Amy 
fiction, historical fiction
Sing, Unburied, Sing by Jesmyn Ward was an interesting novel. It tells the sad tale of a poor African-American family living in Mississippi and highlights some trying times they experience. Some problems (like the drug-related ones and relationship choices) were caused by individual decisions while others (dealing with illness, societal prejudices, jail practices) were inherent. While the daughter, Leonie, seems to be the least able to handle life in a graceful manner, she is fortunate to have strong, loving, devoted parents and a wise-for-his-age 13-year old son. Without that support system life would have been much harder for Leonie. Yet, she still manages to make life difficult for herself and the others.
The novel is told from a few different characters’ points of view and sometimes jumps around between the present and the past. At various points in the novel, Leonie’s father, Riv, tells his grandson, JoJo, an ongoing story from his time in jail as a young man, and that story is printed in a different font to signal the reader that it is a memory. It was very clear in the physical book. I hope that they were able to convey the different font in Kindle format but I’m too lazy to check. If not, I imagine it would be very confusing for the Kindle reader. It also might be a little difficult to comprehend in audio book form. So, I’m glad I was reading a physical book this time.
This novel is more interesting than your average “slice of life” novel about underprivileged families because it includes the existence of ghosts of the dead who are able to be seen and heard by some of the characters. Additionally, some characters are able to understand living creatures' thoughts and desires in a magical way. The writing is usually straightforward but has long passages of poetic description which were probably greatly appreciated by many readers but which pulled me out of the story and drew attention to the author instead of the characters in the story. Additionally, there was way too much vomit in this story. BLECH.
I enjoyed the characters and the way the story was told and it should generate some good discussion for my book club.
Amy
biography, historical fiction
Lust for Life by Irving Stone, about the life of Vincent Van Gogh, entered my radar when it was included in a list of good books about artists. I’ve always appreciated Van Gogh’s art. Then, I found out that my favorite narrator, Steve West, reads the audio book. PERFECT!
I had never heard of the movie based on this novel. Nor had I ever learned much about Van Gogh beyond the facts that he was troubled, cut his own ear off, and died young and poor. Therefore, almost everything in this novel was new to me.
It was interesting reading but Van Gogh’s life is easily summarized--much of this novel was great detail about the same patterns. Quite simply, I think Van Gogh would have died even earlier if it weren’t for the financial support from his brother, Theo, during the many years in which Van Gogh was trying to become a good artist. Most of the book is about Van Gogh’s obsession with work. He attacked work, no matter the type of work, in his efforts to improve himself. However, I don’t see it as a lust for life. To me, it was a lust for observing life or maybe even a lust for interpreting life—but not a lust for living life. He was never truly able to live much outside of his work circumstances due to being so driven and focused on his goals, no matter how unreachable they seemed, and never doing anything to earn money for himself. In the end, rather suddenly, he lost his motivation to keep working at his art and decided to take his own life by shooting himself.
Vincent was obsessive, manic depressive, selfish (most of the time, but definitely not always) yet not fully self-aware, and unable to understand others’ feelings about him. He seemed self-destructive and bi-polar. As he aged, he began having hallucinations and would have occasional behavioral fits. I couldn’t help but feel sorry that proper mental health care was not around to get him on track and make his life easier. Several times during his life, he was treated unfairly and was incorrectly accused of things he did not do and these situations negatively affected him. I found it amazing that his brother, Theo, was so generous and supportive of Vincent. Theo was the one person on whom Vincent could always depend. Vincent was mostly rejected by people during his life. It was really quite sad. But, he also isolated himself much of the time.
I come away from this novel knowing much more about Van Gogh than I previously knew and I found it to be a very touching, yet disturbing, story. I’m glad I read it.
As for Steve West’s narration, it was superb as always. There were many characters to juggle and many accents and a few different languages—all done perfectly. He rocks. A+.
Amy 
Lynnie
young adult, fantasy, action/suspense
War Storm is the fourth and final novel in Victoria Aveyards' Red Queen series. The characters are locked in the midst of war and the overall story arc reaches its conclusion.
Amy's Review
I enjoyed this final installment of the Red Queen series. Things turned out, for the most part, the way I would have wanted. The future is hopeful for the characters. The story was full of action and adventure, like the other books in the series, and really not very different than the first three novels, leaving me with nothing new to say. If you enjoyed the other three novels in this series then you will probably enjoy this resolution to the story. It does not disappoint. This was a very satisfying series overall.
Lynnie's Review
So look, this book is 662 pages long. Easily 400 of these pages are devoted to long, languid descriptions of scenery, clothing, scents, and feelings. Oh & the never-ending inner turmoil of these characters. (I love him but he can never give me what I want or need so I don't love him, but I totally do love him, but I can't.) OMG rip my eyeballs out of my head.
