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Reading wednesday

    Reading Wednesday

    Book Review Stones From the River by Ursula Hegi

    This book is more than 25 years old…but I had never read it. I’m so glad I now have, it’s a very special story about a special girl. Here is my book review Stones From the River by Ursula Hegi.

    Trudi Montag is a dwarf, or in her native country of Germany a zwerg. Trudi grows up in a small German town, where most people accept her differences. But as Trudi matures life’s hard lessons bring Trudi into womanhood strong and special.

    Trudi’s mother dies when Trudi is just four. Although at the time, Trudi doesn’t understand the loss, she will learn in the years ahead about the mental illness that plagued her mother. Despite the loss Trudi is raised by her father and the village women who take her under their wing.

    But Germany in the 1940’s rears it’s ugly head and Trudi will need to learn to live through the atrocities of World War II, the loss of nearly everyone she loves, and the death of her innocence. Despite her own physical differences, Trudi learns to be greater in her mind. She is intelligent and creative and she will risk her own safety to save Jews in peril during the Nazi era.

    Trudi learns to use her ears to know everything going on in the village, and with this information she becomes an unlikely leader during a time where she can’t help question her country, her people and humanity.

    I’m sorry I waited so long to read this book. I enjoyed this character and this book very much. Thank you for reading my book review Stones From the River by Ursula Hegi.

    *****Five Stars for Stones From the River

    My current read is Hell of a Book by Jason Mott

    My Book Review The Promise by Damon Galgut is trending well on Pinterest this week See it here.

    Read last week’s book review Malibu Rising here.

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    Reading Wednesday

    Book Review Malibu Rising by Taylor Jenkins Reid

    Last year I read and loved Taylor Jenkins Reid’s novel Daisy Jones and the Six. Expecting another great story, I looked forward to her new novel Malibu Rising. Here is my book review Malibu Rising by Taylor Jenkins Reid.

    It’s the 1980’s, the decade of excess throughout the United States but especially in the posh, affluent, drug & sex, see & be seen community of Malibu California. How can anything possibly go wrong?

    This story follows the four Riva children during a tumultuous 24 hours when they throw their annual end of the summer party. An event that anyone who is anyone wants to be at – except for the Riva children themselves. Jenkins Reid weaves a tale of these four siblings, their troubled mother and their rock star father and how their collective and individual stories brings them to this night. A night that will go up in flames.

    Nina Riva, supermodel and surfer whose perseverance and dedication saved her siblings from foster care and despair. Professional Surfer Jay Riva who has just learned some news that will change his future. Jay’s brother Hud Riva, carrying around his own secret knowing tonight is the night he must come clean. And baby sister Kit Riva coming of age and realizing things about herself she alone must acknowledge.

    These four siblings and their estranged rock star father Mick Riva who essentially abandoned them a decade before will all find something and let go of something on this one night. At this one party. When life will go up in flames and a phoenix will rise for each of them.

    I liked this book but didn’t love it. I enjoyed Daisy Jones and the Six more. But Malibu Rising, especially if you grew up in the 80’s is a fun read, although somewhat predictable and a tiny bit too over the top.

    ***Three stars for Malibu Rising by Taylor Jenkins Reid

    I hope you enjoyed my book review Malibu Rising by Taylor Jenkins Reid.

    Read last week’s review The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova

    My current read Stones from the River by Ursula Hegi

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    Reading Wednesday

    Book Review The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova

    Such a surprising novel. Published more than 15 years ago, I’m not sure how I have never read this amazing novel. Here is my book review The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova.

    Non-Fiction or Fantasy?

    A sprawling novel that covers centuries, Kostova’s debut novel was a culmination of a decade of research. Her childhood fantasies about Dracula through stories from her father, compelled her to re-imagine the tales of Vlad the Impaler in this epic novel.

    My friend Merry suggested this book to me, she and I often enjoy the same novels and she was right about this one. Although this story is very long (more than 700 pages) I devoured it and couldn’t put it down.

    Drakulya (Vlad the Impaler)

    Kostova takes the reader through generations as we follow the story of Drakulya; Prince, Warrior, Legend and Vampire. Traversing the globe from the USA to Oxford, throughout Romania, Bulgaria, Croatia, Turkey and more. This tale follows the handful of characters who find themselves thrust into the duty of lives focused on killing that illusive vampire.

    Honestly if anyone else had told me about this book I probably would have thought it was what “B’ rated movies are made of. But I trust Merry’s review of a book, and so I plunged ahead with this novel. It’s brilliant. The tremendous research that Kostova did makes this fictional tale feel like non-fiction as you are engrossed in this decades long search for the illusive. Her characters are also incredible, and believable, even the character of Vlad himself…who at one point in the story I actually felt sorry for. Kostova is an excellent writing talent, adept at suspense and thrills while creating an exhilarating and intoxicating narrative that spans generations. I loved it.

    Surely I will go in search of more of Kostova’s work in the future. I hope you enjoyed my book review The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova.

    ***** Five Stars for The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova

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    Read last week’s review A Life Without Water by Marci Bold

    The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova
    Reading Wednesday

    Book Review A Life Without Water by Marci Bold

    How can two people who have endured the greatest of loss come together and forgive? Here is my book review A Life Without Water by Marci Bold.

    Carol has built a career, found the love of her life, lost the love of her life, all while putting the greatest tragedy behind her and never looking back.

