Book Review: "Kate & Frida" by Kim Fay

“…books aren’t anchored in one place like a building which means you can read a book that holds your memories anywhere. And food. If you can get your hands on the right ingredients, you can eat a dish that holds your memories anywhere too. If memories are inherent to our sense of identity, does that mean it’s possible to reassemble parts of your identity no matter where you are in the world?”

This was such a heartwarming and thought-provoking epistolary novel. I found myself smiling and tearing up while reading it.

In 1991, Frida is an aspiring war correspondent living in Paris. She is ready to take on the conflicts of the world and share the stories people don’t see. One day she writes to a bookstore in Seattle to request a book. Her letter is received by Kate, one of the store’s booksellers, who is also an aspiring writer.

Kate is immediately drawn to Frida’s letter, and loves having the opportunity to help a customer. Her reply to Frida sets off a correspondence that builds into one of the most important relationships either young woman has ever had. They recount their days, share their dreams and fears, and talk about books, food, family, and their romantic relationships.

Frida goes to Bosnia to cover the war there and is shaken by all she sees. She searches within herself to find her story. Kate is a highly emotional person who loves her job as a bookseller and loves her family, but so desperately wants to leave her mark on the world.

Epistolary novels are such a terrific change of pace, and I felt the difference between both characters. Kim Fay said in her Author’s Note that this book was inspired by the advice she wanted to give her younger self. This really was a beautiful and memorable book.

Book Review: "The Quiet Librarian" by Allen Eskens

“But Hana had learned long ago that living was like walking atop an old fence rail. Get too comfortable, too trusting, and you invite the fall.”

I’ve become an enormous fan of Allen Eskens’ books over the last several years. He delivers thrillers that not only keep you guessing, but they are also so well-written.

His newest book is just as good and it packs an emotional punch as well. Hana is a librarian in Minnesota who, outside of her job, really keeps to herself. She is thrown for a loop when she learns that her best friend Amina has been murdered. Hana knows this isn’t just a random killing; she knows that Amina’s death means she too is in danger.

Hana grew up in Bosnia in the war-torn 1990s. Back then her name was Nura, and she lived with her family in the mountains. But one day, Serbian soldiers murdered her entire family in front of her, and she was able to avoid being killed thanks to some quick thinking.

The horrors of that day ignited her thirst to fight back. She became a fierce warrior bent on destruction and defeat, known through stories as Night Mora. But when she finds herself in even more danger, she flees to the U.S., knowing she’ll eventually be hunted down. And Amina’s murder means her hunters are close—can she become Night Mora again in order to vanquish her enemies once and for all?

This was one of my favorite books of February. It’s full of grief, bravery, sacrifice, and the need for a fresh start. I was hooked from start to finish, and I loved Hana’s bad-assery.

Book Review: "Mazeltov" by Eli Zuzovsky

Usually when I pick up a book I’ve not heard of before, I look at the synopsis to see if it grabs me. But sadly, the synopsis can be misleading, causing you to expect something from the book that you’re not going to get.

I saw an ad in my FB feed for Mazeltov, and I was immediately intrigued. A coming-of-age novel about an Israeli boy discovering his queerness while living in a time of war? Sign me up!

The challenge was, this book is told in fractured chapters which jump from time to time, narrated by people you aren’t familiar with, and sometimes they weren’t even about Adam, the main character. So much is left for interpretation and extrapolation—I know some love those aspects of literary fiction, but I’d rather not have to work while I read.

“He always wanted to become the wanderer he thought that he was meant to be and make a home in the cities of his dreams, which were perpetually bright and inexpensive and never hostile to the Jews.”

The book follows Adam at different points in his life. There’s the day his newly religious father takes him to a mountain and cuts his hair for the first time. His bar mitzvah, which doesn’t go well. A school play, which also doesn’t go well for him. Moments of coming to terms with his queerness following his mandatory military service.

While I didn’t love this book, I definitely was taken in by Eli Zuzovsky’s use of language and imagery. He’s very talented; I just wish this was told in a more linear fashion.

Book Review: "Martyr!" by Kaveh Akbar

“Can you imagine having that kind of faith?” Cyrus asked. “To be that certain of something you’ve never seen? I’m not that certain of anything. I’m not that certain of gravity.”

This book was on lots of critics’ and Bookstagram friends’ 2024 best-of lists. I had meant to read it last year but didn’t get around to it, so it was my first read of the new year.

The son of Iranian immigrants, Cyrus grew up under the specter of grief. When he was an infant, his mother was killed when her plane was inadvertently shot down over the Persian Gulf. His father, who worked at a farm killing chickens, died shortly after Cyrus left for college.

A recovering alcoholic and addict, Cyrus wants to be a poet and fancies himself a provocateur. He becomes obsessed with martyrs (unsurprisingly) as a topic for his poetry, and is drawn to a terminally ill artist whose final work is spending the rest of her life in a museum.

