Hello Beautiful

I understood that this book was intended to pay homage to Little Women. And it kinda does - there are four sisters who are very close and one does die. There is a male who disrupts the equilibrium of their relationship. There is a father who adores them but it is his hapless nature that forces their rigidly Catholic mother to demand that each one go to college to be self supporting. When one of them becomes pregnant with no father in sight and is determined to keep the child - well it all starts to drift far from Little Women at some point. It is a story of family and how it can become dysfunctional - although not all family members or readers would agree on where the dysfunction lies. It came highly recommended and led to a good book group discussion about family in general and Louisa May Alcott in particular but most of the group considered it an elevated kind of chick lit.

A Thousand Ships by Natalie Haynes

 First of all, kudos to anyone who can keep the characters in Greek mythology straight! All those names made the reading of this book a little clumsy until I got comfortable with the fact that I didn't really need to keep them all correct genealogically to understand their anger, jealousy, revenge, etc.  This is Homer's Illiad and Odyssey from the women's perspective. I particularly enjoyed the snarky voice of Penelope (abandoned wife of Odysseus).  The absurdity of war, men's senseless need for "victory", the god/mortal (read fate/freewill) struggle, the profound mother/child connection - all here in more readable prose than Homer for sure. The Afterward is an entire curse in Greek Literature and history. Kudos to you if you read that as well. 

Hell of a Book by Jason Mott

 I had to read this book twice to really appreciate the writing since I was so caught up in the story. A never named, brilliant, but often hapless black author is on a book tour to promote his novel, Hell of a Book. Believed to be plagued by an overactive imagination, he struggles to account for the appearance of a young boy - so black he is called Soot - beside him in cab rides, in his hotel room, out of nowhere. Meanwhile, the lead story in the news of the day involves the death of a young black male - one of many victims of the senseless racist nature of today's society. How are these three individuals connected? Is it important that we know? Sometimes funny, sometimes intimate, it is mostly a meditation on what it means to be black and male in America. In an interview, Mott indicated that he kept waiting for someone to write the kind of book he thought needed to be written about the topic. When no one did, he decided to write a hell of a book.

The Secret Book of Flora Lea by Patti Callahan Henry

 Hazel and Flora Lea are just two of the many children sent into the English countryside to escape the London Blitz in WWII. As the older sister, Hazel takes her job of protector seriously but at the same time entertains Flora Lea with the imaginary world of Whisperwood where they can be heroes in the adventures Hazel creates. And then Flora Lea disappears. Believed to be drowned in the nearby Thames which they often referred to as a river of stars in their stories, Hazel is devastated. Twenty years later Hazel comes across a beautifully illustrated book entitled Whisperwood and the River of Stars. Believing this to be too much of a coincidence, Hazel embarks on a journey to see if her long lost sister could in fact be alive.  There are quirky characters and a bit of a surprise in the end but mostly a warm, hopeful read.

The First Ladies by Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray

 This is the story of the friendship between Eleanor Roosevelt, who would eventually be the First Lady of the USA, and Mary McLeod Bethune, whom Eleanor names as the First Lady of the Struggle.  They met in 1927 at a formal luncheon hosted by Franklin Roosevelt's mother. When many of the white women in the room refused to sit down with Mrs. Bethune, Eleanor is awakened to the realities of being black in America. This story of their friendship continues through 1945 following President Roosevelt's death and the beginning of Dr. Bethune's career as special consultant to the US delegates preparing to sign into existence the United Nations. In between we see their very public friendship demanding a hard look at the absurdity of segregation, encouraging logical discourse to move the needle on inclusion to various New Deal programs as well as the military, and promoting integration at the highest level of government hoping to shine a light on the need of change everywhere. But it is also about two best friends sharing the hardest parts of their lives as they try to correct some of the worst of American social policy.  It is historical FICTION so Benedict and Murray draw from their own intense conversations to give the conversations of these two very important women true voices. They were names I knew a little about from my pathetic knowledge of history but names that deserve so much more credit for our move toward a truly inclusive society.

