2021)

How to tell you about this book. It tries to deal with a loved one getting dementia and how it affects those in the family and others that were part of his world. That being said, I thought the overall story dealt lightly with each person, the professor who had dementia, his wife, estranged son, daughter, and professors and students.

We get to know each person's history and how they cope with the professor's dementia but we are never told how they feel, what are there fears, hopes, and how does it change their feelings for him. His spouse copes as well as she can but I never felt any empathy for her or others.

Sorry , I love reading but can't really recommend this one.

The Personal Librarian
by Marie Benedict, Victoria Christopher Murray

Amazing story of a woman who creates a world class library while holding onto a dangerous secret (2/13/2021)

This story of an amazing woman you probably have never hear of.

Bella da Costa Greene is an accomplished librarian with a dark, dangerous secret. J.P. Morgan chose her to help him build a library of priceless books and manuscripts and she excelled at locating rare works and had great purchasing skills. Her relationship with J.P. Morgan brings the reader a rare understanding of the financier and his love for the library.

Never married, she had a life among the art elite and a complicated romance with a married art dealer, Bernard Berenson. At all times her secret was paramount in how she lived.

The book moves along at a rapid pace. The authors' prose and vivid descriptions put you into the scene.

I recommend this book to all lovers of historical fiction. It is one of the best I have ever read.

At the Edge of the Haight
by Katherine Seligman

Life on the edge (10/12/2020)

Living in the Haight, Maddy and her friend/boyfriend Ash spend their days mostly just surviving A keen sense of how the area works, how the police operate, where there is free food and shelter, they move thru their lives in fear of people and others in the Haight. Maddy witnesses a murder that had just happen and is terrified that the killer will find her. She does appear in court when the accused killer is on trial but again I really didn't feel anything as to how she felt aside from fearful.

There is a sense to hopelessness to all of this, a view of how they view their parents, who are sometimes so mentally ill themselves, that they can be of little influence on their lives. Other parents seem to try their best to get their child off the street but it never works.
I only gave this three stars as the author never gives us any insight to Maddy's or Ash's thoughts.

The book felt more like a tour of the Haight and how the people there live. Interesting but not very compelling as a good read.

A Girl is A Body of Water
by Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi

Endearing portrait of growing up in Uganda (7/18/2020)

A Girl is a Body of Water, you drop her in and she finds her depth. I enjoyed this book and recommend it to all my bookclub friends.

Kirabo, a twelve year old Ugandan girl, grows into a young adult. She has to struggle with traditional roles and modern roles, between history and a modern future. The importance of family and culture are always pulling her in different directions.

She is forced by circumstances to deal with family expectations, a missing mother, the dealth of loved ones, war, and friendships; those lost and those found. The entire cast of family and friends are delightful, a wonderful testament to folklore and a way of living that has much common sense in it.

Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi works a spell that puts you in the story. The depth of the characters is woven in the narrative. Her writing is excellent, I look forward to her next book.

The Book of Longings
by Sue Monk Kidd

What if??? (5/16/2020)

This book was so very interesting from the very start till the end, couldn't put it down and thought about it a lot when not reading. What if Jesus was married? What if his brother in law was Judas? What if he lived a very normal, poor life until his ministry began? These and other questions are all looked at from the vantage point of his wife, Ana. Along with a lot of historical background the story is very compelling, I will recommend this to all my bookclub friends.

Redhead by the Side of the Road
by Anne Tyler

Second chances (4/13/2020)

Micah Mortimer, aka the Tech Hermit, is just living out his life, mostly clueless, This is a wonderful book for our times, full of truths, and half-truths about our lives. I just felt it was uplifting and a really good read.

The Stone Girl: A Novel
by Dirk Wittenborn

Girl Power=Stone Girl (4/10/2020)

From a terrible rape that goes unreported comes a tale of intrigue, murder, revenge, and justice. The list of characters is long but the main women are Flo, Evie, Lulu, and Chloe. The plot is amazingly full of twist and turns I never saw coming. I am not a big fan of mystery books but this one held my attention, although at times I found the situations to be a little unreasonable. It is a story that will keep you guessing, when you think you have it figured out it will make another turn. All in all a good read.

The Kinship of Secrets
by Eugenia Kim

Two sisters, two worlds many secrets (10/20/2018)

In 1948 a Korean family decides to move to the United States to find better opportunities than there are in Korea. Najin and Calvin Cho take their adopted daughter, Miran, leaving their biological daughter Inja with Najin's brother and the rest of the family. The Korean war then occurs and the Korean family is displaced for several years. Bring Inja to the United States becomes impossible. Miran grows up as an American, feeling slightly out of place because she is Korean. Inja grows up Korean, with all the traditions of being Korean.

Eventually, when Inja is a teenager the family reconnects in America. It is then all the family secrets start to be revealed. Inja has a very hard time assimilating to American life, and as she and Miran discover one secret after another all the relationships change. Are the secrets to protect the family or the individuals?