There were about 200+ pages of action, which was once again exciting & interesting & I'm endlessly fascinated by how everyone uses their abilities, but for the most part I just had a hard time caring about the characters anymore after all that naval gazing. Bottom line, if you read the first three you're very likely to read this one. You will probably even enjoy it. Me though? I'm just glad that it's over.
Amy
historical fiction
Knowing the love that many feel for Lonesome Dove (and its resulting mini-series), I decided to give it a try. I’m glad I did even though it’s not my kind of novel. Its pacing is slow and there is no pressing end-game for the characters. But getting to know all the lovable characters while joining them on their journey from Lonesome Dove, TX to Montana (as well as a couple side stories for characters whose lives become intertwined with the Hat Creek Outfit) made me appreciate the hardships and bravery of the American cowboys of the 1870s. I’ve never been a fan of westerns and hadn’t given much thought to the daily activities of people who were not farmers during that time. I also never thought about the birth of cities and western/northern expansion in much detail. But, this story gave me a new outlook and made me admire the spirit of those who were trying to make this country a more successful and larger place to live.
I also don’t think I’ve ever read a novel where the author gives us this much insight into so many different characters’ heads. At times, I felt like I was in a bubble floating above the characters and I would just drop into someone’s head for a while to learn what they were thinking about and then plop into someone else’s head and then someone else’s until I had the full picture for that scene. It was interesting and, surprisingly, enjoyable. And Larry McMurtry’s writing was very easy to read.
The ending, however, while taking a LONG time to be reached, was dissatisfying since it just ended without any real resolution for anyone. I know there are sequels and prequels but I’m not inclined to make the effort for these characters even though I did love them. As I said, it’s just not my kind of novel.
Lynnie 
contemporary fiction
Arthur Opp weighs 550 pounds and hasn't been outside of his New York home in years. Across town, teenager Kel Keller is trying to navigate the world his mother has created for him, going to school in a wealthy district and relying on his charm and athletic talent to help him fit in.
This
is a fascinating book. It's a study of loneliness and illness and how
the perceptions of ourselves and other people can dictate decisions that
we make, even when we aren't consciously making them. The characters in
Heft are lovely and Liz Moore does a wonderful job of finding their
voices and making them each unique and generally sympathetic. Along the
way you find yourself rooting for the characters and finding hope for
their futures.
Amy
Lynnie 
women's fiction
Picking up right where After You left off, Louisa Clark has arrived in America and is ready to begin her new life as a caretaker for a wealthy family in Jojo Moyes' Still Me.
Amy's Review
What a pleasure. I'm so happy that this third novel managed to save the trilogy after the second novel left me feeling disgruntled. The thing is that Jojo Moyes never intended to write a trilogy. Me Before You was an amazing novel....almost perfect! Yet, at the pressure from many readers, she conceded to write more about Louisa. And, sadly, not only did After You not measure up, it made me dislike Louisa. Therefore, I had planned to not read this third novel. However, I saw that the ratings were higher for this one, a friend enjoyed it, and it was available at the library when I needed an audio book. I'm so glad I gave it a try.
This novel was not boring, depressing, or frustrating, which were the three words I used to describe the last novel. Louisa still isn't great at making good decisions but is definitely getting better and is not so self-destructive in this novel. She has made it to NYC to work for the wealthy Gopnik family, leaving her boyfriend back in England. Life's ups and downs ensue. The story is engaging. And I laughed out loud (!) more than 5 times during this novel which is highly unusual. I was very satisfied with the ending and can now think more kindly about Louisa. It was a fun story with fun characters and had me in its grips.
The audio book was well done with Anna Acton as the narrator. She had several accents to perform and did them well. Her voice acting was terrific. I give her an A.
Lynnie's Review
Welcome
back Louisa Clark! I loved Moyes' Me Before You but was disappointed by
its sequel After You. Honestly, I had no intention of reading this third novel
but some friends really loved it so I decided to give it a whirl and
I'm so glad that I did.
Louisa is finally trying to move past
the grief of Will's death, has taken a job and moved to NYC and, as I
wrote in my review of After You, "in typical Lou fashion there are
missteps and mistakes & laughter along the way." This book brought
me back to the Louisa Clark that I loved. It brought back many beloved
characters & introduced some new ones to love (or hate) &
generally kept a smile on my face throughout including some laugh out loud moments. Sure, some parts of it were
predictable but that didn't make me enjoy it any less.
It was great to see Louisa get her groove back.
Side comment
This is one of those rare times where the two of us had almost identical reviews!