The Spectacular by Fiona Davis

 As someone who loves New York City, I anxiously await every Davis novel. This one celebrates Radio City Music Hall and the Rockettes.  In 1956, Marion Brooks is passionate about dance but headed for a conventional marriage. On a lark she auditions for the Rockettes and is selected. But NYC is in a turmoil because of the Big Apple Bomber and the police inability to find him. Enter psychologist Dr. Peter Griggs who is among the first to suggest that certain clues can lead to the kind of criminal profiling that might solve this crime. Thirty-six years later, Marion returns to the theater for a celebration of the Rockettes' 60th birthday and so much more. A wonderful mash of history and mystery.

Brunelleschi's Dome by Ross King

 This sat on my shelf for years but watching The Medici series on Netflix finally inspired me to read it.  I am sure that King simplified the math and engineering, which is the book's focus, but still it mystifies me that with so few tools such magnificent architecture was possible. AND why now, with access to machinery even the genius Brunelleschi couldn't imagine, we build such sterile boxes (yeah I know energy, efficiency, inability to terrorize the masses to pay for things...).  This is a great slice of Renaissance history that celebrates the best minds of the time and gives hope that intelligence is still a human quality.

I have Some Questions for You by Rebecca Makkai

 In1995 Bodie Kane, graduated from Granby, a New Hampshire boarding school,  defiant, isolated, resentful of the life that landed her there. It is also the year her roommate was found dead in the school swimming pool and Omar, the Black athletic director was found guilty of her murder.   In 2018, journalist Bodie returns to Granby to teach a class in podcasting. Her own podcast is about women in film - mostly about what the male dominated Hollywood culture required of women to succeed in film. As those early Granby memories return, she becomes convinced that Omar did not commit the murder. Some of her students agree and a class project becomes a tangled mystery.  But Bodie brings so much more to the conversation - the MeToo movement, the confusion of cancel culture dynamics, how race stands in the way of truth. The "you" in the title is another teacher Bodie believes may hold the key to justice.  But maybe for the big injustices in the world, justice is hard to find.

The Covenant of Water by Abraham Verghese

 715 pages - an epic tale of 3 generations. In1900 a 12 year girl is sent to be the bride of a 44 year old widower with a young son. Her family is one of the St Thomas Christians who live in Kerala, a state on the southwestern coast of India.  They will grow to love each other and create the next generation. The cloud that hangs over each generation is the Condition - an unexplained family trait that leads to death by drowning. Each generation will suffer many great tragedies but always faith, family and the power of medicine allow them to prevail. Colonialism, the caste system, and India's independence are all shared as incentives for change.  Verghese's characters are so rich, you ache and rejoice with them. Of particular interest are the strong women that emerge from a culture which appears to require submission but relies on female strength and wisdom. I should have anticipated the ending but thankfully did not. I guess if you are only going to write one novel every 10 years, you ought to make it 715 pages worthy.

Other Birds by Sarah Addison Allen

 The Dellawisp Apartments are almost hidden on Mallow Island off the coast of South Carolina. Five people, three ghosts and many secrets live there.  The arrival of Zoey to live in the apartment left to her by a mother who died when Zoey was very young and the mysterious death of one of the residents set everyone and everything on a new path to the truth in all their lives. Zoey is eighteen - lively, optimistic and chatters constantly to her best friend - an invisible bird named Pigeon. This is not a ghost story but the atmosphere in the apartment complex hangs heavy with magical realism. Intriguing characters, more than a few surprises and only 285 pages. What's not to like!

The Marriage Portrait by Maggie O'Farrell

 If you revel in every minute detail of 16th century deMedici court intrigue, this is your book. For me, it would have made a better short story. The main character is Lucrezia - 15 year old daughter of Cosimo. She is forced to marry a man betrothed to her older sister following the sister's death. There is a lot of cruel sex, deception, and weird imagery involving tigers. Lucretia's independent thinking does nothing but aggravate the situation. There is a lot of internal dialog, that I found repetitive. Maybe I just wasn't in the mood. Again, if you love the deMedici intrigue, this is right up your alley - although Farrell would never  state anything so simply.

