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book review

    Reading Wednesday

    Book Review The Music of Bees by Eileen Garvin

    Reading Wednesday

    Eileen Garvins debut novel captivated me from the very first page. Here is my book review The Music of Bees by Eileen Garvin.

    Life is a rollercoaster even during the best of times. But during the worst of times, it often seems like the hits just keep coming. And that is the case for the three main characters in this beautiful and uplifting novel.

    First we meet Alice, a beekeeper in Hood River Oregon prone to panic attacks. She has endured the loss of her husband, her parents and the orchard she grew up on. She is a loaner who finds interacting with people stressful, and so has created “Alice Island” where she lives a nearly solitary beekeeper life. That is until the day she hits a boy in a wheelchair with her truck.

    Here we meet Jake. A teenage paraplegic, whose bad decision showing off for a girl has put him in a wheelchair for life. His future is bleak as he navigates being stuck in the chair, in his childhood home with his loving but timid mom and bully father, and in a life with few options. That is until Alice nearly runs him over with her truck.

    Then we meet Harry. A twenty-something year old, recently out of jail for playing a role in a crazy prank. Harry is a drift and comes to Hood River to live with his elderly and poverty stricken uncle in a dilapidated trailer in the woods. That is until the uncle passes away and Harry takes a job helping with the bees.

    These three become unlikely friends, and even family, as they each navigate their individual grief and loneliness, together overcoming adversity, harassment, fear, and broken hearts.

    It’s a beautiful story that includes fascinating insight into beekeeping as well as potential environmental chemical issues in today’s society. A great debut novel by local Oregon author. I hope you enjoyed my book review The Music of Bees by Eileen Garvin.

    *****Five Stars for The Music of Bees by Eileen Garvin

    Learn more about beekeeping here.

    See last weeks review of Where the Forest Meets the Stars

    My current read America’s First Daughter

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    Reading Wednesday

    Book Review Where the Forest Meets the Stars by Glendy Vanderah

    Reading Wednesday

    In her debut novel, Vanderah creates a story of life’s most difficult trials, many unimaginable to most of us. But her characters and their difficulties will pull the reader into this story, even when it sometimes feels raw and violent and a bit unbelievable. Here is my book review Where the Forest Meets the Stars by Glendy Vanderah.

    Jo Teale is an ornithologist trying to finish her Phd after taking two years off to deal with both the death of her mother and her own breast cancer. Determined to get back on track to what she loves after such a heart wrenching couple of years, JoAnna moves to a cabin in the woods to study nesting birds in rural Illinois.

    The peaceful, idyllic life, combined with hard work, is just the therapy Jo needs, until a tiny pajama clad and barefoot little girl shows up claiming to be from another planet. She calls herself Ursa.

    Jo can’t shake the little girl, who comes back each day, and so she begins to research missing children, calls the sheriff and enlists the help of her reclusive and mysterious neighbor Gabe. But slowly Gabe and Jo begin to realize what a special child Ursa is, brilliant in fact, and the three begin to live happily together after a few weeks… neglecting the missing child websites.

    Until a very violent act, dangerous perpetrators and the truth catch up with Ursa and her newly adopted friends. Who will survive the battery of gunfire and can this story possibly have a happy ending? I hope you enjoyed by book review Where the Forest Meets the Stars by Glendy Vanderah.

    ****Four stars for Where the Forest Meets the Stars by Glendy Vanderah

    Read last week’s review of The Lions of Fifth Avenue

    My current read The Music of Bees

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    Reading Wednesday

    Book Review The Lions of Fifth Avenue by Fiona Davis

    Reading Wednesday

    My second time reading Fiona Davis. Several years ago I read The Dollhouse, like The Lions of Fifth Avenue a historical novel based in New York City. The Lions of Fifth Avenue also is similar in that it runs two parallel timelines; New York in 1913 and New York in 1993. Here is my book review The Lions of Fifth Avenue by Fiona Davis.

    Two protagonists share the spotlight in this novel. Laura Lyon, wife of the New York Public Library superintendent in 1913, and Sadie Donovan, her granddaughter. Sadie is a curator at the New York Public Library in 1993.

    Sadie knows little about her grandmother, only that later in her life she became a well-known writer whose works have recently come back into fashion. Much of Laura’s life has been hidden from Sadie and she doesn’t know that Laura was part of a radical, all female club in Greenwich Village – a place for women’s rights, suffrage, birth control and lesbians. A place where women felt comfortable to be themselves – and Laura found her purpose and love of her life.

    When rare books begin disappearing from the high-security research library, Sadie becomes a suspect and she has to work fast to clear her name. With the help of a local detective, Sadie will embark on a dangerous game of cat and mouse to save the library, her reputation and learn the long hidden truth and tragedy of her own family tree. I hope you enjoyed my book review The Lions of Fifth Avenue by Fiona Davis.

    ****Four stars for The Lions of Fifth Avenue by Fiona Davis

    Read last week’s review of Hamnet

    My current read The Wife Upstairs

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    Reading Wednesday

    Book Review West with Giraffes by Lynda Rutledge

    Reading Wednesday

    I write a lot of book reviews, and tend to not write reviews for books I don’t like. This book I liked…inspirational at a time when I needed some feel good reading. Here is my book review West with Giraffes by Lynda Rutledge.

    Rutledge, an award winning freelance journalist, was inspired by newspaper articles from the 1930’s about two giraffes that caught the nations attention as they were transported across the USA. From this real life event, Rutledge built this fictional story.

