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    Reading Wednesday

    Book Review Love and Other Consolation Prizes by Jamie Ford

    May 14, 2025
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    Jamie Ford’s first novel The Hotel at the Corner of Bitter and Sweet was a wildly successful novel. Based on the Japanese experience during WWII and set in Seattle. This novel I am reviewing today, is also based in Seattle. It conjures so many memories for me growing up in the Pacific Northwest. Here is my Book Review Love and Other Consolation Prizes by Jamie Ford.

    Jamie Ford

    Wait. What? I went to Ford’s bio when writing this book review. And I learned he actually grew up in the town I currently reside – Port Orchard Washington. I was totally taken off-guard;

    “Jamie Ford was born on July 9, 1968, in Eureka, California, but grew up in Ashland, Oregon, and Port Orchard and Seattle, Washington. His father, a Seattle native, is of Chinese ancestry, while Ford’s mother is of European descent.”

    Okay, interesting little tidbit that makes this book even more personal. If you liked The Hotel At the Corner of Bitter and Sweet, I am sure you will enjoy Ford’s book Love and Other Consolation Prizes.

    Worlds Fair

    Love and Other Consolation Prizes explores the Asian experience in Seattle, beginning with the Great Alaska Yukon Exposition of 1909. The Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition (AYPE), was held in Seattle from June 1 to October 16, 1909. It followed on the heels of the 1905 Lewis and Clark Exposition in Portland, Oregon.

    It’s here we meet young Ernest. He has already had a treacherous journey to the United States, lucky to still be alive. Taken under the wing of an evangelical women, Ernest is placed in a christian school. Then without his knowledge he is used as a “prize” in a raffle. Promoted as “a healthy boy to a good home” at the AYPE. The winning raffle ticket goes to a local well-known “madam” of a high class Seattle brothel.

    Love

    Ernest is very happy with his new position as a houseboy at the brothel. He feels at home for the first time in his life. He befriends the Madams daughter Maisie and “working girl” Fahn and finds himself in love with both girls.

    Consolation Prizes

    In 1962 the Seattle World’s Fair is opening and Ernest is now an old man. He lives in a tiny apartment alone. His wife lives with his daughter who cares for her ailing mother with dementia. Ernest carries secrets from his childhood he has never shared with anyon. Secrets that bubble to the surface with the opening of the worlds fair.

    When his journalist daughter begins to ask questions for a news story, Ernest is thrown back in time. Confliced by memories of a remarkable life, a remarkable love, and a consolation prize unimaginable. Ernest must face his personal Love and Other Consolation Prizes.

    Love and Other Consolation Prizes

    This is an easy read full of emotion that looks at the Asian immigrant experience in the Seattle area. I enjoyed this book very much and should be a read by anyone growing up in Seattle.

    *****Five stars for Love and Other Consolation Prizes by Jamie Ford.

    See last week’s Book Review The Measure by Nikki Erlick. Thanks for reading my book review Love and Other Consolation Prizes by Jamie Ford.

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    Reading Wednesday

    Book Review The Measure by Nikki Erlick

    May 7, 2025
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    Surprising. A unique plot that brings the reader intimately into the lives of eight people, and the decisions each make that defines the measure of life. Here is my book review The Measure by Nikki Erlick.

    An Ordinary Morning

    It’s an ordinary morning like any other. Or is it? Around the world, whether you live in a high rise apartment, a slum dwelling, or a sailboat, each person on earth wakes to the same thing. A box. Some people will open the box. Some people never will. But inside the box is a piece of string…the measure of ones life.

    Worldwide

    Governments and scientists analyze the strings while society goes into a confused and frightened state of awareness. What can it mean? Do you want to know? Do you really want to know how long you will live? What would you do differently if you knew the answer to this question?

    The Measure

    Erlick’s debut novel looks at how society as a whole, and individuals, deal with a lifeline knowledge. The novel explores families, couples, politics and friendship and how these relationships change when you possess a knowledge never imagined before.

    I enjoyed this story despite it’s lack of reality. What it brings is a magical essence to how people view their lives and the value each person puts on relationships and our individual existence. Both sad and uplifting The Measure is a perfect read for the times we are living in.

    Book Review The Measure by Nikki Erlick

    *****Five Stars for The Measure by Nikki Erlick. Thank you for reading my Book Review The Measure by Nikki Erlick. Read last week’s book review Next Year in Havanna by Chanel Cleeton.

