Erotic Stories for Punjabi Widows by Balli Kaur Jaswal

Amy   

women's fiction

Delightful and charming. A friend recommended it and the title was intriguing so I gave it a try. I’m so glad I did!

Nikki is a twenty-something-year-old woman of Indian descent living in London. She’s trying to gain her independence from her family’s expectations and is seeking her own path through life. She’s only partially successful when she stumbles upon a teaching opportunity at an Indian community center and decides to take advantage of it. Soon after meeting all the widows who have signed up for the class, she realizes that they are hoping to get something different out of the class than she had expected. Meanwhile, the story contains some romance, tragedy, and mystery along with lessons about Indian heritage and the Sikh religion. On the down side, the mystery felt a bit forced and clunky. Also, the interspersed erotic stories broke up the flow of the main story a bit more than I would have preferred. But it all worked out to fit together into a grand picture. I appreciated the (mostly) realistic characters and the insights.

If you want something different and uplifting, give Erotic Stories for Punjabi Widows a read.  I would like to read another novel by Balli Kaur Jaswal!

Let it Snow by John Green, Maureen Johnson, and Lauren Myracle

Lynnie

young adult, short stories, contemporary fiction

Let It Snow is a cute book & fun YA way to get into the holiday season. All three stories intertwine a bit, but they are separate stories and all three are not created equal! The book starts with its strongest story- Maureen Johnson's The Jubilee Express. It's silly & engaging & the characters made me smile frequently. The second story is John Green's Cheertastic Christmas Miracle which was also fun & quirky. The final story, The Patron Saint of Pigs by Lauren Myracle was the least engaging of the bunch. The main character is hard to like & it really was a bit of a chore to finish because of her, though all the stories wind up nicely in its final pages.

Still, if you're looking for something easy & fast to read (which I was), this fits the bill & is worth it for the first 2 stories alone.

Clara and Mr. Tiffany by Susan Vreeland

Amy      

historical fiction

I read Clara and Mr. Tiffany for my book club and really enjoyed it! I learned so much about NYC around the turn of the century (did you know the subway opened for business in 1904?), about life for female workers in that era (who were not allowed to join labor unions), about glass window- and lamp-making processes, about the business of Tiffany’s, and about Louis Comfort Tiffany himself (who was the son of the jewelry store's Charles Lewis Tiffany) and his family history. I learned all this while enjoying the story of Clara Driscoll’s life. She was a real person who worked for Mr. Tiffany, from helping with the creation of glass windows, coming up with the idea (supposedly) for Tiffany lamps, and becoming a designer of glass lamps and windows under Tiffany’s tutelage. She also became the manager of the women’s department at Tiffany Studios. Meanwhile, she led an interesting personal life and was fortunate to have some great friends.

I appreciated all the research that Susan Vreeland must have performed and her creativity at filling in the gaps of Clara’s story whenever there was no documentation available. The characters in the book really came to life and so many of them were loveable and irresistible.

The narrator of the audio book, Kimberly Farr, did a fine job overall. At times she read a little too slowly/robotically but would strike her groove fairly quickly. She was able to pull off some good accents and her voice acting was good. I give her an A.

The Miniaturist by Jessie Burton

Amy

historical fiction

I read The Miniaturist by Jessie Burton for Book Club despite its lower-than-I-usually-read Goodreads rating (3.58). Surprisingly, I did like it even though it is sad story. The 17th century setting was described well and, having been to Amsterdam, I was able to imagine the general layout of things. The pacing and the topics kept surprising me. The novel went where I didn’t expect it to go. For broaching those subjects, I appreciated it. However, the basic story is a tragedy. There is hope at the end, but it came at a very steep price. Some things were, annoyingly, never explained. The title is misleading. The story is not about the miniaturist—she is only a character that provides some intrigue and mystery and adds a bit of the fantastic into the story. Though, I will concede, she was the most interesting character in the novel and contributed to the afore-mentioned good pacing. Not much is resolved in this novel but that is actually alright. I was glad it ended when it did.

The Rook by Daniel O'Malley (The Checquy Files #1)

Amy       
Lynnie  

fantasy, mystery

Myfanwy (rhymes with Tiffany) Thomas knows that she’ll be losing her memory and decides to leave her body’s new “inhabitant” instructions for continuing with her life, if she so chooses. What the new inhabitant comes to learn is that Myfanwy is a leader in a secret British organization that is staffed with uniquely talented individuals. This organization keeps Britain safe from paranormal threats. And most of the members of the organization also have unusual paranormal powers.

Amy's Review

What fun! I liked The Rook much more than I expected I would! It was a creative premise that grabbed my interest from the beginning. I was a little worried it would get too bogged down in Myfanwy’s instructions to her successor and then even more worried when the details of her job seemed overwhelmingly complex near the beginning. However, the story quickly moved through that stuff and moved into nonstop discovery and adventure. The characters were all intriguing—both the bad ones and the good ones. Daniel O'Malley’s creativity was astounding. And I loved the pacing and the humor. There were a couple times where the humor was a bit too much on the slapstick side but I still enjoyed the quirkiness and attitudes. I look forward to reading the sequel.