He also is inspired by his uncle, who was shattered by his time in the Iranian military. His uncle used to dress as the Angel of Death and ride through the battlefields, so that vision would be the last thing dying soldiers saw. And when Cyrus finds a painting of his mother in an art gallery, he realizes that all he was told about her may not be true.

Kaveh Akbar is a poet, so it’s not surprising that his prose is really beautiful. I just felt like the book was really disjointed; the narration shifted among many characters and between past and present. This was tremendously thought-provoking, however.

Book Review: "The Women" by Kristin Hannah

So, maybe you’ve seen this book around once or twice? I’m definitely a fan of Kristin Hannah’s, but I need to be in a specific frame of mind for the emotional journeys she takes you on. I’m pleased to say, however, that this so utterly lived up to all the hype—it was simply fantastic.

“How did you know if you had the strength and courage for a thing like that? Especially as a woman, raised to be a lady, whose courage had been untested.”

Frances “Frankie” McGrath was raised a daughter of privilege, living on Coronado Island. She was working as a nurse, at least until she got married. But in 1966, at age 20, inspired by her older brother going to Vietnam, Frankie does the unheard of and enlists, becoming an Army nurse.

The book follows Frankie in country, through the harrowing injuries and deaths she saw, the wounded Vietnamese children, and the strong bonds she formed with both her fellow nurses and other soldiers. It also deals with the trauma Frankie dealt with upon her return, both from those against the war and her own family, all of whom would rather believe that there were no women in Vietnam.

This book is graphic and very emotional, but it so beautifully pays tribute to the oft-forgotten women who served in Vietnam, and those who gave their lives. It also examines the visible and hidden scars that soldiers face, whether in combat or not. I’m always grateful to those who have served and continue to serve our country, but reading The Women makes me want to say thank you over and over again.

Book Review: "Hotel Portofino" by J.P. O'Connell

In Hotel Portofino, drama abounds for an English family running a hotel in post-WWI Italy.

Bella fell in love with the Italian Riviera on her honeymoon and always hoped they’d get back there. She finally convinced her husband Cecil that they should buy a hotel there, for English tourists summering in Italy. She knows that running a hotel will be a great deal of work, but she’s hoping that it may distract her adult children, both of whom were drastically affected by the war.

She’s also hoping that the hotel might save her crumbling marriage. But right now she can only concentrate on the chaos around her—a wealthy, old ladyfriend of Cecil’s is bringing her daughter to the hotel as a possible love match for their son. There’s a new nanny on her way, and the Italian housekeeper is acting suspicious. And Bella is not prepared for the theft of a painting or a local acolyte of Mussolini looking to make a name for himself by targeting the hotel.

I read this with a friend and we both agreed that while there was a lot of potential with this book, it really fell flat. The plot was mostly melodramatic and very typical of the Downton Abbey-type programs I think this wanted to be like. I found most of the characters unlikeable (and honestly, couldn’t tell them apart at times) and wanted something unexpected to happen to shake things up, but to no avail.

This is going to be a PBS series later this year so it’s possible the book was written after the show was filmed, and that might explain the hollow feel of the story, almost like it was the novelization of a performance. Still, I had a good conversation about the book with a good friend, so not all was bad!

Book Review: "The Steal" by C.W. Gortner and M.J. Rose

The Steal has a little bit of everything: a jewel heist and a glamorous setting, plus secrets, emotion, and family drama. Sound good to you? It sure did to me!

Cannes, 1957. The famed film festival is about to take place on this gorgeous island, and an A-list of glamorous celebrities are there. So is jewelry designer Ania Thorne, representing her family's jewelry company with a new multimillion-dollar collection, which will adorn the bodies of the world’s most beautiful actresses.

But shortly after Ania's arrival in Cannes, her entire collection is stolen in a brazen heist by the notorious jewel thief known as "The Leopard."

Jerome Curtis is an investigator for the company that insures Thorne & Company’s jewels. He’s let The Leopard get the best of him before (with tragic results) and he’s determined that won’t happen again. But this world-weary detective isn’t prepared for the depths to which The Leopard will stoop to get what he wants.

Ania knows the future of her company is at stake, and isn’t sure if she should trust Jerome. And when she learns just what might be behind the heist, she has to decide whether she can take the thief on herself or if she should let Jerome in. This is further complicated by an attraction that can’t go anywhere.

When you read certain books, do you find yourself picturing the movie adaptation in your head? That definitely happened while reading The Steal. I really enjoyed everything about it and tried to picture whom I’d cast in the lead roles. This book has everything—action, suspense, drama, steam, glamour—it’s made for a movie!

Can’t wait to get my hands on the second book, The Bait!

Book Review: "Decanted" by Linda Sheehan

And another book keeps me up late because I can’t stop reading—Decanted by Linda Sheehan. This was really entertaining.

Samantha loves wine. She loves learning about new varieties and she has an exceptional palate for nuances and flavors. She dreams of a career in the wine industry and hopes to get her accounting firm to consider branching out into that industry.

