The Stolen Child by Ann Hood clearly was written by a very good author and great storyteller. Storytellers are a gift to humanity. The title comes from a poem by W.B. Yeats, some of the characters have a connection to Pablo Neruda - the story is told so poetically that one almost expects to hear a rhyme sooner or later! There is more than one artist in this story and their works are described so carefully that one can envision the work almost perfectly. The tale begins near the end of the First World War in France and ends over 50 years later in Italy...and along the way solves more than one mystery, explains and resolves more than one heartbreak, and has involved the reader intimately in this powerful, believable, human story. All my book groups will hear about it!

Interesting gossip could make a great page-turner. This book is written in the first person - one gossip columnist working in old Hollywood - like Louella Parsons and Hedda Hopper. The information shared about actors, directors, who was with whom, and so on, is great fun to read - but the character telling the story is not likeable. I was very upset by some things she did and did not do, to and for others, whether printing gossip or giving "advice" to friends and family, because at the end all she said was, "Oh well" and her story was finished. It seemed to me that she was at fault for many of the sad things that happened and that "Oh well" was not pleasant. Maybe it is not necessary to like the character telling the story, and I am old fashioned. Maybe it is much closer to the truth than not, and is just a case of, "Oh well".

In the Prologue, we learn of eight U.S. "marines" from the new U.S.A.'s tiny navy who successfully land on "the shores of Tripoli" and complete a daring raid from the U.S.S. "Constitution" led by Stephen "Decatur" to free the harbor of Barbary pirates!

A few pages into Chapter One we are given a remarkably accurate, exquisite description of the first presentation of "Beethoven's Third Symphony", led by himself, in Vienna (our "spy" is there). I read it aloud to my classical-music-hound husband and then we played the entire symphony with the detailed description in our hands!
And now we learn of the complicated plan to get intelligence to save Britain from a disastrous war with Spain whose neutrality in Napoleon's war on Britain is a cover for their attempt to gather a vast treasure to help them conquer Britain to split it with France!
The story is hair-raising - and Thomas Grey, is the 007 of the 19th century!
I am now hunting down the first two books of this series by J.H. Gelernter. This is a book that folks who love spy novels will relish.

This is the best thriller I have read in quite some time. A woman goes to the battlefields of the Great War to search for her fiance, missing and presumed dead - an unthinkable thing for her to do in 1919. She witnesses the horror of the the war in its aftermath - then learns strange facts that might suggest her fiance is still alive. The reader begins to suspect she is in graver danger than even she knows. Not put-down-able, in spite of the descriptions of some of the horror she sees, this book will have you on edge as well as on the edge of your seat 'til the very last page.
Technical note:
Not all the French used in phrases (for authenticity of the characters speech) is translated and that is terrific as it adds to the suspense. I much preferred it to having everything repeated in English.
Those of us who have lived since 1919 need to understand how truly awful the Great War was to people who had never seen such destruction and the dreadful aftermath for those merely wounded and may gain valuable insight into much of what happened after in the twentieth century...

In my life I have enjoyed a great amount of white privilege and at the same time felt the struggles involved in trying to feel that my body was important and acceptable to "my tribe". This book has explained to me the other side of the reported current events over the last 100 or so years and done that in a remarkably clear explanation.
Bodily rights are AGAIN currently imperiled and so this is not just a history lesson but a rallying cry as well.
I intend to tell all my book groups about this wonderful book and hope they can all read it! Thank you, Olivia Laing.

In his acknowledgements, author Matt Bell thanks Michael Pollan, author of The Botany of Desire, for his recounting of the legend of Johnny Appleseed which sparked this imaginative post-apocalyptic story. I have read that book and understand the thanks Bell gave. It planted a seed! Haha... If you liked Margaret Atwood's Oryck, Crake and MaddAdam, you'll love this. If you liked Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell, you'll love this. In the tradition of Animal Farm and Brave New World, Appleseed suggests a dystopic possibility for our future. Three different stories evolve, one in eighteenth-century Ohio, one in the second half of the 21st century, and one a thousand years from now. What have we done and what are we doing as a legacy for the future of the Earth? It takes all three stories to recount the ways we can mess this up. Seeds of truth are here as well. What a really timely story.

An astounding story from Northern Ireland after the Troubles have recently ended. A wee touch of the feelings surrounding a not-American problem. 400 years of Catholic - Protestant difficulties should show Americans another kind of prejudice long ingrained in a culture. A touching story of one woman in a very small town. A disappeared dad, a murdered uncle and now grandmother, an alcoholic mother - sounds awful but perhaps less unusual than the average book club member might think. This book is particularly interesting because it is told completely from the inner thoughts of the protagonist. She has no one to talk with nor to share a life with - and so she talks with herself. Making lists and thinking little of most of the people she knows or knows about. Her thoughts - a warning - are not only in the vernacular but will be considered gross by many. Her northern Irish accent is brilliant and adds immeasurably to her story. The Guardian says that this is "a darkly hilarious novel" and our leading lady "a filthy, funny, clever companion". I agree wholeheartedly and, like others who enjoyed it, really - amazingly - would love to read a sequel.