    West with Giraffes finds young Woodrow Wilson Nickle lying in a gutter after a hurricane hits New Jersey. His unlikely survival continues a string of unlikely survival episodes in his young life…a story that will unfold as the plot develops. Woody maneuvers himself into being a driver to help “the old man” transport two giraffes as far as Memphis.

    The giraffes, affectionately known as the “darlings” may be the focus of this story, but the deeper story here is one of depression era survival, accepting ones past and finding ones future, life, death, love and coming of age. Isn’t this what all good books are made of?

    Moving two giraffes from New Jersey to San Diego by road in the 1930’s is no small undertaking, and during the 12 day odyssey Woody, the “old man” and Red, a female photographer who falls in with them, will encounter several adventures. Including several life and death situations. Thus Rutledge provides the reader with a heartfelt page turner.

    I enjoyed this book very much. I hope you enjoyed by book review West with Giraffes by Lynda Rutledge.

    ****Four stars for West with Giraffes by Lynda Rutledge

    Read last week’s review of Klara and the Sun

    My current read The Rose Code by Kate Quinn

    See this week’s top performing pin Nashville for First Timers here

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    Reading Wednesday

    Book Review Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro

    Reading Wednesday

    Once again the brilliance of Ishiguro unfolds in the pages of this strange but emotionally gripping book. Here is my book review Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro.

    Fans of Ishiguro will likely love his latest work, his first since winning the Nobel Prize for literature in 2017 for The Remains of the Day. However, Klara and the Sun feels more like his work Never Let Me Go, a near future look at our society and the sad and disturbing direction things may go. Fans of Handmaids Tale will enjoy Klara and the Sun.

    Ishiguro’s strength lies in his ability to create stories about the banality of everyday life, all while generating such strong emotional pull, sometimes horrific sadness and grief and often deep human connection. I really loved this book, but the reviews are mixed…

    It takes some time in reading this novel about Artificial Friends (robots) of the future to really understand what exactly is happening. We meet Klara, an Artificial Friend (AF) waiting in the AF store to be purchased. Klara is an unusual AF with a high level of intelligence and what almost appears to be empathy. Klara’s intense observational powers provide her a greater insight into her surroundings than the other AFs.

    Josie is the lucky girl who brings Klara home, and in the years ahead we learn about the present day society and the difference between “lifted” children and those who are not “lifted”. We learn about how artificial intelligence has taken over in many parts of society. And we meet a wealth of characters who surround both Josie and Klara and bring both sadness and hope to the story.

    I found the ending very moving…with Klara looking off into the distance and the sun shining on her.

    This book may not be for everyone, but once I got the rhythm of what was going on I really enjoyed it.

    *****Five stars for Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro.

    Read last week’s review of Red at the Bone

    My current read West with Giraffes

    See this week’s top performing pin – What is Diverticulosis

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    Reading Wednesday

    Book Review Red at the Bone by Jacqueline Woodson

    Reading Wednesday

    This was a beautiful story. A surprising little book that I read in one sitting. About three hours start to finish. Here is my book review Red at the Bone by Jacqueline Woodson.

    Woodson manages to create the most incredibly compelling story in less than two hundred pages; covering topics relevant to our time from class struggle, racism, ambition, prejudice, faith, honesty, selfishness, sexual desire and family. All tied up in a novel full of the most engaging, emotionally deep and eloquently developed characters.

    Red at the Bone tells a story of two families from different social classes, thrown together by an unexpected pregnancy. Woodson explores the broken dreams, shattered faiths and family expectations that are altered by the birth of a little girl. Red at the Bone probes the societal conjecture of family, motherhood, fatherhood and what it means when we don’t live up to those presuppositions.

    Woodson is not unknown to me, but this is the first book of hers I have read and I enjoyed it immensely. I high recommend Red at the Bone.

    I hope you enjoyed my book review Red at the Bone by Jacqueline Woodson.

    *****Five stars for Red at the Bone.

    Read last week’s review of The Beekepper of Allepo

    My current read Dark Tides by Philippa Gregory

    Reading Wednesday

    Book Review The Beekeeper of Aleppo by Christy Lefteri

    Wow. This is the word that comes to mind for this book. I loved this story. Here is my book review The Beekeeper of Aleppo by Christy Lefteri.

    On our recent road trip (3 months and 6000 miles) we listened to a total of five Audible books. We never listen to music when we drive, we always have an audio book in the works, in addition to whatever books we are reading on Kindle or in paperback. And this beautiful book, The Beekeeper of Aleppo was perfect for audio. Both for the exquisitely written word Lefteri created, and for the the brilliant performance by reader Art Malik.

    Books about war and war refugees are certainly not rare. But this story is incredibly rare as it deals with the plight of the worn torn region of Syria and the dangerous and nearly impossible lives of refugees trying to get to Europe.

    Lefteri’s own experience working for an NGO in Syria inspired her to write this novel. And though this is a work of fiction, the author uses real people she met to mold the main characters of this captivating story. The character develop is at the heart of this work…as the reader (or listener) becomes engrossed in the tragedy of innocent people, the unbearable grief of war and loss and the mostly hopeless flight out of war torn Syria.

    Following the beekeeper Nuri and his artist wife Afri who has lost her sight in a violent act, readers of this novel will feel each step, each catastrophe and each triumph of their journey. Lefteri shows the reader how the human mind searches for coping mechanisms during life’s most cruel and devastating misfortunes.

    Everyone should read this book to better understand the war in Syria. It is presented in such a sensitive and powerful way, a true masterpiece about being human.

    *****Five stars for The Beekeeper of Aleppo by Christy Lefteri.

    Read last week’s review of The Four Winds by Kristin Hannah

    My current read Tidelands by Philappa Gregory

    See this week’s top performing book review pin News of the World here

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