    John has searched for Carol (Carolyn) for more than 20 years, ever since she walked out the door and never said good bye. Now John’s own health brings him back into her life as they both navigate what it means to forgive.

    Finding a path to forgiveness in a world where resentment, alcoholism, tragedy and hostility prevent these characters from seeing through their own grief to understand how to heal. John and Carol will embark on a USA road trip to sprinkle the ashes of their daughter, dead nearly 20 years, at the famous sites of America. In doing so they will learn so much about each other while coming to terms with the grief that has haunted them both.

    Although somewhat predictable, Bold’s writing conveys the emotional story and the sadness of these two characters, even while being a bit familiar and formularized in the vein of Jodi Picoult.

    Thank you for reading my book review A Life Without Water by Marci Bold.

    ***Three stars for A Life Without Water by Marci Bold.

    See last week’s review of Less

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    Reading Wednesday

    Book Review Less by Andrew Sean Greer

    This fun and funny 2017 Pulitzer Prize winning novel will surely put a smile on your face. Here is my book review Less by Andrew Sean Greer.

    Arthur Less, mildly successful author is less known for his own writing than for his long relationship with Pulitzer Prize wining poet Robert Brownburn. When Arthur’s latest book is rejected by his publisher, and Arthur’s latest love Freddy is marrying someone else, Less is lost.

    Greer creates a lovable character in Arthur Less, and a fun and sentimental story as Arthur Less begins a world literary tour, running from his own problems to numb the loss of the man he loves.

    From New York City to Mexico City to Berlin to Morocco to India, Greer brilliantly builds this novel; part love story, part travel story, Less is a look at navigating loss and midlife and coming out whole on the other side.

    The adventures of Arthur Less will have you laughing and crying and being hopeful for this man who just wants to be happy and be loved. Isn’t that what we all want? I hope you enjoyed my book review Less by Andrew Sean Greer.

    *****Five stars for Less by Andrew Sean Greer

    See last week’s book review The Promise by Damon Galgut

    see our top ten blogs of 2021 The Best of My Fab Fifties Life 2021

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    Reading Wednesday

    Book Review The Promise by Damon Galgut

    Booker Prize winner for 2021, here is my book review The Promise by Damon Galgut.

    How much weight do we put into a unmet promise? This is the premise of Galgut’s Booker Prize winning novel based in South Africa during apartheid.

    Three siblings struggle separately with their individual pasts as they lose touch with each other following the death of the matriarch of the family outside of Pretoria South Africa.

    Amor, the youngest, witnesses what she believes is a promise made by her father to her mother as her mother lays dying. Amor will spend the rest of her days feeling guilty about this unmet promise.

    Meanwhile, her elder siblings; sister Astrid, resentful to find being beautiful doesn’t always make you happy and Anton the eldest son, bitter about his lost potential. The three siblings drift apart only reuniting when funerals call them home.

    This powerful family saga will captivate you as both this family and South Africa navigate a tumultuous and changing ways. How will this family make their way in the new South Africa and can they find find hope in all their resentment for their family and all that has been lost?

    Thank you for reading my book review The Promise by Damon Galgut.

    ****Four stars for The Promise by Damon Galgut

    Read last week’s review The Lincoln Highway

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    Reading Wednesday

    Book Review The Lincoln Highway by Amor Towles

    I’ve been on a roll lately with some outstanding fictional reads. And if you are in need of a last minute gift for a reader on your list – go buy this book now! Here is my book review The Lincoln Highway by Amor Towles.

    Amor Towles

    I loved Amor Towles book A Gentleman In Moscow. So when I kept seeing his new novel The Lincoln Highway pop up on Oprah, The Today Show and the NY Times Bestseller list I knew I needed to read it. It’s nothing like Gentleman in Moscow as far as a storyline. But Towles ability to create the most lovable and likable characters is at its best in The Lincoln Highway.

    Not only will you love the character development, but the raucous adventure that takes place in the plot will have you unable to put the book down. You’ll be laughing and worrying, shuttering and rolling your eyes. It’s a big adventure – a mix of This Tender Land, Huckleberry Fin and Peter Pan.

    Beginning in the Middle

    The story begins in the middle. Because as we learn from precocious 8-year old Billy, all stories are best when they begin in the middle. And so we begin on the day in June 1954 when Billy’s brother Emmett is released from a juvenile detention camp.

    Emmett and Billy have lost their father to cancer, and their farm has been foreclosed. All they have is each other and Billy proposes they head west on the The Lincoln Highway in search of their mother who left them eight years before.

    But when two stowaways from the juvenile detention camp turn up in Billy and Emmett’s barn, the westward plans are put on hold as the foursome finds themselves headed to New York instead. This is the middle of the story where the real adventure begins.

    The adventures of Emmett, Billy and the stowaways Wooly and Duchess will include jumping freight trains, meeting vagrants, finding lost friends, FAO Schwartz, a “Professor”, getting beat up, a missing Studebaker, a suspicious “circus” and much more.

    Fun and Well Written

    Each chapter of this book is told from the point of view of the sensational characters and follows the misadventures through their eyes and differing perspectives.

    This is a story of belief, perseverance, luck and circumstance and starting over when you can. I hope you enjoyed my book review The Lincoln Highway by Amor Towles.

    *****Five stars for The Lincoln Highway by Amor Towles.

    Read last week’s review Mary Jane

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