Demon Copperfield by Barbara Kingsolver

 The style of this book harkens back to Kingsolver's early novels - quirky characters, witty dialog, dark humor, brilliant turn of phrase.  Although this is supposed to be a riff on David Copperfield, she takes on many of today's contemporary ills - the social welfare system, industrial tyranny, drugs - even football.  Our narrator is cheeky Demon - abused by the foster care system, Appalachian loser stamped on his forehead, teased by good intentions of the adults around him who do not get it, gifted and talented when it doesn't count for nothin'.  Spoiler alert - it all works out in the end which I only share because knowing that (he is, after all, the narrator) is the only thing that kept me reading through the darkest parts of his story. This will be the book club book of the year once it comes out in paperback - but worth the price of the hardback.

Small Things like These by Claire Keegan

This is a short novella which I think raises some very big questions.
Bill Furlong delivers coal in a small Irish town.  It is 1985 and the Magdelene Laundry system, cruelly run by the Catholic Church, still exists for young women .  Bill is a good man.  Loving to his wife and five children. Responsible to the workers he employs.  A man of faith.  One day, while delivering coal to St. Margarets Home, he encounters a young woman who is hiding in the coal chute.  She is cold and afraid. She claims it's a game played by the girls in the home.  It's not his problem.  When it happens again, he becomes concerned.  Does he leave her there? Is something bad happening? How complicit would he be, if he does not get involved? It's not anything he has done, and interfering might affect his business and eventually his ability to care for his family. Are there decision points in our lives that move us from being good to doing good?  Are we required to act on them to continue seeing ourselves as good people.  Things to think about.

Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro

 Klara is an Artificial Friend - a human like robot assigned to help her real child Josie get through the difficult years from 14 to college.  Josie is "lifted" - a process available to the privileged members of society to give them advantages in life.  Josie's best friend Rick is not among the privileged but he has been loyal to her through all of her vague, unspecified illnesses.  Klara learns through observation and believes the sun to be a source of power that can help all of them.  But what is she really? She is purchased in a shop where she converses with other AFs.  She is to act like a friend but is compared to a vacuum cleaner.  The book is an interesting exploration into the range of AI possibilities in a time that seems not so far in the future.  There is also the question of what is it about being human that makes us different from machines that exhibit intelligence.  What is the role of memory? of history? They all play out in the relationship between Klara and humans around her.  Interesting? Foreboding? Inevitable?

West with Giraffes by Lynda Rutledge

 At the age of 105, Woody Nickel decides to tell his story of a trip he took in 1938 with a pair of giraffes.  The giraffes had survived a storm on their journey by sea from Africa.  Riley Jones was hired to get them across the country to the San Diego zoo.  Woody, then 17, had hit a serious rough patch in his life and by telling just a few small lies (like sure I can drive a truck) is hired to help Riley.  Woody loved the giraffes and in the magical way that animals can tell good from bad people, they surrendered to his care.  In 1938 there  were not many ways to get from the east to west coast and there was a lot of nothing or dangerous something along the way.  They encountered both good and bad, much of it recorded by reporter Augusta (Red) Lowe who served as a worthy partner in discussions about life, choices, and giraffes.  It is quite the story and the best part is that much of it is true!

The Ride of Her Life by Elizabeth Letts

 "The true Story of a Woman, Her Horse, and Their Last-Chance Journey Across America"

In 1954, 62 year old Annie Wilkins is given 2 to 4 years to live if she lives a quiet life - not so easy to do as a struggling farmer in Mynott, Maine.  Instead she decides to act on her dream of seeing the Pacific Ocean before she dies.  With no money, she buys an older horse named Tarzen, packs a few things and heads west - well, south then west - sort of.  Riding with her is her small dog, Depeche Toi (aka Hurry Up).  Some bad but mostly good things happen on the way.  It is an interesting view into a time when people were less afraid to welcome a stranger particularly after she becomes a news worthy story. Heart warming along the way but not the ending I expected.