The audio book narrator was mostly fabulous. Susan Duerdon is extremely talented with regard to a variety of voices (even male voices) and accents. Her storytelling and acting was terrific. My only complaint is that she would often go long periods of time where all her phrases ended with an upwards intonation so that the speaking itself overshadowed the words being spoken. It sort of felt a bit frantic or pronounced. I can’t really describe it but it wasn’t comfortable and seamless. It was sort of like the guy who does the movie preview announcements where every sentence is given weighty importance. It would take me out of the story when she did that and I had to actively try to ignore her tone and focus on the words she was saying. But, her voice acting was so well-done otherwise, I’ll give her an A.  

Lynnie's Review

What an unexpectedly wonderful book! I'd never even heard of The Rook until Amy read it and I'm so glad that she suggested it to me. It's a unique premise, filled with creativity and with non-stop action. I was sad I didn't have as much time as I normally do so it took me a while to read it, but I truly enjoyed every moment. The Rook follows a woman who is a leader of a secret agency filled with people with special abilities. This agency employs and protects this uniquely talented individuals and protects the world from other people with these powers and abilities. Unfortunately she (Myfanwy) has had her memories erased and must figure out her life and her duties based on letters that she left herself before her memories were erased. While that sounds convoluted it really works and is much easier to follow than I thought it would be (& probably easier to follow than this review!). The characters are all fascinating and while the entire story is outrageously far-fetched it is a lot of fun to read.

Hidden Figures: The Untold Story of the African American Women Who Helped Win the Space Race by Margot Lee Shetterly

Amy  

nonfiction

What a fascinating story. Who knew that the NACA (predecessor of NASA) was so ahead of its time and forward-thinking as to accept African American women as mathematicians (with the job title of Computers) during WWII in order to boost the American warplane efforts to make safe, faster, and more efficient planes? How wonderful that Margot Lee Shetterly discovered the stories of these amazing women, researched the details behind their lives and careers, and published Hidden Figures. Not only were the Computers critical to the success of the industry and its technological advancement but they helped blaze a trail for future African Americans and women in technology. NACA gave these women much better salaries than they were able to make elsewhere and they even eventually gave them a sort of maternity leave--holding their jobs for their return to the workforce. I'm just shocked and thrilled to learn of the opportunities that were given in the 1940s and 1950s in Hampton, VA, despite the segregation and multiple civil rights crimes of the times. These women were valued and included as part of the team. That's not to say it was a cakewalk. But, the women highlighted in this novel were extraordinary, intelligent, and unafraid to advocate for themselves. What role models and heroes! I'm so glad to have learned about their successes and efforts.

I really enjoyed the narrator of the audio book, Robin Miles. Her voice is smooth and clear and kept me interested, even during the textbook-y parts (which usually wear me down during nonfiction books). I give her an A for striking the right tone.

No One is Coming to Save Us by Stephanie Powell Watts

Amy 

fiction

I wasn’t going to read this novel (despite the fact that I had picked up a free Advance Reader Copy at the ALA Midwinter back in January) because its Goodreads rating was a low 3.08. (Yes, I’m a Goodreads rating snob and not ashamed to admit it because I tend to agree with their ratings!) But, No One is Coming to Save Us by Stephanie Powell Watts is the Atlanta Fulton Public Library’s kickoff selection for their new Virtual Book Club in collaboration with the American Library Association’s Book Club Central. So, I decided to play along since I already owned the book.

This was the story of people in a small Carolina town—mostly centering around the trials and tribulations of Sylvia Ross, her daughter Ava, and other family/friends. The writing was not graceful. In fact, it was downright awkward and difficult to follow sometimes. The characters were pretty much all unlikeable or they behaved inconsistently or made bad decisions. No one was overly smart or motivated. The process by which the one supposedly financially successful person in the story made his money was never provided. Instead, the reader was given all the mistakes people had made in their lives instead of the positive aspects.  Happiness was mostly only reached in the characters’ dreams.

I guess the nicest thing I can say is that some of the storyline was interesting and made me curious to know what would happen. And the pacing was good until about the ¾ mark when, due to all the doom and gloom, it became a chore to finish and I lost all interest in what happened to the characters. Oh, and then, for some unknown reason, there’s the one irksome chapter told in first person, but not by any specific character. Whereas, the rest of the book is told in third person or via online chatroom entries.

It’s not my kind of book. It’s full of dissatisfied, unfulfilled, aimless people. I prefer to read books where I can escape the harshness of reality and see some sense of hope in people that is rooted in reality. I don’t plan to participate in the virtual book club discussions because, frankly, I’m glad to be done with this one and moving on to something else.