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    Reading Wednesday

    Book Review Saving Ellen by Maura Casey

    April 16, 2025
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    The coming of age story is a frequent plot line in many novels. But this story is not fiction. Saving Ellen is a memoir of a large Irish family, growing up in the sixties and dealing with terminal illness. Here is my book review Saving Ellen by Maura Casey.

    Buffalo New York

    As adults, we all look back on our childhood from a vantage point unimagined while we were living it. Maura Casey takes advantage of her long career as a journalist and editorial writer for the New York Times to eloquently describe the tumultuous years of her own growing up, using humor and brutal honesty as she looks back.

    A working-class Irish family in the 60’s and 70’s in Buffalo New York is not so hard to imagine for most of us. But the chaos this family lived through, due to terminal illness of one of their own, might be. And if you have struggled with caring for a family member who is chronically ill, you will identify closely with this family.

    Sisters

    Saving Ellen presents Maura’s memories of her childhood, and her close relationship with her older irrepressible sister Ellen. When Ellen is diagnosed with kidney disease, the entire family and their world will begin to revolve around “saving Ellen”.

    Though Maura realizes the importance of focusing on Ellen’s illness and recovery, she finds herself with her own quiet youthful struggles and nowhere to turn. She internalizes things that are happening to her (including a sexual assault) in an effort to not cause the family more angst. She wants her beloved sister to get well, but also resents the mayhem Ellen’s health has created for the family.

    Family

    Maura’s father is a well known philanderer and drunk, while her mother is the champion for Ellen and the family. Focused and determined, Maura’s mother will risk her own long-term health to save Ellen by donating a kidney during a time when this procedure was dangerous and uncommon.

    Tumultuous

    In an already tumultuous time period in America, this family lives through a family crisis, held together by their love and determination for each other – and a smart, strong and determined mother. Tragic and uplifting, with moments of humor and gratitude – Saving Ellen is a beautiful story of family ties.

    ****Four stars for Saving Ellen by Maura Casey. Thank you for reading my book review Saving Ellen by Maura Casey. See last week’s book review Nightwatch by Jayne Ann Philips.

    I received this book, Saving Ellen by Maura Casey, gratis from Books Forward.

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    Reading Wednesday

    Book Review Night Watch by Jayne Anne Phillips

    April 9, 2025
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    Night Watch is a story of the chaotic aftermath of the Civil War. The novel won the 2024 Pulitzer Prize for Literature. Published in 2023 it is a work of historical fiction. Here is my book review Night Watch by Jayne Anne Phillips.

    Coming of Age

    This is another coming of age story. We meet 12 year-old ConaLee who tends to all aspects of her family in the rural cabin post Civil War. ConaLee cares for her sick mother and three baby siblings as well as her abusive and tyrannical “Papa”. ConaLee does not remember the time before the war, or when her mother was not ill.

    Mental Illness

    This novel looks at how trauma, abuse and grief can result in depression and mental illness. It explores through the eyes of ConaLee what life inside the Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum might have been like.

    Memory Loss

    “Papa” drops ConaLee and Eliza at the door of the Asylum and drives off leaving them abandoned. The pair will be met by the Night Watch, a man named O’Shea. He wears an eye patch and has a serious head injury from The War. Unknown to ConaLee, he is tied to her and her mother in a very deep and surprising way. Can Eliza come out of her deep depression? Can O’Shea retrieve his lost memories? And can this happen in time for all to reconcile the past, the war and find a way forward?

    Book Review Night Watch by Jayne Anne Phillips

    There are some wicked characters in this book. Phillips has a great writing style to describe the horrors of war and the chaos that followed. There are also some endearing characters in this book, particularly the strong-willed and determined ConaLee. My criticism of the book is that there are several coincidences the move the plot forward. I found those coincidences a bit far-fetched. But the novel is a beautiful chronicle of surviving when all seems to be lost.

    ****Four stars for Night Watch by Jayne Anne Phillips.

    Thank you for reading my book review Night Watch by Janye Anne Phillips. See last week’s book review Long Island by Colm Toibin.

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    Reading Wednesday

    Book Review Go As A River by Shelley Read

    March 26, 2025
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    This is a beautiful coming of age story set in the high mountains of Colorado post WWII. Here is my book review Go As A River by Shelley Read

    Love

    Love grows in many ways; between people, for the land, for family, for nature, for a way of life. At the heart of this story is love.

    Read introduces us to Victoria -Torie- a 17 year old girl. Following the death of her mother Torie is thrust into the role of running the household on her family’s peach farm in rural Iola Colorado. There is no way you can read this book and not fall in love with the protagonist Victoria, with her naivety, optimism and unbridled love for so many things.