One day, inspired by the memory of her spirited great-aunt Vivian, she quits her high-pressure accounting job and goes to France, to help a renowned family harvest their grapes. It’s hard work in a gorgeous setting (the family’s handsome son doesn’t hurt) and she learns so much about the business—not to mention about love.

Julien takes her all over France to understand how different wines are made, and what differentiates exceptional wine from good wine. It's an incredible, invaluable education. But when she leaves France suddenly she’s more determined than ever to make her own wine—and make it exceptional. She’ll need hard work, luck, confidence, and more inspiration from Aunt Vivian.

Meanwhile, snippets throughout the book show Vivian, a young woman who goes to pre-WWII Paris to escape the boring life her parents want for her. There she becomes an artist’s muse and finds herself in the midst of some extraordinary situations.

Decanted was a great story about following your dreams and believing in yourself against all odds. I learned so much about wine (the author is co-owner of a winery in Napa so she knows her stuff) and boy, this book made me hungry! It’s a hopeful, emotional, sexy, enjoyable book.

Suzy Approved Book Tours, Linda Sheehan, and Black Rose Writing provided me with a complimentary advance copy of the book in exchange for an unbiased review. (Sheehan also sent a bottle of wine!) Thanks so much for making it available!!

Book Review: "In Deeper Waters" by F.T. Lukens

A gay prince, pirates, a love story, and some magic? Yes, please!! Sign me up for F.T. Lukens' In Deeper Waters!

Tal is the youngest son of the Queen. He’s spent most of his life hidden away in the castle, as all are afraid he might inadvertently reveal his magical abilities, which could shatter the peace that his family has worked so hard to preserve.

Now, he’s been allowed to partake in the kingdom’s traditional coming-of-age tour, and travel throughout the kingdom with his older brother and the family’s bodyguard. But not long into the journey they find a burning ship and a mysterious prisoner, Athlen, with whom Tal feels an immediate connection. Athlen convinces Tal to free him, only to watch him jump overboard into the ocean.

Tal is devastated by Athlen’s disappearance, sure he must have drowned. When he sees Athlen a few days later, he’s surprised—and very pleased. But their time together is fleeting, as Tal is kidnapped by pirates who want to trick him into revealing his magical powers, which will instigate a war. It will take all of his strength and cunning to survive and get back home—and it’s Athlen’s turn to save him now.

What secrets are Athlen hiding? Will they help Tal or put him in more danger? Can Tal warn his family about what is happening before war breaks out? And can two very different young men from two different walks of life find happiness? There are lots of obstacles to overcome.

This book was utterly charming and so sweet. It felt a little like The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue, a little like Carry On, but yet all its own. I really enjoyed all of these characters and their immediate acceptance of people’s differences.

I don’t know if In Deeper Waters is intended to be the first in a series, but I’d love to see this world and these characters that Lukens created again.

Book Review: "Summer of '69" by Elin Hilderbrand

Full disclosure time: I was born in 1969 (no comment from the youngsters out there), and I get totally jazzed when that year is mentioned in pop culture. I swear, when the Eagles sing the lyric "We haven't had that spirit here since 1969" in Hotel California, I grin like a total jackass.

So needless to say, I absolutely had to read Elin Hilderbrand's Summer of '69, partially inspired because it was the year she and her twin brother were born as well.

Every summer the Foley-Levin family looks forward to spending the season at their grandmother's home in downtown Nantucket. But this year, things are different, and only 13-year-old Jessie will be in Nantucket with her mother and grandmother (and weekend visits from her father). Jessie's oldest sister Blair is stuck in Boston, awaiting the birth of twins and dealing with suspicions about her husband, an astrophysics professor at MIT. Her outspoken other sister, Kirby, already participating in civil rights protests while in college, has taken a job on Martha's Vineyard for the summer so she can further express her independence. And the greatest source of anxiety is Jessie's brother, Tiger, who has been deployed to Vietnam.

As Jessie tries to navigate what it's like to be on the cusp of womanhood amidst a status-conscious grandmother and a mother wracked with guilt and worry about the fate of her son, the rest of the family experiences their share of drama as well. And as the crises and positive moments occur, they do so against an historical backdrop of events, from the Apollo 11 landing on the moon to the Chappaquiddick tragedy and, of course, the fears caused by the Vietnam War.

I read Hildebrand's 28 Summers last month and absolutely fell in love with it. I was a little less enamored of this one. I was hoping for more of a laid-back, beachy vibe with this book, but the juxtaposition of family and relationship drama along with historical events didn't quite work for me. Despite all of the different things happening to the characters, I never quite felt emotionally connected to them or the story as a whole.

I do love the way Hildebrand tells a story, however, so I'm still going to be plowing through her backlist!

Book Review: "A Traveler at the Gates of Wisdom" by John Boyne

A Traveler at the Gates of Wisdom is a sweeping look at love, family, history, and destiny.