The book is enjoying and factual, I found the read to be slow but interesting. It is based on a true story and shows the power of love and hope and family. There are many twist to unravel throughout the book.

A Place for Us
by Fatima Farheen Mirza

Family at its authentic best (3/20/2018)

I loved this book, it is very well written and the story is authentic. The author captures the essence of each member of an Indian Muslim family, the father and mother moving to California from India and the children all born in America. We meet the family at a wedding of the oldest daughter and then move back in time and learn how each membe's life has been and how they see it. Like all families reality is sometimes in the eye of the beholder. There are kind, gentle moments, first forbidden love, and true family loyalty. Much is said about living as a Muslim and adds to the depth of the story. Layla, the mother, has a strong sense of being a good mother, the two daughters, Hadia and Huda, are smart, pretty, and trying hard to live their lives as Muslim American women in this new age after 9/11. The son, Amar, is so conflicted, the pain so real, and the father's attempts to make it better making it worse, all will stay with me for a long time. A great read for book clubs, this will make one of the top 10 books for 2018.

If I Forget You
by Thomas Christopher Greene

Poignant love story (3/31/2016)

Two people, two views, one love story, a well written and compelling read. This is not the genre I usually read but I found myself reading on and on till I finished it in one day, the story moving along fast. I couldn't wait to see what would happen. It is well written, more than chick-lite, a story of love, loss, and reunion. Recommended for a summer beach read that is enjoyable and heartwarming.

The Dark Lady's Mask
by Mary Sharratt

A Muse for the Century (2/14/2016)

This is one of the best historical fiction book I have read. The story of Aemilia Bassano Lanier is one of hardship, talent, and incredible courage - especially for a woman living in Elizabethan times. Add Will Shakespeare to the story and I was set to wondering which of the theories about Aemilia being his muse was true. So many things happen it was hard to put the book down.

This book will appeal to all who enjoy a well written book that has many layers of history woven in it. Book Clubs will love diving into the many attributes of Aemilia and of Will Shakespeare along with other Lords, Ladies, and people of this time.

Among the Ten Thousand Things: A Novel
by Julia Pierpont

True to life (10/14/2015)

This is a sad but realistic story of life in artistic NYC. It was a good read.

Circling the Sun: A Novel
by Paula McLain

A fearless lady to be admired (5/22/2015)

Beryl is a courageous women in Kenya in 1920. Abandoned by her mother, raised by a father and a nearby tribe, she shows her grit and develops a sense of self worth that takes her through life.

The society in British Kenya was that of wealth, parties, and gossip. After rebelling at several boarding schools she helps her father train horses for racing. When her father's farm fails she marries. The marriage is a disaster, and determined to make her own way, in a time where women did not do that, she becomes the first registered horse trainer in Africa.

Despite facing discrimination because she is a women, she succeeds. She falls in love with Safari hunter Denys Finch Hatton, the lover of Karen Blixen, the story told so well in "Out of Africa". I am tempted to say now you know the rest of the story.

The story starts and ends with her learning to fly and attempting a trans-Atlantic flight. She was indeed fearless, smart, and someone I would like to have known.

Whispering Shadows
by Jan-Philipp Sendker

Shadows of lives continue to haunt us. (1/28/2015)

Fate has a way of leading you thru this story filled with twists and turns you don't see coming. Paul Leibovitz is still grieving the death of his young son and is not looking to get involved with anything or anyone. He has lived in Hong Kong for a long time, speaks the language and has a good friend who lives in mainland China. His chance meeting of Elizabeth, a distressed lady whose son has gone missing in China, changes his life and the lives of those he knows.

In trying to help Elizabeth, he contacts his old friend, Zhang, a detective in China, for his help. Thus begins a time of suspense as few people are who they appear to be, including friends.

The book is rich in the history of China during the revolution and I enjoyed it for that contribution alone. It is interesting to see the revolution thru the eyes of people who were in it and are now a part of the reformed communist China. It also gives a lot of insight as to what living in Hong Kong is like.

This would be a good book for a bookclub.

The Same Sky
by Amanda Eyre Ward

Same sky, two separate stories (11/14/2014)

Loved this book.

Alice and her husband live in Texas. They want to adopt a child more than anything but so many things need to be worked out.

Carla is a eleven year old living in Honduras who needs to make decisions even an adult would find hard. On her own with a younger brother, she realizes their only hope is to get to their mother in America. She had made it to Texas years ago and occasionally sends money to them. Her brother is getting in with the wrong group, sniffing glue, and her only hope for a good life is to get them both out of the dangerous place they live.

The journey she takes had me reading the book as quickly as I could to see what would happen to her, at the same time Alice is going thru her own journey.

Their lives collide, but not in the way I had anticipated.

A great book for a bookclub and/or just a good read.

Reviews by Susan B. (Sarasota, FL)

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