OMG A memoir. Not another memoir. I wasn't crazy about the last one I read. But wait...
After discussing Elderhood by Louise Aaronson in another group, Ms. Seager's descriptions of the hospital and the doctor where Mike was treated, rang a bell. After losing family members to death recently and long ago, Ms. Seager's descriptions of sorrow and recovery hit bells that rang again but with some comfort. After a life-long love of astronomy with a zero tolerance for numbers and physics, Ms Seager's enthuisasm and plain talk about astrophysics rang clear enough that I got a copy of N. Tyson's book to finally read it with some confidence. That's a triple! When it was revealed that her home was my home, many bells rang, making me feel in-the-know about her background. Home-run! I am writing to three book groups right now, recommending her book to all of them. Her personal story reads like a novel, her insight is strengthening.

Proust would have liked the connection. Midnight in Paris came to mind immediately because again those famous folk drift by. Four souls searching for something lost - time (or people) - after WWI, are each introduced chapter by chapter and then we revisit for more detail. Getting the backstory of the four meant I went back a couple of times to be sure I knew who was who but after that it was captivating. Four great stories for the price of one, as the day in Paris continues. The author has written poetically. The young Armenian thinks that French is "...a language fat with grammatical and idiomatic peculiarities. Even the simplest sentence contains traps for the unwary." Many such comments made me laugh because the two languages I speak, French and English, are absolutely that! The author makes many remarks through his characters that reference other literature. He has created a feast of literary fun. He owns a bookstore!!! What's not to love?

P.S. Thank you for keeping the Armenian story alive.

"Welcome to the Pine Away Motel and Cabins" by Katarina Bivald is wonderful. Special kudos go to Alice Menzies whose work in translating from Swedish needs to be recognized and lauded! Many books have been written lately with the timeline going back and forth, chapter after chapter. But the special twist in THIS one is really fresh. Our hero(ine) dies at the outset but continues to monitor her friends, family, and community "helping" them learn the art of living. Welcome to the Hotel California, indeed! I will be recommending it to my novel-reading book group.

Here is a bit of history that has been a long time coming - rather like the speed at which Yale took care of the co-education issue. Thanks to Anne Gardiner Perkins then, for finally bringing it all to light and all the women who shared their stories.
All women need to read this for the historical perspective and a better understanding of the long hard road taken to get women into a more equal position in the country as well as this particular university. (There is still not an equal rights amendment to the Constitution, btw).

This is social history and while even that will put some people off, it is a good read and I recommend it. Hey, it's a mere 275 pages! Surely, once read, many will say, "Ahh, I see now..." and be inspired by the courage and resilience written about in these pages.

This book was so good. I read almost straight through. Well, enough to be late for a couple of appointments! I really want to read Ms. Yangsze Choo's first novel, The Ghost Bride!
Night Tiger is mystery and magic realism in 1930s Malaysia - or Malaya as it was known - the author refers to it as a sort of Downton Abbey of the the tropics. What intrigued me most especially was the detailed information on the Chinese number superstitions which relate to good or bad luck and how names can be influenced by this. The mystery and the connections made to the various characters was so much fun to try to solve. One gets feelings that suggest you know where this is going but small curves are thrown in to make one have to stop and rethink the answer. Mixed in are details about twins, weretigers, complicated love stories, and Chinese mythology. Book club recommendations are a certainty - I love it when I find and choose a great book!

This author wrote The Boy in the Striped Pajamas. John Boyne can flat-out tell a story. This one is frightening if you have ever contemplated writing a story, or your story, or someone's story. Boyne draws you in slowly but as you follow this story of Maurice you begin to see what the characters telling the story don't, about this truly repulsive and yet fascinating writer. You begin to add dread to the repulsion you already are feeling and at some point (not saying where) you will be compelled to yell out to them "Look out!" The publisher and marketers have a devilish time trying to give a synopsis without revealing too much. So. Briefly, here is a man who wished to become a writer, and rich, and famous, but he is without talent. He discovers a way to get the stories he can't write from other people. It is shocking and uncomfortable - and remarkably easy to believe - even when the methods he uses become ever more horrifying. 350 pages were flown through and still the end was shocking.
Very funny cover for the book and the publisher remarks that they were glad to get this one from John Boyne before Maurice Swift got to him...but then in the list of Boyne's published books I see a Thief of Time and a Mutiny on the Bounty ....and then I began to wonder about Boyne...yikes!...