Have you ever read a book that you felt you couldn’t describe properly? That’s definitely the way I feel about John Boyne’s newest book. What I can say, however, is once again, his storytelling blew me away.

We start at the dawn of time, 1 AD. A baby is born to a warrior and his wife, amidst his father’s acts of violence. The baby has an older brother, who mostly resents him.

The story shifts as time passes, changing locations, names, certain facts, but the general thrust of the story remains the same, as if to say that what is destined will happen no matter who or where you are. We travel through history, getting glimpses of historical figures and events through time, all the way to the future.

At times this felt more like interconnected short stories than a cohesive novel. This was an interesting concept and I loved what Boyne has to say, that no event or emotion is unique to just one person. In the end, though, I don’t know that this worked for me as much as I hoped it would. But his storytelling transcended it all, so much like I felt about Fredrik Backman's Anxious People, the writing elevated the book, in my opinion.

If you’ve never read Boyne before, please read The Heart’s Invisible Furies, The Absolutist, and A Ladder to the Sky.

NetGalley and Hogarth Books provided me with a complimentary advance copy of the book in exchange for an unbiased review. Thanks for making it available!!

Book Review: "The Alice Network" by Kate Quinn

"Why did it matter if something scared you, when it simply had to be done anyway?"

Bravery can come from the least likely of sources. And in Kate Quinn's The Alice Network, she weaves together a story of some brave but unknown women from history with some fictitious ones.

In 1947, Charlotte “Charlie” St. Clair has been dragged to Europe by her mother. Charlie is 19, pregnant, and unmarried, and the plan is to go to Switzerland to have her “little problem” taken care of. But Charlie is less interested in dealing with her own issues and would rather try to find her beloved cousin Rose, who disappeared during WWII.

Charlie escapes her mother’s clutches and flees to London to try and find a woman who supposedly can help her. When she meets Eve Gardiner, the woman is drunk, angry, and pointing a gun at Charlie, and refuses to help her. But when Charlie utters one man’s name, and the French city where Rose had supposedly gone during the war, Eve reluctantly agrees to help.

It turns out that Eve isn’t just a drunk older woman—during WWI she was a spy, part of the Alice Network, a group of women trained to ferret out information from the most dangerous of sources. Stationed in France, Eve was excellent at her job, until something goes awry, and a betrayal tears down the whole network. She bears the physical and emotional scars all these years later.

This is a great historical fiction book, alternating between Eve’s time in France in 1915 and Charlie’s 1947 efforts to find Rose. It’s intense, suspenseful, and emotional, and although it was a tiny bit too long, I really devoured it. I've heard Quinn's other book, The Huntress, is good as well.

It's funny: I often say that historical fiction isn't my thing because I'd much rather read contemporary stories than anything else. But strangely enough, all of the historical fiction I've read lately (without really considering it "historical") has been pretty great. So now I'm just a big contradiction, lol.

Book Review: "The Lost Girls of Paris" by Pam Jenoff

C'est magnifique!!

In 1946, shortly after World War II ended, Grace Healey is living in New York, fleeing for an anonymous life in the city after the tragic death of her husband. One morning on her way to work she takes a detour through Grand Central Station, where she trips over a suitcase hidden beneath a bench.

She can't resist opening the suitcase, and when she finds a group of photographs, each of a different woman, she can't seem to explain why she has this powerful need to keep them.

Grace soon finds out that the suitcase belonged to Eleanor Trigg, a British woman who ran operations for a group of female spies during the war. These women were deployed throughout Europe, given missions as radio operators, couriers, and other necessary positions to help defeat the Nazis. Twelve of these women—the women in the photographs Grace found—never returned home. This motivates Grace to try and figure out what happened to them, and what Eleanor Trigg was looking for in New York City.

Grace's quest to uncover the truth is juxtaposed with the story of two other women. We follow Eleanor as she is tapped to create this program that brought women into the war as special agents, then tries to understand what is going wrong as her agents are being captured and messages are being compromised, and then, after the war, she, too, wants to understand what happened to the women under her supervision. The book also follows Marie Roux, one of Eleanor's special agents, a young mother who wasn't really sure she was cut out for this type of mission, yet found her bravery and strength just when she needed it most.

The Lost Girls of Paris is inspired by true events. It really does a great job putting a human face on those courageous people, particularly young women, who risked everything to help defeat those seeking to destroy the world.

I am not one who typically reads historical fiction—in fact, I think I've read one other work of historical fiction this year. But when I was offered a chance to read a pre-publication copy of The Lost Girls of Paris, something about the book intrigued me. I thought it was an excellent book, full of rich characters, suspense, emotion, and historical details, all of which made it a tremendously fast read. (I read the entire book in one miserably rainy day.)

I'm new to Pam Jenoff's books, but I was really impressed with her storytelling ability and the evocative imagery she used. I felt the different conditions Marie found herself in, I heard the noises of the city as Grace encountered the suitcase at Grand Central Station. The book took a little bit to build up momentum, but it really hooked me, as I hoped I'd get answers to all of the questions the characters raised.