    Wil

    Torie will meet Wil one random day on the street corner, and her life will be changed forever. Their short but intense love story will redirect Victoria’s life and the lives of her remaining family; father and brother. When Torie looses Wil, she will re chart her life with the resolution and will of an entire army on her solo journey into the future.

    Iola

    Based on events surrounding the real-life town of Iola Colorado, and the flooding and destruction of the town when a dam was built on the river in the 1960’s. Go As A River uses this event to showcase the determination and strength of one woman in the face of loss of everything she has ever loved.

    Book Review Go As A River by Shelley Read

    *****Five stars for Go As A River. Thank you for reading my book review Go As a River by Shelley Read.

    See last week’s book review The Briar Club by Kate Quinn.

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    Go As A River by Shelley Read
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    Reading Wednesday

    Book Review The Briar Club by Kate Quinn

    March 19, 2025
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    I have read A LOT of Kate Quinn books.  I love her strong female characters who often are factual women from history.  I loved The Huntress and The Rose Code and others.  So I was excited for another story.  Here is my book review The Briar Club by Kate Quinn.

    Audible

    I listened to this book on Audible, as I have some of Quinn’s other novels.  Her books are always read by Saskia Maarleveld, who I think is excellent.  But despite how much I have loved past books, this one fell short for me.

    Quinn takes us the 1950’s, a women’s boarding house in Washington DC.  A collection of interesting and diverse characters living in the house.  When the story begins, we find the scene of a murder.  Is it one of the women? But which one?

    Whodunit?

    The book then jumps to each of the diverse group of women and we learn their back stories;

    Secretive Grace – who spearheads a weekly gathering for the women; proper English born Flis waiting for the return of her husband; Nora who loathes her family and get’s tangled up with a local gangster;  baseball star Beatrice recovering from an injury and figuring out what is next for her; and Arlene who everybody hates because of her sugar coated exterior and venomous ways.

    Who might have killed someone is the question throughout the book…and who is the victim?  All will be told in the end, with lots of twists and turns throughout.

    Definitely not my favorite Kate Quinn but a good read nonetheless.  ***Three stars for The Briar Club by Kate Quinn. 

    Thank you for reading my book review The Briar Club by Kate Quinn.  See last week’s book review Boy With Wings by Mark Mustian.

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    Reading Wednesday

    Book Review Boy With Wings by Mark Mustian

    March 12, 2025
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    This book was introduced to me by Jackie Karnath with Books Forward. I have been lucky to receive several books in the past from Jackie, and this one might be my favorite. A beautifiul, touching, emotional story of what it means to be different. Here is my book review Boy with Wings by Mark Mustian.

    Publish Date March 15, 2025

    I held this review until publish week for this remarkable novel by Mark Mustian. Boy with Wings publishes March 15th. Mustian is known for his international best seller The Gendarme. After reading Boy with Wings I will definitely now read Mustian’s other work.

    Freak

    This is a story about an unlikely hero. Just a boy. A boy born with an abnormality to a single mother in the south in the early part of the 20th century. When anyone who was not white or “normal” was dehumanized, hunted, condemned and chastized. Johnny Cruel lives this life.

    From birth Johnny is called a devil child, due to an unusual growth on his back that looks like wings. His mother tries to protect him best she can, even going so far as to fake his death before running away with him. But she dies and leaves little Johnny alone and frieghtened.

    Mama Lo will try to help him and love him, but as a black women in the south she has little influence. Eventually Johnny will be sold to a freak show, where he will live for many years, amongst the other freaks and oddities. He will grow to manhood, find love, and lose it all.

    Hiding

    Johnny spends his life hiding his “wings”, trying to hold down a job, and always running from a strange one-armed man who won’t let him be. Is this man the father Johnny has never met?

    Despite his own problems Johnny attempts to save a young black man who is about to be lynched. This will set in motion a series of incidents that will, eventually bring Johnny face to face with his real father…a powerful man who wants Johnny dead.

    Captivating

    I was glued to this book and could not put it down. I loved all the characters, especially Johnny. Mustian has a delicious writing style and I embraced every beautiful word. So many characters pass through Johnny’s life, each well developed and believable.

    Book Review Boy With Wings by Mark Mustian

    This is one of the best books I’ve read this year. Masterful storytelling with true emotion and fraility. A tale of human nature and the desire to be accepted and loved, and the hard truths of how difficult that can be.

    *****Five stars for Boy with Wings by Mark Mustian. Definitely get your hands on this book.

    Thank you for reading my book review Boy with Wings by Mark Mustian. See last week’s book review The Extraordinary Life of Sam Hell.

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