This is the third of Beatriz Williams novels for me. Cocoa Beach and A Certain Age came before Summer Wives, therefore I knew just what a great storyteller Ms. Williams is. She makes very sure to do her historical research before beginning a new novel. F. Scott Fitzgerald told a story about the very wealthy folk who spent their summers on these islands so we are not complete strangers to the goings-on here. Ms. Williams has updated it with a relish and has added other islanders to the mix with a delightedly complex result.

Our first sight of the island is through the eyes of Miranda, a 1951 high school girl. A catastrophe befalls the wealthy family she has been added to by re-marriage and she is banished for nearly two decades. She returns to an island that appears exactly the same but is a shadow of its former self and she is determined to discover the truth, and right the wrongs that happened to people she loves.

These essays put into book form make a loose memoir of this woman's life. I have not read anything as brutally honest as this. I laughed out loud, cried, and recognized some of the pain and could not put it down. It is an amazingly laid-bare tale. The essay in the middle re: the men is silly and funny, some folk will think it doesn't belong but I think it does! Her second husband deserves that essay alone. I so hope that her life somehow evens out. I will be passing this along to friends and relatives. Book groups could really have a great time with this one.

This isn't I Love Lucy funny nor is it Bob Hope funny. Maybe it's George Carlin funny or Richard Prior funny. If you get THAT reference and are interested, then you will likely enjoy this seriously dysfunctional family. Anyone from Gen-X through the Millennials will appreciate the humor. The language is often crude and the situations exaggerated but the feelings are true to the life of siblings (at least in North America) . I hardly laughed out loud (ok, maybe once or twice) but, boy, did I snigger a lot at these geniuses of the sibling back-stab that Grant Ginder created. A quote from a character stood out for me as well: "Relationships are awful. They'll kill you, right up to the point where they start saving your life". Paul and Alice's half-sister, Eloise, who has always been well-off, is getting married in London, England. Fancy hotels, smart restaurants, a reception at a country estate: they couldn't hate it more. The estranged clan gathers together as Eloise's walk down the aisle approaches...The author plainly knows that there can be no happy ending here, but it is clearly a hopeful one, in a twenty-first century way. In hindsight, the publicity on the covers of this book suggest raucous but good humor, and plans to publish with a lot of "wedding" language. It fooled many reviewers. Perhaps it needs a bit of re-thinking unless the marketing is exclusively aimed at people under 50. I intend to buy copies for my remaining brother and sister and both son and daughter in the hopes that they get all that sibling stuff still!

What a delicious pleasure to read. Not only do you feel that you have stumbled on an authentic antique-of-a-story written just before the turn of the last century, you are able to identify with each of the various characters, who, central or peripheral, are all slowly developed into complete people, so complete you'd swear you knew them. The writing is poetic, Victorian, and yet never clingy or syrupy. The ending is not "happily-ever-after" juvenile, but gives you hope for those you have learned to know and care for. As in a good piece of theatre, these are the things to look for in a great novel. What a terrific debut in America for a new British author. Well done, Sarah Perry! There are no plot details in this review because I think that is grossly unfair to readers. I will likely try to buy several for family members. SO sorry I can't share this one with my mother and my sister, as I did The Da Vinci Code :( some years back.
The book came with a reproduction of a pamphlet from early times (discussed in the story) and, as well, the divisions of the story were typeset in a Victorian font - not the whole book, which would have been difficult to read, but just enough to make you feel you were there - like a great stage setting for a great play.

This story was a great deal of fun, once I caught on to the idea that the "author" was telling this story to ME, NOW. These days, many authors are playing with time and characters to tell a story from different angles. This was fresh! - straight from the horse's mouth, so to speak....heehee.

Fay Weldon has an excellent feeling for Britain between the wars - its people and its politics.

You think you know the whole story right off the bat because the author gives you some solid information, but NO, wait, there's more! There is a satisfying, if somewhat surprising ending, and a fascinating look at sex from a very different "angle" that was at once satire, irony, and informative. I picked it up and could not put it down, so I will be looking for more by this author.

If you are a fan of Jane Austen's stories or romance novels, read no further. You KNOW you will love it!

The story takes place in colonial Ceylon from 1912 through 1934 - nearly the same timeline as Downton Abbey - as a young bride from England comes to her new husband's tea plantation on the island. There is love, romance, sex, jealousy, secrets, and treachery. The author has described the local atmosphere well.

Antonia Hodgson has written a really fine mystery around a young man accused of murder and heading to the gallows in the London of 1728. As he is taken by wagon to the hanging place outside the city, he worries about receiving a last minute royal pardon for having kept his silence, knowing that "there is nothing more silent than a hanged man". You can't help cheering for this robust, cheeky man who lives near the edges of society and the edges of the the sinister St. Giles slums. But with the entrepreneurs and the powerful of the day all playing for keeps, it really isn't clear that he will survive at all. There are parallels to modern times that are chilling including that the language is remarkably modern. The history is truly accurate since the author is a historian. One sitting, all chores forgotten, my favourite form of escapism comes through well.