If you're not a fan of historical fiction, don't be dissuaded from reading The Lost Girls of Paris. It's an excellent novel, a great character study, and even has some suspense, as you wonder how everything will be resolved. If you are a fan of this genre, you probably already want to read it! (And if not, you should!)

Park Row Books provided me an advance copy of the book in exchange for an unbiased review. Thanks for making this available!

Book Review: "Night Sky with Exit Wounds" by Ocean Vuong

The most beautiful part of your body
is where it's headed, & remember
loneliness is still time spent
with the world.

To read Ocean Vuong's Night Sky with Exit Wounds is to be dazzled by gorgeous lyricism. I picked this up as part of my exploration of contemporary poetry I have been experimenting with over the last several weeks. It's amazing the breadth of talent that exists in this genre.

I realized after reading the first few sentences of Vuong's first poem just how talented he is. It certainly explains why this book won the 2016 Whiting Award and the 2017 T.S. Eliot Prize, because some of his stanzas simply took my breath away.

Use it to prove how the stars
were always what we knew

they were the exit wounds
of every
misfired word.

Vuong spent the first two years of his life living in a refugee camp, and he never knew his father. This sense of emptiness is palpable through many of the 35 poems in this collection, as Vuong imagines reasons why his father wasn't part of his life. He imagines his father meeting violent or tragic, accidental ends, or even being imprisoned. In several poems, he imagines encounters with his father at various stages of his life.

Like any good son, I pull my father out
of the water, drag him by his hair

through white sand, his knuckles carving a trail
the waves rush in to erase.

Some of the poems touch on mythological themes, some touch on more realistic, violent ones, exploring the experience of Vietnamese refugees. One poem, "Aubade with Burning City," is based on the fact that Armed Forces Radio played the song "White Christmas" as a code to begin Operation Frequent Wind, the ultimate evacuation of American civilians and Vietnamese refugees by helicopter during the fall of Saigon in 1975. The poem juxtaposes verse with lyric fragments from the song, to beautiful effect.

The more poetry I've been reading, the more I realize that just as I prefer "traditional" short stories over those which take more experimental forms and narratives, I feel the same way about poetry. At times, Vuong experiments with form, language, even writes a poem using footnotes, and those poems didn't work for me.

In the end, however, Night Sky with Exit Wounds is at times contemplative, fiery, even erotic. Vuong's power lies in his words, and the emotions he conveys through them. While poetry doesn't get the type of recognition fiction and other genres get, Vuong definitely deserves to be heralded as an artist for our time.

Book Review: "This Savage Song" by Victoria Schwab

So when I finished devouring this book last night before I went to bed, I tried to think of the best way to sum up my feelings. Sometimes when I'm at a loss for words I turn to those more articulate than I am, so:

Ah, thanks, Oprah!

It is a time in the (hopefully very) distant future. At one point, monsters tried to take control of a city. It led to massive destruction, but ultimately a truce was reached which divided the city. One half is run by Harker, a ruthless man whose ambition and lust for power are nearly as dangerous as the monsters he allows to roam free, so he can then charge the city's residents for his protection from them. The other half of the city is run by the more noble-minded Flynn, who wants to keep his residents safe by controlling the monsters, not harnessing them as pawns in a shakedown.

Neither side has complete support, as the truce seems to be weakening. Harker's daughter, Kate, who has gotten herself expelled from her sixth boarding school in five years, has returned home, much to her father's chagrin. She wants to prove that she is just as ruthless as her father, and wants him to finally let her stay with him, and take her under his wing. But she must battle not only her father's ambition and his memories of her late mother, but also the monster he has trained as his second in command.

When Kate is sent to another school in town, Flynn and his followers jump at the chance to get someone close to her, to watch for signs the truce may be breaking. Flynn's youngest son, August, who wants simply to be kind, to live a good life, is pressed into service. The thing is, August is a monster, the rarest of the three breeds, who can steal a person's soul by playing his violin. He needs to hide his secret from everyone in school, especially Kate, but for the first time in his life, he feels as if he belongs, he starts to make friends, and he is fascinated by Kate's intelligence—until she figures out what he really is.

When an attempt on Kate's life sends them both fleeing, they must make a truce of their own. August wants only to protect Kate, and Kate wants to live, although she isn't sure if capturing August could be the prize she needs to cement her relationship with her father. As they seek freedom and safety, they still long for the comfort of their families, even as they realize their families may not provide the safe haven they thought. They must fight not only the enemies they expect but enemies they don't, and they face the toughest battle of all—the enemies within themselves.

Right off the bat, I'll say that obviously this isn't a book for everyone. If you don't like this type of fantasy story, Victoria Schwab's storytelling, no matter how strong a spell she casts, probably won't lure you in. But don't rule it out because you think it's going to be all Twilight-y (a new adjective), because the monsters in this book don't have the Cullenesque shimmer, and more importantly, one of the best things that Schwab does in this book is keep the lovesickness and most of the angstiness out. That makes This Savage Song a much stronger story instead of some YA-ish soap opera.

I love authors who can take you into another world and immerse you so fully. That's a credit to Schwab's incredible creativity and the imagery she uses. There is a vividness to the pictures she paints, and I'd love to see this made into a movie to see just how closely what I saw in my mind's eye while reading this book hews to the film adaptation. Is it a little overly dramatic at times? Sure. A little predictable? Of course. But it doesn't matter, because the characters she has created fascinated me, flaws and all.

When you add to your stress level at work by taking a longer lunch than you should so you can keep reading, you know you've found a good book. (Lucky I'm the boss!) When you find yourself taking your glasses off during the NCAA championship so you can race through the remainder of the story before bed, you know you've found a good book. This was tremendously entertaining and well-done, and I'll be all over the sequel when it comes out this summer!

Book Review: "News of the World" by Paulette Jiles

Yeah, I'm late to the party on this one.

I'm man enough to admit I didn't read this before now because I was misinformed. For some reason I mistakenly believed this book was another story which veered closely to True Grit—you know, cantankerous old man becomes the protector of a young-but-tough girl, and hijinks and friendships ensue. Having read the book, and seen both versions of the film, and also read a pretender or two, I really wasn't enamored of reading another similar story.

While there are perhaps a few similar elements, Paulette Jiles' News of the World is a story all its own, full of heart and beauty and simplicity and tenderness, and even a little poetry. It totally took me by surprise and I loved nearly every minute of it.

1870. The U.S. is starting to recover from the damages wrought by the Civil War. Captain Jefferson Kyle Kidd, a veteran of two wars (the first when he was just a teenager), is now an elderly widower, a former printer who now spends his days traveling throughout Texas, reading newspapers from all over the world to paying crowds anxious and interested to hear about what is happening both in places they know and places they might only have imagined. He is careful, however, to steer away from any news of Reconstruction and the Confederacy, knowing how it will inflame tempers.

While in one town, he is offered a job—and a $50 gold piece—to bring a young girl who had been taken from her family four years before by a band of Kiowa raiders. Her family was killed, but she survived, and was taken in to the Kiowa family, raised as one of them. But such things cannot be, and when she is recaptured, it is decreed that she should be returned to her closest living relatives, an aunt and uncle near San Antonio.

For 10-year-old Johanna, the only family she really knows are the Kiowa Indians who raised her, and she cannot understand why she has been taken away from them. She doesn't appear to know English, refuses to wear shoes or act in a "civilized" manner, will not eat with a fork and knife, and tries to find any opportunity to cross the river and hopefully return home.

But as Captain Kidd and Johanna travel through Texas, finding themselves in danger more often than they care to count, and trying to find common ground, the two begin building a relationship of sorts, with Kidd trying to find empathy for this young girl whose life has already been turned upside down twice, and by dint of his job, he will be party to this happening a third time.

"More than ever knowing in his fragile bones that it was the duty of men who aspired to the condition of humanity to protect children and kill for them if necessary."

As they draw closer and closer to San Antonio, and an uncertain fate for Johanna, Kidd is torn—he knows at his age, a widower living alone has no place raising a child, especially one so traumatized by life as Johanna has been. But can he really let her go, after he has become the only person she trusts and can communicate with? And if he doesn't deliver her to her aunt and uncle, does that make his as much a kidnapper as the Kiowa?

I've really simplified the plot of this book, but it is such a lovely story. Have we seen elements of this type of story before? Certainly. But even if you have suspicions of how the plot will unfold, and those suspicions may prove correct, Jiles' tells such a beautiful story, and has created two immensely memorable characters, characters which warm the heart and stay in the mind.

What struck me about this book is that Jiles was able to create a little bit of tension at every turn, which made the story move even a little faster, and she imbued her descriptions of their surroundings throughout their journey with such evocative imagery, it was lyrical, even poetic. I was fascinated by Kidd's reading the news to people—it's the first time I've ever heard of that happening.

I am not generally a fan of historical fiction, but this book really worked for me. If you're not one of the people who already has taken this book to your heart, add it to your list, because these characters will make you smile and, perhaps even cry a little.

Book Review: "Exit West" by Mohsin Hamid

"In a city swollen by refugees but still mostly at peace, or at least not yet openly at war, a young man met a young woman in a classroom and did not speak to her."

So begins Mohsin Hamid's extraordinary new novel, Exit West. At once both sharply current and dreamily magical, this book is social commentary, fantasy, and an emotion-laded look at how we crave connection even in the most chaotic, the bleakest of times.

While reading this book, all I could think of was:

When Saeed and Nadia first meet in a night class, they both are intrigued with each other, but neither acts on it. In an unnamed country beset by impending civil war, pursuing a romantic relationship isn't high on either one's priority list. Nadia is fiercely independent, living alone, and not afraid of embracing her sensuality, while Saeed is more contemplative, quiet, and less sure of himself.

They first pursue a friendship, and then both begin to realize just how much they come to rely on each other, intellectually, emotionally, and socially. When the warring factions begin exerting their power over the country, enforcing curfews, restricting electricity, cutting phone signals and internet coverage, each worries about the other's safety, and their feelings for each other grow, if not quite into love for both, at least something stronger than friendship.

"Dramatic circumstances, such as those in which they and other new lovers in the city now found themselves, have a habit of creating dramatic emotions, and furthermore the curfew served to conjure up an effect similar to that of a long-distance relationship, and long-distance relationships are well known for their potential to heighten passion, at least for a while, just as fasting is well known to heighten one's appreciation for food."

As full-on violence and terror ebb and flow, and tragedy strikes, the two become even closer. They despair over their future, whether they will survive the war, and where it will leave them. More and more, they hear rumors of doors, doors which somehow can help people like them escape far away from the violence—although not without risk, and not without great cost. At first, the thought of leaving seems cowardly and wrong, but the more the violence escalates, they realize they have no choice. After much trepidation, they find a door and see where it leads.

At this point, Exit West's plot becomes a little dreamier, but still equally present and powerful, as it not only examines the effects strife, stress, and constant fear and suspicion have on a relationship, but it's also a pointed look at the refugee experience, and how people in the same situation can treat each other.

This book worked for me on so many levels. At a time in our world where some wish to label all immigrants in a negative way, this is a stark reminder of why so many flee their countries, and how their humanity is often lost in the process. But beyond the social and philosophical commentary, this book is, at its heart, a story of relationships, of love, of loss, and the sacrifices we make for those we love.

"...he understood, at some level, that to love is to enter into the inevitability of one day not being able to protect what is most valuable to you."

Hamid is an extraordinary writer. For as many quotes as I pulled from the book for this review, I found hundreds more. His prose is dazzling, his imagery at once sublime and gritty, and the emotions he generates from this story are genuine, not manipulated. This is a book that has touched me, one which has made me think and feel, one which I will remember and linger over.

For some, the fantastical elements of the plot may not work, but if you allow yourself to become fully immersed in the entire experience, hopefully you will savor it as I have. This is simply fantastic.

Book Review: "Every Giant Becomes a Monster" by Collins Kelly

Colson is a 19-year-old noise musician who leaves his troubled past behind him and rides the rails, searching for a new beginning. He thinks he may have found this in a small Arizona desert town called Flaggtrapp, especially when Donna, a sexy bartender, pays him some kindness. For a young man who has always been self-conscious of his excessively crooked teeth and his skinny body, attention from a woman like Donna goes right to his head.

The thing is, Donna is married to Travis, a former Marine who has never quite been the same since his time in Iraq. He used to be a well-known musician in the punk scene, but since he returned home, he'd much rather get wasted, cheat on his wife, and get into fights. But when he meets Colson, he feels kinship with a fellow musician, whose presence encourages his creativity and revitalizes his desire to perform—when he's reasonably sober.

Donna lets Colson know that her marriage no longer makes her happy, and she'd be receptive to starting something with Colson once Travis moves out. But despite getting some mixed messages from Donna, and discovering some troubling things about her past, he's willing to do whatever she wants—even help precipitate Travis' exiting her life. Colson is torn about betraying Travis, but the possibility of finally finding someone to be with is more powerful than anything else.

As Travis becomes increasingly more unhinged, and Donna becomes more demanding, Colson isn't sure where to turn or what to do, but his singular focus could have disastrous consequences for all.

In the words of Mrs. Potts, this is a tale as old as time—man wants woman, woman is married, woman convinces man to help her get unmarried, disaster ensues. I had hoped that Every Giant Becomes a Monster would provide a fresh twist on this story, but for the most part this book unfolded much as I expected it to. I was disappointed by that, honestly, because I thought Colson's character was very interesting and I saw a lot of potential there, but I guess like most troubled 19-year-old men, he was focused on one thing only.

As the story unfolded, the book became more and more of a downer. And at the very end, some information about Colson comes to light that really would have been more interesting to know earlier on, and perhaps Collins Kelly could have done something with it. I found that frustrating, although I guess it was conveying the message that we can't always blame our circumstances for the trouble we find ourselves in.

I think Kelly is a writer with some promise, and his take on the underground music scene was really interesting, but ultimately, this book didn't really work for me.

NetGalley and Rosethorn provided me an advance copy of the book in exchange for an unbiased review. Thanks for making this available!

Book Review: "The Signal Flame" by Andrew Krivak

Well, looks like I've read my first truly great novel of 2017! It took two books last year, it's taken seven this year, but clearly it was worth the wait. Bleak yet hopeful, poignant, and powerful, The Signal Flame is beautifully written and draws you into its story fairly quickly.

In early 1972 in Northeastern Pennsylvania's Endless Mountains, Jozef Vinich, the patriarch of a small family, is laid to rest. The former owner of the town mill, Jozef was known not only for his rags-to-riches story, immigrating from the Austro-Hungarian part of Europe after World War I to make a life for himself, and eventually his family, but he is also known for his strong work ethic, as well as his sense of humor. He is mourned by many in the community, including his priest, who was also his best friend, but especially his daughter Hannah and his grandson Bo Konar, who bought the mill from Jozef a number of years ago.

Jozef, Hannah, and Bo all lived together, as the life of the Konar family wasn't quite a happy one. Hannah's husband, Bexhet (Becks), emigrated from Hungary to fight with the Americans during World War II, but deserted and spent time in prison. He never got over what he saw during the war, and when he returned home he was changed, until his sudden death in a hunting accident on the family land. Apart from one semester away for college, Bo has spent his lifetime working the mill, but his younger brother Sam was always the one who wanted something different, so he enlisted in the military, and on his second tour of duty in Vietnam, went missing.

As bleak as I've made the book sound, and there are moments of tragedy and moments of loss, this is equally a book about finding hope where you've believed there was none, of realizing that there is a time to let go of the grief and anger you feel, and of allowing yourself a chance at happiness. This is a book about family, about the legacies of land and emotion and anger that we bequeath to our children, and about the simple joys of nature, the smell of lumber, the sounds of wildlife.

In another author's hands this book could be maudlin, or the simplicity of its story could be boring. But in Andrew Krivak's hands, this book is almost poetic, in its use of language and its evocative imagery, in the characters he has created. Here's just one example of the beauty of his storytelling:

And when they were finished, they sat at the garden table in the twilight and watched the coals of the fire pulse red and an ashen silver without flame, sat like sated guests at their own feast, silent once again and not wondering what came next, for all that they had strived for in the course of the day lay in the past, and what anxiety each carried lay, at least for the moment, in the past as well.

This is a special book which I can't get out of my mind. I know that when I begin thinking of the best books I read in 2017, this will undoubtedly be one of them.

NetGalley and Scribner provided me an advance copy of the book in exchange for an unbiased review. Thanks for making this available!

Book Review: "The Weight of This World" by David Joy

"In that way, this day was no different from any day that had come before, and that was part of what kept Aiden up at night: the cyclical nature of it all. For his entire life everything had been a continuous whirling of disappointment, the circle seeming to tighten and become just a little more certain with each passing year."

Aiden McCall has known nothing other than his small North Carolina town, and virtually known nothing other than being poor his entire life. Orphaned at a young age, he fended for himself until his best friend, Thad Broom, convinced his mother and her boyfriend to let Aiden stay with them. Aiden and Thad have been inseparable ever since, except for when Thad joined the military and went to Afghanistan.

With the economy in tatters, there is very little for Aiden and Thad to do in order to make money, so they resort to stripping foreclosed houses of wiring and other supplies, and much to Aiden's chagrin, they use most of their earnings to buy drugs. (He dreams of getting out of their town and heading somewhere slightly larger, where there was more opportunity.) Thad returned from Afghanistan with a significant back injury, and his time in the military left him changed emotionally as well, unable to shake the things he saw and did which continue to haunt him, and drugs provide him the only escape.

"Whether a man was born one way or another, he wound up doing things that haunted him the rest of life. People made mistakes that couldn't be fixed...When it all boiled down to it, the only difference between one person and another was whether there was someone to jump in and keep you from drowning."

One night, everything changes. Thad and Aiden's drug dealer accidentally dies in front of them, which leaves them with a significant amount of crystal meth, not to mention weapons and money. The two react in different ways—Aiden tries figuring out how to sell what they're able to take, while Thad loses control and connects with a troubled trio of people, to whom he reveals their secrets. That split-second decision sends Thad and Aiden down a path with dangerous consequences, and both will be tested physically and emotionally, pushed to the brink of survival.

I felt a pervading sense of doom, danger, and bleakness from the opening pages of this book. Even though Aiden and Thad made questionable—and in some cases, troubling—decisions at times in their lives, I still felt like their upbringing left them at a disadvantage from which it was nearly insurmountable to recover.

Can the path of our lives be changed by our actions, or is it predetermined? Does not having a loving family put you at a disadvantage? David Joy explores the answers to those questions, although he makes no real excuses for his characters. This is a dark book, although there are glimmers of hope (in an interesting way), but Joy's storytelling keeps you from getting utterly depressed. His use of imagery is tremendous as well; you can hear the noises and see the sights he describes.

This is the first of Joy's books I've read, and I'm definitely going to read his debut novel, Where All Light Tends to Go, which I've also heard is terrific. This isn't the happiest of books, but the characters he has created and the story he unfurls hooks you so you need to know what happens. Moving and evocative.

NetGalley and PENGUIN GROUP Putnam provided me an advance copy of the book in exchange for an unbiased review. Thanks for making this available!